Trump news: Four RNC attendees test positive for Covid as president gives full pardon to Alice Johnson after she praised him in speech
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Donald Trump gave a full pardon to Alice Johnson on Friday after she praised the president at the Republican National Convention.
Trump gave his own performance at the convention top ratings for the second-longest acceptance speech since 1984, behind only himself in 2016. Fox News called it "flat and too long".
Rand Paul called on the FBI to investigate 'paid anarchists' that harassed the Senator and other RNC attendees as they left the White House on Thursday night.
The end of the Republican convention came as four people who attended in Charlotte, North Carolina, earlier in the week tested positive for Covid-19.
The House Foreign Affairs committee, meanwhile, announced the panel would carry out contempt proceedings against US secretary of state Mike Pompeo for refusing to provide subpoenaed documents in an investigation into government resources.
While thousands attended the March on Washington calling for federal police reforms, Trump finished his week at a New Hampshire campaign rally saying protesters during the RNC were just bad people and troublemakers who didn't know who George Floyd is.
Giuiani condemns Obama and Biden on BLM
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and personal lawyer to Donald Trump, was sharply critical of the Black Lives Matter movement in his address to the Republican convention on Thursday.
Mr Giuliani, who recently dubbed the movement a "terrorist organisation", said its members were "co-conspirators" in at-times violent protests sweeping the nation.
"If Biden is elected, along with the Democrats who are unwilling to speak out against this anarchy, then the crime wave will intensify and spread from cities and towns to suburbs and beyond," he added.
In a heated address, the Republican also attacked Joe Biden and Barack Obama for "[doing] nothing at all to quell the carnage," adding, "I guess these Black lives didn't matter to them."
Those comments, which come despite neither Mr Biden or Mr Obama currently holding presidential office, were later fact-checked by a number of American TV networks, with MSNBC reminding viewers that - in contradiction to Mr Giuliani's claims - there was no reported far-left Antifa involvement in anti-racism protests seen this year.
Mr Giuliani, meanwhile, was mocked online over his actions whilst seated....
Giuliani condemns Obama and Biden on BLM
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and personal lawyer to Donald Trump, was sharply critical of the Black Lives Matter movement in his address to the Republican convention on Thursday.
Mr Giuliani, who recently dubbed the movement a "terrorist organisation", said its members were "co-conspirators" in at-times violent protests sweeping the nation.
"If Biden is elected, along with the Democrats who are unwilling to speak out against this anarchy, then the crime wave will intensify and spread from cities and towns to suburbs and beyond," he added.
In a heated address, the Republican also attacked Joe Biden and Barack Obama for "[doing] nothing at all to quell the carnage," adding, "I guess these Black lives didn't matter to them."
Those comments, which come despite neither Mr Biden or Mr Obama currently holding presidential office, were later fact-checked by a number of American TV networks, with MSNBC reminding viewers that - in contradiction to Mr Giuliani's claims - there was no reported far-left Antifa involvement in anti-racism protests seen this year.
Mr Giuliani, meanwhile, was mocked online over his actions whilst seated....
Scott Walker can't explain why Democrats are to blame
Another Republican, and another attempt on Thursday at blaming Democrats for protests seen in the wake of the police-shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin, and the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May, among many others.
In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Scott Walker, the former Republican governor of Wisconsin, shut-down an interview as he was questioned on blaming Joe BIden for the unrest.
"You said silence is compliciticy on the Democrat's part, [but] the president has not even addressed the shooting of Mr Blake," said the CNN host.
Seconds later, Mr Walker appeared to end the interview, which you can see here:
Protesters heckle Rand Paul after Trump RNC speech
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered around the White House for a "noise demonstration and dance party" in an attempt to drown out Donald Trump's speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination.
A crowd later enveloped Kentucky senator Rand Paul as he left the convention, yelling for him to say the name of police shooting victim Breonna Taylor, who was killed in his state.
Music was played as one protester held up a sign saying "Nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue" — the street where the White House is located.
There was no indication that Trump heard the protesters, although some guests at the convention were reported to have heard the disturbance.
Acknowledging the coronavirus pandemic, the demonstrators wore masks but there was no social distancing, according to the Associated Press.
Rand Paul claims life threatened by 'crazed mob'
The Republican senator has claimed that his life was threatened by protesters who confronted him over the death of a black woman, Breonna Taylor, that took place in his state
The confrontation happened as he left the White House with his wife following the speech of Donald Trump to the Republican convention on Thursday.
Video posted online did not appear to show that the protests were violent, in contrast to the senator's claims.
Has the wall been built?
Donald Trump’s speech accepting the Republican nomination on Thursday contained a multitude of falsehoods – some merely misleading, and others fully untrue.
To help keep the audience alert to what Mr Trump was doing, as CNN added “facts first” captions to their screening.
The network’s fact-checker, Daniel Dale, called the president “a serial liar” who spouted at least “20 false or misleading claims”.
Andrew Naughtie explains the main takeaways and misleading statements from last night, here:
Trump vs BIden
After two weeks and two conventions, what has Donald Trump done to show he could beat Joe Biden in November?
He has just been himself, only more so, writes Andrew Buncombe. He and his surrogates have told lies, spoken mistruths, sought to generate fear and panic, and repeatedly tried to undermine the integrity of the election.
But that might just be enough...
Trump in 2016. says 'government's duty is to defend the lives of its citizens'
When the US president made his nomination acceptance speech to the Republican convention on Thursday, some of the remarks were largely similar to what had come four years before.
He promised to make America both "greater" and "safer", whilst bashing Joe Biden as an establishment Washington DC politician.
But, with a coronavirus pandemic that has seen more than 180,000 US deaths and unrest over racial injustice, some have noted that Mr Trump's previous comments on what a government should do in office, were a contradiction to idea that such death "is what it is", as he infamously uttered earlier this month.
Here's the clip...
BLM due to hold first national convention
Black Lives Matter activists are holding their first Black National Convention on Friday, with a virtual event that will adopt a wide-ranging political agenda following the Democratic and Republican party conventions that have laid out starkly different visions for America.
It also comes amid anger over another shooting by a white police officer of a black man — 29-year-old Jacob Blake — in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that sparked days of protests, unrest and violence.
Aaron Morrison reports:
Consumer spending rises
US consumer spending increased for the third month in a row last month, according to Commerce Department data on Friday,
A 1.9 per cent rise in consumer spending was seen throughout July, the primary driver of the US economy and a vital sign of whether there is an economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Still, as cases continue to be reported and deaths nationwide average near 1,000 a day, the figures for July represent an economy that has not rebounded rapidly from the pandemic's fallout.
Associated Press
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