US Politics

The former US senator John Warner of Virginia, who at times clashed with fellow Republicans during his three decades in office, has died of heart failure. He was 94.Warner died late on Tuesday, with his wife and daughter at his side, his chief of staff, Susan Magill, said in an email to family and friends, according to a Politico report on Wednesday. The Washington Post said he died in Alexandria, Virginia.President Joe Biden led tributes to Warner, saying he “lived an extraordinary life of service and accomplishment”.In a statement issued Wednesday, Biden said: “I had the privilege of serving alongside John in the Senate for three decades. The John Warner I knew was guided by two things: his conscience and our Constitution. And, when acting in accordance with both, he neither wavered in his convictions nor was concerned with the consequences.”The Democrat added: “When told that if he voted in a way that was not in line with his party’s position—as he did numerous times on issues of rational gun policy, women’s rights, and judicial nominees—that “people would say,” his favorite rejoinder was, “Let ‘em say it.”“Indeed, that was his response when, in one of the great honors of my career, he crossed party lines to support me in the 2020 election.”Warner was an influential voice in Congress on military policy and served in the US Senate for five terms from 1979 to 2009. He was also the sixth husband of the actor Elizabeth Taylor.Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said the flags around the Senate side of the US Capitol would be lowered to half-staff in honor of the late senator.“On behalf of the Senate, I want to express our condolences to his family and his friends, and our gratitude for amazing service to America throughout his life,” the Democratic leader said in a floor speech on Wednesday.Virginia Governor Ralph Northam described Warner as “the best of what public service and elected leadership should be”.“Virginia, and America, have lost a giant,” the Democrat said in a statement. “As a sailor, a senator, a statesman, and a gentleman, former US Senator John Warner spent his life in public service.”Current Virginia senator Mark Warner (no relation) tweeted: “I’m devastated to hear of the passing of my dear friend John Warner. To me, he was the gold standard in Virginia. I will forever be grateful for his friendship and mentorship. I’ll miss you, John.”A former chairman of the Senate armed services committee, Warner openly criticized President George W Bush’s handling of the Iraq war and called on him in 2007 to begin withdrawing US troops from Iraq.The decision put Warner in the center of a growing debate in Congress over the conflict. Warner spent months trying to develop an approach to US policy in Iraq that was supported by Republicans and Democrats.During his time in office, Warner clashed with fellow Republican senators on domestic issues, voting in some cases for government funding of abortions and supporting some gun control measures. In 1994, he refused to support the conservative Republican candidate for Senate Oliver North.The Democratic senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said he often turned for advice to Warner, whom he called a “public servant who stood on principle, made us proud, and exemplified the best of what politics can be”.“He was a Gentleman who maintained civility in his politics in an era of rising intolerance,” his fellow Virginian the US representative Gerry Connolly, a Democrat, said on Twitter.Warner, who enlisted in the navy during the second world war at the age of 17, also served in the Marine Corps in Korea. He was secretary of the navy from 1972 to 1974 in President Richard Nixon’s administration.Reuters contributed to this report More

From county officials and sheriffs to governors and senators, white male minority rule pervades politics in the United States, according to a new report published on Wednesday.White men represent 30% of the population but 62% of officeholders, dominating both chambers of Congress, 42 state legislatures and statewide roles across the nation, the analysis shows.By contrast, women and people of color constitute 51% and 40% of the US population respectively, but just 31% and 13% of officeholders, according to the research by the Reflective Democracy Campaign, shared exclusively with the Guardian.“I think if we saw these numbers in another country, we would say there is something very wrong with that political system,” said Brenda Choresi Carter, the campaign’s director.“We would say, ‘how could that possibly be a democratic system with that kind of demographic mismatch?’”Two factors perpetuate white male control over virtually every lever of US government: the huge advantage enjoyed by incumbents, and the Republican party’s continued focus on mostly white male candidates.As the US barrels toward a minority-white population within a matter of decades, some believe elected officials will inevitably become more diverse. But that logic is flawed: women have always been half of the country, and they are still chronically underrepresented in government.Meanwhile, politicians who currently hold office can make election laws and draw districts in their favor. This legislative cycle, Republican state lawmakers have devised a barrage of new voter restrictions that have targeted left-leaning communities, vulnerable voters and people of color.“It’s no accident that the pursuit of antidemocratic measures is happening in this moment of really profound demographic change,” Choresi Carter said. “The fact that it’s in that context that efforts to make the United States even less democratic than it already is are happening, that’s not a coincidence.”But perhaps the greatest testament to the US’s striking power imbalance is who can actually run. Even with women vying for office in record numbers, white men still overwhelm the candidate pool, despite the fact that “primary candidates in all demographics win elections at just about the same rate,” according to the report.In primaries for statewide office and the House, women and people of color actually do better than their white male opponents, busting a common myth about white men’s “electability” advantage that has often dogged high-profile women’s campaigns.However, because women and people of color have been largely disenfranchised until relatively recent history, most incumbents are still white men, the report explains. And, during the 2020 primary elections, 96% of incumbents won their races.Last November, 96% of congressional incumbents held on to their seats, suggesting that officeholders who win their primaries benefit from a similar edge during the general election.“We have, you know, a political system in general that is not built to include new voices and perspectives. It’s a system built to protect the people and the interests already represented in it,” Choresi Carter said.“It’s like all systems. It’s built to protect the status quo.”Another obstacle to a more representative government comes from the Republican establishment, which does not run candidates reflective of the nation. In the 2020 primaries, 93% of Republican candidates were white, and fewer than one in four were women. Democratic candidates, on the other hand, were 44% women and 32% people of color – still shy of a one-to-one match with the country’s overall demographics, but far more inclusive than the GOP’s virtual erasure of entire communities.That partisan divide – plus the incumbency problem – bolster a cycle where commonsense policies supported by the majority of Americans make little headway, including popular solutions such as gun control, automatic voter registration and universal pre-K education.“We have this incredibly limited perspective represented in the halls of power when these decisions are being made,” Choresi Carter said.“And most Americans don’t share that experience, and actually, you know, want different outcomes than they’re seeing.” More

A school principal in Arkansas has apologized for “political inaccuracies” in a yearbook falsely stating that Donald Trump was not impeached and that last year’s racial protests in the US were “Black Lives Matter riots”.Josh Thompson, principal of Bentonville’s Lincoln junior high school, admitted that some of the contents of the yearbook, which also included a photograph of the deadly 6 January insurrection in Washington DC captioned: “Trump supporters protest at the Capitol,” were “both biased and political”.In a letter sent to students and parents, Thompson said the yearbook “does not represent our values nor meet LJHS and Bentonville Schools’ standards for quality and excellence.”The letter did not address how the false statements and political opinions came to be published, but promised the school would “evaluate its vetting process for all yearbook content to ensure future publications are of the highest quality”.In many US schools, yearbooks are produced by students under the supervision of teachers, often during journalism classes.The Lincoln yearbook featured a photograph of an unidentified group next to an overturned car, with the caption: “Black Lives Matter riots Started in Minneapolis in may of 2020 [sic]”; and a separate photograph of the former president with his fists clenched and the caption: “President Trump WAS NOT impeached.”In reality, Trump was the first president to be impeached twice, in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and again this year for inciting the Capitol insurrection.“We can and will do better to provide a quality yearbook to students that can be a cherished item as they reminisce about their time at [the] school,” Thompson said, offering his “deepest apologies” and a refund to parents who had bought one.A spokesperson for the Bentonville school district declined to answer questions from the Guardian, stating that the principal’s letter would be its only comment.The Arkansas controversy follows another yearbook scandal earlier this week in which a Florida high school was criticized for digitally altering dozens of images of female students to hide their chests and shoulders.A teacher at Bartram Trail high school in St Johns admitted manipulating 80 photographs of girls she considered inappropriately dressed, while leaving images of male students, including one of a swimming team attired only in bathing trunks, untouched. The school also offered refunds. More

Key events

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Today so far

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Senate confirms Kristen Clarke to lead DOJ civil rights division in historic first

4.06pm EDT
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‘We have to act’ on policing reform, Biden says after meeting with Floyd family

3.46pm EDT
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Floyd family encourages passage of policing reform bill after Biden meeting

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Biden to travel to Tulsa to mark 100th anniversary of race massacre

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Biden and Harris meet with Floyd family to commemorate anniversary

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Crew disappointed after DoJ bars Trump-Russia memo

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Capitol riot defendants argue that jail conditions are ‘psychologically damaging’
Defense lawyers representing alleged Capitol rioters who have been jailed before trial are now arguing that conditions at a DC jail are “damaging”, and that the defendants should be transferred or released, NBC News’ Scott MacFarlane reports.

Scott MacFarlane
(@MacFarlaneNews)
Defense lawyer in Jan 6 case tells judge the conditions at DC jail for Insurrection defendants are “psychologically damaging”22 hours of lockdown, only two hours of rec time.. no movement on weekends for inmates, according to defense attorneyMore motions for release coming pic.twitter.com/S40a2VCNnI

May 25, 2021

The defendants making these arguments include Dominic Pezzola, a member of the Proud Boys, whose lawyer said conditions at the jail are “unheard of”, MacFarlane reports.

Scott MacFarlane
(@MacFarlaneNews)
Lots of Jan 6 defendants are trying to get released out of DC jail (or transferred elsewhere) this weekRyan Samsel is accused of knocking unconscious an officer at barricade Jan 6Samsel says *he* was beaten in DC jail in March & remains injured. He wants to be sent to PA pic.twitter.com/MI7YMqnflS

May 25, 2021

Scott MacFarlane
(@MacFarlaneNews)
NEW: Attorney says accused Proud Boy Domenic Pezzola will seek release from jail (again) before trial in Jan 6 case. Lawyer says Pezzola is “psychologically damaged” because conditions at jail are “unheard of”And adds…. trial won’t happen “anytime soon” pic.twitter.com/X9JkxWODde

May 25, 2021

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A somber image of George Floyd’s daughter at the White House
This is Lois Beckett, picking up our live US politics coverage from Los Angeles.
Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci shared this image of Gianna Floyd, George Floyd’s seven-year-old daughter, visiting the White House earlier today.

Evan Vucci
(@evanvucci)
A Marine holds the door as Gianna Floyd, the daughter of George Floyd, walks into the White House. pic.twitter.com/tbsavLTzcx

May 25, 2021

After a meeting with Joe Biden, members of the Floyd family spoke publicly, and Gianna led a chant of “Say his name, George Floyd!”

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Today so far

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Lois Beckett, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:

George Floyd’s family encouraged Congress to pass a policing reform bill after meeting with Joe Biden at the White House. The family’s meeting with the president came on the one-year anniversary of the death of Floyd, who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis. “If you can make federal laws to protect the [national] bird, which is the bald eagle, you can make federal laws to protect people of color,” Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, told reporters after the meeting.
Biden expressed hope that lawmakers will soon reach a bipartisan compromise on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. “To deliver real change, we must have accountability when law enforcement officers violate their oaths,” the president said in a statement after his meeting with Floyd’s family. “We have to act.”
Biden will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next month in Geneva, Switzerland, the White House confirmed. The 16 June summit will mark Biden’s first in-person meeting with the Russian president since taking office.
As of today, 50% of American adults are fully vaccinated against coronavirus, the White House said. Biden has previously said he wants to get 70% of American adults at least partially vaccinated by 4 July, and the White House said it is on track to meet that goal.
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy condemned extremist congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene for comparing coronavirus restrictions to the Holocaust. “Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling,” McCarthy said. Greene’s comments had sparked widespread outrage among members of both parties, who noted it was incredibly offensive to compare health precautions recommended by experts to the slaughter of 6 million Jewish people.

Lois will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

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Senate confirms Kristen Clarke to lead DOJ civil rights division in historic first

The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
The senate voted Tuesday afternoon to confirm Kristen Clarke to lead the civil rights division at the Justice Department, making her the Black woman to be confirmed to the role.
The vote was 51-48, with Susan Collins, the Republican senator from Maine, voting with Democrats to support Clarke’s nomination.
Clarke, a career civil rights lawyer who is widely respected for her work on voting rights, politicing, and anti-discrimination, will lead the division of the department responsible for enforcing some of America’s most powerful anti-discrimination laws.

Senate Cloakroom
(@SenateCloakroom)
Confirmed, 51-48: Executive Calendar #124 Kristen M. Clarke to be an Assistant Attorney General. @TheJusticeDept

May 25, 2021

At the department, she’ll join Vanita Gupta, another longtime civil rights lawyer, who was confirmed to be the associate attorney general, the number three position at the department, earlier this year. The appointment of both women, widely praised by civil rights groups, signals the importance of civil rights enforcement to the Biden administration.
As the head of the civil rights division, Clarke will be responsible for enforcing the nation’s voting laws. She will take over at a moment when Republicans across the country have launched a brazen effort to restrict access to the ballot. The Trump administration was largely silent on voting rights enforcement and many are closely watching to see whether the Justice Department will aggressively challenge the new laws.
Clarke’s confirmation is also a major political win for the Biden White House. Republicans and Fox News host Tucker Carlson spent months attacking Clarke for an op-ed she wrote in college and tried to paint her as someone who would come to the role with an anti-police bias.
Clarke and Democrats strongly pushed back on those accusations, saying the op-ed, written decades ago when she was an undergraduate, was distorted and that she did not support defunding the police.

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Kamala Harris released her own statement after she and Joe Biden met with the family of George Floyd this afternoon, and she said Congress must act “swiftly” to address policing reform.
“One year ago, a cellphone video revealed to the country what Black Americans have known to be true for generations. The verdict finding Derek Chauvin guilty of murder provided some measure of justice. But one verdict does not address the persistent issue of police misconduct and use of excessive force,” the vice-president said.
“We need to do more. After Mr Floyd was murdered, Senator Cory Booker, representative Karen Bass, and I introduced the Justice in Policing Act to hold law enforcement accountable and build trust between law enforcement and the communities it serves. Congress must move swiftly and act with a sense of urgency. Passing legislation will not bring back those lives lost, but it will represent much needed progress.”
Bass and Booker continue to engage in negotiations with Republican Senator Tim Scott over the bill, and the trio said yesterday that they “remain optimistic” about the chances of reaching a final deal.
“We must address racial injustice wherever it exists,” Harris concluded. “That is the work ahead.”

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4.06pm EDT
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‘We have to act’ on policing reform, Biden says after meeting with Floyd family

Joe Biden has released a statement to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, urging Congress to pass the policing reform bill named in his honor.
The president noted he met with some of Floyd’s family members in the Oval Office this afternoon, and he applauded their strength over the past year.
“Although it has been one year since their beloved brother and father was murdered, for the family – for any family experiencing a profound loss – the first year can still feel like they got the news a few seconds ago,” Biden said. “And they’ve had to relive that pain and grief each and every time those horrific 9 minutes and 29 seconds have been replayed.”
Biden emphasized that the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin cannot be the end of the discussion when it comes to policing reform.
“Last month’s conviction of the police officer who murdered George was another important step forward toward justice. But our progress can’t stop there,” Biden said.
“To deliver real change, we must have accountability when law enforcement officers violate their oaths, and we need to build lasting trust between the vast majority of the men and women who wear the badge honorably and the communities they are sworn to serve and protect. We can and must have both accountability and trust and in our justice system.”
The president expressed hope that lawmakers will soon reach a bipartisan compromise on the policing bill and send it to his desk.
“We have to act. We face an inflection point,” Biden said. “The battle for the soul of America has been a constant push and pull between the American ideal that we’re all created equal and the harsh reality that racism has long torn us apart. At our best, the American ideal wins out. It must again.”

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George Floyd’s young daughter, Gianna, led a chant of “Say his name, George Floyd!” after she and her family met with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to commemorate the anniversary of her father’s death.

CBS News
(@CBSNews)
George Floyd’s daughter Gianna leads a chant with his family members outside the White House: “Say his name — George Floyd.” https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/1h5QmJ7oZN

May 25, 2021

3.46pm EDT
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Floyd family encourages passage of policing reform bill after Biden meeting

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ meeting with the family of George Floyd to commemorate the anniversary of his murder concluded after about an hour.
Once the meeting wrapped up, Floyd’s family members and their attorney, civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, walked out to speak to White House reporters.

CBS News
(@CBSNews)
After private meeting with Pres. Biden, George Floyd’s brother Philonise calls on Congress to pass George Floyd Justice In Policing Act: “If you can make federal laws to protect the [national] bird, which is the bald eagle, you can make federal laws to protect people of color.” pic.twitter.com/yTYRaHyAug

May 25, 2021

Crump said the meeting was “very personal” because Biden has gotten to know the Floyd family well over the past year, and the president offered his assurances that he was ready to sign the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act “any day”.
“He said that he doesn’t want to sign a bill that doesn’t have substance and meaning, so he is going to be patient to make sure it’s the right bill, not a rushed bill,” Crump said.
Philonise Floyd, one of Floyd’s brothers who participated in the meeting with the president, said it was absolutely imperative that Congress pass the bill.
“If you can make federal laws to protect the [national] bird, which is the bald eagle, you can make federal laws to protect people of color,” Floyd said.

Updated
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3.33pm EDT
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David Smith

Amid frustration over lack of police reform, Joe Biden hosted George Floyd’s brother Philonise, seven-year-old daughter Gianna and other family members at a private meeting on Tuesday.
The sombre anniversary was an opportunity for the president, whose own family has been haunted by grief, to demonstrate an empathy many found lacking in his predecessor, Donald Trump.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters: “I think a lot of the meeting will be him listening to them and hearing from them on what they want the path forward to look like.
“He really wanted it to be a private meeting because he has a personal relationship and he wanted to hear how they’re doing, give them an update on his efforts to sign a bill into law and ensure there is long-overdue accountability.”

3.19pm EDT
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Biden to travel to Tulsa to mark 100th anniversary of race massacre

Joe Biden will travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma, next week to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the city’s race massacre, the White House has just announced.
The announcement comes a week after three survivors of the massacre testified before the House of Representatives about the need for reparations for those who survived the attack and their descendants.

The Guardian’s David Smith reported last week:

For nearly a century she was denied a voice by a culture of silence. Finally, at the age of 107, Viola Fletcher got a national stage on Wednesday to bear witness to America’s deep history of racial violence.
Fletcher is the oldest living survivor of a massacre that took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on 31 May and 1 June 1921 when a white mob attacked the city’s ‘Black Wall Street’, killing an estimated 300 African Americans while robbing and burning more than 1,200 businesses, homes and churches.
She was just seven years old at the time.
For decades the atrocity was actively covered up and wished away. But Fletcher and her 100-year-old brother are seeking reparations and, ahead of the massacre’s centenary, appeared before a House of Representatives judiciary subcommittee considering legal remedies. …
‘I am here seeking justice,’ Fletcher said. ‘I am here asking my country to acknowledge what happened in Tulsa in 1921.’

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The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
One of the companies involved in the unprecedented review of 2.1 million ballots in Arizona has ended its involvement in the effort, the Arizona Republic reported Tuesday.
The company, Pennsylvania-based Wake TSI, was only contracted to work on the review through 14 May, and chose not to extend its contract, a spokesman for the review told the Republic. Their decision to stop comes as the effort, executed at the behest of Republicans in the state senate, has come under national scrutiny for shoddy practices and bias.

Sam Levine
(@srl)
This is hugely significant. Cyber Ninjas has gotten a lot of attention around the audit, but Wake TSI was the company on the floor running the counting. https://t.co/8at3mzTESX

May 25, 2021

Wake TSI was involved in overseeing the portion of the audit that dealt with a hand recount of the presidential vote and US senate race in Maricopa county (Republicans are also examining voting technology and the paper ballots were cast on). The firm overseeing the entire audit, called Cyber Ninjas, had previously pointed to Wake TSI’s involvement in a prior audit in Pennsylvania to assuage concern about Cyber Ninjas’ own lack of experience in election audits.
New details have come to light in recent days about Wake TSI’s involvement in Pennsylvania. On Monday, the Arizona Mirror reported that the firm had been hired by a non-profit linked to Sidney Powell, a Trump ally and one of the most prominent figures to spread lies about the results of the 2020 election last year.
StratTech solutions, an Arizona-based IT firm, will take over for Wake TSI and continue to count ballots in accordance with the procedures the company had already set up, according to the Republic. It’s unclear what experience StratTech has in elections, if any.

2.38pm EDT
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Biden and Harris meet with Floyd family to commemorate anniversary

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are now meeting with the family of George Floyd to commemorate the one-year anniversary of his murder in Minneapolis.
The White House told the press pool about 20 minutes ago that the meeting, scheduled to begin at 1:30 pm ET, had now started.
Biden’s staff has said he intends for the meeting to be a private gathering, but members of the Floyd family may speak to reporters after it concludes.
After their meeting with the president, Floyd’s family members are scheduled to meet with Democratic Senator Cory Booker and Republican Senator Tim Scott, who are working on the policing reform bill named in Floyd’s honor.
The blog will have more details on the meeting as they become available, so stay tuned.

2.31pm EDT
14:31

Martin Pengelly

The White House expects to get Republicans’ counteroffer on a $2tn infrastructure proposal later this week, press secretary Jen Psaki said earlier.
Senate Republicans are due to meet to determine their next steps on infrastructure talks and could deliver their proposal on Thursday, Senator Shelley Capito of West Virginia said.
Republicans have said that they won’t back Joe Biden’s plan to pay for much-needed infrastructure repair and investment by altering the 2017 tax bill, passed under Donald Trump and when Republicans controlled Congress, to increase taxes on the wealthy and companies. They are expected to offer a pared-down proposal.
“We are waiting to hear back from Republicans on how they would propose to pay for it” if they won’t raise taxes, Psaki said.

Updated
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Crew disappointed after DoJ bars Trump-Russia memo

Martin Pengelly

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the group attempting to gain access to a Department of Justice memo about Donald Trump, possible obstruction of justice and the Russia investigation, has said it is “deeply disappointed” by a DoJ decision not to release the memo in full despite being ordered to do so by a federal judge. More

“Say his name,” said seven-year-old Gianna Floyd. In bright sunshine outside the west wing of the White House, family members and lawyers raised their fists and said her father’s name in chorus: “George Floyd!”They were marking exactly one year since the police murder of Floyd, an African American man, in Minneapolis shook America with months of nationwide protests against racial injustice and demands for police reform.On Tuesday the family brought that conversation to Washington. Joe Biden, whose own family has been haunted by grief, apparently demonstrated an empathy many found lacking in his predecessor, Donald Trump, during a private meeting of more than an hour.Floyd’s brother, Philonise described Biden as a “genuine guy” and told reporters the family had a “great” discussion with him and Vice-President Kamala Harris. “They always speak from the heart and it’s a pleasure just to be able to have the chance to meet with them when we have that opportunity to,” he said.America’s racial reckoning across business, culture and society has not yet been matched by legislative action. Biden had set a deadline of Tuesday for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which contains reforms such as a ban on chokeholds, to become law.It passed the House of Representatives in March but is faltering in the Senate where Republicans object to a provision ending qualified immunity, which shields officers from legal action by victims and families for alleged civil rights violations. The family urged quicker action.Philonise said pointedly: “If you can make federal laws to protect the bird which is the bald eagle, you can make federal law to protect people of colour.”Brandon Williams, Floyd’s nephew, added: “He let us know that he supports passing the bill, but he wants to make sure that it’s the right bill and not a rushed bill.” The family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, said the group was about to meet Senators Cory Booker and Tim Scott, who are working on a bipartisan deal. “We all want just policing where George Floyd will get an opportunity to take a breath without having a knee on his neck,” he said. “It has been 57 years since we’ve had meaningful legislation.”Some observers have suggested that Biden should use his bully pulpit to push Congress harder. The anniversary came as a warning that patience could wear thin.The president, who made racial justice central to his election campaign and enjoyed strong support among African American voters, issued a statement following the meeting. “The Floyd family has shown extraordinary courage, especially his young daughter Gianna, who I met again today,” he said. “The day before her father’s funeral a year ago, Jill and I met the family and she told me, ‘Daddy changed the world’. He has.”Biden added that he appreciates “the good-faith efforts from Democrats and Republicans” to pass a meaningful bill out of the Senate. “We have to act. We face an inflection point. The battle for the soul of America has been a constant push and pull between the American ideal that we’re all created equal and the harsh reality that racism has long torn us apart.”Floyd died on 25 May 2020 when the then Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes, despite the 46-year-old repeatedly saying he could not breathe.The killing, captured on video by a bystander, triggered months of demonstrations at systemic racism and policing. Chauvin was convicted of murder and is awaiting sentencing next month.Floyd was honoured across America on Tuesday. In Minneapolis, a foundation created in his memory organised an afternoon of music and food in a park near the downtown courtroom where Chauvin stood trial. Nine minutes of silence were observed. Later, mourners were to gather for a candlelight vigil.Barack Obama, the first Black US president, issued a statement that acknowledged hundreds more Americans have died in encounters with police but also expressed hope.“Today, more people in more places are seeing the world more clearly than they did a year ago.” he said. “It’s a tribute to all those who decided that this time would be different – and that they, in their own ways, would help make it different.”Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, noted how the “ stomach-churning video” of Floyd’s death rippled beyond the US.“The name of George Floyd was chanted in Rome, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Mexico City,” he said. “As recently as this weekend, professional soccer players in the [English] Premier League knelt before the game in support of the global movement against racism touched off by George Floyd.“This was not only a fight for justice for one man and his family, who I’ve had the privilege to meet with, but a fight against the discrimination that Black men and women suffer at the hands of state power, not just here in America but around the globe.”Earlier, the Floyd family had visited the Capitol to push the police reform legislation in meetings with members of Congress including House speaker Nancy Pelosi. Karen Bass, a Democrat and the lead House negotiator, renewed her commitment to compromise with Republicans.“We will get this bill on President Biden’s desk,” she said. “What is important is that … it’s a substantive piece of legislation, and that is far more important than a specific date. We will work until we get the job done. It will be passed in a bipartisan manner.”Legislation has been pursued in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to increase accountability or oversight of police; 24 states have enacted new laws. More

The family of George Floyd spoke to reporters after meeting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on Tuesday to commemorate the anniversary of his murder. They addressed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which they called for Congress to pass. Philonise Floyd said: ‘If you can make federal laws to protect the [national] bird, which is the bald eagle, you can make federal laws to protect people of colour’

Biden meets George Floyd’s family on murder anniversary ‘to listen’
George Floyd’s family urges Biden to pass a policing reform bill – live More

Republicans and Democrats condemned Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday as the far-right Georgia congresswoman continued to compare measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic to the treatment of Jewish people during the Holocaust.But meaningful Republican action against Greene seemed no more likely than at any time in her brief but controversy-fuelled congressional career.The Republican leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, said his party “condemned” Greene’s remarks but also used his statement to attack Democrats for allegedly ignoring antisemitism in their own ranks.Greene had already compared mask mandates to the treatment of Jewish people during the Holocaust when on Tuesday morning she tweeted her opposition to companies and venues requiring proof of vaccination, a source of widespread rightwing complaint.“Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi’s [sic] forced Jewish people to wear a gold star,” she wrote.“Vaccine passports and mask mandates create discrimination against unvaxxed [sic] people who trust their immune systems to a virus that is 99% survivable.”The coronavirus pandemic is in retreat in the US but more than 33 million people have been infected and nearly 590,000 have died. The Biden administration said on Tuesday 50% of US adults were now fully vaccinated but progress has slowed amid widespread resistance to vaccination, particularly among Republicans.In remarks in the Senate, the Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, the first Jewish person in that role, called Greene’s comments “sickening” and “reprehensible”.“She should stop this vile language immediately,” the New York senator said.McCarthy, the House minority leader, said his party “condemned” Greene’s remarks and added: “Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling.”Elise Stefanik, a New York congresswoman recently elevated to House Republican leadership in place of the Trump critic Liz Cheney, said: “Equating mask wearing and vaccines to the Holocaust belittles the most significant human atrocities ever committed. We must all work together to educate our fellow Americans on the unthinkable horrors of the Holocaust.”Greene was defiant, claiming not to have compared mask mandates and vaccination requirements “to the Holocaust, only the discrimination against Jews in early Nazi years”.McCarthy has not taken disciplinary action against Greene despite a series of controversies over remarks including advocating death for her political opponents.On Tuesday Nancy Pelosi, the target of such invective, told reporters Greene’s latest remarks were “beyond reprehensible” and said: “I think that she should stop talking.”Earlier this year, Democrats who control the House stripped Greene of committee assignments.On Tuesday, Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican who like Cheney has become a pariah by rejecting Trump’s control of the party, called Greene’s remarks “demented and dangerous”.He also called for action from McCarthy, Stefanik and other Republican leaders.“I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again,” Kinzinger wrote. “While we cannot stop her from calling herself a Republican, we can and should refuse to let her caucus with the House GOP.” More

Half of adult Americans have now been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the Biden administration said on Tuesday.Joe Biden previously set a goal of having 70% of adults with at least one dose by 4 July. Vaccine hesitancy or resistance remains a problem, particularly among Republicans, with the rate of shots administered slowing.Elsewhere on Tuesday, Moderna enhanced prospects of more vaccinations for younger Americans when it said its Covid-19 shot strongly protects children as young as 12.Earlier this month, the US and Canada authorized a vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech for use starting at age 12.Releasing preliminary findings based on testing on more than 3,700 young people aged 12 to 17 in the US, Moderna said there were no Covid-19 diagnoses in children who were given two doses of its vaccine and four cases among those given dummy shots.The Cambridge, Massachusetts company said the vaccine appeared 93% effective two weeks after the first dose.The company also said its vaccine triggered the same signs of immune protection in children as it does in adults – and the same mild and temporary side-effects.Officials said they intended to submit the data to the Food and Drug Administration and other global regulators early next month.The White House has ramped up vaccine distribution as coronavirus cases and deaths have fallen. There are three vaccines in use and the US has increased the number of shots it is exporting.In a statement issued as the Biden administration announced that 50% of US adults were not fully vaccinated, Donald Trump sought credit for progress against the pandemic, hailing “the record-breaking development of the vaccine and its early purchase and distribution by the Trump administration”.Trump called Operation Warp Speed, an administration initiative which worked on vaccine development, “one of the greatest miracles of the ages”.He also thanked members of his administration “who pushed so hard for a vaccine and got it done in less than nine months when everybody was saying it would take at least [three to five] years, and probably not happen”. More