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• House Committee Chairmen Jim Jordan, Bryan Steil, and James Comer sent a formal letter to former Biden White House Counsel Dana Remus demanding documents and communications. • The request focuses on ActBlue's fraud prevention policies following New York Times reporting that Remus possesses direct, firsthand information regarding the matter. • This action is part of a broader oversight effort by House Republicans to investigate potential fraud and misleading statements made to Congress.

• Senate Republicans held a late-night vote on Wednesday to reject a war powers resolution, moving to appease President Donald Trump after he berated them for opposing his war in Iran. • The move follows a face-to-face confrontation where Trump harangued GOP senators for allowing a vote to block his military actions on Tuesday, specifically targeting Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy. • This internal conflict has stalled general Senate business and diverted the GOP's focus away from key election-year issues regarding affordability.

• On the fourth anniversary of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is highlighting the anti-choice records of Republican Senate candidates. • The DSCC specifically targets Senator Susan Collins, noting her refusal to regret confirming Brett Kavanaugh and her 95 percent voting record in favor of President Trump’s judicial nominees. • The critique emphasizes Collins' opposition to the Women’s Health Protection Act, which aims to codify Roe v. Wade's protections into federal law.

Late-night vote came hours after US president berated GOP senators over opposition to the conflictSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailSenate Republicans rejected a war powers resolution in a late-night vote, hours after they were berated by Donald Trump over opposition to his controversial war on Iran.The US president was said to have harangued GOP senators during a lunch on Capitol Hill earlier on Wednesday. The previous day, they had angered the White House by allowing a vote to block Trump’s war in Iran. Continue reading...

• U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston has issued a ruling that converts a preliminary injunction into a permanent ban on several of Donald Trump's election overhaul efforts. • The decision follows a lawsuit brought by Democratic state attorneys general, rejecting the Republican administration's claim that the legal challenge was premature. • This ruling effectively blocks the implementation of proposed election rule changes that the administration sought to put in place.

Former Georgia congresswoman on social media says she’s ‘fed up’ and done backing a party ‘that betrays its voters’Former US congresswoman and Trump loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene has announced that she is finished backing the Republican party, aligning herself with TV rightwinger Tucker Carlson after his own high-profile rejection of the GOP just months ahead of the midterm elections.During a recent episode of the Can’t Be Censored podcast, Carlson said when he appeared as a guest there was “no chance” he would support the Republican party any more, after years of being a prominent booster for Donald Trump. Continue reading...

• England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland have learned their opponents for the Women's World Cup play-offs to secure a spot in the tournament in Brazil. • Key matchups include the Republic of Ireland facing 100th-ranked Kazakhstan, while Wales will compete against Albania. • The play-offs are structured in two stages, with round one fixtures scheduled for October 7-13 and round two taking place from November 26 to December 5.

• President Donald Trump is increasingly clashing with Senate Republicans, escalating internal party tensions while simultaneously managing conflicts with Iran. • Trump has utilized his political influence to target senators in primary elections and impose demands that lawmakers describe as unachievable. • This friction is creating politically fraught positions for GOP members, with some warning that the infighting is actively harming the President's own legislative agenda.

Senator Bill Cassidy attacks ‘worst foreign policy blunder in decades’ while others in his party skeptical over peace dealA handful of Senate Republicans have sharply criticized the agreement Donald Trump reached with Iran, accusing the administration of committing “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades”.On Wednesday, the Trump administration released the text of an interim deal between Washington and Tehran to end the 110-day conflict, framing it as a “major win” for the US – even as the 14-point accord made significant political and financial concessions to Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz and prevent a “worldwide depression”. Continue reading...

Lawmakers cite rushed timeline and public input despite pressure to redraw districts after supreme court opinionGeorgia Republicans declined to redraw the state’s congressional map during a special session, citing a rushed timeline and incomplete understanding of the ramifications of a recent US supreme court decision that effectively gutted a major section of the Voting Rights Act.“We believe that it’s important to do things the Georgia way, responsibly, transparently, and with ample opportunity for public input,” said Jon Burns, the Georgia house speaker. Continue reading...

Representative Mike Collins defeats former college football coach Derek Dooley, while Rick Jackson selected as governor pickGeorgia’s Republican primary runoff voters chose US representative Mike Collins over former college football coach Derek Dooley to lead the party’s bid to challenge US senator and rising Democratic star Jon Ossoff in November’s midterm elections.They also selected billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson over Trump-backed lieutenant governor Burt Jones to face Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms in November, after a bruising election campaign that led to libel litigation and federal challenges to Georgia election law. Continue reading...

Departing Mike DeWine, who co-wrote state’s death penalty bill, says ‘I no longer believe [it] is a deterrent to murder’Republican governor Mike DeWine, the who co-wrote the bill to reinstate Ohio’s death penalty more than 45 years ago, has called for the state to abolish capital punishment, saying it did not improve public safety and could no longer be morally justified.“I no longer believe the death penalty is a deterrent to murder,” DeWine said on Tuesday. “The moral justification I had for voting for the death penalty simply no longer exists.” Continue reading...

Senate Republicans say there are many unanswered questions about the deal and question inclusion of funds for Iran The US vice-president, ⁠JD Vance, has said a number of issues still need to be figured out with Iran, as many Republicans expressed scepticism of the agreement reached this week by Donald Trump, and pressed the White House to release more information about it.The memorandum of understanding (MOU) announced Sunday to end the war in Iran, set for a ceremonial signing on Friday in Geneva, is centred around reopening the strait of Hormuz and lifting the United States’ naval blockade in the region, along with financial incentives for Iran if it meets certain benchmarks. Continue reading...

Self-deprecating jokes and mental health advocacy have gone viral, and his political commentary is proving popularIt’s been quite the journey for Hunter Biden. In the space of a few weeks, the former first son has gone from a man seen as a political liability to an unlikely galvanizing force within the Democratic party, through his emergence on social media as a mental health advocate, razzer of Republicans, and working-class whisperer.In the process Biden has switched from the GOP’s bete noire to, actually, someone that a fair number of Republican voters seem to like. Continue reading...

Shirley Firth is hoping those responsible for Lindsay de Feliz’s death in 2019 will finally be convictedA Cambridgeshire mother in her 90s is hoping to finally see justice for her murdered daughter when a retrial into her death is due to open in the Dominican Republic this week.The body of Lindsay de Feliz, 64, a successful author, was found in a shallow grave, close to her home in the north-west of the Dominican Republic, in December 2019. Continue reading...

Four-ton Paige, brought in as surprise for attenders, made gushing debut after governor finished keynote speechAn African elephant weighing roughly 4 tons that was brought to the Texas Republican party’s annual convention to excite attenders ended up drawing widespread attention for the wrong reasons after she urinated on the convention floor and became the focus of animal welfare concerns.Inside the George R Brown convention center in Houston on Friday, attenders had been told to prepare for a “larger-than-life surprise” after governor Greg Abbott finished his keynote speech. Organizers also displayed a message asking people to keep the aisles clear. Continue reading...

• South Korea secured a comeback victory against the Czech Republic in a Group A match during the 2026 World Cup, with all three goals occurring in the second half. • The win puts South Korea on three points, tying them with Mexico in the group standings. • Midfielder Hwang In-Beom delivered a standout performance, becoming only the third South Korean player to record both a goal and an assist in a single World Cup match.

• New national surveys indicate that majorities of both Republicans and Democrats agree on 112 key policy issues, contrasting the deep division seen in Congress. • A significant 82% of respondents support overturning the Citizens United ruling via a new Constitutional amendment to restrict corporate and PAC spending in elections. • These findings suggest a substantial gap between the ideological stances of elected officials and the actual preferences of the general American public.

US president urges congressional Republicans to use budget reconciliation procedure to enact his priorities Donald Trump has demanded that congressional Republicans get to work on a party line measure that would ensure defense spending reaches its highest level in decades and also make a likely fruitless attempt to impose a host of new restrictions on voters nationwide.In a post on Truth Social Wednesday, the president said he was “calling on Republicans in Congress to IMMEDIATELY advance and pass the forthcoming $350 Billion Reconciliation Bill”, which would also include the Save America Act, a rightwing makeover of elections that his allies in Congress have sought to pass for months, without success. Continue reading...

Former UK political operative endorsed by Trump will face off against Democrat Xavier Becerra in November electionRepublican Steve Hilton, the former UK political operative turned Fox News personality, has advanced to the November general election in the race to become California’s next governor, facing off against Democrat Xavier Becerra, a former congressman, state attorney general and US health secretary.Hilton’s success, a remarkable achievement for a recent immigrant, came after he was endorsed by Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Bill that passed the Senate last week would fund ICE and border patrol and is expected to pass along party linesHouse Republicans on Tuesday will seek to pass a $70bn bill to fund the agencies leading Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants through the duration of his term, ending a months-long standoff with Democrats.The Secure America Act, which passed the Senate last week, allocates $38bn to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), $26bn to Customs and Border Protection and $5bn more to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Continue reading...

Left-wing candidate vows ‘fight for a healthier, safer and more joyful Los Angeles’ after edging out Spencer Pratt Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.Left-wing candidate Nithya Raman said she was “incredibly honored” and would “fight for a healthier, safer” and “more joyful Los Angeles” as she edged out former reality TV villain Spencer Pratt in the city’s mayoral race.Donald Trump was loudly booed when he was shown on the video screens at Madison Square Garden on Monday night before Game 3 of the NBA finals between the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks.Trump told supporters in South Carolina the end of the war with Iran is comming soon. “I think we are winning that battle, but you’re really going to win it over the next two weeks when we declare total victory. It’ll be a total victory,” said the president who routinely promises that things will happen in two weeks which never happen at all.In an interview at the National Press Club in Washington DC on Monday, Bernie Sanders, the socialist senator from Vermont, was asked if he still supports Graham Platner. “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure Graham Platner is the next senator from the state of Maine,” Sanders said.Trump nominated Todd Blanche to serve permanently as attorney general, lining up his former personal lawyer to be the country’s ⁠top ⁠law ⁠enforcement officer. Continue reading...

Republican senator Lindsey Graham said he was ‘very proud of my Republican colleagues for… making sure that Border Patrol and ICE are fully funded’Senate Republicans early Friday passed a bill that would provide the Department of Homeland Security with nearly $70 billion in new funds for immigration enforcement.The vote came after a more than 18-hour “vote-a-rama”, a process by which senators offer amendments to bills passed using the reconciliation procedure. The Senate’s Democratic minority leader, Chuck Schumer, had said earlier this week that he would use vote-a-rama to force Republicans into publicly defending the policies of Donald Trump, a move that ultimately forced Senate Republicans to drop their attempt to spend $1bn on security improvements for Trump’s White House ballroom.New abuse allegations have emerged against Greg Platner, a Democratic candidate for the Senate. Platner, a progressive running for election in Maine, has rejected the new report published on Thursday in the New York Times that included an interview with a Republican operative who accused him of womanizing, physical misconduct and making troubling comments about rape.Trump has suggested that his controversial ally Bill Pulte will investigate “rigged elections” while serving as the country’s top intelligence official. Pulte, whom Trump appointed as acting director of national intelligence earlier this week, is a “very smart guy,” Trump claimed on Thursday, “and you may find out some things about the rigged elections, etc, etc”.Pam Bondi on Thursday told lawmakers before the House oversight and reform committee that Todd Blanche, the man Trump has lined up to replace her, was “in charge” of the the US Department of Justice’s controversial handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Continue reading...

Three GOP senators joined Democrats as dispute over proposed payouts exposed party divisionsUS politics live – latest updatesSenate Republicans on Thursday narrowly scuttled an attempt by Democrats to stop Donald Trump from creating a $1.8bn fund to pay his allies, even as signs emerged that dissent over the proposal was spreading inside the US president’s own party.Democratic Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, had proposed inserting language barring the payouts into Republican-backed legislation to fund Trump’s mass deportation campaign through the duration of his term. Continue reading...

Hair stylist Frédéric Fekkai and ex-Miami Beach mayor Philip Levine accused in new testimony, lawmakers revealRepublican lawmakers have asked the Department of Justice to investigate sexual assault allegations involving two men made by Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime assistant.In a transcribed closed-door interview in late May, as part of a congressional investigation into Epstein, Sarah Kellen, one of the late sex offender’s former aides, told the House oversight and reform committee she was “sexually and psychologically abused” by him during her employment – but also alleged she was sexually assaulted by the French celebrity hairstylist Frédéric Fekkai, and by Philip Levine, the former mayor of Miami Beach, in separate incidents in the early 2000s. Continue reading...

Fears that push for ballroom spending could jeopardize $70bn funding for immigration enforcementSenate Republicans on Wednesday formally dropped their attempt to spend $1bn on security improvements for Donald Trump’s White House ballroom, as it became clear the president’s demand for the money could jeopardize long-term funding for immigration enforcement.The Senate judiciary committee had last month included the spending on security for the new ballroom in a broader measure that would authorize $70bn in spending for agencies involved in Trump’s mass deportation campaign through the duration of his term. On Wednesday the committee released a revised text that no longer mentioned the money. Continue reading...

Tom Kean has been out with a health issue since March. Democrats are sharpening their knives for the general electionUS politics live – latest updatesOn the day Donald Trump endorsed him as a tireless advocate for New Jersey’s seventh district, the representative Tom Kean Jr was, as he has been since early March, nowhere to be found.Kean, a New Jersey Republican, was last seen when he cast a House floor vote on 5 March, and he is running unopposed in Tuesday’s Republican primary. The Democratic race in his district, meanwhile, has attracted multiple candidates and ample fundraising. Continue reading...

• SoftBank plans to invest up to €75 billion to develop 5 GW of AI data center capacity in France, with an initial 3.1 GW target by 2031. • A joint venture between SoftBank and Sesterce will specifically develop and operate a 1 GW AI data center campus. • The project is expected to create 400 long-term skilled jobs and includes a €10 million endowment fund to support AI adoption for local businesses and educational institutions.