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      January 6 panel subpoenas figures in scheme backing fake Trump electors

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      January 6 panel subpoenas figures in scheme backing fake Trump electorsHouse committee seeks to determine whether Trump White House was behind plan to send false certificates to Congress The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack on Friday issued subpoenas to lead participants in an audacious scheme to send fake Trump slates of electors to Congress.The development comes as the panel seeks to learn whether the plan was coordinated by the Trump White House.The fake certificates – which falsely declared Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election, though the states had officially declared otherwise – are significant as they appear to have been a central tenet of the former president’s effort to return himself to power.Capitol attack committee has spoken to Trump AG William Barr, chairman saysRead moreThe fake slates of electors were sent to Congress from seven contested states that were in fact won by Joe Biden. Trump and his allies might have hoped to use them as justification for having Biden’s wins in those states rejected.Congressman Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the select committee, said that he had authorized subpoenas to 14 Republicans who were listed as the chairperson and the secretary of each group of “alternate electors” in order to learn how the scheme was coordinated.The move by the select committee comes days after the deputy attorney general, Lisa Monaco, confirmed that the justice department had opened an investigation into the scheme, raising the stakes for the fake electors and any Trump White House aides who may have been involved.Thompson issued subpoenas to the two most senior Republicans who signed onto the fake certificates in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, including several prominent current and former state Republican party leaders.The subpoena targets included: Nancy Cottle, Loraine Pellegrino, David Shafer, Shawn Still, Kathy Berden, Mayra Rodriguez, Jewll Powdrell, Deborah Maestas, Michael McDonald, James DeGraffenreid, Bill Bachenberg, Lisa Patton, Andrew Hitt and Kelly Ruh.Trump’s plan to return himself to office rested on two elements: the existence, or possible existence, of alternate slates, and then-vice president Mike Pence using the ambiguity of “dueling slates” for Trump and Biden to reject those results at Biden’s certification.The effort to subvert the results of the 2020 election at the joint session of Congress on 6 January fell apart after Pence refused to abuse his ceremonial role to certify the results, and it was clear the “alternate slates” were not legitimate certificates.But in some cases, top officials, such as Republican National Committee members Berden and DeGraffenreid and former state GOP chairs Hitt and Maestas, signed the fake certificates that used official state seals and sent them to the National Archives.“The phony electors were part of the plan to create chaos on Jan. 6,” said congressman Jamie Raskin, a member of the select committee. “The fake slates were an effort to create the illusion of contested state results,” as “a pretext for unilateral rejection of electors.”The panel is seeking to examine whether the effort was coordinated by the Trump White House and whether it amounted to a crime, according to a source familiar with the investigation. The subpoenas compel the production of documents and testimony through February.TopicsUS Capitol attackUS politicsHouse of RepresentativesRepublicansDonald TrumpUS elections 2020newsReuse this content More

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      ‘Be thankful you don’t have our poison’: US pollster Frank Luntz’s warning to UK

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      Interview‘Be thankful you don’t have our poison’: US pollster Frank Luntz’s warning to UKDavid Smith in WashingtonLuntz spent years sampling opinion for Republicans before a stroke changed his outlook: ‘I’m not afraid any more, so you will hear me criticise people I never would have two years ago’ When he suffered a stroke, Frank Luntz blamed it on the anger and tension coursing through him after decades of inhaling America’s toxic political culture. The country’s best-known pollster found himself hospitalised for nearly a week with dangerously high blood pressure.Two years later, Luntz regards the experience as a turning point. “That completely changed my outlook,” he says. “The loudness of my voice has changed. The speed in which I speak is changed. I’m slower and I’m quieter and I think about what I say. It’s not that I’m trying to be careful, it’s that I really analyse stuff that comes out.”The 59-year-old, well known from countless media appearances and for running focus groups that provide an insight into America’s political psyche, has also now chosen a less partisan path. Having once worked for rightwing Republicans such as Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani, he no longer hesitates to condemn Donald Trump’s pernicious influence or fears the conservative media backlash.Attack, attack, attack: Republicans drive to make Biden the bogeymanRead more“If I didn’t die, I’m not afraid any more, so you will hear me criticise people I never would have criticised two years ago. What are they going to do to me? It can’t be any worse than what I’ve been through and, when you become more fearless, it makes life easier to navigate.”Often seen on TV as ebullient and garrulous, Luntz has felt tired all the time following the stroke. He is visibly so as he holds court with half a dozen British newspaper journalists in his downtown Washington luxury condo, a kitsch affair with faux classical columns, built-in saloon bar (“Frank’s sports bar”) and busts of presidents George Washington (wearing a mask) and Abraham Lincoln.Luntz’s motivation for this unusual gathering, it seems, is to express gratitude to Britain. He is one of those old school American conservatives who says, “I believe in the special relationship very much,” and is tickled by how the nations rhyme and how they don’t. Last year he went to the UK for a month and ended up staying nearly eight, finding an antidote to American’s poison.“I was in real trouble when I got to Britain, in real emotional trouble,” he admits. “I still haven’t fully recovered from my stroke, and what goes on in this country, I couldn’t talk about it. I got in the middle of it. Tucker Carlson [a host on Fox News] was killing me every fucking night.”Luntz, who studied British voters for a conservative thinktank, the Centre for Policy Studies, also invited UK journalists to disseminate a warning: don’t let British politics become as polarised and debased as the American system.“You still like each other, you still respect each other, you still value public debate: your democracy is still functioning,” he insists. “Ours has seized up and I don’t know how to get ours flowing again. Be thankful that you don’t have our poison … I’m very afraid of the American system being hopelessly damaged.”Doesn’t the acrimony of the post-Brexit era suggest that the UK is already heading in that direction? Not so, Luntz insists. “You all have proven that there’s still a desire for substance in politics, not just slogans and soundbites, and thank God you haven’t completely embraced American politics because your elections are of substance rather than style.“I know that you guys are critical of the UK in recent times for being too American in your elections. You’re not. We are becoming more and more superficial. You are still substantial.”Later he plays a video clip of one of his US focus groups descending into angry shouting and recriminations, a glimpse of a society that seems to be falling apart. He comments: “The worst of the worst. This is my warning to you. This is shit. This is a disaster and it will come to you if you let it happen.”During his time in Britain, Luntz met several prime ministers in quick succession: John Major (“he’s the most sensible person in the UK”), Tony Blair (“brilliant – he gets it more than anyone”), David Cameron (“still the best communicator that I’ve ever worked with”) and Boris Johnson (“the most fun: when I saw him, he spent 10 minutes just ripping me before I even got to the stuff I wanted to show him because we knew each other at Oxford”), who had not yet become embroiled in “partygate”.Ever the anglophile, Luntz does not share a view expressed by Joe Biden in 2019 that Johnson is a “physical and emotional clone” of Trump. “Boris Johnson has written more books than Donald Trump has read. Boris is the real Trump. He understands the hopes and dreams of the public. He gets the historic context. He can wax poetically about 2,000 years ago, 200 years ago and two years ago. Trump could not do that.“Trump captured the anger and the desire for revenge; that is not Boris at all. Think about it: Boris is amusing whereas Trump was vitriolic and mean; Boris is compelling whereas Trump was insulting. There’s a big difference. Boris is more likable, more approachable, more human than Trump was. Trump is more the middle finger; Boris was the kind of guy that you wanted to hang out with at the pub.”Last week Luntz was hired by the New York Times to take the temperature of 14 independent voters after Biden’s first year in the White House. They weren’t happy. “Biden does not understand the hopes and dreams of the average American,” says the messaging expert, who remains on the centre-right. “He does not empathise with them. His team is ideological rather than emotional and so he’s missing all this. It’s how people feel even more than how they think; feeling is a deeper emotion and Biden is not connecting to them at all.“Inflation is ‘transitory’? The line that I would use would be we should transitory Joe Biden right out of office, and the public would do that. Secondly, you got Kamala Harris, who comes across as inauthentic with that laugh. He picked her up and put her there, so they’re regarded as a team, and as a team they’re failing.”Biden’s approval rating is hovering in the dismal low 40s as the coronavirus pandemic drags on interminably. Luntz argues that he overpromised. “He created unrealistic expectations. He’s a very arrogant human being and very flawed and the combination of flaws and arrogance is a really unhealthy cocktail.”Wasn’t Biden supposed to be Mr Empathy? “There’s nothing about him that screams empathy. There’s everything about him that screams someone who’s already made up their mind.”A referendum on Biden looms in the midterm elections in November. Luntz agrees with the conventional wisdom that Republicans will win the House of Representatives but thinks Democrats will cling on to the Senate. He identifies six issues that will determine voters’ choices: crime, immigration, shortages, prices, education and the January 6 insurrection. “Democrats have a huge problem on five out of the six.”Prices, the cost of living, are the biggest problem. “This is the issue that’s going to kill the Democrats because it affects every single voter in every possible way every day of the year, whether it’s food or fuel, whether they’re trying to buy a house or car or something small. They know that it’s impacting them and it’s going to continue for a little while longer. Every day that it continues, you can assume that another member of Congress loses their job. It’s that big a deal.”An Atlantic magazine interview with Luntz in 2014, a year before Trump began his run for president, was prophetic about his health as a metaphor for America. He complained about a six-day headache and sleeping two or three hours at a time. Voters were “contentious and argumentative” and “didn’t listen to each other as they once had”. The article’s author, Molly Ball, wrote: “Frank Luntz is having some kind of crisis. I just can’t quite get my head around it.”Today, after the catharsis of his stroke, Luntz finds plenty of blame to go around. He casts a harsh light on the media, social media and his own younger self. In an infamous 2003 memo, for example, he advised George W Bush’s Republican party to abandon the phrase “global warming” in favour of “climate change” because it is “less frightening”. He is now an advocate of climate legislation. “I’ll take my blame for the stuff that I did 20 years ago. But I figured it out.”He touches a button and a giant painting of man walking on the moon slides up to reveal a TV screen and slideshow presentation of polling data entitled The Great Rethink. It is a study of America voters’ attitudes and disillusionment with their leaders. “The only thing we agree on is that politicians suck,” Luntz says. “If you’re American, this is a very depressing time right now.”One slide is about what people want most in life: fewer hassles, more money, no worries, better work, more choices, more time, better lifestyle, better work-life balance. Another offers some words to use (I am your voice, accountability, fact-based) and words to lose (agenda, I’m listening, transparency).Luntz argues that even in a polarised society such as America, every parent asks the same question: will my child/grandchild be happy? Perhaps rather optimistically, he urges politicians to focus on children as “the great unifier”.“If you want to bring people together, you do it over their children. You guys are divided on just about everything; this crushes that divide. This brings people together and it’s not been done before. I’m waiting for a political party or movement to capture the next generation as their focus.”Luntz, who does not think he will be in the polling business much longer, hopes politicians will consider the lessons of his “Great Rethink” presentation and rethink their own ways before democracy seizes up for good. “I want to hit them over the head with this,” he says. “I want to be able to say to them: cut it out. Just stop. Nothing is worth destroying the country – and you are this close to destroying the country.”TopicsUS politicsJoe BidenDemocratsRepublicansUS midterm elections 2022interviewsReuse this content More

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      Ukraine president Zelenskiy thanks Biden for military aid – live

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      Key events

      Show

      4.30pm EST

      16:30

      Zelenskiy speaks to Biden and thanks US for military assistance to Ukraine

      2.32pm EST

      14:32

      Harris will play ‘central role’ in supreme court nomination process, Psaki says

      1.17pm EST

      13:17

      Today so far

      1.11pm EST

      13:11

      Breyer offers optimistic outlook for America’s future as he announces retirement

      12.50pm EST

      12:50

      Biden reiterates commitment to nominating Black woman to supreme court

      12.40pm EST

      12:40

      ‘I’m here today to express the nation’s gratitude to Justice Stephen Breyer,’ Biden says

      12.29pm EST

      12:29

      Breyer confirms retirement, saying he will step down this summer

      Live feed

      Show

      Show key events only

      From

      12.50pm EST

      12:50

      Biden reiterates commitment to nominating Black woman to supreme court

      Joe Biden applauded Justice Stephen Breyer’s work on the supreme court over the past 27 years, and he pledged to nominate someone who would follow in his footsteps.
      The president also reiterated his commitment to nominating a Black woman to the supreme court, which will mark a historic first for the US.

      CSPAN
      (@cspan)
      President Biden: “The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity and that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court.” #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/M1e0IJVPWu

      January 27, 2022

      “I‘ve made no decision except one,” Biden said of his chosen nominee. “The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity, and that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States supreme court.”
      Biden said it was “long overdue” to have a Black woman on the high court, adding, “I made that commitment during the campaign for president, and I will keep that commitment.”
      While he has not yet chosen his nominee, Biden said he will review candidates’ qualifications and make a decision “before the end of February”.

      Updated
      at 12.54pm EST

      4.53pm EST

      16:53

      Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said that Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s team had seen the US response to Russia’s demands before it was delivered to the Kremlin yesterday.
      “No objections on the Ukrainian side,” Kuleba said in a tweet earlier today. “Important that the U.S. remains in close contact with Ukraine before and after all contacts with Russia. No decisions on Ukraine without Ukraine. Golden rule.”
      Joe Biden and Zelenskiy likely discussed the US response during their phone call this afternoon as well. In its response, the White House made clear it still supports Ukraine’s right to pursue Nato membership.

      Dmytro Kuleba
      (@DmytroKuleba)
      We had seen the written response of the U.S. before it was handed over to Russia. No objections on the Ukrainian side. Important that the U.S. remains in close contact with Ukraine before and after all contacts with Russia. No decisions on Ukraine without Ukraine. Golden rule.

      January 27, 2022

      4.30pm EST

      16:30

      Zelenskiy speaks to Biden and thanks US for military assistance to Ukraine

      Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Joe Biden spoke by phone this afternoon about the ongoing efforts to deescalate tensions at Ukraine’s border and avoid a Russian invasion.
      “Had a long phone conversation with @POTUS. Discussed recent diplomatic efforts on de-escalation and agreed on joint actions for the future,” the Ukrainian president said on Twitter.
      “Thanked President @JoeBiden for the ongoing military assistance. Possibilities for financial support to Ukraine were also discussed.”

      Володимир Зеленський
      (@ZelenskyyUa)
      Had a long phone conversation with @POTUS. Discussed recent diplomatic efforts on de-escalation and agreed on joint actions for the future. Thanked President @JoeBiden for the ongoing military assistance. Possibilities for financial support to Ukraine were also discussed. pic.twitter.com/pAsQLYAuig

      January 27, 2022

      Biden and Zelenskiy were expected to speak this afternoon, but the White House has not yet released its own readout of the conversation.
      The call came one day after the US delivered its written response to Russia’s demands on Ukraine, as Vladimir Putin builds up his troop presence along the border. In its response, the White House made clear that it still supports Ukraine’s right to pursue Nato membership.

      4.20pm EST

      16:20

      The Guardian’s Jennifer Rankin and Julian Borger report:
      Russia has said it is willing to continue talks with the US over European security, but is not optimistic about their prospects after Washington and Nato allies again rejected a key part of Russia’s proposed new order for post-cold war security.
      On Thursday, Vladimir Putin’s chief spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said “there isn’t much reason to be optimistic” after the US and Nato rejected Moscow’s demands for a veto on Ukraine’s potential membership of Nato in a co-ordinated response the day before.
      Moscow needed time to analyse the US document and would not “rush into assessments”, Peskov added.
      Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow’s main concern – the potential for Ukraine to join Nato – had not been addressed, but there was hope “for the start of a serious conversation on secondary issues”.
      “There is no positive response in this document on the main issue,” he said.
      One of Lavrov’s spokespeople appeared to rule out war with Ukraine, in comments that led to a jump in the value of the Russian rouble, as investors gained confidence that conflict could be avoided.

      4.02pm EST

      16:02

      Joe Biden met with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in Washington today to discuss the diplomatic efforts to avoid a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
      “The two discussed joint efforts, including through Nato and the OSCE, to address Russia’s destabilizing military buildup along Ukraine’s borders,” the White House said in its readout of the meeting.
      “They also discussed enhancing the US-Norway partnership in tackling a range of challenges, including climate change, ending the Covid-19 pandemic and establishing sustainable health security financing, and humanitarian support for Afghanistan. President Biden thanked the Prime Minister for Norway’s leadership as president of the UN security council this month.”
      Biden was also expected to speak to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, this afternoon, but the White House has not yet released any readout from that conversation.

      Updated
      at 4.05pm EST

      3.42pm EST

      15:42

      Senator Joe Manchin said today that he would feel comfortable supporting a supreme court nominee who may be more liberal than he is.
      In an interview with West Virginia MetroNews’s Hoppy Kercheval, Manchin said he takes the process of considering a supreme court nominee very seriously and looked forward to meeting the person chosen by Joe Biden.

      MetroNews
      (@WVMetroNews)
      Justice Stephen Breyer will formally announce his retirement from the Supreme Court. Manchin supported 2 of the 3 nominees from Donald Trump. Manchin talks about whether or not he will support President Biden’s nominee to @HoppyKercheval. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nm85Y pic.twitter.com/HHp8Mrom7Y

      January 27, 2022

      “It’s not too hard to get more liberal than me. So, it would not bother me having a person who was sound in their thought process, had been sound in their disbursement of justice and the rule of law, just because their personal beliefs [are different than mine],” Manchin said.
      “As far as just the philosophical beliefs, no, that will not prohibit me from supporting somebody.”
      Because of the 50-50 split in the Senate, Biden’s supreme court nominee will need the support of every Democratic member to get confirmed (assuming all Republicans oppose confirmation), so Manchin’s vote is crucial.

      3.13pm EST

      15:13

      Ed Pilkington

      Joe Biden’s confirmation that he is still studying the résumés of supreme court candidates and has yet to make his pick will do little to settle nerves among progressives still smarting from Donald Trump’s three supreme court appointments.
      Many Democrats want the president to emulate the warp speed with which the Trump administration drove through the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett in less than six weeks following Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death in September 2020.
      The Washington Post, citing an anonymous source, said that the majority leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, is aiming for a similar timeline.
      Replacing Breyer with a like-minded justice is seen by many Democrats as critical in preserving the already beleaguered rump of liberals on the bench. The retiring justice is one of only three such individuals on the nine-justice court, and they are so outnumbered that the country now faces drastic changes in several key areas from abortion to guns and affirmative action.
      Despite the pressure for haste among his party’s members, Biden insisted that he would be “rigorous” in choosing the nominee. He would listen to advice from senators and meet candidates, indicating a selection process that is likely to take weeks not days.

      2.56pm EST

      14:56

      Jen Psaki also criticized some Republicans who are already attacking Joe Biden’s supreme court nominee as “radical”, even though they do not yet know who the nominee will be.
      “As you heard the president say directly, he’s going to work in good faith with senators of both parties,” the White House press secretary said at her daily briefing.
      But Psaki added that it was important to be clear about some of the “games” Republicans are already playing as Biden begins the search for a nominee to replace Stephen Breyer on the supreme court.

      Bloomberg Quicktake
      (@Quicktake)
      Biden will work “in good faith” with members of both parties to select a nominee to replace Justice Breyer on the Supreme Court, @PressSec says https://t.co/jGLZWsQkuD pic.twitter.com/7DK3fxcjnB

      January 27, 2022

      “We have not mentioned a single name. We have not put out a list. The president made it very clear he has not made a selection,” Psaki said.
      “If anyone is saying they plan to characterize whoever he nominates, after thorough consideration with both parties, as radical before they know literally anything about who she is, they just obliterated their own credibility.”
      Psaki reiterated that Biden is committed to consulting with members of both parties to ensure his nominee is “worthy of the excellence and decency of Breyer’s legacy”.

      Updated
      at 3.14pm EST

      2.32pm EST

      14:32

      Harris will play ‘central role’ in supreme court nomination process, Psaki says

      Vice-President Kamala Harris is expected to play a “central role” as Joe Biden selects his nominee to replace Stephen Breyer on the supreme court, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
      A reporter at the daily White House briefing asked Psaki which members of the Biden administration will be closely involved in the search for a supreme court nominee.

      CSPAN
      (@cspan)
      .@PressSec Jen Psaki on Supreme Court nominee selection process: “The Vice President will play a central role in this process.” pic.twitter.com/yizd5GMaib

      January 27, 2022

      “The vice-president will play a central role in this process, and the President intends to consult with her very closely,” Psaki replied.
      “Obviously, she has a long history as a former attorney general, as a member of the judiciary committee, and he respects her opinion greatly.”
      The press secretary noted that White House chief of staff Ron Klain and some of Biden’s senior advisers, including Cedric Richmond, will also be involved in the process.
      Harris had been mentioned as a potential choice for Biden’s nominee, but the White House has downplayed that possibility, saying the president and the vice-president look forward to running for reelection together in 2024.

      2.13pm EST

      14:13

      Russia remains open but ‘not optimistic’ over Ukraine talks
      The White House has said it will have a read out later this afternoon after US President Joe Biden is expected to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The call is being described by the White House as a ‘check in’ rather than about a specific announcement.
      Meanwhile, Jennifer Rankin in Brussels and Julian Borger in Washington DC have the latest news wrap on the diplomacy.
      They report: ‘Russia has said it is willing to continue talks with the US over European security, but is not optimistic about their prospects after Washington and Nato allies again rejected a key part of Russia’s proposed new order for post-cold war security.
      Tensions have soared in recent weeks as Russia massed more than 100,000 soldiers and heavy weapons at its border with Ukraine, raising fears of an invasion.
      On Thursday, Vladimir Putin’s chief spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said “there isn’t much reason to be optimistic” after the US and Nato rejected Moscow’s demands for a veto on Ukraine’s potential membership of Nato in a co-ordinated response the day before.’
      Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow’s main concern – the potential for Ukraine to join Nato – had not been addressed, but there was hope “for the start of a serious conversation on secondary issues”.’ More

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      Republicans just wiped out a Democratic district. Here’s how | The fight to vote

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      Republicans just wiped out a Democratic district. Here’s howThe Tennessee legislature’s splintering of Nashville is just one example of the gerrymandering taking place across the US Hello, and happy Thursday,On Tuesday afternoon, Jim Cooper, a moderate Democrat who has been in Congress for more than three decades, announced he was retiring. The timing was not a coincidence.Less than 24 hours earlier, the Tennessee legislature had approved a map with new boundaries for the state’s eight congressional districts. Since 2003, Cooper has represented a district that includes all of Nashville, and it has been reliably Democratic (Joe Biden carried it by 24 points in 2020). But the legislature’s new plan erased his district. Republicans sliced up Nashville into three different districts, attaching a sliver of Democratic voters in each to rural and deeply Republican areas. Donald Trump would have easily won all three of the new districts in 2020.Get the latest updates on voting rights in the Guardian’s Fight to vote newsletterCooper was blunt in his assessment of what had happened. Republicans, he said in a statement, had made it impossible for him to win re-election to Congress. Despite his best efforts, he said, he could not stop Republicans from “dismembering Nashville”.The map doesn’t just weaken the voice of Democrats, it also dilutes the influence of Black voters and other voters of color in Nashville. In Cooper’s current district, Black voters make up about a quarter of the voting-age population. They will comprise a much smaller share of the voting age population in the new districts, making it harder for them to make their voices heard.A masterclass in election-rigging: how Republicans ‘dismembered’ a Democratic strongholdRead moreAndrew Witherspoon, my colleague on our visuals team, and I put together an interactive map that shows exactly how Republicans transformed Cooper’s district. It’s one of the clearest examples of how politicians can essentially rig elections in their favor just by moving district lines. It underscores how gerrymandering is a remarkably powerful and efficient method of voter suppression – the influence of certain people’s votes matter less before a single ballot is even cast.Tennessee isn’t the only place this is happening. In Kansas, Republican lawmakers are advancing a plan that would similarly crack Kansas City, making it more difficult for the Democrat Sharice Davids, the first Native American woman elected to Congress, to get re-elected. In North Carolina, Republicans cracked the city of Greensboro in order to dismantle the state’s sixth congressional district, currently represented by a Democrat.Democrats have also shown a willingness to engage in this kind of distortion where they have control of the redistricting process, in places such as Illinois, Maryland and probably New York. Democrats will have complete control over drawing 75 congressional districts, compared with 187 for Republicans.The day before he announced his retirement, I spoke with Cooper about why he thought this was happening and what he thought the consequences would be for Nashville voters. What’s happening now is just “raw politics”, Cooper said.“In two previous redistricting cycles, none of the politicians in the state knew that I existed as a candidate. That made it easier – they weren’t trying to get Jim Cooper. And then in cycles where they did know I existed, it was either too difficult to rearrange the counties, or they were gentler,” he told me. Politico reported recently that after Republicans weren’t as aggressive as they could have been in states such as Texas and Georgia, there is some pressure to be even more aggressive in places like Tennessee.The Nashville constituents who are being sliced up into each of the three districts are likely to have much less importance to their new, Republican representatives, Cooper said. Any input they have, “at most, it will be tokenism”.“This is not a majority-minority community, but it will limit the ability for them to be heard. Because they’ll become essentially a rounding error in much larger districts that are dominated by the surrounding towns,” he said. “The center of gravity will shift.”Also worth watching …
      A federal court told Alabama to redraw its congressional districts after finding Republican lawmakers had discriminated against Black voters. Alabama is appealing the ruling.
      Arizona Republicans are proposing a suite of new voting restrictions after a widely criticized review of the 2020 election results.
      Texas continues to face significant problems after implementing sweeping new voting restrictions ahead of its 1 March primary.
      Ohio Republicans are redrawing state legislative and congressional maps after the state supreme court struck down earlier efforts as unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders. There are still concerns the new state legislative maps are severely gerrymandered.
      TopicsUS voting rightsFight to voteNashvilleTennesseeRepublicansUS politicsDemocratsfeaturesReuse this content More

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      Battered Biden gets chance to change political narrative as Breyer retires

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      Battered Biden gets chance to change political narrative as Breyer retiresAnalysis: president faces high expectations as he prepares make one of his most consequential decisions In his spare time, Justice Stephen Breyer enjoyed taking the bench at humorous “mock trials” of characters such as Macbeth and Richard III for Washington’s Shakespeare Theatre Company. The case usually turned on epic battles over succession.Now Washington is about to be consumed by the question of who will inherit Breyer’s crown following his reported decision to retire from the US supreme court. At 83, he is its oldest member, one of three liberals outnumbered by six conservatives.This is a perfectly timed political gift for Joe Biden, aware that choosing a supreme court justice is one of the most consequential decisions that any president can make.After a year in the White House, Biden was limping with a stalled legislative agenda, a tenacious pandemic and Vladimir Putin threatening Ukraine. He was a tired brand in desperate need of a relaunch, a tough ask at the age of 79.Biden ‘stands by’ pledge to nominate Black woman to supreme court, White House says – liveRead moreBreyer has provided it, instantly changing the conversation. “This has to feel like a political elixir right now,” observed Chuck Todd, host of MSNBC’s Meet the Press Daily show.A vacancy on the highest court enables Biden to rally the Democratic base and begin to cement a legacy that, despite early ambitions, had recently looked to be in jeopardy. Although the ideological balance of the court will not change, Biden could choose a young liberal who will serve for decades.The Senate, which must approve his choice, is divided between 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans with Vice-President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaker vote. Breyer has given it enough time to confirm the president’s pick before the midterm elections could shift the balance of power.Democratic divisions have been on display of late but a supreme court vacancy typically unites a party like nothing else. Even senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who broke ranks over the Build Back Better plan and voting rights, have voted for every Biden nominee to the lower courts so far. Both will presumably regard this confirmation as an easy way to win back some favour with angry liberals.Not for the first time, however, Biden has raised expectations. At a debate in the 2020 Democratic primary, he declared: “I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a Black woman on the supreme court, to make sure we, in fact, get every representation.” His judicial appointments so far have been historically diverse, and Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters after the news of Breyer’s imminent retirement broke that Biden “certainly stands by” his promise.The upshot is that if he now nominates anyone other than a Black woman, there will be disappointment on the left. Sean Eldridge, founder and president of the progressive group Stand Up America, said on Wednesday: “President Biden promised to appoint the country’s first-ever Black woman supreme court justice, and he must make good on that promise.“The president and vice-president’s voters are watching eagerly to see that he follows through and makes history with his first supreme court nomination.”Potential candidates include the US circuit judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, California supreme court justice Leondra Kruger, civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill and US district judge Michelle Childs, a favourite of the South Carolina congressman James Clyburn, a Biden ally.Notably, when Jackson was confirmed last year to the influential US court of appeals for the DC circuit, often seen as a springboard to supreme court, the Republican senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted with Democrats in favour.Carl Tobias, Williams chair in law at the University of Richmond, said: “I expect that the Democrats will remain united, as they have so far, because all Democratic members, including Senators Manchin and Sinema, have voted for all of Biden’s lower court nominees.“Most GOP senators have voted against many Biden lower court nominees. The major exception is Lindsey Graham, who has voted for many Biden lower court nominees in committee and on the floor. Senators Collins and Murkowski have also voted to confirm a number of Biden lower court nominees. If the Democrats vote together, they do not need GOP votes.”It remains an open question whether a handful of Republicans might back Biden’s nominee given the politicisation of the court in recent years – from Republicans blocking Barack Obama’s pick Merrick Garland to the rancour that surrounded Donald Trump’s three appointments, and the court’s imminent decision on the constitutional right to abortion.In an ominous statement on Wednesday, Graham said: “If all Democrats hang together – which I expect they will – they have the power to replace Justice Breyer in 2022 without one Republican vote in support. Elections have consequences, and that is most evident when it comes to fulfilling vacancies on the supreme court.”Don’t call Joe Biden a failed president yet | Gary GerstleRead moreMeanwhile, Carrie Severino, president of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, fired the first shots of a partisan battle to come. “The left bullied Justice Breyer into retirement and now it will demand a justice who rubber-stamps its liberal political agenda,” she said. “And that’s what the Democrats will give them, because they’re beholden to the dark money supporters who helped elect them.”Yet it is Republicans who waged a multi-generational project to tilt the court in their favour with the help of the Federalist Society, which created a pipeline of young, ideologically rightwing lawyers. Trump’s release during the 2016 election of a shortlist of judges for the court helped him secure the conservative base; his three justices are likely to be his most lasting legacy.Democrats were criticised for being slow to wake up to the threat and lacking similar aggression. Now, thanks to Breyer’s retirement, they find themselves with the unaccustomed comfort of having political momentum on their side.TopicsJoe BidenUS supreme courtLaw (US)DemocratsRepublicansUS politicsanalysisReuse this content More

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      US prosecutors investigate Republicans who sent fake Trump electors to Congress

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      US prosecutors investigate Republicans who sent fake Trump electors to Congress‘Fraudulent elector certifications’ sent from states won by Biden in effort to subvert election result and declare Trump the winner Federal prosecutors have launched an investigation into the attempt by Republicans in seven presidential battleground states won by Joe Biden in 2020 to subvert the election result by sending bogus slates of Donald Trump electors to Congress.The ploy was one of the central tactics used by Trump loyalists as part of the “big lie” that he had defeated his Democratic challenger. The fake slates of electors were forwarded to congressional leaders, who then came under pressure to delay certification of Biden’s victory on 6 January 2021, the day of the Capitol insurrection.In an interview on CNN, the deputy attorney general, Lisa Monaco, revealed that the justice department has begun an investigation into what she called the “fraudulent elector certifications”. She said the department had received referrals on the matter and “our prosecutors are looking at those”.Monaco added: “We are going to follow the facts and the law wherever they lead to address conduct of any kind and at any level that is part of an assault on our democracy.”Fake slates of Trump electors were sent to Congress from seven states in fact won by Biden – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Of those, two – New Mexico and Pennsylvania – added the caveat that the Trump electors should only be counted in the event of a disputed election.The other five states sent signed statements to Washington giving the appearance that Trump had won despite clear and verified counts placing Biden on top.Under America’s arcane presidential election system, US presidents are not chosen directly by voters but indirectly through electoral college votes meted out state by state. Official certificates naming the electors for the winning candidate in each state are then sent to Washington to be certified, in this case on 6 January, when hundreds of violent Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to disrupt the process.Earlier this month the pro-democracy group American Oversight obtained under freedom of information laws the bogus certificates from all seven states in which Republicans attempted to overturn the election result. The certificate from Georgia, one of the most hotly contested states in 2020, reads: “We, the undersigned, being the duly elected and qualified electors for president and vice president of the United States of America from the state of Georgia …”The fake statement then carries the names and signatures of 16 fake electors who claimed falsely to have cast their electoral college votes for Trump when in fact they had no legal standing to do so. The move was in direct contravention to the actual vote in Georgia, confirmed in multiple counts, which Biden won by 11,779 votes.Democratic attorneys general in at least two of the seven states – New Mexico and Michigan – have now asked federal prosecutors to examine whether drawing up the bogus certificates amounted to a crime. Their referrals appear to have triggered the DoJ’s investigation.The fact that Republicans left a paper trail by sending their phony certificates to both Congress and the National Archives suggest that they may now face legal peril. The House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection has also recently begun to focus on the fake Trump electors, and particularly those who organized the plot.A figure of special interest is Rudy Giuliani, who acted as a lawyer for the Trump campaign and who has been reported to have spearheaded the fake elector strategy. The January 6 committee sent Giuliani a subpoena letter earlier this month specifically referring to his efforts instigating the ploy.Another area of intense interest is the draft letter prepared in December 2020 by Jeffrey Clark, a relatively lowly justice department official, who tried to persuade Georgia and six other states won by Biden to call back their electors from Congress and consider replacing them with Trump electors. The letter was never officially sent after the acting US attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, refused to play ball.The fake electors tactic was also central to the election subversion strategy laid out for Trump by the conservative lawyer John Eastman. In a now notorious two-page memo handed to Trump and the then vice-president, Mike Pence, in the Oval Office, Eastman argued that Pence could block the certification of Biden’s victory on 6 January.Pence had the constitutional role of presiding over the joint session of Congress that would certify the election results – a process usually considered purely ceremonial. But Eastman advised him that when he opened the electoral college ballot from Arizona he should announce that “he has multiple slates of electors, and so is going to defer decision on that”.By “multiple slates”, Eastman was referring to the official slate of electors returned by Arizona in favor of Biden who won the state by 10,457 votes and the fake slate of Trump electors that is now under federal investigation.TopicsUS newsUS politicsRepublicansDonald TrumpUS elections 2020newsReuse this content More

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      ‘The most dangerous man in Congress’: how Paul Gosar became a darling of the far right

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      ‘The most dangerous man in Congress’: how Paul Gosar became a darling of the far rightOnce fringe, now dominant in the party, rightwing Republicans are strategizing for minoritarian rule The Arizona Republican congressman Paul Gosar had a simple message for the crowd when he recently addressed a packed Donald Trump rally in his home state – a gathering that had focused on promoting the baseless lie that Trump had been cheated out of a second term as president.“This is where it all began,” Gosar said in a speech before Trump came on stage. “This is where we questioned: ‘Was there fraud? Absolutely. Was it enough to overturn the election? Absolutely.’”Republican resistance to Trump rings hollow as ‘moderates’ say no on voting rightsRead moreThe far-right congressman is one of Trump’s most loyal backers in Congress, earning him one of more than 90 endorsements made so far by the former US president ahead of this year’s crucial midterm elections. Gosar is the kind of politician that Trump – who is embarking on a series of rallies to try to cement his allies’ power in the Republican party – is increasingly seeking to support.But Gosar has extensive links to white nationalists and Capitol rioters and, many observers say, represents a dangerous new breed of Republican politician, who would have once been considered fringe, but whom Trump is increasingly making central to Republican party politics.“I’m considered the most dangerous man in Congress,” Gosar told the crowd, briefly touching on popular rightwing talking points – critical race theory in schools, disrespect for the military, and “empty shelves” in stores – before focusing on the central theme of the rally: elections.In the Arizona desert the fervor among supporters huddled against the wind was a clear sign of the size of a constituency more loyal to Trump than to the party, and even as some lawmakers distance themselves from the former president amid the January 6 fallout, the far right is doubling down.In his first public appearance since the anniversary of the January 6 attack, Trump’s appearance was marked with a reaffirmation of election denial, conspiracy theories and anti-democratic ruminations. “I ran twice, and I won twice,” Trump told his supporters gathered in the windy Arizona night.At the rally the “Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander moved through the crowd while on stage three members of Congress, who all voted against certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory, gave speeches affirming their support of the “big lie”.Gosar’s allegiance to Trump and his false claims extends beyond speaking the shibboleth of the big lie: on January 6 Gosar voted against certifying the election even as rioters penetrated the Capitol.“We no longer have an ability to make a clear delineation between the right and far-right in the Republican party,” said Joe Lowndes, professor of political science at the University of Oregon and co-author of Producers, Parasites, Patriots: Race and the New Right-Wing Politics of Precarity.“The Trumpist wing of the Republicans isn’t just ascending – it’s the dominant wing of the Republican party. It’s the dominant wing not just in national politics, but in state and local politics as well,” said Lowndes. “The Republican party has committed itself to a party of minoritarian rule, figuring out ways to rule in the long term without having majority support of voters.”Gosar’s involvement with the January 6 Capitol insurrection has come under scrutiny from lawmakers. A House select committee investigating the deadly Capitol attack has been working for six months, in meetings mostly closed to the public, interviewing more than 300 witnesses and collecting more than 35,000 pages of records, according the Washington Post.Information has surfaced that link Gosar to one prominent Capitol riot organizer.A lawsuit filed by Alexander to block the release of his phone records, subpoenaed by the House committee, reveals testimony that discloses contacts with Republican members of Congress before the Capitol riot. The lawsuit states Alexander testified that he “had a few phone conversations” with Gosar and spoke to the Arizona congressman Andy Biggs “in person”.Lawmakers are debating whether sitting members of Congress can be subpoenaed to appear before the committee.Gosar also has longstanding links to far-right and white nationalist groups.Last year Gosar was the keynote speaker at an America First Political Action Conference (Afpac) organized by white nationalist Nick Fuentes, whom the Department of Justice in a court filing calls a “white supremacist” and who marched in the deadly Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally. The January 6 committee is also seeking testimony from Fuentes, who has praised Gosar as supporting his agenda.“There is some hope, maybe, for America First in Congress, and that is thanks almost exclusively to representative Paul Gosar,” said Fuentes in a video message to his supporters last year.Gosar distanced himself from Fuentes after outcry over his appearance alongside the white nationalist in a promotion for a fundraising event. But he has also appeared to defend him. Gosar once tweeted: “Not sure why anyone is freaking out. I’ll say this: there are millions of Gen Z, Y and X conservatives. They believe in America First. They will not agree 100% on every issue. No group does. We will not let the left dictate our strategy, alliances and efforts. Ignore the left.”That was not the first time Gosar has incorporated white nationalist themes into his politics.Last year Gosar and the extremist Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene were linked to an “America First Caucus” that imploded in disarray after planning documents reported by Punchbowl News revealed language that included recruiting people based on “Anglo-Saxon political traditions”.Gosar was also censured and stripped of his committee posts late last year after tweeting a Photoshopped video of a violent anime sequence depicting him killing congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Biden.“I do not espouse violence towards anyone,” Gosar said during the House debate on his censure. “I voluntarily took the cartoon down, not because it was itself a threat, but because some thought it was. Out of compassion for those who genuinely felt offense, I self-censored.”But Gosar has a history posting of far-right content, including retweeting a QAnon conspiracy theory and a now-deleted tweet of a meme popular in white nationalists circles.Yet it is now in the area of election integrity that Gosar is becoming most prominent, helping to lead a charge across the US by Republicans claiming that elections in America are vulnerable to fraud and manipulation.“There’s a comfortable embrace of anti-democratic sentiment,” said Lowndes. “The Republican party hasn’t just opened the door to the far right, but it now relies on the far right.”At the Arizona rally Gosar told supporters to campaign locally on the election fraud issue. “Take it upon yourself that in your county you go to your county recorder and ask them what your ballot does. Make them walk you through it. That’ll tell them one thing: that you’re watching them. That you’re not going to let this happen, what happened in January of last year.”Gosar was among the Arizona Republican officials pushing for an audit of the election results of Maricopa county, the state’s most populous county. Before the Trump rally, the Maricopa elections department released a 93-page report rebuking each of the 76 claims about the 2020 elections made by elected Arizona Republican officials.The report found “the November 2020 General Election was administered with integrity and the results were accurate and reliable.” The report also found “despite all evidence to the contrary, false allegations continue to persist and damage voter confidence.”But there is at least one group of people close to Gosar who are not fooled – some of his own family.Three of Gosar’s siblings have publicly called for their brother to be expelled from Congress, the Arizona Republic has reported. “We know him to be an extremist and we took that very seriously,” his sister, Jennifer Gosar, told the newspaper. His brother, Dave Gosar, told NBC News: “I consider him a traitor to this country. I consider him a traitor to his family.” In the 2018 election six of Gosar’s nine siblings endorsed his opponent.TopicsThe far rightRepublicansDonald TrumpUS politicsfeaturesReuse this content More

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      Here’s how Republicans ‘dismembered’ a Democratic stronghold

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      Here’s how Republicans ‘dismembered’ a Democratic strongholdScroll through our visual guide to see why proposed Tennessee maps amount to a masterclass in gerrymanderingRepublican lawmakers in Tennessee gave final approval on Monday to an aggressive plan to split Nashville, a Democratic bastion, in a deeply Republican state, into several congressional districts as part of an effort to tilt the state’s congressional map in their favor. The plan is now waiting for approval from Governor Bill Lee, who is likely to sign it. Nashville currently sits in the state’s fifth congressional district, represented by Jim Cooper, a Democrat who has held the seat for nearly 20 years. It’s a solid Democratic district – Joe Biden carried it by nearly 24 points in 2020 – but on Tuesday, Cooper announced he was retiring from Congress.“Despite my strength at the polls, I could not stop the general assembly from dismembering Nashville. No one tried harder to keep our city whole,” he said in a statement. “I explored every possible way, including lawsuits, to stop the gerrymandering and to win one of the three new congressional districts that now divide Nashville. There’s no way, at least for me in this election cycle, but there may be a path for other worthy candidates.”The new districts crack the concentration of Democratic voters in Nashville and cram them into three districts that stretch across the state and are filled with reliable Republican voters. Donald Trump would have easily carried all three of the proposed districts in 2020. The plan is one of the clearest, and most brazen, efforts to dismantle a Democratic district to benefit Republicans. @font-face{font-family:”Guardian Headline Full”;src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:300;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:”Guardian Headline Full”;src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:300;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:”Guardian Headline 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