Hawaii fires

From 20m agoJoe and Jill Biden have landed on Maui to survey the devastation wrought by recent wildfires. The Bidens are accompanied by Deanne Criswell, the administrator of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (Femas).While on the island, the first couple will also meet with first responders and be briefed by state and local officials about the response.Stay tuned to the Guardian’s live blog for updates on the Bidens’ visit.Federal prosecutors are objecting to the April 2026 trial date proposed by lawyers for Donald Trump in the case accusing the former president of scheming to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the Associated Press reports.Defense lawyers said that the far-off date was meant to give prosecutors time to review the 11.5m pages of potential evidence. But prosecutors said much of that material includes duplicate pages or information that is already public like Trump’s social media posts.Prosecutors wrote:
In cases such as this one, the burden of reviewing discovery cannot be measured by page count alone, and comparisons to the height of the Washington Monument and the length of a Tolstoy novel are neither helpful nor insightful; in fact, comparisons such as those are a distraction from the issue at hand – which is determining what is required to prepare for trial.
As part of the agreement, Donald Trump “shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness”, the court filing shows.The former president cannot make a “direct or indirect threat of any nature” against any codefendant, including through “posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media”.Trump is also prohibited from communicating about the case with any codefendants in the Georgia case except through his lawyer.Donald Trump’s bond in the sweeping Georgia racketeering case has been set for $200,000, according to court filings at Fulton county court.From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Tamar Hallerman:Donald Trump’s legal team has arrived at the Fulton county courthouse where they are expected to meet with district attorney Fani Willis’s office, CNN reported, citing sources.Trump’s lawyers Todd Blanche, Jennifer Little and Drew Findling will be doing the negotiating, according to one source.Trump and several of his codefendants in the Georgia racketeering case are expected to work out the terms of their bond today with the Fulton county DA’s office, the report said.Court filings show Willis has reached a $100,000 bond agreement with former Trump lawyer John Eastman, and a $10,000 bond for bail bondsman Scott Hall.Texas senator Ted Cruz, a former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, appeared on Monday to fall for one of the oldest internet hoaxes, sharing a supposed picture of a shark on a flooded highway in Los Angeles with the remark: “Holy crap.”California does indeed face potentially catastrophic flooding thanks to Storm Hilary, but users of X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, were swift to point out that the image Cruz reposted is in fact wholly crap.Had Cruz checked Snopes before posting his remark, he might have noted the site’s description of previous uses of the shark-on-a-highway picture, including in relation to his own state.Cruz did not delete his post. Hours later, he wrote:
I’m told this is a joke. In LA, you never know … And everyone please stay safe from the storm or otherwise.
It was not Cruz’s first flirtation with social media ridicule. In 2017, the senator’s account on the service then known as Twitter “liked” a tweet showing pornographic material. Cruz appeared to blame a staffer.“It was not me, and it’s not going to happen again,” he said.Donald Trump holds a commanding lead over his Republican primary rivals, according to the latest Morning Consult poll, with the former president beating his closest rival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, by 44 points.Scott Hall, a bail bondsman who was charged with racketeering and six criminal conspiracy counts relating to a scheme to access voting machines and data in rural Coffee county, has reached a bond agreement with Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis, court filings show.In a “consent bond order” listed on the Fulton county court website, Hall agreed to a $10,000 bond, that he will “report to pre-trial supervision every 30 days” and that is barred from communicating with the other 18 defendants in the case.Hall, Cathy Latham and Misty Hampton “aided, abetted, and encouraged” employees from the data solutions firm SullivanStrickler to access voting equipment inside the Coffee county board of elections registration office, according to the indictment handed down by Willis.Donald Trump plans to introduce sweeping new restrictions on immigration and the border if he wins the 2024 presidential election, according to a report.During his tenancy in the White House, Trump built part of a border wall, established strict wealth and health tests for prospective immigrants, and limited asylum. But the former president’s plan would go much further, potentially making it tougher for millions of foreigners to enter or stay in the US, Axios writes.Under Trump’s plans, ideological screening would be ramped up for people legally applying to come into the country, the report says. US law has blocked communists from entering for decades, but it has rarely been enforced, and Trump wants to enforce the law to reject applicants who are deemed “Marxists”, Axios says. Trump would also expand his “Muslim ban” idea to block more people from certain countries from entering the US, according to the report.Under a new Trump administration, the US Coast Guard and Navy would be sent to form a blockade in the waters off the US and Latin America to stop drug-smuggling boats, it says. He will also designate drug cartels as “unlawful enemy combatants” to allow the US military to target them in Mexico, it says, and extend the floating barriers along the Rio Grande.The former president intends to end birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrations, according to the report. He would also allegedly seek to complete his border wall.Trump adviser Stephen Miller told Axios:
For those passionate about securing our immigration system …… the first 100 days of the Trump administration will be pure bliss – followed by another four years of the most hard-hitting action conceivable.
Donald Trump has already recorded an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the former president plans to use as counterprogramming for the first Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday, NBC News reported, citing sources.It is unclear how and when the interview will be aired. Carlson has been releasing interviews on X, formerly known as Twitter, since he was fired from Fox News earlier this year.Trump senior campaign adviser Jason Miller told the news channel that the former president will be at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, the night of the debate, which will air at 9pm eastern time on Wednesday.John Eastman, a former adviser to Donald Trump who was charged for his alleged role in helping the former president try to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, has agreed to a $100,000 bond in the case, court filings show.In a “consent bond order” listed on the Fulton county court website, Eastman and prosecutors agreed to a $100,000 bond on the charges Eastman is facing, which include racketeering, criminal conspiracy and filing false documents. Eastman’s $100,000 bond order is the first to appear on the Fulton county court website.Under the terms of the order, Eastman “shall report to pre-trial supervision every 30 days”, and “shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice”.From CNN’s Kaitlan Collins:In Montana, a judge ruled in favor of young people who allege that the state’s promotion of fossil fuels violates their right to a “clean and healthful environment”, which is guaranteed in the state’s constitution.This case is one of several constitutional climate lawsuits filed on behalf of young people and brought by the nonprofit law firm Our Children’s Trust. There are also four pending lawsuits in other states. One of those cases, brought by Hawaii youth plaintiffs, is set to go to trial in June 2024, attorneys announced this month.The judge’s ruling, if upheld, will compel Montana to consider climate change when deciding whether to approve or renew fossil fuel projects. But it will not stop the state from allowing new fossil fuel infrastructure.Read the entirety of the Guardian’s explainer on the Montana decision here.Donald Trump’s rivals for the Republican presidential nomination reacted in mostly muted fashion to his declaration that he will skip all the party’s primary debates, not just the first in Milwaukee on Wednesday.Andrew Romeo, a spokesperson for Ron DeSantis, Trump’s closest if distant rival, insisted:
No one is entitled to this nomination, including Donald Trump. You have to show up and earn it.
Among Trump’s Republican rivals, notwithstanding a warning from the rank outsider Will Hurd that “kissing his butt is not going to help you win”, reaction to Trump’s debate avoidance plans remained muted at best.Mike Pence, formerly vice-president to Trump, echoed the chairperson of the Republican National Committee when he told ABC News:
One thing I realised about him is it’s not over till it’s over. So I’m actually still hoping he shows up.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur who has gone from wide outsider to contender for second place, aimed a warmup barb at DeSantis when he said:
We don’t need another career politician beholden to the donor class sitting in the White House. Cronyism leads to corruption. The choice for GOP primary voters: Do we want Super Pac puppets? Or patriots who speak the TRUTH?
According to Axios, James Uthmeir, DeSantis’s new campaign manager, used a memo to donors and supporters to warn that the Milwaukee debate would be other candidates’ “biggest chance yet to grab headlines by attacking the governor, so we know they will try their best”. Uthmeir also offered a touch of optimism.“We all know why our competitors have to go down this road,” he said.
Because this is a two-man race for the Republican nomination between Governor DeSantis and Donald Trump.
Donald Trump Jr confirmed he will travel to Wisconsin to attend the first Republican presidential primary debate, even though his father, Donald Trump, said he will not be there.The Trump campaign told the Hill that Trump Jr will be in Milwaukee as a “surrogate” in support of his father’s reelection bid.Larry Hogan, the former Republican governor of Maryland, said No Labels would “very likely” launch a third-party “alternative” if Donald Trump and Joe Biden are the nominees for their parties in the 2024 presidential election.“f Trump and Biden are the nominees, it’s very likely that No Labels will get access to the ballot and offer an alternative,” Hogan said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
If most of the voters don’t want A or B, we have an obligation to give them C, I mean, for the good of the country.
An “overwhelming majority” of Americans are “completely fed up with politics”, said Hogan, who serves as the national co-chairman of No Labels.
They think Washington is broken. And so, even though this normally is not something that we consider and talk about seriously because it hasn’t happened in the past, this is something that could happen.
Today is the cutoff for required set by the Republican national committee (RNC) for candidates who want to take part in Wednesday’s primary debate.To qualify for the 23 August debate, candidates need to have reached at least 1% in three high-quality national polls or a mix of national and early-state polls, between 1 July and 21 August, and a minimum of 40,000 donors, with 200 in 20 or more states. Candidates must also sign a pledge promising to support the party’s ultimate nominee.At least nine candidates appear to have made the cut so far for the first Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, according to a New York Times tracker. Seven candidates have definitely qualified, and they are:
Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida
Doug Burgum, governor of North Dakota
Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey
Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina
Mike Pence, former vice president
Tim Scott, senator for South Carolina
Vivek Ramaswamy, entrepreneur
Asa Hutchinson, former governor of Arkansas, said on Sunday that had also met the qualification criteria. Donald Trump, who has said he will not take part in the debate, could qualify but he has not signed the loyalty pledge.But there are two candidates, Miami mayor Francis X Suarez and the businessman Perry Johnson who have said they met the criteria but whose claims have not been corroborated by the RNC.Joe Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, are currently on the way to Maui to comfort survivors of the devastating wildfires that ripped through the western part of the Hawaiian island nearly two weeks ago.The Bidens, who are pausing their vacation in Lake Tahoe, will take a helicopter tour of the burned-out areas. They will then visit Lahaina, a historic town of 13,000 people that was virtually destroyed by the flames, to see the wildfire damage first-hand and meet with first responders.The president will deliver remarks “paying respects to the lives lost and reflecting on the tragic, lasting impacts of these wildfires on survivors and the community,” a White House official said.“I know how profoundly loss can impact a family and a community and I know nothing can replace the loss of life,” Biden said in a statement ahead of the trip.
I will do everything in my power to help Maui recover and rebuild from this tragedy. And throughout our efforts, we are focused on respecting sacred lands, cultures, and traditions.
Biden has faced criticizm among some Republicans and others for his initial response to the Maui fires, after he went several days without speaking about the tragedy while on vacation at his Delaware beach house. The White House said Biden has been leading a “whole of government” effort to help Hawaii recover.Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants in a sprawling racketeering case have until this Friday to surrender to authorities in Atlanta and to be booked at the notorious Fulton county jail, also known as “Rice Street”.The sprawling detention center has a reputation for troubled conditions for inmates. Last month, the justice department launched a civil rights investigation into dilapidated and unsanitary conditions at the jail, as well as violence against detainees. The investigation was sparked in part by the death of LaShawn Thompson, who according to his family was found “eaten alive by insects and bedbugs” in a filthy cell in September 2022.The Fulton county jail suffers from problems with overcrowding, overflowing toilets and faulty air conditioning, according to the Washington Post. Fulton county sheriff Patrick Labat, who oversees the jail and has pushed for funding to replace it, said:
What you’ll see in these wheelbarrows are shanks. Right now, they total over 1,100 shanks. These are pieces of the building that have been ripped apart, fashioned into knives, fashioned into deadly weapons.
Trump and his co-defendants, including Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for the ex-president and former New York City mayor, and Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, will be treated like everyone else should they surrender there, according to the local sheriff.That means they will undergo a medical screening, be fingerprinted and have mug shots taken, and could potentially spend time in a holding cell at the jail, according to a New York Times report.Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy said Donald Trump’s decision to skip the first GOP primary debate this week could benefit Joe Biden.“Unfortunately by skipping the debates, Donald Trump may actually be helping Joe Biden because he’s giving Joe Biden an excuse for not debating Donald Trump,” Doocy said on the Fox News program.
That’s one of the things that [Republican National Committee chairwoman] Ronna McDaniel told the former president when she was trying to get him to do the first debate. But he said, ‘Nope, not going to do it.’”
“I don’t know how that would be, though. How could Joe Biden rationalize not going against Donald Trump?” asked co-host Brian Kilmeade.Doocy replied:
Because if Donald Trump says, ‘Everybody knows me, I don’t need to do it,’ then Joe Biden does, ‘Everybody knows me! I’m the president.’ More