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      Critics denounce Lindsey Graham for warning of ‘riots in the street’ if Trump indicted – as it happened

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      Critics are decrying as “irresponsible” and “shameful” South Carolina Republican Senator and enthusiastic Trump convert Lindsey Graham’s comments that there will be “riots in the street” if Donald Trump is prosecuted.Graham twice made the reference when he went on Fox News’s Sunday Night in America show last evening, the Washington Post reports.Richard Haass, president of the nonpartisan think tank the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think tank, tweeted that Graham’s “prediction that violence may follow any prosecution of the former Potus may not qualify legally as incitement but it is irresponsible all the same as it will be seen by some as a call for violence. Public officials are obligated to call for the rule of law.”.@LindseyGrahamSC’s prediction that violence may follow any prosecution of the former Potus may not qualify legally as incitement but it is irresponsible all the same as it will be seen by some as a call for violence. Public officials are obligated to call for the rule of law.— Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) August 29, 2022
      Republican Joe Walsh, described by the Post as the former congressman and a tea party adherent turned frequent Trump critic, also tweeted “a message for Graham” that: “Yes, if Trump is indicted, there will be violence. I see & hear those threats all the time. But threats of violence should NEVER stop the pursuit of justice. NEVER. And you KNOW that Lindsey. But you’re too much of a coward to say that. Shameful.”A message for @LindseyGrahamSC:Yes, if Trump is indicted, there will be violence. I see & hear those threats all the time. But threats of violence should NEVER stop the pursuit of justice. NEVER. And you KNOW that Lindsey. But you’re too much of a coward to say that.Shameful.— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) August 29, 2022
      And the Post added that Trump posted the Fox News interview without comment to his Truth Social platform.I’m handing the blog over to Richard Luscombe now, fresh from his disappointment at Cape Canaveral at seeing NASA’s Artemis rocket not lift off from the Kennedy Space Center, but ready to take you through US political news developments for the next few hours.Thanks for joining us on a very Trump-centric day in US politics. We’re closing our blog now, but here’s a final look at what we were covering:
      Critics decried as “irresponsible” and “shameful” South Carolina Republican Senator and enthusiastic Trump convert Lindsey Graham’s comments that there will be “riots in the street” if Donald Trump is prosecuted.
      The White House said it was “appropriate” that the US intelligence community is reviewing potential national security risks from disclosure of materials recovered during a search of Trump’s Florida residence. But national security spokesperson John Kirby said the White House was not involved in the review.
      The justice department told a federal court in Florida more about its review of materials seized by the FBI during the raid, and also said it will provide a further filing, sealed, with a more detailed receipt of what was seized on August 8.
      A Georgia judge ruled this morning that the state’s Republican governor Brian Kemp must testify before a special grand jury that’s investigating possible illegal attempts by Trump and others to influence the 2020 election result there – but not until after the November midterm election.
      Florida federal judge Aileen Cannon is leaning towards approving a request by Trump to appoint a so-called “special master” to review the assessment of the materials taken away in the FBI search. Other material had previously been returned by Trump after pressure from the government, but more was found upon the search.
      The DoJ and the Trump legal team square off this week in Cannon’s court, with the government obliged to provide more details about the FBI search and Trump’s team expected to present arguments in a hearing on Thursday afternoon in favor of the appointment of a special master.
      Karine Jean-Pierre took a swipe at Washington politicians for failing to act on the Biden administration’s request for pandemic funding, and hastening the end of widespread free Covid-19 tests.The White House has announced it is halting the distribution of free tests starting next month, and blames a lack of funding. The last day for orders will be 2 September.White House press secretary Jean-Pierre said the lack of progress in the House towards funding a package to support testing, vaccines and therapies had led to “some tough decisions”:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We warned that congressional inaction would bring unacceptable trade-offs and harm our preparedness and response and guidance, and the consequences would worsen over time.
      This is an action we’ve been forced to take that will help preserve our limited remaining supply, ensuring we have a limited supply of tests available in the fall.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is delivering her daily briefing and is taking pains to stress again that Joe Biden has not been briefed about, and has had no input in the justice department’s criminal investigation into Donald Trump.The office of the director of national intelligence (ODNI) is currently sifting material seized in the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, where he is alleged to have hidden improperly retained classified documents from his administration.Without evidence, the former president has accused Biden, the ODNI, the FBI and anybody else he believes had a hand in the search and seizure, of a political witch-hunt against him.But Jean-Pierre said this afternoon that Trump was off track:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We have been very clear that the president was not briefed in advance of the justice department’s recent actions. We have not been involved. We are committed to the independence as it relates to any matter the justice department has.
      This is an ODNI decision that they have made. The president hasn’t been briefed on any of this. None of us have.Joe Biden will visit the battleground states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania next week, aiming to ride a wave of increased popularity and attempting to lift Democrats’ fortunes two months before the midterm election.Biden will speak at Milwaukee’s Laborfest celebration, then go to Pittsburgh where other national labor leaders are appearing at that city’s Labor Day Parade, the Associated Press reports.The president plans to “celebrate Labor Day and the dignity of American workers,” according to the White House.Biden is expected to tout the bipartisan infrastructure law passed last year, as well as the Inflation Reduction Act, which he signed in August.Both states have races for governor and seats in the US Senate.In Wisconsin, Democrats are trying to reelect governor Tony Evers and oust Republican senator Ron Johnson. “We have a good relationship,” Evers said. “I’m looking forward to it.”In Pennsylvania, Democrats are trying to hold on to the state’s open governor’s office and to flip the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Pat Toomey.An “aspiring member” of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Monday to more than four years in prison for storming the US Capitol during the 6 January riot, the Associated Press reports.Joshua Pruitt, 40, came face-to-face with Chuck Schumer, the Democratic senate majority leaders as he joined fellow Donald Trump supporters in efforts to halt the certification of Joe Biden’s election win, the court heard.“One look at Pruitt, and the leader of Senator Schumer’s security detail immediately saw the threat and hustled the 70-year-old senator down a hallway, having to change their evacuation route on a dime,” assistant US attorney Alexis Loeb wrote in a court filing.US district court judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Pruitt, of Maryland, to four years and seven months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release.Prosecutors wanted a five-year sentence for Pruitt, a bartender and personal trainer they described as “an aspiring Proud Boys member” whose intimidating figure made him an “ideal recruit” for the group.Democrats’ apparently resurgent fortunes ahead of November’s midterms are pushing Republicans into panic-buying “aggressive” media slots in markets where believe they are lagging.That’s the assessment from Axios, which has looked into Republican campaign spending across the country, including a $125m ad buy by House minority leader Kevin McCarthy’s political action committee, the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), in almost entirely Democrat held districts.Of McCarthy’s spending, “$9 of every $10 [is] targeting seats carried by President Biden in 2020,” Axios reports.“CLF is doubling down on offensive spending, even in places where Biden won by double digits two years ago”.First look: Kevin McCarthy’s leadership PAC has reserved another $37 million in TV time — with $9 of every $10 targeting seats carried by President Biden in 2020.It’s a rejoinder to growing talk about Democrats finding a shot to retain the House. https://t.co/5oBNmGgwje— Axios (@axios) August 29, 2022
      Biden’s approval ratings have climbed steadily since earlier this year, buoyed by a series of legislative successes including the Inflation Reduction Act, and a perceived backlash by more moderate voters to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade federal abortion protections.Republicans who once assumed retaking control of the House in November was a given appear increasingly fearful that there will be no rout of the Democratic majority, and the rash of sudden spending is an attempt to shore up their support, Axios says.“Democrats hope to harness voter energy around protecting abortion rights to motivate their base and appeal to independents in an election Republicans had hoped would focus on economic anxiety,” the media site says.Critics are decrying as “irresponsible” and “shameful” South Carolina Republican Senator and enthusiastic Trump convert Lindsey Graham’s comments that there will be “riots in the street” if Donald Trump is prosecuted.Graham twice made the reference when he went on Fox News’s Sunday Night in America show last evening, the Washington Post reports.Richard Haass, president of the nonpartisan think tank the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think tank, tweeted that Graham’s “prediction that violence may follow any prosecution of the former Potus may not qualify legally as incitement but it is irresponsible all the same as it will be seen by some as a call for violence. Public officials are obligated to call for the rule of law.”.@LindseyGrahamSC’s prediction that violence may follow any prosecution of the former Potus may not qualify legally as incitement but it is irresponsible all the same as it will be seen by some as a call for violence. Public officials are obligated to call for the rule of law.— Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) August 29, 2022
      Republican Joe Walsh, described by the Post as the former congressman and a tea party adherent turned frequent Trump critic, also tweeted “a message for Graham” that: “Yes, if Trump is indicted, there will be violence. I see & hear those threats all the time. But threats of violence should NEVER stop the pursuit of justice. NEVER. And you KNOW that Lindsey. But you’re too much of a coward to say that. Shameful.”A message for @LindseyGrahamSC:Yes, if Trump is indicted, there will be violence. I see & hear those threats all the time. But threats of violence should NEVER stop the pursuit of justice. NEVER. And you KNOW that Lindsey. But you’re too much of a coward to say that.Shameful.— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) August 29, 2022
      And the Post added that Trump posted the Fox News interview without comment to his Truth Social platform.I’m handing the blog over to Richard Luscombe now, fresh from his disappointment at Cape Canaveral at seeing NASA’s Artemis rocket not lift off from the Kennedy Space Center, but ready to take you through US political news developments for the next few hours.The White House today said it is “appropriate” that the US intelligence community is reviewing potential national security risks from disclosure of materials recovered during a search of former president Donald Trump’s Florida residence, Reuters reports.The director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, told lawmakers in a letter last week that her office is working with the Justice Department to “facilitate a classification review” of documents including those recovered during the August 8 search.Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines has told congressional leaders that her department has launched a review “of the potential risk to national security” in the event that Trump compromised secrets from classified Mar-a-Lago documents. pic.twitter.com/lDBeeEwbkO— The Recount (@therecount) August 29, 2022
      The White House is not involved in the assessment of the risk associated with those documents, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.John Kirby just now tells reporters the White House is not involved in the damage assessment DNI is conducting re: classified docs Trump took to Mar-a-Lago. Kirby calls the assessment an “appropriate action.”— Morgan Chalfant (@mchalfant16) August 29, 2022
      Meanwhile:DOJ also tells the court it is conducting a classification review, along with ODNI, of the materials seized from Trump’s home. It also confirms what was reported this weekend: ODNI is leading an intelligence community assessment— Sarah N. Lynch (@SarahNLynch) August 29, 2022
      It’s been a very Trump-dominated morning and we’ll have some updates on other things coming up shortly, as well, while also bringing you any further developments in the various legal cases enveloping the former president.Here’s where things stand:
      The US Department of Justice has told a federal court in Florida more about its review of materials seized by the FBI during a search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago private resort and residence in Palm Beach and also said it will provide a further filing, sealed, with a more detailed receipt of what was seized on August 8.
      A Georgia judge ruled this morning that the state’s Republican governor Brian Kemp must testify before a special grand jury that’s investigating possible illegal attempts by then-president Donald Trump and others to influence the 2020 election result there – but not until after the November midterm election.
      Florida federal judge Aileen Cannon is leaning towards approving a request by Trump to appoint a so-called “special master” to review the assessment of the materials taken away from Mar-a-Lago after the FBI search. Other material had previously been returned by Trump after pressure from the government, but more was found upon the search.
      The DoJ and the Trump legal team square off this week in Cannon’s court, with the government obliged to provide more details about the FBI search and Trump’s team expected to present arguments in a hearing on Thursday afternoon in favor of the appointment of a special master. This all involves the criminal investigation into Trump hanging onto highly-sensitive official documents after he left office and potential obstruction.
      In the Department of Justice’s filing in federal court in south Florida today, relating to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago and seizure of classified documents apparently secreted there by former president Donald Trump, it has told the court it will comply with the request to provide “a more detailed receipt” for property seized during the search on August 8.The government has promised “a sealed, supplemental filing” on this with the court “as well as a ‘particularized notice indicating the status of [the United States’] review of the seized property, including any filter review conducted by the privilege review team and any dissemination of materials beyond the privilege review team’,” according to the filing. More

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      in US Politics

      Trump search affidavit reveals potential for ‘evidence of obstruction’ at Mar-a-Lago – as it happened

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      The affidavit as released is of course full of redactions, across its 38 pages. But it reveals some interesting nuggets about the search, including that the Department of Justice and FBI had “probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction” would be found at Mar-a-Lago.In another interesting section … the affidavit says that on 9 February 2022, the DoJ leaned that a preliminary review of 15 boxes taken to Mar-a-Lago “indicated that they contained ‘newspapers, magazines, printed news articles, photos, miscellaneous print-outs, notes, presidential correspondence, personal and post-presidential records, and ‘a lot of classified records’.“Of most significant concern was that highly classified records were unfoldered, intermixed with other records, and otherwise unproperly [sic] identified.”The affidavit reproduces a Trump statement after the issue became public, and then … is extensively redacted. The redacted passage is a chronological retelling of how the issue developed. The next significant un-redacted passage contains the news that Trump’s own notes were included in the materials in question. It reads as follows:“From May 16-18, 2022, FBI agents conducted a preliminary review of the FIFTEEN BOXES provided to NARA and identified documents with classification markings in fourteen of the FIFTEEN BOXES. A preliminary triage of the documents with classification markings revealed the following approximate numbers: 184 unique documents bearing classification markings, including 67 documents marked as CONFIDENTIAL, 92 documents marked as SECRET, and 25 documents marked as TOP SECRET. Further, the FBI agents observed markings reflecting the following compartments/dissemination controls: HCS, FISA, ORCON, NOFORN, and SI.“Based on my training and experience, I know that documents classified at these levels typically contain NDI. Several of the documents also contained what appears to be FPOTUS’s [Trump’s] handwritten notes.Closing summaryIt has been a day of drama as the redacted affidavit explaining why the FBI chose to raid Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence was finally published to an eagerly awaiting world. It wasn’t exactly a damp squib. The document – much of which was blanked out – detailed the huge numbers of secret documents squirreled away and security risks they posed.But due to the large numbers of redactions there was no explosive new line, though one thing does seem certain: this FBI investigation is just getting started and has a long long way to go.Here’s what else happened today:
      Amy Coney Barrett was in the news via a Guardian US scoop showing that a faith group she has been closely associated with places huge emphasis on female obedience.
      Joe Biden and his administration stood by his calling out of the Republican politicians as behaving like semi-fascists. The move drew ire from the rightwing party.
      Washington is to follow the path of its fellow west coast state California and pursue the eventual ban of sales of new gasoline-powered cars.
      A Jim Crow-era provision of the Mississippi constitution designed to disfranchise Black voters is constitutional, a federal appellate court ruled.
      Dow drops 1,000 pointsThe Guardian’s Dominic Rushe writes here that there has been a steep drop on Wall Street in response to the latest forecasts on the economy from Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell.A 1,000 plus point drop is hardly a catastrophe but it is definitely a nasty fall.Dominic writes: US stock markets nosedived on Friday after Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, warned of “pain” ahead as the central bank struggles to bring down inflation from a 40-year high.Powell’s highly anticipated speech was more hawkish than had been expected, with the Fed chair pledging to do all he could to end rising prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost just over 1,000 points, 3%, the S&P fell 3.3% and the Nasdaq dropped almost 4%.Speaking at the Kansas City Fed’s annual meeting of the world’s central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Powell said the Fed’s “overarching focus right now is to bring inflation back down”.Read more:Dow plunges 1,000 points after Fed chief Powell warns of inflation ‘pain’Read moreNikki Haley for 2024?The former UN ambassador under Donald Trump is often mentioned as a potential 2024 candidate and someone who could – potentially – straddle the two disparate and often bitterly feuding worlds of Trump and non-Trump Republicans.That sees Haley frequently seek to a perform a difficult dance between courting her old bosses’ favor, but also trying not to seem too close to him.Politico has the details of some of the people donating to her political future and it makes interesting reading of a long list of Republican stalwarts.The report says: “Many of the GOP’s biggest donors are among those who funneled anonymous contributions to former U.N ambassador Nikki Haley’s nonprofit as she lays the groundwork for a prospective 2024 presidential bid, according to previously unreported tax documents obtained by Politico.Haley’s nonprofit policy advocacy group, Stand For America, Inc, has received major donations from people including New York hedge fund manager Paul Singer, investor Stanley Druckenmiller, and Miriam Adelson and her late husband, casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, the Internal Revenue Service filings reveal.The roster of supporters who gave undisclosed donations in 2019 also includes Suzanne Youngkin, the wife of Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, himself a possible presidential contender; former Pennsylvania Senate candidate and hedge fund executive David McCormick; and Vivek and Lakshmi Garipalli, members of a New Jersey family that has donated large sums to Democrats – but which gave Haley’s organization $1 million.”Fascist or not?It might have seemed an odd question even just a few years ago, but Joe Biden’s speech on Thursday night has put the word “fascism” squarely into mainstream American political discourse.His accusations that modern Republicans were behaving like semi-fascists certainty triggered questions to his top press spokesperson. The Biden administration – understandably – is standing behind the phrase.Reuters captures the scene:The actions of some Republicans allied to former President Donald Trump fit the definition of fascism, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday, a day after President Joe Biden said they edged toward “semi-fascism.”“I was very clear when laying out and defining what MAGA Republicans have done and you look at the definition of fascism and you think about what they’re doing in attacking our democracy. … That is what that is. It is very clear,” Jean-Pierre told a press briefing.MAGA refers to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. Fascism is a political philosophy that exalts nation and often race above the individual and supports an autocratic government led by a dictatorial leader involving the forced suppression of opposition, U.S. dictionary Merriam-Webster says.In response to Biden’s Thursday evening comments that Trump-allied Republicans embraced violence and hatred, and edged toward “semi-fascism,” the Republican National Committee called the remarks “despicable.”A key questionWashington Post columnist Helaine Olen seems to have hit the nail on the head with a very simple tweet. Answers on a postcard please… no redactions.What’s the innocent explanation for Trump keeping all these classified documents?— Helaine Olen (@helaineolen) August 26, 2022
      Arizona judge strikes blow against election fairness skepticsIn just one of many such scenes playing out in courts across the US, Republicans who believe Donald Trump’s unfounded claims of a stolen election and a fraudulent US voting process have suffered a set back.An Arizona judge has refused to require that Arizona officials count ballots by hand in November, dismissing a lawsuit filed by Republican nominees for governor and secretary of state based on false claims of problems with vote-counting machines.AP has more: Kari Lake, who is running for governor, and Mark Finchem, a secretary of state candidate, won their GOP primaries after aggressively promoting the narrative that the 2020 election was marred by fraud or widespread irregularities.Their lawsuit repeated unfounded allegations about the security of machines that count votes. They relied in part on testimony from Donald Trump supporters who led a discredited review of the election in Maricopa County, including Doug Logan, the CEO of Cyber Ninjas, who oversaw the effort described by supporters as a “forensic audit.”U.S. District Judge John Tuchi ruled that Lake and Finchem failed to show any realistic likelihood of harm and that their lawsuit must be brought in state, not federal, court. He also ruled that it is too close to the election to upend the process.“The 2022 Midterm Elections are set to take place on November 8,” Tuchi wrote. “In the meantime, Plaintiffs request a complete overhaul of Arizona’s election procedures.”Various reactions have been pouring out online over the affidavit. Virginia Democratic senator Mark Warner, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee said:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“It appears, based on the affidavit unsealed this morning, that among the improperly handled documents at Mar-a-Lago were some of our most sensitive intelligence * which is one reason the Senate Intelligence Committee has requested, on a bipartisan basis, a damage assessment of any national security threat posed by the mishandling of this information. The Department of Justice investigation must be allowed to proceed without interference.” Meanwhile, North Carolina Republican Representative Dan Bishop said: “So much for transparency,” tweeting alongside a photo of redacted sections of the affidavit. Bishop is a member of the House of Representatives Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. echoed similar sentiments online, tweeting a photo of the redacted affidavit with the caption, “Well this really clears things up.” Well this really clears things up. pic.twitter.com/6S2FxIQtSi— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 26, 2022
      Nina Lakhani and Oliver Milman report…Taking on the fossil fuel industry in West Virginia was always going to be a David v Goliath type battle, but after years of protests, lobbying and lawsuits, 68-year-old Becky Crabtree thought the community-led resistance had beaten the Mountain Valley pipeline (MVP) in a fair fight.So when news broke earlier in August that the state’s fossil-fuel friendly senator Joe Manchin had resurrected the pipeline, Crabtree, a high school science teacher who teaches students about the climate crisis, felt “numb”.Manchin, a conservative Democrat who receives more campaign financing from the fossil fuel industry – including pipeline companies – than any other lawmaker in Congress, had agreed to back his party’s historic climate legislation before the crucial midterm elections. But only after he negotiated a side-deal to fast-track the MVP.“It’s the unfairness that makes me so angry. It’s a deal with the devil,” said Crabtree, 68, who owns a 30-acre sheep farm in Lindside, Monroe county.Full story:‘It’s a deal with the devil’: outrage in Appalachia over Manchin’s ‘vile’ pipeline plan Read moreWhite House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has just finished briefing the media and taking questions and she was asked about Joe Biden’s remarks at a fundraiser last night where he referred to the “MAGA Republican philosophy” as akin to “semi-fascism”.Asked to explain what the US president meant by that remark, Jean-Pierre said of right-wing Republicans: “He was very powerful last night. When it comes to ‘MAGA Republicans’, when it comes to the extreme, ultra wing of the Republicans, they are attacking democracy, they are taking away rights and freedoms, they are using threats of violence, taking away voting rights, and he [Biden] called it what it is … and what many would argue, historians would agree with us on.”“He believes that presidents should be the strongest voice for democracy,” she added.Jean-Pierre also strove to differentiate between what she referred to as “traditional, conservative” Republicans and the [Trumpist] “Make America Great Again” rightwing loyalists to the former president.A quick recap, blog readers, it’s been a dramatic morning and there will be plenty more news over the coming few hours. But for now, here’s where things stand:
      Donald Trump has released a statement about the release of the government affidavit that underpinned the search of his Mar-a-Lago club and residence in Florida earlier this month. He posted it on Truth Social, his struggling social media platform that he created after being banned by Twitter.
      The US Department of Justice and the FBI had “probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction” would be found at Mar-a-Lago when it sought a warrant to search the property, the affidavit notes.
      The affidavit is replete with details that would provide “a roadmap” for anyone intent on obstructing the investigation.
      The affidavit reminds us of the context of the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, thus: “The government is conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as the unlawful concealment or removal of government records.”
      While the public waited for the affidavit to be released, we also noted that Joe Biden called the “MAGA Republican” philosophy “semi-fascism” last night, based on the anti-democratic efforts of the more extreme wing of the GOP that hews unfailingly to Trump.
      We have Donald Trump’s reaction, on Truth Social, the social media platform he set up after being kicked off Twitter over the Capitol attack….css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Affidavit heavily redacted!!! Nothing mentioned on “Nuclear,” a total public relations subterfuge by the FBI & DOJ, or our close working relationship regarding document turnover – WE GAVE THEM MUCH. Judge Bruce Reinhart should NEVER have allowed the Break-In of my home. He recused himself two months ago from one of my cases based on his animosity and hatred of your favorite President, me. What changed? Why hasn’t he recused himself on this case? Obama must be very proud of him right now!To unpick:
      “Nuclear” – it has been reported that some of the materials kept at Mar-a-Lago concerned nuclear weapons. And some concerned Emmanuel Macron, which, by the by, might interest Liz Truss. But anyway…
      “Break-in” – nope. Warrant duly served, etc, which is why we’re here.
      “Obama must be very proud” of the judge … we may all remember John Roberts, the chief justice of the supreme court, rebuking Trump for referring to “Obama judges”, etc. We may also all remember Trump’s pride at having installed a huge number of judges himself, including three on Roberts’ court. In short – judges are not meant to act politically but they are politically appointed. And so on.
      Of Judge Reinhart: he made a donation to Barack Obama in 2008. He also donated to Republicans, if not Donald J Trump.
      Attached to the affidavit is a letter from lawyers for Donald Trump, complaining of unfair treatment and asserting a president’s “absolute authority to declassify documents” – both features of his response to the search and the claims of his supporters in Republican ranks and on the right of the US media.The letter, signed by M Evan Corcoran of Silverman Thompson Slutkin White, begins:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Public trust in the government is low. At such times, adherence to the rules and long-standing policies is essential. President Donald J Trump is a leader of the Republican Party. The Department of Justice (DOJ), as part of the Executive Branch, is under the control of a President from the opposite party. It is critical, given that dynamic, that every effort is made to ensure that actions by DOJ that may touch upon the former President, or his close associates, do not involve politics.”I refer you back to President Joe Biden’s comment to reporters before the affidavit was filed today, when asked if he thought national security might have been compromised at Mar-a-Lago while Trump was storing classified documents there:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We’ll let the justice department determine that.”The lawyers’ letter conforms to Trump’s worldview, that attorneys general and the Department of Justice exist to serve presidents politically. Biden’s answer speaks for generally accepted wisdom, which is that the DoJ does not exist for that purpose and is in fact independent of any White House or administration. More

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      Biden decries Republican loyalty to Trump as ‘semi-fascism’

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      Biden decries Republican loyalty to Trump as ‘semi-fascism’ President condemns Republicans’ current political ideology in remarks at Democratic National Committee fundraiser In fiery remarks on Thursday night that set out a combative platform for Democrats ahead of the midterm elections, Joe Biden decried Republican loyalty to Donald Trump’s political brand as “semi-fascism”.The US president delivered a barbed speech in Maryland, calling out Trump as a threat to US democracy and decrying his penchant for embracing political violence and stoking anger.Biden went further at a $1m fundraiser in a wealthy suburb on the outskirts of Washington DC, before the campaign rally, condemning Republicans’ current political ideology as approaching “semi-fascism”.President Biden condemns MAGA at DNC fundraiser: “What we’re seeing now is the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy. It’s not just Trump, it’s the the entire philosophy that underpins the – I’m going to say something – it’s like semi-fascism.”— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) August 25, 2022“Trump and the extreme Maga Republicans have made their choice – to go backwards full of anger, violence, hate and division,” Biden told several thousand supporters at an event hosted by the Democratic National Committee at Richard Montgomery high school, nodding to Trump’s Make America Great Again (Maga) campaign slogan.The campaign rally kicked off a nationwide White House effort aimed at bolstering Democrats ahead of the midterm elections in November, as Biden and Democrats alike attempted to capitalize on frustration among voters.Chief among standout themes for Democrats are the US supreme court’s decision to overturn longstanding abortion protections, the recent passage of a historic climate, tax and healthcare package, and the White House’s decision to cancel millions of Americans’ student loan debt.All of this happens against the backdrop of a high-profile congressional investigation arguing that Trump, while in office, incited an “attempted coup” at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, as he struggled to stay in office despite his defeat by Biden in the 2020 election.During Thursday’s speech, Biden touted recent accomplishments and argued that Trump and Republicans increased the federal deficit by $2tn in tax cuts while Biden and Democrats reduced it with the recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.He described a rocky political terrain following the supreme court’s overturning of the landmark 1973 abortion case Roe v Wade, where Republican-controlled states have now put trigger laws into effect that prevent women obtaining an abortion there.If Republicans took control of Congress in the midterms, Biden argued, women “won’t have the right to choose anywhere”. He vowed to veto legislative attempts by Republicans to further restrict abortion access at the federal level.But if Democrats kept their wafer-thin control of the Senate and also kept the House, Biden pledged to offer a different “vision of a better America” providing voters turned out in November and make sure “no one ever has the opportunity to steal an election again”.Biden: “If we elect two more [Democratic] senators, we got a lot of unfinished business we’re gonna get done. Folks, look, we’re gonna codify Roe v Wade. We’ll ban assault weapons, we’ll protect Social Security & Medicare, we’ll pass Universal Pre-K …” pic.twitter.com/VIVc8tsFmn— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 26, 2022Biden warned on Thursday that “Democrats, independents and mainstream Republicans” needed to coalesce to push back against Trump-backed Republicans who, he noted, “refuse to accept the will of the people”.Biden winds down his speech in Maryland: “In this moment, those of you who love this country — Democrats, independents, mainstream Republicans — we must be stronger, more determined, & more committed to saving American than the MAGA Republicans are to destroying America” pic.twitter.com/NnSHnbqTnc— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 26, 2022“America must choose. You must choose,” Biden told supporters. “Whether our country will move forward or backward.”Earlier, Biden met Democratic donors for a $1m party fundraiser in a backyard in a leafy neighborhood north of Washington.Strolling with a handheld mic, Biden detailed the tumult facing the US and the world from the climate crisis. He spoke about economic upheaval and the future of China and was strongly critical of the direction of the Republican party.“We’re seeing now either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme Maga agenda. It’s not just Trump … It’s almost semi-fascism,” he said.Republicans are hoping to ride voter discontent with inflation, questions about Biden’s policies and cultural resentment from its majority white base to victory in November.The party that controls the White House usually loses seats in Congress in a new president’s first midterm elections.TopicsJoe BidenUS midterm elections 2022Donald TrumpUS politicsRepublicansDemocratsnewsReuse this content More

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      Saudi Arabia: The Story of the Missing and the Executed

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      The Fair Observer website uses digital cookies so it can collect statistics on how many visitors come to the site, what content is viewed and for how long, and the general location of the computer network of the visitor. These statistics are collected and processed using the Google Analytics service. Fair Observer uses these aggregate statistics from website visits to help improve the content of the website and to provide regular reports to our current and future donors and funding organizations. The type of digital cookie information collected during your visit and any derived data cannot be used or combined with other information to personally identify you. Fair Observer does not use personal data collected from its website for advertising purposes or to market to you.As a convenience to you, Fair Observer provides buttons that link to popular social media sites, called social sharing buttons, to help you share Fair Observer content and your comments and opinions about it on these social media sites. These social sharing buttons are provided by and are part of these social media sites. They may collect and use personal data as described in their respective policies. Fair Observer does not receive personal data from your use of these social sharing buttons. It is not necessary that you use these buttons to read Fair Observer content or to share on social media. More

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      in US Politics

      The lesson from Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness? Go big or go home | Hamilton Nolan

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      The lesson from Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness? Go big or go homeHamilton NolanBiden will get backlash from Republicans whether he does a little or a lot – so you might as well do a lot Politics is not like regular life; it’s worse. Things that are held as treasured virtues in the normal world are often political liabilities. We’ve all just been served with a shining example of how reflexive moderation – which is good when estimating measurements for recipes, or having drinks at a work party – becomes the tendency of a political fool. The wellbeing of countless Americans has long been sacrificed on the altar of moderation by the Democratic party, and all the Democrats win for it is maximal disgust.Share your views on Biden’s student loan forgiveness policy for millionsRead moreThis week Joe Biden announced that he will be canceling $10,000 in federal student loan debt (or $20,000 for Pell grant recipients) for people who earn under $125,000 a year. This policy is both unquestionably wise, and unquestionably a half-measure. There has long been a movement on the left to cancel all student debt, and even Democratic stalwarts like Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren were pushing for the cancellation of $50,000 in debt. Joe Biden was pulled towards this action, in large part, by his inability to get other, bigger economic policies through Congress. But even in taking unilateral action, he has succumbed to the overwhelming tendency of Clintonian Democrats to cut any good policy idea in half and call it political wisdom.And what did Biden earn for his unforced, personal decision to keep this program much smaller than it could have been? Within a day, mainstream Republican pundits and politicians called the policy an executive “coup”, “an abuse of the law”, “utterly revolting”, and a “fuck you to every financially responsible person”. Republicans in Congress screeched that it would cause wild and uncontrolled borrowing, and Mitch McConnell, predictably, called it “socialism”.In other words, Republicans – whose party has spent the past 50 years single-mindedly crushing worker power and funneling all of our nation’s proceeds to the rich – suddenly became very concerned that this policy might be regressive in its benefits. The party that prevented the passage of any broader measures that might have relieved not just student debt, but housing and healthcare costs and poverty wages, is now alarmed that this policy does not address all of those other matters. Republicans have taken one day off of trying to eradicate labor unions and destroy public education and put poor people in jail to theatrically moan about how this is unfair to all of the hardworking folks who didn’t go to college. Whatever.Here is the very simple lesson to take from this episode: you will get all of the backlash whether you do a little, or a lot. So do a lot. What is this loan forgiveness policy really driving at? It is, at its core, one small step on the road to a world in which America has free, high-quality, public higher education for all. We are not dreaming of a world in which student loan debt is somewhat smaller, but rather a world in which student loan debt does not need to exist. That is the goal we should reach. When, after many years of struggle, we get a chance to take a step down that road, make it a big step. To do otherwise is stupid. By slashing the debt relief number far down from what it could have been, Biden is acting like a man who is forced to rush into a burning building to save two kittens, and decides to break it up into two trips so his arms don’t get tired. Hey, buddy: let’s just get this thing done all at once.Incredibly, this basic truth of how politics works seems to forever elude Democrats. The issue of healthcare is an obvious parallel here. Free public healthcare – Medicare for all – is the intuitive, compassionate and eminently achievable goal that all of our peers in the wealthy western world have already built. So naturally, that goal is considered a fringe position in the Democratic party. Instead, Democrats have spent decades in the excruciating process of building and defending Obamacare, an insufficient half-measure that has cost the same amount of political capital and prompted the same amount of political opposition that Medicare for all would have, while leaving in place most of the ruinous flaws of our broken system. This resolute determination to never propose full solutions to our problems is proudly embraced by Democratic leadership and packaged into campaign ads as “reasonableness” and “moderation”.Of all of the perversities in American politics, the most frustrating is its conviction that idealism is a weakness. The conflation of defeatism with wisdom means that expressing the belief that we should just do what needs to be done in order to make the world a just place is enough to convince the political world that the speaker is a rube. This is ironic, because the very opposite is true, as anyone who has ever accomplished something ambitious can tell you. There is nothing more foolish than negotiating against yourself. That woeful quality has long been the hallmark of Democrats, who are like timid children who long to express themselves but are too scared to ever stray from the tepid crowd.What do we need? Public ownership of public goods for the public benefit. Public education, public healthcare, public transportation, public art. We are all the public, and helping the public is good. That’s called socialism, folks. Republicans will accuse the Democrats of it no matter what. Might as well stop shuffling along, and get right to it.
      Hamilton Nolan is a writer based in New York
      TopicsJoe BidenOpinionUS politicsBiden administrationUS student debtDemocratscommentReuse this content More

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      in US Politics

      ‘Democrats have their mojo’: has the tide shifted for Biden and his party?

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      ‘Democrats have their mojo’: has the tide shifted for Biden and his party?A flurry of wins – passage of a climate and healthcare package, and the Inflation Reduction Act – give hope for the midterm elections Joe Biden has transformed his rough July into a jubilant August. Last month, the US president was drowning in negative headlines about his handling of numerous crises, from the war in Ukraine to record-high gas prices and the apparent demise of his signature legislative proposal.Now, as the summer draws to a close, Biden is riding high, powered by the passage of Democrats’ climate and healthcare package and glimmers of hope for his party’s prospects in the midterm elections. That optimism was on vivid display on Thursday, as Biden took the stage for a rally held by the Democratic National Committee in Rockville, Maryland.Biden’s chief of staff says president is comparable to historic predecessorsRead more“We’ve come a long way in 18 months. Covid no longer controls our lives. A record number of Americans are working,” Biden told the cheering crowd. “We never gave up. We never gave in. We’re delivering for the American people now.”Biden’s speech offered a preview of Democrats’ closing message to voters as they enter the final sprint leading up to the November elections. With the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law and Roe v Wade overturned by the conservative-led supreme court, Democrats believe they have a successful strategy to win re-election this fall, and they are prepared to defy previous predictions of a Republican shellacking.“At the top of the year, it was almost like Democrats were counted out, and most were preparing for the absolute worst,” said Anthony Robinson, political director of the National Democratic Training Committee. “I think that we’re in a completely, completely different headspace going into the midterms. There’s still a lot to do, but I think there’s a definite shift in the tide.”This week saw fresh indicators that Democrats may be able to avoid the widespread losses usually suffered by the president’s party in the midterms. Democrat Pat Ryan narrowly won a special congressional election in upstate New York on Tuesday, giving him the chance to represent a bellwether district that flipped from supporting Donald Trump in 2016 to backing Biden in 2020. Democrats have similarly outperformed expectations in other recent special elections in Nebraska and Minnesota.Ryan focused his campaign on the need to protect abortion rights in the wake of the Roe reversal, which ended the federal right to abortion access. Democrats say Ryan’s campaign could provide a playbook to other candidates looking to motivate voters to go to the polls in November.“I think that he found what resonated in his community and met people where they are,” Robinson said. “It wasn’t about a bunch of figures and numbers. It was just about the raw emotion and that people’s lives are at stake. That’s something that I think is important to everyone.”The passage of Democrats’ spending package has also helped mitigate concerns that candidates would have little to campaign on, despite the party’s control of the White House and Congress. The Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law last week, includes $369bn in funds to reduce America’s planet-heating emissions and several provisions aimed at lowering healthcare costs, particularly for Medicare recipients.“Democrats have their mojo after passing numerous policies that will tangibly impact people’s lives, and now the key is to really sell it with confidence before the midterms,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “Lowering prescription drug prices, lowering healthcare costs and making water and air healthier for people’s kids is a very good message to take to voters who wonder, does it matter if I vote Democrat or vote at all?”Biden continued the string of victories on Wednesday, as he signed an executive order to cancel at least $10,000 in student loan debt for millions of borrowers. The order fell far short of what progressives had demanded, but even Democrats who had pushed for more debt cancellation celebrated the news.“At the end of the day, Biden exceeded the expectations of most progressives on what he would do on student debt,” Green said. “If people want more, they’re certainly not going to get it with Republicans. But this is going to wipe out debt completely for about 20 million people and be a giant chunk out of their debt for many others.”Before Thursday’s rally, Biden met Democratic donors for a $1m fundraiser, where he attacked Donald Trump and his Republican predecessor’s party loyalists and voter base.“We’re seeing now either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme Maga agenda,” he said, referring to Trump’s Make America Great Again campaign slogan. “It’s not just Trump … It’s almost semi-fascism,” Biden added.As Biden has enjoyed this recent wave of wins, his approval rating has ticked up as well, although it remains underwater. A Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Tuesday found that 41% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance, marking the first reading above 40% since early June.Earlier this month, Democrats overtook Republicans on the generic congressional ballot for the first time since last November, according to FiveThirtyEight.Those developments have led some election forecasters to shift their predictions for the November elections. FiveThirtyEight’s forecast model suggests Democrats are now slightly favored to maintain control of the Senate, and the Cook Political Report downgraded its outlook for Republican gains in the House after Ryan’s victory in New York.But Republicans are still favored to regain control of the House, reflecting the strong headwinds that Democrats face as they look toward November. Republicans secured several key victories in redistricting battles, giving them a more favorable House map. Considering Democrats’ extremely narrow majority in the House, redistricting alone may provide enough of an advantage for Republicans to recapture the lower chamber.Americans’ anxiety over the economy presents additional challenges for Democrats. Inflation is higher than it has been in more than 40 years, squeezing families’ budgets amid concerns that the US has entered a recession. An NBC News poll taken this month found that 74% of voters believe the country is on the wrong track, marking the fifth month in a row that the reading was over 70%.Republicans remain confident that the pessimistic national mood will convince voters to reject Democrats in November, and they predicted that the student debt cancelation would end up backfiring on Biden. Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, attacked the policy as a “bailout for the wealthy”.“Biden’s bailout unfairly punishes Americans who saved for college or made a different career choice, and voters see right through this short-sighted, poorly veiled vote-buy,” McDaniel said on Wednesday.Democrats acknowledge they still have their work cut out for them over the next three months, which is more than enough time for Republicans to address their sudden reversal in fortune. But as he addressed an exuberant crowd chanting “four more years”, Biden seemed more ready than ever to overcome historical trends and protect his party’s majorities in Congress this fall.“‘We the people’ are the first words of our constitution, and ‘we the people’ will still determine the destiny of America. If ‘we the people’ stand together, we will prevail,” Biden said on Thursday. “We just have to keep the faith. We just have to persevere. We just have to vote.”Reuters contributed reportingTopicsJoe BidenDemocratsBiden administrationUS politicsUS midterm elections 2022newsReuse this content More

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      US judge orders Trump Mar-a-Lago affidavit to be unsealed with redactions – as it happened

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      The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports that a federal judge has ordered a redacted version of the affidavit for the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago unsealed:Just in: Federal Judge orders the Trump Mar-a-Lago affidavit to be unsealed in part with redactions https://t.co/zzd7gNASgf— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) August 25, 2022
      Bruce Reinhart, the magistrate judge handling the case, gave the government until noon eastern time tomorrow to make the redacted document public.“I find that the Government has met its burden of showing a compelling reason/good cause to seal portions of the Affidavit,” Reinhart wrote in the filing. The portions that will be excluded include identifying information of witnesses, grand jury material and details of the investigation’s strategy and direction, he said.“I further find that the Government has met its burden of showing that its proposed redactions are narrowly tailored to serve the Government’s legitimate interest in the integrity of the ongoing investigation and are the least onerous alternative to sealing the entire Affidavit.”Tomorrow may bring more details of just what the FBI was looking for when it searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort earlier this month, after a federal judge ordered the affidavit for the search made public by Friday at noon eastern time. However, the justice department will redact the document first and could appeal the decision entirely, meaning it’s unclear how many new details will be released, if any.Here’s what else happened today:
      Barack Obama is set to appear at Democratic fundraisers ahead of the midterm elections, as the party aims to maintain its majority in the Senate.
      Trump’s former attorney general Bill Barr said the ex-president controls the Republican party through “extortion”.
      A brass band appeared before the White House to thank Joe Biden for relieving student debt, though some Democrats aren’t comfortable with the plan.
      The Biden administration plans to unveil a federal rule to protect “dreamers”, as undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children are known, but it could still face a court challenge.
      Texas, Tennessee and Idaho became the latest US states to ban abortion.
      Biden pledged continued support for Ukraine in a phone call with its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
      The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports that a federal judge has ordered a redacted version of the affidavit for the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago unsealed:Just in: Federal Judge orders the Trump Mar-a-Lago affidavit to be unsealed in part with redactions https://t.co/zzd7gNASgf— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) August 25, 2022
      Bruce Reinhart, the magistrate judge handling the case, gave the government until noon eastern time tomorrow to make the redacted document public.“I find that the Government has met its burden of showing a compelling reason/good cause to seal portions of the Affidavit,” Reinhart wrote in the filing. The portions that will be excluded include identifying information of witnesses, grand jury material and details of the investigation’s strategy and direction, he said.“I further find that the Government has met its burden of showing that its proposed redactions are narrowly tailored to serve the Government’s legitimate interest in the integrity of the ongoing investigation and are the least onerous alternative to sealing the entire Affidavit.”In Alabama, The Guardian’s Sam Levine has the story of how one resident’s lawsuit opened the door for a majority Black city to finally have a city council representative of its racial makeup:A few years ago, Eric Calhoun felt out of touch with his city council in Pleasant Grove, a small Alabama city of just under 10,000 people outside of Birmingham.Calhoun, who is 71 and has lived in the city for nearly three decades, couldn’t find contact information for any of the five council members online. During the 2016 election, none of the white candidates running asked him for his vote. Voters in the city had never elected a Black person to the city council. Calhoun, like 61% of the city, is Black.In 2018, Calhoun became a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit that argued the racial makeup of the city council in Pleasant Grove was not an accident. The way the city was choosing its city council candidates made nearly impossible for a Black candidate to get elected. Essentially, the city allowed city council candidates to run citywide, instead of in districts, allowing blocs of white voters in the city to come together and defeat candidates preferred by Black voters.He challenged his all-white city council in Alabama. Now he’s on itRead moreIn yet another sign that the two men are no longer friends, Bill Barr, Donald Trump’s attorney general from 2019 until just before the end of his time in the White House, accused the former president of using “extortion” to control Republicans.The comments came during an interview with Barr on podcast Honestly with Bari Weiss:Former Attorney General Bill Barr accuses Donald Trump of using “extortion” to “exert control over the Republican Party”:”That shows what he’s all about. He’s all about himself.” pic.twitter.com/EgPVwXUghQ— The Recount (@therecount) August 25, 2022
      The Associated Press reports that guilty pleas have been entered in the bizarre case of two people in Florida who tried to sell possessions belonging to Joe Biden’s daughter to conservative activists:Two Florida residents have pleaded guilty in a scheme to sell a diary and other items belonging to Joe Biden’s daughter to the conservative group Project Veritas for $40,000, prosecutors said on Thursday.Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property, the office of the Manhattan US attorney Damian Williams said.“Harris and Kurlander sought to profit from their theft of another person’s personal property, and they now stand convicted of a federal felony as a result,” Williams said.Requests for comment were sent to lawyers for Harris, 40, of Palm Beach, and Kurlander, 58, and to Project Veritas.Duo plead guilty to plot to sell Biden daughter’s stolen diary to Project VeritasRead moreUS president Joe Biden called Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy today, and reaffirmed his support for the country against Russia’s invasion.Here’s the full readout from the White House:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. He congratulated Ukraine on its Independence Day and expressed his admiration for the people of Ukraine, who have inspired the world as they defended their country’s sovereignty over the past six months. He reaffirmed the United States’ continued support for Ukraine and provided an update on the ongoing provision of security assistance, including yesterday’s announcement of nearly $3 billion to support Ukraine’s defense capabilities for the long term. The two leaders also called for Russia to return full control of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant to Ukraine and for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access to the plant. And here’s Zelenskiy’s take:Had a great conversation with @POTUS. Thanked for the unwavering U.S. support for Ukrainian people – security and financial. We discussed Ukraine’s further steps on our path to the victory over the aggressor and importance of holding Russia accountable for war crimes. pic.twitter.com/4edng8vkvn— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 25, 2022
      Joe Biden announces $3bn in fresh Ukraine military aidRead moreA federal grand jury found a Florida man guilty on hate crime charges for a “racially motivated” attack on a Black man traveling with his family in Seminole, 24 miles west of Tampa, the US justice department announced on Thursday.The Black man, identified only by as “JT”, was driving with his daughter and girlfriend last August when Jordan Patrick Leahy, 29, spewed racial slurs and attempted to run him off the road for nearly a mile.The two drivers then encountered each other at a light, where Leahy got out of his car and “tried to assault” the Black man as he continued to yell racist invective, prosecutors said.Hate crimes, especially against Black, Asian and Jewish Americans, climbed across the US throughout the coronavirus pandemic.Florida man found guilty on hate crime charges for attacking Black manRead moreThe Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget is in touch about Joe Biden’s student debt cancellation plan, and unsurprisingly it is not happy.The nonpartisan Washington think tank says: “President Biden yesterday announced a set of changes to student loans – including cancellation of up to $20,000 for some borrowers – that will cost between $440bn and $600bn over the next ten years, with a central estimate of roughly $500bn. “Combined with today’s announcement, the federal government’s actions on student loans since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic have cost roughly $800bn. Of that amount, roughly $750bn is due to executive action and regulatory changes.”The CRFB adds: “It is extremely troubling to see the administration reverse the legislative progress made on deficit reduction. “It is long past time that student debt repayments resume, and now it is even more important for policymakers to enact changes that reduce deficits through spending reductions and revenue increases in order to put the national debt on a downward sustainable path.”Here’s more on Biden’s plan, from Edwin Rios:Biden says his student loan relief is ‘life-changing’. Will it fix the system’s inequities?Read moreThe Democratic candidate for governor in Texas, Beto O’Rourke, has released his first general election ads targeting his opponent, the incumbent Republican, Greg Abbott – and the subject is abortion. The ads on an issue proving electorally productive for Democrats across the US as the midterm elections approach, come on the day Texas’s stringent post-Roe v Wade abortion ban goes into effect.One says: “From this day forward, 25 August, women all across Texas are no longer free to make decisions about our own body, no longer free to choose if a pregnancy is right for us or our families, not even in cases of rape or incest. “And women will die because of it. Because of Greg Abbott’s abortion law. It’s too extreme. So I’m voting for Beto, who will give women are freedom back.”Another features a couple, the woman described as a “lifelong Democrat”, the man a “lifelong Republican”.“Of course people are going to disagree on the big issues,” the woman says. “But Greg Abbott signed the most extreme abortion ban in the United States. The man says: “No exception for rape? No exception for incest? $100,000 fines and jail time?” The woman: “Only 11% of Texans agree with it.” The man: “I mean, this is a free country. We need a governor that gets that. That’s Beto.”Polling gives Abbott nearly nine points up on O’Rourke. But here’s Lauren Gambino with a look about how focusing on the supreme court ruling which removed the right to an abortion has paid off so far for Democrats:Democrats’ hopes rise for midterms amid backlash over abortion accessRead moreThree US states saw abortion trigger bans kick-in on Thursday, Tennessee, Texas and Idaho joining eight other states that have formally outlawed the procedure since the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in June.Depending on the state, trigger laws are designed to take effect either immediately following the overturn of Roe or 30 days after the supreme court’s transmission of its judgement, which happened on 26 July.Nearly one in three women between the ages of 15 to 44 live in states where abortion has been banned or mostly banned. According to US census data, that is nearly 21 million women.“More people will lose abortion access across the nation as bans take effect in Texas, Tennessee and Idaho. Vast swaths of the nation, especially in the south and midwest, will become abortion deserts that, for many, will be impossible to escape,” Nancy Northup, chief executive of the Center of Reproductive Rights, said in a statement.“Evidence is already mounting of women being turned away despite needing urgent, and in some cases life-saving, medical care. This unfolding public health crisis will only continue to get worse. We will see more and more of these harrowing situations, and once state legislatures reconvene in January, we will see even more states implement abortion bans and novel laws criminalizing abortion providers, pregnant people, and those who help them.”More:Slew of trigger laws kick in as three more US states ban abortionsRead moreTaiwan has a new American visitor: Republican senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.I just landed in Taiwan to send a message to Beijing — we will not be bullied.  The United States remains steadfast in preserving freedom around the globe, and will not tolerate efforts to undermine our nation and our allies. pic.twitter.com/yVcaYN7yIA— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) August 25, 2022
      She elaborated on her reasons for visiting the island in a statement:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Taiwan is our strongest partner in the Indo-Pacific Region. Regular high-level visits to Taipei are long-standing U.S. policy. I will not be bullied by Communist China into turning my back on the island. During my visit to Taiwan, I look forward to hearing directly from the nation’s leadership about their needs and how we can support freedom for the Taiwanese people. I look forward to meeting with leaders in Taipei to advance and strengthen our partnerships.Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island enraged China, which launched military exercises in response. But since then, more American lawmakers have visited what Beijing considers to be a breakaway province.US congressional delegation visits Taiwan on heels of Pelosi tripRead moreThe wheels of justice have ground forward ever so slowly in Donald Trump’s various court battles today. The justice department appears to have submitted the redactions it proposes should a judge decide to release the affidavit for the Mar-a-Lago search. Meanwhile, the ex-president’s lawyers are due to respond to another judge’s questions about their own lawsuit over the case.Here’s what else happened today:
      Barack Obama is set to appear at Democratic fundraisers ahead of the midterm elections, as the party aims to maintain its majority in the Senate.
      A brass band appeared before the White House to thanks Joe Biden for relieving some student debt, though some Democrats aren’t comfortable with the plan.
      The Biden administration plans to unveil a federal rule to protect “dreamers”, as undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children are known, but it could still face a court challenge.
      It appears the justice department has filed its proposed redactions to the affidavit in the Mar-a-Lago search, the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports:Just in: New entry on the Trump Mar-a-Lago docket — under seal — appears to indicate the Justice Dept has now filed proposed redactions for the FBI affidavit— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) August 25, 2022
      Another lawyer for Donald Trump who assisted in his attempt to overturn the result of the 2020 election has filed a court motion resisting a subpoena for his appearance before a special grand jury in Georgia, Politico reports.The panel in Fulton county is looking into election meddling in the state two years ago, and has already heard from testimony Rudy Giuliani, who was informed he is a target of its investigation.JUST IN: Kenneth Chesebro, one of the architects of Donald Trump’s plan to remain in power, is suing to block a Fulton County Grand Jury subpoena, claiming he’s bound by attorney-client privilege to the Trump campaign.https://t.co/r0RWoRI0y0 pic.twitter.com/ypvHxXbd22— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 25, 2022
      Republican senator Lindsey Graham has also been subpoenaed by the grand jury, but is currently fighting it in court. More

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      Duo plead guilty to plot to sell Biden daughter’s stolen diary to Project Veritas

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      Duo plead guilty to plot to sell Biden daughter’s stolen diary to Project VeritasAimee Harris stole items from Ashley Biden’s room and conspired Robert Kurlander to sell them to activist group, prosecutors say Two people have pleaded guilty in a scheme to peddle a diary and other items belonging to Joe Biden’s daughter to the conservative group Project Veritas for $40,000, prosecutors said Thursday.The two, both from Florida, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property, Manhattan US attorney Damian Williams’s office said.While authorities did not identify Biden, the type of property stolen or the organization that paid, the details of the investigation have been public for months.“Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander pled guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property involving the theft of personal belongings of an immediate family member of a then former government official who was a candidate for national political office,” the US attorney’s office in the southern district of New York announced in a statement on Thursday.Ashley Biden stored the diary, tax records, a digital device with family photos and a cellphone in September 2020 in a Delray Beach, Florida, home where one of the defendants was living at the time, prosecutors said in a release.According to case interviews and documents reviewed by the New York Times, Biden left her belongings in the home of a friend at that time and planned to collect them later that year. The friend, who also knew Harris, allowed Harris to also stay at the home as she was embroiled in a custody dispute and was facing financial struggles.Prosecutors said Harris stole the items and got in touch with the other defendant, a man who contacted Project Veritas, which asked for photos of the material and then paid for the two to bring it to New York.According to Williams, the pair sold the property for “$40,000 and even returned to take more of the victim’s property when asked to do so. Harris and Kurlander sought to profit from their theft of another person’s personal property, and they now stand convicted of a federal felony as a result.”Trump applauds far-right provocateurs during ‘social media summit’Read moreProject Veritas has said it received the diary from “tipsters” who said it had been abandoned in a room. The activist group, which identifies itself as a news organization, said it turned the journal over to law enforcement and never did anything illegal.According to the group and its founder, James O’Keefe, Project Veritas “was not involved in any theft of property and that all of Project Veritas’s information on how the confidential sources found the property came from the sources themselves”.When asked earlier this year by New York magazine whether he had a right to publish the diary’s details, O’Keefe replied: “Someone can provide information to me – a third party – and I have a first amendment right to publish that.”Project Veritas is best known for conducting hidden camera stings that have embarrassed news outlets, labor organizations and Democratic politicians.In efforts to verify the diary’s authenticity, a Project Veritas operative attempted to deceive Biden during a phone call into confirming that the diary did actually belong to her.According to Biden’s lawyers, the group then contacted them in efforts to land an interview with her father prior to the election. Biden’s lawyers, who then reached out to federal prosecutors, accused the group of its “extortionate effort to secure an interview”.Both Harris and Kurlander, who were released from custody after the court hearing, apologized for their actions. “I sincerely apologize for any actions and know what I did was illegal,” said Harris, according to the New York Times.“I know what I did was wrong and awful and I apologize,” said Kurlander.The pair pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property. The count carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. They also each agreed to forfeit $20,000, according to the attorney’s office.Associated Press contributed to this articleTopicsUS crimeJoe BidenFloridaNew YorkUS politicsnewsReuse this content More