Donald Trump renewed his push on Monday for the Save America Act, a curtailment of voting access, after threatening on Sunday not to sign any bills until Congress approves the legislation.
“All voters must show proof of citizenship in order to vote,” Trump said during remarks on Monday at a Republican event in Miami. “No mail-in ballots, except for illness, disability, military or travel.”
He claimed that, if the bill were to pass, Democrats “probably won’t win an election for 50 years and maybe longer”.
Voting rights advocates have said the bill would in effect prevent millions of Americans from voting – only about half of people have a valid US passport, and other documents, such as birth certificates, may not match up with people’s names. They have called attention to impacts on married women who changed their names whose documents may not be updated, saying the act could cause additional hurdles to voting for them.
The White House previously confirmed that Trump was pushing for measures to be added to the voting bill on trans issues. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said last week that Trump “added on some priorities” for the bill, including a ban on “transgender transition surgeries for minors”.
Trump threatens not to sign any bills until Congress approves strict voter ID act
The president, fixated on unsubstantiated claims that noncitizens are stealing US elections ahead of midterm elections that are expected to be bruising for Republicans, said on Truth Social on Sunday that the Save America Act “must be done immediately” and “supersedes everything else”.
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Pete Hegseth says ‘there will be more casualties’ in US war with Iran
Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, has said “there will be more casualties” in the US military from the Trump administration’s war in Iran after officials confirmed on Sunday that the number of US service members killed had climbed to seven.
Hegseth made the statement during an appearance Sunday night on CBS’s 60 Minutes, during which he portrayed Donald Trump’s decision for the US to join Israeli attacks on the Middle East country as essential “to advance American interests, and protect American lives”.
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Golf club firm owned by Trump’s sons merges with drone manufacturer
A golf club company backed by the sons of Donald Trump is merging with drone manufacturer Powerus in a deal designed to take the drone technology company public.
The merger with Aureus Greenway Holdings is the latest in Eric and Donald Trump Jr’s growing investments in the drone sector, following last month’s $1.5bn tie-up between Israeli drone maker XTEND and Florida-based JFB Construction Holdings.
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Small business owners doubt they’ll see refunds after supreme court invalidates Trump’s tariffs
The US supreme court recently struck down Donald Trump’s tariffs, opening the door to up to $175bn in refunds for businesses that paid the import taxes. However, the process for claiming that money is by no means certain. Trump himself said that the issue could be tied up in courts “for the next five years”.
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AI firm Anthropic sues US defense department over blacklisting
Anthropic filed two lawsuits against the Department of Defense on Monday, alleging that the government’s decision to label the artificial intelligence firm a “supply chain risk” was unlawful and violated its first amendment rights. The two sides have been locked in a monthslong heated feud over the company’s attempt to implement safeguards against the military’s potential use of its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous lethal weapons.
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Trump cheers FBI subpoena of Arizona 2020 election records
A federal grand jury subpoenaed Arizona’s legislature for records related the state senate’s widely criticized review of the 2020 election, the state senate president said on Monday, in what appears to be the latest part of the Trump administration’s efforts to spread false claims about the 2020 election and voting in the United States.
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What else happened today:
Catching up? Here’s what happened Sunday 8 March.