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      Holding the Line review: Geoffrey Berman blasts Barr and dumps Trump

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      Holding the Line review: Geoffrey Berman blasts Barr and dumps Trump The fired New York prosecutor has produced a classic of a modern literary genre: Trump alumni revenge pornFive months before the 2020 election, Bill Barr fired Geoffrey Berman, the US attorney for the southern district of New York.‘You have to run’: Romney urged Biden to take down Trump, book saysRead moreTrying to justify the decision, Barr twisted himself into a pretzel. Donald Trump had not nominated Berman. Jeff Sessions, Barr’s predecessor as attorney general, named him to the post on an interim basis and a panel of federal judges kept him on. Barr’s authority to rid himself of this troublesome prosecutor was at best disputable.Revenge is best served cold. Two years and three months later, Berman is back with a memoir, Holding the Line. In the annals of Trump alumni revenge porn, it is an instant classic. It is smart and crisp. It is full of bile and easy to read.Barr wrote his own book. He has toured the TV studios, seeking rehabilitation. Over 350 pages, Berman immolates all that.He also tells the public what Trump and his own transition team knew from the outset: Rudy Giuliani was “unhinged”, and friends with the bottle. The chaos of Giuliani’s work as Trump’s attorney, through impeachment and insurrection, cannot have been a surprise. It may be surprising, though, that he was once in contention to be secretary of state.Berman also pulverizes Trump’s contention that Merrick Garland’s justice department is hyper-politicized. Berman shows that under Trump, Main Justice was a haven for lackeys all too willing to do the big guy’s bidding. He accuses Trump of weaponizing the justice department, pushing it to prosecute his critics and enemies while sparing his friends.After New York prosecutors brought charges against Michael Cohen, Trump’s one-time fixer, and Chris Collins, a New York congressman, the powers-that-be purportedly advised Berman: “It’s time for you guys to even things out.”Practically, that meant launching an investigation at Trump’s behest into John Kerry, for allegedly violating the Logan Act in talks with Iranian officials after retiring as secretary of state.Briefly, the Logan Act, from 1798, bars non-government officials from negotiating with foreign powers. In the case of Greg Craig, Barack Obama’s White House counsel, it meant charges under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. After Berman unsuccessfully argued that Craig should not have been prosecuted, Craig was acquitted by a federal jury. Kerry was never indicted.Berman is a Republican. He volunteered on Trump’s 2016 campaign and was once a law partner of Giuliani. He is also a former editor of the Stanford Law Review, happy to punch up. As with most Trump memoirs, Holding the Line is full of score-settling. Berman calls Barr a liar, a bully and a thug.Writing about his dismissal, Berman says: “I would describe Barr’s posture that morning as thuggish. He wanted to bludgeon me into submission.”“If you do not resign from your position, you will be fired,” Barr purportedly warned. “That will not be good for your resume and future job prospects.”Think of Berman as the honey badger – if the honey badger headed up a white-collar practice at a Wall Street law firm. He doesn’t give a fig. He holds the receipts. William Barr defends FBI and justice department over Mar-a-Lago searchRead more“Several hours after Barr and I met,” he writes, “on a Friday night, [Barr] issued a press release saying that I was stepping down. That was a lie.”“A lie told by the nation’s top law enforcement officer.”Barr’s stints in government are emblematic of the descent of the Republican party in the last 30 years. Barr was George HW Bush’s attorney general. Next time round he was simply Trump’s guy at Main Justice.Barr coddled Mike Flynn, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone. He marched to St John’s church with the president and misled the public about the use of teargas to disperse protesters. More than once, his relationship with the truth drew the ire of the federal bench. His last-moment departure from the Trump administration bore all the marks of the arsonist who flees when the flames grow uncomfortably close.As for Giuliani, Berman portrays him as a boozy and incoherent Islamophobe. In the spring of 2016, Berman organised a “cross-selling dinner” to introduce Giuliani and other lawyers to clients “at a large financial institution”. Things headed south. Giuliani “continued to drink”. The dinner morphed into “an utter and complete train wreck”.At one point, Berman writes, Giuliani turned to a man “wearing a yarmulke [who] had ordered a kosher meal”. Under the impression the man was a Muslim, Giuliani said: “I’m sorry to have tell you this, but the founder of your religion is a murderer.”“It was unbelievable,” Berman gasps. “Rudy was unhinged. A pall fell over the room.”Two years later, the law firm, Greenberg Traurig, shoved Giuliani out the door. He had opined that hush-money payments made via a lawyer were perfectly normal, even when not authorised by the client. In the case in question, Michael Cohen acted as a conduit between Stormy Daniels, an adult film star, and Trump.Donald Trump once tried to pay a lawyer with a horse, new book saysRead more“That was money that was paid by his lawyer, the way I would do, out of his law firm funds,” Giuliani told Fox News. “Michael would take care of things like this, like I take care of this with my clients.”Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges – and became a target of Trump’s animus and Barr’s vengeance.‘Unhinged’ Rudy Giuliani drank and ranted about Islam, new book claimsRead moreThese days, Giuliani is in the cross-hairs of prosecutors in Fulton county, Georgia, over Trump’s attempt to overturn his defeat in the state. Trump’s own legal exposure appears to grow almost hourly. Barr surmises that an indictment may be imminent.From the looks of things, Geoffrey Berman is having the last laugh.
      Holding the Line: Inside the Nation’s Preeminent US Attorney’s Office and Its Battle with the Trump Justice Department is published in the US by Penguin Press
      TopicsBooksTrump administrationDonald TrumpWilliam BarrRudy GiulianiUS politicsRepublicansreviewsReuse this content More

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      Will he, won’t he? Trump’s big tease keeps 2024 election rivals guessing

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      Will he, won’t he? Trump’s big tease keeps 2024 election rivals guessing The ex-president keeps dropping hints he will run again without taking the plunge – and finance as well as politics may be a factorIn Tennessee in June, he asked a crowd: “Would anybody like me to run for president?” Then in Nevada in July he remarked: “We have a president who ran twice, won twice and may have to do it a third time. Can you believe it?”In Pennsylvania earlier this month, he vowed that “in 2024, most importantly, we are going to take back our magnificent White House”.Donald Trump – former US president and architect of the big lie that he was robbed of victory in the 2020 election by electoral fraudsters – is now finding fresh political utility in the big tease.For more than a year he has tiptoed up to the line of declaring his candidacy for the White House in 2024 but never quite crossed it. It is a rare show of self-discipline from a man notorious for saying the quiet part out loud.It is also a strategy that yields benefits. The coyness about his intentions ensures a steady stream of coverage for his rallies and keeps potential Republican primary rivals guessing. He avoids a conflict with party leaders who fear that an official Trump candidacy would overshadow their midterm elections campaign. And it keeps money flowing to his Save America political action committee, which has raised more than $100m since it was formed after the 2020 election.Trump, battered by January 6 testimony, mulls 2024 run – and not all Republicans are happyRead more“He’s an attention whore and everything always has to be about Donald,” said the Democratic National Committee adviser Kurt Bardella. “He has to make himself the centre of the universe so he goes out there and plays this little flirtatious ‘will he, won’t he?’ card and it’s just designed to continue to keep that conversation going.“It’s also designed to try to keep his would-be competitors like Ron DeSantis or Mike Pence or Mike Pompeo at bay.”When Trump suffered a crushing defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 race, many observers expected him to follow the example of previous one-term presidents such as Jimmy Carter and George HW Bush, accept that his political career was over and contemplate a presidential library and museum.But Trump has never done anything by the book. He pushed the “big lie” that culminated in his supporters’ deadly attack on the Capitol on January 6 2021. Six months later he resumed his raucous campaign rallies with an event in Ohio, and he has since held a further 20 in locations that include Alaska, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming.At every one of them supporters have thronged in expectation that this might be the day that Trump declares he is staging a great political comeback and running for president again. Invariably he drops a hint or two in that direction, generating headlines that he is “floating” or “teasing” a run, but he never makes it explicit.The closest he came was not an adoring rally but when pressed by a journalist from New York Magazine over what would factor into his decision. Trump replied: “Well, in my own mind, I’ve already made that decision, so nothing factors in any more. In my own mind, I’ve already made that decision.”But one factor, perhaps, does give him pause. If and when Trump formally declares, he will trigger Federal Election Commission requirements about financial disclosures and limits on how much money he can raise from individual donors. The 76-year-old’s reticence may ultimately be about financial – rather than political – expediency.Henry Olsen of the Ethics and Public Policy Center thinktank in Washington, said, “It’s a matter of federal law: once one says one is a candidate for the presidency, certain attachments take place with respect to what you can and can’t spend money on and with respect to any committees organised.”This is why candidates typically announce an “exploratory” rather than “campaign” committee, added Olsen, a senior fellow at his organisation.“Presumably Trump has been briefed on this to the point where he knows that he’s not going to come close enough to crossing that line to give people the ability to argue that he’s now a candidate and that means he can’t do this or that or the other thing with his money.”Although Trump often revels in his reputation of being undisciplined, Olsen said, “he can be disciplined when he thinks that being disciplined is in his interest and he’s doing that now”.The same financial rules would apply to any would-be Republican primary challenger, making any official declarations from them similarly unlikely. Contenders include Florida governor DeSantis, former vice-president Pence, Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin and senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Ted Cruz of Texas, Rick Scott of Florida and Tim Scott of South Carolina.Bardella, a former Republican congressional aide, added: “Even if Trump knows right now that he’s not going to run, he will make it look like he is as long as he possibly can because that keeps him at the forefront of the conversation. The minute he were to not run, the attention would be immediately focused to the others and he obviously wants to avoid that as much as possible.“The one thing we know about Donald Trump is he does not want to share the spotlight with anybody and in the past has fired people in his orbit who have flown too close to the sun – like Steve Bannon.”The big tease plays out against the backdrop of multiple criminal investigations into Trump and his associates. The justice department is investigating his possession of classified material – reportedly including information on a foreign country’s nuclear capabilities – at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.The FBI search of Mar-a-Lago had a rallying effect on Trump’s supporters and led to a surge of donations. But the gravity of the case, combined with the damaging revelations of the congressional January 6 committee, make Republicans anxious that Trump’s looming presence could upend their hopes in November’s midterms by galvanising Democrats and deterring moderates.Biden last week began taking a more “gloves off” approach to calling out Trump and “Maga Republicans” as a fundamental threat to democracy. Two in three independent voters say they do not want Trump to run in 2024, according to a poll from NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist.It is possible, however, that should Trump’s legal perils reach a critical point of no return, that will be the spur for him to declare his candidacy and make the bogus claim to his supporters that he is the victim of a politically motivated persecution.The Center for Politics at the University of Virginia’s director, Larry Sabato, said: “He believes incorrectly that, if he’s a formal candidate, that will somehow protect him from legal charges. It will not. We’ve had quite a number of candidates in American history who got into legal troubles so I don’t know why he thinks that. Somebody probably said something to him once and he never let it go.”But Sabato also admitted: “Nobody knows. He is very likely to run again but I can see scenarios in which he wouldn’t. He said himself, let’s see how my health is. He hasn’t had the best diet in the world and doesn’t look to me to be in particularly good shape.”TopicsDonald TrumpUS politicsRepublicansUS elections 2024newsReuse this content More

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      ‘You have to run’: Romney urged Biden to take down Trump, book says

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      ‘You have to run’: Romney urged Biden to take down Trump, book saysGabriel Debenedetti, author of book on Biden’s relationship with Obama, reports call on night of 2018 midterms On the night of the 2018 midterm elections, as a wave of anti-Trump sentiment swept Democrats to take control of the House, top Republican Mitt Romney urged Joe Biden to run for president.‘Unhinged’ Rudy Giuliani drank and ranted about Islam, new book claimsRead more“You have to run,” said Romney, the Republican presidential nominee Biden and Barack Obama defeated in 2012, speaking to the former vice-president by phone.The same night, Romney was elected a US senator from Utah, a post from which he would twice vote to convict Donald Trump in impeachment trials.Romney’s exhortation to a man then seen as a likely challenger to Donald Trump in 2020 will probably further enrage the former president, his supporters and the Republican party they dominate.The Biden-Romney call is described in The Long Alliance: The Imperfect Union of Joe Biden and Barack Obama, a book by Gabriel Debenedetti that will be published next week. The Guardian obtained a copy.Describing how Biden spent 6 November 2018, Debenedetti writes: “Biden spent election night glued to his phone as usual … He talked to most of the candidates he’d campaigned for, and plenty he didn’t, either to congratulate or console them, or just to catch up.“This time felt better than 2016” – when Trump beat Hillary Clinton for the presidency – “in part because Democrats were winning big, at least in local races and in the House.“But it was also because of a refrain [Biden] kept hearing, and not always from the most expected sources.“At one point he connected with Mitt Romney, who’d been easily elected to the Senate that night as a rare Trump-opposing Republican. They were warm as Biden cheered Romney’s win.“Then Obama’s old rival got to the point: You have to run, Romney said.”In a note on sourcing, Debenedetti says his book is “primarily the product of hundreds of interviews” with “colleagues, aides, rivals, confidants, allies and eyewitnesses from every stage” of Obama and Biden’s careers since 2003.He also says: “When someone’s words are rendered in italics, that indicates an approximation based on the memories of sources who did not recall exact wordings.” Romney’s opposition to Trump is long established, if not entirely consistent.In 2016, the former Massachusetts governor spoke out against Trump, decrying his behaviour on the campaign trail and calling him a “phony” and a “fraud”. After the election, he said he did not vote for the Republican nominee, writing in his wife’s name instead.Trump attorney general Barr a liar, bully and thug, says fired US attorney in bookRead moreNonetheless, Romney then flirted with working for Trump, pitching to be secretary of state. He generally voted with his president after taking his seat in the Senate.But the relationship was never smooth – Trump called Romney a “pompous ass” – and in 2019 Romney told the New York Times: “People say to me, ‘If you’re critical of the president you’re hurting the party.’ No I’m not – I’m laying out a path for the party post the president.”In 2020, when Trump was impeached for blackmailing Ukraine for dirt on rivals including Biden, Romney became the first senator ever to vote to convict and remove a president of his own party.He said he did not vote for Trump in that year’s election – but refused to say if he voted for Biden.In 2021, Trump was impeached a second time, for inciting the Capitol attack. Romney voted to convict again.TopicsBooksMitt RomneyJoe BidenDonald TrumpUS politicsUS elections 2020US midterms 2018newsReuse this content More

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      Steve Bannon ‘stole millions of dollars to line his own pocket,’ New York attorney general says – as it happened

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      Hailing Steve Bannon’s indictment for conspiracy and money laundering over a fraudulent border wall fundraising scheme as “an important day for justice”, New York’s attorney general Letitia James said he “stole millions of dollars to line his own pocket”.“Regular, everyday Americans”, she said, played by the rules, and that people like Bannon ignore them:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}They think that they are above the law, and the most egregious of them take advantage of hardworking Americans in the process. And Steve Bannon stands out as a perfect example of this blatant inequality.
      He gained power and influence as a top adviser to the former president. And he used that influence and those connections to cheat everyday Americans and carry out this fraud.
      When Mr Bannon created a fundraising scheme to finance the construction of that wall, he basically stole millions of dollars to line his own pocket, and those of other politically connected people..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Simply put, Mr Bannon lied to ordinary citizens about this project. He diverted their hard-earned money. He preyed upon the emotions of New Yorkers and Americans.
      And then when Mr Bannon was held accountable for his criminal actions, the former president pardoned him.
      Given this reality, it is understandable how hard working honest ordinary citizens are cynical about the two systems of justice in our country, one for the rich and powerful, and another for everyone else.
      But in New York, we have zero tolerance for corruption and or for abuses of power.Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg told reporters that Bannon’s formal arraignment would take place within the next hour in the New York supreme court.Here’s my colleague Hugo Lowell’s report reminding us what the Bannon scandal is about:Steve Bannon charged with money laundering and conspiracy in New YorkRead moreWe’re closing the US politics blog now. A hugely hectic day saw Steve Bannon, former chief strategist to Donald Trump, arrested and arraigned on fraud charges relating to fundraising for the former president’s border wall.In New York’s supreme court this afternoon, Bannon pleaded not guilty to six felony counts and was released without bail until next month.Letitia James, the New York attorney general, said Bannon “cheated everyday Americans” and “basically stole millions of dollars to line his own pocket”.Here’s what else we followed:
      Presidents past and present led US tributes to Queen Elizabeth II, who died this afternoon aged 96. Joe Biden said she was “more than a monarch. She defined an era”.
      The department of justice appealed a Florida judge’s controversial ruling agreeing to Donald Trump’s demand for a ‘special master’ in its investigation into the former president’s handling of classified materials.
      The Biden administration formally reversed the Trump-era “public charge” rule that barred immigrants from gaining legal residency if they had utilized certain government benefits.
      First lady Jill Biden named a new press secretary, Vanessa Valdivia, most recently communications director for California Democratic senator Alex Padilla.
      The department of justice is appealing a Florida judge’s controversial ruling agreeing to Donald Trump’s demand for a ‘special master’ in its investigation into the former president’s handling of classified materials.District court judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, ruled on Monday that a special master was necessary to review classified documents taken by FBI agents from Trump’s Palm Beach mansion, Mar-a-Lago, during an 8 August search.Justice Department appeals federal judge’s ruling for a special master in Trump Mar-a-Lago case pic.twitter.com/iCOVvwL2zX— Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 8, 2022
      The decision temporarily blocks the department from using for investigative purposes thousands of records seized, which the Washington Post reported on Wednesday included nuclear secrets of an unnamed foreign power.William Barr, attorney general during the Trump administration, called Cannon’s decision flawed. Cannon directed Trump’s attorneys and lawyers for the department to submit by Friday a list of names to be considered as a special master by Friday. The role is often filled by a lawyer or former judge.The justice department filed notice of appeal Thursday, saying it was contesting the ruling to the Atlanta-based 11th US circuit court of appeals.And here’s former president Barack Obama’s tribute to Queen Elizabeth II:Like so many of you, Michelle and I are grateful to have witnessed Her Majesty’s dedicated leadership, and we are awed by her legacy of tireless, dignified public service. Our thoughts are with her family and the people of the United Kingdom at this difficult time. pic.twitter.com/sbID222iSQ— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) September 8, 2022
      Former president Donald Trump also released a statement on the death of Queen Elizabeth II, on behalf of himself and the former first lady:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Melania and I are deeply saddened to learn of the loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Together with our family and fellow Americans, we send our sincere condolences to the royal family and the people of the UK during this time of great sorrow and grief.Queen Elizabeth’s historic and remarkable reign left a tremendous legacy of peace and prosperity for Great Britain. Her leadership and enduring diplomacy secured and advanced alliances with the US and countries around the world. However, she will always be remembered for her faithfulness to her country and her unwavering devotion to her fellow countrymen and women.Melania and I will always cherish our time together with the Queen, and never forget Her Majesty’s generous friendship, great wisdom, and wonderful sense of humor. What a grand and beautiful lady she was – there was nobody like her!Our thoughts and prayers will remain with the great people of the UK as you honor her most meaningful life and exceptional service to the people.Joe Biden has ordered flags to half-staff at all government, public and military buildings in the US, and at embassies, military buildings and vessels in US territories and possessions overseas, to mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.In a proclamation released from the White House, the president said the flags would remain there until sunset on the day of the Queen’s interment.“The seven decades of her history-making reign bore witness to an age of unprecedented human advancement and the forward march of human dignity. Her legacy will loom large in the pages of British history, and in the story of our world,” the proclamation said.Earlier this afternoon, House speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered the lowering of flags at the US Capitol in Washington DC.Steve Bannon has pleaded not guilty to all six felony counts of his indictment for money laundering, conspiracy and scheming to defraud at his Thursday afternoon arraignment in New York’s supreme court.Donald Trump’s former chief strategist arrived in the Manhattan courtroom in handcuffs, and had his passports confiscated as a condition of his release.New: Steve Bannon pleads not guilty to money laundering and conspiracy charges connected to the “We Build the Wall” fundraising effort, agrees to surrender passports — case adjourned until Oct. 4— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) September 8, 2022
      He was arraigned on two counts of money laundering in the second degree, three of conspiracy in the fourth and fifth degree, and one of scheming to defraud in the first degree.The charges all relate to an alleged fundraising scam in which Bannon siphoned thousands of dollars in donations meant to help construct Trump’s border wall, prosecutors say.“It’s all nonsense. They will never shut me up. Ever,” Bannon told reporters in the court’s hallway.The case was adjourned until 4 October“It’s all nonsense. They will never shut me up.” – Bannon pic.twitter.com/kH2NVOM07d— Graham Kates (@GrahamKates) September 8, 2022
      Queen Elizabeth II was “more than a monarch. She defined an era,” Joe Biden anf first lady Jill Biden have said in a statement.The president’s tribute, posted to the White House website, also called the late monarch “a stateswoman of unmatched dignity and constancy who deepened the bedrock alliance between the UK and US”:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}In a world of constant change, she was a steadying presence and a source of comfort and pride for generations of Britons, including many who have never known their country without her. An enduring admiration for Queen Elizabeth II united people across the Commonwealth. The seven decades of her history-making reign bore witness to an age of unprecedented human advancement and the forward march of human dignity.
      She was the first British monarch to whom people all around the world could feel a personal and immediate connection – whether they heard her on the radio as a young princess speaking to the children of the UK, or gathered around their televisions for her coronation, or watched her final Christmas speech or her platinum kubilee on their phones. And she, in turn, dedicated her whole life to their service.
      Queen Elizabeth II was a stateswoman of unmatched dignity and constancy who deepened the bedrock alliance between the UK and US. She helped make our relationship special.The Bidens’ statement also included personal recollections from meetings the president and first lady had with the Queen:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We first met the Queen in 1982, traveling to the UK as part of a senate delegation. And we were honored that she extended her hospitality to us in June 2021 during our first overseas trip as president and first lady, where she charmed us with her wit, moved us with her kindness, and generously shared with us her wisdom.
      All told, she met 14 American presidents. She helped Americans commemorate both the anniversary of the founding of Jamestown and the bicentennial of our independence. And she stood in solidarity with the US during our darkest days after 9/11, when she poignantly reminded us that ‘Grief is the price we pay for love’.
      In the years ahead, we look forward to continuing a close friendship with the King and the Queen Consort. Today, the thoughts and prayers of people all across the US are with the people of the UK and the Commonwealth in their grief.
      We send our deepest condolences to the royal family, who are not only mourning their Queen, but their dear mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Her legacy will loom large in the pages of British history, and in the story of our world.It looks like the White House has canceled this afternoon’s address by Joe Biden about Covid-19 vaccines, presumably out of respect following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.We’re awaiting an official response or statement from the White House to the news.At a press briefing earlier this afternoon, during which news of the British monarch’s death emerged, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president’s thoughts were with the royal family:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Our hearts and our thoughts go to the family members of the Queen, goes to the people of the United Kingdom.
      I don’t want to get ahead of what the president is going to say. But our relationship with the people of the UK, and this is something the president has said himself, has grown stronger and stronger. The UK is one of our closest allies.
      Again, our hearts go to the people of the United Kingdom, to the Queen and to her family.House speaker Nancy Pelosi has released a statement:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Today, Americans join the people of the United Kingdom in mourning the sad passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
      Over her seven decades on the throne, Her Majesty was a pillar of leadership in the global arena and a devoted friend of freedom.
      On behalf of the United States Congress, I extend our deepest and most sincere condolences to the Royal Family during this sad time.The Biden administration has formally reversed a Trump-era rule that barred immigrants from gaining legal residency if they had utilized certain government benefits, the Associated Press reports.The department of homeland security said Thursday that a new regulation for the “public charge” rule would go into effect in late December, although the administration had already stopped applying the previous version last year.“Consistent with America’s bedrock values, we will not penalize individuals for choosing to access the health benefits and other supplemental government services available to them,” homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement, adding the shift “ensures fair and humane treatment.”The public charge rule bars people from getting green cards if they would be burdens to the US. Prior to the Trump administration, that was interpreted as being primarily dependent on cash assistance and income maintenance. Trump expanded the disbarring benefits to include non-cash assistance including food stamps and Medicaid.Joe Biden is about to speak from the White House in an address billed “the arrival of Covid-19 vaccines”, but it is inconceivable the president won’t be devoting the moment to a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, who died this afternoon aged 96.Biden was the 13th US president of her long reign, and the two heads of state took tea together at Windsor Castle in June of last year.According to Biden, the Queen asked him about his Russian and Chinese counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, during their 45-minute talk.“We had a long talk, she was very generous. I don’t think she’d be insulted, but she reminded me of my mother. In terms of the look of her and just the generosity,” Biden said at the time.You can follow the Guardian’s rolling coverage of the Queen’s death here:Queen Elizabeth II dies aged 96 – latest updatesRead moreHailing Steve Bannon’s indictment for conspiracy and money laundering over a fraudulent border wall fundraising scheme as “an important day for justice”, New York’s attorney general Letitia James said he “stole millions of dollars to line his own pocket”.“Regular, everyday Americans”, she said, played by the rules, and that people like Bannon ignore them:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}They think that they are above the law, and the most egregious of them take advantage of hardworking Americans in the process. And Steve Bannon stands out as a perfect example of this blatant inequality.
      He gained power and influence as a top adviser to the former president. And he used that influence and those connections to cheat everyday Americans and carry out this fraud.
      When Mr Bannon created a fundraising scheme to finance the construction of that wall, he basically stole millions of dollars to line his own pocket, and those of other politically connected people..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Simply put, Mr Bannon lied to ordinary citizens about this project. He diverted their hard-earned money. He preyed upon the emotions of New Yorkers and Americans.
      And then when Mr Bannon was held accountable for his criminal actions, the former president pardoned him.
      Given this reality, it is understandable how hard working honest ordinary citizens are cynical about the two systems of justice in our country, one for the rich and powerful, and another for everyone else.
      But in New York, we have zero tolerance for corruption and or for abuses of power.Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg told reporters that Bannon’s formal arraignment would take place within the next hour in the New York supreme court.Here’s my colleague Hugo Lowell’s report reminding us what the Bannon scandal is about:Steve Bannon charged with money laundering and conspiracy in New YorkRead moreDistrict attorney Alvin Bragg is laying out details of the scheme in which Bannon “directed” transfers of tens of thousands of dollars in donations – meant to help fund Donald Trump’s border wall – to a non-profit he controlled, which then paid a salary to We Build the Wall’s president, “thereby obscuring the source of the funds”..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Bannon and three other individuals were indicted by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York for crimes related to this fundraising scheme and then just months later received a presidential pardon from former president Donald Trump.
      We then began investigating and determined that Mr Bannon must be held accountable… for his conduct as the architect of this scheme, which impacted hundreds of Manhattan residents.
      Because the simple truth is that it is a crime to profit off the backs of donors by making false pretenses.
      This is the work we do, ensuring that when a Manhattanite hands over money for a particular purpose they know where it’s going and that it actually goes there without any smokescreens or false pretenses.
      And so we are here to say today in one voice that in Manhattan and in New York, you will be held accountable for defrauding donors.
      Read more:Steve Bannon charged with money laundering and conspiracy in New YorkRead moreManhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg and New York attorney general Letitia James have just begun a press conference to give more details of this morning’s indictment against former Trump strategist Steve Bannon.Bragg says Bannon was the architect of a year-long fundraising scheme by him and other leaders of We Build the Wall Incorporated “that netted more than $15m from thousands of donors across the country based on false pretenses”:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Specifically the false promise that all of the funds obtained to We Build The Wall would go to the construction of a wall on the border of the United States and Mexico and that, and I quote, ‘not a penny’ would go to its president’s salary.
      We Build The Wall’s fundraisers use that phrase time and again, not a penny, as they solicited donations through media appearances, emails to potential donors, social media posts, and more.
      But instead of pennies, the president of We Build the Wall received more than $250,000 in a salary funded by donations, at least $140,000 of which we allege was laundered by Steve Bannon.Ruth Braunstein writes…Among the many subplots roiling Washington is a surge in Republican concern about a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act that would invest $80bn in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to modernize outdated technology and increase enforcement of tax laws. Citing this investment, Senator Ted Cruz warned of a coming “shadow army of 87,000 IRS agents”.The preference to pay lower taxes is as American as apple pie and has been a centerpiece of modern Republicanism. Demonizing the IRS is not. In fact, mainstream Republicans have historically maintained a commitment to cutting taxes without promoting hysterical fears about the enforcers of tax laws. When champions of tax cuts have talked of “starving the beast”, even they have been clear that the beast is big government. The IRS is just the messenger.George W Bush requested an increase in funding for “IRS enforcement activities”, insisting that “Americans who play by the rules and pay their taxes deserve confidence that others pay their fair share as well”, and also that “enforcement more than pays for itself”. This made sense for the leader of a party that prided itself on its commitments to “law and order” and balanced budgets.For his father, George HW Bush, these commitments also required vocally rejecting anti-government rhetoric. In 1995, the former president publicly resigned as a life member of the National Rifle Association when the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre stood by his characterization of federal agents as “jack-booted thugs” who sought to “attack law-abiding citizens”, even after anti-government extremists carried out a deadly attack on a federal office building in Oklahoma City.Today, the Republican party – emboldened by years of a sitting president denouncing the “deep state” – has embraced this precise brand of anti-government rhetoric, and their latest target is the IRS.How did Republican fearmongering about an IRS ‘shadow army’ go mainstream? | Ruth BraunsteinRead moreFirst lady Jill Biden has a new press secretary, according to an announcement today from East Wing staff.Vanessa Valdivia will assume duties soon, a statement Elizabeth Alexander, the first lady’s communications director, says. We had incredible candidates, and enthusiasm around the search for this position, and we are all excited to welcome Vanessa Valdivia to our team soon as the new @FLOTUS Press Secretary! Full statement here: pic.twitter.com/01tJV3DDqE— Elizabeth Alexander (@EAlexander46) September 8, 2022
      Valdivia was most recently communications director for Democratic California senator Alex Padilla, Alexander said.She takes over from Michael LaRosa, who resigned in July.The New York Times has also got hold of a copy of Geoffrey Berman’s book, describing “new details about how the justice department under President Donald J Trump sought to use the US attorney’s office in Manhattan to support Mr Trump politically and pursue his critics – even pushing the office to open a criminal investigation of former secretary of state John Kerry”.As the Guardian has its own copy of the book, here’s a precis of what Berman writes about the Kerry issue.After ending his stint as Barack Obama’s secretary of state in 2017, Kerry continued to talk to diplomatic contacts, among them Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister with whom he had conducted talks around the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. This is normal.Trump opposed the deal. He also did not think Kerry talking to the Iranians was normal, and tweeted angrily about it. Berman writes:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}On 9 May 2018, the day after the second Trump tweet, the co-chiefs of SDNY’s national security unit … [were told] Main Justice was referring an investigation to us that concerned Kerry’s Iran-related conduct … the focus was to be on potential violations of the Logan Act.”The Logan Act, from 1798, prohibits private citizens from conducting relations with foreign powers. It has rarely been used and indeed is generally held not to be usable at all. “This is what we were being asked to consider using to prosecute Kerry,” Berman writes.The investigation never leaked to the media, Berman says. He also points to the irony that Trump himself was generally held to have conducted foreign policy, regarding Israel, before taking office.The SDNY decided not to act, in part, Berman writes, because it held that the Logan Act “does not prohibit a former US secretary of state from talking to a foreign official”.Berman calls William Barr’s conduct over the investigation – as attorney general, putting political pressure on prosecutors to please his president – “outrageous”.Barr had a second go at getting Kerry for Trump, Berman says, by moving the investigation to Maryland. That didn’t work either.Trump attorney general Barr a liar, bully and thug, says fired US attorney in bookRead moreThe department of justice inquiry into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden has expanded to look at the activities of the former president’s political action committee Save America, ABC News is reporting.A federal grand jury has been empaneled to look specifically at the group’s fundraising operations and, the network says, it has issued subpoenas for “documents, records and testimony from potential witnesses”EXCLUSIVE: A federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 attack and efforts to overturn the 2020 election has expanded its probe to examine Trump’s leadership PAC, sources say. https://t.co/mTQrPkT9jh— ABC News (@ABC) September 8, 2022
      The ABC report states: .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The subpoenas, sent to several individuals in recent weeks, are specifically seeking to understand the timeline of Save America’s formation, the organization’s fundraising activities, and how money is both received and spent by the Trump-aligned PAC.According to ABC, Save America PAC has brought in more than $135m, including transfers from affiliated committees, according to disclosure records, since its inception days after the 2020 election. As of the end of July, the PAC reported having just under $100m in cash on hand, the network said.And here’s the full 22-page grand jury indictment for Steve Bannon that’s just been released.Bannon has been indicted on six counts, two of money laundering in the second degree, three of conspiracy in the fourth and fifth degree, and one of scheming to defraud in the fifth degree.The conspiracy and scheme to defraud was in essence, the indictment alleges, Bannon and other leaders of We Build The Wall Inc soliciting money to help with the construction of Donald Trump’s border wall (that the former president insisted Mexico would pay for), and assuring donors that nobody was taking a salary.The executives, the state alleges, were actually siphoning off “hundreds of thousands of dollars” for themselves, and in Bannon’s case around a million dollars.We’ll learn more at the lunchtime press conference from New York attorney general Letitia James and Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg.Meanwhile, you can read the indictment here. More

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      ‘Unhinged’ Rudy Giuliani drank and ranted about Islam, new book claims

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      ‘Unhinged’ Rudy Giuliani drank and ranted about Islam, new book claimsEx-mayor derailed ‘train wreck’ dinner with clients and colleagues, then was later considered for secretary of state At a law firm dinner in New York in May 2016, an “unhinged” Rudy Giuliani, then Donald Trump’s suggested pick to head a commission on “radical Islamic terrorism”, behaved in a drunken and Islamophobic manner, horrifying clients and attorneys alike.Trump attorney general Barr a liar, bully and thug, says fired US attorney in bookRead moreAccording to a new book by Geoffrey Berman, a former US attorney for the southern district of New York (SDNY), at one point Giuliani turned to a Jewish man “wearing a yarmulke [who] had ordered a kosher meal” and, under the impression the man was a Muslim, said: “I’m sorry to have tell you this, but the founder of your religion is a murderer.”“It was unbelievable,” Berman writes. “Rudy was unhinged. A pall fell over the room.”Later that year, after Trump beat Hillary Clinton for the White House, Giuliani was seriously considered to be secretary of state – top diplomat for the US.He went on to closely advise Trump, as his personal attorney, during his chaotic presidency and its violent aftermath.Giuliani’s drinking has been both widely reported and discussed under oath, in testimony before the House January 6 committee regarding his behaviour during Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election.It is also a feature of Giuliani: The Rise and Tragic Fall of America’s Mayor, a new biography by Andrew Kirtzman. Among other episodes, Kirtzman recounted a period of near-collapse, during which Giuliani stayed in seclusion at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida resort.Berman’s memoir, Holding the Line: Inside the Nation’s Preeminent US Attorney’s Office and its Battle with the Trump Justice Department, will be published next week. The Guardian obtained a copy.Berman’s main subject is his long battle with William Barr, Trump’s second attorney general, over what Berman says were attempts to use the Department of Justice for political ends. The contest between the two men culminated in a farcical attempt to fire Berman and, he writes, replace him with someone more politically pliable.Giuliani, also a former US attorney for the SDNY, was mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001, becoming known as “America’s Mayor” for his leadership during and after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. After a failed run for president in 2008 he was a close adviser to Trump when the billionaire launched his own campaign in 2015.In May 2016, Trump told Fox News he had proposed a ban on Muslims entering the US because “radical Islamic terrorism” was “a real problem”.He added: “In fact, I’m thinking about setting up a commission perhaps headed by Rudy Giuliani to take a very serious look at this problem.”Giuliani had just joined Berman’s law firm. Berman writes that he organised a “cross-selling dinner”, to introduce the former mayor and other new lawyers to clients “at a large financial institution”.Giuliani behaved well to start with, Berman says, but he “continued to drink” and “shifted the conversation to his work for Trump on immigration”. For Berman, the dinner became “an utter and complete train wreck”.Giuliani, Berman writes, shared a “wholly inaccurate, alt-right history of the creation and development of Islam, stating that it was an inherently violent religion from its origins to today”.To growing consternation among guests, Giuliani produced his phone and “showed the group drawings of violent acts purportedly committed by Muslims”.There followed the exchange with the man in the yarmulke, who “for some reason, Rudy thought … was Muslim”, even though as a two-term mayor of New York, in Berman’s words, Giuliani “was clearly acquainted with Jews”.After Giuliani’s diatribe, Berman “broke the silence with a stab at humour. ‘Well that’s seven years of client development down the drain,’ I announced.”‘Donald kept our secret’: Mar-a-Lago stay saved Giuliani from drink and depression, book saysRead moreGiuliani “wasn’t slurring his words”, Berman writes, “… but his impulses had control of him”.Berman says the story of the client dinner “never made it into the press, but it did get around”. A few weeks later, at a reunion for “hundreds” of former SDNY prosecutors, Berman was told there was “not a single former [prosecutor] in this room who has not heard about the dinner”.Kirtzman reports that stories of Giuliani’s drinking ultimately contributed to Trump deciding not to make him secretary of state. The former mayor was also discussed as a possible attorney general.Such heights now seem far away. Giuliani’s work for Trump in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election has contributed to the suspension of his law licenses and placed him in legal jeopardy, the target of a criminal investigation in Georgia.TopicsBooksRudy GiulianiRepublicansPolitics booksUS politicsDonald TrumpIslamnewsReuse this content More

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      How did Republican fearmongering about an IRS ‘shadow army’ go mainstream? | Ruth Braunstein

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      How did Republican fearmongering about an IRS ‘shadow army’ go mainstream?Ruth BraunsteinThe party has embraced a precise brand of anti-government rhetoric, with the agency the latest target – and it’s drawing on an old playbook Among the many subplots roiling Washington DC is a surge in Republican concern about a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act that would invest $80bn in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to modernize outdated technology and increase enforcement of tax laws. Citing this investment, Senator Ted Cruz warned of a coming “shadow army of 87,000 IRS agents”.The preference to pay lower taxes is as American as apple pie and has been a centerpiece of modern Republicanism. Demonizing the IRS is not. In fact, mainstream Republicans have historically maintained a commitment to cutting taxes without promoting hysterical fears about the enforcers of tax laws. When champions of tax cuts have talked of “starving the beast”, even they have been clear that the beast is big government. The IRS is just the messenger.George W Bush requested an increase in funding for “IRS enforcement activities”, insisting that “Americans who play by the rules and pay their taxes deserve confidence that others pay their fair share as well”, and also that “enforcement more than pays for itself”. This made sense for the leader of a party that prided itself on its commitments to “law and order” and balanced budgets.For his father, George HW Bush, these commitments also required vocally rejecting anti-government rhetoric. In 1995, the former president publicly resigned as a life member of the National Rifle Association when the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre stood by his characterization of federal agents as “jack-booted thugs” who sought to “attack law-abiding citizens”, even after anti-government extremists carried out a deadly attack on a federal office building in Oklahoma City.Today, the Republican party – emboldened by years of a sitting president denouncing the “deep state” – has embraced this precise brand of anti-government rhetoric, and their latest target is the IRS. In addition to Cruz’s talk of a “shadow army”, Senator Rick Scott issued an open letter to “American job seekers” discouraging them from applying for the new positions at the “IRS super-police force”. The Republican candidate for governor of Arizona has promoted the conspiracy theory that the new IRS funding is connected to the FBI’s search of Donald Trump’s home, warning “not a single one of us is safe”. And lest you believe these messages are confined to the fringe of the party, the Republican National Committee itself released an ominous ad focused on “growing fears about a growing IRS”.Anti-IRS fearmongering did not come out of nowhere – conspiracy theories about the IRS have long festered at the extremist edges of the American right. The question is how they moved to the political mainstream. Media coverage of Republicans’ recent attacks on the IRS have focused on a key moment in the recent past: conservative backlash to the IRS’s improper targeting of Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status during the Obama administration. Responding to these revelations, the founder of the Tea Party Patriots attacked the IRS as “trained thugs” and “gangsters” who “have declared war on the American people!” Movement leaders and their allies in Congress swiftly called for the IRS to be investigated and moved to cut the agency’s funding.They were drawing from a playbook Republicans had used before. In 1997 and 1998, congressional Republicans led a major effort to “rein in” the IRS that ultimately won bipartisan support for reforms that significantly curtailed the agency’s enforcement power. Theatrical hearings featured witnesses who “testified behind black curtains with their voices disguised, like Mafia snitches, to protect their identity”, and focused on “supposed commando-style raids by armed tax inspectors wearing flak jackets”. Representative Dick Armey – who went on to lead FreedomWorks, a major Tea Party organization – quipped of Republicans’ hopes for the process: “The IRS is too big and too mean. Once this bill becomes law, the IRS will just be too big.”These efforts were notable not only because they were successful despite the fact that much of the IRS’s alleged misconduct was later debunked, but also because they marked a key moment when the Republican party gave a national platform to arguments previously heard primarily within anti-government extremist circles. As Daniel Levitas, an expert on the American far right, wrote in a 2001 report for the Southern Poverty Law Center: “Lawmakers chose to emphasize the image of a menacing federal agency out of control – an image long cultivated by the patriarchs of tax protest and other ideologues of the radical right.” In so doing, they “lent credibility to the claims of right-wing activists regarding IRS abuses”.To understand why, it’s also necessary to situate these attacks on the IRS in a larger context of rising anti-government sentiment following the 1992 standoff in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in which federal agents killed the wife and son of a white supremacist during a siege, and a deadly 1993 raid on a cult compound in Waco, Texas. The Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh claimed his attack on a federal office building was payback for “what the US government did at Waco and Ruby Ridge”. These events are also credited with igniting the modern militia movement.The anti-government sentiment that inspired this violence and extremism also seeped into the Republican party. Only months after the Oklahoma City bombing, rather than rejecting the paranoia that fueled this horrific act of violence (as former President HW Bush did), Republicans in Congress legitimized McVeigh’s concerns by demanding inquiries into federal agents’ actions in Ruby Ridge and Waco. “We sit on a powder keg,” Senator Arlen Specter said, “with a lot of anxiety and anger welling up across the country as to excessive action by the federal government.” The hearings that followed heightened public focus on the government’s use of “military-style tactics” against ordinary American citizens.The backlash to Ruby Ridge and Waco focused mainly on the potential dangers posed by the agencies involved in these events, the FBI and ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms). But this backlash tapped into a much larger well of anti-government sentiment (often fused with white Christian supremacy and antisemitism) that has long framed the IRS as a deeply sinister threat. If we zoom out to view this broader picture, a third seminal moment joins Ruby Ridge and Waco to form a kind of holy trinity of anti-government martyrology: the 1983 death of the tax protester Gordon Kahl in a confrontation with law enforcement.Kahl was a self-proclaimed “Christian patriot” and member of the far-right Posse Comitatus. After embracing the white supremacist and antisemitic ideology of Christian Identity, he came to believe “taxation was a scheme by ‘international Jews’ to enslave America”, and stopped paying his taxes. In 1983, Kahl killed two federal marshals when they attempted to arrest him on a tax-related charge. After escaping and going into hiding, he defended himself in a 16-page letter: “We are a conquered and occupied nation; conquered and occupied by the Jews, and their hundreds or maybe thousands of front organizations doing their un-Godly work.” Front organizations like the IRS.Today, as sitting US senators sow fears of a “shadow army” of IRS agents, it is important to recall this shadow history. Those who attack the IRS today do not necessarily share Kahl’s antisemitism or propensity to violence. But when our political leaders repeat barely sanitized versions of far-right conspiracy theories, they are knowingly or not continuing the violent anti-government project that Kahl and others set into motion, and they are introducing and legitimizing those sentiments for new generations of conservatives. This is how the extreme becomes mainstream.
      Ruth Braunstein is associate professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut and the author of Prophets and Patriots: Faith in Democracy Across the Political Divide. She is currently working on a book called My Tax Dollars
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      Trump attorney general Barr a liar, bully and thug, says fired US attorney in book

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      Trump attorney general Barr a liar, bully and thug, says fired US attorney in bookIn memoir, Geoffrey Berman recounts clashes before a botched firing he insists was politically motivated Donald Trump’s second attorney general, William Barr, is stupid, a liar, a bully and a thug, according to a hard-hitting new book by Geoffrey Berman, the US attorney for the southern district of New York whose firing Barr engineered in hugely controversial fashion in summer 2020.Mar-a-Lago a magnet for spies, officials warn after nuclear file reportedly foundRead more“Several hours after Barr and I met,” Berman writes, “on a Friday night, [Barr] issued a press release saying that I was stepping down. That was a lie.“A lie told by the nation’s top law enforcement officer.”Trump’s politicization of the US Department of Justice was a hot-button issue throughout his presidency. It remains so as he claims persecution under Barr’s successor, Merrick Garland, regarding the mishandling of classified information, the Capitol attack and multiple other investigations.Berman describes his own ordeal, as Barr sought a more politically pliant occupant of the hugely powerful New York post, in Holding the Line: Inside the Nation’s Preeminent US Attorney’s Office and its Battle with the Trump Justice Department, a memoir to be published next week. The Guardian obtained a copy.Berman testified in Congress shortly after his dismissal. He now writes: “No one from SDNY with knowledge of [his clashes with Barr over two and a half years] has been interviewed or written about them. Until now, there has not been a firsthand account.”Berman describes clashes on issues including the prosecution of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer, and the Halkbank investigation, concerning Turkish bankers and government officials helping Tehran circumvent the Iran nuclear deal.Barr was also attorney general under George HW Bush. He has published his own book, One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General, in which he discusses SDNY affairs but does not mention Berman. Promoting the book, Barr told NBC he “didn’t really think that much about” his former adversary.Berman calls that “an easily disprovable lie”.In Berman’s book, Barr is a constant presence. Describing the Halkbank case, Berman says Trump’s closeness to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, meant Barr was, “always eager to please his boss, appeared to be doing Trump’s bidding” by leaning on Berman to drop charges.Berman says Barr told him he, Barr, would be “point person” for the administration on Halkbank, which Berman found “odd”.“This is a criminal case being run out of New York, right? As attorney general, Barr had a role to play. But why as White House-designated point person? That was problematic.”Berman says Barr tried to block the SDNY to benefit Trump politically. In June 2019, he says, he was summoned to a meeting where Barr told him the Halkbank case “implicates foreign policy” and, “his voice … steadily rising”, asked: “Who do you think you are to interfere?”He writes: “I’ve seen bullies work before. In fact he had used the same words with me a little more than a year before” over the appointment of Berman’s deputy, Audrey Strauss, without Barr’s approval.Berman adds: “I would describe Barr’s posture that morning as thuggish. He wanted to bludgeon me into submission.”Berman turned Barr down. He also says he told Barr a proposal to offer individuals in the Halkbank case a non-prosecution agreement without disclosing the move would be “a fraud on the court”.The Halkbank issue eventually dropped away, after Trump and Erdoğan fell out over the US withdrawal from Syria. But Barr and Berman’s enmity remained.Berman also gives his version of events in June 2020, when Barr summoned him to a meeting at the Pierre hotel in New York City.William Barr told Murdoch to ‘muzzle’ Fox News Trump critic, new book saysRead moreBerman first delivers a sharp aside about Barr’s ostentatious travel, his apparent ambitions – Berman speculates that the attorney general wanted to be secretary of state in Trump’s second term – and an infamous, secretive meeting between Barr and Rupert Murdoch that Berman calls “a scene right out of HBO’s Succession”.Berman says he did not know why Barr wanted to meet him, but thought it might be because he had refused to sign a letter attacking Bill de Blasio, then mayor of New York, over the application of Covid restrictions to religious services and protests for racial justice. Berman did not sign, he writes, because he could not be seen to act politically.At the Pierre, he says, Barr, who with his chief of staff was not wearing a mask indoors, said he wanted to “make a change in the southern district”. Berman says he knew what would come next, given changes elsewhere to instal Barr allies and moves to influence investigations of Trump aides including Roger Stone and Michael Flynn.“The reason Barr wanted me to resign immediately was so I could be replaced with an outsider he trusted,” Berman writes, adding that he was sure he could be removed other than by the judges who appointed him to fill the office on an interim basis in 2018, or by Senate confirmation of a successor.Berman turned down Barr’s offer. He says Barr then made an “especially tawdry” suggestion: that if Berman moved to run the DoJ civil division, “I could leverage it to make more money after I left government”. Berman says Barr also asked if he had civil litigation experience, a question Berman deems “almost comical”. Then Barr threatened to fire him.Berman “thought to myself, what a gross and colossal bully this guy is to threaten my livelihood”. He did not budge. Barr said he would think of other jobs. After the meeting, Berman writes, Barr asked if he would like to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. Berman says that job “was not [Barr’s] to offer”, as the SEC chair is nominated by the president and Senate confirmed.Berman says he agreed to talk to Barr again after the weekend. Instead, that night Barr issued a press release saying Berman had agreed to resign.“It was a lie, plain and simple,” Berman writes. “I clearly told him I was not stepping down. Barr [was] the attorney general … in addition to being honest, he should be smart. And this was really stupid on his part – a complete miscalculation … he should have known at this point that I was not going to go quietly.”William Barr’s Trump book: self-serving narratives and tricky truths ignoredRead moreIn a press release of his own, Berman said he had not resigned. The next day he showed up for work, greeted by a swarm of reporters. Then, in a public letter Berman now calls “an idiotic diatribe”, Barr said Berman had been fired by Trump.Barr did drop a plan to replace Berman with an acting US attorney, instead allowing Berman’s deputy, Strauss, to succeed him. Berman says that enabled him to step aside in good conscience. He calls Barr’s move a “surrender”.Berman describes both his belief he was fired because his independence represented “a threat to Trump’s re-election” and Trump’s insistence to reporters on the day of the firing that he had not fired Berman – Barr had.“Barr’s attempt to push me out,” he writes, “was so bungled that he and Trump couldn’t even get their stories straight.”TopicsBooksWilliam BarrUS politicsDonald TrumpLaw (US)RepublicansTrump administrationnewsReuse this content More

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      Nuclear secrets reportedly found at Mar-a-Lago are ‘gamechanger’, experts say – live

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      The reported discovery of information about a foreign nation’s nuclear secrets in materials found at Donald Trump’s private residence is horrifying intelligence experts.Federal agents seized the document during their search of Mar-a-Lago, the former president’s Palm Beach mansion in Florida, last month, the Washington Post reported. It appears to confirm officials’ worst fears about the nature of the intelligence he should have returned to the National Archives.Shawn Turner, former director of communications for US national intelligence, was searing in his criticism during an interview Wednesday on CNN’s New Day:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The fact we now know there were highly classified, restricted access documents about another country’s nuclear defense capabilities stored at Mar-a-Lago is a gamechanger with regard to the risk it poses to our national security.
      That these documents may have been seen by unauthorized personnel … tells individuals what our capabilities are with regard to intelligence collection related to nuclear programs.
      More important is it identifies or exposes our gaps with regard to intelligence collection.
      The bottom line is others are going to look at this information and determine what we know and don’t know, and they’re going to make decisions about their nuclear programs based on that information. And that is an extremely dangerous thing.The Post’s reporting is only the latest twist in a weeks-long saga over the justice department’s investigation into his handling of classified materials after he left office in January 2021.Trump, who is mulling another run for the presidency in 2024, attacked the department at a weekend rally where he called the FBI and DoJ “vicious monsters”.Many others, including Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, have defended the investigation into his retention of government records, saying that it posed a major national security risk.Read more:FBI found document on foreign nuclear defenses at Mar-a-Lago – reportRead moreA judge today struck down a 1931 anti-abortion law in Michigan, months after suspending it, saying, “A law denying safe, routine medical care not only denies women of their ability to control their bodies and their lives – it denies them of their dignity. Michigan’s Constitution forbids this violation of due process.”The law had long been inactive prior to the overturning of Roe v Wade and made it illegal to perform abortions unless there was a life-threatening emergency. Judge Elizabeth Gleicher said the law “compels motherhood”, prevents a woman from determining the “shape of her present and future life” and “forces a pregnant woman to forgo her reproductive choices and to instead serve as ‘an involuntary vessel entitled to no more respect than other forms of collectively owned property’”.Michigan’s Democratic governor praised the ruling, but warned it was likely to be challenged and said there were “extremists who will stop at nothing to ban abortion even in cases of rape and incest”. Today, the courts ruled once again Michigan women have the right to make medical decisions for themselves.However, this decision is likely to be challenged, and we know that there are extremists who will stop at nothing to ban abortion even in cases of rape and incest.— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) September 7, 2022
      The decision comes amid an ongoing court battle that will determine whether another anti-abortion measure is on the ballot before voters in Michigan this year. The full story on Gleicher’s decision: Judge strikes down Michigan’s strict 1931 anti-abortion lawRead moreHi all – Sam Levin here in Los Angeles taking over our live coverage for the rest of the day. A new report suggests that hundreds of US law enforcement officers, elected officials and military personnel were listed on leaked documents as members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right extremist group linked to the Jan 6 2021 insurrection. The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism reviewed 38,000 leaked names on a membership list of the group and said it identified more than 370 people believed to be active members of police agencies, in addition to more than 100 people currently in the military, the AP reports. The review also identified more than 80 people running for office or currently serving as elected officials as of this summer. The list included sheriffs and police chiefs, the AP said. Some of the officials contacted by the AP responded they were members years ago but were no longer active. In recent years, there has been escalating concerns about links between police departments and far-right extremist groups in the US, a problem that was widely scrutinized after the insurrection, where off-duty officers were present. Last week, a retired New York police officer received the longest sentence yet for his involvement in the attack on the Capitol, during which he assaulted an officer with a flagpole. The full story on the Oath Keepers leak: Oath Keepers membership rolls feature police, military and elected officialsRead moreCertain prominent legal experts aren’t pulling their punches this afternoon, already skeptical of the ruling by the federal judge in Florida granting Donald Trump’s request to have a special master interrupt and oversee the Department of Justice’s review of documents seized by the FBI from the former president’s residence at Mar-a-Lago.Harvard’s Laurence Tribe, as pithy as usual, has quote tweeted former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann over what needs to happen next in the court case – and not long after.A good list. I’d offer a friendly amendment to item 2:2. Indict Trump before this December. https://t.co/Zl4GiT3v2B— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) September 7, 2022
      Tribe wrote for the Guardian today that the ruling two days ago on the special master by Aileen Cannon, the federal judge in West Palm Beach, “has to rank high in the annals of the worst reasoned judicial decisions in American history”.He warns: “If it signals that judicial Trumpism has spread more broadly than we thought, there may be danger ahead to our entire system of equal justice.”Tribe wrote the piece with former federal prosecutor Dennis Aftergut and you can read the rest of it here.Tribe also notes that Trump’s attorney general Bill Barr has called Cannon’s ruling “deeply flawed”. (Barr also called it “a crock of shit”.)But he adds in a tweet: “I’m glad Bill Barr is making the rounds on his “dismantle Trump” tour, but if it’s a “rehabilitate Barr” tour, count me out.”I’m glad Bill Barr is making the rounds on his “dismantle Trump” tour, but if it’s a “rehabilitate Barr” tour, count me out . . . https://t.co/ELnloUmIn2— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) September 7, 2022
      The rehab tour started in earnest with the main round of January 6 hearings, and no matter what it does or doesn’t do for Barr, his testimony to that House committee’s inquiry did a lot for the congressional investigation itself (as well as for Ivanka Trump’s view of who won the 2020 election, apparently).Reporters at the White House press briefing are wondering if the US has had contact with any other countries over the reported discovery of a foreign power’s nuclear secrets among classified documents hoarded by ex-president Donald Trump.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is sticking closely to her previous position of flat-out refusing to comment on the justice department’s investigation into Trump’s handling of secret material, but does say this:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We don’t have any calls to foreign governments to read out at this time on this particular issue as known.
      When it comes to this specific issue, the ODNI [office of the director of national intelligence] is in the middle of an assessment, and DoJ [justice department] is in the middle of an ongoing criminal investigation. So I’m not going to comment.It should be noted that Jean-Pierre is not saying no such calls have taken place, nor is she saying they have. She’s just saying that she has nothing that she can share.We’ve hopped across the White House from the East Room to the briefing room, to join press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.Monkeypox is first on the agenda. Robert Fenton, White House national monkeypox response coordinator, says the country has ample supplies of vaccines to supply the most at-risk.“Our focus is to reach the remainder of the eligible population where they are,” he says, citing the success of thousands of doses being administered over the weekend at pride events in Louisiana, Georgia and elsewhere.“These events demonstrate our strategy is working.”Dr Demetre Daskalakis, deputy response coordinator, says the population at highest risk is largely men who have sex with other men.“It’s important people know a safe and effective vaccine is available for those who need it,” he says.“It’s important we speak to the community in a way that doesn’t stigmatize them. [The virus] doesn’t distinguish between people based on their sexual orientation or gender.”Michelle Obama’s speech from her portrait unveiling at the White House is worth a read. The day, the former first lady said, belongs not to her or Barack Obama, and it’s not even about the paintings:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Too often in this country, people feel like they have to look a certain way or act a certain way to fit in. They have to make a lot of money, or come from a certain group or class or faith in order to matter.
      But what we’re looking at today, a portrait of a biracial kid with an unusual name and the daughter of a water pump operator and a stay at home mom, what we are seeing is a reminder that there’s a place for everyone in this country.
      Because, as Barack said, if the two of us can end up on the walls of the most famous address in the world, it is so important for every young kid who is doubting themselves to believe that they can too..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}That is what this country is about. It’s not about blood or pedigree or wealth. It’s a place where everyone should have a fair shot. Whether you’re a kid taking two buses and a train just to get to school, or a single mother who’s working two jobs to put some food on the table.
      Or an immigrant, just arriving, getting your first apartment, forging a future for yourself in a place you dreamed of.
      That’s why for me this day isn’t about me or Barack. It’s not even about these beautiful paintings. It’s about telling that fuller story, a story that includes every single American in every single corner of the country so that our kids and grandkids can see something more for themselves.
      And as much as some folks might want us to believe that that story has lost some of its shine, that division, and discrimination and everything else might have dimmed its light, I still know deep in my heart, that what we share, as my husband continues to say, is so much bigger than what we don’t.
      Our democracy is so much stronger than our differences.Joe Biden has tweeted about his “old pals act” at the White House on Wednesday, the vice-president turned president greeting his former boss Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama for the unveiling of their portraits.“Someone once said that if you’re looking for a friend in Washington get a dog,” Obama said during his speech in the East Room.“Our family was lucky enough to have two wonderful dogs. But I was even luckier to have a chance to spend eight years working day and night with a man who became a true partner and a true friend.“Joe, it is now America’s good fortune to have you as president”.Barack and Michelle, welcome back. pic.twitter.com/wcdBvfMcGg— President Biden (@POTUS) September 7, 2022
      Mar-a-Lago – the Palm Beach resort and residence where Donald Trump reportedly stored nuclear secrets among a trove of highly classified documents for 18 months since leaving the White House – is a magnet for foreign spies, former intelligence officials have warned.The Washington Post reported that a document describing an unspecified foreign government’s defences, including its nuclear capabilities, was one of the many highly secret papers Trump took away from the White House when he left office in January 2021.There were also documents marked SAP, for Special-Access Programmes, which are often about US intelligence operations and whose circulation is severely restricted, even among administration officials with top security clearance.Potentially most disturbing of all, there were papers stamped HCS, Humint Control Systems, involving human intelligence gathered from agents in enemy countries, whose lives would be in danger if their identities were compromised.The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is conducting a damage assessment review which is focused on the sensitivity of the documents, but US officials said it is the job of FBI counter-intelligence to assess who may have gained access to them.That is a wide field. The home of a former president with a history of being enthralled by foreign autocrats, distrustful of US security services, and boastful about his knowledge of secrets, is an obvious foreign intelligence target.“I know that national security professionals inside government, my former colleagues, [they] are shaking their heads at what damage might have been done,” John Brennan, former CIA director, told MSNBC.“I’m sure Mar-a-Lago was being targeted by Russian intelligence and other intelligence services over the course of the last 18 or 20 months, and if they were able to get individuals into that facility, and access those rooms where those documents were and made copies of those documents, that’s what they would do.”Barack Obama also thanked artists Robert McCurdy and Sharon Sprung for their respective portraits of himself and Michelle Obama.“He captures every wrinkle of your face, every crease of your shirt, [and] you’ll note he refused all of my requests to make my ears smaller,” he said.“He also talked me out of wearing a tan suit, by the way,” he added to laughter and applause, a nod to the social media firestorm he created back in 2014 when he wore one.“What you realize when you’re sitting behind that desk, and what I want people to remember about Michelle and me, is that presidents and first ladies are human beings. “I’ve always described the presidency as a relay race. You take the baton from someone, you run your leg as hard and as well as you can, and then you hand it off to someone else, knowing that your work will be incomplete. “The portraits hanging in the White House chronicle the runners in that race.Having unveiled his portrait, Barack Obama is now paying tribute to Joe Biden, saying it is “America’s good fortune” to have him as president:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}You have guided us through some perilous times, you have built on and gone beyond the work we all did together to expand healthcare, to fight climate change, to advance social justice and to promote economic fairness.
      Thanks to you our faith in our democracy and the American people, the country is better off than when you took office. He also acknowledged his aides, staffers and colleagues from his time in the White House. Many are in the audience in the East Room:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}For eight years, even longer for some of you, I drew on your energy and dedication and your goodness. You inspired me and I never wanted to disappoint you.
      Even during the toughest times it was all of you that kept me going. It’s good to be back and see all of you…what’s been a special joy to see what’s happened since.
      [But] I am a little disappointed I haven’t heard anyone naming a kid Barack yet.“Or Michelle…” the former first lady interjected from beside him.Joe Biden is acknowledging Barack Obama as his inspiration for everything he does as president.Speaking at the official unveiling of the former president and first lady, Michelle Obama, at the White House, Biden said:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}With Barack as our president we got up every day and went to work full of hope, for real, full of purpose, and excited about the possibility before us.
      Few people I’ve ever known have more integrity, decency, and moral courage than Barack Obama.
      Mr President, nothing could have prepared me better, and more, to become president of the United States than to be your side for eight years. I mean it from the bottom of my heart.
      No matter what the issue was, no matter how difficult, no matter what it was about, you never did what it was the easy way, the easy way out. It was never about doing it that way, it was always about doing what was right.To that end, Biden cited Obama’s signature achievement, passage of the Affordable Care Act, nicknamed Obamacare, which survived a bumpy passage and overcame Republican opposition in the Senate to become law:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}He never gave up on the simple truth that health care was a right for all Americans when so many were telling him, including me at one point, take the compromise, take the compromise… we weren’t sure we get anything done.
      You refused. You went big. And now the Affordable Care Act is there permanently and it’s even being improved.Here are the portraits:JUST UNVEILED: The official @WhiteHouse portraits of @BarackObama & @MichelleObama. pic.twitter.com/dDTxblOe5e— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) September 7, 2022
      Joe Biden is speaking at the White House, where he is unveiling the official portraits of former first lady Michelle Obama, and 44th president Barack Obama, whom he served as vice-president.“Barack and Michelle, welcome home,” the president began.Here’s a video interview with the portraits’ artists, Robert McCurdy and Sharon Sprung.New York state is ending a 28-month-old Covid-19 mandate requiring masks on trains, buses and other modes of public transit, governor Kathy Hochul said at a news conference today, Reuters reports..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Starting today masks will be optional. We have to restore some normalcy to our lives…Masks are encouraged but optional,” Hochul said, citing recent revised guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).New York first adopted the mandate in April 2020 as Covid-19 was rampaging in the New York City area..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}It’s always been a visible reminder that something is not normal here, and it was there for the right reason. It protected health and now we’re in a far different place,” Hochul said.In April, the Biden administration decided to no longer enforce a US mask mandate on public transportation after a federal judge in Florida ruled the directive was unlawful. New York declined to adopt the Biden policy in April.In recent months, many riders in New York had stopped observing the mask policy.Hochul said masks will still be required in some places like adult care facilities and some other medical facilities.The US Justice Department appealed the Florida judge’s ruling invalidating the transportation mask mandate, but a federal appeals court has not yet set the case for oral arguments.It’s been a lively morning in US political news and there’s more to come. The unveiling at the White House of the official portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama is just ahead, with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in attendance, and the White House press briefing with Karine Jean-Pierre follows not long after that. We’ll be watching for any other significant breaking news and will bring it to you as it happens.Here’s where things stand:
      Former Trump administration defense secretaries Jim Mattis and Mark Esper have joined a group of retired military officers who have written an open letter warning of an “extremely adverse environment” for the military – a thinly-veiled attack on the former president’s efforts to use servicemen and women to advance his political goals.
      Andrew McCabe, former deputy director of the FBI says federal agents “absolutely had to go in” to retrieve highly classified documents from Donald Trump’s private residence relating to the nuclear secrets of a foreign power.
      Donald Trump’s legal jeopardy could be heightened by the reported discovery of a foreign nation’s nuclear secrets among his hoard of improperly retained classified materials, some experts believe.
      The reported discovery of information about a foreign nation’s nuclear secrets in materials found at Donald Trump’s private residence in the FBI search last month is horrifying intelligence experts. The legal and security situation was already extremely serious and the further revelation has been called “a gamechanger”.
      Massachusetts is on course to elect its first woman and first gay governor after Maura Healey won the Democratic primary on Tuesday and a Trump-backed candidate, Geoff Diehl, won the Republican contest to face her.Healey, the state attorney general, said: “I am honored to receive the Democratic nomination … Together, we’re going to win in November and build a Massachusetts that works for everyone.”Massachusetts has a long record of electing moderate Republicans. Only one Democrat – Deval Patrick, from 2007 to 2015 – has been governor since 1991.Healey, a former college and professional basketball player, has been attorney general since 2015. Polls give her huge leads over Diehl.The Republican backs Donald Trump’s lie that his defeat by Joe Biden in the 2020 election was the result of electoral fraud, opposed the extension of mail-in voting, opposed public health mandates in the Covid pandemic and supports the supreme court decision overturning Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that guaranteed the right to abortion.The abortion issue alone has driven electoral successes that have Democrats hoping they can prosper in the midterm elections.On Monday, Trump – the de facto leader of a party dominated by supporters Biden has called “semi-fascist” – told Massachusetts Republicans that Diehl would push back against “ultra-liberal extremists” and “rule your state with an iron fist”.Full-story:Massachusetts set to elect first female, gay governor over Trumpist opponentRead more More