US Senator Dianne Feinstein returns to duty after months-long absence – as it happened

It is slightly past 4pm in Washington DC. Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:

• Senator Dianne Feinstein has issued a statement following her return to Washington DC after a months-long absence, saying that she is ready to resume her Senate duties as she recovers from shingles. “Even though I’ve made significant progress and was able to return to Washington, I’m still experiencing some side effects from the shingles virus. My doctors have advised me to work a lighter schedule as I return to the Senate. I’m hopeful those issues will subside as I continue to recover,” she said.

• Joe Biden addressed New York’s Hudson Valley in his public appeal the country’s debt limit fight. “They’re literally holding the economy hostage,” Biden told a crowd of supporters about MAGA Republican lawmakers. “It makes huge cuts to important programs for millions of working middle-class Americans, programs they count on. According to estimates, the Republican bill would put 21 million people at risk of losing Medicaid,” Biden said about the Republican debt limit bill.

• George Santos has been arrested on federal criminal charges. Santos, who turned himself into a federal courthouse in New York, has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. He has maintained his innocence and said he will fight the charges.

• A group of independent advisors to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended that the birth control pill can be sold without requiring a prescription. The advisors said that the benefits of selling the birth control pill over the counter outweighed the risks. The pill in question is HRA Pharma’s Opill, also known generically as norgestrel, which was approved by the FDA as a prescription drug in 1973.

• CNN, the leading 24-hour news network, will host Donald Trump for a “town hall” forum as if he were a regular candidate leading the race for the nomination of a regular party. The forum comes just one day after Trump was found liable for $5m in damages for sexually assaulting and defaming the journalist E Jean Carroll.

• The former House January 6 committee member Liz Cheney released an attack ad against Donald Trump in New Hampshire on the eve of his appearance there in a controversial CNN town hall. “There has never been a greater dereliction of duty by any president,” Cheney warns in the ad, which focuses on Trump’s incitement of the deadly Capitol attack on 6 January 2021. “Donald Trump has proven he is unfit for office. Donald Trump is a risk America can never take again,” the ad said.

That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for following along.

Following Santos’s appearance at court earlier today where he faced 13 counts of federal criminal charges, Santos told reporters that he is headed back to Washington DC and that he believes he is innocent.

“I have to go back and vote. Tomorrow we have one of the most consequential votes in this congress which is the border bill and I’m very looking forward to vote on it.”

He went on to add:

“I think this is about innocence until proven guilty… I have my rights to fight to prove my innocence as the government has the right to try and find me guilty… I do my best to be a positive person, life is already as bad as it gets… I believe I’m innocent.”

Video has emerged of Dianne Feinstein being escorted onto the Senate floor by Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer.

Feinstein was sitting in a wheelchair as she was being escorted by Schumer.

Feinstein’s office saying that she is currently experiencing vision/balance impairments and at times will need a wheelchair to get around the Capitol, ABC7 reporter Liz Kreutz reports.

Senator Dianne Feinstein has issued a statement following her return to Washington DC after a months-long absence, saying that she is ready to resume her Senate duties as she recovers from shingles.

“I have returned to Washington and am prepared to resume my duties in the Senate… The Senate faces many important issues, but the most pressing is to ensure our government doesn’t default on its financial obligations. I also look forward to resuming my work on the judiciary committee considering the president’s judicial nominees.

Even though I’ve made significant progress and was able to return to Washington, I’m still experiencing some side effects from the shingles virus. My doctors have advised me to work a lighter schedule as I return to the Senate. I’m hopeful those issues will subside as I continue to recover.”

Feinstein’s ailing health has led to a handful of lawmakers to demand her resignation.

In March, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that Feinstein should retire as her absence has affected Democrats’ efforts to fill federal courts with liberal judges.

A month earlier, Feinstein announced that she will not be seeking reelection in 2024.

George Santos has pleaded not guilty to his charges, the eastern district court of New York announced.

Santos, who faces a total of 13 charges including wire fraud, was released on $500,000 bond around five hours after he surrendered himself to federal authorities.

Santos spoke only a few words in court, answering “yes, ma’am” to the judge presiding over the 15-minute hearing, the Associated Press reports.

His lawyer, Joseph Murray, said Santos plans on continuing his reelection campaign and asked the judge for permission to travel freely, though he did surrender his passport.

“We’re bringing jobs back all across America. There is no reason to put all this at risk, to threaten a recession, to…undermine America’s standing in the world,” said Biden following a lengthy address about America’s economic progress and the need to maintain it.

“Republican threats are dangerous and they make no sense… We have to keep going and finish the job… It’s never a good bet to bet against America,” said Biden as he concluded his speech.

“Would your rather cut…$30 billion from big oil or cut $30 billion from veterans? Would you rather cut big pharma or cut healthcare for Americans? These are real world choices,” urged Biden.

He went on to talk about the need to fund the country’s infrastructure, saying, “Under my predecessor’s infrastructure…you became a punchline. Under my watch, we’re making infrastructure…a headline.”

“How can we be the most prosperous economy in the world without having the greatest infrastructure in the world?” Biden continued.

“I don’t have anything against Wall Street or hedge fund executives but just pay your taxes, man,” said Biden as he proceeded to talk about tax cuts.

“I’m not talking about 70% tax rates. At least pay something… We got past the corporate minimum tax of 15%…and it paid for everything we did…

No billionaires should be paying a lower tax rate than a school teacher or a firefighter,” added Biden.

He went on to explain that his budget has some of the “strongest anti-fraud proposals ever.

“I think we should have inspector generals again looking at what we’re spending, where it’s gone and where it’s going to go,” said Biden.

“The last guy who served in this offie for four years increased the total national debt by 40% in just four years,” Biden said about his predecessor Donald Trump.

“The Trump tax cuts skewed to the wealthy and large corporations,” he added.

“I made it clear. America is not a deadbeat nation. We pay our bills… If we default on our debt, the whole world is in trouble,” said Biden, adding that he was pleased but not surprised by Senate Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell’s comment in which he said that the US is not going to default on its debt and that it never has.

“This is not your father’s Republican party. Here’s what happens if MAGA Republicans get their way. America default on our debt, higher interest rates for credit cards, car loans, mortgages, payments for social security… Our economy would fall into recession and our international reputation will be damaged in the extreme,” warned Biden.

President Joe Biden has begun his address in New York’s Hudson Valley to make his public appeal the country’s debt limit fight.

“They’re literally holding the economy hostage,” Biden told a crowd of supporters about MAGA Republican lawmakers.

“It makes huge cuts to important programs for millions of working middle-class Americans, programs they count on. According to estimates, the Republican bill would put 21 million people at risk of losing Medicaid,” Biden said about the Republican debt limit bill.

“It’s not right,” added Biden, as he vowed to protect Medicaid and Social Security programs.

A group of independent advisors to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended that the birth control pill can be sold without requiring a prescription.

The advisors said that the benefits of selling the birth control pill over the counter outweighed the risks.

The pill in question is HRA Pharma’s Opill, also known generically as norgestrel, which was approved by the FDA as a prescription drug in 1973.

The FDA is expected to issue its final decision this summer on HRA Pharma’s application for over-the-counter sales of its pill.

Should it be approved, women across the country will be able to purchase the pill without needing to visit a doctor for a prescription.

“The FDA has been put in a very difficult position of trying to determine whether it is likely that women will use this product safely and effectively at the nonprescription setting,” Karen Murry, deputy director of the FDA office of nonprescription drugs, said on Wednesday, the New York Times reported.

“We can’t just approve it based on the experience in the prescription setting without the applicant doing adequate studies to look at what’s likely to happen in the nonprescription setting… But I wanted to again emphasize that FDA does realize how very important women’s health is and how important it is to try to increase access to effective contraception for US women,” she added.

Our columnist Siva Vaidhyanathan is not a fan of CNN’s decision to host Donald Trump in New Hampshire this evening…

CNN, the leading 24-hour news network, will host Donald Trump for a “town hall” forum as if he were a regular candidate leading the race for the nomination of a regular party.

The forum comes just one day after Trump was found liable for $5m in damages for sexually assaulting and defaming the journalist E Jean Carroll.

Of course, CNN will probably do the same for the three or four others who are likely to challenge him for the Republican nomination (so far, the former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson are the only non-crank candidates).

A few more might jump in, but the more challenges Trump faces, the more likely he will lock up the nomination on the first primary day, rather than a month later.

Putting a microphone and three cameras on Trump as if he were just another candidate and not an instigator of the violent disruption of American democracy and leader of a conspiracy to overthrow the results of a national election is the height of journalistic irresponsibility.

Read on…

There will be a ghost at the feast – sort of – in New Hampshire later, after the former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney took out an ad attacking Trump over his incitement of the January 6 attack on Congress which will only play on CNN before and during tonight’s town hall event. Here’s more…

The former House January 6 committee member Liz Cheney released an attack ad against Donald Trump in New Hampshire on the eve of his appearance there in a controversial CNN town hall.

“There has never been a greater dereliction of duty by any president,” Cheney warns in the ad, which focuses on Trump’s incitement of the deadly Capitol attack on 6 January 2021.

“Donald Trump has proven he is unfit for office. Donald Trump is a risk America can never take again.”

Trump incited the attack by his supporters in an attempt to block certification of Joe Biden’s election win. Nine deaths have been linked to it. Thousands of arrests have been made and hundreds of convictions secured – some for seditious conspiracy.

Trump was impeached for inciting an insurrection but acquitted by Senate Republicans.

Cheney, the daughter of the former congressman, defense secretary and vice-president Dick Cheney, was vice-chair of the House committee which investigated the Capitol attack and, regarding Trump, made criminal referrals to the Department of Justice.

Cheney lost her Wyoming seat to a Trump-backed challenger last year.

Now working on a book – entitled Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning – she has not counted out running for the Republican nomination against Trump, or running for president as an independent conservative.

Read on…