Related video: Adam Schiff accuses Republicans of setting stage for Trump dictatorship at tense hearing
Donald Trump has finally broken his silence over the major news that Rupert Murdoch is standing down as chairman of his companies Fox Corp and News Corp.
The media mogul, 92, announced his departure from the helm of his empire on Thursday.
Surprisingly, the former president stayed silent on the announcement until Friday morning – despite making multiple posts on his Truth Social account.
Finally, he wrote: “Many people are saying that, ‘You forced Rupert Murdoch into retirement!’ I do not believe this is so.”
It comes after the two men have endured something of a notorious love-hate relationship for years.
Meanwhile, General Mark Milley has revealed several “disturbing” moments during the Trump administration – in particular claiming Mr Trump made shocking comments about a disabled veteran.
Mr Milley told The Atlantic Mr Trump was unhappy Luis Avila – who lost a leg in an IED attack in Afghanistan – appeared at a military ceremony, saying “No one wants to see that”.
In other Trumpworld news, Rudy Giuliani has slammed what he says is a “completely, absolutely false” claim that he sexually assaulted ex-White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson on the day of the Capitol riot.
Biden and Lauren Boebert call out McCarthy for taking a long weekend as government shutdown looms
House Republicans have grown so dysfunctional that far-right members of the party appear to be on the same side as President Joe Biden.
On Thursday, both Mr Biden and Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert slammed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California for allowing the House to end its business for the week and lawmakers to set off on long weekends – even as a government shutdown looks increasingly inevitable.
“Last time there was a government shutdown, 800,000 Americans were furloughed or worked without pay. But enjoy your weekend,” Mr Biden wrote on X on Thursday.
“Congress should not be sent home this week without passing any individual appropriations bills that slash spending and show the American people we are making progress and can govern,” she wrote.
Gustaf Kilander22 September 2023 21:30
Ex-Trump aide backs Cassidy Hutchinson’s sexual assault claims about ‘liability’ Rudy Giuliani
Former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin has said that Rudy Giuliani was known to be a “liability” within the Trump administration – after he was accused of sexually assaulting a White House aide on January 6 2021.
Ms Griffin told CNN that it was an open secret that Mr Giuliani was a “wild card” who would often show up drunk to the White House and that women were warned to stay away from him.
Her comments came after Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Mr Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and a star witness before the January 6 committee, accused Mr Giuliani of sexually assaulting her on the day of the insurrection.
In an excerpt from her upcoming book Enough obtained by The Guardian, Ms Hutchinson, 27, wrote that Mr Giuliani, 79, put his hand “under my blazer, then my skirt” backstage at a rally before a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.
“I feel his frozen fingers trail up my thigh. He tilts his chin up. The whites of his eyes look jaundiced,” Ms Hutchinson wrote.
Bevan Hurley22 September 2023 21:00
Democratic lawmaker calls for Menendez to resign: ‘I’m appalled’
Representative Dean Phillips became the first congressional Democrat to call for the resignation of New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez on Friday, following the filing of corruption charges against the Foreign Relations Committee chair.
“I’m appalled,” Mr Phillips told CNN, adding that Democratic leadership should “absolutely” force Mr Menendez from his office.
Gustaf Kilander22 September 2023 20:35
Gen Mark Milley claims Trump made shocking comment about disabled veteran: ‘No one wants to see that’
General Mark Milley, the soon-to-retire chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has made a claim exposing Donald Trump for making “disturbing” comments about a wounded US Army veteran as well as other eye-popping statements.
Mr Milley is the 20th chairman, a role which he started when Mr Trump gave it to him in 2019. Before this, he was the 39th chief of staff of the Army and served in multiple commands throughout his career
In a tell-all interview with The Atlantic to commemorate the end of his 43-year career in the armed services, he recounted the times the former president made astonishing comments about former Army Captain Luis Avila, who was seriously wounded after five combat tours and appeared in a ceremony with Trump and Milley.
“Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded.” Mr Trump allegedly told Mr Milley, asking him to never let the soldier make a public appearance again.
Mr Avila, who had “lost his leg in an IED attack in Afghanistan and had suffered two heart attacks, two strokes, and brain damage as a result of his injuries,” was invited by Mr Milley to sing at an Armed Forces Welcome Ceremony in September 2019.
Amelia Neath22 September 2023 20:30
Journalist’s adult child arrested for spitting on Utah mayor who complained about mother’s reporting
A local journalist’s adult child has been arrested for spitting on a Utah mayor after he went on a disparaging rant about their mother’s reporting on him.
Linnea Pugmire, who uses they/them pronouns, was caught on video allegedly assaulting Orem Mayor David Young during an argument about a council meeting.
Pugmire’s mother Genelle Pugmire is a journalist for The Utah Daily Herald who often writes articles about Mr Young.
In a council meeting on Tuesday, Mr Young went on a 20-minute rant about the journalist’s articles, claiming that they were deceptive and made a lot of false claims about the council and himself.
Following the meeting, Pugmire confronted Mr Young outside the city council chambers, according to Fox 13.
Amelia Neath22 September 2023 20:00
Senator Robert Menendez charged for federal corruption and bribery after $580k of cash and gold found at home
A federal grand jury indictment has charged US Senator Robert Menendez with bribery and corruption charges connecting the Democratic leader of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee and his wife to an alleged scheme with New Jersey businessmen.
The indictment unsealed in US District Court in Manhattan on 22 September also names the senator’s wife, Nadine Menendez, New Jersey real estate developer Fred Daibes, and associates Wael Hana and Jose Uribe.
Prosecutors allege the couple enjoyed a “corrupt relationship” with their New Jersey associates to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from at least 2018 up until about 2022.
Authorities have seized $100,000 worth of gold bars and more than $480,000 in cash, mostly stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe at their home and bank, according to the indictment.
During the same court-authorized search of their home, federal agents also discovered home furnishings allegedly provided by Mr Hana and Mr Daibes and a “luxury vehicle” paid for by Mr Uribe parked in the garage, according to the indictment.
The indictment alleges that Ms Menendez and Mr Hana sought to introduce Egyptian intelligence and military officials to the senator for the purpose of “establishing and solidifying a corrupt agreement” with help from Mr Daibes and Mr Uribe using thousands of dollars in bribes, in exchange for Mr Menendez’s breaches of duty to benefit the government of Egypt – including financial support for its military.
Alex Woodward22 September 2023 19:30
Biden trounces Trump in new poll of New Hampshire voters
According to the survey of 2,107 Granite State voters by CNN and the University of New Hampshire Survey Centre, Mr Biden tops former president Donald Trump among voters there by a margin of 52 per cent to 40 per cent.
Mr Biden also holds a commanding lead among primary voters there despite not being permitted to campaign there by Democratic Party rules which make next year’s South Carolina primary the party’s first official presidential contest.
Among New Hampshire Democrats, Mr Biden has support from 78 per cent of them, while his two declared Democratic primary opponents — author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jr — each poll in single digits.
The president’s lead among primary voters in the Granite State stands in stark contrast to national poll, many of which show him tied with Mr Trump or trailing by single-digit margins.
But other state-by-state polls show that Mr Biden also leads Mr Trump by similar margins to his victory over the ex-president, who is trying to reclaim his former position as he battles nearly 100 separate felony charges in multiple jurisdictions.
A Susquehanna University poll of Michigan voters taken earlier this month showed the president with a three-point lead over his predecessor.
Andrew Feinberg22 September 2023 19:00
Trump’s GOP rivals leap at the chance to attack his ‘both sides’ abortion promise
Will abortion bans be the wedge issue of the 2024 Republican primary?
It’s certainly starting to look that way. After a debate-stage call from several candidates for national restrictions, the widely-recognised frontrunner for the nomination, Donald Trump, offered his take on the issue and offered a bold promise.
“I think they’re all going to like me,” he told NBC’s Kristin Welker, speaking of both sides of the abortion debate. “I think both sides are going to like me.”
It’s a promise that seems impossible just by definition, but one that hinted at Mr Trump’s actual lane in the primary: A moderate on the issue of abortion bans, or at least a moderate by GOP standards. The former president in the same interview trashed Florida’s six-week abortion ban — signed into law by his primary rival, Ron DeSantis — as a mistake. He also seemed to reject the idea of signing any abortion ban into federal law, at least without coming to consensus with the pro-abortion left.
John Bowden22 September 2023 18:30
Adam Schiff accuses Republicans of setting stage for Trump dictatorship at tense hearing
Mr Schiff, who’s running for Senate, made his comments at a hearing of the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, which featured testimony from Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“Today at a momentous time in our history, the country is about to go through a great trial. By this, I do not mean any of the several trials of the former president, but rather a trial of the proposition that we are a nation of laws committed to the rule of law and that no one is above the law,” Mr Schiff said. “It is a proposition well known around the world because it is the one essential ingredient in all democracies. We have all professed our belief in this principle, but it has never been truly tested. Not like it is today.”
The representative went on to say that the judiciary panel is “engaged in a portion of that trial”.
He went on to accuse Chairman Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, of intending to “abuse the power of this committee by trying to interfere in the prosecutions of Donald Trump by trying to use the committee’s power of subpoena to compel criminal discovery”.
Gustaf Kilander22 September 2023 18:00
Rupert Murdoch spent 70 years building the world’s most powerful media empire. Now, it enters a new chapter
From humble beginnings in his native Australia, the 92-year-old expanded his empire into television, films, and publishing across 50 countries as he amassed an estimated net wealth of $7.6bn.
He acquired hundreds of newspapers and news websites, and became a Hollywood film studio executive through the purchase of 20th Century Fox in 1985, before moving into his most influential sphere of cable news with the founding of his crown jewel Fox News in 1996.
Mr Murdoch had the ear of prime ministers and presidents, and his publications boasted of having the power to tilt elections in favour of right-wing candidates that were friendly to his business interests.
The popularity of Fox News and tabloid publications such as The Sun in the UK and the New York Post gave Mr Murdoch unparalleled sway over public opinion and right-wing politics.
Bevan Hurley22 September 2023 17:30