White House denies Trump briefed on 'Russia Afghanistan assassination plot'
New York Times claims
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The White House has denied reports that Donald Trump ignored a warning from US intelligence that the Russian military had offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants in Afghanistan to kill American troops and other coalition forces.
The New York Times reported the claim on Friday, triggering a storm of accusations that the president had failed to protect US and allied troops, including those from Britain.
Citing officials briefed on the matter, the Times said the US determined months ago that a Russian military intelligence unit linked to assassination attempts in Europe had offered rewards for successful attacks last year.
Islamist militants, or armed criminal elements closely associated with them, are believed to have collected some bounty money, the newspaper said. The White House, the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence initially declined requests from Reuters for comment on the report.
On Saturday afternoon, the White House denied Mr Trump had been briefed on the matter, but did not dispute that US troops were being targetted, something likely to give the story further life.
“The United States receives thousands of intelligence reports a day and they are subject to strict scrutiny. While the White House does not routinely comment on alleged intelligence or internal deliberations, the CIA Director, National Security Advisor, and the Chief of Staff can all confirm that neither the President nor the Vice President were briefed on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence," press secretary Kayleigh Mcenany said in a statement.
"This does not speak to the merit of the alleged intelligence but to the inaccuracy of the New York Times story erroneously suggesting that President Trump was briefed on this matter.”
See below to see how the drama played out:
Please allow the blog a moment to load
Trump claims Chicago is 'worse than Afghanistan'
Donald Trump claimed some of America's largest cities have more extreme levels of violence than troubled nations like Afghanistan and Honduras.
Speaking to Fox News’s Sean Hannity on Thursday, Donald Trump issued a slight to several of America’s largest cities – which are all run by Democrats.
“Chicago’s an example. It’s, like, worse than Afghanistan. It’s worse than – I shouldn’t say it ‘cause they’re working with us – Honduras, Guatemala, they’re all working with us now … we have cities that are worse, in some cases far worse.
Read more:
Republican congressman Mark Green on Friday bizarrely expressed fury at the fact a jogger was wearing a mask during the coronavirus pandemic.
Pelosi brands Trump administration attempt to terminate Affordable Care Act 'crazy'
Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday called the Trump administration's Supreme Court filing “in the dark of night” asking the justices to terminate the Affordable Care Act, pushed through Congress by the Obama administration, “crazy” and “unfathomable".
The White House's move comes as cases of coronavirus are spiking in a number of Sun Belt states that were deep into the re-opening process. She called the filing “an act of unfathomable cruelty".
The California Democrat spent much of her weekly press conference sharply criticising the president and his administration, saying of Donald Trump: “Well, I don't think he understands anything.” She also said his administration has failed with its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Read more:
US states increasingly reinstating lockdown measures as coronavirus cases surge
In the US, the daily number of confirmed infections surged to an all-time high of 45,300 on Friday, eclipsing the previous high of 40,000 set the previous day, according to Johns Hopkins. Newly reported cases per day have risen on average about 60% over the past two weeks, according to an Associated Press analysis.
While the rise partly reflects expanded testing, experts say there is ample evidence the scourge is making a comeback, including rising deaths and hospitalisations in parts of the country and higher percentages of virus tests coming back positive.
About 600 people are dying every day from the coronavirus in the US, down from a peak of around 2,200 in mid-April. Some experts doubt that deaths will return to that level, because of advances in treatment and prevention and because younger adults are more likely than older ones to survive.
The virus is blamed for about 125,000 deaths and nearly 2.5 million confirmed infections nationwide in the US, by Johns Hopkins' count. But health officials believe the true number of infections is about 10 times higher. Worldwide, the virus has claimed close to a half-million lives with nearly 10 million cases.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered all bars closed, and Florida banned alcohol at such establishments. They joined a small but growing number of states that are either backtracking or putting any further reopening of their economies on hold because of a comeback by the virus, mostly in the country's South and West.
Health experts have said a disturbingly large number of cases are being seen among young people who are going out again, often without wearing masks or observing other social-distancing rules.
Florida's agency that regulates bars acted after the daily number of new confirmed cases neared 9,000, almost doubling the record set just two days earlier.
Associated Press
House votes to make Washington DC a state
House Democrats agreed to transform Washington DC into the nation's 51st state, which would grant full voting representation to the capital city's more than 700,000 residents.
If approved, the “DC” of District of Columbia would become Douglass Commonwealth, honouring abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and its statehood would create one congressional seat and two senators. It's the first time Congress has advanced a measure to declare DC a state.
The legislation has 227 co-sponsors in the House and 40 in the Senate – all Democrats – but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, has expressed he would not bring the bill up for a vote in his chamber. Donald Trump has also promised to veto the measure.
Read more:
Donald Trump has begun his Saturday by tweeting about television ratings and the upcoming election.
The US president claims, falsely, that high television ratings are the "real polls" and accuses surveys that have him trailing Joe Biden as "fake".
Trump appears to suggest he won't be president next year because 'people don't love me'
In an admission that Americans might not reelect him as US president in November, Donald Trump has said that Joe Biden “is going to be president because some people don’t love me.”
His comments on Thursday night came amid national and state-wide polls that showed the president trailing the Democratic presidential nominee, Mr Biden, at the ballot box.
One New York Times poll published this week put 14 points between Mr Biden and Mr Trump, who went on the attack against his Democratic opponent on Thursday.
Read more:
Daniel Dale, a CNN reporter who regularly fact checks Donald Trump, has provided a useful video outlining the US president's recent misinformation about coronavirus.
Florida reports record-breaking increase in coronavirus cases
Florida has reported a record breaking increase in coronavirus cases in the state, forcing the reimplementation of lockdown measures.
The state reported 8,942 new covid-19 cases on Friday, a drastic increase from its previous record of 5,511 on Wednesday, according to a report by The Washington Post.
The stark increase marks the 19th day in a row that the state has hit a new average high in the number of daily cases, around a 77 per cent surge from last week.
Read more:
Barr claims voting by mail will lead to fraud
US attorney general William Barr has suggested that an election that uses mainly mail-in voting will not be secure, but admits he has no evidence to back up his claim.
Speaking to NPR on Thursday, the attorney general was asked if he thinks an election that is voted on predominately by mail can be implemented without widespread fraud.
“Personally, no,” he replied. “I mean, we just mailed out checks under this program.
And what is it? I heard something like 20 per cent or something were misdirected,” Mr Barr added, referring to coronavirus stimulus cheques.
Read more:
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments