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      Exclusive: Georgia lawmaker runs secret election-conspiracy Telegram channel

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      A Fulton county commissioner in Georgia has been operating a private Telegram channel for years, propagating debunked claims about the 2020 election, and spreading accusations of crimes by county employees, including Ruby Freeman, an election worker defamed by Rudy Giuliani in the wake of Donald Trump’s 2020 loss.Bridget Thorne, a Republican representing the relatively conservative cities of Fulton county north of Atlanta, indirectly identifies herself as the creator and administrator of the Fulton County Elections channel on Telegram, a mobile messaging platform, in multiple posts to its page. The channel uses the official logo of the Fulton county board of registration and elections.The channel, created in May 2021, had 133 subscribers as of Tuesday night. The Guardian learned of its existence from Marisa Pyle, an Atlanta-based political organizer.In a post from 14 February, the administrator of the page accused Freeman, a former Fulton county elections worker, of misconduct, despite a Georgia elections board finding that all of the conspiracy theories about her were “false and unsubstantiated”.“We clearly see her double scanning ballots,” the channel administrator wrote about Freeman, a regular target of attention on the Telegram page. “We see her incriminating Facebook posts. Yet, she is made to be a victim and given hero awards.”Rudy Giuliani repeatedly attacked Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, suggesting without evidence that they had committed crimes during the 2020 election. Investigators from the Georgia secretary of state’s office quickly debunked the accusations, but Giuliani continued to make them throughout his campaign to overturn the election, leading to a $148m defamation judgment against him in December. Freeman and Moss were the target of rampant harassment and threats because of the misinformation.View image in fullscreenThorne confirmed in an email to the Guardian that she started the Telegram channel in 2021 “initially for a private archive of events”, but said she is “no longer the primary administrator, nor do I regularly contribute to the conversations found within”. She said the channel was “made private for safety reasons (after receiving online death threats and threatening anonymous mail)”.“I have never stated that Ms Freeman committed any crime or election fraud,” Thorne said. She did not respond directly to a question about whether she posted the lines above. However, Thorne said: “It should be noted that last summer, the state board of elections provided a public reprimand and letter of instruction to Fulton county after the 2020 election specifically noting that ballots were double-scanned. My position has been and will remain that any concerns raised during any election should be thoroughly investigated.”The post about Freeman under the Telegram channel’s administrator account is dated 14 February 2024. A subsequent post in March is self-referential to Thorne: “Oh look! They must have had an earthquake in Union City. My picture along with Hall’s came crashing down in the election warehouse. Somehow in the crash, the actual picture was destroyed.” The March post accompanies an image of a wall of pictures of county commissioners – Thorne’s is the only photo missing in the picture.Thorne is one of two Republicans elected to Fulton county’s seven-member board of commissioners. She has a vote on appointments to the Fulton county board of registration and elections, election office budgeting and some county policies regarding elections administration.Pyle has been pseudonymously subscribed to the channel since its inception and saw Thorne’s posts. “After the 2020 election, I subscribed to as many election-denial channels on Telegram and other platforms as I could, to keep track of things,” she said.Pyle had until recently been the rapid response director for Fair Fight Action, a progressive voting-rights organization founded by Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia representative. Fair Fight and rightwing groups claiming election fraud were mutually antagonistic in Georgia even before the 2020 election, a point Thorne herself has regularly noted in posts on the channel.View image in fullscreenThe Fulton County Elections channel went private after Thorne’s election in November 2022, Pyle said. Pyle, now the senior democracy defense manager with the voting rights group All Voting Is Local, exposed posts from the group on X last week after the unexpected resignation of Patrice Perkins-Hooker, the Fulton county elections board chair, who has taken a position as Atlanta’s interim city attorney.“The way in which she is consistently accusing Fulton county and election staff and the state and voters of malfeasance, she has very directly demeaned her own staff, she has accused people within the county of conspiring against her,” Pyle said.Though she can only identify a handful of other people who are following Thorne’s Telegram channel, every time Thorne posts something on the page, other election-conspiracy pages Pyle follows repost it, Pyle said. “She may have the first amendment right to do this, but that is not immunity from it causing repercussions and harm to democracy,” Pyle said. “That delegitimizes the position she holds.”The Guardian initially verified the authenticity of Thorne’s posts by examining Pyle’s device to access the Telegram channel directly.Thorne’s posts on the page level accusations of mismanagement against elections office staff and others. “Fulton Elections Director Nadine Williams and [elections board] Chair Patrice Perkins Hooker creating a hostile environment for anyone observing the polls. … why?” Thorne wrote. “Do they have something to hide? They should be rolling out the red carpet for observers.”Thorne has repeatedly called for the firing of previous and current elections office staff workers, including Williams.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionAfter being made aware of the contents of the Telegram page, Williams said she had never heard Thorne call for her firing directly before, and is concerned about the impact Thorne may have had on recruiting and retaining poll workers. “It does make for an environment that people are uncomfortable in our department, knowing that that person is not working with Fulton but is working against Fulton,” Williams said.Much of Thorne’s ire targets temporary elections workers contracted through Happy Faces, a staffing firm the Fulton county elections board ultimately dropped, and other temporary workers. She pointedly and repeatedly noted the apparent Nigerian citizenship of an IT staffer. The IT staffer Thorne referred to is an American citizen, county officials confirmed Thursday.“Current Georgia law requires poll workers to be United States citizens,” Thorne said in an email Thursday. “I think this is a perfectly reasonable policy and I wish it would have passed last year. To that end, I think I am well within bounds to question whether Fulton county can comply with that law once it takes effect.”Thorne, a Republican, has presented in public statements her concerns about the integrity of the 2020 election in Fulton county as a nonpartisan matter, and avoided describing the election as stolen or fraudulent. “It just seems like every year, Fulton county is a mess,” she said in comments before the Fulton county board of elections in March 2022. “I just want to reiterate that I’m not here as a partisan figure. I’m just listening to anyone who will hear my concerns.”Her comments on the private Telegram channel are not so restrained.Thorne has regularly posted articles during the last three years from fringe and far-right publications like the Epoch Times claiming election fraud in Fulton county and elsewhere around the country. Between the inception of the page in May 2021 and her election in November 2022, Thorne reposted videos and articles by VoterGa, an activist group founded by Garland Favorito, a far-right conspiracy theorist who continues to press debunked claims about the 2020 election in court and the media.Thorne also sought to recruit poll workers through her contacts on the page, using claims of fraud as a rallying cry. “We are in a pivotal time in our country, and we need YOU to stand up NOW,” she wrote. “Voting is not ENOUGH. Freedom is not FREE. YOU can help end the corruption, illegal conduct, and incompetence in Fulton County Elections and restore trust and faith in our system again.”In a 21 March 2022 post, Thorne – as administrator of the channel – wrote a first-person post describing the reasons for her candidacy for the Fulton county commission: “I decided that maybe I could be more effective in fighting for election integrity by running for District 1 Commissioner. Instead of fighting them from the outside, I can fight from the inside. I can ask the tough questions. I can force them to be transparent. I hope that you can help me.” The post is followed by a link to Thorne’s campaign website.Later in May 2022, Thorne posted a recruiting document from Fight Voter Fraud, a Connecticut-based rightwing election advocacy group seeking to raise a “secret army” in Georgia to conduct research on voters the group has “deemed questionable”.Thorne rose to political prominence as an employee of the Fulton county elections office during the 2020 election. A software engineer, she was a Fulton county precinct manager and Dominion-trained poll worker who helped test and set up election equipment in 2020. She claimed that ballots had been mishandled, and before the November 2020 election reported her observations first to elections staff in Fulton county, then to the secretary of state’s office.She then went on social media with rightwing Tea Party organizations and appeared on Fox News to describe a “haphazard” process for handling absentee ballots, and to argue that elections officials were ignoring mistakes. On 3 December 2020, Thorne testified to her observations at a hearing at the Georgia state senate, the same one at which Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani had been pressing a case to overturn the election.Giuliani’s arguments to overturn the 2020 election at this hearing are one element of the racketeering case for election interference brought against him, Trump and 17 others in Fulton county.After the testimony, Richard Barron, the Fulton county elections director, ordered that Thorne and Suzi Voyles, another elections office employee who had been publicly critical of the election, not be rehired for the runoff election in January 2021 – effectively firing them. Barron’s office said the women had committed infractions like taking prohibited cellphone photographs and improperly showing ballots to a poll monitor. But Republican political figures across the state – including Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state – exploded at the firing of two whistleblowers, issuing condemnations of Fulton county and demanding they be rehired.Lawmakers subsequently appointed Carter Jones as an outside observer to review the county’s elections processes. County commissioners eventually fired Barron. Jones declared in June 2021 that Fulton county’s elections operation was rife with sloppiness, mismanagement and disorganization, but wasn’t engaged in malfeasance, dishonesty or fraud. More

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      House Republican cites threats and swatting of family as reasons for quitting

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      Mike Gallagher has suggested that he is resigning from his seat in Congress because of death threats and swatting targeted at his family.The Republican US representative for Wisconsin shared more insight into his decision to vacate his seat while talking with reporters on Tuesday, the NBC affiliate WLUK reported.Gallagher, 40, said: “This is more just me wanting to prioritize being with my family … I signed up for the death threats and the late-night swatting, but they did not. And for a young family, I would say this job is really hard.”Gallagher is married, with two young daughters. He announced last month that he would be resigning from his congressional seat before the end of his term, effective 19 April.Gallagher, a rising star within the Republican party, announced his retirement in February after breaking with other House Republicans and refusing to vote to impeach the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, a Democrat.But, in March, Gallagher said that he would be exiting Congress in April, before the end of his term. He has represented Wisconsin’s eighth district since 2017.“After conversations with my family, I have made the decision to resign my position … effective 19 April. I’ve worked closely with House Republican leadership on this timeline,” Gallagher said in a statement.Allies said that Gallagher decided to exit after far-right Republicans ejected Kevin McCarthy, the former House speaker, amid other shenanigans.But Gallagher’s latest comments suggest that his early exit is tied to fears of rising political violence in the US on all sides, though the majority of threats and concerns come from the far right.Just this week, two prominent Republican lawmakers encouraged voters to either use violence against protesters or carry weapons.The Republican US Senate candidate Kari Lake, who is vying for a seat in Arizona, told her supporters to “strap on a Glock” ahead of the 2024 elections.During a campaign speech in Arizona on Sunday, Lake warned the crowd that Washington DC was a “swamp” and encouraged people to carry a weapon in preparation for an “intense” election year.A day later, the Republican senator Tom Cotton said Americans should “take matters into their own hands” when dealing with pro-Palestinian protesters, encouraging vigilantism.Cotton, the far-right senator of Arkansas, encouraged people to “forcibly remove” demonstrators who are blocking traffic, a common protest tactic used by those calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.Remarks from Lake and Cotton come as an Alabama man was arrested last week for detonating an improvised explosive device outside the state attorney general’s office.The suspect had reportedly added a “substantial number of nails and other shrapnel to increase its destructive capability”, according to a detention memo reviewed by NBC.An alarming number of Americans are also willing to use weapons to carry out political violence, according to a recent study.The study from the violence prevention research program at the University of California, Davis found that a large number of gun owners in the US said they were willing to engage in political violence. Among people who have carried a firearm in public in the last 12 months, 16.5% said they would be willing to shoot someone.Additionally, an increasing amount of politicians have reported that they are the victims of swatting, a prank which involves calling law enforcement officials to a location under the false pretense of a violent crime taking place.Since January, at least three members of Congress have been swatted, when a call to law enforcement officials provokes an armed response.The House of Representatives’ top security official even issued guidelines to lawmakers and their families on how to handle the incidents, Axios reported. More

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      House Republicans’ bid to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas fails in US Senate

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      Senate Democrats on Wednesday dismissed the impeachment case brought by House Republicans against Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, on grounds that the charges failed to meet the bar of “high crimes and misdemeanors” outlined in the constitution as a basis for removing an official from office.In a pair of party-line votes, Democrats held that two articles alleging Mayorkas willfully refused to enforce the nation’s immigration laws and breached the public trust with his statements to Congress about the high levels of migration at the US southern border with Mexico were unconstitutional. On the first article, the Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, voted “present”.Democrats then voted 51-49 to adjourn the trial, just one day after House Republicans presented the articles to the Senate. Chuck Schumer, the senate majority leader, moved to dismiss the charges outright, arguing that a cabinet official cannot be removed from office for implementing the policies of the administration he serves.“It is beneath the dignity of the Senate to entertain this nakedly partisan exercise,” Schumer said in a floor speech opening Wednesday’s session.Constitutional scholars, including conservative legal experts, have said the Republicans’ impeachment case is deeply flawed and weakens Congress’s most powerful tool for holding despots and delinquents to account. But Republicans pushed ahead, arguing that Mayorkas’ handling of the southern border warranted a historic rebuke.“This process must not be abused. It must not be short-circuited,” Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, said, imploring Democrats to hold a full trial. “History will not judge this moment well.”After the Senate convened as a court of impeachment, Schumer offered his plan to hold votes to dismiss the two articles of impeachment after limited debate. Senator Eric Schmitt, a Republican of Missouri, immediately objected to Schumer’s proposal and accused the Democratic leader of “setting our constitution ablaze” by seeking to dispense with the charges against Mayorkas.The majority leader then called for votes to dismiss the trial, setting off a series of procedural maneuvers by Republicans to delay the proceedings, all of which were rejected 51-49 by the Democratic majority.Had they moved to a trial, Republicans still would have lacked the support of two-thirds of the Senate that is needed to convict and remove Mayorkas from office.Mayorkas has denied wrongdoing, defending the work of his agency as it grapples with soaring migration and a refusal by Congress to act.“As they work on impeachment, I work in advancing the missions of the Department of Homeland Security. That’s what I’ve done throughout this process,” Mayorkas said on Wednesday during an appearance on CBS to discuss a new federal initiative to combat online abuse of children.Democrats cast the impeachment effort as election-year political theater designed to draw attention to the situation at the border, one of the president’s biggest liabilities. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has made immigration the centerpiece of his campaign for the White House.“The impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas has nothing to do with high crimes and misdemeanors and everything to do with helping Donald Trump on the campaign trail,” Schumer added on Wednesday.He charged Republicans instead to join Democrats in passing the bipartisan Senate border bill aimed they derailed at Trump’s behest.Some Senate Republicans have expressed deep skepticism of the impeachment effort. But conservatives have cried foul and are preparing to deploy a series of procedural tactics in an effort to delay the vote ending the trial without arguments.“What Senator Schumer is going to do is fatuous, it is fraudulent and it is an insult to the Senate and a disservice to every American citizen,” said John Kennedy, Republican Senator of Louisiana, at a press conference on Tuesday.By a single vote, House Republicans impeached Mayorkas in February for his handling of the border. It was the first time in nearly 150 years that a cabinet secretary was impeached.But Mike Johnson delayed the transfer of the articles for several weeks, initially to allow the chambers more time to complete work on government funding legislation. Upon returning from a two-week recess, the House speaker again postponed the transfer at the request of Senate Republicans, who requested more time to prepare.The outright dismissal of the charges, without the opportunity to argue their case, was yet another setback for House Republicans, plagued by internal drama and a vanishingly thin majority.In a joint statement, House Republican leaders said: “The American people will hold Senate Democrats accountable for this shameful display.”The White House, meanwhile, applauded Senate Democrats for dispensing with what it called a “baseless” case.“President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas will continue doing their jobs to keep America safe and pursue actual solutions at the border, and Congressional Republicans should join them, instead of wasting time on baseless political stunts while killing real bipartisan border security reforms,” said the White House spokesperson Ian Sams.The proceedings began at 1pm, when Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, administered the oath of office to the Senate president pro tempore Patty Murray, a Democrat of Washington. Each senator was sworn in as a juror and signed their name in an oath book.“Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye!” the sergeant-at-arms proclaimed, reminding senators that they are to “keep silent on pain of imprisonment” for the duration of the trial.Had the Senate moved to an impeachment trial, it would be the third time in five years. Trump was impeached twice during his presidency, first over his dealings with Ukraine and later over his involvement in the January 6 assault on the US Capitol. He was acquitted both times by Senate Republicans. More

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      Far-right US Senate candidate tells crowd to ‘strap on a Glock’ before elections

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      Republican US Senate candidate Kari Lake has told supporters to “strap on a Glock” ahead of the 2024 elections as she struggles to gain ground against her Democratic rival in Arizona.In a campaign speech made to a crowd in Arizona’s Mohave county on Sunday, Lake echoed Trump-like terms in calling Washington DC a “swamp” – and used a reference to carrying guns when she told people to prepare for an “intense” election year.Lake hopes to represent Arizona in the seat to be vacated by Democrat turned independent Kyrsten Sinema.Lake told the crowd: “We need to send people to Washington DC that the swamp does not want there. And I can think of a couple people they don’t want there. First on that list is Donald J Trump; second is Kari Lake.“He’s willing to sacrifice everything I am. That’s why they’re coming after us with ‘lawfare’,” Lake said, referencing the ex-president’s many legal troubles as he stands trial in New York.“They’re going to come after us with everything. That’s why the next six months is going to be intense. And we need to strap on our … ”Lake briefly paused before deciding on the item her supporters should strap on. After suggesting a “seatbelt”, a “helmet” and “the armor of God”, she said: “And maybe strap on a Glock on the side of us just in case.”Before running for the Senate seat, Lake ran for governorship of Arizona in 2022 on a hard-right platform where she echoed Donald Trump’s false claims that he was not beaten in the 2020 presidential election by Joe Biden. She lost to her Democratic rival, Katie Hobbs.She told supporters on Sunday, referring to constitutional gun rights and free speech rights: “We’re not going to be the victims of crime. We’re not going to have our second amendment taken away. We’re certainly not going to have our first amendment taken away by these tyrants.”But despite Lake’s assertive remarks, more voters are now moving towards her Democratic opponent, Ruben Gallego, Politico reported.Politico cited election analyst Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, which moved the likelihood of the open Senate race from “toss-up” to “leans Democratic”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionIt’s not yet clear how much the issue of abortion will sway elections in the state, where last week the Arizona supreme court ruled a divisive 19th-century near-total abortion ban would soon go into effect, almost two years after the overturning of Roe v Wade’s federal abortion rights protection by the US supreme court. The revived historical law in Arizona makes no exceptions for rape or incest and only allows abortions if the mother’s life is at risk.Lake has flip-flopped on the issue, previously supporting the law and now saying she opposes it.Democrats in the Arizona house of representatives are seeking to repeal the pending 1864 ban on abortion, but they will need the help of some Republicans in the closely divided legislature.Reuters contributed reporting More

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      Senators kill first article of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas – as it happened

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      The Senate has voted to kill the first article of impeachment – “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” – against Alejandro Mayorkas.Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, voted “present”, neither for nor against, but all other senators voted along party lines, resulting in a 51-48 vote.On to the second article, “breach of public trust”.We’re closing our US live politics blog after an eventful day in both chambers of Congress. Thanks for joining us.In the Senate: The impeachment trial against Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, was crawling towards a close after Democrats killed off one of the two articles against him, and were poised to dismiss the second. A campaign of delay and obfuscation by Republican members, in the form of a succession of points of order, motions to adjourn or calling for private session, slowed proceedings to a snail’s pace. Ultimately, the second charge, that Mayorkas broke the law by enacting Joe Biden’s immigration policies, was set for a similar fate as the first: dismissal on a party-line vote.In the House: Members will vote Saturday on a package of foreign aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan after Mike Johnson, the beleaguered Republican speaker, finally unveiled details of four bills he hopes will appease hard-liners in his party seeking to oust him. Three of the bills provide aid funding, while the fourth, the text of which is forthcoming, is expected to include measures to redirect seized Russian assets toward Ukraine and force the sale of TikTok.Here’s what else we were following:
      Joe Biden said he was considering tripling tariffs on Chinese steel, with indications that he wants to go to 25%. “China is cheating, not competing on steel,” the president said at an event at the United Steelworkers union headquarters in Pittsburgh.
      Republicans in Arizona again blocked an effort by Democrats to overturn an 1864 rule outlawing almost all abortions, enacted by a ruling earlier this month by the state’s supreme court. Respected pollster Larry Sabato says November’s Senate race in the key swing state now “leans Democratic” following the controversy, a change from “toss-up”.
      Republicans Ron DeSantis and Jeb Bush, current and former Florida governors, led tributes to Bob Graham, a two-term governor of the state, three-term US senator and Democratic political heavyweight who has died aged 87.
      Please join us again on Thursday.Two more Republican points of order are stalling the vote to kill the second and final article of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas.Rick Scott of Florida wanted an adjournment until 30 April, repeating an earlier motion that failed. It met the same fate, a 51-49 defeat.Now John Kennedy of Louisiana is back again. He wants an adjournment until 1 May. No prizes for guessing how that motion will turn out.We’ve been talking a lot about the two articles of impeachment filed against Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, but what exactly do they charge him with?Here’s the official text from congress.gov. Both articles were introduced by Marjorie Taylor Greene, the firebrand Republican representative, in November 2023, and passed the House in February after a first vote to impeach failed.Article 1 alleges Mayorkas “willfully and systemically refused to comply with the law”. It says he ignored congressional law and that “in large part because of his unlawful conduct, millions of aliens have illegally entered the US on an annual basis with many unlawfully remaining in the US”. It tries to pin the border crisis firmly on the shoulders of the Biden administration, and Mayorkas for delivering it.Article 2 alleges “breach of public trust”. It says Mayorkas “knowingly made false statements, and knowingly obstructed lawful oversight of the department of homeland security, principally to obfuscate the results of his willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law”. One of the alleged “false statements” was telling Congress he believed the border was secure, which Greene and others insisted rose to the threshold of being a “high crime or misdemeanor”.The Senate has voted to kill the first article of impeachment – “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” – against Alejandro Mayorkas.Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, voted “present”, neither for nor against, but all other senators voted along party lines, resulting in a 51-48 vote.On to the second article, “breach of public trust”.US Steel should stay a US-owned company, Joe Biden said on Wednesday during remarks to steelworkers at an event in Pittsburgh, Reuters reports.US Steel, he said at a campaign event:
      … should remain a totally American company. And that’s going to happen, I promise you.
      US Steel Corp has agreed to be bought by Japan’s Nippon Steel for $14.9bn.Republican tactics to handle the Mayorkas impeachment trial in the Senate this afternoon are becoming clear: delay proceedings as much as they can.Each motion, or point of order, a Republican makes must be subjected to a roll call of all 100 members. Ted Cruz, the Texas senator, made a motion to debate the articles of impeachment in closed session. Senators voted along party lines and the motion failed 49-51.Next up, John Kennedy of Louisiana made a point of order to adjourn the hearing until 30 April. One more roll call later, it also fell.Now Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Senate minority leader, has tabled a point of order to try to block a first vote to dismiss the first article of impeachment. The roll call on that is under way.It too will fail on straight party lines, but each of these Republican efforts soaks up more and more time.Biden just drew laughs from the steel union members watching his campaign event in Pittsburgh, when he made several mentions of “my predecessor” Donald Trump, saying he “is busy right now”.He was referring to the fact that his rival is standing trial in New York, the first-ever criminal trial of a former US president.Joe Biden just confirmed what had been flagged before his trip – that he is considering tripling tariffs on Chinese steel, with indications that he wants to go to 25%.“China is cheating, not competing on steel,” the US president said, at an event at the United Steelworkers union headquarters in Pittsburgh.He protested that “for too long, the Chinese state has poured money into their steel industry” and that it was not fair competition.He also said that Donald Trump “and the Maga” Republicans want to impose tariffs across the board on all imports, which the president said will hurt American consumers. He referred to the Make America Great Again slogan of Trump’s election campaign, which has come to signify the hard right of the Republican party.“Trump simply does not get it,” he said.Joe Biden is now speaking at the steelworkers’ union headquarters in Pittsburgh.The US president is 45 minutes behind schedule. Pro-Palestinian protesters are demonstrating outside the event.Biden is on a three-day swing through the vital battleground state of Pennsylvania.He was in his home town of Scranton yesterday, where he contrasted how his roots have kept him humble while presidential rival Donald Trump trades on his rich man’s persona.Tomorrow, Biden will visit Philadelphia again; it has been a frequent stop on the campaign trail.Biden just raised cheers and claps from the gathered union members when he said: “I’m president because of you guys.”Chuck Schumer has now made a motion to dismiss the first article of impeachment on the grounds it “does not allege conduct that rises to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor”.A formal vote will follow shortly, unless there are any efforts or motions to delay it.It could be at least an hour or two before any vote to dismiss the articles of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary. Or it could all be over very quickly.Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, has just told the chamber he wants to allow up to 60 minutes of debate on each article before he calls a vote to dismiss.Republican senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri isn’t happy. He says Schumer’s efforts to kill the impeachment are unprecedented:
      Never before in the history of our republic has the Senate dismissed or tabled articles of impeachment when the impeached individual was alive and did not resign.
      I will not assist Senator Schumer in setting our constitution ablaze, bulldozing 200 years of precedent.
      There’s now a debate about whether the articles of impeachment actually meet the high bar of “high crimes and misdemeanors” required, which would make them invalid if it’s found they don’t.If it is determined the articles are unconstitutional, then the vote to kill will likely follow in short order, and without the need for more debate.Watch this space …Senators are lining up to sign the oath book in the chamber, the opening formalities of the impeachment trial that’s just got under way against Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary.It’s a slow process, as each of the 100 members must sign individually. But things are expected to pick up pretty quickly at its conclusion, with opening statements.It’s unclear at what point Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, will call a vote to dismiss the two articles of impeachment received from the Republican-controlled House yesterday.But Schumer says he will do so after “a period of debate”. Such a vote will effectively kill the impeachment outright.There is no chance of Mayorkas being convicted, even if the trial were allowed to conclude. Prosecutors would need 60 votes in a chamber controlled by Democrats, and several Republicans have already indicated they would acquit him.Florida governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill mandating that kindergartners in the state learn “the truths about the evils of communism”.The hard-right Republican, who frequently touts an agenda promoting “freedom” in education, and giving parents rights over choices for their children’s curriculum, has made it compulsory for students up to 12th grade to attend the “history of communism” class, beginning in the 2026 school year.Lessons must be “age appropriate and developmentally appropriate”, according to the bill. The state’s board of education will draw up academic standards for the lessons.Florida high schoolers are already required to attend a 45-minute instruction class about “Victims of Communism Day” before they can graduate.Wednesday’s bill-signing took place at the Assault Brigade 2506 museum in Hialeah Gardens, near Miami. DeSantis was flanked by former Cuban rebels who took part in the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, which took place 63 years ago today against the island’s communist dictator, Fidel Castro.The voting-equipment company Smartmatic has agreed to settle a defamation lawsuit with the far-right One America News Network (OAN) over lies broadcast on the network about the 2020 election.Erik Connolly, a lawyer for Smartmatic, confirmed the case had been settled, but said the details were confidential. Attorneys for Smartmatic and OAN notified a federal judge in Washington on Tuesday that they were agreeing to dismiss the case, which Smartmatic filed in 2021.Smartmatic sued OAN in November 2021, saying the relatively small company was a victim of OAN’s “decision to increase its viewership and influence by spreading disinformation”.Smartmatic was only involved in the 2020 election in a single US county, Los Angeles, but OAN repeatedly broadcast false claims that its equipment had flipped the election for Joe Biden.Donald Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell played a key role in advancing the outlandish claims.Read the full story:The extent of the opposition by hardline Republicans to speaker Mike Johnson’s foreign aid bills unveiled Wednesday is becoming clear, with some promising to block their passage.“The Republican Speaker of the House is seeking a rule to pass almost $100bn in foreign aid – while unquestionably, dangerous criminals, terrorists, & fentanyl pour across our border,” Chip Roy, the Texas representative, tweeted.“The border ‘vote’ in this package is a watered-down dangerous cover vote. I will oppose.”Roy is among those refusing to consider US aid for Israel, and particularly Ukraine, without massive investments in border security, which he and others say isn’t included in Johnson’s just-released package.Marjorie Taylor Greene, the extremist Georgia representative who has threatened to call a vote to oust Johnson, is also furious.“You are seriously out of step with Republicans by continuing to pass bills dependent on Democrats. Everyone sees through this,” she wrote, also on X.Johnson says the House will vote on the bills on Saturday night. There’s no guarantee he will still be speaker at that point if Greene, or others, deliver on their threat to call a “motion to vacate” vote.It’s been a busy morning in US politics on several fronts. An impeachment trial in the Senate is about to get under way for homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and there have been developments in efforts to progress funding for Israel and Ukraine.Here’s what we’ve been following:
      Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer is preparing to hold a vote that could dismiss the two articles of impeachment filed by House Republicans on Tuesday alleging that Mayorkas broke the law in enacting Joe Biden’s immigration policies. Schumer called the charges an “illegitimate and profane abuse of the US Constitution” and said the votes would come after a brief “period of debate”.
      Embattled speaker Mike Johnson said the House would vote Saturday evening on three foreign aid bills, including money for Ukraine and Israel. The Louisiana Republican has been walking a fine line trying to find a solution that will appease rightwingers seeking to oust him, while standing a chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate.
      Democrats in Arizona are resurrecting an effort to overturn an 1864 rule outlawing almost all abortions, enacted by a ruling earlier this month by the state’s supreme court. Respected pollster Larry Sabato says November’s Senate race in the key swing state now “leans Democratic” following the controversy, a change from “toss-up”.
      Republicans Ron DeSantis and Jeb Bush, current and former Florida governors, led tributes to Bob Graham, a two-term governor of the state, three-term US senator and Democratic political heavyweight who has died aged 87.
      And still to come this afternoon:
      Joe Biden meets with steelworkers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as he touts his fair tax plan for workers and high earners. The president is due to deliver remarks at 1.45pm ET.
      In response, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate minority leader, is not happy that the impeachment trial is about to be tanked.He’s accusing Democrats of failing to live up to their obligations to assess the evidence and render a verdict, and taking potshots at Joe Biden’s border policies:
      Today it falls to the Senate to determine whether and to what extent Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas enabled and inflamed this crisis. Under the Constitution and the rules of impeachment, it is the job of this body to consider the articles of impeachment brought before us and to render judgment.
      The question right now should be how best to ensure that the charges on the table receive thorough consideration. But instead, the more pressing question is whether our Democratic colleagues intend to let the Senate work its will, at all.
      Tabling articles of impeachment would be unprecedented in the history of the Senate. Tabling would mean declining to discharge our duties as jurors.
      It would mean running both from our fundamental responsibility and from the glaring truth of the record-breaking crisis at our southern border.
      Absent from McConnell’s statement blaming Democrats for the border crisis is any mention that his own Republican senators negotiated, then sank, bipartisan legislation to address it.The about-face came apparently at the urging of Donald Trump, Biden’s presumptive opponent in November, who did not want Republicans to hand the president a pre-election victory on a campaign issue. More

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      Mike Johnson moves ahead with foreign aid bills despite threats to oust him

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      The House speaker, Mike Johnson, is pushing ahead with his plan to hold votes on four separate foreign aid bills this week, despite threats from two fellow Republicans to oust him if he advances a Ukraine funding proposal.Shortly after noon on Wednesday, the rules committee posted text for three bills that would provide funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The text of a fourth bill, which is expected to include measures to redirect seized Russian assets toward Ukraine and force the sale of TikTok, will be released later on Wednesday, Johnson said in a note to members.The legislation would provide $26bn in aid for Israel, $61bn for Ukraine and $8bn for US allies in the Indo-Pacific. The Israel bill also appeared to include more than $9bn in humanitarian assistance, which Democrats had demanded to assist civilians in war zones like Gaza.Johnson indicated final votes on the bills were expected on Saturday evening, interfering with the House’s scheduled recess that was supposed to begin on Friday. If the House passes the bills, they will then be combined and sent to the Senate to simplify the upper chamber’s voting process.In February, the Senate approved a $95bn foreign aid package that included many of the same provisions outlined in the four House bills, and the upper chamber will need to reapprove the House package before it can go to Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.In a statement, Biden called on the House to quickly approve Johnson’s proposal, saying, “The House must pass the package this week and the Senate should quickly follow. I will sign this into law immediately to send a message to the world: we stand with our friends, and we won’t let Iran or Russia succeed.”Johnson will almost certainly have to rely on Democratic votes to get the bills approved, as House Republicans’ majority has narrowed to just two members after a series of resignations. Mike Gallagher, a Republican representative of Wisconsin, had planned to resign on Friday, but his spokesperson told Politico that he “has the flexibility to stay and support the aid package on Saturday”.Some prominent Democrats were already signaling their support for the package on Wednesday, increasing the likelihood of its passage.“After House Republicans dragged their feet for months, we finally have a path forward to provide support for our allies and desperately needed humanitarian aid,” said Rose DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House appropriations committee. “We cannot retreat from the world stage under the guise of putting ‘America First’.”In a concession to hard-right Republicans, Johnson said in his note to members that the House would also vote on Saturday on a border security bill. The text of the legislation will be posted late Wednesday, Johnson said, and it will include many of the policies outlined in HR 2, a Republican bill with many hardline immigration measures.The House already passed HR 2 last year, but it was never taken up by the Senate. The Democrats who control the Senate remain adamantly opposed to the bill, so a similar proposal faces little hope of passage in the upper chamber.Despite that concession, hard-right Republicans were already expressing displeasure with Johnson’s plan on Wednesday, arguing that any Ukraine aid must be directly linked with stricter border policies.“Anything less than tying Ukraine aid to real border security fails to live up to [Johnson’s] own words just several weeks ago,” Congressman Scott Perry, a hard-right Republican of Pennsylvania, wrote on X. “Our constituents demand – and deserve – more from us.”Congressman Chip Roy, a Republican of Texas and frequent Johnson critic, announced he would oppose the rule, a procedural motion, that will set up a final vote on the foreign aid bills.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“The Republican Speaker of the House is seeking a rule to pass almost $100 billion in foreign aid – while unquestionably, dangerous criminals, terrorists [and] fentanyl pour across our border,” Roy wrote on X. “The border ‘vote’ in this package is a watered-down dangerous cover vote. I will oppose.”The release of the bills comes as Johnson faces a threat from two House Republicans, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, to oust him over his approach to government funding and Ukraine aid. On Tuesday, Massie announced he would co-sponsor Greene’s resolution to remove the speaker. Given Republicans’ narrow majority, Johnson will need help from Democrats to keep his job.Undaunted by the threat, Johnson has rejected calls for his resignation and accused Greene and Massie of undermining House Republicans’ legislative priorities.“I am not resigning, and it is, in my view, an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion when we are simply here trying to do our jobs,” Johnson said on Tuesday. “It is not helpful to the cause. It is not helpful to the country. It does not help the House Republicans advance our agenda.”In a floor speech on Wednesday, the Senate majority leader, Democrat Chuck Schumer, again implored House Republicans to pass a foreign aid package. The stakes – for Ukraine and US allies around the world – could not be higher, he reminded them.“One way or another, I hope – I fervently hope – that we can finally finish the job in the next couple of days, but that is not certain and will depend a lot on what the House does,” Schumer said. “The entire world is waiting to see what House Republicans will do.” More

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      House Republicans present Mayorkas impeachment articles to Senate

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      House Republicans on Tuesday formally presented articles of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, to the Senate, part of the party’s attempt to force an election-year showdown with the Biden administration over immigration and border security.In a ceremonial procession, 11 House Republican impeachment managers carried the two articles of impeachment across the rotunda of the US Capitol, where they informed the Senate they were prepared, for the first time in American history, to prosecute a sitting cabinet secretary for “willful and systemic refusal” to enforce border policies and a “breach of public trust”.Constitutional scholars, including conservative legal experts, have said the Republicans’ impeachment case is deeply flawed and fails to meet the high bar of “high crimes and misdemeanors” outlined in the constitution.Democrats, who control the Senate, have made clear their intention to quickly dispense with the articles, arguing that the politically charged proceedings amount to little more than a policy dispute with the administration. A two-thirds majority is needed to win an conviction in the Senate, an impossible threshold if all of the Democrats are united in favor of dismissing the charges against Mayorkas, who retains the support of Joe Biden.In February, House Republicans bypassed skepticism within their own ranks and unified Democratic opposition to approve by a one-vote margin two articles of impeachment against the secretary, who they have made the face of the Biden administration’s struggle to control record migration at the US-Mexico border.“Impeachment should never be used to settle a policy disagreement,” the Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said on Tuesday, adding: “Talk about awful precedents. This would set an awful precedent for Congress.”Schumer has said the Senate would convene on Wednesday as a “court of impeachment” and senators will be sworn in as jurors. Patty Murray, the Senate president pro tempore, a Democrat of Washington, presided over the chamber as the House homeland security chair, Mark Green of Tennessee, read the charges aloud.Schumer said he hoped to deal with the matter as “expeditiously as possible”. But Republicans are pressuring Democrats to hold a full trial.“We must hold those who engineered this crisis to full account,” the House speaker, Mike Johnson, said in a statement on Monday after signing the articles of impeachment. “Pursuant to the constitution, the House demands a trial.”Johnson initially delayed the delivery of the articles to focus on funding legislation to avert a government shutdown. Then the transmission was delayed again after Senate Republicans asked for more time to strategize ways to ensure a Senate trial.In remarks on Tuesday, Senator Mitch McConnell charged that it would be “beneath the Senate’s dignity to shrug off our clear responsibility” and not give thorough consideration to the charges against Mayorkas.“I will strenuously oppose any effort to table the articles of impeachment and avoid looking the Biden administration’s border crisis squarely in the face,” the Senate minority leader said.Mayorkas, the first Latino and first immigrant to lead the agency, has forcefully defended himself throughout the process, writing in a January letter to House Republicans: “Your false accusations do not rattle me.”Hours before the articles were delivered to the Senate, Mayorkas was on Capitol Hill, pressing Congress to provide his agency with more resources to enforce border policies and to pass legislation updating the nation’s outdated immigration laws.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“Our immigration system, however, is fundamentally broken,” he told members of the House homeland security committee on Tuesday morning. “Only Congress can fix it. Congress has not updated our immigration enforcement laws since 1996 – 28 years ago. And, only Congress can deliver on our need for more border patrol agents, asylum officers and immigration judges, facilities and technology.”Republicans seized on the opportunity to assail Mayorkas, blaming him for the humanitarian crisis at the country’s southern border.“The open border is the number one issue across America in poll after poll and that is exactly why this committee impeached you,” said Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Georgia congresswoman, one of 11 House Republicans tapped to serve as an impeachment manager.Several Republican senators have expressed deep skepticism about the House’s impeachment effort, former secretaries of homeland security as well as conservative legal scholars have denounced the Republicans’ case against Mayorkas as deeply flawed and warned that it threatens to undermine one of Congress’s most powerful tools for removing officials guilty of “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors”.A group of Republican senators are contemplating ways to slow-walk the process, suggesting they will deliver lengthy speeches and raise time-consuming procedural inquiries to keep the attention on immigration, one of Biden’s greatest political vulnerabilities.Americans broadly disapprove of the president’s handling of the border, now a top concern for many voters. Ahead of the 2024 election, Republicans have assailed Biden over the border while Donald Trump, the party’s likely presidential nominee, has again put immigration at the center of his campaign.An attempt to pass a bipartisan border bill – negotiated by Mayorkas and touted as the most conservative piece of immigration legislation in decades – was derailed by Republicans at the behest of Trump, who did not want Biden to notch a victory on an issue that plays to the former president’s political advantage.Biden has also asked Congress to approve requests for more border patrol agents and immigration court judges, but Republicans have refused, saying Biden should use his executive authority to stem the flow of migrants. Biden has said he is mulling a far-reaching executive action that would dramatically reduce the number of asylum seekers who can cross the southern border. More

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      House sends impeachment articles against Alejandro Mayorkas to Senate – as it happened

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      House Republicans have sent two articles of impeachment against homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate, a move that will bring about a Senate trial.According to House Republicans, Mayorkas “willfully and systematically” refused to enforce immigration laws, with House speaker Mike Johnson saying that Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer should “hold those who engineered this crisis to full account.”Johnson went on to add that Schumer is “the only impediment to delivering accountability for the American people.”“Pursuant to the constitution, the House demands a trial,” Johnson said.In response, Schumer said that he wants to “address this issue as expeditiously as possible,” adding, “Impeachment should never be used to settle a policy disagreement.”Following the latest move from the House, senators are expected to be sworn in as jurors on Wednesday. The chamber will then formally inform Mayorkas of the charges and request for a written response from him.Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
      House Republicans have sent two articles of impeachment against the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, to the Senate, a move that will bring about a Senate trial. According to House Republicans, Mayorkas “willfully and systematically” refused to enforce immigration laws, with House speaker Mike Johnson saying that Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer should “hold those who engineered this crisis to full account.”
      A second House Republican has joined the effort to oust the speaker, Mike Johnson, escalating the risk of another leadership election just six months after the Louisiana congressman assumed the top job. Congressman Thomas Massie, a Republican of Kentucky, announced on Tuesday that he would co-sponsor the motion to vacate resolution introduced last month by congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican of Georgia.
      At a press conference on Tuesday, House speaker Mike Johnson remained defiant that he would not resign and accused his critics of undermining Republicans’ legislative priorities. “I am not resigning, and it is, in my view, an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion when we are simply here trying to do our jobs,” Johnson said.
      The criminal trial of Donald Trump entered its second day as judge Juan Merchan continued to vet over 500 prospective jurors. At one point during the jury selection process, Merchan sternly rebuked Trump after his team found a video on a possible juror’s social media account over Trump’s 2020 presidential loss. “Your client was audible… I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom,” Merchan said.
      A potential juror caused Donald Trump to smile after he said that he read several of Trump’s books including the Art of the Deal. The juror, a resident of New York City’s Battery Park, said he is a member of the American Civil Liberties Union and is a board member of his synagogue.
      Prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office have filed a motion for contempt against Donald Trump. In the motion, prosecutors argue that Trump “wilfully violated this court’s [gag] order by publishing several social media posts attacking two known witnesses – Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels.”
      That’s it as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for following along.Alaska’s Republican senator Dan Sullivan has voiced his support for the House’s articles of impeachment against homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.In a post on X, Sullivan wrote:
      “The articles of impeachment delivered by the House are thorough, compelling, and damning. The American people need to hear the evidence underlying these impeachment articles. Chuck Schumer has a constitutional duty to move forward with a Senate trial.”
      Georgia’s Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene announced that she delivered the impeachment articles against Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate. In a post on X accompanying a video of her walking towards the Senate, Greene wrote:
      “Mayorkas is derelict of his duty and must be removed from office. Chuck Schumer: HOLD THE TRIAL.”
      House Republicans have sent two articles of impeachment against homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate, a move that will bring about a Senate trial.According to House Republicans, Mayorkas “willfully and systematically” refused to enforce immigration laws, with House speaker Mike Johnson saying that Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer should “hold those who engineered this crisis to full account.”Johnson went on to add that Schumer is “the only impediment to delivering accountability for the American people.”“Pursuant to the constitution, the House demands a trial,” Johnson said.In response, Schumer said that he wants to “address this issue as expeditiously as possible,” adding, “Impeachment should never be used to settle a policy disagreement.”Following the latest move from the House, senators are expected to be sworn in as jurors on Wednesday. The chamber will then formally inform Mayorkas of the charges and request for a written response from him.Donald Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche and judge Juan Merchan discussed a misunderstanding over how potential jurors should be identified, including by number, according to a trial pool report.Attorneys also spoke with Merchan over social media posts, with Merchan saying that they can bring in prospective jurors and question them individually about concerning posts.Here are some images coming through the newswires:Donald Trump’s lawyers told the court before an early afternoon break that the former president no longer wished to exercise his right to be present for all one-on-one sidebar questioning of prospective jurors.Trump insisted on Monday that he wants to attend every conference, including side conferences during jury selection. No such questioning has taken place yet.Judge Merchan noted Trump had signed a form waiving his right to do so, saying:
      Mr. Trump, yesterday we discussed whether you wanted to be present at sidebars. You indicated you did. Your attorney indicated to me that you have changed your mind.
      At a press conference on Tuesday, House speaker Mike Johnson remained defiant that he would not resign and accused his critics of undermining Republicans’ legislative priorities.“I am not resigning, and it is, in my view, an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion when we are simply here trying to do our jobs,” Johnson said.
      It is not helpful to the cause. It is not helpful to the country. It does not help the House Republicans advance our agenda.
      Congressman Thomas Massie’s announcement comes one day after Johnson unveiled a plan to advance a series of foreign aid bills through the House, following months of inaction on the issue. In February, the Senate passed a $95bn foreign aid package, which included funding for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian efforts.Johnson proposed splitting up the package into four separate bills with some notable changes, such as cutting the humanitarian aid included in the Senate proposal and sending money to Ukraine as a loan. The speaker plans to hold separate votes on the bills and then combine them into one package to simplify the voting process for the Senate, which will need to reapprove the proposal.The plan won some tepid praise from many members of the House Republican conference, but the plan to bundle the bills into one larger funding package sparked frustration among hard-right Republicans. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had already indicated she might force a vote on the motion to vacate over the issue of Ukraine funding, said she would not support Johnson’s plan and echoed Massie’s suggestion that the speaker should resign.A second House Republican has joined the effort to oust the speaker, Mike Johnson, escalating the risk of another leadership election just six months after the Louisiana congressman assumed the top job.Congressman Thomas Massie, a Republican of Kentucky, announced on Tuesday that he would co-sponsor the motion to vacate resolution introduced last month by congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican of Georgia.“[Johnson] should pre-announce his resignation (as Boehner did), so we can pick a new Speaker without ever being without a GOP Speaker,” Massie said on X, formerly known as Twitter.The former House speaker John Boehner resigned from Congress in 2015 after a fellow Republican, then congressman Mark Meadows of North Carolina, filed a motion to vacate the chair. In October, Kevin McCarthy became the first speaker in history to ever be formally removed from his job via a motion to vacate vote.Speaking to reporters after a Republican conference meeting this morning, Massie predicted that Johnson would lose the vote on the motion and would become the second speaker to lose the gavel. Massie said:
      The motion is going to get called, and then [Johnson] is going to lose more votes than Kevin McCarthy.
      Trump attorney Todd Blanche has been conducting his own questioning of jurors, which boils down to: What is your opinion of Donald Trump?Some jurors seemed reticent about voicing an opinion while others didn’t seem all that perturbed by the former commander-in-chief’s antics. One juror said:
      I find him fascinating. He walks into a room and he sets people off. One way or another, and I find that really interesting. Really, this one guy could do all this?
      Blanche pressed:
      Well certainly, he makes things interesting. So, I follow because so may people are set off one way or another, and that is interesting to me.
      Blanche said, “uhm, alright,” and then thanked the man. One potential juror repeatedly tried to avoid answering the question.
      If we were sitting at a bar, I’d be happy to tell you, but in this room what I feel about President Trump is not important or inherent to either the case you’re presenting or you’re defending.
      After repeated prodding, he conceded: “Look: I’ll say I’m a Democrat, so there you go, that’s where it goes with me,” but, he insisted:
      I walk in here and he’s a defendant.
      One woman appreciated Trump’s brashness. “He speaks his mind. Come on: What else can you say about that?” At this moment, Trump smiled.
      He says what he wants to say. I want to say some things but my mother said, ‘be nice.’
      The court has taken a recess for lunch and will resume at 2.15pm ET.Just before the break, Donald Trump and his lawyers went to a nearby courtroom to begin deciding which prospective jurors they’d want to remove using peremptory challenges.When they returned to the courtroom a short time later, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said they needed more time.Judge Merchan said they would have until after the lunch break to decide.Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche has been asking potential jurors for their opinions of the former president. Here are some of their responses, per pool.One potential juror said he found Trump “fascinating and mysterious”, adding:
      He walks into a room and he sets people off one way or another … I find that really interesting. Really, this one guy can do all of this. Wow, that’s what I think.
      Another potential juror said he was “a big fan of the Apprentice when I was in middle school” and that there are “some things I agreed with, some things I disagreed with” with regards to Trump’s presidency.One potential juror told Blanche that she isn’t really into politics but that “obviously I know about president Trump. I’m a female.” When asked what she meant by that, she replied:
      I know that there have been opinions on how he doesn’t treat females correctly. Stuff like that.
      Another potential juror largely refused to share his views on the former president, insisting that his views don’t matter. He said:
      I’ll say I’m a Democrat so there you go. But I walk in there and he’s a defendant and that’s all he is.
      No cameras are allowed inside the Manhattan courtroom where Donald Trump’s hush money trial is under way, but sketch artists have been capturing scenes:Here are some of the questions potential jurors have been asked to answer as part of the trial’s jury selection process:
      Are you a native New Yorker? If not, where did you live previously?
      What do you do for a living?
      Do you participate in any organizations or advocacy groups?
      Which of the following print publications, cable and/ or network programs, or online media such as websites, blogs, or social media platforms do you visit, read, or watch? (Choices are: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, New York Daily News, Newsday, Huffington Post, Washington Post, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Newsmax, MSN, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Truth Social, X, Tik Tok, I do not follow the news, Other [name])
      Have you, a relative, or close friend had any experience or interaction with the criminal justice system, including a police officer or other type oflaw enforcement agent, which caused you to form an opinion, whether positive or negative, about the police or our criminal justice system?
      Have you, a relative, or a close friend ever worked or volunteered for a Trump presidential campaign, the Trump presidential administration, or any other political entity affiliated with Mr. Trump?
      Have you ever attended a rally or campaign event for Donald Trump?
      Have you ever considered yourself a supporter of or belonged to any of the following: the QAnon movement, Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, Three Percenters, Boogaloo Boys, Antifa?
      The defendant in this case has written a number of books. Have you read (or listened to audio) of any one or more of those books? If so, which ones?
      There are 18 jurors in the jury box, according to a trial pool report.Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked whether media reports surrounding the case have impacted the prospective jurors’ opinions.He also asked if they could set aside what has been reported in the media.Steinglass also said that it does not matter whether a juror has heard about the case, the pool report added.Prosecutor Josh Steinglass gestured to Donald Trump as he told prospective jurors that this criminal case is about “whether this man broke the law,” according to the trial reporter pool.Steinglass went on to acknowledge Trump as a former president and current presidential candidate.No jurors raised their hand when Steinglass asked whether anyone believed that prosecutors should have to prove more because of Trump’s position, the pool report added.In just five hours of jury selection, Donald Trump has seen dozens of New Yorkers say that they could not be fair and impartial.These prospective jurors have been excused from serving on the case, of course, but it still must smart a bit: This is Trump’s home town, after all, but he is so polarising that his compatriots want out.One juror did appear to make Trump’s morning, however. The prospect said “yes” to question 36 on the selection questionnaire, which was: “The defendant in this case has written a number of books. Have you read (or listened to audio) of any one or more of these books? If so, which ones?”The potential panelist revealed “I read the Art of the Deal, and I want to say How to be Rich, and Think Like a Champion – is that right?” The panelist hesitated, uncertain as to whether this was the title.Trump nodded his head and offered a smile.A potential juror caused Donald Trump to smile after he said that he read several of Trump’s books including the Art of the Deal, Politico reports.The juror, a resident of New York City’s Battery Park, said he is a member of the American Civil Liberties Union and is a board member of his synagogue.He added that he follows various news outlets including the New York Times, New York Post and NY1. More