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      House speaker McCarthy says ‘I see the path’ to debt ceiling deal with Democrats – as it happened

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      From 5h agoThe Republican House speake,r Kevin McCarthy, told reporters at the Capitol that he sees “the path” towards a deal with Democrats to raise the debt ceiling.Here’s video of the exchange, from CNN:Congress has till about 1 June to raise the US government’s legal limit on how much debt it can take on or face the prospect of a default. Republicans want Joe Biden and his allies to agree to cut spending, and also to scrap administration priorities such as the president’s plan to cancel some federal student debt.After months of refusing to negotiate, Biden agreed to appoint deputies to reach a deal with McCarthy’s team, and if the speaker’s comments are any indication, those talks are paying off.Debt ceiling negotiations seem to be on track, at least if you ask Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy. Some Democrats aren’t so sure. In the Senate, 11 lawmakers say Joe Biden should consider invoking the constitution’s 14th amendment to prevent a default, rather than agreeing to GOP-devised spending cuts. And in the House, just about every Democrat has signed on to a discharge petition that would force a vote on raising the ceiling without preconditions. But it needs the defections of at least a few Republicans to succeed, and thus far, that support has not emerged.Here’s what else happened today:
      Ron DeSantis is finally getting it over with: the Florida governor will announce his presidential bid next week, according to multiple reports.
      Progressive Democrats remain displeased with the prospect of implementing new work requirements for government aid programs as part of a debt limit deal.
      CNN’s Christiane Amanpour was not happy with how her network handled the town hall with Donald Trump last week.
      California Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein’s health may be worse than publicly known, the New York Times reports.
      The House Freedom Caucus says no negotiations with Democrats until the Senate passes the GOP’s bill to raise the debt ceiling while cutting spending and implementing a number of conservative policies – a nonstarter for Democrats.
      As Florida governor Ron DeSantis prepares to announce a presidential campaign where he will sell voters on his controversial governance of the southern state, Disney today announced they were cancelling a billion-dollar office project in Orlando amid a fight with his administration.According to the New York Times, a top Disney executive cited “changing business conditions” for axing the project, which would have seen about 1,000 employees relocated from Southern California. The company has been feuding with DeSantis since last year, when it spoke out against his so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, and last month sued his administration over actions they said illegally targeted their business in the state.That matter is ongoing, but as the Times reports, Disney executives have made clear that they are willing to reconsider their longstanding relationship with the state over DeSantis’s policies. Here’s more from the Times:
      In March, Disney called Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida “anti-business” for his scorched-earth attempt to tighten oversight of the company’s theme park resort near Orlando. Last month, when Disney sued the governor and his allies for what it called “a targeted campaign of government retaliation,” the company made clear that $17 billion in planned investment in Walt Disney World was on the line.
      “Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes, or not?” Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said on an earnings-related conference call with analysts last week.
      On Thursday, Mr. Iger and Josh D’Amaro, Disney’s theme park and consumer products chairman, showed that they were not bluffing, pulling the plug on a nearly $1 billion office complex that was scheduled for construction in Orlando. It would have brought more than 2,000 jobs to the region, with $120,000 as the average salary, according to an estimate from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
      The project, known as the Lake Nona Town Center, was supposed to involve the relocation of more than 1,000 employees from Southern California, including most of a department known as Imagineering, which works with Disney’s movie studios to develop theme park attractions. Most of the affected employees complained bitterly about having to move — some quit — but Disney largely held firm, partly because of a Florida tax credit that would have allowed the company to recoup as much as $570 million over 20 years for building and occupying the complex.
      Another group of conservative lawmakers has issued demands in the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations, specifically that congressional leaders include new measures to crack on migrants in whatever legislative compromise emerges.The letter to Joe Biden and the top Democrats and Republicans in Congress including Kevin McCarthy was signed by 57 Republican House lawmakers, and asks that they consider including provisions of the Secure the Border Act in their negotiations.“American taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for the rapidly growing illegal immigration crisis. Thus, we support the inclusion of common-sense border security and immigration reforms in negotiations to raise the debt ceiling,” the congress members write.The bill, which passed with Republican votes in the House last month, would restart construction of Donald Trump’s border wall and increase Border Patrol funding, among other provisions. As is the case with much of what passes the House these days, Senate Democrats say they’ll oppose it.The far-right House Freedom Caucus wants Kevin McCarthy to stop negotiating with Democrats over raising the debt ceiling until the Senate passes the GOP’s Limit, Save, Grow Act.The legislation, which would cut spending, scrap Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan and implement other conservative priorities while raising the debt limit only through next March, passed the House on a party line vote last month, but Senate Democrats have rejected it and the president has threatened a veto.The impasse led to this week’s decision by McCarthy and Biden to appoint negotiators to find an agreement both parties could support, but the Freedom Caucus – which includes several members that objected to McCarthy’s election as speaker of the House earlier this year – insists the Limit, Save, Grow Act should take priority.Here’s their letter:Amid continued focus on the health of the California senator Dianne Feinstein, who recently returned to Washington after a long absence with shingles, the New York Times reports that the 89-year-old, who has appeared frail and sometimes confused, continues to be the cause of much concern for her party:
      The grim tableau of her re-emergence on Capitol Hill laid bare a bleak reality known to virtually everyone who has come into contact with her in recent days: She was far from ready to return to work when she did, and she is now struggling to function in a job that demands long days, near-constant engagement on an array of crucial policy issues and high-stakes decision-making.
      Ms Feinstein’s office declined to comment for this article beyond providing a statement from the senator: “I’m back in Washington, voting and attending committee meetings while I recover from complications related to a shingles diagnosis. I continue to work and get results for California.”
      The Times also notes the resurfacing of “questions about whether Ms Feinstein, who has announced she will retire when her term ends next year, is fit to continue serving even for that long”.Feinstein’s absence hamstrung Democrats on the Senate judiciary committee, on which she sits. On Wednesday its chair, Dick Durbin, told CNN: “We’re happy to have her back. We’re monitoring her medical condition almost on a daily basis. Our staff is in touch with her staff.”Senior Democrats including the former House intelligence chair and impeachment lead Adam Schiff are running to succeed Feinstein but, the Times report says somewhat mordantly: “People close to her joke privately that perhaps when Ms Feinstein is dead, she will start to consider resigning.”Here’s more, from Arwa Mahdawi…At his press conference on Capitol Hill, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont was asked by a reporter about concerns that his proposal to invoke the 14th amendment to address the debt ceiling would face legal challenges.“I think it’s the best solution we have,” Sanders replied. “It’s not perfect.”Sanders said he did not have any details about a potential debt ceiling deal between Joe Biden and House speaker Kevin McCarthy, but Democrats emphasized that any proposal with welfare cuts would not be tolerated.“If the bottom line is that the only deal to be had that McCarthy will sign on to is one in which ordinary families are savaged and in which the economy is flooded with fossil fuels, that is unacceptable,” said Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon.Asked if he had spoken to the White House about his proposal to use the 14th amendment, Sanders said he had but declined to elaborate.Eleven Democratic senators have signed a letter calling on Joe Biden to invoke the 14th amendment of the constitution to address the debt ceiling and avoid a disastrous default.Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and his co-signers held a press conference on Capitol Hill to make their case.Sanders noted the 14th amendment states that the public debt of the United States “shall not be questioned,” arguing the policy empowers Biden to unilaterally act on the debt ceiling.“[Republicans] have made it clear that they are prepared to hold our entire economy hostage unless the president gives in to all of their demands,” Sanders said.“Using the 14th amendment would allow the United States to continue to pay its bills on time and without delay, prevent an economic catastrophe and prevent devastating cuts to some of the most vulnerable people in this country. It should be exercised.”Debt ceiling negotiations seem to be on track, at least if you ask Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy. Some Democrats aren’t so sure. In the Senate, 11 lawmakers say Joe Biden should consider invoking the constitution’s 14th amendment to prevent a default, rather than agreeing to GOP-devised spending cuts. And in the House, just about every Democrat has signed on to a discharge petition that would force a vote on raising the ceiling without preconditions. But it needs the defections of at least a few Republicans to succeed, and thus far, that support has not emerged.Here’s what else has happened today so far:
      Ron DeSantis is finally getting it over with: the Florida governor will announce his presidential bid next week, according to multiple reports.
      Progressive Democrats remain unhappy with the prospect of implementing new work requirements for government aid programs as part of a debt limit deal.
      CNN’s Christiane Amanpour was not happy with how her network handled the town hall with Donald Trump last week.
      Meanwhile in the House, Democrats are pushing forward with a parliamentary maneuver intended to force a vote on raising the debt ceiling without preconditions.The party had yesterday encouraged its lawmakers to sign a discharge petition filed in the chamber, and in an interview with MSNBC yesterday, House Democrat Brendan Boyle, who is leading the effort, said the document has so far received 210 signatures.It needs a majority of 218 signers to pass, and what Democrats are banking on here is that some Republicans will eventually come on board, perhaps moderates who are nervous about the prospect of the US economy defaulting, or rattled by the demands of the House GOP’s far-right members. But there hasn’t been any sign of those defections – yet.Here’s more from Boyle’s interview with MSNBC:Eleven Democratic senators have signed a letter to Joe Biden urging him to consider invoking the 14th amendment to prevent the United States from defaulting if the debt ceiling is not raised.The letter, which first became public yesterday, was signed by Democrats Tina Smith, Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, Ed Markey, Mazie Hirono, Peter Welch, Richard Blumenthal, Jack Reed, Sheldon Whitehouse, John Fetterman and Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.“The choice we face is clear. We cannot reach a budget agreement that increases the suffering of millions of Americans who are already living in desperation,” the lawmakers write in the letter, which accuses Republicans of “not acting in good faith”.“We write to urgently request that you prepare to exercise your authority under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which clearly states: ‘the validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned,’” the signatories conclude.“Using this authority would allow the United States to continue to pay its bills on-time, without delay, preventing a global economic catastrophe.”Speaking of CNN, one of its best known anchors is apparently not a fan of how it handled last week’s town hall with Donald Trump, the Guardian’s Gloria Oladipo reports: The CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour has strongly criticized her own network for hosting a town-hall event with Donald Trump last week, saying she had “a very robust exchange of views” with Chris Licht, the chief executive under fire for approving and then defending the decision to stage it.Amanpour, giving the commencement address at Columbia Journalism School in New York on Wednesday, said in comments reported by Variety: “We know Trump and his tendencies – everyone does. He just seizes the stage and dominates.“No matter how much flak the moderator tries to aim at the incoming, it doesn’t often work. I would have dropped the mic at ‘nasty person’, but then that’s me.”If Democrats and Republicans are indeed on the path to reaching an agreement to increase the debt ceiling, they’ll have to overcome the thorny issue of work requirements for anti-poverty programs.The GOP wants to tighten rules for recipients of aid such as SNAP or TANF to have to work, arguing that’s the best way out of poverty. A major government study released last year disputed this, while many Democrats, particularly progressives, say such requirements would be unacceptable to them.Here’s House Democrat Katie Porter saying so, in an interview with CNN:The Republican House speake,r Kevin McCarthy, told reporters at the Capitol that he sees “the path” towards a deal with Democrats to raise the debt ceiling.Here’s video of the exchange, from CNN:Congress has till about 1 June to raise the US government’s legal limit on how much debt it can take on or face the prospect of a default. Republicans want Joe Biden and his allies to agree to cut spending, and also to scrap administration priorities such as the president’s plan to cancel some federal student debt.After months of refusing to negotiate, Biden agreed to appoint deputies to reach a deal with McCarthy’s team, and if the speaker’s comments are any indication, those talks are paying off.Ron DeSantis’s latest attempts to swing elections may have floundered, but he’s been more successful at getting lawmakers in Florida to react to his demands.As the Guardian’s Sam Levine reported earlier this week, his Republican allies, who control both the state Senate and House of Representatives, have approved laws that will allow DeSantis to remain governor while running for president, and also reduce scrutiny of his campaign financing.Here’s more from Sam’s story:
      DeSantis is poised to sign a bill that would exempt him from Florida’s “resign-to-run” law, so that he won’t have to give up his office in order to run for president. Under existing state law, if he were to run, DeSantis would have had to submit a resignation letter before Florida’s qualifying deadline this year and step down by inauguration day in 2025. Last month, Republicans in the state legislature passed a measure that says the restriction does not apply to those running for president or vice-president.
      The bill also imposes sweeping new voting restrictions in the state and will make it much harder for non-profits to do voter registration drives.
      “I can’t think of a better training ground than the state of Florida for a future potential commander-in-chief,” Tyler Sirois, a Republican state lawmaker, said when the bill was being debated.
      Some Democrats questioned why lawmakers would allow DeSantis to take his attention away from being governor. “Why are we signing off on allowing Ron DeSantis the ability to not do his job?” Angie Nixon, a legislator from Jacksonville, said last month.
      DeSantis also signed a bill last week that will shield records related to his travel from public view. The new law exempts all of DeSantis’s past and future travel from disclosure under Florida’s public records law, one of the most transparent in the US. It also exempts the state from having to disclose the names of people who meet with the governor at his office or mansion or travel with him, said Barbara Petersen, the executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, who has worked on transparency laws for more than three decades in the state.
      Republican lawmakers and DeSantis have cited security concerns to justify the law. But Democrats and transparency advocates have said it is a brazen effort to keep DeSantis’s travel secret.
      As Ron DeSantis gears up for a likely presidential bid, the rightwing Florida governor has suffered a few political blows in recent days in his state and beyond.On Tuesday, voters in Jacksonville, Florida elected their first female mayor, Donna Deegan, a Democrat who beat Republican Daniel Davis despite the endorsements of DeSantis and a handful of business leaders.“Love won tonight, and we made history,” Deegan said as she won the election.“We have a new day in Jacksonville because people chose unity over division – creating a broad coalition of people across the political spectrum that want a unified city,” she added.Meanwhile, in Kentucky, the Florida governor suffered another blow when Donald Trump-backed Daniel Cameron won against DeSantis-backed Kelly Craft in the state’s Republican primary.Cameron, the first major-party Black nominee for governor in Kentucky, will face off against Democratic incumbent Andy Beshear in November.Marjorie Taylor Greene has said that being called a “white supremacist” by New York representative Jamaal Bowman is equivalent to a person of color being called the “N-word.”On Wednesday, Greene and Bowman got into a shouting match on the Capitol steps with Bowman and New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both Democrats who called for Republican New York representative George Santos’s resignation following his recent indictment on federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering, among other charges.“Save the party!” Bowman yelled as Greene shouted, “Save the country!” At one point, Bowman told Greene, who has spread various conspiracy theories, “No more QAnon, no more MAGA, no more debt ceiling nonsense.”Minutes after, Greene pointed to her temple and said, “Hey let me tell you something Jamaal. Not very smart.”Addressing the interaction afterwards, Greene said:
      “I was swarmed. It’s all on video. Everyone can see this, but I will tell you what’s on video is Jamaal Bowman shouting at the top of his lungs, cursing calling me … horrible … calling me a white supremacist, which I take great offense to. That is like calling a person of color the n-word, which should never happen. Calling me a white supremacist is equal to that. And that is wrong.”
      Banking regulators testifying before the Senate banking committee on Thursday morning proposed a slew of recommendations that would strengthen regulation and supervision in light of Signature Bank and Silicone Valley Bank’s financial collapse.
      “The underlying issue was concern about insolvency … Stronger capital will guard against the risk that we may not fully appreciate today. And we’ll also reduce the costs of bank failures,” said Michael Barr, the second vice chair of the Federal Reserve for supervision.
      “In addition, we need to reconsider our prudential requirements. These include evaluating how we treat available for sale securities and our capital regulations, how we supervise and regulate a bank’s management of interest rate risk, how we supervise and regulate liquidity risk and how we oversee incentive compensation practices,” he added.
      “Supervision should intensify at the right pace as a bank grows in size or complexity. Once identified issues should be addressed more quickly both by the bank and by supervisors. Moreover, we need to ensure that we have a culture that empowers supervisors to act in the face of uncertainty,” he continued.
      Florida governor Ron DeSantis is set to officially launch his 2024 presidential bid, according to multiple reports citing sources familiar with the matter.One Republican source told CNN that the Republican governor will file candidacy paperwork next week with the Federal Election Commission and is set to make an official announcement in his home town of Dunedin, Florida, the following week.The reports follow DeSantis’s visit to Iowa last week where he participated in a public gathering hosted US House representative Randy Feenstra in the crucial early-voting stage. Prior to his visit, DeSantis rolled out a hefty list of endorsements from 37 Republican Iowa lawmakers, including senate president Amy Sinclair and house majority leader Matt Windschitl.“I think we need to restore sanity in this country,” DeSantis told a crowd of Iowa supporters last week, adding, “We must reject the culture of losing that has impacted our party in recent years. The time for excuses is over.”DeSantis’s comments appeared to be a subtle jab at Donald Trump, currently the Republican frontrunner who has repeatedly attacked his ex-ally and is currently leading in the polls. Should DeSantis enter the presidential race, he will become Trump’s chief challenger.In the past year, DeSantis has ramped up his “culture war” in Florida, from signing the state’s so-called “don’t say gay” bill into law to approving abortion bans after six weeks. Most recently, the rightwing governor signed a bill on Monday that defunds diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the state’s public colleges.Florida governor Ron DeSantis is set to officially launch his 2024 presidential bid, according to multiple reports citing sources familiar with the matter.One Republican source told CNN that the Republican governor will file candidacy paperwork next week with the Federal Election Commission and is set to make an official announcement in his home town of Dunedin, Florida, the following week.Earlier this week, reports emerged that DeSantis is poised to sign a bill that would modify a Florida law and allow him to run for president while serving as governor. The bill is also expected to impose new voting restrictions across Florida and will make it increasingly difficult for non-profits to conduct voter registration drives.Last Saturday, DeSantis rolled out a hefty list of endorsements from Iowa lawmakers and visited the crucial early-voting state in an attempt to garner support for his likely bid.Here are other developments in US politics:
      Dianne Feinstein, the oldest serving senator, has prompted renewed scrutiny over her fitness to serve following her return to Capitol Hill after a months-long absence due to shingles.
      California representative Adam Schiff said he is “not backing down” in the face of a Republican-led effort to expel him from Congress.
      The Pentagon leaks suspect was warned repeatedly about his mishandling of classified material, according to prosecutors. More

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      Ron DeSantis expected to formally enter 2024 presidential race next week

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      The rightwing Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, will officially begin his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination next week, it was widely reported on Thursday.According to Reuters, DeSantis, 44, is expected to file Federal Election Commission paperwork declaring his candidacy next Thursday, 25 May, to coincide with a donor meeting in Miami, with a more formal launch the following week.The invitation for the 25 May event stated that donors would be put to “work”, a source told Reuters. The Wall Street Journal said DeSantis donors were beginning “a fundraising blitz”. CNN said 100 hotel rooms had been reserved for the Miami event. The New York Times said DeSantis was likely to release a video accompanying his entry to the race.CNN and ABC cited Republican sources as saying a formal announcement would follow in Dunedin, Florida, the governor’s home town. CNN also said a source “cautioned that the planning remains a moving target and DeSantis is known to surprise even his closest allies with last-minute changes”. ABC said the governor’s plans were “in flux”.DeSantis did not comment.A run has been long expected, particularly since DeSantis won a landslide victory over his Democratic challenger, Charlie Crist, in his re-election campaign last year.DeSantis is a clear second in Republican primary polling, though he has fallen far behind the frontrunner, the former president Donald Trump. On Thursday, the RealClearPolitics polling average put Trump more than 36 points ahead.Trump faces unprecedented legal jeopardy but has eagerly capitalised on it.In separate cases in New York, the former president pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal counts related to a hush money payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels and was found liable, and fined $5m, for sexual assault and defamation against the writer E Jean Carroll.Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, including inciting the deadly January 6 attack on Congress, are the subject of state and federal investigations. The US Department of Justice is investigating his retention of classified material. The attorney general of New York launched a civil lawsuit over his business practices.Trump has stepped up attacks on DeSantis but the rest of the Republican field continues to lag far behind.Declared candidates include the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley and Asa Hutchinson, a former governor of Arkansas. Tim Scott, a South Carolina senator, is expected to announce next week. Mike Pence, a former Indiana governor and Trump’s vice-president, is reported to be close to announcing.In a detailed report about DeSantis’s preparations, the New York Times recently said: “In six short months from November to May, Mr DeSantis’s 2024 run has faltered before it has even begun.“Allies have abandoned him. Tales of his icy interpersonal touch have spread. Donors have groused. And a legislative session in Tallahassee designed to burnish his conservative credentials has instead coincided with a drop in the polls.”On Thursday, Reuters said DeSantis’s insistence on staying out of the race until the Florida legislature completed its spring session rattled some donors who wanted him to start firing back at Trump.Nonetheless, DeSantis and his advisers hoped to use the Florida session as a springboard to an announcement. In turn, Florida Republicans gave the governor a string of political victories.They expanded a state school voucher program, prohibited the use of public money in sustainable investing, scrapped diversity programs at public universities, allowed for the permitless carry of concealed weapons and banned almost all abortions.On Wednesday, DeSantis signed a slate of bills targeting LGBTQ+ rights.“We need to let our kids just be kids,” DeSantis said at the signing, at a Christian school in Tampa. “What we’ve said in Florida is we are going to remain a refuge of sanity and a citadel of normalcy.”In response, Joe Saunders, senior political director of Equality Florida, an advocacy group, told reporters DeSantis sees freedom “as a campaign slogan … the nation should be on high alert, because, today, we are all Floridians”.Democrats think such actions – also including a high-profile fight with Disney over its opposition to his policies on the teaching of LGBTQ+ issues – could place DeSantis too far right of the mainstream to beat Joe Biden in the general election.Even Trump has suggested so, telling the Messenger this week “many people within the pro-life movement feel [the Florida abortion ban] was too harsh”.DeSantis has also made high-profile missteps, including on foreign policy, for example telling Fox News the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a “territorial dispute” – a position from which he swiftly retreated.But in general election polling, DeSantis and Biden are in a near dead heat. The RCP average gives DeSantis the lead, by half a point.The governor also has powerful help. According to the New York Times, he is “likely to start with more money in an outside group than any Republican primary candidate in history”.DeSantis, the paper said, “has more than $80m expected to be transferred from his state account to his Super Pac, Never Back Down, which has also raised more than $30m, in addition to having tens of millions more in donor commitments”.Never Back Down, which can raise unlimited funds, has been hiring staff in early voting states and running TV ads.The Journal reported that on Thursday the Super Pac was due to host a call for potential supporters and donors. An invitation read: “All solicitations of funds in connection with this event are by Never Back Down … and not by Governor Ron DeSantis.”Nonetheless, DeSantis was due to join the call. More

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      Trump wins proxy battle with DeSantis over pick for Kentucky governor

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      Donald Trump scored a proxy victory over Ron DeSantis on Tuesday, the Republican presidential frontrunner’s preferred candidate beating the choice of the Florida governor, Trump’s closest rival, in a gubernatorial primary in Kentucky.Daniel Cameron, the first major-party Black nominee for governor in Kentucky history, will face the Democratic incumbent, Andy Beshear, in November.Cameron, the state attorney general, claimed a convincing victory over a 12-candidate field including Kelly Craft, who was United Nations ambassador in the Trump administration and who won a late endorsement from DeSantis.Beshear easily beat two challengers in his own primary.Cameron is the first Black Kentucky attorney general and would be its first Black governor. He played up the historic nature of his nomination in his victory speech, saying he would “embody the promise of America, that if you work hard and if you stand on principle, anything is possible”.“To anyone who looks like me, know that you can achieve anything,” Cameron said. “Know that in this country and in Kentucky, all that matters are your values.”Kentucky will be one of the most closely watched states in November, analysts seeking clues for the 2024 presidential race. Beshear is a popular governor but he will face a tough re-election bid in a Republican-dominated state after a first term marked by the Covid pandemic, natural disasters and a mass shooting that killed one of his closest friends.Beshear touted his stewardship of Kentucky’s economy and blasted the tone of the Republican primary.“Right now somewhere in America, there is a CEO deciding where to move their business and they’re considering Kentucky,” Beshear told supporters on Tuesday. “Let me ask you: is seeing people talk down our state and our economy, insult our people and stoke divisions going to help that next company choose Kentucky? Of course not.”In 2019, Beshear used the attorney general’s office as a springboard to the governorship. As attorney general, he challenged executive actions by the then Republican governor, Matt Bevin, who he then beat narrowly.If Beshear follows his campaign formula from 2019, he will avoid talking about Trump or dwelling on polarizing national issues. He is also expected to draw on his family’s strong political brand – his father, Steve Beshear, is a former two-term Kentucky governor.Cameron succeeded Beshear as attorney general and mounted numerous challenges against state and national Democratic policies, essentially halting Covid-era restrictions. Beshear says his actions saved lives and that he leaned on guidance from Trump’s Covid taskforce.A former aide to the Republican US Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, Cameron is one of the most prominent Black Republicans. His victory will play into Trump’s efforts to solidify his lead in the presidential primary.Rivalry between Cameron and Craft dominated the Kentucky primary. Cameron endured an advertising blitz by Craft’s campaign and an outside group that portrayed Cameron as an “establishment teddy bear”. A pro-Cameron group returned fire.Cameron’s handling of an investigation into the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police in 2020, which contributed to nationwide protests for policing reform, could now come under renewed scrutiny.Announcing a grand jury’s findings, Cameron said jurors “agreed” homicide charges were not warranted because officers were fired upon. Three jurors said Cameron’s staff did not give them an opportunity to consider homicide charges.Cameron must also build party unity. He has previously bridged the rift between Trump and McConnell. Previously the senator’s legal counsel, he made a high-profile pitch for Trump at the Republican convention in 2020. More

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      Are you a doctor who hates treating gay people? Come to Florida, where Ron DeSantis has legalised bigotry | Arwa Mahdawi

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      You know what I love about living in the US? Freedom! You can choose between multiple overpriced insurance companies to provide you with healthcare, for example. The healthcare companies, in turn, can seemingly charge you whatever they like for their services. If they want to charge you $1,500 (£1,200) for some toenail fungus cream, that is their prerogative. That’s freedom, baby.As if this wasn’t glorious enough, the healthcare system in Florida has just had a new layer of freedom added to it. On 1 July, a new law goes into effect that means a doctor can look a potential patient up and down, decide they are giving off homosexual vibes and refuse to treat them because interacting with gay people goes against their personal beliefs. The doctor will not face any repercussions for denying care and has no obligation to refer the patient elsewhere.I wish I was exaggerating but I’m not. Last week, Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, signed the Protections of Medical Conscience (pdf) bill, which lets medical professionals and health insurance companies deny patients care based on religious, moral or ethical beliefs. While the new law doesn’t allow care to be withheld because of race, colour sex, or national origin, there are no protections for sexual orientation or gender identity. The only bright spot is that hospitals must still abide by federal laws that require them to stabilise a patient with an emergency condition. In other words, you can’t let a patient die just because they’re wearing a Drag Race T-shirt.At least, I don’t think you can: it is hard to say precisely what is allowed under this new law because, like a lot of regressive Republican legislation, the bill is deliberately vague. It does not list which procedures are acceptable to refuse and it doesn’t clearly define what constitutes a “sincerely held religious, moral, or ethical belief”. This lack of clarity is by design: Republicans love passing legislation with vague language because it creates confusion and is more difficult to challenge. It is also a lot scarier for the people affected when you don’t have a clear idea what is allowed and what isn’t. The journalist Mary C Curtis has called the tactic “intimidation by obfuscation”. The American Civil Liberties Union noted that the new law means “Floridians will have to fear discriminatory treatment from medical providers every time they meet a new provider, calling into question everyone’s trust in their medical care.”DeSantis has been a very busy man: in the brief moments he has not spent fighting with Disney, his state’s second-largest employer, he has been signing a flurry of regressive legislation. The day before he signed his bill attacking healthcare equality, he signed a draconian immigration bill that makes life for migrants in Florida very difficult. And, on Monday, he signed a bill that would ban Florida’s colleges and universities from spending state or federal money on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. It also limits how race can be discussed on many courses. In a speech after he signed the bill, DeSantis told prospective college students that if they want to study wacky things such as “gender ideology” they should get the hell out of Florida. “We don’t want to be diverted into a lot of these niche subjects that are heavily politicised; we want to focus on the basics,” said DeSantis. Sounds like a great advert for Florida’s educational institutions, doesn’t it? “Come here if you just want to learn the basics!” I’m not sure what “the basics” are but they clearly don’t include studying Michelangelo or watching animated films since, earlier this year, a Florida principal had to resign after parents were outraged that their kids were shown a picture of Michelangelo’s David and now a Florida teacher is being investigated for showing her class a Disney movie featuring a gay character.Having banned everything in sight, DeSantis’s next big project appears to be modifying Florida’s “resign-to-run” law so that he can run for president while still serving as governor. It’s not clear when he might finally announce his candidacy, but I will tell you this: it is looking very likely that the Republican nominee for 2024 is going to be either DeSantis, a man who has turned the sunshine state into a hotbed of bigotry, or Donald Trump, a fellow bigot who has been found to be a sexual predator by the law. Please feel free to scream. Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
      Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. More

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      ‘Impossible to hold him accountable’: DeSantis signs laws to ease 2024 run

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      Ron DeSantis is using the final weeks before he reportedly launches a presidential campaign to modify Florida law to allow him to run while serving as governor and reduce transparency over political spending and his travel.DeSantis is poised to sign a bill that would exempt him from Florida’s “resign-to-run” law, so that he won’t have to give up his office in order to run for president. Under existing state law, if he were to run, DeSantis would have had to submit a resignation letter before Florida’s qualifying deadline this year and step down by inauguration day in 2025. Last month, Republicans in the state legislature passed a measure that says the restriction does not apply to those running for president or vice-president.The bill also imposes sweeping new voting restrictions in the state and will make it much harder for non-profits to do voter registration drives.“I can’t think of a better training ground than the state of Florida for a future potential commander-in-chief,” Tyler Sirois, a Republican state lawmaker, said when the bill was being debated.Some Democrats questioned why lawmakers would allow DeSantis to take his attention away from being governor. “Why are we signing off on allowing Ron DeSantis the ability to not do his job?” Angie Nixon, a legislator from Jacksonville, said last month.DeSantis also signed a bill last week that will shield records related to his travel from public view. The new law exempts all of DeSantis’s past and future travel from disclosure under Florida’s public records law, one of the most transparent in the US. It also exempts the state from having to disclose the names of people who meet with the governor at his office or mansion or travel with him, said Barbara Petersen, the executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, who has worked on transparency laws for more than three decades in the state.Republican lawmakers and DeSantis have cited security concerns to justify the law. But Democrats and transparency advocates have said it is a brazen effort to keep DeSantis’s travel secret.“It’s un-fricking-believable,” Petersen said. “It will be virtually impossible to hold this governor accountable without access to those kinds of records.”The security rationale for the bill was “bogus”, she said. “They’re not going to let somebody in the mansion if they don’t know who that person is. I don’t understand why it’s a security concern of where he went six weeks ago.“Where a governor goes, who travels with the governor, who the governor meets with is all information of critical importance to the public. Who is influencing the governor? We need to know that.”The same bill that repeals the resign-to-run requirement would make it harder to know where political committees in Florida, including DeSantis’s, are raising money from. Currently, statewide political committees are required to file monthly campaign finance reports for much of a campaign. Under the new measure, those committees would only have to file quarterly reports until the state’s qualification deadline, when they would have to file more regular reports.“It’s definitely a step backwards for transparency in campaign finance,” said Ben Wilcox, the co-founder of Integrity Florida, a government watchdog group. “It’s just gonna slow down the reporting of what these political committees are raising.“They are raising boatloads of money. The political committees are the preferred fundraising tool out there,” he added.DeSantis recently moved to distance himself from his Florida political committee, which has about $86m, according to Politico. The move prompted speculation that the committee might attempt to transfer money to a federal super Pac backing his presidential bid, Politico reported. Such a transfer may be legally questionable and would only be possible if DeSantis were unaffiliated with the Florida political committee.“It looks like they’re laying the groundwork to transfer the money to some sort of vehicle that would support his presidential run,” said Stephen Spaulding, a campaign finance expert at Common Cause, a government watchdog group. “What that, again, goes to show is how loose the coordination rules are, how they need to be strengthened, and how existing rules need to be enforced.” More

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      DeSantis secures endorsements on visit to Iowa in preparation for likely 2024 bid

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      Florida’s rightwing governor, Ron DeSantis, has rolled out a hefty list of endorsements from Iowa lawmakers as he visited the crucial early-voting state on Saturday in an attempt to garner support for his potential Republican presidential campaign.The pro-DeSantis Super Pac Never Back Down announced endorsements from 37 Republican Iowa state senators and representatives, including the Iowa senate president, Amy Sinclair, and the state house majority leader, Matt Windschitl.In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Sinclair praised DeSantis, saying that he stands “head and shoulders” above other Republican presidential candidates including Donald Trump and that the choice is “an easy endorsement for me”.Windschitl echoed similar sentiments, telling the outlet: “We need somebody that’s accountable to the people that has proven in their state that they can do this job and take that same prosperity and spread it throughout America.”However, DeSantis is landing in Iowa – the first state in the Republican nomination process – after a tough few weeks. The Republican frontrunner, the former US president Donald Trump, has repeatedly attacked his ex-ally and holds a commanding lead in polls. An overseas trip by DeSantis was also seen as falling flat and he has struggled recently to impress some big Republican donors.On Saturday, DeSantis and his wife, Casey, attended the 2023 Feenstra Family Picnic hosted by the state representative Randy Feenstra in Sioux Center. DeSantis’s visit to the state is widely regarded as an early attempt at swaying Iowa Republicans, many of whom will attend an outdoor rally hosted by Trump later this evening in Des Moines.During the fundraiser, DeSantis boasted about his conservative accomplishments in Florida’s ongoing culture war, including abortion bans, blocking diversity and inclusion programs, and legislation that allows residents to carry concealed weapons without a government-issued permit.“In Florida, we are a freedom zone permanently,” DeSantis said, adding: “I think we need to restore sanity in this country,” as the crowd applauded loudly while eating hamburgers.“If you look at what’s going on in Washington DC, if we were sitting here ten years ago and someone told you we would be over $31tn in debt, you would not have believed that was the case and yet the Democrats keep borrowing and saving like drunken sailors,” he said ahead of the elections in which he is expected to soon formally announce his candidacy as Trump’s chief challenger.“If you compare how Florida’s managed or Iowa’s managed to states governed by leftist politicians, it’s like night and day,” DeSantis continued.The governor appeared to also take a veiled jab at Trump.“We must reject the culture of losing that has impacted our party in recent years. The time for excuses is over,” DeSantis said, referring to a series of electoral losses suffered by Republicans in the 2020 election and the 2022 midterms.“If we get distracted, if we focus the election on the past or on other side issues, then I think the Democrats are going to beat us again,” he told the crowd of several hundred conservatives. More

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      Liable for sexual assault, yes – but Trump’s political career is far from over | Lloyd Green

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      It is the worst of times and the best of times for Donald Trump. On Tuesday, he suffered another legal defeat. A federal jury found him liable for the sexual abuse, forcible touching, and defamation of E Jean Carroll. She was awarded $5m in damages.The 45th president, however, escaped liability for rape. He also leads Joe Biden in their latest hypothetical match-up, while Ron DeSantis fades in the rearview mirror.The midterms in November 2022 ended with an underwhelming GOP performance, DeSantis emerging triumphant in his reelection bid, and Trump licking his wounds. Not any more. He’s back.The public judges Biden to be less than sharp, and his stewardship of the economy similarly lacking. Record low unemployment has failed to dissipate the stings of inflation, high interest rates and an underperforming stock market. Retirement accounts have taken a hit. Food prices are high. Folks are angry.Meanwhile, Hunter Biden, the first son, faces the prospect of indictment on tax and gun charges. Biden professes that the boy has done nothing wrong, but even if he escapes prosecution, the sins of the son will likely be visited upon the father. It feels incestuous.Given this tableau, the impact of the Trump sexual assault outcome is likely to be muted, which is not to say that this latest loss won’t bring fallout.In the run-up to the verdict, the court released a deposition video that showed Trump unable to identify Carroll in a photograph. Instead, he confused her with Marla Maples, his second wife. In that moment, he put the lie to his non-denial-denial that Carroll wasn’t his “type”.The potential for fall debate drama over Trump’s brain fog is high. Remember when he bragged about his performance in a cognitive test (“Person, woman, man, camera, TV”)? His mental acuity, too, is now likely to become a campaign issue. Turnabout is fair play. Biden isn’t the only one with issues.Still, Trump has already survived the infamous Access Hollywood tape. “When you are a star, they let you do it … You can do anything,” he cackled back in the day.“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK,” Trump mused seven years ago. He was definitely on to something.For many Republicans, Trump is their Caesar, a cultural avatar and warrior who possesses license to flout and defy convention. Conversely, the GOP primary field is too timid to comment, let alone criticize or condemn Trump.For rivals purportedly wedded to law and order, their silence is both deafening and unsurprising. Apparently, the wrath of Trump loyalists far exceeds any possible political benefit.Mike Pence still won’t go full bore at his ex-boss over the events of January 6. The former vice-president tiptoes around the topic. The fact that Trump was unperturbed by the mob’s calls for Pence to be hanged apparently warrants no further discussion.Then there’s DeSantis. Bashing Disney is one thing; trashing Trump is another. Glaringly, he failed to use the Carroll trial to further his own ambitions: he didn’t dispatch his wife, Casey DeSantis, there to offer thoughts and prayers for the plaintiff or Melania Trump.The cameras would have been rolling and DeSantis would have been credited for surgically wielding a scalpel instead of crudely brandishing his usual axe. Instead, DeSantis went overseas in a vain bid to grow foreign policy credentials.In London, he fell on his face as he attempted to woo the titans of British industry. “Ron DeTedious: DeSantis underwhelms Britain’s business chiefs”, the headline at Politico blared. “UK captains of industry lambast ‘low-wattage’ US presidential hopeful.”Low wattage is the new low energy. Once upon a time, Jeb Bush was Florida’s governor. The song remains the same.DeSantis also met Israel’s beleaguered Benjamin Netanyahu – who failed to release a photo of their meeting. At this juncture, DeSantis’s anticipated announcement feels stale and overdue.His purported legislative accomplishments have earned him the title of “2024’s Ted Cruz”; the most rightwing GOP contender, little else. He makes Wall Street’s Republicans uncomfortable. Once again, the non-Trump challenger is a mirage.Looking ahead Trump’s future is muddled. He remains under criminal indictment. Grand juries in DC and Georgia proceed apace. Separately, an October trial date is set in the $250m civil fraud action commenced by New York state against him, his three older children and the Trump Organization.It’s too soon for Trump to gloat, but he can definitely smile.
      Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 More

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      Liable for sexual abuse, yes – but Trump’s political career is far from over | Lloyd Green

      by

      It is the worst of times and the best of times for Donald Trump. On Tuesday, he suffered another legal defeat. A federal jury found him liable for the sexual abuse, forcible touching, and defamation of E Jean Carroll. She was awarded $5m in damages.The 45th president, however, escaped liability for rape. He also leads Joe Biden in their latest hypothetical match-up, while Ron DeSantis fades in the rearview mirror.The midterms in November 2022 ended with an underwhelming GOP performance, DeSantis emerging triumphant in his reelection bid, and Trump licking his wounds. Not any more. He’s back.The public judges Biden to be less than sharp, and his stewardship of the economy similarly lacking. Record low unemployment has failed to dissipate the stings of inflation, high interest rates and an underperforming stock market. Retirement accounts have taken a hit. Food prices are high. Folks are angry.Meanwhile, Hunter Biden, the first son, faces the prospect of indictment on tax and gun charges. Biden professes that the boy has done nothing wrong, but even if he escapes prosecution, the sins of the son will likely be visited upon the father. It feels incestuous.Given this tableau, the impact of the Trump sexual abuse outcome is likely to be muted, which is not to say that this latest loss won’t bring fallout.In the run-up to the verdict, the court released a deposition video that showed Trump unable to identify Carroll in a photograph. Instead, he confused her with Marla Maples, his second wife. In that moment, he put the lie to his non-denial-denial that Carroll wasn’t his “type”.The potential for fall debate drama over Trump’s brain fog is high. Remember when he bragged about his performance in a cognitive test (“Person, woman, man, camera, TV”)? His mental acuity, too, is now likely to become a campaign issue. Turnabout is fair play. Biden isn’t the only one with issues.Still, Trump has already survived the infamous Access Hollywood tape. “When you are a star, they let you do it … You can do anything,” he cackled back in the day.“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK,” Trump mused seven years ago. He was definitely on to something.For many Republicans, Trump is their Caesar, a cultural avatar and warrior who possesses license to flout and defy convention. Conversely, the GOP primary field is too timid to comment, let alone criticize or condemn Trump.For rivals purportedly wedded to law and order, their silence is both deafening and unsurprising. Apparently, the wrath of Trump loyalists far exceeds any possible political benefit.Mike Pence still won’t go full bore at his ex-boss over the events of January 6. The former vice-president tiptoes around the topic. The fact that Trump was unperturbed by the mob’s calls for Pence to be hanged apparently warrants no further discussion.Then there’s DeSantis. Bashing Disney is one thing; trashing Trump is another. Glaringly, he failed to use the Carroll trial to further his own ambitions: he didn’t dispatch his wife, Casey DeSantis, there to offer thoughts and prayers for the plaintiff or Melania Trump.The cameras would have been rolling and DeSantis would have been credited for surgically wielding a scalpel instead of crudely brandishing his usual axe. Instead, DeSantis went overseas in a vain bid to grow foreign policy credentials.In London, he fell on his face as he attempted to woo the titans of British industry. “Ron DeTedious: DeSantis underwhelms Britain’s business chiefs”, the headline at Politico blared. “UK captains of industry lambast ‘low-wattage’ US presidential hopeful.”Low wattage is the new low energy. Once upon a time, Jeb Bush was Florida’s governor. The song remains the same.DeSantis also met Israel’s beleaguered Benjamin Netanyahu – who failed to release a photo of their meeting. At this juncture, DeSantis’s anticipated announcement feels stale and overdue.His purported legislative accomplishments have earned him the title of “2024’s Ted Cruz”; the most rightwing GOP contender, little else. He makes Wall Street’s Republicans uncomfortable. Once again, the non-Trump challenger is a mirage.Looking ahead Trump’s future is muddled. He remains under criminal indictment. Grand juries in DC and Georgia proceed apace. Separately, an October trial date is set in the $250m civil fraud action commenced by New York state against him, his three older children and the Trump Organization.It’s too soon for Trump to gloat, but he can definitely smile. This article was amended on 11 May 2023. The text and headline were amended as Donald Trump was found liable of sexual abuse, not sexual assault as an earlier version said.
      Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 More