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Donald Trump called for the arrest of a group of Democratic lawmakers he accused of engaging in “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH”.The president’s remarks, issued on his Truth Social platform on Thursday morning, came after the legislators posted a video in which they told active service members they should refuse illegal orders.In another post, he wrote: “This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP??? President DJT.” In a third post, he added: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” He also reposted a statement that said: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD!!”Following Trump’s statements on Thursday, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic whip Katherine Clark and Democratic caucus chair Pete Aguilar released a joint statement condemning the remarks.“Donald Trump must immediately delete these unhinged social media posts and recant his violent rhetoric before he gets someone killed,” the statement added.The White House walked back the president’s comments later Thursday, saying Trump does not want to see Democratic members of Congress executed.Democrats condemn Trump for saying they should be punished ‘by death’“Political violence has no place in America,” Democratic leaders wrote in a statement following Trump’s posts on Truth Social. “Representatives Jason Crow, Chris DeLuzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan and Senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin all served our country with tremendous patriotism and distinction. We unequivocally condemn Donald Trump’s disgusting and dangerous death threats against members of Congress, and call on House Republicans to forcefully do the same.”The Democratic leaders also said that they had been in contact with the House sergeant at arms and the United States Capitol police “to ensure the safety of these members and their families”.Read the full storyZelenskyy to negotiate with Trump over US-Russia peace dealUkrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he will negotiate with Donald Trump on a US-backed peace plan that called on Kyiv to make painful concessions in order to end the Kremlin’s invasion of his country.Zelenskyy’s office on Thursday confirmed that he had received the draft peace plan, which was prepared by US and Russian officials, and that he would speak with Trump in the coming days about “existing diplomatic opportunities and the main points that are necessary for peace”.“We agreed to work on the points of the plan so that it would bring a worthy end to the war,” Zelenskyy’s office said in a statement.Read the full storyDrill, baby, drill (off California and Florida)The Trump administration on Thursday announced new oil and gas drilling off California’s and Florida’s coasts, setting the stage for a political showdown – including with Sunshine state Republicans who have largely opposed petroleum development in the Gulf of Mexico.This announcement comes as the US petroleum industry, despite contending with low crude prices, has been pushing for an entree to additional offshore drilling areas.Read the full storyCDC website now reflects RFK Jr’s belief in link between vaccines and autismA Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website has been changed to reflect the belief of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health and human services secretary, that there is a link between vaccines and autism, a view flatly contradicted by experts and scientifically validated studies.Public health and autism specialists roundly condemned the alteration to the CDC’s “vaccine safety” webpage, after it was changed to read: “The statement ‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim.”Read the full storyJudge halts Trump’s deployment of national guard to Washington DCUS district judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of former president Joe Biden, temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying national guard troops to enforce the law in the nation’s capital without approval from its mayor.Cobb paused her ruling until 11 December to allow the Trump administration to appeal.Read the full storyJustice department investigates handling of Adam Schiff’s mortgage fraud caseThe justice department is investigating how two Trump allies handled the investigation into whether California senator, Adam Schiff, committed mortgage fraud, according to a copy of a subpoena obtained by the Guardian and a person familiar with the matter.The office of the deputy attorney general Todd Blanche is overseeing the inquiry, which appears to have developed as an offshoot of the main case into Schiff – a notable development since the justice department is essentially investigating activities of two close allies of the president.Read the full storyTrump officials reveal plan to roll back Endangered Species Act protectionsThe Trump administration presented a new plan to roll back regulations in the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a move experts fear will accelerate the extinction crisis if adopted.The proposedchanges would allow the federal government more power to weigh economic impact against habitat designations, remove safeguards against future events – including the impacts from the climate crisis – and rescind the “blanket rule” that automatically grants threatened species the same protections as those designated as endangered.Read the full storyRepublicans warn Bondi: don’t bury the Epstein filesThe passage of the the Epstein Files Transparency Act marked a rare moment of bipartisan support in an otherwise ideologically fractured Congress as it now sets a 30-day deadline for the release of Department of Justice files related to the actions of convicted sex offender of minors and financier Jeffrey Epstein.“People who feel very strongly about this will feel like they’ve been duped” if the justice department claims “we can’t release anything because of an active investigation,” said Republican senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.Read the full storyElizabeth Warren calls for inquiry into Trump’s ballroom fundingThe US senator from Massachusetts said that the next independent Department of Justice “should investigate” the private donations that have funded the construction of the new White House ballroom.Warren – who is the top Democrat on the Senate banking committee – told the Guardian in a statement that the ballroom could be “a golden crime scene” and urged the next administration to “follow the money” to uncover “whether any crimes were committed” in its financing.Read the full storyDonald Trump and JD Vance snubbed for Dick Cheney’s funeralThe president and vice-president were not invited to former vice-president Dick Cheney’s funeral, which took place on Thursday, according to a White House official familiar with the matter.Cheney, the former US vice-president to George W Bush and a Republican defense hawk who became a fierce critic of the current US president, died earlier this month at the age of 84.Read the full storyWhat else happened today:
Fears of a growing bubble around the artificial intelligence frenzy resurfaced on Thursday as leading US stock markets fell, less than 24 hours after strong results from chipmaker Nvidia sparked a rally.
Connie Chan, a progressive lawmaker who serves on the San Francisco board of supervisors, has entered the race to succeed the former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi next year.
Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist who participated in protests at Columbia University and was detained by Ice earlier this year, has filed a lawsuit demanding the Trump administration release its communications with anti-Palestinian groups he says contributed to his March arrest and efforts to detain him.
The White House issued a full-throated defense of Donald Trump’s reference to a Bloomberg News correspondent as a “piggy” on Thursday, claiming without evidence that the president “calls out fake news when he sees it and gets frustrated with reporters who spread false information”.
Democratic congressman Ro Khanna has a warning for anyone in the Trump administration who would impede Epstein files release: comply or face the consequences.
“President Trump is the biggest con job in American history,” Nancy Pelosi, the US speaker emerita, told reporters on Thursday while criticizing his anti-climate agenda. That follows Trump telling the UN general assembly in September that the climate crisis was “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”.
The White House under Gerald Ford tried to block a landmark Senate report that disclosed the CIA’s role in assassination attempts against foreign leaders and ultimately led to a radical overhaul in how the agency was held to account, documents released to mark the 50th anniversary of the report’s publication reveal.
Catching up? Here’s what happened Wednesday, 19 November. More
The White House issued a full-throated defense of Donald Trump’s reference to a Bloomberg News correspondent as a “piggy” on Thursday, claiming without evidence that the president “calls out fake news when he sees it and gets frustrated with reporters who spread false information”.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made the remarks during a White House briefing, saying Trump was re-elected because of his bluntness and that members of the media should appreciate his willingness to answer their questions.“He calls out fake news when he sees it and gets frustrated with reporters who spread false information,” Leavitt said. “But he also provides unprecedented access to the press and answers questions on a near-daily basis.”Leavitt did not specify what “fake news” or “false information” Trump was responding to when he called Catherine Lucey, Bloomberg’s White House correspondent, “piggy”.The clash between Trump and Lucey happened on Friday onboard Air Force One. Lucey asked a question about the unfolding Jeffrey Epstein scandal and the possibility of the House voting to release all of the files related to his case, which came to fruition earlier this week.When Lucey started to ask why Trump was behaving the way he was “if there’s nothing incriminating in the files”, Trump pointed at her and said: “Quiet. Quiet, piggy.”The remark received widespread backlash on Monday and Tuesday, with many fellow journalists condemning the incident. CNN anchor Jake Tapper wrote on X that the comment was “disgusting and completely unacceptable”, while former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson called the remark “disgusting and degrading”.While Trump has long held and shared contempt for journalists publicly, he’s been particularly open this week with his vitriol. On Tuesday, Trump called another female reporter, Mary Bruce of ABC News, “a terrible person” in the Oval Office. The reporter had asked Mohammed bin Salman, the visiting Saudi crown prince, about the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and also why Trump had not released the Epstein files.“Mr President, why wait for Congress to release the Epstein files?’ Bruce asked. “Why not just do it now?”“It’s not the question that I mind. It’s your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask these questions. You start off with a man who is highly respected, asking him a horrible, insubordinate, and just a terrible question,” Trump responded.After this incident, the Society of Professional Journalists issued a statement condemning Trump’s remarks to Lucey and Bruce.“These incidents are not isolated; they are part of an unmistakable pattern of hostility – often directed at women – that undermines the essential role of a free and independent press,” the statement reads.SPJ executive director Caroline Hendrie emphasized that “targeting women reporters with humiliating insults should not be tolerated”.“What we say – and what we refuse to say – signals to the world how much we value human rights and free expression,” Hendrie said. “When US leaders downplay the murder of a journalist or shame reporters for demanding transparency, it reverberates far beyond Washington.” More
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website has been changed to reflect the belief of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health and human services secretary, that there is a link between vaccines and autism, a view flatly contradicted by experts and scientifically validated studies.Public health and autism specialists roundly condemned the alteration to the CDC’s “vaccine safety” webpage, after it was changed to read: “The statement ‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim.”Pointedly, it added: “Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.”The extent of the change was further underlined by an asterisk affixed to a pre-existing statement underneath, reading “vaccines do not cause autism”.An explanation at the bottom of the page said the statement had not been removed “due to an agreement with the chair of the US Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that it would remain on the CDC website”.That explanation was in reference to the Louisiana Republican senator, Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor, who initially opposed Kennedy’s nomination as health secretary but later voted to confirm him on the basis that statements about how vaccines do not cause autism would remain on the CDC site.The new page did not cite any new research. It simply stated: “HHS [health and human services] has launched a comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism, including investigations on plausible biologic mechanisms and potential causal links.”The changes appear to be the latest example of Kennedy’s determination to impose his beliefs on the sprawling Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC. They also triggered severe backlash from scientists and advocates, with former and present CDC staff saying the updated page did not go through the normal, scientific clearance process.“I spoke with several scientists at CDC yesterday and none were aware of this change in content,” Debra Houry, one of a group of CDC top officials who resigned in August, told the AP.“When scientists are cut out of scientific reviews, then inaccurate and ideologic information results.”The move was also condemned by the Autism Science Foundation, an organization that initially gave a cautious welcome to Kennedy’s stated mission to investigate the causes of autism – a disorder that can manifest itself in speech difficulties and repetitive behavior – after his confirmation.“We are appalled to find that the content on the CDC webpage ‘Autism and Vaccines’ has been changed and distorted, and is now filled with anti-vaccine rhetoric and outright lies about vaccines and autism,” the foundation said in a statement.A previous version of the page stated that “studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD). No links have been found between any vaccine ingredients and ASD.”Widespread scientific consensus and decades of studies have firmly concluded there is no link between vaccines and autism.“The conclusion is clear and unambiguous,” said Dr Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a statement Thursday.“We call on the CDC to stop wasting government resources to amplify false claims that sow doubt in one of the best tools we have to keep children healthy and thriving: routine immunizations.”The CDC has, until now, echoed the absence of a link in promoting Food and Drug Administration-licensed vaccines. A number of former CDC officials have said that what the CDC posts about certain subjects – including vaccine safety – can no longer be trusted.Dr Daniel Jernigan, who also resigned from the agency in August, told reporters that Kennedy seems to be “going from evidence-based decision making to decision-based evidence making”.Besides positing a link between vaccines and autism, Kennedy has subscribed to the belief that the condition may be caused by pregnant people taking Tylenol, a suspicion pushed vociferously by Donald Trump, who has urged expectant mothers to avoid taking the over-the-counter drug. More
The justice department is investigating how two Trump allies handled the investigation into whether California senator, Adam Schiff, committed mortgage fraud, according to a copy of a subpoena obtained by the Guardian and a person familiar with the matter.The office of the deputy attorney general Todd Blanche is overseeing the inquiry, which appears to have developed as an offshoot of the main case into Schiff – a notable development since the justice department is essentially investigating activities of two close allies of the president.A federal grand jury in Maryland, where prosecutors are investigating the mortgage allegations against Schiff, issued the subpoena to Christine Bish, an associate of federal housing finance agency (FHFA) chief Bill Pulte and a Republican congressional candidate in California.The subpoena asked Bish, who previously filed an ethics complaint against Schiff accusing him of mortgage fraud, to provide her communications with Pulte, people claiming to work on his behalf, and people claiming to work on behalf of Ed Martin, the head of the justice department’s weaponization committee. The subpoena also asks for communications with Robert Bowes and Scott Strauss.Bish told CNN that when she went before the grand jury, prosecutors “seemed more concerned” about looking into whether “there was conspiracy or collusion between me and Pulte or me and Ed Martin”.ABC News reported that Bowes – who claims to be a financial fraud expert – reached out to Bish and spoke to her without knowledge of Maryland prosecutors or FBI agents. Strauss also reached out to her and asked that she send documents about Schiff to a private email, ABC reported.Both Pulte and Martin are strongly aligned with Trump and have helped him deploy the levers of the federal government to punish political enemies, including Schiff and the New York attorney general, Letitia James.According to MS NOW, the investigation is examining whether Pulte and Martin improperly assigned unauthorized people to help investigate mortgage fraud claims against Schiff and possibly James.Blanche and the attorney general, Pam Bondi, have shown some resistance to the mortgage fraud prosecutions. Earlier this year, they tried to protect Erik Siebert, the top federal prosecutor in Virginia, from being fired after he resisted efforts to charge James. They were unsuccessful. Siebert resigned, and Trump installed Lindsey Halligan, who moved ahead with charges against James and former FBI director James Comey.The inquiry may be a pre-emptive effort by the justice department to get ahead of expected defenses from Schiff in the event he is indicted. But if misconduct is discovered on the part of Pulte or Martin, it could doom the case. The case against Schiff has stalled as prosecutors have failed to produce adequate evidence, NBC reported last month.A lawyer for Schiff did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the justice department declined to comment.Pulte has criminally referred Schiff, James, Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook and California congressman Eric Swalwell to the justice department for alleged mortgage fraud, all deny wrongdoing.Pulte’s tactics have repeatedly come under scrutiny. He has bypassed the FHFA’s inspector general, the office usually responsible for handling mortgage fraud accusations. And last week, the Wall Street Journal reported he removed ethics officials who were looking into whether FHFA officials had improperly accessed James’ mortgage information. More
A federal judge on Thursday halted for now Donald Trump’s deployment of national guard troops to Washington DC, dealing the president a temporary legal setback to his efforts to send the military to US cities over the objections of local leaders.US district judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of former president Joe Biden, temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying national guard troops to enforce the law in the nation’s capital without approval from its mayor.Cobb paused her ruling until 11 December to allow the Trump administration to appeal.The legal fight is playing out alongside several others across the country as Trump presses against longstanding but rarely tested constraints on presidents using troops to enforce domestic law.The DC attorney general, Brian Schwalb, an elected Democrat, sued on 4 September after Trump announced the deployment on 11 August.The lawsuit accused Trump of unlawfully usurping control of the city’s law enforcement and violating a law prohibiting troops from performing domestic police work.Trump has unique law enforcement powers in Washington, which is not part of any state, but local officials say he overstepped by supplanting the mayor’s policing authority and violated legal prohibitions against federal troops engaging in civilian police work.Trump administration lawyers called the lawsuit a political stunt in court filings and said the president is free to deploy troops to Washington without the approval of local leaders. The administration also claims the troops are operating lawfully and successfully reducing crime.Trump, a Republican, has also moved to deploy troops in Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland, Oregon, to combat what he describes as lawlessness and violent unrest over his crackdown on illegal immigration.Democratic leaders of those cities and their states have sued to block the deployments, saying they amount to an attempt to punish political foes with militarized shows of force. More
The declaration of a ceasefire in Gaza in October brought initial relief to its inhabitants. Yet officials there said Israeli strikes killed 33 people, including 12 children, on Wednesday; Israel said its troops had come under fire. Another five Palestinians were killed on Thursday. Hundreds have died since the ceasefire was declared. Even if the shelling stops, the destruction of Palestinian life will carry on as Israel continues to throttle aid, and the consequences of two years of war unfold. The World Health Organization warned last month that the health catastrophe would last for generations.Food remains in short supply. While displaced families shiver in flooded makeshift shelters, with many facing a third winter of homelessness, aid organisations say they cannot deliver stockpiles of tents and tarpaulins. Israel, which denies blocking aid, has designated tent poles as “dual-use” items that could potentially be used for a military purpose. Save the Children reports children sleeping on bare ground in sewage-soaked clothing.The Guardian last week revealed US plans for the long-term division of Gaza into a “green zone” under Israeli and international control, to be redeveloped, and a “red zone” left in ruins; a US official described reunion of the strip as “aspirational”. This vision – with international troops essentially propping up Israeli occupation, and Palestinians drawn to those areas to escape squalor and chaos elsewhere – echoes disastrous US policies in Iraq and Afghanistan.This is the grim underpinning of the UN security council resolution this week, endorsing Donald Trump’s peace proposals. The “board of peace” looks like a colonial authority overseen by Mr Trump, and perhaps anchored by Tony Blair. Palestinian technocrats, somehow both domestically credible and acceptable to the US and Israel – a notable feat – would work beneath it. All this would be possible thanks to an international stabilisation force that the US hopes to see deployed by January. That would be a stretch even if countries prove truly willing to commit troops.The resolution improved on a draft text and won backing from the Arab world – and angry rejection from the Israeli right – by including references to a Palestinian state and Israeli withdrawal. Yet those references are couched in the vaguest terms, as an unguaranteed reward for sufficiently good behaviour, rather than as a recognition of inalienable Palestinian rights. If all goes according to plan, “conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood”. Israeli withdrawal would be based on standards and timeframes agreed by the military itself as well as the US and others. Countries have backed not what this text does mean but what it might conceivably mean or become.Some believe that this is the best that can be salvaged from current circumstances, given Mr Trump’s presidency; others hope that it is just possible that this unpromising start could allow something better to be forged. But it is hard not to conclude that for some governments, this is more about conscience-salving and reputation-laundering than the best interests of Palestinians. Germany has already announced that it will resume weapons exports to Israel. For Palestinians, “what looked like a forever war may be metamorphizing into forever misery”, the political scientist Nathan Brown has warned. Countries that were complicit in a genocidal war have all the more duty to demand better. More
