‘Helsinki’ trends on Twitter as Republicans blame Biden for Ukraine crisis
The crisis in Ukraine has inspired chatter on social media about former president Donald Trump’s stance toward Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
As of Tuesday, hundreds of people were tweeting messages with “Trump” and “Helsinki” together.
During the 2018 Helsinki summit, Mr Trump said he believed Mr Putin’s “extremely strong and powerful” denials about meddling in the 2016 election, contradicting the findings of US intelligence services.
“I have president Putin, he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this. I don’t see any reason why it would be,” Mr Trump said, standing next to the Russian president.
Josh Marcus reports.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar23 February 2022 05:58
Jen Psaki describes Biden reading Trump’s letter in the Oval Office
White House press secretary Jen Psaki revealed that she was in the Oval Office when Joe Biden read the outgoing letter from predecessor Donald Trump.
“It was long, it was very long,” she said during a podcast with West Wing actor Rob Lowe, who played a speechwriter in the popular political series.
Justin Vallejo reports.
Oliver O’Connell23 February 2022 05:30
Tucker Carlson blasted for playing down criticism of Russia
Fox News host Tucker Carlson is facing backlash for doubling down on his criticism of Russian president Vladimir Putin amid the crisis in Ukraine. The popular Fox News pundit’s opinions have largely favoured Russia in his recent coverage.
On Tuesday, Mr Carlson said: “Why do Democrats want you to hate Putin? Has Putin shipped every middle-class job in your town to Russia? Did he manufacture a worldwide pandemic that wrecked your business? Is he teaching your kids to embrace racial discrimination? Is he making fentanyl? Does he eat dogs”?
His remarks came at the heels of former president Donald Trump’s praise for the Russian president. In an interview, Mr Trump called Mr Putin “savvy” and dubbed his move on Ukraine “genius”.
Slamming the host, senator Jim Hendren wrote on Twitter: “I watched his Air Force drop chemical weapons on children. How about that for a reason Tucker Carlson”. He was referring to a 2017 report when Russia faced sharp criticism by world powers over the chemical weapons deaths in northern Syria.
“In 35 seconds here, Tucker Carlson basically said: ‘Putin isn’t your enemy. Your fellow American is’,” Rep Adam Kinzinger tweeted.
He added: “This is beyond dangerous, to say the least”.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar23 February 2022 05:24
Voices | Trump has launched a right-wing safe
A funny thing happened when I tried to sign up for TRUTH Social, Donald Trump’s new social media platform. It asked me to agree to the terms of service and privacy policy, which is fair enough; most websites do. No, the strange thing was that when I clicked on them, I got a 404 error.
“Sorry, but it looks like this page does not exist,” I was informed.Nothing better sums up Donald Trump — as businessman, as reality TV star, as politician — than a 404 error. As an entrepreneur, Trump was famed for overpromising and overdelivering, writes Skylar Baker-Jordan.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar23 February 2022 05:00
Biden announces sanctions on Russia over Ukraine invasion
President Joe Biden said the United States would levy a “first tranche” of sanctions on two large Russian banks and “comprehensive sanctions” against Russia’s sovereign debt in response to its invasion of Ukraine, calling it “a flagrant violation of international law”.
Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC.
Oliver O’Connell23 February 2022 04:30
Lawyer for Carrol who says Trump raped her tells court they want his DNA
A federal judge sparred with former president Donald Trump’s legal team over his attempt to countersue E Jean Carroll, the journalist who has sued him for defamation.
Ms Carroll has alleged that Mr Trump raped her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s. The former president has denied the allegations.
Representing Ms Carroll, Roberta Kaplan said her client is keen to proceed with fact-finding regarding the case: “We’d like to get on with discovery. We do not seek to depose President Trump.”
“And we’d like his DNA,” she added, repeating a request previously made at an earlier stage of the case.
Clémence Michallon and Oliver O’Connell report.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar23 February 2022 04:22
Republicans slam Trump for praising Putin amid Ukraine crisis
Republican leaders on Tuesday slammed former president Donald Trump after he hailed Russian president Vladimir Putin as “savvy” and called his move on Ukraine “genius”.
Rep Liz Cheney on Tuesday said: “Former President Trump’s adulation of Putin today – including calling him a “genius” – aids our enemies”.
“Trump’s interests don’t seem to align with the interests of the United States of America,” she added.
House Republicans tweeted an image of Mr Biden walking away with a caption: “This is what weakness on the world stage looks like.”
Retweeting the post, Rep Adam Kinzinger condemned the “damn awful tweet during the crisis”.
“You can criticize policy but this is insane and feeds into Putin’s narrative. But hey, retweets amirite,” he added.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar23 February 2022 04:00
Florida Republican withdraws ‘Don’t Say Gay’ amendment that would forcibly out students
A Republican legislator in Florida has withdrawn an amendment to his so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill that would require schools to disclose whether a child is LGBT+ to their parents within six weeks of learning whether they are not straight, and appeared to remove protections for students who would have potentially been subject to abuse, abandonment or neglect by their families.
Alex Woodward reports.
Oliver O’Connell23 February 2022 03:30
Everything we know about CPAC 2022
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) opens on Thursday, 24 February in Orlando, Florida, with Donald Trump once again its headline speaker as he seeks to re-establish his grasp over the Republican Party ahead of a long-rumoured presidential run in 2024.
Joe Sommerlad reports.
Oliver O’Connell23 February 2022 02:45
Lawmaker’s Senate GOP platform says Democrats ‘trying to rig elections’
Absent any agenda from Senate Republican leaders heading into midterm elections this fall, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee has released his own blueprint to “rescue America” with a mix of familiar GOP priorities and culture war politics-fuelled action items.
Alex Woodward reports.
Oliver O’Connell23 February 2022 02:01