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A senior official in former president Joe Biden’s administration has told Sky News that he has no doubt that Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza. 

Speaking to the Trump 100 podcast, Matthew Miller, who, as a state department spokesman, was the voice and face of the US government’s foreign policy under Mr Biden, revealed disagreements, tensions and challenges within the former administration.

In the wide-ranging conversation, he said:

• It was “without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes”;
• That Israeli soldiers were not being “held accountable”;
• That there were “disagreements all along the way” about how to handle policy;
• And that he “would have wanted to have a better candidate” than Mr Biden for the 2024 election.

Mr Miller served as the state department spokesman from 2023 until the end of Mr Biden’s presidential term. From the podium, his job was to explain and defend foreign policy decisions – from Ukraine to Gaza.

“Look, one of the things about being a spokesperson is you’re not a spokesperson for yourself. You are a spokesperson for the president, the administration, and you espouse the positions of the administration. And when you’re not in the administration, you can just give your own opinions.”

Now out of office, he offered a candid reflection of a hugely challenging period in foreign policy and US politics.

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Miller: Israel ‘committed war crimes’

Gaza disagreements

Asked about Gaza, he revealed there were “small and big” disagreements within the Biden administration over the US-Israeli relationship.

“There were disagreements all along the way about how to handle policy. Some of those were big disagreements, some of those were little disagreements,” he said.

Pushed on rumours that then-secretary of state Antony Blinken had frustrations with Mr Biden over both Gaza and Ukraine policy, Mr Miller hinted at the tensions.

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“I’ll probably wait and let the secretary speak for himself… but I will say, speaking generally, look, it is true about every senior official in government that they don’t win every policy fight that they enter into. And what you do is you make your best case to the president.

“The administration did debate, at times, whether and when to cut off weapons to Israel. You saw us in the spring of 2024 stop the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel because we did not believe they would use those in a way that was appropriate in Gaza.”

Through the spring and summer of 2024, the Biden administration was caught between its bedrock policy of the unconditional defence of its ally Israel and the reality of what that ally was doing in Gaza, with American weapons.

Mr Mill said: “There were debates about whether to suspend other arms deliveries, and you saw at times us hold back certain arms while we negotiated the use of those arms…

“But we found ourselves in this really tough position, especially in that time period when it really came to a head… We were at a place where – I’m thinking of the way I can appropriately say this – the decisions and the thinking of Hamas leadership were not always secret to the United States and to our partners.”

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FILE - State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller during a news briefing at the State Department, July 18, 2023, in Washington.
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Matthew Miller during a news briefing at the state department in 2023. Pic: AP

He continued: “And it was clear to us in that period that there was a time when our public discussion of withholding weapons from Israel, as well as the protests on college campuses in the United States, and the movement of some European countries to recognise the state of Palestine – appropriate discussions, appropriate decisions – protests are appropriate – but all of those things together were leading the leadership of Hamas to conclude that they didn’t need to agree to a ceasefire, they just needed to hold out for a little bit longer, and they could get what they always wanted.”

“Now, the thing that I look back on, that I will always ask questions of myself about, and I think this is true for others in government, is in that intervening period between the end of May and the middle of January [2025], when thousands of Palestinians were killed, innocent civilians who didn’t want this war, had nothing to do with it, was there more that we could, could have done to pressure the Israeli government to agree to that ceasefire? I think at times there probably was,” Mr Miller said.

Asked for his view on the accusation of genocide in Gaza, he said: “I don’t think it’s a genocide, but I think it is without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes.”

Challenged on why he didn’t make these points while in government, he said: “When you’re at the podium, you’re not expressing your personal opinion. You’re expressing the conclusions of the United States government. The United States government had not concluded that they committed war crimes, still have not concluded [that].”

18 November 2024, Brazil, Rio De Janeiro: Anthony Blinken (l), US Secretary of State, and US President Joe Biden take part in the first work
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Anthony Blinken, left, with then US President Joe Biden. Pic: AP

He went on to offer a qualification to his accusation.

“There are two ways to think about the commission of war crimes,” he said.

“One is if the state has pursued a policy of deliberately committing war crimes or is acting recklessly in a way that aids and abets war crimes. Is the state committing war crimes?

“That, I think, is an open question. I think what is almost certainly not an open question is that there have been individual incidents that have been war crimes where Israeli soldiers, members of the Israeli military, have committed war crimes.”

The Israeli government continues to strongly deny all claims that it has committed war crimes in Gaza.

On Joe Biden’s election hopes

Mr Miller also offered a candid reflection on the suitability of Mr Biden as a candidate in the 2024 US election. While Mr Biden initially ran to extend his stay in the White House, he stepped aside, with Kamala Harris taking his place as the Democratic candidate.

“Had I not been inside the government, had I been outside the government acting kind of in a political role, of course, I would have wanted to have a better candidate,” he said.

“It’s that collective action problem where no one wants to be the first to speak out and stand up alone. You stand up by yourself and get your head chopped off, stand up together, you can take action.

“But there was never really a consensus position in the party, and there was no one that was willing to stand up and rally the party to say this isn’t going to work.

“I don’t think there is anyone on the White House staff, including the most senior White House staffers, who could have gone to Joe Biden in the spring of 2023 or at any time after that and told him: ‘Mr President, you are not able to do the duties of this job. And you will not win re-election.’ He would have rejected that outright.”

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Biden’s presidency in 60 seconds

The Trump presidency

On the Donald Trump presidency so far, he offered a nuanced view.

He described Mr Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as “an extremely capable individual” but expressed his worry that he was being manipulated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I know the people in the Biden administration who worked with him during the first negotiations for Gaza ceasefire thought that he was capable.

“I think at times he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. And you see that especially in the negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, where you see him go into a meeting with Vladimir Putin and come out spouting Russian propaganda… I think he would benefit from a little diplomatic savvy and some experienced diplomats around him.”

Pic:Sputnik/AP
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Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, left, with Vladimir Putin. Pic: Sputnik/AP

He continued: “But I do think it’s extremely important that when people sit down with an envoy of the United States they know that that envoy speaks for the President of the United States and it is very clear that Witkoff has that and that’s an extremely valuable asset to bring to the table.”

On the months and years ahead under Mr Trump, Mr Miller said: “The thing that worries me most is that Donald Trump may squander the position that the United States has built around the world over successive administrations of both parties over a course of decades.

“I don’t think most Americans understand the benefits that they get to their daily lives by the United States being the indispensable nation in the world.

“The open question is: will the damage that he’s doing be recoverable or not?”

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US government shutdown to begin within hours

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US government shutdown to begin within hours

The US government is hours away from shutting down for the first time in almost seven years after last-ditch Senate votes on funding plans fell short.

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers deemed not essential for protecting people or property – such as law enforcement personnel – could be furloughed or laid off when the shutdown begins at midnight (5am UK time).

Critical services, including social security payments and the postal service, will keep operating but may suffer from worker shortages, while national parks and museums could be among the sectors that close completely.

Explained: What is a shutdown and who does it impact?

It comes after rival Democrat and Republicans refused to budge in their stand-off over healthcare spending.

A Democrat-led proposal to keep the government funded went down by 53 votes to 47 in the Senate, before the Republicans’ one notched up 55 in favour – five short of the threshold needed to avert a shutdown.

Unlike legislation, a simple majority isn’t enough to pass a government funding bill.

Following the votes in Washington DC on Tuesday night, the White House’s budget office confirmed the shutdown would happen and said affected agencies “should now execute their plans”.

It blamed the Democrats, describing their position as “untenable”. The opposition party wants to reverse cuts to the government’s health insurance programme, Medicaid, which were passed earlier this summer.

Senate majority leader John Thune, a Republican, accused the Democrats of taking federal workers “hostage”.

His Democrat counterpart, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, said the Republicans’ funding package “does absolutely nothing to solve the biggest health care crisis in America”.

Republican senators blamed the Democrats for not keeping the government open. Pic: Reuters
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Republican senators blamed the Democrats for not keeping the government open. Pic: Reuters

Trump threatens layoffs

President Donald Trump was defiant ahead of the votes, and warned he could make “irreversible” cuts “that are bad” for the Democrats if the shutdown went ahead.

He threatened to cut “vast numbers of people out” and “programmes that they (the Democrats) like”.

“We’ll be laying off a lot of people,” he told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of government employees have already been laid off this year, driven by the “DOGE” initiative that was spearheaded by Elon Musk upon Mr Trump’s return to the White House.

Donald Trump spoke in the Oval Office ahead of the shutdown. Pic: Reuters
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Donald Trump spoke in the Oval Office ahead of the shutdown. Pic: Reuters

The last shutdown was in Mr Trump’s first term, from December 2018 to January 2019, when he demanded money for his US-Mexico border wall. At 35 days, it was the longest on record.

Mr Thune has expressed hope the latest shutdown will come to a much quicker conclusion, telling reporters: “We can reopen tomorrow – all it takes is a handful of Democrats to join Republicans to pass the clean, nonpartisan funding bill that’s in front of us.”

Before this week, the government had shut down 15 times since 1981. Most only last a few days.

The Senate will hold further votes on the Republican and Democrat stopgap funding bills on Wednesday. The former would fund the government through to 21 November.

What happens now?

Immigration enforcement, air-traffic control, military operations, social security and law enforcement are among the services that will not be brought to a halt.

However, should employees miss out on payslips as a result of a prolonged shutdown, they could be impacted by staffing shortages. For example, delays at airports.

Cultural institutions deemed non-essential, like national parks and museums, will be more directly impacted from the very beginning, with large cuts to the workforce.

The popular Smithsonian, for example, has said it only has enough funding to stay open for a week.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

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Hegseth and Trump declare end to ‘woke’ military – as defence secretary scolds ‘fat troops’

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Hegseth and Trump declare end to 'woke' military - as defence secretary scolds 'fat troops'

The US defence secretary has said he is ending “woke” culture and political correctness, telling top brass: “We are done with that s***.”

Pete Hegseth said diversity and inclusion policies would be rowed back, with changes including “gender-neutral” or “male-level” fitness standards for everyone.

He also hit out at “fat troops” and said height and weight requirements would be brought in – as well as twice-yearly fitness tests.

President Donald Trump was at the event and told reporters beforehand he was prepared to fire any generals or admirals he disliked “on the spot”.

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Trump rebrands ‘woke’ Pentagon as Department of War

Speaking in Quantico, Virginia, he said the new approach was “bringing back a focus on fitness, ability, character and strength [because] the purposes of American military is not to protect anyone’s feelings”.

Mr Hegseth drove home that message as he said the days of “the woke department” were over.

“The era of politically correct, overly sensitive don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings leadership ends right now at every level,” he said.

“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses, no more climate change worship, no more division, distraction or gender delusions,” added the newly rebranded secretary of war.

Mr Hegseth said the changes were not intended to stop women serving, but “physical standards must be high and gender neutral” for combat roles.

Pete Hegseth said the US military was kicking back against political correctness. Pic: Reuters
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Pete Hegseth said the US military was kicking back against political correctness. Pic: Reuters

“If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it. That is not the intent, but it could be the result… It will also mean that we mean that weak men won’t qualify because we’re not playing games. This is combat. This is life or death.”

Hundreds of US military officials from around the world had been summoned abruptly to the Marine Corps base without knowing why until Tuesday morning.

The gathering included admirals and generals called in from conflict zones in the Middle East.

Mr Hegseth told them grooming standards would also be raised, with beards, long hair and “individual expression” now prohibited – “the era of unprofessional appearance is over. No more beardos”, he said.

“We don’t have a military full of Nordic pagans, but unfortunately, we have had leaders who either refuse to call BS and enforce standards or leaders who felt like they were not allowed to enforce standards,” the defence secretary added.

Senior leaders were called in from around the world for the event. Pic: Reuters
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Senior leaders were called in from around the world for the event. Pic: Reuters

A review of how bullying and hazing are defined will also take place to “empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second guessing”.

Toxic leadership has been suspected and confirmed in many military suicides in recent years, including the high-profile case of sailor Brandon Caserta who killed himself in 2018.

The changes unveiled on Tuesday follow the recent rebranding of the US Department of Defense as the Department of War.

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President Trump said last month the name sent a “message of strength” – and his speech on Tuesday also lauded America’s nuclear weapons capability.

However, he said people shouldn’t “throw around” the word.

“I call it the N-word. There are two N-words, and you can’t use either of them,” he told commanders.

“You don’t have to be that good with nuclear,” the president added. “You could have one-twentieth what you have now and still do the damage that would be, you know, that’d be so horrendous.”

Donald Trump used part of his address to laud his country's nuclear arsenal. Pic: Reuters
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Donald Trump used part of his address to laud his country’s nuclear arsenal. Pic: Reuters

He cited his repositioning of nuclear submarines in August in response to comments by Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev.

“We were a little bit threatened by Russia recently, and I sent a submarine, nuclear submarine, the most lethal weapon ever made,” Mr Trump said on Tuesday.

“Number one, you can’t detect it. There’s no way. We’re 25 years ahead of Russia and China in submarines.”

“Frankly, if it does get to use, we have more than anybody else,” the president said of America’s nuclear arsenal.

“We have better, we have newer, but it’s something we don’t ever want to even have to think about.”

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Second ICE detainee dies after attack on Dallas facility, family says

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Second ICE detainee dies after attack on Dallas facility, family says

The family of a Mexican man shot last week at an immigration and customs facility in Dallas say he’s died, becoming the second detainee to be killed in the attack.

Police previously said one person was killed and two critically injured after a gunman opened fire at an ICE field office in the Texas city last Wednesday.

A bullet engraved with the phrase “ANTI-ICE” was found at the scene, the FBI said, with the attack being investigated as an act of “targeted violence”.

Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, 32, died from his injuries after being removed from life support, his family confirmed in a statement shared by the League of United Latin American Citizens.

He is understood to have been one of the two detainees left in a critical condition following the attack on 24 September.

Officials previously said the first man killed was Norlan Guzman-Fuentes.

One of the bullet casings was engraved with 'ANTI ICE'. Pic: Kash Patel/X
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One of the bullet casings was engraved with ‘ANTI ICE’. Pic: Kash Patel/X

A handwritten note was also recovered after the shooting detailing the suspect’s desire to inflict “real terror” on US immigration agents, the head of the FBI said.

More on Dallas

Joshua Jahn, 29, from Fairview in Texas, was found dead at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said acting US attorney Nancy Larson.

“He very likely acted alone,” she added.

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FBI director Kash Patel said the agency had seized devices and had processed “writings” obtained at the scene and in the suspect’s home since the attack.

A handwritten recovered note read: “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think: ‘Is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?'”

Mr Patel said on X: “While the investigation is ongoing, an initial review of the evidence shows an ideological motive behind this attack.”

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