Key events
Another US Republican says she will vote against Blanche’s confirmation
Republican senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said on Friday that she will oppose US president Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche.
“I have had numerous constructive meetings with Mr. Blanche and he comes across as decent and capable,” Murkowski said in a post on X.
“Ultimately, however, I will oppose his nomination,” she said.
It comes after Republican senator Susan Collins said on Tuesday she would vote against him, leaving Trump’s former personal lawyer with little margin for error.
With Republican senator Mitch McConnell out indefinitely, Blanche is only able to afford one more Republican defection, in the shape of Murkowski.
Blanche, now serving as acting attorney general, persuaded Republican holdouts John Cornyn and Thom Tillis to support him by pledging in writing that Trump’s $۱.۸bn “anti-weaponization” fund was dead and that a related tax-immunity deal applied only to past tax returns. Both arose from a settlement of Trump’s $۱۰ billion lawsuit against the IRS.
Questions remain about whether the fund could later be revived and why the president would receive a deal from his own administration that could personally save him millions of dollars
Trump signs new orders targeting birthright citizenship
Robert Mackey
Donald Trump has made a second attempt to restrict the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, just weeks after the US supreme court rejected his initial, more sweeping bid to deny automatic citizenship to the children born to undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign residents.
Trump on Thursday signed two executive orders that seek to broaden the categories of children ineligible for automatic US citizenship and ban so-called “birth tourism”. The directives are expected to face legal challenges.
Trump has long sought to dismantle birthright citizenship and has made the effort a centerpiece of his second-term immigration crackdown. He has thus far been unsuccessful.
On Thursday, the president lashed out at the supreme court over what he called “a very unfortunate decision in the supreme court concerning birthright”.
“It was close, but a very, very unfortunate decision,” Trump told reporters. “So we’re making adjustments because it’s very unfair.”
A first new order seeks to expand the definitions of children who would not be able to receive birthright citizenship.
Trump refuses to say whether Max Miller should step aside by tomorrow
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Donald Trump is declining to say whether representative Max Miller, of Ohio, should withdraw his reelection bid following domestic abuse allegations levelled against him by his ex-wife.
Trump was asked about the embattled Republican congressman while taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office at a Thursday signing event.
“Well, I’m not going to get involved in that,” Trump said. He echoed his earlier comments, calling it a “very sad situation.” Miller was a senior adviser to Trump during the president’s first term.
Miller’s ex-wife is the daughter of Republican senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio, who has said Miller should not be serving in the House.
“If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them,” Moreno, an ally of Trump, posted on Sunday. “He should not serve in the House of Representatives.”
Moreno’s comments came after Miller posted a livestream video defending himself against the abuse accusations and saying his former wife had “significant mental-health challenges”.
Ohio’s other Republican senator, Jon Husted, on Thursday called for Miller to resign and not seek reelection.
Under Ohio law, Miller would need to withdraw by Saturday to allow enough time for the replacement process to play out before the ۴pm Monday deadline.
In other developments:
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One month after the United States supreme court struck down his first attempt to restrict the guarantee of birthright citizenship enshrined in the US constitution, Donald Trump signed executive orders on Thursday that aim to deny US citizenship to children born in the United States to so-called “birth tourists”.
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The two new orders came just five weeks ago after the US supreme court struck down Trump’s previous order denying citizenship to the children of non-citizens, a right that has been guaranteed since the ۱۴th amendment was ratified in ۱۸۶۸.
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The orders were part of a quixotic campaign Trump has waged for more than a decade, since he promised to eliminate the right at a ۲۰۱۵ campaign event.
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Despite an endorsement from Trump, congressman Andy Ogles, a virulently anti-Muslim Tennessee Republican, was in danger of losing his re-election bid to a primary challenger backed by the state’s governor, Bill Lee.
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Trump refused to confirm a Washington Post report that he told donors at a recent meeting that they need to help JD Vance win the ۲۰۲۸ presidential election.
