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    Trump says in video ‘anyone in my position not taking the fifth would be an absolute fool’ – as it happened

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    What does Trump think of those who would answer questions in a deposition, like the one he sat for with New York’s attorney general?“Anyone in my position not taking the Fifth Amendment would be a fool, an absolute fool,” he said in the interview.Meanwhile, on his Truth social network, which stands in for his inactive-but-no-longer-banned Twitter account, the former president was doing his usual thing.“The Democrat D.A.’s, Attorney Generals, and Prosecutors are very DANGEROUS to the well being of our Country. Many are deranged and only interested in pleasing the Fake News Media and the Democrat Party. Fair and True Justice means NOTHING in our Country anymore,” he wrote in a post released shortly after CBS News aired video of his deposition today.“I am being hit by so many DEMOCRAT Prosecutors, LOCAL, STATE, & FEDERAL, all to keep me from “running,” and all because I am leading by sooo much. The great people of our Country aren’t going to take it. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”“Witch-hunt”. “Unfair”. “Anyone in my position not taking the fifth would be a fool”. It was Donald Trump at his finest, or perhaps most exhausting, in video of his summer deposition before the New York attorney general obtained by CBS News. Besides bashing Letitia James and her inquiry – which alleges he and his children conspired to inflate his net worth in order to get better loan terms – Trump doesn’t say much, instead refusing to answer questions more than 400 times. Meanwhile, in Washington, lawmakers have plenty of questions of their own in the ongoing saga of the classified documents discovered in the possession of former White House occupants, with a top Democrat demanding information on Trump and Mike Pence’s visitors from the Secret Service.Here’s what else happened today:
    George Santos announced he will not serve on any House committees, even though Republican speaker Kevin McCarthy said he would be willing to seat him.
    The Biden administration will let the emergencies declared over Covid-19 expire, but is considering declaring a new crisis to allow Americans to obtain access to abortions.
    Kamala Harris will attend Tyre Nichols’s funeral in Memphis on Wednesday, her office announced.
    Minnesota’s governor Tim Walz signed into law a measure protecting abortion rights, making the state’s legislature the first to enshrine access to the procedure since the end of Roe v Wade last year.
    Boris Johnson paid a visit to the US Capitol in search of support for Ukraine and perhaps also political relevance.
    Boris Johnson, the former British prime minister, has brought his quest for political relevance to Washington, holding talks with Republican members of Congress in an effort to shore up support for Ukraine.Johnson left office last September amid a Trumpian cascade of scandals but, far from fading into retirement, may be hoping that the war with Russia offers a shot at redemption and chance to emulate his hero Winston Churchill as a global statesman.The 58-year-old visited Ukraine earlier this month and, on Tuesday, was seen entering the office of House speaker Kevin McCarthy, who ruffled feathers last year by warning that Republicans will not write a “blank check” for Ukraine if they win back the majority.Reporters also spotted Johnson heading to the office of Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader and staunch supporter of Ukraine who has urged Joe Biden to act faster, as well as Congressman Jim Banks, a veteran of the Afghanistan war.Cristina Maza, a journalist at the National Journal, tweeted that Johnson told her that he is on Capitol Hill to thank Americans for backing Ukraine and called Republican support for Kyiv “very robust”. The ex-PM also met Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the US, and took questions from Ukrainian journalists.Johnson has penned an opinion column for the Washington Post, arguing that years of “diplomatic doublespeak” about Ukraine joining Nato ended in disaster. “Ukrainians should be given everything they need to finish this war, as quickly as possible, and we should begin the process of admitting Ukraine to NATO, and begin it now,” he writes.The former PM is set to speak at a private Republican club on Tuesday evening and take part in a virtual conversation about sustaining support to Ukraine with the Atlantic Council think tank at 11.30am on Wednesday.Here’s a statement from Ben Crump, attorney for the parents of Tyre Nichols, regarding Vice-President Kamala Harris’s attendance at his funeral tomorrow:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}This morning, Ms. RowVaughn Wells, Mr. Rodney Wells, and I spoke on the phone with Vice President Kamala Harris for over thirty minutes about the tragic loss of Tyre. Vice President Harris and Ms. Wells spoke exclusively, and during this emotional time, the Vice President was able to console Ms. Wells and even help her smile. Tyre’s parents invited Vice President Harris to the funeral tomorrow, and were pleased that she accepted their invitation. Mr. and Mrs. Wells are grateful for Vice President Harris reaching out to them during this heartbreaking time and for her sensitivity on the call.Vice-President Kamala Harris will travel to Memphis tomorrow to attend Tyre Nichols’s funeral, her office has announced.Last week, Joe Biden spoke with Nichols’s mother and stepfather after the 29-year-old was beaten by Memphis police following a traffic stop, and died three days later.Minnesota’s Democratic governor Tim Walz has signed into law the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, which creates a “fundamental right” to abortion under the state’s laws:Today, I signed the PRO Act into law. Your reproductive freedom will stay protected in Minnesota.— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) January 31, 2023
    Abortion access is already protected under a state supreme court ruling, but the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports Democrats controlling the state legislature passed the PRO Act to guard against the possibility that the precedent gets overturned.With the law, Minnesota has become the first state to add abortion protections to its statutes since the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last June and allowed states to ban the procedure entirely. Voters elsewhere in the country have approved ballot measures protecting abortion access in reaction to the ruling from the supreme court’s conservative majority.In the wake of Tyre Nichols’s death, Joe Biden will meet with Black lawmakers on Thursday in a bid to revive stalled talks on a federal police reform bill, the Associated Press reports: >@POTUS will meet with members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Thursday to discuss police reform in light of Tyre Nichols’ death, @ODalton46 tells reporters on AF1 en route to NYC— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) January 31, 2023
    Spurred by the death of George Floyd in 2020 and the nationwide protests that followed, negotiations over passing some kind of reform measure dragged on for months in 2021, but ultimately proved fruitless. The Washington Post reports that despite the outrage over Nichols’s death following a beating by Memphis police officers – five of whom have been charged with murder – the chances of passing such a measure have only worsened.“I don’t know what the space is for that,” Senator Lindsey Graham, who is the top Republican on the judiciary committee that would probably consider any such bill.Previous talks were held while Democrats controlled both the House and Senate, and negotiators were trying to find a compromise that could overcome a Republican filibuster in the upper chamber. Now, the GOP controls the House, and John Cornyn, a Republican who played a part in passing a bill to help police departments implement de-escalation training, doubts such a measure is feasible.“I think it’s probably less likely to happen now with divided government,” Cornyn said, according to the Post.George Santos has elaborated on his decision to recuse himself from the House committees on small business and science, space and technology.Here’s a statement from the New York Republican lawmaker and fabulist:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}With the ongoing attention surrounding both my personal and campaign financial investigations, I have submitted a request to Speaker McCarthy that I be temporarily recused from my committee assignments until I am cleared. This was a decision that I take very seriously. The business of the 118th Congress must continue without media fanfare. It is important that I primarily focus on serving the constituents of New York’s Third Congressional District and providing federal level representation without distraction.
    I want to personally thank Speaker McCarthy for meeting with me to discuss the matter and allowing me to take time to properly clear my name before returning to my committees. To my constituents, I remain committed to serving the district, and delivering results for both New York’s Third Congressional District and for the American people.Most of Santos’s constituents would like him to resign, a recent survey said.Far-right commentators who joked or cast doubt about the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, are having to eat their words, now that video of assault has been released, the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports:Conservative commentators were forced to backtrack over conspiracy theories and jokes about the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, after the release of police video and audio last week.One Fox News commentator had to retreat from his claim there was no “evidence of a breaking and entering” when his host pointed out that footage of the attacker breaking into Pelosi’s home was playing on screen at the time.“Got it,” Brian Claypool said. “Yeah. OK. Can’t we talk more about what is the DoJ doing?”The Department of Justice has charged Pelosi’s attacker, David DePape, with assault and attempted kidnapping. The 42-year-old also faces state charges including attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty.Pelosi, 82, was attacked in his San Francisco home in late October, a time when his wife, Nancy Pelosi, was still speaker of the US House. According to tapes released by the police, the attacker said he was looking for her. She was not present. Her husband suffered a fractured skull and injuries to his hand and arm.Republican leaders including Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell condemned the attack.But prominent rightwingers including Donald Trump Jr, the Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the Tesla and Twitter owner Elon Musk and Republican members of Congress including Ted Cruz and Marjorie Taylor Greene eagerly spread jokes, misinformation and conspiracy theories.Paul Pelosi attack: rightwing pundits backtrack after release of police videoRead more“Witch-hunt”. “Unfair”. “Anyone in my position not taking the fifth would be a fool”. It was Donald Trump at his finest, or perhaps most exhausting, in video of his summer deposition before the New York attorney general obtained by CBS News. Besides bashing Letitia James and her inquiry – which alleges he and his children conspired to inflate his net worth in order to get better loan terms – Trump doesn’t say much, instead refusing to answer questions more than 400 times. In Washington, lawmakers have plenty of questions of their own in the ongoing saga of the classified documents found in the possession of former White House occupants, with a top Democrat demanding information on Trump and Mike Pence’s visitors from the Secret Service.Here’s what else has happened today so far:
    George Santos announced he will not serve on any House committees, even though Republican speaker Kevin McCarthy said he would be willing to seat him.
    The Biden administration will allow the emergencies declared over Covid-19 to expire, but is considering declaring a new crisis to allow Americans to obtain access to abortions.
    The fallout from the police killing of Tyre Nichols continues in Memphis.
    What does Trump think of those who would answer questions in a deposition, like the one he sat for with New York’s attorney general?“Anyone in my position not taking the Fifth Amendment would be a fool, an absolute fool,” he said in the interview.Meanwhile, on his Truth social network, which stands in for his inactive-but-no-longer-banned Twitter account, the former president was doing his usual thing.“The Democrat D.A.’s, Attorney Generals, and Prosecutors are very DANGEROUS to the well being of our Country. Many are deranged and only interested in pleasing the Fake News Media and the Democrat Party. Fair and True Justice means NOTHING in our Country anymore,” he wrote in a post released shortly after CBS News aired video of his deposition today.“I am being hit by so many DEMOCRAT Prosecutors, LOCAL, STATE, & FEDERAL, all to keep me from “running,” and all because I am leading by sooo much. The great people of our Country aren’t going to take it. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”The top Democrat on the House oversight committee has sent the director of the Secret Service a letter asking for information on all visitors to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and Mike Pence’s Indiana home since they left office two years ago.Jamie Raskin, the ranking member on the Republican-led committee that is playing a major role in investigating Joe Biden, cited the FBI’s discovery of classified materials at Pence and Trump’s properties.“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating former President Donald Trump’s and former Vice President Mike Pence’s mishandling of sensitive, highly classified documents,” Raskin wrote in the letter to director Kimberly Cheatle.“Given that the U.S. Secret Service provided protection for Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence during the time they stored classified materials at their respective residences, the Committee is seeking information from your agency regarding who had access to former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and former Vice President Pence’s personal residence since leaving office.”Led by James Comer, Republicans on the oversight committee are investigating Biden over a number of matters, including his improper possession of classified documents. Comer has requested from the Secret Service information regarding visitors to Biden’s Delaware residence, where some of his classified documents were found. In a statement, Raskin said he asked Comer to join in his letter about Trump and Pence’s properties, but received no reply.Donald Trump invoked his fifth amendment right to refuse to answer questions more than 400 times last summer during his deposition in the New York attorney general’s fraud investigation, CBS News reports.The network obtained video of the interview, which starts with the former president accusing attorney general Letitia James of conducting an “unfair” investigation that amounted to a “witch hunt” – familiar words for anyone who has heard Trump talk about the many inquiries he has faced, and is facing.He then states that on the advice of his lawyers, “I respectfully decline to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States constitution. This will be my answer to any further questions.”An investigator for the attorney general’s office tells Trump that he can just say “same answer” for all the questions put to him, which Trump does throughout the deposition.Weeks after Trump’s August deposition, James announced she was suing the former president and three of his children for what she called a fraud scheme of “staggering” scale in which they falsely inflated his net worth to win more favorable loan terms.Here’s the full report and footage of the deposition, from CBS: More

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      Trump pleaded the fifth more than 400 times in fraud deposition, video shows

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      Trump pleaded the fifth more than 400 times in fraud deposition, video showsFormer president repeatedly invoked constitutional right against self-incrimination in New York footage from late last summer Video released on Tuesday showed Donald Trump answering questions from the New York state attorney general, Letitia James, in a deposition in a civil fraud case late last summer.Video shows Trump taking the fifth 400 times in New York fraud deposition – liveRead moreQuestioned about his financial affairs, the former president repeatedly invoked his fifth-amendment right against self-incrimination – part of a refusal to answer he repeated more than 400 times.“Anyone in my position not taking the fifth amendment would be a fool, an absolute fool,” Trump said.On the advice of counsel, Trump said, he “respectfully decline[d] to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States constitution”.The footage was obtained and reported by CBS News.Three of Trump’s children – Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump – were also deposed by James during an investigation which lasted for three years.In his deposition, Trump repeatedly claimed to have been treated unfairly.James told him: “Anything you say in this examination may be used in a civil proceeding, and that can include a civil enforcement proceeding or a criminal action. Do you understand that?”Trump replied: “I think.”James asked: “Is that yes?”Trump said: “I don’t know what I did wrong, but the answer is yes, I do understand.”Trump was also warned about the risk of perjury.Reading a prepared statement, he complained of “the greatest witch-hunt in the history of our country” and called James “a renegade and out of control prosecutor”.He added: “This whole thing is very unfair.”Trump acknowledged the deposition and his refusal to answer questions at the time, saying in a statement: “I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the fifth amendment?’ Now I know the answer to that question.“When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated witch-hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.”The deposition took place on 10 August, two days after Trump’s Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, was raided by FBI agents looking for classified documents.In his statement, Trump said the raid “wiped out any uncertainty” about whether he should take the fifth in his deposition by James.“I have absolutely no choice because the current administration and many prosecutors in this country have lost all moral and ethical bounds of decency,” he said.In late September 2022, James announced a wide-ranging civil suit against Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and the Trump Organization.01:13James said Trump “falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and to cheat the system, thereby cheating all of us. He did this with the help of the other defendants.”Saying “the number of grossly inflated asset values is staggering”, the suit seeks to bar the Trumps from serving as executives in New York and to prohibit the company from acquiring commercial real estate or receiving loans from New York-based entities for five years.In November, Trump sued James, over what he called a “relentless, pernicious, public, and unapologetic crusade” against him.Trump dropped the suit this month, a day after a suit against Hillary Clinton was thrown out and Trump and his lawyer were hit with a near-$1m sanction.Ever litigious, on Monday Trump announced a near-$50m lawsuit against the Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward and the publisher Simon & Schuster, over an audio book, The Trump Tapes, for which Trump says he did not give permission.Woodward and Simon & Schuster said the suit was “without merit and we will aggressively defend against it”.Donald Trump sues Bob Woodward over The Trump Tapes for $50mRead moreEven as he steps up the pace in his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, Trump faces legal jeopardy on numerous fronts aside from the New York state civil suit.Prosecutors in New York City who secured a conviction against Trump’s chief financial officer on tax offences have said they are looking again at a hush money payment to a porn star, made in 2016.Also in New York, Trump faces lawsuits from E Jean Carroll, a writer who says he raped her in the mid-1990s, an allegation Trump denies.The Department of Justice and state authorities are investigating Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election and his incitement of the US Capitol attack, regarding which the House January 6 committee made four criminal referrals.The justice department also continues to investigate Trump’s retention of classified documents.On Monday, in a post to his Truth Social platform, Trump complained of “Democrat D.A.’s [sic], attorney generals and prosecutors” who he said were “very DANGEROUS to the well being of our country”.He also said he was being “hit” to keep him from running for the White House, “and all because I am leading by sooo much”.Trump is the only declared major candidate for the Republican nomination in 2024. His only close rival in polling of the notional field, the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has led some surveys.TopicsDonald TrumpNew YorkUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Paul Pelosi attack: rightwing pundits backtrack after release of police video

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      Paul Pelosi attack: rightwing pundits backtrack after release of police videoSeveral top commentators promoted conspiracy theories after news of attack at San Francisco home broke in October00:55Conservative commentators were forced to backtrack over conspiracy theories and jokes about the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, after the release of police video and audio last week.Police body-camera video of Paul Pelosi hammer attack releasedRead moreOne Fox News commentator had to retreat from his claim there was no “evidence of a breaking and entering” when his host pointed out that footage of the attacker breaking into Pelosi’s home was playing on screen at the time.“Got it,” Brian Claypool said. “Yeah. OK. Can’t we talk more about what is the DoJ doing?”The Department of Justice has charged Pelosi’s attacker, David DePape, with assault and attempted kidnapping. The 42-year-old also faces state charges including attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty.Pelosi, 82, was attacked in his San Francisco home in late October, a time when his wife, Nancy Pelosi, was still speaker of the US House. According to tapes released by the police, the attacker said he was looking for her. She was not present. Her husband suffered a fractured skull and injuries to his hand and arm.Republican leaders including Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell condemned the attack.But prominent rightwingers including Donald Trump Jr, the Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the Tesla and Twitter owner Elon Musk and Republican members of Congress including Ted Cruz and Marjorie Taylor Greene eagerly spread jokes, misinformation and conspiracy theories.Joe Biden said such reactions showed the Republicans were “extremely extreme”.Jill Filipovic, a Guardian columnist, wrote that though the attack “should shock the conscience of the nation … it has shown just how immune to human decency and empathy the Trumpist right has become”.Last week, a judge in San Francisco ordered the release of police and surveillance footage. On Friday, the footage played widely on TV and online.Musk said sorry – in answer to a tweet in which Juanita Broaddrick, an author who accuses Bill Clinton of rape, said the Pelosi footage showed what was “still a questionable and bizarre situation between two men in their underwear”. Other users pointed out that the footage showed neither man was wearing only underwear.Perhaps the most awkward reaction, however, came from Claypool, who according to his own website is “a nationally regarded trial attorney, trusted media personality, and a genuine ally to those who have endured sexual abuse and faced civil injustice”.Referring to a conspiracy theory which holds that Pelosi let DePape into his home, Claypool said: “The question they’ve not talked about is, and nobody wants to talk about, but let’s do it, is did Paul Pelosi know this guy?”Claypool pointed to the fact the footage shows Pelosi with a drink in his hand. The commentator also claimed a 911 call also released showed Pelosi to be “kind of passively in fear, it didn’t sound like he was in fear for his life”.Things started to go wrong for Claypool when his Fox News host, Sandra Smith, said: “Wasn’t that an effort to keep the attacker calm, potentially?“I think that’s the way a lot of us interpreted that 911 call … that this was somebody who had 911 on the line and that Pelosi was trying to convey that he was in distress, that he was in immediate danger, without escalating the situation with the attacker.“And, by the way, there’s clear footage … outside of the house, showing this attacker breaking through the glass windows on the side of the house.”Fox News rolled the footage. More

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      Sixth Memphis police officer removed from duty after Tyre Nichols death

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      Sixth Memphis police officer removed from duty after Tyre Nichols deathBlack lawmakers call for meeting with president to discuss police reform as investigation into Nichols’s death continues A sixth officer involved in the death of Tyre Nichols has been removed from duty, police said, as an influential group of Black elected officials has called for a meeting with Joe Biden to discuss police reform.Officer Preston Hemphill was relieved of duty and put on what is known as administrative leave, Memphis police maj Karen Rudolph said on Monday, according to multiple reports.Rudolph stopped short of saying what role Hemphill had at the scene of Nichols’s deadly beating or whether he would be charged with a crime in connection with the killing as several other officers have been. But Rudolph said that the investigation into Nichols’s death remained ongoing, and “more information will be shared as it develops”.Hemphill’s removal comes as calls for changes to American policing intensify after officers’ deadly beating of Nichols.‘We’re not done’: end of Scorpion unit after Tyre Nichols death is first step, protesters sayRead moreThe chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Steven Horsford, said the group of 60 members of Congress had asked to meet with the president this week to “push for negotiations on much-needed national reforms to our justice system – specifically, the actions and conduct of our law enforcement”.The appeal to Biden, who has called for Congress to pass police reforms, came as protests prompted by Nichols’s killing continued in Memphis over the weekend.Nichols, a Black man, died on 10 January, three days after Memphis police officers beat him after a traffic stop. Nichols’s parents, who have been invited to attend Biden’s State of the Union speech on 7 February, said the 29-year-old was driving home after photographing the sunset.Video footage released by Memphis officials last week showed officers kicking and punching Nichols and hitting him with a police baton.Five Memphis officers were fired after the attack and have since been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.“No one in our nation should fear interacting with the police officers who serve our diverse communities, large and small,” Horsford, a Democratic congressman from Nevada, said. “We all want to be safe.“Many Black and brown people, however, and many young people in general, are justifiably afraid to interact with law enforcement officials.”Horsford continued: “We are calling on our colleagues in the House and Senate to jumpstart negotiations now and work with us to address the public health epidemic of police violence that disproportionately affects many of our communities.“The brutal beating of Tyre Nichols was murder and is a grim reminder that we still have a long way to go in solving systemic police violence in America.”The Senate judiciary committee’s chairperson, Dick Durbin, said on Sunday that Congress can pass additional policing measures like “screening, training, accreditation, to up the game so that the people who have this responsibility to keep us safe really are stable and approaching this in a professional manner”.Law enforcement primarily falls under the jurisdiction of states, rather than the federal government. But Durbin said that should not “absolve” Congress from acting.“What we saw on the streets of Memphis was just inhumane and horrible,” he said. “I don’t know what created this – this rage in these police officers that they would congratulate themselves for beating a man to death. But that is literally what happened.”Also on Sunday, the civil rights attorney representing the Nichols family, Benjamin Crump, called for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.The bill, drafted after a Minneapolis police officer murdered Floyd in May 2020, would ban chokeholds, create national standards for policing ostensibly to increase accountability, and reform qualified immunity, which shields police officers from civil liability for misconduct.The legislation passed the US House – then controlled by Democrats – in March 2021 but stalled in the Senate. With the House now under Republican control, it remains to be seen whether progress can be made on the bill.Crump told CNN there could be further criminal charges brought against Memphis police while Steve Mulroy, the prosecutor handling the case, said in an interview with the news channel that “nothing we did last Thursday [when the five officers were charged] regarding indictments precludes us from bringing other charges later”.“We are going to need time to allow the investigation to go forward and further consideration of charges,” Mulroy said.The Memphis police department on Saturday announced it would disband its “Scorpion” unit, which was tasked with proactively taking on street crime. The five officers charged over Nichols’s death were all part of the unit.Later that night protesters gathered outside Memphis city hall to mark the victory but said it was just the first step.Local community organizer LJ Abraham told the Guardian that organizers are still demanding that Memphis police dismantle other task forces they run – such as the multi-agency gang unit – and transparency in releasing body-camera footage.She showed the Guardian video from 2020 from a woman showing multiple Memphis police kneeling on her husband’s back while they tried to handcuff him, reportedly on his property.“Right now, when somebody is shot by police, we can’t see that video,” Abraham said, adding that four people had been killed by Memphis police since November. “The only reason we got to see Tyre’s footage was because of the manner in which he died.”A New York Times analysis found that police had given Nichols dozens of “contradictory and unachievable orders” during the traffic stop and subsequent beating. In the 13 minutes between officers stopping Nichols and taking him into custody, police shouted at least 71 commands, the Times reported.“Officers commanded Mr Nichols to show his hands even as they were holding his hands,” the Times found. “They told him to get on the ground even when he was on the ground. And they ordered him to reposition himself even when they had control of his body.”TopicsTyre NicholsMemphisUS policingUS politicsJoe BidennewsReuse this content More

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      Utah bans gender-affirming surgery for young trans people

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      Utah bans gender-affirming surgery for young trans peopleRepublican governor Spencer Cox signs into law bill that denies gender-affirming care, as other states weigh similar measures Utah’s Republican governor on Saturday signed a bill that bans young people who are transgender from receiving gender-affirming healthcare as other states consider similar legislation.The governor, Spencer Cox, who had not taken a public position on the transgender care measure, signed it a day after the state legislature sent it to his desk. Utah’s measure prohibits transgender surgery for young people and disallows hormone treatments for minors who have not yet been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.Republicans controlling Utah’s legislature made the ban a priority and weighed a first draft of the measure less than two days after the state’s lawmakers opened this year’s legislative session on 17 January.Cox’s signing of the bill comes as lawmakers in at least 18 states consider similar legislation taking aim at young transgender people’s healthcare.In a statement, Cox said that he based his decision to sign the bill on a belief that the safest thing to do was halt “these permanent and life-altering treatments for new patients until more and better research can help determine the long-term consequences”.He added: “While we understand our words will be of little comfort to those who disagree with us, we sincerely hope that we can treat our transgender families with more love and respect as we work to better understand the science and consequences behind these procedures.”Utah’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union stood among the organizations who had urged Cox to veto the bill, admonishing him in a letter about “the damaging and potentially catastrophic effects this law will have on people’s lives and medical care and the grave violations of people’s constitutional rights it will cause”.The ACLU’s letter continued: “By cutting off medical treatment supported by every major medical association in the United States, the bill compromises the health and wellbeing of adolescents with gender dysphoria.“It ties the hands of doctors and parents by restricting access to the only evidence-based treatment available for this serious medical condition and impedes their ability to fulfill their professional obligations.”Sponsoring the bill Cox signed was a Republican state senator named Mike Kennedy, who works as a family doctor and has argued that it is right for the government to oversee healthcare policies pertaining to gender and young people.The Associated Press contributed reportingTopicsUtahUS politicsThe far rightLGBTQ+ rightsnewsReuse this content More

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      Congress is Right: Lebanon Needs Fixing

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

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      Never Give an Inch review: Mike Pompeo as ‘heat-seeking missile for Trump’s ass’

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      ReviewNever Give an Inch review: Mike Pompeo as ‘heat-seeking missile for Trump’s ass’ The former secretary of state wants to be president. His vicious memoir will sell, but he may not find buyers at the pollsMike Pompeo is prescient, at least. Back in 2016, as a congressman, he warned Kansas Republicans of the danger posed by Donald Trump. Pompeo lamented that the US had already endured more than seven years of “an authoritarian president who ignored our constitution” – meaning Barack Obama – and cautioned that a Trump presidency would be no different.Schiff calls Mike Pompeo ‘failed Trump lackey’ after classified records claimRead more“It’s time to turn down the lights on the circus,” he said.Pompeo is an ex-army captain who graduated first in his class at West Point. But in the face of Trump’s triumphs, he turned tail and sucked-up. Pompeo was CIA director then secretary of state. On the job, his sycophancy grew legendary.“He’s like a heat-seeking missile for Trump’s ass,” a former ambassador recalled to Susan Glasser of the New Yorker.Never Give an Inch is Pompeo’s opening salvo in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. On cue, he puckers up to Trump, the only declared candidate so far, and thanks Mike Pence, a likely contestant, for bringing him into the fold. But where others are concerned, Never Give an Inch doubles as a burn book.Pompeo strafes two other possible contenders: Nikki Haley, Trump’s first United Nations ambassador, and John Bolton, Trump’s third national security adviser.Trump, Pompeo says, branded Bolton a “scumbag loser”. Pompeo thinks Bolton should “be in jail, for spilling classified information”. The Room Where it Happened, Bolton’s tell-all book, evidently ruffled feathers. As for Pompeo’s own relationship with classified documents? “I don’t believe I have anything classified.” It’s not exactly a blanket denial.Turning to Haley, Pompeo dings her time as UN ambassador – “a job that is far less important than people think” – and her performance in that post.“She has described her role as going toe-to-toe with tyrants,” he observes. “If so, then why would she quit such an important job at such an important time?”Trump is largely spared criticism but his family isn’t. Ivanka Trump makes a dubious cameo. Jared Kushner is depicted as someone less than serious.Pompeo edited the Harvard Law Review. He can write. His memoir is tart and tight. Filled with barbs, bile and little regret, it is an unexpectedly interesting read. It is not the typical pre-presidential campaign autobiography. This one comes with teeth. Pompeo is always self-serving but never bland.He heaps praise on Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and has kind words for Volodymyr Zelenskiy.“I’m troubled by the evil that has befallen his country,” Pompeo writes of Ukraine, a year into the Russian invasion. He also says he is “encouraged” that Zelenskiy, a “onetime Jerry Seinfeld” has “turned into a kind of General Patton”.But while Pompeo deploys the word “authoritarian” more than a dozen times, he never does so in reference to Trump. Trump, remember, has lauded Vladimir Putin as “smart”; praised the Russian president’s war strategy as “wonderful” and “genius”; derided Nato as “dumb”; and unloaded on Joe Biden as “weak”.Pompeo, the brown-noser-in-chief, has zero to say about this.As for Netanyahu, Pompeo is silent on Trump’s reported “fuck him” for the Israeli leader. No Trump appointee has ever dared grapple with that breach of decorum.Pompeo is happy, of course, to blame Obama for alienating Viktor Orban from the US and western Europe, and to sympathize with the Hungarian leader’s efforts to “root his time in office in his nation’s history and Christian faith”. Pompeo’s loyalties are clear. In Hungary this week, Yair Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister’s son, slammed George Soros, the “global elite” and “radical leftist” control of the media.Pompeo is a fan of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s defeated former leader, who he says “largely modeled his candidacy for president on President Trump”. Words written, presumably, before the mini January 6 in Brasília. Birds of a feather, etc.Pompeo also takes Pope Francis and the Catholic church to task over their relationship with China, and derides both the reformist Pope John XXIII and the liberation theology movement of the 1970s. In 2014, five decades after his death, John XXIII was canonized. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, blurbed Pompeo’s book.As expected, Pompeo basically ignores the insurrection Trump stoked and the attack on Congress it produced. He refers to “mayhem at the Capitol” on 6 January 2021 and targets the “left” for looking to exploit the day’s events, but says nothing of Trump’s concerted effort to subvert democracy and overturn an election.Pompeo knows the GOP base. Three in five Republicans believe voter fraud birthed Biden’s victory. The same number say Trump did nothing wrong on January 6. Not surprisingly, Pompeo omits mention of his own tweets that day or his appearance before the House January 6 committee.“The storming of the US Capitol today is unacceptable,” Pompeo tweeted. “Lawlessness and rioting here or around the world is always unacceptable. Let us swiftly bring justice to the criminals who engaged in this rioting.”Asked about the tweets by committee staff, he responded: “I stand by it.”He also told Liz Cheney, on the record: “I thought the courts and the certification that took place were appropriate … the vice-president [Pence] made the right decision on the evening of 6 January” to certify Biden’s win.None of this appears on the page. Instead, Pompeo gleefully recalls how Trump approved of his loyalty.How well is all this working? Pompeo may well sell books but fail to move the needle. Polls show him at 1% in the notional presidential primary, tied with the likes of Paul Ryan, the former House speaker, and Ted Cruz, the Senate’s own squeegee pest. Pompeo trails Haley and Pence.The appetite for a Pompeo presidency seems … limited. Like Ron DeSantis, he is grim and humorless. Unlike the governor of Florida, Pompeo has no war chest.
      Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love is published in the US by HarperCollins
      TopicsBooksPolitics booksMike PompeoTrump administrationDonald TrumpRepublicansUS elections 2024reviewsReuse this content More

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      Five Simple Steps for US to End Toxic Russia-Ukraine War

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      Capitol rioter who assaulted Brian Sicknick gets near-seven year sentence

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      Capitol rioter who assaulted Brian Sicknick gets near-seven year sentence Julian Khater pleaded guilty to using chemical spray to attack the Capitol police officer who died on 7 January A man who admitted using chemical spray to assault Brian Sicknick on January 6, a day before the Capitol police officer died, was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison in a Washington court on Friday.US jury convicts man pictured with feet on Pelosi’s desk during Capitol attackRead moreJulian Khater, 33, from Pennsylvania, was also fined $10,000.The judge, Thomas F Hogan, told Khater: “There are officers who lost their lives, there’s officers who committed suicide after this, there’s officers who can’t go back to work. Your actions … are inexcusable.”Sicknick’s death, at 42, is one of nine now linked to the attack on the Capitol on 6 January 2021 by supporters of Donald Trump attempting to block certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.Later that month, Sicknick’s body lay in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. Two months after that, the Washington DC medical examiner ruled that the officer died from natural causes after suffering two strokes.But in March 2022, Khater pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon. He faced a maximum sentence of 20 years. Prosecutors asked for seven and a half. Khater has already served 22 months of his 80-month tariff.A friend of Khater, George Tanios, 41 and from West Virginia, admitted buying bear deterrent and chemical spray and giving some to Khater. Charged with walking on restricted grounds at the Capitol, he faced six months in prison. He also faced sentencing on Friday.Nearly 1,000 people have been charged over the Capitol attack and more than 300 sentenced. The longest sentence yet, of 10 years, went to Thomas Webster, a retired police officer from New York who attacked officers with a flagpole.The House January 6 committee recommended four criminal charges against Trump, for inciting the riot. The Department of Justice has not acted.Sicknick’s partner, Sandra Garza, has filed a $10m wrongful death lawsuit against Khater, Tanios and Trump.In court filings before sentencing, the assistant US attorney Gilead Light said Khater was “visibly incensed” at the Capitol on January 6, and used pepper spray against police for half a minute.“Khater’s tone of voice and his facial expressions … betray his emotion, his anger and his loss of control,” Gilead said. “He [was] incensed at having been personally sprayed by police chemical spray while standing on the front line of a riot, as if he had been an innocent victim.”Attorneys for Khater sought to blame Trump, writing: “A climate of mass hysteria, fueled by the dissemination of misinformation about the 2020 election, originating at the highest level, gave rise to a visceral powder keg waiting to ignited.”But Gladys Sicknick, the officer’s mother, said Khater was “centre stage in our recurring nightmare” and “the reason Brian is dead”.“Lawlessness, misplaced loyalty and hate killed my son,” she said. “I hope you are haunted by your crimes behind bars. Whatever jail time you receive is not enough.”In court on Friday, as around 50 uniformed Capitol police officers looked on, Khater said he wished he “could take it all back”. Rebuked by the judge for not apologising to any officer he assaulted, he said he had been advised not to do so, due to the wrongful death lawsuit.Officer Sicknick’s brother, Kenneth Sicknick, said that when Khater was released, he would “still be younger than Brian was when he died”.TopicsUS Capitol attackUS politicsUS crimeWashington DCnewsReuse this content More