Pro-Trump conference speakers urged attendees to “go to war”, report says
ProPublica is reportingthat one of the speakers at at a recent pro-Trump conference repeatedly urged the crowd to go to “war” in support of the president:
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“We’ve come to declare war!” Pastor Mark Burns told the crowd three times in the Donald J Trump Grand Ballroom. Conference-goers roared back: “War! War! ”
Full story here:
Asked for comment, Burns told ProPublica he does not endorse violence : “Me talking about going to war forDonald Trumpis simply a call to action for Republicans to be verbal in support of our conservative values and support for this president. ”
Twitter publishes rules on moderating tweets by world leaders
Julia Carrie Wong
Guardian’s senior technology report, Julia Carrie Wong, has this update on Twitter’s policies for world leader’s tweets:
Twitter on Tuesday publishedadditional informationabout how it plans to act if a world leader tweets something that violates its rules. The update follows the announcement in June of apolicy whereby the company would choose not to delete tweetsby major political figures that violated the company’s rules if the company decided it was in the public interest.
Since the election ofDonald Trump, Twitter has been in the unenviable position of having the ability to censor the president of the United States on the very platform where he is the most unguarded. It has largely resisted the intense pressure to do so, even when it seemed that Trump’s tweets might have fallen afoul of Twitter’s rules if they had been sent by anyone else.
In September 2017, after Trump appeared to threaten North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Twitter, the company announced that it had begun considering “ newsworthiness ”when considering whether to take down a tweet.
The June 2019 policy allowed for a scenario whereby a world leader’s tweet was bad enough to come down, but merited remaining up for documentation or accountability. In these scenarios, Twitter said today, the company will apply a label to the offending tweet and users will not be allowed to like, retweet or otherwise share it.
Today’s blog post by Twitter also provides a bit more detail about how they plan to approach such a scenario. The company says that it is more likely to simply delete a tweet by a world leader if it promotes terrorism, violence or self-harm; involves illegal goods or services; is intended to interfere with elections (such as by posting misinformation about voting); or includes the private information of another person – especially if that person is not a public figure.
The company says that it is more likely to allow a violating tweet to remain published if it violates rules against hate speech and hateful conduct; abuse or harassment; or contains graphic or gruesome media.
US accuses Turkey’s Halkbank of scheme in Iran sanctions
Hi all – Sam Levin here, taking over our live coverage for a bit before the debates kick off.
US prosecutors in New York have charged Turkey’s Halkbank with taking part in a multibillion-dollar scheme to evade US sanctions against Iran,Reuters is reporting.
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The charges against the majority state-owned bank mirror those against one of its former executives, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, who was found guilty and sentenced to prison after a trial in Manhattan federal court last year.
Prosecutors said that between 2012 and 2016, Halkbank helped run a scheme that allowed Iran to spend proceeds from sales of its oil and gas on international markets, in violation of US sanctions, using a complex web of front companies.
The scheme ran with the protection of high-ranking officials in Iran and Turkey, some of whom received tens of millions of dollars in bribes, the prosecutors said.
A US lawyer for Halkbank did not immediately respond to Reuters ’request for comment.
Some backstory here on how the bank relates to the ongoingRudy Giulianiscandal:
Late afternoon summary
There is still plenty of action to come in the world ofUS politics, so do stay tuned . My colleague Sam Levin is taking over this blog for a short while and then, at 6. 30 ET, Guardian US’s Joan Greve will roll out tonight’s Democratic debate live blog. Stay tuned.
Here are the main events so far today:
- Mike Pence
, in what looks like a hapless move to close the stable door after the horse has bolted, istravelingtoTurkeytomorrow to give leaders there a piece of his mind about advancing on Kurdish territory in Syria after the US quit. - Rudy Giulianihasrefusedto comply with the congressional subpoena that demanded documents relating to the Trump-Ukraine impeachment inquiry from his by a deadline of today.
- The parents of British teenager (Harry Dunn) , who died in a car crash involving the wife of a US diplomat, who then fled to America under the cloak ofdiplomatic immunity, were due to have ameeting at the White Housethis afternoon. Further details are yet to emerge, so stay tuned.
(State department official) *************************************************** (George Kent) is still testifying behind closed doors on Capitol Hill in theimpeachment inquiry.
Mike Pence to travel to Turkey
Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Ankara tomorrow, leading a US delegation to try to pressure the Turkish government to ceasefire and halt its aggressive military action in the Kurdish region of north-eastern Syria.
This is in addition to sanctions announced against Turkey by the president yesterday.
As a reminder, here’s what Republican Mitt Romney had to say about Donald Trump’s decision to pull US troops from that area, where they had allied with Kurdish forces to attack ISIS and keep hostile Turkish and semi-hostile Syrian forces at bay.
Last week Romneyissueda bipartisan statement with Democratic Senator Chris Murphy.
And today, Murphy issued a fresh statement that read, in part: “No one but Trump is to blame for the chaos Turkey has unleashed in Syria, and we all need to acknowledge it will be difficult to put the genie back in the bottle at this point. It’s absurd that Trump is now sanctioning Turkey for an invasion that he invited and announced.
“Congress now has a decision to make: do something in haste that makes us feel powerful or do something strategic that accounts for the fact that much of the harm Trump has done cannot be reversed … Congress needs to make sure America does its part to alleviate the humanitarian nightmare caused by Trump’s unconscionable double crossing of the Kurds. ”
He also called for Congress to require the Trump administration to take increased numbers of Kurdish refugees into the United States, and provide countries such as Iraq with humanitarian aid to help deal with a new influx of refugees.
Giuliani, budget office won’t comply with congressional subpoenas
Rudy Giulianihas formally notified the House that he won’t submit documents requested by the Trump-Ukraineimpeachment inquiry, which had a deadline of today.
In the letter to the relevant committee chairmen from his erstwhile lawyer, (Jon Sale) , the inquiry is condemned as “an uncons titutional, baseless and illegitimate ‘impeachment inquiry’ ”and that the subpoena is“ overbroad and unduly burdensome ”.
The government budget office has also just said that it will not comply with the demand for documents, either.
The subpoena issued to the office of management and budget related to the delay in military funds to(Ukraine) .
That issue is at the heart of theimpeachment inquiry, in relation to allegations that Donald Trump held back congressionally-approved aid to Ukraine as a form of pressure to persuade the new president,Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to investigate Trump’s Democratic rival,Joe Biden, and sonHunter Biden
Giuliani stonewalls
And sticking with Giuliani, subpoenas and lawyers …
Rudy Giuliani parted ways today with his attorney Jon Sale.
But, apparently on the cusp of not being his lawyer, Sale put his pen to this refusal of Giuliani to comply with the congressional subpoena seeking documents in the impeachment inquiry.
Sale, formerWatergateprosecutor and a former assistant US attorney in the Southern District of New York , wasonly hired a couple of weeks ago.
Updated
Giuliani under investigation
Rudy Giulianiwas paid $ 500, 000 for work he did for a company co-founded by the Ukrainian-A merican businessmanarrestedlast week on campaign finance charges, Giuliani has told Reuters today.
The businessman, Lev Parnas, is a close associate of Giuliani and was involved in his effort to investigate Trump’s political rival, former Vice President(Joe Biden).
Giuliani said Parnas’ company, “Fraud Guarantee”, based in Boca Raton, Florida, whose website says it aims to help clients “reduce and mitigate fraud”, engaged Giuliani Partners, a management and security consulting firm , around August 2018.
Giuliani said he was hired to consult on Fraud Guarantee’s technologies and provide legal advice on regulatory issues.
Federal prosecutors are “examining Giuliani’s interactions” with Parnas and another Giuliani associate, Igor Fruman , who was also indicted on campaign financecharges, a law enforcement source told Reuters on Sunday .
The New York Times reported last week that Parnas had told associates he paid Giuliani hundreds of thousands of dollars for what Giuliani said was business and legal advice. Giuliani said for the first time on Monday that the total amount was $ 500, 000.
Giuliani told Reuters the money came in two payments made within weeks of each other. He said he could not recall the dates of the payments. He said most of the work he did for Fraud Guarantee was completed in 2018 but that he had been doing follow-up for over a year.
Parnas and Fruman were arrested at Dulles Airport outside Washington last week on charges they funneled foreign money to unnamed U.S. politicians in a bid to influence US-Ukraine relations in violation of US campaign finance laws. The men were preparing to board a plane to Europe.
Foreign nationals are prohibited from making contributions and other expenditures in connection with US elections, and from making contributions in someone else’s name.
Giuliani would not say where the money came from, only adding: “I know beyond any doubt the source of the money is not any questionable source. The money did not come from foreigners. I can rule that out 100%. ”
Updated (at 3.) ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** (PM EDT)
Subpoena deadlines today
Rudy Giulianihas a deadline of today to turn over documents related to theimpeachment inquiry, after he was subpoenaed, aka legally ordered, to do so last month.
The three House committees leading the inquiry, intelligence, foreign affairs and oversight, demanded the material from Giuliani, alleging that he “pressed the Ukrainian government to pursue two politically motivated investigations.”
The chances of him turning over the material on deadline are, perhaps, slim to medium, given that he has been scathing about the political integrity of the inquiry.
Vice PresidentMike Pencehas also been subpoenaed to submit documents by today, and the chances of him doing so appear to be slim to zero.
And defense secretary (Mark Esper) , likewise, has a today deadline to comply with a subpoena for related documents from the Pentagon, and has indicated the department will cooperate.
However, headdedon Fox News Sunday at the weekend that Donald Trump and other officials may yet create complications for the compliance
“I don’t know what restrictions we may have internally in regard to releasing them,” Esper said. “The White House has a say on the release of documents as well.”
Warnings began about Giuliani and Ukraine many months ago – report
As state department official George Kent continues his testimony behind closed doors to the House intelligence committee on Capitol Hill, crumbs of info are tumbling out in the ongoing(impeachment inquiry).
Kent said he warned colleagues as far back as March, the New York Times reports, aboutDonald Trump‘ s personal lawyer / human “hand grenade”Rudy Giuliani‘s role in what Kent described as a “disinformation” campaign – using a Ukrainian prosecutor to smear Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2020 presidential race,Joe Biden, and the ousted ambassador to the Ukraine,Marie Yovanovitch.
Yovanovitch, who was told told that she had “done nothing wrong ”but was being withdrawn from her post anyway (following an apparent political campaign against her because she was seen as anti-Trump – and possibly, for those on the make in the swamp, too zealously anti-corruption) defied White House non -cooperation with the impeachment inquiry and testified in Washington last week.
Warren goes full-on SNL
Democratic front-runnerElizabeth Warrenis on an absolutetweet stormtoday, linking America’s big dollar election donation system corrupt, calling out pay-for-play – and taking full advantage of comedy actorKate McKinnon‘s most recent depiction of her on Saturday Night Live.
McKinnon has Warren’s bright-eyed, brisk and breathless earnestness down and raised laughs with her impression of the Senator and 2020 candidate’s tactic of calling small-dollar Donor personally to thank them for giving to her campaign.
But for Warren, 70, it’s pure gold.
Early afternoon summary
Action in the Trump-Ukraine impeachment inquiry is taking place behind closed doors today, so we’ll wait breathlessly for any revelations via participating lawmakers on Capitol Hill committees taking testimony from state department official George Kent.
Meanwhile, there is plenty else afoot inUS politics.
- The British parents of 19 – year-oldHarry Dunnhave suddenly beeninvitedto theWhite Housethis afternoon in connection with the diplomatic row over their son’s death in August .
- Kent is just one of a string ofkey witnessestestifyingbehind closed doors in Congress this week, much to Donald Trump’s chagrin.
- The (US Congress) isback in sessionafter a two week recess. Apart from impeachment action in the House, Senate Democrats aim to force votes on a number of issues, including theclimate crisis and gun control.
- Elizabeth Warrenwill be hoping tocement her positionas Democratic front-runner in the primary debate in Ohio tonight – only just over a year to the presidential election now ! And how will Bernie Sanders do, just coming back from a heart attack? In an unprecedented format, it’s one stage, one night 12 candidates tonight.The Guardian‘s crack team of politics reporterLauren Gambinoand live bloggerJoan Grevewill be there. National affairs correspondent(Tom McCarthy)will train his eagle-eye from New York and bring you the main “take aways”.
- As US troops are pulling back from Kurdish territory in north-eastern Syria,Russian forcesare moving in amid violence and extreme tension between Turkish, Kurdish and Syrian interests, in a pickle that threatens a new wave of Middle Eastern geo-political instability.
Updated at 1. 54 PM EDT
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