Starmer to visit US for second time as prime minister – but will he meet Harris and Trump?
Sir Keir Starmer will travel to Washington this coming week for a bilateral meeting with President Biden.
The trip to the White House, on Friday, will be the prime minister’s second visit since he was elected in July.
In a statement, the White House said the leaders would focus on “global issues of mutual interest”.
“The leaders will have an in-depth discussion… including continuing robust support to Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression, securing a hostage release and ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza, protecting international shipping in the Red Sea from Iranian-backed Houthi threats, and advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the White House statement said.
It continued: “They will also discuss opportunities to strengthen US-UK cooperation to secure supply chains and increase climate resilience. President Biden will underscore the importance of continuing to strengthen the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.”
The UK is heavily invested in several live geopolitical challenges which all predate Sir Keir’s premiership.
The hope, according to sources, is that mutual progress can be made on the various challenges with the outgoing Biden administration.
Britain and the US have cooperated closely on Ukraine, leading a Western alliance that has, at times, shown some reluctance in its continued support against Russian aggression.
On protecting international shipping in the Red Sea against continued Houthi attacks from Yemen, the UK has been a key partner for the US in a mission that’s shown limited success.
The potential for some divergence between the two leaders could come over Gaza.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
July: Starmer backs ‘special relationship’
Last week, the UK announced that it would suspend the export of some arms to Israel because of the risk that they could be used in non-compliance with international humanitarian law.
US government lawyers have not come to the same conclusions about how Israel is using weapons in Gaza but this week a State Department spokesman said the UK was making a sovereign decision that it was entirely entitled to make.
Notably, however, a foreign policy advisor to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump struck a different tone.
Robert O’Brien – who is likely to be in a Trump White House if he wins in November – said that a UK-US special relationship would be under strain if the UK restricted weapons sales to Israel.
Read more from Sky News:
Sir Keir heads to Ireland to ‘reset’ relations
Cheney announces he will vote for Harris
Trump sentencing postponed
The relationship between Mr Biden and Sir Keir reflects their political alignment. During his first visit to the White House, just days after taking office, President Biden, who was then the Democratic candidate for November’s election, spoke warmly of the much coveted “special relationship”.
“I kind of see you guys as the knot tying the transatlantic alliance together, the closer you are with Europe. We know where you are, you know where we are,” Mr Biden told Sir Keir.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
How does the US election work?
No meetings have been announced between Sir Keir and vice president Kamala Harris, the new Democratic Party candidate for the November election, though it’s possible she will be part of the bilateral meetings with President Biden.
A significant moment would be a meeting between Sir Keir and Mr Trump.
No plans have been announced but such a meeting would be seen as diplomatically savvy, especially if a Harris meeting materialises, and it would not be without precedent.
Former prime minister David Cameron met Republican nominee Mitt Romney in July 2012 and Gordon Brown met Barack Obama when he was the Democratic Party candidate in 2008.
Sir Keir’s visit comes at the end of a week in which US secretary of state Antony Blinken will meet Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London.
Gaza will be a key focus but Mr Blinken will travel with ambassador Katherine Tai, the US trade representative.
Trade and technology are set to be on the agenda too.
The UK is still seeking to formalise a post-Brexit trade partnership with the US.
Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch, two Wall Street Journal reporters and the publication’s owner, News Corp.
The US president has accused the named individuals of defamation, claiming they acted with malicious intent and caused him overwhelming financial and reputational harm.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Miami, seeks at least $10bn (£7.5bn) in damages.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump called the lawsuit “historic legal action” which was filed on behalf of himself and all Americans who he said will “no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media”.
“I hope Rupert and his ‘friends’ are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case,” he wrote.
It comes after Mr Trump claimed that a letter he allegedly wrote to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was “fake” and said he would sue the “ass off” Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which first published the story.
The publication had said Mr Trump wrote the letter as part of a collection Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, planned to give him as a 50th birthday present in 2003.
It claimed the message, allegedly from Mr Trump, featured several lines of typewritten text, concluding with: “May every day be another wonderful secret.”
The text was framed by what appeared to be a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman, the WSJ claimed. The letter is also said to have featured the signature “Donald”.
Mr Trump immediately denied writing the letter when the WSJ report was published on Thursday night.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Memes of Epstein undermine victims, says lawyer
“The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures. I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper.”
Mr Trump ignored questions about Epstein as he signed a cryptocurrency bill at the White House earlier on Friday.
The president’s lawsuit comes as the US government filed a motion to unseal grand jury transcripts related to Epstein, who took his own life while awaiting trial in 2019.
In a Manhattan federal court filing, the Department of Justice said the criminal cases against Epstein and Maxwell are a matter of public interest, justifying the release of associated grand jury transcripts.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Trump said attorney general Pam Bondi had been asked to release the transcripts because of “the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein”.
👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈
The justice department previously said it had around 200 documents relating to Epstein and that the FBI had thousands more.
It is unknown how much of this is grand jury testimony, which is typically kept secret under US law.
Read more:
All we know about the ‘friendship’
Trump denies writing birthday letter to Epstein
The president has faced increased scrutiny over his alleged friendship with Epstein since his administration’s U-turn on the so-called ‘Epstein files’.
Mr Trump pledged to release files on Epstein during his presidential campaign, as his MAGA movement accused the Biden administration of suppressing the extent of Epstein’s paedophilia, predatory behaviour and his so-called “client list” – thought to contain names of the rich and famous who conspired with him in his child sex trafficking operation.
But after a review of the evidence the US government has, the Justice Department recently determined that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted”.
Venezuela releases jailed Americans in prisoner swap
The Trump administration said on Friday that it had negotiated an exchange with Venezuela, resulting in the release of 10 jailed Americans.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the prisoners, who had been held in the South American country, were “on their way to freedom”.
Men in the CECOT jail in EL Salvador. Pic: Reuters
In return, 252 Venezuelan migrants being held in El Salvador have been freed, the Venezuelan government said.
They had been held in the notorious maximum security CECOT prison after being deported by the US.
US
Trump denies claim he wrote birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein – and says he has ordered release of more case files
Donald Trump has called an alleged letter he wrote to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein “fake” and said he will sue the “ass off” Rupert Murdoch, who owns the paper that first published the claim.
In multiple posts on Truth Social, the US president accused The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) of fabricating the letter that it claimed was written by Mr Trump as part of a collection of letters addressed to Epstein that his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell planned to give him as a birthday present in 2003.
According to documents seen by the WSJ, Mr Trump’s letter featured several lines of typewritten text framed by what appeared to be a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman.
The paper said the letter concludes “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret”, and featured the signature “Donald”, allegedly drawn across the woman’s waist, meant to mimic the appearance of pubic hair.
Epstein took his own life in prison in 2019. Pic: AP
Responding to the WSJ’s claims, Mr Trump wrote: “The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein. These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures.
“I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper. Thank you for your attention to this matter! DJT.”
He said earlier he would also sue the WSJ and News Corp, which Mr Murdoch owns. The WSJ is published by News Corp subsidiary company, Dow Jones & Co.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
From 16 July: Trump: Epstein case is ‘a boring story’
The Justice Department has not responded to the WSJ and the FBI declined to comment.
In a separate post, Mr Trump said he has asked the attorney general, Pam Bondi, to release “any and all pertinent grand jury testimony” in the case of the paedophile financier who was found dead in his Manhattan cell in August 2019, shortly after he was arrested on sex trafficking charges.
The release of any documents, Mr Trump said, would be subject to approval by a court.
The justice department has previously said it had around 200 documents relating to Epstein and that the FBI had thousands more. It is unknown how much of this is grand jury testimony – which is typically kept secret under US law.
Ms Bondi responded to the president on X, writing: “President Trump-we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”
👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈
Elon Musk, who claimed last month that Mr Trump appears in the Epstein files, was surprisingly among the first to come to the president’s defence over the WSJ claims.
“It really doesn’t sound like something Trump would say tbh,” the tech billionaire wrote on X, before going on to ask where the evidence against Epstein allegedly held by the FBI had gone.
The Trump administration has come under criticism after the president appeared to U-turn on his own promise to release more information about the Epstein case publicly.
In the run-up to the US election last year, Mr Trump drew on rumours and conspiracy theories that appeared to accuse the Biden administration of suppressing the extent of Epstein’s paedophilia, predatory behaviour and his so-called “client list” – thought to contain names of the rich and famous who conspired with him in a child sex trafficking operation.
Ms Bondi fuelled these rumours in February by telling Fox News that the alleged Epstein client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review”.
Read more:
Ghislaine Maxwell could challenge imprisonment
Why is Trump fighting with MAGA over Epstein?
The huge impact of Musk’s row with Trump
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In the same month, the justice department released some government documents regarding the case, but there were no new revelations.
After a months-long review of additional evidence, the department earlier this month released a video meant to prove that Epstein killed himself, but said no other files related to the case would be made public.
The decision was criticised by many in Mr Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, who Mr Trump later called “weaklings”.
Sky News has contacted the White House for further comment.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike