Democrats

Subterms

    More stories

    • 163 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      White House says Republicans turned Garland hearing into ‘circus’ – as it happened

      by

      From 2h agoThe Biden administration is out with a statement condemning House Republicans for their conduct during attorney general Merrick Garland’s ongoing hearing before the judiciary committee, saying they wasted him promoting conspiracy theories rather than dealing with more pressing business, like funding the government.“Extreme House Republicans are running a not-so-sophisticated distraction campaign to try to cover up their own actions that are hurtling America to a dangerous and costly government shutdown,” White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations Ian Sams said of the hearing, which the judiciary committee regularly holds with the attorney general.Sams continued:
      They cannot even pass a military funding bill because extreme House Republicans are demanding devastating cuts like slashing thousands of preschool slots nationwide and thousands of law enforcement jobs including border agents, so they cranked up a circus of a hearing full of lies and disinformation with the sole goal of baselessly attacking President Biden and his family. Don’t be fooled: they want to distract from the reality that their own chaos and inability to govern is going to shut down the government in a matter of days, hurting our economy and national security and jeopardizing everything from troop pay to fighting fentanyl. These sideshows won’t spare House Republicans from bearing responsibility for inflicting serious damage on the country.
      In his ongoing appearance before the House judiciary committee, the attorney general, Merrick Garland, defended the independence and integrity of the justice department from Republican attacks, saying “I am not the president’s lawyer”, and refusing to discuss the ongoing prosecution of the president’s son Hunter Biden. GOP lawmakers who control the committee nonetheless peppered him with questions, including one who wondered if Garland should tell Joe Biden to “knock it off” when it comes to seeing his son. The White House dismissed the hearing as a “circus” that was “full of lies”.Here’s what else happened today:
      Garland warned that defunding the FBI, as some far-right Republicans want to do, would undercut US national security.
      Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman has no time for those who criticize his choice of dress on the chamber floor while simultaneously failing to fund the US government.
      Cassidy Hutchinson, who gave gripping testimony to the January 6 committee, says in a new book she was groped on the day of the attack by Rudy Giuliani.
      There may be some movement in negotiations among House Republicans to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month.
      Speaking of knocking it off, the Biden administration would reportedly like its ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel to stop insulting Chinese president Xi Jinping.
      Legend has it that in his days as a Democratic political operative, Rahm Emanuel sent a dead fish to a pollster who was late getting him data, and stabbed a knife into a table while reciting the names of those he felt had betrayed Bill Clinton after his 1992 presidential election victory.So the story NBC News just published about Emanuel, a former mayor of Chicago who is now the US ambassador to Japan, does not come as much of a surprise:
      President Joe Biden’s aides have asked that Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, stop posting messages on social media taunting Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to three administration officials.
      Officials at the National Security Council told Emanuel’s staff in recent days that his comments risk undermining the administration’s efforts to mend deeply strained relations with China, including with a possible meeting this fall between Biden and Xi, according to the officials.
      Over the past two weeks Emanuel, who served as White House chief of staff to former President Barack Obama, has criticized Xi directly and sarcastically speculated about the Chinese leader’s treatment of his top aides, using the hashtag “#MysteryInBeijingBuilding.”
      Emanuel’s tweets are “not in keeping with the message coming out of this building,” a White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue.
      NBC talked to a supporter of the ambassador, who made him sound like some kind of football star:
      A spokesperson for Emanuel disputed NBC News’ report, calling it “absolutely not true.”
      “Ambassador Emanuel is serving with distinction as an uncommonly effective representative of the United States in Japan. Every day his inventiveness, passion and relentlessness are on full display,” Kurt Campbell, deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, said in an interview.
      He continued, “This guy is a superstar and when you put Rahm on the field you get the full Rahm.”
      Campbell did not comment when asked whether Emanuel will continue posting about China’s leadership.
      On a more serious note, Emanuel faced trouble getting confirmed by the Senate to his ambassador post from those angry with how he handled the police killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald during his time as mayor.For a sense of the type of “misinformation” the White House was condemning, take a look at these comments from Republican congresswoman Victoria Spartz.The Indiana lawmaker downplayed the January 6 attack on the Capitol, describing it instead as an event attended by people “with strollers and the kids” that happened because Americans are “sick and tired of this government not serving them” – even though it occurred while Donald Trump was in office.Here’s video her remarks at the just-concluded hearing:The Biden administration is out with a statement condemning House Republicans for their conduct during attorney general Merrick Garland’s ongoing hearing before the judiciary committee, saying they wasted him promoting conspiracy theories rather than dealing with more pressing business, like funding the government.“Extreme House Republicans are running a not-so-sophisticated distraction campaign to try to cover up their own actions that are hurtling America to a dangerous and costly government shutdown,” White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations Ian Sams said of the hearing, which the judiciary committee regularly holds with the attorney general.Sams continued:
      They cannot even pass a military funding bill because extreme House Republicans are demanding devastating cuts like slashing thousands of preschool slots nationwide and thousands of law enforcement jobs including border agents, so they cranked up a circus of a hearing full of lies and disinformation with the sole goal of baselessly attacking President Biden and his family. Don’t be fooled: they want to distract from the reality that their own chaos and inability to govern is going to shut down the government in a matter of days, hurting our economy and national security and jeopardizing everything from troop pay to fighting fentanyl. These sideshows won’t spare House Republicans from bearing responsibility for inflicting serious damage on the country.
      The Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, announced the chamber would vote on the promotions of three top military leaders that have been held by up Republican senator Tommy Tuberville over the Pentagon’s abortion policy.Tuberville, who represents Alabama, began earlier this year blocking defense department promotions in protest of a new policy that will help service members travel to seek an abortion, if they are based somewhere where the procedure is banned. About 300 senior leaders currently have their promotions on hold because of the senator’s blockade, which has been criticized by military leaders and veterans groups.In a speech on the Senate floor, Schumer said the chamber would vote on promotions for the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, commandant of Marine corps and army chief of staff:There are some new developments in the House, where a revolt by rightwing Republicans has stopped consideration of a measure to fund the government as an end-of-the-month shutdown deadline nears.Politico reports that House speaker Kevin McCarthy signaled “progress” has been made in the negotiations, and also that the chamber may have to work over the weekend:Attorneys for Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, two co-defendants that have been charged in the Georgia election interference case alongside Donald Trump, will be allowed to interview members of the special grand jury, The Hill reports.On Wednesday, the Fulton county superior judge Scott McAfee wrote in a court filing reviewed by the Hill:
      “Defense counsel here are entitled, and would be expected, to conduct a thorough investigation in the zealous representation of their clients …
      Setting aside scenarios involving harassment of some kind, the desire to simply talk to the grand jurors is not ‘illegal,’” he added.
      McAfee added that although there are rules to secrecy surrounding grand jury deliberations: “The court has not found nor been provided with any authority that suggests defense counsel are totally forbidden from contact.”Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has hit back at Republicans criticizing his relaxed clothing choices in the Senate.The Democrat, who is known for routinely wearing oversized hoodies, sweaters and shorts, tweeted on Wednesday:
      “If those jagoffs in the House stop trying to shut our government down, and fully support Ukraine, then I will save democracy by wearing a suit on the Senate floor next week.”
      Senate Republicans have penned a letter to the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, in which they have asked him to retract the chamber’s new relaxed dress code.Forty-six Republicans sent Schumer the letter following Schumer’s announcement on Sunday that relaxes the chamber’s dress code.
      “For more than 230 years, the United States Senate has served the American people with honor and dignity. As members of this esteemed body, we understand the seriousness our positions require,” the letter said.
      “Allowing casual clothing on the Senate floor disrespects the institution we serve and the American families we represent. We the undersigned members of the United States Senate write to express our supreme disappointment and resolute disapproval of your recent decision to abandon the Senate’s longstanding dress code for members, and urge you to immediately reverse this misguided action,” it continued.
      Aside from Alabama’s Katie Britt, Indiana’s Mike Braun and Missouri’s Josh Hawley, every Republican senator signed the letter.Ex-president Donald Trump and his former chief of staff Mark Meadows joked about Covid-19 on a plane ride following the first debate with Joe Biden, a new book reveals.The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports:Donald Trump and his chief of staff Mark Meadows joked about the then US president having Covid on Air Force One after the first debate with Joe Biden in 2020 – an event at which Trump was not tested but three days before which, Meadows later confessed, Trump had indeed tested positive.On the flight, on 29 September 2020, Trump speculated about his health, saying he thought his voice had sounded “a little bit off” at a rally in Duluth, Minnesota. But he also said he did not want the media to “accuse me of something ridiculous, like having Covid”.Meadows “laughed and promised him that we would handle it if it happened”.“We” referred to Meadows and Cassidy Hutchinson, the chief of staff’s closest aide who has now written a memoir, Enough. The book, which describes Hutchinson’s journey from Trump loyalist to key witness in the January 6 inquiry, will be published in the US next Tuesday. The Guardian obtained a copy.For the full story, click here:In an ongoing appearance before the House judiciary committee, the attorney general, Merrick Garland, defended the independence and integrity of the justice department from Republican attacks, saying “I am not the president’s lawyer”, and refusing to discuss the ongoing prosecution of the president’s son Hunter Biden. GOP lawmakers who control the committee are nonetheless peppering him with questions, including one who wondered if Garland should tell Joe Biden to “knock it off” when it comes to seeing his son.Here’s what else has happened today so far:
      Garland warned that defunding the FBI, as some far-right Republicans want to do, would undercut US national security.
      Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman has no time for those who criticize his choice of dress on the Senate floor while simultaneously failing to fund the US government.
      Cassidy Hutchinson, who gave gripping testimony to the January 6 committee, says in a new book she was groped on the day of the attack by Rudy Giuliani.
      In a new book, one of the most-remembered witnesses to testify before the January 6 committee says that she was groped on the day of the insurrection by Rudy Giuliani, the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports:Cassidy Hutchinson, the former Trump aide turned crucial January 6 witness, says in a new book she was groped by Rudy Giuliani, who was “like a wolf closing in on its prey”, on the day of the attack on the Capitol.Describing meeting with Giuliani backstage at Donald Trump’s speech near the White House before his supporters marched on Congress in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, Hutchinson says the former New York mayor turned Trump lawyer put his hand “under my blazer, then my skirt”.“I feel his frozen fingers trail up my thigh,” she writes. “He tilts his chin up. The whites of his eyes look jaundiced. My eyes dart to [Trump adviser] John Eastman, who flashes a leering grin.“I fight against the tension in my muscles and recoil from Rudy’s grip … filled with rage, I storm through the tent, on yet another quest for Mark.”Mark Meadows, Trump’s final chief of staff, was Hutchinson’s White House boss. Hutchinson’s memoir, Enough, describes the now 27-year-old’s journey from Trump supporter to disenchantment, and her role as a key witness for the House January 6 committee. It will be published in the US next Tuesday. The Guardian obtained a copy.The House is lurching towards both a government shutdown and an impeachment of Joe Biden that faces uncertain chances of success. But however those two issues are resolved, the Guardian’s David Smith reports they will take a toll on American democracy:If it’s Thursday, it must be impeachment. If it’s Saturday, it must be government shutdown. Next week, Republicans in Congress seem determined to prove that US democracy is broken.The party plans to hold the first hearing on its impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden over his family’s business dealings on 28 September. Meanwhile the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is barreling towards a deadline of 30 September to keep federal agencies running.The double header indicates how both impeachments and government shutdowns – once seen as rare, dangerous and to be avoided at all costs – have become political weapons deployed with increasing abandon.“In the past few years we’ve seen the routinisation of the unusual,” said Bill Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington. “It’s terrible for the country. It’s hard enough for a great nation to conduct its affairs without this sort of shortsighted nonsense getting in its way. Government as we know it is grinding to a halt.”Only three presidents have been impeached for “high crimes and misdemeanors” and none were convicted: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998 and Donald Trump in both 2019 and 2021. Now, House Republicans have launched an impeachment inquiry against Biden with no discernible evidence of an impeachable offence.As you can see in this video clip, it’s currently John Fetterman’s turn to preside over the Senate and, thanks to the new dress code, he’s doing so in his signature garb:As the government heads toward a shutdown thanks to infighting among House Republicans, the Democratic senator John Fetterman has made a proposition.If “those jagoffs in the House”, by which he most likely means the GOP, pass a resolution to fund the government, he’ll wear a suit on the Senate floor, the senator says on X:The Pennsylvania lawmaker is known for reporting to the Capitol in shorts and a hoodie, and a newly relaxed dress code in the chamber will allow him to cast votes without the coat and tie typically worn by male senators.Among the more colorful interlocutors on the House judiciary committee is Matt Gaetz, a far-right Republican who has lately been calling for defunding the FBI.He got into it with Merrick Garland over Hunter Biden’s interactions with his father. Though he may be a rightwing fixation and facing his own legal trouble, Joe Biden is often seen with his son at the White House or at events, and Gaetz wanted to know more about that.“Has anyone at the department told president Biden to knock it off with Hunter? I mean, you guys are charging Hunter Biden on some crimes, investigating him on others, you’ve got the president bringing Hunter Biden around to state dinners. Has anyone told him to knock it off?” Gaetz asked.“No one that I know of has spoken to the White House about the Hunter Biden case, of course not,” Garland replied, with barely concealed annoyance.Merrick Garland has warned that if the government shuts down at the end of the month, as it seems on course to do, the justice department’s ability to fight crime and work with law enforcement nationwide would be curtailed.“I haven’t done a complete calculation on the effects of a shutdown and the difference between which employees are indispensable under the statute and which ones not,” Garland said. “It will certainly disrupt all of our normal programs, including our grant programs to state and local law enforcement and to our ability to conduct our normal efforts with respect to the entire scope of our activities, including helping state and locals fight violent crime.”The federal government’s fiscal year ends on 30 September, but infighting among House Republicans has prevented Congress from reauthorizing spending beyond that date, or even agreeing on a short-term measure to keep the government funded while they negotiate a larger agreement.Much of the questioning the attorney general, Merrick Garland, is facing today centers on Hunter Biden, the president’s son whose foreign business entanglements and actions while struggling with drug addiction have been a fixation for Republicans eager to prove the president is corrupt. His case is long and complicated, so here is the Guardian’s Mary Yang with a look at the major events:Federal prosecutors indicted Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, over illegally possessing a firearm in Delaware on Thursday. The indictment comes a month after the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, appointed the US attorney David Weiss, a Trump nominee, to oversee the investigation as special counsel.Hunter Biden has been at the center of a years-long investigation into his tax affairs that was set to close with a guilty plea. But that plea deal fell apart at a Delaware courthouse after the Trump-appointed judge said she could not agree to the deal, which ensured Biden would avoid jail time in a separate case of illegally possessing a gun while using drugs.Amid the controversy, the president has repeatedly said he supports his son and Hunter has been seen regularly at family events. Asked if President Biden would pardon his son in the event of any conviction, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, told reporters: “No.”But the younger Biden has been embroiled in a list of unrelated controversies for years, including his overseas dealings and struggles with addiction, which ex-President Trump and his allies have regularly sought to use as fodder for attacks.Here’s a comprehensive timeline of the moments that have propelled Hunter Biden into the limelight. More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Biden uses executive power to create New Deal-style American Climate Corps

      by

      President Joe Biden will use his executive authority to create a New Deal-style American Climate Corps that will serve as a major green jobs training program.In an announcement on Wednesday, the White House said the program would employ about 20,000 young adults who will build trails, plant trees, help install solar panels and do other work to boost conservation and help prevent catastrophic wildfires.Biden had previously been thwarted by Congress on creating a climate corps. The climate corps had been proposed in early versions of the sweeping climate law approved last year but was jettisoned amid strong opposition from Republicans and concerns about cost.Democrats and environmental advocacy groups never gave up on the plan and pushed Biden in recent weeks to issue an executive order authorizing what the White House now calls the American Climate Corps. The program is modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps, created in the 1930s by the Democratic president Franklin D Roosevelt as part of the New Deal.“This summer, our country saw heat waves, wildfires and floods that destroyed communities, uprooted families and claimed hundreds of lives,” the Sunrise Movement and other organizations wrote on Monday in a letter to Biden’s White House.“While previous executive orders and legislation under your administration demonstrate tremendous progress toward meeting our Paris climate goals and your campaign promises, this summer has made clear that we must be as ambitious as possible in tackling the great crisis of our time,” the groups wrote.More than 50 Democratic lawmakers, including the Massachusetts senator Ed Markey and the New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also encouraged Biden to create a climate corps, saying in a separate letter on Monday that “the climate crisis demands a whole-of-government response at an unprecedented scale”.The lawmakers cited deadly heatwaves in the south-west and across the nation, as well as dangerous floods in New England and devastating wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui, among recent examples of climate-related disasters.A federal climate corps would “prepare a whole generation of workers for good-paying union jobs in the clean economy” while helping to “fight climate change, build community resilience and support environmental justice”, the lawmakers wrote.The White House declined to say how much the program will cost or how it will be paid for, but Democrats proposed $10bn for the climate corps in the climate bill before the provision was removed.Republicans have largely dismissed the climate corps as a do-gooder proposal that would waste money and could even take jobs away from other workers displaced by the Covid-19 pandemic.“We don’t need another FDR program, and the idea that this is going to help land management is a false idea as well,” the Arkansas representative Bruce Westerman, chairman of the House natural resources committee, said in 2021.Congressman Joe Neguse, a Colorado Democrat who has co-sponsored a climate corps bill, said it was important to train the next generation of federal land managers, park rangers and other stewards of our natural resources. Neguse and other Democrats have said the program should pay “a living wage” while offering healthcare coverage and support for childcare, housing, transportation and education.A key distinction between the original Civilian Conservation Corps and the new climate contingent is that, unlike the in 1930s, the US economy is not in an economic depression. The US unemployment rate was 3.8% in August, low by historical measures.The new corps is also likely to be far more diverse than the largely white and male force created 90 years ago.The White House climate adviser, Ali Zaidi, said the administration would work with at least six federal agencies to create the climate corps and would pair with at least 10 states. California, Colorado, Maine, Michigan and Washington have already begun similar programs, while five more are launching their own climate corps, Zaidi said: Arizona, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina and Utah.The initiative will provide job training and service opportunities to work on a wide range of projects that tackle the climate crisis, including restoring coastal wetlands to protect communities from storm surges and flooding; deploying clean energy projects such as wind and solar power; managing forests to improve health and prevent catastrophic wildfires; and implementing energy efficient solutions to cut energy bills for consumers, the White House said. More

    • 138 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Republicans seem even further from resolution as US shutdown deadline nears

      by

      Republican leaders seemed to move further away from a resolution to the impending government shutdown on Tuesday.In a sign of how bad the party’s split has become, a procedural vote on the short-term funding bill expected to happen today was cancelled, and an attempt to advance a Pentagon spending bill was voted down, thanks to rightwing Republicans. The vote intensifies the risk of a shutdown on 1 October and Kevin McCarthy losing his speakership.As another week of negotiations wears on, Republicans in the House of Representatives are in a state of “civil war”, according to the Democratic minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries. Media reports suggested that a newly aggressive McCarthy was ready to force a showdown with the hardliners in his party less than two weeks before the deadline to keep federal agencies afloat.But the day’s chaos revealed that he still faced a steep uphill climb, with far-right Republicans Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene signaling earlier in the day that even a resolution to temporarily delay a shutdown was out of reach.Part of the holdup includes proposed amendments from far-right Republicans on the continuing resolution that would prevent funds from being used for Ukraine aid and other initiatives. Greene’s list of amendments also included a ban on funding for Covid-19 vaccine mandates.A shutdown would mean thousands of government employees would be required to stop working until an agreement is reached, and many government benefits delayed. But even with Mitch McConnell’s warning to his own party, some hardliners continue to delay progress.Late on Sunday a group of hardline and moderate Republicans had reached agreement on a short-term stopgap spending bill, known as a “continuing resolution”, or CR, that could help McCarthy move forward on defence legislation.The measure would keep the government running until the end of October, giving Congress more time to enact full-scale appropriations for 2024. The Politico website reported that the Heritage Foundation, an influential conservative thinktank, had thrown its weight behind the proposed CR.But it remains unclear whether it can garner enough Republican support to pass the House. At least a dozen members came out against it or expressed scepticism. Matt Gaetz, a Florida congressman who has called for McCarthy’s removal, tweeted that the CR is “a betrayal of Republicans” while Majorie Taylor Greene of Georgia posted: “I’m a NO!”The standoff poses the biggest threat to McCarthy in his eight months as the top House Republican as he struggles to unite a fractured caucus. On Tuesday Politico reported that he intends to come out fighting by putting the CR to a floor vote and daring his detractors to put themselves on the record by voting against it.“That would set McCarthy & Co. up to blame those holdouts for undercutting the party’s negotiating hand with Democrats, ultimately leading to the Senate jamming the House with a shutdown-averting stopgap without any Republican concessions,” Politico wrote.Last week McCarthy dared his opponents to hold a vote to remove him, reportedly telling them behind closed doors: “File the fucking motion!”He also vowed to move forward this week on an $886bn fiscal 2024 defense appropriations bill, which stalled last week as hardliners withheld support to demand a topline fiscal 2024 spending level of $1.47tn – about $120bn less than what McCarthy and Biden agreed to in May.McCarthy told Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures programme: “We’ll bring it to the floor, win or lose, and show the American public who’s for the Department of Defense, who’s for our military.” But in a fresh setback on Tuesday, McCarthy was forced to postpone a procedural vote on the measure to provide more time for negotiations.The White House has already threatened to veto the defence bill. The resolution agreed upon on Sunday is also unlikely to succeed with Democrats and become law. It would impose a spending cut of more than 8% on agencies other than the defense department and Department of Veterans Affairs and includes immigration and border security restrictions but not funding for Ukraine.Leah Greenberg, co-founder of the progressive group Indivisible and a former congressional aide, said: “You have a Republican party that is focused on advancing extremist policy instead of on doing the basic work of governing. Every Republican in the House is basically enabling this process by virtue of being unwilling to break with the extremists.“What you’re seeing with McCarthy is his own intentions are irrelevant. He is simply caving to the most extreme folks within the caucus and they are driving the agenda.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe Republican-controlled House and Democratic-led Senate have until 30 September to pass spending legislation that Joe Biden can sign into law to keep federal agencies afloat. With a 221-212 majority, McCarthy can afford to lose no more than four votes to pass legislation that Democrats unite in opposing.Some members of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, largely aligned with Donald Trump, are openly embracing a shutdown as a negotiating tactic to get their way on spending and conservative policy priorities.Congressman Chip Roy, a Freedom Caucus member, last week described a shutdown as “almost” inevitable and warned: “We have to hold the line.”Ultimately Republicans could be forced to move directly into negotiations with Senate Democrats on appropriations bills that could pass both chambers quickly and be signed into law by Biden.But this could fuel calls for McCarthy to be ousted from hardline conservatives and others who have accused him of failing to keep promises he made to become speaker in January.Congressman Ralph Norman, a Freedom Caucus member, told the Reuters news agency: “It’d be the end of his speakership.”Adding to the chaos, McCarthy apparently sought to curry favour with the far right last week by announcing the opening of an impeachment inquiry into Biden despite no tangible evidence that the president has committed an impeachable offence.On Tuesday he told reporters: “I never quit.” But his young speakership has never looked so vulnerable.Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, said: “It’s obviously uncertain. My hunch is what we’re going to see is McCarthy’s going to want to pass something and he will probably be forced to make concessions that are unacceptable to Democrats and maybe some Republicans. So this is the beginning of a process, not the culmination of it.”McCarthy only gained the speaker’s gavel in January after a tortuous 15 rounds of voting and hard bargaining with the far right. Bill Galston, a former policy adviser to Bill Clinton, said: “Kevin McCarthy, in order to become speaker of the House, handed out a slew of promissory notes. Those notes are all coming due at the same time and I don’t think he has enough political money in the bank to make good on the notes.“He’s the Mr Micawber of Republican politics, just hoping that something will turn up.” More

    • 175 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      House Republicans cancel vote on short-term funding measure amid infighting – as it happened

      by

      From 6h agoThe House will not vote today on a measure to keep the government open past 30 September, amid a split between the chamber’s Republican leadership and a handful of far-right lawmakers that will cause a government shutdown if it is not resolved in 12 days, Punchbowl News reports:Lawmakers had been scheduled to today vote to approve the rules of debate for the short-term funding measure, but it was unclear if it would have passed.With the US government 12 days away from shutting down, House Republicans were plagued by infighting between Kevin McCarthy and a handful of far-right lawmakers who refuse to approve a measure to keep the government open through October. In a sign of how bad the split has become, a procedural vote on the short-term funding bill expected to happen today was cancelled, and an attempt to advance a Pentagon spending bill was voted down, thanks to rightwing Republicans. But even if the House does get its ducks in a row, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said the short-term measure they would have voted on will not pass the chamber. It’s clear there’s lot of negotiating remaining if a government shutdown is to be avoided.Here’s what else happened today:
      House Republicans will hold the first hearing of their impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden next week.
      Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican, warned that the GOP may be blamed if the government shuts down.
      A Trump supporter at the center of conspiracy theories over January 6 has now been charged for his actions during the insurrection.
      Biden addressed the United Nations general assembly in New York City, and we have a live blog covering the day’s events.
      Jimmy Carter’s one-term presidency may have been on Biden’s mind as he pursued a deal with Iran that led to the release of seven Americans yesterday.
      As Politico reports, House Republicans aligned with Kevin McCarthy, which is most of them, had hoped that teeing up a vote on the defense spending measure would break the logjam with rightwing legislators who are holding up business in the chamber.But it didn’t work. The five GOP “no” votes, together with the Democrats’ refusal to vote for legislation they oppose, doomed the effort to begin debate on the bill:Punchbowl News reports that Republican lawmaker Mike Garcia accused the five Republicans who voted the rule down of, essentially, aiding the enemy:In a sign of how bad things have become in the House, Republican leaders just held a crucial vote to advance a Pentagon spending bill, but failed to win enough support for its passage after Democrats and a handful of GOP lawmakers opposed it.Representatives were voting on a rule to begin debate on the bill, but that failed to pass after Democrats – who appear perfectly happy watching the GOP’s slim majority slide into dysfunction – voted against it, as did a handful of Republicans.As it became clear that GOP leadership would not be getting its way today, sarcastic Democrats took to shouting “order!” in the chamber, as you can see from the clip below:There’s a new twist in the story of Ray Epps, a Donald Trump supporter who was present on January 6 and later found himself the subject of rightwing conspiracy theories that baselessly alleged he was an agent provocateur. As the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports, he himself is now in trouble with federal prosecutors:Ray Epps – a Donald Trump supporter, Oath Keepers militia member and January 6 participant who became the subject of rightwing conspiracy theories about the attack on Congress – has been charged with one criminal count related to the riot.In a court filing in US district court in Washington DC, dated Monday, federal prosecutors charged Epps with disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.The charge can carry a sentence of up to 10 years.A former US marine from Arizona, Epps went to Washington in January 2021 to join protesters seeking to block Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the presidential election the previous November.On the night of 5 January, he was filmed in downtown Washington, telling other Trump supporters: “Tomorrow, we need to go into the Capitol … peacefully.”The next day, as Trump told supporters to “fight like hell” in his cause, the Capitol came under attack. The attack failed and Trump’s defeat was confirmed. Nine deaths have now been linked to the riot.The notion that Epps was a federal agent, acting as a provocateur, took root early. On the night of 5 January, some around him chanted: “Fed! Fed! Fed! Fed!” In footage of the attack, after a Capitol police officer went down, Epps was seen pulling a rioter aside.Rightwing media, prominently including the then Fox News prime-time host Tucker Carlson, eagerly took up the theory that Epps was linked to federal agents.The US Capitol Police has canceled the security alert it issued following the discovery of a suspicious vehicle and package near its headquarters:The Senate’s top Republican Mitch McConnell warned against shutting down the government and said voters would likely blame the GOP if the federal government runs out of money at the start of October, according to reporters at the Capitol:With the Republican-controlled House oversight committee set to hold its first impeachment hearing of Joe Biden next week, the White House has hit back with a statement condemning the panel as a “political stunt” and calling on Republicans to instead focus on avoiding a government shutdown.“Extreme House Republicans are already telegraphing their plans to try to distract from their own chaotic inability to govern and the impacts of it on the country,” the White House’s spokesperson for oversight and investigations Ian Sams said. “Staging a political stunt hearing in the waning days before they may shut down the government reveals their true priorities: to them, baseless personal attacks on President Biden are more important than preventing a government shutdown and the pain it would inflict on American families.”Sams continued:
      The President has been very clear: he is going to remain focused on the issues that matter to the American people, including preventing the devastating and harmful cuts proposed by House Republicans that are hurtling us toward a government shutdown. House Republicans should drop these silly political Washington games and actually do their job to prevent a government shutdown.
      In a press conference, chair of the House Democratic caucus Pete Aguilar signaled that the party’s lawmakers were in a wait-and-see mode as the GOP squabbles among themselves ahead of an end-of-the-month government shutdown deadline:Far-right Republicans have been pushing for amendments on the continuing resolution that would prevent funds from being used for Ukraine aid and other initiatives.Here are some of the amendments being requested from Marjorie Taylor Greene, from Punchbowl News’ Mica Soellner:There doesn’t seem to be much progress on the House GOP resolution, with Republicans still working to clear a path to get the resolution passed.Florida representative Matt Gaetz told reporters this afternoon that “no” progress was being made on getting the resolution passed.From Politico’s Jordain Carney:Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene also said House GOP were “nowhere near” getting the legislation passed.From Punchbowl News’ Mica Soellner:The United States Capitol Police Headquarters was evacuated today over a suspicious package and vehicle found nearby the premises.Many busy roads near the vehicle have also been temporary closed while police investigate.A date has been set for the first hearing of the inquiry into impeaching Joe Biden, with a government shut down looming.The first hearing will be on 28 September, the Associated Press reported.It will focus on “constitutional and legal questions” around Biden’s involvement in Hunter Biden’s international businesses, a House Oversight Committee spokesperson told AP.House GOP members have insisted that Biden’s conduct as vice president point to a culture of corruption.”With the US government 12 days away from shutting down, House Republicans are plagued by infighting between Kevin McCarthy and a handful of far-right lawmakers who refuse to approve a measure to keep the government open through October. In a sign of how bad the split has become, a procedural vote on the short-term funding bill expected to happen today has been cancelled. But even if the House does get its ducks in a row, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said the measure they would have voted on will not pass the Senate. It’s clear there’s lot of negotiating remaining if a government shutdown is to be avoided.Here’s what else has happened today:
      House Republicans will hold the first hearing of their impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden next week.
      Biden addressed the United Nations general assembly in New York City, and we have a live blog covering the day’s events.
      Jimmy Carter’s one-term presidency may have been on Biden’s mind as he pursued a deal with Iran that led to the release of seven Americans yesterday. More

    • 113 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      Virginia Democrat battling ‘Parkinson’s on steroids’ won’t seek re-election

      by

      Democratic congresswoman Jennifer Wexton said on Monday that she will finish out her term but not seek re-election for the northern Virginia-based seat that she has held since beating a Republican incumbent in 2018.Wexton, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease earlier this year, said in a statement that her doctor had “modified my diagnosis to supra-nuclear Palsy”. She described it as a “kind of ‘Parkinson’s on steroids’”.The congresswoman, who is 55, added that she was “heartbroken to have to give up something I have loved after so many years of serving my community”. But she said that taking her prognosis for the coming years into consideration had prompted her to decide “not to seek re-election once my term is complete”.Wexton was part of a new influx of Democrats to Congress that helped flip control of the body midway through Donald Trump’s presidency. Before being elected to Virginia’s 10th district, an area that includes the western Washington DC suburbs of Leesburg and Loudoun county through Fauquier county, Wexton was a member of the state’s senate, a judge and a prosecutor.In 2022, she won re-election by more than 6%.Wexton said that she had not been making as much progress as she had hoped with what was then believed to Parkinson’s. Her new diagnosis – progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) – is caused by damage to nerve cells in areas of the brain that control thinking and body movements.The National Institutes of Health report that most people with PSP develop eye problems as the condition progresses, and they tend to lean backwards as well as extend their necks. People with Parkinson’s tend to bend forward rather than backwards.The Washington Post reported that Weston had told her staff of her condition: “It’s not OK. It’s not OK at all … I’m going to die, which isn’t fair.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionWexton’s statement said she wanted to spend her “valued time” with her family and friends. She said that until her term in office ends she is “confident and committed as ever to keep up the work that got me into this fight in the first place”. More

    • 88 Shares99 Views

      in US Politics

      Congressional Biden ally dismisses Republicans’ impeachment strategy

      by

      One of Joe Biden’s key congressional allies has rejected the notion that Republicans can bait the president’s fellow Democrats into embracing an impeachment inquiry as an opportunity for him to be cleared over questions about his son’s business affairs.“What the American people want is for us to fund government and solve their issues,” the California congressman Ro Khanna said on Fox News Sunday, referring to how some hard-right Republicans have made a Biden impeachment inquiry a condition for them to support new funding that would avoid at least a partial federal government shutdown after 30 September.Khanna, a leading progressive who sits on the US House’s oversight committee and is a member of Biden’s re-election advisory board, added: “There is no grounds for an impeachment inquiry, and this is why” Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy lacks the votes necessary to have already called one.The comments from Khanna to the Republican-friendly news program came after host Maria Bartiromo suggested that going along with a Biden impeachment could afford the president a chance to demonstrate – once and for all – that allegations of corruption stemming from his son Hunter’s foreign business deals are unfounded.Bartiromo said Republican congressman Scott Perry – Khanna’s fellow House oversight committee member – had previously advanced a similar line of argument to support impeaching Biden. And Bartiromo also alluded to Fox News polling which showed a percentage of voters believed Biden had done something unethical, if not illegal, as far as Hunter’s business dealings were concerned.But Khanna countered by pointing Bartiromo and her viewers to a Washington Post opinion piece by Colorado’s Republican House member Ken Buck, which asserted that there was no evidence to justify a Biden impeachment.Buck said that was his position even as he strongly condemned the Democrat-led impeachment of Biden’s Republican presidential predecessor, Donald Trump, in 2019. That impeachment concerned attempts by Trump to find dirt on his political rivals, including Biden, pertaining to politics and business in Ukraine.It was separate from Trump’s second impeachment stemming from his supporters’ violent attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 after his electoral defeat to Biden. Both impeachments resulted in Trump’s acquittal.Khanna said it was also telling that other Republicans have publicly shared Buck’s opinion that Biden’s impeachment would at best be a fruitless distraction. That reality contrasts sharply with the generally united front which Democrats presented when voting to impeach Trump, Khanna argued.“I mean, when we impeached President Trump, every Democrat voted for it,” said Khanna, though two House members belonging to his party opposed the 2019 impeachment. The GOP House speaker, Khanna said, “simply doesn’t have the votes on his side”, and a substantial number of Republicans in the chamber have expressed their preference to focus on avoiding a government shutdown.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“Fund the government; solve people’s problems,” those Republicans say, according to Khanna.Bartiromo conceded that there were “definitely Republicans saying they don’t want to go down this road” of impeaching Biden.As ultra-conservative rhetoric about impeaching Biden swirled, the president’s son was indicted on Thursday on federal firearms charges which can carry up to 25 years in prison. The charges were brought against Hunter Biden after the collapse in August of a plea deal that also involved two separate misdemeanor tax charges.Since last year’s midterm elections, Republicans have held only a thin majority in the US House, which has the power to draw up articles of impeachment. Democrats hold a thin majority in the Senate, where two-thirds of the members need to vote to convict – and, as a consequence, remove from office – an impeached official. More

    • 175 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      The old story: Biden team veers from humour to hardball to tackle age issue

      by

      Joe Biden began his press conference at the JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi in Vietnam at 9.09pm local time. “Good evening, everyone – it is evening, isn’t it?” he said, prompting laughter. About 25 minutes later, the 80-year-old US president had another quip: “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go to bed.”Headline writers pounced. The Daily Beast website declared: “Biden Wraps Up G20 Conference by Announcing ‘I’m Going to Bed’”. But unusually, the White House fired back. Ben LaBolt, its communications director, retorted sarcastically on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: “Presidents shall never sleep. Not even at night after days of marathon meetings overseas. Sage guidance from the Daily Beast. Next up in the series: presidents shall never eat.”The riposte, combined with sharp pushback from LaBolt’s colleagues, suggested a newly pugnacious approach from Biden’s communications team over that most delicate of subjects: his age.A recent opinion poll by SSRS for the CNN network found declining shares of Democratic-aligned voters see Biden as inspiring confidence or having the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively as president. Asked to name their biggest concern about his candidacy in 2024, nearly half directly mentioned his age.As a white man with a blue-collar background, Biden has effectively neutralised many familiar Republican attack lines on race, gender or class elitism. But the prospect of him being 86 at the end of a second term has provided fodder for critics. Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor running for the Republican presidential nomination, has called for mental competency tests for candidates over 75 and warned that Biden will almost certainly be replaced by Vice-President Kamala Harris before the end of a second term.This week, David Ignatius, a venerable foreign affairs columnist for the Washington Post newspaper, lavished praise on Biden’s legislative achievements before contending that he and Harris should not run again. He wrote: “It’s painful to say that, given my admiration for much of what they have accomplished. But if he and Harris campaign together in 2024, I think Biden risks undoing his greatest achievement – which was stopping Trump.”Biden’s age is a problem that poses a unique challenge for the White House and the president’s re-election campaign. Some have advised them to embrace it as evidence of his experience, knowledge and wisdom. Jeffrey Katzenberg, a film producer and media proprietor, remarked earlier this year: “President Biden’s age is, in fact, his superpower.”But Frank Luntz, a consultant and pollster who has advised numerous Republican campaigns, described that as the “single dumbest political advice I have ever seen”. He explained: “Americans just say 80 is too old for being an effective president. The key is that Democrats are saying enough already, thank you for your service but don’t run for president, we need somebody else.”Biden’s likely rival in next year’s election, former president Donald Trump, is just three years younger, but Luntz counsels Democrats against emphasising that point. “They can’t do that because Trump may be 77 but he acts seven.”Biden’s Asia excursion illustrated the messaging opportunities and pitfalls around the issue. The White House points out that he “literally” travelled around the world – more than 18,000 miles – in under five days and met 20-plus foreign leaders. It gleefully quoted Peter Doocy, a reporter at the conservative Fox News network, who said from Hanoi: “He has basically been working all through the night. The equivalent of an all-nighter.”But the climactic press conference was interpreted by some as feeding into an existing narrative seen in Franklin Foer’s recent book, The Last Politician, which reported that Biden holds strikingly few morning meetings or public events before 10am and occasionally admits feeling tired.A report on CNN’s website said the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, had “abruptly” ended the session and foregrounded Biden’s comment about “going to bed”. It did not go unanswered. Olivia Dalton, principal deputy press secretary, set out Biden’s very long day on X and demanded: “What will be enough?” LaBolt targeted the author of the article, adding: “The desk jockey who wrote this utter BS was not present at the press conference or the trip.”It was an unusually personal, bare-knuckle approach from an administration that has condemned Trump’s frequent attacks on “fake news” and pledged to defend the freedom of the press.Robyn Patterson, an assistant White House press secretary, defended the responses to negative coverage, saying via email: “At the conclusion of the trip, President Biden held a press conference in the standard format. The President was scheduled to take five questions – he ended up taking seven.“He gave detailed answers on questions ranging from the US-China relationship, to his Indo Pacific strategy and climate change. When we see unfair spin that omits or downplays key facts and narratives ripped straight from right-wing Twitter, it’s our job to call that out.”Political analysts contend that calling out individual members of the media is unlikely to win friends in the long term.Kurt Bardella, a Democratic strategist, said: “I don’t think it’s wise. When you make things personal like that it doesn’t serve any positive purpose. No journalist who gets called out is going to all of a sudden go, ‘Oh, you’re right, I see it your way now, let me bend to your will.’ If anything, it makes the White House look overly defensive and overly concerned and a little touchy.”Reporters are not the problem but YouTube videos and TV coverage are, argues Charlie Sykes, editor of the Bulwark website and a former conservative radio host.“It is out there. The question of Joe Biden’s age comes up in every single conversation with every voter in America and that’s not going to go away and you can’t just simply spin that by beating up on reporters. People are watching Joe Biden very carefully.”The White House does need to rebut rightwing media claims that Biden is senile, Sykes added, because there is no evidence that he is unable to do the job. “But it seems naive to me to not recognise how the visuals undermine their message. The visuals of someone with a very stiff and wandering gait who sometimes loses the thread of conversation in these unstructured environments clearly is going to hurt them.“What really haunts me is what if we’re having this conversation in September or October of 2024. What if there is a Mitch McConnell-like episode [the Senate minority leader has frozen twice at press conferences] with the president in the fall of 2024, especially when Joe Biden may be the only thing that stands between this country and the constitutional disaster of a second Trump term?”Before Biden and Trump, the oldest American president was Ronald Reagan. When, at a debate in 1984, the moderator reminded him of this fact Reagan, then 73, replied: “I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” Even his Democratic opponent, Walter Mondale, laughed at the line. Reagan won re-election in a landslide.Biden himself appears to have borrowed from the Reagan playbook, deploying self-deprecating humour and taking a less combative approach than his aides. He has joked about serving in the Senate 180 years ago and knowing “Jimmy” Madison, who was president in the early 19th century. At this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner he made fun of his age several times.Chris Whipple, a journalist and author of The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House, believes this is a more fruitful way of handling the issue than going on the offensive. He said: “The answer is humour, not anger. It makes them look desperate when they get angry. The communications people in the White House should take a page from the boss and just try to keep a sense of humour.”The challenges facing Biden, who turns 81 in November, were underlined this week when Republicans in the House of Representatives announced an impeachment inquiry into unproven allegations of corruption and his son, Hunter, was indicted on three criminal counts related to his alleged illegal possession of a gun.His re-election effort will also include more travel and voter interaction than during the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns of 2020. Last week his campaign team released a video about his surprise visit to Ukraine, referencing that it was a near 40-hour journey that started at 4am and involved a nine-and-a-half-hour train journey to Kyiv. They can also point to Biden’s triumphant verbal sparring with Republicans at this year’s State of the Union address.But there will have to be enough to drown out the many clips circulating on rightwing media of Biden falling off a bike near his Delaware beach house last year or tripping over a sandbag at the Air Force Academy commencement a few months ago. The president’s gaffes, a hallmark of his long political career, now tend to be seen through the prism of a fading octogenarian.Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington and former White House official, noted that Biden had been making his case in speeches across the country and called for a sense of perspective. “His age will only be a liability if he’s running against somebody young,” she said. “It’s not going to be a liability running against Trump. You’ve just got to look at the guy.“All that’s happened is so far the Republicans have been more aggressive on the age issue. But this is people throwing stones at glass houses. Trump is a walking heart attack, he looks a mess, he’s overweight and he talks in frequently incoherent babble. I don’t know if it’s dementia or just plain old stupidity. At least Joe Biden says things that make sense.” More

    • 225 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      Prosecutors warned Trump’s knowledge of Twitter search warrant could ‘precipitate violence’, court filings show – as it happened

      by

      From 4h agoFederal prosecutors secretly argued that informing Donald Trump about their efforts to access his Twitter account could “precipitate violence”, according to newly unsealed court filings.Prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith worried that Trump would publicly announce the search warrant or his Twitter feed, as he did on his Truth Social platform when his Mar-a-Lago estate was searched by the FBI last year.Informing Trump about the Twitter search warrant “could precipitate violence as occurred following the public disclosure of the search warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago,” the prosecutors warned. The news was first reported by Politico.Prosecutors argued for keeping Trump in the dark about the Twitter search warrant was necessary because they said the former president presents a “significant risk of tampering with evidence, seeking to influence or intimidate potential witnesses, and ‘otherwise seriously jeopardizing’ the Government’s ongoing investigations.”“These are not hypothetical considerations in this case,” the prosecutors wrote.
      Following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, the former President propagated false claims of fraud (including swearing to false allegations in a federal court filing), pressured state and federal officials to violate their legal duties, and retaliated against those who did not comply with his demands, culminating in violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
      In response, Twitter said the prospect of violence was “facially implausible” and argued that Trump already knew many details about Smith’s investigation. US district court judge Beryl Howell ultimately rejected the social media company’s arguments.The new filings also show Twitter turned over at least 32 direct messages from Trump’s account, @realDonaldTrump, to prosecutors. Prosecutors also obtained data that could show his location at the time certain tweets were sent, or if anyone else was accessing his account.It’s 4pm eastern time. That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, and the US politics live blog today.Here’s a recap of today’s developments:
      Americans do not trust the government’s economic news – or the media’s reporting of it – according to a Harris poll conducted exclusively for the Guardian that presents the White House with a major hurdle as it pushes Joe Biden’s economic record ahead of next year’s election.
      Prosecutors in the office of special counsel Jack Smith urged the judge overseeing his federal 2020 election interference criminal case to deny a request by Donald Trump to recuse herself from the case. There is “no valid basis” for US district judge Tanya Chutkan to remove herself from the case, Smith wrote.
      Twitter gave the special counsel prosecuting Donald Trump for alleged election subversion access to at least 32 of the former president’s private messages. The company, now known as X, turned over the messages after receiving a search warrant, citing newly unsealed filings to the US circuit court of appeals.
      Federal prosecutors secretly argued that informing Donald Trump about their efforts to access his Twitter account could “precipitate violence”, according to the newly unsealed court filings. Prosecutors worried that Trump would publicly announce the search warrant or his Twitter feed, as he did on his Truth Social platform when his Mar-a-Lago estate was searched by the FBI last year.
      Joe Biden spoke out in support of auto workers as they launched a historic series of strikes after their union failed to reach an agreement with the US’s three largest vehicle manufacturers. “No one wants a strike, but I respect workers’ rights to use their options under the collective bargaining system, and [I] understand their frustrations,” the US president said in a brief, unscheduled appearance at the White House.
      Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency in Maine as Hurricane Lee rapidly approaches the north-easternmost US state amid the likelihood of a landfall there or more likely in Canada over the weekend.
      Donald Trump’s October trial in a civil case brought by the New York attorney general, Letitia James, could be delayed because the former US president has quietly sued the judge Arthur F Engoron.
      Donald Trump said he would testify under oath denying he asked a staffer to delete surveillance footage at the center of an investigation into whether he mishandled classified documents. In an NBC interview, the former president said it is “very unlikely” he would pardon himself if he is re-elected in 2024.
      The House oversight committee announced it will be launching a Republican-led investigation into the Biden administration’s response to the deadly wildfires in Hawaii, which killed at least 115 people last month.
      The former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said he would drop out of the Republican presidential primary if he does not show well in New Hampshire.
      A lawyer for Hunter Biden, who was indicted on Thursday over illegally possessing a firearm, said he expected the case “will be dismissed before trial”. The president’s son was indicted by special counsel David Weiss on three felony gun charges after a plea agreement he struck with prosecutors imploded in recent months.
      Three men were acquitted in the final trial connected to a scheme to kidnap the governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, a pandemic-era plot steeped in extremist politics and domestic terrorism that saw others imprisoned for lengthy terms.
      About half of Americans are interested in getting an updated Covid-19 vaccine, according to a new poll, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a series of Covid-19 booster vaccines amid rising coronavirus cases around the country.
      The House oversight committee announced it will be launching a Republican-led investigation into the Biden administration’s response to the deadly wildfires in Hawaii.A joint statement by James Comer, the chair of the House oversight committee, and Pete Sessions, the subcommittee chair, reads:
      The deadly wildfire in Maui shocked the nation and left many, especially those directly impacted by the tragedy, with serious questions that remain unanswered today. President Biden built his entire reputation on empathy and compassion but failed to deliver an appropriate response when it mattered most.
      At least 115 people were killed in last month’s wildfires on the island of Maui. The fire nearly destroyed the town of Lahaina, and caused more than $5.5bn in damage, according to estimates by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.The House oversight committee’s investigation into the fires is separate from a hearing by the energy and commerce committee, which will feature testimony from Hawaii utility and energy officials.Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis has subpoenaed former justice department official Jody Hunt for an upcoming hearing to transfer Jeff Clark’s case to federal court.From my colleague Hugo Lowell:About half of Americans are interested in getting an updated Covid-19 vaccine, according to a new poll, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a series of Covid-19 booster vaccines amid rising coronavirus cases around the country.The Reuters/Ipsos nationwide poll found that almost 30% of respondents were “very interested” in getting the vaccine and another 24% were “somewhat interested”.On Monday, the FDA approved Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines that target a recently circulating Omicron subvariant of the coronavirus.The results of the poll suggest that more Americans are willing to get a booster shot than a year ago. According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in six Americans opted for an updated shot.About 14% of those who said they were not interested in getting the booster said it was because they had Covid-19 already, while another 14% said they believed their previous vaccinations provided sufficient protection.The former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said he would drop out of the Republican presidential primary if he does not show well in New Hampshire.“I can’t see myself leaving the race under any circumstances before New Hampshire,” he told the New York Times. “If I don’t do well in New Hampshire, then I’ll leave.”As the Times pointed out, Christie is following the playbook he used in 2016, when his run for the Republican nomination focused on New Hampshire … and ended after it, after he finished sixth in the primary.Christie then became the first major figure to endorse Donald Trump in his insurgent run to the White House.Christie planned the transition at Trump Tower, only to be brutally (if of course metaphorically) defenestrated by Jared Kushner, whose father Christie put in jail back when he was a prosecutor in New Jersey. That didn’t stop Christie supporting Trump, and nor did Trump’s part in Christie ending up in the ICU with Covid. It took January 6 to finally propel Christie away from Trump, whose unfitness to govern the former governor is now dedicated to exposing.As the Times reported, Christie is portraying the Republican primary as an existential matter for the country:
      ‘The future of this country is going to be determined here,’ Mr Christie told a crowd this week at a local brewery, clutching an IPA. ‘If Donald Trump wins here, he will be our nominee. Everything that happens after that is going to be on our party and on our country. It’s up to you.’”
      The Times also noted the current state of play in primary polling:
      Though Mr Christie has improved in recent polls, he still trails Mr Trump in New Hampshire by double digits, and by much more in national polls and surveys of Iowa, the first nominating state.
      Christie told the Times he wanted to emulate John McCain, the Arizona senator who “broke late” in New Hampshire in 2000, ending up winning the state.McCain, of course, did not win the Republican nomination in 2000. George W Bush did. McCain did win it in his second attempt, eight years after his first. He was then heavily beaten in the general election, by Barack Obama.An exhaustive manifesto for the next conservative US president produced by Project 2025, an initiative led by the hard-right Heritage Foundation, uses “dehumanising language” about LGBTQ+ Americans too extreme even for candidates currently seeking the Republican presidential nomination, a leading advocate said.“The dehumanising language is consistent with the way the right talks about LGBTQ+ people overall,” said Sasha Buchert, director of the Non-Binary and Transgender Rights Project for Lambda Legal.“They’re never talking about transgender people or gay and lesbian people, it’s always referring to them as an ideology of some kind, or an ‘ism’. There’s no humanity involved … Not even the presidential candidates in the Republican debates are embracing this kind of rhetoric.”Donald Trump is the clear leader of that Republican race, despite facing 91 criminal indictments and multiple civil suits. Primary candidates have eagerly embraced anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, particularly over state anti-trans laws and the place of LGBTQ+ issues in public education. This summer, however, Trump’s closest polling rival, Ron DeSantis, was forced on to the defensive over an online video that used harsh imagery and language to accuse Trump of being too soft on LGBTQ+ issues.By its own description, Project 2025 is the work of “a broad coalition of over 70 conservative organisations”, aiming to shape the presidential transition should a rightwing candidate beat Joe Biden next year.In the words of Paul Dans, its director, Project 2025 is “systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army, aligned, trained, and essentially weaponised conservatives ready to do battle against the deep state”.Such language may echo conspiracy-tinged rants by Trump and his supporters, but that “army” has produced something solid: Mandate for Leadership: the Conservative Promise, a 920-page document that sets out policy wishes across the breadth of the federal government.Read on…As the old saying goes, “where there’s smoke there’s fire”: the Colorado Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s claim not to have been vaping during a theatrical performance in Denver from which she and a male companion were ejected has been proven false.In an episode that generated widespread headlines, the far-right controversialist was escorted out of a performance of the Beetlejuice musical at the Buell Theatre last weekend.Speaking on condition of anonymity, a woman who sat behind the congresswoman told the Denver Post: “These people in front of us were outrageous. I’ve never seen anyone act like that before.”The woman, who is pregnant, said she asked Boebert to stop vaping.Boebert said simply: “No.”Boebert and her companion were eventually escorted from the theatre. Boebert’s office confirmed the incident but denied the congresswoman had been vaping, even though such behaviour was detailed in a widely cited incident report.Surveillance footage obtained by 9News, an NBC affiliate, disproved Boebert’s claim.More:Donald Trump has widened his lead in the Republican presidential primary in the three weeks since the first GOP primary debate – in which he did not take part, according to a new poll.The Fox News poll showed 60% of potential Republican primary voters support Trump, up from 53% in a survey taken before the 23 August debate in Milwaukee. The report said:
      Some of Trump’s biggest gains come from women (+10), voters under age 45 (+9), White evangelicals (+8), and White men without a college degree (+8).
      Trump’s closest rival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, has seen his support drop since the debate, the results showed. The survey found 13% of GOP voters back DeSantis in the primary, down three points. Vivek Ramaswamy held his third-place slot at 11%Melania Trump, Donald Trump’s wife, may be back on the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign trail with him “pretty soon”, he said.In an interview with Meet the Press, moderator Kristen Welker asked the former president, “we’ll get her on the trail soon?” Trump replied:
      Yes. Soon? Yeah, pretty soon. When it’s appropriate, but pretty soon. She’s a private person, a great person, a very confident person and she loves our country very much.
      He added:
      Honestly, I like to keep her away from it. It’s so nasty and so mean.
      The former first lady was a prominent fixture in Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and throughout his presidency, but she has rarely been spotted by her husband’s side since leaving the White House. Most notably, she did not appear at any of his court appearances.Joe Biden appeared to support the auto workers strike in strong comments made during his White House address this afternoon. He said:
      No one wants a strike, but I respect workers’ right to use their options under the collective bargaining system.
      “I understand the workers’ frustration,” he added.
      Record corporate profits … should be shared by record contracts for the UAW.
      My colleague Maya Yang is covering the strike on our dedicated UAW strike blog.The team of special counsel Jack Smith obtained a search warrant in January directing Twitter, now known as X, to produce “data and records” related to Donald Trump’s Twitter account as well as a non-disclosure agreement prohibiting Twitter from disclosing the search warrant.Court filings last month showed Twitter delayed complying with the warrant, leading to a federal judge holding the company in contempt and fining it $350,000.The filing said prosecutors got the search warrant after a court “found probable cause to search the Twitter account for evidence of criminal offenses”.The court found that disclosing the warrant could risk that Trump would “would seriously jeopardize the ongoing investigation” by giving him “an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior”, according to the filing.Federal prosecutors secretly argued that informing Donald Trump about their efforts to access his Twitter account could “precipitate violence”, according to newly unsealed court filings.Prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith worried that Trump would publicly announce the search warrant or his Twitter feed, as he did on his Truth Social platform when his Mar-a-Lago estate was searched by the FBI last year.Informing Trump about the Twitter search warrant “could precipitate violence as occurred following the public disclosure of the search warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago,” the prosecutors warned. The news was first reported by Politico.Prosecutors argued for keeping Trump in the dark about the Twitter search warrant was necessary because they said the former president presents a “significant risk of tampering with evidence, seeking to influence or intimidate potential witnesses, and ‘otherwise seriously jeopardizing’ the Government’s ongoing investigations.”“These are not hypothetical considerations in this case,” the prosecutors wrote.
      Following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, the former President propagated false claims of fraud (including swearing to false allegations in a federal court filing), pressured state and federal officials to violate their legal duties, and retaliated against those who did not comply with his demands, culminating in violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
      In response, Twitter said the prospect of violence was “facially implausible” and argued that Trump already knew many details about Smith’s investigation. US district court judge Beryl Howell ultimately rejected the social media company’s arguments.The new filings also show Twitter turned over at least 32 direct messages from Trump’s account, @realDonaldTrump, to prosecutors. Prosecutors also obtained data that could show his location at the time certain tweets were sent, or if anyone else was accessing his account.Twitter handed over at least 32 direct messages from Donald Trump’s account to special counsel Jack Smith earlier this year in the justice department’s investigation into the 2020 election subversion case, according to newly unsealed court filings.In the new filings, Smith’s team revealed “the materials Twitter produced to the Government included only 32 direct-message items, constituting a minuscule proportion of the total production”.From Politico’s Kyle Cheney:A prominent New York progressive is warning that mayor Eric Adams’s hostile comments about the rising number of migrants in the city are “dangerous” and risk inciting violence against the new arrivals and other immigrants.Tiffany Cabán, aiming for re-election to the city council this November and long endorsed by leading leftwing figures, including US senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, attacked as “irresponsible” the mayor’s remarks last week that the sharp increase in migration to New York would “destroy” the city.Cabán told the Guardian:
      The idea that new arrivals would destroy New York City is absurd to me. New arrivals, immigrants, made our city.
      “I think there’s a real possibility of his rhetoric fomenting violence, and that’s the last thing we need,” Cabán, a former public defender, added.New York and other Democratic-led cities have received hundreds of thousands of people who crossed the US-Mexico border to request asylum since last year.More than 110,000 migrants have arrived in New York, most making their own way but many also bussed by Texas authorities, without liaison. Officials say they are struggling to provide for nearly 60,000 migrants currently in the city’s care. More