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Monday’s day in court indicated that jury selection could take weeks – and that Trump could yet be held in contemptDonald Trump struggled through the opening day of his New York criminal trial on Monday as the jury selection process formally got under way in Manhattan in the first criminal trial of a current or former US president.Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34...

Ex-president dozed off during calm day of proceedings in trial over hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, with some potential jurors chosen. This blog is now closed.Shortly, we should have the first set of potential jurors enter the courtroom where they will give their responses verbally to a 42-point questionnaire.There are several categories of questions, including: in which New York neighborhood they live, their educational...

Republican presumptive nominee struggles to articulate position on divisive issue after meeting with House speakerFacing the press alongside the House speaker, fellow Republican Mike Johnson, Donald Trump bragged: “We broke Roe v Wade.”The former president made the stark admission about his dominant role in attacks on abortion rights at the end of a week in which the rightwing Arizona state supreme court ruled that...

Proposal sails through, with one vocal opponent saying gay first cousins do not risk having a child with birth defectsThe Republican-led Tennessee legislature has overwhelmingly voted to send the Republican governor, Bill Lee, a proposal that would ban marriage between first cousins.The statehouse cast a 75-2 vote on Thursday on the bill after the senate previously approved it without any opposition. Continue reading...

As the party struggles to talk about abortion, response marks fastest and strongest rebuke of bans since the fall of RoeHours after Arizona’s supreme court declared on Tuesday that a 160-year-old abortion ban is now enforceable, Republicans in the state took a surprising stance for a party that has historically championed abortion restrictions – they denounced the decision.“This decision cannot stand,” said Matt Gress,...

Adam Schiff introduces bill amid growing legal battle over whether major AI companies have made illegal use of copyrighted worksA bill introduced in the US Congress on Tuesday intends to force artificial intelligence companies to reveal the copyrighted material they use to make their generative AI models. The legislation adds to a growing number of attempts from lawmakers, news outlets and artists to establish...

Lawyers had argued trial should be postponed while they seek a change of venue to move it out of heavily Democratic ManhattanSign up for Trump on Trial: a free newsletter on all the latest court developmentsA New York appeals court judge has rejected former President Donald Trump’s request to delay his 15 April hush-money criminal trial while he fights to move the case out...

‘If the United States threatened to suspend aid, maybe my son would be alive today,’ John Flickinger told the US secretary of stateWhen the US’s top diplomat called with condolences over the killing of John Flickinger’s son in the Israeli airstrikes on a World Central Kitchen aid convoy in Gaza, Flickinger knew what he wanted to say.The grieving father told Antony Blinken, the US...

World’s most valuable chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor to set up third facility in Arizona using funding from Biden policyBusiness live – latest updatesTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is to build its most advanced chips in Arizona after receiving a pledge of as much as $11.6bn in US government subsidy as part of Joe Biden’s efforts to attract computer chip production.TSMC, the world’s most valuable chipmaker, says...

Sandra Fish, who has covered politics since 1982, was asked to leave by security about an hour into the state party assemblyA politics reporter from the Colorado Sun was removed from the state Republican party assembly this weekend because the state party chair Dave Williams claimed her reporting on the party was “very unfair”.The reporter, Sandra Fish, who has covered politics since 1982, received...

Letter by secretary of state warns party that Democratic National Convention is scheduled past the deadline to certify candidatesThe Ohio secretary of state has sent a letter to the Ohio Democratic party warning that Joe Biden could be left off the November election ballot in 2024 unless the Democratic National Convention meets earlier or statutory requirements in the state are changed or exempted.According to...

Independent US presidential candidate’s team later said statement in its fundraising email ‘was an error’ not reflective of his viewsA spokesperson for the independent US presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr said a passage in a fundraising email that called January 6 prisoners “activists … stripped of their constitutional liberties” was the result of an error by an outside contractor.“That statement was an error...

Centrist group says it won’t field ‘unity ticket’ in US presidential election after reaching out to 30 potential people and raising $60mThe centrist group No Labels will not field a third-party candidate for US president this year, it announced on Thursday.“Americans remain more open to an independent presidential run and hungrier for unifying national leadership than ever before,” the group, which previously said it...

Jack Smith says if judge decides Trump can cite federal records law in his defense to claim immunity, he will appeal to higher courtIn a court filing, the special counsel Jack Smith said that the judge in Donald Trump’s criminal case over his retention of classified information was relying on a “fundamentally flawed legal premise” when asking lawyers to consider whether the former president...

Thousands show up in Green Bay where ex-president attacks ‘fake media’ and ‘tyrants’ in state where he lost to Biden four years agoOn Wisconsin’s presidential primary election day, Donald Trump made his first campaign stop in the state, where he railed against so-called “migrant crime” and doubled down on false election claims.“We won in 2016 – we did much better in 2020, hate to...

Presidents clashed over Taiwan and US trade restrictions on technology in first direct interaction since NovemberJoe Biden and Xi Jinping have clashed in a telephone call about Taiwan and US trade restrictions on technology, but sought to manage their tensions as two top US officials prepare to visit Beijing.The nearly two-hour telephone conversation on Tuesday was the two leaders’ first direct interaction since a...

Crew starts intricate removal work on Francis Scott Key Bridge as officials stress that health of US national economy depends on itCrews of engineers have begun the dangerous and intricate job of removing the mangled wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge from the Patapsco River outside Baltimore, as top federal government and Maryland state officials stressed Sunday that the health of the US...

Representative postponed his own retirement from Washington to help pass Barack Obama presidency’s legislative agendaLongtime Democratic congressman William D Delahunt, who postponed his own retirement from Washington to help pass the Barack Obama presidency’s legislative agenda, has died after a long-term illness, his family announced.Delahunt died Saturday at his home in Quincy, Massachusetts, at the age of 82, news reports said. Continue reading...

Chuck Schumer and Lizzo made appearances before the presidents talked onstage in event that widens fundraising lead over TrumpJoe Biden and his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, headlined a star-studded fundraiser with Bill Clinton on Thursday that organizers said raised more than $25m for the US president’s re-election campaign.Such a haul, which Politico called an “NYC money bomb”, will widen Biden’s lead over Donald Trump...

The Republican challenger to Democrat Sherrod Brown for US Senate in Ohio has made dubious claims in his campaignBernie Moreno, the Republican candidate for US Senate in Ohio who expected to mount a stern challenge to Sherrod Brown, the incumbent leftwing Democrat, says his family fled socialism when they came to the US from Colombia in 1971, when he was four years old.Though such...

Lieberman, Connecticut senator for four terms, was Al Gore’s Democratic running mate in 2000The former US senator Joe Lieberman, who ran as the Democratic nominee for vice-president in the 2000 election and became the first Jewish candidate on a major-party ticket for the White House, alongside presidential candidate Al Gore, has died at the age of 82.Lieberman died in New York due to complications...

Authorities say accident sent vehicles and workers into river as Biden promises to fund rebuilding of crucial structureMaryland state police say the six people who were missing after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed Tuesday in Baltimore, Maryland, are now been presumed dead.Authorities said the accident sent a number of vehicles and eight construction workers into the Patapsco River. Two people were rescued on...

Christopher Tape, indicted in 2022 before charges were dismissed, says office will stop giving exam that helps collect key evidenceHaving been elected against no opposition despite prior charges of child molestation, the chief medical examiner of a south-east Louisiana community with more than a quarter-million residents took office Monday, poised to deliver on a pledge to eliminate an agency program that has helped collect...

Tammy Murphy was campaigning for Bob Menendez’s seat and her exit leaves Andy Kim as clear winner for Democratic nominationNew Jersey’s first lady Tammy Murphy has announced the suspension of her Senate campaign.In a video message posted to Twitter/X on Sunday, Murphy said: “After many busy, invigorating, and yet challenging months, I am suspending my Senate campaign today. I’ve been genuine and factual throughout....