Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Maanvi Singh in San Francisco (now) and Joan E Greve in Washington (earlier)

Houston man becomes first charged for violating new bump stock ban – as it happened

A bump fire stock attaches to a semi-automatic assault rifle to increase the firing rate.
A bump fire stock attaches to a semi-automatic assault rifle to increase the firing rate. Photograph: George Frey/Reuters

Summary

  • The Carolinas are already seeing the effects of Hurricane Dorian, with hundreds of thousands losing power as the storm’s rain and wind intensified.
  • A Texas man was the first charged for violating the new bump stock ban.
  • Meanwhile, Trump continued to repeat his false claim that the storm was projected to hit Alabama when he tweeted about the alleged threat to the state on Sunday. He even got an advisor to release a statement backing him up.
  • The Trump administration released a plan to privatize Fannie and Freddie.
  • The administration also continued in its rollback of environmental laws. After reversing energy-saving lightbulb rules, Trump is planning to make it harder for states to set extra stringent automobile gas mileage standards.
  • The Government Accountability Office said Trump’s interior department violated the law in keeping national parks open during the government shutdown.
  • Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, is resigning even though the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan he has been working on with Jared Kushner remains unreleased.
  • A Mother Jones investigation revealed that a mysterious $50m debt held by Trump may signal tax fraud.
  • Joe Biden is continuing with a fundraiser co-hosted by the co-founder of a natural gas company, despite activists’ complaints that the event violates the spirit of “No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge,” which Biden has signed.

The administration is also planning a proposal to revoke part of California’s authority to set its own gas mileage standards, the AP reports:

The Environmental Protection Agency was preparing paperwork for the White House for the move, meant to help the administration set a single, less rigorous mileage standard enforceable nationwide, according to the official, who is familiar with the regulatory process and spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not been made public.

President Donald Trump has pushed for months to weaken Obama-era mileage standards nationwide and has targeted California’s decades-old power to set its own mileage standards as part of that effort.

Updated

Trump administration releases plans to privatize Fannie and Freddie

The Trump administration’s broad housing reforms include a plan to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac— the two companies behind about half of the country’s mortgages

The proposal released today includes plans to shrink Fannie and Freddie’s dominant market shares and create new competitors to the companies.

More from Reuters:

The Treasury’s plan, released in a 53-page report, marks the first major effort to jump-start housing finance reform in Washington after a failed 2012 attempt by the Obama administration.

The report calls for recuperating Fannie and Freddie and removing them from their government lifeline, but it strikes a cautious tone by failing to commit to concrete timelines or a specific recapitalization plan.

It commits to preserving the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, a cornerstone of the U.S. mortgage market, and leans heavily on Congress to implement several critical measures, including the creation of an explicit guarantee for Fannie and Freddie’s mortgage-backed securities.

Interior Department broke law during government shutown

A sign placed by staff at a closed campground at Joshua Tree National Park during the shutdown.
A sign placed by staff at a closed campground at Joshua Tree National Park during the shutdown. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

The Trump administration illegally diverted national park fees to keep the parks open through the government shutdown, the Government Accountability Office said.

Entrance fees paid by visitors are meant to be used for their maintenance and enhancement, rather than daily operations. But during the month-long shutdown, the Interior Department redirected the money to keep the parks open with minimal staff. As a result, trashcans overflowed and vandals chopped down trees and littered pristine landscapes. The superintendent of Joshua Tree National Park said it could take hundreds of years for the park to recover from damage caused by the longest shutdown in US history.

The GAO said the Interior Department moved money between accounts violated federal law in reallocating funds without congressional approval.

“The administration played a shell game with national park money in order to keep parks open,” the CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association said in a statement.

First person charged for violating new bump stock ban

A bump stock device, made by Slide Fire, that fits on a semi-automatic rifle to increase the firing speed.
A bump stock device, made by Slide Fire, that fits on a semi-automatic rifle to increase the firing speed. Photograph: George Frey/Getty Images

A federal grand jury has indicted a 43-year-old Houston man for possession of a bump stock.

Ajay Dhingra, 43, drew attention from law enforcement after he called the George Bush Foundation and left a concerning message. When authorities looked into the case, they discovered that “Dhingra had previously been committed to a mental institution, according to the allegations. As such, he is prohibited by federal law of possessing a firearm or ammunition,” according to a statement from the Southern District of Texas.

Bump stocks are attachments that essentially allow shooters to continuously fire with one pull of the trigger. The gunman responsible for the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting that killed 58 people used a bump stock.

The Trump administration’s ban went into effect in March.

Updated

Donald Trump just won’t drop the whole Alabama thing...

The White House released a new statement from Trump’s homeland security and counterterrorism advisor, who says he briefed the president on Hurricane Dorian and maps that “showed the possibility of storm force winds hitting parts of Alabama”.

Drugstores CVS and Walgreens, as well as grocery chain Wegmans are the latest retailers asking customers to refrain from openly carrying guns while shopping.

Walmart — the largest US retailer — and the grocery chain Kroger made similar announcements this week. None of the companies are banning open carrying outright, because they don’t want to “put employees into confrontational situations” the AP reports.

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 Carolinas are already seeing the effects of Hurricane Dorian, with hundreds of thousands losing power as the storm’s rain and wind intensify. Follow our live coverage of the hurricane for the latest updates.
  • Meanwhile, Trump continues to repeat his false claim that the storm was projected to hit Alabama when he tweeted about the alleged threat to the state on Sunday. Just in case you’ve missed the 1,000 or so fact-checks: that is not true.
  • Boris Johnson remains adamant that he will not request a Brexit extension, despite the British prime minister’s multiple political defeats in recent days. (And yes, the Guardian has a live blog for the latest on that, too.)
  • Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, is resigning even though the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan he has been working on with Jared Kushner remains unreleased.
  • A Mother Jones investigation revealed that a mysterious $50m debt held by Trump may signal tax fraud.
  • Joe Biden is continuing with a fundraiser co-hosted by the co-founder of a natural gas company, despite activists’ complaints that the event violates the spirit of “No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge,” which Biden has signed.

Maanvi will have more updates on the news of the day, so stay tuned.

Updated

A CNN analyst neatly summarized Joe Biden’s continued dominance in the polls despite a series of embarrassing gaffes that many commentators predicted would affect his front-runner status.

Trump clings to false Hurricane Dorian claim

Meanwhile, Trump is still refusing to acknowledge that he was wrong when he tweeted Sunday about the threat Hurricane Dorian posed to Alabama.

But as this blog and many, many others have reported, Dorian’s projected path did not include Alabama by the time that Trump sent a tweet suggesting so on Sunday.

It’s baffling why the president would want to keep returning to a false claim that has been relentlessly fact-checked even as the effects of Dorian continue to be felt by states other than Alabama.

The president’s refusal to acknowledge this fact falls in line with his general reluctance to ever admit fault, but much like his former press secretary’s claims about his inauguration crowd size, this appears to be a fight between Trump and reality itself.

Our colleague Oliver Laughland is in Nassau as Bahamians grapple with the devastation Hurricane Dorian has brought to the country.

Laughland reports:

I’m at the Bahamas National Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Nassau where a delegation of Caribbean leaders just departed for a fly over trip to see the destruction on Abaco Islands.

Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados is part of the delegation and took a minute to talk to the Guardian about her thoughts on hurricane Dorian’s links to the climate crisis. She did not pull her punches.

‘We are on the front line of the consequences of climate change but we don’t cause it,’ she said.

‘And the vulnerability that attaches therefore to us is a matter we’re trying to get the international community to deal with consistently.’

Follow the Guardian’s Hurricane Dorian live blog for more updates from Laughland in Nassau.

Biden going ahead with fundraiser co-hosted by fossil fuel company co-founder

Joe Biden is resisting calls to cancel a fundraiser co-hosted by Andrew Goldman, who co-founded a natural gas company. Activists are complaining that the event would violate the “No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge,” which Biden has signed.

During last night’s climate town hall, Biden appeared open to canceling the event, but it now appears he’s moving forward with it. One of Biden’s advisers defended the move by pointing out that Goldman is not involved in the day-to-day operation of Western LNG.

But that explanation is not cutting it for climate activists, who have complained that the fundraiser violates the spirit of the pledge.

It also gives more ammunition to some of Biden’s opponents, like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who have criticized the former vice president’s reliance on high-dollar fundraisers.

Updated

More bad news for Pence: Nancy Pelosi has issued a statement arguing that the vice president’s stay at Trump’s Ireland golf club violated the Constitution.

“Vice President Pence promised that their Administration would defend the Constitution and stand by a ‘strict constructionist’ interpretation of the Constitution. Instead the Trump-Pence Administration is ignoring the text itself and selling out the Constitution to line Trump’s pockets,” the Democratic House speaker said.

“Trump properties are a cesspool of corruption, a black hole for taxpayers’ money, an exploiter of immigrant labor and a national security threat with a suspected foreign spy walking the halls. ... The American people deserve a government that serves their interests, not one that’s being exploited to line the President’s pockets.”

It doesn’t help matters that Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, told reporters Trump had made a “suggestion” that the vice president stay at his property. Short later walked that back, claiming it was a result of misreporting. Again: the reporting was based on his own comments.

Mike Pence is in London, where he met with Boris Johnson earlier today. The vice president has echoed Trump’s support of the British prime minister and his Brexit timeline, but he dodged questions about Johnson’s political fortunes.

Pence’s Europe trip on the whole has been rocky at best. He has raised ethical questions for staying at Trump’s Ireland golf club, offended Irish officials by promoting Brexit during his visit and faced scorn in Iceland over his record on LGBT rights.

He’ll likely be happy to return to the United States, where a new book is being published later this month on the vice president’s rise to power and relationship with Trump. The book’s release could spell trouble for Pence, given how little this president enjoys sharing the spotlight.

Trump’s daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, rejected any suggestion that the departure of Jason Greenblatt signaled trouble for the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan he was working on.

Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner, has been crafting the peace plan with Greenblatt for months, but it remains unreleased. The administration has said it will release the plan after the Israeli elections on Sept. 17, but no specific date has been offered.

Trump herself is currently on a five-day tour of South America to promote female entrepreneurship.

Johnson says he would rather 'die in a ditch' than delay Brexit

Meanwhile, across the pond, Boris Johnson has remained adamant that he will not delay Brexit, despite multiple political defeats that have left the British prime minister somewhat hamstrung.

During a rambling and odd press conference today, Johnson said he would rather “die in a ditch” than request a Brexit extension.

The Guardian’s UK politics live blogger, Andrew Sparrow, called it “the most extraordinary prime ministerial press conference we’ve seen for years.” Follow the blog for more updates on the latest from London.

Trump's $50 million debt may signal tax fraud

A mysterious $50 million debt that Trump owes to a business called Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC, which the president fully owns, may be a sign of tax fraud, experts say.

Mother Jones reports in a newly published investigation:

Donald Trump’s massive debts—he owes hundreds of millions of dollars—are the subject of continuous congressional and journalistic scrutiny. But for years, one Trump loan has been particularly mystifying: a debt of more than $50 million that Trump claims he owes to one of his own companies. According to tax and financial experts, the loan, which Trump has never fully explained, might be part of a controversial tax avoidance scheme known as debt parking. Yet a Mother Jones investigation has uncovered information that raises questions about the very existence of this loan, presenting the possibility that this debt was concocted as a ploy to evade income taxes—a move that could constitute tax fraud.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke is providing Twitter updates on his trip from New York to Boston via bus.

A spokesperson for O’Rourke, who was in New York to participate in CNN’s climate-focused town hall yesterday, said the bus option cuts down on how much his travel contributes to pollution.

Representative Doug Collins, the top-ranking Republican on the House judiciary committee who has frequently defended Trump against calls for his impeachment, is pushing to be named the next senator of Georgia.

The New York Times reports:

Mr. Collins is moving swiftly. Just a week after Senator Johnny Isakson, a fellow Republican, unexpectedly announced that he would retire at year’s end, Mr. Collins has emerged as one of the most serious contenders among a dozen or so Republicans thought to be interested in the position.

Under Georgia rules, Governor Brian Kemp can appoint a temporary replacement for Mr. Isakson this year and call for a special election in November 2020 to complete the final two years of Mr. Isakson’s term.

Mr. Collins’s allies in Washington and Georgia are privately making the case that, as the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, he has the national profile and fund-raising prowess to hold the seat against what is expected to be energized and well-funded Democratic challenges in 2020 and again in 2022. And Mr. Collins himself has placed calls stating his interest in the seat to Mr. Kemp and to Mr. Trump, a potentially powerful ally who could sway the governor’s thinking, according to people familiar with the calls.

It looks like Pete Buttigieg will soon be on Snapchat. The Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign teased his new profile on Twitter.

Buttigieg will join fellow 2020 contenders Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on the platform, but some have mocked the candidates’ Snapchats as a desperate attempt to pander to the youth vote.

Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has joined the board of Priorities USA, the party’s largest super PAC.

Stacey Abrams arrives to speak at the National Action Network’s annual convention in New York City.
Stacey Abrams arrives to speak at the National Action Network’s annual convention in New York City. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

“Stacey Abrams is an inspiring leader and a champion for voting rights in Georgia and around the nation,” said Priorities USA Chairman Guy Cecil. “We are incredibly lucky to add her insight and critical experience to our organization’s board and to get to fight along side her for the rights of all Americans, especially those whose voices are being silenced. We look forward to working together so that every American has a fair chance to participate in the democratic process.”

Abrams had been discussed as a possible Senate candidate in Georgia or even a potential presidential candidate, but she announced last month she would not enter the 2020 field and instead focus on her voting rights initiative. However, she has left the door open to becoming the running mate of the eventual Democratic nominee.

Trump's press secretary spars with CNN over incorrect graphic

Trump’s press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, took time out of her day to attack CNN for briefly showing a map that incorrectly labeled Alabama as Mississippi.

The criticism seems, to this blog, pretty rich given that the president has apparently had some trouble reading maps this week and is notoriously reluctant to admit when he has made an error.

Apparently, CNN’s communications team had a similar response to Grisham’s tweet.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Hurricane Dorian is making its way toward North Carolina amid warnings of flash flooding and a potentially life-threatening storm surge. Follow our live coverage to get the latest updates.
  • Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, is resigning as the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan he has been working on with Jared Kushner remains unreleased.
  • US-Chinese trade talks are set to resume next month, but Trump has shown no signs of backing down on his tariffs.
  • Schools and daycares for military families are among the projects that will lose funding to pay for Trump’s border wall.

The blog is still keeping an eye on the storm and the turnover at the Trump White House, so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, the White House has confirmed that Trump was referring to the private-sector ADP report when he tweeted about the job numbers.

Some had raised concerns that Trump was referring to the official Bureau of Labor Statistics report, which will not be publicly released until tomorrow, and a 1985 policy directive prohibits the president from releasing the jobs numbers early.

Palestine remains pessimistic about the peace plan that was being crafted by Greenblatt and Jared Kushner, as a senior Palestinian official wished the unreleased proposal “good riddance.”

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a statement thanking Greenblatt for helping to craft an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

Of course, the peace plan has not yet been released, partly due to the political instability in Israel as Netanyahu has struggled to craft a governing coalition. Elections will be held there on Sept. 17.

Trump confirms Middle East envoy's departure

Trump has confirmed over his favorite form of social media that his special envoy for the Middle East is leaving the administration.

Greenblatt’s responsibilities on the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan will be taken over by Avi Berkowitz, a close aide to Jared Kushner.

Officials said Greenblatt, a former Trump Organization lawyer, was departing to spend more time with family, noting that he stayed in the administration longer than he originally intended.

But a White House reporter for McClatchy said his exit underscored how much the peace plan has changed from how it was originally envisioned.

The proposed peace plan from Greenblatt and Kushner has long been delayed and is now expected to be released after the Israeli elections on Sept. 17.

But the plan is likely to face steep opposition from Palestinian officials, who have criticized Greenblatt and Kushner’s process as unfairly deferential to Israel.

Trump's envoy for the Middle East resigns

Trump’s envoy for the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, plans to resign once the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan he has been working on with Jared Kushner is released, officials said.

Reuters reports:

Greenblatt, who had intended to stay only two years when he began working at the White House in early 2017, is eager to return to his wife and six children who stayed behind at their home in New Jersey, the officials said.

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said it was a “humiliating” moment when Trump presented a map of Hurricane Dorian’s trajectory that had been altered with a Sharpie.

“I feel sorry for the President, and that is not the way we should feel about the most powerful figure in this country, somebody on whose wisdom and judgment our lives literally depend,” the Indiana mayor told CNN.

He continued: “I don’t know if he felt it necessary to pull out a sharpie and change the map, I don’t know if it was one of his aides believed they had to do that in order to protect his ego. No matter how you cut it, this is an unbelievably sad state of affairs for our country.”

The map had seemingly been altered to appear as though the hurricane might strike Alabama, even though meteorologists have said for days that the state is not in danger. Trump was called out for falsely claiming otherwise on Twitter over the weekend.

US-Chinese trade talks to restart next month

US and Chinese negotiators have agreed to meet next month to restart trade talk, but there’s little sign Trump will relent on his tariffs.

Jasper Jolly reports:

Senior negotiators will meet in early October, after a call on Wednesday night between the Chinese vice-premier, Liu He, and the US trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, and treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin.

Officials from the two countries will hold discussions from mid-September to prepare the way for the talks.

Traders welcomed the news, pushing Germany’s trade-sensitive Dax index up 0.8% by midday BST. Shanghai’s CSI 300 index closed more than 1% higher.

Investors remain cautious, however, with little sign that Donald Trump has any appetite to back down despite the negative effects on the US economy ahead of the 2020 presidential election campaign. The president recently hailed his ‘very successful trade battle’ with China, and said he did not want the US to be ‘servants to the Chinese’.

Trump is also tweeting about the jobs numbers, even though the White House won’t get the official August report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics until later today.

An economic reporter for the New York Times said the president was likely referring to a private-sector report.

Updated

Hurricane Dorian is expected to move past South Carolina later today, and it will travel toward North Carolina tomorrow.

As it does, there is a high risk of flash flooding in the Carolinas, and the storm’s intense wind and rain has already caused power outages for thousands. Follow our live coverage of the hurricane to get the latest updates.

Updated

Dorian kills at least 20 in the Bahamas

Anyway, back to much more important matters. The death toll in the Bahamas from Hurricane Dorian has hit 20 and is expected to rise.

Our colleague Oliver Laughland reports from Nassau:

Aerial video of the Abaco Islands – a northern band of islands hardest hit by Dorian – showed widespread devastation, with the harbour, shops, workplaces, a hospital, and airport landing strips damaged or blown to pieces, all of which was frustrating rescue efforts.

Dorian pummelled the area as a slow moving category 5 hurricane over the weekend.

‘So many families have been deeply impacted’ by Dorian, which ‘has left generational devastation across Abaco and Grand Bahama’, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said at a press conference late on Wednesday. ‘We ask you to pray for the families and loved ones of the deceased,’ added the PM, who had just returned from a flyover of the Abacos.

Debra Messing, the actor sparking Trump’s Twitter ire, tweeted this over the weekend in reaction to news of the president’s Beverly Hills fundraiser.

Some commentators, including Whoopi Goldberg on The View, compared Messing’s request to Joseph McCarthy’s list of alleged communist sympathizers in Hollywood during the 1950s. But Messing said she does not support blacklists, arguing that her interest in Trump’s supporters is a first amendment issue.

Messing also came under fire for liking a church sign in Alabama that read “a black vote for Trump is mental illness”. But the actor apologized for that matter.

Updated

Trump slams actor as 'McCarthy-style racist' as Hurricane Dorian wreaks havoc

Even though Hurricane Dorian has strengthened back into a category 3 storm and could unleash life-threatening storm surge on the east coast, Trump is focusing on what really matters.

Namely, he is calling out a sitcom star for her request that the names of those attending a Trump fundraiser in Beverly Hills be released.

Updated

Military families affected by fund diversion for Trump's border wall

Good morning, live blog readers!

Well, the list of military construction projects that will be affected by the diversion of funds for Donald Trump’s border wall is out, and service members’ families are among those affected.

Schools and daycare centers for military families are just some of the 127 defense department projects that will lose their fundings to cover the cost of the wall that the president insisted Mexico would pay for.

Trump has reportedly insisted that he cannot win re-election if he does not get the wall built, even as he continues to falsely claim the wall is already under construction. But will he really score political points by taking badly needed funding from military families? The calculus seems off, not to mention harmful.

Bernie Sanders and his wife walk along the midway at the Iowa State Fair.
Bernie Sanders and his wife walk along the midway at the Iowa state fair. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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

  • Trump will meet today with the CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra, and award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former NBA player Jerry West.
  • Mike Pence is in the United Kingdom, where he will be speaking at the City London Corporation International Trade Dinner.
  • Bernie Sanders will appear on Seth Meyers’ late-night show.

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

Updated

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
‘Called it!’: Well-known drag artist and influencer claims credit for Jim Carrey ‘clone’ at Cesar Film Awards
A prosthetics expert also weighed in.
We Got This Covered
We Got This Covered
Zendaya’s mum gives cryptic response to reports of ‘secret’ wedding to Tom Holland
The actress’s stylist recently claimed that the couple’s nuptials ‘already happened’, now her parent has weighed-in
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
10 Photos of Alexis Stone: Celebrity Makeup Master Sparks Jim Carrey Doppelgänger Conspiracy Online
Celebrity makeup artist Alexis Stone sparks online frenzy with an alleged Jim Carrey transformation at the César Awards, prompting viral look-alike speculation.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
The one change that worked: I stopped planning holidays – and found the joy in travel
I used to scroll through scores of online reviews to put together a trip itinerary before I’d even left home. Now I just let my feet – and my nose – guide me wherever I go
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Why we shouldn’t abandon handwriting at school
Over the decades, technological devices have been gradually integrated into language learning, as is recently the case with generative artificial intelligence (AI).
The Conversation
The Conversation
Saturday Night Live Bafta sketch branded ‘horrific’ by leading Tourette syndrome charity
Sketch featured parodies of JK Rowling, Bill Cosby and Mel Gibson saying controversial remarks were due to TS
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play