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      Secret Service chief berated in House hearing after Trump rally shooting

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      Lawmakers grilled the director of the US Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, during a contentious House hearing on Monday, where members of both parties called for her resignation in the wake of the assassination attempt against Donald Trump earlier this month.In her opening statement, Cheatle acknowledged the Secret Service had “failed” on 13 July, when a 20-year-old gunman was able to take a clear shot at the former president from a rooftop near Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.Trump survived but sustained an injury to his ear, and one rally attendee, former fire chief Corey Comperatore, was killed in the attack. Two others were injured.“As the director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse of our agency,” Cheatle told the House oversight committee. “We are fully cooperating with ongoing investigations. We must learn what happened, and I will move heaven and earth to ensure that an incident like July 13th does not happen again.”In a particularly damning moment, Cheatle acknowledged that Secret Service agents were informed of a suspicious individual at the Trump rally “somewhere between two and five times” before the gunman opened fire.The Republican chair of the committee, James Comer, mourned the assassination attempt as “a horrifying moment in American history” and demanded that Cheatle offer her resignation.“While we give overwhelming thanks to the individual Secret Service agents who did their jobs under immense pressure, this tragedy was preventable,” Comer said. “It is my firm belief, Director Cheatle, that you should resign.”Lawmakers repeatedly pressed Cheatle on how such a galling security lapse could have occurred, but the director dodged many of their questions, reminding members that the investigation of the shooting was still in its earliest stages. When Cheatle again told Comer that she could not specify how many Secret Service agents were assigned to Trump on the day of the shooting, the congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene interjected: “Why are you here?”Cheatle did deny allegations that the Secret Service rejected the Trump campaign’s demands for additional security on 13 July, telling lawmakers: “The assets that were requested for that day were given.”But Cheatle became more vague when the Republican congressman Jim Jordan pressed her on whether the Secret Service had denied past requests for additional security at Trump campaign events.“It looks like you won’t answer some pretty basic questions,” Jordan said. “And you cut corners when it came to protecting one of the most important individuals, one of the most well-known individuals on the planet.”Some Republicans representatives grew openly combative as they questioned Cheatle, with Nancy Mace telling the director: “You’re full of shit today.”Democratic members joined in on the criticism, and at least two of them, Jamie Raskin and Ro Khanna, echoed Republicans’ calls for Cheatle’s resignation. Khanna compared the situation to the fallout after an assassination attempt against Ronald Reagan in 1981.The then Secret Service director, Stuart Knight. stepped down in the months after the Reagan shooting.“Do you really believe that the majority of this country has confidence in you right now?” Khanna asked.Cheatle replied: “I believe that the country deserves answers, and I am committed to finding those answers and providing those answers.”Asked when more answers might be available, Cheatle said the agency hoped to conclude its internal investigation in 60 days, a timeline that sparked censure from committee members.“The notion of a report coming out in 60 days when the threat environment is so high in the United States, irrespective of party, is not acceptable,” said the progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “This is not theater. This is not about jockeying. This is about the safety of some of the most highly targeted and valued targets – internationally and domestically – in the United States of America.”Raskin, the Democratic ranking member of the oversight committee, agreed with calls for accountability at the Secret Service while adding that lawmakers must reckon with the broader problem of gun violence in the US. He noted that the Trump campaign rally attack was not even the deadliest shooting on 13 July, as four people were killed later that day after a gunman opened fire at an Alabama night club.“What happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a double failure: the failure by the Secret Service to properly protect Donald Trump and the failure of Congress to properly protect our people from criminal gun violence,” Raskin said. “We must, therefore, also ask hard questions about whether our laws are making it too easy for potential assassins and criminals to obtain firearms generally and AR-15 assault weapons specifically.”With Republicans in control of the House, it seems unlikely that a gun safety bill will pass Congress anytime soon. And after Cheatle’s performance on Monday, it seems even less likely that she will be able to hold on to her job for much longer. More

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      Marjorie Taylor Greene compares Trump to Jesus at Las Vegas rally

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      Donald Trump has been compared to Jesus Christ by the far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene at a campaign rally for the former president in Las Vegas, a city more renowned for evoking images of gambling than biblical scenes.Greene, who makes frequent references to her Christian faith, cited Trump’s supposed Christ-like qualities to challenge the Democrats’ efforts to capitalise on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s status as a convicted felon following his recent conviction in a case involving hush money paid to an adult film actor and falsified business records in a New York court.“The Democrats and the fake news media want to constantly talk about ‘President Trump is a convicted felon’,” she told a crowd that waited in soaring early-summer temperatures. “Well, you want to know something? The man that I worship is also a convicted felon. And he was murdered on a Roman cross.”In some parts of the political ecosphere, Greene’s comparison did not go over well.“Did Jesus pay off a pornstar and cover it up,” read one comment on X left below a clip of Greene’s remarks on Sunday.California’s Democratic congressman Adam Schiff sarcastically added: “Definitely not a cult.”It is not the first time Greene has drawn parallels between Trump and Christ – whom Christians consider to be the messiah and son of God – as well as other historical martyr figures.When he was arrested in New York on corruption charges in April last year, she likened Trump to Jesus and Nelson Mandela, who became South Africa’s first post-apartheid president after being jailed for 27 years by the racist regime.“Trump is joining some of the most incredible people in history being arrested today. Nelson Mandela was arrested, served time in prison. Jesus was arrested and murdered by the Roman government,” she told the Right Side Broadcast Network.“There have been many people throughout history that have been arrested and persecuted by radical, corrupt governments … I just can’t believe it’s happening, but I’ll always support him. He’s done nothing wrong.”Comparisons with Christ have also been pushed by Trump himself as he has sought to exploit his popularity among white evangelical Christians – and despite apparently struggling to identify his favourite passage from the Bible.When he went on trial in a civil case over business fraud last year, supporters circulated an image depicting him sitting in the courtroom alongside a Christ-like figure.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionTrump, in turn, disseminated the faux sketch on his Truth Social site, writing: “This is the most accurate court sketch of all time. Because no one could have made it this far alone.”He has pressed matters further in his fundraising appeals, invoking a metaphor of himself as a saviour in a headline on his campaign website reading: “They’re not after me. They’re after you. I’m just standing in the way.”One of Trump’s celebrity supporters, the Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight, has also stressed the messianic theme, citing the Book of Joshua and the New Testament to assert that the ex-president “has been targeted for his information that can knock down the corrupt swamp”.Voight added: “The one man that was ridiculed, destroyed as Jesus, Trump, can come back and save the American dream for all.”Trump’s personal allusions to Christ are a marked contrast to the messaging of Joe Biden, who has frequently told voters to refrain from comparing Biden with the Almighty, but rather to compare him with the alternative in Trump. More

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      Marjorie Taylor Greene’s George Floyd rant condemned by Congressional Black Caucus

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      The Congressional Black Caucus has condemned Marjorie Taylor Greene after she accused Democrats of worshiping George Floyd, the 46-year old Black man who was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020.On Monday, Greene, a Republican representative of Georgia, went on an expletive-filled rant in which she accused Democrats including Jamie Raskin of Maryland of worshiping Floyd, whose death sparked global outrage and protests over police brutality.In a video posted on X, Greene can be seen speaking to a reporter, saying, “We have Jamie Raskin in there accusing us of worshiping Trump, worshiping a ‘convicted felon’.” The reporter interjected, saying that Trump was indeed convicted.In response, Greene said: “Well yeah, so was George Floyd. And everybody, and you all too, the media worships George Floyd. Democrats worship George Floyd. There were riots, burning down the fucking country over George Floyd and Raskin is in there, saying we worship him [Trump].“Excuse me, let me correct you and this is really important. I don’t worship. I worship God. God. And Jesus is my savior. I don’t worship President Trump and I’m really sick and tired of the bullshit antics I have to deal with,” Greene continued.Greene’s comments came after Raskin said that some Republicans “blindly worship” convicted felons in a congressional hearing on Covid-19, NBC reports. The hearing followed Trump’s conviction last week in which he was found guilty on 34 counts of fraud in a historic hush-money trial that involved adult film star Stormy Daniels.Following Greene’s comments, the Congressional Black Caucus condemned the Republican representative. “This is unhinged even for @RepMTG,” they wrote in an X post.“Her actions are unacceptable even by the lowest of Republican standards. George Floyd did not deserve to die, and a member of Congress should have the decency to acknowledge his humanity,” the Congressional Black Caucus continued.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionFormer Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty in 2021 to civil rights charges in his killing of Floyd in May 2020. Chauvin was charged with two counts of depriving Floyd of his rights after he pinned his knee into Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds while Floyd was on the ground and handcuffed, unable to breathe.In addition to pleading guilty to civil rights charges, Chauvin was also convicted of second and third-degree murder and manslaughter. More

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      MTG v AOC: House hearing dissolves into chaos over Republican’s insult

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      The two most famous sets of initials in US politics clashed in a chaotic House hearing on Thursday, as the progressive star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC, objected fiercely to an attack on another Democrat by the far-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, or MTG.The oversight committee hearing concerned Republican attempts to hold the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, in contempt, for refusing to release tapes of interviews between Joe Biden and the special counsel Robert Hur.Things went wrong when MTG made a partisan point, trying to tie Democrats to the judge in Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money case – which, by drawing a number of Republicans to the New York courtroom to support Trump, was responsible for the hearing starting late in the day.In answer to MTG, Jasmine Crockett of Texas said: “Please tell me what that has to do with Merrick Garland … Do you know what we’re here for? You know we’re here about AG Garland?”Greene, a conspiracy theorist from Georgia, said: “I don’t think you know what you’re here for … I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”Amid jeers and calls for order, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said: “That’s beneath even you, Miss Greene.”AOC, of New York, demanded MTG’s words be taken down.As defined by the Congressional Research Service, that meant AOC thought MTG had “violated the rules of decorum in the House” and should withdraw her words.“That is absolutely unacceptable,” AOC said. “How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person?”MTG said: “Are your feelings hurt?”AOC said: “Move her words down.”MTG said: “Aw.”AOC said: “Oh, girl. Baby girl.”Amid laughter, MTG said: “Oh really?”AOC said: “Don’t even play.”MTG said: “Baby girl? I don’t think so.”AOC said: “We’re gonna move and we’re gonna take your words down.”James Comer, the Republican chair from Kentucky, struggled to impose order, eventually saying: “Miss Greene agrees to strike her words.”AOC said: “I believe she must apologise.”MTG said: “I’m not apologising.”AOC said: “Well then, you’re not retracting your words.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionMTG said: “I’m not apologising.”Comer banged his gavel, pleading: “C’mon, guys.”MTG said: “Why don’t you debate me?”As Raskin tried to interject, AOC said: “I think it’s pretty self-evident.”MTG said: “Yeah, you don’t have enough intelligence.”Comer cried, “You’re out of order, you’re out of order,” and tried to recognise Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, another pro-Trump extremist. Jeers broke out, Raskin calling: “I move to strike the lady’s words.”“That’s two requests to strike,” AOC said.MTG said: “Oh, they cannot take the words.”Raskin told Comer: “Please get your members under control.”MTG said: “I repeat again for the second time, yes, I’ll strike my words but I’m not apologising. Not apologising!”Extraordinarily enough, that wasn’t the end. Crockett asked Comer: “I’m just curious, just to better understand your ruling. If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach-blond, bad-built, butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?”Comer said: “A what now? … I have no idea what you just said.”Next to him, Raskin buried his face in his hands.Comer imposed a five-minute recess. When the hearing resumed, Lauren Boebert – the Colorado extremist and theatrical exhibitionist who usually battles for attention with MTG – was of all people the one to offer an apology “to the American people”.“When things get as heated as they have,” Boebert said, “unfortunately, it’s an embarrassment on our body as a whole.” More

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      House quashes Marjorie Taylor Greene motion to oust speaker Mike Johnson

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      The House easily quashed Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resolution to oust the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, on Wednesday, as members of both parties came together in a rare moment of bipartisanship to keep the chamber open for business.The vote on the motion to table Greene’s resolution was 359 to 43, as 196 Republicans and 163 Democrats supported killing the proposal.Greene took to the House floor on Wednesday evening to announce her plans, prompting boos from fellow Republicans present in the chamber. Her request triggered a countdown clock, as House rules stipulated that members had to vote on the matter within two legislative days. House Republicans chose to take up the matter immediately, as the resolution was widely expected to fail.House Democratic leaders previously indicated that they would vote to kill Greene’s resolution, and the vast majority of their caucus took the same position on Wednesday. However, 32 Democrats and 11 Republicans opposed the motion to table the resolution, and seven members voted “present”.Speaking to reporters after the vote, Johnson thanked his colleagues for helping him to hold on to a post he has held for six and a half months.“I want to say that I appreciate the show of confidence from my colleagues to defeat this misguided effort. That is certainly what it was,” Johnson said. “As I’ve said from the beginning and I’ve made clear here every day, I intend to do my job. I intend to do what I believe to be the right thing, which is what I was elected to do, and I’ll let the chips fall where they may. In my view, that is leadership.”Greene’s maneuver appeared to catch many Republicans off guard, after the hard-right congresswoman spent much of the past few days meeting with Johnson to address her concerns about his leadership. She has repeatedly criticized Johnson for passing significant bills, including a government funding proposal and a foreign aid package, by relying on Democratic support.Greene had said she would force a vote on the motion to vacate this week, but she appeared to back away from that commitment on Tuesday.“We’ll see. It’s up to Mike Johnson,” Greene told reporters when asked if she still planned to demand the vote. “Obviously, you can’t make things happen instantly, and we all are aware and understanding of that. So now the ball is in his court, and he’s supposed to be reaching out to us – hopefully soon.”Donald Trump, who has voiced support for Johnson in recent weeks, reportedly called Greene over the weekend, but she would not disclose details about the call to reporters.“I have to tell you, I love President Trump. My conversations with him are fantastic,” Greene said. “And again, I’m not going to go into details. You want to know why? I’m not insecure about that.”Even though her motion to vacate overwhelmingly failed, Greene and her allies already appear poised to turn the issue into a litmus test for fellow Republican members. Congressman Thomas Massie, a co-sponsor of Greene’s resolution, shared a picture on X of the 11 Republicans who voted against the motion to table.“It’s a new paradigm in Congress,” Massie said. “[Former Democratic speaker] Nancy Pelosi, and most [Republicans] voted to keep Uniparty Speaker Mike Johnson. These are the eleven, including myself, who voted NOT to save him.”View image in fullscreenThe Republicans who rallied around Johnson returned the fire by accusing Greene and her allies of promoting chaos in the House. The episode came less than a year after the ouster of former Republican speaker Kevin McCarthy, which brought the chamber to a standstill for weeks until Johnson’s election.Congressman Mike Lawler, who faces a tough reelection campaign in New York this November, told reporters on Wednesday: “This type of tantrum is absolutely unacceptable, and it does nothing to further the cause of the conservative movement. The only people who have stymied our ability to govern are the very people that have pulled these types of stunts throughout the course of this Congress to undermine the House Republican majority.”Congressman Sean Casten, an Illinois Democrat, offered a more concise and cutting assessment. Writing on X, he said of Greene: “She is so, so dumb. And yet she keeps talking.” More

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      Joe Biden says ‘we must give hate no safe harbor’ in speech condemning antisemitism – as it happened

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      We’re closing our US politics blog now, but you can continue to follow coverage of Donald Trump’s hush-money trial in New York in our live blog here.Here’s what we followed today:
      Joe Biden spoke at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Day of Remembrance ceremony, honoring Second War War victims of the Nazis, condemning the Hamas attacks of 7 October, and denouncing violence during pro-Palestinian demonstrations on US college campuses. “We have an obligation to learn the lessons of history … to not surrender our future to the horrors of the past. We must give hate no safe harbor against anyone,” he said.
      New York supreme court justice Daniel Doyle blocked an abortion rights amendment from appearing on the November ballot, a significant setback for Democrats hoping to use the abortion access debate to galvanize voters.
      Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed a threat to his position from rebel Republican congress members Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie, insisting at a press conference: “I intend to lead this conference in the future.” Johnson is meeting the duo again this lunchtime as they decide whether to advance a vote for his removal after he colluded with Democrats to pass a Ukraine funding bill.
      Texas Democratic congressman Henry Cuellar faced pressure to resign from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew) group. Cuellar and his wife Imelda were indicted last week for bribery over their connections with Azerbaijan. “While [he] deserves a fair trial and the presumption of innocence, the serious charges … make it inappropriate for him to remain in office,” Crew president Noah Bookbinder said.
      Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, pushed back on a reporter’s suggestions the Biden administration wasn’t fully forthcoming about its knowledge of ceasefire talks in Gaza. Israel, according to Axios, was upset the US apparently knew about a proposal by Egypt, but hadn’t briefed Israel. Jean-Pierre insisted at her daily press briefing that no administration official was involved in secret discussion or deceit.
      Jean-Pierre was also asked about the behavior captured on video of counter-protesters at a pro-Palestinian rally at the University of Mississippi last week.One white student was accused of making monkey noises at a Black protester, and has been suspended by his Ole Miss fraternity.The behavior was “undignified and racist”, Jean-Pierre said. “The actions in the video are beneath any American.”The White House press conference has just wrapped up, a little later than advertised. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, has been pushing back on some reporters’ suggestions that the Biden administration hasn’t been fully forthcoming about its involvement in, or knowledge of, ceasefire talks over the war in Gaza.Hamas agreed to an Egyptian ceasefire proposal on Monday that would have seen the release of hostages it still holds from the 7 October attack. But Israel, according to an Axios report on Monday, was upset the US apparently knew about the proposal by Egypt, but hadn’t briefed Israel on it. And Israel says the terms Hamas accepted weren’t those it had agreed to.Jean-Pierre insisted no administration official was involved in any secret discussions, or had any intent to deceive. But she didn’t directly address Israel’s reported frustration.“There are talks happening in Cairo, and that’s incredibly important,” she said. “Our assessment is the two sides should be able to come to a deal, or at least close the gaps to get to a deal.”They may officially be two days late, but White House staff laid on an official Cinco de Mayo celebration this morning for Mexico’s independence day.First lady Jill Biden addressed a large gathering of Mexican-Americans:
      “[We] pay tribute to a long line of Mexican-Americans who have added their own threads to our rich American tapestry with bravery and vision. Writers whose poems trace the contours of our sorrows and joys. Activists whose movements for justice achieved hard-won progress. Trailblazers in every career and calling who have led us toward a more perfect union.
      And as we recognize the Mexican-Americans who have so profoundly shaped this country, and are continuing to shape it, we also remember that the first step to progress is dreaming – creating those images in our own heads, even if the odds are against us, reaching for the stars, even if we may miss, sculpting the world we see when we close our eyes and imagine.
      Here’s the video of Joe Biden’s address to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Day of Remembrance ceremony earlier.“Never again simply translated for me means: Never forget. Never forgetting means we must keep telling the story, we must keep teaching the truth,” Biden said as he addressed a bipartisan memorial held at the US Capitol’s Emancipation Hall.“The truth is we’re at risk of people not knowing the truth.”Biden spoke seven months to the day after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, killing 1,200 by Israeli tallies, in what Biden has called the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.“This hatred [of Jews] continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world and requires our continued vigilance and outspokenness,” the president said.A furore over the killing of a puppy by South Dakota Republican governor Kristi Noem, a story first reported by the Guardian, shows no sign of abating, as my colleague Martin Pengelly reports:Asked if a story about killing a dog and a goat as well as a false claim to have met Kim Jong-un could have been put in her book by an editor acting as “a liberal plant”, the South Dakota governor and Republican vice-presidential hopeful Kristi Noem seemed to realise such a claim would be too outlandish even for her.“The buck always stops with me,” Noem told Newsmax. “I take my own full responsibility. I wrote this book.”No Going Back was published in the US on Tuesday. But for more than a week it has been at the centre of a political firestorm fueled by a Guardian report of its startling story of how Noem says she shot dead Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehaired pointer she deemed “untrainable”, and an unnamed goat Noem said menaced her children.Noem has defended the story as an example of how she is willing to do unpleasant things in life and politics.But the resulting revulsion has seemingly ended any hope of Noem being named running mate to Donald Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee in November.Noem’s claim to have met Kim, the North Korean dictator, unravelled amid reporting by the Dakota Scout. Noem’s publisher, Center Street, said it would remove the passage from future editions.Amid a media tour in which Noem was challenged on CBS about an apparent threat to kill Joe Biden’s dog, the governor sought friendlier turf at Newsmax. Eric Bolling, a former Fox News host, duly attempted to give her a way to climb off her hurtling train of bad PR.Bolling said: “You don’t write the whole book at once, you write a chapter or two, you send it to the editors and they edit. They read it, they add, they subtract.“And here’s my question: the editor, was she possibly a plant? A liberal plant? Because I’m not sure either one of these stories, this dog story, the North Korea story, seems like the Kristi Noem I know.”Read the full story:It’s been a relatively quiet day so far in US politics. Here’s where things stand:
      Joe Biden spoke at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Day of Remembrance ceremony, honoring Second War War victims of the Nazis, condemning the Hamas attacks of 7 October, and denouncing violence during pro-Palestinian demonstrations on US college campuses. “We have an obligation to learn the lessons of history … to not surrender our future to the horrors of the past. We must give hate no safe harbor against anyone,” he said.
      New York supreme court justice Daniel Doyle blocked an abortion rights amendment from appearing on the November ballot, a significant setback for Democrats hoping to use the abortion access debate to galvanize voters.
      Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed a threat to his position from rebel Republican congress members Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie, insisting at a press conference: “I intend to lead this conference in the future.” Johnson is meeting the duo again this lunchtime as they decide whether to advance a vote for his removal after he colluded with Democrats to pass a Ukraine funding bill.
      There’s more to come, including the daily media briefing from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.Reuters says Joe Biden will next Tuesday meet with chief executives of Citigroup, United Airlines, Marriott International and other corporations across a range of industries at the White House.Citing an administration official, the agency says the purpose of the meeting is “the national and global economy”.Polling for November’s election indicates Biden is weaker on the economy in voters’ minds, and the meeting is an opportunity to try to gather some momentum with less than six months remaining.A New York judge on Tuesday blocked an abortion rights amendment from appearing on the November ballot, the Associated Press reports, a significant setback for Democrats hoping to use the abortion access debate to galvanize voters.State supreme court justice Daniel Doyle ruled state lawmakers failed to follow procedural rules regarding constitutional amendments, and incorrectly approved the amendment before getting a written opinion on its language from the attorney general.The lawsuit was filed by Republican state assemblywoman Marjorie Byrnes.Abortion rights amendments have passed in every state they have appeared, including Republican-controlled states, since the US supreme court ended almost 50 years of federal abortion protections in 2022.Similar amendments are on the ballot elsewhere this November, including Florida, where a six-week abortion ban took effect last week. An effort by Florida’s Republican attorney general Ashley Moody, similar to the New York lawsuit, to strip the amendment was rejected by the state’s supreme court last month.The New York state attorney general’s office did not immediately comment.We bring news of a presidential election event unlikely to ever happen: a head-to-head debate between Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, and independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr.Kennedy’s campaign put out a statement Tuesday morning challenging Trump to a debate at the Libertarian convention in Washington DC from 24 to 26 May.In an accompanying open letter posted to X, Kennedy claims that polls have both himself and Trump “crushing” Joe Biden in November (spoiler: they don’t), so it makes sense for the two to debate at an event they’re both scheduled to speak at anyway:
      It’s perfect neutral territory for you and me to have a debate where you can defend your record for your wavering supporters. You yourself have said you’re not afraid to debate me as long as my poll numbers are decent. Well, they are.
      So let’s meet at the Libertarian convention and show the American public that at least two of the major candidates aren’t afraid to debate each other. I asked the convention organizers and they are game for us to use our time there to bring the American people the debate they deserve!
      The Commission on Presidential Debates has announced three debates for this year, the first scheduled to take place on 16 September in San Marcos, Texas. Participants have yet to be announced.Joe Biden also addressed recent pro-Palestinian protests on numerous US colleges and campuses, which turned violent in several cities and led to more than 2,000 arrests:
      I understand people have strong beliefs and deep convictions about the world. In America we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech, to debate, and disagree, to protest peacefully and make our voices heard.
      I understand. That’s America. But there is no place on any campus in America, or any place in America, for antisemitism, or hate speech, or threats of violence of any kind.
      Whether against Jews or anyone else, violent attacks, destroying property, is not peaceful protest. It’s against the law. And we’re not a lawless country. We’re a civil society. We uphold the rule of law. And no one should have to hide or be brave just to be themselves.
      Biden acknowledged recent friction between his administration and Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the course of the war in Gaza, and Israel’s military push into Rafah. But he said his support for Jewish people in the US was unshakable:
      To the Jewish community, I want you to know I see your fear, your hurt and your pain. Let me reassure you as your president, you’re not alone. You belong. You always have and you always will.
      And my commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree.
      He said his administration was “working around the clock” to free hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza:
      We will not rest until we bring them all home. More

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      Arizona senate passes bill to repeal 1864 abortion ban; Harris says Trump’s insistence he doesn’t back national ban is ‘gaslighting’ – as it happened

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      Donald Trump may say that he does not plan to push for a national abortion ban, but Kamala Harris told voters in Florida that they should not believe him.“As much harm as he has already caused, a second Trump term would be even worse,” the vice-president said.“Donald Trump’s friends in the United States Congress are trying to pass a national ban and, understand, a national ban would outlaw abortion in every single state, even in states like New York and California. And now Trump wants us to believe he will not sign a national ban. Well, I say enough with the gaslighting.”Here’s more on just what Trump has said about a national ban:A showdown is set to take place next week between Republican House speaker Mike Johnson and far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is leading a charge to remove Johnson as the chamber’s leader over his collaboration with Democrats. But, unlike the last time something like this happened, Democratic leaders say they will oppose Greene’s motion to vacate, and there are already signs that rank-and-file lawmakers will follow along. As for Greene, she only has two other Republicans on board with her ouster attempt – not exactly resounding numbers. We’ll see if anything changes in the days to come. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris traveled to Florida to tell voters in a state Joe Biden is hoping to win in November that Donald Trump is to blame for the strict abortion ban that went into effect today. And in swing state Arizona, the state senate finally approved a repeal of its stringent law against abortion that dates back to the 19th century. The Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, is expected to sign the bill.Here’s what else went on today:
      Florida Democrats have had a tough go of it in recent years, but they hope a measure to expand abortion access that will be on the ballot in November will turn their fortunes around.
      Johnson issued a brief response to Greene’s push to remove him as speaker, warning that it was “wrong for the country”.
      The aftershocks from a violent night on college campuses continue to reverberate, with the University of California, Los Angeles, canceling classes following an attack by counter-protesters on a pro-Palestinian encampment. Follow our live blog for more.
      Louisiana might not get another majority-Black congressional district after all, further complicating Democrats’ hopes of retaking the House majority in November.
      Biden ordered the cancellation of billions of dollars in debt accrued by students who attended a private college system accused of fraud.
      The Associated Press notes that voting in the senate on the bill to repeal Arizona’s strict abortion restrictions is ongoing, but the legislation has the votes to pass, with the requisite two Republicans supporting it alongside 14 Democrats.However, Arizona for Abortion Access, a coalition of reproductive rights groups, warns that the fight to keep the procedure available is far from over:Here’s more on the abortion battle in the south-west swing state that could prove crucial to Joe Biden’s or Donald Trump’s chances of winning the White House:Arizona’s state senate has passed legislation to repeal a ban on almost all abortions in the state that dates back to 1864, the Associated Press reports.The measure, which the house approved last week, now goes to Democratic governor Katie Hobbs, who said she will sign it.Despite their struggles in Florida in recent years, Democrats hope the presence on the November ballot of a measure to broaden access to abortion could sway voters they will need to win the state for Joe Biden. Last month, the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe took a close look at their plans:Democrats in Florida are teaming up with operatives from Joe Biden’s re-election campaign in an all-out assault on Republicans’ extremist positions on abortion, believing it will bring victory in presidential and US Senate races in November.They fired an opening salvo on Tuesday, tearing into Donald Trump’s “boasting” about overturning federal abortion protections a day earlier, and assailing the incumbent Republican senator Rick Scott for supporting Florida’s six-week ban that takes effect next month.Ron DeSantis, the Republican Florida governor and former candidate for the party’s presidential nomination who signed the ban into law, also found himself under fire.“The word is accountability,” Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic party, told an online launch meeting attended by Jasmine Burney-Clark, state director of the Biden-Harris campaign, and Democratic state representative Anna Eskamani, a former regional senior director of Planned Parenthood.“We are here because Donald Trump bragged about overturning Roe v Wade. Then we got here in Florida because we had an individual who wanted to run for president and wanted to take our state into extremism, the Republican legislature who voted for it, and Rick Scott … who said on the national stage he will push for a national abortion ban.“It’s incumbent on all of us, the party, the candidates, the campaigns, to make sure that we are making that very distinct link.”Here’s the moment when Kamala Harris warned Florida voters against believing Donald Trump’s insistence that he would not support federal limits on abortion:As she closed out her speech, Harris compared and contrasted a second Donald Trump term with four more years of Joe Biden, and repeated the president’s promise to sign legislation restoring the protections in Roe v Wade, should Congress approve it.“The great Maya Angelou once said, ‘When someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time.’ And Donald Trump has told us who he is. So here’s what a second Trump term looks like: more bans, more suffering, less freedom,” Harris said.“But we are not going to let that happen because you see, we trust women. We trust women to know what is in their own best interest. And women trust all of us to fight to protect their most fundamental freedom.”No Democratic president has won Florida’s electoral votes since Barack Obama in 2012, and at the state level, the GOP controls the governor’s mansion and the legislature. The state’s Democrats have generally struggled in recent years, though there have been some signs of a comeback.“This November, up and down the ballot, reproductive freedom is on the ballot. And you, the leaders, you the people, have the power to protect it with your vote. Donald Trump may think he can take Florida for granted. It is your power that will send Joe Biden and me back to the White House,” Harris said.“And when Congress passes the law that restores the reproductive freedoms of Roe, our president, Joe Biden, will sign it.”Donald Trump may say that he does not plan to push for a national abortion ban, but Kamala Harris told voters in Florida that they should not believe him.“As much harm as he has already caused, a second Trump term would be even worse,” the vice-president said.“Donald Trump’s friends in the United States Congress are trying to pass a national ban and, understand, a national ban would outlaw abortion in every single state, even in states like New York and California. And now Trump wants us to believe he will not sign a national ban. Well, I say enough with the gaslighting.”Here’s more on just what Trump has said about a national ban:Donald Trump recently said abortion policy should be left to the states, and declined to endorse a national ban on the procedure that some Republicans have called for.Harris took him to task: “Trump says he wants to leave abortion up to the states, he says, up to the states. All right. So here’s how that works out. Today, one in three women of reproductive age live in a state with a Trump abortion ban – many with no exception for rape or incest.”She then explained why she cared so much about this issue, relating a story from when she was growing up:
      As many of you know, I started my career as a prosecutor specializing in crimes against women and children. What many of you may not know is why? So, when I was in high school I learned that my best friend was being molested by her stepfather. And I said to her, well, you’ve got to come and live with us. I call my mother. And my mother said of course she does. And so she did.
      So, the idea that someone who survives a crime of violence to their body of violation of their body would not have the authority to make a decision about what happens to their body next. That’s immoral. That’s immoral.
      And one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do.
      Harris then pivoted to the meat of her argument to Florida voters: that Donald Trump was to blame for the abortion ban that just went into effect in the state, as well as others like it nationwide.“Across our nation, we witnessed a full on assault, state by state, on reproductive freedom, and understand who is to blame: former president Donald Trump did this,” Harris said.“Donald Trump hand-picked three members of the United States supreme court because he intended for them to overturn Roe, and as he intended, they did.”Harris harkened back to her grilling, as a senator on the judiciary committee, of two of Trump’s supreme court nominees, saying it was clear after their confirmation that the days of nationwide abortion access were numbered:
      And it happened just as Donald Trump intended. Now, present day because of Donald Trump, more than 20 states have abortion bans, more than 20 Trump abortion bans. And today, this very day at the stroke of midnight, another Trump abortion ban went into effect here in Florida. As of this morning, four million women in this state woke up with fewer reproductive freedoms than they had last night. This is the new reality under a Trump abortion ban.
      Kamala Harris has taken the stage in Jacksonville, Florida, where she likened abortion access to a “fundamental freedom”.“This is a fight for freedom, the fundamental freedom to make decisions about one’s own body and not have their government tell them what they’re supposed to do,” the vice-president said.“As we know, almost two years ago, the highest court in our land, the court of Thurgood and RBG, took a constitutional right that had been recognized from the people of America, from the women of America. And now, in states across our nation, extremists have proposed and passed laws that criminalize doctors, punish women – laws that threatened doctors and nurses with prison time, even for life, simply for providing reproductive care.”Florida’s six-week abortion ban doesn’t just mark the end of most patients’ access to the procedure in the state, but also in the rest of the south-eastern United States. The Guardian’s Carter Sherman reported from a clinic trying to squeeze in appointments before it went into effect about how reproductive health access in Florida was about to change:A six-week abortion ban went into effect on Wednesday in Florida, cutting off access to the procedure before many people know they are pregnant and leveling the south-eastern United States’ last stronghold for abortion rights.The ban went into force weeks after Florida’s state supreme court issued a decision clearing the way for it to take effect. Strict bans now blanket all of the American deep south, increasing the strain on the country’s remaining clinics. The closest clinic for most Floridians past six weeks of pregnancy is now several states away in North Carolina, which outlaws abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy.Last year, Florida abortion providers performed more than 84,000 abortions, state data found – including more than 9,000 for out-of-state patients, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion restrictions. Roughly 60 % of Florida abortions occur after six weeks of pregnancy.On Tuesday, the last day before the ban took effect, an abortion clinic in Gainesville, Florida, was trying to squeeze in as many patients as possible. The clinic had added hours throughout April, but the rush was compounded by the fact that, in addition to the impending ban, Florida requires people to have an in-person consultation at an abortion clinic at least 24 hours before they get the procedure or take abortion pills. A patient could have arrived on Tuesday exactly six weeks into her pregnancy, but have been too late to get an abortion given that the ban came into effect on Wednesday.Georgia’s Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is doubling down on her attempts to oust House speaker Mike Johnson.In an address today, Greene said:
      We have to have a Republican majority in January and under Mike Johnson’s leadership, we’re not going to have one …
      Hakeem Jeffries has endorsed Mike Johnson because he knows Mike Johnson’s leadership is going to hand the House majority to Democrats in January. It will make our voters not vote for him …
      Joe Biden has announced the approval of $6.1bn in student debt cancellation for 317,000 borrowers who attended the Art Institutes, a private college system that was closed last year amid fraud claims.In a statement released on Wednesday, Biden said:
      This institution falsified data, knowingly misled students, and cheated borrowers into taking on mountains of debt without leading to promising career prospects at the end of their studies …
      While my predecessor looked the other way when colleges defrauded students and borrowers, I promised to take this on directly to provide borrowers with the relief they need and deserve … And in total, we have approved debt cancellation for nearly 4.6 million Americans through various actions.
      Today’s announcement builds on all we’ve done to fix broken student loan programs and bring higher education more in reach.
      Arizona Democrats are expected to make a final push to repeal the state’s near-total abortion ban, which dates back to 1864.The Guardian and agencies report:Fourteen Democrats in the state senate are hoping to pick up at least two Republican votes to win final approval for a bill repealing the ban, which narrowly cleared the Arizona house last week and is expected to be signed by the Democratic governor.The near-total ban, which predates Arizona’s statehood, permits abortions only to save the patient’s life – and provides no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. The law had been on the books since 1864, but had been blocked since the US supreme court’s 1973 Roe v Wade decision guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion nationwide.In a ruling last month, however, the Arizona supreme court suggested that following the US supreme court’s decision last year to overturn Roe v Wade, doctors could be prosecuted under the civil war-era law. Under the law, anyone who assists in an abortion can be sentenced to two to five years in prison.Read the full story here:A showdown is set to take place next week between Republican House speaker Mike Johnson and far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is leading a charge to remove him as the chamber’s leader over his collaboration with Democrats. But, unlike the last time something like this happened, Democratic leaders say they will oppose Greene’s motion to vacate, and there are already signs that rank-and-file lawmakers will follow along. As for Greene, she only has two others on board with her ouster attempt – not exactly resounding numbers. We’ll see if anything changes in the days to come. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris is set to speak at 2.45pm in Jacksonville, Florida, and blame Donald Trump for the state’s strict abortion ban, which went into effect today. We plan to cover that live.Here’s what else has happened today so far:
      Johnson issued a brief response to Greene’s push to remove him as speaker, warning that it was “wrong for the country”.
      The aftershocks from a violent night on college campuses continue to reverberate, with the University of California, Los Angeles, canceling classes following an attack by counter-protesters on a pro-Palestinian encampment. Follow our live blog for more.
      Louisiana might not get another majority-Black congressional district after all, further complicating Democrats’ hopes of retaking the House majority in November.
      Earlier this morning, Joe Biden hammered Donald Trump as Florida’s strict abortion ban went into effect, saying the former president “ripped away the rights and freedom of women in America”.“There is one person responsible for this nightmare: Donald Trump. Trump brags about overturning Roe v Wade, making extreme bans like Florida’s possible, saying his plan is working ‘brilliantly’. He thinks it’s brilliant that more than 4 million women in Florida, and more than one in three women in America, can’t get access to the care they need,” the president said in a statement released through his re-election campaign.“Trump is worried the voters will hold him accountable for the cruelty and chaos he created. He’s right. Trump ripped away the rights and freedom of women in America. This November, voters are going to teach him a valuable lesson: don’t mess with the women of America.” More