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      Biden declares Arizona floods a federal disaster for Havasupai tribe

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      Biden declares Arizona floods a federal disaster for Havasupai tribeThe declaration provides funds and federal assistance for emergency and permanent infrastructure The White House has made a federal disaster declaration for the Havasupai Native American tribe that mainly lives deep inside the Grand Canyon in Arizona, as the community prepares to reopen tourist access to its famous turquoise waterfalls next month.Last October, the village experienced drastic flooding which damaged extensive parts of the reservation.The floods “destroyed several bridges and trails that are needed not only for our tourists, but for the everyday movement of goods and services into the Supai Village”, the tribe said.The Havasupai is now readying itself to receive tourists again from 1 February on its reservation, which sits nine miles down narrow trails between spectacular red rock cliffs deep within the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona. Tourists must apply for permits to enter the reservation.It is the first time that tourists have been allowed to return to the reservation not only since the flooding, but in almost three years, since tourism was closed off early in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic spread across the US. The canyon community has very limited health care resources on site.The tribe is one of North America’s smallest and is the only one based inside the canyon, where the community has lived for more than 800 years, despite being driven off much of its original, much wider, territory by armed settlers in the 19th century.On 31 December the White House announced that Joe Biden had approved a disaster declaration for the Havasupai. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), such a declaration provides a wide range of federal assistance programs for individuals and public infrastructure, including funds for emergency and permanent work.The tribe grows crops and keeps farm animals on a thin ribbon of land inside the canyon, alongside the naturally occurring, vividly hued streams and falls. Havasupai means the people of the blue-green water.The tribe issued a statement last month, reflecting on last fall’s flooding, saying: “This has been a trying experience for all involved … However, there are many positive things as a result. While you may see downed trees on the trails where the flood crashed through, you will also see flourishing flora and fauna and new waterfall flows.”The White House noted that: “Federal funding is available to the Havasupai tribe and certain private non-profit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the flooding,” the statement continued.In December, the tribe noted that it had been in a dispute with the third-party tourism operator it had normally worked with and had switched to another operator in preparation of the 2023 tourism season.Last month, the tribe also reported fresh uranium mining activity in the Grand Canyon region where the tribe’s water source originates, which it has long claimed is an existential threat.“It is time to permanently ban uranium mining – not only to preserve the Havasupai tribe’s cultural identity and our existence as the Havasupai people but to protect the Grand Canyon for generations to come,” the tribal chairman, Thomas Siyuja Sr, said in a statement reported by Native News Online. “With recent activity observed inside the mine fence, it is clear that the mining company is making plans to begin its operations.”The legacy of uranium mining has long threatened Native American communities, including the Havasupai tribe. From 1944 to 1986, close to 30m tons of uranium ore were extracted from neighboring Navajo lands. During the cold war, companies extracted millions of tons of uranium in those territories to meet the demands for nuclear weapons, causing environmental blight.TopicsArizonaNative AmericansIndigenous peoplesFloodingUS politicsJoe BidennewsReuse this content More

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      Democrats controlled Congress for two years. What did they achieve?

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      AnalysisDemocrats controlled Congress for two years. What did they achieve?Lauren Gambino From same-sex marriage protections to veterans’ aid, Joe Biden’s party used its thin majority to deliver many campaign promisesIn January, Democrats will lose their unified control of Capitol Hill, ending a remarkable legislative streak that saw the party deliver on many of their campaign promises.Biden’s climate bill victory was hard won. Now, the real battle startsRead moreWhile Joe Biden and his party did not accomplish everything they set out to do, Democrats in Congress spent the last two years marshalling their thin majorities to pass consequential legislation that touches nearly every aspect of American life from water quality to marriage equality. Some of the most notable measures even earned Republican support.As a new era of divided government dawns in Washington, with Republicans set to take control of the House on 3 January, here’s a look at what Democrats accomplished during the 117th Congress.American Rescue Plan ActSeven weeks into his presidency, Biden signed into law a $1.9tn economic stimulus plan designed to combat the coronavirus pandemic and begin repairing the nation’s frayed social safety net. The bill, passed by Democrats on a party-line vote, sent $1,400 stimulus checks to tens of millions of Americans and temporarily extended unemployment benefits.It included billions in funding to speed up vaccination distribution and school reopenings and additional money to help state and local governments weather the pandemic-induced economic downturn. The legislation also temporarily increased the annual Child Tax Credit, a policy experts say helped halve child poverty in America before it ended.The uphill battle to resurrect the US child tax credit that lifted millions from poverty Read moreIn the months that followed, a debate flared over the legislation’s economic impact. Many economists credited the large-scale infusion of cash with spurring a rapid economic recovery while others argued that the plan, at least to some extent, contributed to inflation.Establish Juneteenth as a federal holidayIn June 2021, Congress passed legislation to make Juneteenth, or 19 June, a federal holiday.Juneteenth marks the events of 19 June 1865, when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform enslaved African Americans of their freedom, more than two months after the Confederacy surrendered. Calls grew to commemorate Juneteenth following nationwide social justice protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police.Create a House committee to investigate the Capitol attackFormally titled the House select committee to investigate the January 6th attack, the nine-member panel was charged with investigating the events that led to the most grievous assault on the US Capitol in more than 200 years.Democrats preferred a bipartisan independent commission to investigate the attack, similar to the one Congress established in the aftermath of 9/11. But Republicans stonewalled those efforts and in the end the House voted to create a select committee composed of seven Democrats and two Republicans, Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, both of whom have been ostracized by their party for criticizing Trump.The committee held a summer of blockbuster public hearings that sought to chronicle what it charged to be a coordinated plot, instigated by Donald Trump, to subvert a free and fair election. With shocking testimony and slick video reels, the committee crafted a devastating portrait of a president willing to do anything to remain in power.The panel issued the findings of its 18-month inquiry in a report released in late December, the result of more than 1,000 interviews and hundreds of thousands of documents. They referred Trump to the justice department for violating at least four criminal statutes, as well as his ally, lawyer John Eastman, on a conspiracy charge. Four lawmakers were referred to the House ethics committee, including Kevin McCarthy, who is expected to run for speaker of the House next year.Bipartisan infrastructure lawSeveral presidents tried – and failed – to pass an infrastructure bill. But late last year, Biden signed into law the largest investment in US infrastructure in at least a generation.Far narrower in scope than the $2.3tn plan Biden initially proposed, the sweeping public works package was nevertheless a hard-won, bipartisan victory, with 19 Republican senators voting in favor, including the minority leader, Mitch McConnell.The infrastructure law provided for $550bn in new spending, investing in everything from the nation’s waterways and transit systems to its airports and electric grid. The bill also included funding for electric vehicle charging stations, as well as for zero- and low-emissions buses and ferries.Confirm a supreme court justiceWhen supreme court justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement, Biden had an opportunity to make good on his promise to nominate the first Black woman to the supreme court. His choice was Ketanji Brown Jackson.In April, Jackson faced a grueling confirmation hearing before a deeply polarized Senate. She ultimately won approval in a 53-to-47 vote that was met with tears of joy and celebration by Black women and girls across the country. Jackson officially joined the court in late June, just after its controversial decision to overturn Roe v Wade, ending the constitutional right to an abortion.‘Force to be reckoned with’: Ketanji Brown Jackson shines in first weekRead moreBorn in Washington DC and raised in Miami, Jackson is a graduate of Harvard Law School and previously served as a clerk for her predecessor, Justice Breyer. She is the first public defender to serve as a justice on the nation’s highest court.Over the past two years, the Democratic-controlled Senate has confirmed a record-setting number of Biden’s judicial appointments, the overwhelming majority of whom are women and people of color. ​​Gun-control legislationAfter Congress’s failure to act in response to the killing of 26 children and educators at Sandy Hook elementary school in 2012, a bipartisan solution to the ever-rising toll of gun violence in America seemed unreachable.But in June, following a spate of horrific mass shootings that included a racist attack on Black shoppers at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and the massacre of 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, lawmakers finally came together to pass the first major gun-control legislation in a generation.The bill toughens requirements for the youngest gun buyers, keeps firearms out of the hands of more domestic abusers and helps states implement “red flag” laws that make it easier for authorities to temporarily take away weapons from people deemed by a judge to be dangerous. It also includes funding for mental health and violence intervention programs as well as school safety initiatives.Biden said the legislation was a “historic achievement”. Gun control activists also celebrated its passage, but said it was only a first step and much more aggressive action was needed.The Chips and Science ActThe product of more than a year of negotiations between the House and the Senate, the so-called Chips and Science Act was designed to bolster US competitiveness with China by investing in the nation’s industrial and technological might.The sprawling $280bn bill contains more than $52bn to expand the US’s domestic semiconductor manufacturing industry, after pandemic-induced supply chain pressures exposed just how dependent the country was on chips manufactured abroad.The largest chunk of the money will go toward scientific research in areas like artificial intelligence, biotechnology and quantum computing. It would also create “regional innovation and technology hubs” with the aim of bringing jobs and economic growth to the most distressed parts of the country.The package passed Congress with bipartisan support and was signed into law with great fanfare by the president, who has promoted the legislation at events around the country – and the world.Aid for veterans exposed to toxic burn pitsWith broad bipartisan support, Congress enacted legislation expanding access to healthcare and disability benefits for millions of veterans exposed to toxic burn pits during their military service.The law, known as the Pact Act, helps veterans get screened and receive services for possible toxic exposures, such as Agent Orange during the Vietnam war, or toxins from pits used to burn military waste in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also expands the Department of Veterans Affairs’ list of conditions related to burn pit and toxic exposure, removing administrative obstacles for veterans to obtain disability payments.The law was deeply personal for the president, who has suggested that exposure to burn pits in Iraq may have been responsible for the death from cancer of his elder son, Beau.Inflation Reduction ActBiden’s signature domestic achievement, the Inflation Reduction Act was a long-sought legislative pursuit that survived several overhauls and setbacks before finally becoming law in August 2022.‘We’re still struggling’: low unemployment can’t hide impact of low wages and rising inflationRead moreThe version that became law was far narrower than the expansive vision Biden initially outlined, a plan known as Build Back Better. Even so, the climate, healthcare and tax plan was a legacy-defining accomplishment for the president, delivering on many of his party’s long-sought policy ambitions.Taken together, the bill represents America’s largest ever investment in combating climate change. According to the White House, the climate initiatives contained in the plan put the US on track to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade. The legislation also includes investments in environmental justice, conservation and resiliency programs.In an effort to reduce soaring healthcare costs, the Inflation Reduction Act allows the government to negotiate prescription drug prices for seniors on Medicare, extend federal health insurance subsidies and caps out-of-pocket costs for insulin at no more than $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries.The law also imposes new taxes on big corporations, setting a minimum corporate tax of 15% and boosts funding for the Internal Revenue Service in an effort to crack down on tax evasion. It is estimated that the law will reduce the federal budget deficit by about $300bn over 10 years.At the signing ceremony, Biden hailed the measure as “one of the most significant laws in our history”. Now, as many of the law’s provisions begin to take effect, Democrats face the difficult task of explaining its many constituent parts to the public.At midday on New Year’s Eve he tweeted: “Just 12 hours until many of the cost-saving provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act kick in for millions.”Just 12 hours until many of the cost-saving provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act kick in for millions.— President Biden (@POTUS) December 31, 2022
      Protections for same-sex marriageWhen the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, the conservative justice Clarence Thomas raised the prospect that marriage equality could be next. The threat set in motion an unexpectedly bipartisan scramble on Capitol Hill that resulted in landmark legislation protecting same-sex marriage.House passes landmark legislation protecting same-sex marriageRead moreThe bill, known as the Respect for Marriage Act, provides a degree of relief to the hundreds of thousands of same-sex married couples in the United States by requiring federal and state governments to recognize lawfully performed unions regardless of sex, race or ethnicity.But should the supreme court overturn Obergefell v Hodges, the 2015 decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, the measure does not require states to perform same-sex marriages nor does it prevent them from banning the unions. It also includes a clause exempting religious organizations from any obligation to provide goods, services or accommodations for a celebration of a same-sex marriage.Nevertheless, LGBTQ+ advocates and allies welcomed the legislation as a major step toward protecting a hard-won civil liberty. At a signing ceremony, Biden called the bill a step toward building a nation where “decency, dignity and love are recognized, honored and protected”.Government funding billDays before Christmas, with the threat of a shutdown looming, Congress hastily approved a 4,155-page, $1.7tn spending bill to fund the federal government and its various agencies through the remainder of the 2023 fiscal year. The product of a chaotic round of 11th-hour negotiations, led by two retiring appropriators determined to cement their legacy with one final deal, the funding measure includes more than $858bn in defense spending.Other big-ticket items in the measure included nearly $45bn in aid for Ukraine, a provision banning the use of TikTok on all government devices, a rewrite of the Electoral Count Act that was at the heart of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, $40bn in disaster relief for communities struck by hurricanes, wildfires, floods and other environmental calamities this year.After an agreement was reached, the bill was rushed through both chambers of Congress with unusual speed. It was approved with strong bipartisan support in the Senate but passed on a mostly party-line vote in the House, foreshadowing the brinksmanship to come when Republicans control the chamber next year.Ukraine aidSince the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the US has committed more than $100bn in security assistance and humanitarian aid to the country. During a historic visit to Washington last month, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, delivered an address to a join session of Congress in which he personally thanked Americans for their support.In total, Congress has passed four tranches of emergency aid, including most recently, a $45bn package that was notably more than Biden requested. It passed as part of the year-end spending bill.The funds have been used for a range of purposes, much of it military, economic or humanitarian in nature. That includes, for example, sending economic support for Ukrainian refugees as well as for security assistance to help train, equip and provide intelligence support to the Ukrainian military. A significant portion of the funds will be used to replenish stocks of US weapons sent to Ukraine.Aid to Ukraine has so far been approved with overwhelming bipartisan support. But a contingent of far-right House Republicans have threatened to block future aid to Ukraine.Reform the Electoral Count ActIn the wake of the assault on the US Capitol, a bipartisan coalition began working on an overhaul of the Electoral Count Act, the 1887 law that governs how Congress counts presidential electors.Trump and his allies had sought to exploit ambiguities in the 135-year-old law to claim that the then vice-president, Mike Pence, in his role as president of the Senate, could delay the count or even toss out legitimate electoral votes from states that voted for Biden.Pence dismissed the plan as unconstitutional. But the fringe theory flourished among Trump’s supporters, thousands of whom stormed the Capitol on 6 January in a failed attempt to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.Under a rewrite of the law, the vice-president’s role in counting electors is defined as purely ceremonial. It also raises the threshold for considering a challenge to a state’s electoral votes, making it harder for lawmakers to interfere in the process. The measure was passed as part of an omnibus spending package, the final major act of a Congress that was sworn in on the eve of the Capitol attack.What Congress didn’t do:The party in power did not accomplish everything it promised. Stymied by the Senate filibuster, Democrats could not rally enough support to weaken the rule and pass their legislative priorities on a party-line vote.Biden promised to reform the police. Why has so little progress been made?Read moreDemocrats failed to codify Roe, after the supreme court ended the constitutional right to an abortion. Despite a streak of mass shootings, they could not find enough support in the Senate to ban assault weapons. A tide of restrictive voter laws went into effect without any response from Congress. Compromise eluded a bipartisan group working on police reform. Despite an 11th-hour push, there was no extension of the Child Tax Credit. And the 117th Congress adjourned without taking action to raise the debt limit, alarming analysts who have warned that Republican brinkmanship over the nation’s borrowing limit could lead to economic calamity.With a divided government, the outlook for major legislative accomplishments is far less likely. Instead, Democrats are bracing for an onslaught of Republican-led investigations into the president, his family and his administration.TopicsBiden administrationUS politicsDemocratsJoe BidenUS Capitol attackKetanji Brown JacksonUS gun controlanalysisReuse this content More

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      Biden pardons Ohio woman, 80, who killed abusive husband decades ago

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      Biden pardons Ohio woman, 80, who killed abusive husband decades agoPresident issues six full pardons, mostly for minor drug offenses but including one for Beverly Ann Ibn-Tamas over 1977 death Joe Biden on Friday announced six full pardons, most for minor drug offenses but including a pardon for an 80-year-old woman from Columbus, Ohio, who killed her abusive husband when she was 33.In a statement, a White House official said the president was granting pardons to “individuals who have served their sentences and have demonstrated a commitment to improving their communities and the lives of those around them.“These include individuals who honorably served in the US military, volunteer in their communities, and survived domestic abuse.”As described by the White House, Beverly Ann Ibn-Tamas, now 80, was convicted in 1977 “of murder in the second degree while armed for killing her husband.“Ms Ibn-Tamas, 33 at the time of the incident, was pregnant and testified that before and during her pregnancy her husband beat her, verbally abused her and threatened her. According to her testimony, her husband had physically assaulted her and threatened her in the moments before she shot him.“During her trial, the court refused to allow expert testimony regarding battered woman syndrome, a psychological condition and pattern of behavior that develops in victims of domestic violence.”Ibn-Tamas was sentenced to one to five years in jail. Her appeal, the White House said, “marked one of the first significant steps toward judicial recognition of battered woman syndrome, and her case has been the subject of numerous academic studies”.Ibn-Tamas became director of nursing for an Ohio-based healthcare business, the White House said, and continues to work there as a case manager. The White House noted that as a single mother, Ibn-Tamas raised two children, one of whom, her daughter, is now an attorney.The other recipients of full pardons included Gary Parks Davis, 66 and from Yuma, Arizona, who was jailed over a cocaine deal when he was 22 then became a pillar of his local community, and Edward Lincoln De Coito III, from Dublin, California, now 50, a pilot and army veteran convicted of marijuana trafficking at 23.Vicente Ray Flores of Winters, California, now 37, was convicted at 19 for using ecstasy and alcohol while in the army. Charles Byrnes Jackson, 77 and from Swansea, South Carolina, was convicted when 18 of possession and sale of distilled spirits without tax stamps. John Dix Nock III, from St Augustine, Florida, now 72, pleaded guilty 20 years ago to renting out a place where marijuana was grown.The White House official said the pardons followed “the categorical pardon of thousands of individuals convicted of simple marijuana possession … announced earlier this year, as well as the pardons of three individuals in April”.Biden pardons thousands with federal convictions of simple marijuana possessionRead moreThe April pardons concerned two people convicted of drugs offences and a former Secret Service agent who was convicted of attempting to sell government information, a charge he denied.Advocacy groups welcomed the thousands of pardons announced in October, for marijuana possession. Kassandra Frederique, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, told the Guardian then her organisation was “thrilled”, though the move was “incredibly long overdue”.On Friday, the White House official said Biden “believes America is a nation of second chances, and that offering meaningful opportunities for redemption and rehabilitation empowers those who have been incarcerated to become productive, law-abiding members of society.“The president remains committed to providing second chances to individuals who have demonstrated their rehabilitation – something that elected officials on both sides of the aisle, faith leaders, civil rights advocates and law enforcement leaders agree our criminal justice system should offer.”TopicsUS newsUS politicsUS justice systemJoe BidennewsReuse this content More

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      Jim Clyburn backs Biden all the way: ‘he’s delivered for this country’

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      InterviewJim Clyburn backs Biden all the way: ‘he’s delivered for this country’David Smith in WashingtonSouth Carolina congressman says Biden delivered for the country and put it back on track, making him a powerful contender for 2024 He was described as the most important politician of 2020. James Clyburn’s endorsement performed a political defibrillation on Joe Biden’s flatlining campaign, reversing his fortunes and sending him on his way to the White House.Joe Biden indicates he’ll run in 2024, following Democrats’ midterms winsRead moreMidway through Biden’s first term, the South Carolina congressman has no regrets. On the contrary, as America’s first octogenarian president spends the holidays deciding whether to run for re-election in 2024, Clyburn is backing him all the way.“I’m supporting him and I hope he makes that decision too,” he tells the Guardian by phone. “He’s delivered for this country. He’s put this country back on track towards a more perfect union. If you look at the production of his administration in this Congress he’s had to work with, we’ve been the most productive since 1965.”Biden’s roll call of legislative achievements includes coronavirus relief, infrastructure investment, historic climate spending, a boost for computer chip manufacturing and scientific research and measures on gun safety and military veterans’ benefits. And like a unicycle juggler on a tightrope, he did it with tenuous majorities in the House and Senate.Clyburn adds: “Joe Biden has delivered exactly what the country needs and that’s why we were rewarded the way we were on [midterm] election day. There were people predicting there was going be this ‘red wave’ and Democrats were going to lose by 60.”Why congressman James Clyburn was the most important politician of 2020Read moreThey lost only by nine, largely due to redistricting in California, Florida and New York.But doubts remain. While Biden often maintains a punishing schedule and grills his aides on minute policy details, there are moments when the 80-year-old mangles words and looks his age. Polls suggest many voters feel he is too old for the job. He is older than Ronald Reagan was when he completed his second term. If Biden serves a full second term, he will be 86 at the end.Clyburn is something of an expert on this issue: he is 82 and not slowing down. He speaks to the Guardian having attended a state dinner with the French president Emmanuel Macron that went well past midnight, then appeared on MSNBC at 8am. A couple of days later he will have a late night at the John F Kennedy Center for the performing arts honours ceremony. He also finds time to pump out a podcast, Clyburn Chronicles.Clyburn will remain in leadership when Democrats become the minority in the House next month. While the outgoing speaker, Nancy Pelosi, 82, and 83-year-old majority leader, Steny Hoyer, are making way for a new generation, Clyburn will serve as assistant Democratic leader, the number four position.He explains: “If we are going to regain the majority, we’re going to have to do so maintaining some stability in our caucus, being inclusive in our caucus and, if you look at the leadership table, the south is not represented there. Rural America is not represented there. I represent both.“The majority of Black people in this country still live in the south and for some strange reason every time people start talking about African Americans, they start talking about inner-city New York, Philadelphia, Chicago. That’s not where African Americans live. That’s where the media focus and one of the reasons our party is not doing as well as we should is because we have not developed the kind of rural policies that we need to develop.“That’s why I was so much of a stickler for broadband being in the infrastructure law. That’s why I’m always pushing for community health centres, because I can assure you where we have this kind of attention being paid to people’s healthcare needs, to their housing needs, is where we do better.”The new House Democratic leader will be Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the first Black person to head a party in Congress.Clyburn reflects: “The first, always you’ve got to be happy, but you want to make sure that the first performs in such a way there won’t be a problem getting the second.“When I was first elected to Congress, I was 52 years old. That’s the age Jeffries is today and getting elected leader of our caucus. That’s the way things work. My dad was not allowed to get a college degree because of state law and so I came here to Congress at 52. He’s the leader of our caucus at 52. That’s how things evolve.”Republicans will have the speaker’s gavel. Kevin McCarthy’s struggle to win election is indicative of a potentially bumpy ride as moderates clash with far-right members. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, once seen as fringe figure, is backing McCarthy and might soon be calling the shots. Some observers fear the party will give fresh impetus to white nationalism and political violence.Clyburn says: “I have no fears of that. These people are going to do what they want to do and I would hope that the Republicans would put the needs of the country above the partisanship of any one person in their party. If they go down that road, they are going to have to deal with failure. It’s just that simple.”Donald Trump’s influence over Republicans appears to be diminishing in the wake of the midterms, a series of self-inflicted wounds and a damning report by the House January 6 committee. But Clyburn, who has compared Trump to Benito Mussolini, is not writing him off yet.“Trumpism is still there. It’s still a big deal. Trump brought a lot of people out from under the rocks that they’d been hiding under and so long as he’s out there, these people are going to be out there. What we’ve got to do is be very careful. Thomas Jefferson is sometimes credited with having said: ‘ternal vigilance is the price of liberty.’”So what does he make of Trump’s most likely rival for the 2024 Republican nomination, Ron DeSantis of Florida?“He’s more moderate and just as dangerous because the policies are the same. Trumpism is Trumpism, no matter where it comes from. These -isms, you have to be careful with.”Some Democrats might be tempted to say better the devil you know. Trump has lost election after election. If he is the Republican standard bearer in 2024, polls suggest he will lose to Biden again. But Clyburn is not rooting for Trump to be the nominee.“We need to have a legitimate, serious discourse when we decide on the presidency,” he says. “I don’t want to win the presidency by default. I want to win the presidency by having the best proposals.”TopicsJoe BidenDemocratsUS politicsSouth CarolinaDonald TrumpinterviewsReuse this content More

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      Highest-profile January 6 trial begins with Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio

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      Highest-profile January 6 trial begins with Proud Boys leader Enrique TarrioChairman of militia group and four others are charged with seditious conspiracy related to Capitol insurrection The January 6 committee investigating the attack on the Capitol may have issued its huge final report, but the wheels of the justice system in the US are grinding on and one of the most high-profile trials emerging from the insurrection is about to begin in earnest.Jury selection began last week with the seditious conspiracy trial against ex-Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and four others involved in the far-right, often violent militia group.From Liz Cheney to Donald Trump: winners and losers from the January 6 hearingsRead moreTarrio and his co-defendants in the Washington DC federal court trial – Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl, Dominic Pezzola and Proud Boy organizer Joe Biggs – are charged with seditious conspiracy and other counts related to the attack that delayed congressional certification of Joe Biden’s election victory, injured dozens of police officers and is linked to multiple deaths. They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges.A fifth man charged in this case, Charles Donohoe, pleaded guilty in April to conspiring to attack the Capitol. Under Donohoe’s plea deal, he agreed to cooperate against his co-defendants. Approximately 900 people have now been arrested in the Capitol attack, with prosecutors securing convictions against hundreds.The start of the trial comes amid a wider reckoning with those responsible for the January 6 attack.Several hours after jury selection started on Monday in the Proud Boys trial, the House committee probing the deadly insurrection issued some of its findings – and made a criminal referral against Trump to the US Department of Justice, recommending charges. The trial also comes several weeks after two leaders of the Oath Keepers – another far-right group – were found guilty of seditious conspiracy for their involvement in the insurrection.Federal prosecutors allege that Nordean, Biggs, Rehl and Pezzola were among the 100 Proud Boys who convened alongside the Washington Monument at 10am on 6 January. They met around the time that Trump was addressing thousands of supporters in a park called the Ellipse.These soon-to-be rioters in that group then made their way to the Capitol. Around 1pm, one of them broke through police, spurring the violence that would consume Capitol Hill, court documents allege.Nordean, Rehl, Biggs and Pezzola allegedly led the mob and were among the first people to push past police. Biggs allegedly recorded a video where he observed the mob and said: “We’ve taken the Capitol,” per court documents.Tarrio was not in Washington DC during the insurrection, as he had been arrested two days prior for allegedly vandalizing a Black Lives Matter sign at a historical Black church during a December 2020 demonstration. Prosecutors contend that Tarrio was among the leaders of this conspiracy to thwart election certification.Several days before the riot, Tarrio posted about “revolution” on social media, prosecutors said in court papers. In an encrypted messaging group which prosecutors maintain was created by Tarrio, one member purportedly said: “Time to stack those bodies in front of Capitol Hill,” per the Associated Press.Despite being arrested several days prior, Tarrio heralded the rioters’ attack, writing “don’t [expletive] leave” on social media and later posting “we did this…” prosecutors said.While there appears to be extensive evidence against these men, much of which has long been in the public record, prosecutors must show more than their in-person or social media presence that day to prove seditious conspiracy.“They’re going to have to show an agreement between two people or more, they’re going to have to show a common scheme or a common plan,” said Los Angeles criminal defense and appellate attorney Matthew Barhoma, founder of Barhoma Law.“Showing up on January 6 at the same time doesn’t mean that a conspiracy indeed existed. They’re going to have to go a little bit beyond that to show there is a common agreement – basically a smoking gun in the sense that they intended to overthrow the government,” he added. “They’re going to have to show that they wanted to act in a common plan in furtherance of that plan to overthrow the government or to delay or hinder the United States government.”‘These are conditions ripe for political violence’: how close is the US to civil war?Read moreThat said, “seditious conspiracy is actually in some ways, much easier to prove than regular criminal conspiracy,” explained longtime attorney Ron Kuby, a longtime criminal defense attorney with a focus on civil rights.“Seditious conspiracy is the only conspiracy that does not require proof of an overt act on the part of participants,” Kuby said. “Generally speaking, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more people to do something unlawful, and in all other conspiracy cases, at least one of the participants has to take a substantial step toward that unlawful purpose.”“Here, it’s really a sidenote, footnote, endnote and asterisk. They don’t have to prove an overt act, what they they have to prove there was an agreement to oppose the lawful authority of the United States of America by force.“There’s a tsunami of evidence, both in terms of what was said among the participants, which the FBI has obtained and decrypted as well as what they did, which is all well-documented on video.”Although evidence appears to abound, one possible defense strategy would be to portray the alleged plotters as buffoons. “These guys were angry knuckleheads but you know, they’re not planning to overthrow the government,” Kuby said of this possible approach.It’s unclear whether these Proud Boys members would go along with that, even if this could help their cases.“The natural impulse of every defense lawyer is to portray their clients in a fashion which is most likely to result in acquittal, but that’s not necessarily the way most defendants want to be portrayed,” Kuby said. “The Proud Boys may not want to be portrayed as loud-mouthed knuckleheads who were just egging each other on to say dumber and dumber things because they’re not that bright.”Tarrio’s attorneys have contended that he didn’t tell or encourage anyone to storm the Capitol or act violently, while Nordean’s lawyer alleged that justice department prosecutors were singling him out because of his political beliefs, the AP reported.In an email to the Guardian, Tarrio’s attorney, Nayib Hassan, said: “Mr Tarrio is looking forward to the start of the trial. We look forward to making our presentation of the evidence and acquitting Mr Tarrio of the governments allegations.”Rehl’s lawyer reportedly wanted the judge to dismiss the indictment on First amendment grounds, claiming the charges were rooted in free speech issues. Asked for comment, Biggs’s attorney, Norm Pattis, said in an email: “We look forward to the presentation of evidence in this case. We stand by his plea of not guilty.”TopicsUS Capitol attackJanuary 6 hearingsLaw (US)The far rightUS politicsJoe BidenDonald TrumpnewsReuse this content More

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      House passes $1.7tn spending bill to avert US government shutdown

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      House passes $1.7tn spending bill to avert US government shutdownBill will be signed by president after receiving Senate approval and passing the House mostly along party lines A $1.7tn spending bill financing federal agencies through September and providing more aid to a devastated Ukraine cleared the House of Representatives on Friday as lawmakers raced to finish their work for the year and avoid a partial government shutdown.The bill passed mostly along party lines, 225-201. Having already received Senate approval, it is headed to Joe Biden’s desk for the president to sign it into law.Biden on Friday signed into law a separate short-term spending bill aimed at giving Congress more time to pass the legislation funding the federal government through the summer, White House officials said in a statement.The bill’s passage represented a closing act for Nancy Pelosi’s second stint as House speaker and for the Democratic majority she led back to power in the 2018 election. Republicans will take control of the House next year, and Kevin McCarthy is campaigning to replace her.He is seeking support from staunch conservatives in his caucus who have largely trashed the size of the bill and many of the priorities it contains. He spoke with a raised voice for about 25 minutes, assailing the bill for spending too much and doing too little to curb illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl across the US border with Mexico.“This is a monstrosity that is one of the most shameful acts I’ve ever seen in this body,” McCarthy said of the legislation.Pelosi said “we have a big bill here because we had big needs for the country,” then turned her focus to McCarthy:“It was sad to hear [him] say that this legislation is the most shameful thing to be seen on the House floor in this Congress,” Pelosi said, before suggesting McCarthy must have forgotten the 6 January 2021, attack on the Capitol which was staged by supporters of Donald Trump.Biden applauded the bill’s approval, with the president saying it was proof that Republicans and Democrats can work together.“I’m looking forward to continued bipartisan progress in the year ahead,” Biden added.
      The Associated Press contributed reporting
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      US fails to give money promised for developing countries to ease climate impacts

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      US fails to give money promised for developing countries to ease climate impactsSpending bill passed by Senate includes less than $1bn in climate assistance for poorer nations even though Biden promised $11.4bn The US has risked alienating developing countries hit hardest by the climate crisis, after Congress delivered just a fraction of the money promised by Joe Biden to help poorer nations adapt to worsening storms, floods and droughts.Biden has promised $11.4bn each year for developing countries to ease climate impacts and help them shift to renewable energy but the vast $1.7tn spending bill to keep the US government running, passed by the Senate on Thursday, includes less than $1bn in climate assistance for these countries.The bill, which is expected to pass the House and be signed by the president, includes $270m for adaptation programs, largely for countries in Asia and the Pacific islands, along with $260m in clean energy investment, aimed at Africa. Another $185m will go on “sustainable landscapes programs”.The failure to so far meet Biden’s pledge risks undermining the White House’s insistence that the US is committed to helping deal with the fallout of a climate crisis that it is a leading instigator of, through its huge historical and ongoing greenhouse gas emissions. Developing countries will need anything from $340bn to $2tn a year by 2030, according to various studies, to cope with the cascading impacts of global heating.Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development, based in Bangladesh, said that the US’ fair share of climate aid is far beyond even what Biden promised. “So one billion is really an insult to the developing countries,” he said. “The paltry allocation of only $1bn to support the developing countries is extremely disappointing.”US environmental groups have welcomed elements of the spending bill, including a large increase in the budgets of the Environmental Protection Agency and department of interior, as well as $600m for water infrastructure in Jackson, Mississippi, but criticized the glaring lack of climate aid.“Funding levels for international climate aid are woefully inadequate to meet our global commitments or do our fair share to support under-resourced countries bearing the brunt of climate impacts,” said Sara Chieffo, vice-president of government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters.Biden’s administration had made the climate spending a priority, with John Kerry, the US’s climate envoy, dispatched to lobby lawmakers. Both Biden and Kerry attended the UN Cop27 climate talks in Egypt last month and vowed the US would step up its assistance. “The climate crisis is hitting hardest those countries and communities that have the fewest resources to respond and to recover,” Biden noted in his speech to delegates at the summit, repeating his promise to extract the required money from Congress.Administration officials say the goal is to deliver the assistance by 2024 and that money could come from other sources than direct appropriations from Congress. But the likelihood of doing this becomes far more remote once Republicans, who have largely rejected the idea of providing further aid for climate damages, gain control of the House of Representatives in January.A White House spokeswoman said that the $11bn target is “a top priority for us and critical to the success of president Biden’s climate agenda. And the president has made clear that he is going to fight to see this fully funded.“Over the past several weeks and throughout the past weekend, members of the administration worked to secure funding in (financial year) 2023 that puts us on a path to achieving this goal. We will continue to work with Congress to make achieving this goal in (financial year) 2024 a reality.”TopicsClimate crisisUS politicsJoe BidennewsReuse this content More

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      ‘Deeply personal’ Zelenskiy-Biden meeting cemented their bond, says top adviser

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      ‘Deeply personal’ Zelenskiy-Biden meeting cemented their bond, says top adviserExclusive: Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s top adviser, describes the significance of this week’s White House visit

      Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates
      Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit to the White House confirmed that Ukraine and the US are “strategic partners” for the first time in history, the Ukrainian leader’s most senior adviser has said in an interview on his return home.Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainan president’s office, told the Guardian that the trip on Wednesday had cemented Zelenskiy’s bond with the US president, Joe Biden – and with senior US Republicans, despite “dirty” comments made by the Fox News host Tucker Carlson.The summit and press conference between the two leaders this week demonstrated “how deeply in personal attitude President Biden feels everything which is connected to Ukraine”, Yermak said, and that the US was “a real leader of the free world and democracy”.Secret train and a government plane: how Zelenskiy made his high-security trip to the US Read moreYermak’s emphasis on the personal links forged by the surprise visit, the first time Zelenskiy had been outside Ukraine since the start of the war, comes despite a failure to immediately obtain the US Abrams tanks, F-16 fighter jets and long-range army tactical missile system ATACMS that Ukraine has said it needs to defeat Russia.But it demonstrates a belief in Kyiv that Ukraine must emphasise the moral dimension of its fight against the invading Russian army and its faith in its relationship with the US to unlock more and more of the military aid it badly needs as the war heads towards its first anniversary in February.“It’s [the] first time in history that Ukraine and [the] United States are close as strategic partners. There is a very warm, very friendly relationship, [a] personal relationship between [the] two presidents,” said Yermak, who was by Zelenskiy’s side during the trip.As well as the meeting with Biden, Yermak highlighted meetings Zelenskiy had with US congressional leaders, including those with senior Republicans Mitch McConnell, the senate minority leader, and Kevin McCarthy, the leading candidate to become House speaker next month.The Ukrainian contrasted that with the attitude of Carlson, who said Zelenskiy looked like “a manager of a strip club” who should have been thrown out of Congress for wearing his trademark khaki fatigues when he addressed the country’s lawmakers.Carlson was “saying dirty things”, Yermak said, but “he’s not the voice of the Republican party, he’s not the voice of [the] GOP and I can make that conclusion after we met with representatives of [the] GOP in the Congress”.01:22During the visit, Biden did announce $1.85bn (£1.54bn) in new military assistance to Ukraine, including the delivery of a single Patriot missile defence system, a longstanding request from Kyiv to help it better defend its cities and electricity grid, now prone to repeated blackouts after sustained Russian bombing.Now back in Kyiv, speaking via a video call, Yermak said he believed this would help unlock other military support. “I hope that we will receive everything which we need and this visit will send a very strong signal for all allies that our United States believes in our victory,” the presidential aide said.Kyiv has been calling for a mixture of US and European weapons, such as the German-made Leopard tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles, as it tries to find a way to break through Russia’s frontlines in the new year.The leaders of the free world. A historic meeting of the Presidents of 🇺🇦 and the 🇺🇸 – @ZelenskyyUa and @POTUS.A great victory is ahead. 💪 pic.twitter.com/k6IIN5l9rP— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) December 21, 2022
      Yermak declined to say when or where Ukraine might launch its next counterattack, but he predicted 2023 would be a decisive moment in the war. “We will do everything we can to retake our territory. I understand it will be difficult and hard work. Our great, brave nation will continue to fight. I’m sure next year really will be victory year.”Asked if victory included taking back Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, he replied: “Absolutely.” The US administration has not explicitly backed Zelenskiy’s vow to reclaim the peninsula – a mission that most analysts believe would be difficult for Ukraine’s army. The chief of staff said he did not want to speculate on Vladimir Putin’s trip this week to meet Belarus’s dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, in the capital, Minsk. A recent buildup of Russian troops along the border with Ukraine has fuelled fears Putin may be planning to again attack from the north, in another attempt to seize Kyiv, similar to Russia’s doomed advance in February.“We have danger along the whole border,” Yermak said, adding: “I’m not keen to know what’s going on inside Putin’s head.” He said Kyiv had received intelligence from its partners and from its frontline soldiers, and was ready for “any kind of provocation”. On Friday, the US also accused North Korea of supplying “an inital arms delivery” of missiles and rockets to the Russian mercenary group Wagner, which is fighting on behalf of the Kremlin in eastern Donbas. North Korea and Wagner have denied the report.Asked how Zelenskiy was bearing up as the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion loomed, Yermak said: “He’s OK.” He added: “Of course he’s working a lot. For him this is normal. He has worked his whole life. He’s a responsible person and deeply involved in everything: weapons, military strategy, energy and economic issues. He’s the best choice of the Ukrainian people.”A former film producer and lawyer, Yermak joined the presidential administration in 2019 after Zelenskiy’s landslide election victory. Early the following year he became chief of staff. He described his boss as the “best president” in the “current history of Ukraine”.Russia’s unprovoked invasion, he said, had propelled Zelenskiy to a level of extraordinary global acclaim: “Now Ukraine is the leader of the free world and the leader of our region. We have a strong military. We are liberating our territory and we are fighting the so-called second biggest army on the planet.”Yermak concluded: “There are terrible tragedies: we are losing the best people. But we will definitely win.”TopicsUkraineVolodymyr ZelenskiyJoe BidenVladimir PutinRussiaBelarusUS CongressnewsReuse this content More