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Catholic archdiocese gives New Orleans DA files on Lawrence Hecker, accused of raping child decades agoThe second-oldest archdiocese in the US has handed over “voluminous documents” involving a retired Roman Catholic priest – and accused serial predator – to the New Orleans district attorney’s office as prosecutors investigate an allegation that the cleric manhandled and raped a child decades earlier.The district attorney, Jason Williams, revealed the archdiocese’s provision of the documents after a federal court hearing on Thursday centering on whether those materials should be more widely released as a matter of public safety and interest. Continue reading...

Los Angeles mayor says Texas governor ‘using human beings as pawns’ amid reports migrants were not given food or drink on busGovernor Greg Abbott of Texas’s decision to bus migrants to Los Angeles this week has been decried as a “despicable stunt”, as advocates in California reported that the group was not offered food during the 23-hour trip.On Wednesday, 42 migrants, including 15 youth and three babies, arrived at Union Station in downtown LA, said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, the communications director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights-Los Angeles (Chirla), who met the group when they arrived. The travelers he spoke to came from Venezuela, Honduras, Guatemala and Haiti, and one came from China, he said, adding some told him they had been on the bus for nearly a day without any food or drink. Continue reading...

US airman charged with six counts of retention and transmission of classified documents relating to national defense, DoJ saysJack Teixeira, the 21-year-old US airman accused of leaking confidential intelligence and defense documents online has been indicted by a federal grand jury, the Department of Justice said on Thursday.Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, has been charged with six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information relating to national defense, the justice department said. Continue reading...

The ex-president swept into the Cuban restaurant Versailles after his arraignment this week but left without picking up anyone’s tabDonald Trump headed to Miami’s famous Cuban restaurant Versailles after his arraignment at the city’s federal courthouse on Tuesday and is said to have declared to a crowd of admirers “Food for everyone!” after walking inside.It was a promise, though, that the former US president did not keep, according to the Miami New Times, despite supporters also wishing him a happy birthday, one day early. Continue reading...

US secretary of state’s visit comes amid tense exchanges as China’s foreign minister says US should respect the ‘Taiwan issue’In a long-awaited visit, the US secretary of state is due to arrive in China this week, where he is expected to meet with senior officials in an attempt to stabilise the fraught relationship between the two superpowers.The buildup to Antony Blinken’s China visit has been marred by a series of tense exchanges. On Wednesday Qin Gang, China’s foreign minister, told Blinken in a phone call that the US should stop interfering in China’s internal affairs. Qin also said that the US should respect China’s concerns on the “Taiwan issue”. Continue reading...

ACLU attorney, 46, confirmed as lifetime judge for eastern district of New York in 50-49 Senate decision – but Manchin voted againstThe US Senate has confirmed the former American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney Nusrat Jahan Choudhury as the first Muslim woman to serve as a federal judge on Thursday.Choudhury, 46, is also the first Bangladeshi American to serve in this lifetime position. She will serve as a judge on the US court for the eastern district of New York. Continue reading...

His allies have threatened colleagues and the former PM’s statement was venomous. This doesn’t feel over …There were surprises afoot on Wednesday – or privileges-committee-publication-day eve as we should call it – Nadine Dorries was planning to delay her exit from parliament in order to cause maximum embarrassment for Rishi Sunak, though she is frankly spreading her embarrassment so liberally and gaily that it’s hard to discern a target more specific than “her entire party”, or at a push “the species”. Sir Bernard Jenkin, meanwhile, had allegedly himself attended a party in December 2020, and should therefore recuse himself from a job that had already finished, according to Boris Johnson and his allies, so desperate that they were dredging up ideas that started, “first, go back in time”.On Thursday morning, however, there were no surprises. The former prime minister had lied to parliament and nobody, anywhere, dropped their marmalade. There had just been so many spoilers: Johnson’s resignation letter at the end of last week, a howling and at times hilarious rebuttal of the lying he was about to be found guilty of; the many attacks on the personal probity of Harriet Harman, committee chair; and last but not least, Johnson’s long history of lying; so ceaseless, so well-documented, that if he hadn’t been lying about the parties, you’d have wondered whether he was feeling OK. Continue reading...

The Nuggets star’s casual disregard for the aftermath of the team’s first ever NBA championship have further endeared him to fansNikola Jokić capped off a record-setting postseason when the Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the NBA finals on Monday night to clinch the team’s maiden championship, becoming the first player to lead the league in total points (600), rebounds (269) and assists (190) in a single postseason. The NBA’s two-time Most Valuable Player – an award he says he has “zero interest” in – added more hardware to his resume, too, capturing the NBA finals MVP trophy.He’s also managed to set the standard moving forward for the most low-key celebration by a star athlete. Continue reading...

Nathan Carman was accused last year of fraud and first-degree murder in the death of his mother, Linda CarmanNathan Carman, a 29-year-old Vermont man who was set to go on trial for the murder of his mother during a 2016 sea fishing trip off Rhode Island, has died in jail, prosecutors said in court papers on Thursday.Marshals reported that Carman died “on or about” Thursday. No cause of death was given. Vermont News First reported that Carman killed himself. Continue reading...

Sony Music Group and Universal are among 17 publishers pursuing legal challenge against companyA group of 17 music publishers have sued Twitter for more than $250m (£195m) over bulk copyright infringement, citing Elon Musk’s tweets to argue that the company has deliberately stopped enforcing the rules.In the lawsuit, filed in a US federal court in Tennessee, Musk is cited as having said copyright “goes absurdly far beyond protecting the original creator” and “overzealous” application of copyright laws “is a plague on humanity”. Continue reading...

Morgue manager Cedric Lodge and his wife Denise allegedly took ‘heads, brains, skin, bones and other human remains’The manager of the morgue at Harvard Medical School and three other people were indicted for allegedly selling human body parts stolen from the school and a morgue in Arkansas, according to a federal complaint.Cedric Lodge, 55, formerly manager of the morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School, in Boston, is alleged to have stolen organs and other parts of cadavers between 2018 and 2022, and with his wife, Denise Lodge, 63, to have sold the remains online.Associated Press contributed to this report Continue reading...

Cuban American mayor, 45, will be an outsider in a crowded field dominated by Donald Trump and Ron DeSantisThe mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez, has entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination.On Thursday morning, he tweeted: “My dad taught me that you get to choose your battles, and I am choosing the biggest one of my life. I’m running for president.” Continue reading...

The Partygate report could not be more damning – but his only concern is for those who still mass under his tattered flagNinety days’ suspension and a lifelong ban from a pass to enter the Palace of Westminster. This is the punishing verdict for the only prime minister ever found to have misled parliament. Naturally, Boris Johnson lashes out at the privileges committee judgment as a “final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination”, designed “to find me guilty, regardless of the facts”. All the committee’s painstakingly careful yet eye-popping evidence bounces off him, as he treats the detailed accounts of six (plus another 16) Downing Street parties, and the lies he told, with total contempt. Furious self-pity, paranoid victimhood and faith in his golden merit is true to form.This verdict should be the stake through the heart of a disgraced career. Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell already produced enough devastating evidence in the biography Johnson at 10 to prevent any conceivable resurrection of this monster, you would think. At a literary event this week, Seldon signed my copy with: “A story about the worst prime minister in (modern) history – rotten to the core.”Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Former New York mayor spoke candidly about day in 2014 he dropped Charlotte the groundhogThe former New York mayor Bill de Blasio has addressed perhaps the greatest, or possibly saddest, controversy of his time at City Hall: the day he dropped a groundhog, which subsequently died.The Democrat left office in 2021. This week, he spoke to New York magazine. Describing the interview at a coffee shop in Brooklyn, the publication said the prominent Clinton ally and former presidential aspirant, 62, “seemed far more at ease than he often did while in office”. Continue reading...

‘I have to take responsibility for what happened,’ the suspect said in a series of calls from jail to the Associated PressThe suspect in a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub last year that killed five and wounded 17 is expected to strike a plea deal to state murder and hate charges that would ensure at least a life sentence, several survivors said.Word of a possible resolution to the Club Q massacre followed a series of jailhouse calls from the suspect to the Associated Press, expressing remorse and intention to face consequences at the next scheduled hearing this month. Continue reading...

Yifen Chen says her boyfriend raped her. But when she tried to seek help, he found an unthinkable way to keep her from seeking justice

Pence avoided answering whether, if he were president, he would pardon Trump from indictment over handling of classified recordsMike Pence is “fine with Donald Trump being put in prison” which is “pretty disrespectful” given he was Trump’s vice-president, a rightwing radio host told Pence in a testy exchange.Pence was Trump’s vice-president when Trump sent a mob to the US Capitol on January 6, in an attempt to block certification of the 2020 election. Trump did little to call off the mob when it placed Pence in danger, some chanting for him to be hanged. Continue reading...

The actor and former MP, who has died aged 87, displayed courage and a sharp mind, on stage and in politicsGlenda Jackson, who has died aged 87, had a career unmatched by any of her contemporaries. From 1957 to 1992 she enjoyed huge success on stage, film (twice winning an Oscar) and television. From 1992 to 2015 she was a Labour MP, first for Hampstead and Highgate and then for the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency, becoming a notably outspoken backbencher. In 2016 she returned to acting as a magnificent King Lear at the Old Vic, London; later, on Broadway, shewon a Tony award for her performance in Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women.Born in Birkenhead, Jackson first came to prominence in 1964, in an experimental Peter Brook Theatre of Cruelty season at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (Lamda), during which she was stripped naked, bathed and dressed in a prison uniform to the words of a report on the Christine Keeler case. Jackson went on to join the RSC, playing Charlotte Corday in Brook’s production of Marat/Sade and Ophelia to David Warner’s Hamlet at Stratford. Prophetically, Penelope Gilliatt began her review in the Observer by saying that Jackson was the first Ophelia who should have played Hamlet. “She makes Ophelia,” wrote Gilliatt, “exceptional and electric, with an intelligence that harasses the court and a scornful authority full of Hamlet’s own self-distaste.” Continue reading...

Move by Greg Abbott is latest by a rightwing governor to send people seeking help to a region run by Democrats. Plus: how Google made $10m from ads misdirecting users seeking abortion servicesGood morning.The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, announced yesterday that the more than 40 migrants to arrive at Los Angeles’ Union Station on Wednesday came from his state, the latest move by a rightwing governor to send people seeking help to a region run by Democrats.LA’s mayor, Karen Bass, said the city had been preparing for a possible scenario in which LA “was on the receiving end of a despicable stunt that Republican governors have grown so fond of”.The migrants were greeted by a human rights organization that took them to a nearby church, where they received medical care and were put in touch with legal advocates. Continue reading...

Employees across the country are not getting paid what they’re owed, and critics say government is toothless to helpJose Martinez worked for a construction contractor in New York City for six months in 2019 when he and his co-workers suddenly stopped getting paid.Martinez said the contractor, Star Builders, initially blamed the owners of the building for not dispersing money for the project. Continue reading...

The Eat Pray Love author said that she doesn’t want to harm the Ukrainian cause. But that’s not how literature worksMore than 500 people posted negative reviews on the book recommendations website Goodreads, urging Elizabeth Gilbert not to publish The Snow Forest. Like them, I haven’t read her novel. But I do know why her many fans were so distressed. The novel takes place in Siberia during the middle of the last century, and the objections to it have centered around the fact that its Russian setting would cause further pain to Ukrainians caught up in a defensive war against Vladimir Putin’s merciless aggression.I met Elizabeth Gilbert once, at a dinner. The impression I got, and one that is sustained by her books – most notably, the immensely popular Eat, Pray, Love – is that of a kindly, thoughtful person who would never want to hurt those who have already suffered so much. According to an explanatory statement she issued, “I do not want to add any harm to a group of people who are continuing to experience grievous and extreme harm.” But while her choice to indefinitely postpone the book’s publication (formerly scheduled for February 2024) may have been made out of empathy, her decision, as well as the public outcry against the novel, was so ill-advised and unwise – for so many reasons – that it’s hard to know quite where to begin.Francine Prose is a former president of PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Continue reading...

Nearly three-quarters of Americans say abortion should generally be legal in first trimester, a record highA new Gallup survey has found American support of legal abortion access has remained strong, and in some cases increased, since the US supreme court ruled to overturn the landmark Roe v Wade decision that previously protected federal abortion rights.The results come even as tens of millions of American women have lost easy access to abortion across larges swathes of America over the past 12 months. Continue reading...

Los Angeles siblings Justina and Faith help each other find business success – and change the look of the industry with their distinctive styleWhile the Los Angeles-based Blakeney sisters are not officially business partners, they might as well be. The two have long served as each other’s unofficial advisers – whether co-designing spaces, sharing sourcing product tips, offering marketing and promotions advice, or simply acting as each other’s forever-trusted second pair of eyes.Faith, 47, has emerged as a go-to interior designer for residential clients, indie boutiques and addiction recovery centers. Justina, 44, is the creator of Jungalow, a home decor brand that has put out a range of home design products, books and clothing, and partnered with global retail giants such as Target, Anthropologie and Pottery Barn Kids. Continue reading...

Guardian readers from around the world have been in touch to share their reactions, with many golf fans expressing dismayWhen the US Open begins on Thursday, focus will not just be on the competition but how the players react after the shock announcement last week that the PGA and DP World Tours are merging commercial operations with the rebel LIV circuit.The multi-billion-dollar investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has brought to an end a year of dispute in the sport that forced players to choose sides. Though Rory McIlroy has said the PGA Tour now has a “brighter” future because of the PIF deal – he has also called for consequences over breakaway players who “irreparably harmed” the Tour. Continue reading...

The Miami Marlins second baseman’s exceptional season has given him a chance to do something no one has achieved in the majors since 1941“Baseball is hard,” Luis Arráez says bluntly. Although the reigning American League batting champion is having an overall excellent season at the plate, he’s in the middle two-game hitless streak when he speaks with the Guardian. In a testament to the exceptional nature of his year this far, however, the Miami Marlins second baseman is still leading Major League Baseball with .382 batting average, even taking into account his recent micro-slump. By having his batting average hover so close to .400 this far into a season (it was above .400 on 10 June), Arráez is flirting with one of baseball’s most hallowed numbers.Every sport has statistical milestones that, although arbitrary in many ways (it’s difficult to objectively defend the notion that scoring 100 runs in cricket is significantly more impressive than 99), nevertheless have a certain magic about them. There’s the four-minute mile and the two-hour marathon. Soccer and ice hockey have their hat tricks, basketball tracks triple-doubles, and recording 100 caps remains shorthand for sustained excellence in international rugby, cricket and football. Continue reading...

We believe our primary obligation is to do the right thing for our readers, says the chief executive of Guardian Media Group

The NBA postseason remains an eight-week psychodrama of moments, memes and memories unlike anything else in sport. Our correspondent looks back at her 20 biggest takeawaysThe “best player on the planet” crown is one that is ever-evolving, especially in times like these, when a player like LeBron, who held it for a decade-plus, has aged out of the distinction. Giannis had it for a couple of years, and there have been arguments to be made for Steph Curry in recent ones. But after Denver’s dominant wire-to-wire championship run, it feels pretty definitive: for the time being, at least, it’s Jokić’s to lose. Continue reading...

The 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee’s tongue was tied as she tried to defend the ex-president’s supportersThe former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin courted controversy when she denied that supporters of Donald Trump behaved like cult members.Palin’s attempt to deny that Trump has a cultlike following, however, prompted predictable pushback on social media by those who thought her attempt to define a cult actually precisely described Trump’s enthusiastic fan base. Continue reading...

As climate policy is weakened, extreme weather intensifies and more refugees are driven from their homes – and the cycle of hatred continuesRound the cycle turns. As millions are driven from their homes by climate disasters, the extreme right exploits their misery to extend its reach. As the extreme right gains power, climate programmes are shut down, heating accelerates and more people are driven from their homes. If we don’t break this cycle soon, it will become the dominant story of our times.A recent paper in the scientific journal Nature identifies the “human climate niche”: the range of temperatures and rainfall within which human societies thrive. We have clustered in the parts of the world with a climate that supports our flourishing, but in many of these places the niche is shrinking. Already, around 600 million people have been stranded in inhospitable conditions by global heating. Current global policies are likely to result in about 2.7C of heating by 2100. On this trajectory, some 2 billion people may be left outside the niche by 2030, and 3.7 billion by 2090. If governments limited heating to their agreed goal of 1.5C, the numbers exposed to extreme heat would be reduced fivefold. But if they abandon their climate policies, this would lead to around 4.4C of heating. In this case, by the end of the century around 5.3 billion people would face conditions that ranged from dangerous to impossible.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

The scientific consensus is we need to aim for negative emissions by phasing out fossil fuels, not just removing carbon from the atmosphere

The city found out about the bus before it arrived at Union Station, after which the migrants were directed to a nearby churchTexas governor Greg Abbott announced on Wednesday evening that his state had dropped off a busload of migrants in Los Angeles, the latest move by a rightwing governor to send people seeking help to a region run by Democrats.Abbott claimed in a tweet that “small Texas border towns remain overrun & overwhelmed because Biden refuses to secure the border”, adding: “LA is a city migrants seek to go to, particularly now its leaders approved its self-declared sanctuary status.” Continue reading...

The governor signed the bill prohibiting diversity, equity and inclusion offices in addition to another codifying tenure restrictionsTexas’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, has signed a bill that will ban diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices and initiatives across higher education institutions in the state.Under SB 17, DEI offices across state colleges will close starting in January 2024 and activities that seek to promote certain groups of individuals over others based on race, ethnicity and gender will also come to an end. Continue reading...

US attorney general praises Smith’s independence and accountability; Republican senators step up threats over Trump chargesJoe Biden has refused to publicly comment on the federal charges leveled against his predecessor Donald Trump over allegedly hoarding government documents from his time in the White House, and Politico reports the president has also instructed Democratic party offices to do the same.While many top Democratic lawmakers have condemned the allegations against Trump, neither Biden nor top officials at the White House or his re-election campaign have spoken out about the indictment and his arraignment in Miami yesterday. Politico reports that some Democrats – none of whom would allow their names to be used – believe the strategy is a missed opportunity to cast Trump as reckless and boost Biden’s re-election chances.Biden has privately told aides that he is disgusted by Trump’s behavior but is adhering to his promise that the Department of Justice would have independence from the White House. The DNC, meanwhile, has advised members of Congress seeking guidance on what to say that they should not comment on the Trump probes if they are speaking publicly in their role as Biden campaign surrogates.While Biden has framed his stance as in line with longstanding tradition, it is not uncommon for presidents to occasionally weigh in on ongoing criminal investigations. Biden has at times done so himself – including weighing in before the verdict was announced in the 2021 trial of the white Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd. Continue reading...

New York grand jury indicts Daniel Penny, sources say, over death of Neely, a well-known subway performer, in MayA New York grand jury voted on Wednesday to indict Daniel Penny, a former US Marine sergeant, in last month’s killing of Jordan Neely, a homeless man, with a chokehold on a Manhattan subway car, the mayor’s office confirmed.Penny, 24, was captured in videos recorded by bystanders putting Neely in a chokehold on 1 May while they rode on an F train in Manhattan. Continue reading...

Tony Evers says he will not sign budget if Republicans follow through on plan to cut funds for university system’s DEI officersThe Wisconsin governor, Tony Evers, said on Wednesday in a newspaper report he will not sign the state budget if Republican lawmakers follow through on their plan to cut funding for the state university system’s diversity officers, escalating a bitter fight over dollars for the state campuses.The assembly speaker, Robin Vos, told the Associated Press on Tuesday he wants to cut $32m from the UW system in the state’s 2023-25 budget, an amount he said was equal to what the system spends on diversity officers. He said during a news conference on Wednesday that diversity efforts have become liberals’ “new religion” and tax dollars should not be used to help them. Continue reading...

Lawyers for disgraced CEO, who was once worth $4.5bn, say ‘limited financial resources’ mean she cannot afford repaymentsElizabeth Holmes, the disgraced CEO who once had a net worth of $4.5bn, cannot afford to make $250 monthly payments to victims of the Theranos fraud, according to court filings.Lawyers for Holmes strongly objected to a suggested repayment schedule of $250 a month after the founder’s release from prison due to her “limited financial resources”. Holmes reported to federal prison in May for an 11-year sentence after being convicted in January 2022 on four charges of fraud related to the blood testing startup. Continue reading...

Strict rules and a determination to keep A-listers out of the venue characterise LA Country Club’s valuesIt feels appropriate that the penultimate men’s major of the year takes place beneath the famed Hollywood Hills. Books have been commissioned on golf’s civil war, which has apparently morphed into peace in our time, but the themes would also make a captivating movie script. Leading players are focused on the US Open while background chatter concerns where on earth this sport heads next. Nobody has a clue.If the United States Golf Association, one of the arbiters of the game, has its way, attention for four days will not deviate from the 123rd staging of this country’s national championship. The venue, LA Country Club’s restored North Course, is the most intriguing of the majors in 2023. This is the first time one of golf’s big four has been played here and the first professional individual event since the LA Open of 1940, won by Lawson Little at two over par. The US prevailed when LACC staged the Walker Cup of 2017. “The membership decided it was the right time to showcase this magnificent facility to the world,” said the USGA. It is clear who called who. Continue reading...

Jennifer DeStefano tells US Senate about dangers of artificial technology after receiving phone call from scammers sounding exactly like her daughterAfter being scammed into thinking her daughter was kidnapped, an Arizona woman testified in the US Senate about the dangers side of artificial intelligence technology when in the hands of criminals.Jennifer DeStefano told the Senate judiciary committee about the fear she felt when she received an ominous phone call on a Friday last April. Continue reading...

Andrea Wedner was last witness as prosecutors wrap up case against shooter who opened fire at Tree of Life synagogue in 2018A survivor of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre said Wednesday that she saw her right arm get shot by a gunman and cried “Mommy” after her 97-year-old mother was shot and killed by her side in the nation’s deadliest attack on Jewish people.Andrea Wedner was the government’s last witness as prosecutors wrapped up their case against Robert Bowers, who burst into the Tree of Life synagogue building with a military-style rifle and other weaponry and opened fire, shooting anyone he could find. Continue reading...

The on-screen banner accused Joe Biden of ‘having his political rival’ – presumably Donald Trump – ‘arrested’Fox News said on Wednesday that it had taken down an on-screen banner, or chyron, that was displayed on Tuesday labeling Joe Biden a “wannabe dictator”, and noted the company had “addressed” the situation, but without any further explanation.On Tuesday night, hours after Donald Trump was in court in Miami on federal criminal charges, the rightwing TV channel ran a caption characterizing Biden baldly as a “wannabe dictator” who attempted to have “his political rival arrested”. Continue reading...

Cameras were not allowed inside the building, so artists drew substitutes – but some of the images looked nothing like him

Robert Simonds and William ‘Beau’ Wrigley consider acquiring assets of NSO, blacklisted Israeli company behind Pegasus spywareAn unlikely cast of characters including a Hollywood producer and the heir to the Wrigley chewing gum fortune are exploring a possible bid to take control of assets owned by NSO Group, the Israeli company behind one of the world’s most sophisticated cyber-weapons.Robert Simonds, a US financier whose credits include producing several Adam Sandler films, has been engaged in talks to acquire the blacklisted spyware company’s assets, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Continue reading...

Another indictment could be imminent in Georgia but former president consolidates Republican poll lead despite legal woesDonald Trump, the former US president, spent his 77th birthday on Wednesday consolidating his lead in the Republican primary race for 2024 under the shadow of federal criminal charges – and bracing for further legal bombshells.In a court in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to a 37-count indictment alleging that he unlawfully hoarded national security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them. He could face a significant prison sentence if convicted. Continue reading...

Some candidates, including Mike Pence, Nikki Haley and Tim Scott, shift tone from defending ex-president to criticismWhen news broke on Thursday that Donald Trump would be indicted for his alleged mishandling of classified documents, most of his Republican presidential primary opponents rushed to his defense, blaming the charges on the “weaponization of federal law enforcement”, as the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, said.But several Republican candidates have shifted their tone since the indictment was unsealed on Friday, revealing the full extent of the serious charges Trump faces. Those Republicans’ willingness to challenge the former president’s claims of “political persecution” could mark a new chapter in the 2024 primary fight, although the candidates may have to change their tune if Trump becomes the nominee. Continue reading...