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      Newt Gingrich warns Republicans that Joe Biden is winning the fight

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      Newt Gingrich warns Republicans that Joe Biden is winning the fightFormer speaker who led charge against Bill Clinton raises eyebrows with column heralding Democrat’s first-term success Republicans must “quit underestimating” Joe Biden, the former US House speaker Newt Gingrich said, because the president is winning the fight.Biden tells Democrats to revise primary calendar to boost Black voters’ voicesRead moreWriting on his own website, Gingrich said: “Conservatives’ hostility to the Biden administration on our terms tends to blind us to just how effective Biden has been on his terms.“… We dislike Biden so much, we pettily focus on his speaking difficulties, sometimes strange behavior, clear lapses of memory and other personal flaws. Our aversion to him and his policies makes us underestimate him and the Democrats.”Gingrich’s words pleased the White House – Ron Klain, Joe Biden’s chief of staff, tweeted a link with the message: “You don’t have to take my word for it, any more.”The column also caused consternation among Washington commentators, in part because, as Axios put it, “a leader of the GOP’s ’90s-era New Right [is] arguing that Joe Biden is not just a winner – but a role model”.Gingrich has been a fierce partisan warrior ever since he entered Congress, in 1979, then as speaker led the charge against Bill Clinton, culminating in a failed attempt to remove the Democrat via impeachment. In the conclusion to his column, he used the term “Defeat Big Government Socialism” – a version of the title of his latest book.Gingrich told Axios: “I was thinking about football and the clarity of winning and losing. It hit me that, measured by his goals, Biden has been much more successful than we have been willing to credit.”Biden recently turned 80. He has said he will use the Christmas holiday to decide if he will run for re-election.Gingrich, 79, compared Biden to Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, the latter previously the oldest president ever in office, having been 77 when he left the White House in 1989.Reagan and Eisenhower, Gingrich said, “preferred to be underestimated” and “wanted people to think of them as pleasant – but not dangerous”, and thereby enjoyed great success.“Biden has achieved something similar,” Gingrich continued, by taking “an amazingly narrow four-vote majority in the US House and a 50-50 tie in the Senate and turn[ing] it into trillions of dollars in spending – and a series of radical bills”.Gingrich also accused Biden of pursuing “a strategy of polarizing Americans against Donald Trump supporters” – more than 950 of whom have been charged over the deadly Capitol riot they staged after the former president’s defeat in 2020 – and “grossly exaggerat[ing] the threat to abortion rights”, after the supreme court removed the right this year.But Gingrich also gave Biden credit on the chief foreign policy challenge of his first term in power. The president, the former speaker said, had “carefully and cautiously waged war in Ukraine with no American troops … US weapons and financial aid [helping] cripple what most thought would be an easy victory for Russian president Vladimir Putin”.The result, Gingrich said, was that last month “the Biden team had one of the best first-term off-year elections in history. They were not repudiated.”Gingrich advised Republicans “to look much more deeply at what worked and what did not work in 2020 and 2022”, as they prepare to face “almost inevitable second-time Democrat presidential nominee Biden”.According to Axios, Biden is thought likely to run. Friends of the first couple, the site said, “think only two things could stop him: health or Jill”, the first lady.TopicsJoe BidenBiden administrationNewt GingrichDemocratsRepublicansUS midterm elections 2022US elections 2024newsReuse this content More

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      Matt Gaetz friend handed 11-year prison term in US sex trafficking case

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      Matt Gaetz friend handed 11-year prison term in US sex trafficking case Former tax collector Joel Greenberg apologizes in court for ‘shameful conduct’ after pleading guilty to six federal crimes A former Florida tax collector whose arrest led to a federal investigation into the US congressman Matt Gaetz has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for sex trafficking of a minor and other offenses.Joel Greenberg, former tax collector for Seminole county, was accused of stalking a political opponent, public corruption, making fake licenses and scheming to submit false claims for a federal loan.He pleaded guilty to six federal crimes, including identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official. Prosecutors said he paid at least one girl to have sex with him and other men.Trump had dinner with two avowed antisemites. Let’s call this what it is | Francine ProseRead more“Nothing justifies my actions. My conduct is so shameful. I feel remorse for what I’ve done,” Greenberg said on Thursday before US district judge Gregory Presnell sentenced him in an Orlando courtroom.Greenberg also directly apologized to the residents of Seminole county, his family and a schoolteacher he smeared when the educator decided to run against him.Presnell said that in his 22 years as a federal judge, he had never experienced a case like Greenberg’s and “a defendant who has committed so many different types of crimes in such a short period of time”.Greenberg’s attorney had asked for leniency, saying that his client had assisted in investigations of 24 people, including eight for sex crimes. Defense attorney Fritz Scheller said that Greenberg’s cooperation had led to four federal indictments, and that he believed additional ones were expected in the coming month.Greenberg’s cooperation could play a role in an investigation into his friend Gaetz over whether he paid a 17-year-old girl for sex. Gaetz has denied the allegations and previously said they were part of an extortion plot. No charges have been brought against the Republican congressman, who represents a large part of the Florida Panhandle.Greenberg has been linked to other Florida politicians and their associates. So far, none has been implicated in the sex trafficking investigation.After the hearing, Scheller called Greenberg’s sentence just.Scheller said he was shocked that Greenberg’s cooperation had not yet resulted in more prosecutions and that Greenberg had been in communication with federal investigators in the past three months. When asked whether he thought others would be charged with sex crimes, the defense attorney said, “I do.”“There should be, and I think part of my frustration is that I have a pretty good insight into the evidence in this case,” Scheller said.TopicsFloridaUS politicsUS CongressRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

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      Biden ‘working with Macron’ to hold Russia accountable for ‘brutal’ Ukraine war – as it happened

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      Joe Biden says he’s working with French president Emmanuel Macron to hold Russia accountable for its aggression in Ukraine.Speaking at the White House following their summit this morning, Biden says the two leaders “talked a lot” about the war:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We’re continuing to strong support people in Ukraine as they defend their homes and their families, and their sovereignty and territorial integrity, against Russian aggression, which is incredibly brutal.
      We’re going to stand together against this brutality. And we’ll continue the strong support for the Ukrainian people as they defend their homes and their families, nurseries their hospitals, their sovereignty, their integrity, against Russian aggression.
      [Russian president Vladimir] Putin thinks that he can crush the will of all those oppose his imperial ambitions by attacking civilian infrastructures and Ukraine, choking off energy to Europe to drive up prices, exasperating food through the food crisis, that’s hurting very vulnerable people, not just in Ukraine but around the world.
      He’s not going to succeed. President Macron and I have resolved that we’re going to continue working together to hold Russia accountable for their actions and to mitigate the global impacts of Putin’s war.We’re closing our US politics blog now after a day dominated by French president Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to Washington DC, the first of Joe Biden’s presidency. Thanks for joining us.Several significant talking points emerged:
      Joe Biden says he’ll speak with Vladimir Putin, but only if the Russian president is serious about wanting to end the war in Ukraine.
      Biden and Macron appeared at a joint press conference to condemn the brutality of Putin’s aggression against civilians in Ukraine, and promised to jointly hold Russia accountable.
      The US president acknowledged there were “glitches” in the climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act that European countries, including France, say disadvantages their companies. Biden says they can be “tweaked” to favor allies.
      We’ve also been following these developments:
      A national rail strike has been averted after the US Senate voted 80-15 to impose a labor deal on workers. The bill heads for Biden’s signature after the House of Representatives approved the measure on Wednesday.
      Congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina, an ally of outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House majority leader Steny Hoyer, was elected assistant leader of the Democratic House caucus.
      Please join us again tomorrow.Meanwhile, take a read of my colleague David Smith’s report on Biden’s meeting with Macron, and how it has helped heal the rift in their relationship:Biden and Macron seek to heal trade rift and present united front on UkraineRead moreThe Senate has voted 80-15 to implement a labor deal and avert a national rail strike on 9 December that the Biden administration and business leaders warned would have had devastating consequences for the nation’s economy.The Senate passed a bill to bind rail companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached between the rail companies and union leaders in September. That settlement had been rejected by some of the 12 unions involved, creating the possibility of a strike next week.BREAKING: The Senate votes to avert a rail strike that the Biden administration and business leaders warned would have had devastating consequences for the nation’s economy. https://t.co/EOFNdq2lud— The Associated Press (@AP) December 1, 2022
      The Senate vote came one day after the House voted to impose the agreement. The measure now goes to Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.“I’m very glad that the two sides got together to avoid a shutdown, which would have been devastating for the American people, to the American economy and so many workers across the country,” Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer told reporters.The Senate is moving quickly to hold a series of votes Thursday afternoon that could stave off a national rail strike that the Biden administration and business leaders say would greatly damage the economy.Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer announced a deal to hold three votes related to the rail negotiations, the Associated Press reports, with the final vote on whether to bind rail companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached in September.That settlement had been rejected by some of the 12 unions involved, creating the possibility of a strike. The House has already voted to impose that agreement anyway.“I’m very glad that the two sides got together to avoid a shutdown, which would have been devastating for the American people, to the American economy and so many workers across the country,” Schumer told reporters.Joe Biden who had urged Congress to intervene earlier this week, defended the contract that four of the unions had rejected, noting the wage increases it contains.“I negotiated a contract no one else could negotiate,” Biden said at a news briefing with French President Emmanuel Macron. “What was negotiated was so much better than anything they ever had.”Read more:US Senate votes on bill to avoid railroad strike and give sick leave to workersRead moreThe US Supreme Court will hear Joe Biden’s bid to reinstate his plan to cancel billions of dollars in student debt, after it was blocked by a lower court in a challenge by six states that accused his administration of exceeding its authority.According to Reuters, justices deferred taking action on Biden’s request to immediately lift an injunction issued on 14 November by the St Louis-based 8th US circuit court of appeals, but said in a brief order that they would hear oral arguments in their session from late February to early March.The challenge to Biden policy was brought by Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina. Five are Republican governed while the other, Kansas, has a Republican attorney general.The policy faces another hurdle as the administration contests a separate 10 November ruling by a federal judge in Texas deeming the program unlawful. A federal appeals court on Wednesday declined to put that decision on hold, and the administration said it plans to ask the Supreme Court to intervene.Read more:US student debt relief: borrowers in limbo as lawsuits halt cancellation programRead moreLawyers for the Trump Organization were admonished in court Thursday for showing jurors in the company’s criminal tax fraud trial portions of witness testimony that had not been entered into evidence.Judge Juan Manuel Merchan halted closing arguments in the case in New York after prosecutors objected to Trump Org attorney Susan Necheles presenting in a slideshow testimony that the jurors hadn’t previously heard, the Associated Press reports.The trial continued after a half-hour break and admonishment for Necheles from Merchan.Necheles insisted she had not intended to show any testimony that had been stricken. “Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for that error,” she told jurors at the resumption.The transcript kerfuffle was, the AP says, just the latest dust-up involving Trump Organization lawyers. Earlier this week, Merchan scolded the defense for submitting hundreds of pages of court papers just before midnight Sunday.The company, through which Donald Trump manages his real estate holdings and other ventures, is accused of helping some top executives avoid paying income taxes on company-paid perks, such as apartments and luxury cars.The tax fraud case is the only trial to arise from the Manhattan district attorney’s three-year investigation of Trump and his business practices.One significant moment of note towards the end of the Biden-Macron press briefing, the US president says he’s willing to talk with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, but only if he’s willing to discuss ending his country’s war in Ukraine.Biden repeated his often-heard line that he has no plans to contact Putin, whom he and French president Emmanuel Macron condemned unequivocally today for the brutality of the Russian assault on Ukraine’s civilian population.But he said he would be open to listening to what Putin had to say:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}There’s one way for this war to end rationally, Putin to pull out of Ukraine, and it appears he’s not going to do that. It’s sick, what he’s doing.
      I’ll choose my words very carefully. I’m prepared to speak with Mr Putin, if in fact there is an interest in him deciding he’s looking for a way to end the war. He hasn’t done that yet.
      If that’s the case, in consultation with my French and my Nato friends, I’ll be happy to sit down with Putin to see what he has in mind.
      I’m prepared, if he’s willing to talk, to find out what he’s willing to do, but I’ll only do it in consultation with my Nato allies. I’m not going to do it on my own.Answering questions from the media, Joe Biden conceded there were “glitches” in clean energy provisions in the inflation reduction act that angered many in Europe, but said there were “tweaks we can make” to satisfy allies.Macron was among the European leaders who felt the $430bn US law would put European companies at a disadvantage.“The United States makes no apology, and I make no apologies since I wrote the legislation you’re talking about,” Biden told the reporter.“But there are occasions when you write a massive piece of legislation for the largest investment in climate change in all of history, there’s obviously going to be glitches in it, and a need to reconcile changes.”Macron has made clear that he and other European leaders are concerned about incentives in the law that favor American-made climate technology, including electric vehicles.Biden added: “There’s tweaks we can make that can fundamentally make it easier for European countries to participate… that is something to be worked out. It was never intended when I wrote the legislation to exclude folks who were cooperating with us.”Read more:The Guardian view on Biden’s ‘Buy America’ strategy: a wake-up call for Europe | EditorialRead moreIn his remarks, Emmanuel Macron spoke at length about the importance of supporting Ukraine, its military and people with financial support and other humanitarian aid, and praised the US commitment to that cause.He reiterated that it would be Ukraine’s decision when it was ready to pursue peace:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We always agreed to help Ukraine resist, never giving up on anything in the United Nations charter, to prevent any risk of escalation of this conflict, and make sure that when the time comes, on the basis of conditions to be set by Ukrainians themselves, help build peace.In an apparent dig at Donald Trump, and the former president’s decision – rescinded by Biden – to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, Macron praised Biden’s commitment to environmental issues..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The fact that you’re back, on major international challenges such as health and climate, it is really a new deal.
      We’ve been resisting for a number of years, and now we’re being able to engage with you. I would like to say how much has been achieved by both our countries.Macron said France and the US would be exploring ways to assist developing countries financially:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We want to promote solutions on climate change, but we also very acknowledge a number of initiatives in this respect. It is about finding a new financing means for the most fragile countries, emerging countries to support them on both development and climate change.Biden said he and Macron were also committed to “reaching our goal of ending the Aids epidemic by 2030”:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We just have to make finishing this fight a top priority for not just the two of us, but for other nations as well. And that’s why I’m proud to take the baton from you President Macron, and host the global fund’s seventh replenishment conference this year.
      Building on France’s strong record of leadership, we raised $15.7bn with the US and France as the two largest contributors to the global fund. And it’s good to save millions, literally millions of lives.Biden said if he went on to list all the ways the US and France were in partnership, “we’d be here until dinnertime”, so he closed his prepared remarks with praise for a student exchange program with France, and told Macron the floor was his…Joe Biden praised France for taking in 100,000 Ukraine refugees, and commended efforts by Europe to move away from energy dependence on Russia.“I welcome the progress we’ve already made in many of these issues through the US-EU task force on energy security, and today we also committed to deepening cooperation between France and the United States on civil nuclear energy through our bilateral clean energy partnership,” Biden said.Other topics discussed, the US president said, included the Middle East, where Biden recognized Macron for helping to broker a maritime boundaries deal between Israel and Lebanon; human rights abuses; and efforts “to ensure that Iran does not, emphasize does not, ever acquire nuclear weapons”.He said the two countries were committed to working together for peace in the Middle East and Afghanistan:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Our partnership also extends to cooperating in outer space, coordinating defense of our space activities, to strengthening scientific efforts to monitor Earth’s changing climate.
      And we had a detailed discussion of inflation reduction. We did talk about [how] the US and and Europe share the goal of making bold investments in clean energy.Joe Biden says he’s working with French president Emmanuel Macron to hold Russia accountable for its aggression in Ukraine.Speaking at the White House following their summit this morning, Biden says the two leaders “talked a lot” about the war:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We’re continuing to strong support people in Ukraine as they defend their homes and their families, and their sovereignty and territorial integrity, against Russian aggression, which is incredibly brutal.
      We’re going to stand together against this brutality. And we’ll continue the strong support for the Ukrainian people as they defend their homes and their families, nurseries their hospitals, their sovereignty, their integrity, against Russian aggression.
      [Russian president Vladimir] Putin thinks that he can crush the will of all those oppose his imperial ambitions by attacking civilian infrastructures and Ukraine, choking off energy to Europe to drive up prices, exasperating food through the food crisis, that’s hurting very vulnerable people, not just in Ukraine but around the world.
      He’s not going to succeed. President Macron and I have resolved that we’re going to continue working together to hold Russia accountable for their actions and to mitigate the global impacts of Putin’s war.A joint press conference by Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron is under way at the White House following bilateral talks at the White House this morning.The US president says he and his French counterpart had “a great conversation”.“France is one of our strongest partners and most capable allies. We share the same values,” Biden says.He says the leaders “talked a lot” about the war in Ukraine. We’ll bring you their comments as they speak.The US economy would face a severe economic shock if senators don’t pass legislation this week to avert a freight rail workers’ strike, Democrats in the chamber are hearing today, according to the Associated Press.Senators held a closed-door session with Biden administration officials Thursday, following a House vote last night approving a deal to avert such a nationwide strike. They are being urged to quickly vote the deal through.But the Senate often works at a slower pace, and the timing of final votes on the measure is unclear.Labor secretary Marty Walsh and transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg met the Democratic senators to underscore that rail companies will begin shuttering operations well before a potential strike begins on 9 December.“If there’s even the possibility of a shutdown, about five days in advance of that, the railroads would have to begin winding down their acceptance of things like hazardous material shipments that you can’t allow to get stranded,” Buttigieg said in a CNBC interview.“So my goal today speaking to the senators will be to make sure they understand the implications of a shutdown or even getting close to a shutdown,” he said. “It wouldn’t just bring down our rail system. It would really shut down our economy.”Railways say that halting rail service would cause a devastating $2bn-per-day hit to the economy. A freight rail strike also would have a big potential impact on passenger rail, with Amtrak and many commuter railroads relying on tracks owned by the freight railroads.The rail companies and 12 unions have been negotiating. The Biden administration helped broker deals between the railroads and union leaders in September, but four of the unions rejected the deals. Eight others approved five-year deals and are getting back pay for their workers for the 24% raises that are retroactive to 2020.On Monday, with the strike looming, Biden called on Congress to impose the tentative agreement reached in September. Read more:US House approves bill to block rail strike and mandate paid sick leaveRead moreWhile we wait for Biden and Macron to appear, here’s Hamilton Nolan on a domestic issue facing the US president: his move to stop a rail strike and how many in the union movement have been left feeling betrayed …It’s sad, really. Beleaguered US labor unions thought that they had finally found a true friend. In Joe Biden, they had a man who was the most pro-union president in my lifetime – a low bar to clear, but something. Yet this week we found out that when the fight got difficult, Biden had the same thing to say to working people that his Democratic predecessors have said for decades: “You’ll never get anything you want if I don’t win; but once I win, I can’t do the things you need, because then I wouldn’t be able to win again.”At the same time that thousands of union members are fanned out across the state of Georgia knocking on doors to get Raphael Warnock elected and solidify Democratic control of the Senate – to save the working class, of course! – Biden decided to sell out workers in the single biggest labor battle of his administration. Rather than allowing the nation’s railroad workers to exercise their right to strike, he used his power to intervene and force them to accept a deal that a majority of those workers found to be unacceptable.His ability to do this rests on the vagaries of the Railway Labor Act, but all you really need to understand is this: nobody forced him to side with the railroad companies over the workers. That was a choice. The White House just weighed the political damage it anticipated from Republicans screaming about a Christmas-season rail strike against the fact that railroad workers have inhuman working conditions and would need to go on strike to change that, and chose the easier political route. This was a “Which side are you on?” moment, and Biden made his position clear.Read on:Biden just knifed labor unions in the back. They shouldn’t forget it | Hamilton NolanRead more More

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      Democrats get Trump tax returns as Republican House takeover looms

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      Democrats get Trump tax returns as Republican House takeover loomsDemocratic-led House ways and means committee does not have long to decide what to do, with majority to change in January A US House of Representatives committee has a little more than a month to decide what to do with six years of Donald Trump’s tax returns, after a years-long court fight ended late on Wednesday with the records handed to Congress.Milo Yiannopoulos claims he set up Fuentes dinner ‘to make Trump’s life miserable’Read moreThe supreme court ordered the release of Trump’s returns to the House ways and means committee last week, rejecting the former president’s plea. Trump has consistently accused the Democratic-led committee of being politically motivated.The committee had been seeking returns spanning 2015 through 2020, which it says it needs in order to establish whether the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is properly auditing presidential returns, and whether new legislation is needed.A treasury spokesperson said the department “has complied with last week’s court decision”, though it declined to say if the committee had accessed the documents.According to CNN, Democrats on the panel were due to be briefed on Thursday on the “legal ramifications on section of the tax law that … Neal used to request Trump’s tax returns” but would not immediately see the returns.Neal “declined to say if he has seen” the returns himself, CNN said. Asked if Democrats would release the returns to the public, Neal said: “The next step is to have a meeting of the Democratic caucus.”The House will soon slip from Democratic hands, although the party has retained control of the Senate. On Wednesday an aide told Reuters that Democrats on the Senate finance committee, the counterpart to the House ways and means, were considering their options on any action relating to Trump’s tax returns.One House Republican indicated he expected the returns to become public one way or another. Tory Nehls of Texas, a member of the hard-right, Trump-supporting Freedom Caucus, tweeted: “The IRS just gave six years of Donald Trump’s tax returns to the House ways and means committee. How long until someone ‘leaks’ them?”The House committee first requested Trump’s returns in 2019. Trump, who on 15 November began his third consecutive run for the presidency, dragged the issue through the court system.It was long customary, though not required, for major party presidential candidates to release their tax records. Trump was the first such candidate in four decades not to do so.Financial and taxation practices at the Trump Organization are now under scrutiny in criminal and civil cases in New York. On Thursday, attorneys began closing arguments in the criminal tax fraud case.Earlier this month, the editorial board of the Washington Post said Trump’s records should be released because “voters should expect to know what financial conflicts of interest [candidates for president] might bring to the job.“And in Mr Trump’s case … in addition to his tax records, he should have provided a detailed accounting of his holdings and interests. His refusal to do so became glaring as [he] pressed to reform the tax code in 2017. Americans could only guess how its provisions might personally enrich the president and his family.” More

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      Garland vows to hold January 6 attackers to account after Oath Keepers conviction – live

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      The House just voted to impose a labor agreement on rail workers, averting a potential rail strike that was to start in December. Though a majority of the dozen unions have supported the agreement, four have voted against it and were prepped to strike come December.The agreement includes a pay increase, a $1,000 annual bonus and a cap on healthcare premiums.Those against the agreement have decried its lack of paid sick leave for workers. The unions argue that workers have to use vacation when calling out sick else they are penalized.With a strike looming, Joe Biden called on Congress to intervene by voting on the agreement, which was made in September. In a statement, Biden said that he is “grateful” that the House voted to avert the strike and urged the Senate to “move quickly” on getting the bill passed.“Without action this week, disruptions to our auto supply chains, our ability to move food to tables, and our ability to remove hazardous waste from gasoline refineries will begin,” Biden said. “A rail shutdown would be devastating to our economy and families across the country.”NEW: Pres. Biden urges Senate to “act urgently” after House votes to impose agreement to block rail strike, warning “a rail shutdown would be devastating to our economy and families across the country.” https://t.co/2rpGhC5vln pic.twitter.com/9DMs2wbM2g— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 30, 2022
      The chair of the Georgia Republican Party cannot share lawyers with 10 other fake electors, a judge ruled. The AP reports: .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The chair and other fake electors cannot share lawyers in matters related to a special grand jury investigation into possible illegal meddling in the 2020 election in the state.
      A special grand jury was seated earlier this year to aid the investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis into whether Republican former President Donald Trump and others committed crimes through their efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
      Willis has made clear that she is interested in the actions of 16 Republicans who signed a certificate declaring falsely that Trump had won and also declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors, even though Biden had won the state, and a slate of Democratic electors was certified. Willis has said in a court filing that she notified lawyers for those 16 people that they are targets of her investigation, meaning that they could face criminal charges.
      Eleven of those fake electors, including Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer, are represented by two lawyers who are paid by the party, Holly Pierson and Kimberly Debrow. Willis’ team in October filed a motion seeking to disqualify the two from representing all of those clients, saying it represented a conflict of interest.
      They argued that, if Pierson and Debrow continue to represent any of the 11, “there is a serious possibility of future ethical problems concerning confidentiality of information obtained in the course of their representation thus far.”
      In the clearest signal yet that Ron DeSantis is preparing a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, it was announced on Wednesday that the rightwing governor of Florida will publish a campaign-style book, mixing memoir with policy proposals.The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Renewal, will be published by Broadside Books, a conservative imprint of HarperCollins, on 28 February.The governor, his publisher said, will offer readers “a first-hand account from the blue-collar boy who grew up to take on Disney and Dr Fauci”.DeSantis has not announced a 2024 run, but he is widely reported to be considering one. His victory speech after a landslide re-election this month met with chants of “Two more years!”The cover of the governor’s book shows him smiling broadly in front of a US flag.With Donald Trump under fire over disappointing midterms results, looming indictments and a controversial dinner with a white supremacist, possible Republican opponents are rapidly coming into focus.Read more:Ron DeSantis book announcement a clear sign of presidential ambitionRead moreGarland’s remarks come after the recent appointment of Jack Smith as independent special counsel overseeing investigations into Donald Trump’s hoarding of top secret documents and involvement in the January 6 riot.From the Guardian’s prior explainer:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Smith has previously served as the chief of public integrity for the US justice department and dealt in particular with cases involving corruption, bringing cases against prominent Republicans and Democrats. In 2015 he was appointed first assistant US attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. He is a registered independent, not aligned with either of the two dominant political parties in the US.
      Since 2018 he has been the chief prosecutor for the international criminal court in The Hague, the city on the North Sea that operates as the national administrative center of the Netherlands, and there has investigated and adjudicated war crimes that took place in Kosovo, in the Balkans.Read more:Who is Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating Donald Trump?Read moreAt a press conference, Merrick Garland spoke on the justice department’s recent lawsuit against the city of Jackson, Mississippi for violating the Clean Drinking Water Act. In August, flooding caused failure of the area’s water treatment plant, leaving residents without clean drinking water for a week.The lawsuit, if won, would revoke the city’s control over its water system.The DOJ’s new department of environmental justice, which got its first appointed leader earlier this month, is in charge of the suit against the city.“Although environmental justice can happen anywhere, injustice can happen anywhere. Communities of color, Indigenous communities and low-income communities often bear the brunt,” Garland said. “We will continue to prioritize cases like this one that will have the greatest impact on communities most vulnerable to environmental harm.”​​US attorney general Merrick Garland is speaking on yesterday’s conviction of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes for creating the violent plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.Garland praised the justice department for its effort to bring a case against Rhodes and his five co-conspirators. Rhodes was found guilty of seditious conspiracy, a rare charge, by a 12-person jury.“The verdict in this case makes clear department will work tirelessly to hold accountable those responsible for crimes related to the attack on our democracy on January 6, 2021,” Garland said.In the daily White House press briefing, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is responding to heat Joe Biden is getting for pushing Congress to impose an agreement – one that multiple unions did not approve – on rail workers to avert a strike.Jean-Pierre on Republican Kevin McCarthy’s border invitation: “He’s been there, he’s been to the border. Since he took office the president has been taking action to fix our immigration system and secure the border.”— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) November 30, 2022
      Some rail workers are saying Biden “blew it” by giving Congress the greenlight to intervene, though Biden has been emphasizing the economic impact a rail strike would have on the country.The House voted to give rail workers seven days of paid sick leave, a key point of tension in contract negotiations between unions and rail companies.The vote was close – 221 to 207 – and it is unclear whether the provision can get enough support in the Senate.The vote was separate from a vote the House made earlier today to impose an agreement on rail workers that includes a pay raise, annual bonus and cap on healthcare premiums. The agreement, made in September, does not include paid sick leave. The House ultimately took up the agreement to avoid a rail strike in December.Union members had drawn out contract negotiations over paid sick leave, arguing that workers were subject to unfair conditions, having to use vacation days when sick or face penalties.In the Senate, Bernie Sanders is leading the fight for the seven days of sick leave. At least 12 Democrats have joined him in their support for the measure so far, though it is unclear whether Democrats can get an extra 10 Republican votes to get the measure passed.12 Dem senators, led by Sanders, call for Senate to adopt House leave resolution. “Guaranteeing 7 paid sick days to rail workers would only cost the industry $321 million a year – less than 2 percent of their total profits.”— Arthur Delaney 🇺🇸 (@ArthurDelaneyHP) November 30, 2022
      Maya Yang reports:Two men convicted of fraud for targeting Black voters with phony robocalls before the 2020 election must spend 500 hours registering voters in low-income neighborhoods of Washington DC, an Ohio judge ruled.The calls told people they could be arrested or forced to receive vaccinations based on information they submitted in votes by mail.Jacob Wohl, 24, of Irvine, California, and Jack Burkman, 56, of Arlington, Virginia – rightwing operatives with a history of targeting Democrats and other public figures – pleaded guilty last month, each to a single felony count of telecommunications fraud.The judge in Cuyahoga county common pleas court, John Sutula, also fined each man $2,500 and placed them on two years’ probation. They were ordered to spend six months in home confinement, beginning at 8pm each day.“I think it’s a despicable thing that you guys have done,” Sutula said, comparing their actions to violence used to suppress Black voters in the south in the 1960s.Wohl and Burkman were indicted in October 2020, accused of arranging for a voice broadcast service to make about 85,000 robocalls to predominantly Black neighborhoods in Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois in the run-up to the 2020 general election.Prosecutors said the pair were responsible for 3,500 calls to residents of Cleveland and East Cleveland.Rightwing election robocall fraudsters must spend 500 hours registering votersRead moreThe House just voted to impose a labor agreement on rail workers, averting a potential rail strike that was to start in December. Though a majority of the dozen unions have supported the agreement, four have voted against it and were prepped to strike come December.The agreement includes a pay increase, a $1,000 annual bonus and a cap on healthcare premiums.Those against the agreement have decried its lack of paid sick leave for workers. The unions argue that workers have to use vacation when calling out sick else they are penalized.With a strike looming, Joe Biden called on Congress to intervene by voting on the agreement, which was made in September. In a statement, Biden said that he is “grateful” that the House voted to avert the strike and urged the Senate to “move quickly” on getting the bill passed.“Without action this week, disruptions to our auto supply chains, our ability to move food to tables, and our ability to remove hazardous waste from gasoline refineries will begin,” Biden said. “A rail shutdown would be devastating to our economy and families across the country.”NEW: Pres. Biden urges Senate to “act urgently” after House votes to impose agreement to block rail strike, warning “a rail shutdown would be devastating to our economy and families across the country.” https://t.co/2rpGhC5vln pic.twitter.com/9DMs2wbM2g— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 30, 2022
      Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell suggested the Fed will continue to raise interest rates, though at a slower pace if inflation continues to go down.Powell said that he believes the labor market needs to cool to get the inflation rate down. The Fed has set a goal of 2% inflation. In October, the 12-month inflation rate was at 7.7% – the lowest it’s been since the beginning of the year. “The time for moderating the pace of rate increases may come as soon as the December meeting,” Powell said. He indicated that a raise of half a percentage point would be suitable. The Fed has been aggressively raising interest rates, with four consecutive 0.75-point rate raises over the last year. Powell noted that there is still “a long way to go in restoring price stability”, including tempering wage growth to a level that would be consistent with 2% inflation and a balancing of the labor market. The Fed will set interest rates at its next meeting on December 14.Chris McGreal reports …Two former senior US diplomats have made a highly unusual call for the Biden administration to cut weapons supplies to Israel if the incoming far-right government uses them to annex Palestinian land, expel Arabs or finally kill off the diminishing possibility of a Palestinian state.Daniel Kurtzer, a former US ambassador to Israel under George W Bush, and Aaron David Miller, a US Middle East peace negotiator during several administrations, have called for what they described as an “unprecedented and controversial” break from America’s largely unconditional military and diplomatic support for Israel if “the most extreme government in the history of the state” pursues the stated aims of some of its members.The pair warn that these could include “efforts to change the status of the West Bank”, in effect a warning against partial or wholesale annexation of Palestinian land to Israel. They also warned against increased use of force against Arabs in the occupied territories and Israel by incoming ministers who have espoused openly racist views, escalating settlement construction, and moves “to build infrastructure for settlers that is designed to foreclose the possibility of a two-state solution”.Full story:Biden urged to threaten Israel weapons halt over far-right concernsRead moreReuters reports the latest news on Joe Biden’s bid to avert a damaging rail strike, thus:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}A majority of the US House of Representatives has backed a bill to block a potentially crippling rail strike, but the fate of a separate proposal by lawmakers to mandate paid sick time remains uncertain.
      With voting ongoing, more than 250 members of 432 current House members had voted in favor of imposing a tentative contract deal reached in September on a dozen unions representing 115,000 workers after Biden warned of the catastrophic impact of a rail stoppage that could begin as early as 9 December. A separate vote is planned later on Wednesday on whether to require seven days of paid sick leave.Here at Guardian US, Michael Sainato reported earlier on disquiet among railroad unions:Railroad workers have expressed dismay at Joe Biden’s proposed solution to a looming strike that threatens to derail the US economy, which they say belies his image as the most pro-union president in generations.As a 9 December deadline looms for the long-running dispute between the US’s largest railway companies and their unions, Biden has called on Congress to intervene and block a strike that could cost the US economy about $2bn a day, by some estimates.The impending strike comes as the US struggles with a cost-of-living crisis driven by a 40-year high in inflation. Biden has said a railroad labor action could “devastate our economy”. On Wednesday, Congress is expected to pass legislation that will force a settlement.But union leaders are unhappy that Biden’s solution appears to be the imposition of a settlement reached in September that has been rejected by many for failing to address concerns about pay, sick days, staff shortages and time off.“Joe Biden blew it,” said Hugh Sawyer, treasurer of Railroad Workers United, a group representing workers from a variety of rail unions and carriers.“He had the opportunity to prove his labor-friendly pedigree to millions of workers by simply asking Congress for legislation to end the threat of a national strike on terms more favorable to workers. Sadly, he could not bring himself to advocate for a lousy handful of sick days. The Democrats and Republicans are both pawns of big business and the corporations.”Full story:US rail unions decry Biden’s proposal to impose settlement through CongressRead more More

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      Ron DeSantis book announcement a clear sign of presidential ambition

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      Ron DeSantis book announcement a clear sign of presidential ambitionFlorida governor expected to challenge Trump for Republican nod in 2024 will publish The Courage to Be Free in February In the clearest signal yet that Ron DeSantis is preparing a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, it was announced on Wednesday that the rightwing governor of Florida will publish a campaign-style book, mixing memoir with policy proposals.Republican Nikki Haley to decide on presidential bid over Christmas holidaysRead moreThe Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Renewal, will be published by Broadside Books, a conservative imprint of HarperCollins, on 28 February.The governor, his publisher said, will offer readers “a first-hand account from the blue-collar boy who grew up to take on Disney and Dr Fauci”.DeSantis has not announced a 2024 run, but he is widely reported to be considering one. His victory speech after a landslide re-election this month met with chants of “Two more years!”The cover of the governor’s book shows him smiling broadly in front of a US flag.With Donald Trump under fire over disappointing midterms results, looming indictments and a controversial dinner with a white supremacist, possible Republican opponents are rapidly coming into focus.Mike Pence, Trump’s vice-president, has released a campaign-focused memoir, seeking to balance appeals to Trump’s supporters with distancing himself from the violent end to Trump’s time in office.Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state, will release a book in the new year. Nikki Haley, the former UN ambassador who released a memoir in 2019, is also edging up to the starting line.Announcing DeSantis’s book, HarperCollins signaled a focus on the culture-war issues and theatrically cruel policy stunts that have propelled the governor to the front rank of potential candidates, alongside Trump in polls and sometimes ahead, prompting the former president to lash out.DeSantis clashed with Disney, a large employer in Florida, over legislation regarding the teaching of LGBTQ+ issues in schools, which was branded “don’t say gay” by critics.DeSantis’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, through which Anthony Fauci has advised two presidents, remains highly controversial. Florida has recorded nearly 83,000 deaths, third among US states in a national death toll approaching 1.1m.HarperCollins said DeSantis would “reveal” how he “accomplished more for his state” than any other “American leader”. Citing DeSantis’s graduation from Yale and Harvard, service in Iraq – as a navy lawyer – and election to Congress in 2012, the publisher said “in all these places, Ron DeSantis learned the same lesson: he didn’t want to be part of the leftist elite.”01:41“Since becoming governor of the sunshine state, he has fought – and won – battle after battle, defeating not just opposition from the political left, but a barrage of hostile media coverage,” it added.The announcement – which echoed numerous rightwing talking points on hot button social issues like Covid-19 and education – echoed DeSantis’s strident speech in Tallahassee earlier this month, after his easy win over the Democrat Charlie Crist, in which he proclaimed Florida the state “where woke goes to die”.HarperCollins also promised to “deliver something no other politician’s memoir has before: stories of victory”.That might seem to some a curious claim, given, for just one recent example, the publication just two years ago of A Promised Land, Barack Obama’s memoir of his rise to the presidency, significan legislative victories and preparations for his second presidential election win.TopicsBooksRon DeSantisUS elections 2024US politicsRepublicansFloridanewsReuse this content More

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      US Senate passes bill protecting same-sex marriage

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      US Senate passes bill protecting same-sex marriageHouse must now pass legislation as Democrats hurry to get it Biden to sign into law before Republicans take over the chamber The US Senate has passed the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation to protect same-sex unions that Democrats are hurrying to get to Joe Biden to be signed into law before Republicans take over the House next year.‘No rings, no guests’: supreme court fears spur LGBTQ ‘shotgun’ weddingsRead moreThe House must now pass the bill, a step the majority leader, Steny Hoyer, said could come as soon as Tuesday 6 December. Nearly 50 House Republicans supported the measure earlier this year. In the Senate, support from 12 Republicans was enough to override the filibuster and advance the bill to Tuesday’s majority vote, which ended 61-36.Although the Respect for Marriage Act would not codify Obergefell v Hodges, the 2015 supreme court decision which made same-sex marriage legal nationwide, it would require states to recognise all marriages that were legal when performed, including in other states. Interracial marriages would also be protected, with states required to recognise legal marriage regardless of “sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin”.Same-sex marriage has been thought under threat since June, when the conservative-dominated supreme court struck down the right to abortion. Then, the hardline justice Clarence Thomas wrote that other privacy-based rights, including same-sex marriage, could be reconsidered next.Public support for same-sex marriage is at an all-time high of around 70% but according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, if the supreme court did overturn the right, at least 29 states would be able to enforce bans.Before the vote on Tuesday, the US transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, wrote on Twitter: “Strange feeling, to see something as basic and as personal as the durability of your marriage come up for debate on the Senate floor.“But I am hopeful that they will act to protect millions of families, including ours, and appreciate all that has gone into preparing this important legislation to move forward.”After the vote, Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator from Rhode Island, said the Respect for Marriage Act would “place the right to marry out of this activist supreme court’s reach. We affirm what the American people already understand: every person deserves the freedom to marry the one they love.”James Esseks, director of the LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, pointed to the need for more work.In a statement, he said: “For the last seven years, LGBTQ+ families across the country have been able to build their lives around their right to marriage equality. The Respect for Marriage Act will go a long way to ensure an increasingly radical supreme court does not threaten this right, but LGBTQ+ rights are already under attack nationwide.“Transgender people especially have had their safety, dignity, and healthcare threatened by lawmakers across the country, including by members of this Congress. While we welcome the historic vote on this measure, members of Congress must also fight like trans lives depend on their efforts because trans lives do.”In his opinion in the abortion case, Thomas did not mention interracial marriage. The justice, who is Black, is married to the conservative activist Ginni Thomas, who is white.The Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, is white. His wife, the former transportation secretary Elaine Chao, is Asian American. McConnell has voted against the Respect for Marriage act.On Tuesday, Biden, who as vice-president famously came out in support of same-sex marriage before his boss, Barack Obama, said: “For millions of Americans, this legislation will safeguard the rights and protections to which LGBTQ+ and interracial couples and their children are entitled.“It will also ensure that, for generations to follow, LGBTQ+ youth will grow up knowing that they too can lead full, happy lives and build families of their own.”Biden thanked senators for their “bipartisan achievement” and said he “look[ed] forward to welcoming them at the White House after the House passes this legislation and sends it to my desk, where I will promptly and proudly sign it into law”.On Monday, before a test vote, the Democratic Senate leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, also praised Republicans who backed the measure, saying: “A decade ago, it would have strained all of our imaginations to envision both sides talking about protecting the rights of same-sex married couples.”Republicans argued for amendments they say won the support of religious groups that nonetheless oppose same-sex marriage, among them the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.“They see this as a step forward for religious freedom,” Thom Tillis of South Carolina told the Associated Press.Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, a Democrat and the first openly gay senator, told the AP the way some Republicans came round on the issue reminded her “of the arc of the LBGTQ+ movement to begin with, in the early days when people weren’t out and people knew gay people by myths and stereotypes”.With growing acceptance of LGBTQ+ rights, Baldwin said, “slowly laws have followed. It is history.”Associated Press contributed reportingTopicsSame-sex marriage (US)LGBTQ+ rightsUS politicsUS CongressUS SenateDemocratsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

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      Republican leaders rebuke Trump over dinner with white supremacist

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      Republican leaders rebuke Trump over dinner with white supremacistMitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy break silence over meeting and say no room in party for antisemitism or white supremacy The top two Republicans in Congress have broken their silence about Donald Trump’s dinner last week with the rightwing extremist Nick Fuentes, saying the Republican party has no place for antisemitism or white supremacy.Jewish conservatives condemn Trump for meeting antisemite Nick FuentesRead moreThe Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, and Kevin McCarthy, who may become House speaker in January, had not commented previously on the 22 November meeting.Trump began his 2024 bid for the White House on 15 November and is Republican voters’ top choice, according to polling.“There is no room in the Republican party for antisemitism or white supremacy and anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States,” McConnell told reporters on Tuesday – without mentioning Trump by name.Asked if he would support Trump should he become the party’s 2024 nominee, McConnell said: “That would apply to all of the leaders in the party who will be seeking offices.”McCarthy was pressed by reporters after White House talks with Joe Biden.“I don’t think anybody should be spending any time with Nick Fuentes,” said the House minority leader. “His views are nowhere within the Republican party or within this country itself.“Trump has said the encounter at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida was inadvertent but the meeting has drawn rare criticism from Republicans, some of whom accused Trump of empowering extremism. Tuesday’s comments were the first about the meeting by McCarthy and McConnell.Fuentes has been described as a white supremacist by the US justice department. The Anti-Defamation League said Fuentes once “jokingly denied the Holocaust and compared Jews burnt in concentration camps to cookies in an oven”.While president, Trump was broadly criticized for not explicitly condemning white nationalists whose August 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was seen as having provoked violence with counter-protesters, one of whom was killed.“You also had people that were very fine people on both sides,” Trump said.Trump’s former vice-president, Mike Pence, on Monday called for an apology for the meeting with Fuentes.“President Trump was wrong to give a white nationalist, an antisemite and a Holocaust denier a seat at the table, and I think he should apologize,” Pence told NewsNation.Fuentes attended the dinner with Ye, the musician formerly known as Kanye West, who has also drawn widespread criticism for antisemitic comments.TopicsRepublicansUS politicsDonald TrumpUS CongressnewsReuse this content More