Democrats prepare for potential election interference in midterms – US politics live

The Democrats are wargaming messaging strategies over fears that Donald Trump may try to influence the midterm elections

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

The Democrats are considering messaging strategies and considering legal action amid fears that Donald Trump, or malign foreign actors, will try to influence the midterm elections.

Trump has talked about stealing the election, violating the election, perverting the election, over and over again.

And woe be us, and woe be anyone who believes in free elections, who doesn’t take that seriously.

Donald Trump demanded that Republicans in Congress provide an additional $350bn in funding for the Pentagon, by passing a third reconciliation bill.

Trump brushed off concerns about new data showing that inflation jumped to an annual rate of 4.2% in May by saying “I love the inflation”, but US House speaker Mike Johnson, accused a CNN journalist of taking the president’s comment “totally out of context”. “What he was saying is: ‘It’s going to be great to have that number and compare it to what comes next, when we get these situations resolved, that’ll be a fun thing to consider.’”

As Trump appeared unwilling to back off his plan to install as acting director of national intelligence an unqualified political “attack dog”, federal mortgage director Bill Pulte, Senate Democrats said they would not vote to reauthorize a warrantless surveillance law that expires on Friday.

Trump told Fox News the US had fired 49 Tomahawk missiles at Iran on Wednesday, and would “bomb the shit out of them again on Thursday” if Iran’s leaders do not sign a peace agreement.

Continue reading...