Officers were instructed to search state voter databases and create federal records on suspected non-citizen voters despite concerns over the process Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lawyers told officers investigating voter fraud they would not be held responsible for violating state laws around accessing voter registration information, an anonymous whistleblower revealed on Monday . DHS officers also had concerns about the reliability of the data they were working with, the whistleblower said. The Trump administration has ramped up its investigation into noncitizen voting ahead of the midterm elections. Noncitizen voting is extremely rare and the effort has only turned up a handful of cases so far. Continue reading...

CDC announces changes to how it reports measles deaths as Pennsylvania continues to confirm more cases The Trump administration has changed the way it counts measles deaths amid an outbreak in Pennsylvania, which on Sunday saw the third apparent measles-related death in the state reported by a local coroner. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now using data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), which is a way to track mortality trends over time, according to a note published to the agency’s website on 4 September. Continue reading...

Office of inspector general’s report says practice at Florida immigration jail is not aligned with ‘humane treatment’ Before the facility was shuttered , detainees at Florida ’s “Alligator Alcatraz” federal immigration jail were frequently locked in outside metal cages no bigger than a phone booth, according to a damning government watchdog report that said the practice “does not align with standards for humane treatment”. The findings from the office of the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were published on its website – and offer rare criticism of the Trump administration by one of its own agencies. Continue reading...

The vast sums given to Nigel Farage’s party in recent days must lead to action on political funding The staggering sums gifted to Reform UK over the weekend have transformed the context for the representation of the people bill making its way through parliament. The announcement of two £36m donations from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, both crypto billionaires who have lived abroad, makes Andy Burnham’s decision not to impose a limit on political donations – a move he supported before becoming prime minister – look even more misguided. Fortunately the House of Lords still has the chance to amend the bill. It should take it by imposing meaningful limits on both political donations and party spending. It is unclear whether either man meets the criteria set out in the Rycroft review into foreign influence in politics. It set a maximum of £100,000 per annum for people who have not been in the UK for at least a year. Mr Delo previously lived in Hong Kong while Mr Harborne is based partly in Thailand; Nigel Farage said on Monday that he does not know the details of their movements. While ministers will view the prospect of a legal fight over eligibility with trepidation, they must do what it takes to ensure rules are met. Continue reading...

Subpoena is among a flurry issued in recent weeks as part of DoJ inquiry into alleged conspiracy against Trump The former CIA director John Brennan has been subpoenaed to testify next month before a Florida grand jury as part of a Department of Justice investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired against Donald Trump, one of his lawyers said Monday. Ken Wainstein, an attorney for Brennan, disclosed in a court filing that prosecutors last Thursday presented him with a subpoena for Brennan to appear before a grand jury in Fort Pierce, Florida, on 15 October. Continue reading...

Congresswoman awarded the convicted abuser and musician a congressional record recognition in Arlington Democratic US representative Jasmine Crockett is under fire for honoring musician Chris Brown, a convicted abuser, with an official recognition at a Texas concert over the weekend. Crockett, a Texas congresswoman, awarded Brown and R&B musician Usher a congressional record recognition at a performance in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday. Appearing alongside Texas state representative Venton Jones, Crockett said she was there to “honor” Brown and Usher. Continue reading...

Families have asked Trump to declassify records that could shed light on Saudi Arabia’s alleged role in the 2001 attacks Donald Trump said on Sunday that he will look into requests from families of 9/11 victims to release records that could shed light on Saudi Arabia’s alleged role in the attacks 25 years ago. Several families have long alleged that a group of extremist religious leaders in Saudi Arabia gained influence in the kingdom’s government and aided the hijackers. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudis, but the Saudi government has long denied any involvement in the attacks. Continue reading...

The 42-year-old liberal commentator regularly co-hosts the network’s 5pm talk show, taking flak from her conservative colleagues and harsh insults from the president. Jessica Tarlov is the left-leaning Fox News host that some of the network’s most conservative viewers, including Donald Trump, love to hate. The US president regularly bashes Tarlov on his Truth Social platform, in April calling her “one of the Least Attractive and Talented People on all of Television”, and demanding that Fox “GET HER OFF THE AIR.” Continue reading...

Project will prepare volunteers across US to monitor polls, encourage early voting and respond to disinformation The Democrats intend to train tens of thousands of volunteers to monitor the polls and counter possible voter intimidation under a new plan to protect November’s US midterm elections from anticipated interference from Donald Trump and his allies. The nationwide initiative, dubbed the New Battlefield Project, will help state Democratic committees build up a vast coalition of volunteers to monitor the polls, push voters to cast their ballots early and create a network to respond to disinformation. Continue reading...

US officials reportedly raided envoy’s London home and took him to American airbase without warning Met police UK politics live – latest updates British ministers face calls to act after US authorities secretly flew out of the UK a diplomat accused of possessing indecent images of children. US officials reportedly raided the diplomat’s London flat in August before taking him to an American airbase and flying him out of the country, without warning the Metropolitan police. Continue reading...

A bloated ballroom, a six-storey military HQ, a helipad-cum-cocktail patio, a gilded angel on a giant arch honouring himself … our architecture critic deplores the decorator-in-chief’s mutilation of Washington When you have a developer as US president, you might expect some zhooshing up of the capital. A few buildings renovated, maybe some parks replanted. But when you have a megalomaniac builder in charge, things can get out of hand. A decade ago, when Donald Trump was first elected, I asked what it might mean for the US to be led by a real estate tycoon whose career had left a trail of broken promises, angry buyers and endless lawsuits, with rules flouted, heritage trampled and the world pockmarked by a fleet of aspirational towers clad with a flimsy veneer of luxury. The answer is worse than I could have imagined. With the air of a nightmarish Hollywood sequel, Trump 2 has seen the president’s true architectural ambitions unleashed: The Blingpire Strikes Back. As America’s self-styled decorator-in-chief, Trump has not only overseen the gilded mutilation of the White House, but embarked on the Mar-a-Lagofication of Washington DC itself, applying his gold paintbrush to statuary, daubing ponds with flaking pool liner, and brewing plans for a colossal triumphal arch – all procured in a blizzard of no-bid contracts . And, in true dodgy salesman style, this programme of bauble-building is turning out to be a high-profile decoy for deeper damage being wrought elsewhere. Continue reading...

A recent consultation on corporate reporting prizes the interests of shareholders over society. It’s a step in the wrong direction The question of what corporations are for is deeply political. In a 1970 article for the New York Times, Milton Friedman argued that the “social responsibility of business is to increase its profits”. The idea that CEOs should worry about providing good jobs was “pure and unadulterated socialism”, he wrote. Friedman and his fellow neoliberals saw companies as vehicles for enforcing their politics. Their ideas endured: UK bosses are now paid 130 times more than average workers. Despite Andy Burnham’s pledge to end neoliberalism, a 12-week consultation recently launched by his government risks entrenching it. The consultation was first announced as part of the Starmer government’s crusade against “red tape”. The average annual report for some businesses now runs to 98,000 words, and no doubt there are areas that could be simplified. But the consultation proposes removing vital information and presumes that company reports primarily serve shareholders, rather than other stakeholders. Both are steps in the wrong direction. Continue reading...

President has hyped growth of federal investment accounts to help US children – for his own political gain Since returning to the White House, Donald Trump has scrapped rules that made childcare more affordable and pushed to cut funding for the nation’s public schools . But with midterm elections fast approaching and his approval ratings very low, the US president has repeatedly trumpeted a two-month-old program designed to help the nation’s children. That program, unhumbly named “ Trump accounts ”, calls for the federal government to give a one-time $1,000 seed deposit to every newborn whose family applies. In campaign speeches this summer , Trump has sought to milk these accounts for maximum political advantage, making big promises about how much these accounts will help the nation’s children. In a speech in Las Vegas last month, Trump hailed the program, saying: “It’s really giving [children] a head start on the American dream… They start off with $1,000 … and they can end up with $100,000, $200,000, $300,000” and if the stock market booms, “you’d end up with $1m”. Continue reading...

The presidential briefing documents were declassified on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks Several dozen presidential briefing documents declassified on Friday, the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks , detail intelligence that government officials had gathered about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida leading up to the hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people and upended American national security . The documents illustrate security analysts’ tracking of Bin Laden’s movements and support system, as well as concerns about possible threats to US targets. They also detail officials’ understanding of his network in the United States and other countries, including how his operations were financed. Continue reading...

Trump administration to seek extra funding from Congress to ‘dismantle’ Los Tiguerones over narcotics trafficking The US has designated Ecuador’s Los Tiguerones gang, which stormed a television station during a live broadcast in 2024, as a terrorist organisation as the Trump administration expands its campaign against narcotics traffickers it says are destabilising Latin America. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, made the announcement in Quito, where he met Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa, one of several rightwing allies of Donald Trump whom Rubio is courting as a security partner during a three-nation tour through Latin America that began on Tuesday. Continue reading...