Latest news with #Joe Biden
Telegraph
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Trump promised to end ‘forever wars'. Five months in, he has matched Biden's bombing record
Donald Trump has overseen nearly as many air strikes in the first five months of his second term as Joe Biden launched in his entire presidency. The US president's onslaughts on Houthi militants in Yemen and jihadists in Somalia have been more ferocious than Mr Biden's, and he has ordered strikes on Iraq, Syria and most recently, Iran. After campaigning on a pledge to end American involvement in military conflicts, he has sharply escalated the country's air campaigns, according to the data from Acled (Armed Conflict Location and Event Data), which maps conflicts. Mr Trump has overseen 529 air strikes since his inauguration, compared with 555 over the entire four years of the previous administration. Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Somalia were already being targeted by the previous administration, but Mr Trump opened up a new front with strikes on Iran's nuclear programme. 'The US military is moving faster, hitting harder, and doing so with fewer constraints,' said Prof Clionadh Raleigh, chief executive of Acled, highlighting the intensity of the bombing campaigns. Mr Trump insists that his intense approach ensures 'peace through strength', an expression often attributed to Ronald Reagan. 'We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars we end and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into. It's called peace through strength,' Mr Trump said in a speech during his inaugural ball. He has not struck Libya or Afghanistan, and air strikes are often seen as a more clinical alternative to putting US boots on the ground as Barack Obama did. But the new data have been published amid tensions within Mr Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) base over whether he should be pursuing foreign military interventions at all. Prominent MAGA figures including Tucker Carlson last month complained that striking Iran ran against Mr Trump's 'America First' isolationist promises. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a high profile MAGA loyalist and critic of intervention, said there was a 'very big divide' in Mr Trump's base over the issue and that she was 'sick of' foreign entanglements. She said last month: 'I got elected on the exact same campaign promises that President Trump got elected on. We promised no more foreign wars, no more regime change.' Yet polling at the time of the strikes showed Mr Trump's base in fact strongly backed him, with 84 per cent of MAGA supporters agreeing with the strikes, including 70 per cent who strongly supported them. That compared with 72 per cent of traditional Republicans supporting the strikes, with 49 per cent strongly supporting them. Prof Raleigh said the new data showed that America was not 'stepping back' under Mr Trump. She said: 'Trump's preference for engagement begs the question: does this contradict his promise to end America's wars – or are the foreign strikes how he wishes to keep that promise? 'The recent airstrikes on Iran's nuclear sites have been framed as a major turning point in US foreign policy. But if you take a step back, they don't stand out – they fit. 'In just five months, Trump has overseen nearly as many US air strikes as were recorded across the entire four years of the previous administration. 'The US military is moving faster, hitting harder, and doing so with fewer constraints. Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and now Iran are all familiar terrain, but this isn't about geography – it's about frequency.' The great majority of Mr Trump's strikes have been in Yemen, where in March he dramatically escalated the US air campaign against Iran-backed Houthi militants menacing Red Sea shipping. The militants have proven stubbornly resilient to US firepower and last week sank two ships, despite having been hit by 470 strikes since January, according to the Acled data. This came at a cost of more than $1 billion to the US military. Mr Trump has also ramped up strikes in Somalia, where US forces have been hitting the local Islamic State group and also Al-Shabaab. In March, the White House announced that it had killed an Isis attack planner in Somalia. Mr Trump said jubilantly: 'Our Military has targeted this Isis attack planner for years, but Biden and his cronies wouldn't act quickly enough to get the job done. 'I did! The message to Isis and all others who would attack Americans is that 'we will find you, and we will kill you'.' Prof Raleigh said: 'While Trump has repeatedly promised to end America's 'forever wars', he has rarely elaborated on how [this will take]. 'These early months suggest the plan may be to use overwhelming firepower to end fights before they begin, or before they drag on.' The White House insisted Mr Trump was projecting 'peace through strength'. A post on the White House Website read: 'President Donald J Trump will always put the American people first – and through restoring the US military's mission of lethality and leading with peace through strength in his foreign policy, President Trump is making good on his commitment to restore safety and security around the world.' But that strategy comes at a cost, said Prof Raleigh. 'For civilians, it's a renewed danger with little warning. For US allies, it raises concerns about co-ordination and unpredictability. And, for lawmakers, it deepens concerns about executive power and accountability. 'So, is Trump aiming to end wars by escalating quickly and decisively, or is this a return to high-risk, low-accountability foreign policy? Is air power being used to avoid deeper conflict, or just manage from above? 'What is clear: the US isn't stepping back. It's moving faster, striking first, and saving the conversations for later.' Mr Trump's strikes have mainly been focused on the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, and culminated in an extraordinary assault on Iran. Iran The June strikes on Tehran's nuclear programme marked a major shift in the United States' Middle East policy. After days of Israeli strikes on Iran, Mr Trump ordered raids on three nuclear facilities. The key strike was on Iran's secretive 'nuclear mountain', the Fordow fuel enrichment plant buried deep underground where more than 2,000 centrifuges enrich uranium to 60 per cent. A sortie of B2 stealth bombers dropped the latest GBU-57 A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator 'bunker buster' bombs, specifically designed to attack deeply buried and hardened tunnels. US intelligence agencies are thought to be compiling a final audit of the damage caused by the roughly 30,000lb bombs after contradictory early assessments. Mr Trump said Iran's nuclear programme had been obliterated in 'one of the most successful military strikes in history', but an early Pentagon assessment suggested limited damage. Iraq On March 13, the US Central Command (Centcom) reported it had killed one of the Islamic State group's leaders in an air strike in Al Anbar Province. Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, also known by the alias 'Abu Khadijah', was described as the group's number two. As chief of global operations and emir of its most senior decision-making body, he was responsible for logistics and planning, as well as a significant portion of the group's finances. Gen Michael Kurilla, Centcom commander, said at the time: 'Abu Khadijah was one of the most important Isis members in the entire global Isis organisation. 'We will continue to kill terrorists and dismantle their organisations that threaten our homeland and US, allied and partner personnel in the region and beyond.' He died alongside an associate, and both men were wearing suicide vests at the time of their deaths, the US military said. His death was confirmed by a DNA match. Syria On June 10, the US military said it had killed an Islamic State group commander in an air strike in north-west Syria on June 10. The commander, who was named as Rakhim Boev, was said to have been involved in planning attacks on the US and its allies outside Syria. A photograph accompanying the announcement showed a mangled Kia vehicle with its windscreen smashed and damage similar to previous strikes using the specialist R9X 'Ninja bomb'. The missile is designed to reduce the chances of civilian casualties by using its weight and a ring of blades to kill rather than exploding. The missile, which was developed from the more common Hellfire armament, has in recent years been used on targets in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Somalia. Mr Trump's Syrian strikes have come as his administration has begun reducing the number of American troops in the country from more than 2,000 to around 500. The drawdown has taken place as the Trump administration has recognised Ahmed al-Sharaa as the president of Syria. Under the nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, Al Sharaa previously headed Al Qaeda in Syria, deposing long-time dictator Bashar al Assad. Somalia On Feb 1, the US military said it had conducted 'multiple' air strikes against the Islamic State group in Somalia. The strikes against cave complexes in the Cal Miskaad area of the Golis mountains killed at least 14 militants including an Omani called Ahmed Maeleninine. American commanders described him as a 'recruiter, financier, and external operations leader responsible for the deployment of jihadists into the United States and across Europe'. Abdifitah Mohamed Abdinur, the Puntland state minister for the presidency, said at the time of the strike that Somalia and its allies had been watching Maeleninine's movements in the region. He said: 'He was an Omani-born man in his 40s who was wanted for international crimes and his movements and activities have been followed at least for the last two years, as he was hiding in the mountainous area of Puntland. 'He was a thorn removed from the flesh of Somalis and the world population, and he eventually tasted what he deserved.' Yemen Strikes on Yemen account for the great majority of US missions overseen by Mr Trump, after he sharply escalated the campaign against Iran-backed Houthi militants in mid-March. While the US military has given few specific details of individual strikes, Acled has recorded 470 inside the country since January. In early April, Mr Trump posted video footage of what he said were Houthi rebels gathering before they were struck. The 25-second clip showed a group starting to gather, before an explosion left only two trucks visible and a deep crater in the ground, as smoke cleared. 'These Houthis gathered for instructions on an attack,' Mr Trump wrote alongside the black-and-white aerial footage. 'Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis. They will never sink our ships again,' he wrote. Yahya Saree, a Houthi spokesman, denied the gathering was linked to the rebels. He said: 'Does the US take pride in such an act? This was a tribal gathering that had nothing to do with your ships.'
Fox News
a day ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Constitutional scholar uses Biden autopen to flip Dems' ‘democracy' script against them: ‘Scandal'
Constitutional legal scholar Randy Barnett admonished Democrats' rhetoric claiming democracy is at risk under the Trump administration when "the biggest constitutional scandal in US history" played out under the Biden administration with the use of the autopen. "For all the talk of a 'constitutional crisis' or threats to 'our democracy' having the executive branch systematically run by unknown subordinates of a mentally incompetent president is the biggest constitutional scandal in US history – it's called into question the legality of official acts done in his name but without proper authority," Barnett posted to X Monday. "Southern secession was a 'constitutional crisis,'" Barnett added in a follow-up message Tuesday. "This is a constitutional scandal." Barnett, a Georgetown University law professor who serves as the director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, was referring to an interview former President Joe Biden conducted with the New York Times defending his use of an autopen. Biden said he orally approved a long list of clemency and pardon actions at the end of his tenure, but that his aides used the autopen to officiate the actions. Amid the Biden autopen controversy, Democratic lawmakers and left-wing media pundits have continued slamming Trump as a threat to democracy – which was a common talking point during the election cycle – and claiming his actions as president, such as deporting illegal immigrants and revoking visa privileges for some foreign students, have thrown the U.S. into a constitutional crisis. Biden told the Times that he was aware of every pardon ahead of leaving office in 2024, which included clemency and commutation actions related to 2,500 nonviolent drug offenders in his final weeks in office alone. "I made every decision," Biden told the Times in a phone interview earlier in July that was published Sunday. He added that staff used the autopen for the pardons and commutations "because there were a lot of them." "Mr. Biden did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people, he and aides confirmed," the Times reported. "Rather, after extensive discussion of different possible criteria, he signed off on the standards he wanted to be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a reduction in sentence." Biden also pardoned Anthony Fauci, former chief medical advisor to the president; former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley; and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots. Less than half an hour before Trump became president, Biden also pardoned members of his family, including his brothers James B. Biden and Francis W. Biden, sister Valerie Biden Owens and brother-in-law John T. Owens. Autopen signatures are produced by a machine, as opposed to an authentic, handwritten signature. The conservative Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project first investigated the Biden administration's use of an autopen earlier in 2025 and found that the same signature was on a bevvy of executive orders and other official documents, while Biden's signature on the document announcing his departure from the 2024 race varied from the apparent machine-produced signature. The use of the autopen follows years of mounting concern that Biden's mental acuity and health were deteriorating, which hit a fever pitch during the 2024 campaign cycle following the president's disastrous debate performance against Trump. Biden ultimately dropped out of the race on July 21, 2024, and endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his place. Since reclaiming the Oval Office, Trump has balked at his predecessor's use of the autopen, claiming Biden's staff allegedly used the pen to sign off on presidential actions unbeknownst to Biden. "I guarantee you he knew nothing about what he was signing, I guarantee you," Trump said Monday when asked about Biden's interview with the Times. Biden's interview follows Trump sending a memo to the Department of Justice in June directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether Biden administration aides conspired to deceive the public about his mental state, and simultaneously used an autopen to sign key presidential actions. "In recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden's aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden's cognitive decline and assert Article II authority," Trump wrote in his letter. "This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history. The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden's signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts." Biden said in his New York Times interview that Trump and other Republicans are "liars" for claiming he was incapacitated as president and that his aides used the pen for official presidential actions. "They're liars. They know it. They know, for certain. I mean, this is – look, what they, they've had a pretty good thing going here. They've done so badly. They've lied so consistently about almost everything they're doing. The best thing they can do is try to change the focus and focus on something else. And this is a – I think that's what this is about," he said.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
The Daily T: Why has Trump changed his mind on Russia?
He was elected in 2024 promising to end the war between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours, and less than six months ago he halted the flow of military aid to Kyiv after giving President Zelensky a dressing down in the Oval Office. But Donald Trump now seems to have changed his tune on Ukraine. The President has announced that the US will resume the supply of weapons, via Nato, and also threatened 100pc tariffs on Russia if a deal isn't done. He also later told the BBC that he was 'disappointed' in Putin. Camilla and Tim speak to former economic advisor to Donald Trump, Carla Sands, who blames 'weak and flabby militaries throughout Europe' and a 'feckless' Joe Biden for the current situation in Ukraine, and believes Trump will get a deal despite Putin not being an 'honest broker'. Elsewhere, Camilla and Tim speak to Conservative MP James Cleverly, who was making a speech in Central London about countering the rise of Reform, and ask him if he's on manoeuvres for a leadership run.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Democrat proposes cognitive tests to root out geriatrics in Congress
A Democrat has called for members of Congress to undergo mandatory cognitive tests to determine if ageing politicians are fit for the job. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, 37, said Joe Biden's disastrous presidential debate performance last year raised 'serious concerns' among her constituents 'that it was not their elected representatives calling the shots'. She proposed that the Office of Congressional Conduct create a standardised test to determine politicians' 'ability to perform the duties of office unimpeded by significant irreversible cognitive impairment'. 'What I've heard from my neighbours, my community is this idea that this place is being run by a bunch of staffers,' Ms Gluesenkamp Perez told Axios, adding: 'And we're seeing a very real decline in confidence in Congress.' Ms Gleusenkamp Perez, who was elected to Congress in Washington State in 2022, attempted to get her proposal attached as an amendment to the House appropriations committee's Bill funding Congress for the next year, but it was voted down. David Valadao, the committee's chairman, said the House's elections, which are held every two years, were a sufficient referendum on elected officials' fitness to serve. Concerns over what has been called a ' gerontocracy ' in the US reached a boiling point with Mr Biden's public decline, which saw the octogenarian drop out of the presidential race following his devastating debate performance. In May, it was revealed that he was suffering from prostate cancer, weeks after journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson alleged a cover-up at the White House of the ailing president's cognitive decline in their book Original Sin. Three Democrats have died in office so far this year, meaning if the party had won a slim House majority in 2024, they would have lost it due to politicians passing away. There have been multiple reports of Eleanor Holmes Norton, 88, the oldest House member, telling journalists she will be running for another term in 2026, only for her office to attempt to walk back her claims. Last year it was revealed Kay Granger, 82, a Republican congresswoman from Texas, had been struggling with memory issues and living in a senior-living facility towards the end of her time in office. It comes as a string of younger Democrats have launched campaigns to unseat older politicians, in what some experts told The Telegraph could see the Democrats have their equivalent of the Tea Party movement that rocked the Republican Party in 2010. Last week Barack Obama called on Democrats frustrated by Donald Trump's second administration to stop 'whining' and 'toughen up', CNN reported. Speaking at a private fundraiser in New Jersey, he said being an effective opposition party is 'going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in foetal positions. It's going to require Democrats to just toughen up '. Mr Obama added: 'You know, don't tell me you're a Democrat, but you're kind of disappointed right now, so you're not doing anything. 'No, now is exactly the time that you get in there and do something... Don't say that you care deeply about free speech and then you're quiet. No, you stand up for free speech when it's hard. When somebody says something that you don't like, but you still say, 'You know what, that person has the right to speak.' … What's needed now is courage.'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump weighs new Ukraine aid package
President Donald Trump is weighing a new military aid package for Ukraine worth hundreds of millions of dollars, according to two people familiar with the plan, the first potential aid from the administration to the beleaguered country. The discussions come just over a week after the Pentagon blindsided many in the White House byabruptly halting part of an existing aid package with thousands of artillery rounds and precision ammunition. Trump has said that aid will resume. A new weapons package would underline the administration's internal divisionsover Ukraine assistance as its battle against Russia grinds past a third year. The money would come from a fund Congress approved last year under President Joe Biden that allows the Defense Department to take weapons out of U.S. military's stockpiles for Ukraine. The fund, known as presidential drawdown authority, still holds about $3.8 billion. Trump, who has expressed frustration with the Kremlin's refusal to help broker an end to the war, hinted in a Thursday interview with NBC News about 'a major statement' on Monday involving Russia. He teased the announcement again on Friday, when asked by reporters about Russia's overnight bombardment of a Ukrainian maternity hospital. 'You'll be seeing things happen,' he said. Neither the White House nor the Pentagon responded to requests for comment. Reuters first reported that the administration was considering new aid. NATO nations, meanwhile, are working on a larger deal to purchase U.S. weapons for Ukraine, said a congressional aide, who like others, was granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations. POLITICO reported earlier this month that Kyiv is asking Washington to let Europe buy American weapons. 'We send weapons to NATO, and NATO is going to reimburse the full cost of those weapons,' Trump said in the NBC interview. Defense Department officials said they halted the weapons shipments due to concerns about U.S. stockpiles. But some officials disagreed that these relatively small shipments would have an adverse impact on U.S capabilities. The issue led Deputy Defense Secretary Steven Feinberg to call defense industry executives into his office for a meeting last month to discuss concerns over the stockpiles, according to a person briefed on the conversation. That person said the concerns were similar to those articulated by the Biden administration in its final months: the Ukraine war, along with continued operations in the Middle East, was taking a toll on the Pentagon's munitions stockpiles. Feinberg, who handles the Pentagon's budgeting process, is considering sending Congress a proposal for a new munitions funding package, according to the person, and is pushing the defense industry to speed up its production of air defenses and precision rockets and missiles. The aid package for Ukraine that was halted this month included 30 Patriot air defense missiles and hundreds of precision weapons that Ukraine uses for offensive and defensive purposes. Some 8,000 155mm howitzers shells and 250 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System rockets have started moving into Ukraine, but it is unclear if and when the Patriot air defense missiles will move, according to one of the people familiar with the situation. The potential new military assistance, the first from the U.S. since January, comes as Ukraine's cities have faced the heaviest Russian drone and missile bombardments yet. Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight killed nine people and left dozens wounded.
