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      ‘Sleaze-slinging’ Fox News denounced by family of January 6 officer who died

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      ‘Sleaze-slinging’ Fox News denounced by family of January 6 officer who diedCondemnation of ‘so-called new network’ comes after Tucker Carlson shares footage from attack courtesy of Kevin McCarthyThe family of Brian Sicknick, the US Capitol police officer who died the day after the January 6 attack on Congress, condemned Tucker Carlson and Fox News as “unscrupulous and outright sleazy”, after the primetime host made first use of security footage from the riot bestowed by Kevin McCarthy, the Republican House speaker.Fox News hit with election complaint after Biden ad given to Trump son-in-lawRead moreA statement on Tuesday said: “The Sicknick family is outraged at the ongoing attack on our family by the unscrupulous and outright sleazy so-called news network of Fox News.”Fox and Carlson, the family said, “will do the bidding of [Donald] Trump or any of his sycophant followers, no matter what damage is done to the families of the fallen, the officers who put their lives on the line and all who suffered on January 6, due to the lie started by Trump and spread by sleaze-slinging outlets like Fox”.Nine deaths have been linked to the attack on the Capitol by supporters Trump told to “fight like hell” in service of his lie that his defeat by Joe Biden was the result of electoral fraud.Trump aimed to stop certification of Biden’s win. The process was only delayed but lawmakers including the vice-president, Mike Pence, were sent running for their lives.More than 1,000 people have been charged and hundreds convicted on charges including seditious conspiracy. Hundreds remain wanted by authorities.Trump was impeached for inciting the attack but acquitted when enough Senate Republicans stayed loyal. The House January 6 committee made four criminal referrals regarding Trump to the Department of Justice.Last month, to protests from Democrats and media groups, McCarthy made 41,000 hours of security footage available to Carlson and Fox News.Carlson had already claimed January 6 was a “false flag” attack, staged by authorities to entrap Trump supporters. On Monday night, he tried to portray those who stormed the Capitol as peaceful protesters.Saying the tapes showed “mostly peaceful chaos”, Carlson said: “Taken as a whole the video record does not support the claim that January 6 was an insurrection. In fact, it demolishes that claim.”In return, the Sicknick family lambasted Carlson and Fox News.Fox News, they said, “has shown time and time again that [it is] little more than the propaganda arm of the Republican party, and like Pravda will do whatever [it is] told to keep the hatred and the lies flowing while suppressing anything resembling the truth.“Fox does this not for any sense of morality as they have none but for the quest for every penny of advertising money they can get from those who buy airtime from them.”Recent revelations from filings in a $1.6n defamation suit from Dominion Voter Systems include Rupert Murdoch, Fox News’ owner, indicating he knew Trump’s claims were false but saying his motivation for accommodating election deniers was to stop viewers deserting.The Sicknick family also called McCarthy a “disgusting excuse for a House speaker”. Later on Tuesday, the Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, was asked if McCarthy had made a mistake in giving Carlson the tapes.He said: “My concern is how [the riot] was depicted, which was a different issue. Clearly the chief of the Capitol police, in my view, correctly describes what most of us witnessed first-hand on January 6.”McConnell’s Democratic counterpart, Chuck Schumer, lamented “one of the most shameful hours we have ever seen on cable television” and said Carlson had shown “contempt for the facts [and] disregard of the risks [while] knowing full well he was lying to his audience”.Carlson, Schumer said, “told the bald-faced lie that the Capitol attack, which we all saw with our own eyes, somehow was not an attack at all”.Decrying efforts to make a martyr out of Ashley Babbitt, a Trump supporter shot dead by a police officer on January 6, the Sicknick family said Carlson was “downplaying the horrid situation faced by US Capitol police and DC Metro police who were incredibly outnumbered and were literally fighting for their very lives”.Sicknick, 42, was sprayed with chemicals, for which his attacker was jailed for nearly seven years. Sicknick died the day after the riot, after suffering two strokes. A medical examiner said he died of natural causes but his name remains linked to January 6. His body lay in state at the Capitol.Sicknick’s family said “his sense of duty and incredible work ethic were the driving force which sent him back in spite of his injuries and no doubt contributed to his succumbing to his injuries the following day.Stunning Rupert Murdoch deposition leaves Fox News in a world of troubleRead more“What will it take to silence the lies from people like Carlson? What will it take to convince people that the January 6 insurrection was very real, it was very violent, and that the event was orchestrated by a man [Trump] who is every bit as corrupt and evil as Vladimir Putin.“The Sicknick family would love nothing more than to have Brian back with us and to resume our normal lives. Fictitious news outlets like Fox and its rabid followers will not allow that. Every time the pain of that day seems to have ebbed a bit organisations like Fox rip our wounds wide open again and we are frankly sick of it.“Leave us the hell alone and instead of spreading more lies from Supreme Leader Trump, why don’t you focus on real news?”Fox News did not comment.TopicsUS Capitol attackFox NewsUS television industryTelevision industryWashington DCRepublicansUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Ex-official in Clinton and Obama White Houses dies in air turbulence incident

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      Ex-official in Clinton and Obama White Houses dies in air turbulence incidentDana Hyde, 55, was flying from Maryland to New England and suffered blunt-force injuries from violent turbulenceA former official in the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama White Houses died last Friday after the private business jet that the prominent Washington attorney was on experienced stability issues and encountered severe turbulence mid-flight.The National Transportation Safety Board has since started investigating “a reported trim issue that occurred prior to the in-flight upset” that affected the plane’s altitude control and may have caused the instability.Dana Hyde, 55, was returning to Maryland from a trip in New England with her husband, Jonathan Chambers, and one of her sons where they were visiting schools, the Washington Post reported.They flew on a Bombardier aircraft owned by the Kansas City-based rural broadband consulting firm Conexon, where Chambers is a partner, from Keene, New Hampshire, to Leesburg, Virginia, before the plane was diverted to Bradley international airport in Connecticut.In an email to employees and clients, Chambers described that “the plane suddenly convulsed in a manner that violently threw the three of us”, adding that Hyde was “badly injured, the Washington Post reported. Hyde was taken to a hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, where she was pronounced dead. The chief medical examiner’s office declared she had suffered from blunt-force injuries, the Associated Press reported.Hyde grew up in rural eastern Oregon before she became an attorney who worked as a counsel on the 9/11 Commission investigating the deadly World Trade Center terrorist attack. She spent time as a special assistant during Clinton’s administration and then as a senior adviser in the US state department during Obama’s presidency.She went on to become an associate director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.Most recently, she served as co-chairperson for the Aspen Partnership for an Inclusive Economy in 2020 and 2021.“During her time with us, Dana was a brilliant and generous colleague who worked closely with programs across the organization to build partnerships and enhance our collective work,” an Aspen spokesperson, Jon Purves, said in a statement. “The thoughts of our entire Aspen Institute community are with Dana’s family and loved ones.”Aviation investigators expect to learn more about the circumstances of Hyde’s death after “they analyze information from the flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder and other sources of information like weather data”, the NTSB tweeted. A preliminary report on the incident is expected in two to three weeks.Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration told pilots of 678 aircraft, including the Bombardier BD-100-1A10 flown last week, to take time to check the pitch trim before flights. Officials found multiple times in which the aircraft’s nose turned downward after the plane climbed in the air.According to the Federal Aviation Administration, between 2009 and 2020, just 30 people were injured as a result of turbulence during flights, and no one died, making mid-flight deaths from turbulence an extreme rarity, the Association Press reported.Plans are for Hyde’s funeral to be in Israel, where Chambers said his wife worked and “fell in love with the country, the language, and the people”.“Dana was the best person I ever knew,” Chambers wrote in the email to Conexon associates. “She was a wonderful mother to our boys and she was accomplished professionally.“She loved and was beloved.”TopicsUS newsUS politicsAir transportWashington DCnewsReuse this content More

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      DeSantis lambasts California’s ‘woke ideology’ in Reagan library speech

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      DeSantis lambasts California’s ‘woke ideology’ in Reagan library speechFlorida governor, expected to announce presidential run, says Democrats have been infected with a ‘woke mind virus’Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, took his fight against liberalism deep into the Democratic territory of California on Sunday, part of a national roadshow as he lays the ground for an expected White House bid.DeSantis has been meeting with wealthy donors in recent days and burnishing his national credentials in a series of speeches boasting about his achievements in Florida while lambasting the “woke ideology” of leaders in Democratic strongholds including California and New York.DeSantis, who is expected to announce a presidential run in the next few months, has made a war on liberalism a central theme of his governorship and a way to appeal to the Republican base.While he has not yet announced a White House bid, one candidate who has – former Republican president Donald Trump – clearly views DeSantis as a major potential threat as the GOP nominating contest kicks into gear. Trump has already launched personal and political attacks on DeSantis as the race for the Republican party’s 2024 presidential nomination begins to heat up.DeSantis, speaking at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library about 50 miles north of Los Angeles, made a veiled reference to the chaos of Trump’s presidency and his defeat to Joe Biden in 2020.“You don’t see drama and palace intrigue,” DeSantis said of his governorship in Florida. “You see surgical precision and execution.”DeSantis, who narrowly won election to the governor’s mansion in 2018, touted his landslide re-election in November.He attacked Democratic governors and leaders as being infected with a “woke mind virus”. The term “woke” has become shorthand among opponents as leftwing ideology run amok.He decried their policies on tax, vaccine mandates and classroom “indoctrination”.DeSantis also took aim at Disney, which opposes a Florida law that restricts classroom instruction of gender and sexual orientation.Last month he signed a bill that takes control of a special tax district surrounding Walt Disney World that for half a century allowed it to operate with a high degree of autonomy.“There’s a new sheriff in town,” DeSantis declared, referring to what he has called the end of Disney’s “corporate kingdom”.Other candidates expected to jump into the Republican primary race include former vice-president Mike Pence and ex-secretary of state Mike Pompeo. Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, declared her candidacy last month.TopicsRon DeSantisRepublicansUS politicsUS elections 2024CaliforniaFloridanewsReuse this content More

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      Trust the Plan review: How QAnon – and Trump – unhinged America

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      ReviewTrust the Plan review: How QAnon – and Trump – unhinged AmericaWill Sommer of the Daily Beast paints a troubling picture of a conspiracy theory showing few signs of declineDonald Trump is out of office but QAnon holds sway. Last September, Trump posted an image of himself with a Q lapel pin and the words “The Storm is Coming”. A few months later, Liz Crokin, a QAnon promoter, spoke at Mar-a-Lago and posed with the former president. In one photo, the pair flashed a “thumbs up” sign.Why are Republican Senators flirting with QAnon conspiracies? Politics Weekly America podcastRead moreQAnon is the latest great American conspiracy theory. Its key beliefs: a secret cabal “controls global governments”, the 2020 election was stolen, Hollywood and liberal elites crave the blood of children in bid to sustain their youth. You read that right. QAnon is rife with stories of “mole children”, stashed away in caves for the delectation of the rich and powerful.“The suspicious 2019 jailhouse death of wealthy pedophile Jeffrey Epstein … prompted new public interest in the idea of powerful elites abusing children,” Will Sommer writes.With his first book, the Daily Beast reporter jumps into this steaming cauldron of conspiracy and distrust. He emerges to offer a close examination of the rise and continued presence of QAnon on the American political landscape.Detailed and impeccably researched, Trust the Plan is essentially a crash course on a volatile and vocal segment of the US population. It is unlikely Sommer will win hearts and minds. Trust the Plan is essentially written for blue (Democratic) America. But it is eye-opening, nonetheless.Sommer has spent considerable time among QAnon adherents. At a May 2021 conference in Texas, they treated him suspiciously and accused him of trespassing. “You should be ashamed of yourself!” an elderly woman scolded. The walk of shame stuck with him. Sommer takes QAnon seriously – as do Republicans, as should Democrats.QAnon followers are largely young, male and lack a college degree. They are disaffected but not oblivious. For them, the Great Recession left its mark. Marriage and stability became luxury goods. Life expectancy and birth rates receded. Covid turned the world on its head.QAnon is sufficiently amorphous to adapt to changing facts and realities. It can muster the devotion and fanaticism of a religious group. The dream never dies.QAnon logos and banners loomed large on January 6, in the prelude to and the aftermath of insurrection. QAnon adherents did not know what to make of Mike Pence, Trump’s vice-president who that day refused to block certification of Joe Biden’s election win. Some hated him, others thought he was one of them. Gallows with his name on appeared. Trump didn’t care.Michael Flynn and Marjorie Taylor Greene, Trump loyalists on the national political stage, count themselves among the ranks of QAnon. Other politicians, like Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, and Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the House, would prefer not to talk about it – but know QAnon is a source of Republican votes as well as Trump shock troops.The politicians prevaricate. McCarthy once said there was no place for QAnon within the Republican party. Three months after that, as Sommer puts it, “he suffered a bout of selective amnesia”.“I’m not sure what that is,” DeSantis told one reporter. In March 2022, he appointed Esther Byrd to Florida’s board of education. She had tweeted her support for the insurrection and the Proud Boys. She flew the QAnon flag on her family boat.George Soros and Hillary Clinton, familiar boogeymen to the right, feature in QAnon lore. One early internet post from “Q”, the anonymous instigator of the conspiracy, read: “Hillary Clinton will be arrested between 7.45am-8.30am EST on Monday – the morning on 30 October 2017.”Clinton remains free. Trump flogs Soros in fundraising emails. Meet the new antisemitism: a lot like the old version.Some QAnon adherents contend that John F Kennedy Jr, oldest son of the 35th president, is still alive. Why is complicated but some say he is actually Q. They believe he faked his death in 1999 to avoid the cabal, which his father failed to do. Sommer describes how dozens of the faithful flocked to Dallas in 2022, convinced JFK Jr and a passel of other deceased celebrities would return. Suffice to say, they were disappointed.Sommer also shows how the Covid pandemic breathed life into QAnon just as the movement was flailing. Adherents were losing interest. The “storm”, the moment in QAnon lore when the wicked are punished and Trump emerges resplendent in triumph, appeared to be slipping away. The chatrooms and social media accounts that doubled as QAnon conduits were narrowing.Belief in QAnon has strengthened in US since Trump was voted out, study findsRead moreBut Covid’s reach, its origins in China and the US government’s response played into the movement’s distrust of institutions and simple fear of foreigners. And worse. Sommer records how QAnon adherents defiantly flaunted Covid public health rules, then died.The fact that Covid mortality rates diverged between red and blue America was not a game changer. Recent revelations about US intelligence and whether the coronavirus came from a lab leak stand to bolster the fury. That the powers that be have been less than candid is disappointing but no surprise. Anger should be expected.Forty percent of Republicans and three in eight Democrats believe the central claims of QAnon to be “very” or “somewhat” accurate. As he watches the 2024 primary calendar, Trump stokes and internalizes it all. Already, he is lobbing the words “pedophile” and “groomer” towards his main challenger, DeSantis.Recent polls show Trump solidifying his lead. White evangelicals lacking a college degree are a key voting bloc. Trump is playing to his strength.Sommer suggests answers to the emergence of QAnon. He acknowledges that direct confrontation is not the way to go. With organized religion in retrograde, amid a growing national malaise, the fury may be here for some time.
      Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy that Unhinged America is published in the US by HarperCollins
      TopicsBooksQAnonDonald TrumpUS politicsThe far rightPolitics booksreviewsReuse this content More

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      All eyes on Trump as former president to address Maga Republicans at CPAC – live

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      It’s the last day of CPAC, and the day’s schedule is lined up with speakers including former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and Colorado representative Lauren Boebert. But the largest spectacle has been saved for last – Donald Trump.With Trump due to address the conservative conference later this afternoon, fringe crowds have gathered to watch him promise to “Make America great again”, despite an overall thinning crowd this year compared to previous conferences.Over the past few days, several of Trump’s competitors of the 2024 presidential election made appearances at CPAC, including former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, as well as Trump’s former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.Nevertheless, Trump remains the most popular person in the room, with numerous supporters parading Maga merchandise across the conference as they await his appearance.As former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka said yesterday at the conference, CPAC is a gathering of the “hardcore Maga”.It’s been a lively day at CPAC so far and soon the right-wing carnival in Maryland will play host to Donald Trump as the former president gives the closing keynote speech at the multi-day event. We’ll have a live stream of his appearance, so stay with the blog.Here’s where things stand:
      Beyond CPAC, self-help author Marianne Williamson officially became the first Democrat to run for the presidency in 2024 in a challenge to US president Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination. She kicked off another long-shot campaign in Washington, DC, earlier today. Leading Democrats, meanwhile, are lining up behind a Biden for a second term.
      Far right Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert threw around words like “woke” (a bad thing in her view, when it’s schools teaching America’s racial history) and “defund” (good in her view when it’s Republicans taking money away from what she considers sketchy federal agencies) when she took to the stage at CPAC.
      Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who was defeated by his comeback challenger from the left Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in recent elections, spoke at CPAC and condemned poverty, discrimination and environmental destruction – kidding, he condemned self-determination in gender identity, and gun safety laws.
      Donald Trump is last but not least of the speakers at CPAC today.
      The Texas Republican party has voted to censure House representative Tony Gonzales over his recent party-splitting votes in Congress.On Saturday, the State Republican Executive Committee voted 57-5 on the censure resolution.The censure resolution “cited his support for the bipartisan gun law that passed last year, as well as his vote for a bill codifying protections for same-sex marriage. The resolution also pointed to his vote against the House rules package in January and his opposition to a border security bill being pushed by fellow Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Austin,” the Texas Tribune reports.In a news conference on Thursday, Gonzales, a moderate Republican, defended his vote for the bipartisan gun law, saying, “I would vote twice on it if I could.”“The reality is I’ve taken almost 1,400 votes, and the bulk of those have been with the Republican Party,” he added.Self-help author Marianne Williamson has become the first Democrat to challenge president Joe Biden.“I, as of today, am a candidate for the office of president of the United States,” Williamson said in a campaign kickoff in Washington DC on Saturday, the Associated Press reports..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“We need to submit to the American people an agenda of fundamental economic reform, universal healthcare, tuition-free colleges at state colleges and universities, higher education including tech schools, paternity and maternity leave, free childcare and a guaranteed living wage,” Williamson said in her campaign video.
      “What the Democratic party should do is to truly return to the principles of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, not just alleviate people’s suffering but offer them genuine economic reform,” the New York Times bestselling author added.In 2019, Williamson announced her presidential campaign for the 2020 election but went on to suspend her campaign a year later and endorsed Bernie Sanders instead.“It’s time we get real leadership back in the White House, someone who actually cares about you and puts you first,” Boebert said as she praised Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.“We have just begun winning. We took back the House and I’m excited about our slim majority because that gave us leverage,” she added.“I can’t wait to drag the ‘[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] into oversight and remind them of [separation of power],” Boebert added.She went on to call for more secure borders and said that “we are not going to fund a borderless country…we are not going to fund tyranny,” she said.“We need to get more aggressive… There are many things we must do…that you American people have entrusted with,” said Colorado representative Lauren Boebert who has taken the stage following Lindell.“We are going to make sure that all of these agencies that have been working against you…have an audit and if there is any woke program in these agencies, it is immediately defunded,” she said.“We now fund the government as intended… This is our opportunity to not just get spending under control but to ensure that we have the right policies… Every diversity, equity, inclusion program…every woke initiative in our military must be uprooted and completely defunded,” she added.“We will demand schools stop teaching our children to hate their country, hate their classmate for the color of their skin… Every one of these agencies need an audit… The federal government has become too big,” Boebert said.“We want same-day voting, paper ballots, hand-counted. That’s going to save our country!” said Lindell as the crowd cheered. “One machine, one button…just like how you send Gmails into the abyss, that’s how you send your votes into the abyss,” he said about voting machines.“We are in the greatest revival for Jesus Christ in history,” Lindell went on to say.“If we don’t get rid of the machines, we’re going to lose our country to the world,” Lindell told crowds, referring to voting machines which he previously claimed resulted in voting errors and a ‘stolen’ election.CEO of MyPillow Mike Lindell is now due to address CPAC. Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates.“I’ve always admired the American people. Brazil is important for the world. Today, more than one billion people depend on Brazil to be able to eat. We have mineral riches that few countries have in the world,” said Bolsonaro.“We have an abundant amount of drinkable water, we have an Amazon that belongs to us, Brazilians. I invite all of you to visit the Amazon forest. Please come to visit!” Bolsonaro added in his closing remarks.“Just like all of you, I will have the pleasure of watching Donald Trump come on stage. I was the last president in the world to recognize the results of the election in America two years ago… I am still faithful to our motto – God, homeland, faith and liberty,” said Bolsonaro as he ended his 15-minute address.“I don’t understand why the numbers reflected the opposite,” Bolsonaro said about Brazil’s 2022 election result which saw him lose to opponent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, despite him claiming to have far more supporters in 2022 than he did in 2018.“When we speak of conservatism, what we fight for are basic things – family. We don’t want gender ideology. We want children growing, looking up to their fathers, boys and girls looking up to their mothers,” he added.“In Brazil, private property is threatened. Private property is one of the pillars of democracy… In my government, I relaxed as much as I could regulations on gun ownership and in four years, we were able to reduce 1/3rd the amount of deaths by firearms in Brazil,” Bolsonaro continued.“I always said in Brazil, an armed people will never be enslaved. And an armed nation will never be subjugated. And it’s indispensable to tell all of you that my relationship with Donald Trump was simply exceptional. And now, we know, who is right. We are right or they are right?” he asked the crowd, to which it responded, “We are right!”“I thank God…for being the president of Brazil for one term…but I feel deep inside, this mission is not over,” Bolsonaro tells a whooping crowd at CPAC.“Populism, communism, corruption always dominated politics in Brazil,” he added as he detailed his campaign trail across Brazil, meeting supporters throughout the nation.“I always defended freedom, I did not force anyone to be vaccinated in Brazil,” Bolsonaro said about his management of the Covid-19 pandemic in his country as the crowd rose to standing ovation.“They keep saying science, science, science…but what I say is freedom, freedom, freedom,” he said, referring to medical experts in Brazil who advocated for the Covid-19 vaccine’s safety and efficacy.Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is expected to take the stage soon at CPAC. Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates of his address.The white supremacist and antisemite Nick Fuentes was removed from the conference, CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp said in an Instagram post yesterday.“We removed Nick Fuentes from his attempt to attend our conference. His hateful racist rhetoric and actions are not consistent with the mission of CPAC.”“We are pleased that our conference welcomes a wide array of conservative perspectives from people of different backgrounds, but we are concerned about the rise in antisemitic rhetoric (or Jew hatred) in our country and around the globe, whether it be in the corridors of power and academia or through the online rantings of bigots like Fuentes,” he added.Fuentes, who at point point dined with Trump and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is a notable figure among the extremist right and has previously spewed bigoted lies such as the denial of the Holocaust.I bumped into Nigel Farage, a British politician, broadcaster and demagogue, wandering the corridors and asked if he agrees with the conventional wisdom that CPAC feels flat and marginal this year.Farage, who has been coming to CPAC for a decade, suggested that the only thing missing is young people. “Trump is not new,” he observed. It’s true that student activists have been unusually thin on the ground here. Notably Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA, a fixture in past years, is not among the speakers.Instead the big beast at CPAC is 69-year-old Steve Bannon, White House chief strategist turned far right podcaster. He seems to be broadcasting constantly on the Real America’s Voice channel from a stage set up just outside the ballroom that hosts the main stage.Bannon – who is appealing his conviction and four month prison sentence for contempt of Congress – talks combatively into a microphone with a noisy “Maga” crowd gathered behind him, often blocking the corridor for people trying to get by. There is often more energy here than in the conference sessions themselves.Today Bannon reprised his criticism of Fox News, “oligarch” Ken Griffin and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, his faint praise of Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis and Mike Pompeo as “good people” and his contention that, when it comes to the 2024 Republican primary election, there is no time for “on the job training”.He said Donald Trump had given America “four years of peace and prosperity”. No doubt the former president is grateful. But it does imply that CPAC 2023 is looking more to the past than the future.It’s the last day of CPAC, and the day’s schedule is lined up with speakers including former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and Colorado representative Lauren Boebert. But the largest spectacle has been saved for last – Donald Trump.With Trump due to address the conservative conference later this afternoon, fringe crowds have gathered to watch him promise to “Make America great again”, despite an overall thinning crowd this year compared to previous conferences.Over the past few days, several of Trump’s competitors of the 2024 presidential election made appearances at CPAC, including former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, as well as Trump’s former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.Nevertheless, Trump remains the most popular person in the room, with numerous supporters parading Maga merchandise across the conference as they await his appearance.As former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka said yesterday at the conference, CPAC is a gathering of the “hardcore Maga”.Hello, US politics live blog readers, we have a special weekend edition of the blog today so we can bring you the happenings from the GOP’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on the outskirts of Washington.Here’s what’s afoot:
      Defeated former Brazilian president and arch populist Jair Bolsonaro is in self-exile in the US and has been hanging out in Florida, but this afternoon he will address the CPAC event.
      The ultra-Maga programming will then continue with the crowd being addressed by Trump zealot, conspiracy theorist, 2020 election result denier and pillow seller Mike Lindell, followed by far right Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert.
      Moderate Republican-turned-mega-Maga stan, and New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik will be next.
      Donald Trump is the star, closing speaker at CPAC, due on stage at 5.25pm ET, but could well be late. We’ll have a live stream. More

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      Sherrod Brown in tough election fight as Ohio crash tests Democrats’ chances

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      Sherrod Brown in tough election fight as Ohio crash tests Democrats’ chances Leftwing senator has bucked trend of statewide Democratic losses but derailment in East Palestine set to test re-election hopesUS Senator Sherrod Brown has survived a decade of statewide Democratic losses in Ohio by building a reputation as the rare person in his party who can still connect with the white working-class voters who have increasingly shifted to Republicans.But as he heads into what could be a tough re-election campaign, Brown is facing a critical test in the aftermath of the train derailment in the eastern Ohio village of East Palestine.US Capitol rioter pleads guilty to stealing badge from beaten officerRead moreRepublicans, including Donald Trump, argue the federal response shows Democrats have left such regions behind. Brown is under heightened pressure to prove them wrong.In the early stages of what will be a fierce fight for control of Congress next year, the response to the train derailment in Ohio is emerging as an early barometer of whether Democrats can rebuild support in working-class communities.Brown has laid the blame for the disaster squarely on the corporation that operated the train that derailed, Norfolk Southern, and positioned himself as a fighter for places like East Palestine.“It’s the kind of community that’s too often forgotten about or exploited by corporate America,” he told reporters this week. “My job is always to fight for the dignity of work, to fight for these workers, to fight for these communities, to make sure this never happens again. I’ll work with anyone to do that and to get these reforms passed.”Brown has also made a pair of visits to East Palestine to meet with emergency workers and local residents. And this week, he followed with bipartisan legislative action to call on federal agencies to make long-term medical testing available to residents as well as proposing new federal safety regulations and financial consequences for train operators.As the images of black, billowing smoke from the wreck and concerns of local residents morphed from a man-made disaster into a political battleground, there is a growing sense among lawmakers that locals don’t appreciate being used as a political backdrop.Republican congressman Bill Johnson, who represents the area, called on Joe Biden to visit the community. The US president has not made the trip and transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg’s trip there was pre-empted by Trump last week.Safety regulators say Ohio toxic train derailment ‘100% preventable’Read moreThe stretches of eastern Ohio industrial towns have tilted increasingly to Republicans over the last decade, contributing to Ohio’s shift from a presidential bellwether to a potential GOP stronghold. Republicans have cast it as a forgotten swath of the country – fertile ground for Trump’s grievance politics.But the region is also familiar ground for Brown, who has become a mainstay in the state’s political constellation with a populist brand. Brown, who wears suits purchased from a union shop near his Cleveland home, has developed an old-school network of union support over a decades-long political career that began in the General Assembly.David Pepper, a former chair of the Ohio Democratic party, says Brown’s “secret sauce” is his willingness to take his made-in-America, union-strong messaging to the people outside cities.“That guy is fighting against big corporations for the little guy,” Pepper said.For Democrats, he’s proof they can still win in the Buckeye State. But Ohio is both a must-win presidential state for Republicans and a potential path to a Senate majority, and Brown sits atop the list of seats that could be flipped in 2024.TopicsDemocratsOhio train derailmentOhioUS politicsUS elections 2024newsReuse this content More

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      US Capitol rioter pleads guilty to stealing badge from beaten officer

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      US Capitol rioter pleads guilty to stealing badge from beaten officerThomas Sibick pleads guilty to assault and theft charges for role in attack on the Washington DC police officer Michael FanoneA New York man has pleaded guilty to stealing a badge and radio from a police officer who was brutally beaten as rioters pulled him into the mob that attacked the US Capitol in Washington over two years ago, court record show.Thomas Sibick pleaded guilty on Friday to assault and theft charges for his role in the attack on the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan police department officer Michael Fanone during the January 6, 2021, insurrection when extremist supporters of then-president Donald Trump tried, unsuccessfully, to force Congress not to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory over him.US district judge Amy Berman Jackson is scheduled to sentence Sibick on July 28. She allowed Sibick to remain free on bond until that hearing.Estimated sentencing guidelines call for Sibick to receive a prison sentence ranging from a low of two years and nine months to a high of nearly six years, according to his plea agreement.Rioters relentlessly kicked, punched, grabbed and shocked Fanone with a stun gun after pulling him away from other officers who were guarding a tunnel entrance on the Capitol’s lower west terrace. Another rioter threatened to take Fanone’s gun and kill him.Fanone’s body camera captured Sibick removing the officer’s badge and radio from his tactical vest during the mob’s attack, according to a court filing accompanying his guilty plea.Others in the crowd escorted Fanone back to the police line. Before FBI agents showed him the body camera video, Sibick initially denied assaulting Fanone and claimed that he tried in vain to pull the officer away from his attackers.Sibick said he buried Fanone’s badge in his backyard after returning home to Buffalo, New York. He returned the badge, but Fanone’s radio hasn’t been recovered.Other rioters have been charged with attacking Fanone, who was badly injured, lost consciousness and was taken to hospital.Albuquerque Cosper Head, a Tennessee man who dragged Fanone into the crowd, was sentenced in October 2022 to seven years and six month in prison. During Head’s sentencing, Fanone said the attack gave him a heart attack and a traumatic brain injury and ultimately cost him his career.Kyle Young, an Iowa man who grabbed Fanone by the wrist and handed a stun gun to another rioter who used it on the officer, was sentenced in September 2022 to seven years and two months in prison.A California man, Daniel Rodriguez, pleaded guilty in February to using a stun gun on Fanone during the attack. Rodriguez is scheduled to be sentenced on May 16.Approximately 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the riot on January 6. More than 500 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. Approximately 400 have been sentenced, with over half getting terms of imprisonment ranging from seven days to 10 years.TopicsUS Capitol attackUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      CPAC: Nikki Haley calls out Republicans’ failure to win voters’ confidence – live

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      Many, many things have changed in American politics since 2016, but one thing has stayed the same – Donald Trump’s position as the most popular man in the Republican party.He’s been in a commanding position among Republicans ever since clinching its presidential nomination more than six years ago, and that dynamic hasn’t meaningfully changed in the years since. Case in point: the latest batch of opinion polls show him essentially blowing all the other potential contenders for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination out of the water.As Sebastian Gorka made clear at the start of today’s events, CPAC is very much a convention of the “hardcore Maga”. Trump speaks tomorrow, but his most powerful presumed challenger next year, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, isn’t showing up at all. Instead, CPAC attendees will today hear from Nikki Haley, who is running next year, and Mike Pompeo, Trump’s former secretary of state who is expected to launch a campaign.CPAC attracts conservatives from across the country. We’ll try to let you know what they think of Trump’s challengers, and whether they agree that – after all that’s happened – he remains the best man to lead the GOP.Steve Bannon just got off stage after an enthusiastic, 15-minute defense of Donald Trump that was the best received speech of the day.Bannon, a former White House adviser who is appealing a federal prison sentence for ignoring a subpoena from the January 6 committee, won more applause than any speaker before him by singing the former president’s praises and attacking Fox News for ignoring Trump.“Donald J. Trump, let me repeat, in a very volatile time in American history, it was four years of peace and prosperity,” he said, to loud applause, “You know why? He puts you in the room to make decisions.”“And that’s why they hate him,” Bannon continued. “They don’t hate him because he’s Trump. They hate him because he represents you.”He then attacked Fox News for not giving the former president enough coverage. “Note to Fox senior management: when Donald J. Trump talks it’s newsworthy,” Bannon declared.“Maga, Maga, Maga. Remember, Murdoch, you deem Trump’s not going to be president, well we deem that you’re not going to have a network,” Bannon declared as he wrapped up his speech.Conservatives at CPAC today heard from one Republican presidential contender, Nikki Haley, and another potential contender, Mike Pompeo. But the convention remains very much Donald Trump’s show.“I’m still sticking with Trump,” said Gary Wolcott, a 69-year-old retiree from the Virginia suburbs near Washington DC. He acknowledged that Haley’s speech “was definitely impressive, and Pompeo’s, too”. But neither dissuaded him from the support he’s maintained for Trump since his first days as a candidate in 2015.“I just believe he’s the person who is most for America, and he gave up a lot to run for president. He’s not a career politician, and I know he’s always going to try to do what he thinks is best for America,” Wolcott said.Karen and Donald Ruthig’s sentiments were much the same.“He gets things done,” Karen, 77, said of Trump. As for the other candidates, “Maybe they’re wanting to run for vice? I don’t know, but I don’t think they can make it as president.”Her husband, Donald, called Pompeo’s speech “fabulous”, but Haley’s “predictable”. He didn’t think either could win. “I don’t think Nikki Haley is electable. I don’t think Mike Pompeo is electable, and I’m not even sure that Ron DeSantis is at this point,” he said, referring to the Florida governor who is seen as probably the second strongest contender to Trump among Republicans.Donald, a 73 year old who was attending the convention along with his wife from Virginia’s rural eastern shore, worried that if the GOP nominates anyone but Trump, many voters will stay home. “Without Trump’s complete base, we haven’t got a prayer,” he said. “So while there may be some very good candidates in the field, the electability issue (makes) him front and center.”As enduring as his support was for Trump, Wolcott called on the former president to change tactics as he navigates his second GOP primary.“His liability is, he’s got to stop bashing Republicans. He needs to explain why he’s good, not why they’re bad. So long as he can do that he will easily win the presidency. I’m not sure he can do it,” he said.The White House this afternoon decried Tennessee’s aggressive move to limit drag shows in the state.The state’s Republican governor, Bill Lee, yesterday signed a bill passed by the legislature that restricts public drag show performances – the first state to do that this year, CNN reported.The law limits “adult cabaret performances” on public property, defining such as a show “that features topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest, or similar entertainers.”At the White House press briefing on Friday afternoon, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “American people are focussed on so many issues..the economy..healthcare..safety in schools” and lamented Republicans’ targeting activities like drag shows as their priority instead.“Going after drag shows, how is that going to help people’s lives?” she asked. KJP is the first out gay White House press secretary.She added that these “ridiculous policies” are “dangerous. They vilify our fellow Americans at a time when LGBTQ Americans are facing heightened violence.”Joe Biden has the backs of LGBTQ Americans, she noted, “and will continue to be there for the community.”Earlier this month, famous Tennessee drag queens, including Eureka and Jaidynn Diore Fierce spoke up to Entertainment Weekly, with Eureka calling the bill “blatantly unconstitutional.”They talked to a competitor on this season’s Ru Paul’s Drag Race, and now fellow Tennessean, Aura Mayari, who said she was deeply upset and saddened by the push and said the law was nothing more than “a mask used to hide discrimination toward the LGBTQ+ community and the desire to erase drag.”Jaidynn Diore Fierce for all stars / lipsync assassin when? pic.twitter.com/H8XnYY7qTQ— ᴅʀᴀɢᴍᴇᴛᴏꜰɪʟᴛʜ ◡̈ (@dragmetofilth) February 8, 2023
      This feels like the year when CPAC’s centre of gravity shifted from Fox News to Newsmax – more extreme, more fringey and less relevant.Fox News personnel are thin on the ground as the network, embroiled in crisis over its part in pushing Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud, tilts away from him towards rival Ron DeSantis.Meanwhile Chris Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax, was fawningly interviewed on stage by CPAC co-organiser Mercedes Schlapp. Adverts for Newsmax are running regularly on screens here.CPAC is teeming with Trump loyalists. Donald Trump Jr, Steve Bannon, Mike Lindell and Sebastian Gorka are causing crowd congestion as the live stream and podcast loudly cluster outside the main ballroom.Such scenes might symbolise how Trump has lost Fox News but dominates the likes of Newsmax, One America News Network and far right social media. Fox no longer carries his rallies live whereas those channels do – with smaller audiences.It could be good news for DeSantis, a regular on Fox, as he seeks to command the Republican base and banish Trump to the margins.Fox News reportedly imposes ‘soft ban’ on Donald TrumpRead moreHere are some more bits and pieces from Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s interaction with reporters at CPAC.She called on everyone in the Republican party to support the eventual nominee for president in 2024 – something that former president Donald Trump seems unlikely to do.But Greene confirmed that she is endorsing Trump, saying she talks to him “every week” and “I absolutely adore him”.The Guardian asked: “Would you be his running mate?” Greene replied: “We haven’t really engaged. That’s up to President Trump who he chooses.”Questioned about her message to former ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and other potential candidates, she added: “Well, it’s nice that they’re running but they’re not going to win. President Trump is going to be the primary. I don’t know what they’re doing it for in the first place.”And Greene said of Ron DeSantis: “I think he is a fantastic governor for the state of Florida and, at the snail’s pace things get done here in Washington, if I were Florida, I’d give him a third term and beg him to stay as governor.”Rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene just held an impromptu question and answer session with a group of reporters at CPAC – who therefore paid little attention to Kimberly Guilfoyle’s speech from the nearby stage.The Guardian asked the first couple of questions. Greene, an influential figure in the House of Representative, said: “I think the US should be pushing for peace in Ukraine instead of funding and continuing a war that seems to be escalating and putting the entire world at risk of world war three.”The Republican from Georgia called for US funding to cease immediately. “Look, I voted for the resolution to support the Ukrainian people and against what Russia has done invading their country. But what the United States is doing is we are actually accelerating a war there and this war should be over.“We should be promoting peace. Europe should have peace and the United States should do their part. Ukraine is not a Nato member nation and Joe Biden said in the beginning he would not defend Ukraine because they’re not a Nato member nation. It doesn’t make sense and the American people do not support it.”Later Greene added that Biden is more interested in Ukraine’s border than America’s own or the victims of a toxic rail disaster in East Palestine, Ohio. She also floated an unfounded conspiracy theory that Biden’s son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine is likely underpinning the president’s motivations there.“Does that play a role in Joe Biden’s commitment to Zelenskiy as if Zelinskiy and Ukraine is the 51st state of the United States of America?… Is that why we’re all going to be dragged into World War three? And I’m sorry, I’m not going on that train and most Americans – pretty much everyone I talk to – is not interested in that either.”In the final days of the Trump administration, after he had lost the 2020 election, then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo declared that “there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”Pompeo seems to have acknowledged reality in the years since, and stated the grim truth about the GOP’s recent election record in his speech at CPAC today. Here’s a clip:Potential GOP presidential candidate Mike Pompeo, who declared in November 2020 that there would be a “second Trump administration” even after the election was called for Biden, seems to acknowledge Trump’s loss at CPAC:“We lost three elections in a row.” pic.twitter.com/C2AixiOdXf— The Recount (@therecount) March 3, 2023
      He later appeared to throw some shade at his former boss:Potential GOP presidential candidate Mike Pompeo signals some new distance from Donald Trump:“We can’t become the left, following celebrity leaders with their own brand of identity politics; those with fragile egos who refuse to acknowledge reality.” pic.twitter.com/maZP39yVyE— The Recount (@therecount) March 3, 2023
      Still no word yet from Pompeo on whether he plans to run for the GOP nomination next year.At the Conservative Political Action Conference today, Republicans who are not Donald Trump are trying their best to convince the audience to give them a shot in 2024. Up first was his former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, who argued that the GOP’s struggle to win the popular vote in recent elections is a sign the party needs a change in leadership. And then she walked out of the speech venue to crowds of conservatives chanting “Trump! Trump! Trump!” That’s how it goes when you’re not on his side at a conference were Maga rules supreme. We’ll see if candidate Vivek Ramaswamy or Mike Pompeo, who hasn’t announced a run for president yet but is seen as a potential candidate, have better luck with the crowd.Here’s a recap of the day’s events:
      A call to defund the police was a surprise applause line at CPAC.
      Rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wants to make providing gender-affirming care to minors a felony.
      Democrats remain behind Joe Biden, if the statements of House lawmakers are any indication.
      CPAC is a tough place for Republicans who are not on Donald Trump’s side.Following her speech, Nikki Haley stepped outside the venue to greet conservative attendees – who made their preference for next year’s GOP presidential nomination clear, as this video from Bloomberg News shows:Crowd chanting “Trump!” as Nikki Haley take photos with supporters after her CPAC speech. pic.twitter.com/iI7WSKSwT9— Christian Hall (@christianjhall) March 3, 2023
      The parade of speeches by former Trump officials continues with Mike Pompeo, who served as secretary of state from 2018 to 2021.He’s thought to be considering a run for the White House next year, but hasn’t yet said one way or the other. Let’s hear what he has to say.Nikki Haley has a tall order in overcoming the former president’s popularity among Republicans.The latest polls have shown her support well below that of Trump’s. Here’s one from Yahoo News/YouGov, which shows Trump in the lead with 45% support, against Haley’s 4%.Haley, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, is surely aware of where she would end up if the Republican primary were held today. As she closed out her speech, she appealed to the audience to consider an alternative to the former president.“We’ve lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. Our cause is right, but we have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans. That ends now. If you’re tired of losing, then put your trust in a new generation. And if you want to win – not just as a party, but as a country – then stand with me,” Haley said.Nikki Haley is now on stage at CPAC, and started her stump speech off by reiterating her call for politicians over the age of 75 to take a mental competency test.“When I launched my campaign, I said every politician over 75 years old should be required to take a mental competency test. Have you seen DC lately? We should start with Joe Biden – and we shouldn’t stop there,” she said. The last part seemed to stir a murmur of disapproval from the audience, considering that Donald Trump is 76, and would also be subject to one of these tests.Many seats noticeably empty.At CPAC at National Harbor in Maryland. Nikki Haley enters to standing ovation but also many empty seats. “The liberal media’s head are exploding about me running for president… Liberals are the most sexist by far.” pic.twitter.com/u7SZOZUCqu— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) March 3, 2023
      At their retreat in Baltimore this week, House Democrats voiced enthusiasm about Joe Biden‘s likely reelection campaign, with the president expected to formally announce his 2024 bid in the next several weeks.“I think he will win. I think he’s our strongest candidate,” congressman Pete Aguilar, the House Democratic caucus chair, said Thursday at an event with Punchbowl News. Aguilar added, “I think that he can and should run, and he’s going to have the support of the House Democratic caucus.”Even House progressives, who have previously clashed with Biden over policy concerns, appear to be rallying behind the president. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Thursday that she hopes Biden will announce his reelection campaign sooner rather than later.“Nobody is surprised that Biden was not my choice in the first election for the primary,” Jayapal said. “But the CPC and the President and his administration have formed an incredibly strong partnership.”The mayor of a Maryland city has resigned after authorities arrested him on charges of possessing and distributing images of child sexual abuse, according to multiple reports.Patrick Wojahn, 47, had been the mayor of College Park since 2015 and, before that, a member of the city council there for eight years when he was arrested Thursday. He had submitted his resignation later the previous night, as the local news outlet WBAL reported, but that did little to head off the scandal that his arrest ignited, drawing headlines nationally.Charging documents cited by the local news station WTOP accused Wojahn of using an anonymous account to upload child abuse imagery to the mobile messaging application Kik in January. Kik officials then alerted the federal missing and exploited children center, which prompted police to subpoena internet service providers’ records that linked the uploads to Wojahn.Local county investigators searched Wojahn’s home in February, and they seized cell phones, a tablet, a computer and a storage device before Thursday’s arrest.Wojahn faces 40 counts of possessing child abuse imagery and 16 of distributing it.College Park has a population of about 35,000 and is just northeast of Washington DC. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wojahn’s arrest shocked the city’s residents.Local resident Drake Allen said he feared the scandal showed that College Park was “headed in the wrong direction”.“I don’t know if this is going to wake anybody up. It should, but it probably won’t,” Allen said, before describing how he wishes Wojahn’s successor is “just a regular mayor who does his job.”On stage at CPAC now is Donald Trump Jr, who came bearing gifts.“There’s a little surprise for all of you,” he told the audience. “Check under your seats. If there happens to be a gold chocolate bar underneath there … that’s a VIP ticket to my father’s reception tomorrow at CPAC,” the former president’s son said.Wonder what Roald Dahl would think of that. More