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      Miami Grand Prix organizers stop plans for Trump fundraiser in luxury suite

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      Officials with the Miami Grand Prix recently halted a Donald Trump presidential campaign fundraiser being planned for the upcoming Formula One race, sending a cease-and-desist letter to its organizer.A Miami Grand Prix representative notified Steven Witkoff, a close friend of Trump, that Witkoff would not be allowed to use a suite at the race to fundraise for the former president, the Washington Post first reported.Witkoff allegedly plotted to host a political fundraiser at the Paddock Club rooftop suite, charging potential attendees $250,000 a ticket to attend.The Paddock suite facilities at the F1 race are fairly exclusive, providing guests with better views of the racetrack and other perks, according to the F1 experiences website.In a letter to Witkoff obtained by the Post, Miami Grand Prix organizers said: “It has come to our attention that you may be using your Paddock Club Rooftop Suite for a political purpose, namely raising money for a federal election at $250,000 a ticket, which clearly violates the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix suite license agreement … If this is true, we regret to inform you that your suite license will be revoked, you will not be allowed to attend the race at any time, and we will refund you in full.”The Guardian could not immediately reach a representative of the Miami Grand Prix.The event had previously been advertised in a newsletter for the Shell Bay Club in Florida, an exclusive golf club Witkoff’s real estate company helped develop.According to the advertisement viewed by the Post, an invitation to the cancelled political fundraiser included a helicopter trip and other amenities. Multiple people called Miami Grand Prix officials and asked about the event.It’s unclear if Trump was going to make an appearance at the fundraiser. Trump is expected to attend the Miami Grand Prix, which is on 5 May, Newsweek reported. Secret Service agents reportedly contacted race officials to coordinate Trump’s attendance, the Post reported.Witkoff is a longtime associate of Trump. He recently testified on the former president’s behalf during a New York financial fraud case, in which Trump, his eldest sons and associates were ordered to pay over $350m plus pre-judgment interest.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionIn a phone call with the Post, Witkoff denied any wrongdoing, claiming: “This is something fake, for sure.” He did not elaborate further.The fiasco at the Miami Grand Prix is not the first time officials affiliated with a popular racing series have rejected political associations.Organizers with the Indy 500 race rejected a request from one car to feature pictures of Trump and the independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, WIBC reported. More

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      Kristi Noem ‘had a shot’ at Trump VP slot before dog-killing boast, sources say

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      Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota, “had a shot” at being named Donald Trump’s presidential running mate – but blew it by boasting about shooting her dog to death, a Trump insider reportedly said.“She was already unlikely to be picked as VP but had a shot,” the New York Post quoted an unnamed Trump ally as saying.“After this, it’s just impossible.”Noem’s story of deciding to kill Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehair pointer she deemed useless for hunting and a danger to chickens, is contained in her forthcoming book.No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward, will be published next month. Last week, the Guardian obtained a copy and reported the startling tale of Noem and Cricket the dog, who Noem says she “hated”.More startlingly still, Noem also describes killing – with two shotgun blasts – an unnamed, un-castrated male goat, which she deemed too smelly and unruly.On the page, Noem defends her actions as indicative of the kinds of unpleasant things people have to do on farms and in politics, too. Since the story became public, she has doubled down, saying her family recently put down three horses and claiming she was legally obliged to kill Cricket because she killed a neighbour’s chickens.According to a Guardian review, South Dakota law suggests Noem may have committed a class two misdemeanour by allowing Cricket to kill the chickens – and also may have contravened the law by killing the dog on her own property, after the attack on the chickens.A spokesperson for Noem did not comment on that contention.Having entered Congress in the hard-right Tea Party wave of 2010 and becoming governor of South Dakota in 2019, Noem has been widely seen to be a possible vice-presidential pick for Trump.In the wake of revelations about how she killed Cricket and the unnamed goat, the latter animal with two shots separated by a walk back to Noem’s truck for more shells, most pundits have pronounced such hopes to be dead.The Trump ally who spoke to the New York Post – while the former president sat on trial in the city, in his hush-money case over payments to an adult film star – said: “Trump isn’t a dog person necessarily but I think he understands that you can’t choose a puppy killer as your pick, for blatantly obvious reasons.”The Post said another source from within the former president’s camp said that though Trump “likes Kristi a lot” he was “disappointed when hearing the ‘dog’ story”.“It certainly has not enhanced her chances, but no decision has been made concerning any of the VP candidates,” the source reportedly said.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionOther outlets reported similar disquiet.“The median reaction when we checked around Trump world was ‘WTF’,” said Semafor, “although some noted her chances were considered slim already.”Dog-killing aside, Noem’s other potential liabilities include links to a Texas cosmetic dentist and views on abortion bans – opposing exceptions for rape or incest – to the right even of Trump.“Governor Noem just keeps proving over and over that she’s a lightweight,” Semafor quoted a source “close to the Trump campaign” as saying.The Hill quoted an unnamed Trump ally as saying the story of Cricket and the goat guaranteed Noem would not be the VP pick.“Anytime you have to respond more than once to a story, it’s not good,” the source reportedly said.With Cricket and the unnamed goat in mind, the same source said that when it came to assessing Noem’s chances of a place on Trump’s ticket, “She’s DOA.” More

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      Tensions high at Columbia University after protesters defy deadline to leave – as it happened

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      Pro-Palestinian protesters remain on Columbia University’s campus in New York City, defying an ultimatum from its administrators to leave by 2pm ET or face suspension.The demonstrators are asking college leaders to divest from Israel, which they have declined to do. Earlier today, Columbia’s president Minouche Shafik said negotiations with protest leaders to dismantle their encampment on the college campus had broken down:Columbia had earlier in the month called police to disperse protesters, resulting in more than 100 arrests and leading to accusations Shafik and the college’s leaders were cracking down on free speech. Here’s more on today’s deadline, and the ongoing protests at campuses nationwide:
      Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University were given an ultimatum to abandon their encampment or risk suspension, after the breakdown of talks aimed at having it removed voluntarily. The ultimatum, setting a Monday deadline of 2pm, has passed. Protesters overwhelmingly voted to defy the order and stay.
      Texas governor Greg Abbott said no encampments will be allowed after at least five people were arrested by dozens of law enforcement officers, many in riot gear, at a protest at the University of Texas at Austin on Monday afternoon.
      The Portland State University (PSU) will “pause” accepting donations from Boeing after students called on the school to cut ties with the manufacturer amid the war in Gaza, one of the first from university administrators to distance their school from a major weapons manufacturer.
      Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House who visited the Columbia University campus last week, reiterated his threat to revoke visas from foreign students involved in protests, and cut funding to universities that do not protect Jewish students.
      Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader, released a letter to Johnson requesting consideration of a bipartisan bill to counter antisemitism.
      Joe Biden and Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged to search for new ways to decrease border crossings by undocumented migrants, as the US president faces pressure to crack down on the issue of immigration ahead of the November elections.
      Anyone who thinks Marjorie Taylor Greene will drop her threat to force the removal of Johnson is “high, drunk, or simply out of their mind”, a senior aide to the far-right Georgia congresswoman said.
      The Biden administration announced that it “strongly opposes” a group of Republican-backed bills expected to be considered by the House this week that will target its environmental regulations.
      Joe Biden is scheduled to travel to the key battleground state of North Carolina on Thursday, the White House has said.
      Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis met on Sunday for a golf course breakfast in an apparent attempt to thaw their relationship after the Republican primary.
      The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, has said no encampments will be allowed after at least five people were arrested at a protest at the University of Texas at Austin on Monday afternoon.Demonstrators gathered on campus to protest against the conflict in Gaza and demand the university divest from companies that manufacture machinery used in Israel’s war efforts, carrying signs and chanting.Dozens of local and state police – including some in riot gear – were seen encircling the encampment. Several protesters have been seen being treated for heat-related illnesses, according to local media.Last week arrests were made at the Austin campus at the request of university officials and Governor Abbott, who said the protesters “belonged in jail”. In a post to X last week, he wrote:
      Students joining in hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled.
      The response from Portland State University (PSU) is one of the first from university administrators to distance their school from a major weapons manufacturer.Though hundreds of students across the country have been protesting on their campuses, setting up encampments demanding divestment from weapons manufacturers and companies with ties to Israel, many universities have repeatedly said they will not divest from Israel or manufacturers.Colleges and universities in the United States have endowments that they often use as financial buffers. Harvard, which has the largest endowment at $51bn, said that it “opposes calls for a policy of boycotting Israel and its academic institutions”. The University of California, which has an endowment of $169bn for its 10 campuses, also said that it “opposed calls for boycott against any divestment from Israel”.A university in Portland, Oregon will “pause” accepting donations from Boeing after students called on the school to cut ties with the manufacturer amid the war in Gaza.In addition to setting up an encampment on campus, students also addressed a letter to Ann Cudd, the president of Portland State University (PSU), demanding the university cut ties with Boeing.In a campus-wide message, Cudd said she had been motivated by “the passion with which these demands are being repeatedly expressed by some in our community”. She wrote in her memo:
      PSU will pause seeking or accepting any further gifts or grants from the Boeing Company until we have had a chance to engage in this debate and come to conclusions about a reasonable course of action.
      Cudd reiterated that the university “has no investments in Boeing but accepts philanthropic gifts from the company and, given that Boeing is a major employer in the region, many of our alumni work there”.At least five people have been arrested after setting up a pro-Palestinian encampment and protest at the University of Texas in Austin, according to local media reports.Dozens of Texas state troopers in riot gear arrived at the campus on Monday afternoon and were seen forming a circle around the encampment, along with university police officers and Austin police officers, the Austin American-Statesman reported.It comes less than a week after 57 people were arrested and charged with criminal trespassing at an anti-war protest on campus. All of those protesters were later released from jail, and all charges were dropped.Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House who visited the Columbia University campus last week, reiterated his threat to revoke visas from foreign students involved in protests, and cut funding to universities that do not protect Jewish students:Activists condemned Johnson last week, after he said Hamas “backed” the protesters. While the group has praised the demonstrations, there is no evidence they have been involved in their organization.Columbia University administrators have said they will not call police on protesters again, NBC New York reports.However, protesters appear to be ready for another attempt to remove them. Here’s footage of faculty members linking arms to protect students:And here’s a protester explaining why they are making their stand:Pro-Palestinian protesters remain on Columbia University’s campus in New York City, defying an ultimatum from its administrators to leave by 2pm ET or face suspension.The demonstrators are asking college leaders to divest from Israel, which they have declined to do. Earlier today, Columbia’s president Minouche Shafik said negotiations with protest leaders to dismantle their encampment on the college campus had broken down:Columbia had earlier in the month called police to disperse protesters, resulting in more than 100 arrests and leading to accusations Shafik and the college’s leaders were cracking down on free speech. Here’s more on today’s deadline, and the ongoing protests at campuses nationwide:At her ongoing briefing to reporters, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration does not support the international criminal court’s reported investigation into officials from Israel and Hamas.Jean-Pierre said:
      We’ve been really clear about the ICC investigation. We do not support it. We don’t believe that they have the jurisdiction.
      She did not elaborate further.Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suggested that charges could be imminent in the investigation launched three years ago, which covers events since 2014. Here’s more:Republican House speaker Mike Johnson has condemned the international criminal court amid reports that it is considering bringing charges against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials over their handling of the situation in Gaza.“It is disgraceful that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is reportedly planning to issue baseless and illegitimate arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials,” Johnson said in a statement.“Such a lawless action by the ICC would directly undermine U.S. national security interests. If unchallenged by the Biden administration, the ICC could create and assume unprecedented power to issue arrest warrants against American political leaders, American diplomats, and American military personnel, thereby endangering our country’s sovereign authority.”The Biden administration announced that it “strongly opposes” a group of Republican-backed bills expected to be considered by the House this week that will target its environmental regulations.The White House office of management and budgeted targeted six bills proposed by Republicans, including measures to remove gray wolves from the list of endangered species, open up land in Alaska to oil production, and allow mining in a federal wilderness area in Minnesota.Even if they clear the House, the bills are unlikely to go anywhere in the Democratic-led Senate.When he is not hobnobbing with Donald Trump, the administration of Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s is disenrolling children from a health insurance program for low-income residents, the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe reports: Florida is continuing to “callously” strip healthcare coverage from thousands of children in lower-income households in defiance of a new federal law intended to protect them.Since 1 January, more than 22,500 children have been disenrolled from Florida KidCare, its version of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (Chip) that is jointly subsidized by states and the US government for families with earnings just above the threshold for Medicaid.Florida healthcare officials admit at least some were removed for non-payment of premiums, an action prohibited by the “continuous eligibility” clause of the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act that took effect at the beginning of this year. The clause secures 12 months of cover if at least one premium payment is made.Last week, the administration of Republican governor Ron DeSantis challenged the rule in federal court Tampa, arguing it makes Chip an entitlement program that illegally overrides a state law requiring monthly payment of premiums.Joe Biden is scheduled to travel to the key battleground state of North Carolina on Thursday, the White House has said.Biden will visit Wilmington to talk about how his agenda is “rebuilding our infrastructure and creating good-paying jobs in Wilmington and across the country,” the White House said in a statement.Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis met on Sunday for a golf course breakfast in an apparent attempt to thaw their relationship after the Republican primary.The meeting in Hollywood, Florida, was first reported by the Washington Post. Steve Witkoff, a Trump ally, New York and Florida real estate developer, and donor who testified at the former president’s civil fraud trial in New York, reportedly brokered the meeting.The Florida governor was once considered the former president’s top rival in the Republican presidential primary dominated by Trump, with a platform that rested primarily on fighting the “woke” cultural forces of diversity, inclusion and tolerance.However, a bungled presidential run meant DeSantis left the race after the Iowa caucus in January at the beginning of the primary. That left him in need of repairing his relationship with Trump – now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee – after aiming attacks at him for months.Relations have been frosty between DeSantis and Trump since the primary began. However, Trump has proven to be transactional with rivals when necessary, and the former president also stands to benefit from improved relations with DeSantis.The Florida governor developed a network of wealthy donors to back his presidential run, moneyed supporters Trump needs to woo if he hopes to catch up to the fundraising of Joe Biden, the Democratic incumbent seeking a second term in the presidency.Matt Gaetz, the far-right Florida Republican congressman, has drawn a last-minute primary challenger, after a former naval aviator filed to run as a Republican in Gaetz’s district last Friday.Aaron Dimmock is a retired navy officer who serves as the director of the Missouri Leadership Academy in Missouri, the Hill reported. In a statement to the outlet, Gaetz called Dimmock a “Missouri-based DEI instructor”. Gaetz wrote:
      Aaron is not in Kansas City anymore. This is Trump Country. Our pronouns are USA and MAGA. I’m a proud Trump Republican. I stand shoulder to shoulder with President Trump to defeat Joe Biden, secure our border, restore our economy, and support our veterans.
      The primary challenge comes as tensions remain high between Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy, months after the former speaker was ousted from his post with the help of Gaetz. Allies of McCarthy have been working to recruit challengers to Gaetz, the Washington Post reported.More than 100 rights groups have sent a letter demanding Congress and Joe Biden reinstate funding to the UN relief agency for Palestinians (Unrwa).The letter comes after the president signed a $95bn foreign aid package that finalized the Biden administration’s suspension of US funding to the UN agency, a “lifeline for the Palestinian people in Gaza” that Israel has sought to disband.An independent review published last week said that Israel had yet to present evidence of its claims that employees of the relief agency are affiliated with terrorist organizations.On Wednesday, Germany, Unrwa’s second-biggest donor after the US, announced that it will resume cooperation and funding to Unrwa operations in the Gaza Strip.The letter by more than 100 immigrant, refugee, human rights and humanitarian organizations, seen by HuffPost, reads:
      Cutting off funding to Unrwa completely erodes the international community’s ability to respond to one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time.
      It added that international non-governmental organizations and other UN agencies have “repeatedly stated that they do not have the personnel, resources, or infrastructure to respond to the humanitarian needs in Gaza appropriately.”Congress is lurching back into gear, with the House convening to consider several pieces of legislation that amount to conservative messaging platforms with poor prospects in the Democratic-led Senate. One of the bills coming up would crack down on antisemitism by forcing the government to adopt a definition that has been criticized for equating condemnation of Israel with prejudice against Jews. The top House Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries, wrote to the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, asking him to hold a vote on a different piece of legislation that has bipartisan support – we’ll see if that goes anywhere. Speaking of Johnson, all eyes are on Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right congresswoman who is attempting to boot him from the speaker’s post for his collaboration with Democrats. She does not seem to have much support, but has reportedly vowed to press on.Here’s what else is going on today:
      Joe Biden and Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged to work together to deter migrants.
      Campus protests over Israel’s invasion of Gaza showed no signs of ebbing over the weekend.
      More grim poll numbers for Biden, including that voters increasingly view Donald Trump’s presidency as a success.
      CNN came out this weekend with some familiar disquieting news for Joe Biden: the president trails Donald Trump in general election polling.In a head-to-head matchup, CNN finds Trump leads Biden with 49% support against the president’s 43%. But there’s a caveat: the use of national polls is somewhat limited, given that a handful of swing states is what will decide the election (some polls have lately shown Biden struggling in these states, while others indicate the president is regaining momentum.) But the CNN survey is also a warning for Biden’s hopes to campaign on the economy’s recovery during his administration.CNN find 55% of respondents see Trump’s presidency as a success, versus the 44% who regard it as a failure. In January 2021, after the January 6 attack and before Trump left office, it was about the opposite. As for Biden, 61% of respondents see his presidency as a failure, and 33% a success. More

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      Kristi Noem’s story of killing her dog points to class two misdemeanor

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      Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor and Republican vice-presidential hopeful, may have committed a class two misdemeanor offence when her fated dog Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehair pointer Noem deemed “untrainable” for hunting pheasant, killed a neighbor’s chickens.Under South Dakota law, “any person owning, keeping, or harboring a dog that chases, worries, injures, or kills any poultry or domestic animal is guilty of a class two misdemeanor and is liable for damages to the owner thereof for any injury caused by the dog to any such poultry or animal.”Though Cricket’s chicken attack has made headlines in recent days, however, it was not the main subject of such reports.Instead, Noem’s startling description of her decision to kill Cricket – and also an unnamed, un-castrated and unruly goat – has pitched her into an unprecedented political storm.The story is included in Noem’s new book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward.The book will be released next month. Last week, the Guardian obtained a copy and reported the passage in which Noem describes killing Cricket and the goat after Cricket first ruined a pheasant hunt, then killed the chickens.“I hated that dog,” Noem writes, before describing how she shot Cricket and the goat in the same gravel pit, the goat having to be shot twice, the second shotgun blast after Noem left the goat to fetch more shells from her truck.Noem says what she thought she had to do was not “pleasant”, and describes how her actions startled a construction crew and confused her young daughter.She also seems to acknowledge the possible effects of including the story in her book, writing: “I guess if I were a better politician I wouldn’t tell the story here.”News of Noem’s tale did indeed set off a political firestorm, with observers suggesting she had irrevocably damaged her chances of being named running mate to Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president who faces 88 felony charges of his own and was adjudicated a rapist but nonetheless maintains his grip on his party.Noem twice defended her account of killing Cricket and the goat, saying as she does in the book that such actions are sometimes necessary in farming, and show her willingness to do difficult things in life as well as in politics.But each defense added to her problems.In the first statement, Noem both referred to recently putting down three horses and advertised her book, promising “more real, honest and politically incorrect stories that’ll have the media gasping”. That drew accusations of insensitivity.In her second statement, Noem said she could “understand why some people are upset about a 20-year-old story of Cricket” but added: “The fact is, South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down.“Given that Cricket had shown aggressive behavior toward people by biting them” – Noem says the dog “whipped around to bite me” after killing the chickens – “I decided what I did.”In a separate section of South Dakota’s codified laws, the definition of livestock makes no mention of poultry, which would have meant the law did not apply to Noem.But asked about a South Dakota legislature definition that says livestock “means cattle, sheep, horses, mules, swine, goats, and buffalo”, omitting chickens or poultry in general, Ian Fury, Noem’s communications chief, advised the Guardian to “take a look at SDCL 40-34-1 and 40-34-2.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionWhen the Guardian did, questions arose.Section 40-34-1 of the South Dakota codified laws – Killing of dog lawful when disturbing domestic animals – says: “It shall be lawful for any person to kill any dog found chasing, worrying, injuring, or killing poultry or domestic animals except on the premises of the owners of said dog or dogs.”Noem writes that she killed Cricket on her own property.The following section – 40-34-2, Liability of owner for damages by dog disturbing domestic animals – seems to contain greater potential legal jeopardy.It says: “Any person owning, keeping, or harboring a dog that chases, worries, injures, or kills any poultry or domestic animal is guilty of a class two misdemeanor and is liable for damages to the owner thereof.”In her book, Noem writes that she apologised to the family that owned the chickens Cricket killed, “wrote them a check for the price they asked, and helped them dispose of the carcasses littering the scene of the crime”.Asked if SDCL 40-34-2 indicated that Noem might have committed a class two misdemeanor, Fury did not immediately comment.The South Dakota laws apparently applicable to the case of Noem and Cricket were passed before the dog’s death.In her weekend statement, Noem said her story was 20 years old. That would place it in 2004, when she was in her early 30s, three years before she entered South Dakota state politics and six years before she won a seat in Congress as part of the hard-right Tea Party wave. Noem was elected governor of South Dakota in 2018.South Dakota was the last of the 50 states to make animal cruelty a felony, passing legislation in 2014. More

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      Marjorie Taylor Greene will not drop threat to oust House speaker, aide says

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      Anyone who thinks Marjorie Taylor Greene will drop her threat to force the removal of the Republican US House speaker, Mike Johnson, is “high, drunk, or simply out of their mind”, a senior aide to the far-right Georgia congresswoman said.“That’s absurd,” her deputy chief of staff Nick Dyer told Politico, adding that Greene was “not going to tell the press” her plans for activating the motion to vacate she filed more than a month ago.“Anyone who is saying she is backing down is high, drunk, or simply out of their mind.”Congress returned to Washington on Monday with Greene’s threat hanging over the speaker, her fellow Republican.Greene filed the motion after Johnson oversaw passage of a government spending bill with Democratic support.Since then, the speaker has angered far-right Republicans further by overseeing passage of aid to Ukraine, the reauthorisation of government surveillance powers and other moves reliant on Democratic support or seen as too civil to the other party.Johnson must govern with a tiny majority after his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, became the first speaker ejected by his own party when extreme-right Republicans rebelled last October.But though Johnson has a hard-right record himself, and was involved in Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, he retains support from the former president and from Democrats set to vote to keep him in his post if Greene decides to strike. Whether Johnson could survive being seen as reliant on Democrats is an open question.On Sunday, Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat, told MSNBC: “The idea of allowing Marjorie Taylor Greene, someone who literally, you know, would let the world burn, you know, with her isolationist foreign policy who has talked about states seceding from the union …“The idea of letting [Greene] sit in the people’s House and the well of Congress, giving a speech, removing any speaker and having that powerful moment, there is just no way Democrats are going to let her do that. I’m not going to let her do that. We won’t even let her name a post office. We’re not going to let her take out the speaker.”But it does seem likely Greene will make her move, if only to avoid climbing down.“Permanent funding for Ukraine is exactly what they want and Mike Johnson will give it to them,” she said in a post to X, appearing to refer to Democrats and/or the so-called “deep state”, the supposed permanent government of operatives and bureaucrats that conspiracy theorists say exists to thwart populist leaders.“Peace is not an option for them because it doesn’t fit the government appropriations war business and economic model, which is vile and disgusting,” Greene said.“They’re [sic] plan is keep funding the proxy war with Russia in Ukraine and when that doesn’t work, after all the Ukrainian men have been slaughtered, next they will put American troops on the ground.“Johnson will do whatever [Joe] Biden/[Senate majority leader Chuck] Schumer want in order to keep the speaker’s gavel in his hand, but he has completely sold out the Republican voters who gave us the majority. His days as speaker are numbered.”Greene is backed by Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona.Massie said: “Speaker Johnson enlisted a majority of Democrats to override a majority of Republicans so he could: 1) pass an omnibus that spends more than [former speaker Nancy] Pelosi did, including a new FBI building. 2) reauthorise warrantless spying on Americans 3) send $60bn to Ukraine.“Unforgivable.” More

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      Kristi Noem defends killing dog: ‘Cricket had shown aggressive behavior’

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      Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor and Republican vice-presidential hopeful, on Sunday again defended killing a family dog and goat on her farm, two days after the Guardian revealed how she describes those actions in a forthcoming book.“I can understand why some people are upset about a 20-year-old story of Cricket, one of the working dogs at our ranch, in my upcoming book – No Going Back,” Noem wrote on Twitter/X.“The book is filled with many honest stories of my life, good and bad days, challenges, painful decisions, and lessons learned.”Noem’s book comes out in May. The Guardian obtained a copy and reported how Noem recounts the story of Cricket – a 14-month-old, wire-haired pointer – ruining a pheasant hunt and killing a neighbour’s chickens.“I hated that dog,” Noem writes, adding that Cricket tried to bite her, proving herself “untrainable”, “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog”.“At that moment,” says Noem, “I realised I had to put her down.”The governor describes taking Cricket to a gravel pit and killing her – then deciding to mete out the same fate to the unruly, uncastrated goat. The second killing took two shots, says Noem, adding that when it was all over her daughter Kennedy came home from school and asked: “Hey, where’s Cricket?”Kennedy Noem is now 27 years old, making her, by the governor’s statement, just seven at the time of her mother’s decision to shoot Cricket and the unnamed goat.Amid widespread disbelief that a contender to be selected as Donald Trump’s running mate would commit such a tale to paper, many observers deemed Noem’s hopes of national office as dead as Cricket and the unnamed goat.Noem defended her story on Friday, saying it demonstrated the harsh realities of rural life that only recently saw her family put down three horses too.But animal rights groups condemned Noem.“There’s no rational and plausible excuse for Noem shooting a juvenile dog for normal puppy-like behavior,” said a statement from Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. “If she is unable to handle an animal, ask a family member or a neighbor to help. If training and socializing the dog doesn’t work, then give the dog to a more caring family or to a shelter for adoption.“Raising and caring for a dog takes patience and kindness. Tens of millions of Americans who know and love dogs have to wonder about a person who expresses hatred for a young female dog and kills her.”Meanwhile, one South Dakotan wrote to police Friday asking them “to ascertain whether all the legal and ethical guidelines were followed, given the high-profile nature of the incident”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“Governor Kristi Noem … has publicly stated that she shot and killed her own dog,” said the missive that Chaz Stevens, the chief executive officer of ESADoggy, sent to police. “This incident raises significant concerns about animal welfare and the circumstances that led to such a drastic action.In her Sunday post, Noem said: “What I learned from my years of public service, especially leading South Dakota through Covid, is people are looking for leaders who are authentic, willing to learn from the past, and don’t shy away from tough challenges.“My hope is anyone reading this book will have an understanding that I always work to make the best decisions I can for the people in my life.“The fact is, South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down. Given that Cricket had shown aggressive behavior toward people by biting them, I decided what I did.”According to the South Dakota legislature, livestock “means cattle, sheep, horses, mules, swine, goats, and buffalo”.A spokesperson for Noem did not immediately respond to a request for comment about how chickens are not mentioned in the state’s definition of livestock.The governor’s post Sunday did not mention her decision to kill the goat.Ramon Antonio Vargas contributed reporting More

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      Mitch McConnell refuses to say whether he supports a US national abortion ban

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      Asked whether he supports a federal abortion ban, US Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday that he is “not advocating anything at this level”.The Republican, during remarks in a new interview published by NBC’s Meet the Press, stopped short of saying whether or not he supported a 15-week federal ban on abortion with exceptions, but he instead portrayed the issue as “a practical matter” that was too divisive among federal lawmakers to result in a consensus among them.Alluding to comments from 2022 in which he said a national ban was “possible”, McConnell said, “I said it was possible. I didn’t say that was my view. I just said it was possible.”Meet the Press host Kristen Welker pressed McConnell to explain if he supported a federal ban, prompting the Kentucky senator to reply: “The reason I said it was possible is because the supreme court has put this back into the legislative arena. And we’re seeing it play out all across the country. And I think in the end, it’ll reflect the views of these individual states. But I said: ‘Possible’. I didn’t say that was my view.“I don’t think we’ll get 60 votes in the Senate for any kind of national legislation,” he continued, referring to the number of votes needed to end the debate on bills in the Senate and get a vote on them. “I think it’s a practical matter. It’s gonna be sorted out at the state level.”McConnell went on to reaffirm that he believes the issue of abortion access is one that should be decided by individual states after the US supreme court’s decision in 2022 to eliminate the federal abortion rights once established by the Roe v Wade case.“I’m not advocating anything at this level,” he said. “It seems to me views about this issue at the state level vary depending where you are. And we get elected by states. And my members are smart enough to figure out how they want to deal with this very divisive issue based upon the people who actually send them here.”McConnell said he also does not think legislation seeking to federalize abortion rights would get the 60 votes it would need to be voted on in the Senate either.In 2022, South Carolina Republican senator Lindsey Graham proposed a federal ban that would prohibit abortions after 15 weeks. Following Graham’s proposal at the time, McConnell told reporters: “With regard to his bill, you’ll have to ask him about it. In terms of scheduling, I think most of the members of my conference prefer that this be dealt with at the state level.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionMcConnell’s latest interview comes after the supreme court recently heard an abortion rights case centering on how states can decide when to permit emergency abortions. The case involves Idaho, which has one of the country’s strictest abortion bans and only permits doctors to perform an abortion to save the patient’s life. However, under federal law, doctors are required to stabilize patients’ health if either their life or limb is threatened.The conservative-majority US supreme court, which appeared divided as of Wednesday, is expected to rule on the case in June. More

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      Mike Johnson’s busy week: Ukraine aid and threats to protesters – what next?

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      Democrat Nancy Pelosi cited his “integrity” and described him as “courageous”. Republican Michael McCaul called him a “profile in courage”. CNN hailed him as “an unlikely Churchill”.Mike Johnson, speaker of the House of Representatives, began the week showered in plaudits for leading the House in approving $95bn in urgently needed wartime aid for Ukraine, Israel and other US allies.It was widely noted that Johnson had done his homework, changed his mind, prayed for guidance and risked his job by facing down far-right extremists in his own party including Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had threatened to oust him if he helped Ukraine.But the chorus of praise-singers echoed past renditions when the likes of William Barr, Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney were valorised for doing the bare minimum by denouncing the serial liar and election denier Donald Trump. (Barr, incidentally, now says he will support Trump in November.) That is how low the bar is now set.Any liberals tempted to celebrate the anti-abortion climate sceptic Johnson as moderate adjacent – perhaps even a secret member of the anti-Trump resistance – received a wake-up call on Wednesday when he staged a performative press conference at Columbia University in New York, telling protesters against Israel’s war in Gaza to “go back to class” and threatening to cut federal funding for colleges.The speaker followed up with an interview on CNN in which he pushed the widely debunked claim that Hamas placed babies in ovens and cooked them alive during the 7 October attack, and the sweeping generalisation that students were waving flags to celebrate the perpetrators – thereby dismissing honest concerns for the lives of innocent Palestinian men, women and children.It was a blatant attempt to play to the Fox News audience, whipping up hysteria about student demonstrations spiralling out of control, just as Republicans did about the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020. Johnson and others sense what a difficult wedge issue this is for Joe Biden and Democrats.Ilhan Omar, a Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota, told MSNBC: “This is a man who is holding on to his speakership. He knows he might be on the chopping block. And it is not surprising that he would go out to Columbia University and stir up really more anger and hate and endanger the lives of young people who are at the encampment at Columbia.”Indeed, Johnson’s position remains precarious in the House as Greene of Georgia, Paul Gosar of Arizona and Thomas Massie of Kentucky threaten to move to oust him. Rightwing media personalities have turned against him: Steve Bannon, host of the influential War Room podcast, called the Ukraine aid package “a desecration” and called for Johnson to be fired.That is because, not quite six months on the job as speaker, Johnson appeared to heed the advice of the CIA and others that leaving Ukraine to fend for itself as it loses ground against the Russian invasion would be catastrophic for Europe and the world. He moved past the populist far-right flank, relying on Democrats to push the package forward, a highly unusual move in the bitterly polarised House.Johnson, who helped lead Trump’s failed legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, told colleagues: “I want to be on the right side of history.” He added to reporters that he would “let the chips fall where they may” regarding his own job. It appeared to be a principled conversion, a noble sacrifice by the Christian conservative.But there were other factors at play. Johnson had displayed his loyalty to Trump by joining him at Mar-a-Lago and proclaiming he could be the “most consequential president yet” if he is returned to the White House. The ever transactional former president expressed support for a plan to structure some Ukraine aid as a loan by way of compromise and said, “I stand by the speaker,” distancing himself from Greene’s effort to remove Johnson.Back in Washington, Johnson disclosed that his son was heading to the Naval Academy this autumn. “To put it bluntly, I would rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys,” he told reporters. “This is a live-fire exercise for me, as it is so many American families. This is not a game. This is not a joke.”As so often in history, the political and personal had converged to make the answer obvious. Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, says: “His son is going into the Naval Academy this fall and he recognises, oh, yeah, if I don’t get this right now, my son could be shipped off to Ukraine in four years. When it becomes personal for all these people, it is amazing how their tune changes, and the same is true with other issues like abortion and military service.“But in the main he looked at it objectively and realised that he was in a no-win. They [the far right] weren’t going to give him the latitude he needed to secure the right solution that would appease the hardliners, because what they were asking for no one in Congress would agree to. How do we know that? Just look at the margins by which the measures passed.”Johnson seems likely to stagger on as speaker until November’s elections, having given Democrats cause to prop him up if Greene pulls the trigger. They did not trust his ill-fated predecessor, Kevin McCarthy; they do trust Johnson a little more. But his crude interventions in the Gaza protests could soon call that bargain into question, forcing some to re-examine whether his motives on Ukraine were quite so heroic.Comedian Ronny Chieng observed on Comedy Central’s Daily Show: “I salute you, Mike Johnson. I mean, not now. But six months from now I’ll work up the courage to do it.” More