The dismissal of a senior officer for raising concerns about the well-being of his crew is highly unusual, and signals that the Trump administration is willing to take extraordinary steps to silence internal dissent about its handling of the global pandemic.

A Texas appeals court upheld the conviction of green card holder Rosa Maria Ortega for voter fraud on Wednesday, cementing a sentence of eight years in jail and a likely deportation. Ortega, a mother of four, reportedly thought she was able to vote because she was a permanent resident. She voted five times between 2004 and 2014 — once for the attorney general, Ken Paxton, who later prosecuted her, according to her attorney. She also reportedly served as a poll worker.

Paul J. Manafort was in bed early one morning in July when federal agents bearing a search warrant picked the lock on his front door and raided his Virginia home. They took binders stuffed with documents and copied his computer files, looking for evidence that Mr. Manafort, President  Trump’s former campaign chairman, set up secret offshore bank accounts. The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, then followed the house search with a warning: His prosecutors told Mr. Manafort they planned to indict him, said two people close to the investigation.

Yvette Felarca, who faces riot charges after participating in an anti-fascist demonstration, joins lawyers in warning over prosecutions nationwide. Felarca is one of hundreds of anti-Trump activists across the US facing prosecution for protesting against the White House and white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups that have increasingly organized in public. The criminal cases – including many in which protesters could face decades in prison – has drawn accusations that the government is trampling on the first amendment and broadly targeting critics in an aggressive effort to silence them.

A member of a rightwing militant group that has violently clashed with anti-Trump protesters has been given a commemorative portrait of Donald Trump by a Republican political operative who worked on the president’s election campaign. Image is further proof of links between GOP officials in Pacific north-west and far right activists who regularly seek out confrontations with anti-fascist protesters