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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Maanvi Singh in San Francisco (now) and Joan E Greve in Washington (earlier)

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand drops out of 2020 presidential race – as it happened

Kirsten Gillibrand speaks during the Presidential Gun Sense Forum in Des Moines, Iowa, 10 August 2019.
Kirsten Gillibrand speaks during the Presidential Gun Sense Forum in Des Moines, Iowa, 10 August 2019. Photograph: Scott Morgan/Reuters

Summary

Here’s what’s happened:

  • Kirsten Gillibrand announced she’s dropping out of the 2020 race.
  • Florida declared a state of emergency as hurricane Dorian headed toward the state’s eastern coast.
  • A Trump administration policy alert said that some children of service members and government employees born overseas would no longer qualify for automatic citizenship.
  • Congress will investigate Trump’s pitch to hold next year’s G7 at one of his own resorts.
  • Trump denied reports that he has offered pardons to aides if they break the law to have his border wall built before Election Day.
  • Democratic presidential candidates severely criticized Trump for mocking Puerto Rico and its officials as the island braces for the arrival of Tropical Storm Dorian, which has strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane.
  • Senator Johnny Isakson’s retirement announcement means that both of Georgia’s senate seats will be on the 2020 ballot. After Stacy Abrams reiterated that she (still) won’t be running for Senate, the position remains open to a new democratic front runner. It’s also unclear who will be running from the Republican side after Nick Ayers announced he won’t enter the race.
  • The third Democratic debate will likely be a one-night event given that only 10 candidates have made the cut so far, and the qualification deadline is the end of today.
  • Two new polls showed Joe Biden maintaining a double-digit lead over his fellow Democratic presidential candidates. The results indicate that a Monmouth University poll released earlier this week, which showed a three-way tie, was likely an outlier.

Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia announced he will retire at the end of 2019.
Senator Johnny sakson of Georgia announced he will retire at the end of 2019. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

Republican senator Jonny Isakson’s retirement announcement gives Georgia democrats a new opening. After Stacy Abrams reiterated that she (still) won’t be running for Senate, the position remains open to a new democratic front runner.

From the AP:

The November 2020 ballot in Georgia will now include a special election for the remaining two years of Isakson’s term in addition to Perdue’s race for another six-year term.

It’s a doubly tantalizing target for Democrats who increasingly believe that Georgia, which has become less rural and less white in recent decades, stands on the verge of becoming a swing state after roughly two decades of leaning solidly Republican.

“Georgia is going to be a major decision maker in the reelection of Donald Trump and control of the U.S. Senate now,” said Brian Robinson, a Republican political adviser in Georgia who served as communications director under former Gov. Nathan Deal.

It’s an uphill battle for Georgia Democrats, who haven’t elected a governor or U.S. senator since 1998. Bill Clinton was the last Democratic presidential candidate to win here, in 1992.

“I am leaving a job I love because my health challenges are taking their toll on me, my family and my staff. My Parkinson’s has been progressing, and I am continuing physical therapy to recover from a fall in July,” the 74-year-old senator said in a statement earlier today.

Updated

Florida declares state of emergency in anticipation of hurricaine Dorian

Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency, as hurricane Dorian strengthens along a path toward the US mainland.

The Category 1 hurricane could grow into a dangerous Category 3, according to the National Hurricane Center as it swirls away from the northern Carribean and toward the western Atlantic.

“All Floridians on the East Coast should have 7 days of supplies, prepare their homes & follow the track closely,” DeSantis said.

Earlier today, the storm hit the US Virgin Islands and parts of Puerto Rico, though the main island was spared a direct hit.

And here’s Donald Trump’s response to news the Gillibrand, who, in her first major speech as a presidential candidate stood outside the Trump hotel and called him a coward, is dropping out of the presidential race.

Several of the remaining democratic presidential candidates have responded to Gillibrand’s news, praising the New York senator’s record on women’s rights.

Updated

In a memo, Gillibrand’s campaign announced that the senator announced that she will relaunch her Off the Sidelines PAC, with the goal of raising and investing at least $1 million to elect women in 2020.

But “regardless of who wins the Democratic nomination for president, Kirsten is 100% committed to doing what she can to beat Donald Trump,” her campaign said in a statement.

USCIS clarifies policy on citizenship for children born overseas to servicemembers

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued a clarification, indicating that most military kids born overseas wouldn’t lose the right to automatic citizenship at birth.

It gets pretty technical, but basically, it seems that the new policy will not affect the kids of troops or government employees if one or both parents are US citizens with residency in the US.

But it could impact kids adopted by overseas services members after birth, and kids born to government employees or service members who aren’t citizens. It’s unclear how many children would be affected.

One key point: This policy is about the right to automatic citizenship. The kids of US troops or government employees that fall into that second category can still apply for naturalization like others born outside the US to American parents.

Basically, the new policy doesn’t affect all kids of troops and government workers overseas — but it does make it more complicated for some to become citizens.

Updated

Kirsten Gillibrand withdraws from 2020 presidential race

Kirsten Gillibrand
Kirsten Gillibrand
 Photograph: Elise Amendola/AP

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York said she will withdraw from the democratic presidential race, after failing to qualify for the third debate next month.

“I am so proud of this team and all we’ve accomplished,” she tweeted. “But I think it’s important to know how you can best serve.”

Gillibrand centered her candidacy on women’s equality, vowing to only nominate supreme court judges who support women’s reproductive rights and held raillies in conservative states where abortion rights were under threat. But her campaign struggled from the start to gain traction.

The New York Times reports:

Ms. Gillibrand said in an interview that she would endorse another candidate in the primary but had not yet picked a favorite. Though she stopped short of saying she would endorse a woman, Ms. Gillibrand, who has made electing women to Congress a personal cause, said the next president had to be capable of uniting the country and suggested that a woman might be best suited for the job.

“I think that women have a unique ability to bring people together and heal this country,” Ms. Gillibrand said, adding, “I think a woman nominee would be inspiring and exciting.”

But she added: “I will support whoever the nominee is, and I will do whatever it takes to beat Trump.”


Updated

Congress will investigate Trump's pitch to hold G7 at his Doral resort

The House judiciary committee announced that it will investigate Trump’s proposal to hold next year’s G7 summit at his Miami-area golf resort.

While attending this year’s Group of Seven meeting in Biarritz, France, the president suggested holding next year’s event at the Trump National Doral Miami. Trump’s critics pointed out that this would be a blatant conflict of interest and would allow him to profit off the presidency.

Trump’s efforts to host the summit at one of his own properties, “reflects perhaps the first publicly known instance in which foreign governments would be required to pay President Trump’s private businesses in order to conduct business with the United States”, the House judiciary chairman, Jerrold Nadler, and the civil liberties chair Steve Cohen said in a statement.

The judiciary committee is already conducting several other investigations into Trump’s actions, as Congress considers whether to launch a formal impeachment inquiry.

Updated

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • The Trump administration said in a policy alert that children of US service members and government employees born overseas would no longer qualify for automatic citizenship.
  • Trump denied reports that he has offered pardons to aides if they break the law to have his border wall built before Election Day.
  • Democratic presidential candidates severely criticized Trump for mocking Puerto Rico and its officials as the island braces for the arrival of Tropical Storm Dorian, which has strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane.
  • Multiple candidates, including Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Nick Ayers, ruled out the possibility of seeking Johnny Isakson’s Senate seat after the Georgia Republican announced he would resign at the end of the year due to health issues.
  • The third Democratic debate will likely be a one-night event given that only 10 candidates have made the cut so far, and the qualification deadline is the end of today.
  • Two new polls showed Joe Biden maintaining a double-digit lead over his fellow Democratic presidential candidates. The results indicate that a Monmouth University poll released earlier this week, which showed a three-way tie, was likely an outlier.

Maanvi will have more on the fallout from Trump’s shocking policy moves and rhetoric, so stay tuned.

An NBC News reporter noted that the Trump administration’s new policy, which would keep the children of US service members born overseas from qualifying for automatic citizenship, would have affected a very famous senator.

A Defense One correspondent also predicted the policy change would have a negative effect on retention, which the US military has struggled with.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke condemned the move by the Trump administration to no longer allow children of US service members born overseas to qualify for automatic citizenship.

Another 2020 Democrat, representative Tim Ryan, called the policy change an “insult” to members of the military.

Trump administration moves to revoke automatic citizenship for children of US service members born overseas

Children of US service members and government employees who are born overseas will no longer be considered for automatic citizenship, according to a policy alert from US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The military-focused website Task & Purpose reports:

Previously, children born to U.S. citizen parents were considered to be ‘residing in the United States,’ and therefore would be automatically given citizenship under Immigration and Nationality Act 320. Now, children born to U.S. service members and government employees, such as those born in U.S. military hospitals or diplomatic facilities, will not be considered as residing in the U.S., changing the way that they potentially receive citizenship. ...

According to USCIS, previous legislation also explicitly said that spouses of service members who were living outside the U.S. because of their spouses were considered residing in the U.S., but ‘that no similar provision was included for children of U.S. armed forces members in the acquisition of citizenship context is significant.’

That is one of the reasons why USCIS has now decided that those children are not considered to be residing in the U.S., and therefore will not be automatically given citizenship. Instead, they will fall under INA 322, which considers them to be residing outside the U.S. and requires them to apply for naturalization.

They will be allowed to complete all naturalization proceedings while living abroad, the new policy says.

MSNBC host apologizes for thinly sourced Deutsche Bank story

MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell apologized for sharing a thinly sourced story about the president’s finances on his show last night, promising to address the matter tonight.

Based on a single source, O’Donnell reported Trump had received loans from Deutsche Bank that were co-signed by “Russian billionaires close to Vladimir Putin.”

O’Donnell himself acknowledged during his program that the story was thinly sourced: “I want to stress that is a single source, that has not been confirmed by NBC News. I have not seen any documentation from Deutsche Bank that supports this and verifies this. This is just a single source who has revealed that to me.”

In a letter to NBC, a lawyer for Trump and the Trump Organization demanded an immediate retraction, calling the story “false and defamatory, and extremely damaging.”

Representative Ilhan Omar shared an image on Twitter of a frighteningly specific death threat that the Minnesota Democrat received.

A New York man was arrested earlier this year for allegedly threatening to assault and murder Omar.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s campaign confirmed that it ejected a Breitbart News reporter from a South Carolina event at Benedict College, a historically black university.

“Beto for America believes in the right to a free press and works hard to ensure the campaign reflects that,” O’Rourke’s press secretary said in a statement.

She continued: “However, whether it’s dedicating an entire section of their website to ‘black crime,’ inferring that immigrants are terrorists, or using derogatory terms to refer to LGBTQ people, Breitbart News walks the line between being news and a perpetrator of hate speech.

“Given this particular Breitbart employee’s previous hateful reporting and the sensitivity of the topics being discussed with students at an HBCU, a campaign staffer made the call to ask him to leave to ensure that the students attending the event felt comfortable and safe while sharing their experiences as young people of color.”

The Breitbart reporter, Joel Pollak, previously wrote that an O’Rourke staffer told him “I could either leave voluntarily or be ‘officially uninvited’ from campus, suggesting arrest.”

The account raised alarms among some journalists, who called it “a pretty weak move” on O’Rourke’s part. But others said the campaign’s response was justified given Breitbart’s past coverage.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden harshly criticized Trump for mocking Puerto Rico and its officials as the island braces for the arrival of Tropical Storm Dorian, which has strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane.

Trump also claimed in that same Twitter thread he was “the best thing that’s ever happened to Puerto Rico.”

Trump has repeatedly claimed a wall along the US-Mexico border, the signature promise of his 2016 campaign, is already under construction.

But in reality, the president has fallen far short of his oft-repeated promise to “build the wall.” The Washington Post reports:

Trump has repeatedly promised to complete 500 miles of fencing by the time voters go to the polls in November 2020, stirring chants of ‘Finish the Wall!’ at his political rallies as he pushes for tighter border controls. But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed just about 60 miles of ‘replacement’ barrier during the first 2½ years of Trump’s presidency, all of it in areas that previously had border infrastructure.

The Post’s Fact Checker reported earlier this month that Trump has falsely claimed 190 times that the border wall is being built, making it his most frequently repeated falsehood.

In his tweet denying that he has offered pardons to aides if they break the law to get the border wall built, Trump also resuscitated his claim that the Washington Post is serving as a lobbyist for Amazon.

The Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. But the newspaper’s executive editor has dismissed the claim that Bezos controls the Post’s coverage as a “conspiracy theory.”

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders attracted criticism earlier this month for implying that the Post was covering him negatively because the Vermont senator has scrutinized Amazon’s business practices.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris slammed Trump as a “lawless president” over the reports that he has promised to pardon aides who break the law to get his promised border wall built before Election Day.

The Washington Post has reported that Trump is pushing aides to redirect billions of dollars and seize private land to get the border wall built, out of fear that he will not win re-election if he fails to accomplish his signature campaign promise.

The White House initially responded to the report by claiming that Trump was joking, but the president has now flatly denied making the comments.

Trump denies he offered pardons to aides who break the law to get border wall built

Trump has sent a tweet denying that he offered pardons to aides if they broke the law to get his promised border wall built before Election Day, as the Washington Post reported.

But when the Post sought a comment on the story, the White House did not deny Trump had made the comments. An unnamed official instead claimed the president had been joking when he promised the pardons.

Interestingly, Trump’s denial comes about an hour after he once again falsely claimed the border wall was already being built.

David Valadao, a former Republican congressman, will once again seek his California seat after losing by just 862 votes last year.

Valadao said his dismay with the performance of Democratic representative TJ Cox, who narrowly won the seat in 2018, had compelled him to run again.

The Republican said in a statement that he “cannot continue to sit silent while TJ Cox pursues a radical liberal agenda that hurts our communities.”

The statement added: “The Central Valley needs a strong voice they can trust representing them in Congress, someone who listens and understands that Central Valley residents just want an opportunity to provide and build a better life for their families.”

Cox’s office said in response that he had “hit the ground running when he took office in January, and he’s already delivering for the working families of the Central Valley and standing up to Trump’s out of control presidency.”

Nick Ayers, the former chief of staff to the vice president, issued a statement taking himself out of the running to replace Johnny Isakson in the Senate.

Ayers left the Trump administration at the end of last year, turning down the chance to become the president’s chief of staff. At the time, Ayers said he would return to Georgia to spend more time with his wife and three young children.

Isakson, a Republican who has represented Georgia in the Senate since 2005, announced earlier today that he would retire at the end of the year due to mounting health issues.

More 2020 candidates condemn Trump's immigrant detention funding plan

More Democratic presidential candidates are condemning Trump’s plan to redirect hundreds of millions of dollars from Fema’s Disaster Relief Fund to pay for immigrant detention space.

Reports of the administration’s move emerged as Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands prepared for the arrival of Tropical Storm Dorian, which has strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane.

Updated

Mark Esper, the new secretary of defense, held a rare press briefing at the Pentagon. But Esper assured the (many) reporters gathered there that the Defense Department would resume regular press briefings.

Esper’s assurance comes two weeks after it was announced that Alyssa Farah, a former spokesperson for the vice president, would become the Defense Department’s new press secretary.

A Washington Post reporter and Iraq War veteran argued that the Pentagon’s lack of briefings in recent months could be read as an insult to US service members.

Jason Greenblatt, the Trump administration official who has been helping Jared Kushner try to negotiate an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, confirmed that the proposal will not be released before Israel’s elections on 17 September.

During the G7 summit, Trump raised the possibility that the deal would be ready before the elections, telling reporters: “We’re going to know who the [Israeli] prime minister is going to be fairly soon. ... [A deal] won’t be before the election, I don’t think… But I think you may see what the deal is before the election. And I think the deal will happen.”

There has been intense skepticism about whether the deal will result in any change, given that Palestinian officials have already been extremely critical of Kushner’s approach.

Updated

Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate activist from Sweden, is about to arrive in New York after her zero-carbon crossing of the Atlantic.

Joanna Walters has more on the Guardian’s live blog covering Thunberg’s arrival:

For the last few hours the yacht she sailed on has been anchored off southern Brooklyn, going through customs and immigration procedures, and ‘tide allowing’, it’s expected to approach the city past the Statute of Liberty soon.

A flotilla of supporters under sail are expected to intercept her near Liberty and escort her to a marina just on the west side of the tip of Manhattan, where the harbor meets the Hudson River.

Another House Democrat, Bill Foster of Illinois, has announced his support for launching an impeachment inquiry against Trump.

Foster is the 137th House Democrat to back an inquiry, according to Politico’s count, representing more than half of the party’s caucus.

But Nancy Pelosi has still appeared skeptical of impeachment, as the House speaker fears it could spark a backlash against Democrats that will carry over into the 2020 congressional races.

With Congress set to return to Capitol Hill in less than two weeks, Pelosi will likely soon have to confront the widening gap between Democratic leadership and most of her caucus members.

Updated

A wooden statue of Trump has popped up in Slovenia, the home country of the first lady, but it’s not necessarily a flattering depiction.

The Washington Post reports:

A wooden statue, nearly 25 feet tall, has suddenly popped up on private land in the village of Sela pri Kamniku, about 20 miles northeast of the capital, Ljubljana.

The president may not like it, though.

The statue depicts Trump in a blue suit and a bright red tie, standing with a fierce look in his blue eyes, his right arm raised straight up in the air with a clenched fist.

With a square head and jaw, the Trump statue looks almost like a Christmas nutcracker, or maybe a Presidential Pez. It also appears to be a work in progress, with an extension ladder still propped up against the statue’s head Wednesday and scrap lumber piled nearby....

The artist, who was helped in the construction by a group of local young people, said in [a] TV interview that the statue was ‘a provocation, because the world is full of populism.’

Abrams will (still) not run for the Senate in Georgia

Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said Johnny Isakson’s retirement announcement does not change her own plans on running for the Senate.

Abrams said earlier this year that she would not challenge David Perdue, Georgia’s other Republican senator, and she is sticking with her plan not to run for a Senate seat even with the unexpected opening.

Abrams also announced earlier this month that she would not enter the Democratic presidential primary, while leaving the door open to becoming the eventual nominee’s running mate.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Georgia emphasized the state’s importance in the 2020 Senate map now that both seats will be up for grabs.

“We thank Senator Isakson for his years of service to his state and country, and wish him all the best for his future,” the party said in a statement.

It added: “With now two Senate seats up for election in 2020, it has never been clearer that the path for Democratic victory runs through Georgia. We are the battleground state, and Georgia Democrats are ready to fight and deliver both the Senate and the presidency for Democrats across the country in 2020.”

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Trump has repeatedly attacked Puerto Rico as the island braces for the arrival of Tropical Storm Dorian, which appears to be strengthening. The president has simultaneously claimed he is “the best thing that’s ever happened to Puerto Rico.”
  • The third Democratic debate appears to be set at 10 candidates, barring the release of an unexpected poll that puts Tom Steyer over the threshold. That means the September debate will likely be a one-night event.
  • Two polls released this morning showed Joe Biden has maintained a double-digit lead over his fellow Democratic presidential candidates.
  • Trump has promised aides that he will pardon them if they break the law to get the border wall built before Election Day, according to the Washington Post.

The blog is still tracking Trump’s Twitter feed so that you don’t have to. Stay tuned.

Monmouth University, which put out a poll this week showing a three-way tie in the Democratic presidential primary, released a statement describing the results as “an outlier.”

Two other polls released this morning showed Joe Biden maintaining a double-digit lead over his primary opponents, a trend that has held steady in recent weeks.

Even when Monmouth’s poll was released on Monday, many of Biden’s supporters complained that the sample size was too low to draw conclusions about the state of the race.

But despite Monmouth acknowledging that its survey was likely an outlier, at least one pro-Biden pollster is still complaining about the university releasing the numbers.

Carlos Curbelo, a former Republican congressman who repeatedly criticized Trump while he was still in office, mocked the president’s comments about Puerto Rico as it prepares for the arrival of a tropical storm.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democratic presidential candidate, also criticized the Trump administration for moving funding away from disaster relief even though Dorian could progress into a Category 3 hurricane by the time it reaches the southeast coast.

The White House’s Twitter feed currently demonstrates the striking contrast between the government preparing for Tropical Storm Dorian and Trump focusing his attention on attacking Puerto Rico.

The White House has retweeted Trump’s mockery of the island as “one of the most corrupt places on earth” and his boast that he is “the best thing that’s ever happened to Puerto Rico.”

But the account has also reshared FEMA’s advice about what residents of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands should do as they prepare for the storm.

Twitter users are reacting to Trump’s comments on Puerto Rico with scorn and mockery as Tropical Storm Dorian approaches the island.

A writer for the Atlantic said Trump’s comments demonstrated the need for Puerto Rico to gain statehood.

But a Puerto Rican writer argued the comments were sadly in line with how the US territory has historically been treated.

Meanwhile, Dorian appears to be strengthening into a hurricane as it approaches Puerto Rico, but it may still miss the island.

Trump: 'I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to Puerto Rico!'

Trump has once again lashed out against Puerto Rico and its leaders as the island prepares for the arrival of Tropical Storm Dorian.

Describing the US territory as “one of the most corrupt places on earth,” Trump ridiculed Puerto Rican officials and bemoaned the aid sent to the island after Hurricane Maria.

Trump concluded, “And by the way, I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to Puerto Rico!”

Updated

Republican senator from Georgia to resign

Senator Johnny Isakson, a Republican of Georgia, intends to resign amid mounting health problems.

In a statement announcing his decision, Isakson said his advancing Parkinson’s meant he would “not be able to do the job over the long term in the manner the citizens of Georgia deserve.”

A special election will likely be called to fill the remainder of Isakson’s term, which ends in 2022. Georgia already has one Senate race on the books for next year, as Republican David Perdue seeks re-election.

Trump is once again complaining about coverage on his preferred cable network, Fox News.

The president continues to shower praise on his preferred Fox hosts, like Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro, but he has recently complained about how much coverage the network is giving to the Democratic presidential primary.

He whined last month that Fox “failed in getting the very BORING Dem debates [and] is now loading up with Democrats.”

Mattis' new book details policy differences with Trump

Jim Mattis, Trump’s former defense secretary, has a new memoir coming out next week in which he details some of his foreign policy differences with the president – most notably on Nato and torture.

Our colleague David Smith reports:

The book, Call Sign Chaos, will be published next week. The Guardian obtained a copy. In it, Mattis avoids direct criticism of his former boss but offers some pointed comments that will probably be seized on by opponents of the president.

The retired US marine corps general recalls being surprised in November 2016 when he was called by the then vice-president-elect, Mike Pence, and asked to meet Trump to discuss the job of defense secretary.

Mattis describes being driven to the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and having an ‘amiable’ meeting.

But, he notes: ‘I figured that my strong support of Nato and my dismissal of the use of torture on prisoners would have the president-elect looking for another candidate.’ ...

Mattis offers a brisk but telling explanation of his departure: ‘When my concrete solutions and strategic advice, especially keeping faith with allies, no longer resonated, it was time to resign, despite the limitless joy I felt serving alongside our troops in defense of the constitution.’

Trump voices support for Johnson as British PM pushes no-deal Brexit

Trump has offered some words of support to Boris Johnson, as the newly elected British prime minister tries to force through a no-deal Brexit by giving Parliament a limited amount of time to prevent such an outcome.

Our colleagues Jessica Elgot and Heather Stewart have more on the latest from London:

Johnson has confirmed he has asked the Queen for permission to suspend parliament for five weeks from early September.

The prime minister claimed MPs would have ‘ample time’ to debate Brexit, as he wrote to MPs on Wednesday, saying he had spoken to the Queen and asked her to suspend parliament from ‘the second sitting week in September’.

MPs will then return to Westminster on 14 October, when he said there would be a new Queen’s speech, setting out what he called a ‘bold and ambitious domestic legislative agenda for the renewal of our country after Brexit’.

The effect of the decision will be to curtail dramatically the time MPs have to introduce legislation or other measures aimed at preventing a no-deal Brexit. Parliament is expected to sit for little more than a week from 3 September.

Kellyanne Conway, a senior White House adviser, inspired some confusion among Fox News viewers yesterday when she started singing a Taylor Swift song to mock the artist’s criticism of the Trump administration.

“I actually like the new Taylor Swift song. It’s called ‘You Need To Calm Down.’ I can sing it for you, you know, where she says, ‘If you say it on the street that’s a knockout. If you put it in a tweet that’s a cop-out,’” Conway said.

She added, “I love that. That basically is Washington in a nutshell.” But some of Swift’s fans have speculated that the lyric is a dig at the president.

While accepting the MTV Video Music Award for best video of the year on Monday, Swift criticized the White House for not supporting the Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination based on one’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Trump promises to pardon officials who break laws to build border wall by Election Day

Trump is urging his aides to get a wall built along the US-Mexico border before Election Day using any means necessary. The president has even assured officials that he will pardon them if they break the law to do so, according to the Washington Post.

The Post reports:

The president has told senior aides that a failure to deliver on the signature promise of his 2016 campaign would be a letdown to his supporters and an embarrassing defeat. With the election 14 months away and hundreds of miles of fencing plans still in blueprint form, Trump has held regular White House meetings for progress updates and to hasten the pace, according to several people involved in the discussions.

When aides have suggested that some orders are illegal or unworkable, Trump has suggested he would pardon the officials if they would just go ahead, aides said. He has waved off worries about contracting procedures and the use of eminent domain, saying ‘take the land,’ according to officials who attended the meetings. ...

Asked for comment, a White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Trump is joking when he makes such statements about pardons.

Biden solidifies front-runner status with two new polls

The polls released this morning also indicate that Joe Biden has maintained a double-digit lead over his fellow Democratic presidential candidates.

According to Quinnipiac, Biden has the support of 32 percent of Democratic voters, besting second-place Elizabeth Warren by 13 points. The USA Today/Suffolk University poll also has Biden at 32 percent, with Warren trailing by 18 points.

The results indicate that a Monmouth University poll released earlier this week – which showed Biden, Warren and Bernie Sanders in a three-way tie – may have been an outlier.

But regardless, the three candidates have consistently come out on top in recent polls, as their opponents have struggled to break into that top tier.

Third Democratic debate likely to be a one-night event

Two more polls were released this morning that could have helped Democratic presidential candidates qualify for the next debate. But unfortunately for billionaire activist Tom Steyer, the results were not helpful.

Steyer only needs one more qualifying poll to participate in the September debate, but the surveys from Quinnipiac University and USA Today/Suffolk University showed him receiving the support of less than 1 percent of Democratic voters.

Tulsi Gabbard also failed to hit 2 percent in either survey, and the Hawaii congresswoman needed two more qualifying polls to make the debate stage.

Given that this blog does not know of any other polls expected to be released today, the third debate is shaping up to be a one-night event. Ten candidates have qualified so far, and ABC, the network hosting the debate, has said it will only add a second night if 11 or more candidates qualify.

Trump slams 'incompetent' San Juan mayor as tropical storm heads toward Puerto Rico

Happy Wednesday, live blog readers!

Given that it’s a day ending in a y, Donald Trump is up and tweeting at a critic, even though that critic is currently bracing for the arrival of Tropical Storm Dorian. The US president slammed the “incompetent Mayor of San Juan” while seeming to complain about how Puerto Rico has repeatedly been hit by major storms – something that the island’s residents certainly would not have chosen either.

Trump has repeatedly clashed with San Juan’s mayor, Carmen Yulín Cruz, but the latest attack may have been sparked by comments that Cruz made to CNN last night. “We are not going to be concerned by, frankly, his behavior, his lack of understanding, and it is ludicrous,” Cruz said of Trump. “So get out of the way, President Trump, and let people who can do the job get the job done.”

Cruz’s comments came as Trump has appeared tepid about providing support to the island and his administration prepared to pull more than $150 million from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund. Coming just two years after thousands of Puerto Ricans died as a result of Hurricane Maria, many are wondering how much more devastation needs to occur for Trump to take this threat seriously.

Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar addresses fair goers at the Minnesota State Fair.
Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar addresses fair goers at the Minnesota State Fair. Photograph: Jim Mone/AP

Here’s what else the blog is keeping its eye on:

  • Trump will receive his intelligence briefing and meet with his interior secretary, David Bernhardt.
  • Democratic presidential candidates have until the end of the day to qualify for the next debate.
  • Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota senator and presidential candidate, will hold a press conference on gun violence in Las Vegas.

That’s all still coming up, so stay tuned.

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MusicRadar
MusicRadar
Full Masters Of The Universe Trailer Revealed Jared Leto's Voice As Skeletor, And I've Got Thoughts
By the power of Greyskull, I am confused.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Slash sale: Guns ‘n’ Roses star’s guitar to fetch up to £300,000 in music auction
Exclusive auction will see rare Slash, Queen, and Beatles memorabilia go up for sale in April
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Sir Paul McCartney Banned From Reddit After Attempting to Post in r/PaulMcCartney
Paul McCartney's Reddit activity faced moderation after attempts to post in r/PaulMcCartney, sparking debate about platform rules, subreddit moderation, and how even global celebrities navigate online communities.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
Say my name: For newcomer and racialized children, belonging begins with classroom greetings
The first time I understood that names could hold two worlds was not by changing mine, but by hearing it differently. As a Pakistani child growing up in Canada, I learned early that my name could sound different depending on who was saying it. My name is simple and deeply…
The Conversation
The Conversation
‘Death hunted him since he was a kid’: how Lamar Odom survived to become a villain in his own tale
A new documentary charts the tragic events that led to the former NBA star overdosing in a Nevada brothel – and what came next
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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