Subterms
Mike PenceMike Pence: media’s focus on Capitol attack is attempt to distract from Biden failuresFormer vice-president says media ‘wants to use one day to demean the character of 74 million Americans who believe we could be strong again’
Criminal inquiry into Trump’s Georgia interference gathers steam
Martin Pengelly in New York@ More
Key events
Show
3.55pm EDT
15:55
Chauvin given 22 and a half years for George Floyd murder
1.42pm EDT
13:42
Health secretary ordered to investigate Fort Bliss migrant children complaints
1.28pm EDT
13:28
Charges possible in Trump Organization investigation – report
12.50pm EDT
12:50
Republican congressman compares Democrats to Nazis
12.17pm EDT
12:17
DoJ sues over Georgia voting rights measure – full report
12.05pm EDT
12:05
Georgia governor slams DoJ voting rights lawsuit
11.10am EDT
11:10
Justice Department sues Georgia over voting law
Live feed
Show
5.43pm EDT
17:43
Gabrielle Canon here, taking over from the west coast for the evening.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has tweeted his reaction to the Chavin sentence it “historic” but agreeing with others that more needs to be done.
“This is a positive step toward justice, but our work is not done. We’ve known all along that accountability in the courtroom is not enough,” he says.
Governor Tim Walz
(@GovTimWalz)
Today, Judge Cahill gave Derek Chauvin a historic sentence. This is a positive step toward justice, but our work is not done. We’ve known all along that accountability in the courtroom is not enough. https://t.co/mlLijFciIf
June 25, 2021
“The statements today from George Floyd’s family and members of the community were painful but powerful,” he continues. “Now, as Derek Chauvin faces years behind bars, we must come together around our common humanity and continue on towards justice for all”.
The stataement echoed the statement the governor issued on April 20, when Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd, when he said that systemic change was needed to prevent this from happening again.
Here is more from his statement in April:
“Too many Black people have lost—and continue to lose—their lives at the hands of law enforcement in our state.”
“Our communities of color cannot go on like this. Our police officers cannot go on like this. Our state simply cannot go on like this. And the only way it will change is through systemic reform.”
“We must rebuild, restore, and reimagine the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve. We must tackle racial inequities in every corner of society—from health to home ownership to education. We must come together around our common humanity.”
“Let us continue on this march towards justice.”
Updated
at 5.47pm EDT
5.27pm EDT
17:27
Evening summary
That’s it for me. Here’s a recap of what happened today:
Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the death of George Floyd.
Here’s Joe Biden responding to the ruling.
The UFO report is out.
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida addressed the building collapse and efforts by rescue workers there.
The Manhattan district attorney informed attorneys for Donald Trump that criminal charges could be filed against the family business.
5.13pm EDT
17:13
Here’s Al Sharpton reacting to the ruling. Like Ellison, he said the ruling was not enough. Sharpton noted that the ruling is “longest sentence they’ve ever given but it is not justice. Justice is George Floyd would be alive.”
ABC News
(@ABC)
Rev. Al Sharpton on Derek Chauvin 22.5-year sentence: “Had they done sentences like this before, maybe Chauvin would not have thought he would have gotten away with it.” https://t.co/IuuRKnTv3s pic.twitter.com/vw7mGKzXvh
June 25, 2021
5.06pm EDT
17:06
Some reaction from various corners of Twitter to the Chauvin ruling:
Jemele Hill
(@jemelehill)
If you’re wondering if Derek Chauvin’s sentence is fair, Chauvin will be 60 years old when he’s released from prison after serving 15 years of his 22 1/2-year sentence. George Floyd was murdered by Chauvin when he was 46. Floyd can never resume his life. Chauvin can.
June 25, 2021
Meena Harris
(@meena)
Just a reminder that Chauvin being sentenced to 22 years in prison is not justice. George Floyd being alive today — along with countless other black people murdered by the police — is justice. There’s no achieving justice from a system that is fundamentally unjust.
June 25, 2021
W. Kamau Bell
(@wkamaubell)
White people, do not celebrate Derek Chauvin’s sentence. Figure out how you can put the same attention & activism on all police murders of Black people that you put on George Floyd. Your work is not done.
June 25, 2021
Harry Litman
(@harrylitman)
Presumptive sentence for the crime for a person of Chauvin’s criminal history is 12.5 years. So in effect Judge Cahill imposed an additional 10 years for the aggravating factors. Remember, Chauvin waived his right for a jury to determine & probably jury would have found even more
June 25, 2021
5.02pm EDT
17:02
My colleague Adam Gabbatt had a long dispatch about the UFO report:
The mystery of UFOs seen in American skies is likely to continue following the release of the US government’s highly anticipated UFO report.
The report released Friday afternoon made clear that while American intelligence officials do not believe aliens are behind the UFOs – or what scientists prefer to call unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) – that were observed by Navy pilots, they cannot explain what the flying objects are.
The report confirms that the observed phenomena are not part of any US military operations.
The Pentagon studied over 140 incidents reported by Navy pilots of UFOs seen over the last two decades for the report, many of which were seen during the summer of 2014 into the spring of 2015.
The release of the report caps a six-month wait, since a group of elected officials succeeded in including the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021 in a $2.3tn coronavirus relief bill signed by Donald Trump last December.
The act ordered government agencies to provide a declassified “detailed analysis of unidentified aerial phenomena data and intelligence” and “a detailed description of an interagency process” for reporting UFOs.
The discussion of UFOs – at government level or outside it – has been stigmatized for decades. While some have used the UAP materials as fodder for theories on alien life, officials have pointed to the possible threat of the UAPs being from an adversary using technology unknown to the US.
4.50pm EDT
16:50
The much-awaited (at least to me) Director of National Intelligence report on UFOs is here. Read it.
4.41pm EDT
16:41
Joe Biden was asked about his reaction to the Chauvin ruling. Here’s the pool report:
Question: Do you have a reaction to Derek Chauvin being sentenced to 22.5 years in prison?
Biden: “I don’t know all the circumstances that were considered but it seems to me, under the guidelines, that seems to be appropriate.”
Thanks to the AP’s Darlene Superville for lending a good recording of the quote.
More quotes coming.
The Recount
(@therecount)
President Biden reacts to Derek Chauvin sentence of 22.5 years, saying “that seems to be appropriate.” pic.twitter.com/hNGv84W1LY
June 25, 2021
Updated
at 4.51pm EDT
4.32pm EDT
16:32
Oliver Laughland
Just before sentencing Derek Chauvin to 22 and a half years, judge Cahill, known as a forthright and relatively brusque jurist, stated he had written a lengthy, 26 page sentencing memo to explain his thinking on the sentence, which is 10 years above the state guidance for second degree murder. “What the sentence is not based on is emotion or sympathy, but at the same time I want to acknowledge the deep and tremendous pain families are feeling, especially the Floyd family,” Cahill told the court.
The document itself is filled with a lot legal reasoning, but the conclusion is worth reporting here as it’s a neat summary of Cahill’s thinking.
He writes: “Part of the mission of the Minneapolis police department is to give citizens ‘voice and respect’. Here, Mr Chauvin, rather than pursuing the MPD mission, treated Mr Floyd without respect and denied him the dignity owed to all human beings and which he certainly would have extended to a friend or neighbor. In the court’s view, 270 months, which amounts to an additional 10 years over the presumptive 150 month sentence, is the appropriate sentence.”
Updated
at 4.36pm EDT
4.17pm EDT
16:17
Here is the sentencing order on the Chauvin ruling in the Floyd case.
4.16pm EDT
16:16
Attorney Ben Crump has also responded to the ruling.
Ben Crump
(@AttorneyCrump)
22.5 YEARS! This historic sentence brings the Floyd family and our nation one step closer to healing by delivering closure and accountability.
June 25, 2021
4.15pm EDT
16:15
Ellison continues: “My hope for Derek Chauvin is that he uses his long sentence to reflect on the choices he made … my hope is that he takes the time to learn something about the man whose life he took.”
Ellison is going on to say the sentencing “is not enough”.
Updated
at 4.19pm EDT
4.14pm EDT
16:14
Ellison is now speaking.
“The sentence that the court just imposed on Derek Chauvin … is one of the longest a former police officer has ever received for an unlawful use of deadly force,” Ellison said. “Today’s sentencing is not justice but it’s another moment of real accountability on the road to justice.”
Updated
at 4.19pm EDT
4.12pm EDT
16:12
Attorney General Keith Ellison of Minnesota is about to speak about the ruling and Derek Chauvin’s sentencing. More
Former vice-president Mike Pence used a speech late on Thursday to go much further than he has before in public to rebuke Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the Republican defeat in the 2020 presidential election, while adding he will “always be proud” of playing his part to certify Joe Biden’s victory.The US Congress, with Pence presiding in the Senate, confirmed the election result in the early hours of 7 January after the deadly insurrection the day before by extremist supporters of Trump, shortly after the then president had urged them “to fight like hell” to reverse his defeat and pressured Pence not to certify Biden’s win.“I will always be proud that we did our part on that tragic day to reconvene the Congress and fulfilled our duty under the constitution and the laws of the United States,” Pence said in a speech in California.He noted that the vice-president has no constitutional power to throw out a presidential result submitted to the US Congress by the states, or send the votes back to the states in rejection.Pence contradicted “those in our party” who think that “any one person” could select the president, without mentioning Trump directly.“The truth is, there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president,” he said.He called the insurrection a “dark day in the history of the United States Capitol”, following which 500 people have been arrested in the biggest US crime investigation since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.The Indiana Republican’s speech was made at the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley. Pence showed he still hews to the Trump policies he loyally help craft and promote during the Trump-Pence administration. He also appeared to be laying out his path to a potential candidacy for president himself.Trump persists in his claims that the election was “stolen” from his because of widespread fraud, despite the failure of more than 80 court challenges, and lately told an interviewer that he “never admitted defeat” and was “very disappointed that [Pence] didn’t send it back to the legislatures” in the states, effectively rejecting the result.In his speech, Pence acknowledged his “disappointment” at November’s defeat, with Democrats Biden and Kamala Harris winning decisively.“Now, I understand the disappointment many feel about the last election,” he said. “I can relate. I was on the ballot. But you know, there’s more at stake than our party and our political fortunes in this moment. If we lose faith in the constitution, we won’t just lose elections – we’ll lose our country,” he said.He praised the “Trump-Pence administration’s” accomplishments in office and urged his party to take advantage of “traditional conservative priorities” as well as the “new pillars” of Trump’s populist politics. He called Trump a “one of a kind” disrupter who also “invigorated our movement” in the same way Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s.Meanwhile, a further excerpt of the forthcoming book Nightmare Scenario by two Washington Post journalists claims that if Trump had become incapacitated or died of Covid-19 last fall that there were no plans in place at the White House to swear in Pence.Under the Presidential Succession Act, Pence would have taken over as president if Trump had died.The book has further details of how Trump was much sicker than was ever officially acknowledged.But adds: “Trump’s brush with severe illness and the prospect of death caught the White House so unprepared that they had not even briefed Mike Pence’s team on a plan to swear him in if Trump became incapacitated.” More
Mike Pence, the former US vice-president, has been heckled as a “traitor” for his refusal to overturn last year’s election result during a speech to a gathering of religious conservatives.Pence, who is widely seen as laying the groundwork for a White House run in 2024, had entered an auditorium in Orlando, Florida to a standing ovation on Friday. But a small group began shouted abuse including “traitor!” as he began a 28-minute speech. The dissenters were quickly escorted out by police.Earlier, in a corridor outside the ballroom, an attendee named Rick Hurley, wearing a red “Make America great again” cap, also vented his frustration over Pence’s role in certifying Donald Trump’s defeat on 6 January amid false claims of voter fraud.“We need to start fighting!” Hurley shouted at anyone who would listen. “We need to stop being so damned nice. What the hell’s going on? Why is Pence coming today? Donald Trump has his pen in his back still.”Before being taken aside by police, he also remarked: “I’m ready to fight. I’m going to boo him off stage. I’ll take the bullet. I’ll walk to the front of the stage and look him in the eye and and say, ‘What are you doing here?’In an interview, Hurley said he had been at the US Capitol on 6 January. “I want to know why Pence is here today.” he said. “He stabbed Donald Trump in the back and took the coins like Judas.”But Ralph Reed, organiser of the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority conference, was at pains to give Pence a warm welcome and honor him as stalwart of the Christian conservative movement.And the ex-vice president, who earlier this month admitted that he and his former boss may never “see eye to eye” on the events of 6 January, when some Trump supporters called for him to be hanged, did not dwell on that disagreement during his remarks.He instead told the gathering: “Thank you for the privilege of serving as your vice-president with Donald Trump. It was the greatest honor of my life.”Pence made only a passing reference to the deadly insurrection that implied an equivalence with racial justice protests and Joe Biden’s policies: “We’ve all been through a lot over the past year: a global pandemic, civil unrest, a divisive election, a tragic day in our nation’s Capitol, and a new administration intent on transforming our country.”Since leaving office, Pence has bought a house in Indiana, announced plans for a podcast and signed a two-book deal for his memoir. Despite the anger of some Trump supporters, he is seen as a potential candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2024.His conference speech on Friday duly listed the Trump administration’s achievements – from supreme court appointments to coronavirus vaccines – and took aim at Biden for rapidly unravelling its legacy with “a tidal wave of leftwing policies”.Pence quipped: “Democrats have been so busy advancing their liberal agenda, sometimes I feel like the left hand doesn’t know what the far left hand is doing.”He went on to rail against “an explosion” of runaway spending, proposed tax increases, plans to cut military funding and the cancellation of construction on Trump’s signature border wall.“Literally in five months, they turned the most secure border in the world into the worst border crisis in American history,” Pence said to applause. “You know, when I was vice-president, I visited our southern border. And yes, it’s past time for our current vice-president to go to the border, put our policies back into effect and end the Biden border crisis today.”He also threw out false assertions to go after “culture war” targets currently in vogue in conservative media including “cancel culture” and “defund the police”.Among them was critical race theory which, developed by academics starting in the 1970s, examines how racism embedded in law and institutions creates an uneven playing field for people of color in America. Numerous Republican controlled states have moved to ban it from being taught in schools.Pence crudely misrepresented the intellectual tool by stating: “Instead of teaching all of our children to be proud of their country, critical race theory teaches children as young as kindergarten to be ashamed of their skin color. Critical race theory is racism, pure and simple – and it should be rejected by every American of every race.”“The truth is it’s past time for America to discard the left wing reflex to see systemic racism across our nation. As my friend Senator Tim Scott says so well, America is not a racist country – America is the most just, noble and inclusive nation ever to exist on the face of the earth.”In another wildly contentious claim, Pence said: “The United States military is the greatest force for good the world has ever known.”Pence closed a morning session that included Republican senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, all potential rivals for the 2024 nomination. Trump himself has not yet declared whether he will run or whether Pence would again be his running mate. More
Mike Pence has said he isn’t sure that he and Donald Trump will ever see “eye to eye” over what happened on 6 January, when a mob of the president’s supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to overturn the election. Pence, speaking at a Republican dinner in the early voting state of New Hampshire, gave his most extensive comments to date on the deadly events, when rioters broke into the Capitol building, some chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” after the vice-president said he did not have the power to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.“As I said that day, Jan 6 was a dark day in history of the United States Capitol. But thanks to the swift action of the Capitol police and federal law enforcement, violence was quelled. The Capitol was secured,” Pence said.“And that same day, we reconvened the Congress and did our duty under the constitution and the laws of the United States,” Pence continued. “You know, President Trump and I have spoken many times since we left office. And I don’t know if we’ll ever see eye to eye on that day.”It was a rare departure for Pence, who spent four years standing loyally beside his boss amid controversy, investigation and impeachment. It comes as Pence considers his own potential 2024 White House run and as Republicans, some of whom were angry at Trump in the days after the insurrection, have largely coalesced back around the former president.Pence praised Trump several times during his nearly 35-minute speech at the Hillsborough county Republican committee’s annual Lincoln-Reagan awards dinner in Manchester. He also tried to turn the events of 6 January back around on Democrats, saying they wanted to keep the insurrection in the news to divert attention from Biden’s progressive agenda.Pence also hit upon several favorite themes of conservative Republicans, including pushing back against “critical race theory”, echoing a wider push on the right to limit how history and race are covered in America’s schools. His speech came as Georgia’s education board adopted a resolution insisting that students should be taught that racism and slavery are aberrations rather than the systemic norm.“America is not a racist country,” Pence said, prompting one of several standing ovations and cheers during his speech.“It is past time for America to discard the left-wing myth of systemic racism,” Pence said. “I commend state legislators and governors across the country for banning critical race theory from our schools.”His choice of states, including an April appearance in South Carolina, is aimed at increasing his visibility as he considers whether to run for the White House in 2024. His team said he plans more trips, including stops in Texas, California and Michigan. More
Simon & Schuster has said it will not pull out of a seven-figure book deal with Mike Pence after some of its employees called for the contract to be scrapped, stating that “we come to work each day to publish, not cancel”.An open letter circulated by staff at S&S said that the publisher had “chosen complicity in perpetuating white supremacy by publishing Pence”, in a two-book deal struck earlier this month and reported to be worth $3-4m (£2.1-2.8m). The letter, which did not reveal how many members of staff had signed, said that the former vice-president had “made a career out of discriminating against marginalised groups and denying resources to BIPOC and LGBTQA+ communities”, and demanded his book deal be cancelled.“By choosing to publish Mike Pence, Simon & Schuster is generating wealth for a central figure of a presidency that unequivocally advocated for racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-Blackness, xenophobia, misogyny, ableism, islamophobia, antisemitism, and violence,” says the letter. “This is not a difference of opinions; this is legitimising bigotry.”Though in January S&S pulled out of publishing Republican senator Josh Hawley’s book over his part in the Capitol riot, S&S president Jonathan Karp told staff on Tuesday that the publisher would not cancel Pence’s deal.“As a publisher in this polarised era, we have experienced outrage from both sides of the political divide and from different constituencies and groups. But we come to work each day to publish, not cancel, which is the most extreme decision a publisher can make, and one that runs counter to the very core of our mission to publish a diversity of voices and perspectives,” wrote Karp. “We will, therefore, proceed in our publishing agreement with vice-president Mike Pence.”The employees also called for the publishing house to refrain from signing any more book deals with former members of the Trump administration, and demanded S&S stop distributing books for Post Hill Press. An independent publisher which focuses on “conservative politics” and Christian titles, Post Hill hit the headlines last week when it announced it would be publishing a book by by one of the police officers who shot Breonna Taylor, officer Jonathan Mattingly. While S&S subsequently announced it would not distribute Mattingly’s book, staff at S&S pointed to Post Hill titles which S&S still distributes, including embattled Republican congressman Matt Gaetz’s Firebrand.“We impart to you the sad and unfortunate truth that we are actively making history right now,” says the open letter. “People will look back on this one day, and see that through our complicity, we chose to be on what is clearly the wrong side of justice.”Karp said the decision not to distribute Mattingly’s book was “immediate, unprecedented, and responsive to the concerns we heard from you and our authors”. But he added that S&S has “contractual obligations and must continue to respect the terms of our agreements with our client publishers”.Post Hill confirmed last week that it would go ahead with publishing Mattingly’s book without S&S, and declined to comment further.Karp described the publisher’s role as “to find those authors and works that can shed light on our world — from first-time novelists to journalists, thought leaders, scientists, memoirists, personalities, and, yes, those who walk the halls of power”.“Regardless of where those authors sit on the ideological spectrum, or if they hold views that run counter to the belief systems held by some of us, we apply a rigorous standard to assure that in acquiring books, we will be bringing into the world works that provide new information or perspectives on events to which we otherwise might not have access,” he wrote.“When we allow our judgment to dwell on the books we dislike,” he added, “we distract ourselves from our primary purpose as a publisher – to champion the books we believe in and love.”Pence’s currently untitled autobiography is set to be released in 2023. More
Donald Trump devoted part of a speech to Republican donors on Saturday night to insulting the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell. According to multiple reports of the $400,000-a-ticket, closed-press event, the former president called the Kentucky senator “a dumb son of a bitch”.Trump also said Mike Pence, his vice-president, should have had the “courage” to object to the certification of electoral college results at the US Capitol on 6 January. Trump claims his defeat by Joe Biden, by 306-232 in the electoral college and more than 7m votes, was the result of electoral fraud. It was not and the lie was repeatedly thrown out of court.Earlier, the Associated Press reported that it obtained a Pentagon timeline of events on 6 January, which showed Pence demanding military leadership “clear the Capitol” of rioters sent by Trump.Trump did nothing and around six hours passed between Pence’s order and the Capitol being cleared. Five people including a police officer died and some in the mob were recorded chanting “hang Mike Pence”. More than 400 face charges.In his remarks at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday, amid a weekend of Republican events in Florida, some at Trump properties, the former president also mocked Dr Anthony Fauci.“Have you ever seen somebody who is so full of crap?“ Trump reportedly said about the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Joe Biden’s top medical adviser who was a key member of Trump’s coronavirus taskforce.Trump also said Covid-19 vaccines should be renamed “Trumpcines” in his honour.According to Politico, the attack on McConnell concerned the senator’s perceived failure to defend Trump with sufficient zeal in the impeachment trial which followed the Capitol riot.Trump, who told supporters to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell”, was charged with inciting an insurrection. He was acquitted when only seven Republican senators voted to convict, not enough to reach the super-majority needed. McConnell voted to acquit, then excoriated Trump on the Senate floor.Of the certification of the election result on 6 January, according to the Washington Post, Trump said: “If that were [Chuck] Schumer [the Democratic Senate leader] instead of this dumb son of a bitch Mitch McConnell, they would never allow it to happen. They would have fought it.”Trump also attacked McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who was transportation secretary until she resigned over the Capitol riot, just before the end of Trump’s term.“I hired his wife,” Trump said, according to the Post. “Did he ever say thank you?”He also ridiculed her decision to resign – “She suffered so greatly,” the Post reported him saying, his “voice dripping with sarcasm” – and said he had won her husband’s Senate seat for him.Trump has attacked McConnell before, in February calling him a “dour, sullen and unsmiling political hack”. On Saturday night he also reportedly called him a “stone cold loser”. McConnell did not immediately comment.The former president remains barred from social media over the Capitol riot but he retains influence and has begun to issue endorsements for the 2022 midterms. Most have been in line with the party hierarchy, including backing Marco Rubio, a Florida senator and former presidential rival many expected would attract a challenge from Trump’s daughter Ivanka.Trump’s acquittal in his second impeachment left him free to run for the White House. He regularly tops polls of Republican voters regarding possible candidates for 2024. On Saturday night, he reportedly left that possibility undiscussed.On Sunday morning, the Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson was asked if Trump’s remarks – and their reported enthusiastic reception by party donors and leaders – helped or hindered the Republican cause.“Anything that’s divisive is a concern,” Hutchinson told CNN’s State of the Union, “and is not helpful for us fighting the battles in Washington and at the state level.“In some ways it’s not a big deal what he said. But at the same time whenever it draws attention, we don’t need that. We need unity, we need to be focused together, we have … slim numbers in Washington and we got battles to fight, so we need to get beyond that.”At Mar-a-Lago, the Post said, the former president told Republicans to stick together.“We can’t have these guys that like publicity,” he said. More
