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    Mitch McConnell rejects speculation about future amid concerns over health

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    Mitch McConnell rejected speculation about his future as Republican leader in the US Senate, telling reporters: “I’m going to finish my term as leader and I’m going to finish my Senate term.”The remarks on Wednesday came amid intense speculation about the 81-year-old Kentucky senator’s health, after two recent freezes in front of reporters, one on Capitol Hill in July and another in McConnell’s home state last week.“I think Dr [Brian P] Monahan covered [the question of my health] fully,” McConnell said, regarding two public letters in which the congressional physician has discussed possible causes of the freezes and cleared his patient to continue working.The first letter said McConnell might be suffering the after-effects of a concussion, sustained in a fall in March, or from dehydration. The second letter said McConnell was not suffering from a “seizure disorder”, a stroke or a “movement disorder such as Parkinson’s disease”. That letter also called McConnell’s freeze in Kentucky last week a “brief episode”.“I have no announcement to make on that subject,” McConnell said.McConnell is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history, in place since 2007. His power over his caucus has rarely been questioned but health scares including the freezes and a series of falls have stoked speculation about whether he will finish his seventh six-year term, which ends in January 2027.Earlier, in a sign of growing uncertainty in Senate Republican ranks, McConnell’s fellow Kentuckian, Rand Paul, cast doubt on the assurances from congressional physician.Paul, once a practising opthalmologist, told reporters: “When you get dehydrated you don’t have moments when your eyes look in the distance with a vacant look and you’re sort of basically unconscious with your eyes open. That’s not a symptom of dehydration.”Monahan has also said “several medical evaluations” of McConnell included “brain MRI imaging, EEG [electroencephalogram] study and consultations with several neurologists for a comprehensive neurology assessment”.Paul said: “It is a medical mistake to say someone doesn’t have a seizure disorder because they have a normal EEG.“My point is that I’m just trying to counter the misinformation from the Senate doctor. It is basically not believable to come up and say that what’s going on is dehydration. It makes it worse.”Paul also said his remarks had “nothing to do with [McConnell’s] fitness to serve and whether he’s doing a good job or a bad job”.According to Fox News, McConnell used a closed-door party luncheon to reassure senators he was up to the job. Rick Scott of Florida, who challenged McConnell last year, told Fox McConnell did well.But press attention to McConnell’s health has been constant since he fell in Washington in March, sustaining injuries that kept him away from Capitol Hill, and since he froze in front of congressional reporters in July. Other falls were reported then, including a “face plant” at an airport.Polling shows most Americans think many politicians stay in their roles too long. More than 75% think that at 80, Joe Biden is too old for a second term as president.McConnell is a member of the oldest Senate on record. He is however nine years younger than the oldest senator, 90-year-old Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, and eight years younger than the oldest Republican, Chuck Grassley of Iowa. More

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      Aide to Senator Rand Paul critically wounded in Washington DC stabbing

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      A member of Senator Rand Paul’s staff was stabbed and critically wounded in Washington on Saturday in an attack that is likely to raise fears about violence in the nation’s capital.“This past weekend a member of my staff was brutally attacked in broad daylight in Washington DC,” the Kentucky senator said in a statement to ABC News late Monday. “I ask you to join [wife] Kelley and me in praying for a speedy and complete recovery, and thanking the first responders, hospital staff, and police for their diligent actions” after the stabbing.According to a police report obtained by the outlet, officers responded at about 5.15pm to a call about a stabbing fewer than two miles north-east of the US Capitol.The victim, who has not been named, was treated on the scene for “stab wounds” and was seen by a witness “bleeding from the head”, and was later hospitalized for “treatment of life-threatening injuries”, the report states.A suspect is reported to have been taken into custody and is being held without bail.On Monday, DC police said that 42-year-old local resident Glynn Neal was arrested in connection with the attack on counts of assault with intent to kill and wielding a knife. Neal reportedly told police officers a voice had threatened to get him before the attack occurred.According to one of two witnesses cited in the police report, the suspect had “popped out of the corner” and stabbed the Paul staffer multiple times.The victim “was able to grab [the suspect’s] arms” and the witness with him tackled the suspect, “leading to a struggle between the parties”. The victim and the witness ran as the suspect fled, the report added.“We are relieved to hear the suspect has been arrested,” Paul’s statement said. “At this time we would ask for privacy so everyone can focus on healing and recovery”. More

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      Joe Biden scraps plan to nominate anti-abortion lawyer to Kentucky judgeship

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      Joe Biden scraps plan to nominate anti-abortion lawyer to Kentucky judgeshipSenator Rand Paul announced Friday he would not consent to Chad Meredith’s nomination, vetoing the president’s effort After weeks of criticism from fellow Democrats and abortion advocacy groups, Joe Biden has deserted plans to nominate an anti-abortion lawyer to be a federal judge in Kentucky.The White House said on Friday that Republican Kentucky senator Rand Paul would not be consenting to the nomination of Chad Meredith, effectively vetoing Biden’s move to put him on the bench.Biden planned to nominate anti-abortion lawyer to federal judgeship, emails showRead more“In considering potential district court nominees, the White House learned that Senator Rand Paul will not return a blue slip on Chad Meredith,” said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates on Friday, referring to the “blue slip” tradition that allows senators to veto judicial nominations from their home states. “Therefore, the White House will not nominate Mr Meredith.”Had Biden nominated Meredith, the attorney’s promotion to the court would have been unusual in the lineup of Biden’s judicial picks. The president has made it a point to nominate people from underrepresented backgrounds, public defenders and those with experience in civil rights law to the court instead of the usual slate of corporate lawyers and prosecutors.Meredith served as chief deputy general counsel to former Republican Kentucky governor Matt Bevin, who was in office from 2015 to 2019. In this role, Meredith helped the state defend a 2017 law that required doctors to perform ultrasounds and show images of the fetus to patients before performing an abortion. The law was ultimately upheld by a federal appeals court.Working under Bevin, Meredith also helped put together the former governor’s slate of controversial pardons, which included people convicted of murder and rape, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.After Bevin left office, Meredith began working for a private law firm in Cincinnati, Ohio.News of his nomination was first reported by the Courier-Journal on 29 June. Democrats started hounding the White House for an explanation behind its intention to nominate the anti-abortion lawyer on the heels of the 24 June US supreme court decision overturning the nationwide right to terminate pregnancies embedded in Roe v Wade.In a group statement, a coalition of national abortion advocacy groups denounced news of the potential nomination.“We are in this moment because anti-abortion judges were intentionally nominated at every level to take away our fundamental right to abortion – and given his record, we know Chad Meredith would be no exception,” the statement read.When White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was questioned about the potential nomination, she said, “We make it a point here to not comment on any vacancy, whether it is on the executive branch or the judicial branch, especially those where the nomination has not been made yet.”While the White House has been quiet behind its reasoning for considering Meredith, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said that Biden was close to taking up his judicial pick “as a personal friendship gesture”, the Kentucky senator told the New York Times. McConnell said that no specific deal between himself and Biden was made, and it simply represented the “collegiality” that exists between them.Paul, who ultimately shut the nomination down, has not commented on his veto of Meredith’s nomination. McConnell suggested to the Times that Paul may believe it is his turn to pick a judicial nominee, though he has not made such an agreement on judicial nominees with Paul.TopicsKentuckyUS politicsJoe BidenAbortionDemocratsRand PaulUS justice systemnewsReuse this content More

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      Rand Paul promises Covid review if Republicans retake Senate in midterms

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      Rand Paul promises Covid review if Republicans retake Senate in midtermsKentucky senator who has clashed publicly with Dr Anthony Fauci champions lab leak theory in remarks at rally The Kentucky senator Rand Paul promised on Saturday to wage a vigorous review into the origins of the coronavirus if Republicans retake the Senate and he lands a committee chairmanship.This Will Not Pass review: Trump-Biden blockbuster is dire reading for DemocratsRead moreSpeaking to supporters at a campaign rally, the senator denounced what he sees as government overreach in response to Covid-19. He applauded a recent judge’s order that voided the federal mask mandate on planes and trains and in travel hubs.“Last week I was on an airplane for the first time in two years and didn’t have to wear a mask,” he said, drawing cheers. “And you know what I saw in the airport? I saw at least 97% of the other free individuals not wearing masks.”Paul has clashed repeatedly with Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, over government policies and the origins of the virus.Paul, who is seeking a third term, said he was in line to assume a committee chairmanship if the GOP wins Senate control. The Senate has a 50-50 split, with the vice-president, Kamala Harris, the tie-breaking vote.“When we take over in November, I will be chairman of a committee and I will have subpoena power,” Paul said. “And we will get to the bottom of where this virus came from.”The senator, an ophthalmologist before politics, continued to offer his theory about the origins of the virus.02:49“If you look at the evidence, overwhelmingly, not 100%, but overwhelmingly the evidence points to this virus being a leak from a lab,” Paul said.Many US conservatives have accused Chinese scientists of developing Covid-19 in a lab and allowing it to leak.US intelligence agencies remain divided on the origins of the coronavirus but believe China did not know about the virus before the start of the global pandemic, according a Biden-ordered review released last summer.The scientific consensus remains that the virus most likely migrated from animals. So-called “spillover events” occur in nature and there are at least two coronaviruses that evolved in bats and caused human epidemics, SARS1 and MERS.At the Kentucky rally, the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, the state’s senior senator, also pointed to Paul’s opportunity to lead a committee. If that occurs, he said, Paul would become chairman of “one of the most important committees in the Senate – in charge of health, education, labor and pensions”.McConnell was upbeat about Republican prospects in November.“I’ve never seen a better environment for us than this year,” said McConnell, who is in line to again become majority leader.The rally featured other prominent Kentucky Republicans, including several considering running for governor in 2023, when Andy Beshear, a Democrat, will seek a second term.In his speech, Paul railed against socialism, saying it would encroach on individual liberties. The senator was first elected to the Senate in the Tea Party wave of 2010.02:21“When President Trump said he wanted to ‘Make America Great Again’, I said, ‘Amen,’” Paul said. “But let’s understand what made America great in the first place, and that’s freedom, constitutionally guaranteed liberty.”Charles Booker is by far the best known Democrats seeking their party’s nomination for Paul’s seat in the 17 May primary. Paul is being challenged by several little-known candidates. A general election campaign between Paul and Booker would be a battle between candidates with starkly different philosophies.Booker, a Black former state lawmaker, narrowly lost a bid for the Democratic nomination in 2020. He is a progressive who touts Medicare for all, anti-poverty programs, a clean-energy agenda and criminal justice changes.Paul, a former presidential candidate, has accumulated a massive fundraising advantage.Kentucky has not elected a Democrat to the US Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992.TopicsRepublicansRand PaulUS midterm elections 2022CoronavirusUS politicsDemocratsAnthony FaucinewsReuse this content More

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      YouTube suspends Rand Paul for video claiming masks ‘don’t prevent infection’

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      YouTubeYouTube suspends Rand Paul for video claiming masks ‘don’t prevent infection’Video platform suspends Republican senator, in latest move against a public figure who has spread Covid disinformation Maya YangWed 11 Aug 2021 13.26 EDTLast modified on Wed 11 Aug 2021 15.04 EDTYouTube suspended Republican senator Rand Paul on Tuesday for seven days over a video claiming that masks are ineffective against Covid-19.It is the latest move against a prominent public figure who has spread disinformation about ways to protect against the virus or about the vaccines developed to fight it.“We removed content from Senator Paul’s channel for including claims that masks are ineffective in preventing the contraction or transmission of Covid-19, in accordance with our Covid-19 medical misinformation policies,” a YouTube spokesperson said. “This resulted in a first strike on the channel, which means it can’t upload content for a week, per our longstanding three strikes policy,” the spokesperson added.In the removed video, Paul cast doubt on the effectiveness of masks, saying, “Most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work. They don’t prevent infection,” before adding, “Trying to shape human behavior isn’t the same as following the actual science, which tells us that cloth masks don’t work.”Many public health experts have advised using masks, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) first recommended the public wear cloth masks in April 2020. More recently the CDC advised vaccinated people to wear masks indoors in Delta surge areas.Last month Paul clashed with Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, during a heated discussion about the virus. At one point Fauci said, “Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly.”Responding to the YouTube ban, the Republican senator said on Twitter: “A badge of honor … leftwing cretins at Youtube banning me for 7 days for a video that quotes 2 peer reviewed articles saying cloth masks don’t work.”Last week, YouTube removed a Newsmax interview with Paul in which he said that “there’s no value” in wearing masks.Paul’s current strike will be lifted from his account after 90 days if there are no more violations. A second strike within the 90 days will result in a two-week suspension, followed by a permanent ban if his account accrues a third strike.YouTube’s suspension of Paul’s account was issued a day after Twitter suspended Republican Senator Marjorie Taylor Greene’s account for one week for violating the platform’s Covid-19 misinformation rules.TopicsYouTubeRand PaulCoronavirusUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Fauci to Rand Paul: 'You do not know what you are talking about' – video

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      Top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci got into a heated discussion with Republican Senator Rand Paul during a Senate hearing on the coronavirus. Paul pressed Fauci on previous comments made to the committee about funding for a lab in Wuhan, China, ‘You take an animal virus and you increase its transmissibility to humans, you’re saying that’s not ‘gain of function’?’ To which Fauci replied, ‘Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly. And, I want to say that officially. You do not know what you are talking about’

      ‘If anybody is lying here, it is you’: Fauci turns tables on inquisitor Rand Paul More

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      'Say her name': Rand Paul confronted by protesters over after Republican convention – video

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      A group of angry protesters has confronted senator Rand Paul near the White House in Washington DC. As Rand walked through the crowd with his wife, demonstrators chanted ‘say her name’, in reference to Breonna Taylor, a black woman from Kentucky who was shot dead by police in May. After the incident, Paul tweeted to say that he had been ‘attacked by an angry mob of over 100’.
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      Republicans unable to resist ominous themes as day two of convention looms

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      Republicans launched into their national convention promising an upbeat take on the country’s prospects and a compelling case for why Donald Trump deserves four more years in the White House.Portions of the program seemed to deliver on that upbeat promise, as when, on the first night, South Carolina’s Tim Scott, the sole black Republican in the Senate, argued that the US is not in the grip of a crisis of bitterness and bigotry.“America is not a racist country,” reassured former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, once the country’s first female Indian American governor, in a separate address.But as Tuesday’s second night approached, the party seemed increasingly unable to resist the lure of more ominous themes, of the kind that have animated Trump’s political base since he used his 2017 inaugural address to warn of an incipient “American carnage”.Trump has once again set out to pitch himself as the strongman savior of a country beset by insecurity, rancor and a health crisis – hoping somehow to avoid responsibility for what critics say have been costly lapses in leadership.The convention was scheduled to continue on Tuesday with an anchoring speech by the first lady, Melania Trump.What you heard was a parade of dark and divisive fearmongeringKate Bedingfield, Biden campaign“I can tell you every word from this speech is from her,” Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s chief of staff, told reporters. Four years ago in Cleveland, to huge controversy, Melania Trump’s speech turned out in parts to be remarkably similar to remarks by Michelle Obama.This year, also controversially, the first lady was to speak from the White House grounds, in violation of both tradition and federal law dictating a divide between political activities and the conduct of elected office. Footage of Trump at the White House was likewise broadcast on Monday.Additional controversy brewed as the reporter Yashar Ali said Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former friend and adviser of Melania Trump, “taped the first lady” making “harsh comments about Ivanka Trump, the president’s elder daughter and a senior adviser”. Wolkoff has a book coming out in September.In a further departure from norms separating politics and government, Mike Pompeo was scheduled to become the first sitting secretary of state to address a political convention.Other speakers slated for Tuesday included Eric and Tiffany Trump, the president’s children; the Kentucky senator Rand Paul; the Iowa governor, Kim Reynolds, and Nicholas Sandmann, a teen who successfully sued media organizations after an interaction with a Native American activist.That was to follow an appearance on Monday night by a couple who have also featured prominently in the culture wars, Mark and Patricia McCloskey of St Louis, Missouri. They face felony charges for brandishing firearms at anti-racism protesters earlier this summer.“Make no mistake, no matter where you live,” Patricia McCloskey said, “your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats’ America. What you saw happen to us could just as easily happen to any of you who are watching from quiet neighborhoods around our country.”Joe Biden is basically the Loch Ness Monster of the swampDonald Trump JrThe most animated speakers of the convention’s first night, including Donald Trump Jr, the president’s oldest son, warned about the supposedly destructive intentions of Democrats everywhere; the threats facing “western civilization” that only Trump could repel; the perniciousness of “cancel culture”; and the danger “quiet neighborhoods” face from “anarchy and chaos in our streets”.“What you heard was a parade of dark and divisive fearmongering designed to distract from the fact that Donald Trump does not have an affirmative case to make to the American people about why he should be re-elected,” said Kate Bedingfield, deputy campaign manager of the Joe Biden campaign.But after a virtual Democratic national convention that won praise for its relatable nature in a connected age, political analysts on both sides of the aisle credited Republicans for interweaving traditional set pieces – including the official roll-call vote to nominate Trump – with unexpected moments.Some speakers appeared on the verge of being carried away with zeal.“Ladies and gentlemen,” shouted Kimberly Guilfoyle, a top fundraiser and Trump Jr’s girlfriend, in a clip happily lampooned online. “Leaders and fighters for freedom and liberty and the American dream: The best. Is yet. To come!”In his own unnaturally energetic speech, Trump Jr warned that the left was trying to “cancel the Founders”.“Joe Biden is basically the Loch Ness Monster of the swamp,” Trump Jr said of the Democratic nominee and Washington DC, a supposed “swamp” of iniquity and corruption his father has promised to drain.“For the past half century, he has been lurking around in there. He sticks his head up every now and then to run for president.”One of Trump’s greatest political liabilities, disapproval over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, was treated as an asset, with a set piece in which frontline healthcare workers and emergency responders credited Trump with saving lives. More