US Politics

A senior member of Trump’s re-election campaign said that campaigners were going to “fan the flame” and spread the false claim that Democrats were “trying to steal this election” in a leaked November 2020 audio clip, the Associated Press first reported.In the obtained audio recording, Andrew Iverson discussed the communications strategy for Trump’s reelection in Wisconsin, as Democrats outflanked Republicans in the region.At the time, Iverson led reelection efforts in Wisconsin, a key battleground state which Biden eventually won by over 20,000 votes in 2020.“Here’s the deal: comms is going to continue to fan the flame and get the word out about Democrats trying to steal this election. We’ll do whatever they need. Just be on standby if there’s any stunts we need to pull,” said Iverson.The audio was given to the Associated Press by a former Trump operative, who withheld their name fearing political and personal retaliation. The unnamed operative was motivated as Trump prepares for a third reelection campaign for the US presidency.Iverson, who is now the midwest regional director for the Republican National Committee (RNC), has deferred questions from the Associated Press to RNC spokesperson Keith Schipper.Schipper declined to comment, saying that he has not heard the audio.That’s it for the US politics live blog! Here is a summary of what happened today:
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris traveled to Philadelphia today and announced $500m that will be used to upgrade water pipes in the region. “Water ought to be something that’s just guaranteed,” said Biden, noting that the US is the richest country in the world.
The Indiana Republican Victoria Spartz said today she will not run for an open Senate seat in 2024 and will also retire from her seat in the US House.
Biden boasted about the better-than-expected latest jobs figures. “Today, I am happy to report that the state of our union and the state of our economy is strong,” said Biden, referring to the over 500,000 jobs that were created in January.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will postpone a scheduled trip to China after yesterday’s discovery of what is believed to be a Chinese spy balloon over the US, sailing above the US and within peering distance of a nuclear weapons installation.
A senior member of Donald Trump’s Wisconsin 2020 election campaign said their team should “fan the flame” of denial about Trump’s key loss in Wisconsin to Biden and and spread the false claim that Democrats were “trying to steal this election”, according to a leaked November 5, 2020 audio clip.
Thank you for reading; have a great weekend!The Democratic National Convention will vote on a committee recommendation to alter the presidential primary calendar in 2024 during their upcoming Saturday meeting, reported the Hill.Biden previously ordered Democrats to change the primary calendar to better support non-white voters.Here’s more information on Biden’s request from the Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt: .css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Democrats are poised to shake up the way in which they nominate presidential candidates, after Joe Biden said the primary process should better represent the party’s non-white voters.
Biden has reportedly told Democrats that Iowa, the state that has led off the Democratic voting calendar since 1976, should be moved down the calendar, with South Carolina instead going first.
The move would see New Hampshire, which has technically held the nation’s first primary since 1920 (Iowa uses a slightly different system of caucuses, or in-person voting), shunted down the calendar.
Both Iowa and New Hampshire are predominantly white states. Clamor has been growing inside and outside the Democratic party for a different state, with a population more representative of the US as a whole, to be given the first go.Read the full article here.Biden tells Democrats to revise primary calendar to boost Black voters’ voicesRead moreDuring his remarks, Biden noted the importance of ensuring that all Americans have access to clean water.“Water ought to be something that’s just guaranteed,” said Biden, noting that the US is the richest country in the world.Biden said that the problem of older pipes leading to lead exposure and poisoning is an issue across America.“It’s especially bad in older cities, in the midwest and the northeast,” said Biden.“No amount of lead in water is safe. None,” Biden added.Before beginning his remarks, Biden joked about having to support the Philadelphia Eagles before their Super Bowl appearance next Sunday as his wife, Jill Biden, is from the city.From Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Jonathan Tamari:Joe Biden in Philly:”Fly Eagles Fly. I happen to mean it, but even if I didn’t, I’d say it. Otherwise, I’d be sleeping alone” he says, referring to Jill Biden— Jonathan Tamari (@JonathanTamari) February 3, 2023
Harris is currently speaking in Philadelphia in joint remarks with Joe Biden about infrastructure investment that will upgrade clean water systems.Harris is speaking about the importance of clean drinking water, as Harris and Biden announce $500m that Philadelphia will use to address lead pipes throughout the city.“No child in America should ever have to endure that kind of experience. No parent in America should ever have that experience,” said Harris, recalling a 2 year-old child who was hospitalized for lead poisoning after drinking water out of the tap.Just three days after disgraced New York representative George Santos withdrew from House committee assignments, House Republicans have encouraged Twitter users to follow him on social media.The House Republican tagged George Santos’ official account with the hashtag “FollowFriday”, encouraging users to follow the congressman’s account.From the House Republicans Twitter account:#FollowFriday @RepSantosNY03 from #NY03! pic.twitter.com/qWn3riPcYu— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) February 3, 2023
The New York Republican congressman remains under investigation for several lies he listed on his résumé and current campaign finance filings.A former Manhattan prosecutor wrote in a new book that he almost pursued a racketeering charge against Donald Trump, reports the New York Times.Mark F Pomerantz resigned in protest from the Manhattan district attorney’s office last year after the office’s newly elected DA, Alvin Bragg, declined to pursue an indictment against Trump.In a forthcoming book entitled “People vs. Donald Trump”, Pomerantz says that the Manhattan district attorney’s office mapped out charges to bring against Trump under the state’s racketeering law.More from the Times:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Mr. Pomerantz and his colleagues cast a wide net, examining a host of Trump enterprises — including Trump University, his for-profit real estate education venture, and his family charitable foundation.
“He demanded absolute loyalty and would go after anyone who crossed him. He seemed always to stay one step ahead of the law,” Mr. Pomerantz, a prominent litigator who has prosecuted and defended organized crime cases, writes of Mr. Trump. “In my career as a lawyer, I had encountered only one other person who touched all of these bases: John Gotti, the head of the Gambino organized crime family.”
A lawyer for Mr. Trump recently sent Mr. Pomerantz a letter threatening that, “If you publish such a book and continue making defamatory statements against my clients, my office will aggressively pursue all legal remedies.”Read the full article here (paywall).Our columnist Moustafa Bayoumi has filed on the Republican move to expel Ilhan Omar from the foreign affairs committee, ostensibly over her allegedly antisemitic remarks about Israel, and what it says about the GOP’s own problems with antisemitism…Who remembers how, in 2018 and just days before the deadliest attack on Jewish people in US history, a prominent US politician tweeted: “We cannot allow Soros, Steyer, and Bloomberg to BUY this election!”?The tweet was widely – and correctly – understood as dangerously antisemitic, particularly heinous in a period of rising anti-Jewish hatred. And whose tweet was this? If you thought the answer was Minnesota’s Democratic representative Ilhan Omar then, well, you’d be wrong. The author was none other than the House majority leader at the time, Republican Kevin McCarthy.And who can forget when Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has tweeted that “Joe Biden is Hitler”, speculated that the wildfires in California were caused by a beam from “space solar generators” linked to “Rothschild, Inc.”, a clear wink to bizarre antisemitic conspiracy theories. Incidentally, Greene, who has a long record of antisemitic and anti-Muslim statements, has been recently appointed, by the same Kevin McCarthy, now speaker of the House, to the homeland security committee.Then there’s former president Donald Trump, who dines with Holocaust deniers like Nick Fuentes and antisemites like Ye. In stereotypically anti-Jewish moves, Trump has repeatedly called the loyalty of Jewish Americans into question. Just this past October, he wrote that “US Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel – Before it is too late!”In case it’s not obvious, let me state it plainly. Today’s Republican party has a serious antisemitism problem. The easy acceptance and amplification of all sorts of anti-Jewish hate that party leaders engage in emboldens all the worst bigots, raving racists, and far-right extremists across the globe, all the while threatening Jewish people here and everywhere.So it is more than a little rich that House Republicans voted on Thursday to remove Omar from the foreign affairs committee, where she’s served since 2019, because, they say, of her antisemitic views.Read on:Republicans have a serious antisemitism problem. It isn’t Ilhan Omar | Moustafa BayoumiRead moreAfter less than seven minutes, Jean-Pierre’s gaggle has come to an end as the press secretary told reporters that passengers were being instructed to sit down due to turbulence.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is currently in a gaggle aboard Air Force 1, on route to Philadelphia where Harris and Biden will give remarks on the city’s upgraded water systems.Jean-Pierre answered several questions on the status of the Chinese spy balloon that was reported above the US.“The president was briefed on this on Tuesday,” adding that Biden has continued to receive updates on the spy balloon.The recommendation from US military officials was not to take “kinetic action” due to safety risks for people on the ground.Jean-Pierre did not answer questions on if the US will attempt to capture the balloon, but added that the Pentagon is “keeping a close eye on it” and will continue to monitor it.The Indiana Republican Victoria Spartz said today she will not run for an open Senate seat in 2024 and will also retire from her seat in the US House.The decision ends speculation which mounted when the 44-year-old refused to back Kevin McCarthy during last month’s 15-vote marathon for House speaker, voting “present” instead of backing any of the rightwing figures put up against McCarthy by a group of far-right rebels.She told reporters: “My concern is that … we didn’t come together yet. So, we have to go back … as a group of people, and figure it out.”Some observers, however, suggested that Spartz might be hedging her bets ahead of a Senate run.Seems not. In a statement on Friday, the Ukraine-born Spartz said: “It’s been my honor representing Hoosiers in the Indiana state senate and US Congress and I appreciate the strong support on the ground. 2024 will mark seven years of holding elected office and over a decade in Republican politics.“I won a lot of tough battles for the people and will work hard to win a few more in the next two years. However, being a working mom is tough and I need to spend more time with my two high-school girls back home, so I will not run for any office in 2024.”Jim Banks, a prominent hardliner in the US House, is the favourite to win the Republican primary to replace the retiring Mike Braun in the US Senate. Donald Trump has endorsed Banks.Texts sent by Alex Jones show the rightwing media figure repeatedly texted with members of the Proud Boys in 2020.Jones conversed with Gavin McInnes, the founder of Proud Boys, and Jason Biggs, who is on trial for seditious conspiracy in connection with the Capitol attack of 6 January 2021, an attempt to keep Donald Trump in office despite his election loss to Joe Biden.Some 22,000 of Jones’ texts, spanning August 2019 to 15 May 2020, were reviewed by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch reporting team.Jones also frequently texted with Roger Stone, the rightwing political fixer sentenced to 40 months in prison in 2020 over his attempts to sabotage a congressional investigation that posed a political threat to Trump. Jones was pardoned by Trump in December 2020.Hatewatch found that despite Jones using his Infowars broadcaststo rail against pornography as a plot to “end the family”, he repeatedly texted links to pornographic videos.The messages also offer a glimpse into Jones’ state of mind as he was being sued by multiple parents of victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting, after he repeatedly said the shooting was a hoax.In one message, Jones told his wife “I am in hell”. A message to his father described his situation as like “a black hole”.Hatewatch obtained the messages from Mark Bankston, an attorney who represented Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of Jesse Lewis, who was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012. Heslin and Lewis sued Jones for defamation, and were awarded $49m.Bankston received the messages from Jones’ lawyers, after they mistakenly sent their legal opponent 22,000 of Jones’ texts.Hello again, live blog readers, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are heading to Philadelphia this afternoon to talk about the economy and we’ll have that news for you as it happens, so do stick around.It’s been a morning of mixed politics developments, here’s where things stand so far:
Biden and Harris are due to speak in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at 3.15pm ET, with remarks on the economy. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will “gaggle” with accompanying reporters aboard Air Force One en route to the city, available on audio via the White House Live link, expected around 1.40pm ET.
The US president tooted his horn over the better-than-expected latest jobs figures. “Today, I am happy to report that the state of our union and the state of our economy is strong,” said Biden, referring to the over 500,000 jobs that were created in January.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will postpone a scheduled trip to China after yesterday’s discovery of what is believed to be a Chinese spy balloon over the US, sailing above Montana within peering distance of a nuclear weapons installation.
A senior member of Donald Trump’s Wisconsin 2020 election campaign said their team should “fan the flame” of denial about Trump’s key loss there to Biden and and spread the false claim that Democrats were “trying to steal this election” in a leaked November 5, 2020 audio clip. The guy on tape is still a senior RNC figure.
Indiana representative Victoria Spartz announced in a statement today that she will not be seeking reelection or running for the US Senate.“I will not run for any office in 2024,” said Spartz, who is Republican, in a statement.Rep. Victoria Spartz announces that she’s not running for Senate in 2024 — or for reelection #IN05 pic.twitter.com/V1ZQlmE1A7— Erin Covey (@ercovey) February 3, 2023
The announcement comes as rumors circulated around a potential Senate run from Spartz given an open seat.Spartz received wide attention for voting ‘present’ during House speaker elections, where House Speaker Kevin McCarthy required 15 votes to secure the position. More

The House Republican majority voted to remove the Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar from the foreign affairs committee on Thursday, after a heated debate. The resolution to oust Omar condemned comments she had made about Israel that had drawn accusations by Republicans and some Democrats of antisemitism. She had apologised and acknowledged that her remarks played on antisemitic tropes

Ilhan Omar’s removal from panel was ‘stupidest vote’, says Republican – report More

Millions in US north-east brace for ‘once-in-a-generation’ Arctic blastMeteorologists warn frigid weather could bring record-breaking low temperatures to New York, New Jersey and New England More than 15 million people in the US north-east were bracing for “once-in-a-generation” Arctic blast on Friday and Saturday, as meteorologists warned frigid weather could bring record-breaking low temperatures.An Arctic cold front is expected to bring wind chills of -50F (-45C) in parts of northern New England, and the National Weather Service (NWS) warned dangerous wind chills were likely in an area stretching from northern Pennsylvania to Maine.Trump campaign promised to ‘fan the flame’ of 2020 election lie, audio reveals – liveRead moreThe frigid weather will continue through Saturday evening, the NWS said. The icy blast in the north-east comes after a winter storm left hundreds of thousands of Texans without power on Thursday, after ice storms killed at least 10.“The wind chills have the potential to be once-in-a-generation cold,” the NWS said, urging people to either stay indoors or take precautions against swiftly striking frostbite and hypothermia. The wind chill factor describes the combined effect of wind and cold temperatures on exposed skin.In Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu declared a cold emergency for Friday through Sunday and has opened warming centers so people can get out of the cold.In an advisory, the city suggested people wear several layers of loose-fitting lightweight, warm clothing.“Wear mittens over gloves; layering works for your hands as well,” the advisory said. “Always wear a hat and cover your mouth with a scarf to protect your lungs.”Record low temperatures could be set in the city, as well as in New York City, where wind gusts of 50mph were expected, and Providence, the NWS suggested in a tweet. It described the cold front as “a short-lived but impressive Arctic blast”.In New Hampshire’s Mount Washington state park, atop the north-east’s highest peak, record-breaking wind chills of -110F (-79C) and wind speeds topping 100mph were expected.“It’s definitely wicked cold, you can say that,” Frances Tarasiewicz, a weather observer for the park, told Reuters.“Today it’s a seasonal 5F, but it’s coming at us quick,” he said of the cold blast headed for the Mount Washington observatory, where staff members live on the mountain in eight-day shifts.Chris Sununu, the governor of New Hampshire, said the state could be facing “the coldest air that we’ve seen in years”. He advised people to stay indoors as much as possible, and to check on neighbors, relatives and the elderly.The state warned that frostbite is possible within 15 minutes at the expected temperatures, and said hypothermia can occur within 10 minutes at -30F (-34C).“This is an epic, generational Arctic outbreak,” said the National Weather Service in Caribou, Maine. It said the weather front will create a wind chill “rarely seen in northern and eastern Maine”.“Temperatures this weekend will be extremely – and dangerously – cold across the state,” said Maine’s governor, Janet Mills.“Please take extra precautions, be careful if you go outside, and be sure to check on your family, friends, and neighbors to make sure they are OK.”Maine will open warming and charging centers across communities across the state, the governor’s office said.In better news, the icy weather is expected to depart swiftly.“T​his is about as short-lived a cold snap as you can get this time of year. The cold will already start to ease Saturday night,” the Weather Channel said.As people in the north-east braced themselves for the cold, in the south temperatures began to rise on Friday after freezing weather left 430,000 people without power on Thursday.The failures were most widespread in Austin, where impatience was rising among 150,000 customers nearly two days after the electricity first went out, which for many also means no heat. Power failures have affected about 30% of customers in the city of nearly a million at any given time since Wednesday.Unlike the 2021 blackouts in Texas, when hundreds of people died after the state’s electricity grid was pushed to the brink of total failure, the outages in Austin this time were largely the result of frozen equipment and ice-burdened trees and limbs falling on power lines.The freeze has been blamed for at least 10 traffic deaths on slick roads this week in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.TopicsUS newsUS politicsUS weatherMassachusettsNew YorknewsReuse this content More

Ilhan Omar’s removal from panel was ‘stupidest vote’, says Republican – reportKen Buck reportedly makes remark in Capitol Hill elevator as another Republican, Mike Simpson, agreed02:29Discomfort at the House Republican majority voting to remove Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar from the powerful foreign affairs committee is bipartisan – but also deeper than first impressions suggest, according to a new report.Following the highly controversial move on Thursday, Ken Buck, a committee member and Republican congressman from Colorado, was heard calling the action the “stupidest vote in the world”, congressional newspaper Roll Call reported.Sarah Huckabee Sanders to give Republican State of the Union responseRead moreHe was speaking in an elevator on Capitol Hill, accompanied by Idaho Republican Mike Simpson, who reportedly agreed with Buck’s assessment and also indicated that the ousting might be counterproductive for the GOP as it made Omar a “martyr”, the outlet continued, adding that the two representatives then asked others in the elevator not to relay their remarks to House Republican leadership.Meanwhile, on the floor of the House, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, literally bouncing on her feet with rage, accused the GOP leadership of having no greater motive than “targeting women of color in the United States”.Ocasio-Cortez and Omar are two of the progressive Democratic group in the House known as the Squad.“There is nothing consistent with the Republican party’s continued attack, except for the racism and incitement of violence against women of color in this body. This is about targeting women of color in the United States of America,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a fiery speech in the House.Squad member and Missouri congresswoman Cori Bush called the action to kick Omar, who is a Muslim, off the key committee, offensive.“Republicans are waging a blatantly Islamophobic and racist attack against Congresswoman Omar. I have said it before, I will say it again: The white supremacy happening is unbelievable. This is despicable,” Bush said.The House voted along party lines to oust Omar although Ohio Republican David Joyce appeared to signal unease with the decision by voting simply present, rather than in favor.Omar struck a defiant note in a speech shortly before the votes were counted, accusing Republicans of trying to silence her because she is a Muslim immigrant, and promising to continue speaking out.“Is anyone surprised that I am being targeted? Is anyone surprised that I am somehow deemed unworthy to speak about American foreign policy? Or that they see me as a powerful voice that needs to be silenced? Frankly, it is expected because when you push power, power pushes back,” Omar said, adding: “My leadership and voice will not be diminished.” More

AnalysisCalifornia gun laws can’t stop mass shootings without federal supportJoan E GreveThe Golden State will struggle to stop mass shootings and protect citizens until uniform federal laws on firearms are signed The recent mass shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay have brought devastation, outrage and shock to Californians. As the state grieves the loss of 19 residents, one question continues to arise: how could this happen in the state with some of the strongest gun laws in the US?Victims named in mass shooting at Half Moon Bay mushroom farms in CaliforniaRead moreCalifornia’s gun laws include bans on the military-style assault weapons and large-capacity magazines that have been used in many mass shootings. It is one of just two states, along with New Jersey, to receive an “A” rating from the gun safety group Giffords, based on the strength of its firearm regulations.Gun rights proponents have cited the two shootings as evidence of the ineffectiveness of California’s laws, but groups like Giffords fiercely reject those arguments. California’s firearm mortality rate has declined dramatically in the years since tougher regulations were enacted, gun safety groups note.But in a nation where firearms outnumber people, the groups say, such horrific attacks will continue without a coordinated federal response to gun violence.“California is one state of 50,” said Nick Suplina, senior vice-president for law and policy at the gun safety group Everytown. “There’s just no question that strong, uniform federal laws are substantially better than a mixed bag of strong and weak state laws.”‘Gun violence across America requires stronger action’Research indicates that California’s many gun laws have proven quite effective in reducing the number of deaths caused by firearms. According to the gun safety group Brady, California’s rate of firearm mortality rate declined by 55% between 1993 and 2017, compared to a decrease of 14% across the rest of the US in the same time period. Advocates credit the decline to California’s gun regulations, a number of which went into effect in the early 1990s.“California has transformed itself in the past generation,” said Ari Freilich, state policy director at Giffords. “People came together time and again to strengthen gun safety laws [and] learn from tragedy.”California now has 107 gun laws on the books, more than any other US state. In addition to the bans on military-style assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, California has a ban on gun silencers. Like 18 other US states, California has a “red flag law” that allows authorities to seize guns owned by those deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. In situations of domestic violence or workplace harassment, California residents can petition a court for a restraining order to have firearms taken away from their partner or employee.The gun used in the Monterey Park shooting appears to fall under the state’s definition of an “assault weapon”, so it is unclear how the attacker was able to purchase the firearm in 1999, when California had already banned such weapons. The sale of large-capacity magazines like the one used in Monterey Park is now illegal in California, although that state ban may not have been in effect when the shooter purchased the magazine. Authorities have said that the semi-automatic weapon used in Half Moon Bay was legally purchased by the gunman.Unfortunately, a gun violence restraining order was not issued before the attacks in Monterey Park or Half Moon Bay. As Freilich said, an important piece of lawmakers’ work must be ensuring that citizens know their legal options so they can be prepared to respond if they suspect potential gun violence.“Sometimes it’s making sure the right judge files the right paperwork at the right time,” Freilich said. “That’s the kind of unglamorous work that will save a victim’s life.”In addition to the need for more education around existing laws, Giffords released a memo outlining further legislative steps that California can take to reduce gun violence. The proposals include creating a gun violence prevention and victim recovery fund and strengthening restrictions on the sale and marketing of ghost guns, which are untraceable firearms often assembled at home from kits bought online.Even if California legislators can enact those policies, the state still faces significant challenges. The conservative-leaning US supreme court has displayed its willingness to challenge state gun policies, ruling last year to strike down a New York law that placed strict regulations on carrying firearms in public.‘Tragedy upon tragedy’: why 39 US mass shootings already this year is just the startRead moreAnd the looser gun laws of neighboring states pose another challenge. Many California residents can easily travel to Arizona, where assault weapons and large-capacity magazines are not banned.“In this country, a state’s gun laws are only as strong as its closest neighbor with weak gun laws,” Suplina said. “It’s important to remember just how easily weapons are bought and sold in neighboring states.”That reality underscores the urgent need to pass more gun regulations at the federal level, Suplina and his allies argue. Last week, Joe Biden once again called on Congress to swiftly pass a nationwide assault weapons ban that could help prevent mass shootings in the future.“Even as we await further details on these shootings,” Biden said, “we know the scourge of gun violence across America requires stronger action.”‘California has the strictest gun laws’Additional federal action on gun safety currently seems unlikely now that Republicans, who show little appetite for tackling the issue, have regained control of the House.The gun lobby and its allies on Capitol Hill have embraced a markedly different perspective on the lessons to be learned from the most recent tragedies.In the days after the shootings that rocked his home state of California, Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy dismissed questions about the possibility of enacting more federal regulations to combat gun violence.“Having lived in California my entire life,” McCarthy said last week, “California has the strictest gun laws there are and apparently that did not work in this situation.”Suplina attacked such talking points, which often surface in the wake of mass shootings that occur in liberal-leaning states, as “straw man arguments”.“Advocates on the other side like to point to every aberration and say that that must mean that nothing is working, but we don’t do that in other areas,” Suplina said. “We don’t say that seatbelts don’t work because there’s an accident in the car that leads to a fatality.”Gun reformers feel history is on their side despite bleak outlook in CongressRead moreDespite widespread Republican opposition, Biden was able to sign one gun safety bill, the Bipartisan Safer Communities, into law last year. The bill expanded background checks for the youngest gun buyers and invested in mental health and violence intervention programs, but advocates acknowledge that the law does not go far enough.Without a more robust, coordinated federal response to gun violence, every American state remains vulnerable to attacks, advocates say.“California has the strongest gun safety laws in the country overall and some of the weakest gun safety laws in the western world,” Freilich said. “A lot of folks wonder how this could happen in California. Well, there are more than a million guns that were legally bought and sold in California last year.”Tragedies like those in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay remind Americans of that painful truth, Suplina said. As California mourns another 19 lives taken by guns, this moment could serve as a call to arms for the many Americans seeking change.“When we go through calamities like California has recently, more people step up to do more at the local, state and federal level,” Suplina said. “There really aren’t any communities that are immune from gun violence in America. And more and more people are taking action to do something about it.”TopicsUS gun controlCaliforniaNew JerseyGun crimeUS politicsanalysisReuse this content More

AnalysisWhy prosecutors might get Trump – and not Biden – for classified documentsHugo Lowell in WashingtonTrump’s situation is more perilous because of his reluctance to cooperate and his suspected obstruction of justice Donald Trump’s retention of classified-marked documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort is distinguished in the eyes of the justice department from that of Joe Biden or Mike Pence as a result of one particularly crucial difference: suspected obstruction of justice.In the case of the classified documents, it’s more serious for Trump than BidenRead moreLegal experts believe the situation for the former US president is more perilous than others swept up in the scandal because of his reluctance to cooperate at key moments in the investigation and his unwillingness to proactively search his properties for marked documents after becoming aware that he possessed such papers.The justice department has added in court filings that it suspected Trump of concealing classified-marked documents at Mar-a-Lago – and while that might be the most aggressive characterization, the trouble for Trump is that he has handled his case far differently from Biden and Pence.The recent discoveries of marked documents, first at Biden’s office in Washington and home in Delaware, and then at Pence’s home in Indiana, reflect how presidential transitions are chaotic and senior government officials are clearly unaware of the contents of boxes packed by aides.But what matters to the justice department – and what distinguishes an inadvertent error from a potential crime – is what happens once classified-marked documents are found and whether officials take steps to ensure they have returned any such papers to the government.“If they found Trump took them away, purposely, but then as soon as the archives said he had, he said: ‘Oops, sorry, here have them back,’ I don’t think they would be considering charges,” former US attorney Harry Litman said of the criminal investigation into Trump.To date, Biden and Pence freely gave up the marked documents as soon as they were found and proactively allowed their lawyers to search their properties out of an abundance of caution – whereas the department found getting documents back from Trump to be a monumental struggle.Trump’s legal team has suggested the first time they knew of classified-marked documents in the former president’s possession was when they were issued a grand jury subpoena on 11 May, demanding the return by 24 May of any marked papers, regardless of whether they had been declassified.Trump’s lawyer Evan Corcoran asked for a roughly two-week extension to comply with the subpoena, which the justice department initially declined, before giving him a one-week extension until 7 June. Corcoran then told the department they could collect documents on 3 June.At Mar-a-Lago, Corcoran returned a folder of documents and, at Trump’s urging, took the officials from the justice department to the storage room that he had searched, and asked them to be in touch if they needed anything more. The Trump lawyers also presented a sworn statement attesting compliance.Trump’s legal team has said the 3 June meeting was not obstructive, since Corcoran believed, albeit erroneously, that he was in full compliance and Trump went out of his way to show them the storage room that had been searched, and was prepared to let them search it themselves had they asked.Biden and Pence documents reveal US crisis of ‘overclassification’, expert saysRead moreBut from the perspective of federal prosecutors, a source familiar with the matter said, the overtures were deceptive: the compliance was incomplete, and the FBI seized 101 classified-marked documents from the property, including from the storage room that they passed off as clear.“The big element here is that you know they want the documents back and you resist or impair,” Litman said. “That false certification is strong evidence of intent. It’s hard to say: ‘Oh, you wanted them all back, I’m so sorry, we’ve been so busy,’ when they signed that paper.”The prosecutors, the source said, have not regarded being shown the storage room to be a mitigating factor for an additional reason: the burden to ensure compliance with a grand jury subpoena was not on the justice department and tacitly allowing them to search the room was meaningless.For Trump’s case to mirror that of Biden or Pence, Trump essentially would have had to comply with the subpoena, but then proactively conduct another search of his resort – as Biden later did with his home – and proactively search his other properties, as Biden did with his beach house.But as it turned out, once the justice department left Mar-a-Lago that day in June, Trump’s lawyers made no effort to ensure no more classified-documents remained at the resort, or any other property, until the department repeatedly sought them to do so around Thanksgiving – a search that turned up two more marked papers.TopicsDonald TrumpTrump administrationMar-a-LagoBiden administrationJoe BidenUS politicsanalysisReuse this content More

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While attending the funeral of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old man beaten to death by police in Memphis, Tennessee, this week, Kamala Harris called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which passed in the House in 2021 but failed in the Senate.
Jonathan Freedland speaks to Dr David Thomas, of Florida Gulf Coast University, about why lawmakers find police reform a difficult issue to legislate on

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New Jersey councilmember shot and killed outside her home‘She just wanted to make a better community for all our children’: colleagues mourn Eunice Dwumfour, 30, who was elected in 2021 A New Jersey borough councilmember was found shot to death in an SUV outside of her home, authorities said.Eunice Dwumfour, 30, was found at around 7.20pm on Wednesday, according to the Middlesex county prosecutor’s office. She had been shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene.Woman, 29, arrested for allegedly posing as high school student in New JerseyRead moreDwumfour, a Republican, was elected to her first three-year term in 2021, when she ousted a Democratic incumbent. Colleagues recalled her as a soft-spoken devout Christian who could maintain her composure in contentious situations.“She was a 30-year-old woman. To have this happen in such a tragic way, I mean, our hearts are just broken and everybody wants an answer,” said Karen Bailey Bebert, the local GOP chairwoman who served as her campaign manager. “So we’re waiting with bated breath.”Authorities have not made any arrests or said whether they believe the motive for the killing might be personal or political or a random act.In a 2021 campaign interview, Dwumfour described herself as a proud graduate of Newark public schools who earned a degree in women’s studies at William Paterson University while working part-time as an EMT.She said she moved to Parlin, a section of Sayreville, after graduating “because of the tremendous public safety work the community does”. That interest fueled her run for council, where she served as a liaison to the police department now helping to investigate her death.“She just wanted to make a better community for all our children,” said Bebert.Dwumfour, who had a school-age child, announced at a fall council meeting that she had recently gotten married, Bebert said. She was active in her church in Newark, she said.Dwumfour worked in information technology, according to her LinkedIn page, where she posted last month that she was looking for a new opportunity. Her résumé also said that she worked for six years with a religious nonprofit group.Her nextdoor neighbor Chyann Brown said she arrived home on Wednesday evening just as police were “flying in the complex”. She had no idea that Dwumfour, whom she described as kind and respectful, had been shot.“When I came to park my car, there were shell cases everywhere … I [saw] the car was still rolling down the street,” she said of Dwumfour’s vehicle.Brown said she had spoken with Dwumfour several times over the past year, but did not realize she was involved in local politics. “She’s a very nice woman. She’s always well-dressed,” she said. “I can’t believe she would be involved in such a tragic incident.”Several high-ranking state leaders, including the Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, issued statements expressing their grief over her death. John Wisniewski, a former Democratic state assembly member from Sayreville, had spoken to her at a few council meetings.“Almost always her comments were about God, divine providence. She was a woman of faith,” Wisniewski said.Bebert described Dwumfour as an outgoing person who “always had that beautiful smile on her face that you see in her picture”.Sayreville, a borough of roughly 45,000 people, is about 30 miles (about 48.2km) south of Manhattan. At the scene on Thursday, another car in the parking lot had damage apparently sustained when Dwumfour’s car struck it.Bebert described Sayreville as a peaceful community and said Dwumfour lived in an attractive complex near an elementary school. She hopes to organize a vigil to celebrate what she called “a life cut too short by such a heinous criminal act”.“She was so young,” she said. “It’s just rippling through the town.”TopicsUS newsNew JerseyGun crimeUS politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More