Pro-Palestine protesters disrupted a US Senate armed forces committee where the defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, was giving testimony. As Austin spoke, one protester got up carrying a ‘let Gaza live’ sign and said: ‘How can you talk about US leadership when we’re supporting genocide in Gaza?’ More
Officials with the Miami Grand Prix recently halted a Donald Trump presidential campaign fundraiser being planned for the upcoming Formula One race, sending a cease-and-desist letter to its organizer.A Miami Grand Prix representative notified Steven Witkoff, a close friend of Trump, that Witkoff would not be allowed to use a suite at the race to fundraise for the former president, the Washington Post first reported.Witkoff allegedly plotted to host a political fundraiser at the Paddock Club rooftop suite, charging potential attendees $250,000 a ticket to attend.The Paddock suite facilities at the F1 race are fairly exclusive, providing guests with better views of the racetrack and other perks, according to the F1 experiences website.In a letter to Witkoff obtained by the Post, Miami Grand Prix organizers said: “It has come to our attention that you may be using your Paddock Club Rooftop Suite for a political purpose, namely raising money for a federal election at $250,000 a ticket, which clearly violates the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix suite license agreement … If this is true, we regret to inform you that your suite license will be revoked, you will not be allowed to attend the race at any time, and we will refund you in full.”The Guardian could not immediately reach a representative of the Miami Grand Prix.The event had previously been advertised in a newsletter for the Shell Bay Club in Florida, an exclusive golf club Witkoff’s real estate company helped develop.According to the advertisement viewed by the Post, an invitation to the cancelled political fundraiser included a helicopter trip and other amenities. Multiple people called Miami Grand Prix officials and asked about the event.It’s unclear if Trump was going to make an appearance at the fundraiser. Trump is expected to attend the Miami Grand Prix, which is on 5 May, Newsweek reported. Secret Service agents reportedly contacted race officials to coordinate Trump’s attendance, the Post reported.Witkoff is a longtime associate of Trump. He recently testified on the former president’s behalf during a New York financial fraud case, in which Trump, his eldest sons and associates were ordered to pay over $350m plus pre-judgment interest.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionIn a phone call with the Post, Witkoff denied any wrongdoing, claiming: “This is something fake, for sure.” He did not elaborate further.The fiasco at the Miami Grand Prix is not the first time officials affiliated with a popular racing series have rejected political associations.Organizers with the Indy 500 race rejected a request from one car to feature pictures of Trump and the independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, WIBC reported. More
Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota, “had a shot” at being named Donald Trump’s presidential running mate – but blew it by boasting about shooting her dog to death, a Trump insider reportedly said.“She was already unlikely to be picked as VP but had a shot,” the New York Post quoted an unnamed Trump ally as saying.“After this, it’s just impossible.”Noem’s story of deciding to kill Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehair pointer she deemed useless for hunting and a danger to chickens, is contained in her forthcoming book.No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward, will be published next month. Last week, the Guardian obtained a copy and reported the startling tale of Noem and Cricket the dog, who Noem says she “hated”.More startlingly still, Noem also describes killing – with two shotgun blasts – an unnamed, un-castrated male goat, which she deemed too smelly and unruly.On the page, Noem defends her actions as indicative of the kinds of unpleasant things people have to do on farms and in politics, too. Since the story became public, she has doubled down, saying her family recently put down three horses and claiming she was legally obliged to kill Cricket because she killed a neighbour’s chickens.According to a Guardian review, South Dakota law suggests Noem may have committed a class two misdemeanour by allowing Cricket to kill the chickens – and also may have contravened the law by killing the dog on her own property, after the attack on the chickens.A spokesperson for Noem did not comment on that contention.Having entered Congress in the hard-right Tea Party wave of 2010 and becoming governor of South Dakota in 2019, Noem has been widely seen to be a possible vice-presidential pick for Trump.In the wake of revelations about how she killed Cricket and the unnamed goat, the latter animal with two shots separated by a walk back to Noem’s truck for more shells, most pundits have pronounced such hopes to be dead.The Trump ally who spoke to the New York Post – while the former president sat on trial in the city, in his hush-money case over payments to an adult film star – said: “Trump isn’t a dog person necessarily but I think he understands that you can’t choose a puppy killer as your pick, for blatantly obvious reasons.”The Post said another source from within the former president’s camp said that though Trump “likes Kristi a lot” he was “disappointed when hearing the ‘dog’ story”.“It certainly has not enhanced her chances, but no decision has been made concerning any of the VP candidates,” the source reportedly said.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionOther outlets reported similar disquiet.“The median reaction when we checked around Trump world was ‘WTF’,” said Semafor, “although some noted her chances were considered slim already.”Dog-killing aside, Noem’s other potential liabilities include links to a Texas cosmetic dentist and views on abortion bans – opposing exceptions for rape or incest – to the right even of Trump.“Governor Noem just keeps proving over and over that she’s a lightweight,” Semafor quoted a source “close to the Trump campaign” as saying.The Hill quoted an unnamed Trump ally as saying the story of Cricket and the goat guaranteed Noem would not be the VP pick.“Anytime you have to respond more than once to a story, it’s not good,” the source reportedly said.With Cricket and the unnamed goat in mind, the same source said that when it came to assessing Noem’s chances of a place on Trump’s ticket, “She’s DOA.” More
Dozens of protesters have taken over a building at Columbia University in New York, barricading the entrances and unfurling a Palestinian flag out of a window in the latest escalation of demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war that have spread to college campuses across the US.Video footage showed protesters on Columbia’s Manhattan campus locking arms in front of Hamilton Hall early on Tuesday and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building, one of several that was occupied during a 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam war protest on the campus.Posts on an Instagram page for protest organisers shortly after midnight urged people to protect the encampment and join them at Hamilton Hall.The student radio station, WKCR-FM, broadcasted a play-by-play of the hall’s takeover – which occurred nearly 12 hours after Monday’s 2pm deadline for the protesters to leave an encampment of about 120 tents or face suspension. Representatives for the university did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment early on Tuesday.Universities across the US are grappling with how to clear out encampments as commencement ceremonies approach, with some continuing negotiations and others turning to force and ultimatums that have resulted in clashes with police.View image in fullscreenDozens of people were arrested on Monday during protests at universities in Texas, Utah and Virginia, while Columbia said hours before the takeover of Hamilton Hall that it had started suspending students.Demonstrators are sparring over the Israel-Hamas war and its mounting death toll, and the number of arrests at campuses nationwide is approaching 1,000 as the final days of class wrap up. The outcry is forcing colleges to reckon with their financial ties to Israel, as well as their support for free speech. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.At the University of Texas at Austin, an attorney said at least 40 demonstrators were arrested on Monday. The confrontation was an escalation on the 53,000-student campus in the state’s capital, where more than 50 protesters were arrested last week.Later on Monday, dozens of officers in riot gear at the University of Utah sought to break up an encampment outside the university president’s office that went up in the afternoon. Police dragged students off by their hands and feet, snapping the poles holding up tents and zip-tying those who refused to disperse. Seventeen people were arrested.The university said it was against code to camp overnight on school property and that the students were given several warnings to disperse before police were called in.The plight of students who have been arrested has become a central part of protests, with the students and a growing number of faculty demanding amnesty for protesters. At issue is whether the suspensions and legal records will follow students through their adult lives.The Texas protest and others – including in Canada and Europe – grew out of Columbia’s early demonstrations that have continued. On Monday, student activists defied the 2pm deadline to leave the encampment. Instead, hundreds of protesters remained. A handful of counter-demonstrators waved Israeli flags, and one held a sign reading: “Where are the anti-Hamas chants?”While the university did not call the police to remove the demonstrators, school spokesperson Ben Chang said suspensions had started but could provide few details. Protest organisers said they were not aware of any suspensions as of Monday evening.Columbia’s handling of the demonstrations has prompted federal complaints.A class-action lawsuit on behalf of Jewish students alleges a breach of contract by Columbia, claiming the university failed to maintain a safe learning environment, despite policies and promises. It also challenges the move away from in-person classes and seeks quick court action requiring Columbia to provide security for the students.Meanwhile, a legal group representing pro-Palestinian students is urging the US Department of Education’s civil rights office to investigate Columbia’s compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for how they have been treated.A university spokesperson declined to comment on the complaints. More
Kamala Harris once again visited Atlanta to tout investments made by the Biden administration in minority and underserved communities, highlighting $158m in infrastructure spending on a project to build a cap over Atlanta’s most traveled highway, the Downtown Connector.The vice-president’s appearance is the continuation of a full court press in Georgia to solidify support among Democrats – and specifically Black Democrats – for the administration.Harris has visited Atlanta repeatedly since winning office, acting as one of the administration’s primary surrogates to the Black community, keenly aware that Georgia remains in play and that perceptions of flagging support among African American voters could be the difference between a win and a loss.Harris kicked off a nationwide tour discussing economic opportunities for minority voters with this visit, she said.The Atlanta project, which local planners call the Stitch, would build parkland and mixed-use buildings including affordable housing and is meant to address the intentional destruction of Black communities by highway construction in the 60s, Harris said.“There was this whole policy push called urban renewal,” Harris said. “It was supposed to be about making life easier for people … but essentially it was about making it easier for folks who had wealth and means to move to the suburbs and still have access to downtown. It ended up decimating these communities for years.” Harris said the Stitch project would create an estimated 13,000 jobs and help reconnect a community bifurcated by the highway.Harris spoke on Monday at the Georgia International convention center near Atlanta’s airport in a conversation moderated by Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings, hosts of the financial podcast Earn Your Leisure. She emphasized the work the Biden administration has been doing to expand access to capital for communities of color.Black entrepreneurs do not have access to the capital needed to launch capital-intensive companies, Bilal said. “Especially when we look at the next generation of unicorn companies – billion-dollar companies – they’re tech companies,” Bilal said.That access is often about relationships that Black business owners often do not have. But federal spending can provide a base from which a business can grow and ultimately build those relationships, Harris said. Home ownership is also critical for building intergenerational wealth and entrepreneurial opportunities, as a source of equity for startups.“To achieve true equality, we must have an economic agenda,” Harris said. “That agenda must mean speaking to people’s economic ambitions.”Harris’s message sharply contrasts with increasing rhetoric from Republicans decrying diversity, equity and inclusion programs. “In spite of those who want to attack DEI, you can’t truly invest in the strength of our nation if you don’t pay attention to diversity, equity and inclusion.”Among other programs and spending made by the federal government since 2021, Harris presented the Stitch as an example of what the Biden administration has accomplished.After federal courts struck down zoning laws that segregated housing, federal legislators responded with the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. Massive highway projects like Atlanta’s Downtown Connector were deliberately driven through Black neighborhoods in the name of “urban renewal”. In Atlanta’s case, the connector – which brings I-75 and I-85 together – displaced residents and businesses around Auburn Avenue, which was the heart of Atlanta’s Black middle class.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionMartin Luther King Jr grew up a five-minute walk from where the connector splits the city today, a massive highway with more than 300,000 cars passing through every day. Similarly, the construction of I-20 decimated the Summerhill neighborhood, once home to many of Atlanta’s Black doctors. Summerhill has only recently recovered its economic vibrancy. But even as much of the rest of Atlanta experiences gentrification, the area around Auburn Avenue is poor.The representative Nikema Williams and the senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff addressed attendees briefly before the main event, each extolling the virtues of infrastructure investments in Georgia from the infrastructure bill. The Stitch received outsized attention by all three in their remarks.Williams is in her sophomore term as a congresswoman representing much of Atlanta, and sits on the House transportation committee. She and Warnock worked closely together to draw funding on the Stitch project, which eight years ago was little more than a twinkle in the eye of AJ Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress, a non-profit civic group for downtown businesses which is leading the design process on the Stitch.“We are truly a model for the world,” Williams said, describing the investments by the Biden administration in the Black community as “unprecedented”.Warnock has a particularly high political stake in the Stitch. The cap stands to transform the area around Auburn Avenue, famed home of Martin Luther King Jr and Ebenezer Baptist church, where Warnock is now senior pastor. The church is two blocks east of the Connector, which decimated the once-vibrant street after its construction about 60 years ago.“Let’s be very clear, today is a day of celebration,” Warnock said. “Because at last, we start repairing and revitalizing and reconnecting neighborhoods in the heart of the Black neighborhoods that have been historically torn apart by highway construction … This happens in every community in America.” More
Pro-Palestinian protesters remain on Columbia University’s campus in New York City, defying an ultimatum from its administrators to leave by 2pm ET or face suspension.The demonstrators are asking college leaders to divest from Israel, which they have declined to do. Earlier today, Columbia’s president Minouche Shafik said negotiations with protest leaders to dismantle their encampment on the college campus had broken down:Columbia had earlier in the month called police to disperse protesters, resulting in more than 100 arrests and leading to accusations Shafik and the college’s leaders were cracking down on free speech. Here’s more on today’s deadline, and the ongoing protests at campuses nationwide:
Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University were given an ultimatum to abandon their encampment or risk suspension, after the breakdown of talks aimed at having it removed voluntarily. The ultimatum, setting a Monday deadline of 2pm, has passed. Protesters overwhelmingly voted to defy the order and stay.
Texas governor Greg Abbott said no encampments will be allowed after at least five people were arrested by dozens of law enforcement officers, many in riot gear, at a protest at the University of Texas at Austin on Monday afternoon.
The Portland State University (PSU) will “pause” accepting donations from Boeing after students called on the school to cut ties with the manufacturer amid the war in Gaza, one of the first from university administrators to distance their school from a major weapons manufacturer.
Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House who visited the Columbia University campus last week, reiterated his threat to revoke visas from foreign students involved in protests, and cut funding to universities that do not protect Jewish students.
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader, released a letter to Johnson requesting consideration of a bipartisan bill to counter antisemitism.
Joe Biden and Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged to search for new ways to decrease border crossings by undocumented migrants, as the US president faces pressure to crack down on the issue of immigration ahead of the November elections.
Anyone who thinks Marjorie Taylor Greene will drop her threat to force the removal of Johnson is “high, drunk, or simply out of their mind”, a senior aide to the far-right Georgia congresswoman said.
The Biden administration announced that it “strongly opposes” a group of Republican-backed bills expected to be considered by the House this week that will target its environmental regulations.
Joe Biden is scheduled to travel to the key battleground state of North Carolina on Thursday, the White House has said.
Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis met on Sunday for a golf course breakfast in an apparent attempt to thaw their relationship after the Republican primary.
The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, has said no encampments will be allowed after at least five people were arrested at a protest at the University of Texas at Austin on Monday afternoon.Demonstrators gathered on campus to protest against the conflict in Gaza and demand the university divest from companies that manufacture machinery used in Israel’s war efforts, carrying signs and chanting.Dozens of local and state police – including some in riot gear – were seen encircling the encampment. Several protesters have been seen being treated for heat-related illnesses, according to local media.Last week arrests were made at the Austin campus at the request of university officials and Governor Abbott, who said the protesters “belonged in jail”. In a post to X last week, he wrote:
Students joining in hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled.
The response from Portland State University (PSU) is one of the first from university administrators to distance their school from a major weapons manufacturer.Though hundreds of students across the country have been protesting on their campuses, setting up encampments demanding divestment from weapons manufacturers and companies with ties to Israel, many universities have repeatedly said they will not divest from Israel or manufacturers.Colleges and universities in the United States have endowments that they often use as financial buffers. Harvard, which has the largest endowment at $51bn, said that it “opposes calls for a policy of boycotting Israel and its academic institutions”. The University of California, which has an endowment of $169bn for its 10 campuses, also said that it “opposed calls for boycott against any divestment from Israel”.A university in Portland, Oregon will “pause” accepting donations from Boeing after students called on the school to cut ties with the manufacturer amid the war in Gaza.In addition to setting up an encampment on campus, students also addressed a letter to Ann Cudd, the president of Portland State University (PSU), demanding the university cut ties with Boeing.In a campus-wide message, Cudd said she had been motivated by “the passion with which these demands are being repeatedly expressed by some in our community”. She wrote in her memo:
PSU will pause seeking or accepting any further gifts or grants from the Boeing Company until we have had a chance to engage in this debate and come to conclusions about a reasonable course of action.
Cudd reiterated that the university “has no investments in Boeing but accepts philanthropic gifts from the company and, given that Boeing is a major employer in the region, many of our alumni work there”.At least five people have been arrested after setting up a pro-Palestinian encampment and protest at the University of Texas in Austin, according to local media reports.Dozens of Texas state troopers in riot gear arrived at the campus on Monday afternoon and were seen forming a circle around the encampment, along with university police officers and Austin police officers, the Austin American-Statesman reported.It comes less than a week after 57 people were arrested and charged with criminal trespassing at an anti-war protest on campus. All of those protesters were later released from jail, and all charges were dropped.Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House who visited the Columbia University campus last week, reiterated his threat to revoke visas from foreign students involved in protests, and cut funding to universities that do not protect Jewish students:Activists condemned Johnson last week, after he said Hamas “backed” the protesters. While the group has praised the demonstrations, there is no evidence they have been involved in their organization.Columbia University administrators have said they will not call police on protesters again, NBC New York reports.However, protesters appear to be ready for another attempt to remove them. Here’s footage of faculty members linking arms to protect students:And here’s a protester explaining why they are making their stand:Pro-Palestinian protesters remain on Columbia University’s campus in New York City, defying an ultimatum from its administrators to leave by 2pm ET or face suspension.The demonstrators are asking college leaders to divest from Israel, which they have declined to do. Earlier today, Columbia’s president Minouche Shafik said negotiations with protest leaders to dismantle their encampment on the college campus had broken down:Columbia had earlier in the month called police to disperse protesters, resulting in more than 100 arrests and leading to accusations Shafik and the college’s leaders were cracking down on free speech. Here’s more on today’s deadline, and the ongoing protests at campuses nationwide:At her ongoing briefing to reporters, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration does not support the international criminal court’s reported investigation into officials from Israel and Hamas.Jean-Pierre said:
We’ve been really clear about the ICC investigation. We do not support it. We don’t believe that they have the jurisdiction.
She did not elaborate further.Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suggested that charges could be imminent in the investigation launched three years ago, which covers events since 2014. Here’s more:Republican House speaker Mike Johnson has condemned the international criminal court amid reports that it is considering bringing charges against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials over their handling of the situation in Gaza.“It is disgraceful that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is reportedly planning to issue baseless and illegitimate arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials,” Johnson said in a statement.“Such a lawless action by the ICC would directly undermine U.S. national security interests. If unchallenged by the Biden administration, the ICC could create and assume unprecedented power to issue arrest warrants against American political leaders, American diplomats, and American military personnel, thereby endangering our country’s sovereign authority.”The Biden administration announced that it “strongly opposes” a group of Republican-backed bills expected to be considered by the House this week that will target its environmental regulations.The White House office of management and budgeted targeted six bills proposed by Republicans, including measures to remove gray wolves from the list of endangered species, open up land in Alaska to oil production, and allow mining in a federal wilderness area in Minnesota.Even if they clear the House, the bills are unlikely to go anywhere in the Democratic-led Senate.When he is not hobnobbing with Donald Trump, the administration of Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s is disenrolling children from a health insurance program for low-income residents, the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe reports: Florida is continuing to “callously” strip healthcare coverage from thousands of children in lower-income households in defiance of a new federal law intended to protect them.Since 1 January, more than 22,500 children have been disenrolled from Florida KidCare, its version of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (Chip) that is jointly subsidized by states and the US government for families with earnings just above the threshold for Medicaid.Florida healthcare officials admit at least some were removed for non-payment of premiums, an action prohibited by the “continuous eligibility” clause of the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act that took effect at the beginning of this year. The clause secures 12 months of cover if at least one premium payment is made.Last week, the administration of Republican governor Ron DeSantis challenged the rule in federal court Tampa, arguing it makes Chip an entitlement program that illegally overrides a state law requiring monthly payment of premiums.Joe Biden is scheduled to travel to the key battleground state of North Carolina on Thursday, the White House has said.Biden will visit Wilmington to talk about how his agenda is “rebuilding our infrastructure and creating good-paying jobs in Wilmington and across the country,” the White House said in a statement.Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis met on Sunday for a golf course breakfast in an apparent attempt to thaw their relationship after the Republican primary.The meeting in Hollywood, Florida, was first reported by the Washington Post. Steve Witkoff, a Trump ally, New York and Florida real estate developer, and donor who testified at the former president’s civil fraud trial in New York, reportedly brokered the meeting.The Florida governor was once considered the former president’s top rival in the Republican presidential primary dominated by Trump, with a platform that rested primarily on fighting the “woke” cultural forces of diversity, inclusion and tolerance.However, a bungled presidential run meant DeSantis left the race after the Iowa caucus in January at the beginning of the primary. That left him in need of repairing his relationship with Trump – now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee – after aiming attacks at him for months.Relations have been frosty between DeSantis and Trump since the primary began. However, Trump has proven to be transactional with rivals when necessary, and the former president also stands to benefit from improved relations with DeSantis.The Florida governor developed a network of wealthy donors to back his presidential run, moneyed supporters Trump needs to woo if he hopes to catch up to the fundraising of Joe Biden, the Democratic incumbent seeking a second term in the presidency.Matt Gaetz, the far-right Florida Republican congressman, has drawn a last-minute primary challenger, after a former naval aviator filed to run as a Republican in Gaetz’s district last Friday.Aaron Dimmock is a retired navy officer who serves as the director of the Missouri Leadership Academy in Missouri, the Hill reported. In a statement to the outlet, Gaetz called Dimmock a “Missouri-based DEI instructor”. Gaetz wrote:
Aaron is not in Kansas City anymore. This is Trump Country. Our pronouns are USA and MAGA. I’m a proud Trump Republican. I stand shoulder to shoulder with President Trump to defeat Joe Biden, secure our border, restore our economy, and support our veterans.
The primary challenge comes as tensions remain high between Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy, months after the former speaker was ousted from his post with the help of Gaetz. Allies of McCarthy have been working to recruit challengers to Gaetz, the Washington Post reported.More than 100 rights groups have sent a letter demanding Congress and Joe Biden reinstate funding to the UN relief agency for Palestinians (Unrwa).The letter comes after the president signed a $95bn foreign aid package that finalized the Biden administration’s suspension of US funding to the UN agency, a “lifeline for the Palestinian people in Gaza” that Israel has sought to disband.An independent review published last week said that Israel had yet to present evidence of its claims that employees of the relief agency are affiliated with terrorist organizations.On Wednesday, Germany, Unrwa’s second-biggest donor after the US, announced that it will resume cooperation and funding to Unrwa operations in the Gaza Strip.The letter by more than 100 immigrant, refugee, human rights and humanitarian organizations, seen by HuffPost, reads:
Cutting off funding to Unrwa completely erodes the international community’s ability to respond to one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time.
It added that international non-governmental organizations and other UN agencies have “repeatedly stated that they do not have the personnel, resources, or infrastructure to respond to the humanitarian needs in Gaza appropriately.”Congress is lurching back into gear, with the House convening to consider several pieces of legislation that amount to conservative messaging platforms with poor prospects in the Democratic-led Senate. One of the bills coming up would crack down on antisemitism by forcing the government to adopt a definition that has been criticized for equating condemnation of Israel with prejudice against Jews. The top House Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries, wrote to the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, asking him to hold a vote on a different piece of legislation that has bipartisan support – we’ll see if that goes anywhere. Speaking of Johnson, all eyes are on Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right congresswoman who is attempting to boot him from the speaker’s post for his collaboration with Democrats. She does not seem to have much support, but has reportedly vowed to press on.Here’s what else is going on today:
Joe Biden and Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged to work together to deter migrants.
Campus protests over Israel’s invasion of Gaza showed no signs of ebbing over the weekend.
More grim poll numbers for Biden, including that voters increasingly view Donald Trump’s presidency as a success.
CNN came out this weekend with some familiar disquieting news for Joe Biden: the president trails Donald Trump in general election polling.In a head-to-head matchup, CNN finds Trump leads Biden with 49% support against the president’s 43%. But there’s a caveat: the use of national polls is somewhat limited, given that a handful of swing states is what will decide the election (some polls have lately shown Biden struggling in these states, while others indicate the president is regaining momentum.) But the CNN survey is also a warning for Biden’s hopes to campaign on the economy’s recovery during his administration.CNN find 55% of respondents see Trump’s presidency as a success, versus the 44% who regard it as a failure. In January 2021, after the January 6 attack and before Trump left office, it was about the opposite. As for Biden, 61% of respondents see his presidency as a failure, and 33% a success. More
The annual White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington is ostensibly about the dinner poking fun at the president. But like the Oscars, or the Met Gala, it’s also about the parties.But how to decide which parties to attend and which ones to skip? Every day of the White House correspondents’ dinner weekend is now inundated with competing events.The conversations and the people, for the most part, are fun, until it inevitably gets boring. And then the most interesting thing about the parties becomes the food.Like stock tips, past performance is not an indicator of future performance. But it could be – so here are the Guardian’s top five parties of 2024, in terms of food:1. Politico Sunday brunch (Sunday 28 April)The party: Hosted at the Allbritton residence in Georgetown by Politico and the Allbritton Journalism Institute. Essentially the detox brunch the morning after the White House correspondents’ dinner. This year was Swiss-themed with a large wooden-frame pavilion in the huge back garden, with various food stations dotted around the perimeter. Heidi would have felt at home, walking past two Alphorn players in the front, a toy cable car contraption against a giant wall with a painting of the Matterhorn behind the bar, and flags of various Swiss cantons on each pillar. But it was very warm, and the two St Bernard dogs wearing Politico-branded scarves seemed to be slightly overheating.The food: Towards the side there was a pastry station, absolutely stacked with viennoiserie. Your reviewer sampled the marmalade buns, which were fluffy on the top and firm in the middle, on which the jam sat. Seemed to be freshly baked. Perfect breakfast food. Your reviewer also sampled the relatively mini-waffles, adding the optional caviar and smoked salmon toppings. After the pastries, that triple-decker was divine: the sweetness of the waffle, balanced by the savory caviar and salmon. Pretty much a perfect pairing. There was also a coffee station, raclette station and a Läderach chocolate station that were all sampled but not reviewed.Score: Marmalade buns scored 9/10. Mini-waffles scored 9/10 (a highlight of the weekend). Total: 18/202. Semafor house party (Friday 26 April)The party: Hosted at the Kalorama home of the Semafor co-founder Justin Smith. In addition to the ground-floor spaces in the house and the patio, Semafor constructed a platform next to the mini-pool with a bar area, complete with a step-and-repeat wall with obligatory Semafor logos. Semafor’s DC parties have always been well executed and well catered. On this occasion, two chefs slaved away in Smith’s objectively beautiful kitchen, laying out the food on the kitchen island. Smith’s house also just works as a venue because it is large enough that it could probably fit a hundred people comfortably but also breezily intimate. It all added up to an easy ambience that made the party, well, pleasant. The food: Your reviewer first tried the jerk pork skewers with a sweet mustard dip sauce on the side. The pork was charred on the outside – having just been fired on the grill – and perfectly soft on the inside. It was slightly spicy but it was balanced out if dipped in the sauce. Your reviewer also sampled one of the Bajan ham and cheese sandwiches. These were small finger-food sandwiches with puffy slider buns for the bread. The honey topped off the Bajan-pepper mustard layered between the ham and white cheddar. Score: Pork skewers were 8/10 (spicier than advertised). Finger sandwiches were 8/10 (could have been more imaginative). Total: 16/203. Politico-British embassy reception (Thursday 25 April)The party: Hosted at the British ambassador’s residence, by the British ambassador, Dame Karen Pierce, and the Politico CEO, Goli Sheikholeslami. One of the busier and consequently noisier events of the weekend. The reception was on-brand: British foods, British drinks and, for the first time, free cigars. Winston Churchill would have approved of the cigars and, presumably, the deputy head of mission, James Roscoe, gliding through the hundreds of people there with the most elegant sherry glass. Politico got its branding on the cocktail napkins and projected a big logo on to the side of the redbrick building.The food: Your reviewer was on the hunt for dinner-esque foods seeing as the reception started at about 7pm – and found the half-sized fish and chips station in the main hall with the columns. Your reviewer has tried many fish and chips over the years. These were some of the best your reviewer has tried, even if they were slightly over-salted. Each fish was about the size of a hand, and came in little baskets that also contained a handful of fries. Your reviewer also sampled the sliders in the next room over, which were not quite as great as the fish and chips. The beef was slightly overcooked and the buns were slightly firm.Score: Fish and chips scored 8/10 (pretty salty). Sliders were 7/10 (could have been better). Total: 15/20.4. NBC-French ambassador’s residence after party (Saturday, 27 April)The party: Hosted at the residence of the French ambassador, Laurent Bili, by NBC Universal. In the way that the British embassy does quintessentially British food, the French embassy naturally does very French foods. After parties can be hard to cater because guests have already eaten at the White House correspondents’ dinner. Mainly offering desserts in literal bite-size portions, carried around on white platters by servers in white jackets was a smart move and appropriately elegant for the grandeur of the residence. The gothic-exterior house, protected by heavy security from NBC, opens up inside to several interconnected rooms and a large back garden space covered by a marquee. The dimly lit, wood-panelled rooms are decorated with 18th-century oil portraits, presumably of French aristocrats, which gave the space a cosy European atmosphere when guests got tired of the brightly lit rooms off to the side with either a Paris 2024 Olympics theme or a Saturday Night Live theme.The food: Your reviewer first sampled what appeared to be red-wine flambéed pear tarts. The tarts were literally bite-size, they fit into your palm. It was unclear whether they were actually flambéed, but the tarts were warm and it tasted like lightly burned sugar on the top. The tiny pieces of pear, though, were oversaturated with wine. Swallowing more than a few and your reviewer would have failed a field sobriety test. It was slightly too strong. Your reviewer next tried the bite-size chocolate eclairs. The choux pastry was firm and the filling was well executed. Those were good desserts.Score: Pear tarts scored 6/10 (swimming in wine was a bit much). Chocolate eclairs scored 8/10 (nothing special but well done). Total: 14/205. AAJA Saturday brunch (Saturday, 27 April)The party: The Asian American Journalists’ Association hosts a brunch on the Saturday, which this year was held on the roof of the Hall of the States building where NBC, MSNBC, C-Span and Fox News have their studios. It’s the sleeper brunch of the weekend that starts a couple of hours after Tammy Haddad’s much more well-known garden brunch over at Beall-Washington House gets going. AAJA’s mission is championing Asian American and minority figures in Washington political reporting, but the speeches can take a long time – after which your reviewer was hungry. Fortunately, AAJA always seems to find remarkably creative and appropriately Asian caterers.The food: On a rooftop with no formal cooking facilities, AAJA’s caterers magicked up dumplings with either a vegetable filling, a garlic shrimp filling, or a pork and kimchi filling. Your reviewer sampled the garlic shrimp, which was crispy in all the right places and soft on the underside. The garlic was more of an undertone and yet, it was sufficient enough to balance out the saltiness of shrimp. (Shrimp and garlic butter of course is a classic pairing.) As far as savory breakfasts foods go, it was delicious. Your reviewer also tried the cold glass noodles, which were fine but bland. The noodle plate was disappointing.Score: Shrimp dumplings scored 8/10. Glass noodles were a 5/10 (could have been missed). Total: 13/20.
The rules were as follows: two food options were chosen at random at each party, and given a score out of 10 based on taste and execution. The parties reviewed were cocktail parties only; sit-down dinners were not included. Where the primary reviewer could not attend, a secondary reviewer sent notes. The final list was submitted to a three-judge “appeals panel” made up of longtime MSNBC contributors, though the ranking could only be overturned in the event of plain error by the reviewer. The rankings were not overturned.
Events not reviewed: Washington Women in Journalism awards ceremony, White House Foreign Press-Meridien party, WME-Puck party, Washingtonian/embassy of Qatar soiree, Politics and Inclusion dinner, Washington AI Network-TGI Friday lunch, Substack New Media party. More
Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor and Republican vice-presidential hopeful, may have committed a class two misdemeanor offence when her fated dog Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehair pointer Noem deemed “untrainable” for hunting pheasant, killed a neighbor’s chickens.Under South Dakota law, “any person owning, keeping, or harboring a dog that chases, worries, injures, or kills any poultry or domestic animal is guilty of a class two misdemeanor and is liable for damages to the owner thereof for any injury caused by the dog to any such poultry or animal.”Though Cricket’s chicken attack has made headlines in recent days, however, it was not the main subject of such reports.Instead, Noem’s startling description of her decision to kill Cricket – and also an unnamed, un-castrated and unruly goat – has pitched her into an unprecedented political storm.The story is included in Noem’s new book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward.The book will be released next month. Last week, the Guardian obtained a copy and reported the passage in which Noem describes killing Cricket and the goat after Cricket first ruined a pheasant hunt, then killed the chickens.“I hated that dog,” Noem writes, before describing how she shot Cricket and the goat in the same gravel pit, the goat having to be shot twice, the second shotgun blast after Noem left the goat to fetch more shells from her truck.Noem says what she thought she had to do was not “pleasant”, and describes how her actions startled a construction crew and confused her young daughter.She also seems to acknowledge the possible effects of including the story in her book, writing: “I guess if I were a better politician I wouldn’t tell the story here.”News of Noem’s tale did indeed set off a political firestorm, with observers suggesting she had irrevocably damaged her chances of being named running mate to Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president who faces 88 felony charges of his own and was adjudicated a rapist but nonetheless maintains his grip on his party.Noem twice defended her account of killing Cricket and the goat, saying as she does in the book that such actions are sometimes necessary in farming, and show her willingness to do difficult things in life as well as in politics.But each defense added to her problems.In the first statement, Noem both referred to recently putting down three horses and advertised her book, promising “more real, honest and politically incorrect stories that’ll have the media gasping”. That drew accusations of insensitivity.In her second statement, Noem said she could “understand why some people are upset about a 20-year-old story of Cricket” but added: “The fact is, South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down.“Given that Cricket had shown aggressive behavior toward people by biting them” – Noem says the dog “whipped around to bite me” after killing the chickens – “I decided what I did.”In a separate section of South Dakota’s codified laws, the definition of livestock makes no mention of poultry, which would have meant the law did not apply to Noem.But asked about a South Dakota legislature definition that says livestock “means cattle, sheep, horses, mules, swine, goats, and buffalo”, omitting chickens or poultry in general, Ian Fury, Noem’s communications chief, advised the Guardian to “take a look at SDCL 40-34-1 and 40-34-2.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionWhen the Guardian did, questions arose.Section 40-34-1 of the South Dakota codified laws – Killing of dog lawful when disturbing domestic animals – says: “It shall be lawful for any person to kill any dog found chasing, worrying, injuring, or killing poultry or domestic animals except on the premises of the owners of said dog or dogs.”Noem writes that she killed Cricket on her own property.The following section – 40-34-2, Liability of owner for damages by dog disturbing domestic animals – seems to contain greater potential legal jeopardy.It says: “Any person owning, keeping, or harboring a dog that chases, worries, injures, or kills any poultry or domestic animal is guilty of a class two misdemeanor and is liable for damages to the owner thereof.”In her book, Noem writes that she apologised to the family that owned the chickens Cricket killed, “wrote them a check for the price they asked, and helped them dispose of the carcasses littering the scene of the crime”.Asked if SDCL 40-34-2 indicated that Noem might have committed a class two misdemeanor, Fury did not immediately comment.The South Dakota laws apparently applicable to the case of Noem and Cricket were passed before the dog’s death.In her weekend statement, Noem said her story was 20 years old. That would place it in 2004, when she was in her early 30s, three years before she entered South Dakota state politics and six years before she won a seat in Congress as part of the hard-right Tea Party wave. Noem was elected governor of South Dakota in 2018.South Dakota was the last of the 50 states to make animal cruelty a felony, passing legislation in 2014. More
