Trump signs executive order to exclude undocumented people from census – live




3.08pm EDT15:08

Bolton: no justification for DHS agents in Portland

Former national security adviser John Bolton has stepped into the row over Portland, saying there is no justification for the deployment of Department of Homeland Security forces on the streets of the Oregon city.

John Bolton.


John Bolton. Photograph: Pablo Martínez Monsiváis/AP

In an interview with the Guardian, Bolton pointed out that he served in the Reagan justice department, giving him an insight into the legal and practical issues involved. He said that even if the situation was so extreme it demanded federal involvement, the DHS was not the right department.

The protection of federal courthouses now is the responsibility of the US Marshals Service, who also responsible for physical protection for US judges, as part of the justice department,” said Bolton, who left the Trump administration in September after falling out with the president and subsequently wrote a bestselling tell-all book.

“If there were a threat to a US courthouse in Portland or anywhere else, you beef up the Marshals Service. It’s not like nobody ever gave any thought to this before. That’s what the marshals are there for, and the marshals are in constant coordination with local law enforcement.

“If a governor or mayor says, ‘Look, this is out of control, I need federal help,’ there are occasions when you do that. There are no such requests. I’m not saying everything’s hunky dory in Portland, Oregon, because it clearly is not. But I don’t see any justification for the deployment of the Department of Homeland Security personnel.”

Here’s a report from Chris McGreal, in Portland and speaking to some of the “Wall of Moms” who have turned out to join Black Lives Matter protests and thwart Trump’s federal agents:




2.47pm EDT14:47

Donald Trump “cannot imprison Michael Cohen for writing a book”, the American Civil Liberties Union said, as the organization filed suit against the federal government.

Michael Cohen


Michael Cohen Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

The ACLU suit against the attorney general, William Barr, and the director of the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) follows court battles involving John Bolton, a former national security adviser, and Mary Trump, the president’s niece. They defeated attempts to stop publication by the White House and the Trump family respectively, and saw their tell-all books became instant bestsellers.

In a tweet on 2 July, Cohen said he was “close to completion of my book, anticipated release date will be late September”. A week later, the former top Trump aide was returned to prison after he had been released due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Cohen, 53 and Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, was convicted of crimes including lying to Congress and facilitating illegal payments to silence two women who alleged affairs with Trump, the adult film-maker and actor Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model.

Trump denies the affairs and ordering the payments.

Cohen went to prison in May 2019. He was released a year later, due to the coronavirus pandemic, and expected to complete his three-year sentence at home. Last week, however, the BOP said Cohen had “refused the conditions of his home confinement and as a result, has been returned to a BOP facility”.

Full report here…




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Biden says Trump has ‘quit on this country’

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Biden delivers remarks on education workforce




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Trump signs executive order to exclude undocumented persons from census




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Trump to sign executive order to exclude undocumented people from census

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