List of All Articles with Tag 'politics'

President Joe Biden compared Chinese President Xi Jinping to "dictators" during a political fundraiser in California Tuesday night, delivering the unscripted remarks roughly a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said his recent trip had yielded "progress" in repairing the fractured relationship between Washington and Beijing.

Donald Trump’s close allies and aides have started using the rat emoji in text message discussions about his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, a report says. The phrase – which can be used to describe an informer – became popular in the former president’s inner circle after Mr Meadows’s lawyer was vague about whether he is cooperating with special counsel Jack Smith, reports Rolling Stone. The federal prosecutor had been eager to question Mr Meadows under oath about Mr Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and his handling of top-secret documents. But the magazine states that “it’s been an ongoing mystery to Trump and his team how much Meadows has given the feds, and whether or not he’s actually cooperating.” Mr Meadows’s lawyer gave very few details to media outlets this month on his client’s status with investigators. “Without commenting on whether or not Mr Meadows has testified before the grand jury or in any other proceeding, Mr Meadows has maintained a commitment to tell the truth where he has a legal obligation to do so,” said George Terwilliger. The magazine reported that a source had told them of the rat emoji use, and had provided a screenshot of conversations where it was included. Mr Trump has told his allies that Mr Trump has said he does not know what Mr Meadows is doing and that it would be a “shame” if rumours he is cooperating with prosecutors were true. The magazine states that the allies have told the former president that there is no evidence that Mr Meadows is cooperating and that he may be following his lawyer’s advice to keep a low profile. Mr Trump Trump faces 37 federal felony counts alleging he illegally retained national defence information and concealed classified documents. He has pleaded not guilty and Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon has signed a court order listing the trial as starting on 14 August of this year in Fort Pierce, Florida. Read More Jonathan Turley tells Fox News the Trump indictment is ‘extremely damning’ and a ‘hit below the waterline’ Former Trump chief of staff says ex-president is ‘scared s***less’ Trump described Pentagon ‘plan of attack’ and shared classified military map with PAC member, indictment shows Trump news – live: Judge sets Mar-a-Lago classified papers trial date as Hunter Biden reaches plea deal Hunter Biden’s case throws a wrench in Republican rhetoric about ‘two-tiered’ justice Trump calls Fox News ‘hostile’ as he declines to commit to first GOP debate on network

A federal judge on Tuesday struck down Arkansas' ban on gender-affirming treatment for transgender youth, dealing the strongest blow yet to a state prohibition on such care.

A federal judge in Arkansas has permanently struck down the state’s first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, finding that the law violates the constitutional rights of trans patients, their families and health providers. The law – the first-such ban on affirming healthcare for trans youth in the US – is permanently enjoined following a weeks-long trial, marking the first such ruling in the country. A decision from US District Judge Jay Moody, who was appointed to the federal judiciary by Barack Obama, joins a wave of legal victories in federal courts for transgender rights and the rights of trans youth to access medically recommended and potentially life-saving care. The law prohibited doctors from providing hormone therapies, puberty blockers or affirming surgeries to anyone under 18 years old. It also barred state funds or insurance coverage for affirming care for people under 18 and allowed insurance companies to refuse to cover affirming treatment for people of any age. Judge Moody had temporarily blocked the law in 2021 as a legal challenge from a group of families with trans children played out. In his ruling on 20 June, Judge Moody determined that the law unconstitutionally discriminates against transgender people and their families by infringing on their due process and rights to equal protection under the law. He also determined that the law violate the First Amendment rights of doctors by prohibiting them from referring their patients elsewhere. Judge Moody argued that attorneys for the state of Arkansas failed to contest the “extensive clinical experience” from doctors who testified in the case and the “decades of clinical experience demonstrating the efficacy of gender-affirming medical care.” He also debunked the state’s medical claims by pointing to testimony from its own witness and ruled that the state failed to prove any of its claims that affirming treatment is “ineffective or riskier than other medical care provided to minors,” among other statements. Arkansas “failed to prove that its interests in the safety of Arkansas adolescents from gender transitioning procedures or the medical community’s ethical decline are compelling, genuine, or even rational,” Judge Moody wrote. He determined that plaintiffs proved that they would “suffer immediate and irreparable harm” if the law was allowed to take effect, “outweighed by any potential harm to the State of Arkansas caused by the entry of a permanent injunction.” “I’m so grateful the judge heard my experience of how this health care has changed my life for the better and saw the dangerous impact this law could have on my life and that of countless other transgender people,” said Dylan Brandt, a 17-year-old transgender boy who joined the lawsuit challenging the law. “My mom and I wanted to fight this law not just to protect my health care, but also to ensure that transgender people like me can safely and fully live our truths,” he said in a statement through the ACLU of Arkansas. “Transgender kids across the country are having their own futures threatened by laws like this one, and it’s up to all of us to speak out, fight back, and give them hope.” Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice at the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, said the judge’s deicision provides “enormous relief” to trans youth and their families in the state. “In state after state, transgender people are being forced to fight for our most basic rights, including access to the health care many of us need to live,” he added. “This victory shows that these laws, when tested by evidence, are indefensible under any standard of constitutional review.” The ruling comes days after a federal judge appointed by Donald Trump temporarily blocked a similar ban on affirming healthcare in Indiana law. Another federal court ruling in Florida also partially blocked state law impacting access to such care, delivering a ruling that eviscerated the state’s anti-trans policies and condemned the bigotry that fuelled such legislation. Over the last year, state lawmakers across the country introduced a historic number of bills targeting LGBT+ Americans, including hundreds aimed at young trans people, as part of a growing campaign among Republican lawmakers wielding anti-trans attacks now dominating their platforms and right-wing media campaigns. Children’s hospitals and health providers offering care for trans youth also have faced an unprecedented wave of harassment and threats. At least 20 states have enacted laws or policies banning affirming healthcare for young trans people. But an increasing number of state-level and federal court decisions have blocked them from going into effect, for now. Read More Trump-appointed federal judge blocks Indiana’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth Pioneering transgender lawmaker has advice for pushing back against transphobic bills Neo-Nazis can’t stop Pride in Montana: ‘Yes, we are under attack. But we will not be quiet’

The Pentagon announced Tuesday that the accounting error revealed last month was significantly more than previously stated and aid provided to Ukraine was overvalued by $6.2 billion rather than $3 billion.

The Georgia State Election Board dismissed the years-long investigation into alleged misconduct by Fulton County election workers during the 2020 election, saying it had found no evidence of conspiracy.

It appears increasingly likely that the 31 NATO members will be unable to coalesce around a candidate to be the alliance's next secretary general and Jens Stoltenberg will be asked to remain in the job for an additional year, multiple sources told CNN.

The legal cloud hanging over of Hunter Biden, the president's son, may be lifting, but the political cloud resulting from his awkward business arrangements and frequently troubled life are not going anywhere.

Kellye SoRelle, the woman who claimed to be general counsel for the right-wing Oath Keepers militia, will be held in federal custody for mental health treatment after a judge ruled Tuesday that she was incompetent to stand trial.

A conservative candidate who unsuccessfully ran for Mark Meadows' former House seat in North Carolina in 2020 and was endorsed by then-President Donald Trump was sentenced Tuesday to one year of probation for violating federal campaign law.

House and Senate Republicans have been quick to criticize the plea deal between the Department of Justice and Hunter Biden, arguing Tuesday that the charges brought against President Joe Biden's son exemplify what they describe as the weaponization of the DOJ.

President Joe Biden huddled in the Oval Office with several of his top advisers in early April as an aide typed prompts into ChatGPT: Summarize the Supreme Court's New Jersey v. Delaware ruling and turn it into a Bruce Springsteen song.