Fury after Democrats publish and withdraw letter urging Biden to negotiate with Russia – as it happened

It was not a great day for progressive Democrats in the House of Representatives. They were put on the defensive yesterday after sending a letter signed by 30 of their caucus to the Biden administration, asking it to pursue negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine – which caused an immediate blowback from other Democrats who warned it called Washington’s commitment to Kyiv into question. The caucus chair Pramila Jayapal withdrew the letter today with a statement that blamed her own employees for its release – not exactly a good look for a lawmaker whose treatment of staff has raised eyebrows in the past.

Here’s what else happened today:

• The White House condemned a Russian court’s decision to uphold the nine-year jail sentence of WNBA star Brittney Griner for possessing cannabis vape cartridges. President Joe Biden said his administration is trying to reach an agreement with Russia to win the release of Griner and other jailed Americans, but hasn’t had success yet.

• Republicans are experiencing a jump in voter enthusiasm ahead of the 8 November midterms, though Democrats have a slight edge in terms of which party Americans prefer to control Congress, a poll showed.

• A prominent Democratic senator urged the Federal Reserve not to raise interest rates so high they cause job losses. The central bank is next week expected to hike rates again to lower inflation.

• Former defense secretary Ash Carter died yesterday at the age of 68.

Insider has heard from a former staffer for Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal, who said the congresswoman keeps a close eye on her office’s interactions with the media and would not have allowed the Ukraine policy letter to be sent without her approval.

“I would be shocked if they hit send on that release without her knowing,” the unnamed staffer said, according to Insider’s report. “Everyone who has worked with her office knows that she keeps a tight grip on media relations. She has held up press releases over small edits and delayed letting staff hit send while she reworks language – though delaying a release by three months would be a new record.”

Jayapal’s interactions with her employees became an issue after she said a mistake by her staff was a reason why the letter was sent out two weeks before the 8 November midterms, even though it had been first circulated among Democrats over the summer. “The letter was drafted several months ago, but unfortunately was released by staff without vetting. As Chair of the Caucus, I accept responsibility for this,” Jayapal said earlier today.

It’s not the first time the Washington congresswoman has been scrutinized over her treatment of employees. Last year, Buzzfeed News published a lengthy story in which several former staffers said Jayapal berates and mistreats her staff even as she pushes for policies that are intended to help America’s workforce.

“I have never worked in a place that has made me so miserable and so not excited for public service as Pramila Jayapal’s office,” a former staffer told Buzzfeed.

Jayapal’s chief of staff responded to the article by saying its anecdotes were “cherry picked” and contained “ugly stereotypes”.

A signatory to the now-withdrawn letter on Ukraine strategy from progressive Democrats has spoken up in defense of congressional staff amid criticism that the caucus’s leader unnecessarily blamed them for the fiasco.

Congressman Ro Khanna was among the 30 Democrats to sign the letter asking the Biden administration to pursue talks with Russia to end the war while continuing to support Kyiv militarily and economically. His comments come after Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said the letter “was released by staff without vetting” – which was widely seen as an attempt to deflect blame onto employees that answer to her.

Here’s what Khanna had to say about that:

Darner is the progressive caucus’ executive director.

Add Donald Trump’s former chief of staff to the list of those trying to get out of testifying before a special grand jury investigating the attempts to meddle with the 2020 election in Georgia.

Politico reports that Mark Meadows has asked a South Carolina court to block a subpoena for his appearance in November from Fanni Willis, the Atlanta-area district attorney who empaneled the grand jury looking into the election interference from Trump’s allies. Meadows has been tied to efforts by the former president to find ways to block Joe Biden’s ascension to office, including by traveling to Georgia to monitor an audit of the state’s ballot count. He also joined in when Trump pressed Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” him the votes to reverse Biden’s victory in the state.

Yesterday, conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas put a temporary hold on a subpoena from Willis to Republican senator Lindsey Graham, though the step is a typical one taken when the high court weighs a case.

President Joe Biden said the United States is continuing to negotiate with Russia to release women’s basketball star Brittney Griner and other detained Americans, but hasn’t made significant progress.

“We are in constant contact with Russian authorities to get Brittney and others out, and so far we’ve not been meeting with much positive response, but we’re not stopping,” Biden said this afternoon.

He also reiterated warnings of heavy consequences for Moscow if it deployed nuclear weapons to turn around its fortunes in Ukraine. “Russia would be making an incredibly serious mistake for it to use a tactical nuclear weapon,” he said.

Biden was speaking after receiving an updated Covid-19 booster shot, which you can watch below:

Next week, the Federal Reserve’s policy setting committee will convene and likely raise interest rates again to cut into America’s high rate of inflation. But an influential Democratic senator has a message for the independent central bank: be careful.

Sherrod Brown is the chair of the Senate banking committee, and has written a letter to Fed chair Jerome Powell asking him not to raise interest rates so high that struggling businesses are made to lay off employees:

“Monetary policy tools take time to reduce inflation by constraining demand until supply catches up – time that working-class families don’t have,” Brown wrote.

“We must avoid having our short-term advances and strong labor market overwhelmed by the consequences of aggressive monetary actions to decrease inflation, especially when the Fed’s actions do not address its main drivers.”

The 12-member Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on which Powell sits makes decisions on rate increases, often unanimously. Brown doesn’t go so far as to ask Powell not to raise rates, but does remind him that the central bank’s mandate is both fighting inflation and ensuring job opportunities.

“We can’t risk the livelihoods of millions of Americans who can’t afford it. I ask that you don’t forget your responsibility to promote maximum employment and that the decisions you make at the next FOMC meeting reflect your commitment to the dual mandate,” Brown wrote.

President Joe Biden has released a statement of condolence following the death of former defense secretary Ash Carter.

Carter died suddenly yesterday at the age of 68. He served as defense secretary during the time that Biden was vice-president under Barack Obama.

Here’s what Biden had to say:

.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Integrity.

When I think of Ash Carter, I think of a man of extraordinary integrity. Honest. Principled. Guided by a strong, steady moral compass and a vision of using his life for public purpose.

Ash Carter was born a patriot. A physicist and national security leader across decades, he served with immense distinction at every level of civilian leadership at the Department of Defense, including as our nation’s 25^th Secretary of Defense.

I was Vice President at the time, and President Obama and I relied on Ash’s fierce intellect and wise counsel to ensure our military’s readiness, technological edge, and obligation to the women and men of the greatest fighting force in the history of the world.

You can read the full statement here.

With two weeks to go until the midterms, President Joe Biden has made a closing argument for continued Democratic control of Congress, by publishing an opinion column on CNN’s website.

“Over the past nearly two years, we have made enormous progress. My administration, working with Democrats in Congress, is building an economy that grows from the bottom up and middle out,” opens the piece, which touches on themes the president often raises in speeches.

“But all of our progress is at risk. The American people face a choice between two vastly different visions for our country,” Biden continues, arguing that Republicans will undo attempts to lower prescription drug costs and cut the Social Security and Medicare programs many older Americans rely on.

“Republicans in Congress are doubling down on mega, MAGA trickle-down economics that benefit the wealthy and big corporations. They’ve laid their plan out very clearly,” he said.

You can read the full piece here.

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, the Republican Texas senator Ted Cruz claimed his new book laid out “evidence of election fraud and voter fraud in November 2020, which the Democrats and the corporate media insists doesn’t exist”.

Today, Philip Bump of the Washington Post retorts: “This particular ‘corporate media’ outlet can now report that, in fact, rampant fraud continues not to exist – as demonstrated, here at least, by Cruz’s failure to present any of his promised evidence of election or voter fraud.”

Bump’s column is a must-read. Here’s another taste:

.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Cruz quotes from the speech he gave shortly before the Capitol riot:

“Voter fraud has posed a persistent challenge in our elections, although its breadth and scope are disputed. By any measure, the allegations of fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election exceed any in our lifetimes.”

Let’s shift the focus to make the gambit here clear: “UFOs remain a threat to our nation’s cows. By any measure, the claims of people seeing UFOS exceed any in our lifetimes.” See how that works?

And here’s our story on another aspect of the senator’s book – his description of how when rioters inspired by Republican talk of non-existent mass voter fraud broke into the Capitol, some looking for lawmakers to capture and possibly kill, he hid in a closet.

There is much anguish – and anger – among House Democrats over the publication and then withdrawal of a controversial letter to Joe Biden in which leading progressives urged the US to commit to a negotiated end to the Russian war in Ukraine.

Manu Raju of CNN reports “major Democratic backlash over Jayapal’s decision to release a letter this week – that members signed in June – just two weeks before midterms. Some say they wouldn’t sign it now and were blindsided. ‘People are furious,’ one Democrat says.”

Jake Sherman, a reporter, author and co-founder of Punchbowl News – a Washington website specialising in covering Capitol Hill – is discussing the role and position of Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Sherman writes: “Important to keep in mind when thinking about this episode: CPC chair Jayapal wants to be in [party] leadership and has been making moves to set up a run. As we noted this [morning], being in leadership is asking your colleagues to trust your decision-making abilities.

.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}In addition, Jayapal uses the statement to throw her staff under the bus.”

In her statement just now, Jayapal said: “The letter was drafted several months ago but unfortunately was released by staff without vetting. As chair of the caucus, I accept responsibility for this.”

Here are two tweets from different sides of the issue – the side which thinks the statement was a terrible mistake and the side which thinks admitting that mistake is at least a sort of a plus.

Bill Browder, anti-Putin campaigner: “Makes my blood boil. 30 Democrats led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal call on Biden to pair [back] the military support for Ukraine. She wants the US to reward Putin’s murderous aggression. We all know where appeasement goes and it’s nowhere good.”

Melissa Byrne, progressive activist and Bernie Sanders alum: “Friends can make mistakes and then friends can work to make it better. This is the sign of a functioning system. Good on Pramila Jayapal.”

The group of progressive House Democrats, among them high-profile members of Congress including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamie Raskin, who yesterday wrote to Joe Biden urging him to commit to a negotiated settlement to the war in Ukraine have withdrawn their letter.

Pramila Jayapal of Washington, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, issued the following statement:

.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The Congressional Progressive Caucus hereby withdraws its recent letter to the White House regarding Ukraine.

The letter was drafted several months ago but unfortunately was released by staff without vetting. As chair of the caucus, I accept responsibility for this.

Because of the timing, our message is being conflated by some as being equivalent to the recent statement by Republican [minority] leader [Kevin] McCarthy threatening an end to aid to Ukraine if Republicans take over. The proximity of these statements created the unfortunate appearance that Democrats, who have strongly and unanimously supported and voted for every package of military, strategic, and economic assistance to the Ukrainian people, are somehow aligned with Republicans who seek to pull the plug on American support for President [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian forces.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Every war ends with diplomacy, and this one will too after Ukrainian victory. The letter sent yesterday, although restating that basic principle, has been conflated with GOP opposition to support for the Ukrainians’ just defense of their national sovereignty. As such, it is a distraction at this time and we withdraw the letter.”

Here’s the letter in question in full:

And here’s Ed Pilkington’s report on the whole affair:

From Capitol Hill to the justice department, people close to former president Donald Trump are talking to investigators looking into the January 6 insurrection and the government secrets found at Mar-a-Lago, according to media reports today. Meanwhile, progressive Democrats are walking back a letter released yesterday in which they asked the Biden administration to pursue dialogue with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

Here’s what else has happened today so far:

• The White House condemned a Russian court’s decision to uphold the nine-year jail sentence of WNBA star Brittney Griner for possessing cannabis vape cartridges.

• Republicans are experiencing a jump in voter enthusiasm ahead of the 8 November midterms, though Democrats have a slight edge in terms of which party Americans prefer to control Congress, a poll showed.

• Former defense secretary Ash Carter died yesterday at the age of 68.

Joe Biden has made news in Britain, though not for a particularly good reason.

Yesterday, Britain’s ruling Conservative party elected former chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak as their leader, allowing him to become prime minister today. Biden shared the news in a speech at the White House on Monday – though he might want to check with someone on how to pronounce Sunak’s name.

Here’s the clip:

For more on Britain’s new government, check out The Guardian’s live blog:

Another force attempting to shape the 8 November midterms is Mike Lindell, a deep-pocketed promoter of baseless conspiracy theories around the 2020 election. The Guardian’s Joan E Greve traveled to Ohio for a closer look at a man who may be doing grievous damage to American democracy:

Members of the crowd cheer when a man, wearing a blue suit and a long red striped tie, walks by their section in the Covelli Centre . Some of the rally attendees stand as the man smiles and waves at them, applauding him before he climbs the steps to the press risers.

Surprisingly, the man at the center of this praise is not Donald Trump, even though the former US president is the host of the rally in the hardscrabble rust belt city of Youngstown, Ohio.

Instead, the object of the crowd’s adoration is Mike Lindell, the chief executive of MyPillow and one of the most devoted promoters of the lie that Democrats stole the 2020 election through widespread fraud.

Lindell has become a target of scorn and mockery among Democrats, anti-Trump Republicans and even late-night hosts, but he has found a home at the rallies where the former president’s die-hard fans gather to lament that Joe Biden illegally resides in the White House. While Lindell still makes a living off selling foam pillows (not to mention sheet sets, slippers and pet beds), he has now dedicated tens of millions of dollars to exposing the supposedly massive electoral fraud that he cannot prove.