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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Vivian Ho in Oakland (now) and Sabrina Siddiqui in Washington (earlier)

Trump-Russia: FBI had 'backup plan' to save investigation evidence –as it happened

Andrew McCabe asked investigators to create a plan to ensure evidence would be protected.
Andrew McCabe asked investigators to create a plan to ensure evidence would be protected. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

Evening summary

Thanks for sticking with us, everyone. See you tomorrow!

  • The Trump administration announced that it intends to pull funding for California’s high-speed rail project, one week after Governor Gavin Newsom tussled with the president on Twitter and one day after California led a coalition of 16 states in a lawsuit against the administration over the president’s decision to declare a national emergency for border wall funding.
  • Attorneys for Nick Sandmann, the Kentucky student filmed in an apparent confrontation with a Native American elder at the Lincoln Memorial, filed a defamation lawsuit against the Washington Post, accusing the news organization of engaging “in a modern-day form of McCarthyism.”.
  • CNN hired longtime Republican operative Sarah Isgur as the political editor charged with coordinating 2020 campaign coverage. Isgur once retweeted someone calling her new employer the “Clinton News Network.”

Trump administration intends to cancel $929m for California high-speed rail project

One week after President Trump called California’s high-speed rail project a “‘green’ disaster”, the US Department of Transportation announced plans to cancel $929m in federal grant funds yet to be paid toward the $77bn endeavor.

The department also “it is actively exploring every legal option to seek the return from California of $2.5bn in federal funds FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) previously granted,” according to the statement released Tuesday.

The Federal Railroad Administration determined that the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the state-run organization tasked with overseeing the project “has materially failed to comply with the terms” of the agreement that promised $929m in federal funds for construction, wrote Federal Railroad Administrator Ronald Batory, in a letter to the Brian Kelly, the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s chief executive.

The Authority “has failed to make reasonable progress, Batory wrote, and will not complete the project by the end of 2022, as was previously agreed upon, Batory wrote.

In addition, Batory cited Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent remarks during his state of the state address, saying that Newsom “had “presented a new proposal that represents a significant retreat from the state’s initial vision and commitment and frustrates the purpose for which federal funding was awarded.

Newsom had said that “the project, as currently planned, would cost too much and take too long”. Opponents of the ambitious project interpreted his comments as a declaration that “the train to nowhere has finally stopped” and that Newsom was canceling the leg of the plan that extended the railway from San Francisco to Los Angeles. But Newsom’s office later clarified that he meant only that “we have to be realistic about the project”.

In response to his remarks, Trump sent out a tweet asking for the return of “three and a half billion dollars”. Newsom responded by tweeting that the money was “allocated by Congress for this project. We’re not giving it back.”

“The train is leaving the station — better get on board!” the governor wrote.

The transportation department’s announcement came one day after California led a coalition of 16 states to sue the Trump administration over the president’s decision to declare a national emergency for border wall funding.

Updated

Lawyers for Nick Sandmann sue the Washington Post

Attorneys for the Kentucky student filmed in an apparent confrontation with a Native American elder at the Lincoln Memorial filed a lawsuit against the Washington Post on Tuesday, accusing the news organization of engaging “in a modern-day form of McCarthyism.”

Updated

CNN hired longtime Republican operative Sarah Isgur as the political editor charged with coordinating 2020 campaign coverage, Vox is reporting.

According to a CNN spokesperson, Isgur, who most recently worked as the Department of Justice’s main spokesperson under then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, will coordinate the network’s political coverage for the 2020 election cycle on TV and on CNN’s website. Isgur starts work next month, and will not be involved in coverage of DOJ. She will occasionally appear on TV.

Isgur’s LinkedIn page indicates she has no journalism experience. She has, however, worked for a variety of right-wing organizations and campaigns, including the Carly Fiorina and Mitt Romney presidential bids, the Republican National Committee, and a Ted Cruz US Senate campaign.

Coming as it does in the wake of a presidential cycle in which the mainstream media’s fixation on Hillary Clinton’s emails (among other issues) was widely criticized, news of Isgur’s hiring sparked concerns about the direction CNN is taking heading into 2020.

News of her hiring comes on the heels of mass layoffs throughout the media industry that has some wondering why CNN couldn’t have hired someone with at least some journalism experience.

Updated

Now that things have quieted down a bit, here’s a look at some of our coverage from earlier.

Hey everybody, Vivian Ho on the west coast here, taking over for Sabrina Siddiqui. Let’s see what the rest of the day has in store for us, shall we?

Ok folks, I’m handing over the blog to my ever capable colleague, Vivian Ho, who will take you through key moments for the remainder of the day.

But first, a recap of what all has happened so far:

  • Bernie Sanders officially launched his second presidential campaign, joining a crowded field of 2020 contenders. But while the Vermont senator inspired a grassroots movement in 2016, can he recapture the excitement with several other progressives in the race?
  • The president reportedly asked acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker to install a loyalist at the helm of a federal investigation into hush money paid to women alleging affairs with Trump. If true, it would be yet another example of Trump seeking to influence the FBI and Justice Department and interfering with inquiries involving himself.
  • House Democrats are investigating whether the White House pursued a project to share nuclear technology information with Saudi Arabia. Trunp’s close ties to the Saudis have already been a subject of controversy following the Kingdom’s hand in executing journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
  • The FBI reportedly had a backup plan to protect evidence in the Russia investigation after Trump fired its director, James Comey.
  • Michael Bennet, a senator from Colorado, is heading to the early battleground of Iowa as he tests the waters for a 2020 presidential campaign.

That’s it from me, Sabrina Siddiqui, until next time. But stay tuned to this space for more updates from Vivian!

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Trump eateries written up for health code violations

Donald Trump can’t even catch a break at his eateries!

According to a report in the New York Daily News, health inspections at Trump-owned properties in Manhattan have turned up live mice and roaches. The worst offenses appeared to be at the president’s eponymous tower in the city:

City Department of Health inspectors visited the tower’s cafe and grill on July 11, 2018 and found ‘evidence of mice or live mice’ in and around the kitchen, according to records that haven’t previously been reported. The inspectors categorized the violation as ‘critical.’

The inspectors also deemed the restaurant ‘not vermin proof’ and said its ‘conditions’ are ‘conducive to attracting vermin’ and ‘allowing vermin to exist.’

Hold on, it gets worse.

The report found that the Trump Tower restaurant has been cited for various health code violations every year since 2014, “including sightings of ‘live roaches’ in 2016 and ‘filth flies’ in 2017”.

A Trump Organization official told the newspaper that the infractions would be dealt with “immediately”.

If you have the stomach for it, read more here.

Sanders taps ACLU aide as campaign manager

Bernie Sanders has hired Faiz Shakir, a longtime Democratic Party operative, as his 2020 campaign manager.

Shakir most recently served as the political director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has led many of the legal challenges against Donald Trump’s administration on civil rights and other constitutional issues. His previous stints include serving as an aide to former Senate majority leader Harry Reid and then-House minority leader Nancy Pelosi.

Shakir’s experience spans Capitol Hill and progressive think tanks in Washington. He also informally worked on Sanders’ 2016 run.

Activist Linda Sarsour, a Sanders surrogate in 2016, celebrated Shakir’s appointment as the first time a Muslim American has been put in charge of a major US presidential campaign.

Tennessee House speaker defends Republican accused of sexual assault

Good grief.

While defending a Republican state legislator facing allegations of sexual assault, the Tennessee House speaker, Glen Casada, said the women who came forward should simply leave after being ostracized in their community.

“If it’s important, and it is — it’d be important to me if I was raped, I would move,” Casada said. “And hell would have no fury.”

Casada was confronted in a video, published on a liberal website, about his support for David Byrd, a state representative in Tennessee who has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple former students.

Three women came forward to allege that Byrd sexually assaulted them the 1980s, when they were teenagers playing on the high school basketball team he coached at the time.

Despite calls for Byrd to resign, Casada appointed him to chair the state House’s education committee.

Asked if he believed Byrd’s accusers, Casada said: “I don’t think they’re lying. I think they’re believing something that’s not true.”

Trump had this to say at the White House when asked about Bernie Sanders making a second run for the presidency:

“Personally, I think he missed his time,” Trump said. “But I like Bernie.”

“He is one person that – on trade, he sort of would agree on trade. The problem is he doesn’t know what to do about it.”

Trump went on to say Sanders was “not treated with respect” by Hillary Clinton while insisting he would prevail in his own bid to be re-elected to the White House.

“I wish Bernie well, it will be interesting to see how he does,” Trump said.

“I think what happened to Bernie Sanders four years ago was quite sad.”

Updated

Update to the NYT report mentioned further down below:

Donald Trump has denied making any requests of acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker with respect to a federal investigation into hush money payments to silence women.

“No, not at all, I don’t know who gave you that. Just more fake news,” the president told reporters at the White House. “There’s a lot of fake news out there. No I didn’t.”

Trump added that Whitaker was a “straight shooter” and praised his testimony on Capitol Hill from two weeks ago.

“He’s a very fine man and he should be given a lot of thanks by our nation.”

Trump also commented on his upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The president said while denuclearization remains the overall goal, he was confident at the pace of talks.

“I’m in no rush,” Trump said. “I have no pressing time schedule. I really believe that North Korea can be a tremendous economic power when this is solved.”

Trump did add, however, that if Pyongyang resumed nuclear testing, his calculus might change.

Updated

FBI developed 'backup plan' to save evidence from Russia investigation

Speaking of investigations, it appears the FBI had a backup plan to ensure the protection of evidence collected in the Trump-Russia inquiry.

The Associated Press reports that the plan was created after the firing of then FBI director James Comey, who was overseeing the investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow:

The plan was crafted in the chaotic days after Comey was fired, when the FBI began investigating whether President Donald Trump had obstructed justice and whether he might be, wittingly or not, in league with the Russians. The goal was to ensure that the information collected under the investigations, which included probes of Trump associates and possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, would survive the firings or reassignments of top law enforcement officials. Those officials included special counsel Robert Mueller, who was appointed eight days after Trump fired Comey in May 2017.

Andrew McCabe, who became acting director after Comey was fired, asked investigators to develop a plan to ensure evidence would be protected, said the person, who was not authorized to talk about those discussions publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press. A plan was then created, according to the person, who would not provide specifics. A second person familiar with the talks, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, also said the FBI discussed preserving evidence so that it would outlast any firing or effort to stymie the investigation.

As I mentioned earlier, McCabe is currently causing quite the stir with revelations from his new book, The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump.

Quite the literal book title, it seems!

Updated

Trump sought to influence investigation into hush money payments: report

This one is quite the doozy from the New York Times:

As federal prosecutors in Manhattan gathered evidence late last year about President Trump’s role in silencing women with hush payments during the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump called Matthew G. Whitaker, his newly installed attorney general, with a question. He asked whether Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Trump ally, could be put in charge of the widening investigation, according to several American officials with direct knowledge of the call.

Mr. Whitaker, who had privately told associates that part of his role at the Justice Department was to “jump on a grenade” for the president, knew he could not put Mr. Berman in charge, since Mr. Berman had already recused himself from the investigation. The president soon soured on Mr. Whitaker, as he often does with his aides, and complained about his inability to pull levers at the Justice Department that could make the president’s many legal problems go away.

Allow me to refresh your memory...

  • At least two women were paid six figures in hush money in 2016 to prevent them from speaking about their alleged affairs with Trump: one was adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who was paid $130,000 by Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen in exchange for her silence; the other was former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who received $150,000 from the National Enquirer, the tabloid owned by a close friend of Trump’s, for exclusive rights to her story that was then never published in a practice known as ‘catch-and-kill’.
  • These payments are under investigation by prosecutors in the southern district of New York, which is also examining what Trump knew about them. Cohen, who struck a plea deal with federal investigators, has already said Trump knew about both payments.
  • After firing attorney general Jeff Sessions in November, Trump installed Justice Department official Matthew Whitaker as the acting AG -- bypassing the chain of command and inviting questions over the legality of Whitaker’s appointment.
  • Whitaker had previously been critical of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia and is widely regarded as a loyalist.
  • This latest report now essentially suggests that Trump directly asked Whitaker to put another loyalist in charge of an investigation into the president himself. (It appears Whitaker declined to do so.)

This is also notable because earlier this month, Whitaker testified before Congress and said, under oath, that he never discussed the Russia investigation with the president. He noticeably would not say if he had discussed the inquiry being led by the SDNY:

The hush money payments are, of course, a separate investigation from Mueller’s -- but there is some overlap in the key players, and that Trump was trying to get Whitaker to make moves in his favor doesn’t exactly give credence to the notion that he avoided bringing up the Russia inquiry with the acting AG.

You get all that?

Updated

Trump administration to make global push to decriminalize homosexuality

Donald Trump’s administration has launched a global campaign aimed at ending the criminalization of homosexuality, according to a new report.

From NBC News:

U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, the highest-profile openly gay person in the Trump administration, is leading the effort, which kicks off Tuesday evening in Berlin. The U.S. embassy is flying in LGBT activists from across Europe for a strategy dinner to plan to push for decriminalization in places that still outlaw homosexuality — mostly concentrated in the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean.

Although the decriminalization strategy is still being hashed out, officials say it’s likely to include working with global organizations like the United Nations, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as other countries whose laws already allow for gay rights. Other U.S. embassies and diplomatic posts throughout Europe, including the U.S. Mission to the E.U., are involved, as is the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

Narrowly focused on criminalization, rather than broader LGBT issues like same-sex marriage, the campaign was conceived partly in response to the recent reported execution by hanging of a young gay man in Iran, the Trump administration’s top geopolitical foe.

The move to focus the conversation on Iran could, however, cast a spotlight on other nations with which the Trump administration shares close ties, such as Saudi Arabia. The Saudi kingdom is among those to find homosexuality punishable by death; but Trump has continued to defend Riyadh amid human rights abuses that include the execution of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October.

The Trump administration has also been criticized at home for rescinding protections enacted by Barack Obama that sought to weed out discrimination against the LGBTQ community. The president undid an Obama-era rule that had enforced workplace protections for LGBTQ people and banned transgender people from serving in the military.

Some more on the donations pouring into Bernie Sanders 2020 via our stellar political correspondent, Lauren Gambino:

In the first four hours after Bernie Sanders launched his campaign, he raised $1.2 million from 42,000 donors w/ sign ups and donations from all 50 states, according to a spokeswoman for his campaign.

Senator Kamala Harris raises $1.5 from roughly 38,000 donors in the first 24-hours of her campaign, which was close to the amount Sanders raised in the first day of his 2016 presidential campaign.

Sanders appears outpace to outraise Harris, which would be unsurprising given his sky-high name recognition and small-dollar fundraising prowess. His haul will be watched closes as a sign of whether his grassroots appeal is still strong.

Small-dollar donations have become a litmus test of enthusiasm around a candidate, especially in such a crowded primary field in which voters have at least a dozen Democrats to support.

Michael Bennet to test 2020 presidential waters

Do you think there are enough Democrats already running for president? Well, too bad!

Michael Bennet, a senator from Colorado, is heading to Iowa this week as he weighs whether or not to declare his candidacy for the White House.

Iowa, as you might recall, is the first-in-the-nation caucus state and seen as a definitive test in the road to the nomination.

Although not a household name, Bennet will likely try to appeal as a consensus-driven lawmaker who for 10 years has represented the purple state of Colorado.

He was a co-sponsor of a comprehensive immigration reform bill in 2013 that would have granted a pathway to citizenship to the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the US. The legislation died in the Republican-led House of Representatives after overwhelmingly passing the Senate.

Not one to typically make headlines, Bennet’s recent speech during the 35-day government shutdown went viral for its emotional unpacking of Republican obstructionism and tirade against Donald Trump and the border wall.

You can revisit the 25-minute speech here:

Michael Bennet Senate floor speech on government shutdown.

Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, has said reports that the White House planned to share nuclear technology information with Saudi Arabia renewed questions over on whose behalf the Trump administration is working.

“For the last two years, our committee has been concerned about allegations that the president and his advisers have been beholden to or sought to advance interests other than those of the American people, and that U.S. policy is being adversely impacted,” Schiff said in a statement, while adding the issues raised by the Saudi report “go to the heart of these concerns”.

“We rely on those in government to make decisions based on the best interests of the nation, not for personal financial gain or to advance foreign interests,” Schiff added.

“If the allegations are borne out, such an effort to enrich former business partners and benefit foreign governments is precisely the type of dangerous conflict of interest, serious compromise, and danger to national security that Congress has a duty to expose and root out.”

Trump has claimed he has “no financial interests” in Saudi Arabia. But that is not supported by the facts, and as a candidate in 2016 Trump instead boasted of his business dealings with the Saudis.

In 2001, the Saudi government purchased the entire 45th floor of the Trump World Tower in New York City for $4.5m and has since paid roughly $5.7m in fees over time. And in 1991, Alwaleed bin Talal, a member of the Saudi royal family, bought a yacht repossessed by Trump for $20m.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, shares a close rapport with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman, and has sought to strength the alliance between Washington and Riyadh.

Updated

Democrats on the House oversight committee are calling for a ‘full investigation’ of whether the White House pursued a nuclear technology project with Saudi Arabia:

Representative Elijah Cummings, the oversight committee chairman, has just issued a statement that whistleblowers tipped lawmakers off to the proposed venture:

The whistleblowers who came forward have expressed significant concerns about the potential procedural and legal violations connected with rushing through a plan to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. They have warned of conflicts of interest among top White House advisers that could implicate federal criminal statutes. They have also warned about a working environment inside the White House marked by chaos, dysfunction, and backbiting. And they have warned about political appointees ignoring directives from top ethics advisors at the White House who repeatedly and unsuccessfully ordered senior Trump Administration officials to halt their efforts.

The Committee’s investigation is particularly critical because the Administration’s efforts to transfer sensitive U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia appear to be ongoing. On February 12, 2019, the President met with nuclear power developers at the White House about sharing nuclear technology with countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.”

Cummings also noted that the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is poised to embark on a tour of Middle Eastern capitals, including Riyadh, next week “to discuss the economic portion of the Administration’s Middle East peace plan”.

House Democrats launch inquiry into White House plan to share nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia

JUST IN: House Democrats have launched an inquiry into an alleged push by Donald Trump’s administration to share nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia.

The latest via the Associated Press:

A new congressional report says senior White House officials pushed a project to share nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia despite the objections of ethics and national security officials.

The Democrat-led House oversight committee launched an investigation Tuesday into the claims.

The committee says whistleblowers within the Trump administration raised concerns about “abnormal acts” within the White House to support the proposal to build dozens of nuclear reactors across the Middle Eastern kingdom.

The investigation comes as lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns that Saudi Arabia could develop nuclear weapons if the US technology is transferred without proper safeguards.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Updated

Majority of Americans disapprove of Trump's national emergency

More than six in 10 Americans disapprove of Donald Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency at the US-Mexico border, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released on Tuesday.

Nearly 60% of respondents also said they did not believe there was an emergency at the southern border and backed a legal challenge against Trump’s move.

The president issued a national emergency declaration last Thursday after threatening to do so for months amid an impasse over funding for the US government. Trump made his plans official as members of Congress reached a bipartisan deal to avert another government shutdown that did not include funding for his promised border wall.

The action immediately drew backlash as a misuse of presidential powers, with even many Republicans on Capitol Hill criticizing Trump’s step. Democrats meanwhile vowed to challenge Trump in the courts, while also stating they would bring up a resolution for a vote that would terminate the national emergency.

“All things related to the declaring of a national emergency, the president is striking out in the court of public opinion,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, one of the poll’s conductors. “He’s maintaining his base and little else.”

Updated

Well, it certainly looks like there are lots of Americans out there who are still feeling the Bern ...

Updated

So Donald Trump is suggesting the Washington Post factchecker only applies to Democrats ... or something.

I think the president is trying to say the only people who get factchecked are him and Republicans, except he kind of also said they’re the ones with the ‘fake’ facts.

As we are all well aware, Trump isn’t exactly the most eloquent or even coherent with his words ...

In any case, the source of his ire is likely this latest update via the Washington Post factchecker: “In 759 days, President Trump has made 8,718 false or misleading claims.”

But who’s keeping track really?

Updated

Nothing gets in RBG’s way ... not even cancer!

Updated

Howard Schultz: 'I will not be a spoiler'

As Bernie Sanders makes his 2020 presidential bid official, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is meanwhile cautioning voters about the “radical left”.

Schultz, who is contemplating an independent run for president in 2020, penned a Medium post on Tuesday reiterating his assertion that the Democratic party was becoming too liberal for its own good.

“The stakes are too high to cross our fingers and hope the Democratic party nominates a moderate who can win over enough independents and disaffected Republicans, and even fellow Democrats, to defeat Trump next year,” Schultz wrote.

“That any opponent can oust Trump, no matter how far to the radical left they are, is a fallacy.”

Schultz has been criticized by Democrats for refusing to compete for the party’s nomination and engage in a direct debate over centrist versus progressive ideas. Democrats have expressed concern that the Starbucks CEO would simply act as a spoiler by taking votes away from the eventual nominee as the party seeks to limit Trump’s presidency to one term.

Schultz acknowledged those fears in his post but insisted they were unfounded.

“I hear and respect this overriding concern, and have repeatedly promised that I will not be a spoiler,” he said.

“I am committed to ensuring that I will do nothing to re-elect Donald Trump. I mean it.”

To say that early polling has not shown Schultz faring particularly well would be an understatement ... but the billionaire has continued to soak up media attention and make headlines.

Updated

Former acting FBI director informed Congress of Trump investigation

We interrupt the Bernie Sanders programming for some news via Andrew McCabe, the former acting attorney general ...

In an interview with NBC’s Today Show on Tuesday, McCabe said he briefed a bipartisan group of lawmakers in May of 2017 on an investigation the FBI was launching into Donald Trump’s ties to Russia.

“The purpose of the briefing was to let our congressional leadership know exactly what we had been doing,” McCabe said.

“I told Congress what we had done ... no one objected. Not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds and not based on the facts.”

McCabe has set off a firestorm while promoting his new book, The Threat, which recounts remarkable anecdotes from the former acting FBI director’s interactions with Trump and is inner circle.

In the book, McCabe details discussions around invoking the 25th amendment – to remove the president from office – and even says deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein spoke with him about wearing a wire to secretly record Trump. Those revelations have invited an avalanche of criticism from the president and Republicans in Congress, who have claimed bias within the FBI and justice department against Trump.

The president tweeted “Treason!” on Monday night while quoting from his friend and close ally Sean Hannity on Fox News.

Asked by NBC host Savannah Guthrie if he was biased against the president, McCabe replied: “Absolutely not.”

“I did my job. I worked on the facts and the law that were in front of us at the time,” he said, while also dismissing Trump’s attacks.

“I don’t think really anybody takes those tweets by the president very seriously. I certainly don’t at this point,” McCabe said.

“He’s been attacking me and my family and lying about us for two years now so it’s just really more of the same.”

Watch McCabe’s interview here.

Updated

The Republican National Committee also trotted out the “socialist” line against Bernie Sanders, moments after he launched his second bid for president.

“Bernie Sanders is a self-avowed socialist who wants to double your taxes so the government can take over your health care,” RNC spokesman Michael Ahrens said in a statement. “The vast majority of voters oppose his radical agenda, just like they are going to oppose all the 2020 Democrats who have rushed to embrace it.”

As mentioned earlier, Americans are not as averse to so-called “socialism” as Republicans might think. Be it single-payer healthcare or a wealth tax, polling shows such proposals are popular with the public.

It is, however, true that most 2020 Democratic hopefuls have taken their cues from the movement Sanders launched in 2016.

Several of his Senate colleagues, who are also running for president, have embraced the Medicare for All healthcare bill drafted by Sanders, including Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker. A number of Democratic contenders have also called for some variation of debt-free college tuition.

But while Sanders can take some credit for pushing the Democratic Party more to the left, he also won’t be able to draw as sharp a contrast as he did nearly four years ago with Hillary Clinton.

That is, unless the party gravitates toward a more centrist candidate such as Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, who said far-reaching progressive plans such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal were “aspirations”. Former vice-president Joe Biden is also expected to make a decision on a possible presidential run soon, and will almost certainly pitch a more establishment-friendly vision.

I wrote more on the internal debate within the Democratic party, and whether there’s room for centrists, here.

Updated

Need to reacquaint yourself with Bernie? We’ve got you covered.

Here’s our video explaining how Sanders rose up in his political career and where he stands on the key issues:

If anything, he gets points for consistency.

Updated

You can watch the Bernie Sanders 2020 announcement video here:

Bernie Sanders announces 2020 presidential campaign

“Our campaign is not only about defeating Donald Trump, the most dangerous president in modern American history,” Sanders says in the video. Our campaign is about transforming our country and creating a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice.

“Our campaign is about taking on the special interests that dominate our economic and political life. I’m talking about Wall Street, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the fossil fuel industry, the military industrial complex, the private prison industry, and the large multinational corporations that exert such an enormous influence over our lives.

In other words, Sanders will build upon many of the same themes that formed the pillars of his insurgent campaign in 2016.

Here’s a breakdown via FiveThirtyEight on what his path to the Democratic nomination would look like.

Updated

Trump revives 'socialist' attack against Sanders

The reactions to Sanders’ announcement are already pouring in ...

Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign responded with the familiar “socialist” attack that Republicans used against Sanders in 2016.

“Bernie Sanders has already won the debate in the Democrat primary, because every candidate is embracing his brand of socialism,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement.

“But the American people will reject an agenda of sky-high tax rates, government-run health care and coddling dictators like those in Venezuela. Only President Trump will keep America free, prosperous and safe.”

In his State of the Union address earlier this month, Trump also sought to portray Democrats as socialists over economic policies that include single-payer healthcare, a guaranteed jobs program and debt-free college tuition.

Those policies actually poll well with the American public.

The real issue for Sanders is how he will fare in a Democratic field that has already been shaped in his mold.

At least one progressive group that endorsed Sanders for president in 2016, Democracy for America, suggested the senator would have more work to do to distinguish himself in this race.

“Blessed with a diverse field of candidates committed to inclusive populist reforms, we’re looking forward to seeing how Sanders and the movement behind him makes the case for ‘political revolution’ in a very different 2020 contest,” the group’s executive director, Yvette Simpson, said.

“To win in 2020, Democrats need a leader committed to a visionary, progressive agenda who can win the enthusiastic support of the New American Majority of people of color and progressive white voters.”

“With Sanders joining Warren, Harris, Gillibrand and a number of others, we’re more confident than ever that Democrats will find the candidate we need to defeat Trump and start delivering the kind of economic, social and racial justice needed to improve real people’s lives.”

Updated

Bernie Sanders announces presidential campaign

He’s back.

Bernie Sanders announced on Tuesday he will run for president in 2020.

In an email to supporters, the Vermont senator said it was time to see through the progressive movement he energized in 2016.

“Together, you and I and our 2016 campaign began the political revolution,” Sanders said. “Now, it is time to complete that revolution and implement the vision that we fought for.”

Whereas Sanders challenged establishment favorite Hillary Clinton for the Democratic party’s nomination nearly four years ago, this time he joins a crowded and diverse 2020 field with no clear frontrunner.

Others vying to claim the top of the Democratic ticket include Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

There are also a slew of lower-profile contenders, including the former San Antonio mayor and federal housing secretary Julián Castro, Pete Buttigieg, the young mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard.

Read our full report on Sanders’ announcement here and watch this space for more.

Updated

Good morning! It’s Sabrina Siddiqui, your blogger for the day, taking you through the late developments in Washington.

We’re already off with a bang, as Bernie Sanders has declared he will once again seek the presidency. The Vermont senator proved unsuccessful in challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic party’s nomination in 2016, but will his fortunes change this go around?

We’ll break down the reaction to Sanders’ announcement, what else is new with the emerging 2020 field, and of course the latest from the White House.

Stay tuned!

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Kelly Osbourne addresses body shaming comments following her appearance at the 2026 BRIT Awards, where she accepted a posthumous award for her late father, Ozzy Osbourne.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
"I've dreaded sharing this news." Godflesh will no longer perform live after Justin Broadrick undergoes significant abdominal surgery
Godflesh frontman Justin Broadrick has undergone surgery for a "huge" inguinal hernia
Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Kurt Russell's Strong Take On Tombstone Legacy Makes Me Wonder Why No One Made The Original Version Yet
What could have been.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
‘Sober curious’ Gen Z adults drinking more than millennials were at same age, study finds
More than two-thirds of Gen Z adults reported binge drinking in the last year
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Binge drinking rises sharply among gen Z in their early 20s
Research challenges idea of ‘generation sensible’ as alcohol and drug use increase after teenage years
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
NBD, Just 50 Cent Making It Rain Money On A Fan For Dissing Diddy
I didn't have this on my 2026 bingo card.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
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