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South Dakota governor includes bloody tale in campaign volume – and admits ‘a better politician … wouldn’t tell the story here’In 1952, as a Republican candidate for vice-president, Richard Nixon famously stirred criticism by admitting receiving a dog, Checkers, as a political gift.In 2012, as the Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney was pilloried for tying a dog, Seamus, to the roof of the family...

Congressman Adam Smith says ‘totalitarian’ protesters are ‘trying to silence anyone who dares to disagree with them’Protesters calling for Israel to cease fire in its war with Hamas who have disrupted US public events and infrastructure are practicing “leftwing fascism” or “leftwing totalitarianism”, a senior US House Democrat said, adding that such protesters are “challenging representative democracy” and should be arrested.“Intimidation is the tactic,”...

President says legislation is ‘going to make the world safer’ after months of congressional gridlock threatened support for KyivJoe Biden has signed into law a bill that rushes $95bn in foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, a bipartisan legislative victory he hailed as a “good day for world peace” after months of congressional gridlock threatened Washington’s support for Kyiv in its fight to...

Nikki Haley got 21% despite not being on the ballot, indicating level of Republican discontent with TrumpJoe Biden and Donald Trump both won their primaries in Pennsylvania shortly after polls closed.Pennsylvanians had gone to the polls on Tuesday to cast ballots in the state’s primary races – the results provide a window into where voters in the crucial battleground stand roughly six months out...

Far-right representative says Mike Johnson’s speakership is ‘over’ but has not followed through on threat to try to remove himRepublican infighting over the US House finally approving $61bn in military aid for Ukraine continued to roil the party on Sunday as the far-right representative Marjorie Taylor Greene renewed attacks on the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson.Johnson had betrayed his party and was working for the...

Ukrainian president urges Senate to ratify aid package so that country can strengthen frontline with RussiaUkraine’s president has said the vote by the US House of Representatives to pass a long-delayed $61bn (£49bn) military aid package demonstrated that his country would not be abandoned by the west in its effort to fight the Russian invasion.Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview with US television that...

Former president told thousands of supporters gathered at Wilmington airport the event would be rescheduled ‘bigger and better’ Donald Trump called for debates with Joe Biden before cancelling his own appearance at a planned rally in Wilmington, North Carolina as a rain storm approached the airport where it was staged on Saturday.Trump called as he was approaching the international airport to tell rally goers...

Bill – with updated language that extends deadline to a year for ByteDance to divest of TikTok – to go before Senate next weekThe House of Representatives voted 360 to 58 on the updated divest-or-ban bill that could lead to the first time ever that the US government has passed a law to shut down an entire social media platform.The Senate is expected to...

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Trump’s criminal trial, read our full report:All 12 jurors seated in Trump hush-money trial after two dismissalsJudge Merchan, in directing the press not to use physical descriptors to describe jurors, complained specifically about mentioning one of the jurors had an Irish accent.“We just lost” what would have been a good juror for the case,...

Bridget Thorne, a Republican elected in Fulton county in 2022, has spread election fraud lies and accused county employees of crimesA Fulton county commissioner in Georgia has been operating a private Telegram channel for years, propagating debunked claims about the 2020 election, and spreading accusations of crimes by county employees, including Ruby Freeman, an election worker defamed by Rudy Giuliani in the wake of...

Democrat praised for serving with ‘immense dignity and courage’ during five-decade career while also perfecting ‘workdays’ to connect with constituentsFormer US senator and two-term Florida governor Bob Graham, who gained national prominence as chairman of the Senate intelligence committee in the aftermath of the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks and as an early critic of the Iraq war, has died aged 87.Graham’s family announced...

After a contentious redrawing of Alabama’s congressional map, two candidates will compete in November for a seat, and perhaps congressional controlShomari Figures, an attorney and Obama White House executive from a politically-prominent civil rights family, has won the Democratic nomination to run in Alabama’s redrawn second congressional district Tuesday night, defeating state representative Anthony Daniels.The runoff election has been closely watched because of its...

Trump charged with 34 felony counts over alleged payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougalDonald Trump’s Manhattan hush-money trial enters its second day on Tuesday morning with continued jury selection. The commencement of Trump’s trial on Monday marked a momentous day in US history: when jury selection began, he became the first current or former American president to face...

The former prime minister spent just 49 days in office but wants to stay on the world stage. Her attacks on Biden and praise for Trump are aimed at the populist rightIn her new book, the former British prime minister Liz Truss directs scathing attacks and mockery at Joe Biden, president of her country’s closest ally. Biden was guilty of “utter hypocrisy and ignorance”,...

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...