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Two more documents bearing classification markings have been found by Donald Trump’s lawyers inside boxes at a storage unit in Florida, one source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
The discovery, found among items that were brought from the White House at the end of Trump’s administration, could exacerbate the former president’s legal exposure after the FBI seized 103 documents marked classified at his Mar-a-Lago resort in August as part of the justice department’s criminal investigation into the possible unauthorized retention of national security information and obstruction of justice.
The presence of documents marked classified in a second location beyond Mar-a-Lago, earlier reported by the Washington Post, appears to confirm the justice department’s suspicions, communicated to Trump’s lawyers in October, that Trump possessed additional government records.
His lawyers found the documents after the former president retained an outside firm to search four locations after a federal judge ordered his legal team to conduct a more thorough search to make sure all documents marked classified had been returned to the government.
Where else did the firm search? The outside firm ended up searching a number of Trump’s properties, according to another source, including Trump Tower in New York, Trump Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, the Mar-a-Lago resort and the external storage unit in West Palm Beach, Florida, which is understood to have been controlled by a federal agency.
New York Times poised for first mass staff strike action in 40 years
The New York Times is bracing for a 24-hour strike today by hundreds of journalists and other employees, in what would be the first stoppage of its kind at the newspaper in more than 40 years.
Newsroom employees and other members of the NewsGuild of New York say they are fed up with bargaining that has dragged on since their last contract expired in March 2021. The union announced last week that more than 1,100 employees would stop working for 24 hours from 12.01am today unless the two sides reached a contract deal.
Negotiations lasted more than 12 hours into late Tuesday and continued on Wednesday, but the sides remained far apart on issues including wage increases and remote-work policies.
Yesterday evening, the union tweeted that a deal had not been reached and the strike was happening. “We were ready to work for as long as it took to reach a fair deal,” it wrote, “but management walked away from the table with five hours to go.”
“We know what we’re worth,” the union added.
How has the New York Times responded? Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokesperson for the newspaper, said bosses were still in negotiations when they were told the strike was happening. “It is disappointing that they are taking such an extreme action when we are not at an impasse,” she said.
US denounces Russia’s ‘loose talk’ on nuclear weapons
The US has denounced “loose talk” on nuclear weapons after the Russian president mused on rising risks of nuclear war but said Moscow would not strike first.
Vladimir Putin hinted that “such a threat is rising” during a Kremlin meeting yesterday but assured that “Russia will under no circumstances use them first”.
The US state department spokesperson, Ned Price, declined to reply directly when asked about Putin’s remarks but said: “We think any loose talk of nuclear weapons is absolutely irresponsible.”
Price said nuclear powers since the cold war, including China, India, the US and Russia, have been clear that “a nuclear war is something that must never be fought and can never be won”.
US officials have expressed concerns that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it felt routed on the battlefield and could plant a fictitious story to justify its actions.
What else did Price say? He said a nuclear war was something that must never be fought and can never be won. “We think any other rhetoric – whether it is nuclear saber-rattling or even raising the spectre of the use of tactical nuclear weapons – is something that is irresponsible,” he added.
In other news …
Nearly 4 million more children were in poverty in January 2022 compared with December 2021, say experts, after a policy that expanded child tax credit expired after the objections of Republicans and an influential Democratic senator.
A federal grand jury has indicted the Florida state representative, Joe Harding, the Republican lawmaker who authored the “don’t say gay” bill, for Covid business relief fraud and money laundering, the justice department announced yesterday.
Peru’s president, Pedro Castillo, has been removed from office and detained on charges of “rebellion” after he announced he would shutter congress and install a “government of exception” – just hours before he was due to face an impeachment vote.
Trevor Noah bids farewell to The Daily Show after seven years at the helm. The South African comic brought texture and nuance to the position and leaves late-night comedy in a different place than when he started, writes Adrian Horton.
Twitter is under investigation by city officials in San Francisco after a complaint that the company allegedly converted rooms in its headquarters to sleeping quarters, an inquiry that has drawn scorn from Elon Musk. The company has reportedly not applied for any permits to use portions of the building for residential purposes.
Stat of the day: DNA from 2m years ago reveals lost Arctic world
Two-million-year-old DNA from northern Greenland has revealed that the region was once home to mastodons, lemmings and geese, offering unprecedented insights into how climate change can shape ecosystems. The breakthrough in ancient DNA analysis pushes back the DNA record by 1m years to a time when the Arctic region was 11-19C warmer than the present day. The analysis reveals that the northern peninsula of Greenland, now a polar desert, once featured boreal forests of poplar and birch trees teeming with wildlife. The work offers clues to how species may adapt, or be genetically engineered, to survive the threat of rapid global heating.
Don’t miss this: Alex Jones owes $1.5bn and declared bankruptcy. So how is Infowars still running?
At first glance, the disgraced far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones would appear to be finished. He has been ordered in two judgments by a Connecticut court to pay nearly $1.5bn in damages to the families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting, for the years he spent spreading lies about the incident. Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, declared bankruptcy in July, and Jones declared personal bankruptcy on 30 November, in a Texas court filing. But the next day Jones was back on Infowars, seemingly unbothered by his potential financial annihilation. Legal experts explain what is going on.
Climate check: Democrats ditch Manchin’s ‘dirty deal’ after opposition from climate activists
A last-ditch effort to force through legislation that would weaken environmental protections has failed. Joe Manchin, the fossil-fuel-friendly senator from West Virginia, had attempted to latch the controversial deregulation and permitting reforms to a must-pass defense bill – after failing to get his so-called “dirty deal” passed this year. But progressive lawmakers and hundreds of climate, public health and youth groups opposed the move. Manchin’s legislation would weaken environmental safeguards and expedite permits to construct pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure while restricting public input and legal challenges.
Last thing: Tinsel travesties – the worst Christmas tree displays in Australia
A humble Christmas tree in a New South Wales town has gone viral for being lauded as the worst display of festive spirit ever. The dishevelled tree – which looks like it arrived home after a 24-hour bender, slapped on some makeup and covered itself in tinsel – was erected in the main square of Port Macquarie. The council initially took it all in its stride, with the mayor, Peta Pinson, declaring “any publicity is good publicity”. But that was before the lights had to be removed when they were deemed a safety risk due to slowly slipping from the tree. Given that, Guardian Australia rounded up the country’s most cursed trees this season.
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