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    Johnson ‘not surprised’ his proposal to cut IRS budget to fund Israel would cost taxpayer money – as it happened

    NBC News caught up with Mike Johnson, who chalked up the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s determination that his Israel aid proposal would actually cost taxpayers money to the machinations of Washington:Punchbowl News separately caught two rightwing senators heading into Johnson’s office, and report they are expected to support his bill:But it is the Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, who will decide whether the measure comes to the floor, and he has said he will not do that.Five House Republican lawmakers from New York are pressing on with their effort to expel George Santos, the congressman who admitted to lying about large parts of his résumé and who is also facing federal charges. A vote on their expulsion resolution is expected this evening, though it’s unclear if it will reach the two-thirds majority necessary for passage. The chamber’s ethics committee has meanwhile announced it will provide an update regarding its investigation into Santos by 17 November, while some worry that kicking him out of his seat before he is convicted will set a bad example.Here’s what else happened:
    The House will also consider resolutions to censure far-right Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and progressive Democrat Rashida Tlaib.
    Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, proposed aiding Israel by cutting the IRS’s budget, but that will just make the effort even more expensive for taxpayers, Congress’s nonpartisan budget analyst found.
    Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s Democratic leader, endorsed using an unusual procedure to get around Republican Tommy Tuberville’s blockade of military promotions.
    A new analysis shows Democrats appear to have the edge in winning back control of the House next year.
    The Florida judge handling Donald Trump’s trial over the classified documents charges signaled she may delay the case.
    We’ve talked plenty about the resolution to expel George Santos on this blog today, so let’s dive in to the dueling efforts to censure progressive Democrat Rashida Tlaib and far-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene.Greene introduced the resolution targeting Tlaib, one of two Muslims in the House and the only Palestinian American, accusing her of antisemitism and participating in an insurrection:Greene is an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump’s lie that he won the 2020 election, and has taken part in efforts to downplay the severity of the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The insurrection she accuses Tlaib of participating in was a protest in a House office building where hundreds of people were arrested in what organizers described as planned acts of civil disobedience. Tlaib spoke to the protesters before they entered the building, which, unlike the Capitol building that rioters stormed on January 6, is open to the public.Tlaib, who is a vocal opponent of Israel’s government and its treatment of the Palestinians, rejected the charge of antisemitism in a statement:The same day Greene introduced her resolution to censure Tlaib, Vermont Democrat Becca Balint introduced a separate resolution to censure the Georgia congresswoman, accusing her of spreading racist conspiracy theories, Islamophobia and also being antisemitic:Ever since assuming the majority in the House at the start of the year, Republicans have moved to retaliate against Democrats who attracted their ire. The party censured Adam Schiff, a prominent Donald Trump antagonist, and booted Ilhan Omar, the second Muslim in the chamber and a prominent progressive, off the foreign affairs committee.The House is expected to vote on whether to expel Republican congressman and admitted fabulist George Santos sometime after 6.30pm this evening, Democratic whip Katherine Clark’s office has announced.Lawmakers will also consider resolutions to censure far-right Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and progressive Democrat Rashida Tlaib.Congress’s lower chamber is currently in session, with lawmakers debating several pieces of legislation proposed in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel last month. Speaking of which, we have a separate live blog covering the latest events in the spiraling conflict, and you can follow it here:At a hearing in Florida today, federal judge Aileen Cannon seemed open to extending legal deadlines in Donald Trump’s classified documents case, potentially delaying his trial.Opening arguments in the case are set to start in May 2024, but Cannon noted that timetable could conflict with the former president’s trial on separate charges related to trying to overturn the 2020 election, which is scheduled to begin in March.In addition to those federal cases, Trump has also been indicted in Georgia for trying to overturn the 2020 election there, and for falsifying business documents in Manhattan.For more details, here’s our rundown of Trump’s legal problems:Meanwhile in New York City, the civil fraud trial of Donald Trump and his family members is continuing. Donald Trump Jr may at some point today take the witness stand in the proceedings, in which a judge is determining what penalties to impose after finding the Trump family committed fraud in their organization’s business practices.We have a live blog covering the latest in the case, which could potentially lead to the dismantling of the former president’s business empire. Follow along here:Another House Republican has decided against standing for re-election next year.Ken Buck told MSNBC he won’t stand again to represent his eastern Colorado district:A member of the rightwing Freedom Caucus, Buck made waves in September when he penned a Washington Post column saying he did not believe impeaching Joe Biden was a good idea.His district is seen as strongly Republican, and Democrats will have an uphill battle to claim the vacant seat in 2024.In cricket – and stick with me here – the “corridor of uncertainty” is a channel just outside off stump, which bowlers try to ply and in which batsmen must decide whether to play a shot or leave the ball alone, weighing up risk in the blink of an eye.In Congress, the corridors of uncertainty might be said to be any corridors in which Manu Raju, chief congressional correspondent for CNN, might decide to linger, thereby to catch congressmen and women and senators for a quick question about the issue of the day.Today, Raju, a master of the form, has been asking Republican senators about the proposal from the House GOP, newly under speaker Mike Johnson, to split Israel aid from Ukraine aid and to target the Internal Revenue Service for linked cuts. Here are some results:Rick Scott, Florida: “We have a Republican majority in the House. And so we have to listen to what they want to do.”Josh Hawley, Missouri: “I think it’s notable that [Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell] is standing with [Democratic majority leader Chuck] Schumer against the Republicans. [It’s] a mistake.”Lindsey Graham, South Carolina: “I like paying for things but in emergencies, we normally don’t. Democrats could put a ‘pay-for’ that I would disagree with. So when it gets over here, we’ll hopefully put a package together that includes Israel, Ukraine and border security.”Raju, to camera: “So that last comment from Lindsey Graham is a significant one, saying he’s concerned about including those measures to suddenly pay for that Israel package, saying that typically is not done on Capitol Hill and considering the number of concerns about the precedent it would set if that were to happen time and time again. On the other side of the equation, concerns about the sky-high national debt.“So that is the tension that is now playing out within the Republican party, but in the middle of all this is: what is the future of Israel aid? What’s the future of Ukraine [aid]? No one knows for certain how this will play out amid major concerns … both of those issues could get stalled or potentially fall by the wayside.”In a Guardian exclusive, Dharna Noor reveals plans for climate groups to tour the US, pushing for a Green New Deal …One year after the passage of the much-lauded Inflation Reduction Act, a coalition of organizers and representatives are relaunching the push for a Green New Deal with a national tour.“The Inflation Reduction Act was the largest climate investment in US history,” said John Paul Mejia, a national spokesperson for the youth-led climate justice organization the Sunrise Movement, one of the groups hosting the tour. “But for the next 10 years, we should work to make [it] the smallest by winning stuff that’s much larger.”The tour, which kicks off with an event in Michigan this month, will aim to showcase widespread support for even bolder federal climate action, and will feature Green New Deal champions including Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and the representatives Ilhan Omar, Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush and Summer Lee alongside local advocates. It will be led by the Green New Deal Network, a coalition of progressive environmental groups that includes the Sunrise Movement, Greenpeace and Climate Justice Alliance, social justice organizations such as People’s Action and the Movement for Black Lives, and the liberal-left Working Families political party.Supporters are calling for stronger executive action as well as the passage of a suite of proposals in Congress.“With our Green New Deals for public schools, housing, cities and more, we can make historic investments that transform our communities by repairing damage done by the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis and giving every person the resources they need to thrive,” said Bowman.The Green New Deal – a plan to rapidly and fairly decarbonize the US economy and create millions of jobs in the process – swept the US progressive political scene during Donald Trump’s presidency. The Sunrise Movement in 2018 held sit-ins on Capitol Hill calling for its implementation, and months later, Markey and the New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unveiled an official resolution fleshing out the proposal.The ambitious, sweeping vision hinged on the idea that tackling the climate crisis could entail the remaking of US society to be more just, prioritizing communities most affected by inequality, climate disasters and pollution. It sharply contrasted with previous national decarbonization plans, such as the failed 2009 attempt to create a cap-and-trade system for planet-heating pollution known as Waxman-Markey.“During that Inconvenient Truth era, climate advocacy was very technocratic in some ways,” said Kaniela Ing, the national director of the Green New Deal Network and a former Hawaii state legislator, referring to the 2006 documentary on the climate crisis by the former US vice-president Al Gore. “But the Green New Deal was about how all these things are connected, how climate is connected to schools, better infrastructure … things that people actually want.”Read on…The new Republican speaker of the US House, Mike Johnson, is “dangerous”, the former Wyoming congresswoman and January 6 committee vice-chair Liz Cheney said, considering Johnson’s role in Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election.“He was acting in ways that he knew to be wrong,” Cheney told Politics Is Everything, a podcast from the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “And I think that the country unfortunately will come to see the measure of his character.“… One of the reasons why somebody like Mike Johnson is dangerous is because … you have elected Republicans who know better, elected Republicans who know the truth but yet will go along with the efforts to undermine our republic: the efforts, frankly, that Donald Trump undertook to overturn the election.”Johnson voiced conspiracy theories about Joe Biden’s victory in 2020; authored a supreme court amicus brief as Texas sought to have results in key states thrown out, attracting 125 Republican signatures; and was one of 147 Republicans who voted to object to results in key states, even after Trump supporters attacked the Capitol on 6 January 2021, a riot linked to nine deaths and which has produced thousands of arrests and hundreds of convictions, some for seditious conspiracy.Cheney was one of two anti-Trump Republicans on the House January 6 committee, which staged prime-time hearings and produced a report last year. She lost her seat to a pro-Trump challenger. The other January 6 committee Republican, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, chose to quit his seat.Like Kinzinger, Cheney has written a book. She has also declined to close down speculation that she might run for president, as a representative of the Republican establishment – her father is Dick Cheney, the former defense secretary and vice-president – determined to stop Trump from seizing the White House again.Johnson ascended to the House speakership last month, elected unanimously after three candidates failed to gain sufficient support to succeed Kevin McCarthy, who was ejected by the far-right, pro-Trump wing of his party.Johnson’s hard-right, Christianity-inflected views and past positions have been subjected to widespread scrutiny.Cheney told Larry Sabato, her podcast host and fellow UVA professor, that Johnson “was willing to set aside what he knew to be the rulings of the courts, the requirements of the constitution, in order to placate Donald Trump, in order to gain praise from Donald Trump, for political expedience.“So it’s a concerning moment to have him be elected speaker of the House.”Five House Republican lawmakers from New York are pressing on with their effort to expel George Santos, the congressman who admitted to lying about large parts of his résumé and is also facing federal charges. A vote on their expulsion resolution could come as soon as today, though it’s unclear if it will reach the two-thirds majority necessary for passage. The chamber’s ethics committee has meanwhile announced it will provide an update regarding its investigation into Santos by 17 November, while some worry that kicking him out of his seat before he is convicted will set a bad example.Here’s what else is going on today:
    Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, proposed aiding Israel by cutting the IRS’s budget, but that will just make the effort even more expensive for taxpayers, Congress’s non-partisan budget analyst found.
    Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s Democratic leader, endorsed a push to use an unusual procedure to get around Republican Tommy Tuberville’s block of military promotions.
    A new analysis shows Democrats appear to have the edge in winning back control of the House next year.
    NBC News caught up with Mike Johnson, who chalked up the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s determination that his Israel aid proposal would actually cost taxpayers money to the machinations of Washington:Punchbowl News separately caught two rightwing senators heading into Johnson’s office, and report they are expected to support his bill:But it is the Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, who will decide whether the measure comes to the floor, and he has said he will not do that.The Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, announced he will support deploying an unusual procedure to circumvent Republican senator Tommy Tuberville’s months-long blockade of more than 300 military promotions.The Alabama lawmaker has since February been holding up promotions of hundreds of top officers in the armed forces in protest of a new Pentagon policy intended to help service members access abortions. Democrats and some Republican have expressed outrage at the move, saying it harms national security.According to the Hill, Rhode Island Democrat Jack Reed is proposing a standing order resolution that will allow Congress’s upper chamber to approve military promotions as a group through the end of next year. However, it needs 60 votes to pass, and Democrats only control 51 seats in the chamber, meaning at least nine Republicans must sign on.It’s unclear if that support exists yet, but in a speech on the chamber’s floor, Schumer said he will put the resolution up for a vote.“Yesterday, my colleague Senator Reed, chairman of the armed services committee, introduced a resolution that will allow the Senate to quickly confirm the nominations that are currently being blocked by the Senator from Alabama,” said Schumer, adding he had moved for the Senate to hold time-consuming floor votes on three military promotions that Tuberville had been blocking.“The resolution will be referred to the rules committee, and when the time comes, I will bring it to the floor of the Senate for consideration.”Here’s video of his remarks: More

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    Republican to quit House citing party’s reliance on ‘lie’ of stolen 2020 election

    A leading conservative congressman announced his retirement, in large part because his Republican party “continues to rely on this lie that the 2020 election was stolen”.“I have decided I’m not going to seek re-election,” Ken Buck of Colorado told MSNBC on Wednesday, after news that Kay Granger of Texas, the longest-serving Republican congresswoman, will also step down next year.“I always have been disappointed with our inability in Congress to deal with major issues and I’m also disappointed that the Republican party continues to rely on this lie that the 2020 election was stolen and rely on the January 6 narrative and political prisoners from January 6 and other things,” Buck said.“If we’re going to solve difficult problems, we’ve got to deal with some very unpleasant truths or lies and make sure that we project to the public what the truth is.”Donald Trump’s lie that his defeat by Joe Biden was the result of electoral fraud dominates the Republican party.The new House speaker, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, played a key role in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election, authoring an amicus brief in a supreme court case that sought to throw out swing state results and joining 146 other Republicans in objecting to such results even after Trump incited the deadly January 6 attack on Congress.Buck was asked about his own support for Tom Emmer of Minnesota, who last month attracted more votes for speaker than Johnson but was brought down by Trump’s opposition.Buck said: “Well, Tom and I both voted to certify the electors. It was a decision that I think was the right decision under the constitution.“Mike [Johnson] went to the supreme court with a challenge to the election. I think going to the courts is one thing. Trying to move the mob from the Mall up to the House floor and interrupting the congressional proceeding is a whole different issue.”Buck reported receiving death threats, after he opposed the candidacy for speaker of Jim Jordan of Ohio, a pro-Trump extremist.“Civility in politics generally is less now than it was before,” Buck said. “The ability to deal with major issues – you know, the sustainability of Medicare, social security, other big issues – we’ve got to address [those] and we can’t keep worrying about the last election. We’ve got to focus on where we’re going to take America in terms of policy.”Buck said he did not plan to leave the Republican party. Also, despite his disgust over election denial and January 6, and despite the threats he received, he would not say he would not support Trump if he wins the presidential nomination next year, 91 criminal charges and assorted civil trials notwithstanding.A “Trump-Biden redo” would present “a very difficult decision”, Buck said, adding: “I am not thrilled with either one of those candidates and I will just see what happens down the road.” More

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    Liz Cheney calls new House speaker ‘dangerous’ for January 6 role

    The new Republican speaker of the US House, Mike Johnson, is “dangerous” due to his role in Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, the former Wyoming Republican congresswoman and January 6 committee vice-chair Liz Cheney said.“He was acting in ways that he knew to be wrong,” Cheney told Politics Is Everything, a podcast from the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “And I think that the country unfortunately will come to see the measure of his character.”She added: “One of the reasons why somebody like Mike Johnson is dangerous is because … you have elected Republicans who know better, elected Republicans who know the truth but yet will go along with the efforts to undermine our republic: the efforts, frankly, that Donald Trump undertook to overturn the election.”Johnson voiced conspiracy theories about Joe Biden’s victory in 2020; authored a supreme court amicus brief as Texas sought to have results in key states thrown out, attracting 125 Republican signatures; and was one of 147 Republicans who voted to object to results in key states even after Trump supporters attacked the Capitol.The events of 6 January 2021 are now linked to nine deaths, thousands of arrests and hundreds of convictions, some for seditious conspiracy. Trump faces state and federal charges related to his attempted election subversion (contributing to a total 91 criminal counts) yet still dominates Republican presidential primary polling.Cheney was one of two anti-Trump Republicans on the House January 6 committee, which staged prime-time hearings and produced a report last year. In Wyoming, she lost her seat to a pro-Trump challenger. The other January 6 Republican, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, chose to quit his seat.Like Kinzinger, Cheney has now written a memoir, in her case titled Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning. She has also declined to close down speculation that she might run for president as a representative of the Republican establishment – her father is Dick Cheney, the former defense secretary and vice-president – attempting to stop Trump seizing the White House again.Johnson ascended to the speakership last month, elected unanimously after three candidates failed to gain sufficient support to succeed Kevin McCarthy, who was ejected by the far-right, pro-Trump wing of his party.The new speaker’s hard-right, Christianity-inflected statements and positions have been subjected to widespread scrutiny.Cheney told Larry Sabato, her podcast host and fellow UVA professor: “Mike is somebody that I knew well.”“We were elected together [in 2016]. Our offices were next to each other, and Mike is somebody who says that he’s committed to defending the constitution. But that’s not what he did when we were all tested in the aftermath of the 2020 election.“In my experience, and I was very, deeply involved and engaged as the conference chair, when Mike was doing things like convincing members of the conference to sign on to the amicus brief … in my view, he was willing to set aside what he knew to be the rulings of the courts, the requirements of the constitution, in order to placate Donald Trump, in order to gain praise from Donald Trump, for political expedience.“So it’s a concerning moment to have him be elected speaker of the House.” More

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    Blinken meets with Johnson at Capitol amid disagreement over Israel and Ukraine aid – as it happened

    Reporters at the Capitol caught secretary of state Antony Blinken leaving his meeting with Republican speaker of the House Mike Johnson this afternoon:Now to see what progress their conversation made have produced towards resolving the disagreement between Johnson and the Democrats over Joe Biden’s proposal for about $100b in military aid for Ukraine and Israel, as well as to bolster the southern border. Johnson’s counteroffer is around $14b in aid for Israel alone that will be paid for by cutting the budget of the IRS – a non-starter for Democrats.The Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, made his conservative bona fides clear yesterday when he proposed a bill that would send about $14bn in aid to Israel and pay for it by cutting funding to the IRS tax authority. The White House responded by accusing Johnson of “politicizing national security”, and today, its Democratic allies in the Senate said the speaker’s proposal will not fly. What’s not clear is if the political will exists to approve the combined $106bn Joe Biden wants to spend on both Israel and Ukraine’s defenses and US border security. Johnson and secretary of state Antony Blinken met at the Capitol to discuss the president’s funding request, but we don’t know yet if a compromise is within reach.Here’s what else happened today:
    Blinken’s testimony to a Senate committee considering the foreign military aid request was interrupted repeatedly by protesters calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
    Biden and China’s president Xi Jinping will meet in San Francisco next month, the White House confirmed.
    Arab Americans appear to be turning on Biden over his steadfast support of Israel.
    A small but bipartisan group of House lawmakers asked Johnson to bring the Biden administration’s request for aid to Israel and Ukraine up for a vote.
    Gavin Newsom, California’s Democratic governor, traveled to China to tackle rising tensions, but instead ended up tackling a child.
    Also at her press briefing, Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about Dean Phillips, the Democratic congressman who last week announced he would challenge Joe Biden for the party’s presidential nomination.As you might expect, Jean-Pierre was mum about his candidacy, only reminding the press that Phillips was a supporter of most of Biden’s policies.Indeed, the third-term Minnesota lawmaker hasn’t said much about what he disagrees with the president about, instead pitching his candidacy as a response to Biden’s low poll numbers and advanced age.Here’s the Guardian’s Rachel Leingang with more about Phillips’s campaign:
    The little-known Democratic congressman Dean Phillips has launched a campaign to challenge sitting President Joe Biden, leaving many of his supporters and colleagues confused, if not outright upset.
    After weeks of speculation and behind-the-scenes manoeuvreing, Phillips finally publicly announced he’s running in an interview on CBS.
    He filed paperwork in New Hampshire on Friday morning and posted a lengthy explanation of his bid for the presidency on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying his campaign would focus on the economy and safety, but also generational change.
    “I didn’t set out to enter this race,” he wrote. “But it looks like on our current course, the Democrats will lose and Trump will be our president again. President Biden is a good man and someone I tremendously respect. I understand why other Democrats don’t want to run against him, and why we are here. This is a last-minute campaign, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and courage is an important value to me.”
    At her briefing this afternoon, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Joe Biden and China’s president, Xin Jinping, would meet in San Francisco:The two leaders last met in November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia. Biden recently invited Xi to the November Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the northern California city, and, given Jean-Pierre’s comment, it seems he accepted the invitation.Here’s more on what we can expect from the meeting, which was preceded by several rounds of high-level diplomacy between the countries:US Capitol police confirmed to the Guardian’s US politics live blog that 12 people were arrested for disrupting Antony Blinken’s testimony to the Senate appropriations committee today.The US secretary of state spoke to the panel about the Biden administration’s request for more than $100b in security assistance to Ukraine and Israel, as well as to fortify the border with Mexico. As his testimony began, he was repeatedly interrupted by protesters organized by the antiwar group Code Pink, who called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.On the other side of the Capitol, Senate Democrats announced plans to issue subpoenas to three wealthy Republicans who were involved in organizing luxury trips for conservative supreme court justices, sparking an ethics scandal:Senate Democrats plan to subpoena Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow and conservative activist Leonard Leo to quiz them about their roles in organizing and paying for lavish perks for justices on the hard-right wing of the US supreme court.The announcement by Democrats on the Senate judiciary committee came on Monday amid a storm of controversy that has blown up in recent months about conservative justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito not only accepting but also not disclosing free travel and other luxury favors provided or facilitated by influential public figures.The supreme court is now being pressed to adopt an ethics code – a move that has been publicly endorsed by three of the nine justices amid the rows about ethical controversies, including the risks of outside influence corrupting the court.The committee could act as soon as next week to authorize Illinois senator Dick Durbin, the panel’s chairman, to issue subpoenas to Crow, Leo and another wealthy donor, Robin Arkley II.Reporters at the Capitol caught secretary of state Antony Blinken leaving his meeting with Republican speaker of the House Mike Johnson this afternoon:Now to see what progress their conversation made have produced towards resolving the disagreement between Johnson and the Democrats over Joe Biden’s proposal for about $100b in military aid for Ukraine and Israel, as well as to bolster the southern border. Johnson’s counteroffer is around $14b in aid for Israel alone that will be paid for by cutting the budget of the IRS – a non-starter for Democrats.Gavin Newsom has finished his weeklong trip to China, which was meant to tackle rising tensions between the two nations and push for climate crisis solutions. But some of the headlines the Democratic California governor garnered were less about tackling diplomacy – and more about tackling a child.Viral footage shows Newsom playing basketball with a group of children for a photo-op, and in the process appearing to stumble while dribbling and then falling on top of a boy.Rightwing media and critics of the governor have had a field day with the clip of Newsom “steamrolling” and “plowing through a small child”. “CA. GOV NEWSOM DESTROYS KID” was probably not a news line that Newsom, with his widely reported presidential ambitions, was hoping for.Fortunately, however, the LA Times reports that the “cringey moment… didn’t cause injuries”.Read more on the substance of Newsom’s trip here:Wisconsin’s Democratic governor Tony Evers has engaged in a courtroom fight with the state’s Republican-controlled legislature for its alleged obstruction of basic government functions, including delivery of pay raises for university employees that were previously approved.Evers says it’s “just bullshit” and “a bridge too far” that lawmakers were holding out on 35,000 University of Wisconsin employees, and is taking his lawsuit direct to the state’s supreme court, the Associated Press reports.“You can’t do that. That’s why we’re suing and that’s why we’re going to win,” Evers said at a news conference in Madison on Tuesday, accusing Republicans of also blocking state conservation programs, updates to the state’s commercial building standards and ethics standards for licensed professionals.Wisconsin senate majority leader Devin LeMahieu and assembly speaker Robin Vos, both Republicans, did not immediately return emails seeking comment on Tuesday, the AP said.The legislature included a 6% pay raise for university employees over two years in the state budget passed earlier this year that Evers signed, but the measure will not be finalized until signed off by a Republican-controlled committee of legislative leaders.Vos has said he opposes spending at the university because of its diversity, equity and inclusion programs.Tucker Carlson “got too big for his boots” at Fox News and was fired in part for alienating “large swaths” of the company, according to a revelatory new account of the downfall of the network’s biggest star.Carlson, a rightwing conspiracy theorist who was dismissed in April despite his status as the most-watched cable TV personality, believed himself to be irreplaceable, the journalist Brian Stelter says in his new book Network of Lies, reported on Tuesday by Vanity Fair.But ultimately Carlson’s escalating toxicity, which included an undercurrent of white supremacy and a penchant for demeaning women and minorities, led Lachlan Murdoch, the then chief executive of Fox Corp, to pull the plug, the book says.“He committed the cardinal Fox sin of acting like he was bigger than the network he was on,” Stelter said.“His brand, weird as it was, revolved around the idea that he could call anyone the C-word, or anything else, at any time. He could say anything, do anything, and never be held accountable, so long as he commanded the attention and affection of millions.“Carlson was believed to have Trump-like hypnotic power over the GOP base. He was believed to be irreplaceable. But that impression was, in large part, a creation of Carlson’s. In truth, Carlson had alienated so many people, instigated so many internal and external scandals, fanned so many flames of ugliness, that his firing was inevitable.“That’s why Fox dropped Carlson. It wasn’t one thing. It was everything,” Stelter writes, as excerpted exclusively by Vanity Fair.Read the full story:Joe Biden calls Republican senate minority leader Mitch McConnell a good friend, and the pair appear to see eye to eye over passing an aid package that includes help for Israel and Ukraine.On the chamber floor just now, McConnell made the same argument as the president did in his address to the nation earlier this month, linking Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the Hamas attacks on Israel, and calling them a threat to global democracy and peace.“The threats facing America and our allies are serious and they’re intertwined. If we ignore that fact, we do so at our own peril,” he said.Politico has this report highlighting how McConnell’s stance on aid for both countries puts him at odds with new speaker Mike Johnson and a slew of other House Republicans.Some of the discomfort has spread to the senate, where McConnell is facing increased pushback from a number of colleagues on the right over his efforts to keep aid for Israel and Ukraine together, according to The Hill.Republican House speaker Mike Johnson made his conservative bona fides clear yesterday when he proposed a bill that would send about $14b in aid to Israel and pay for it by cutting funding to the IRS tax authority. The White House responded by accusing Johnson of “politicizing national security”, and today, its Democratic allies in the Senate made clear the speaker’s proposal will not fly. But it’s unclear if the political will exists for the approximately $106b Joe Biden wants to spend on both Israel and Ukraine’s defense, as well as border security. Johnson is reportedly speaking with secretary of state Antony Blinken about the request today, and we’ll keep an eye out for what comes out of that.Here’s what else is going on today:
    Blinken’s testimony to a Senate committee considering the foreign military aid request was interrupted repeatedly by protesters calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
    Arab Americans appear to be turning on Biden over his steadfast support of Israel.
    A small but bipartisan group of House lawmakers asked Johnson to bring the Biden administration’s request for aid to Israel and Ukraine up for a vote.
    Joe Biden’s definitive backing of Israel in its conflict with Hamas and invasion of Gaza appears to be costing him support among Arab American voters, the Guardian’s Erum Salam reports:Arab American support for Joe Biden has fallen in the wake of his response to the latest bout of violence between Israel and Hamas, a new poll from the Arab American Institute (AAI) shows. The same poll showed a sharp increase in reports of discrimination against members of the community.Following Hamas’s deadly 7 October attacks, which killed 1,400 Israelis, Biden has repeatedly proclaimed the US’s “rock-solid and unwavering support” for Israel, which has responded by tightening its blockade and bombarding the Gaza Strip. More than 8,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to health officials in the coastal territory.According to AAI, that response has prompted a “dramatic plummeting of Arab American voter support for President Biden”. There are roughly 3.7 million Arab Americans in the US.“Support among Arab American voters for Biden has plummeted from 59% in 2020 to 17% today,” the poll analysis said.Secretary of state Antony Blinken and Republican House speaker Mike Johnson will talk today about the White House’s request for more than $100b in aid to Ukraine and Israel, and to fortify US border security, Politico reports:The newly elected Republican leader appears far from accepting the Democratic administration’s demands for a large package aimed at supporting two of Washington’s key allies while responding to the surge of people crossing into America from Mexico. We’ll see if any progress is made in their conversation.A small group of Democratic and Republican lawmakers has released a letter calling on the GOP House speaker Mike Johnson to allow a floor vote on a measure to send aid to Ukraine and Israel, and improve US border security.Johnson yesterday proposed a bill that would send about $14b in security assistance to Israel while cutting funding to the IRS. The White House and Senate Democrats have already rejected it, arguing that cutting the tax authority’s budget is irresponsible, and any legislation must also fund Kyiv’s defense against Russia’s invasion.The letter was signed by Republican Joe Wilson, who chairs House foreign affairs subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, as well as Democrats Marcy Kaptur, Brad Schneider and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.You can read the letter in full here, and here’s the gist of its argument:
    The United States must help secure Israel and the greater Middle East, Europe, and the IndoPacific so that our future generations can live free from the threats of totalitarianism and religious extremism. America can and will rise to these challenges. Although the vast majority of the price in blood and treasure will be born by our allies, Congress must do its part to make sure the citizen soldiers defending Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan have what they need to protect their democracies, and by extension, our national security.
    That is why we beseech you not to separate aid for Israel’s fight to rescue its hostages and secure its borders from Ukraine’s fight to do the same, or from Taiwan’s efforts to deter a war. All are crucial priorities for the United States. The introduction of offsets, or the potential deferral of our commitments, threatens not only our national interest, but also our long-term fiscal health. It is far better and less costly in blood and treasure to ensure Russia, Iran, and Hamas are defeated in their current wars than it will be if they achieve strategic victories against Ukraine or Israel. More

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    Democrats plan to subpoena Leonard Leo over perks to supreme court justices

    Senate Democrats plan to subpoena Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow and conservative activist Leonard Leo to quiz them about their roles in organizing and paying for lavish perks for justices on the hard-right wing of the US supreme court.The announcement by Democrats on the Senate judiciary committee came on Monday amid a storm of controversy that has blown up in recent months about conservative justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito not only accepting but also not disclosing free travel and other luxury favors provided or facilitated by influential public figures.The supreme court is now being pressed to adopt an ethics code – a move that has been publicly endorsed by three of the nine justices amid the rows about ethical controversies, including the risks of outside influence corrupting the court.The committee could act as soon as next week to authorize Illinois senator Dick Durbin, the panel’s chairman, to issue subpoenas to Crow, Leo and another wealthy donor, Robin Arkley II.Crow has been identified as a benefactor of associate justice Clarence Thomas for more than two decades, paying for nearly annual vacations, purchasing from Thomas and others the Georgia home in which the justice’s mother still lives, and helping pay for the private schooling for a relative.Leo, an executive of the Federalist Society, the powerful Washington-based conservative and libertarian advocacy group, worked with former US president Donald Trump to move the court and the rest of the federal judiciary to the right by nominating ultra-conservative judges.And Arkley helped arrange and pay for a private jet trip to Alaska for Justice Alito in 2008.Arkley and Leo have refused to cooperate with the committee’s investigation of the justices’ largely undisclosed private travel, the committee said.Crow “offered to produce certain limited information that fell well short of what the Committee needs and to which it is entitled”, Durbin and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, said in a joint statement.In a statement after Durbin’s announcement, Crow’s office called the subpoena politically motivated and said Crow had offered information to the committee.“It’s clear this is nothing more than a stunt aimed at undermining a sitting supreme court justice for ideological and political purposes,” the statement said.Leo voiced a similar objection. “I will not bow to the vile and disgusting liberal McCarthyism that seeks to destroy the supreme court simply because it follows the constitution rather than their political agenda,” Leo said in a statement.In July, the Senate judiciary panel approved legislation that would force the justices to abide by stronger ethics standards. The bill would set ethics rules for the court and a process to enforce them, including new standards for transparency around recusals, gifts and potential conflicts of interest.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe bill has little chance of passage in the closely divided Senate. Republicans have united against it, saying it could “destroy” the court. And Republicans control the House of Representatives, further providing a block on Democratic led legislation.Apart from the judiciary committee, Democrats on the Senate finance committee issued the results of their separate probe of the $267,000 loan that enabled Thomas to buy a luxury, 40-ft motorcoach in 1999. The committee found that the loan, made by longtime friend Anthony Welters, appears to have been largely if not totally forgiven after Thomas made payments of interest, only, over nine years.Durbin and Whitehouse put out a statement which said: “The Supreme Court is in an ethical crisis of its own making. Thanks to investigative reporting, we now know that for decades, some justices have been joining billionaires with business before the Court on their private planes and yachts or receiving gifts … the justices have enabled their wealthy benefactors and other individuals … to gain private access to the justices while preventing public scrutiny of this conduct.”“Due to Crow, Leo, and Arkley’s intransigence, the committee is now forced to seek compulsory process to obtain the information they hold … Durbin will be asking the committee to grant him authorization to issue subpoenas to these individuals. The chief justice could fix this problem today and adopt a binding code of conduct. As long as he refuses to act, the judiciary committee will.”
    The Associated Press contributed reporting More

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    US House Republicans plan to give Israel $14.3bn by cutting IRS funds

    Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Monday introduced a plan to provide $14.3bn in aid to Israel by cutting funding for the Internal Revenue Service, setting up a showdown with Democrats who control the Senate.In one of the first major policy actions under new House speaker Mike Johnson, House Republicans unveiled a standalone supplemental spending bill only for Israel, despite Joe Biden’s request for a $106bn package that would include aid for Israel, Ukraine and border security.Johnson, who voted against aid for Ukraine before he was elected House speaker last week, had said he wanted aid to Israel and Ukraine to be handled separately. He has said he wants more accountability for money that has been sent to the Kyiv government as it fights Russian invaders.Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, said on Monday he was confident the House would back a request for additional funds for Ukraine’s military.“The main thing is the outcome – are there enough votes or not?” Kuleba told Ukrainian national television. “And at the moment we have every reason to believe that there are votes in the US House of Representatives for the bill providing Ukraine with additional support.”Kuleba said he was aware of “considerable political resistance” to the bill’s provisions and that it would be a “sin” for US lawmakers not to use the legislation to further their own interests.“Israel is a separate matter,” Johnson said in an interview on Fox News last week, describing his desire to “bifurcate” the Ukraine and Israel funding issues.Johnson has said bolstering support for Israel should top the US national security agenda in the aftermath of the 7 October attack by Hamas that killed more than 1,400 people and saw more than 200 others taken hostage.Democrats accused Republicans of stalling Congress’ ability to help Israel by introducing a partisan bill.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionWhite House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a statement accusing Republicans of “politicizing national security” and calling their bill a non-starter. To become law, the measure would need to pass the House and the Senate and be signed by Joe Biden.“House Republicans are setting a dangerous precedent by suggesting that protecting national security or responding to natural disasters is contingent upon cuts to other programs,” Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democratic representative on the House appropriations committee, said in a statement.The House rules committee is expected to consider the Republican Israel bill on Wednesday. More

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    ‘They have reached a historic agreement’: Biden hails UAW settlement with big three carmakers – as it happened

    Speaking at the White House, Joe Biden hailed the deals reached between the United Auto Workers and the three major Detroit automakers that are set to end a six-week strike at their factories.“They have reached a historic agreement,” the president said of automakers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis as well as the UAW, who president Shawn Fain he spoke to earlier today.“These record agreements reward auto workers who gave up much to keep the industry working and going during the financial crisis more than a decade ago. These agreements ensure the iconic Big Three can still lead the world in quality and innovation.”The UAW reached a tentative agreement with GM earlier today, the last of the three companies targeted in the strike.The agreements need to be ratified by union members, but Biden said the automakers and the UAW have agreed that workers can return to assembly lines before that happens.“I applaud the UAW and the leaders of the automobile companies for agreeing that all the workers on strike and all those who were walking the picket lines on behalf of the UAW brothers and sisters can go back to work immediately, even before the vote is taken.”A judge in Denver has started hearing arguments in a case brought by liberal group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington aiming at removing Donald Trump from the ballot for inciting the January 6 insurrection. A lawyer for the former president argued the plaintiffs do not understand the meaning of the word “insurrection,” while the case could ultimately end up decided by the conservative-dominated US supreme court. Hearings in the Colorado case are expected to continue throughout the week, while a judge in Minnesota will begin considering a similar lawsuit on Thursday.Here’s what else happened today:
    Joe Biden hailed agreements reached between the United Auto Workers and the Detroit automakers as “historic” in a speech at the White House.
    Artificial intelligence developers face new rules under an executive order Biden signed today.
    Trump remains at the top of the polls in Iowa, which isn’t really news. The most interesting tidbits of the survey may be Ron DeSantis’s remarkable favorability despite his overall floundering campaign, and Nikki Haley’s measurable jump in support.
    Never Trumper Asa Hutchinson’s campaign may be falling apart after his manager and confidante resigned, CBS News reports. Hutchinson is polling at 1% support in Iowa.
    New York House Republicans are optimistic they have votes to boot congressman George Santos, who has admitted to fabricating his resume and faces federal charges, out of office.
    Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, urged Congress to approve aid to both Ukraine and Israel. House Republicans seem on board with the latter, but are growing increasingly wary of the former.
    Joe Biden’s comments on the apparent conclusion of the United Auto Workers’ strike came at the start of an event where he signed an executive order that imposes rules on artificial intelligence development.Here’s more from the Associated Press on his administration’s new policy:
    Before signing the order, Biden said AI is driving change at “warp speed” and carries tremendous potential as well as perils.
    “AI is all around us,” Biden said. “To realize the promise of AI and avoid the risk, we need to govern this technology.”
    The order is an initial step that is meant to ensure that AI is trustworthy and helpful, rather than deceitful and destructive. The order – which will likely need to be augmented by congressional action – seeks to steer how AI is developed so that companies can profit without putting public safety in jeopardy.
    Using the Defense Production Act, the order requires leading AI developers to share safety test results and other information with the government. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is to create standards to ensure AI tools are safe and secure before public release.
    The commerce department is to issue guidance to label and watermark AI-generated content to help differentiate between authentic interactions and those generated by software. The extensive order touches on matters of privacy, civil rights, consumer protections, scientific research and worker rights.
    Here’s a clip of a Biden laugh line from his event this afternoon announcing the order:Here’s video of Joe Biden cheering the UAW’s new agreements with the Big Three automakers:Biden had gotten closer to the UAW’s strike than any president who came before him, by traveling to Michigan to address a picket line of striking workers.Speaking at the White House, Joe Biden hailed the deals reached between the United Auto Workers and the three major Detroit automakers that are set to end a six-week strike at their factories.“They have reached a historic agreement,” the president said of automakers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis as well as the UAW, who president Shawn Fain he spoke to earlier today.“These record agreements reward auto workers who gave up much to keep the industry working and going during the financial crisis more than a decade ago. These agreements ensure the iconic Big Three can still lead the world in quality and innovation.”The UAW reached a tentative agreement with GM earlier today, the last of the three companies targeted in the strike.The agreements need to be ratified by union members, but Biden said the automakers and the UAW have agreed that workers can return to assembly lines before that happens.“I applaud the UAW and the leaders of the automobile companies for agreeing that all the workers on strike and all those who were walking the picket lines on behalf of the UAW brothers and sisters can go back to work immediately, even before the vote is taken.”From the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly, here’s more on what we learned from the presidential poll of Iowa Republicans released this morning, which appeared to be very good for Donald Trump:Donald Trump maintained his huge lead in the crucial early voting state of Iowa in a major new poll by NBC News and the Des Moines Register but Nikki Haley is now emerging as his closest challenger.The former US president has a 27-point lead in Iowa three months before the first vote of the Republican primary as he attracted 43% support. But Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, climbed 10 points to 16%, sharing second place with Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor whose campaign has long been seen to be stalling.No other candidate scored significantly, even after second choices of supporters of Mike Pence, the former vice-president who suspended his campaign, were reapportioned.J Ann Selzer, the Iowa pollster who conducted the survey, said: “This is a good poll for Donald Trump. For all the things that happened between the last poll and now, he’s still the dominant player in the field and his standing has, in fact, improved from August.”Here’s the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe with more on the start of the legal effort today to keep Donald Trump off presidential ballots for his involvement in the January 6 insurrection:A multi-pronged effort to keep Donald Trump off the 2024 presidential ballot as an insurrectionist resumes in earnest, beginning with a court case in Colorado on Monday, the first of two states that will hear legal arguments this week.Those seeking to have the former president ruled ineligible are relying on a civil war-era provision of the 14th amendment to the US constitution that states no person can hold public office if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof”.They argue that Trump’s incitement of the deadly 6 January attack on the US Capitol, in which his supporters attempted to block Congress certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, perfectly encapsulates the clause that has yet to be seriously tested in a courtroom.New York House Republicans believe they are close to securing the two-thirds majority required to expel their fellow Republican George Santos who has pled not guilty to over a dozen fraud-related counts. “I think we’re getting two-thirds. There seems to be a good sentiment out there that enough is enough,” CNN reports Nick LaLota, who represents New York’s first district, saying.“People have seen over the last ten months what a fraud he is,” Anthony D’Espositio, who represents New York’s fourth district, said, echoing similar sentiments.Marcus Molinaro, the state’s representative of its 13th district, said, “I think at this time, it is absolutely inapropriate for him to serve… I think there’s significant support, certainly on both ends of the aisle. I understand hesitance but this is a clear case of an individual who used every lie and misdeed in order to obtain the very office he holds.”Here is more from the lawyer in Colorado arguing against the lawsuits attempting to prevent Donald Trump from appearing on the 2024 presidential ballot:Refering to Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021, he said:
    “There’s substantial historical evidence that ‘engage’ does not mean mere incitement through words. It doesn’t mean that. And frankly, president Trump didn’t engage.
    He didn’t carry a pitchfork to Capitol grounds. He didn’t lead a charge. He didn’t get into a fistfight with legislators. He didn’t goad president Biden into going out back and having a fight.
    He gave a speech in which he asked people to peacefully and patriotically go to the Capitol to protest.”
    Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell is urging the Senate to pass a supplemental foreign aid package to Ukraine and Israel.Speaking on Monday, McConnell said:
    “Right now, our efforts are making a difference, both in Ukraine and here at home. But the Biden administration’s hesitation along the way has really in my view prolonged the bloodshed.
    This is a moment for swift and decisive action to prevent further loss of life, and to impose real consequences on the tyrants who have terrorized the people of Ukraine and of Israel.
    And right now, the Senate has a chance to produce supplemental assistance that will help us do exactly that.
    A judge in Denver has started hearing arguments in a case brought by liberal group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington aiming at removing Donald Trump from the ballot for inciting the January 6 insurrection. A lawyer for the former president argued the plaintiffs do not understand the meaning of the word “insurrection,” while the case could ultimately end up decided by the conservative-dominated supreme court. Hearings in the Colorado case are expected to continue through the week, while a judge in Minnesota will begin considering a similar lawsuit on Thursday.Here’s what else has happened today:
    Joe Biden said an agreement to end the United Auto Workers’s strike against General Motors – and the six-week walkout against the Detroit automakers – was “great”.
    Trump remains at the top of the polls in Iowa, which isn’t really news. The most interesting tidbits of the survey may be Ron DeSantis’s remarkable favorability despite his overall floundering campaign, and Nikki Haley’s measurable jump in support.
    Never Trumper Asa Hutchinson’s campaign may be falling apart after his manager and confidante resigned, CBS News reports. Hutchinson is polling at 1% support in Iowa.
    All the way back in July, the Guardian’s David Smith took a look at the prospects of the few Never Trumpers competing for the GOP’s presidential nomination, and concluded they were not good. Here’s more on the forces that derailed Mike Pence’s campaign and are hurting Asa Hutchinson’s: For Asa Hutchinson, former governor of Arkansas, there were boos and chants of “Trump! Trump!”. For Francis Suarez, mayor of Miami, there were jeers and cries of “Traitor!” And perhaps most tellingly, there was no Florida governor Ron DeSantis at all.The recent Turning Point USA conference brought thousands of young conservatives to Florida and there was no doubting the main attraction: former president Donald Trump, who made a glitzy entrance accompanied by giant stage sparklers. In a less than rigorous poll, 86% of attendees gave Trump as their first choice for president; DeSantis, who polled 19% last year, was down to 4%.Events and numbers like this are cause for sleepless nights among those Republican leaders and donors desperate to believe it would be different this time. The Never Trump forces bet heavily on DeSantis as the coming man and the premise that Trump’s campaign would collapse under the weight of myriad legal problems.But six months away from the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, none of it seems to be working. DeSantis’s campaign is flailing and leaving some with buyers’ remorse. Hutchinson and Chris Christie, outspoken Trump critics, are polling in single digits, sowing doubts about voters’ appetite for change. Never Trumpers have reason to fear that his march to the Republican nomination may already be unstoppable.“They’re experiencing a brutal wake-up call that the party is not interested in hearing critiques of Trump,” said Tim Miller, who was communications director for Jeb Bush’s 2016 campaign. “The Trump challengers’ candidacies have been astonishingly poor and learned nothing from 2016. When the leading candidate gets indicted and all of his opponents besides Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson just echo his fake persecution complex talking points, it’s going to be hard to beat him.”Former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson is among the few Republican presidential candidates who have openly attacked Donald Trump, and his campaign now appears to be collapsing.CBS News reports Hutchinson’s campaign manager and longtime confidante has resigned:Republicans who have gone against the former president have gotten nowhere in this presidential election cycle. Hutchinson polled at 1% in the NBC News survey released this morning, and over the weekend, Mike Pence, who was Trump’s vice-president and fell out with him over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, suspended his presidential campaign.Over the weekend, a federal judge reinstated a limited gag order on Donald Trump, intended to prevent him from making statements maligning those involved in his prosecution for trying to overturn the 2020 election, the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports:Donald Trump was once again bound by the gag order in the federal criminal case charging him with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results, after a judge on Sunday reinstated restrictions prohibiting him from attacking prosecutors, court staff and potential trial witnesses.The US district judge Tanya Chutkan also denied the former US president’s request to suspend the gag order indefinitely while his lawyers appealed.Trump had been granted a reprieve when the judge temporarily lifted the gag order while she considered that request. Prosecutors argued last week that the order should be reimposed after Trump took advantage and posted a slew of inflammatory statements.The statements included Trump’s repeated attacks on the special counsel Jack Smith, whom he called “deranged”, and Trump’s comments about the testimony that his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows had provided to the grand jury during the criminal investigation.Prosecutors argued that each of Trump’s statements were exactly the sort of comments that the order was designed to prevent, including intimidating or influencing witnesses who could wind up testifying against him at trial, and weighing on the substance of their testimony.“The defendant has capitalized on the court’s administrative stay to, among other prejudicial conduct, send an unmistakable and threatening message to a foreseeable witness in this case,” prosecutors said in their brief. “Unless the court lifts the administrative stay, the defendant will not stop.” More

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    Trump maintains huge Iowa polling lead as Nikki Haley gains ground

    Donald Trump maintained his huge lead in the crucial early voting state of Iowa in a major new poll by NBC News and the Des Moines Register but Nikki Haley is now emerging as his closest challenger.The former US president has a 27-point lead in Iowa three months before the first vote of the Republican primary as he attracted 43% support. But Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, climbed 10 points to 16%, sharing second place with Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor whose campaign has long been seen to be stalling.No other candidate scored significantly, even after second choices of supporters of Mike Pence, the former vice-president who suspended his campaign, were reapportioned.J Ann Selzer, the Iowa pollster who conducted the survey, said: “This is a good poll for Donald Trump. For all the things that happened between the last poll and now, he’s still the dominant player in the field and his standing has, in fact, improved from August.”Trump’s memory apparently hasn’t improved, though. In Sioux City on Sunday, he told supporters: “Well, thank you very much. And a very big hello to a place where we’ve done very well: Sioux Falls. Thank you very much, Sioux Falls.”A state senator, Brad Zaun, whispered: “It’s Sioux City, not Sioux Falls.”Trump said: “Oh … is that right?”To the crowd, he said: “So Sioux City, let me ask you: how many people come from Sioux City?”Trump is 77 but polling shows fewer Americans think he is too old for a second term than think so about Joe Biden, the president who turns 81 next month. Trump has made Biden’s age an anvil for his campaign to hammer but both men are closely watched for errors.In Sioux City, bragging about his relationships with authoritarian world leaders, Trump said Hungary “fronts on both Ukraine and Russia”. Hungary does not have a border with Russia.Haley has made foreign policy smarts part of her pitch to voters, strong debate performances also helping her rise.In the NBC/Register poll, she climbed 10 points from the same survey in August as DeSantis fell by three. Other candidates fell (the South Carolina senator Tim Scott from 9% to 7%, the former New Jersey governor Chris Christie from 5% to 4%) or stagnated (the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy sticking at 4%).Haley was the second choice of 17% of likely caucus-goers, with 22% more saying they would consider her.Kristy Beckwith, 60 and from Ankeny, said: “I feel like she’s fresh, and I liked what she said about … the things that she did as governor of South Carolina … she’s a strong woman.”Trump faces 91 criminal charges, including for state and federal election subversion, and assorted civil trials. Nonetheless, he has increased his lead in the NBC/Register poll. In August, he led DeSantis by 23 points. He now leads by 27.Evangelical Christians remain a key Iowa voting bloc. Despite Trump facing criminal charges over hush-money payments to a porn star and a civil trial arising from a rape allegation a judge called “substantially true”, 65% of respondents to the NBC/Register poll said such legal problems would not stop him winning a general election.Trump enjoys bigger leads elsewhere. On Monday, the fivethirtyeight.com national polling average put Trump at 57%: 43% clear of DeSantis and 49% up on Haley. More