\n<\/p>\n
After a federal judge dismissed<\/a> a Department of Justice lawsuit seeking to compel Maryland to provide the federal government with an electronic copy of its statewide voter registration list, as the Trump administration attempts to assert control of state-run elections, Maryland\u2019s top election official was threatened this week with criminal prosecution in a letter<\/a> from Harmeet Dhillon<\/strong>, the assistant attorney general for the justice department\u2019s civil rights division.<\/p>\n The state\u2019s elections administrator, Jared DeMarinis<\/strong>, described it to Maryland Matters<\/a>, a nonprofit news site, as \u201ca nice love letter from the Department of Justice threatening my arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is just unconscionable to threaten and try to intimidate election officials, not just in Maryland, but throughout the United States,\u201d DeMarinis added.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter losing in court,\u201d Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen<\/strong> wrote on social media<\/a> with a link to the Maryland Matters report, the Trump administration \u201cis now threatening election officials in Maryland and across the country to get access to voter rolls. This is yet another outrageous attempt to sow doubt in our democracy & intimidate states. We must hold the line.\u201d<\/p>\n Dhillon told Real America\u2019s Voice<\/a>, a far-right network created to host Steve Bannon<\/strong>\u2019s podcast, that she sent similar letters, threatening \u201cpotential criminal penalties\u201d for \u201cknowingly retaining noncitizens\u201d on registered voter lists, to election officials in every US state this week.<\/p>\n Speaking to the pro-Trump host John Solomon<\/strong>, Dhillon mocked the \u201chyperventilating\u201d response to her letter from Utah\u2019s Republican lieutenant governor, Deidre Henderson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Henderson, who has also pushed back on the administration\u2019s attempt to have the US Post Office refuse to deliver mail ballots in states that do not submit lists of approved voters to the federal government, wrote on social media<\/a>:<\/p>\n double quotation markGot another love letter this morning from the DOJ sprinkled throughout with threats of criminal prosecution. I\u2019m sure I\u2019m not the only chief election officer of a state who is being targeted for following state and federal laws by resisting DOJ\u2019s demands for private voter data that have thus far been ruled illegal by at least a dozen courts. This is truly bizarre behavior by the federal agency that is supposed to be protecting civil rights.<\/p>\n Washington\u2019s Democratic secretary of state, Steve Hobbs<\/strong>, accused the Department of Justice of \u201caccelerating down a slippery slope\u201d by issuing criminal threats to him and other state officials who are empowered to administer elections by the US constitution\u2019s elections clause<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAttempts to revive disproven claims of rigged elections will not deter election professionals from doing their job of overseeing accessible, accurate, auditable elections,\u201d Hobbs said in a statement<\/a> after receiving his letter from Dhillon.<\/p>\n Although Donald Trump<\/strong> signed an executive order<\/a> early in his second term attempting to take control of major parts of the nation\u2019s election systems, courts have ruled that the US president has no constitutional authority over federal election administration.<\/p>\n The nonprofit news site Votebeat reported<\/a> earlier this week that although officials in all 50 states received the letter, \u201cmany did not immediately realize it; in several states, the Justice Department sent the letter to the generic email addresses listed on agency websites for use by the public.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick Hasen<\/strong>, an election law professor at UCLA, told Votebeat, the letters are \u201cin line with the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to push the myth of mass noncitizen voting and to threaten and intimidate state and local election officials\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.36 EDT<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n In a letter<\/a> sent to the homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin<\/strong> on Friday, House Democrats said that they \u201care investigating the fatal shooting of Mr. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, as well as the Trump administration\u2019s response to his killing.\u201d<\/p>\n On Tuesday morning, while Salgado, his brother and two men were heading to work in Houston, Texas he was shot and killed during a \u201ctargeted enforcement operation\u201d by ICE officials.<\/p>\n As our colleague Jos\u00e9 Olivares reported, Hugo Balderas-Ibarra<\/strong>, a Texas attorney representing two of the men in the van, said during a press conference on Friday his clients \u201creiterated that at no point was there ever an agent standing in front of the vehicle, nor was an agent ever placed in the line of danger\u201d.<\/p>\n The letter to Mullin, signed by a dozen Democrats, noted that \u201cthe Trump administration and DHS have used excessive and deadly force in the recent past, to include the tragic, unlawful shootings of American citizens Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and Marimar Martinez, and issued false and misleading statements in an attempt to justify those shootings.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIndeed, witnesses to the shooting of Mr. Salgado Araujo paint a different picture than DHS\u2019s claims,\u201d the lawmakers continue.<\/p>\n \u201cICE has allegedly encouraged these witnesses, Mr. Salgado Araujo\u2019s brother and two of their co-workers, to sign paperwork for self-deportation from the United States.,\u201d the letter adds. \u201cThis is incredibly concerning, as these men would be critical to any investigation into the fatal shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter goes on to demand that the department \u201cimmediately turn over\u201d all evidence of what happened.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition to our demand for immediate records production, this letter serves as notice of an ongoing congressional investigation and that you are to preserve, in accordance with all applicable Federal laws, all records relating to the use of deadly force by DHS law enforcement during any immigration enforcement operation, as well as any future incidents in which deadly force is used,\u201d the Democrats told Mullin.<\/p>\n One of the lawmakers, Seth Magaziner<\/strong> of Rhode Island, pledged<\/a> <\/strong>\u201cto find the truth\u201d about the killing.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wasn\u2019t the person they were looking for. ICE statements don\u2019t match witness accounts. Now they\u2019re pressuring witnesses to self-deport,\u201d Magaziner wrote.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee once again described Graham Platner<\/strong> as a \u201crapist\u201d in a statement sent to reporters after the Maine Democrat formally ended his US Senate campaign, treating an allegation that he raped a former romantic partner, which he has denied, as a fact.<\/p>\n \u201cRepublicans have been sounding the alarm about Graham Platner for months and today he exited the race without taking any accountability,\u201d RNC spokesperson Kristen Cianci<\/strong> said in the statement emailed to the Guardian. \u201cInstead, he declared himself kingmaker and his successor the carrier of his legacy \u2013 too bad his legacy is one of a sick Nazi rapist.\u201d<\/p>\n The Republican party spokesperson\u2019s certainty that the allegation Platner calls \u201cfalse\u201d is true contrasts with the doubt expressed earlier this week by her party\u2019s president, Donald Trump<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really a question of whether or not you believe the woman,\u201d Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Wednesday when asked about the allegation against Platner. \u201cA lot of people say big falsehoods,\u201d said the Republican president who was found liable by a jury of sexually abusing the writer E Jean Carroll in the 1990s, and then sued ABC News for reporting that he had been found \u201cliable for rape\u201d.<\/p>\n In a 2023 court order<\/a> denying Trump\u2019s motion to overturn a $2m jury award of compensatory damages, <\/strong>a federal judge, Lewis Kaplan<\/strong>, wrote that while the jury did not find that Trump had raped her \u201cwithin the narrow, technical meaning of a particular section of the New York Penal Law\u201d, which \u201capplies only to vaginal penetration by a penis\u201d, it did find that Trump had subjected Carroll to \u201c[f]orcible, unconsented-to penetration of the vagina or of other bodily orifices by fingers, other body parts, or other articles\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was \u2018raped\u2019 within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump \u2018raped\u2019 her as many people commonly understand the word \u2018rape,\u2019\u201d the judge added. \u201cIndeed, as the evidence at trial recounted below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n After a federal judge dismissed<\/a> a Department of Justice lawsuit seeking to compel Maryland to provide the federal government with an electronic copy of its statewide voter registration list, as the Trump administration attempts to assert control of state-run elections, Maryland\u2019s top election official was threatened this week with criminal prosecution in a letter<\/a> from Harmeet Dhillon<\/strong>, the assistant attorney general for the justice department\u2019s civil rights division.<\/p>\n The state\u2019s elections administrator, Jared DeMarinis<\/strong>, described it to Maryland Matters<\/a>, a nonprofit news site, as \u201ca nice love letter from the Department of Justice threatening my arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is just unconscionable to threaten and try to intimidate election officials, not just in Maryland, but throughout the United States,\u201d DeMarinis added.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter losing in court,\u201d Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen<\/strong> wrote on social media<\/a> with a link to the Maryland Matters report, the Trump administration \u201cis now threatening election officials in Maryland and across the country to get access to voter rolls. This is yet another outrageous attempt to sow doubt in our democracy & intimidate states. We must hold the line.\u201d<\/p>\n Dhillon told Real America\u2019s Voice<\/a>, a far-right network created to host Steve Bannon<\/strong>\u2019s podcast, that she sent similar letters, threatening \u201cpotential criminal penalties\u201d for \u201cknowingly retaining noncitizens\u201d on registered voter lists, to election officials in every US state this week.<\/p>\n Speaking to the pro-Trump host John Solomon<\/strong>, Dhillon mocked the \u201chyperventilating\u201d response to her letter from Utah\u2019s Republican lieutenant governor, Deidre Henderson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Henderson, who has also pushed back on the administration\u2019s attempt to have the US Post Office refuse to deliver mail ballots in states that do not submit lists of approved voters to the federal government, wrote on social media<\/a>:<\/p>\n double quotation markGot another love letter this morning from the DOJ sprinkled throughout with threats of criminal prosecution. I\u2019m sure I\u2019m not the only chief election officer of a state who is being targeted for following state and federal laws by resisting DOJ\u2019s demands for private voter data that have thus far been ruled illegal by at least a dozen courts. This is truly bizarre behavior by the federal agency that is supposed to be protecting civil rights.<\/p>\n Washington\u2019s Democratic secretary of state, Steve Hobbs<\/strong>, accused the Department of Justice of \u201caccelerating down a slippery slope\u201d by issuing criminal threats to him and other state officials who are empowered to administer elections by the US constitution\u2019s elections clause<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAttempts to revive disproven claims of rigged elections will not deter election professionals from doing their job of overseeing accessible, accurate, auditable elections,\u201d Hobbs said in a statement<\/a> after receiving his letter from Dhillon.<\/p>\n Although Donald Trump<\/strong> signed an executive order<\/a> early in his second term attempting to take control of major parts of the nation\u2019s election systems, courts have ruled that the US president has no constitutional authority over federal election administration.<\/p>\n The nonprofit news site Votebeat reported<\/a> earlier this week that although officials in all 50 states received the letter, \u201cmany did not immediately realize it; in several states, the Justice Department sent the letter to the generic email addresses listed on agency websites for use by the public.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick Hasen<\/strong>, an election law professor at UCLA, told Votebeat, the letters are \u201cin line with the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to push the myth of mass noncitizen voting and to threaten and intimidate state and local election officials\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.36 EDT<\/p>\n Marina Dunbar<\/span><\/p>\n The Democratic senator John Fetterman, who has faced mounting political challenges, is joining forces with the Republican senator Dave McCormick to launch a new joint fundraising committee, a move that is likely to fuel additional questions about Fetterman\u2019s increasingly rightward lurch.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania\u2019s two US senators have established a shared fundraising committee that will collect donations benefiting both of their campaigns in an unusual bipartisan arrangement.<\/p>\n Federal Election Commission records<\/a> filed on Monday show the creation of Common Ground PA. The filing identifies the leadership Pacs and principal campaign committees for both Fetterman and McCormick as participants in the joint committee. Politico first reported<\/a> the formation of the fundraising committee this week.<\/p>\n The move led to fresh speculation that Fetterman might be planning a party switch. Rick Wilson, the longtime political consultant and anti-Trump activist, predicted \u201cHe\u2019s gonna flip\u201d in a social media post<\/a> in response to the new fundraising committee.<\/p>\n Nick Field, a local politics writer in Pennsylvania, wrote<\/a>: \u201cFetterman caucusing with the Republicans in 2027, and even trying to run in 2028 with their support, looks likelier and likelier by the day.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n The Maine secretary of state\u2019s office issued a statement<\/a> on Friday confirming that \u201ca formal notice has been received from U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner\u201d making his withdrawal from the race official.<\/p>\n The office was careful to point out that Platner had not formally withdrawn by simply posting his letter on social media earlier, but said that he is now no longer a candidate, setting off a rush to replace him on the November ballot. One of the declared candidates is Maine\u2019s current secretary of state, Shenna Bellows<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cA public declaration is not an official withdrawal, and a candidate must formally withdraw in writing to the Elections office, including signature,\u201d the office explained.<\/p>\n The statement continued:<\/p>\n double quotation markBecause the candidate officially withdrew before 5 p.m. of the 2nd Monday in July (July 13, 2026), his name will not appear on the ballot, and his political party may replace him. The deadline for the party to name a replacement is the 4th Monday in July (July 27, 2026). Maine Statute<\/a> does not address how a replacement candidate may be chosen by a party, only that the candidate filling the vacancy must be a \u2018qualified person.\u2019 Announcements about how a replacement candidate will be chosen or when that candidate will be announced will come from the political party.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Graham Platner just posted<\/a> a copy of a letter on social media which says: \u201cI write to formally withdraw my candidacy for United States Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n The rest of the letter which is signed by the candidate who was accused of sexual assault, reads:<\/p>\n double quotation markOn June 9th, 156,084 Mainers voted for a new kind of politics. One that is representative of people down here in the real world – not billionaires, oligarchs, or the political establishment. Mainers voted for Medicare for All; to ban billionaires from buying elections; and for an end to taxpayer-funded genocide and forever wars. They voted for time and dignity; for strong unions and jobs they can raise families on; for the hope of buying a home; for the chance to retire with grace.<\/p>\n People are desperate for change. For this broken system to be righted. For the American experiment to be furthered. Over the past eleven months, thousands and thousands of Mainers poured their hearts, time, and talent into a movement to deliver that vision. I will be forever grateful to them.<\/p>\n And in submitting this letter today, I seek to further the movement we have built together and the future we believe in.<\/p>\n My name may have been on the ballot, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine. As such, please consider this notice as my official withdrawal from consideration for this office.<\/p>\n F*ck ICE. Free Palestine. Up the Hearts.<\/p>\n Solidarity forever,<\/p>\n Graham Platner<\/p>\n Although Platner\u2019s letter was addressed \u201cTo Whom It May Concern\u201d, the Maine secretary of state\u2019s office confirmed to the Associated Press that it had received the letter on Friday, making the withdrawal official.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.00 EDT<\/p>\n Congressional Democrats released an investigative report<\/a> on Friday that accuses the Trump administration of misusing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), by diverting staff and resources away from disaster response to support immigration enforcement operations.<\/p>\n The report found that the administration used Fema staff to support the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection <\/strong>(CBP) operations by carrying out administrative duties, like hiring new immigration officers, and working at detention centers.<\/p>\n Among the key findings of the investigation, Democrats said<\/a>, was that Department of Homeland Security leadership \u201crelied on FEMA to serve as the backbone of large-scale immigration enforcement and detention operations and that FEMA\u2019s delayed response to the Texas flooding resulted in demonstrable harm to disaster survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the Trump administration hollowed out a third of FEMA\u2019s workforce, it put disaster professionals to work as the \u2018operational backbone\u2019 of its cruel mass deportation agenda, likely in violation of federal law,\u201d Greg Stanton, an Arizona congressman who directed the investigation, said<\/a> of the report\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in the middle of a dangerous and destructive hurricane and wildfire season. The stakes couldn\u2019t be higher,\u201d Stanton added. \u201cEvery FEMA employee detailed to ICE and CBP should be recalled immediately, and Congress must put real penalties in the law so no future administration can raid this life-saving agency again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhile communities across the country are struggling to prepare for more severe and frequent natural disasters, the Trump administration is using FEMA employees and funding for its large-scale, brutal immigration enforcement operations,\u201d Rick Larsen, a Washington congressman who is the senior Democrat on a House subcommittee on emergency management, added.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n We also have new pictures coming through of the the giant new helipad that Donald Trump<\/strong> confirmed a few days ago is being built on the White House South Lawn.<\/p>\n The granite helipad will accommodate the presidential helicopter Marine One and is being paid for by a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin.<\/p>\n <\/span>Workers building the helipad on the South Lawn of the White House on Friday.<\/span> Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein\/AP<\/p>\n Trump told<\/a> reporters in the Oval Office on Monday:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe\u2019re building a helipad, a beautiful helipad, and it\u2019s got the seal of the White House on it, in granite, in carved granite. It\u2019s really a beautiful thing.<\/p>\n He added that Sikorsky Aircraft would pay for the project. \u201cIt\u2019s about $5 or $6m. They\u2019re paying the full cost,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n The United States has issued new Iran<\/strong>-related \u2060sanctions following Iran\u2019s resumption of attacks on international shipping in the strait \u2060of Hormuz<\/strong>, the \u2060treasury department \u200bsaid today.<\/p>\n The latest sanctions target Iranian financial facilitator Ali Ansari, who the treasury department described as a \u201ckey financier\u201d who \u201coversees a sprawling global network of assets benefitting Iran\u2019s leader \u2013 Mojtaba Khamenei \u2013 and other regime elites.\u201d<\/p>\n The Treasury\u2019s Office of Foreign \u200cAssets Control (OFAC) also targeted key Iranian exchange houses that it said moved billions of dollars \u200bannually on behalf of sanctioned Iranian banks, using layers of shell companies to obscure the government\u2019s illicit financial activity.<\/p>\n Earlier today, Donald Trump<\/strong> once again declared that the US-Iran memorandum of understanding is \u201cover\u201d, before adding that talks with Tehran would continue.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.31 EDT<\/p>\nHouse Democrats pledge ‘to find the truth about Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s death’, father of 3 shot and killed by ICE<\/h2>\n
Trump justice department threatens criminal charges against state election officials unless they provide list of voters<\/h2>\n
Maine secretary of state’s office confirms it received Platner’s letter, ending his candidacy for US Senate<\/h2>\n
Graham Platner posts letter formally withdrawing from Maine Senate race<\/h2>\n
House Democrats accuse Trump of misusing disaster response agency for immigration crackdown<\/h2>\n
Trump administration issues fresh Iran-related sanctions<\/h2>\n
White House upgrading front door to fortify entrance – report<\/h2>\n