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The Republican Party’s only black senator Tim Scott has launched his bid to become its candidate for the 2024 presidential election.

Mr Scott filed his candidacy for the GOP nomination on Friday but kicked off his campaign officially with a speech to supporters in his hometown of North Charleston, South Carolina on Monday.

The 57-year-old South Carolina senator is the highest profile Republican to officially take on Donald Trump for the 2024 nomination so far.

“Joe Biden and the radical left are attacking every rung of the ladder that helped me climb,” Scott said. “And that is why I am announcing today that I am running for president of the United States of America.”

U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), the only Black Republican senator, announces his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential race in North Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. May 22, 2023. REUTERS/Randall Hill
Tim Scott campaign workers in North Charleston on Monday
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Tim Scott campaign workers in North Charleston on Monday

Only black politician to ever serve in both houses

Mr Scott’s political career has seen him make history on various counts.

Not only is he the sole black Republican in the US Senate, he is also the first black person ever to serve in both chambers of Congress.

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Only 11 black people have ever served in the US Senate. Currently the other two are Democrats Cory Booker (New Jersey) and Raphael Warnock (Georgia).

He started off as a Democrat, however, when volunteering on the congressional campaign trail for Mark Sanford in South Carolina’s 1st district in 1994.

Inspired to run for a seat on Charleston’s County Council, he approached the local party, but was told to “get in line”, he revealed in an interview with Politico.

Instead he ran for the Republicans and in 1995 became the first black Republican to hold any political office in South Carolina since 1902.

He worked in insurance and as a financial adviser before entering politics full-time.

In 2009 he was elected to the South Carolina statehouse, two years before getting a seat in the House of Representatives in 2011.

The following year when South Carolina’s senator Jim DeMint retired, the then state governor Nikki Haley appointed him as his replacement.

Ms Haley is now Mr Scott’s rival for the 2024 nomination.

Tim Scott
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Tim Scott is the first black senator to serve in both chambers of Congress

Campaign ‘never about race’

Mr Scott is presenting himself as an antidote to the traditional rhetoric around race in the US.

He refused an invitation to join the Congressional Black Caucus in 2010, saying: “My campaign was never about race.”

Instead he chose the Women’s Caucus because he is the “product of a powerful single mother”.

In a speech in 2021, he said that while he has “experienced the pain of discrimination… America is not a racist country”.

At a Black History Month event in February, he said: “I’m not here to suggest that things could not get better and I’m going to work every single day to make sure that all Americans play on a level playing field.

“But today is not 1865 … We have made tremendous progress, and it’s time that we as a people celebrate the progress we are making.”

In his recent Politico interview he said he experienced “more racism” at times from his black friends – for not “meeting the expectation of the groupthink” at school.

He also revealed he has been stopped by police officers guarding the Capitol who didn’t know who he was.

Taking on Trump

Mr Scott has joined Ms Haley, the woman who helped him get into the Senate, and Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas’ former governor, in the race to rival Joe Biden for the next election.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is likely to announce his candidacy in the coming days.

Donald Trump

The South Carolina senator has avoided being overly critical of his main rival Donald Trump.

But after Trump’s comments on the deadly 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville – that there were “very fine people on both sides” – he said the the -president had “compromised his moral authority to lead”.

Trump is ahead in the polls, but Mr Scott is popular with donors, including billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and voters in South Carolina.

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Donald Trump says second UK state visit could happen in September

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Donald Trump says second UK state visit could happen in September

Donald Trump has said his second state visit to the UK could take place in September.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer handed over an invitation from the King when he visited Washington in February.

Trump teases return to UK – latest updates

Buckingham Palace previously only said the visit would happen “when diaries allow”, but Mr Trump told reporters on Thursday: “I think they are setting a date for September.”

“I don’t know how it can be bigger than the last one,” he said.

“The last one was incredible, but they say the next one will be even more important.”

Sir Keir Starmer the Trump charmer.
Pic: PA
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Sir Keir Starmer handed Trump the invite earlier this year. Pic: PA

Mr Trump will become the only elected political leader in modern times to be invited to two state visits by a British monarch.

The president called the UK a “great country” in his comments at the White House on Thursday and said it was “an honour to be a friend of King Charles and the family, William”.

His first state visit was in 2019, when he was hosted by the late Queen.

Second-term US presidents who have already made a state visit usually get tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle, as was the case for George W Bush and Barack Obama.

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Two dead and five injured in shooting at Florida university

The president was hosted by the Queen in June 2019. Pic: Reuters
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The president was hosted by the Queen in June 2019. Pic: Reuters

But Mr Trump is set to get all the pomp and ceremony laid on again in his honour – with another state banquet likely at Buckingham Palace.

The Royal Family‘s soft power diplomacy is viewed as a way of currying favour with the president, who’s known for his love of the monarchy and links to the UK through his mother, who was born on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.

It comes as the government seeks an economic deal with the US, in the hope of potentially lessening the impact of the president’s tariffs.

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Four in hospital as police deal with active shooter at Florida university

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Four in hospital as police deal with active shooter at Florida university

Four people are in hospital as police deal with an active shooter on a university campus in Florida.

Videos showed people running through traffic, fleeing the scene, around the time of the shooting at the student union at Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee.

Local police were “on the scene or on the way”, according to an alert sent out by the school and students have been told to “shelter in place”.

The FBI is also said to be responding to the incident.

Florida State University students wait for news amid an active shooter incident at the school.
Pic: AP/Kate Payne
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Florida State University students wait for news amid an active shooter incident at the school.
Pic: AP/Kate Payne

In a statement, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare said it was “actively receiving and caring for patients” from the incident.

“At this time, details are still unfolding, and we do not yet have specific information to share. However, we want to assure the community that our teams are fully mobilised and prepared to provide the highest level of care and support to all those affected,” it added.

President Donald Trump said he was fully briefed on the incident and described it as “a shame”.

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He added: “It’s a horrible thing. Horrible that things like this take place.”

Florida governor Ron DeSantis, in a statement posted on X, said: “Our prayers are with our FSU family and state law enforcement is actively responding.”

Ambulances, fire trucks and police vehicles raced to the campus around midday local time (5pm UK time) on Thursday.

As students streamed away from the area of the student union in their hundreds, some were visibly emotional and others were glued to their phones.

Dozens later gathered near the university’s music school, waiting for news.

Florida State University student Daniella Streety told NBC News of the chaos that unfolded at the scene.

She remained on lockdown in a campus building and said: “I did see them carry out one student in what looked like on a stretcher and kept them in the road until an ambulance was able to pick them up.”

Joshua Sirmans, 20, was in the university’s main library when he said alarms began going off warning of an active shooter.

Police escorted him and other students out of the library with their hands over their heads, he said.

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US judge warns Trump administration could be in criminal contempt over El Salvador deportations

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White House rages at 'appalling' attempt to return wrongly deported man from El Salvador

A US federal judge has warned that he could hold the Trump administration in contempt for violating his orders to turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador.

US District Judge James E. Boasberg said he had found “probable cause” to hold the administration in criminal contempt and warned he could refer the matter for prosecution if it does not “purge” its contempt.

If the government doesn’t purge the contempt, charges could be brought forward by the Justice Department, NBC News reported.

And if the executive-led Justice Department refused to prosecute the matter, Judge Boasberg said he would appoint another attorney to prosecute the contempt.

Mr Boasberg said the administration could “purge contempt by returning those who were sent to El Salvador prison, in violation of his order, to the US.

This, he said, “might avail themselves of their right to challenge their removability”.

“The Constitution does not tolerate wilful disobedience of judicial orders – especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it,” the judge wrote.

Executive vs judicial

This marks a notable escalation in the ongoing tensions between the judicial and executive branches of the US government during Donald Trump’s second term.

Parts of the US president’s legislative programme have been halted by judges, as the administration strains against the restraints of the separation of powers.

Mr Trump previously called for Judge Boasberg to be impeached while the Justice Department claimed he overstepped his authority – both reflecting the administration’s attempts to overcome perceived obstacles to the implementation of its agenda.

Mr Trump’s administration has also argued it did not violate any orders.

It claimed the judge didn’t include a turnaround directive in his written order and said the planes had already left the US by the time the order came down.

‘Administrative error’

At the heart of the legal wrangling is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was sent to El Salvador by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.

Washington acknowledged that Mr Garcia was deported due to an “administrative error”.

The US Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return, upholding a court order by Judge Paula Xinis, but Trump officials have claimed that Mr Garcia has ties to the MS-13 gang.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Pic: CASA / AP
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Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Pic: CASA/AP

Mr Garcia’s lawyers have argued there is no evidence of this.

This all comes after El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele visited the White House earlier this week.

During his time with Mr Trump, Mr Bukele said that he would not return Mr Garcia, likening it to smuggling “a terrorist into the United States.”

The US and El Salvador presidents in the Oval Office.
Pic: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
Image:
The US and El Salvador presidents in the Oval Office.
Pic: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

Along with Mr Garcia, the Trump administration has deported hundreds of people, mostly Venezuelans, whom it claims are gang members without presenting evidence and without a trial.

Democrat senator travels to El Salvador

Meanwhile, Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen arrived in El Salvador on Wednesday, saying he would seek a meeting with the country’s officials to secure Mr Garcia’s release.

“I just arrived in San Salvador a little while ago and look forward to meeting with the US embassy team to discuss Mr. Abrego Garcia’s release,” Mr Van Hollen said on social media.

Deportations have been an important part of Mr Trump’s second term, with him being vocal on the issue throughout the campaign trail and into office.

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