The US Supreme Court has rejected Colorado state attempts to remove Donald Trump from the ballot for president.
He can now remain on the ballot for president in the state after the court rejected claims he was accountable for the Capitol riots in 2021.
On his social media platform after the ruling, Trump wrote: “BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!”
Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic president Joe Biden in November’s US election.
His only remaining rival for his party’s nomination is former South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley.
The Colorado Supreme Court said in December Trump could not stand for election in the state because he had “engaged in insurrection or rebellion”.
The judges ruled Trump was disqualified because he had incited the 6 January riot at the Capitol building in Washington DC in an attempt to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election.
The 14th Amendment’s Section 3 bars from office any “officer of the United States” who took an oath “to support the Constitution of the United States” and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof”.
“We conclude that states may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office.
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“But states have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the presidency,” the unsigned opinion for the court stated.
Image: A police officer outside the Supreme Court building in Washington DC following Monday’s ruling. Pic: Reuters
The justices found that only Congress can enforce the provision against federal officeholders and candidates.
Trump was also barred from the ballot in Maine and Illinois based on the 14th Amendment, but those decisions were put on hold pending the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Colorado case.
The former president’s eligibility had been challenged in court by a group of six voters in Colorado – four Republicans and two independents – who portrayed him as a threat to American democracy and sought to hold him accountable for the 6 January riots.
In a bid to prevent Congress from certifying Mr Biden’s 2020 election victory, Trump supporters attacked police, broke through barricades and swarmed the Capitol.
Trump had given an incendiary speech to supporters beforehand, repeating his false claims of widespread voting fraud and telling them to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell”.
Then, for a number of hours, he ignored requests for him to urge the mob to stop.
The ruling came on the eve of Super Tuesday – the day in the US presidential primary cycle when the most states hold party nominating contests.
Ruling from top US court was not unexpected
This is a sweeping victory for Donald Trump, but it isn’t a great surprise.
It was all about whether Donald Trump was disqualified from running again for president because of his involvement in the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.
The Supreme Court in Colorado (each state has its own top court) had concluded he was involved in an insurrection and that this fact disqualified him from running for president under a clause in the US Constitution’s 14th amendment.
Two other states, Maine and Illinois, made similar decisions.
But now the US Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, ruled that individual states do not have the authority to determine whether a presidential candidate is ineligible under a provision of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
The justices’ ruling makes it clear the US Congress, not individual states, set rules on how the 14th Amendment provision can be enforced.
“Because the Constitution makes Congress, rather than the states, responsible for enforcing section 3 against all federal officeholders and candidates, we reverse,” the ruling said.
This means the decision applies to all states, not just Colorado.
The top court is often accused of being politically driven because the justices are appointed by the president.
It’s currently weighted towards conservatives.
But in this case, the ruling was unanimous – 9-0, undermining any suggestion of political motivation.
A social media post believed to have been published by the suspect in the killing of two Israeli embassy workers in Washington DC accuses Israel of “atrocities” against Palestinians.
The suspect, identified as Elias Rodriguez, 30, from Chicago, chanted “free, free Palestine” as he was arrested, footage shows.
The victims, who were attacked as they were leaving an event at a Jewish museum, have been identified as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, a young couple who were about to be engaged.
Image: Rodriguez shouted ‘free Palestine’ as he was arrested.
Pic: Katie Kalisher
Sky News has uncovered what is believed to be a statement by the shooting suspect posted at 10pm local time, around an hour after the shooting – suggesting it was scheduled.
The letter, signed with Rodriguez’s name, was dated 20 May 2025.
In the lengthy essay, Rodriguez criticises Israel’s actions in Gaza and attacks the US government’s position.
“The atrocities committed by the Israelis against Palestine defy description and defy quantification,” it says.
“Instead of reading descriptions mostly we watch them unfold on video, sometimes live. After a few months of rapidly mounting death tolls Israel had obliterated the capacity to even continue counting the dead.”
Image: Victims Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky. Pic: @yaron_li/X
The statement adds: “Public opinion has shifted against the genocidal apartheid state, and the American government has simply shrugged, they’ll do without public opinion then, criminalize it where they can, suffocate it with bland reassurances that they’re doing all they can to restrain Israel where it cannot criminalize protest outright.”
Rodriguez concludes the statement: “I love you Mom, Dad, baby sis, the rest of my familia, including you, O***** . Free Palestine.”
Israel has repeatedly denied accusations of genocide in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described a UN report accusing Israel of carrying out “genocidal acts” against the Palestinians as biased and antisemitic.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and his former defence secretary Yoav Gallant – as well as a senior Hamas commander – for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu has decried what he said were the “false and absurd charges of the International Criminal Court, a biased and discriminatory political body”.
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2:23
DC shooting: What we know so far
The attack
The couple were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum when the suspect approached a group of four people and began shooting, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference.
She said the suspect was seen pacing outside the museum before the shooting.
“After the shooting, the suspect entered the museum and was detained by event security,” Ms Smith said.
“Once in handcuffs, the suspect identified where he discarded the weapon, and that weapon has been recovered, and he implied that he committed the offence.”
When he was taken into custody, the suspect began chanting, “Free, free Palestine,” Police Chief Smith said.
Suspect believed to have been member of revolutionary socialist group
Rodriguez is believed to have been a member of the Party of Socialism and Liberation, which describes itself as a revolutionary socialist party.
An article in the group’s Liberation paper about a protest outside the home of Chicago’s then mayor Rahm Emanuel in October 2017 features a picture of Rodriguez at the demonstration as well as quotes from him. The protest was not linked to Israel or Gaza. The article was taken down from the paper’s website on Thursday.
Since 2024, Rodriguez has worked as an administrative specialist for the American Osteopathic Association, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Image: The picture on Rodriguez’s LinkedIn
Before that he was an oral history researcher at The HistoryMakers, an online archive developed by Carnegie Mellon University to tell the stories of African Americans.
A profile for Rodriguez on the website says he was born and raised in Chicago and has a BA degree in English from the University of Illinois Chicago.
“He enjoys reading and writing fiction, live music, film, and exploring new places,” the profile says.
Rodriguez is also believed to have donated $500 to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign in March 2020, when he was running in the Democratic Party presidential primaries.
Israel began its war against Hamas in Gaza after the militant group stormed across the border on 7 October 2023 and killed 1,200 people, taking 250 hostages.
Since then Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 53,000 people, mostly children, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count.
The war has displaced 90% of Gaza’s population of roughly two million people and left much of the territory in ruins.
Reporting by Samuel Osborne, news reporter, and Sam Doak, OSINT producer
A small plane has crashed into a San Diego neighbourhood in what authorities are calling a “direct hit to multiple homes”.
About 15 homes have caught fire as well as vehicles, and people living in several blocks are being evacuated.
“We have jet fuel all over the place,” assistant fire department chief Dan Eddy told reporters. “Our main goal is to search all these homes and get everybody out right now.”
The fire chief said there had been a “direct hit to multiple homes” as he described it as a “a gigantic debris field”.
Image: Pic: AP
Image: Pic: Reuters
Image: Pic: NBC San Diego
Image: Pic: AP
Image: Pic: NBC San Diego
It is currently unknown if there have been any deaths or injuries.
Describing the scene “like something from a movie”, Mr Eddy told reporters: “This is a worst-case scenario, right, a plane into homes off of a runway.
“So, as of now though, the best thing that I have for you is that no one has been transported from the scene so far.
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“We’ll continue to search to find out where the plane came from, and continue to work on that and give you updates.”
It was said to be foggy at the time the private plane crashed. Mr Eddy said: “You could barely see in front of you.”
Image: Pic: NBC San Diego
Image: Pic: Forrest Gallagher/NBC San Diego
Image: Pic: NBC San Diego
Christopher Moore, who lives one street over from the crash site, said he and his wife were awakened by a loud bang and saw smoke when they peered out the window.
As they fled the neighbourhood with their two young children, they spotted a car engulfed in flames.
Mr Moore said: “It was definitely horrifying for sure, but sometimes you’ve just got to drop your head and get to safety.”
Image: Pic: AP
Image: Pic: AP
Police rescued three husky puppies from one of the homes, while evacuated families were spotted standing in their pyjamas in a parking lot a few blocks away.
Many military service members live in the neighbourhood, which is made up of single family homes and townhomes. It also is heavily populated by small civilian and military aircraft.
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport and Gillespie Field are nearby.
Image: Pic: NBC San Diego
Image: Pic: NBC San Diego
Image: Pic: NBC San Diego
Image: Pic: NBC San Diego
San Diego Police Department (SDPD) confirmed the force is responding to the crash in the neighbourhood of Tierrasanta.
Posting on X, a SDPS spokesperson warned people to avoid the area while emergency crews get to work and urged all those who smell jet fuel or find debris to alert the authorities.
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Donald Trump has ambushed South Africa’s president during a White House meeting by playing a video purportedly showing evidence of a “genocide” of white farmers in the African country.
The US president, who was hosting leader Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, said the footage showed the graves of more than a thousand white farmers and “it’s a terrible sight… I’ve never seen anything like it. Those people are all killed”.
After an initial friendly chat where Mr Trump complimented South African golfers in the room, a montage of clips was played as Mr Ramaphosa sat quietly and mostly expressionless. He later said: “I’d like to know where that is because this [the alleged burial site in the video] I’ve never seen”.
Image: Donald Trump met Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office. Pic: AP
The lights were dimmed in the Oval Office as the clips were shown, including of South African officials allegedly calling for violence against white farmers.
But later, as he left after around three hours at the White House, Mr Ramaphosa insisted his meeting with Mr Trump went “very well”.
And he told a news conference: “There is just no genocide in South Africa.”
The White House’s official account on X posted the footage that was shown in the Oval Office, saying it was “proof of persecution in South Africa”.
South Africa has rejected the allegation that white people are disproportionately targeted by crime.
The clips included one of communist politician Julius Malema playing a controversial anti-apartheid song that includes lyrics about killing a farmer.
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5:42
Watch the full video
Mr Trump accused South Africa of failing to address the killing of white farmers.
“We have many people that feel they’re being persecuted, and they’re coming to the United States. So we take from many… locations, if we feel there’s persecution or genocide going on,” the US president said, referring specifically to white farmers.
He added: “People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety. Their land is being confiscated and in many cases they’re being killed.”
Alluding to people in the clips, Mr Trump said: “These are people that are officials and they’re saying… kill the white farmer and take their land.”
The US president then displayed printed copies of news articles that he said showed white South Africans who had been killed, saying “death, death” as he flipped through them.
He added of one article: “Here’s burial sites all over the place, these are all white farmers that are being buried.”
Image: Mr Trump held up news articles. Pic: AP
South African leader rejects allegations
Mr Ramaphosa pushed back against Mr Trump’s accusations, by responding: “What you saw, the speeches that were being made, that is not government policy. We have a multi-party democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves, political parties to adhere to various policies.
“And in many cases, or in some cases, those policies do not go along with government policy.
“Our government policy is completely, completely against what he [a person in the video montage] was saying, even in the parliament. And they are a small minority party which is allowed to exist in terms of our constitution.”
An uncomfortable meeting where facts were dismissed as a difference in opinion
The screens, the visuals and President Trump’s foreshadowing mentions of a “bloodbath” all point to one thing – this ambush was planned.
As the yells of anguish and violent rhetoric echoed in the Oval Office, President Ramaphosa craned his neck with a stern expression to watch the “evidence” of a repeatedly disproven “white genocide” in his country.
He interjected only to question the location of the videos – to which Mr Trump replied, almost with a “duh” tone of voice, “South Africa” – and then pushed on to direct his team to verify them.
That was the singular point of outright defiance from South Africa’s leader in an uncomfortable meeting where facts were dismissed as a difference in opinion and outdated videos were played as breaking news.
For the rest of the meeting, Nelson Mandela’s former chief negotiator kept calm and played the charm offensive – appealing to Mr Trump’s ego at every sharp turn while maintaining that black South Africans are disproportionately impacted by the country’s harrowing murder rate.
The charm and calm may seem like dull knives in this sword fight but are necessary for peacekeeping in a meeting where £6bn in trade hangs in the balance.
South Africa has the most to lose in the deteriorating bilateral relations.
In just five months, the Trump administration has cut off vital humanitarian aid, including HIV assistance of which South Africa is the biggest beneficiary; expelled South Africa’s ambassador; and offered white South Africans refugee status as millions of black Africans suffer across the continent.
The potential futility of Mr Ramaphosa’s strategy came into vision as cameras panned to the back of the Oval Office at the end of the meeting to show a stony-faced Elon Musk.
The false claims of white genocide Musk has championed on X are now a powder keg in US-South African relations, as he works to get Starlink licensed in his home country. A business strategy that even South Africa’s iconic negotiator may not be able to contend with.
Mr Ramaphosa also said of the behaviour alleged by Mr Trump: “We are completely opposed to that.”
The South African leader said there was crime in his country, and the majority of victims were black. Mr Trump cut him off and said: “The farmers are not black.” The South African president responded: “These are concerns we are willing to talk to you about.”
Image: Mr Trump and Mr Ramaphosa looked towards a screen where a video was played. Pic: Reuters
Image: The video was shown during the White House meeting. Pic: AP
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In February, Mr Trump issued an executive order which cut all funding to South Africa over some of its domestic and foreign policies. He also expelled South Africa’s ambassador and offered refuge to white minority Afrikaners based on racial discrimination claims which Pretoria says are baseless.
Experts in South Africa have said there is no evidence of white people being targeted, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country that suffers from a very high crime rate.