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      US intelligence ignored warnings of violence ahead of Capitol attack

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      A new report detailing intelligence failures leading up to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol said government agencies responsible for anticipating trouble downplayed the threat even as the building was being stormed, in an attempt to stop certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.The 105-page report, issued by Democrats on the Senate homeland security committee, said intelligence personnel at the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other agencies ignored warnings of violence in December 2020.Such officials then blamed each other for failing to prevent the attack that ensued, which left more than 140 police officers injured and led to several deaths.The US government has won hundreds of convictions against the rioters, with some getting long prison sentences.“These agencies failed to sound the alarm and share critical intelligence information that could have helped law enforcement better prepare for the events” of January 6, said Gary Peters of Michigan, the Democratic chair of the committee issuing the report, titled Planned in Plain Sight, A Review of the Intelligence Failures in Advance of 6 January 2021.Republicans on the committee did not respond to requests for comment.Last summer, a House of Representatives select committee held hearings, following a long investigation, that concluded the then president, Donald Trump, repeatedly ignored top aides’ findings that there was no significant fraud in the 2020 presidential election, which he lost.Trump continues to falsely insist he won that contest and was the victim of election fraud. Hours before the riot, Trump delivered a fiery speech to supporters, urging them to march to the Capitol as the House and Senate met to certify Biden’s win.Trump is now the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination. He and some Republican rivals have pledged to grant or consider granting pardons to rioters.The Senate committee found that in December 2020, the FBI received information that the far-right Proud Boys extremist group planned to be in Washington “to literally kill people”.On 3-4 January 2021, the report says, intelligence agencies knew of multiple postings on social media calling for armed violence and storming the Capitol. Yet “as late as 8.57am on January 6 a senior watch officer at the DHS National Operations Center wrote “there is no indication of civil disobedience”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionBy 2.58pm, the report noted, with a riot declared and the Capitol in formal lockdown, the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis noted online “chatter” calling for more violence but said “at this time no credible information to pass on has been established”.In summer 2020, demonstrations were staged in several US cities after the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer. The Senate report notes that the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis was criticized then for “over-collecting intelligence on American citizens”, resulting “in a ‘pendulum swing’ after which analysts were hesitant to report open-source intelligence they were seeing in the lead-up to January 6”.The report concluded there was a “clear need … for a re-evaluation of the federal government’s domestic intelligence collection, analysis, and dissemination processes”. More

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      Bedminster golf club tape casts doubt on Trump account of Iran document

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      Donald Trump repeatedly talked about a document on Iran that he described as having come from the “defense department” in an audio recording from July 2021 that cast doubt on his recent assertions that the material he was referring to was a stack of printed news clippings.The actual audio of the recording, played publicly for the first time by CNN and obtained by the Guardian, reveals the full extent of Trump’s discussion that was only partially included in the indictment and could make for a compelling presentation if deemed admissible at trial.The tape also included passages where Trump acknowledged that he could not declassify materials because he was no longer president.The tape was made at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey the summer after Trump left office, during a meeting with a publisher and a writer working on a memoir by Trump’s final chief of staff, Mark Meadows, according to people familiar with the matter.The discussion captured by the tape involved Trump trying to rebut reporting that the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Mark Milley, feared he might attack Iran. Trump was claiming that the situation was reversed, and told participants to “look” at what he was holding.“He said I wanted to attack Iran,” Trump said on the tape, seemingly referring to Milley. “Isn’t it amazing? I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look – this was him. This is off the record but they presented me this, this was him. This was the defense department and him.“This was him. All sorts of stuff. Pages long. Let’s see here,” Trump said, appearing to shuffle papers. “Isn’t that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know. Except it is highly confidential, this is secret information.”Trump added: “This was done by the military, given to me. I think we can, probably – see as president, I could have declassified. Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret” – to which a staffer responds, laughing: “Now we have a problem.” Trump then called for someone to bring out Coca-Cola drinks.Notably, the manner in which Trump referred to the Iran document at the time appears to be at odds with how he described the material in a Fox News interview conducted last week, after he was charged in the classified documents case.In the interview, Trump suggested that he was not trying to show off any “secret” or “highly confidential” documents, but he was instead referring to clippings of news articles about Milley and military plans for Iran.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“There was no document,” Trump said. “That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things. And it may have been held up or it may not, but that was not a document. I didn’t have a document per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.”A Trump spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.Whether the audio recording is deemed to be admissible at trial remains uncertain, and federal prosecutors did not charge Trump with retaining an Iran document, an indication that they did not conclusively identify the material Trump discussed despite months of investigation.The admissible evidence would be limited to materials that help establish Trump’s possession of the documents was unauthorized, and that Trump retained the documents with the knowledge that doing so was illegal. More

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      If Trump wins, he’ll turn the justice department into a vendetta machine | Robert Reich

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      Last week Donald Trump said that, if re-elected, he’d appoint a “real special prosecutor” to “go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family”.In other words, if Trump is re-elected, you can kiss nonpartisan criminal justice goodbye.His remark made me think back almost a half century ago, to when I was a rookie lawyer in the Department of Justice.The department was in shambles, discredited by the political abuse and corruption of Richard Nixon and John Mitchell, the attorney general.To restore trust in the department, President Gerald Ford appointed Edward Levi attorney general. In naming Levi, who had been president of the University of Chicago and the dean of its law school, Ford found someone whose reputation for integrity was impeccable.As Levi said at his swearing-in: “Nothing can more weaken the quality of life or more imperil the realization of the goals we all hold dear than our failure to make clear by words and deed that our law is not an instrument of partisan purpose.”Levi set out to insulate the justice department from politics, instituting rules limiting White House involvement in law enforcement decisions.The Senate Watergate committee chairman, Sam Ervin, didn’t think Levi’s rules went far enough to protect the department from an unscrupulous future president. Ervin wanted to make the justice department an independent agency with an attorney general appointed by the president every six years and removable only for neglect.At the time, I thought Ervin’s proposal too extreme. I assumed America had learned its lesson from Watergate and would never again elect a president as repugnant as Nixon, willing to sacrifice the institutions of government to his own political ambition.Yet there was some precedent for Ervin’s view. The position of US attorney general was originally viewed as an independent, semi-judicial role – analogous to that of judges.Congress established the office of the attorney general in the Judiciary Act of 1789 – the same act that created the federal court system, as distinct from acts establishing executive departments.In the original draft, attorneys general would be appointed by the US supreme court, not the president. Congress changed this so that attorneys general would be appointed exactly like federal judges.When George Washington appointed the nation’s first attorney general in 1789, Thomas Jefferson referred to him as “the attorney general for the supreme court”.Early attorneys general shared offices with the court. Their budgets were line items under the federal judiciary, not the executive. Originally, the attorney general was not even in line to succeed to the presidency.Even after the attorney general became a key part of the executive branch and the Department of Justice was established in 1870, presidents continued to respect the need for prosecutorial independence.Until Nixon and the scurrilous John Mitchell.But surely, I said to myself at the time, Nixon and Mitchell were the extremes. Edward Levi’s reforms were adequate.Then came the worst offender of all. During his presidency, Trump viewed the department as an extension of his own will – even claiming: “I have an absolute right to do what I want to with the justice department.”Trump interfered in the department’s prosecutions of Michael Flynn and Roger Stone, fired the FBI director James Comey for investigating possible collusion between Russia and Trump associates, and demanded that the department reopen a criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton.John Dean, former White House counsel to Nixon, described Trump’s efforts to use the justice department for personal gain as “Nixon on stilts and steroids”.Now, Trump threatens that if re-elected he’ll turn the department into his own personal vendetta machine. If there weren’t already enough reason to fear a second Trump presidency, this would be it.Public trust in our governing institutions has already sunk to a new low – due in large part to Trump’s first term, his subsequent big lie that the 2020 election was “stolen”, and now his second big lie that Biden is orchestrating a “witch-hunt” against him.Even if Biden is re-elected, it will be necessary to deal with the damage Trump and his Republican enablers have wrought.Perhaps Sam Ervin’s proposal for an independent justice department should be given more serious consideration.
      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 More

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      Republicans’ enduring fealty to Trump on display at conference after his indictment

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      Republicans’ enduring loyalty to Donald Trump was on vivid display at a conservative conference this weekend, convened just two weeks after the former president was indicted on 37 federal charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents.Addressing this year’s Road to Majority conference Saturday, Trump lashed out against federal prosecutors, who have accused the former president of intentionally withholding classified documents from authorities and obstructing justice in his efforts to keep those materials concealed. Trump, who could soon face additional charges in Washington and Georgia, told the friendly crowd that he considered each of his two indictments so far to be “a great badge of courage” as he ran to unseat Democratic incumbent Joe Biden.“Joe Biden has weaponized law enforcement to interfere in our elections,” Trump told the conservative audience. “I’m being indicted for you.”Trump was among several Republican presidential candidates to speak at the conference, held in Washington and hosted by the rightwing evangelical group Faith and Freedom Coalition.His message was echoed by some of his presidential primary opponents, several of whom used their conference speeches to attack the allegedly politicized department of justice.Florida governor Ron DeSantis promised to replace the FBI’s director – Christopher Wray, appointed during Trump’s presidency – while South Carolina US senator Tim Scott pledged to fire attorney general Merrick Garland and “change the trajectory of this nation by focusing on restoring confidence and integrity” in the US justice department.But one of Trump’s primary opponents, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, did not shy away from directly confronting the former president, accusing him of “letting us down”.“He’s unwilling to take responsibility for any of the mistakes that were made, any of the faults that he has, and any of the things that he’s done,” Christie told the conference on Friday. “And that is not leadership, everybody. That is a failure of leadership.”The remarks were met with some scattered applause and loud booing as one conference attendee shouted at Christie, “We love Trump!”Amid the jeers, Christie added: “You can boo all you want, but here’s the thing: Our faith teaches us that people have to take responsibility for what they do, that people have to stand up and take accountability for what they do, and I cannot stand by.”Speaking a day later, Trump mocked Christie for getting “booed off the stage”, even though he was in fact allowed to finish his remarks. The insult was greeted with loud applause from the crowd, who repeatedly broke out into chants of “USA!” and “We love Trump!”Timothy Head, executive director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, commended Christie for his willingness to “walk into the lion’s den,” adding: “It’s overwhelmingly a pro-Trump room at this conference and a pro-Trump movement broadly speaking, and so I guess from that standpoint, it certainly took some courage to do that knowingly.”Amy Leahy, a 69-year-old conference attendee from Maryland, said she strongly disagreed with Christie’s attacks on Trump. “I’m not happy to hear him say those things,” Leahy said. She added: “It’s not going to get him elected president.”The conference’s negative response to Christie and the effusive praise of Trump underscored the former president’s resilient popularity among the Republican voters who will determine the party’s nominee next year. Trump continues to dominate in polls of likely Republican primary voters, even after his two arrests in New York and Florida.If anything, Trump’s most recent indictment appears to have inspired more sympathy among the party loyalists at the Road to Majority.“They’re going after him just because he is Donald Trump, and I don’t think the charges are valid,” Leahy said. “I think a lot of people are supporting him in the knowledge that, or the assumption that, he is being railroaded.”Albert Tumminello, an 86-year-old conference attendee from Virginia who said he was leaning toward supporting Trump in the primary, echoed that belief, arguing the federal charges against the former president should not at all disqualify him from seeking office.“He’s been under much more duress than we can ever imagine,” Tumminello added.Polling taken since Trump’s second indictment indicates that sentiment is shared by a wide swath of the Republican primary electorate. According to an NBC News survey released Sunday, 51% of Republican voters name Trump as their top choice to be the party’s nominee, marking a six-point increase since April. Trump’s next closest competitor, DeSantis, trails the former president by 29 points.Trump joked on Saturday: “I’m probably the only person in history in this country who’s been indicted, and my numbers went up.”Those data points have only intensified skepticism over whether any other Republican candidate can win a substantial amount of support from evangelical voters, who will play an outsized role in early voting states like Iowa. Head acknowledged that Trump enjoys the advantage of good will with evangelical voters because of his White House accomplishments, particularly on the issue of abortion.As he spoke Saturday, which marked one year since the end of Roe v Wade, Trump bragged about nominating three of the supreme court justices who supported overturning that landmark case, which established federal abortion rights. Although he remained vague on his preferred timeline for a nationwide abortion ban, Trump said: “There of course remains a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life.”“I’m proud to be the most pro-life president in American history,” Trump said, prompting more loud cheers.Despite Trump’s significant advantage, Head emphasized that other primary candidates still have the time and the opportunity to make their mark with evangelical voters.“They feel like they know what they get with [Trump], and they very much like what they get with him,” Head said. “But I think a lot of people are interested in maybe going back into the market, so to speak, to see if there is anything else, either on policy or on style, that they like better.“I think this is a race. It’s far from over.” More

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      Trump rails against federal charges and accuses Biden of ‘weaponizing’ justice department

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      Donald Trump has derided the substantial federal charges against him, downplaying the numerous legal threats he faces while attacking Joe Biden for allegedly having “weaponized” the department of justice for political gain.Speaking on Saturday at the Road to Majority conference in Washington, hosted by the right-wing evangelical Faith and Freedom Coalition, Trump said he considered each of the two indictments he has received so far to be a “great badge of courage”.“Joe Biden has weaponized law enforcement to interfere in our elections,” Trump told the conservative audience. “I’m being indicted for you.”The speech came less than two weeks after Trump, currently the frontrunner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents.According to prosecutors, Trump intentionally withheld highly sensitive government documents from federal officials and obstructed justice in his efforts to keep those materials concealed. Trump also faces charges in New York related to his alleged involvement in a hush-money scheme during the 2016 presidential election, and he could potentially be indicted in Georgia and Washington over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.In his Saturday speech, Trump attempted to argue that the Presidential Records Act of 1978 made his retention of classified documents legal, even though he has actually been charged under the Espionage Act.“Whatever documents a president decides to take with him, he has the absolute right to take them,” Trump falsely claimed.Trump also tried to redirect attention away from the charges by noting that Biden was found to have kept classified documents in his private residence, which is now the subject of a special counsel investigation. However, unlike Trump, Biden never received a subpoena for the classified materials in his possession because his team voluntarily gave them to federal officials.Trump simultaneously accused Hunter Biden, the president’s son, of corruption, parroting claims from leading House Republicans. News broke Tuesday that Hunter Biden would plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax offenses, and he struck a deal with prosecutors to avoid a conviction on a separate felony gun charge. Hunter Biden was not charged in connection to his overseas business dealings, which have become a source of great outrage among Trump and his allies, but House Republicans have nevertheless pledged to continue investigating the president’s son.“They lie, they cheat and they steal,” Trump said of Democrats. “This is how low they’ve fallen in an attempt to win the 2024 election, and we’re not going to let that happen.” He then repeated his false claim that the 2020 presidential election had been rigged against him.In his speech, Trump also touched on some of the policy priorities for the evangelical voters who will play a crucial role in determining the Republican presidential nominee. Trump spoke on the same day that the US marked one year since Roe v Wade was overturned, and the former president took the opportunity to congratulate himself for nominating three of the supreme court justices who supported reversing that landmark decision.“I got it done, and nobody thought it was even a possibility,” Trump said. “I’m proud to be the most pro-life president in American history.”Trump received a warm reception from the conservative audience, who greeted him with a standing ovation as he took the stage. The crowd repeatedly broke out into chants of “USA!” and “We vote Trump!”Despite the serious legal threats he faces, Trump continues to dominate in polls of likely Republican primary voters. A CNN survey taken last week, after the indictment in the classified documents case was unsealed, found that 47% of Republican voters name Trump as their top choice to be the party’s 2024 nominee. Trump’s closest competitor, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, trailed him by 21 points.In his own speech at the Road to Majority conference on Friday, DeSantis declined to directly mention the indictment, but he similarly lamented that the federal government had become “weaponized” and promised to replace FBI director Christopher Wray, a Trump appointee.But that sentiment was not shared by fellow presidential candidate Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who was once a Trump ally and has now become one of the former president’s most vocal critics within the Republican party. Speaking at the conference Friday, Christie attacked Trump’s character and accused him of having “let us down”.“He’s unwilling to take responsibility for any of the mistakes that were made, any of the faults that he has, and any of the things that he’s done,” Christie said, prompting some boos from the conference crowd.Trump mocked Christie on Saturday, falsely saying he was “booed off the stage”, even though he was in fact allowed to finish his remarks despite the harsh reception. Trump’s insult was met with loud applause.At one point, Trump quipped: “I’m probably the only person in history in this country who’s been indicted, and my numbers went up.” More

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      in Elections

      Two Georgia election workers cleared of wrongdoing in 2020 elections

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      Two Atlanta election workers who were the subject of an outlandish conspiracy theory amplified by Donald Trump were formally cleared of all wrongdoing by the Georgia state election board this week.Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss were at the center of one of the most persistent lies spread by Donald Trump and allies after the 2020 election. Using selectively edited video footage, Trump and Rudy Giuliani claimed that Freeman and Moss removed ballots from suitcases underneath tables after counting had ended on election night and counted them. Georgia election officials immediately debunked the claim, saying security footage showed that counting had not ended for the evening when Freeman and Moss removed the ballots from secure ballot transport boxes.A 10-page report released on Tuesday affirms that conclusion and offers one of the most thorough debunking of the claim to date. It officially marked the closure of the state election board’s investigation into the matter.“All allegations made against Freeman and Moss were unsubstantiated and found to have no merit,” the report says.Investigators with the FBI, Georgia bureau of investigation (GBI), and secretary of state’s office interviewed election officials, Republican poll watchers, as well as Freeman and Moss to reach that conclusion. Workers had begun packing up around 10.30pm and planned to resume scanning ballots the next day, but were subsequently told by Richard Barron, then the director of elections in Fulton county, that they needed to keep counting until complete or the state advised them to stop. Ballots that were stored in secure ballot containers underneath tables were then taken out to continue counting.Republican poll watchers were never told that counting was over and that they needed to leave State Farm Arena, the report says. Instead, they left around 10.30pm when they were under the impression that counting was ending, telling investigators they had heard an election employee telling workers they were done for the night.Investigators also examined a social media post purporting to be from Freeman in which she confessed to election fraud. They found that the Instagram account was created by someone else who was impersonating Freeman. The report does not reveal who created the account.“This serves as further evidence that Ms Freeman and Ms Moss – while doing their patriotic duty and serving their community – were simply collateral damage in a coordinated effort to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election,” Von DuBose, a lawyer representing both women, said in a statement.Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, who drew Trump’s ire for defending the election results in Georgia, praised the report.“We remain diligent and dedicated to looking into real claims of voter fraud,” he said in a statement. “We are glad the state election board finally put this issue to rest. False claims and knowingly false allegations made against these election workers have done tremendous harm. Election workers deserve our praise for being on the frontlines.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionFreeman and Moss both faced vicious harassment because of the claims. They received death threats and Freeman, who is in her 60s, fled her home. Moss would only leave her home for work because she was so scared, she told Reuters in 2021. Her son, a teenager, also faced harassment and began failing in school.Both women testified to the US House committee investigating the January 6 attacks about the horror of the harassment.“I won’t even introduce myself by my name any more. I get nervous when I bump into someone I know in the grocery store who says my name. I’m worried about people listening. I get nervous when I have to give my name for food orders. I’m always concerned of who’s around me,” Freeman said. “There is nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere. Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you?”Joe Biden awarded both women the presidential citizens medal on January 6 this year.“Both of them were just doing their jobs until they were targeted and threatened by the same predators and peddlers of lies that would fuel the insurrection. They were literally forced from their homes, facing despicable racist taunts,” he said at the ceremony. “Despite it all, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss found the courage to testify openly and honestly to the whole country and the world about their experience to set the record straight about the lies and defend the integrity of our elections.” More

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      in US Politics

      Modi White House visit: Joe Biden says both US and India ‘cherish freedom’ and human rights – as it happened

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      From 3h agoBiden also mentioned press freedom in his opening statement, saying that both countries “cherish freedom and celebrate the democratic values of universal human rights which face challenges around the world and in each of our countries.” “Press freedom, religious freedom, tolerance, diversity…India now is the most populous country in the world… The backbone of our people…and talents and traditions make us strong as nations,” said Biden.“The friendship between our nations is only going to grow as we face a future together,” he added.It is 4pm in Washington DC. Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
      India’s prime minister Narendra Modi was at the White House for his bilateral meeting today with Joe Biden. Modi was met with a series of performances and ceremonies on the White House lawn and the two leaders proceeded to discuss press freedom, trade, technological advancements, as well as the Russia-Ukraine war.
      Former US president Barack Obama has addressed Modi’s visit to the United States in a new interview with CNN, saying, “The protection of Muslim minorities in a majority Hindu India, that’s something worth mentioning.” “I do think it is appropriate for the president of the United States…to challenge, whether behind closed doors or in public, trends that are troubling…” he said.
      New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced in a statement late Wednesday that she will “boycott” a joint address to Congress from Modi. “I will be boycotting Prime Minister Modi’s address to Congress tomorrow, and encourage my colleagues who stand for pluralism, tolerance, and freedom of the press to join me in doing the same,” said Ocasio-Cortez’s statement, shared to Twitter.
      Bernie Sanders has also joined several Democratic lawmakers in their condemnation of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi over his human rights abuse allegations. “Prime Minister Modi’s government has cracked down on the press and civil society, jailed political opponents, and pushed an aggressive Hindu nationalism that leaves little space for India’s religious minorities,” Sanders wrote in a tweet.
      During a press conference with Modi, a reporter asked Biden about comments he made calling China president Xi Jinping a “dictator” and if such remarks complicate progress that the Biden administration has made on maintaining a relationship with China. “The answer to your first question is no,” said Biden.
      Human rights group Amnesty International has publicly criticized Modi’s visit to the White House, calling on the Biden administration to address “grave human rights issues” in the US and India. Amnesty International called out increasing violence against religion minorities in India during Modi’s tenure, as well as “criminalization of dissent”.
      The two individuals who guaranteed bail for New York’s Republican congressman George Santos has ben identified as his father and aunt. The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports: “The revelation that Gercino dos Santos Jr and Elma Preven were the people behind Santos’ bail solves a running mystery that had fascinated Washington-watchers and also a wider American public obsessed with the travails of a politician famous for playing fast and loose with the truth.”
      Georgia’s far-right representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has explained why she called Colorado’s equally far-right representative Lauren Boebert “a little b****” yesterday in Congress. “It’s purely for fundraising… It’s throwing out red meat so that people will donate to her campaign because she’s coming up on the end of the month, and she’s trying to produce good fundraising numbers,” Greene told Semafor.
      That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for following along.You can read our latest full report here:For a quick refresher on all the 16 candidates currently vying for the presidential office, here is our latest guide to all contenders, ranging from Ron DeSantis to Cornel West:Currently, 12 candidates are running for the GOP nomination while 2 Democrats – Robert F Kennedy Jr and Marianne Williamson, are looking to unseat Joe Biden.Meanwhile, progressive activist Cornel West has announced that he is running for office as a member of the People’s party, a third party.Georgia’s far-right representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has explained why she called Colorado’s equally far-right representative Lauren Boebert “a little b****” yesterday in Congress.Speaking to Semafor, Greene explained the verbal altercation between the two lawmakers yesterday which erupted over both their efforts to impeach the president.“I was sitting down, and so I stood up and I said, ‘I’m happy to clarify my public statements to your face… I told her exactly what I think about her,” Greene said, referring to public comments she made yesterday about Boebert whom she said “basically copied my articles” in her own separate privileged resolution (which would bypass House Republican leadership and instead head straight to the floor for voting).
      “It’s purely for fundraising… It’s throwing out red meat so that people will donate to her campaign because she’s coming up on the end of the month, and she’s trying to produce good fundraising numbers,” Greene added.
      Donald Trump’s efforts at obtaining a new trial in the civil case involving writer E. Jean Carroll is “magical thinking,” Carroll’s lawyers said on Thursday.Reuters reports:Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presential nomination, on June 8 asked for a new trial after the jury awarded Carroll $5 million, saying the damages were excessive because the jury did not find she was raped and because the alleged conduct did not cause her a diagnosed mental injury.In court papers filed Thursday in opposition to Trump’s request, Carroll’s lawyers maintained that the attack has harmed her ability to have romantic and sexual relationships, and she has suffered intrusive memories.They pointed to a psychologist’s testimony at trial that Carroll had some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.“Trump’s motion is nothing more than his latest effort to obfuscate the import of the jury’s verdict by engaging in his own particular Trump-branded form of magical thinking,” her lawyers wrote.Trump’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.For the full story, click here:Several progressive lawmakers have released a joint statement to announce they will boycott Modi’s joint address to Congress.Missouri representative Cori Bush; Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib; Minnesota represetatiev Ilhan Omar; and New York representative Jamaal Bowman shared the statement on Thursday.They will be joining other legislators, including New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who are not attending Modi’s address in light of human right abuses in India.Read the joint statement below:
      When it comes to standing up for human rights, actions speak louder than words. By bestowing Prime Minister Modi with the rare honor of a joint address, Congress undermines its ability to be a credible advocate for the rights of religious minorities and journalists around the world.
      Modi has a notorious and extensive record of human rights abuses. He was complicit in the 2002 Gujarat riots that killed over 1,000 people, leading to the revocation of his U.S. visa. His government has openly targeted Muslims and other religious minorities, enabled Hindu nationalist violence, undermined democracy, targeted journalists and dissidents, and suppressed criticism using authoritarian tactics like Internet shutdowns and censorship.
      It is shameful to honor these abuses by allowing Modi to address a joint session of Congress. We refuse to participate in it and will be boycotting the joint address. We stand in solidarity with the communities that have been harmed by Modi and his policies. We must never sacrifice human rights at the altar of political expediency and we urge all Members of Congress who profess to stand for freedom and democracy to join us in boycotting this embarrassing spectacle.
      The two individuals who guaranteed bail for New York’s Republican congressman George Santos has ben identified as his father and aunt.The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports:The revelation that Gercino dos Santos Jr and Elma Preven were the people behind Santos’ bail solves a running mystery that had fascinated Washington-watchers and also a wider American public obsessed with the travails of a politician famous for playing fast and loose with the truth.Santos had tried to stop the legal process of them being named, arguing disclosure could threaten the guarantors’ safety amid a “media frenzy” and “hateful attacks”.Santos’s lawyer had also said that his client would rather go to jail himself than have his guarantors unmasked. But Santos seemed to have backed off that wish by not asking to change the conditions of his bail after a federal judge in New York dismissed his appeal to keep the names sealed.Media organisations and the House ethics committee had asked that the names be revealed.Santos, 34, won election in New York last year, in a district covering parts of Long Island and Queens. He has been dogged by controversy and calls to resign. His résumé has been shown to be largely made-up and past behavior – sometimes allegedly criminal, other times bizarrely picaresque – widely reported.Santos has admitted to embellishing his résumé but denies wrongdoing. In court in May, he pleaded not guilty to all charges.For the full story, click here:Biden and Modi have wrapped up their joint press conference, where they discussed a range of issues including climate change and democracy.Here is an update from Mary Yang for the Guardian with updates on what the two world leaders discussed.Another reporter asked Biden about criticisms that the US is not implementing solutions to climate change or transferring technologies to developing nations that would address warming.Both countries have agreed to work on tackling climate change as apart of the G20 forum.Here is an explainer on progress made during the last summit in November 2022.A reporter asked Biden about comments he made calling China president Xi Jinping a “dictator” and if such remarks complicate progress that the Biden administration has made on maintaining a relationship with China.“The answer to your first question is no,” said Biden, adding that he expects to be meeting with Jinping soon and that State Secretary Antony Blinken had a productive trip to the country recently.Biden was also asked about criticisms he faces about overlooking human rights violations in India, including the targeting of religious minorities and dissent.Biden added: “The prime minister and I had a good discussion about democratic values. That’s the nature of our relationship, we’re straight forward with each other and we respect each other.”Biden noted that both India and US are democracies, compared to China.Biden also mentioned press freedom in his opening statement, saying that both countries “cherish freedom and celebrate the democratic values of universal human rights which face challenges around the world and in each of our countries.” “Press freedom, religious freedom, tolerance, diversity…India now is the most populous country in the world… The backbone of our people…and talents and traditions make us strong as nations,” said Biden.“The friendship between our nations is only going to grow as we face a future together,” he added.In Joe Biden’s opening statement, the president talked about a series of topics discussed with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, including technological advancements such as semi-conductor supply chains, telecommunication networks, and growing major defense partnerships with further joint exercises.Biden also talked about the expansion of educational opportunities for Indian students and to build “on the record of 125,000 student visas for Indians to study in the United States.”The Ukraine-Russia was was also discussed, with Biden saying, “We talked about our shared efforts to mitigate humanitarian tragedies unleashed by Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine and to defend core principles of the UN charter.”Joe Biden and Narendra Modi have started their press conference.Former US president Barack Obama has addressed Modi’s visit to the United States in a new interview with CNN, saying, “The protection of Muslim minorities in a majority Hindu India, that’s something worth mentioning.”Speaking to CNN host Christiane Amanpour, Obama said:“I do think it is appropriate for the president of the United States…to challenge, whether behind closed doors or in public, trends that are troubling…If the president meets with prime minister Modi, then the protection of Muslim minorities in a majority Hindu India, that’s something worth mentioning… If I had a conversation with prime minister Modi…part of my argument would be if you don’t protect the rights of ethnic minorities in India, there’s a strong possibility India starts pulling apart.”As we wait for the press conference with Biden and Modi, here is the Committee to Protect Journalists’ statement urging India to stop its media crackdowns and to release detained journalists.
      “Press freedom is under attack in India,” said CPJ, adding, “India is the world’s largest democracy, yet it is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for the media…
      Leaders around the world who value democracy must urger those in power in India to stop the threats against journalists there. Democracy depends on a free press.”
      CPJ’s president Jodie Ginsberg also issued a statement, saying, “Since Modi assumed power in 2014, there has been an increasing crackdown on India’s media…
      India is the world’s largest democracy and it needs to live up to that by ensuring a free and independent media – and we expect the United States to make this a core element of discussions.”
      US president Joe Biden and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi are scheduled to host a press conference soon.We will be bringing you the latest updates. More

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      The right believes the FBI is obsessed with jailing Trump. The opposite is true | Andrew Gawthorpe

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      Donald Trump’s indictment earlier this month on 37 counts related to mishandling classified information set off a firestorm on the political right. Conservatives accused Joe Biden of using the justice system to prosecute his main political rival and attempting to “steal” the 2024 election. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, promised to “hold this brazen weaponization of power accountable”. In short, the right wants us to believe that Biden and his administration will stop at nothing to put Trump in jail as quickly as possible.In fact, the exact opposite is true. Worried about just this type of accusation, the justice department under Merrick Garland and the FBI have approached their investigations of Trump much too cautiously. Far from being persecuted because of who he is, Trump’s status as a former president and as the unofficial leader of the Republican party have led to him being handled with vastly more deference than anyone else would be. The result has been a series of delays and missteps which may allow Trump to escape accountability once again.It is now nearly 18 months since the government first recovered classified material from Mar-a-Lago in early 2022. Although the justice department concluded shortly afterwards that Trump likely possessed further sensitive material, it took seven months for Mar-a-Lago to be searched, in part because the FBI feared that the move would open the agency to accusations of partisanship. Trump was then only indicted nearly a year later. After his initial arraignment he remains a free man, released without having to post bail – despite credible concerns he may still have additional classified material in his possession.Compare that timeline to the events surrounding the arrest of intelligence contractor Reality Winner, who in 2017 received a five-year prison sentence for leaking one document to the news website the Intercept. The document Winner leaked was written on 5 May 2017 and she was arrested on 3 June, days before the Intercept even had a chance to publish its article about her leak. She was indicted on 8 June and jailed pending her trial. Winner later pleaded guilty to violating the Espionage Act – precisely the law that it seemed clear Trump had flouted for over a year before he was indicted.Trump has likewise been slow to face consequences in the federal investigation into his actions leading up to the insurrection at the US Capitol. According to a new report by the Washington Post, the justice department and FBI delayed launching a probe into Trump’s push to overturn the 2020 election for 15 months, again because of fears that they would be criticized for partisanship. The agencies instead pursued cases against rank-and-file insurrectionists, ignoring the existence of evidence implicating Trump and his inner circle until media and political pressure forced them to begin taking it seriously.These delays matter because they make it possible – even likely – that Trump will never truly face accountability for his actions. Trump’s trial in the documents case is unlikely to be held before the 2024 presidential election and the same is true for any possible charges in the January 6 case. If Trump wins the election and becomes president again – as current polls suggest he will – then he will have multiple tools at his disposal to derail the trials or even pardon himself. Justice delayed will be justice denied.Efforts by the justice department and other agencies to appear non-partisan have been well-intended but outdated. The modern conservative movement will give the Biden administration and the law enforcement agencies little credit for proceeding so slowly and deliberately. Instead, the justice system’s extreme deference to conservative complaints will only encourage the Maga movement to double down. If federal law enforcement can be so easily scared away from enforcing the law without fear or favor, we can expect more hysteria and finger-pointing – even threats of violence – to follow in the future.These events also set a catastrophic precedent. The sitting president’s immunity from prosecution and the political barriers to impeachment leave criminal proceedings after a president leaves office as the last available means of imposing accountability. If law enforcement agencies are too scared to investigate prominent politicians promptly and effectively, even that opportunity will vanish and presidents will be left with virtually no checks on their behavior.But worst of all is the fact that if Trump gets off the hook and re-enters office, the independence and integrity of the justice department and FBI are likely to be destroyed anyway. He has made it clear that he would seek to weaponize law enforcement agencies against his political opponents, including by forcing the justice department to follow his personal and political vendettas.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionTrump himself represents a unique threat to the rule of law and the independence of American law enforcement, one which must be confronted with appropriate but aggressive tools. Sadly, thanks to years of misplaced appeasement, it might already be too late.
      Andrew Gawthorpe is a historian of the United States at Leiden University. He hosts a podcast called America Explained and writes a newsletter of the same name More