US politics
Supreme Court allows late-arriving mail-in ballots in defeat for Trump
The Supreme Court has ruled that states may count postal ballots received late if they were postmarked by election day, rejecting the Trump administration’s push to block it. The 5-4 decision upholds a Mississippi law that had permitted the counting of mail-in ballots postmarked before election day but arrived up to five days afterwards. The ruling marks a significant political defeat for Donald Trump, who called the decision a “tremendous loss”. The president has repeatedly stated that mail-in ballots are vulnerable to fraud. The states that allow late-arriving postal ballotsRead more
Trump asks Congress for $87bn, mostly for ‘urgent’ Iran war costs
The White House has asked lawmakers to approve $87.6bn (£66.5bn), mostly for “urgent needs” connected with the US war on Iran, a day after Congress passed a resolution rebuking the military action. The bulk of the funding – $67bn – is for the Defence Department, including $21bn for munitions, $17.3bn for operational costs and $12.1bn for classified programmes, said the White House. The other money is for unrelated measures including $11bn for US farmers and $1.4bn to tackle the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa. But the proposal faces an uphillRead more
US lawmakers accuse justice department of ‘inappropriately’ redacting Epstein files
US lawmakers say files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were improperly redacted ahead of their release by the Department of Justice (DoJ). Members of Congress on Monday were allowed to begin a review of the unredacted versions of the approximately three million pages of files released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA) since December. “The core issue is that they’re not complying with… my law, because these were scrubbed back in March by Donald Trump’s FBI,” Democratic congressman Ro Khanna said. At least one document has been unredactedRead more
Trump trips, a fake video and 10 possible co-conspirators – Takeaways from new Epstein files
The US Department of Justice released its latest – and largest – tranche of Jeffrey Epstein files on Tuesday. The 11,000-plus documents continue a stream of released information that began on Friday, the deadline mandated in a new law that required the department to publicly release all of its investigative files into the deceased paedophile and financier. Many of the documents released on Tuesday are redacted with names and information blacked out, including names of people who the FBI appears to cite as possible co-conspirators in the Epstein case. TheRead more
Four potential obstacles in House vote to end US shutdown
Getty Images Texas Democrat Greg Casar has warned against healthcare “betrayal” A day after the US Senate passed a spending bill to end the longest-ever government shutdown, the budget fight now moves to the House of Representatives. The lower chamber of Congress is expected to vote this week on the funding measure. Unlike in the Senate, if House Republicans stay united, they don’t need any Democrats to pass the budget. But the margin for error is razor thin. Here are four potential hold-ups for the budget, before it can clearRead more
Trump-backed governor candidate denies ‘black Nazi’ post
A Republican candidate for governor in North Carolina has insisted he will not exit the race amid a report that he made controversial comments on a porn website more than a decade ago. Mark Robinson characterised the CNN report, which alleged that he had referred to himself as a “black Nazi” on an adult forum, as “salacious tabloid lies”. He has been under pressure from state Republicans and members of Donald Trump’s campaign team to quit the race, according to anonymous sources quoted by the Carolina Journal newspaper. Kamala Harris,Read more