In Yeats’s words, ‘all changed, changed utterly’The Irish taoiseach, Micheál Martin, put it politely. It would be “undemocratic” for the Democratic Unionist party to refuse to form an executive in Belfast after the elections, he said. But the DUP will refuse to enter an executive, now that Sinn Féin has massively outpolled it, and a majority of Northern Ireland’s people has voted to have as first minister a republican whose party wants a united Ireland. Sinn Féin gained an astonishing 29% of first preference votes in Thursday’s assembly elections. The DUP got 21.3%, a drop of 6.7% on its last performance.That refusal, ostensibly a protest over the Northern Ireland protocol, will be even further good news for an already jubilant Sinn Féin, because it proves definitively to its voters that Northern Ireland, set up 101 years ago to be an exclusively unionist state, is incapable of becoming a pluralist one and must therefore be brought to an end. No wonder Sinn Féin’s president, Mary Lou McDonald, has already said that preparations for a border poll should begin immediately and that it could be held within five years. Continue reading...

Sport is riding a wave of popularity not seen since the 60s and 70s and the former champion could not be more delightedThe enthusiasm and passion is expected but oh, what a joy it is to share in the manifest pleasure of Formula One that still courses through Mario Andretti. He may be 82 but there is youthful ebullience radiating from the revered American driver before Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.After he had some heartbreaking personal losses in recent years, F1 at least really feels like it is coming home for the world champion who fell in love with the sport as a teenager. In the past four years Andretti has endured the deaths of some of his closest loved ones but has refused to be cowed. Continue reading...

Veteran activists say the overthrow of Roe v Wade would equate to murder, and should send warning signals around the worldIt was over the Thanksgiving holiday, catching up with old high school friends, that Frances Beal heard that Cordelia had died. Like the now 82-year-old Black feminist and activist, her friend had left home to go to college, but she didn’t make it through her first year because, like anybody who wanted to terminate a pregnancy in America in 1958, she had been forced to undergo a backstreet abortion.“She was dead because she’d had an illegal abortion. And it had gone bad. And if you take a look at the statistics, the number of woman that died from illegal abortions was tremendous,” Beal, who later joined the movement to legalise abortion, told the Observer. Continue reading...

The law, passed in 2004, went into effect in 2012 and banned the sale of the delicacy if produced by force feeding geese or ducksA California law that effectively bans foie gras sales in the state was limited in part on Friday. Californians can continue purchasing the controversial pate from out-of-state retailers, the ninth circuit court of appeals said in a ruling.The law, which passed in 2004 and went into effect in 2012, bars the sale of foie gras if produced by force feeding geese or ducks, according to Courthouse News Service. As the mousse is traditionally produced from the engorged livers of force-fed geese and ducks, the legislation is a near-prohibition. Continue reading...

When other women are being feted by their progeny, no amount of positive psychology can override the sense of loss I feelI check my inbox. “Order your Mother’s Day hamper now!” the headline shouts. Delete. On my television screen someone’s trying to get me to buy their “special gifts for special mums!” I switch channels. In my letterbox there’s a flyer flogging perfumes, because “Mum’s worth every scent!” I bin it and grit my teeth. Only another week of this, and then the hardest day of the year will be behind me.When you’re childless not by choice, Mother’s Day can be a painful reminder of profound loss. For some it’s miscarriage, for others it’s infertility, and then there’s something called “circumstances”, a term with a complex set of sub-categories. My story involves all three – multiple miscarriages, long periods of apparent infertility and then a relationship with someone who didn’t want any more children. Although I gave up trying to become a mother almost two decades ago, wrangling that grief is still a daily challenge.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

They are among the first to play in the women’s equivalent of the NFL and hope some day there will be monetary rewardAn oval-shaped ball is flung backwards, spinning from the backside of a line of muscle-bound legs. Chaos ensues. Helmets clash and bodies writhe against each other. Painted white grass splays out under grinding boots. A quarterback catches the football and sidesteps away. She surveys the scene, taking stock of the anarchy, then heaves the ball forwards to a receiver grappling for airspace.This is American football, and there is an increasing number of women not only playing it but slaying it. Continue reading...

If NewsCorp’s owner were Russian, there would be no hesitation in applying sanctionsIf the west could find the courage, it would order an immediate freeze of Rupert Murdoch’s assets. His Fox News presenters and Russia’s propagandists are so intermeshed that separating the two is as impossible as unbaking a cake.On Russian state news, as on Fox, bawling ideologues scream threats then whine about their victimhood as they incite anger and self-pity in equal measures. Its arguments range from the appropriation of anti-fascism by Greater Russian imperialists – the 40 countries supporting Ukraine were “today’s collective Hitler”, viewers were told last week – to the apocalyptic delirium of the boss of RT (Russia Today) Margarita Simonyan. Nuclear war is my “horror”, she shuddered, “but we will go to heaven, while they will simply croak”. Continue reading...

A new wave of documentaries about female musicians highlights their accomplishments in an industry that too often failed themCyndi Lauper is about to get the feature-length documentary treatment, with news that a film about the singer’s life is in production. It will be called Let the Canary Sing and is directed by Alison Ellwood.Ellwood made the award-winning The Go-Go’s in 2020, which told the story of the LA rock band’s rise to the top and subsequent implosion. From the documentary about Janet Jackson earlier this year, to Sheryl, out in the US this weekend, about the long career of Sheryl Crow, more and more films are focusing on women’s careers in music and finally taking it seriously. Continue reading...

State water authorities are expecting a further decline in the amount of water received from the Colorado River in AugustArizona water authorities are bracing for additional cuts to the quantity of water supplied by the Colorado River, prompting calls for more aggressive conservation measures to prevent further reductions. Officials in Arizona state predict that these cuts could come as soon as August, the Phoenix NBC Affiliate 12 News reported Friday.These expected cuts stem from the effects of a decades-long megadrought, which has been greatly exacerbated by the climate crisis. Moreover, the Colorado River, which provides water to almost 40 million people, has been imperiled due to decades of overuse. The river’s reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, have seen worsening declines in their water levels. Continue reading...

Worried the Republicans will follow up their attack on reproductive rights by taking our other rights? You should beI tried to think of a pithy introduction to this week’s newsletter. Something witty, something drily poking fun at the dystopic week we’ve had. Something that was not yet another reference to Gilead and the Handmaid’s Tale. But, unfortunately, all jokes were drowned out with internal existential screaming: aaaarggh. Continue reading...

Planes and helicopters used as hundreds work feverishly to contain largest fire burning in US

Forget back alleys and coat hangers. Self-managed abortions can be ‘safer than aspirin’, research saysMaggie Mayhem knows when she decided to become a reproductive rights activist. At around 13 she discovered two conditions in her southern California Catholic girls school’s manual:If a student was found to have had an abortion, they would be expelled, because abortion was against the teaching of the Catholic church. Continue reading...

Trailblazing racer fought past discrimination with talent and panache and is now a diversity advocate for Formula OneAlways outspoken, always entertaining, Willy T Ribbs has never pulled punches. On the eve of the Miami Grand Prix the groundbreaking, black American driver is typically effusive in his admiration for Lewis Hamilton, who he believes has fundamentally changed Formula One. “I knew before I met him he was the second coming,” he says. “You won’t see another driver who will achieve as much as Lewis Hamilton in 200 years.”Ribbs is bold and confident, the 67-year-old speaking with authority and wit, a smile never far from his lips having earned his place in racing’s history the hard way. Ribbs was the first black driver to test an F1 car, doing so for Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham team in 1986 at Estoril and the first African-American to qualify and then race at the Indy 500 in 1991. Continue reading...

The US supreme court draft ruling on abortion is an assault on fundamental individual freedoms. The Handmaid’s Tale author reflects on the issues at stakeNobody likes abortion, even when safe and legal. It’s not what any woman would choose for a happy time on Saturday night. But nobody likes women bleeding to death on the bathroom floor from illegal abortions either. What to do?Perhaps a different way of approaching the question would be to ask: What kind of country do you want to live in? One in which every individual is free to make decisions concerning his or her health and body, or one in which half the population is free and the other half is enslaved? Continue reading...

Actor and ex-wife of Johnny Depp took the stand in her defamation trial, and made allegations of domestic and sexual abuseAmber Heard was asked in court last week if she recognized the name Carly Simon, soon after her attorneys introduced an exhibit of a mirror that Johnny Depp had defaced in tight, punctuated script after severing part of his middle finger in what his former wife described as a drug- and alcohol-induced blackout.Depp’s note read: “Call Carly Simon. She said it better. Bye.” Continue reading...

CIA veterans advise successors against ‘unwise’ intelligence boasts that could trigger escalation from Russia

Part two: The New Orleans’ civil rights division reckons with a case involving an egregious sentence – and a policy that has punished the city’s poorest for decadesAs Maurice Lewis was granted his freedom at the end of last year, he wept before a judge. “God bless you,” he told her. “I’ll never do this again. Thank you for putting me back with my family.”Lewis, a 57-year-old man, had been sentenced to life without parole in 1998. He had spent the last 23 years at Angola prison, serving his punishment by laboring on the fields, sweeping the prison hospital wards, and cleaning toilets at Louisiana’s state legislature. Continue reading...

The former president was banned from from the social media platform after the deadly US Capitol attackA US judge on Friday dismissed Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Twitter that challenged his suspension from the platform.In a written ruling, US district judge James Donato in San Francisco rejected Trump’s argument that Twitter violated his right to freedom of speech guaranteed by the first amendment of the US constitution. Continue reading...

Secretary of state Brad Raffensperger accepts judge’s findings and says far-right congresswoman, a Trump ally, is eligible to runThe Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, has accepted a judge’s findings and said the far-right Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is qualified to run for re-election.A group of voters filed a challenge saying Greene should be barred under a seldom-invoked provision of the 14th amendment concerning insurrection, over her links to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump. Continue reading...

The class-action lawsuit argues that the deal cannot close before 2025Elon Musk and Twitter were sued on Friday by a Florida pension fund seeking to stop Musk from completing his $44bn takeover of the social media company before 2025.In a proposed class-action lawsuit filed in Delaware Chancery court, the Orlando police pension fund said Delaware law forbade a quick merger because Musk had agreements with other big Twitter shareholders, including his financial adviser Morgan Stanley and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, to support the buyout. Continue reading...

Ken Paxton filed a baseless lawsuit to US supreme seeking to overturn result claiming widespread voter fraud in key statesTexas’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, said on Friday that the state bar plans to sue him over his efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election by falsely claiming there had been widespread voter fraud in battleground states.In December 2020, the US supreme court unanimously rejected a baseless lawsuit filed by Paxton on behalf of Texas seeking to scotch Joe Biden’s win in the election the previous month. Continue reading...

Aaron Mostofsky sentenced to eight months in prison and a year under federal supervision with 200 hours of community serviceA New York state judge’s son who dressed like a caveman and helped a pro-Donald Trump mob storm the US Capitol has received a prison sentence for his role in the 6 January 2021 attack.Aaron Mostofsky, 35, must spend eight months in prison – and after his release, he must spend a year under federal supervision while also performing 200 hours of community service, a US district court judge in Washington DC ruled Friday. Continue reading...

The sprawling estate was bought by Armenian ‘Super Minister’ Gagik Khachatryan with bribes paid by a businessman, FBI saysThe US government wants to seize a mega-mansion in an exclusive area of Los Angeles that it claims was bought with millions in bribe money linked to the former finance minister of Armenia and his sons.The estate, located near the former Playboy mansion, was renovated in a French Normandy-style and boasts 11 bedrooms and 26 full or partial baths, and includes a pool, wine cellar, home theater and maids’ quarters, according to real estate listings. Continue reading...

Swing state Democrats are calling for a defense of abortion rights and Republicans doubling down on ending themAs the US waits to see whether the supreme court will follow through on its provisional decision to end the federal right to abortion, Democrats and Republicans are already preparing for how a reversal of Roe v Wade would affect the 2022 midterm elections.Republicans have been heavily favored to retake control of the House and probably the Senate as well, but the court’s forthcoming final opinion in the crucial Mississippi case now before it, Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, could alter those predictions. Continue reading...

Andrew Wilhoite, 40, of Lebanon, Indiana, accused of killing Nikki Wilhoite with flower pot and dumping her body in nearby creekA central Indiana man accused of murdering his wife and dumping her body in a creek in March has won a Republican primary election for township board in the state – from jail.Andrew Wilhoite, 40, of Lebanon received 60 of the 276 total votes on Tuesday for Republicans for three positions on the Clinton township board, Boone county election results showed. Continue reading...

Radical activist jailed for her part in a robbery who became an advocate for women in prison and their childrenIn the course of more than two decades’ imprisonment in New York, Kathy Boudin, who has died aged 78 from cancer, underwent a profound transformation, from political revolutionary involved in a robbery that caused three deaths to penal reformer acting as an advocate for women in prison, and in particular for reunification with their children. She came to realise that she needed to recover her own sense of responsibility and self, free from any sense of political justification. This process became a path to seeking restorative justice – bringing people harmed by crime into contact with those responsible for it, to find a way forward – and eventually, clemency, parole and release from prison in 2003.The decisions that she came to regret came out of a passion for justice – against racism in the US, by demonstrating in favour of civil rights, and against imperialism abroad, as represented by the Vietnam war. In March 1970 she and other members of the Weather Underground, a breakaway group from Students for a Democratic Society, were in a house in West 11th Street, Greenwich Village, when three of the group were killed by the explosion of bombs that were being constructed, believed to be intended for an anti-war protest at a military base. Kathy and another SDS militant, Cathlyn Wilkerson, who were in another part of the house, survived and fled the scene. Continue reading...

Robert O’Brien told top general shortly before 2020 election that Trump wanted to kill unnamed official, according to Esper memoirShortly before the 2020 election, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, “stunned” the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff by saying the president wanted to kill a senior Iranian military officer operating outside the Islamic Republic.“This was a really bad idea with very big consequences,” Mark Esper, Trump’s second and last secretary of defense, writes in his new memoir, adding that Gen Mark Milley suspected O’Brien saw the strike purely in terms of Trump’s political interests. Continue reading...

American manager enjoys constructive confrontation and Sunday’s trip to Arsenal begins a critical test of his mettleThe mood in the room was heated, bordering on mutinous. It was January 2015 and the New York Red Bulls had decided to organise a town-hall meeting with season-ticket holders, a decision they were quickly beginning to regret. Ten days earlier the club had sacked their wildly popular coach Mike Petke. Now, on a freezing Friday night in Harrison, New Jersey, about 300 furious Red Bulls fans wanted to know why.Even though the meeting was supposed to be off the record and no media were invited, footage of the chaotic evening quickly found its way online. The general manager, Marc de Grandpre, and sporting director, Ali Curtis, were mercilessly heckled and interrupted at every turn. “You guys don’t know shit!” one fan shouted at them. Some supporters demanded a refund of their season tickets. Others simply wanted to express their disdain for the decision to sack Petke, a man who had led the Red Bulls to some of the greatest successes in their history, and replace him with an unfancied young coach called Jesse Marsch. Continue reading...

F1 and Miami are such a natural fit, it’s a wonder that organizers’ designs on American expansion didn’t start here. But not everyone is caught up in the revelrySpring break fever has overtaken Formula One. It has Charles Leclerc playing catch with the Marlins’ Jazz Chisholm Jr, Lewis Hamilton teeing off with Tom Brady and Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris chasing James Corden around the paddock in cutoff team shirts. It could only happen in Miami. And it’s a wonder it hasn’t happened sooner.This weekend F1 will stage its first ever race in Miami as the US plays host to a pair of Grand Prix races for the first time since 1984, when the series touched down in Detroit and Dallas. But this time, rather than return to Motown or Moo Town, F1 has parked its massive traveling circus here, to the land of white sand beaches, neon lights and withering heat. And the local buzz isn’t simply a product of the town’s strongly poured daiquiris and mojitos. Continue reading...

The supreme court draft ruling on abortion shows how desperate some are to control our bodies. But we are never going backTo All Those Who Dare Rob Us of Our Bodily Choice, I ask you:What is it about our bodies that makes you so afraid, so insecure, so cruel and punishing?V (formerly Eve Ensler) is a playwright and activist and the founder of V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls Continue reading...

The longtime NBA player has shined in his rookie year as a basketball analyst, but his viral takedown of Chris Russo this week on ESPN’s First Take showed what makes him specialJJ Redick’s emergence as a rising star for ESPN since joining the network as a basketball analyst in October has been one of the more notable stories in US sports media over the past year.The 37-year-old Redick, who launched a popular podcast while he was still a player, spent 15 seasons in the NBA after a decorated four-year stint at Duke, where he was the consensus national college basketball player of the year in 2006. He’s brought the keen insight and deep knowledge of an ex-pro to the broadcasting booth, but it’s been his regular appearances on ESPN’s breakfast-time debate show First Take that have made the biggest splash. Continue reading...

For 15 years outsize developments have been making a mess of the Thames – and this South Bank scheme is among the worst

The Biden administration’s proposal is cynicism masquerading as populism – and it will enrage everyone and hurt the Democrats’ electoral chancesDuring the 2020 Democratic primary, Pete Buttigieg’s personal ambition led him to poison the conversation about education in America. Desperate for a contrast point with his rivals, the son of a private university professor aired ads blasting the idea of tuition-free college because he said it would make higher education “free even for the kids of millionaires.”The attack line, borrowed from former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, was cynicism masquerading as populism. It was an attempt to limit the financial and political benefits of a proposal to make college free. Worse, it was disguised as a brave stand against the oligarchs bankrolling Buttigieg’s campaign, even though it actually wasn’t – almost no rich scions would benefit from free college.David Sirota is a Guardian US columnist and an award-winning investigative journalist. He is an editor-at-large at Jacobin, and the founder of the Lever. He served as Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign speechwriterAndrew Perez is a senior editor at The Lever and a co-founder of the Democratic Policy CenterA version of this piece was first published in the Lever, a reader-supported investigative news outlet Continue reading...

We are engaged in an existential battle over the identity of this nation. The Biden administration’s tepid midterm strategy is failingThe surest way to lose a battle is to not fight. Despite this fairly obvious logic, President Joe Biden and too many Democrats seem to have adopted a political strategy for the midterm elections of avoiding as many fights as possible. This path-of-least-resistance approach has resulted in plummeting presidential approval numbers and will further plunge the party off the cliff in the midterms if Democrats do not quickly reverse course. To turn things around, Biden should leap into the fundamental fights over what are called “culture wars” – and he should do so with gusto.It is unmistakably clear that we are engaged in an existential battle over the very identity of this nation. Is the United States of America primarily a straight, white, cisgender, male, Christian country, or is it a multiracial and multicultural democracy? The adherents of the former view are waging war with glee and abandon. From rightwing state legislatures to the supreme court, they are holding nothing back in attacking voting by people of color, the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, multicultural education, reproductive freedom and commonsense public health protections during a global pandemic, to name just a few fronts in this fight.Steve Phillips is a Guardian columnist, host of the Democracy in Color podcast and author of the forthcoming book How We Win the Civil War Continue reading...

The Democrats now have a fighting chance to maintain control of the Senate. Their odds of retaining and flipping seats have improved overnightOn Monday night, Politico reported that a majority of the US supreme court is poised to overturn Roe v Wade, eviscerate a half-century of precedent, and leave the issue of abortion to the states. Five of the court’s nine justices are prepared to give the Republican base exactly what it demanded. The remaining question for the Republican party is whether answered prayers are the most dangerous.If the leaked draft of the majority opinion in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization is close to the final cut, the court stands to energize otherwise dejected Democrats and put Republican members of Congress in Democratic-leaning states at risk. Expect the anticipated Republican House majority in the midterms to be smaller than currently projected. Continue reading...

As a large-scale Russian propaganda campaign gets under way, fighting continues in the steel plant in Mariupol. Plus, Karine Jean-Pierre named new US press secretaryGood morning.A third United Nations operation was under way this morning to evacuate Ukrainian civilians from the Russian-besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, which the UN secretary general has described as a series of “hellscapes”.Why is Putin so determined to capture Mariupol over the next few days? As Victory Day, 9 May, approaches in Russia, Vladimir Putin has yet to win any prize in two months of war in Ukraine that can be shown off to the Russian people. But Mariupol could be close. Here’s how Victory Day became central to Putin’s idea of Russian identity.What else is happening? Here’s what we know on day 72 of the invasion.What has Biden said about her appointment? Biden lauded Jean-Pierre’s “experience, talent and integrity”. He said: “Jill and I have known and respected Karine a long time and she will be a strong voice speaking for me and this administration.”When will Psaki leave? Her last day will be 13 May. Continue reading...

As the WNBA tips off its 2022 season on Friday, uncertainty remains over the future of one of the league’s most beloved starsEvery team begins its season hoping to win the championship, but that goal may appear inconsequential in this year’s WNBA when one of the league’s leading players, Brittney Griner, continues to languish in a Russian jail.WNBA players are attempting to remain focused on the court, while worrying about Griner’s condition and any news of a potential release after she was detained over allegations she brought cannabis into Russia. Continue reading...

Karine Jean-Pierre has been announced as the new White House press secretary, succeeding Jen Psaki and becoming the first black and openly gay person to serve in the role. Jean-Pierre, a political analyst, was Kamala Harris’s chief of staff during the vice-president’s presidential campaign in 2020 and served on Barack Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012

From anti-Hillary Democrats to Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who clung on at Supreme Court, unlikely targets are being identified for blameAfter the initial shock, the blame. On Monday, when news broke of the leaked US supreme court draft opinion overturning Roe v Wade, millions of horrified Americans sought emotional release. “I am angry,” said Elizabeth Warren, voice shaking, leading a pack of reporters straight over a flowerbed outside the supreme court. Her face ignited with rage as she reminded them that 69% of Americans are against overturning the abortion legislation. “The Republicans have been working towards this day for decades,” she said. In the background, a man shouted, “You want to dismember children in the womb!”For many of us, that man – the you-want-to-kill-babies guy – and his ilk were not the first target for righteous abuse. It’s hard, in moments of duress, to get much satisfaction from reiterating an existing and long-held revulsion, particularly when its subject is beyond reasonable reach. When considering the rightwing architects of this moment, there was no “what if” in attendance; all the what ifs belonged to the left. Political purists who in 2016 urged Democrats to avoid voting for Hillary Clinton (hi, Susan Sarandon) were the first in line, and social media echoed to the sound of, “We told you this would happen.”Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Special panel in New York reportedly investigated discrepancies in the Trump family’s valuation of real estate, but charges look unlikelyAs a New York grand jury investigating Donald Trump appears poised to expire, questions have emerged about what could now happen to the high-profile criminal inquiry into the former US president.The six-month special grand jury, which started under former Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr in late 2021, and continued under the current DA, Alvin Bragg, reportedly investigated discrepancies in the Trump family’s valuation of real estate. Continue reading...

Mark Esper writes in new memoir of how worried he was that Trump would try to use US military to hold on to powerA week before election day 2020, the US secretary of defense was so worried that Donald Trump would seek to involve the military in the election in an attempt to hold on to power, he told the general commanding the US national guard to notify him of any communication from anyone at all at the White House.“Without being too explicit,” Mark Esper writes in a new memoir, “my message was clear: the US military was not going to get involved in the election, no matter who directed it. I would intercede.” Continue reading...

Part one: In New Orleans, a man pleaded his innocence for 28 years. Was there evidence that could set him free?

The emergence of new variants has raised questions about whether previous infection offers protection and what the future holdsBy now, many of us will be familiar with the Omicron variant of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid. This variant of concern has changed the course of the pandemic, leading to a dramatic rise in cases around the world.We are also increasingly hearing about new Omicron subvariants with names such as BA.2, BA.4 and now BA.5. The concern is these subvariants may lead to people becoming reinfected, leading to another rise in cases. Continue reading...

Memoir from ex-defense chief Mark Esper details extraordinary outbursts he says he helped to defuseIn the heated summer of 2020, thwarted in his desire for a violent crackdown on protesters for racial justice, Donald Trump included his vice-president in a complaint that senior advisers were “losers”.Trump’s second defense secretary, Mark Esper, details the Oval Office outburst in a new book. A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Defense Secretary in Extraordinary Times, will be published next week. The Guardian obtained a copy. Continue reading...

Former Trump lawyer was expected to appear at the interview on Friday, but canceled when the panel denied his request to record itDonald Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani is not expected to appear at an interview scheduled for Friday with the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack, throwing into jeopardy the prospect of his cooperation, say sources familiar with the matter.The move by Giuliani to cancel his appearance after the panel declined his request to record the interview means it may not secure documents and testimony from a central figure in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election in time for public hearings in June. Continue reading...

The current principal deputy press secretary will be first Black person and first out gay person to hold jobJoe Biden has named his new press secretary, after it was announced that Jen Psaki will leave the administration, expected to become a TV host at MSNBC.Karine Jean-Pierre, currently the principal deputy press secretary, will be taking over the role after Psaki leaves in mid-May. Jean-Pierre, a political analyst, was Kamala Harris’s chief of staff during the vice-president’s presidential campaign in 2020 and served on Barack Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012. She was also an adviser and spokesperson for MoveOn.org, a progressive Pac. Continue reading...