Global News

[ad_1] United States President Joe Biden has officially launched his campaign for re-election in 2024, becoming the Democratic frontrunner in a race that could pit him for a second time against Republican contender Donald Trump. Biden’s announcement in a video on Tuesday came on the fourth anniversary of the start of his first successful presidential bid. A majority of Democrats would back Biden, 80, against a Republican challenger in next year’s election, a recent poll found. But the Democratic president faces some of the lowest approval ratings of his tenure so far, and his age – Biden is currently the oldest person to ever hold the highest US office – has spurred questions about his re-election prospects. Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, is betting his first-term legislative achievements and more than 50 years of experience in Washington will count for more than concerns over his age. He faces a smooth path to winning his party’s nomination with no se...

[ad_1] Donald Trump on Saturday downplayed his role in the siege of the US Capitol on the third anniversary of the attack, arguing that those prosecuted for storming the building should be freed. Speaking at a campaign event in Clinton, Iowa with the first Republican nominating contest little more than a week away, Trump called those jailed in the wake of the Jan 6, 2021 attack “hostages” and said they had been mistreated by the Biden administration. “They’ve suffered enough,” Trump said. “I call them hostages. Some people call them prisoners.” Speaking to more than a thousand supporters in a school gymnasium, Trump repeated his unfounded claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent and cast himself as a victim of political persecution. “I got indicted because I challenged the crooked election,” Trump told the crowd. Trump faces a bevy of state and federal charges for his attempts to subvert the election, but has not been charged with instigating the 2021 insurrection, when ...