Trump accused of calling for execution of Democrats – US politics live

By Tom Ambrose · The Guardian World

Chuck Schumer says president’s remarks are ‘outright threat’ as other leading Democrats warn ‘political violence has no place in America’ Good morning and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours. We start with the news that Donald Trump has been accused of calling for the “execution” of elected Democratic lawmakers following his comments on social media . Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he will negotiate with Donald Trump on a US-backed peace plan that called on Kyiv to make painful concessions in order to end the Kremlin’s invasion of his country. Zelenskyy’s office on Thursday confirmed that he had received the draft peace plan, which was prepared by US and Russian officials, and that he would speak with Trump in the coming days about “existing diplomatic opportunities and the main points that are necessary for peace”. The Trump administration on Thursday announced new oil and gas drilling off California ’s and Florida ’s coasts, setting the stage for a political showdown – including with Sunshine state Republicans who have largely opposed petroleum development in the Gulf of Mexico. This announcement comes as the US petroleum industry, despite contending with low crude prices , has been pushing for an entree to additional offshore drilling areas. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website has been changed to reflect the belief of Robert F Kennedy Jr , the US health and human services secretary, that there is a link between vaccines and autism, a view flatly contradicted by experts and scientifically validated studies. Public health and autism specialists roundly condemned the alteration to the CDC’s “vaccine safety” webpage, after it was changed to read: “The statement ‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim.” US district judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of former president Joe Biden, temporarily blocked the Trump administra…