Page 7 - White House

US, Chinese officials hold over 12-hour meet in Bangkok: White House

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi held more than 12 hours of meetings in Bangkok, the White House said Monday. "Over the weekend, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held more than 12 hours of meetings in Bangkok with his counterpart from the People's Republic of China, Director Wang Yi," John Kirby, NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the White House told reporters at a news conference here. "Sullivan and Director Wang took stock of progress on key issues following the meeting between President (Joe) Biden and (Chinese) President Xi (Jinping) back in November. Now, that includes discussing efforts to resume military-to-military communication, which has occurred; addressing artificial intelligence safety and risks; and advancing bilateral counter-narcotics cooperation," Kirby said. In fact, the launch of a working group on counter-narcotics will begin Tuesday in Beijing. The US delegation will be led by Deputy Homeland ...

Trump WH official convicted of defying Jan 6 subpoena to be sentenced

A Trump White House official convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol is set to be sentenced on Thursday. Prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence Peter Navarro to six months behind bars and impose a USD 200,000 fine. He was the second Trump aide to face contempt of Congress charges. Navarro was found guilty of defying a subpoena for documents and a deposition from the House on January 6 committee. Navarro served as a White House trade adviser under then-President Donald Trump and later promoted the Republican's baseless claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election he lost. Navarro has vowed to appeal the verdict, saying he couldn't cooperate with the committee because Trump had invoked executive privilege. A judge barred him from making that argument at trial, however, finding that he didn't show Trump had actually invoked it. Justice Department prosecutors say Navarro tri

Trump WH official Navarro loses bid for new contempt of Congress trial

A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a bid for a new trial for Peter Navarro, a Trump White House official convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the US Capitol attack. Navarro, who served as a White House trade advisor under President Donald Trump, was found guilty by a jury in Washington's federal court for defying a subpoena for documents and a deposition from the House January 6 committee. He's scheduled to be sentenced later this month. Navarro's lawyers argued he was entitled to a new trial, alleging that jurors may have been improperly influenced by political protesters when they took a break outside the courthouse before announcing a verdict in September. But US District Judge Amit Mehta said in his ruling that Navarro has not shown that "any prejudice resulted from the jury's eight-minute break outside the courthouse". Jurors only interacted with one another and the court officer who accompanied them, no one ...

Right time for Israel to scale back military offensive in Gaza: White House

The White House said on Sunday that it's the right time for Israel to scale back its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, as Israeli leaders again vowed to press ahead with their operation against the territory's ruling Hamas militant group. The comments exposed the growing differences between the close allies on the 100th day of the war. Also Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck targets in Lebanon following a Hezbollah missile attack that killed two Israeli civilians an older woman and her adult son in northern Israel. The exchange of fire underscored concerns that the Gaza violence could trigger wider fighting across the region. The war in Gaza, launched by Israel in response to the unprecedented October 7 attack by Hamas, has killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians, devastated vast swaths of Gaza, driven around 85 per cent of the territory's 2.3 million residents from their homes and pushed a quarter of the population into starvation. Speaking on CBS, White House National Security Coun

Trump's comeback endorsed by former rival Burgum ahead of Iowa caucuses

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum endorsed Donald Trump's comeback bid for the White House on Sunday ahead of the Iowa caucuses, a month after he ended his own longshot campaign for the Republican nomination. Burgum appeared on stage with the former president at a rally in Indianola, where he heaped praise for Trump. "I've had an opportunity to have a front-row seat," Burgum said. "I've seen President Trump and what he's been able to do. I've seen it as a business leader and I've seen it as a governor. I've seen the difference that President Trump can make." The support from Burgum, who did not build a substantial base in his own presidential campaign, is unlikely to make a difference in the Monday caucuses, which polls indicate Trump is likely to dominate. But it reflects the sense of inevitability surrounding Trump's candidacy as his remaining rivals try to build their movement against him. When Burgum dropped out, he blamed his inability to resonate in the race on the Republican

US Congressional leaders ready stopgap bill to extend govt funding

Another extension has moved into focus as Congress appears on track to miss two staggered deadlines - January19 for passage of four of the 12 annual government-funding bills and February 2 for others

Apple to fight watch ban in court after White House declines to act

Apple had already stopped selling its Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches in its online store and US retail outlets

US Steel sale to Japanese company warrants 'serious scrutiny': White House

President Joe Biden believes serious scrutiny is warranted for the planned acquisition of US Steel by Japan's Nippon Steel, the White House said Thursday after days of silence on a transaction that has drawn alarm from the steelworkers union. Lael Brainard, the director of the National Economic Council, indicated the deal would be reviewed by the secretive Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which she participates in and includes economic and national security agency representatives to investigate national security risks from foreign investments in American firms. She said in a statement that Biden believes the purchase of this iconic American-owned company by a foreign entity even one from a close ally appears to deserve serious scrutiny in terms of its potential impact on national security and supply chain reliability. This looks like the type of transaction that the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment Congress empowered and the Biden administration ...

Judge criticises Trump's witness, refuses request to toss fraud lawsuit

Former President Donald Trump has lost his latest bid to end the business fraud lawsuit he faces in New York as he campaigns to reclaim the White House. Judge Arthur Engoron issued a written ruling on Monday denying the Republican's latest request for a verdict in his favour in a lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. And in doing so, the judge dismissed the credibility of one of Trump's expert witnesses at the trial, a professor who testified that he saw no fraud in the former president's financial statements. The trial is centred on allegations Trump and other company officials exaggerated his wealth and inflated the value of his assets to secure loans and close business deals. In the three-page ruling, Engoron wrote that the most glaring flaw of Trump's argument was to assume that the testimony provided by Eli Bartov, an accounting professor at New York University, and other expert witnesses would be accepted by the court as true and accurate. Bartov is a .

Hunter Biden indicted on tax charges in new criminal case: Report

Prosecutors working for Special Counsel David Weiss accused Hunter Biden of tax crimes from 2016 through 2019, including spending millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying tax

Those behind assassination plot need to be held accountable: US to India

India is a strategic partner for the United States, the White House has said as it urged New Delhi to hold accountable those responsible for the plot to assassinate a separatist Sikh leader, who is an American citizen. India is a strategic partner. We're deepening that strategic partnership. They're a member of the Quad in the Pacific. We participate with them on a range of issues and we want to see that continue unabated. That said, at the same time, we certainly recognise the seriousness of these allegations, National Security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at a White House news conference here. Kirby was responding to a question on the impact that the alleged plot would have on the bilateral India-US relationship. We want it fully investigated and those responsible to be held properly accountable, he said. It's under active investigation. We've said that we're glad that our Indian counterparts are taking it seriously and doing that. We want those responsible for these ...

US nearly out of funds for Ukraine aid, White House warns Congress

The Biden administration on Monday sent Congress an urgent warning about the need to approve tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance to Ukraine, saying Kyiv's war effort to defend itself from Russia's invasion may grind to a halt without it. In a letter to House and Senate leaders and also released publicly, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young warned the US will run out of funding to send weapons and assistance to Ukraine by the end of the year, saying that would kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield. She added that the US already has run out of money that it has used to prop up Ukraine's economy, and if Ukraine's economy collapses, they will not be able to keep fighting, full stop. We are out of money and nearly out of time, she wrote. Biden has sought a nearly USD 106 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other needs, but it has faced a difficult reception on Capitol Hill, where there is growing scepticism about the magnitude of ...

US praises India setting up probe on alleged plot to kill Sikh separatist

The White House on Thursday praised New Delhi for setting up its own investigations on the US allegations that an Indian official was involved in a plot to kill separatist Sikh leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. The unnamed Indian official appeared in an indictment filed by federal prosecutors in a Manhattan court on Wednesday along with an Indian national, who the Department of Justice alleges hired someone in the US to assassinate Pannun, a vocal critic of India and espousing the cause of a separate Khalistan. "These allegations in this investigation, (we) take it very seriously. And we're glad to see that the Indians are too by announcing their own efforts to investigate this. And we've been clear that we want to see anybody that's responsible for these alleged crimes to be held properly accountable," John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, told reporters at a news conference here. However, this will not have an impac

Rosalynn Carter set for funeral, burial in the town where she was born

Rosalynn Carter will receive her final farewells on Wednesday in the same tiny town where she was born and that served as a home base as she and her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, climbed to the White House and spent four decades thereafter as global humanitarians. The former first lady, who died November 19 at the age of 96, will have her hometown funeral at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, where she and her husband spent decades welcoming guests when they were not travelling. The service comes on the last of a three-day public tribute that began on Monday in nearby Americus and continued in Atlanta. Rosalynn Carter will be buried in a plot she will one day share with her husband, the 99-year-old former president who first met his wife of 77 years when she was a newborn, a few days after his mother delivered her. She was born just a few years after women got the right to vote in this small town in the South where people were still plowing their fields behind mules, ...

White House opens accounts for Prez Biden, VP Harris on Meta's Threads

A White House spokeswoman, Robyn Patterson, said the reason for the move is because "we are committed to meeting people where they are."

White House slams Elon Musk for abhorrent promotion of antisemitism

The White House has slammed tech entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk for his abhorrent promotion of antisemitism and racist hate, while several top American companies like Apple have pulled out ads from his social media platform X. Musk, 52, on Wednesday endorsed a post on X that falsely claimed Jewish people were stoking hatred against white people, saying the user who referenced the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory was speaking "the actual truth." The antisemitic conspiracy theory which posits that Jews want to bring undocumented minority populations into Western countries to reduce White majorities in those nations is often espoused by hate groups. It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said. As President Biden said weeks ago memorialising the victims of the Pittsbur

Much ado about little

Biden-Xi talks yield modest outcomes

Biden appoints Indian American Shakuntla Bhaya to key position: Who is she?

US President Joe Biden has appointed Indian American Shakuntla L Bhaya to serve in a key role, the White House said. Bhaya was appointed as a member of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States. It is among the several new appointments announced by Biden on Wednesday, the White House said. Bhaya is a co-owner of a statewide Delaware law firm, Law Offices of Doroshow, Pasquale, Krawitz & Bhaya. Her practice focuses on representing individuals who are seriously injured as a result of businesses and people making unsafe decisions, the White House said. For the last seven years, Bhaya has been a member of Governor Carney's Judicial Nominating Commission. In addition to practising law, Bhaya is very involved in Delaware politics. She is currently a member of the Delaware Democratic Party's State Executive Committee. Bhaya, past President of the Delaware Trial Lawyers Association, continues to be involved in protecting consumers' 7th Amendment Right to a jury ...

We have intelligence that Hamas militants shelter in Gaza hospitals: US

The US said Tuesday that it has unspecified intelligence that Hamas and another Palestinian militant group use some hospitals in the Gaza Strip including Shifa Hospital and tunnels underneath them, to hide and support their military operations, and to hold hostages. The White House's national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, said the US does not support strikes against hospitals. We do not support striking a hospital from the air, Kirby told reporters accompanying President Joe Biden aboard Air Force One to San Francisco for a summit with Asia-Pacific leaders. Hospitals and patients must be protected. Kirby said the US also does not want to see a firefight in a hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people are simply trying to get the medical care that they deserve. When asked about evidence to support the claim, Kirby said it comes from a variety of intelligence sourcing. He wouldn't be more specific.

Biden-Xi meet: White House expects possible military communications revival

US officials expressed hope Monday that this week's highly anticipated face-to-face meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will produce some concrete results, including the possible reestablishment of military communication between the two nations and a shared effort to combat illicit fentanyl trafficking. The two leaders will meet Wednesday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco. The Biden-Xi bilateral will be the marquee moment of the forum, which is dedicated to promoting trade, investment and economic development among nations around the Pacific Ocean. Biden and Xi have not spoken in a year. Their last meeting was at the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia last fall. And since then, tensions between the two nations have grown following a series of events touched off by the shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon that had wafted across the US earlier this year. The frosty relationship between the two economic ...