Washington:

The White House on Thursday condemned debunked stories being pushed by Donald Trump about Haitian migrants eating pet cats and dogs in Ohio as “filth” and said they were endangering people’s lives.

“It is spreading filth that makes the lives of the communities that are being smeared here… it puts their lives in danger,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told a briefing.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

U.S. former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump departs after speaking during a press conference at Trump Tower in New York City on September 6, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

A judge agreed Friday (September 6, 2024) to postpone Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush-money case until after the November election, granting him a hard-won reprieve as he navigates the aftermath of his criminal conviction and the homestretch of his presidential campaign.

Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan, who is also weighing a defence request to overturn the verdict on immunity grounds, delayed Mr. Trump’s sentencing until November 26, several weeks after the final votes are cast in the presidential election.

It had been scheduled for September 18, about seven weeks before Election Day.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers pushed for the delay on multiple fronts, petitioning the judge and asking a federal court to intervene. They argued that punishing the former President and current Republican nominee in the thick of his campaign to retake the White House would amount to election interference.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers argued that delaying his sentencing until after the election would also allow him time to weigh the next steps after Mr. Merchan rules on the defence’s request to reverse his conviction and dismiss the case because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July presidential immunity ruling.

In his order Friday, Mr. Merchan delayed a decision on that until November 12.

A federal judge on Tuesday (September 3, 2024) rejected Mr. Trump’s request to have the US District Court in Manhattan seize the case from Mr. Merchan’s State court. Had they been successful, Mr. Trump’s lawyers said they would have then sought to have the verdict overturned and the case dismissed on immunity grounds.

Mr. Trump is appealing the federal court ruling.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted Mr. Trump’s case, deferred to Mr. Merchan and did not take a position on the defense’s delay request.

Washington:

In his call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, US President Joe Biden expressed his concerns about the safety of people in Bangladesh and the future of democratic institutions there, the White House has said.

During the call, President Biden and PM Modi “shared concerns” on the recent developments in Bangladesh, White House national security communications adviser John Kirby told a press conference on Wednesday.

“I mean, the president made clear his continued concerns about the safety and security of the people in Bangladesh and the future of their democratic institutions,” he said in response to a question.

The statement issued by the White House after the August 26 call did not mention Bangladesh. However, a post on X by PM Modi and a statement issued by his office mentioned that Bangladesh was discussed during the telephonic conversation.

“The two leaders expressed their shared concern over the situation in Bangladesh. They emphasized restoration of law and order and ensuring safety and security of the minorities, particularly Hindus, in Bangladesh,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had said.

In his post on X, PM Modi had said,“We also discussed the situation in Bangladesh and stressed on the need for early restoration of normalcy, and ensuring the safety and security of minorities, especially Hindus, in Bangladesh.” 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris launched a $50 million advertising blitz on Tuesday, capitalizing on the momentum of a fledgling campaign against Republican rival Donald Trump with a one-minute spot titled “Fearless.”

It was Harris’ first big ad buy since consolidating support for the Democratic nomination after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21 and endorsed her.

In addition to garnering the backing of big-money donors, Harris has sparked newfound energy among groups such as young voters that Biden had been struggling to win over.

Public opinion polls in the last week have shown Harris, 59, closing the gap with 78-year-old Trump, who still leads in some national surveys.

The ads will be rolled out on television as well as streaming and social channels across election battleground states in the weeks before the Democratic National Convention that starts on Aug. 19.

The first ad in the campaign begins with images of Harris as a little girl and follows her progression to a prosecutor, attorney general and U.S. vice president. “The one thing Kamala Harris has always been: fearless,” the ad says.

Since stepping into her new role, Harris has focused on Trump’s felony convictions in a hush-money trial involving a porn star and the other criminal charges he faces, and portrayed him as responsible for a wave of anti-abortion measures in Republican-led states around the country.

The Harris campaign’s ad buy dwarfed the $10 million advertising buy announced by Trump’s campaign on Monday, to be launched in six battleground states this week as it tries to counter a surge of voter enthusiasm and donations for Harris.

That was Trump’s biggest ad buy since January.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

US House of Representatives Republicans issued a report on Monday alleging Democratic President Joe Biden committed impeachable offences, but it was unclear whether they would push for a vote following a probe the White House has long dismissed as politically motivated.

A 291-page report by three House committees alleged that Biden profited from an influence-peddling scheme to enrich himself and members of his family through foreign business dealings beginning in 2014 when Biden was vice president.

“The committees present this information to the House of Representatives for its evaluation and consideration of appropriate next steps,” the report said.

It was not clear if Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson would schedule a vote to impeach Biden in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 5 election, in which Republican Donald Trump is locked in a tight battle with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Even if the Republican-controlled House were to pass such a measure, it would be unlikely to remove Biden from office, given that he would need to be convicted by a Senate controlled 51-49 by his own Democratic Party. Biden, who withdrew his own reelection bid last month, is due to leave office when his successor is sworn in on Jan. 20.

A similar House impeachment against Biden’s top border official, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, was put to a swift end by the Senate in April.

The House investigators claim that Biden used his influence to benefit the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden, with partners from Ukraine, China, Russia and other countries.

Hunter Biden has been convicted on charges that he lied about his illegal drug use to buy a gun and is awaiting trial on charges of tax evasion, including an allegation that he accepted payments from a Romanian businessman who sought to influence U.S. government agencies in connection with a criminal probe in Romania.

The impeachment inquiry, which lawmakers formally authorized last December and has been carried out by the House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways & Means Committees, has been criticized by members of both parties for failing to produce hard evidence of wrongdoing by Biden.

Democrats have disparaged the effort as retribution for Trump, who was impeached twice by a Democratic-controlled House and acquitted each time by the Senate. The first impeachment alleged that Trump pressured Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to help smear Joe Biden in return for US aid.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

The United States provided intelligence to Austria that helped disrupt an alleged Islamic State plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert, the White House confirmed Friday.

“We work closely with partners all over the world to monitor and disrupt threats,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters

“As part of that work, the United States did share information with Austrian partners to enable the disruption of a threat to Taylor Swift’s concert in Vienna,” he said.

Three alleged Islamic State sympathizers have been arrested on charges of plotting a suicide attack at the megastar’s concert in Vienna.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

The White House on Saturday condemned a missile attack on a Druze village in northern Israel, calling the strike, which killed 11 people, including children, on a soccer pitch “horrific.”

Israeli authorities blamed Hezbollah for the attack and vowed to respond against the Iran-backed Lebanese group, though Hezbollah denied any responsibility.

“Our support for Israel’s security is iron-clad and unwavering against all Iranian backed terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah,” a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said in a statement.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

The White House on Thursday described as “disgusting” the increasing sexist and racist attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris which has intensified after she became the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic party.

“I think it’s desperate. I think it’s disgusting and I think it’s a dog whistle. We should not forget that she is the Vice President of the United States. She should get that respect. She’s been doing this job with the president for almost four years,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference.

“She’s a former Senator and has been a critical partner in getting the economy restarted and making sure that — that we deal with the pandemic. And to hear that is, frankly, disgusting,” Jean-Pierre said when asked about the increase in racist and sexist attacks against Harris, who is of both India and African origin.

It increased to such a level that the House Speaker Mike Johnson had to ask his Republican lawmakers to avoid such an attack.

“When you have the speaker of the House, obviously he’s a Republican, and this is something that you all have reported, set up a meeting to tell Republican leaders to stop being racist, to stop being misogynist, to stop being sexist, I think that says a lot that they have to be told to not do that,’ Jean-Pierre said.

According to Politico, “House Republican leaders told lawmakers to focus on criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris’ record without reference to her race and gender, following caustic remarks from some Republicans attacking her on the basis of identity.” At an election rally in North Carolina, former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had said Vice President Harris is “unfit to rule” and described her as a “radical left lunatic”.

“For three and a half years, Lyin Kamala Harris has been the ultra-liberal driving force behind every single Biden catastrophe. She is a radical left lunatic who will destroy our country if she ever gets the chance to get into office. We’re not going to let that happen,” Trump said on Wednesday as he unleashed a torrent of attacks against her.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

U.S. President Joe Biden will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Thursday to discuss progress towards a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostage release, the White House said.

Vice President Kamala Harris will meet separately with Netanyahu, it said on Wednesday. The Israeli leader is addressing the U.S. Congress later on Wednesday amid protests and discontent among some U.S. lawmakers over the conduct of the war in Gaza.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican former President Donald Trump will face each other in the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, after a divisive, closely fought contest. Several third-party hopefuls are also running.

Here is a list of the candidates:

REPUBLICAN PARTY

DONALD TRUMP

Trump, 78, became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime when a Manhattan jury in May found him guilty of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to a porn star to silence her ahead of the 2016 election. He says he is innocent and will appeal the conviction.

Trump’s July 11 sentencing was postponed until Sept. 18 after he asked for a chance to argue he should have been immune from prosecution following a July Supreme Court ruling that presidents are entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts.

On Monday, the Republicans National Convention convenes to formally nominate the former president to face Biden in what would be the first presidential rematch in nearly 70 years. The party mirrored Trump’s views in its new policy platform.

Trump, in office from 2017-2021, has leveraged his unprecedented legal challenges to solidify support among his base and has cast his third bid for the White House in part as “retribution” against perceived political enemies.

But after his felony conviction, 10% of Republican and 25% of independent registered voters said they were less likely to vote for him, Reuters/Ipsos polling found.

Trump faces 54 charges in three other criminal cases: a federal case involving efforts to subvert the 2020 election, a Georgia election interference case and a federal case in Florida over his handling of classified documents after leaving office. He denies any wrongdoing.

However, he is unlikely to face any other trials before the Nov. 5 election. July’s Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity makes it improbable that Trump will be tried on federal criminal charges regarding efforts to undo the 2020 election loss to Biden before voters cast their ballots.

Trump has refused to commit to accepting the 2024 election results or to rule out possible violence around the Nov. 5 contest or his sentencing and is already laying the groundwork to contest a potential election loss.

He calls his supporters jailed for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol “hostages” and “warriors,” and uses increasingly dystopian rhetoric, including calling his enemies “vermin.”

If elected, Trump has vowed “revenge” on his political enemies and said he would not be a dictator except “on day one,” later calling that “a joke.”

He also wants the power to replace federal civil service workers with loyalists, while a consortium of Trump-friendly think tanks touts a sweeping policy agenda known as “Project 2025” that takes aim at diversity programs and the Justice Department’s independence, among other reported plans. Trump has sought to distance himself from the plan.

On foreign policy, Trump sparked criticism from Western leaders for saying the U.S. would not defend NATO members that did not spend enough on defense and that he would encourage Russia to attack them. He has also questioned military aid for Ukraine.

Trump has made immigration a top domestic campaign issue, vowing to carry out mass deportations with the National Guard and possibly federal troops, end birthright citizenship, and expand a travel ban on people from certain countries.

He has referred to some migrants as “animals” who are “poisoning the blood of our country,” among other inflammatory remarks, and has not ruled out building detention camps on U.S. soil. But foreigners who graduate from a U.S. college would get a green card allowing them to stay, he said, which his campaign later said would only apply to the “most skilled” graduates who had been vetted.

On abortion, Trump takes credit for the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and has said abortion should remain a state issue.

While he has criticized some Republican-led state actions such as those in Florida and Arizona, he said he would allow Republican-led states to track women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate their state bans. Trump has said he does not support a ban on access to birth control.

He promised to eliminate Obamacare health insurance before saying on April 11 that he would not “terminate” it. On education, he has pledged to halt federal funding to schools with vaccine mandates and to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. He has also vowed to undo much of the Biden administration’s work to fight climate change.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY

JOE BIDEN

Biden has cast himself as the country’s best hope to defend American liberties and protect democracy, saying Trump is unhinged and threatens the future of the country.

While he faced no serious challenger in the Democratic primaries, his weak performance at the first presidential debate against Trump has prompted some Democrats to call for him to step aside as the party prepares to formally nominate him.

Already the oldest U.S. president ever at 81, Biden must now convince his own party as well as voters that he is more fit for office than Trump, who is just three years his junior.

One in three Democrats think Biden should end his reelection bid following the debate, but no prominent elected Democrat does any better than Biden in a hypothetical match-up against Trump, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released in July.

The July Reuters/Ipsos poll puts both Biden and Trump on 40% among registered voters, suggesting that Biden had not lost ground since the debate. Trump leads Biden in many battleground states, several other polls have shown.

The economy will also likely be a major factor in determining whether Biden returns to the White House amid low approval ratings.

While the U.S. escaped an anticipated recession and is growing faster than economists expected, voters have been disenchanted with rising food costs, higher fuel prices and elevated interest rates, even as more recent data shows consumer prices moderating and inflation cooling.

Biden pushed through massive economic stimulus and infrastructure spending packages to boost U.S. industrial output but has received next to no credit from voters so far.

His campaign has highlighted new semiconductor manufacturing plants, housing plans and other economic efforts. Two labor groups, the United Auto Workers Union and the North America’s Building Trade Union, have endorsed him while the Teamsters have yet to announce which candidate they are backing. Three groups representing older Americans have also endorsed Biden.

Along with Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden has zeroed in on abortion as a top issue. They also created a new coalition to court Black voters, a critical voting bloc.

Biden’s handling of immigration policy has been criticized by Republicans and some Democrats as he has struggled with millions of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

In June, he signed an executive order to curb migration along the southern border. He also announced a new path for citizenship for certain immigrants in the country illegally who are married to U.S. citizens.

The president has led the response of Western governments to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, persuading allies to punish Russia and support Kyiv, including at NATO’s summit in Washington. He also secured additional funding from Congress.

Biden has provided military aid to Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack while urging more humanitarian assistance for Palestinians as a May Reuters/Ipsos poll found Democrats remain divided over the issue.

He has faced criticism from many Democrats and younger voters for continuing to give weapons to Israel while largely failing to curb Israel’s deadly military offensive in Gaza. Biden has presented a new Israeli proposal for a fresh Gaza ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages while talks to end the conflict continue.

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON

Best-selling author and self-help guru Marianne Williamson, 72, relaunched her long-shot 2024 presidential bid earlier this year focusing on “justice and love” less than one month after dropping out.

In a February statement, she said she was getting back in to fight Trump’s “dark and authoritarian vision” after earlier suspending it because she was losing “the horse race.”

Williamson previously ran as a Democrat in the 2020 presidential primary but dropped out before voting began.

INDEPENDENTS

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.

An anti-vaccine activist and environmental advocate, Kennedy, 70, is running as an independent after initially challenging Biden for the Democratic nomination but missed the deadline to qualify for the first presidential debate.

While he lags in overall polling, Kennedy could siphon votes from Trump and Biden, with a June Reuters/Ipsos poll showing he was backed by 10% of respondents.

The son of Democratic U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential bid, Kennedy has drawn rebukes from his famous family, which endorsed Biden.

Kennedy, who chose wealthy lawyer Nicole Shanahan as his running mate, supports Israel and questioned a six-week ceasefire backed by Biden.

He said he views the U.S. southern border situation as a humanitarian crisis and opposes Trump’s border wall. He has also vowed to repeal parts of Biden’s climate bill over tax breaks he says help the oil industry.

Kennedy has taken different positions on abortion rights, including restrictions on when a woman can access an abortion. He told Reuters he thought every abortion was a “tragedy” but that it should be a woman’s right “throughout the pregnancy.”

He has been criticized for making false medical claims over the years on vaccines but says he would still allow Americans to access them.

Asked about an alleged sexual assault, he said in July that he has “so many skeletons in my closet.” His campaign has also said Kennedy had a brain worm more than a decade ago but he has fully recovered.

Kennedy’s campaign has said he is officially on the ballot in a handful of states so far, including California, Michigan and Utah, although he faces a challenging, costly battle to be listed in all 50.

CORNEL WEST

The political activist, philosopher and academic is making a third-party bid for president that is most likely to appeal to progressive, Democratic-leaning voters.

West, 71, initially ran as a Green Party candidate but said in October that people “want good policies over partisan politics” and declared himself an independent. He has promised to end poverty and guarantee housing.

GREEN PARTY

JILL STEIN

Jill Stein, a physician who ran under the Green Party in 2016, is trying once again in 2024.

She launched her current campaign accusing Democrats of betraying their promises “for working people, youth and the climate again and again – while Republicans don’t even make such promises in the first place.”

Stein, 74, raised millions of dollars for recounts after Trump’s surprise 2016 victory. Her allegations yielded only one electoral review in Wisconsin that showed Trump had won.

LIBERTARIAN PARTY

CHASE OLIVER

While the Libertarian Party invited both Trump and Kennedy to speak at their convention in late May, it ultimately selected Chase Oliver, 38. Oliver ran for a Georgia state Senate seat in 2022 and garnered 2% of the vote.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)