Trump ‘threatens’ Mark Milley and praises Rishi Sunak for climate rollbacks in Truth Social rants – live

Fox News anchors lauded Rupert Murdoch’s “indelible imprint” on the news inducts following the announcement that he’s stepping down from Fox and News Corp.

On Thursday morning, as Fox News announced Mr Murdoch’s retirement, anchor Bill Hemmer said: “Rupert Murdoch created all of this and so much more across America and the globe.”

“His life’s work has left an indelible imprint on the global media landscape. His contributions are both innumerable and extraordinary and we thank him for letting us be a part of it all,” he added.

Anchor Dana Perino added: “Without him, we would not be here.”

“Our boss Rupert Murdoch is transitioning from Chair of our parent company, Fox Corporation, and in a note to employees today he says he’s decided that in November he will move to the role of chairman emeritus of both Fox and Fox Corp,” Mr Hemmer said. “He says going forward his son Lachlan will be the sole Chair of both companies.”

Read more

Donald Trump has remained uncharacteristically silent about the major news that Rupert Murdoch is standing down as chairman of his companies Fox Corp and News Corp.

The right-wing media mogul, 92, announced in a memo to staff on Thursday that he was retiring from the empire and handing the reins to his son Lachlan.

Surprisingly, the former president is yet to comment on the news – despite making multiple posts on his Truth Social account – which comes after the two men have endured something of a notorious love-hate relationship for years.

Mr Murdoch and Mr Trump were close allies before the former president took issue with Fox News correctly calling Arizona for Joe Biden in the 2020 election. This week, a new book from Michael Wolff claimed that Mr Murdoch despises Mr Trump to such a degree that he wishes him dead.

Hours before Mr Murdoch’s announcement, Mr Trump had called out Fox for not sharing a poll which placed him ahead of his 2024 rivals.

After months of Sen Tommy Tuberville blocking the approval of military nominations, the Senate confirmed Gen Charles Q Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The Senate voted 83-11 to confirm Gen Brown. In May, Gen Brown, the chief of staff of the Air Force, was nominated by President Biden to succeed Gen Mark Milley in the post.

The confirmation comes after Mr Tuberville’s blockade of hundreds of nominees over the military’s policy on abortion.

The policy, ordered by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last year, allows for military service members who need to travel for abortion or need to take time off for the procedure to be granted “travel and transportation allowances” and “appropriate administrative absence.” This policy only applies to service members who obtain reproductive care outside of the military.

Due to federal law, the Department of Defense is prohibited from providing abortion services at military treatment facilities except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the pregnant person’s life.

Read more

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Capitol Hill to appeal for the United States to continue to support his country amid a fight amongst Republicans about whether to continue US support for Ukraine’s defence against Russia.

Mr Zelensky arrived on Capitol Hill Thursday morning and attended an all-senators briefing to impress upon the upper chamber the importance of continued funding for his country’s efforts to repel a Russian invading force amid a long-awaited counteroffensive that has seen Ukraine reclaim previously Russian-occupied territory.

One Democratic senator, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, told The Independent that Mr Zelensky was “not asking us to spend money” but was instead urging senators to “lead the investments made for democracy and freedom around the world”.

“We still need a vote on basically supporting and investing in democracy. So I’m supporting whatever form we take,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell flanked the Ukrainian president as he walked into the briefing.

“At the risk of repeating myself, American support for Ukraine is not charity,” Mr McConnell said. “It’s an investment in our own direct interests – not least because degrading Russia’s military power helps to deter our primary strategic adversary, China.”

Read more

The Senate is confirming three of the Pentagon’s top leaders, filling the posts after monthslong delays and as a Republican senator is still holding up hundreds of other nominations and promotions for military officers.

Gen. Randy George was confirmed as Army Chief of Staff on Thursday, and Gen. Eric Smith is expected to be confirmed as commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps by Thursday afternoon. On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed Gen. CQ Brown as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, putting him in place to succeed Gen. Mark Milley when he retires at the end of the month.

Democrats are still trying to maneuver around holds placed on more than 300 nominations by Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville over the Pentagon’s abortion policy. Tuberville has been blocking the Senate from the routine process of approving the military nominations in groups, forcing Democrats to bring the nominations up one by one — a process that could take months and delay other priorities.

The Senate usually holds roll call votes to confirm top Pentagon leadership such as Brown, George and Smith. But lower-ranking promotions and nominations are always approved in large groups by unanimous consent, meaning no objections from senators. Tuberville has upended that tradition by objecting, and he has said he will continue to object unless the Pentagon reverses its new policy of paying for travel when a service member has to go out of state to get an abortion or other reproductive care.

Read more

More than 15,000 people in Arizona have registered to join a new political party floating a possible bipartisan “unity ticket” against Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

While that’s less than the population of each of the state’s 40 largest cities, it’s still a number big enough to tip the presidential election in a critical swing state. And that is alarming people trying to stop Trump from winning the White House again.

The very existence of the No Labels group is fanning Democratic anxiety about Trump’s chances against an incumbent president facing questions about his age and record. While it hasn’t committed to running candidates for president and vice president, No Labels has already secured ballot access in Arizona and 10 other states. Its organizers say they are on track to reach 20 states by the end of this year and all 50 states by Election Day.

Read more

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is set to release a proposal Thursday aimed at helping some of the state’s financially struggling hospitals, even as the Democrat who is trying to unseat him has spent months hammering Reeves for opposing Medicaid expansion in one of the poorest states in the nation.

Mississippi is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid to low-wage workers whose jobs don’t provide private health insurance. Expansion is an option under the health care overhaul signed into law in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama.

Reeves has said for years that he opposes Medicaid expansion because he does not want to add more people to a government program that he derides as “welfare.”

Health officials have said Mississippi could receive about $1 billion a year from the federal government for Medicaid expansion. The federal government would pay 90% of the cost for people added to the program, and the state government would pay 10%.

Brandon Presley, the Democratic nominee for governor, said at a campaign event last week in Summit that “not expanding Medicaid is one of the dumbest decisions that this state has ever made.”

Read more

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear declared that now is not the time to “sub out the quarterback” when Kentucky has so much momentum, while Republican challenger Daniel Cameron said he’s the one who can team up with GOP legislators to tackle the state’s nagging problems.

The rivals offered contrasting assessments of how the state is faring during a Wednesday night forum hosted by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. They appeared separately to field questions from a moderator. It was a preview of upcoming debates in one of the nation’s most closely watched elections in 2023.

Beshear is seeking a second term while Cameron is trying to reclaim the governorship for the GOP to consolidate its power in Frankfort, where Republicans have legislative supermajorities.

The candidates offered differing views on the appropriate pace for eliminating the state individual income tax and touted competing plans for education and how to boost workforce participation. They also spoke briefly about their shared past as one-time colleagues at a law firm — a brief glimpse of sentimentality in what has become an increasingly hard-hitting campaign.

Cameron, the state’s attorney general, focused on crime, the state’s comparatively low workforce participation rate and students’ learning loss when schools closed during the pandemic.

Read more

A Republican congressman tried to slam Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg over his use of private jet – but to no avail.

Rep Eric Burlison, a Missouri Republican, had confronted Mr Buttigieg during a House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure hearing on Wednesday.

“Since taking the role, you’ve traveled quite a bit – including private flights. How often do you take private flights?” he asked.

“I assume by ‘private flights’ you mean the use of government aircraft assigned by agency,” Mr Buttigieg replied.

Since serving as Transportation Secretary, he said that he has taken 638 flights: 607 of them flown on commercial aircraft, 10 were on military planes such as Air Force One, and 30 on FAA aircraft.

Read more

Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, said he would keep his government’s $2bn investment in a private equity firm founded by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner if the former president is re-elected.

“It’s a commitment that [Public Investment Fund] PIF has, and when PIF has commitment with any investment around the globe, [we] keep it,” the Saudi crown prince told Fox News anchor Brett Baier.

He also downplayed any idead that the massive investment would affect the decision-making of a hypothetical Trump administration during an interview aired on Wednesday.

“Saudi Arabia is so big, so I’m quite sure mostly any person around the world, directly or indirectly, you have something to do with Saudi Arabia,” he added. “So if that can affect President Trump’s decision, if he becomes president, that means it can affect every president in the world’s and every person in the world’s decision.”

Read more