Republicans

Subterms

    More stories

    • 113 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Republicans launch investigations into Biden’s handling of classified papers

      by

      Republicans launch investigations into Biden’s handling of classified papersHouse judiciary committee makes announcement after special counsel appointed to look into the case Republicans on the House judiciary committee on Friday announced an investigation into the discovery of classified documents at Joe Biden’s Delaware home and former office in Washington DC.The GOP representatives, newly in control of committees after their party took the House last November, made their move a day after the attorney general, Merrick Garland, announced the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the matter.In a letter to Garland, the judiciary committee chair, Jim Jordan of Ohio, said: “We are conducting oversight of the justice department’s actions with respect to former vice-president Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, including the apparently unauthorized possession of classified material at a Washington DC private office and in the garage of his residence in Wilmington.Classified documents: how do the Trump and Biden cases differ?Read more“On 12 January 2023, you appointed Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate these matters. The circumstances of this appointment raise fundamental oversight questions that the committee routinely examines. We expect your complete cooperation with our inquiry.”The letter noted that the documents were discovered just before the midterm elections, and accused the justice department of departing “from how it acted in similar circumstances”, namely the inquiry into government secrets found at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.A special counsel, Jack Smith, has been investigating Trump since November – an announcement made after the midterm elections.The Republican congressmen demanded Garland turn over an array of documents related to the Biden investigation by 27 January.The judiciary committee investigation was the second announced by House Republicans since the documents’ discovery was reported this week.The first is being pursued by the new oversight committee chair, James Comer, a Kentuckian who is playing a major role in the Republicans’ campaign of investigations against the Biden White House.Earlier on Friday, Comer sent the White House a demand for information about whether Hunter Biden, the president’s son who is a magnet for Republican investigations and accusations, had access to the garage at the Delaware residence.An oversight committee tweet said: “We have doc[ument]s revealing this address appeared on Hunter’s driver’s license as recently as 2018, the same time he was cutting deals with foreign adversaries. Time for answers.”Even before Biden took office, Republicans tried to find evidence of corruption in Hunter Biden’s business dealings, and of his father’s involvement. Hunter Biden’s dealings in Ukraine were at issue in Trump’s attempts to procure dirt on Joe Biden, a scheme which led to the first of Trump’s two impeachments.Such efforts to ensnare Joe Biden via his son have achieved mixed results at best but this week’s revelations about classified documents in the elder Biden’s possession have produced new lines of attack.Speaking to CBS, Jordan said: “Right now there are tons of questions. A lot of those I think will be answered in the intelligence committee and the oversight committee. But we’ll be looking at the justice department component.”A third committee joined the hunt on Friday, with a letter to defense officials from Mike Rogers, the chair of the House armed services committee.The proliferating investigations have provided a new headache for Democrats in Congress.The party has been on a roll, doing much better in the November midterms than expected, before the gifts of Republican disarray in the House and a surprisingly quiet presidential campaign from Trump.Asked on CNN on Friday if he believed Biden broke the law by retaining classified documents, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said: “It’s much too early to tell.“I think President Biden has handled this correctly. He’s fully cooperated with the prosecutors … it’s a total contrast to President Trump, who stonewalled for a whole year.”Schumer called for patience.“We should let it play out, we don’t have to push [the special counsels] in any direction or try to influence them,” he said. “Let [them] do their job.”Schumer said he supported the appointment of Robert Hur in the Biden case.TopicsJoe BidenRepublicansUS politicsMerrick GarlandHouse of RepresentativesnewsReuse this content More

    • 213 Shares109 Views

      in US Politics

      Democrats plan defense as Republicans ramp up investigations into president and Hunter Biden – as it happened

      by

      Republicans on the House judiciary committee have announced their own investigation of the classified documents found at Joe Biden’s home and former office, sending a letter to the attorney general, Merrick Garland, demanding details of the inquiry.“We are conducting oversight of the Justice Department’s actions with respect to former Vice President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, including the apparently unauthorized possession of classified material at a Washington, D.C. private office and in the garage of his Wilmington, Delaware residence. On January 12, 2023, you appointed Robert Hur as Special Counsel to investigate these matters. The circumstances of this appointment raise fundamental oversight questions that the Committee routinely examines. We expect your complete cooperation with our inquiry,” the committee’s chair Jim Jordan along with congressman Mike Johnson said in a letter.The letter notes that the documents were first discovered just before the midterm elections in November, and accuses the justice department of departing “from how it acted in similar circumstances,” notable the inquiry into government secrets found at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. The committee members demand Garland turn over an array of documents related to the Biden investigation by 27 January.The investigation is the second to be announced by the House GOP since reports of the documents’ discovery first emerged this week. The other is being pursued by James Comer of the oversight committee, who is playing a major role in the Republicans’ campaign of investigations against the White House.Donald Trump’s organization was fined $1.6m by a judge after being convicted of tax fraud charges, but the Manhattan district attorney hinted that’s not the end of his investigation into the former president’s businesses. Meanwhile in Washington, House Republicans demanded more information about the classified documents found at Joe Biden’s home and former office, while the top Senate Democrat said special counsel Robert Hur should be allowed to look into the matter without interference.Here’s what happened today:
      Biden doesn’t trust his Secret Service detail, according to a new book about his presidency.
      Treasury secretary Janet Yellen warned the US government will soon hit its debt limit, and could run out of money by June.
      Special counsel Jack Smith wants to talk to two people hired by Trump’s attorneys to look for any secret materials in his possession.
      Congress will convene for the annual State of the Union address on 7 February.
      Who is George Santos really? Two Daily Beast reporters try to get to the bottom of the fabulist congressman’s saga in an interview with the Guardian’s Politics Weekly America podcast.
      Last week, the much-talked-about George Santos of New York was sworn into the House. The Democrats and even some Republicans think he should have resigned after he admitted to lying about a lot of things during his campaign.So who is the real George Santos? How likely is it that he’ll see out his full term in office? And does his success tell us more about the state of US politics than it does an individual’s misgivings? Jonathan Freedland and Will Bredderman of the Daily Beast discuss the man behind the lies on the Guardian’s Politics Weekly America podcast:Politics Weekly AmericaCan George Santos outrun his lies? Politics Weekly AmericaSorry your browser does not support audio – but you can download here and listen https://audio.guim.co.uk/2020/05/05-61553-gnl.fw.200505.jf.ch7DW.mp300:00:0000:29:31Attorney general Merrick Garland has asked Robert Hur to handle the investigation into Biden’s classified documents, putting a justice department veteran whose most recent government service was as a Donald Trump-appointed US attorney in a role that could upend his presidency.Semafor reports that Democrats remember his work as US attorney for Maryland fondly. “He handled himself with real professionalism when he was U.S. attorney in Maryland,” the state’s Democratic senator Ben Cardin said, while Jamie Raskin, a House Democrat from the state and noted Trump foe, said Hur had a “good reputation.”Rod Rosenstein, who was deputy attorney general under Trump, said Hur was his “point person” for dealing with one of the men the former president liked least: Robert Mueller, the special counsel who led the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.The House armed services committee is also requesting details about the classified documents found in Joe Biden’s possession.The committee’s Republican chair Mike Rogers earlier this week wrote to two defense officials requesting details on what the documents contained, and how they had been handled.You can read the letter below:Read the full letter here ⬇️https://t.co/Y98CJppa8M pic.twitter.com/7Yz5uCZqdV— Armed Services GOP (@HASCRepublicans) January 12, 2023
      Needless to say, this is turning into a headache for Democrats in Congress.The party has been on a roll lately, doing much better in the November midterms than expected and then being gifted with Republican disarray in the House and a surprisingly quiet presidential campaign from Donald Trump.Now, they’re back to playing defense after Joe Biden was found to be doing something similar to what has gotten Trump into so much trouble: possessing classified documents. There are substantial differences to the two cases, but party leaders nonetheless are being called upon to answer for their president.“It’s much too early to tell,” Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer today replied on CNN, when asked if he believes Biden broke the law. “I think president Biden has handled this correctly. He’s fully cooperated with the prosecutors … it’s total contrast to president Trump, who stonewalled for a whole year.”With special prosecutors looking into both men’s cases, Schumer called for patience. “We should let it play out, we don’t have to push them in any direction or try to influence them,” he said. “Let the special prosecutors do their job,” Schumer said, adding that he supports the appointment of Robert Hur to that role in the Biden case.You can watch the full interview here:Republicans on the House judiciary committee have announced their own investigation of the classified documents found at Joe Biden’s home and former office, sending a letter to the attorney general, Merrick Garland, demanding details of the inquiry.“We are conducting oversight of the Justice Department’s actions with respect to former Vice President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, including the apparently unauthorized possession of classified material at a Washington, D.C. private office and in the garage of his Wilmington, Delaware residence. On January 12, 2023, you appointed Robert Hur as Special Counsel to investigate these matters. The circumstances of this appointment raise fundamental oversight questions that the Committee routinely examines. We expect your complete cooperation with our inquiry,” the committee’s chair Jim Jordan along with congressman Mike Johnson said in a letter.The letter notes that the documents were first discovered just before the midterm elections in November, and accuses the justice department of departing “from how it acted in similar circumstances,” notable the inquiry into government secrets found at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. The committee members demand Garland turn over an array of documents related to the Biden investigation by 27 January.The investigation is the second to be announced by the House GOP since reports of the documents’ discovery first emerged this week. The other is being pursued by James Comer of the oversight committee, who is playing a major role in the Republicans’ campaign of investigations against the White House.Joe Biden will make the annual State of the Union speech on 7 February, after the president accepted a formal invitation from House speaker Kevin McCarthy:It is my solemn obligation to invite the president to speak before a Joint Session of Congress on February 7th so that he may fulfill his duty under the Constitution to report on the state of the union. pic.twitter.com/YBmzLxs3Iz— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) January 13, 2023
      In a statement confirming his attendance, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre struck a bipartisan tone. “The President is grateful for and accepts Speaker McCarthy’s prompt invitation to address the peoples’ representatives in Congress,” she said. “He looks forward to speaking with Republicans, Democrats, and the country about how we can work together to continue building an economy that works from the bottom up and the middle out, keep boosting our competitiveness in the world, keep the American people safe, and bring the country together.”Looping back to Donald Trump’s legal troubles, here’s a little more about the situation in New York and beyond.The Trump Organization’s sentencing doesn’t end Trump’s battle with Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, who said the sentencing “closes this important chapter of our ongoing investigation into the former president and his businesses. We now move on to the next chapter,” the Associated Press writes.Bragg, in office for little more than a year, inherited the Trump Organization case and the investigation into the former president from his predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr.At the same time, New York attorney general Letitia James is suing Trump and the Trump Organization, alleging they misled banks and others about the value of its many assets, including golf courses and skyscrapers – a practice she dubbed the “art of the steal” – a parody of Trump’s long-ago bestselling ghostwritten book about getting rich The Art of the Deal.James, a Democrat, is asking a court to ban Trump and his three eldest children from running any New York-based company and is seeking to fine them at least $250 million. A judge has set an October trial date and appointed a monitor for the company while the case is pending.Trump faces several other legal challenges as he ramps up his presidential campaign.A special grand jury in Atlanta has investigated whether Trump and his allies committed any crimes while trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia.Last month, the House January 6 committee voted to make a criminal referral to the Justice Department for Trump’s role in sparking the violent insurrection at the US Capitol. The FBI is also investigating Trump’s storage of classified documents.During last year’s Trump Org trial, assistant district attorney Joshua Steinglass told jurors that Trump himself had a role in the fraud scheme, showing them a lease that the Republican signed himself for now-convicted finance chief Allen Weisselberg’s perk apartment that was kept off the tax books.“Mr Trump is explicitly sanctioning tax fraud,” Steinglass argued.Joe Biden this weekend will become the first sitting US president to speak at a Sunday service at Ebenezer Baptist church in Atlanta, Georgia, where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr was a pastor.Biden is expected to address the ongoing struggle to protect voting rights in the US, despite his failure a year ago to persuade Congress to pass key related legislation, to the exasperation of activists and organizers, especially in Georgia and the south.At the White House press briefing ongoing now, former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, now senior adviser for public engagement at the White House, talked of the importance of the president’s visit this Sunday, ahead of Martin Luther King Day, the federal holiday that marks the birthday of the assassinated icon.She said that there was “more work to do” to protect democracy and acknowledged that the Biden administration’s two pieces of voting rights legislation have not made it through Congress.She noted that Biden has been invited to the church by Georgia’s recently re-elected Democratic senator Raphael Warnock, who is a pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist church. The church was also regularly attended by the late congressman and lifelong civil rights activist John Lewis.Biden will meet members of King’s family and leaders of the civil rights movement in Atlanta during his visit on Sunday and Monday.Lance Bottoms joined White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who pointed out that she and the former mayor are examples of “Black women who have broken barriers” on the shoulders of the civil rights movement.Donald Trump’s organization was fined $1.6m by a judge after being convicted of tax fraud charges, but the Manhattan district attorney hinted that’s not the end of his investigation into the former president’s businesses. Meanwhile in Washington, the Treasury secretary warned the US government will hit its legal borrowing limit on Thursday and could default in the summer, unless Congress acts to increase it. Republicans controlling the House have said they won’t cooperate unless government spending is cut, ensuring this is going to turn into a big fight at some point.Here’s what else has happened today so far:
      Joe Biden doesn’t trust his Secret Service detail, according to a new book about his presidency.
      The top House Republican government watchdog is trying to link his investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings with the inquiry into classified documents found at the president’s properties.
      Special counsel Jack Smith wants to talk to two people hired by Trump’s attorneys to look for any secret materials in his possession.
      The US government will hit the legal limit on how much debt it can carry on 19 January, but it should have enough money to operate until at least early June, Treasury secretary Janet Yellen said Friday.“I am writing to inform you that beginning on Thursday, January 19, 2023, the outstanding debt of the United States is projected to reach the statutory limit. Once the limit is reached, Treasury will need to start taking certain extraordinary measures to prevent the United States from defaulting on its obligations,” the secretary wrote in a letter to Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy.“While Treasury is not currently able to provide an estimate of how long extraordinary measures will enable us to continue to pay the government’s obligations, it is unlikely that cash and extraordinary measures will be exhausted before early June.”Republicans in the House have signaled they won’t agree to increase the debt ceiling unless the Biden administration and its Democratic allies in Congress agree to reduce spending, though it remains unclear what areas of the budget the GOP wants to cut. Raising the borrowing limit is one of the few pieces of leverage House Republicans have over the Democrats, but the strategy is not without risks. A failure to increase the ceiling could lead to the United States defaulting on its debt for the first time in its history, likely with serious consequences for the economy.The Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee is attempting to make two alleged scandals into one: the investigation of classified materials found at Joe Biden’s properties, and their inquiry into his son Hunter Biden’s business activities.The committee’s chair James Comer has sent the White House a new demand for information about whether Hunter had access to the garage at Joe Biden’s Delaware residence where it was revealed yesterday some classified material was found:🚨 @RepJamesComer presses the White House about classified docs stashed at Biden’s Wilmington home.We have docs revealing this address appeared on Hunter’s driver’s license as recently as 2018, the same time he was cutting deals with foreign adversaries.Time for answers. pic.twitter.com/663qG3REm4— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) January 13, 2023
      Even before Biden took office, Republicans have been trying to find evidence of corruption in Hunter Biden’s business dealings, and of his father’s involvement. They have had mixed results in doing that, but this week’s revelations that classified materials were found at Biden’s residence and an office he once used in Washington DC have given them new material to attack his administration. Yesterday, the justice department appointed a special counsel to look into the matter.The trial of members of the Proud Boys militia group over their involvement in the January 6 insurrection is continuing in Washington DC, today with testimony from a Capitol police officer.Thomas Loyd’s testimony contains fresh reminders of the violence that day, as Politico reports:Radio transmissions show Capiotl Police leaders pleading with officers to get off the inaugural stage scaffolding, worried it was going to collapse. “If they’re going to lock the capitol down, we can’t be up here when they breach,” someone yells.— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 13, 2023
      “They’re coming and we can’t stop them from breaching,” someone else says on the radio, as police were overwhelmed near the lower west terrace. There were repeated concerns about lack of “hard gear” for officers to defend themselves.— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 13, 2023
      Joe Biden doesn’t trust his Secret Service detail, fearing that some of them remain loyal to Donald Trump, Vox reports, citing a new book about his presidency.“The Fight of His Life” by Chris Whipple chronicles the past two years of Biden’s presidency from a positive perspective, according to Vox, and in particular shows the degree to which he loathes his predecessor. Biden, for instance, believes the White House’s Resolute desk was “tainted” by Trump’s use and unsuccessfully asked to swap it out for one used by Democratic icon Franklin D Roosevelt.When it comes to the Secret Service, he minds what he says around them, believing that agents harbor sympathies for the former president. He also thinks they lied about an incident where his dog Major bit an agent. Reached by Vox, the White House wouldn’t comment directly on the book’s content. More

    • 163 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump to ramp up efforts to secure 2024 Republican nomination after slow start

      by

      Trump to ramp up efforts to secure 2024 Republican nomination after slow startEvents aim at giving ex-president a narrative reset after being criticized for his ‘low energy’ and inactivity, sources say Donald Trump is scheduled to venture out of his Mar-a-Lago resort and conduct a swing of presidential campaign events later this month, ramping up efforts to secure the Republican nomination after facing hefty criticism around the slow start to his 2024 White House bid, according to sources familiar with the matter.The former US president is expected to travel to a number of early voting states for the Republican nomination – the specific states have not been finalized – around the final weekend of January, the sources said, where he is slated to announce his state level teams.The move comes after a slow start to the campaign and an announcement speech at Mar-a-Lago that has been widely panned as “low energy” and inactive in terms of events, further knocking Trump’s political image after key Senate candidates he endorsed in November’s midterms faced embarrassing defeats.That has apparently given enough confidence for a host of Republicans to prepare their own White House runs and though Trump says he believes a wide field will be beneficial, he seems set to face possible candidates including Florida governor Ron DeSantis and ex-cabinet officials like Nikki Haley.Trump’s quick blitz of travel on his private plane is aimed at giving him something of a narrative reset, the sources said, as well as conveying a sense of swagger and the insurgency feel of his 2016 presidential campaign that he has told advisers in recent weeks he is determined to recapture.The campaign has otherwise planned for Trump to gradually increase the number of political events this year, while it first spends time building out the wider political operation with the aim of starting to peak in activity at the start of election year.The idea, the sources said, is to do the less glamorous but operationally necessary groundwork now, when Trump remains the only declared candidate for the presidency, to build as large of a head start as possible for when DeSantis or others formally enter the 2024 fray.In the weeks since Trump announced his candidacy at Mar-a-Lago last November, the campaign appears to have spent the majority of its time building its fund-raising operation based off small-donor lists that his political action committees have amassed since 2016.Trump has historically had among the best lists in politics and the team has started to transfer the rich data of names, email address, phone numbers and contributions histories over to the campaign.The snag has been that the lists are technically owned by his Pacs, and the campaign has needed to find workarounds to access the data; for instance, Trump has raised money through another Pac that shares proceeds between an entity like Trump’s Save America Pac and the 2024 campaign.The campaign has also focused on expanding the pool of potential donors, one source familiar with the matter said. In recent weeks, it has stepped up efforts to identify moderate Republican voters who have supported Trump politically but have not made contributions for possible ad targeting.Trump has endorsed this strategy of completing the groundwork while he remains the only declared candidate for 2024, people close to the campaign said, and has largely shrugged off his initial anger at having the launch derided as “low energy” after a disappointing midterms for the GOP.Still, Trump has remained attuned to criticism that the campaign had a slow start and appears to have taken steps to make the leadership team for his latest bid for the White House similar to the 2016 team, which featured a group of core aides and advisers.The campaign is being helmed by Susie Wiles, the top political adviser to Trump for the past two years who helped him win Florida in his previous two presidential bids, and Chris LaCivita, a veteran strategist and former political director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.Both Wiles and LaCivita are considered seasoned political operatives who know how to run successful campaigns but Wiles in particular is expected to be an asset for 2024 as Florida governor Ron DeSantis considers a presidential run, given she previously worked as a top adviser for DeSantis.The group of top aides also includes former White House political director Brian Jack, former Trump 2016 campaign rapid response director Steven Cheung serving as the senior adviser for communications, Justin Caporale who helped create some of the most memorable Trump rallies in the past, and Trump’s in-house counsel Boris Epshteyn.But even as Trump assembles what Republican operatives consider the gold standard for a presidential campaign team, whether he heeds their advice over the long term remains an issue.The former president invariably turns to informal advisers on all topics and over the objections of his professional team, particularly when he finds people who might be willing to affirm his own ideas and impulses, or find him convenient exits to otherwise uncomfortable realities.To be sure, part of the reason for Trump’s early 2024 campaign announcement was his own eagerness to begin a new campaign. But it was also a result of advice that declaring his candidacy might make the justice department less inclined to pursue criminal investigations or indictments against him.That theory did not pan out, and the 2024 campaign launch led the Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel whose prosecutors have in fact been even more aggressive and escalatory than before Trump announced his third bid for the White House, the Guardian has previously reported.The legal blowback underscores how Trump at times has demonstrated a remarkable ability for self-sabotage, such as when he was waived off taking a meeting with the disgraced rapper Kanye West but did it anyway, and ended up also having dinner with white supremacist Nick Fuentes.Advisers have also wrestled with Trump’s impulses for airing grievances about the 2020 election, even when the topic was shown to be a loser in the midterm elections. But even at his campaign launch, Trump could not help himself, and discussed it at length in his speech.TopicsDonald TrumpUS elections 2024US politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

    • 188 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      White House pledges to cooperate with special counsel over classified documents – as it happened

      by

      Here’s the Guardian’s David Smith on what little we know about the reports that emerged yesterday of a second batch of classified materials found somewhere linked to Joe Biden, and how it compares to what was found at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort:Joe Biden was facing fresh scrutiny over his handling of government secrets on Wednesday after a second batch of classified materials was reportedly found at a location linked to him.The White House was already on the defensive after revelations that classified documents were discovered last November in an office used by Biden after he served as US vice-president. On Tuesday he said he was “surprised to learn” of their existence.Then came a report from the NBC News network, followed by other media outlets, that said the president’s aides had found another set of classified documents at a separate location. The classification level, number and precise location of the material was not immediately clear, NBC News added.Biden under scrutiny as second batch of classified documents reportedly foundRead moreAttorney general Merrick Garland appointed former US attorney Robert Hur as special counsel to handle the inquiry into classified material found at Joe Biden’s home and former office. That means there are now two special counsels looking into the conduct of American presidents, the other being Jack Smith, who is overseeing the investigation of former president Donald Trump for the government secrets found at Mar-a-Lago, the January 6 insurrection and the broader plot to overturn the 2020 election. The decisions of Hur and Smith could have major consequences for American politics in the months to come.Here’s what else happened today:
      House Republicans said they’d mount their own investigation of the classified files found at the president’s properties.
      The House Democratic leader called on George Santos to resign for lying about his qualifications. Speaker Kevin McCarthy says the chamber’s ethics body will handle the complaints against the Republican lawmaker.
      Inflation is on the decline in the United States, according to government data released today.
      Hunter Biden has issues that are more significant than Democrats would like to admit, but may add up to less than Republicans believe, the New York Times reports.
      The daily sparring match is ongoing in the White House briefing room, as press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre parries questions from reporters wanting to know more about the classified documents inquiry.As the Guardian’s David Smith reports, Jean-Pierre wouldn’t get into whether Joe Biden would consent to an interview with investigators:Asked if Biden is willing to be interviewed by federal investigators, Jean-Pierre replies: “I’m just not going to get into hypotheticals… The president has said he takes classified documents and information very seriously.”— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) January 12, 2023
      But she said the president does not know what was in the documents:Jean-Pierre on Biden: “He was surprised that the records were found. He does not know what was in them. That hasn’t changed.”— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) January 12, 2023
      And didn’t have much more to say besides that:Jean-Pierre: “I’m not going to get into the decision that was made by the Attorney General… This is a president who believes in the independence of the justice department.”— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) January 12, 2023
      Here’s more from Richard Luscombe on what we know about Robert Hur, the just-appointed special counsel tasked with getting to the bottom of how classified documents ended up in Joe Biden’s home and former office:Robert Hur, appointed on Thursday as special counsel in the case of Joe Biden’s retention of classified documents while out of office, is according to his LinkedIn profile a “seasoned trial lawyer, former supreme court law clerk and former US attorney … with decades of experience in government and in private practice”.An appointee of Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, the 50-year-old was US attorney for Maryland from 2018 to 2021 before becoming a partner at Gibson Dunn, a Washington law firm specializing in white-collar “enforcement, investigations and litigation”.Andrew McCabe, a former FBI deputy director turned CNN law enforcement analyst, said Hur was a “well-informed, industrious, hard-working guy”.Robert Hur: special counsel in Biden documents case was Trump appointeeRead moreA top Republican government watchdog in Congress announced he would open an investigation into the classified documents found at Joe Biden’s home and former office.“With or without a special counsel, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee will investigate President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents and the Swamp’s efforts to hide this information from the American people,” House oversight committee chair James Comer said in a statement.“The National Archives and Records Administration, the White House, and the Department of Justice were aware of the classified documents stashed in a closet at the Penn Biden Center before the election, and now we’ve learned classified documents kept in President Biden’s garage were found in December. There are many questions about why the Biden Administration kept this matter a secret from the public, who had access to the office and the residence, and what information is contained in these classified documents. Republicans will push for transparency, accountability, and answers for the American people.”Comer is leading the House GOP’s investigations of the Biden administration. Yesterday, he demanded records from the Treasury related to the president’s son Hunter Biden and other family members, as well as the testimony of former Twitter executives involved in the response to the publication of stories related to Hunter’s laptop in 2020.This is what George Santos’s days are like in the Capitol.He walks out of his office to a mob of reporters all wanting to know the same thing: will he resign after admitting to making up big parts of his resume? Yesterday, he said, he would not, but today, he caused some confusion by saying he’d do so if 142 people requested it. ABC News caught the moment:Rep Santos tells reporters “If 142 people ask for me to resign, I’ll resign.” pic.twitter.com/Q4jBHFUTVh— Lalee Ibssa (@LaleeIbssa) January 12, 2023
      According to NBC News, he appeared later in the day on Trump confidante Steve Bannon’s podcast to clarify that he would resign at the request of the 142,000 people who voted for him in the Republican’s New York district.House speaker Kevin McCarthy would consider releasing more surveillance footage from the January 6 assault on the US Capitol, despite the objections of police and the justice department, Politico reports.“I think the American public should actually see all what happened instead of a report that’s written for a political basis,” the Republican House leader said at his press conference today.Some footage has already been made public as part of court cases or the January 6 committee’s investigation, but much of the 14,000 hours of footage recorded by surveillance cameras that day remains held by Congress, Politico says. Both the justice department and Capitol police have objected to past efforts to release more of the video, saying it could help plan another attack.There are now two special counsels investigating two American presidents – one current, one former – related to the discovery of classified documents in their possession. The Guardian’s Richard Luscombe takes a look at what kind of trouble Joe Biden and Donald Trump could be in:The discovery of documents from the Biden-Obama administration in at least two locations linked to Joe Biden has been greeted with dismay by Democrats and glee by Republicans, given the extensive legal troubles that Donald Trump faces for taking classified papers to his Florida resort.Republicans believe the incident shows that Biden has committed the same transgression as the former president, and argue that the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago and subsequent investigation were politically motivated point-scoring.But Democrats insist the two incidents are different legally, while acknowledging that they present a political problem for Biden that allows Republicans to go on the offensive.Classified documents: how do the Trump and Biden cases differ?Read moreThe Biden administration says it will cooperate with special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into the classified documents found at the president’s Delaware home and at a former office in Washington DC:Statement from the White House on continued cooperation with the Justice Department and the Special Counsel: pic.twitter.com/pVS46b2KII— Ian Sams (@IanSams46) January 12, 2023
      Special counsel Robert Hur has released a statement following his appointment by attorney general Merrick Garland.“I will conduct the assigned investigation with fair, impartial, and dispassionate judgment. I intend to follow the facts swiftly and thoroughly, without fear or favor, and will honor the trust placed in me to perform this service,” Hur said.Merrick Garland closed his speech with a few words of support for Robert Hur.“I am confident that Mr Hur will carry out his responsibility in an even-handed and urgent matter, and in accordance with the highest traditions of this department,” he said.He ignored a question from a reporter about whether he’d spoken with Biden about the investigation.In his brief speech, Merrick Garland gave a timeline of how the document discovery unfolded behind the scenes.He confirmed that last November, he ask John Lausch, the Trump-appointed US attorney for the northern district of Illinois, to look into whether the materials found in an office formerly used by Biden in Washington DC warranted the appointment of a special counsel.The following month, a personal lawyer for Biden informed Lausch that more classified items were found in Biden’s garage at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, Garland said. These were turned over to the FBI. Garland also noted that Lausch was informed this morning by Biden’s attorney that another classified document was found at the president’s Wilmington home.Last week, Lausch informed Garland that he believed the matter warranted such an appointment, but he was unable to fill the role himself. Garland chose Robert Hur, another Trump appointee who stepped down as US attorney for Maryland after Biden took office, for the role.“I strongly believe that the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity,” Garland said. “But under the regulations, the extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter.”Merrick Garland named the special counsel as Robert Hur, who served as US attorney for Maryland from 2018 to 2021.He was nominated to that role by Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.Attorney general Merrick Garland has announced the appointment of a special counsel to handle the inquiry into classified documents found at Joe Biden’s properties.Follow this blog for more.Oliver Milman reports on a key issue occupying Washington this week…Joe Biden has ruled out any ban of gas stoves in the US, following a furious backlash from Republicans to suggestions they could be phased out due to their contribution to indoor air pollution linked to childhood asthma and other conditions.Biden “does not support banning gas stoves”, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said on Wednesday. Jean-Pierre added that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the federal agency responsible for consumer safety, “is not banning gas stoves. I just want to be very clear on that.”The president’s intervention follows the possibility of a ban raised by Richard Trumka Jr, a CPSC commissioner, who called gas stoves a “hidden hazard” and said any option restricting their ongoing sale was “on the table”. In December, Trumka said that “we need to be talking about regulating gas stoves, whether that’s drastically improving emissions or banning gas stoves entirely”.Gas stoves have become a target for public health advocates, as well as climate campaigners, due to their leakage even when turned off of pollutants such as carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. The biggest concern is over their emission of nitrogen dioxide, which can trigger cardiovascular problems and cause the inflammation of airways.Read on…Biden rules out gas-stove ban after Republican backlashRead moreHere’s a thought-provoking lunchtime, pre-DoJ presser read from Trevor Timm, executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, about Joe Biden’s classified-document problem, how it compares to Donald Trump’s retention of such papers and why the Espionage Act itself is the problem…With Joe Biden now embroiled in his own classified documents controversy, partisan commentators will surely have a field day playing the tired old game of “no, you endangered national security.” Instead, I’d like to focus on the real issues: the overly broad and often-abused Espionage Act and the massive, draconian secrecy system that does far more harm than good in the United States.This should be yet another wake up call that both the classification system and the Espionage Act need a dramatic overhaul. The question is — as more secret documents are found at a second Biden location and Donald Trump’s special prosecutor continues to work — will anyone listen?Now, before someone accuses me of “both side-ing” the separate Trump and Biden scandals here: no, they are not the same. Trump had mountains of secret documents he purposefully absconded with that he both refused to give back and arguably lied to authorities about. Whereas it seems Biden’s team actually alerted the authorities that the president had them in his office and is fully cooperating in their return.But here’s the thing: that doesn’t mean Biden didn’t potentially violate the Espionage Act – at least according to some legal experts.That’s because the Espionage Act is incredibly broad and spares no one.Read on…Joe Biden may have broken the Espionage Act. It’s so broad that you may have, too | Trevor TimmRead moreA growing number of Republicans are calling for George Santos to resign, though as yet party leaders have not moved against the newly elected congressman whose resumé has been shown to be largely fictional and whose campaign finances are the subject of formal complaints.Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the House, had stern words for Santos and Republican leaders when he spoke to reporters earlier:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}He’s a complete and total fraud. He lied to the voters of the third congressional district in New York. He deceived and connived his way into Congress, and is now the responsibility of House Republicans to do something about it.
      “This is not a partisan issue, but it is an issue that Republicans need to handle. Clean up your house. You can start with George Santos.”Six New York Republicans have called for Santos to quit. Santos has said he will not.Of a move earlier this week by two New York Democrats, Daniel Goldman and Ritchie Torres, to hand-deliver to Santos their request for an investigation of his campaign finances, Jeffries said: “I was well-aware of their decision to do so.“But any matters before the ethics committee are before the ethics committee, and should be resolved by members of the ethics committee.”Kevin McCarthy would seem – up to a point – to agree. The Republican House speaker told reporters today: “What I find is that voters have elected George Santos. If there is a concern he will go through ethics. If there is something that is found it will be dealt with in that manner. But they [voters] have a voice in this process.”Read on:More Republicans call for George Santos to resign over fictional resuméRead moreAttorney general Merrick Garland has a public address planned for 1.15pm eastern time after a second batch of classified materials was found at Joe Biden’s house in Delaware. Garland may indirectly respond to calls from Republicans to appoint a special prosecutor to handle the matter, as he did for the government secrets found at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Follow this blog for the latest from his press conference as it happens.Here’s what else has happened so far today:
      The House Democratic leader has called on George Santos to resign for lying about his qualifications. Speaker Kevin McCarthy says the chamber’s ethics body will handle his case.
      Inflation is on the decline in the United States, according to government data released today.
      Hunter Biden has issues that are more significant than Democrats would like to admit, but may add up to less than Republicans believe, the New York Times reports.
      The trial of five members of the Proud Boys militia group has started today in Washington DC, Politico reports. The group is facing seditious conspiracy charges related to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol:NOW: The Proud Boys seditious conspiracy jury is in the courtroom and being sworn in. DOJ opening arguments should begin momentarily.— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 12, 2023
      MCCULLOUGH starts with reciting history of peaceful transfer of power”On Jan. 6, 2021, these men — Enrique Tariro, Ethan Nordean, Joe Biggs, Zacahry Rehl and Dominic Pezzola — sought to change that history.”“These men did not stand back. They did not stand by. They mobilized”— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 12, 2023
      In November, the founder of the Oath Keepers, another militia group involved in the insurrection, was found guilty of the same charge by a federal jury, along with a co-defendant.Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes found guilty of seditious conspiracyRead more More

    • 138 Shares119 Views

      in US Politics

      Wisconsin Republican who bragged about low turnout faces calls to resign

      by

      Wisconsin Republican who bragged about low turnout faces calls to resignRobert Spindell, who sits on state election commission, told party members to be ‘proud’ of low voting figures in Democratic areas A top Republican election official in Wisconsin is facing calls to resign from his role after boasting about lower turnout last year in Black and Hispanic areas of Milwaukee.Republican says party ‘will never lose another election’ in Wisconsin if he winsRead moreRobert Spindell is one of three GOP appointees on the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), the six-member bipartisan body that oversees elections in the state. He is also the chair of the Republican party in the fourth congressional district, which includes Milwaukee. After last year’s election, he sent an email to fellow Republicans touting the party’s “well thought out multi-faceted plan” that resulted in a drop in voter turnout in the city, which is home to a majority of Wisconsin’s Black population.“We can be especially proud of the City of Milwaukee (80.2% Dem Vote) casting 37,000 less votes than cast in the 2018 election with the major reduction happening in the overwhelming Black and Hispanic areas,” he wrote in an email, according to Urban Milwaukee, which first published portions of the message.The GOP efforts included “Biting Black Radio Negative Commercials”, aimed at Democrats and opening Republican offices in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, according to the email. “Promoting the Republican ‘Cares’ Message; pointing out the many flaws of the Democrat Candidates; coupled with a Lack of Interest, persuaded many voters not to vote,” he wrote.In a different email, provided to the Associated Press, Spindell also attributed the turnout drop to strong Republican candidates and the difficulty Democrats had in connecting with Black voters.“The Democratic candidates were unable to obtain – even though they really tried hard – the votes they needed, expected and demanded from the Black Community,” he wrote. “There is still a great deal of much more concentrated work we need to do in the Black and Hispanic Communities by continuing to show how the Democratic Elected Officials and Candidates are not watching out for the livelihoods of the people who live in these areas and the Republicans can.”Wisconsin is one of the most politically competitive states in America, and the high-stakes battle over voting access that has roiled the state for years. Over the last decade, Republicans enacted new voter ID requirements and distorted the boundaries of electoral districts to cement their power. The state has a Democratic governor, but Republican control over the state legislature is virtually guaranteed because of gerrymandering.Mark Thomsen, a Democrat who serves on the elections commission with Spindell tweeted on Thursday that he should resign. “My fellow commissioner Bob Spindell has shown he cannot be fair and should resign from the WEC.”Thank you for pointing out the obvious @badachie My fellow commissioner Bob Spindell has shown he cannot be fair and should resign from the WEC.@BobSpindell— Mark Thomsen (@MarkThomsenWI) January 11, 2023
      Devin Remiker, the executive director of the Wisconsin Democratic party, also called in Spindell to resign and said the comments were “repugnant” and called on him to resign.Spindell did not respond to an emailed request for comment. He has said he will not resign. “The last thing I want to do is suppress votes,” he told the AP.Spindell’s comments amount to “saying the quiet part out loud”, Black Leaders Organizing Communities (Bloc), a Milwaukee group that works on voter engagement said in a statement. “It is incredibly racist to brag about lowering Black and Brown turnout, it is also unacceptable to have these comments and views held by an election official,” the group said in a statement. It urged Devin LeMahieu, the Republican leader in the Wisconsin senate, to rescind Spindell’s appointment to the body.Spindell is also under fire for his role serving as one of 10 fake GOP electors in Wisconsin after the 2020 election. The justice department is investigating that scheme across the country. He is also a named defendant in a civil lawsuit seeking damages for that effort.TopicsWisconsinRepublicansUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

    • 138 Shares129 Views

      in US Politics

      More Republicans call for George Santos to resign over fictional résumé

      by

      More Republicans call for George Santos to resign over fictional résuméNewly elected New York congressman insists he will not step down despite lies about background and education being exposed Republican members of Congress have joined state party officials in calling for the New York representative George Santos to resign, heaping more pressure on the disgraced politician who won election in November with a largely fictional biography.In Santos’s district, reactions to brazen lies remain mixed: ‘I might let him slide’Read moreAnthony D’Esposito, who represents New York’s fourth congressional district, neighbouring Santos in the third, said on Wednesday Santos had lost the faith of voters and did “not have the ability” to represent them, the New York Times reported.Santos, whose lies about his family background, education and work history were exposed by the Times, has insisted he will not resign, despite a slew of investigations and a complaint to the Federal Election Committee over his campaign finances.D’Esposito told reporters he would actively encourage “other representatives in the House of Representatives to join me in rejecting” Santos.He was joined in short order by three other first-term Republican congressmen from New York, the Times said. Two more weighed in on Thursday.The three were Nick LaLota, who like Santos and D’Esposito represents parts of Long Island; Nick Langworthy, the New York party chair who represents part of the upstate southern tier; and Brandon Williams, from a district near Syracuse.LaLota was particularly scathing, according to Axios.“I definitely share their sentiments,” he said of state party officials’ calls for Santos to give up his seat. “What he’s done is disgraceful, dishonorable and unworthy of the office. I think he should resign.”Williams tweeted a statement.“As more revelations become public, I concur with the Nassau Republicans’ decision to request George Santos’ resignation,” he wrote.“The constituents in NY-3 elected Representative Santos in part due to his biographical exaggerations and apparent deceptions. He must resign.”On Thursday morning, CNN’s chief congressional reporter, Manu Raju, tweeted that he had spoken with two more Republican New Yorkers, Marcus Molinaro and Mike Lawler, who concurred with their fellow congressmen.“There’s no way I believe [Santos] can fully fulfill his responsibilities,” Molinaro was quoted as saying.Santos has admitted “embellishing” his résumé, including lying about his college record – he did not attend Baruch and New York University – and saying a “poor choice of words” created the impression he worked for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.He has claimed a tragic link to the Pulse nightclub shooting and said the attacks on New York on 11 September 2001 “claimed my mother’s life”. His mother died in 2016.He has claimed to have Jewish roots and to be descended from Holocaust survivors. He has claimed to be part Black, but while voting for Kevin McCarthy to be House speaker last week, he appeared to flash a “white power” sign.He is under investigation in New York and in Brazil, in the latter case over the use of a stolen checkbook.On Thursday, Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the House and another New Yorker, had stern words for Republican leaders.Santos, Jeffries said, was “a complete and total fraud. He lied to the voters of the third congressional district in New York. He deceived and connived his way into Congress, and is now the responsibility of House Republicans to do something about it.“This is not a partisan issue, but it is an issue that Republicans need to handle. Clean up your house. You can start with George Santos.”Earlier this week, two New York Democrats, Daniel Goldman and Ritchie Torres, hand-delivered to Santos their request for an investigation of his campaign finances.Jeffries said: “I was well aware of their decision to do so. But any matters before the ethics committee … should be resolved by members of the ethics committee.”Kevin McCarthy, the Republican House speaker, was also asked about Santos on Thursday. He told reporters: “What I find is that voters have elected George Santos. If there is a concern he will go through ethics. If there is something that is found it will be dealt with in that manner. But they [voters] have a voice in this process.”Santos remains defiant – even after being disowned by his own district Republican party.On Wednesday, Joseph Cairo, chair of the Nassau county Republican committee, criticized Santos for running a campaign of “deceit, lies and fabrication”.“He’s disgraced the House of Representatives, and we do not consider him one of our congresspeople,” Cairo told reporters. “Today, on behalf of the Nassau county Republican committee, I am calling for his immediate resignation.”Cairo even said Santos did not just claim to have attended colleges he did not attend, but claimed to have been “a star on the Baruch volleyball team and that they won the league championship”.In response, Santos tweeted: “I was elected to serve the people of the New York third district not the party and politicians, I remain committed to doing that and regret to hear that local officials refuse to work with my office to deliver results to keep our community safe and lower the cost of living.“I will NOT resign!”TopicsRepublicansGeorge SantosUS politicsNew YorknewsReuse this content More

    • 88 Shares149 Views

      in US Politics

      Republican-controlled House pushes for new abortion restrictions

      by

      Republican-controlled House pushes for new abortion restrictionsBills not expected to advance in Senate but underscore Republican majority’s legislative priorities ahead of 2024 election The Republican-led House pressed ahead on Wednesday with a pair of proposals that would impose new limits on abortion, despite warning signs that the issue had galvanized the opposition and dashed their hopes of a thundering victory in last year’s midterms.The bills, which are not expected to advance in the Democratic-controlled Senate, are among the first moves made by Republicans’ new, narrow House majority and intended to underscore their legislative priorities ahead of the 2024 elections.House’s Republican majority gets to work with two abortion measures – liveRead moreOne Republican abortion measure under consideration would condemn attacks on pregnancy crisis-centers, while the second would compel medical providers to care for an infant who survives an attempted abortion – an occurrence that is exceedingly rare.“I am proud that Republicans are following through on the promises that we made to the American people,” the majority leader, Steve Scalise, the second highest ranking House Republican and a staunch anti-abortion advocate, told reporters this week. “All life is sacred and must be protected.”Anti-abortion groups have long pushed so-called “born alive” legislation similar to the version under consideration in the House, which could carry a prison sentence of up to five years for medical workers.Critics, including medical professionals, say such measures are based on distortions and misinformation about what is often an extremely painful and often unwanted decision to end a pregnancy. Abortions after the point of viability, which is defined as about 23 weeks, are extremely uncommon, according to federal and state data. In the rare instances they do happen, they often involve serious fetal abnormalities or risks to the life of the mother.Moreover, opponents say newborns are already protected by a bipartisan law passed in 2002, which established full legal rights for infants born at any stage of development.Public support for abortion rights has climbed since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe. In November, voters punished Republicans for building the conservative supreme court that last year overturned Roe v Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion. Despite rampant inflation and Joe Biden’s low approval ratings, Democrats defied expectations in November, keeping control of the Senate and limiting Republican gains in the House, where their razor-thin majority is already proving to be a challenge.Voters also rejected several efforts to limit abortion access. In Montana, a traditionally conservative western state, voters rejected an initiative related to infants born after attempted abortions that is similar to the one House Republicans were poised to pass on Wednesday.Yet abortion remains a top concern among conservative Republicans, and especially anti-abortion activists alarmed by the backlash to the supreme court decision. Both measures are expected to enjoy the full support of the Republican conference, while Democrats are urging their caucus to vote against them. Yet the early focus on abortion has given some Republicans in swing districts cause for concern.“We learned nothing from the midterms if this is how we’re going to operate in the first week. Millions of women across the board were angry over overturning Roe v Wade,” congresswoman Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.Noting that the bills had little chance of becoming law, she called the move “tone-deaf” and said Republicans were merely “paying lip-service to life”.“If you want to make a difference and reduce the number of abortions with a Democratic-controlled Senate, the No 1 issue we should be working on is access to birth control,” she said.Republicans’ also advanced a non-binding resolution condemning violence against “pro-life facilities, groups and churches” which drew Democratic opposition because of its failure to address the threats targeting women’s health care clinics and abortion providers.“By ignoring these acts of violence, Republicans are sending a very dangerous message that will only embolden the extremists behind them,” said Congresswoman Diana DeGette, a Democrat of Colorado and co-chair of the House Pro-Choice Caucus.Speaking on the House floor ahead of the vote, DeGette urged Republicans instead to adopt a counter-resolution that would condemn acts of political violence in any form.Republicans, arguing in favor of the resolution, said anti-abortion groups had become targets of political violence since the supreme court’s June decision, and denounced the department of justice’s response to these attacks as inadequate.“This resolution is very simple and its language is clear,” said Congressman Jim Jordan, a Republican of Ohio, who has been critical of what he says is evidence of political bias within federal law enforcement against antiabortion groups. “It also calls upon the Biden administration to take action now to bring the perpetrators to justice. Who could be opposed to that?”In a statement, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, affirmed that the bills were “doomed” in the Senate, where he said Democrats would act as a “firewall against this extreme anti-choice Maga Republican agenda”.“Just months after a historically disappointing midterm election, the Maga Republican-controlled House is putting on full display their truly extreme views on women’s health with legislation that does not have the support of the American people,” Schumer said ahead of the House vote. “Once again, Republicans are proving how dangerously out of touch they are with mainstream America.”Reproductive rights activists appeared to be on the verge of another political victory this week in Virginia, where abortion was at the center of a closely watched state senate race. Democrats were projected to have flipped the seat, a result that would probably prevent the state legislature from enacting a 15-week abortion ban backed by the state’s conservative governor, Glenn Youngkin.TopicsUS politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

    • 175 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      House’s Republican majority gets to work with two abortion measures – as it happened

      by

      The first days of a new Congress are typically when the party in charge lays out its priority, and today, it’s the turn of abortion foes.The two measures the Republican-led House will consider don’t amount to the sort of draconian laws some abortion foes would like to see passed, and supporters of the procedure fear. They are not, for instance, the nationwide abortion ban Republican senator Lindsey Graham proposed last year.Rather, they target more niche aspects and consequences of the procedure. One is a resolution condemning attacks on churches, groups and facilities that work against abortion. The other is the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which is intended to protect the rights of babies born after surviving an attempted abortion. Abortion rights advocate argue their rights are already secured by a 2002 law, and just last November, voters in Montana rejected a similar measure that was on their ballots.Democrats are telling their members to vote against both measures.Republicans in the House are set to pass two measures concerning abortion later this afternoon, one a resolution condemning violence against opponents of the procedure, the other a bill meant to protect the life of babies who survive abortions. Democrats oppose both. Meanwhile, GOP officials in New York have called on George Santos to resign from Congress after he admitted to lying about his qualifications, but he says he’s not going anywhere.Here’s what else happened today:
      Domestic flights resumed across the United States after all departures were briefly halted this morning by a systems failure at the Federal Aviation Administration.
      The top Republican investigator in the House demanded documents from the Treasury related to Hunter Biden and other members of the president’s family. He also wants testimony from three former Twitter executives involved in the platform’s temporary banning of the New York Post after it reported on the discovery of Biden’s laptop.
      Republicans tried their best to get voters riled up over gas cookstoves.
      Joe Biden’s aides found more classified documents at a location he once used, though further details are scarce.
      Virginia’s Republican governor is unlikely to be able to ban abortion after 15 weeks, after Democrats flipped a state Senate seat in a special election.
      Another batch of classified documents has turned up at a location used by Joe Biden that is separate from the Washington DC office where the first cache was discovered in November, NBC News reports.The president has faced scrutiny ever since reports emerged this week that approximately 10 papers bearing government classification markings and dating to his time as vice-president were found at an office once used by Biden. According to NBC, the latest cache was found by aides to the president, though details of the documents’ content and how many were found were not available. NBC reports the documents were discovered after the president ordered a search for any other classified documents that may have been taken from the White House when he departed in January 2017 at the end of Barack Obama’s presidency.At 4 pm, the House is scheduled to vote on a GOP-proposed resolution and bill concerning abortion.But first, the Democrats will try to attach an amendment to the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which is meant to protect babies who survive the procedure. The proposed amendment would “prohibit government restrictions on abortion care,” according to Democratic whip Katherine Clark’s office. “This would include any limits to providers’ ability to prescribe certain drugs, offer abortion counseling services via telemedicine, or provide emergency abortion services when a delay would risk the health of the mother.” Republicans are certain to vote this proposal down.The chamber will then consider both the born-alive act and the resolution condemning violence against anti-abortion groups. Clark’s office is encouraging Democrats to vote against both, saying the resolution does not contain “any acknowledgment of violent attacks on providers or facilities that offer abortion care,” and the born alive bill “unnecessarily restates current law requiring a doctor to provide the same standard of medical care for an infant born during an abortion procedure as they would for any other infant.”Republicans have the numbers to pass both, but at this stage, the effort is more about signaling priorities to GOP voters than changing the law. When the born-alive act arrives in the Senate, it is unlikely to be considered by its Democratic leadership.The calls for George Santos to resign have spread from county level Republicans to the state party, Politico reports:INBOX: NY state GOP backs call for Rep. George Santos’ resignation pic.twitter.com/fIr0uSzDJX— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 11, 2023
      White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked at her daily briefing about the classified documents discovered at an office formerly used by Joe Biden, and she said… not much.The Guardian’s David Smith was in the White House briefing room to experience the illuminating exchange up close:Jean-Pierre on Biden’s classified documents: “He was surprised to find any records were there. He doesn’t know what’s in them… As he said, his team is cooperating fully with the review… We are committed to doing the right thing.”— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) January 11, 2023
      Jean-Pierre: “This is under review by the Department of Justice. I’m not going to go beyond what the president shared yesterday.”— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) January 11, 2023
      Reporters are wont to press, and press they did, at which point it grew a little heated:Ed O’Keefe of CBS News notes that Biden acknowledged that he would make mistakes and ask for help fixing them. Jean-Pierre replies: “We don’t need to have this kind of confrontation. Ask your question… You don’t need to be contentious here with me, Ed.”— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) January 11, 2023
      Asked if Biden is looking into whether there might be more classified documents elsewhere, Jean-Pierre replies: “I’m just not going to speak to this. I’m going to let the process continue.”— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) January 11, 2023
      Joe Biden has joined Donald Trump in the club of current or former American presidents who may be in trouble over classified documents. But as the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports, the two men are not facing identical peril:Donald Trump’s retention of documents marked classified at his Mar-a-Lago resort has aggravating factors that might support his criminal prosecution unlike the discovery of some documents also marked classified stored at Joe Biden’s former institute from his time as vice-president, legal experts said.The US justice department has clear criteria for prosecuting people who intentionally mishandle highly sensitive government documents, and the facts of the Trump documents case appear to satisfy more elements than in the Biden documents case.Broadly, the Department of Justice has typically pursued prosecutions when cases have involved a combination of four factors: wilful mishandling of classified information, vast quantities of classified information to support an inference of misconduct, disloyalty to the United States and obstruction.The criminal investigation into Trump touches on at least two of those elements – obstruction, where a person conceals documents with an intent to impede a government agency, and the volume of classified materials at Mar-a-Lago – unlike the Biden case, which appears to touch on none.In the case of the classified documents, it’s more serious for Trump than BidenRead moreWhile they may have momentum in the US House, anti-abortion groups continue to lose ground at the state level, with a special election in Virginia bringing the latest setback for their movement.Last night, Democrat Aaron Rouse claimed victory in the race for a vacant seat in Virginia’s state Senate, which, if confirmed, would expand the party’s margins in the chamber. It would also mean Republican governor Glenn Youngkin would not have the votes he needs to pass a proposed ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which he unveiled last month.Abortion rights have faired well at ballot boxes ever since the supreme court last year overturned Roe v Wade. In the November midterms, voters rejected new limits on abortion or expanded access in every state where it was on the ballot.Earlier this morning in the Capitol, George Santos kept it to the point with a quick “I will not,” when asked if he would resign.He was a bit more loquacious on Twitter this afternoon: I was elected to serve the people of #NY03 not the party & politicians, I remain committed to doing that and regret to hear that local officials refuse to work with my office to deliver results to keep our community safe and lower the cost of living.I will NOT resign!— George Santos (@Santos4Congress) January 11, 2023
      Ahead of the introduction of two anti-abortion measures in the newly Republican-controlled House, one House Republican said her party was “tone deaf” on the issue.Nancy Mace, of South Carolina, told NBC on Tuesday: “We have been tone deaf on this issue since the time that Roe was overturned.”Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling which protected abortion rights, was overturned by the ruling in Dobbs v Jackson which the conservative-dominated supreme court handed down last June.Extensive evidence, including Republicans’ disappointing performance in the midterm elections in November, suggests the ruling was drastically out of step with public support for abortion rights, which runs around 60%.“We buried our heads in the sand,” Mace said. “We didn’t have any policy alternatives. We were not compassionate to both sides of the aisle on this argument.”Mace also told NBC her party was “paying lip service to the pro-life movement” and said anti-abortion measures introduced in this Congress were “never going to pass the Senate. It’s never going to get to the president’s desk to be signed into law.“If you want to make a difference and reduce the number of abortions with a Democrat-controlled Senate, the No1 issue we should be working on is access to birth control.”Some pertinent lunchtime reading from our columnist Jill Filipovic, as House Republicans seek to advance their agenda in the chamber they newly control…The Republican party didn’t exactly start 2023 hot out of the gate.Despite a new House majority, the Republican members of Congress spent their first few days in office in an embarrassing protracted squabble over the speakership. Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, who has spent the last few years assisting members of the extremist conspiracy-mongering Trumpian Republican radicals in their rise to power, found himself predictably on the receiving end of the extremist conspiracy-mongers, who wanted one of their own in charge as well as a series of rule changes. After largely capitulating to his party’s lunatic fringe, McCarthy squeaked through on the 15th vote.Now, he holds the gavel, but it’s clear he doesn’t hold his party’s confidence, and that he’s not a leader in any meaningful sense of the word. If he can’t even get his troops lined up to vote for him, how is he going to get his clearly out-of-control party in line to support even tougher votes?Which raises the question of what the party can reasonably accomplish in the House this term.Read on…Expect the Republican House to be just like the speaker debacle: pure chaosRead moreSome good news for Joe Biden – according to polling by the Economist and YouGov, his approval rating is net positive, his best such rating since July 2021:Biden’s net job approval is now positive in @TheEconomist’s polling with @YouGovAmerica: https://t.co/IVjBfI5OAY- This includes a +2 reading (47% approve to 45% disapprove) in this week’s poll- 45% approve of his handling of the economy- Biden’s best numbers since July 2021 pic.twitter.com/5ASvKye83h— G. Elliott Morris (@gelliottmorris) January 11, 2023
      More from the Economist and YouGov, under the title “Weekly Insight”:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Two years on from the mob attack at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, a new poll from the Economist and YouGov finds that most Americans still disapprove of the insurrectionists who stormed the building. The poll finds that 64% of adults disapprove of “the Trump supporters taking over the Capitol building” on January 6, including 52% who say they “strongly” disapprove. Meanwhile 20% of adults – mostly respondents who also said they voted for Mr Trump in 2020 – say they approve. By 45% to 37%, a plurality of adults believe Mr Trump urged his supporters to engage in violence that day.So that’s reassuring. Ish.Republicans in the House are set to pass two measures concerning abortion this afternoon, one a resolution condemning violence against opponents of the procedure, the other a bill meant to protect the life of babies who survive abortions. Democrats oppose both. Meanwhile, GOP officials in New York have called on George Santos to resign from Congress after he admitted to lying about his qualifications, but he says he’s not going anywhere.Here’s what else has happened today thus far:
      Domestic flights are resuming across the United States after all departures were briefly halted this morning by a systems failure at the Federal Aviation Administration.
      The top Republican investigator in the House is demanding documents from the Treasury related to Hunter Biden and other members of the president’s family. He also wants testimony from three former Twitter executives involved in the platform’s temporary banning of the New York Post after it reported on the discovery of Biden’s laptop.
      Republicans are trying their best to get voters riled up over gas cookstoves.
      Here’s newly elected congressman Anthony D’Esposito becoming the first Republican lawmaker to call for George Santos’s resignation:Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) becomes the first GOP member of Congress to call on Rep. George Santos (R-NY) to resign from the House. pic.twitter.com/VArdpuwLor— The Recount (@therecount) January 11, 2023
      Like Santos, D’Esposito is a Republican who represents a Democratic-leaning suburban New York City district.Here’s Joseph Cairo, chair of the Republican party in New York’s Nassau county, calling for George Santos’ resignation:Nassau County Republican Chair Joseph Cairo calls for Rep. George Santos’ (R-NY) “immediate” resignation:“He’s not welcome here at Republican headquarters … He’s disgraced the House of Representatives, and we do not consider him one of our Congress people.” pic.twitter.com/fgK4t1lzC0— The Recount (@therecount) January 11, 2023
      Santos’s congressional district includes part of the county in suburban New York City, and his victory in last November’s midterm election flipped it from Democratic to Republican representation.ABC News caught up with Santos at the Capitol, who said he has no plans to step down:🚨Rep. George Santos tells @rachelvscott and me he will NOT resign pic.twitter.com/vBMvotq3Y0— Lalee Ibssa (@LaleeIbssa) January 11, 2023
      There’s no shortage of business on the House’s agenda, but several Republicans are doing all they can to make the gas cookstove kerfuffle last.Consider this, from Missouri’s Mark Alford: pic.twitter.com/ePzSGT9woQ— Mark Alford 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@markalfordkc) January 11, 2023
      Texas’s Ronny Jackson, the former White House doctor to Barack Obama and Donald Trump, is promoting a website…:If gas stoves were really a health hazard, would “doctor” Jill Biden be using one?? I think not.https://t.co/2DQMkP2ZIy pic.twitter.com/QSH3A72Ifj— Ronny Jackson (@RonnyJacksonTX) January 11, 2023
      … and employing the all-caps approach:187 MILLION Americans have gas stoves in their homes, and it will cost a FORTUNE to replace them. There’s no “science” behind this. It’s just another excuse Biden is trying to use to put MORE GOVERNMENT in your lives. HANDS OFF OUR STOVES!!https://t.co/2DQMkP2ZIy pic.twitter.com/xPxM5KwbKa— Ronny Jackson (@RonnyJacksonTX) January 11, 2023 More