US Politics

The alliance between Britain and the US, resting on deep foundations of shared history and strategic interest, is not overly affected by the personal relationship between a prime minister and a president.Sometimes individual affinity is consequential, as when Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were aligned over cold war doctrine, or when Tony Blair put Britain in lockstep with George W Bush for the march to war in Iraq. But there is no prospect of Rishi Sunak forming such a partnership – for good or ill – with Joe Biden at this week’s Washington summit.Viewed from the White House, the prime minister cuts an insubstantial figure – the caretaker leader of a country that has lost its way. That doesn’t jeopardise the underlying relationship. Britain is a highly valued US ally, most notably in the fields of defence, security and intelligence. On trade and economics, Mr Sunak’s position is less comfortable. The prime minister is a poor match with a president who thinks Brexit was an epic blunder and whose flagship policy is a rebuttal of the sacred doctrines of the Conservative party.Mr Biden is committed to shoring up American primacy by means of massive state support for green technology, tax breaks for foreign investment and reconfiguring supply chains with a focus on national security. Mr Sunak’s instincts are more laissez-faire, and his orthodox conservative budgets preclude interventionist statecraft.The two men disagree on a fundamental judgment about the future direction of the global economy, but only one of them has a hand on the steering wheel. Mr Sunak looks more like a passenger, or a pedestrian, since Britain bailed out of the EU – the vehicle that allows European countries to aggregate mid-range economic heft into continental power.London lost clout in the world by surrendering its seat in Brussels, but that fact is hard for Brexit ideologues to process. Their worldview is constructed around the proposition that EU membership depleted national sovereignty and that leaving the bloc would open more lucrative trade routes. Top of the wishlist was a deal with Washington, and Mr Biden has said that won’t happen. Even if it did, the terms would be disadvantageous to Britain as the supplicant junior partner.If Mr Sunak grasps that weakness, he dare not voice it. Instead, Downing Street emits vague noises about Britain’s leading role in AI regulation. But, in governing uses of new technology, Brussels matters more to Washington. London is not irrelevant, but British reach is reduced when ministers are excluded from the rooms where their French, German and other continental counterparts develop policy.Those are the relationships that Mr Sunak must cultivate with urgency. But his view of Europe is circumscribed by Brexit ideology and parochial campaign issues. His meetings with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, have been dominated by the domestic political obsession with small-boat migration across the Channel. The prime minister has no discernible relationship with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz. He has not visited Berlin.Negotiating the Windsor framework to stabilise Northern Ireland’s status in post-Brexit trade was a vital step in repairing damage done by Boris Johnson and Liz Truss to UK relations with the EU. But there is still a gaping European hole in Britain’s foreign policy. It is visible all the way across the Atlantic, even if the prime minister refuses to see it. More

Mike Pence enters the 2024 presidential race with a murky path to capturing the Republican nomination and a contentious relationship with his former boss and now primary opponent, Donald Trump.Pence formally launched his campaign on Wednesday with a video announcement and an event in Des Moines, Iowa, after the former vice-president spent months traveling to early voting states and speaking at Republican party events.“It would be easy to stay on the sidelines. That’s not how I was raised,” Pence told the Iowa crowd. “I’ve long believed that to whom much is given much would be required. That’s why today, before God and my family, I’m announcing that I’m running for president of the United States of America.”Pence’s campaign launch kicks off a historic primary battle, as this marks the first time in more than 80 years that a former vice-president has competed against his former boss in a nomination fight.In his speech on Wednesday, Pence did not shy away from attacking Trump, accusing the former president of straying from the rightwing priorities that carried him to victory in 2016.“I know we can bring this country back,” Pence said. “But it’ll require new leadership in the White House and the Republican Party.”The former vice-president becomes the latest Republican to join a growing field of candidates looking to deprive Trump of the nomination. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, the South Carolina senator Tim Scott, the former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum have all jumped into the race in just the past few weeks, following the campaign announcements of Trump, the former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, the former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson and the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.Historically, vice-presidents have been able to use their past White House experience to make a strong case for their party’s nomination. But Pence faces unique challenges that could complicate his already difficult task of attempting to topple Trump, who continues to lead in polls of Republican primary voters.Pence left the vice-presidency in 2021, weeks after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. As part of his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, Trump attempted to pressure Pence into using his role as president of the Senate to disrupt the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory.Pence refused to do so, as he argued that the vice-president has no authority to object to the election results, an assessment supported by constitutional experts. Trump lashed out against Pence, accusing the vice-president of cowardice for refusing to meddle in a free and fair election. The vice-president then became a target for the insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol, some of whom chanted, “Hang Mike Pence!”Secret Service officers safely evacuated Pence for the Capitol, and he was ultimately able to oversee the certification of the election results. But the horror of that day has become an ongoing source of tension between Pence and Trump, who has continued to falsely claim that his vice-president could have stepped in to overturn the election results. When asked at a CNN town hall last month whether he owed Pence an apology for endangering him on January 6, Trump said no.On Wednesday, Pence offered pointed criticism of Trump’s actions on January 6, insinuating that they should disqualify the former president from seeking another term.“I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the constitution should never be president of the United States,” Pence said. “And anyone who asks someone else to put them over the constitution should never be president of the United States again.”Although Pence’s actions on January 6 have been lauded by Republicans and Democrats in Congress, they have not made him as popular with the primary voters whose support he will need to win the nomination.According to a Quinnipiac University poll taken last month, 48% of Republican voters have a favorable opinion of Pence, compared with 35% who have an unfavorable opinion of him. Pence’s favorability rating of +13 among Republican voters is considerably lower than Trump’s rating of +75 and DeSantis’s of +74.Pence appears to be counting on white evangelical voters, who make up a significant portion of the Republican base, to boost his standing. To appeal to those voters, Pence has leaned heavily into the issue of abortion access.Since the supreme court’s reversal of Roe v Wade last year, abortion rights have become an even more crucial issue in America’s elections. Other Republican presidential candidates have struggled to clarify their stances on a potential federal abortion ban. Pence has said that he would “of course” support a six-week nationwide ban.Speaking to Iowa voters on Wednesday, Pence emphasized his commitment to the anti-abortion movement and attacked fellow Republican primary candidates for failing to do the same.“After leading the most pro-life administration in American history, Donald Trump and others in this race are retreating from the cause of the unborn,” Pence said. “As your president, I will always stand for the sanctity of life and I will not rest and I will not relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in every state in the land.”Despite his staunch support for a federal abortion ban, it remains unclear whether Pence can sway a large number of evangelical voters, many of whom remain loyal to Trump after helping him secure his 2016 win. A Monmouth University survey released in February found that 3% of evangelical voters wanted Pence to be the Republican presidential nominee, compared with 34% who said the same of Trump.Pence has his work cut out for him, but he projected optimism as he entered what promises to be a bruising primary fight.“The American people have always been great. We just need government as good as our people,” Pence said Wednesday. “And we’ll have it soon.” More

Doug Burgum, the Republican governor of North Dakota, has announced his candidacy for the party’s presidential nomination next year.Burgum made the announcement in the the Wall Street Journal newspaper. A campaign event is scheduled for later on Wednesday in the city of Fargo.“We need a change in the White House. We need a new leader for a changing economy. That’s why I’m announcing my run for president,” he said in a commentary on the Journal’s website.The 66-year-old was a software entrepreneur, Microsoft executive and venture capitalist before becoming governor in 2016. He will be a rank outsider in a race dominated by two candidates: former US president Donald Trump and rightwing Florida governor Ron DeSantis.Trump enjoys commanding polling leads, having parlayed unparalleled legal jeopardy, including possible indictments over his election subversion and incitement of the January 6 attack on Congress, into a surge of support.DeSantis, a hardline self-styled culture warrior, is a distant second but still well clear of a raft of other candidates including former vice-president Mike Pence, the former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, the South Carolina senator Tim Scott, the former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson and Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur.Burgum has rarely made national headlines but he did so in May 2020, pleading emotionally for North Dakotans to “try to dial up your empathy and your understanding” over the need to wear masks in public during the Covid pandemic.“We’re all in this together and there’s only one battle we’re fighting,” Burgum said. “And that’s the battle of the virus.”In that appearance in Bismarck, the state capital, Burgum also said he “would really love to see in North Dakota that we could just skip this thing that other parts of the nation are going through, that they’re creating a divide. Either it’s ideological or political or something around mask versus no mask.“This is, I would say, a senseless dividing line … If someone is wearing a mask, they’re not doing it to represent what political party they’re in or what candidates they support.”In Trump’s culture war-stoked Republican party, however, masks and other public health measures against Covid quickly became a key political issue.Only recently, Trump and DeSantis swapped campaign-trail barbs about what each said or did not say about Anthony Fauci, then Trump’s chief Covid adviser, in the early stages of the pandemic.Should Burgum pull off a political miracle and win the Republican nomination, another culture war issue would be likely to hurt his chances with the US public.In April, Burgum signed a law banning abortion at six weeks of gestation, when many women do not know they are pregnant, with few exceptions.Burgum said the bill “reaffirms North Dakota as a pro-life state”.In the year since the US supreme court removed the right to abortion, other Republican governors have signed strict abortion bans. DeSantis is among them, having signed a six-week ban in Florida.US public opinion is consistently in favor of abortion rights.Burgum has also signed numerous laws curtailing the rights of transgender North Dakotans and a law banning the teaching of critical race theory in public schools.Last year, Burgum approved a new electoral map which Indigenous leaders said was gerrymandered to reduce their political voice, already challenged by a voter ID law.Though Burgum’s policies include the goal of making North Dakota carbon neutral by 2030, a rare environmental commitment from a Republican governor, he has also been a backer of fossil fuel projects including the Dakota Access pipeline, which has fueled widespread protests. More

New methods and safeguards for assessing the business and investment climate in as many as 180 countries could give governments and citizens around the world “a common language for deciding where they’re going and how they get there”, according to spokespeople for the recently unveiled project.The World Bank announced last month that it was preparing to implement new Business Ready rankings after eliminating the predecessor Doing Business ratings in September 2021, citing internal reviews as well as an outside investigation which found senior leaders at the organization had exerted pressure on subordinates to manipulate data to favor China.Other nations whose rankings were similarly boosted included Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates. And the Guardian reported in April that World Bank staff were instructed to afford preferential treatment to the son of a high-ranking Donald Trump White House official after the US treasury backed a $13bn (£10bn) hike in funding for the United Nations-affiliated organization.Set to debut in the spring of 2024, Business Ready’s pilot edition aims to cover an initial group of 54 economies in Asia, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa, according to the bank. The bank plans to add more countries as it refines its methodologies, which for the first time call for examining a country’s records pertaining to workers’ rights, as defined by the International Labor Organization.Assessments of women’s and gender rights as well as examinations of culture in general are also being implemented as the World Bank eventually hopes to be able to rank economies on the local and regional level, said Kasey Henderson, whose Washington DC-based Global Situation Room firm is working with the bank on Business Ready’s messaging.“This really is the World Bank’s flagship economic benchmarking exercise and one that I think they really want to be kind of a marker … along a path towards prosperity at a society level, encompassing more than just the business environment,” Henderson added recently. “That piece helps give really unique insights and information for countries as they continue working to grow their economies … and attract and retain business.”World Bank experts, governments, private sector members and civil society groups helped shape Business Ready’s new criteria, whose overarching goal is to create a dataset whose integrity is beyond reproach while also bringing complex economic issues around the world to a broader audience. Officials at the organization had not yet decided whether it would rank countries’ business climates or simply put out an overall index, though they expected to resolve that before the first of the new reports.Whatever the case, the World Bank anticipated that other areas assessed by Business Ready would include worker safety, environmental sustainability and market competition, rather than just viewing everything from what Norman Loayza – the director of the bank’s Indicators Group – called “the perspective of the private entrepreneur”.The Global Situation Room’s Brett Bruen added that Business Ready could ultimately produce “a common language for [countries’] deciding where they’re going and how they get there”.“The notion is that every country in the world is at various stages of readiness, and these reports – which are exhaustively researched and put together – would show how that readiness lines up to opportunities and their own goals.”Reuters contributed reporting More

Good morning. Archie loves early mornings so much he is having a baby, so I’ll be bringing you this email, with Nimo, for the next few weeks while he’s on paternity leave.As you read this, Rishi Sunak has just landed at Andrews air force base ahead of a whirlwind two-day visit to Washington DC, in which he will discuss trade with Joe Biden and seek investment from US business leaders – but sadly not humiliate himself on the baseball field (of which more below).It’s Sunak’s first trip to the White House as PM, and he is also expected to discuss the two countries’ cooperation on Ukraine, while pitching for a role for Britain in regulating AI – all part of a bid to prove Britain still has a place on the global stage following Brexit and its turbulent aftermath.The Guardian’s Peter Walker is travelling with the prime minister; he spoke to me about Sunak’s ambitions for the trip – and why he’ll be the first PM since David Cameron to stay in one of Washington’s most palatial residences (or as Sunak might call it, “slumming it”). That’s after the headlines.Five big stories
Ukraine | Russia’s UN envoy was accused of floundering in a “mud of lies” after he claimed at an emergency session of the security council that Ukraine destroyed Kakhovka dam in a “war crime” against itself. Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s ambassador, said the Russians were resorting to “flooded earth tactics” because “the captured territory does not belong to them, and they are not able to hold these lands”.
Media | The parent company of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph faces the threat of being put into administration by lenders. Lloyds Banking Group has threatened to put Press Acquisitions, the company controlled by the Barclay family that owns the newspapers’ parent company, Telegraph Media Group (TMG), into administration after a breakdown in talks over loans the business has racked up over the years.
Health | Cases of syphilis were at their highest level in 75 years in England last year, rising to almost 8,700, while diagnoses of gonorrhoea rose by 50% in just 12 months – the most since records began in 1918, according to the UKHSA figures.
UK news | The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said it has won a confidence vote put to its members after sexual misconduct allegations. A majority of its members backed its proposals to overhaul its culture and governance, with 93% of votes cast in favour of continuing to support the CBI.
Environment | Research has found that it is now too late to save summer Arctic sea ice. Scientists say preparations need to be made for the increased extreme weather across the northern hemisphere. The study also shows that if emissions decline slowly or continue to rise, the first ice-free summer could be in the 2030s, a decade earlier than previous projections.
In depth: ‘It’s the lesser cousin visiting the rich uncle – the power is very much on their side’There’s a remarkable video of a speech made by Joe Biden last October, on the day Rishi Sunak became prime minister. To guffaws of laughter from his audience, the president said news had come from Britain of Sunak’s elevation – or as he called him “Rashi Sanook”.“As my brother would say, ‘Go figure!’,” grinned the president. Biden didn’t refer explicitly to the chaos that had preceded the latest PM; with a smirk that wide, he didn’t have to.Seven and a half months later, Sunak (pictured above, with Biden) will be hoping Britain is no longer such a laughing stock in Washington – and that the president can at least pronounce his name. The PM has certainly put the miles in – this will be the pair’s fifth meeting in Sunak’s short premiership and their fourth since March.Sunak’s focus this week is on trade, but with a looming election at home, the symbolism of a statesmanlike “bilat” promoting Britain’s interests on the world stage may be just as important.What is No 10 hoping for?“This is a heavily business-focused trip,” says Peter Walker, the Guardian’s deputy political editor. Sunak will meet with senators and members of Congress today at Capitol Hill, and tomorrow he will address a major meeting of US business leaders, hosted by the CEO of General Motors. Their investments already account for thousands of British jobs, and Sunak will be hoping for more.“They’ve given up on the idea of a full post-Brexit, UK/US free-trade agreement,” says Peter – much vaunted by Brexiteers, but abandoned as a short-term goal by Downing Street – “but they’re trying to just get lots of kind of mini deals done.”That could mean concessions to help the British car industry, for example, and deals in the digital and technology sectors.Is Britain back?Given that it’s only weeks since Biden had to deny being “anti-British”, it’s fair to say the much-vaunted “special relationship” has had a bumpy time of late, particularly through the Boris Johnson years (and Liz Truss weeks).“As with any British prime minister visiting the US, it’s the lesser cousin visiting the rich uncle: the power is very much on their side,” says Peter. That said, Sunak’s achievement in securing the Windsor agreement in Northern Ireland – an area of British politics to which Biden pays close attention – impressed the White House.With cooperation over Ukraine and Nato critical, too, “having someone in Downing Street, at least for the next year, who they believe is reasonably stable, will say the right things on Ukraine and not do anything completely bonkers over Brexit, is actually quite important [for Washington]”, says Peter.And Sunak is getting the red carpet treatment. Unlike Theresa May, Johnson and Truss, he is being put up in Blair House, a palatial residence opposite the White House that has been described as “the world’s most exclusive hotel”.He will also give a joint press conference with Biden – relatively rare for the US president – and this evening will attend a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the Arizona Diamondbacks, billed as a “friendship event” between the US and UK and featuring joint military bands and a flyover.Alas, however, reported discussions over Sunak throwing the ceremonial have come to naught – despite the PM fancying himself as a rather handy bowler in cricket.“At the very best, you get an OK photo opportunity,” says Peter. “But if it goes even slightly wrong, that will dominate the trip. That’s very much No 10’s mindset – to play it as safe as they possibly can.”What else will Sunak be hoping for?Amid tricky headlines at home over Covid and immigration and determinedly dreadful polling figures, a trip that cast the prime minister as a bold statesman, out there lobbying for Britain, would be hugely welcomed by his allies, says Peter.“Talking to Tory MPs and to ministers, some of them think their only election hope is to have Sunak travelling around the UK and the world seeming broadly competent and not openly mad while, in the meantime, they hope inflation goes down, growth goes up and the number of small boats goes down.“If everything goes right, they think there is a small chance they could be the biggest party after the election – but it all depends on him plugging on in quite a managerial way. So he doesn’t want to rock the boat. He’ll just want to go out there, be sensible and strike trade deals if he can.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionWhat else we’ve been reading
Melissa Jeltsen’s report into the growing tension between some independent abortion clinics (pictured above) and Planned Parenthood, the US’s largest single abortion provider, is enlightening. Jeltsen reveals how the deteriorating relationship between the abortion providers is impeding patient care. Nimo
More than 10 years ago, Stuart Jeffries’s car was towed to the pound, and when he realised it would cost more to release it than it was worth, he decided to leave it there. In this lovely piece, he talks about a decade of happy car non-ownership – but recognises going car-free not as easy for everyone. Esther
Jason Okundaye’s compelling analysis on the rise of Mizzy, an 18-year-old TikToker who found fame online by filming himself terrorising strangers or trespassing (sometimes both at the same time), is worth a read. In pursuing this “cloutrage”, Okundaye writes, Mizzy is gaming the “amoral, algorithmic universe that rewards anything that garners attention – he is engaging in a twisted form of online entrepreneurship”. Nimo
I know, I know, you’ve read everything you could possibly ever want to about Phil and Holly. Make an exception for Marina Hyde. Her column is worth the price alone for her joke about This Morning editor Martin Frizell and a warder from HMP Full Sutton. Esther
ICYMI: This week’s edition of the How we survive series is a must-read. Jonathan Freedland spoke with Ivor Perl about the year he spent, from the age of 12, as a prisoner in Auschwitz and the eight decades since. It is a remarkably moving story on survival, luck, hope and compassion. Nimo
SportFootball | Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kanté is reportedly being offered a salary that could reach €100m (£86.2m) a year to join a club in Saudi Arabia. Kanté’s Chelsea contract expires this month and emissaries from Saudi Arabia are in London to present their proposal. His salary would include image rights and commercial deals.Golf |PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi backed LIV Golf have agreed to merge, ending a bitter split in the sport. The shock announcement will mean that the Saudi public investment fund will pour money in a new company that will effectively control top-level golf. Litigation between long-term rivals LIV and the PGA Tour has come to an abrupt end.Tennis | Aryna Sabalenka, the second seed, defeatedUkraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-4. The win has moved her to the French Open semi-finals for the first time. Novak Djokovic will also be at the semi-finals after his 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-4 win against Karen Khachanov, the 11th seed, and confidently passing his biggest test of the tournament so far.The front pages“‘Environmental disaster:’ floods hit Ukraine as dam is destroyed”. That’s the Guardian lead today, as it is in some other papers. “Bombing of dam ‘a new low’ for Russia” says the Daily Telegraph and the i has “40,000 fleeing ‘war crime’ after dam blown up”. “Russia set off ‘environmental bomb’ by breaching dam, Zelenskiy claims” – that’s the Financial Times. It’s on the front of the Times as the picture but the lead is “Duke launches political attack”. For others it’s less about the constitutional implications – the Sun goes with “Harry’s day in court – Me, Hewitt … and that two-faced s**t Burrell”. The Daily Mail taunts: “He must have longed for the schmaltzy embrace of Oprah!”. The page one splash in the Daily Express is “‘Game-changer’ new drug to slim down nation”. The Metro leads with assaults on ambulance crews: “999 heroes under attack”. “Knight these heroes” – the Daily Mirror has a call to “Make it Sir Rob & Sir Kevin” about ex-rugby league player Kevin Sinfield’s motor neurone disease campaigning. His fellow star Rob Burrow has the condition.Today in FocusHow to develop artificial super-intelligence without destroying humanitySam Altman, the founder of the revolutionary application ChatGPT, is touring Europe with a message: AI is changing the world and there are big risks, but also big potential rewardsCartoon of the day | Ella BaronThe UpsideA bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all badIt has been 25 years since Sex and the City debuted and became an instant classic. While the show has clear, and at points painful to watch, flaws (namely its focus on white cis, mostly heterosexual women with lots of disposable income), it is still one of the best female-led series that centres sisterhood, friendship and romantic love. SaTC successfully reimagined the single woman, portraying her not as a desperate spinster or an ice queen but as a complicated, messy and (gasp) unlikable figure who is still deserving of whatever kind of love she desires. The protagonists spoke frankly and openly about sex and relationships in a way that still defines the genre. In commemoration of the anniversary, perhaps it’s time for a rewatch.Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every SundayBored at work?And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.
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Florida confirmed on Tuesday that it was behind two private jet flights that brought three dozen people seeking asylum from the US southern border to California amid accusations that the individuals were coerced to travel under false pretenses.The state’s division of emergency management said in a statement that the passengers all went willingly, and refuted allegations from California officials such as the governor, Gavin Newsom, who had threatened Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, with kidnapping charges.Two planes arrived in Sacramento on 2 and 5 June, each carrying people seeking asylum, mostly from Colombia and Venezuela. The individuals had been picked up in El Paso, Texas, taken to New Mexico and then put on charter flights to California’s capital of Sacramento, said Rob Bonta, the state’s attorney general. Bonta, who said Florida would be guilty of “state-sanctioned kidnapping” if it was found to be behind the flights, is investigating whether any violations of criminal or civil law occurred.Alecia Collins, a spokesperson for the Florida division of emergency management, said in a statement that “through verbal and written consent, these volunteers indicated they wanted to go to California”. She also shared a video compilation that appeared to show people signing consent forms and thanking officials for treating them well.The clips had no time stamps, and Collins declined to share additional details about when and where they were recorded.It was the DeSantis administration’s first acknowledgment that it coordinated the flights.This isn’t the first time the DeSantis administration has transported migrants from Texas to other states. Last fall, Florida flew 49 Venezuelans to the upscale Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard. This week a Texas sheriff filed acriminal case over the flights to Martha’s Vineyard – the sheriff has previously said the migrants were “lured under false pretenses” into traveling to the wealthy liberal town.Last month, DeSantis, who recently announced a presidential bid, signed into law a bill approving $12m for a program to relocate migrants, even if they never step foot in Florida.Bonta, who met with some of the migrants who arrived on Friday, said they told him they were approached by two women who spoke broken Spanish and promised them jobs in El Paso. The women traveled with them by land from El Paso to Deming, New Mexico, where two men then accompanied them on the flight to Sacramento. The same men were on the flight on Monday, Bonta said.He said the asylum seekers have court dates in New York, Utah and Colorado and carried a document that “purports to be a consent and release form” that is designed to shield Florida from liability.“Of course, what’s important is what is actually said and represented and told to the individuals, and we’ve got good indications of what that was and the fact that it was false, misleading and deceptive,” Bonta said.Darrell Steinberg, Sacramento’s mayor, said faith-based groups are working together to help the newcomers, who are staying at two undisclosed locations in the city and have been given food, clothing and cellphones to contact their families.Gabby Trejo, the executive director of Sacramento ACT, a collaboration of religious congregations in the Sacramento area, said all of the arrivals had already been given pending court dates by US immigration officials before they were approached in Texas by people promising jobs. Trejo said that they had been “lied to and deceived”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionNewsom’s office, meanwhile, doubled down on its criticism of DeSantis.“This is exploitative propaganda being peddled by a politician who has shown there are no depths he won’t sink to in his desperate effort to score a political point,” said Anthony York, a spokesperson for Newsom.Newsom indicated in a tweet on Monday that California may consider kidnapping charges against DeSantis. Such charges would likely be extremely difficult to prove, particularly given that the migrants signed waivers.DeSantis’s latest apparent move to send migrants to California’s capital city appears to be a direct shot at Newsom. Though Newsom has not announced any plans to run for president in 2024, he and DeSantis have frequently sparred on immigration policy, abortion access, LGBTQ+ and civil rights, and a host of other cultural issues.It’s not yet clear if the new arrivals in Sacramento plan to stay in California or will eventually seek to go elsewhere, advocates said. Four who arrived on the first flight on Friday have already been picked up by friends or family members, but the rest remain in the care of local advocacy groups.The faith-based coalition is also connecting the migrants with medical and legal services, said Shireen Miles, a longtime Sacramento ACT volunteer. She said several people have court hearings as soon as next week in places such as Chicago, New York and Denver, which immigration attorneys are working to reschedule. More

From 3h agoNew Jersey’s former Republican governor Chris Christie has officially filed to run for president, according to the Federal Election Commission, setting himself up to face off against Donald Trump and a host of other candidates for the party’s nomination to challenge Joe Biden in the general election next year.Christie will announce his candidacy at 6.30pm eastern time with a town hall in New Hampshire. This campaign will be a sort of rematch for Christie: he was among the slew of Republicans Trump defeated in 2016 to win the party’s nomination, and later that year, the White House.While Christie worked with Trump during his time in the White House, they later had a falling out, and Christie recently said Trump “needs to be called out and … needs to be called out by somebody who knows him. Nobody knows Donald Trump better than I do.”While Christie has insisted he is “not a paid assassin”, the 60-year-old is certainly a seasoned brawler.Christie’s claims to fame include leaving office in New Jersey amid a scandal about political payback involving traffic on the George Washington Bridge to New York, then leaving the Florida senator Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign in pieces after a debate-stage clash for the ages.Christie was quick to drop out of that campaign, then equally quick to endorse the clear frontrunner. He stayed loyal despite a brutal firing as Trump’s transition coordinator, fueled by old enmities with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and only broke from Trump after the January 6 Capitol attack.Recently, Christie has worked for ABC News as a political analyst, honing his turn of phrase. Speaking to Politico, he insisted he was serious about winning the primary.“I’m not a paid assassin,” he said. “When you’re waking up for your 45th morning at the Hilton Garden Inn in Manchester [New Hampshire], you better think you can win, because that walk from the bed to the shower, if you don’t think you can win, it’s hard.”He also said Trump “needs to be called out and … needs to be called out by somebody who knows him. Nobody knows Donald Trump better than I do.”Read more:Back in the Capitol, here’s more from Fox News on why rightwing lawmakers banded together to frustrate the chamber’s Republican leaders by blocking debate on legislation dealing with gas stoves and federal government rule-making.The revolt caused a vote to start debate on legislation to fail for the first time since 2002. It came after the far-right lawmakers joined with Democrats in what one of their members, Dan Bishop, told Fox was an expression of frustration with House speaker Kevin McCarthy:The Guardian’s Maanvi Singh is on deck now to run the blog through the evening’s news, including Chris Christie’s town hall kicking off his presidential campaign.Here’s more from the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly on Chris Christie’s return to the presidential campaign trail and his primary rematch against foe turned friend turned foe Donald Trump:The former New Jersey governor Chris Christie has confirmed his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination next year.Christie filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday afternoon. He was scheduled to announce his presidential run hours later in a town hall hosted at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics in Manchester, New Hampshire.The pugilistic politician joins the primary as a rank outsider but promises a campaign with a singular focus: to take the fight to Donald Trump, the former president who left office in disgrace after the January 6 attack on Congress but who is the clear frontrunner to face Joe Biden again at the polls.A few hours ago, Donald Trump’s allies released a statement welcoming Chris Christie to the presidential race with a grin – a big, toothy, Cheshire cat grin.“Ron DeSantis’ campaign is spiraling, and President Trump’s dominance over the Republican primary field has opened a mad rush to seize the mantle for [a] runner-up. Ron DeSantis is not ready for this moment, and Chris Christie will waste no time eating DeSantis’ lunch,” said Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Make America Great Again Inc Pac supporting the former president’s campaign.And now that Christie has announced his candidacy, the Democrats are out with their customary roast. Here’s Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison’s statement:
The American people still remember what happened the last time Chris Christie ran for president. After dropping his own bid in 2016 to wholeheartedly endorse Donald Trump, Christie served as head of Trump’s transition team, gave his presidency an ‘A,’ and used his position as chair of Trump’s Commission on Opioids to land a lucrative consulting contract with big pharma. A longtime champion of the MAGA agenda, Christie backed a federal abortion ban and helped coordinate efforts to restrict access in every state, called for cutting Medicare and Social Security, and vetoed minimum wage increases for working people.Nothing he says can change the fact that Chris Christie is just another power-hungry extremist in the rapidly growing field of Republicans willing to say anything to capture the MAGA base.
New Jersey’s former Republican governor Chris Christie has officially filed to run for president, according to the Federal Election Commission, setting himself up to face off against Donald Trump and a host of other candidates for the party’s nomination to challenge Joe Biden in the general election next year.Christie will announce his candidacy at 6.30pm eastern time with a town hall in New Hampshire. This campaign will be a sort of rematch for Christie: he was among the slew of Republicans Trump defeated in 2016 to win the party’s nomination, and later that year, the White House.While Christie worked with Trump during his time in the White House, they later had a falling out, and Christie recently said Trump “needs to be called out and … needs to be called out by somebody who knows him. Nobody knows Donald Trump better than I do.”An effort by House Republicans to stop the government from banning gas stoves and change the federal rule-making process has been blocked by a revolt from within the party.Rightwing GOP lawmakers just now joined with Democrats in voting down the rule that would kick off debate on the four bills, a key step before the chamber could vote on their passage:The Biden administration opposes the bills, and there was little chance they would be passed by the Democrat-controlled Senate. We’ll let you know as soon as it becomes clear what fueled the conservative revolt.In other House shenanigans, you will recall that Republican congressman, admitted fabulist and potentially soon-to-be federal inmate George Santos tried and failed to keep secret the names of those who paid for his expensive bail.Reporters at the Capitol have been wondering why he didn’t want these people’s identities publicized, and did what they have done to Santos ever since he first showed up in Washington in January: chased him around while asking him questions. See the pursuit, and the little that he had to say, below, courtesy of CNN:Republicans control the House and should have no trouble voting to start debate on the bills intended to ensure gas stove access. But they are having trouble, and that says something about the state of the GOP today.As you can see in the tweet below from Axios, 10 GOP lawmakers are currently opposing the rule to start debate on the four bills that stop the government from banning gas stoves and also changing the federal rule-making process. That’s enough to stop the legislation from being debated by the House, a formal step that must be taken before the bills can be passed.Who’s doing the revolting? Rightwing members of the House Freedom Caucus, many of whom were behind the days of GOP infighting in January that delayed Kevin McCarthy’s election as speaker of the House. We’ll let you know when we find out what the Freedom Caucus is mad about this time.The White House will “assess” whether an attack on a dam that flooded a swath of southern Ukraine amounts to a war crime, US national security council spokesman John Kirby said at the White House this afternoon.Follow the Guardian’s live blog for the latest on this developing story from Ukraine:The Biden administration has taken a look at the two Republican House bills advertised as protecting Americans’ access to gas stoves, and it does not like what it sees.In a statement, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said it “strongly opposes” the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act and the Save Our Stoves Act, while adding: “The Administration has been clear that it does not support any attempt to ban the use of gas stoves.”Lawmakers are expected to today vote on passage of the former legislation, and consider the latter tomorrow. The OMB’s statement says the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act would undercut the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s job of using “the best available data to promote the safety of consumer products. This Administration opposes any effort to undermine the Commission’s ability to make science-based decisions to protect the public.”The OMB criticizes the Save Our Stoves Act for preventing the energy department from creating and enforcing new standards for stove and oven efficiency, denying “the American people the savings that come with having more efficient new appliances on the market when they choose to replace an existing appliance”.The two bills “would undermine science-based Consumer Product Safety Commission decision-making and block common sense efforts to help Americans cut their energy bills”. While the OMB doesn’t outright say Joe Biden would veto them, it’s hard to see the two pieces of legislation making it through the Democratic-led Senate, or even being considered.The House of Representatives will this week take up two pieces of legislation aimed at blocking new regulations on the use of gas stoves.On Tuesday, the House is expected to vote on the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act – a measure to prevent the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a federal regulatory agency, from taking steps to stop the sale of the appliances, including by labeling them as hazardous.And on Wednesday, representatives will vote on the Save Our Gas Stoves Act, which would bar the Energy Department from finalizing, implementing or enforcing a proposed rule setting efficiency standards for the appliances.If the House advances the Republican bills, they will likely face opposition from the Democratic-controlled Senate.Gas stoves have for months been the subject of ire for rightwingers, after a slew of studies showed that the appliances are damaging to the climate and public health. A recent report found that one in eight cases of childhood asthma in the US is due to the pollution given off by cooking on gas stoves – a level of risk similar to that of exposure to secondhand smoke – while an earlier study found that gas stoves each year pump out as much planet-warming pollution as 500,000 carsr.Late last year, a member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission floated the possibility of banning gas stoves, but the agency quickly backtracked to clarify that no ban is currently under consideration. But US cities and counties are considering policies to limit or even phase out the use of the polluting appliances.Though it has recently become the topic of public concern, researchers and regulators have long suspected that gas stoves are dangerous. In 1973, the Environmental Protection Agency had preliminary evidence that exposure to gas stoves posed respiratory risks, and in 1985 the Consumer Product Safety Commission raised concerns about gas stoves’ nitrogen emissions.The murder rate in a number of large US cities has seen a “sharp and broad decline” this year, new research has found, even as the number of mass shootings around the country continues to climb.My colleague Richard Luscombe writes that statistics compiled by New Orleans-based AH Analytics show a 12.2% drop in murders in 90 US cities to the end of May over the same period last year, although the study notes there are places, such as Memphis and Cleveland, where the murder rate has actually increased.The report will do little to weaken calls by weapons control advocates and Joe Biden for Congress to pass meaningful gun reforms as the US remains on track for a record number of mass killings in 2023.A federal judge has granted media requests to release the names of people who co-signed George Santos’s $500,000 bond in his criminal fraud case, according to The Hill.Santos’s attorney had asked to keep those names secret and Joseph Murray said he feared “for their health, safety and wellbeing”.Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna has criticised what he called the Supreme Court’s partisan decision-making, saying it was a “crisis”.Speaking at the Indian Impact event in Washington, DC, he said: “What we have right now is a court that has lost the legitimacy of the American people.”Khanna was addressing the rulings on reproductive rights, affirmative action and other issues that the conservative majority has continued to push forward. Asking for term limits and more stringent ethical boundaries, he said the current court included “political hacks” and referenced times in history when presidents like Abraham Lincoln called for supreme court reform.“We need a mobilization that is much more explicit and harsh in calling out the supreme court,” he said. “We should get rid of the niceties.”The investigations into Donald Trump grind on, but one may be nearing a conclusion: the inquiry into the classified documents discovered last year at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. His attorneys met with the justice department yesterday, including special counsel Jack Smith, and the former president spent this morning angrily posting on Truth social about the alleged injustice he was facing. House Republicans are rushing to his defense, while also moving forward with a plan to hold FBI director Christopher Wray in contempt for not turning over a document alleging corruption by Joe Biden. The vote on that is set for Thursday.Here’s what else has happened today so far:
US intelligence knew of a Ukrainian plan to blow up the Nord Stream pipeline, though it’s unclear if Kyiv was actually behind its sabotage.
Trump has feuded with Fox News’s straight-news division, but will on 19 June sit down for an interview with them for the first time since his 2020 election defeat.
Federal investigators are looking into a swimming pool that was drained at Mar-a-Lago and into room full of servers containing surveillance footage of the resort, according to a report.
Punchbowl News reports that speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy also supports the push to hold FBI director Christopher Wray in contempt: More

LGBTQ+ Americans are facing a state of emergency as states continue targeting them with legislation, the community’s largest advocacy organization has declared.The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has issued a statement on the emergency that emerged from “an unprecedented and dangerous spike in anti-LGBTQ+ legislative assaults sweeping state houses this year”.The declaration, made during the first week of Pride month, echoes similar ones issued by other civil rights organizations such as the NAACP, which warned travelers that Florida in particular is “actively hostile” to minorities in the wake of measures such as the state’s “don’t say gay” law, which bans discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity in public classrooms.The HRC president, Kelley Robinson, said: “LGBTQ+ Americans are living in a state of emergency. The multiplying threats facing millions in our community are not just perceived – they are real, tangible and dangerous. In many cases they are resulting in violence against LGBTQ+ people, forcing families to uproot their lives and flee their homes in search of safer states, and triggering a tidal wave of increased homophobia and transphobia that puts the safety of each and every one of us at risk.”The organization has been tracking the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ laws and compiled the information in an impact report that shows 115 bills were introduced in 2015 compared with more than 500 in 2023.According to the report, “the 2023 state legislative session was the worst year on record for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.”Anti-transgender legislation made up a significant part of this count.Far-right groups such as the Family Policy Alliance, the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Heritage Foundation are behind the push for these discriminatory policies. The groups have drafted model legislation and garnered support from legislators. Many have also offered financial support for legal fees to fight when laws were challenged in court.In 2022, the Heritage Foundation ran advertisements totaling more than $1m targeting the Biden-backed Respect for Marriage Act that secured protections for LGBTQ+ Americans in the event that the conservative majority on the supreme court overturns the 2015 decision that legalized same-sex marriage across the US.The HRC also curated a guidebook for LGBTQ+ Americans to arm them with information about their rights. It includes a detailed chart of existing anti-LBTGQ+ laws such as those that ban gender-affirming care, sports participation and drag shows across each state.The Florida governor and Republican candidate Ron DeSantis has signaled his stance on LGBTQ+ rights by signing laws that would ban gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy; prevent trans students from using their preferred pronouns; restrict drag shows; and make it difficult or impossible for transgender Floridians to access appropriate restrooms and spaces that match their gender identity.However, on Tuesday afternoon a federal judge temporarily blocked portions of the new Florida law that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, ruling after a challenge to the law signed by DeSantis that the state has no rational basis for denying patients treatment.Judge Robert Hinkle issued a preliminary injunction, saying three transgender children can continue receiving treatment. The ruling was narrowly focused on the children, whose parents brought the suit.“Gender identity is real. The record makes this clear,” Hinkle said, adding that even a witness for the state agreed.Meanwhile, another Republican gunning for the highest office is the former US ambassador to the UN and ex-South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who has said Biden’s “support of transgender rights will destroy women’s sports”.Haley also opposed same-sex marriage rights while she served in South Carolina’s state legislature and as the state’s governor. More