Page 6 - Us Politics

Trump's prosecution threat follows years of attacking democratic traditions

As Donald Trump became the first former president to face federal charges, he and his supporters went through a familiar routine of mounting a victimhood defense in the face of unprecedented allegations of wrongdoing. But this time, the stakes are higher. Trump upped the level of his claims and threats as he faces the potential of years in prison if convicted on 37 charges of obstruction, illegal retention of defense information and other violations. Hours after pleading not guilty, Trump claimed he is being targeted by the special prosecutor, who is nonpartisan, for political reasons and vowed to retaliate against President Joe Biden if he is elected president in 2024. There was an unwritten rule to not prosecute former presidents and political rivals, Trump told supporters in a speech at his golf club in New Jersey. I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of America, Joe Biden, and go after the Biden crime family. The vow is

Democrats and Republicans share core values but still distrust each other

Americans on the right and the left have a lot more in common than they might think including their strong distrust of each other. A survey published on Wednesday finds that when asked about core values including fairness, compassion and personal responsibility, about nine in 10 Democrats and Republicans agreed they were very or extremely important. Yet only about a third of either group said they believed the same was true for the opposing party. The results of the survey, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago and the nonprofit group Starts With Us, reveal a stark truth at the source of the polarization that has a powerful grip on American politics: While most Americans agree on the core principles underlying American democracy, they no longer recognise that the other side also holds those values. This is a hidden opportunity for Americans to reestablish a sense of shared values, said Tom Fishman, chief executive at Starts With Us, a nonpartisan organisation that works to

US troops evacuating 70 diplomats from Sudan amid fierce fighting

US troops are carrying out a precarious evacuation of American embassy staffers in the African nation of Sudan, shuttering the US embassy there as fighting rages for a ninth day, according to a senior Biden administration official. Biden ordered American troops to evacuate embassy personnel after receiving a recommendation earlier on Saturday from his national security team with no end in sight to the fighting, according to the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the mission. The evacuation order was believed to apply to about 70 Americans. US forces were airliftng them from a landing zone at the embassy to an unspecified location. The State Department has suspended operations at the embassy due to the dire security situation. It was not clear when the embassy might resume functioning.

SCOTUS and the Trump effect

A quiet urgency ripples through this informative, briskly paced and gracefully written book

US Court orders porn star to pay Trump $120,000 more in legal fees

Daniels had filed and lost a defamation suit against the former president, reported CNN

Why has Donald Trump been indicted and can he run for 2024 elections?

With his indictment on Friday, Trump has become the first former US president to face criminal charges

Biden renominates Indo-American Arun Subramanian as NY district court judge

US President Joe Biden has renominated Indian-American attorney Arun Subramanian to be the District Court judge for the Southern District of New York

Joe Biden was paid $1 mn a year to teach but never taught a single class

US President Joe Biden was employed by the University of Pennsylvania after leaving the vice presidency and was paid one million dollars a year as a professor but never taught a class

Donald Trump's longtime CFO faces sentencing for tax fraud scheme

Allen Weisselberg, a longtime executive for Donald Trump's real estate empire whose testimony helped convict the former president's company of tax fraud, is set to be sentenced Tuesday for dodging taxes on USD 1.7 million in job perks. New York Judge Juan Manuel Merchan is expected to sentence Weisselberg, a senior Trump Organisation adviser and former chief financial officer, to five months in jail, in keeping with a plea agreement reached in August. Weisselberg, 75, was promised that sentence when he agreed to plead guilty to 15 tax crimes and testify against the company, where he's worked since the mid-1980s. When he begins serving his sentence, Weisselberg is expected to be locked up at New York City's notorious Rikers Island jail complex. He will be eligible for release after little more than three months if he behaves behind bars. As part of his plea agreement, Weisselberg must also pay nearly USD 2 million in taxes, penalties and interest, which he said he has made significa

Chaos engulfs US House, members oppose McCarthy's candidacy for speaker

GOP struggles to select Speaker, exposing deep fractures within party

US House committee votes to release Trump's tax information to public

House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal released a report about the Internal Revenue Service's audits of Trump's taxes late Tuesday, but the actual tax returns will be made public in a few days

US Senator Grassley opposes Garcetti's nomination as envoy to India

Influential American Senator Chuck Grassley has opposed the nomination of Eric Garcetti as the US envoy to India because of "serious allegations" of sexual harassment by one of his staffers and urged his senatorial colleagues to do the same. Grassley's remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday comes amidst the White House intensifying its efforts to have Garcetti confirmed as the US Ambassador to India, a strategic position that has remained vacant for nearly two years now. With India being the current chair of G-20 resulting in a lot of diplomatic activities between the two countries, the Biden administration wants to have its envoy in New Delhi as soon as possible. Garcetti, who served as the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles from July 2013 until December 2022, is a close aide of President Joe Biden. I would like to express my strong opposition to the nomination of Eric Garcetti to be ambassador to India. I'm compelled to vote against Garcetti due to the serious allegations about sexual ...

Karen Bass becomes first Black woman to be elected Los Angeles mayor

Karen Ruth Bass, a former physician assistant who shattered glass ceilings with her rise to a leadership post in the California legislature and later a prominent spot in Congress, took a ceremonial oath of office on Sunday as mayor of Los Angeles. A progressive Democrat, Bass becomes the first woman and second Black person to hold the city's top job and will formally assume her duties Monday amid multiple crises in the nation's second most populous city. She was sworn in ceremonially by Vice President Kamala Harris, a longtime friend and former California attorney general. The formal oath was administered privately by the city clerk. Bass will be tasked with easing rising crime rates, restoring trust in a City Hall shaken by racism and corruption scandals and addressing the issue of over 40,000 people living in trash-strewn encampments or rusty RVs that have spread into virtually every neighbourhood. Striking a tone of unity, Bass said the many, disparate arms of government must co

Biden tells Democrats he wants South Carolina as 1st voting state: Report

President Joe Biden said Thursday that Democrats should give up restrictive caucuses and prioritise diversity at the start of their presidential primary calendar dealing a major blow to Iowa's decadeslong status as the state that leads off the process. In a letter to the rule-making arm of the Democratic National Committee, Biden did not mention specific states he'd like to see go first. But he has told Democrats he wants South Carolina moved to the first position, according to three people familiar with his recommendation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. The president's direction comes as the DNC rules committee gathers in Washington on Friday to vote on shaking up the presidential primary calendar starting in 2024. Members now expect to approve new rules putting South Carolina first, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on the same day a week later. Georgia and Michigan would move into the top five as new early states, and each would hold ...

Maryland Guv Hogan raises money amid speculation of White House bid

Term-limited Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan raised money and launched a political action committee on Wednesday amid speculation he will run for president in 2024, telling hundreds of supporters he'll make a decision after he leaves office in January. Hogan has positioned himself to run as an alternative to Donald Trump. The former president already has announced he's running for president in 2024. The governor acknowledged the speculation about his political future in a speech to supporters. Next year, I'm going to sit down and talk to my family, talk to my friends and determine how I can best serve our great nation," Hogan said. Hogan, who has been a fierce critic of Trump, would be an underdog in a Republican primary, a point he noted that in his speech. I know there is no shortage of naysayers, but I've always been an underdog, and people have always counted us out, but every single time, we've beaten the odds, Hogan added. The Republican candidate Hogan endorsed for governor, Kel

Musk says he'd back Ron DeSantis for president if he makes 2024 run

Musk called himself a "significant supporter of the Obama-Biden presidency and (reluctantly) voted for Biden over Trump"

Fauci bemoans impact of political divisiveness on US' response to Covid

Top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci bemoaned the impact of political divisiveness on the country's response to Covid-19.

Voting against self-interest

The economic aspects of the Republican ideological agenda are driven by the concerns of the super-rich. Surprisingly though, the bulk of Republican voters are lower-income workers

Republicans just a seat away from control of House, says report

Democrats have already won control of the Senate, securing 50 seats with a runoff in Georgia next month

Parsing recent asset price volatility

The US midterm elections give hope on a more normal international environment