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    As the US-led Postwar System Crumbles, a New World Order Emerges

    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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    Biden bounces back: Inside 19 August Guardian Weekly

    Biden bounces back: Inside 19 August Guardian Weekly Joe Biden rides high. Plus, 75 years since the Partition of India
    Get the Guardian Weekly delivered to your home address Joe Biden’s political capital is riding high after a key plank of his legislative programme came to fruition. But the US president has greeted this “hot streak” in his usual quiet fashion. For his predecessor, it was a decidedly rough week after his home was raided by the FBI, looking for official documents that Donald Trump had held on to after his presidential term had ended. The reaction was a typical explosion of rage and accusation. David Smith, our Washington bureau chief, follows this compare-and-contrast theme to see which of the two men, who at this juncture still look likely to face each other again in the 2024 presidential election, came out on top.We report on two anniversaries in one region this week as Monday marked 75 years since the Partition of India, as well as a year since Afghanistan returned to Taliban rule. Our world affairs editor, Julian Borger, examines the extent to which Pakistan and India are still scarred by a final, brutal colonial flourish that divided communities, while Stefanie Glinski’s photo essay from Kabul focuses on how women’s rights have been eroded in the past year.The shocking news of the stabbing of Salman Rushdie reminded the world of the importance of free speech and how the efforts of ideological fanatics to curb it must be resisted. As Margaret Atwood writes on our Opinion pages, attacks on writers are a cheap populist distraction, while on the news pages we look at how Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses triggered hatred against him.Leading our features section this week is a story about a reversal in reputation. Peru-based writer Dan Collyns explains how Bolivian tin baron Moritz Hochschild, had been viewed as an exploitative oligarch until the discovery of a cache of papers revealed his role in saving thousands of Jews from Nazi Germany and how he used his power to overcome antisemitism in the ruling elites. And then we take a full and frank look at the growing popularity of naturism in Britain. The photographs are necessarily coy, with artfully placed props, but writer Sally Howard takes the pastime as seriously as its practitioners. We hope you enjoy this week’s issue.Get the magazine delivered to you at homeTopicsUS politicsInside Guardian WeeklyDonald TrumpJoe BidenSalman RushdieFreedom of speechIndiaAfghanistanReuse this content More

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    Liz Cheney loses Wyoming Republican primary to Trump-endorsed rival

    Liz Cheney loses Wyoming Republican primary to Trump-endorsed rivalThe vice-chair of the House January 6 panel faced retribution from state voters for going against the former president Liz Cheney has paid the price for her staunch opposition to Donald Trump’s assault on US democracy by losing her seat in Congress to a challenger backed by the former president.In praise of Liz Cheney. May we have more politicians like her | Robert ReichRead moreThe vice-chair of the January 6 committee was beaten by a conservative lawyer, Hageman – who has echoed Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud – in a Republican primary election to decide Wyoming’s lone member in the House of Representatives.Conceding defeat in a speech in Jackson, she said: “No House seats, no office in this land is more important than the principles we are all sworn to protect. And I well understood the potential political consequences of abiding by my duty.“Our republic relies upon the goodwill of all candidates for office to accept honorably the outcome of elections. And tonight, Harriet Hageman has received the most votes in this primary. She won.“I called her to concede the race this primary election is over. But now the real work begins.”Widely predicted by opinion polls, the result continues a winning streak for Trump-endorsed candidates in congressional primaries and deals a blow to the last vestiges of the Republican party establishment.It would have been unthinkable just a few years ago in Wyoming, a deeply conservative state where the Cheney family has been seen as political royalty.The three-term congresswoman’s father, Dick Cheney, represented the state in the US House for a decade before becoming defense secretary under George HW Bush from 1989 to 1993 and vice-president under George W Bush from 2001 to 2009.Supporting his daughter this month, Dick Cheney called Trump the greatest “threat to our republic” in American history.He also said he was proud of his daughter “for standing up to the truth, doing what’s right, honoring her oath to the constitution when so many in our party are too scared to do so”.But Liz Cheney’s crusade against Trump during the January 6 committee’s televised hearings angered local Republicans, who accused her of putting her national career ambitions ahead of Wyoming constituents.She was praised by Democrats and independents for taking a principled stand despite the likelihood it would prove an act of political self-sacrifice.Leading Republicans were eager to celebrate Cheney’s defeat.In a statement released before the race was called, Elise Stefanik of New York, who replaced Cheney as the No3 House Republican, said: “Congratulations to Harriet Hageman on her massive Republican primary victory in Wyoming over Nancy Pelosi’s puppet Liz Cheney.“… Harriet is a true America First patriot who will restore the people of Wyoming’s voice, which Liz Cheney had long forgotten”.Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, followed suit, saying Hageman would “make Wyoming proud”.The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group formed by disaffected conservatives, said: “Tonight, the nation marks the end of the Republican party.“What remains shares the name and branding of the traditional GOP, but is in fact an authoritarian nationalist cult dedicated only to Donald Trump.” More details soon …TopicsUS midterm elections 2022US CongressHouse of RepresentativesRepublicansUS politicsUS Capitol attackJanuary 6 hearingsnewsReuse this content More

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    Taiwan is now a touchstone issue for the UK, the US and for us in China. This is how we see it | Zheng Zeguang

    Taiwan is now a touchstone issue for the UK, the US and for us in China. This is how we see itZheng ZeguangAfter Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, relations between the countries are at a delicate stage. There must be no miscalculation

    Zheng Zeguang is the Chinese ambassador to the UK
    Chinese ambassador warns UK not to cross ‘red lines’ over Taiwan
    Over the past weeks, the world has seen the resolute response from China after the visit to Taiwan of US House speaker Nancy Pelosi. Some people have asked why this is necessary. To understand, one needs to learn some history.Taiwan has been an inalienable part of China’s territory since ancient times. Throughout history, the island has been twice lost and regained. During the colonial expansion of western countries, it was occupied by the Dutch for 38 years before it was recovered in 1662 by Chinese national hero Zheng Chenggong. When imperial powers were carving up the world among themselves, Taiwan was subjected to Japanese occupation for 50 years. The Cairo declaration of 1943 and the Potsdam proclamation of 1945 made it clear that Taiwan should be returned to China.Although the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have been caught up in prolonged political antagonism since 1949 as a result of the Chinese civil war, China has never been divided, the island has remained part of China’s territory, and the historical and legal fact that the two sides of the Strait belong to the one and same China has never changed. The Chinese people will firmly safeguard, at any cost, their national sovereignty and territorial integrity. “Taiwan independence” means war and will lead to a dead end. Opposing and defeating such attempts is meant to avoid war and safeguard peace and stability in the region.That is why China strongly opposed and had been repeatedly warning against the provocative visit of the US House speaker, a move that seriously infringed upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.Over the years, the US has been playing the “Taiwan card” to contain China by approving arms sales to the island, upgrading its relations with the authorities there and hollowing out the one-China principle. The authorities on the island, led by the Democratic Progressive party, have refused to recognise the 1992 consensus that embodies the one-China principle. They have gone all out to advance “de-sinicisation” and promote “incremental independence”. Against such provocation, it is only natural that China takes necessary measures in response. These measures are aimed at opposing interference from the US in China’s internal affairs, restraining the separatist attempts of “Taiwan independence” forces, safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity and upholding peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. The US side and “Taiwan independence” separatist forces must bear full responsibility for their wrongdoings. Some people may say that by suspending cooperation with the US in certain areas, China is “punishing the world”. But China will continue to stand by its commitments to the international community on issues such as climate change. China has the best record of fulfilling its pledges to the world.The right way for China and the US, two major countries, to handle their relations is to respect each other and avoid confrontation. China has made enormous efforts to promote the healthy and steady development of China-US relations, but we will never sit by and do nothing in response to provocative moves that undermine our core interests. The right thing for the US to do is to acknowledge the one-China principle and the three Sino-US joint communiques: stop playing the “Taiwan card”; sever any official ties and military cooperation with the island; and stop creating further crises.The Taiwan issue has always been a sensitive matter at the centre of relations between the UK and China. Our countries began to explore diplomatic ties in the early 1950s, but it was not until 1972 that the relationship was upgraded to the ambassadorial level, with the signing of a joint communique. Full diplomatic relations had to wait until the UK clearly recognised the Chinese government’s position that Taiwan is a province of the People’s Republic of China, decided to revoke its official representative office on the island, recognised the government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, and promised to maintain only an unofficial relationship with Taiwan. This history must never be forgotten and pledges should be honoured.The Taiwan question is a major issue of principle. There is no reason for the UK to disregard that fact and follow in the footsteps of the US. Calls to “help Taiwan defend itself” and the like are extremely irresponsible and detrimental. Any move that violates the one-China principle and the provisions of the joint communique, or crosses the red line of the Chinese side, will bring serious consequences to bilateral relations. There should not be any miscalculation on this.Over the past 50 years, the exchanges and cooperation between China and the UK have brought enormous benefits to the peoples of both countries. These hard-won outcomes must be cherished. China-UK relations are now at an important juncture. The Conservative party will soon elect a new leader and the country will have a new prime minister. The trajectory of Britain’s policy on China is being followed closely from all quarters. Around the world, daunting challenges, such as the lingering pandemic, the economic downturn, energy shortages and the climate crisis, remain.Under such circumstances, China and the UK should strengthen rather than weaken their cooperation. The two sides should follow the principles of mutual respect, equality and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, engage in dialogue and cooperation, and join hands to address common challenges. This is the right choice, one that conforms to the fundamental interests of the peoples of both countries.
    Zheng Zeguang is the Chinese ambassador to the UK
    TopicsChinaOpinionTaiwanAsia PacificUS politicscommentReuse this content More

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    Trump should announce run for 2024 soon to avoid indictment, source says

    Trump should announce run for 2024 soon to avoid indictment, source saysSource close to Donald Trump suggested the justice department would find it trickier to prosecute a presidential candidate Donald Trump “has to” announce a campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 in the next two weeks, according to a senior source close to Trump, if the former president wants to head off being indicted under the Espionage Act after the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago last week.Trump demands return of seized documents – by order of social mediaRead moreIn communications reviewed by the Guardian, the source indicated Trump needed to announce because politically it would be harder for the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to indict a candidate for office than a former president out of the electoral running.A source also suggested Ron DeSantis, Trump’s only serious competitor in Republican polling, will not run in 2024 if Trump chooses to enter the race.“He can wait,” the source said of the Florida governor.In contrast, a former White House official said Trump could yet decide not to run, for fear of losing his grip on his party and role as a kingmaker should an indictment force him to drop out of the race.A search warrant unsealed on Friday showed that the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago five sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents and three sets of confidential documents, as well as other records.It was reported that some seized documents concerned nuclear weapons. Trump called that report a “hoax”.The warrant also revealed Trump to be under investigation for possible violations of the Espionage Act, which dates from 1917 and has been used to go after whistleblowers.If charged and convicted, Trump could face up to 20 years in federal prison or be barred from running for office.Trump denies wrongdoing, claiming he had the authority to declassify documents and that the FBI seized documents protected by attorney-client and executive privilege.But his legal jeopardy extends further.The House January 6 committee and the DoJ continue to investigate Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election and incitement of the deadly US Capitol attack.Trump is also under investigation in New York, over his business and tax affairs, and in Georgia, regarding attempts to overturn his defeat by Joe Biden.On Monday it was confirmed that Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York who became Trump’s personal attorney, is the target of a criminal investigation in Georgia, over his role in the attempt to overturn the election.Also on Monday, a judge ruled that Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally and Republican senator from South Carolina, could not avoid testifying in the Georgia investigation.Rudy Giuliani informed he is target of criminal investigation in GeorgiaRead moreHaving long teased a new White House run, Trump seized on the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago for fundraising purposes, portraying it as an unprecedented raid and claiming mistreatment by political opponents. Senior Republicans echoed his claims, seemingly demonstrating Trump’s continuing hold on the party.Last week, a Trump attorney, Alina Habba, said she thought Trump could end his legal troubles by announcing that he would not run for the presidency again.Habba told Real America’s Voice: “I’ve sat across from him, every time he gets frustrated, I say to him: ‘Mr President, if you would like me to resolve all your litigation, you should announce that you are not running for office, and all of this will stop.’ That’s what they want.”But Habba also said: “I hope he runs. I told him, ‘This is going to actually increase your support in your base because they just always take it a little too far.’ The Democratic party, they can’t get out of their own way sometimes.”TopicsDonald TrumpUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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    US congressional delegation visits Taiwan on heels of Pelosi trip

    US congressional delegation visits Taiwan on heels of Pelosi tripFive-member group including a senator will meet president and attend banquet hosted by foreign minister A US congressional delegation has arrived in Taiwan, days after China held military drills around the island in retaliation for the House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit.The five-member delegation, led by Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, will meet President Tsai Ing-wen and attend a banquet hosted by the foreign minister, Joseph Wu, during the visit, according to Taiwan’s foreign ministry.The American Institute in Taiwan said the US politicians would discuss “US-Taiwan relations, regional security, trade and investment, global supply chains, climate change, and other significant issues of mutual interest”.Quick GuideChina-Taiwan relations ShowA brief historyThe Chinese government claims Taiwan as a province of China and has not ruled out taking it by force.At the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, the losing Kuomintang government fled to the island of Taiwan, establishing the Republic of China (ROC) government in exile. On the mainland the Chinese Communist party (CCP) established the People’s Republic of China. From the 1970s onwards many nations began switching their formal ties from the ROC to Beijing, and today fewer than 15 world governments recognise the ROC (Taiwan) as a country.The CCP has never ruled over Taiwan and since the end of the civil war Taiwan has enjoyed de facto independence. Since its decades-long period of martial law ended in the 1980s, Taiwan has also grown to become a vibrant democracy with free elections and media.But unification is a key goal of the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping. The island’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, has said Taiwan is already a sovereign country with no need to declare independence, but Beijing regards Taiwan’s democratically elected government as separatists.Under Xi’s rule, aggression towards Taiwan has increased and analysts believe the threat of invasion is at its highest in decades. In recent years the People’s Liberation Army has sent hundreds of war planes into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone, as part of greatly increased “grey zone” activities, which are combat-adjacent but do not meet the threshold of war. Taiwan is working to modernise its military and is buying large numbers of military assets and weapons from the US in the hope it can deter Xi and the CCP from making a move. Helen Davidson Photograph: Tingshu Wang/X06979Taiwan hailed the delegation’s visit as another sign of warm ties between Taipei and Washington. “The ministry of foreign affairs expresses its sincere welcome [to the delegation],” the ministry said in a statement. “As China is continuing to escalate tensions in the region, the US Congress has again organised a heavyweight delegation to visit Taiwan, showing a friendship that is not afraid of China’s threats and intimidation, and highlighting the US’s strong support towards Taiwan.”The other members of the delegation are the Democratic members John Garamendi and Alan Lowenthal of California and Don Beyer of Virginia, and the Republican representative Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen from American Samoa, according to the institute.China’s embassy in Washington said on Sunday that “members of the US Congress should act in consistence with the US government’s one-China policy” and argued the latest congressional visit “once again proves that the US does not want to see stability across the Taiwan strait and has spared no effort to stir up confrontation between the two sides and interfere in China’s internal affairs”.China views Taiwan as its own territory to be taken one day, by force if necessary. For a week after Pelosi’s visit this month it sent warships, missiles and jets into the waters and skies around the island. Pelosi was the highest-ranking elected American official to visit Taiwan in decades.Taiwan has accused China of using her visit as an excuse to kickstart drills that would allow it to rehearse for an invasion. It held its own exercises simulating defence against a Chinese invasion of its main island. China drew down its drills but said it would continue to patrol the Taiwan strait.In its daily update, Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Sunday that it had detected 22 Chinese planes and six ships operating around the strait. Of those, 11 planes crossed the median line, an unofficial demarcation between Taiwan and China that Beijing does not recognise.Sign up to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every weekday morning at 7am BSTTaiwan’s presidential office said the group would meet Tsai on Monday morning. “Especially at a time when China is raising tensions in the Taiwan strait and the region with military exercises, Markey leading a delegation to visit Taiwan once again demonstrates the United States Congress’ firm support for Taiwan,” it said.Markey’s office said the lawmakers in Taiwan “will reaffirm the United States’ support for Taiwan as guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, US-China joint communiques, and six assurances, and will encourage stability and peace across the Taiwan strait.”The group would meet “with elected leaders and members of the private sector to discuss shared interests including reducing tensions in the Taiwan strait and expanding economic cooperation, including investments in semiconductors,” Markey’s office said.Taiwan’s foreign ministry published pictures of four lawmakers being met at Taipei’s downtown Songshan airport, having arrived on a US air force transport jet, while Markey arrived at the Taoyuan international airport.Last week China vowed zero tolerance for “separatist activities” in Taiwan and reaffirmed its threat that it would take control of the self-ruled island by force if provoked.“We are ready to create vast space for peaceful reunification, but we will leave no room for separatist activities in any form,” China’s Taiwan affairs office said in a white paper on Wednesday.It said China would “not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures”. It added, however: “We will only be forced to take drastic measures to respond to the provocation of separatist elements or external forces should they ever cross our red lines.”China last issued a white paper on Taiwan in 2000.AFP and Reuters contributed to this reportTopicsTaiwanUS CongressUS foreign policyChinaAsia PacificUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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    Belgium’s Regrets Not Enough: Congo Deserves Apology and Reparations for War Crimes

    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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    The Republican party has reason to fear the midterms | Lloyd Green

    The Republican party has reason to fear the midtermsLloyd GreenThis fall, Trump will be on the ballot even if his name does not appear. There are growing signs the Republican party is in trouble Donald Trump’s week from hell has turned red hot. On Friday, reports emerged that he was under suspicion of having violated the Espionage Act, removing or destroying records and obstructing an investigation. Separate inventory receipts reflect that FBI agents hauled-off a trove of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Palm Beach domicile and club. Specifically, agents found four sets of “top secret documents”, three sets of “secret documents” and three sets of “confidential documents”. Whether any of this pertains to US nuclear capabilities remains a mystery. On Thursday night, the Washington Post had reported that the FBI searched for “nuclear documents and other items, sources say even worse.” For his part, Trump denied the search related to nuclear weapons, and branded those allegations a “hoax”.Earlier on Thursday, Merrick Garland, the attorney general, told reporters that the buck stopped with him. At the same time, the Department of Justice also moved to unseal the search warrant and inventory list. “Absent objection” by Trump, the justice department asked the court to make public both the search warrant and the inventory. Late Thursday, the former president acceded to the department’s gambit. “Release the documents now!”, Trump announced on Truth Social. Armed FBI attacker shot dead by police believed to be enraged Trump supporterRead moreNukes and the pungent whiff of espionage possibly committed by the ex-president now waft through the air. Jay Bratt signed the Department of Justice filing. He heads the department’s counterintelligence and export control office. Once upon a time, Trump contemplated pardoning Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. Both men were charged under the Espionage Act. In his book on the Trump presidency, Rage, Bob Woodward quoted Trump as saying: “We have stuff that you haven’t even seen or heard about. We have stuff that Putin and Xi have never heard about before. There’s nobody – what we have is incredible.” As an act of deflection, Trump also attacked the 44th president: “I continue to ask, what happened to the 33mn pages of documents taken to Chicago by President Obama.” Earlier in the week, Trump declared that the FBI had defiled his safe-space. On cue, members of his family, the Republican party and right-wing media trashed the feds and the Biden administration. On Thursday night, they went momentarily silent. Until then, they did their best to paint the former guy as a victim. Senator Rand Paul raised the specter of planted evidence. Rudy Giuliani vowed that if Trump were re-elected, the feds would swoop down on the Bidens. One Trump-fundraising blast read: “Remember, they were never after President Trump. They have always been after YOU.” This is the same crowd that continued to demand – six years after the 2016 election –that Hillary Clinton be locked-up. Said differently, “law and order” means whatever they choose it to mean, like Humpty Dumpty in Alice in Wonderland. “Neither more nor less”. On that score, the FBI field office in Cincinnati came under attack by Ricky Walter Shiffer just before Garland’s announcement. Law enforcement later confirmed that they had killed him. Shiffer was at the Capitol on January 6. In death, he had finally caught up with Ashli Babbitt. For the record, Shiffer and Babbitt were veterans.The blow-up over Mar-a-Lago has helped Trump regain his sway over the Republican party. With the notable exception of Sen Tim Scott of South Carolina, senior Republicans have again prostrated themselves: Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, Mitch McConnell, Ron DeSantis, Kevin McCarthy, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio. The band is back. Yet all this comes at a steep-cost to their ambitions. The anticipated red-wave in the upcoming midterms may have crested. The Republican party underperformed in Minnesota’s recent special congressional election. Now, the party stands to lose its natural advantage on national security issues. Beyond that, the latest Fox News poll reports that the Democrats have tied the Republican party on the generic House ballot, at 41% all. Just months ago, the Republicans held a seven-point lead. Meanwhile, the public disapproves of the supreme court overturning Roe v Wade by a greater than a three-two margin.White women without four-year degrees disapprove even more strongly (60-35) than those who are college graduates (54-44). Suburban women give the end of Roe a deep thumbs-down, 65-33. The raging culture war and Trump’s antics may even enable Nancy Pelosi to continue wielding the speaker’s gavel in January 2023. This fall Trump will be on the ballot even if his name does not appear. Whether he will be under indictment is the open question.
    Lloyd Green served in the Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992
    TopicsUS politicsOpinionUS midterm elections 2022RepublicansDemocratsDonald TrumpcommentReuse this content More