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      ‘Shut your mouth’: Republican senator and Teamsters leader in fiery clash

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      01:22‘Shut your mouth’: Republican senator and Teamsters leader in fiery clashMarkwayne Mullin, a former MMA fighter, argues with union’s Sean O’Brien as Bernie Sanders seeks order in Senate hearingA Republican senator who once had to reassure voters he didn’t think he was “Rambo” and was a mixed martial arts fighter before entering politics got into a vocal brawl with a union boss during a public congressional hearing, saying: “You need to shut your mouth.”Mitch McConnell in hospital after fall in Washington DCRead moreMarkwayne Mullin of Oklahoma exchanged verbal fire with Sean O’Brien, president of the Teamsters, during a hearing staged on Wednesday by the Senate health, education, labor and pensions committee.The chair, the Vermont independent Bernie Sanders, was seeking support for his Protecting the Right to Organise Act. But Mullin made headlines of his own.The 45-year-old, who owns a plumbing business, said he was “not against unions …some of my very good friends work for unions. They work hard, and they do a good job.”But he said he did not like “intimidation” by union leaders trying to unionise businesses including his own.“I’m not afraid of a physical confrontation,” Mullin continued. “In fact, sometimes I look forward to it. That’s not my problem.”In late 2021, Mullin memorably said “I’m not Rambo”, in reference to a character played by Sylvester Stallone in a violent film series, amid controversy over an attempt to enter Afghanistan with a private security team. He also said he had not tried to be “a cowboy or anything like that”.Mullin is a state wrestling hall of fame member whose website says he is “a former Mixed Martial Arts fighter with a professional record of 5-0”.Addressing O’Brien, he said: “But when you’re [confronting] my employees? For what? Because we were paying higher wages? Because we had better benefits and we wasn’t requiring them to pay your guys’ exorbitant salaries?”The website of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters describes O’Brien, 51, as a fourth-generation teamster who started out in “the rigging industry as a heavy-equipment driver in the Greater Boston area”.Mullin asked O’Brien about his salary and accused him of forcing members to pay union dues.“You’re out of line,” O’Brien said.“Don’t tell me I’m out of line,” Mullin said. “You need to shut your mouth.”O’Brien mocked Mullin’s “tough guy” act.Sanders tried to gavel the two men to order, saying: “Senator, hold it, hold it.”O’Brien told Mullin: “I bet you I work more hours than you do. Twice as many hours.”Mullin said: “Sir, you don’t know what hard work is.”O’Brien said unions “create opportunity because we hold … greedy CEOs like yourself accountable”.Mullin said: “You calling me a greedy CEO?”O’Brien said: “Oh yeah, you are. You want to attack my salary, I’ll attack yours … What did you make when you owned your company?”Mullin said he made “about $50,000 a year because I invested every penny”.“OK, all right,” O’Brien said. “You mean you hid money?”Pointing at O’Brien, Mullin said: “Hold on a second.”“All right, we’re even,” said O’Brien, smiling. “We’re even.”Mullin said: “We’re not even. We’re not even close to being even. You think you’re smart? You think you’re funny?”“You think you’re funny,” O’Brien said. “You framed your opening statement saying you’re a tough guy.”Sanders said: “Senator, please continue your statement.”Mullin said: “I think it’s great you’re doing this because this shows their behavior and how they try to come in and organise a shop.”Sanders said: “They see your behavior here. Stay on the issue.”After the hearing, the spat continued on social media.TopicsUS unionsUS politicsUS SenateUS CongressBernie SandersRepublicansDemocratsnewsReuse this content More

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      Republicans are threatening to default on the US national debt. Don’t believe them | Robert Reich

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      Republicans are threatening to default on the US national debt. Don’t believe themRobert ReichHere’s a dirty secret: both Republicans’ debt hysteria and Biden’s proposed tax hikes are pure theater. Neither will happenPresident Biden is proposing to trim the federal budget deficit by close to $3tn over the next 10 years. He was an FDR-like spender in the first two years of his presidency. Has he now turned into a Calvin Coolidge skinflint?Neither. He’s a cunning political operator.The US central bank is poised to cause untold hardship to millions of Americans | Robert ReichRead moreBiden knows that he – along with his three immediate predecessors (Trump, Obama and George W Bush) – have spent gobs of money. In addition, Bush and Trump cut taxes on the rich and on corporations.Not surprisingly, the national debt has soared. It’s not so much an economic problem as a political one. The huge debt is giving Republicans a big, fat target.House Republicans are planning to stage theater-of-the-absurd pyrotechnics – refusing to raise the debt ceiling. Which means that at some point this summer, Biden’s treasury department will say that the nation is within days (or hours) of defaulting on its bills. A default would be catastrophic.To counter this, Biden is planning his own pyrotechnics.In the budget released this week, he’s proposing a “billionaire minimum tax” that would require wealthy American households worth more than $100m to pay at least 20% of their incomes in taxes (most middle-class Americans pay about 30%). Plus, they’d have to pay 20% a year on unrealized gains in the value of their liquid assets, such as stocks, which can accumulate value for years but are taxed only when they are sold (and not even then, if left to their heirs).Here’s the important thing: the tax would apply only to the top one-100th of 1% of American households. Over half of the revenue would come from those worth more than $1bn.Biden is proposing additional tax hikes on the wealthy: reversing the Trump tax cut by raising the top tax rate to 39.6% from 37%, increasing the corporate tax to 28% from 21%, and raising the tax on stock buybacks from 1% to 4%.All told, Biden’s new tax proposals would amount to an almost $3tn tax increase over a decade – on the richest of the rich. Oh, and did I say? Taxing the rich is enormously popular.Biden also wants to let Medicare officials negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices and cap the costs of drugs for seniors – a proposal that is also hugely popular.But here’s the dirty little secret. Neither of these two theatrical productions – neither the Republicans’ refusal to raise the debt ceiling nor Biden’s big tax hike on the super-rich – will ever happen. They’re both fantasies.A default on the nation’s obligations would bring on an economic calamity that Republicans don’t want to be responsible for. And a giant tax increase on the super-rich would be a miracle, given their political clout.These two productions are being staged for the public – two competing performances, each intended to score political points against the other.Biden’s performance is rational, and the Republicans’ is irrational and unserious, but that doesn’t really matter.They will both end in a dramatic flurry of last-minute negotiations, seemingly death-defying moves and countermoves, and breathtaking cliffhangers.Exciting? Of course. Important? Meh.The denouement? The debt ceiling will be raised. The national debt will be lowered a bit. Social Security and Medicare will be left alone. And Biden and the Democrats will have leeway to do one or two more things before the gravitational pull of the 2024 election pulls them in – perhaps expand childcare or pre-K or enable more students to attend community college.
      Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com
      This article was amended on 9 March 2023 to correct an editor’s error in the standfirst. Biden has proposed tax hikes for wealthy Americans, not tax cuts.
      TopicsUS politicsOpinionUS CongressJoe BidenBiden administrationEconomic policyDemocratsRepublicanscommentReuse this content More

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      White House calls Tucker Carlson ‘shameful’ for misrepresenting January 6 footage – as it happened

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      The White House has just slammed Fox News show host Tucker Carlson, calling the right-wing television star “shameful” for the way he is misrepresenting the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol as extremist supporters of Donald Trump tried to overturn his defeat in the presidential election.The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, criticized the security footage of the riot at the Capitol that Carlson has played on his show for the last two nights heavily edited so that it gives the impression of depicting what he described as “peaceful chaos”.Many hours of footage was handed over to him by the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy.“To have said what he said when we saw police officers lose their lives is just shameful,” Jean-Pierre just said at the daily briefing in the west wing, when asked about Carlson’s latest actions.00:47She said that the White House agrees with the chief of the Capitol police, Tom Manger (who said in an internal memo Carlson’s broadcast was “filled with offensive and misleading conclusions) and the “rage of bipartisan lawmakers”.“We have condemned this false depiction of the unprecedented, violent attack on our constitution and the rule of law, which cost police officers their lives…on a very dark day in our democracy,” Jean-Pierre said.She added that in various legal battles, the White House agrees with Fox’s own attorneys and executives who “have repeatedly stressed in courts of law that Tucker Carlson is not credible when it comes to this issue in particular”.She cited this September 2020 piece from National Public Radio (NPR) on which the headline was: “You literally can’t believe the facts Tucker Carlson tells you. So say Fox’s lawyers.”This blog is wrapping up for the day but will be back with all the US politics news tomorrow, covering developments as they happen.Here’s how the day went:
      Top US intelligence official Avril Haines said that American intelligence does not believe Russia can make “major territorial gains” in Ukraine this year because of heavy casualties and the Kremlin’s inability to replenish weapons and ammunition.
      White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has just slammed Fox News show host Tucker Carlson, calling the right-wing television star “shameful” for the way he is misrepresenting the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol as extremist supporters of Donald Trump tried to overturn his defeat in the presidential election.
      House Republicans convened their first hearing on what the committee chairman called the Biden’s administration’s “disastrous” withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
      Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Department of Justice (DoJ) will conduct a federal review of the Memphis police department after the killing of Tyre Nichols earlier this year and also look into the use of specialized police units nationwide.
      The Department of Justice has issued its review, concluding that it found racist and unlawful conduct by police officers in Louisville, Kentucky, following their investigation into the city’s law enforcement after the killing of Breonna Taylor during a botched police raid in 2020.
      Fox News has been broadsided by the latest court motions revealing that people from top executives down to reporters knew that Donald Trump’s claims that victory in the 2020 election had been stolen from him because of fraud were bogus – but star commentary hosts boosted those claims anyway.
      The top intelligence official in the US said earlier today that American intelligence does not believe Russia can make “major territorial gains” in Ukraine this year because of heavy casualties and the Kremlin’s inability to replenish weapons and ammunition.Speaking to a Senate committee, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines also cited other constraints on the Russian military, including dysfunction in leadership and declining troop morale, the Associated Press reports.Meanwhile, despite recent sharp criticism of the US by Chinese president Xi Jinping, Haines said: “We assess that Beijing still believes it benefits most by preventing a spiraling of tensions and by preserving stability in its relationship with the United States.”China is challenging the US around the world economically, technologically, politically and militarily around the world and “remains our unparalleled priority,” Haines said and NBC reported.Georgia extremist congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene took the gavel today as the temporary speaker of the House of Representatives.For a long time, the hard-right Republican prone to conspiracy theories could be kept at arm’s length as a fringe character but her influence has grown since she shimmied up to Kevin McCarthy as a crucial ally during his extraordinary multi-round effort to finally get voted into the speakership in January, after the GOP scraped into control of the House during the 2022 midterm elections.McCarthy not only sold his soul for the speakership, he sold the House, too.Shameful day: Today, Kevin McCarthy appointed Marjorie Taylor Greene to act as speaker pro tempore https://t.co/Wa5utLYuXq— Linus Fan 💉💉💉💉💉 (@LinusAlso) March 8, 2023
      She’s very pleased about it.The House will be in order. pic.twitter.com/8154CGMQqQ— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) March 8, 2023
      Others less so.Kevin McCarthy has announced Marjorie Taylor Greene as Speaker Pro Tempore….meaning she will fill the role of presiding officer of the House in the absence of the Speaker of the House. Absolutely insane.— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) March 8, 2023
      As my colleague Adam Gabbatt reminds us, Greene has suggested Jewish space lasers are responsible for wildfires, speculated whether 9/11 was a hoax and supported the QAnon conspiracy theory, was part of a new wave of Trumpian Republicans and was mocked, ridiculed and reviled in equal measure – including by some in her own party.The Atlantic’s “Why is Marjorie Taylor Greene like this?” is also an illuminating read, describing how prosperous but aimless suburbanites can fall down the rabbit hole.Last month, Greene again proposed a “national divorce” so that states can secede along political lines, something that is unequivocally unconstitutional in the United States.The testimony in today’s House hearing on the Afghanistan withdrawal has brought witnesses, lawmakers and audience members to tears.In another gripping account, Tyler Vargas-Andrews, a US Marines sergeant grievously injured in a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport, was asked to tell the panel about the girl he saved during the evacuation.Stationed at the airport, Vargas-Andrews said he was helping to push back the crowds outside of the airport, he noticed a little girl, roughly about 7 or 8 years old, who had managed to squeeze past, holding the hand of her younger brother and a baby in her arms.“In this chaos, I had tunnel-vision and saw her and I was like, I need to help them,” Vargas-Andrews said, recalling that their faces were “dirty and bruised” and streaked with tears.When he reached the children, he noticed that the baby’s face was blue and didn’t appear to be breathing. He took the youngest children in his arms and together they fought their way through the crush of people. Not knowing if the baby was alive, they searched frantically for a medic who could perform CPR on the baby.They found one, administered aid, and the baby’s face “flushed pink” and the infant began to breathe, as the little girl sobbed. She tugged on his uniform and begged for abba, father.He climbed onto an SUV overlooking the razor wire fence erected around the airport and hoisted the girl into the air to survey the scene below. After a few minutes, amid the hundreds of people desperately waving documents and flinging luggage, she pointed to a man with his hands on his head staring back at her, tears streaming down his face.“I was like that is her dad,” Vargas-Andrews said. He quickly reunited the family and together they were able to leave the country.“For me, that was a moment that my personal injury was worth it,” said Vargas-Andrews, who has since undergone 44 surgeries for the extensive injuries he suffered during the bombing. “I know those three little kids will have a life of freedom and opportunity now because of that.”The former Maryland governor Larry Hogan has ruled out a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 – but not ruled out a third-party tilt.Hogan told ABC on Tuesday: “I haven’t ruled that out. But it’s not something I’m really working toward or thinking about” even though “the question keeps popping up more and more”.Hogan flirted with a run for the nomination as a moderate but pulled back on Sunday, saying: “To once again be a successful governing party, we must move on from Donald Trump.“There are several competent Republican leaders who have the potential to step up and lead. But the stakes are too high for me to risk being part of another multi-car pile-up that could potentially help Mr Trump recapture the nomination.”Polling has shown the potential for opponents to Trump (including the former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and most likely the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis) to divide the vote and give him the nomination without needing a majority, as happened in 2016.Polling has also shown vanishingly small interest in Hogan among voters in a party dominated by Trump and DeSantis.Hogan told ABC: “Trump has to stumble, which is hard. And he’s been diminishing. But still, he’s the 800lb gorilla. And then if he doesn’t make it, it goes to DeSantis, and then DeSantis has to stumble. And then you have to consolidate everyone else and overcome that.”He said No Labels, a centrist group of which he is an honorary co-chair, had “raised about $50m to get [ballot] access in all 50 states as kind of an insurance policy” for an “in case of emergency break glass” scenario.“They’re not trying to start a third party,” he said. “They’re not committed to doing that. But in case the country is burning down, you may have to have an alternative.”Hogan said a Biden-Trump matchup would be such a scenario.“I think that would be the trigger. I think that’s what they’re talking about. I’m not sure we’re gonna get to that point … Frankly, I’m hopeful that Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee. And I’m going to work toward that goal. And I’m assuming Joe Biden may be the nominee, but who knows? I mean, he’s 80 years old. And we got a long ways to go.”Biden, who would be 86 a the end of a second term, has not confirmed a run for re-election. All signs, however, suggest he will soon take the plunge.Hogan said he was “not sure if it’s feasible” he could be a No Labels candidate.“And it’s also just not something I’m working toward. But, I mean, look, if you got to an election when the nominees were Biden and Trump and 70% of America didn’t want that, you wouldn’t rule it out, right?”The White House chimed in on the Department of Justice finding racist, unlawful conduct by the Memphis Police Department as a result of its investigation following the police killing of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman shot dead almost three years ago during a botched raid.First noting that the DoJ is independent from the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added that: “The president has said repeatedly that a key part of building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve is ensuring there is accountability when we see an officer violate the law.”Jean-Pierre noted Joe Biden’s executive order last spring that sought to rein in police excesses and improve safety and trust, and once again lamented that Congress has failed to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.“The president has said himself, Breonna Taylor’s death was a tragedy, a blow to her family, to her community and also to America more broadly.”She added that Biden notes that “Black women experience a disproportionate share of violence in this country and he will continue to fight for legislation that advances police reform and makes sure that we keep the Black community safe.”KJP, who is the first Black woman to be White House press secretary, was wearing white in a nod to the battle for women’s suffrage, pointing out to the assembled journalists that it is International Women’s Day. She is also the first openly gay White House press sec.She also spent quality minutes at the briefing today excoriating Tucker Carlson.00:47In his forthcoming budget proposal, Joe Biden will propose to cut the US deficit by nearly $3tn, the Associated Press reports.The AP adds:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}That deficit reduction goal is significantly higher than the $2tn Biden had promised in his State of the Union address last month. It also is a sharp contrast with House Republicans, who have called for a path to a balanced budget but have yet to offer a blueprint.White House officials have been briefing on the proposal, which Biden is due to discuss in Philadelphia tomorrow, Thursday.A proposal it will almost certainly remain, of course, given Congress has the power of the purse, and given that control of Congress is shared between Democrats who hold the Senate and Republicans who hold the House.It’s been a lively day in US politics so far and there is much more to come. The White House has just called Fox’s Tucker Carlson shameful and the Department of Justice is looking into special police divisions across the country, especially in the wake of high-profile killings of Black Americans amid accusations of racial bias in incidents of brutality and misconduct.Here where things stand:
      White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has just slammed Fox News show host Tucker Carlson, calling the right-wing television star “shameful” for the way he is misrepresenting the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol as extremist supporters of Donald Trump tried to overturn his defeat in the presidential election.
      House Republicans convened their first hearing on what the committee chairman called the Biden’s administration’s “disastrous” withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
      Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Department of Justice (DoJ) will conduct a federal review of the Memphis police department after the killing of Tyre Nichols earlier this year and also look into the use of specialized police units nationwide.
      The Department of Justice has issued its review, concluding that it found racist and unlawful conduct by police officers in Louisville, Kentucky, following their investigation into the city’s law enforcement after the killing of Breonna Taylor during a botched police raid in 2020.
      Fox News has been broadsided by the latest court motions revealing that people from top executives down to reporters knew that Donald Trump’s claims that victory in the 2020 election had been stolen from him because of fraud were bogus – but star commentary hosts boosted those claims anyway.
      The White House has just slammed Fox News show host Tucker Carlson, calling the right-wing television star “shameful” for the way he is misrepresenting the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol as extremist supporters of Donald Trump tried to overturn his defeat in the presidential election.The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, criticized the security footage of the riot at the Capitol that Carlson has played on his show for the last two nights heavily edited so that it gives the impression of depicting what he described as “peaceful chaos”.Many hours of footage was handed over to him by the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy.“To have said what he said when we saw police officers lose their lives is just shameful,” Jean-Pierre just said at the daily briefing in the west wing, when asked about Carlson’s latest actions.00:47She said that the White House agrees with the chief of the Capitol police, Tom Manger (who said in an internal memo Carlson’s broadcast was “filled with offensive and misleading conclusions) and the “rage of bipartisan lawmakers”.“We have condemned this false depiction of the unprecedented, violent attack on our constitution and the rule of law, which cost police officers their lives…on a very dark day in our democracy,” Jean-Pierre said.She added that in various legal battles, the White House agrees with Fox’s own attorneys and executives who “have repeatedly stressed in courts of law that Tucker Carlson is not credible when it comes to this issue in particular”.She cited this September 2020 piece from National Public Radio (NPR) on which the headline was: “You literally can’t believe the facts Tucker Carlson tells you. So say Fox’s lawyers.”In emotional testimony to the House foreign affairs committee this morning, two US service members recounted harrowing scenes at the Kabul airport, where they were stationed when a suicide bomber attacked on 26 August 2021.“It was complete chaos,” said Aidan Gunderson, a former army specialist who left active duty in July.Tyler Vargas-Andrews, a US Marines sergeant who lost an organ and two limbs in the attack, offered some of the most startling testimony of the morning, recalling mothers desperately handing over children while some Afghans chose to take their own lives rather than face the brutality of the Taliban.Speaking under oath, Vargas-Andrews told the panel he identified the suicide bomber among the crush trying to enter the airport but was not given approval to shoot the suspect dead.The attack killed 13 US service members and injured at least 20.“My body was catastrophically wounded with 100 to 150 ball bearings,” Vargas-Andrews said, pausing to fight tears. “Almost immediately we started taking fire from the neighborhood and I saw how injured I was with my right arm completely shredded and unusable. I saw my lower abdomen soaked in blood.”“The withdrawal was a catastrophe in my opinion and there was an inexcusable lack of accountability and negligence,” said Vargas-Andrews, who has undergone 44 surgeries.Vargas-Andrews stated that he was appearing in his personal capacity. His account, detailed in the Washington Post, disputes aspects of the Pentagon’s account of the incident.“This is not the story of a Biden failure or a Trump failure. This is the story of an American failure and the effect it has had and continues to have on Afghans who served alongside myself and so many others,” Peter Lucier, a veteran of the Afghanistan war who helped evacuate allied Afghans with Team America Relief, told the panel.“The failures that led to this point are owned and shared by four administrations, by Congress and by 320,000,000 Americans. This was our war.” More

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      Chuck Schumer attacks ‘shameful’ Fox News over use of January 6 footage – as it happened

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      Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, has delivered a scathing rebuke of Fox News and its rightwing host Tucker Carlson for “manipulating” selected footage of the January 6 riot aired on his show last night.On the chamber floor this morning, he accused the network and its star presenter of disdain towards politicians who were at the Capitol when it was overrun by a violent mob of Trump supporters, and the law enforcement officers who tried to defend it:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Last night, millions of Americans tuned into one of the most shameful hours we have ever seen on cable television.
      With contempt for the facts, disregard of the risks, and knowing full well he was lying to his audience, Fox News host Tucker Carlson ran a lengthy segment arguing the January 6 Capitol attack was not a violent insurrection.
      By diving deep into the waters of conspiracy, and cherry picking from thousands of hours of security footage, Mr Carlson told the bald faced lie that the Capitol attack,which we also with their own eyes, somehow, not an attack at all.Schumer: Last night, millions of Americans tuned into one of the most shameful hours we’ve seen on cable television. By diving deep into the waters of conspiracy and cherry-picking from thousands of hours of security footage, Mr. Carlson told the bold-faced lie… pic.twitter.com/dKEw2tJVKw— Acyn (@Acyn) March 7, 2023
      .css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}He tried to argue it was nothing more than a peaceful sightseeing tour. Can you imagine, a non-violent demonstration,a perfectly fine and appropriate instance of people expressing their opinion? I so many others who were here in the Capitol, and millions and millions of Americans are just furious with Tucker Carlson and Kevin McCarthy today.
      Many of my staff were here at the Capitol on January 6, their lives were put in danger, as were the lives of many of my colleagues, as well as police, maintenance staff, reporters, countless others.
      To say January 6 was not violent is a lie. A lie pure and simple. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a primetime cable news anchor manipulate his viewers the way Mr Carlson did last night.
      I don’t think I’ve ever seen an anchor treat the American people and American democracy with such disdain.A military veteran accused of telling an undercover FBI agent about a plan to “wipe out” the nation’s Jewish population was convicted on Tuesday of storming the Capitol during the January 6 riot.The Associated Press reports that Virginia resident Hatchet Speed, a former navy reservist assigned to an agency that operates spy satellites, will be sentenced on 8 May. He was convicted by US district court judge Trevor McFadden in a trial without a jury.NOW: U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden has convicted Navy Reservist Hatchet Speed on all counts for joining the mob that stormed and occupied the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6. https://t.co/mvfXfpl5Tc— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) March 7, 2023
      Speed was found guilty on all five charges, including a felony count of obstructing an official proceeding, namely the 6 January 2021 joint session of Congress to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.The FBI recorded Speed’s conversations with an undercover agent more than a year after the riot, the AP reported. Speed told the agent that he marched to the Capitol with members of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group.We’re closing the US politics blog now, after a day in which Tucker Carlson’s ears must have been ringing loudly.The rightwing Fox News host copped a barrage of criticism, from Democrats, the White House, the family of a fallen law enforcement officer, and even Republican senate minority leader Mitch McConnell for his skewed presentation of footage of the January 6 Capitol riot.The videos were controversially gifted to Carlson by a generous congressional benefactor in the form of Republican speaker Kevin McCarthy, and he aired some of them on Monday night, portraying a violent mob of Donald Trump-incited rioters as “peaceful, orderly and meek” sightseers.Here’s what else we followed today:
      The White House lambasted Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis over the introduction on Tuesday of a bill that would further restrict the state’s abortion ban, from 15 to six weeks.
      Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, denounced as “a rumor” a report that the administration was considering reinstating a Trump-era immigration policy that would detain families at the southern border. But a number of Democrats say they are concerned.
      Lloyd Austin, the defense secretary, made an unannounced trip to Iraq, promising to keep US military forces in the country, almost exactly two weeks before the 20th anniversary of the 2003 Iraq war that toppled Saddam Hussein.
      A report claimed Democrats are growing fearful that a third-party candidate could take votes away from Joe Biden during the 2024 presidential election and hand Republican favorite and former president Trump a ticket back to the White House.
      Biden laid out some of his budget plans in a guest opinion piece for the New York Times, highlighting the preservation of Medicare as a priority and bashing Republicans over benefits for future generations. The president will unveil his full budget on Thursday.
      Please join us again tomorrow.Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the US Senate, has criticised Fox News for misrepresenting the January 6 riot after his counterpart in the House gave Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 41,000 hours of security footage.Asked by reporters if Kevin McCarthy had made a mistake, McConnell said: “My concern is how it was depicted, which was a different issue. Clearly the chief of the Capitol police, in my view, correctly describes what most of us witnessed firsthand on January 6.”Carlson made first use of the footage on Monday night, seeking to portray the Capitol rioters as peaceful protesters.In fact, on 6 January 2021 supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol after he told them to “fight like hell” in service of his lie that his defeat by Joe Biden was the result of electoral fraud.The riot was an attempt to stop certification of that result. It failed, but nine deaths have been linked to the attack, including suicides among law enforcement.Carlson’s broadcast stoked outrage among Democrats and those who survived the attack or lost family members through it.Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, blasted Carlson for creating “one of the most shameful hours we have ever seen on cable television” and showing “contempt for the facts, disregard of the risks, and knowing full well he was lying to his audience”.Carlson, Schumer said, “told the bald-faced lie that the Capitol attack, which we all saw with our own eyes, somehow was not an attack at all”.In what counted for strong remarks from a very cautious, not to say ruthlessly partisan operator, McConnell added: “It was a mistake, in my view, for Fox News to depict this in a way that is completely at variance with what our chief law enforcement official here at the Capitol thinks.”More:‘Sleaze-slinging’ Fox News denounced by family of January 6 officer who diedRead moreHere’s some more on Fox News’ troubles by my colleague Martin Pengelly, who has news of another complaint affecting Rupert Murdoch’s rightwing empire:A US Federal Election Commission complaint over the collusion of Fox News with the Trump campaign in 2020 could be the first of many, the complainant said, amid continued fallout from dramatic court filings in Dominion Voter Systems’ $1.6bn defamation suit against the network.Media Matters for America, a liberal watchdog, filed its FEC complaint last week, over the revelation that Rupert Murdoch personally gave Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, confidential information about a Biden campaign ad.A progressive political action committee, End Citizens United, also filed a complaint.As defined by the Harvard Law Review, FEC “campaign finance restrictions do not apply to costs associated with producing news”.Media Matters alleges that “press exemption” does not apply to Murdoch’s decision to give the Biden ad to Kushner.Saying the move was “diametrically opposed to Fox Corporation’s regular press activity”, the complaint says: “Fox Corporation, through Murdoch, appears to have engaged in the exact type of campaign activity to which the commission has repeatedly affirmed the press exemption does not apply.“Therefore, Fox Corporation cannot try to exploit the press exemption to avoid the consequences of making an illegal corporate in-kind contribution.”The complaint seeks the maximum fine permitted and “appropriate remedial action”.Read the full story:Fox News hit with election complaint after Biden ad given to Trump son-in-lawRead moreThe White House is adding its voice to a barrage of criticism aimed at Fox News and Tucker Carlson for “sanitizing” the January 6 Capitol riot by airing selected footage on Monday night.Earlier Tuesday, Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer branded the rightwing network, and its star host, “shameful” for their skewed presentation of the attack, which attempted to portray the violent Donald Trump supporters who overran the Capitol as tourists.Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, was equally dismissive at her Tuesday briefing to reporters of Carlson’s claims the mob was merely “sightseeing”:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Anybody who watched that video with their own eyes, in a real way, and saw what happened on that day, would disagree. The president has been very clear January 6 was the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.
      We should be focused on making sure that never happens again. We hope that keeping the Capitol and Congress safe and secure remains congressional leaders’ number one goal.
      All you have to do is watch those videos and see how horrific it was, see how sad it was. It was an attack on our democracy.Her mention of congressional leaders and their priorities was presumably directed at Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy, who caused outrage by handing over about 44,000 hours of footage from the attack exclusively to Carlson.The primetime Fox host is a Trump loyalist who repeatedly pushed the big lie of a stolen 2020 election on air, despite revelations that he and other Fox presenters and executives who also promoted it knew it was false.Read more:‘Sleaze-slinging’ Fox News denounced by family of January 6 officer who diedRead moreKarine Jean-Pierre says the White House “won’t comment on rumors that are out there” about the Biden administration potentially reinstating a Trump-era rule of detaining immigrant families at the southern border.The New York Times first reported that the move was under consideration to stem an expected migrant surge once Title 42, a policy stemming from the Covid pandemic that allowed the swift deportation of migrants, is ended.“I’m not saying it is, I’m not saying it isn’t,” Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said at her Tuesday afternoon briefing.“The department of homeland security is working through ways on how to go forward once Title 42 is lifted. I’m going to let them do their work. [The president] is going to use the tools that he has before him to make… the immigration system safe, orderly and humane.”The report angered congressional Democrats. New Mexico senator Ben Ray Luján told Punchbowl he was frustrated it didn’t come up when he and other Hispanic senators met with homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last month.“It was a time to have honest conversations with one another,” Luján said. “And this is another one of those surprises – if it’s true – that was covered by the media. Fortunately for the media, we continue to find out decisions that are being made.”Mayorkas will hold a virtual meeting with congressional Hispanic caucus members at 5pm ET to discuss the uproar over the Times report, Punchbowl says.More on this subject:Biden’s ‘carrot and stick’ approach to deter migrants met with angerRead moreThe Biden administration has expressed its “deep condolences” to the families of US citizens who were killed in Mexico by members of a suspected drugs cartel.Speaking at her daily briefing at the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We’re still working with Mexican officials to learn more and to have all Americans returned to the United States.
      President Biden has been kept updated on this incident. Senior members of the White House has have also been engaged. We extend our deepest condolences to their families and friends.She added that US investigators were working with Mexican authorities to establish details of the incident.Read more:Two Americans kidnapped in Mexico found dead, officials sayRead moreTalking of abortion bans in Republican strongholds, Kamala Harris is backing five Texas women who are suing the state, having been denied the procedure.A statement from the vice-president’s office at the White House on Tuesday blasted Texas legislators for passing near-total block on abortions:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}When I convened health care providers at the White House in September 2021 in wake of Texas SB 8, we discussed the harm that doctors and nurses feared their patients would experience as a result of Texas’ extreme laws. Now, multiple women impacted by these abortion bans announced a joint lawsuit against the state of Texas, showing those fears have turned into reality. The lawsuit includes devastating, first-hand accounts of women’s lives almost lost after they were denied the health care they needed, because of extreme efforts by Republican officials to control women’s bodies.
      Many extremist ‘so-called’ leaders espouse ‘freedom for all,’ while directly attacking the freedom to make one’s own health care decisions. Like the overwhelming majority of Americans, the President and I believe women – in consultation with their doctors – should be in charge of their reproductive health care, not politicians.We’re about to hear from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at the daily White House briefing, but she’s already made clear the Biden administration’s feelings on Florida’s six-week abortion ban proposal, introduced to the state’s legislature this morning.In a statement to the Miami Herald, Jean-Pierre says the move would “ban abortion before many women know if they are pregnant”:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Politicians like Governor DeSantis espouse ‘freedom for all,’ while directly attacking the freedom to make one’s own healthcare decisions. This proposal is wrong and out of touch with the overwhelming majority of Americans, including Floridians, who support a woman’s right to choose.
      This ban would prevent not just the nearly four million Florida women of reproductive age from accessing abortion care after six weeks, but would also impact the nearly 15m women of reproductive age who live in states across the South with abortion bans and would no longer be able to rely on Florida as an option to access care.It’s been a furiously busy day so far in US politics, and we still have the daily White House press briefing to come.Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, blasted Fox News, and its star rightwing host Tucker Carlson, for their “shameless manipulation” of footage of the January 6 Capitol riot aired on Monday.Carlson attempted to portray a violent mob Donald Trump supporters who carried out the deadly insurrection as peaceful sightseers enjoying a day out, and the backlash has been swift and strong.Here’s what else we’ve been following:
      Florida’s loyalist Republican legislature handed extremist governor and probable White House hopeful Ron DeSantis a key policy objective by proposing a six-week abortion ban.
      Lloyd Austin, the defense secretary, made an unannounced trip to Iraq, promising to keep US military forces in the country, almost exactly two weeks before the 20th anniversary of the 2003 Iraq war that toppled Saddam Hussein.
      Democrats are growing fearful that a third-party candidate could take votes away from Joe Biden during the 2024 presidential election and hand Republican favorite and former president Donald Trump a ticket back to the White House. More

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      DeSantis inches closer to presidential run announcement with California speech – as it happened

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      That’s it from our live blog today. Here’s how the day unfolded in US politics:
      Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis appears to be moving toward announcing his presidential campaign after delivering a speech yesterday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. In the speech, DeSantis’ condemned other states’ responses to the coronavirus pandemic and celebrated Florida as a “citadel of freedom”. DeSantis is expected to formally enter the GOP primary in the next couple of months.
      The DC city council will withdraw its bill revising the local criminal code from congressional consideration, the panel’s chairperson announced. The news comes after Joe Biden said he would not veto a Republican measure to overturn the DC bill. Despite the council’s move to withdraw the bill, the Senate still plans to vote on the matter this week, according to CNN.
      Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake won the vice-presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference this weekend. Lake defeated other contenders with 20% of the vote, while DeSantis came in second place at 14% and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley trailed with 10%. Lake is best known for losing the Arizona gubernatorial race last year and peddling the lie that her election was tainted by widespread fraud.
      Biden reportedly plans to travel to the west coast next week to fundraise, as the president is widely expected to formally launch his reelection campaign in the next several weeks. Biden is expected to make stops in California and Nevada as he meets with donors.
      Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat of Pennsylvania, is “well on his way to recovery” after being hospitalized to receive treatment for depression, his top adviser said. Fetterman’s chair of staff, Adam Jentleson, shared photos of a morning meeting with the senator and said he continues to weigh in on legislation as he recovers.
      The live blog will be back tomorrow morning with more updates and analysis of US politics. See you then.Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat of Pennsylvania, is “well on his way to recovery” after being hospitalized to receive treatment for depression, his top adviser said.Fetterman’s chair of staff, Adam Jentleson, shared photos of a meeting this morning with the senator and said he continues to weigh in on legislation as he recovers.“Productive morning with Senator Fetterman at Walter Reed discussing the rail safety legislation, Farm Bill and other Senate business,” Jentleson said on Twitter. “John is well on his way to recovery and wanted me to say how grateful he is for all the well wishes. He’s laser focused on PA & will be back soon.”Productive morning with Senator Fetterman at Walter Reed discussing the rail safety legislation, Farm Bill and other Senate business. John is well on his way to recovery and wanted me to say how grateful he is for all the well wishes. He’s laser focused on PA & will be back soon. pic.twitter.com/143uAhoQRx— Adam Jentleson (@AJentleson) March 6, 2023
      Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed last month, following an evaluation by Dr Brian P Monahan, the attending physician of the US Congress. Fetterman’s office said he has “experienced depression off and on throughout his life,” and his symptoms had becaome severe in the weeks leading up to his hospitalization.Fetterman has received praise for publicly acknowledging his mental health struggles, as advocates have expressed hope that it will encourage others to seek help.“Asking for help is important, but it’s not always easy,” said Dr Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general. “I hope Senator Fetterman’s courage will serve as an example for others.”Joe Biden reportedly plans to travel to the west coast next week to fundraise, as the president is widely expected to formally launch his reelection campaign in the next several weeks.Politico reports:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Biden’s trip west will take him to Rancho Santa Fe, a wealthy enclave of sprawling estates north of San Diego, two of the people told POLITICO. He also will have likely stops in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Nev. The trip is planned for Monday and Tuesday, though the two people stressed Biden’s itinerary is still being finalized and specifics remain fluid.
      Biden and Democrats are gearing up an expected reelection campaign, including by dispatching Vice President Kamala Harris to fundraisers of her own in her home state. On Friday, she headlined a midday event in the San Francisco suburb of Hillsborough at the home of longtime fundraiser Stefanie Roumeliotes and her husband, John Costouros.
      Despite feeling no pressure to formally announce his re-election campaign, Biden has already held a handful of fundraisers out east to benefit the Democratic National Committee. Earlier this year, he gave a speech to DNC members in Philadelphia that aides described as a soft launch of sorts.The news comes as the Republican presidential primary is already in full swing, with Donald Trump and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley having both launched their campaigns. Other Republican candidates, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, are expected to announce in the next few months.As of now, Democratic leaders appear to be rather unified around Biden’s candidacy. No Democratic lawmaker has yet stepped forward to challenge Biden, indicating that the president will likely have a smooth path to the nomination.When asked about self-help author Marianne Williamson announcing she will challenge Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination, Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House is “not tracking that”.Jean-Pierre joked that she would perhaps have more to say on Williamson “if I could feel her aura,” eliciting laughter from reporters in the briefing room.The comment appeared to be a dig at Williamson, a self-described spiritual leader who ran for president in 2020 and said that she struggled to push back against the perception that she was a “crystal woo-woo lady”.The White House will be represented at King Charles III’s coronation in May, but Karine Jean-Pierre would not commit to Joe Biden himself attending the event.Reports indicate that Biden does not plan to attend the coronation, but other senior members of the administration may travel to the UK for the event.Jean-Pierre rejected any suggestion that Biden’s lack of attendance should be interpreted as a snub of the British monarchy if the president does decide to skip the coronation.Karine Jean-Pierre would not comment on Donald Trump’s speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, in which the former president vowed “retribution” against his political enemies.Jean-Pierre said she could not speak to Trump’s remarks because of the Hatch Act, which prohibits employees of the federal government from engaging in some political activities.A reporter asked Karine Jean-Pierre why Joe Biden believes DC should be a state if he disagrees with the city council’s judgment on altering the local criminal code.Despite his refusal to veto the proposal overturning DC’s crime bill, Biden still believes that Congress should pass a bill granting DC statehood, and he would sign that legislation, Jean-Pierre said.“He believes that cities and states should be able to govern for themselves,” Jean-Pierre said.Karine Jean-Pierre sidestepped questions about the news that the DC city council is withdrawing its crime bill after Joe Biden said he would not veto a Republican motion to overturn the policy.“The president expressed concerns on certain provisions of the DC crime bill,” Jean-Pierre said. “As we can see, the DC council’s process is still ongoing, so we won’t comment on that any further.”A reporter noted that the White House has cited DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s opposition to the crime bill to justify Biden’s stance, but Bowser herself has said that Congress should not be “meddling” in local policy matters.Jean-Pierre deflected that question, instead saying the White House has been in “constant communication” with Bowser’s team.“This is not something that we put forward,” Jean-Pierre said. “This is a decision that was brought to [Biden], and he wants to be very clear and communicate with the people of DC and with all of you.”According to reports, the Senate plans to move forward with its vote to overturn the crime bill, even after the council announced it was withdrawing the proposal from congressional consideration.The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, is now holding her daily briefing with reporters, and she kicked off her comments by discussing “junk fees”.The Biden administration has pushed airlines to limit fees for customers, and Jean-Pierre said several airlines are now working toward fee-free family seating to “guarantee that parents can sit with their young children without getting nickeled and dimed”.The Department of Transportation is also launching a new family seating dashboard to help customers compare fees across airlines, Jean-Pierre noted.In his State of the Union address last month, Joe Biden pledged to crack down on junk fees, saying, “Junk fees may not matter to the very wealthy, but they matter to most folks in homes like the one I grew up in. … I know how unfair it feels when a company overcharges you and gets away with it. Not anymore.”The Guardian’s Chris McGreal reports on Evangelical Christians flocking to the Republican party over support for Israel:When Israel’s former ambassador to the US said his country should worry less about what American Jews think and concentrate on Christian evangelicals as the “backbone” of support for the Jewish state, he had in mind the Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee.Hagee founded Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a group that claims 11 million members, who have had a significant influence on Republican party politics and in hardening Washington’s already strong support for Israel.Donald Trump, while president, made no secret of his desire to keep Hagee and Christian Zionist voters happy as a key part of his base by abandoning even the pretense that the US was a neutral player in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Former South Carolina governor and current White House hopeful Nikki Haley recognised Hagee’s power within the most important religious bloc of Republican voters and their influence over political priorities, from anti-abortion laws to Israel policy, when she invited him to give the invocation at her presidential campaign launch last month.“Pastor Hagee, I still say I want to be you when I grow up,” she enthused.Left largely unmentioned by Haley and Hagee’s Israeli allies were his antisemitic views, including calling Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler a “half-breed Jew” who was sent by God to drive the Jewish people to Israel. He has also suggested that Jews brought centuries of persecution on themselves by disobeying God.Read Chris’ full report:Evangelical Christians flock to Republicans over support for Israel Read moreHere’s where the day stands so far:
      Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis appears to be moving toward announcing his presidential campaign after delivering a speech yesterday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. In the speech, DeSantis’ condemned other states’ responses to the coronavirus pandemic and celebrated Florida as a “citadel of freedom”. DeSantis is expected to formally enter the GOP primary in the next couple of months.
      The DC city council will withdraw its bill revising the local criminal code from congressional consideration, the panel’s chairperson announced. The news comes after Joe Biden said he would not veto a Republican measure to overturn the DC bill. Despite the council’s move to withdraw the bill, the Senate still plans to vote on the matter this week, according to CNN.
      Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake won the vice-presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference this weekend. Lake defeated other contenders with 20% of the vote, while DeSantis came in second place at 14% and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley trailed with 10%. Lake is best known for losing the Arizona gubernatorial race last year and peddling the lie that her election was tainted by widespread fraud.
      The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.The Senate still plans to vote on overturning the DC bill revising the local criminal code, even after the council announced it would withdraw the proposal from congressional consideration.Two Senate aides told CNN’s Manu Raju that they still expect the vote to occur:Senate will STILL vote this week to halt DC criminal code rewrite despite the last-ditch attempt by the DC Council’s chairman to withdraw the legislation from Hill review, two aides said— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 6, 2023
      Now that Joe Biden has said he would not veto the proposal to overturn the DC bill, more Senate Democrats are expected to join Republicans in supporting the motion.The chair of the DC Council, Phil Mendelson, said this morning, “If the Republicans want to proceed with a vote … it will be a hollow vote because the bill isn’t there before them.”Carlisa N Johnson reports on how Republican legislators are attempting to restrict voting access:In the final few days of this year’s Georgia assembly legislative session, Republican lawmakers raced to propose laws seeking to restrict voting access, and make it easier for citizens to challenge and subvert normal election processes.Senate bill 221, house bill 422 and house bill 426 are just a few of the newly proposed election laws, which come after state Republicans, including the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, praised election officials for smooth elections in the past two years.They include measures to eradicate absentee ballot drop boxes, allow citizens to more easily challenge voter registrations – which Republican conspiracy theorists had already done with little backing evidence during the midterms – and even unseal ballots for review.While some of the elements of these proposed laws offer expanded flexibility and resources for elections, including the popular bipartisan effort to eradicate runoff elections in the state, other aspects are grounded in unfounded claims and conspiracy theories surrounding mass election fraud stemming from the 2020 election.Read Carlisa’s full report:Georgia Republicans race to pass laws to restrict and challenge votesRead moreBefore the DC Council announced it would withdraw the crime bill, Joe Biden faced criticism from a number of Democrats for saying that he would sign a Republican measure to reverse the policy.“It’s disappointing to all of us who believe in home rule,” Congressman Pete Aguilar, chair of the House Democratic caucus, said Thursday.“I’m deeply disappointed to see the President announce he will allow Congress to overturn a DC law for the first time in decades,” Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said. “This is simple: The District of Columbia must be allowed to govern itself.”Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi added Friday, “If he was going to do it, I wish he would’ve told us first because this was a hard vote for the House members.”The Guardian’s Chris Stein has more details on the DC Council’s decision to withdraw a bill revising the local criminal code:The chair of the DC council, Democrat Phil Mendelson, criticized the Republican opponents of the crime bill, saying Congress was more focused on winning political points rather than carefully considering the policy.“It’s quite clear to me that the headwinds that have prevailed in Congress are about the politics of next year’s election and not about what’s the substance in this criminal code,” Mendelson said at a press conference this morning.“The fact is is that the criminal code has hit these headwinds, which is why I pulled it back.”Mendelson acknowledged that Senate Republicans may still push for a vote to overturn the bill, but he said such a maneuver would be “hollow” because the council has withdrawn the proposal from congressional consideration.Mendelson blamed the criticism of the crime bill on misinformation about the content of the proposal, saying, “What people were hearing was we were decriminalizing or that we were reducing sentences and the messaging just got out of our control.”Asked why he believed Joe Biden indicated he would sign the Republican reversal measure, Mendelson said he thought the president was trying to protect Democratic lawmakers.“The reality is that if we’re to get statehood, it’s going to be the Democrats who help us with it,” Mendelson said. “So if we have any hope for statehood, we have to want to protect our Democratic friends in Congress. And that’s where I think the president is.” More

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      Marianne Williamson says 2024 bid is not a challenge to Biden but to a system

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      Marianne Williamson says 2024 bid is not a challenge to Biden but to a system‘I know how to disrupt’: the two-time aspirant to the Democratic presidential nomination fleshes out her vision for the countryAuthor Marianne Williamson has said she doesn’t view her very outsider bid for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination as a direct challenge to Joe Biden but as “challenging a system”.The self-help writer and speaker, who also ran a nomination challenge in 2020, said voters “have to rise up” to secure an equitable economic future for the US.“I want to be president because this country needs to make an economic U-turn,” Williamson told ABC News on Sunday. Among her priorities, she said, were free healthcare, free college and free childcare.‘I am your retribution’: Trump rules supreme at CPAC as he relaunches bid for White HouseRead more“The system that effectuates and perpetuates that kind of income and opportunity inequality is not changing itself … It’s not going to change if we continue to elect the same-old, same-old,” she added.Williamson is currently the only Democrat to challenge Biden – although the president has yet to announce his bid for re-election – after announcing her campaign in Washington DC on Saturday afternoon.Before dropping out of the 2020 race, Williamson made a splash when, addressing then president Donald Trump in the first Democratic presidential debate with her closing argument, she said: “I’m going to harness love for political purposes. I will meet you on that field. And, sir, love will win.”Williamson, author of 14 books, describes herself as “a leader in spiritual and religiously progressive circles” for more than three decades. She established a national profile on Oprah Winfrey’s daytime talkshow, and has taken independent-minded and often controversial positions on depression and vaccine mandates.ABC host Jonathan Karl, attributing a quote about Williamson as “the longest of long shots” to the Associated Press, asked Williamson, 70, why she thought she could win the White House.“I would bet that the Associated Press also said that Hillary Clinton was a shoo-in [in 2016],” Williamson fired back.“The system that is now saying that I’m unserious, I’m not credible or I’m a long shot is the very system that protects and maintains this idea that only those whose careers have been entrenched within the system that drove us into a ditch should possibly be considered qualified to lead us out of that ditch,” Williamson said.Her qualification for the job, she continued, “is not that I know how to perpetuate that system. My qualification is that I know how to disrupt it,”While Williamson appeared to support the White House policy on Ukraine, she stopped short of endorsing a US military response if China were to attack Taiwan.“We must make a stand for such things as human rights. At this point, we must be committed that this not spill over into a military confrontation,” she said.And she declined to criticize Biden over his age. “I’m not going there,” she said. “I don’t think ageism has any place in our thinking” and would “do whatever I feel I can do as an American to make sure that the neo-fascist threat that is represented by some aspects of the Republican party does not win in 2024”.The Democratic National Committee has indicated that the party doesn’t plan to hold primary debates. But Williamson maintained that Biden should debate her. “It’s called democracy,” she said. “And I’m running as well.”TopicsMarianne WilliamsonUS elections 2024DemocratsUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Sherrod Brown in tough election fight as Ohio crash tests Democrats’ chances

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      Sherrod Brown in tough election fight as Ohio crash tests Democrats’ chances Leftwing senator has bucked trend of statewide Democratic losses but derailment in East Palestine set to test re-election hopesUS Senator Sherrod Brown has survived a decade of statewide Democratic losses in Ohio by building a reputation as the rare person in his party who can still connect with the white working-class voters who have increasingly shifted to Republicans.But as he heads into what could be a tough re-election campaign, Brown is facing a critical test in the aftermath of the train derailment in the eastern Ohio village of East Palestine.US Capitol rioter pleads guilty to stealing badge from beaten officerRead moreRepublicans, including Donald Trump, argue the federal response shows Democrats have left such regions behind. Brown is under heightened pressure to prove them wrong.In the early stages of what will be a fierce fight for control of Congress next year, the response to the train derailment in Ohio is emerging as an early barometer of whether Democrats can rebuild support in working-class communities.Brown has laid the blame for the disaster squarely on the corporation that operated the train that derailed, Norfolk Southern, and positioned himself as a fighter for places like East Palestine.“It’s the kind of community that’s too often forgotten about or exploited by corporate America,” he told reporters this week. “My job is always to fight for the dignity of work, to fight for these workers, to fight for these communities, to make sure this never happens again. I’ll work with anyone to do that and to get these reforms passed.”Brown has also made a pair of visits to East Palestine to meet with emergency workers and local residents. And this week, he followed with bipartisan legislative action to call on federal agencies to make long-term medical testing available to residents as well as proposing new federal safety regulations and financial consequences for train operators.As the images of black, billowing smoke from the wreck and concerns of local residents morphed from a man-made disaster into a political battleground, there is a growing sense among lawmakers that locals don’t appreciate being used as a political backdrop.Republican congressman Bill Johnson, who represents the area, called on Joe Biden to visit the community. The US president has not made the trip and transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg’s trip there was pre-empted by Trump last week.Safety regulators say Ohio toxic train derailment ‘100% preventable’Read moreThe stretches of eastern Ohio industrial towns have tilted increasingly to Republicans over the last decade, contributing to Ohio’s shift from a presidential bellwether to a potential GOP stronghold. Republicans have cast it as a forgotten swath of the country – fertile ground for Trump’s grievance politics.But the region is also familiar ground for Brown, who has become a mainstay in the state’s political constellation with a populist brand. Brown, who wears suits purchased from a union shop near his Cleveland home, has developed an old-school network of union support over a decades-long political career that began in the General Assembly.David Pepper, a former chair of the Ohio Democratic party, says Brown’s “secret sauce” is his willingness to take his made-in-America, union-strong messaging to the people outside cities.“That guy is fighting against big corporations for the little guy,” Pepper said.For Democrats, he’s proof they can still win in the Buckeye State. But Ohio is both a must-win presidential state for Republicans and a potential path to a Senate majority, and Brown sits atop the list of seats that could be flipped in 2024.TopicsDemocratsOhio train derailmentOhioUS politicsUS elections 2024newsReuse this content More

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      Doubts vanish as Democrats unite over Biden’s 2024 bid: ‘He will win’

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      Doubts vanish as Democrats unite over Biden’s 2024 bid: ‘He will win’House Democrats issues’ conference sees lawmakers across party’s ideological spectrum embrace idea of president’s re-electionWith the 2024 election season already under way, Joe Biden has faced questions over whether he is best suited to represent the Democratic party at the top of the ticket next year. Surveys show that Americans fret over his age, as Biden would be 86 years old at the end of his second term.Progressives have previously shied away from offering a full-throated endorsement of Biden’s re-election bid. But those whispers quieted to near silence at House Democrats’ issues conference in Baltimore, Maryland, this week. Rather than wringing their hands over the president’s anticipated announcement, House Democrats from across the party’s ideological spectrum embraced the idea of Biden’s re-election.Joe Biden rallies Democrats in glimpse of possible re-election campaignRead moreAs Biden prepares to formally launch his campaign in the coming weeks, he appears set to enter the 2024 contest with the enthusiastic and unified backing of his congressional allies.“I think he will win. I think he’s our strongest candidate,” Congressman Pete Aguilar, the House Democratic caucus chair from California, said on Thursday at an event with Punchbowl News. Aguilar added: “I think that he can and should run, and he’s going to have the support of the House Democratic caucus.”That sentiment was echoed by progressive leaders in the House, who have occasionally clashed with Biden over policy matters. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), said on Thursday that she hopes Biden will announce his re-election campaign sooner rather than later. Citing Biden’s efforts to address the climate crisis and raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and corporations, Jayapal complimented the president on delivering results for his supporters.“He’s been faithful to his electorate that elected him – to progressives who turned out in key states like Georgia and Arizona, movements that did that and the ideas that drove them,” Jayapal said.Jayapal’s praise was even more noteworthy because of some CPC members’ past comments about the 2024 race. Asked last June about the next presidential contest, progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declined to endorse Biden.“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Ocasio-Cortez said at the time. “We should endorse when we get to it.”But even Ocasio-Cortez appears to have shifted her tone in recent weeks. While saying that she will still closely watch the presidential primary as it unfolds, Ocasio-Cortez told CNN last month: “I would enthusiastically support [Biden] if he were the Democratic nominee.”The results of the midterm elections appear to have shifted many Democrats’ thinking on 2024. Although Democrats lost the House in November, the widely expected red wave failed to materialize, leaving Republicans with a narrow majority in the lower chamber. In the Senate, Democrats even managed to gain a seat.Multiple Democratic leaders said at the issues conference that they interpreted the midterm results as a vindication of Biden’s presidency and legislative achievements.“We had unexpected results last November because we put people over politics and explained time and time again exactly what we were doing,” Congressman Jim Clyburn, the assistant House minority leader, said on Wednesday. “We are going to further that.”Biden and congressional Democratic leaders repeatedly referenced the need to “finish the job” of the work done over the first two years of his presidency. The theme seems likely to play a major role in Biden’s re-election campaign messaging.“As much as we’ve done, we have a lot of unfinished business as well to finish the job that needs to be done,” Biden told House Democrats on Wednesday. “But we’ve got more to do … We’ve just got to keep going.”Has Bernie Sanders really helped Joe Biden move further left?Read moreAlthough Biden declined to make his 2024 plans official this week, recent signs indicate that a formal announcement could come in the next several weeks.“It’s Joe’s decision,” the first lady, Jill Biden, told CNN late last month. “And we support whatever he wants to do. If he’s in, we’re there. If he wants to do something else, we’re there too.” Asked whether there was any chance her husband may not seek a second term, the first lady replied: “Not in my book.”Although Biden would enter the 2024 race with the strong backing of Democratic leaders, the president still faces several liabilities in his quest for the nomination. Biden’s approval rating remains underwater, as more than half of Americans disapprove of his job performance, according to FiveThirtyEight’s polling average. One survey taken by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in late January found that just 37% of Democrats want Biden to seek a second term. The self-help author Marianne Williamson has also launched a long-shot bid for the Democratic nomination.Despite those challenges, House Democrats showed little interest in considering another candidate for 2024, instead arguing that Biden would be an asset in their efforts to recapture the majority next year. Republicans currently represent 18 House districts that Biden carried in 2020, as several Democratic leaders noted at the issues conference, and they believe the president’s re-election campaign could help the party swing those seats.“In those 18 districts that are held by Biden Republicans, he’s the best [candidate] in terms of his message and how he approaches this and the coalition that he built in 2020 coming back even stronger in 2024,” said Congresswoman Annie Kuster, chair of the center-left New Democrat Coalition.Even Democrats who faced tough races in 2022 – and will probably deal with close contests again in 2024 – voiced enthusiasm. Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, co-chair of the House Democratic policy and communications committee, appeared at an event with Biden in her home state of Illinois days before polls closed in November, as election forecasters predicted her seat could be up for grabs. Underwood ultimately won the race by 8 points.Joe Biden’s train ride to Kyiv makes history but will it win him a second term?Read more“We are so proud of the progress that the Biden-Harris administration [has] made,” Underwood said on Thursday. “I certainly am very pleased to have the opportunity to be on a ballot with President Biden in 2024 – unequivocally, full stop.”Echoing many other Democrats’ message during the conference, Underwood celebrated her party’s unified message, and it is clear that she can already envision a positive outcome in 2024 with Biden at the top of the ticket.“House Democrats are united behind a single mission: delivering for our majorities – sorry, delivering for our communities,” Underwood said, eliciting laughter from reporters. She then admitted: “I’ve got the majority on my mind.”TopicsJoe BidenUS politicsUS elections 2024DemocratsfeaturesReuse this content More