Trump-backed candidate wins primary to face Jon Ossoff in Georgia midterms – US politics live

Key events

Republicans are pushing for swift Senate confirmation of president Donald Trump’s nominee to lead US intelligence, Jay Clayton, but Democrats said they would wait until his nomination hearing on Wednesday before deciding how to proceed.

Trump ⁠nominated Clayton, the top US ⁠attorney for Manhattan, to be Director ​of National Intelligence (DNI) less than a week ago, amid a political firestorm over the loyalist he had picked to fill the role temporarily, Reuters reported.

That close ally, Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, has no national security ⁠experience. Even some Republicans expressed concerns that he could “weaponize” top-secret intelligence to target Trump’s perceived political foes.

Trump’s decision to pick Clayton to oversee the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies was greeted with relief. Clayton lacks extensive national security experience but is broadly respected by Democrats ⁠and Republicans.

Democrats said on Tuesday that they intended to question Clayton closely, but held off on passing judgment before his Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.

“I favor a ​full vetting... a thorough examination of all of the issues,” Senator Ron ‌Wyden of Oregon, a senior Democratic member of ‌the panel, told reporters.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Democrats would decide how to proceed only after the hearing.

Senate majority leader John ‌Thune of South Dakota and other Republicans want Democrats to agree to waive Senate rules to allow a vote on Clayton as soon as this week.

Thune told a news conference on Tuesday that Clayton is “eminently qualified” and that his position as US attorney meant that he deals with intelligence matters.

Most Americans believe civil liberties like the right to vote are under threat, according to a new AP-NORC poll, while also continuing to agree that the rights expressed in the nation’s founding documents are still core to American identity.

The survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that most Americans across demographics believe the right to vote, the right to free speech and freedom of religion are integral to the country.

But they were more divided on the importance of the right to bear arms, and few - about one-third or less - saw those rights as safe from threats.

The survey, which was conducted 16-20 April - before the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that winnowed a section of the Voting Rights Act – highlights an enduring consensus among Americans that personal freedoms are vital to the country’s national identity.

But it also reveals deep anxieties about the nation’s trajectory on the cusp of a summer filled with celebrations of the country’s semi-quincentennial birthday.

Trump-backed candidate wins primary to face Jon Ossoff in Georgia midterms

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

Donald Trump’s pick to face rising Democratic star Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s midterm election for senator later this year swept to victory last night.

The state’s Republican primary runoff voters chose US representative Mike Collins over former college football coach Derek Dooley to face Ossoff in November.

They also selected billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson over Trump-backed lieutenant governor Burt Jones to face Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms in November, after a bruising election campaign that led to libel litigation and federal challenges to Georgia election law.

Ossoff, who has represented Georgia in the US Senate since 2021, has made waves this year by delivering a series of caustic takes on Donald Trump’s administration. He will now face Collins in the race to retain the competitive seat.

Collins, a trucking executive and one-time “freedom caucus” conservative endorsed by Trump, has served in the US House of Representatives since 2023. His father, Mac Collins, served in the House from 1993 to 2002.

An anti-abortion hardliner with a history of incendiary social media commentary, Collins has vigorously denied the legitimacy of the 2020 election and defended January 6 rioters.

Dooley is the son of legendary University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley. After earning a law degree from UGA, he began working his way through the college coaching ranks, eventually taking the University of Tennessee to three consecutive losing seasons before being fired.

Dooley is close friends with outgoing governor Brian Kemp, who had backed Dooley with his endorsement, political staff and fundraising appeals.

Jackson will represent the GOP in the Georgia gubernatorial contest.

Read the full story:

In other developments:

• Donald Trump laid into Benjamin Netanyahu, telling a news conference at the G7 summit in France that the Israeli prime minister “has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon”.

• The Republican-led US Senate on Tuesday narrowly failed to advance a war powers resolution introduced by Democrats that would have directed the president to end hostilities with Iran, by a vote of 48-47.

• The justice department announced charges against five men for an alleged plot to carry out an attack to kill government officials at the White House UFC event on Sunday.

• Kash Patel, the FBI director, reportedly surprised and angered US Secret Service officials by announcing an alleged plot to attack the White House UFC event on social media early Tuesday before about 10 suspects had been arrested.