Senator Mark Warner of Virginia characterized Donald Trump's address to the nation on Thursday as 'just lies and long-debunked conspiracies.' This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
In his speech, Trump made unverified claims of China interfering in the 2020 presidential election. A 2021 US intelligence community assessment determined that no foreign actor, including China, attempted to alter any technical aspect of the 2020 voting process. The assessment stated that Russia conducted influence operations aimed at denigrating Biden's campaign, but China did not deploy any interference efforts intended to change the outcome of the election.
Kremlin says Russia has never interfered in US elections
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Moscow categorically rejected all allegations of past election meddling. This was in response to Trump's unverified claims that China interfered in the 2020 presidential election.
'Brazen corruption': critics denounce Trump Media plan to sell priority access to Truth Social posts
Donald Trump's media company is planning to charge for special high-speed access to Truth Social posts, including possibly his own, affecting national security and financial markets.
The move announced on Thursday would allow Wall Street trading firms and other institutions to get news first from top Truth Social contributors so they could profit off subsequent moves in stocks, bonds and interest rates.
Called Truth PSI, the new service comes amid a flurry of other deals by Trump and his family company that critics say are exploiting the presidency for profit. It follows similar offers of paid access on rival platforms, although with one key difference: the most popular Truth Social poster is the president himself, and, as the biggest shareholder of the publicly traded parent company, he would benefit directly.
'He's selling expedited, privileged access to information about what he is doing as president,' said Kathleen Clark of the Washington University School of Law and an expert in government conflict of interest rules. 'It's yet more brazen corruption, an improper exploitation of government power to enrich himself.'
Trump prompts constitutionality concerns over his call to revoke broadcast licenses
Several major networks declined to air Donald Trump's primetime televised address on Thursday, citing concerns that the content could be politically partisan or inflammatory. CNN, ABC and NBC chose not to air the speech live, but CBS, Fox News and MS Now (formerly MSNBC) aired at least large portions of the speech live.
China, Democrats decry Trump's latest unverified claims of election interference
Our China correspondent Amy Hawkins provided context on Donald Trump's unverified claims that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Trump's remarks were at odds with the conciliatory tone he has struck with Beijing since he traveled to China to meet Xi Jinping in May. The Chinese president has been invited to Washington in September.
A 2021 US intelligence community assessment concluded that no foreign actor, including China, attempted to alter any technical aspect of the 2020 voting process. The report said that while Russia had conducted influence operations aimed at denigrating Biden's campaign, China did not deploy any interference efforts intended to change the outcome of the election.
China has long denied claims by western governments, including the UK, that it has meddled in the politics of other countries. Several European countries have raised the alarm about Chinese spying operations in their legislatures. Last year a former parliamentary aide for Germany's far-right Alternative für Deutschland party was convicted of spying for China.
Trump's schedule
Donald Trump will start his day in Washington. Later, the president will travel to New York to attend a Fifa reception at 5:20pm ET — ahead of the World Cup final on Sunday. We'll bring you the latest lines as he sets off.
Age and power
The debate about how old is too old to serve in public office has resurfaced this week after the shock death of the Republican Lindsey Graham and the surprise return of Mitch McConnell, the 84-year-old senator who published a photo of himself in hospital after a long absence from the spotlight. With rumors continuing to swirl around Donald Trump's health, why is it that US politicians seem to cling on to power for so long? The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland speaks to Alexis Coe, a presidential historian and columnist for the New York Times Book Review, about whether the US is becoming a gerontocracy.