Evelyn Reynolds

Hunter Biden offered on Friday to comply with any new subpoena and testify in private before House Republicans seeking to impeach his father over alleged but unproven corruption, an attorney for Joe Biden’s son said.“If you issue a new proper subpoena, now that there is a duly authorised impeachment inquiry, Mr Biden will comply for a hearing or deposition,” Abbe Lowell wrote to James Comer and Jim Jordan, the Republican chairs of the oversight and judiciary committees.“We will accept such a subpoena on Mr Biden’s behalf.”Republicans are interested in Hunter Biden’s business dealings and struggles with addiction. Outside Congress, he faces criminal charges over a gun purchase and his tax affairs that carry maximum prison sentences of 25 and 17 years. In Los Angeles on Thursday, he added a not guilty plea in the tax case to the same plea in the gun case.Biden previously refused to comply with a congressional subpoena for testimony in private, giving a press conference on Capitol Hill to say he would talk if the session were public.On Wednesday, Comer held a hearing to consider a resolution to hold Biden in contempt of Congress, a charge that can result in a fine and jail time.The hearing descended into chaos with Biden and Lowell making a surprise appearance, sitting in the audience while Republicans and Democrats traded partisan barbs. The resolution was sent to the full House for a vote. The White House said Joe Biden had not been told of his son’s plan to attend the oversight hearing.Lowell represented Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and chief White House adviser, when Democrats sought to subject him to congressional scrutiny. In his letter on Friday, Lowell queried the legality of previous subpoenas for Hunter Biden.Republicans, he said, had not “explained why you are not interested in transparency and having the American people witness the full and complete testimony of Mr Biden at a public hearing”, when Biden had said “repeatedly that he would answer all pertinent and relevant questions you and your colleagues had for him at a public hearing”.Nonetheless, Lowell said his client was now prepared to testify in private.In a joint statement in response to Lowell’s letter, Comer and Jordan said Biden had “defied two valid, lawful subpoenas” and charged him with staging “stunts” instead.They added: “For now, the House of Representatives will move forward with holding Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress until such time that Hunter Biden confirms a date to appear for a private deposition in accordance with his legal obligation.“While we will work to schedule a deposition date, we will not tolerate any additional stunts or delay from Hunter Biden. The American people will not tolerate, and the House will not provide, special treatment for the Biden family.”Steve Scalise, the Republican majority leader, previously said there would be a contempt vote in the House next week, adding: “Enough of [Hunter Biden’s] stunts. He doesn’t get to play by a different set of rules. He’s not above the law.”Democrats on the House judiciary committee responded by posting a picture of Comer with a hand over his eyes, using an acronym for Donald Trump’s campaign slogan as they said: “Maga Republicans continue to pursue baseless impeachment stunts when a government shutdown is imminent.“What are they actually doing to better the lives of the American people?” More

A bipartisan chorus of lawmakers assailed Joe Biden for failing to seek congressional approval before authorizing military strikes against targets in Yemen controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi militants, reigniting a long-simmering debate over who has the power to declare war in America.The US president announced on Thursday night that the US and the UK, with support from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Bahrain, had launched a series of air and naval strikes on more than a dozen sites in Yemen. The retaliatory action was in response to relentless Houthi attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza.“This is an unacceptable violation of the constitution,” said Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat and the chair of the Progressive Caucus. “Article 1 requires that military action be authorized by Congress.”Biden, who served 36 years in the Senate, including as chair of the foreign relations committee, notified Congress but did not request its approval.“These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea – including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history,” Biden said in a statement. “These attacks have endangered US personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardized trade, and threatened freedom of navigation.”The escalation of American action came days after the Houthis launched one of their biggest salvoes to date, in defiance of warnings from the Biden administration and several international allies who implored the rebel group to cease its attacks or prepare to “bear the responsibility of the consequences”.Several lawmakers applauded the strikes, arguing they were necessary to deter Iran. In a statement, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, called Biden’s decision “overdue”.“The United States and our allies must leave no room to doubt that the days of unanswered terrorist aggression are over,” he said.Congressman Gregory Meeks, the ranking Democrat on the House foreign affairs committee, said he supported the decision to launch “targeted, proportional military strikes”, but called on the Biden administration to “continue its diplomatic efforts to avoid escalation to a broader regional war and continue to engage Congress on the details of its strategy and legal basis as required by law”.Yet many progressive – and a number of conservative – members were furious with the president for failing to seek approval from Congress.“Unacceptable,” wrote Ayanna Pressley, a Massachusetts Democrat.Mark Pocan, a Wisconsin Democrat, wrote: “The United States cannot risk getting entangled into another decades-long conflict without congressional authorization.”He called on Biden to engage with Congress “before continuing these airstrikes in Yemen”.Ro Khanna, a California progressive who has led bipartisan efforts to reassert congressional authority over America’s foreign wars, said on X: “The president needs to come to Congress before launching a strike against the Houthis in Yemen and involving us in another Middle East conflict.”He pointed to article 1 of the constitution, vowing to “stand up for that regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican is in the White House”.Khanna has also led a years-long pressure campaign to end American support for Saudi Arabia’s devastating military offensive in Yemen. Biden said the US would end its support in 2021.Reacting to calls by Saudi Arabia for restraint and “avoiding escalation” in light of the American-led air strikes, Khanna added: “If you had told me on January 20 2021 that Biden would be ordering military strikes on the Houthis without congressional approval while the Saudis would be calling for restraint and de-escalation in Yemen, I would never have believed it.”Khanna’s dismay was shared by a number of House Republicans, including the far-right congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida and the arch-conservative senator Mike Lee of Utah.At the heart of Khanna’s criticism is a decades-long debate between the legislative and executive branches over Congress’s constitutional authority to declare war and the president’s constitutional role as commander-in-chief. Stretching back to the Vietnam war, lawmakers have accused administrations of both parties of pursuing foreign wars and engaging in military conduct without congressional approval.“These airstrikes have NOT been authorized by Congress,” tweeted Val Hoyle, an Oregon Democrat. “The constitution is clear: Congress has the sole authority to authorize military involvement in overseas conflicts. Every president must first come to Congress and ask for military authorization, regardless of party.”Some critics resurfaced a 2020 tweet from Biden, in which the then presidential candidate declared: “Donald Trump does not have the authority to take us into war with Iran without congressional approval. A president should never take this nation to war without the informed consent of the American people.”The political fallout from the strikes in Yemen comes nearly a month after several Democrats were sharply critical of the administration’s decision to bypass Congress and approve the sale of tank shells to Israel amid a fraught debate within the party over Biden’s support for the war in Gaza.Barbara Lee, a California Democrat and longtime advocate of curtailing the president’s war-making authority, said Thursday’s strikes highlight the urgent need for Biden to seek an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.“This is why I called for a ceasefire early. This is why I voted against war in Iraq,” she wrote. “Violence only begets more violence. We need a ceasefire now to prevent deadly, costly, catastrophic escalation of violence in the region.” More

People who took an anti-malaria treatment that Donald Trump touted as a cure for Covid-19 in the early days of the pandemic and waning days of his presidency were 11% more likely to die from the virus, according to a new scientific study.The study’s authors – who published their findings in the peer-reviewed Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy journal – also estimated that nearly 17,000 people in six different countries, including the US, died after contracting Covid-19 and taking the antimalarial hydroxychloroquine.Doctors who prescribed hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 at the height of activity restrictions meant to slow the spread of the virus did so off-label and without evidence that there was any clinical benefit, as the authors of the new study noted. The study’s conclusions “illustrate the hazard of drug repurposing with low-level evidence for the management of future pandemics”, its authors added.A meta-analysis of randomized trials produced the findings in the study released by Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, a 67-year-old journal edited by DM Townsend of the Medical University of South Carolina.The study’s authors said they used public databases to establish the number of Covid-19 patients who were hospitalized during the early days of the pandemic. They said they then systematically reviewed 44 cohort studies to calculate that there was an 11% increase in mortality associated with cases involving the use of hydroxychloroquine, along with about 16,990 in-hospital deaths in the US, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and Turkey.Trump first hawked hydroxychloroquine as a miracle drug that could cure Covid-19 in March 2020 as he railed against activity lockdowns, saying they would ruin the US economy.His remarks about anti-malaria medication led to a surge in prescriptions for the drug. The Food and Drug Administration – which didn’t approve the first Covid-19 vaccine until December 2020 – was forced to warn that hydroxychloroquine could cause irregular heartbeats and other cardiac trouble.And the regulatory agency also clarified that the medication had only been approved to treat malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.The then-president later dismissed an early study which showed hydroxychloroquine was an ineffective Covid-19 treatment as a “Trump enemy statement”.“They were giving it to people that were … almost dead,” Trump said at one point as the White House claimed he himself was taking the medication prophylactically.Trump ultimately tested positive for Covid-19 on 26 September 2020 and was hospitalized within days. He recovered after doctors treated him with a new antibody cocktail that was nearly impossible for the general public to access.Weeks later, Trump lost his bid for a second term in the Oval Office to Joe Biden. He is now facing 91 pending criminal charges for attempting to subvert his electoral defeat, illegally retaining government secrets, and hush-money payments to an adult film actor who has alleged an extramarital sexual encounter with him.Trump nonetheless is leading the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and polls have suggested a rematch with Biden would be competitive.Before the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped keeping track in May, more than 1.1 million people had died from Covid-19 in the US, and nearly 105m cases had been reported, according to officials. More

Candidates and caucus-goers faced extra challenges in Iowa on Friday as a second major snow event in a week hit the state, three days before Republicans are due to kick off their presidential nomination process for the critical election year.According to the National Weather Service in Des Moines, most of Iowa could expect significant, possibly record snowfall, high winds stoking blizzard conditions.“Life-threatening winter weather is expected beginning tonight with heavy snow,” the NWS said on Thursday. “White-out conditions likely Friday into Friday night. To follow, extreme wind chills as low as -45F [-43C] possible through early next week. Plan ahead for this dangerous stretch of winter weather!”In Washington DC and New York, reporters packed thermal underwear and tried to find flights still scheduled. In Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa, heavy snow covered streets overnight and continued to fall. Save for the occasional car, the streets were largely deserted as the temperature hovered at about 15F (-9C). At the local Target, students and other residents stocked up on supplies as snowplows worked outside.Schools and businesses closed. In the state capital, Des Moines Performing Arts announced the postponement of Civic Center shows by the percussion group Stomp.According to Iowa polling, Donald Trump will stomp all over his competitors on Monday. He has however largely chosen to skip in-person campaigning, spending his time in warm courtrooms in Washington and New York while surrogates make Arctic treks between churches and town halls.On Wednesday, Ben Carson, the neurosurgeon who ran for president in 2016 then became housing secretary in the Trump administration, told churchgoers in Davenport backing Trump was OK. After all, Carson said, not everyone in the Bible was “a boy scout”.Trump – who as president famously confused boy scouts and angered parents with a speech about partying in New York – faces 91 criminal charges. Seventeen concern election subversion, 40 are for retention of classified information, and 34 arise from hush-money payments to an adult film star who claimed an affair.The former president also faces civil suits over his business dealings and a defamation claim arising from a rape allegation a judge called “substantially true”, and attempts to keep him off the ballot for inciting the January 6 insurrection, one of which has reached the US supreme court.As reported by the Associated Press, Carson “drew vocal reactions – yeas and nays, amens and laughs – from the friendly room”.Polling averages give Trump huge Iowa leads: 35 points according to FiveThirtyEight, 36 at RealClearPolitics.Among his remaining challengers, Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor widely held to be surging, canceled in-person events on Friday, replacing them with “tele town halls”. A spokesperson said the snow would not stop the campaign “ensuring Iowans hear Nikki’s vision for a strong and proud America”.At least initially, Ron DeSantis, the hard-right Florida governor widely held to be tanking, forged on. So did the biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, telling followers: “George Washington braved the weather to cross the Delaware [in snow and ice on Christmas Day 1776, to attack the Hessians at Trenton]. Another snow day in Iowa, another day of events for us … we’ll continue to every last one for as long as we can physically make it.”Even before the second snow of the week, Ramaswamy documented a spot of difficulty with the weather.“Just got back to Des Moines after a five-plus-hour drive in snow from north -west Iowa,” he wrote on social media on Tuesday. “Got stuck in snow ditch on the way. Five of us tried to push [the] SUV out, finally got it done with extra help from a good Iowan.”A picture accompanying the post showed Ramaswamy with a man in a hooded sweater, lit by car break lights, smiling against the driving snow.Alas for Ramaswamy, who failed to qualify for the final debate in Des Moines this week, his insurgent campaign is widely seen to have run out of steam. He did point to a concern for all candidates, though – that caucus attendance might be hit by the freeze.“We honor the Iowa caucus process,” Ramaswamy said. “I encourage everyone in these communities to be safe and respect their decisions today, as we continue to do our best to show up.”CNN said a senior Trump campaign adviser indicated concern in the frontrunner’s camp.“The weather issue may take away the intensity,” the aide was quoted as saying. “But first of all, a win’s a win. And I know the expectations, but no one’s ever won Iowa by more than 12 points now. So that’s our goal.”Ultimately, with Trump so far ahead, the battle for second between Haley and DeSantis is set to draw most attention. Should Haley win it, thereby teeing herself up for a tilt at Trump in New Hampshire, most observers expect DeSantis to drop out. More

Trumpist Republicans are using the surge of illegal immigration at the southern border of the US, as well as a surge of migrants seeking legal asylum, to threaten a government shutdown and no added funds for Ukraine.They’re using five lies to make their case.1. They claim Biden doesn’t want to stem illegal immigration and has created an “open border”.Rubbish. Since he took office, Biden has consistently asked for additional funding for border control.Republicans have just as consistently refused. They’re voting to cut Customs and Border Protection funding in spending bills and blocking passage of Biden’s $106bn national security supplemental that includes border funding.2. They blame the drug crisis on illegal immigration.Last Wednesday, at the southern border in Texas, the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, claimed that “America is at a breaking point with record levels of illegal immigration. We have lethal drugs that are pouring into our country at record levels.”Rubbish. While large amounts of fentanyl and other deadly drugs have been flowing into the United States from Mexico, 90% arrives through official ports of entry, not via immigrants illegally crossing the border. In fact, research by the Cato Institute found that more than 86% of the people convicted of trafficking fentanyl across the border in 2021 were US citizens.3. They claim that undocumented immigrants are terrorists.Johnson also charged that “312 suspects on the terrorist watch list that have been apprehended – we have no idea how many terrorists have come into the country and set up terrorism cells across the nation.”Baloney. America’s southern border has not been an entry point for terrorists. For almost a half century, no American has been killed or injured in a terrorist attack in the United States that involved someone who crossed the border illegally.Johnson’s number comes from government data showing that from October 2020 to November 2023, 312 migrants – out of more than 6.2 million who crossed the southern border during these years – matched names on the terrorist watch list.It’s unclear how many were actual matches and whether the FBI considered them national security threats (the watch list includes family relations of terrorist suspects, many of whom are not considered to be involved in terrorist activity).4. They say undocumented immigrants are stealing American jobs.Nonsense. Evidence shows immigrants are not taking jobs that American workers want.And the surge across the border is not increasing unemployment. Far from it: unemployment has been below 4% for roughly two years, far lower than the long-term average rate of 5.71%. It’s now at 3.7%.5. They claim undocumented immigrants are responsible for more crime in the US.More baloney. In fact, a 2020 study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, cited by the Department of Justice, showed that undocumented immigrants have “substantially” lower crime rates than native-born citizens and legal immigrants.Similarly, a recently published study in the American Economic Journal – analyzing official data from 2008 to 2017 on immigration, homicide and victimization surveys – found “null effects” on crime from immigration.Notwithstanding the recent surge in illegal immigration, the US homicide rate has fallen nearly 13% since 2022 – the largest decrease on record. Local law enforcement agencies are also reporting drops in violent crime.Who’s really behind these lies?Since he entered politics, Donald Trump has fanned nativist fears and bigotry.He’s now moving into full-throttled neofascism, using the actual rhetoric of Hitler to attack immigrants – charging that undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” and saying they’re “like a military invasion. Drugs, criminals, gang members and terrorists are pouring into our country at record levels. We’ve never seen anything like it. They’re taking over our cities.”He promises to use the US military to round up undocumented immigrants and put them into “camps”. That demagoguery is being echoed by Trump lackeys to generate fear and put Biden on the defensive.Does the US need to address the border situation? Yes – which Biden is trying to do. But we need to do so in a way that treats migrants as humans, not political pawns.Trump and his enablers want Americans to forget that almost all of us are the descendants of immigrants who fled persecution, or were brought to the US under duress, or simply sought better lives for themselves and their descendants.
Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His newest book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com More

Hours before Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis took to the debate stage in Iowa on Wednesday night, more than 1,000 miles away in New Hampshire Chris Christie shocked his supporters by announcing he was dropping out of the race. The former New Jersey governor was the only candidate to consistently attack Donald Trump, in a field of Republicans trying to beat the former president, all the while keeping his base sweet.
With only three days until the Iowa caucus, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Elaine Kamarck about who is most likely to come out on top

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Prosecutors for the New York attorney general, Letitia James, have reiterated that they would like to see a $370m penalty and lifetime ban from the real estate business for Donald Trump in his civil fraud trial, the Messenger reports:They said the weighty penalty was necessary because Trump kept breaking the law even after authorities began investigating his business practices:Prosecutors with the New York attorney general’s office are delivering their closing arguments at Donald Trump’s New York fraud trial.Trump left the building after delivering a bizarre impromptu rant, which was cut off by the judge, who called for a lunch break.State attorney Kevin Wallace said that Trump’s lawyers relied on expert testimony, rather than witness testimony or documented evidence, to bolster their arguments. At one point, Wallace put up a presentation slide that showed the 11 expert witnesses the defense had called during the trial. He noted that many of the expert witnesses were purposely shown limited evidence, and a handful of them were close allies of Trump.“They cannot argue that Trump’s triplex was in fact 30,000 sq ft,” Wallace said. “Or that unsold units at Trump Park Avenue weren’t rent stabilized.”Wallace also argued that the loans the Trump Organization received with the inflated financial statements were “critical to the business” and the business was strapped for cash in the mid-2010s as the company pursued renovation of properties and Trump was running for president.“They could have cut costs or sell assets, but these interest rates were vital to the operation of the company,” Wallace said, adding that Trump was also able to run for president with the loans bolstering his company. “They didn’t have to choose between their priorities.”Arguments in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial have now resumed, MSNBC reports, and will probably conclude soon:Hunter Biden is being arraigned in Los Angeles today on federal tax charges recently filed against him. Expect to hear plenty about this from Republicans as Joe Biden’s re-election campaign continues:Hunter Biden is expected to be arraigned on Thursday on federal tax charges in a Los Angeles courthouse.Biden, who has a home in Malibu, is expected to plead not guilty to nine tax-related charges that were filed in December. Three of the charges faced by Joe Biden’s son are felony counts, and he could face up to 17 years in prison if found guilty.“The defendant engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4m in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019,” the 56-page indictment said, adding that Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills”.Hunter Biden is expected to plead not guilty.Closing arguments in Donald Trump’s New York civil fraud trial are now paused while the court takes a brief recess, the Messenger reports.Here’s the Guardian’s Dominic Rushe and Lauren Aratani with a recap of what has happened so far today:Back at Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial, his attorney Chris Kise has repeatedly interrupted Kevin Wallace, who is delivering closing arguments on behalf of the New York attorney general, Letitia James.It appears to be a tactic on Kise’s part. From MSNBC:Donald Trump has been spending quite a bit of time in court lately, and plans to continue doing so, even though he is also campaigning for president.In remarks this afternoon, after going on a tirade against the New York attorney general, Letitia James, and Judge Arthur Engoron during the closing arguments of his civil fraud trial and then leaving the courtroom, Trump said he would attend all of his trials in person:That is potentially quite a lot of court proceedings. Trump has been indicted four times at the state and federal level, and is also embroiled in multiple civil suits. He will have to balance these legal matters with his quest to win the Republican presidential nomination – which polls show he is the favorite to do – and beat Joe Biden in the November general election.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has condemned a recent wave of threats targeting elected officials and judges.Her comments at the daily White House press briefing came after a bomb squad was dispatched to the home of judge Arthur Engoron this morning, ahead of the start of the closing arguments in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial.“We condemn any violence or threats against any judges … or anyone. … We are going to continue to be steadfast about that,” Jean-Pierre said.Lawyer for the former president have spent today making Trump’s case before Engoron, who will decide whether Trump will be fined as much as $370m for falsifying financial statements to inflate his net worth.Ahead of the hearing, police in Nassau county on Long Island said they responded to a security incident at Engoron’s residence at 5.30am. Engoron and his staff have been frequent targets of vitriolic criticism from Trump throughout the case, and his office has been bombarded with death threats.More on that here:New York attorney general Letitia James’s prosecutors have now started delivering their closing arguments in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial, the Messenger reports:Lawyer Kevin Wallace is telling the court that the former president’s arguments in his defense were based on facts already known to be invalid. Trump is not in the room, the Messenger says, having left after his unexpected tirade at the conclusion of his side’s closing arguments:John Kirby was also questioned on the hospitalization of the US secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, and why the White House was not informed in a timely manner that the Pentagon chief transferred his authority to his deputy.On Thursday, the Pentagon’s internal watchdog said a review will be conducted surrounding the secrecy of Austin’s health condition and why the defense department waited days to inform the White House about the transfer of authority.Austin is still hospitalized. He is being treated for complications from prostate cancer surgery.Kirby said the lack of communication was a learning opportunity and that it shouldn’t have happened.Meanwhile, as South Africa formally accuses Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the United Nations’ top court, John Kirby, spokesperson for the US national security council, answered questions about the war in Gaza in a White House press briefing.When asked if the US will accept any penalties or punishments handed down by the international court, Kirby said: “I’m not going to get into hypotheticals here. We’ve made our position clear.” He said the Biden administration sees “no indication Israel is violating laws surrounding armed conflict”.He was also asked about the timeline of the US’s pleas to Israel to de-escalate the violence in Gaza, to which he responded: “You’ll have to talk to the IDF.”The Guardian is also running a global live blog on Israel’s war in Gaza and the wider situation in the Middle East, which you can follow here.After hours of closing arguments by his attorneys, Donald Trump went on a surprise tirade in the Manhattan courtroom where his civil fraud trial is being held, accusing Judge Arthur Engoron and the New York attorney general, Letitia James, of bias against him. He then left the courtroom, and prosecutors now are expected to deliver their final statements in the case that could see Engoron impose severe penalties on the former president and his co-defendants.Here’s a look back at the day so far:Donald Trump walked out of the courtroom after excoriating both New York attorney general Letitia James and Judge Arthur Engoron for the civil fraud accusations against him, MSNBC reports: More