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      Republican media blitz aims to discredit Capitol attack hearings

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      Republican media blitz aims to discredit Capitol attack hearingsTrump loyalists to flood airwaves with claims inquiry lacks legitimacy, indicating their concern, pundits say Republican politicians are preparing a media onslaught to deflect, discredit and delegitimise Thursday’s opening hearing of the House of Representatives panel investigating the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.While major TV networks broadcast the first session live in prime time, Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News will stick with its usual show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, which has long pushed Donald Trump’s talking points.Trump loyalists are expected to flood the airwaves with claims that the January 6 select committee lacks credibility and Democrats are out of touch with more pressing concerns such as inflation, crime, border security and baby formula shortages.Elise Stefanik, chair of the House Republican Conference, told reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday: “They are scrambling to change the headlines, praying that the nation will focus on their partisan witch-hunt instead of our pocketbooks. It will not work.”In what amounted to an attempt at a prebuttal, Stefanik described the January 6 committee as “unconstitutional” and “illegitimate” and designed to “punish” the House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s opponents. She criticised its decision to hire James Goldston, the former president of ABC News, to help make its presentation compelling.“This further solidifies what we have known from day one: this committee is not about seeking the truth – it’s a smear campaign against President Donald Trump, against Republican members of Congress, and against Trump voters across this country.”The comments set the template for Republican counter-programming on conservative media such as Fox News, Newsmax, the One America News Network, Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast and other outlets that will seek to portray the hearings as a sinister show trial in which Trump supporters are the victims.Congress’s January hearings aim to be TV spectacular that ‘blows the roof off’Read moreJim Jordan, the top Republican on the House judiciary committee, wrote on the Federalist website: “The committee’s real goal, and what it hopes to achieve with its unprecedented subpoenas and its bright-light hearings, is a repudiation of conservatism and all those who hold conservative values.”For their part, Democrats hope that the hearings will cut through a crowded news agenda much more successfully than the former special counsel Robert Mueller’s turgid testimony about Trump’s ties to Russia. After an investigation entailing more than 100 subpoenas, 1,000 interviews and 100,000 documents, they are likely to characterise the riot as not a spontaneous gathering but part of a broader conspiracy.Congressman Jamie Raskin, a Democrat on the committee, promised in April: “The hearings will tell a story that will really blow the roof off the House. Because it is a story of the most heinous and dastardly political offence ever organised by a president and his followers and his entourage in the history of the United States.”Trump, whose “big lie” falsely claims that he won the 2020 election, was impeached by the House for his role in encouraging the assault on democracy. Dozens of the insurrectionists have been brought to justice, many having been convicted or pleading guilty to serious crimes.But Republicans, who previously rejected an independent September 11-style bipartisan commission, have sought to downplay the attack and deny the legitimacy of the committee, alleging that it is driven by political motivations to abolish the electoral college and prevent Trump’s re-election.They complain that Jordan of Ohio and his colleague Jim Banks of Indiana were barred from taking part by Pelosi. Democrats say the pair were disqualified because they backed Trump’s efforts to overturn the election and sought to block any investigation.Banks said at a press conference on Wednesday: “Speaker Pelosi blocked us because she’s afraid of what a real investigation would uncover.” Along with seven Democrats, the committee does have two Republicans but both are staunch Trump critics: Liz Cheney of Wyoming, daughter of the former vice-president Dick Cheney, and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who is not seeking re-election. Both were censured by the Republican party in February.Kinzinger responded to Fox News’s lack of planned coverage by tweeting: “If you work for @FoxNews and want to maintain your credibility as a journalist, now is a good time to speak out, or quit. Enough is enough.”News coverage of the hearings will be relegated from Fox News to its sister channel, Fox Business Network, which has much lower ratings. Carlson, who will go head to head with the hearing at 8pm on Thursday, has claimed the insurrection “barely rates as a footnote” and described the committee as “wholly illegitimate”. US networks to air January 6 hearings – but Fox News sticks with Tucker CarlsonRead moreTara Setmayer, a former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill turned Trump critic, said: “The Republican party and rightwing media is no longer interested in telling the truth, which is why they’re avoiding showing the hearings.“Democrats need to consistently hammer home to the American people the importance of what they’re doing and let the facts speak for themselves and not be distracted by the kabuki theatre that Republicans will try to put on to distract from the truth.”Setmayer added: “The truth is s so damning for the Republican party and they know it. We’re hearing about everything else because they know they can’t stand on the merits of the other side. That’s why we’re hearing about caravans and crime and all of the hot-button cultural issues that fuel the Republican party and get their people riled up instead of the truth of January 6. They can’t handle it.”Having sought to downplay the deadly insurrection for 17 months, Republicans know the sheer magnitude of Thursday night’s media coverage – aspiring to that of the Watergate hearings that dominated the national conversation in the 1970s – will make it difficult to ignore. It is possible that Trump himself will be stung into speaking out and denouncing the proceedings.Charlie Sykes, founder and editor-at-large of the Bulwark website and author of How the Right Lost Its Mind, said: “There’s going to be a full-court press to delegitimise the hearings, to throw up as much smoke and dust as possible, which is interesting to me. The conventional wisdom is that these hearings are not likely to move a lot of votes or change the midterm elections but Donald Trump and the Republicans are certainly acting as if they pose a threat. Otherwise, why would they be mobilising like this?“Obviously they see the hearings as somewhat dangerous. From Trump’s point of view, what he is most concerned about is the fact that it’s going to be on primetime television. He’s a television guy and he understands the power of this and I’m guessing the fact that they’ve hired a guy who’s a documentary maker really got his attention down at Mar-a-Lago.”TopicsUS Capitol attackUS CongressRepublicansDemocratsUS politicsfeaturesReuse this content More

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      ‘Lexi’s voice demands action’: family of Uvalde victims beg Congress to address gun violence

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      ‘Lexi’s voice demands action’: family of Uvalde victims beg Congress to address gun violenceKimberly Rubio wept as she described the harrowing events of 24 May and asked for strengthened gun laws from Congress 01:59Kimberly and Felix Rubio went twice to Robb Elementary school on the morning of 24 May, first to attend an end-of-year awards ceremony for their youngest son and then to attend one for their daughter, Lexi, who was in the fourth grade.They beamed with pride as Lexi was honored with the “good citizen” award and recognized for earning straight As. To celebrate, they promised to take her for ice cream later that night.“In the reel that keeps scrolling across my memories, she turns her head and smiles back at us to acknowledge my promise,” Kimberly Rubio told a House oversight committee via video link on Wednesday. “And then we left.”Uvalde survivor, 11, tells House hearing she smeared herself with friend’s blood Read moreThrough tears she continued: “I left my daughter at that school and that decision will haunt me for the rest of my life.”Felix Rubio sat silently next to his wife, eyes downcast as she described the harrowing events that followed: their desperate, hours-long search for their children. Relief when a teacher said their son was safe, and the moment they realized Lexi, their “intelligent, compassionate and athletic” daughter who dreamed of attending law school would not live to graduate the fourth grade.“That opportunity was taken from her; she was taken from us,” her mother said.Lexi Rubio was among the 19 students and two teachers killed when a gunman armed with an assault-style rifle stormed a pair of adjoining classrooms and opened fire. She was 10.“We don’t want you to think of Lexi as just a number,” Kimberly Rubio said. “So today we stand for Lexi, and her voice demands action.”The oversight committee hearing on gun violence was scheduled in the wake of successive mass shootings in recent weeks that have claimed the lives of dozens of Americans in Buffalo, New York; Uvalde, Texas, and elsewhere. The committee heard from a pediatrician, a police commissioner, the mayor of New York and experts on the issue of gun violence, who almost uniformly echoed the Rubios’ call for action.But perhaps the most heart-rending testimony came from 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-grader at Robb elementary school. In a pre-taped video, Miah, wearing a shirt that said “live by the sun” with sunflowers, recounted how the gunman appeared in their classroom as they scrambled to hide behind desks and the rows of backpacks. He told her teacher “goodnight” before shooting her in the head, she said.The gunman then shot her classmates and then her friend who was huddling next to her. “I thought he would come back to the room, so I grabbed blood and put it all over me,” she said.Roy Guerrero, the sole pediatrician in Uvalde, said the horror of tending to the small bodies “pulverized” by bullets fired by an AR-15-style semi-automatic weapon, embedded memories he said “no prayer could ever relieve”.Guerrero said he could save children from broken bones and bacterial infections, but only Congress could save them from the scourge of gun violence.“Making sure that our children are safe from guns, that’s the job of politicians and leaders,” he said, adding: “We are bleeding out and you are not there.”The Rubios pleaded with Congress to change gun laws and prevent more communities from experiencing the overwhelming tragedy that has consumed Uvalde, where Lexi’s classmates are still being buried.Kimberly Rubio asked Congress to raise the age to 21 for purchases of military-style assault rifles, like the one that killed Lexi, as well as for strengthening background checks on gun buyers and repealing the immunity that shields gun manufacturers from being held liable.As lawmakers chase an elusive deal on gun control, Kimberly Rubio urged a consensus: “At this moment, we ask for progress.”Appearing on Capitol Hill, Miah’s father, Miguel Cerrillo, said something had to change. In brief, tearful testimony, he told the committee that the shooting had changed his daughter.“I came because I could’ve lost my baby girl,” he said. “She’s not the same little girl that I used to play with and run with … because she was Daddy’s little girl.”“I wish something would change,” he concluded, breaking down in tears. Congresswoman Rashida Talib led him out of the hearing room by hand.The still-raw display of emotions underscored the depths of America’s gun violence crisis. But it also emphasized the gaping partisan divide that simmered and then flared on the floor of the House ahead of what was expected to be a party-line vote on a suite of gun reform measures.“It is my hope that all my colleagues will listen with an open heart as gun violence survivors and loved ones recount one of the darkest days of their lives,” said congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat of New York and the chair of the oversight committee. “This hearing is ultimately about saving lives, and I hope it will galvanize my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass legislation to do just that.”The committee also heard from Zeneta Everhart, who recounted in graphic detail how close she came to losing her son, Zaire Goodman, who was shot in the neck during a racist mass shooting at the Tops Friendly supermarket in Buffalo where he worked. Thirteen people were shot in the assault, 10 fatally.“Let me paint a picture for you: my son Zaire has a hole in the right side of his neck, two on his back and another on his left leg. Caused by an exploding bullet from an AR-15,” she said. “As I clean those wounds I can feel pieces of that bullet in his back.”“I want you to picture that exact scenario for one of your children,” she said. “This should not be your story or mine.”Everhart said it was naive to say, as so many do in the wake of senseless acts of violence, that the attacks do not represent “who we are as a nation”. Speaking as the descendant of enslaved Americans, she said the racist violence that erupted in a Buffalo supermarket last month had ugly roots in the nation’s founding.“Hear me clearly,” she said. “This is exactly who we are.”The committee also heard from Lucretia Hughes, a conservative activist invited to testify by Republicans. In fervent remarks to the committee, she said her son was killed in 2016 by a convicted felon who had illegally obtained a firearm. Gun control laws, which she described as “steeped in racism”, did little to save her son, she said.“Y’all are delusional if you think it’s going to keep us safe,” Hughes said of the calls for new firearms restrictions. Citing the widely-criticized response by law enforcement officers in Uvalde, she added: “We must prepare to be our own first responders.”But children and teachers shouldn’t have to bear that responsibility, Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, told the committee. The number of students who will never get to “live into their brilliance” is unconscionable, and yet it fails to capture the totality of the long-lasting physical and emotional damage wrought by these attacks, she said.“Students across our country are writing goodbye notes and wills – just in case,” she exclaimed. “Unfortunately their fear is perfectly rational.”In the video to the committee, Miah Cerrillo was asked if she feels safe at school.Miah shook her head no.“Why not?”“Cause,” she said slowly, fidgeting as children often do, “I don’t want it to happen again.”“You think it’s going to happen again?”Miah nods her head. Yes, she thinks it will.Kimberly Rubio also fears it will happen again. But she hopes, in honor of her daughter, that it can happen less, that, perhaps, with new laws and new restrictions, there will be fewer mothers in the future whose children go to school and never come home.“Somewhere out there, there’s a mom listening to our testimony and thinking, ‘I can’t even imagine their pain,’ not knowing that our reality will one day be hers,” she said. “Unless we act now.”TopicsUS school shootingsTexas school shootingBuffalo shootingHouse of RepresentativesUS politicsUS CongressUS SenatenewsReuse this content More

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      Uvalde survivor, 11, tells House hearing she smeared herself with friend’s blood

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      Uvalde survivor, 11, tells House hearing she smeared herself with friend’s blood Miah Cerrillo recounts at gun violence hearing how she watched as her teacher and friends were shot and acted quickly to save herself01:59An 11-year-old survivor of the elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas testified before the House oversight committee on Wednesday, as lawmakers continued to try to reach a compromise on gun control legislation after a series of devastating mass shootings.‘It all happened too fast’: injured Uvalde teacher recounts school shootingRead moreThe House hearing came two weeks after an 18-year-old opened fire at Robb elementary school, killing 19 children and two teachers, and three weeks after 10 people were killed at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-grader at the Uvalde school, recounted how she watched as her teacher and friends were shot and acted quickly to save herself. Miah covered herself in a friend’s blood and played dead until she was able to reach her teacher’s phone and call police.In her recorded testimony, Miah said she no longer felt safe at school.“Because I don’t want it to happen again,” she said.The slow police response to the Uvalde shooting has been the focus of intense scrutiny and criticism.Miah was joined by other families affected by gun violence, including Felix and Kimberly Rubio, whose daughter Lexi died in Uvalde, and Zeneta Everhart, whose son Zaire Goodman was injured in Buffalo. Ten people were killed there, in a supermarket by another gunman with an AR-15-style rifle.“We don’t want you to think of Lexi as just a number,” Rubio told the committee. “She was intelligent, compassionate and athletic. So today we stand for Lexi, and as her voice we demand action.”Gun control experts and New York mayor Eric Adams also testified at the hearing on the need to restrict access to firearms and, by extension, reduce violent crime.“It is high noon in America, time for every one of us to decide where we stand on the issue of gun violence,” Adams said. “I am here today to ask every one of you, and everyone in this Congress, to stand with me to end gun violence and protect the lives of all Americans.”But the emotional and searing testimony did not stop Republicans on the committee rehashing talking points about why they oppose gun restrictions.“Kneejerk reactions to impose gun control policies that seek to curtail our constitutional right to bear arms are not the answer,” said James Comer, the Republican ranking member.The Democratic chair of the committee, Carolyn Maloney, criticized Republican efforts to deflect attention from the need to reform gun laws.“They have blamed violent video games. They have blamed family values. They have even blamed open doors. They have blamed everything but guns,” Maloney said. “But we know the United States does not have a monopoly on mental illness, video games or any other excuse. What America does have is widespread access to guns.”The House was working on Wednesday to pass gun control proposals which would raise the age requirement to buy semi-automatic weapons from 18 to 21 and enact a federal extreme risk protection order for gun access, known as a “red-flag” law.The House has already passed bills to expand background checks for firearm purchases and increase the time gun sellers must wait for checks to be completed.But all those bills are unlikely to pass the 50-50 Senate, where 60 votes are needed to pass most legislation. A bipartisan group of senators has been negotiating over a potential compromise on gun control, but any legislation that can make it through the Senate will probably be far narrower than proposals approved by the House.Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, indicated on Tuesday that Democrats’ proposal to raise the age requirement for purchasing semi-automatic weapons was unlikely to be included in the Senate bill.“That can be in the discussion, but right now we’re trying to work on things where we have agreement,” Tillis told CNN. “We’ve got a lot of people in the discussion. We’ve got to get 60 votes.”Despite such disputes, senators have voiced confidence that they can craft a compromise bill. Members of the group met again Wednesday, and John Cornyn, a Republican of Texas, expressed hope that they would soon strike an agreement.“I think it’s reasonable to expect in the next couple weeks, maybe this work period, that that would be – I’m just speaking for myself – an aspirational goal,” Cornyn said. “But obviously, we have 100 senators who are free agents, and they can do anything they want on whatever timetable.”02:08The families whose lives have been forever altered by gun violence came to the House on Wednesday with specific demands.Everhart asked for more schools to teach Black history so children would understand the violent history of white supremacy, given that the Buffalo shooter voiced support for racist conspiracy theories.Rubio also called on lawmakers to ban assault rifles, raise the age requirement to purchase semi-automatic weapons and enact a national “red flag” law.“We understand that for some reason, to some people – to people with money, to people who fund political campaigns – that guns are more important than children. So at this moment, we ask for progress,” Rubio said.“Somewhere out there, there’s a mom listening to our testimony thinking, ‘I can’t even imagine their pain’ – not knowing that our reality will one day be hers unless we act now.”TopicsUS school shootingsTexas school shootingBuffalo shootingUS politicsHouse of RepresentativesUS CongressUS SenatenewsReuse this content More

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      ‘To some, guns are more important than children’: families testify at House hearing – as it happened

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      The House oversight committee has opened its hearing dubbed “the urgent need to address the gun violence epidemic,” which is likely to be a gut-wrenching look into the recent spate of mass shootings nationwide.Among those testifying is Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-grade student who survived the shooting at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, the parents of Lexi Rubio, who was killed in the massacre, local pediatrician Roy Guerrero and Zeneta Everhart, whose son was shot in the massacre at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Republican lawmakers, who make up a minority in the chamber, have invited Lucretia Hughes of Women for Gun Rights’s DC Project.You can watch along here.The US politics blog is ending a very busy day in the capital, which saw new developments in one of the many investigations facing former president Donald Trump, difficult-to-stomach testimony in Congress on gun violence and the arrest of a man who was allegedly plotting to kill a supreme court justice.Here’s a recap:
      Trump along with his son Donald Trump Jr and daughter Ivanka Trump will testify under oath on 15 July in New York attorney general Letitia James’s long-running inquiry into the former president’s business practices.
      The top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell, is calling on Capitol Hill for more security for supreme court justices, after an armed man was arrested near justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home on the outskirts of Washington DC. Joe Biden condemned the actions of the individual, who the court said told police he wanted to kill the judge.
      The House oversight committee held a hearing dubbed “the urgent Need to address the gun violence epidemic”. Lawmakers heard gut-wrenching testimony from a survivor of the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, as well as the relatives of people killed and injured there and in Buffalo, New York. But the partisan divide over gun control appeared as wide as ever.
      The supreme court ruled in favor of a border agent in a case from the US-Canada frontier involving an inn that allegedly is a stopover when some people cross into Canada unlawfully.
      The blog returns tomorrow, when lawmakers will continue to negotiate over gun control legislation and the January 6 committee holds its first hearing. See you then.Donald Trump will testify under oath on 15 July in New York attorney general Letitia James’s investigation into his business practices, according to a court filing released on Wednesday.JUST IN: Donald Trump will testify under oath on July 15 alongside Don Jr. and Ivanka Trump, according to new doc from @NewYorkStateAG pic.twitter.com/BkZGNRcC6D— Frank G. Runyeon (@frankrunyeon) June 8, 2022
      His daughter Ivanka Trump and son Donald Trump Jr will also testify.The testimony is the latest development in the three-year investigation into the former president’s dealings after he failed in an attempt last month to stop her investigation and ended up paying a $110,000 fine.James has said investigators have found “significant evidence” of wrongdoing in the inquiry, which has homed in on whether the Trump Organization misstated the values of its real estate properties to obtain favorable loans and tax deductions.The attorney general previously said her investigation discovered evidence suggesting that for more than a decade, the company’s financial statements “relied on misleading asset valuations and other misrepresentations to secure economic benefits”.Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has not been accused of committing a crime. He has called the investigation a “witch-hunt”.Trump loses bid to thwart New York inquiry into his business practicesRead moreThe gun violence hearing in the House is continuing and the California Democrat Jackie Speier, who in 1978 was shot during a visit to the Jonestown settlement in an attack that killed the congressman she was accompanying, got a turn to question witnesses.Speier asked Joseph Gramaglia, the Buffalo police commissioner, to describe what weapons like an AR-15 can do to a body.“I’ve been to numerous shootings throughout my career that were the result of high-powered rifles, assault rifles, and the cavernous holes that they leave in bodies. Decapitation is a pretty good explanation for it,” Gramaglia replied. “Some people couldn’t be buried with an open casket. The damage was absolutely devastating.”Referencing her experience in Jonestown, Speier said, “I’m a victim of gun violence. I know what it does to a body. And I cannot believe my colleagues don’t recognize that prohibiting the sale of an assault weapon until the age of 21 isn’t going to save lives.”She rejected the idea put forth by Republicans that fortifying schools was one way to stop the shootings.“We all know what the solution to this problem is. It’s comprehensive gun reform in this country. We know what it is. We are not supposed to be holding our students and our teachers responsible,” Speier said.Joe Biden has condemned a man who said he planned to kill supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh, amid heightened tensions around the court as it prepares to rule on abortion and gun rights, among other controversial topics.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president “condemns the actions [of] this individual in the strongest terms,” Reuters reported. “Any threats of violence or attempts to intimidate justices have no place in our society.”A man identified in court documents as Nicholas John Roske was arrested early Wednesday morning near the conservative justice’s Maryland home. According to the complaint charging Roske with attempting to kill a supreme court justice, he first got out of a taxicab near Kavanaugh’s house, then walked away and called 911, saying he was having suicidal thoughts and planned to killed a justice of the high court. Police arrested him and found a Glock 17 pistol, pepper spray, zip ties and other items in a backpack and suitcase.Armed man arrested near Brett Kavanaugh’s home over threats to judgeRead moreThe US regards Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the true interim president of his country, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said moments ago aboard Air Force One, more than three years after Guaidó declared himself the true victor in a disputed election over Nicolás Maduro and tried to topple the man in control of the troubled South American nation.US president Joe Biden plans to speak with Guaido at some point during this week’s Summit of the Americas meeting that the US is hosting in California for leaders from the hemisphere, Sullivan said.Biden, aides, staff and media are on board Air Force One now, en route Washington, DC, to Los Angeles, and Sullivan and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre are gaggling – with Sullivan on right now, answering accompanying journalists’ questions.Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba were not invited to the summit, prompting a boycott by Mexico, in a debacle for Biden.Brazilian autocratic president Jair Bolsonaro will attend and Biden is expected to discuss “open, transparent and democratic elections” with him, Sullivan said.And the climate and the health of the Amazon rainforest will be on the agenda, Sullivan said.There is much hope in journalism circles that Bolsonaro can be pressed at the summit to address the topics of illegal logging and drug trafficking in vast, supposedly-protected tracts of the Amazon region and the danger to those who strive against such destructive law-making – including freelance journalist and Guardian regular Dom Phillips and his traveling companion, indigenous culture expert Bruno Araújo Pereira, missing in the region since Sunday.‘Every second counts’: wife of British journalist missing in Amazon urges actionRead moreIt’s been an extremely busy day in Washington and there is more to come. The House oversight committee hearing on the “urgent need to address gun violence” in the US, following very recent mass shootings, is now on lunch recess.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is now “gaggling” on Air Force One, as Joe Biden heads to Los Angeles to host the Summit of the Americas. It’s a bumpy ride for those aboard the presidential plane (literally but, presumably, always metaphorically).Here’s where things stand:
      Senate minority leader and Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell is calling on Capitol Hill for more security for supreme court justices, following the reports this morning that an armed man was arrested near supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home on the outskirts of Washington DC. The court said the man told police he wanted to kill the judge.
      The supreme court ruled in favor of a border agent in a case from the US-Canadian border involving an inn that allegedly is a stopover when some people cross into Canada unlawfully.
      The House oversight committee opened its hearing dubbed “the urgent need to address the gun violence epidemic”, which became a gut-wrenching look into the recent spate of mass shootings nationwide.
      Back at the House oversight committee, Democratic and Republican lawmakers are taking turns questioning the witnesses, creating a split-screen view of the two parties’ attitudes on gun control.Louisiana Republican Clay Higgins recalls a childhood in which “we had guns everywhere” and wonders why there weren’t mass shootings back then.“I asked you all what happened to that country,” Higgins said. “A country where guns were everywhere and virtually not regulated at all, where millions of Americans, 14 million Americans came back … after world war II with incredible skills of war and weapons of war as you call them everywhere, but we didn’t have mass shootings.”Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, drew a line between increasing firearm sales and gunmakers’ profits, declaring, “This is about blood money.”“There’s also this discussion about anything but, again, but that these are about violent people, but yet we aren’t doing anything about addressing the actual root causes of misogyny, where two-thirds of mass shootings are connected to domestic violence, or the emergence of white supremacy, radicalization, mass incarceration and poverty and the connections between that and mass shootings in our communities,” Ocasio-Cortez said.Ahead of the start of the January 6 hearings tomorrow, the committee’s chair, Bennie Thompson, told NPR in an interview that democracy came close to ending in the United States that day..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Thompson says he’s calling it as he sees it on the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack that was intended to keep Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election results. And he says he’s gained a new education about the danger the country faced that day, which he aims to share through the hearings.
      For Thompson, preserving democracy today means telling the full story of the attack on the Capitol and ensuring its moment in history is one that Americans never forget. “
      I have learned a lot about how perilously close we came on January 6 to losing this democracy as a lot of us have come to know and love it.”My colleague Hugo Lowell’s story published earlier today outlined how the first hearing will go, which will take place during the prime-time TV hour at 8 pm eastern..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} At the start of the hearing, the panel’s chairman Bennie Thompson and vice-chair Liz Cheney will make a series of opening arguments before outlining a general roadmap of how each of the six Watergate-style hearings are expected to unfold.
      For the second hour, Thompson and Cheney will hand control of the hearing to Tim Heaphy, the chief investigative counsel for the select committee, who will lead the questioning of two witnesses and walk through the key moments of the Capitol attack.
      The select committee is expected to start the questioning with testimony from Nick Quested, a British documentary film-maker who was embedded with the far-right Proud Boys group in the days and weeks leading up to January 6 and caught their activities on camera.Inaugural January 6 hearing to track activities of Proud Boys during Capitol attackRead moreThe justice department has named a nine-person panel to review the police response to the Uvalde shooting, the Associated Press reports..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}In a statement, the Justice Department said it was committed to “moving as expeditiously as possible in the development of the report.” Officials said the team would conduct a complete reconstruction of the shooting; review all relevant documents, including policies, photos and videos; conduct a visit to the school; and interview an array of witnesses and families of the victims, along with police, school and government officials.A FBI unit chief will take part in the inquiry, as will the former police chief of Sacramento, the sheriff of Orange county, Florida, and a deputy chief whose tenure included Virginia Tech. Similar investigations followed the 2015 extremist attack in San Bernardino, California and the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando.The police response to the Uvalde shooting has been criticized after officers waited before confronting the gunman. State officials have acknowledged that hesitating was “the wrong decision,” and scrutiny has focused on Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, the police chief who was recently sworn onto the city council.Senate minority leader and Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell is calling on Capitol Hill for more security for supreme court justices, following the reports this morning that an armed man was arrested near supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home on the outskirts of Washington DC.This morning’s disturbing reports are exactly why the Senate unanimously passed a Supreme Court security bill weeks ago. But House Democrats have inexplicably blocked it. House Democrats need to stop their blockade and pass this uncontroversial bill today. pic.twitter.com/wd8UB5RDvm— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) June 8, 2022
      McConnell said on the floor of the Senate: “This is where we are, Mr President, if these reports are correct, an assassination attempt against a sitting justice, or something close to it. This is exactly the kind of event that many feared the terrible breach of the court’s rules and norms would fuel [with the leak last month of the draft opinion that the conservative majority wants to overturn constitutional abortion rights afforded by the 1973 Roe V Wade ruling].“This is exactly that kind of event that many worried the unhinged, reckless, apocalyptic rhetoric from prominent figures towards the court going back many months and especially in recent weeks could make more likely.”He said that was why the Senate passed legislation shortly after the early May leak, to enhance police protection for sitting justices and their families.“This is common sense, non-controversial legislation that passed unanimously in this chamber, but House Democrats have spent weeks blocking. That needs to change right now.”Lawmakers on the House oversight committee are now questioning the witnesses, in a conversation that is overall a little more strident than the Senate’s similar hearing yesterday. Before questioning began, lawmakers heard from Amy Swearer of The Heritage Foundation, who was invited by the Republican minority and provided the conservative rebuttal to the officials and advocates who spoke before her.“An unspeakably horrific event, like Uvalde or Buffalo happens. Reflexively, almost compulsively, come calls for Congress to pass a whole host of gun control measures largely targeting peaceable, law abiding citizens,” Swearer said. “Should anyone dare question the constitutionality, practicality or even the effectiveness of any of these policies, their opposition is immediately framed as callous obstructionism. And their legitimate concerns are brushed aside as and I quote, bullshit.”She downplayed the effectiveness of legislation against expanded capacity magazines, and called for more armed guards at school, improvements to building security, mental health care and to “promote responsible gun ownership without simultaneously imposing financial burdens on gun owners or hindering their ability to immediately respond to violent threats.”Buffalo’s police commissioner, Joseph Gramaglia, took aim at the concept promoted by gun rights advocates that expanding firearms access could stop mass shootings.“It is often said that a good guy with a gun will stop a bad guy with a gun,” Gramaglia told the House. However, retired Buffalo police officer Aaron Salter Jr., who was working as a security guard at the Tops Market and was killed in the shooting, “Was no match for what he went up against a legal AR-15 with multiple high capacity magazines.”Noting that such mass shootings make up a minority of overall gun crime, the commissioner warned of new gun technologies that could make the problem worse.“The grim reality is that shootings have become a daily occurrence in American cities. Emerging trends like ghost guns and guns modified with switches continue to pose a challenge for law enforcement,” Gramaglia said.“Congress must update our laws to account for these new threats and carnage that has accompanied them. It will be nearly impossible to address the gun violence epidemic without first addressing the underlying violent crime problem.”Warning that it is “high noon in America,” New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, told lawmakers in the House: “The clock is ticking, every day, every minute towards another hour of death.”The New York City Police Department is overwhelmed by illegal guns, he said, despite confiscating 3,000 this year alone. Adams called for more federal aid for states and cities, the confirmation of Biden’s nominee to lead the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and for Congress to expand background check and pass other gun control legislation.“I stand with President Joe Biden in calling on Congress to act now to regulate or ban assault weapons in this country. Even if we only raise the age required to buy one of these weapons, lives will be saved,” the mayor said. “We must build a society where our youth are on a path to fulfillment, not a road to ruin.”The US Supreme Court says an armed man has been arrested near associate justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home after making threats against him, the Associated Press writes.The Washington Post was first with the story, reporting that a California man in his mid-twenties, with at least one weapon in his possession and tools used in burglaries, was apprehended near the judge’s home in Maryland and had told law enforcement that he wanted to kill Kavanaugh, and citing people familiar with the investigation. It happened at about 1.50am ET today.The Post further reports that:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Two people familiar with the investigation said the initial evidence indicates the man was angry about the leaked draft of an opinion by the Supreme Court signaling the court is preparing to overturn Roe. v. Wade, the 49-year-old decision that guaranteed a person’s constitutional right to have an abortion. He was also angry over a recent spate of mass shootings, those people said. Following the leak last month of that draft opinion – with the final opinion awaited with enormous tension across the US this month – protesters appeared near the homes of conservative members of the supreme court bench.These included Samuel Alito, who wrote the draft opinion that was leaked and slammed the Roe decision, and two of the justices nominated by Donald Trump that represented a strong swing to the right on the nine-member bench – Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.Those previous protests were entirely peaceful, though technically probably illegal, and there had apparently been no arrests.Here’s what Lauren Burke reported for the Guardian at the time:Protesters rally outside US supreme court justices’ homes ahead of pro-choice marchesRead moreAfter a brief recess, the House hearing has now moved on to testimony from elected officials, representatives from advocacy groups and other, but it wrapped up its first half with more gut-wrenching testimony from parents affected by gun violence.Kimberly Rubio described how she found out that her daughter Lexi was among those killed in Uvalde, and outlined specific policies she thinks could prevent such attacks. “We understand that for some reason, to some people, to people with money, to people who fund political campaigns, the guns are more important than children,” Rubio said. “So at this moment, we ask for progress. We seek to raise the age to purchase these weapons from 18 to 21 years of age, we seek red flag laws, stronger background checks. We also want to repeal gun manufacturers liability, immunity.”Lucretia Hughes of Women for Gun Rights’s DC Project told lawmakers how her 19-year-old son was shot and killed while playing dominoes, but unlike the witnesses before her, she did not call for more restrictions on firearms. Rather, she saw weapons as an important tool for self-defense and linked gun control laws to racism.“Something has to change. Thoughts and prayers and calls for more gun control isn’t enough. How about letting me defend myself from evil? You don’t think that I’m capable and trustworthy to handle a firearm? You don’t think that the second amendment doesn’t apply to people that look like me?” said Hughes, who is Black. “Who and you who would call for more gun controls are the same ones that are calling to defund the police? Who is supposed to protect us? We must prepare to be our own first responders to protect ourselves and our loved ones.” More

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      Assessing the True Meaning of US Generosity in Ukraine

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      The Fair Observer website uses digital cookies so it can collect statistics on how many visitors come to the site, what content is viewed and for how long, and the general location of the computer network of the visitor. These statistics are collected and processed using the Google Analytics service. Fair Observer uses these aggregate statistics from website visits to help improve the content of the website and to provide regular reports to our current and future donors and funding organizations. The type of digital cookie information collected during your visit and any derived data cannot be used or combined with other information to personally identify you. Fair Observer does not use personal data collected from its website for advertising purposes or to market to you.As a convenience to you, Fair Observer provides buttons that link to popular social media sites, called social sharing buttons, to help you share Fair Observer content and your comments and opinions about it on these social media sites. These social sharing buttons are provided by and are part of these social media sites. They may collect and use personal data as described in their respective policies. Fair Observer does not receive personal data from your use of these social sharing buttons. It is not necessary that you use these buttons to read Fair Observer content or to share on social media. More

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      Uvalde native Matthew McConaughey says ‘real change can happen’ on gun reform – as it happened

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      The daily White House press briefing has started, and at the podium is actor and Uvalde native Matthew McConaughey, who is making his pitch for gun control.McConaughey said he’d spent the past week in his home town and was now in Washington to share stories of the victims and their families in hopes of swaying lawmakers skeptical of gun control legislation.“While we honor and acknowledge the victims, we need to recognize that this time seems that something is different,” McConaughey said, speaking from behind the White House podium. “There’s a sense that perhaps there’s a viable path forward. Responsible parties in this debate seem to at least be committed to sitting down and having a real conversation about a new and improved path forward.”“I’m here today in hopes of applying what energy, reason and passion that I have and to try to turn this moment into a reality. Because as I said, this moment is different. We are in a window of opportunity right now that we have not been in before. A window where it seems like real change. Real change can happen,” he continued.You can tune into the full briefing here.That’s it from us today. Here’s how the day unfolded in Washington, as voters in several states head to the polls:
      Primaries are being held in California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota to choose candidates for the upcoming midterm elections in November. At the local level, voters in San Francisco are weighing whether to oust District Attorney Chesa Boudin amid rising concerns about crime and homelessness in the city.
      Actor Matthew McConaughey appeared at the White House press briefing to urge lawmakers to strengthen gun laws. McConaughey, who was born in Uvalde, recounted his experiences meeting with families who lost children in the massacre at Robb Elementary school last month. He told reporters, “We are in a window of opportunity right now that we have not been in before — a window where it seems like real change, real change can happen.”
      The Senate judiciary committee held a hearing on domestic terrorism in response to the racist shooting in Buffalo last month. Among those who testified was Garnell Whitfield Jr, whose mother was killed in the Buffalo attack. Whitfield said at the hearing, “I ask every one of you to imagine the faces of your mothers, as you look at mine and ask yourself, is there nothing that we can do? Is there nothing that you personally are willing to do to stop the cancer of white supremacy?”
      Joe Biden met with Democratic Senator Chris Murphy to discuss negotiations over a compromise gun-control bill. After the meeting, Murphy said he was optimistic about the progress being made in talks with his Republican colleagues. “I am encouraged by the discussions that we have had with Republicans over the course of the last week and a half,” Murphy told reporters on Capitol Hill. “Every day we get closer to an agreement, not further away.”
      Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and House speaker Nancy Pelosi attended a memorial service for the victims of gun violence on the National Mall. At the memorial, Pelosi condemned Republicans for opposing gun-control legislation in the wake of tragedies like the Uvalde massacre and the shooting in Buffalo. She said, “Understand this: your political survival is nothing compared to the survival of our children.”
      The blog will be back tomorrow with more coverage of the Senate’s gun-control negotiations and the January 6 committee’s upcoming hearing. See you then.Further up the west coast, my colleague Hallie Golden has an article out today about how a recent study found the terrifying tsunami threat to the Pacific Northwest from the Cascadia fault may be even more scary than originally known:Scientists have long predicted a giant 9.0-magnitude earthquake that reverberates out from the Pacific north-west’s Cascadia fault and quickly triggers colossal waves barreling to shore.But what if these predictions were missing an important piece of information – one that, in certain scenarios, could tell an even more extreme story?A new study, published last month in the peer-reviewed journal Earth-Science Reviews, points toward such a missing piece. Researchers revealed a previously unknown relationship between the severity of a tsunami triggered by an earthquake and something known as “the outer wedge”, the area between the main earthquake fault and the seafloor.A mega-tsunami in the Pacific north-west? It could be worse than predicted, study saysRead moreThus far, Californians don’t seem particularly stoked on this election. While every registered voter was mailed a ballot, only 15% of them were returned early as of Monday evening, the Los Angeles Times reports.The piece chalks the lack of enthusiasm up to a variety of factors unique to the Golden State, including voters’ weariness following last year’s failed recall of Governor Gavin Newsom, the lack of high-profile races and the fact that the polls aren’t viewed as an opportunity to weigh in on the ever-controversial Donald Trump and his allies. From the piece:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Election experts say the lackluster participation by Californians stems from a dearth of excitement over this year’s contests, which largely lack competitive races at the top of the ticket. It’s a stark contrast with some parts of the nation, where voter turnout is exceeding expectations.
      “It’s a boring election,” said Paul Mitchell, vice president of PDI. “It’s clear from what we’re seeing that we’re going to have a low-turnout election despite the fact the state has made it easier than ever to vote.”
      The Democratic consultant predicts primary turnout is likely to be under 30%. “Nothing puts this in better contrast than looking at Georgia right now: They’re doing everything they can, it seems, to make it harder to vote, yet they are having record turnout because voters there feel the future of the country is at stake.”
      Georgia’s May 24 primary came after a GOP-backed law imposed new voting requirements and restrictions.
      Some predicted that a leaked Supreme Court draft decision eliminating federal protection for abortion access as well as a spate of high-profile mass shootings could motivate voters. But in California, this does not appear to be the case.
      California’s early returns are a major drop off from the same period in September’s gubernatorial recall election, when nearly 38% of voters had voted as of election eve. Some 22% of voters had cast ballots at the same point before the last midterm primary election, in 2018, when ballots were not mailed to all California voters.Polls are open in California until 8pm.Meanwhile in California, polls are open in the state’s primary election, where voters will decide among a slew of candidates. Particularly closely watched will be the mayor’s race in Los Angeles and the petition to recall the prosecutor in San Francisco. The Guardian’s Lois Beckett dove into these issues and what they portend for politics in the country’s most-populous state.High stakes primary races taking place on Tuesday in California are expected to have major consequences for police reform, incarceration, and the state’s growing homelessness crisis.The most closely watched race is the mayor’s contest in Los Angeles, where voters are deciding between a tough-on-crime real estate developer, Rick Caruso, who has already poured nearly $40m of his own fortune into his primary campaign, and the former community organizer and Democratic congresswoman Karen Bass. In San Francisco, the city’s progressive prosecutor, Chesa Boudin, is facing a recall election that could have a major impact on movements for criminal justice reform across the US.High-stakes California races will decide LA mayor and San Francisco recall Read moreDemocratic Senator Chris Murphy, who is taking a leading role in crafting a compromise gun-control bill, said lawmakers are making progress in their negotiations.Speaking at a press conference on Capitol Hill, Murphy said this felt like “a moment where doing nothing is simply not an option,” in the wake of the massacre at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.“I am encouraged by the discussions that we have had with Republicans over the course of the last week and a half,” Murphy told reporters. “Every day we get closer to an agreement, not further away.”Sen. Chris Murphy: “I am encouraged by the discussions that we have had with Republicans over the course of the last week and a half. Every day we get closer to an agreement, not further away.” pic.twitter.com/aR6wUHsjU1— CSPAN (@cspan) June 7, 2022
      Murphy acknowledged that a compromise bill would not encompass all of the gun-control proposals he would like to see enacted, but he emphasized the importance of reaching an agreement with his Republican colleagues.“The American people are looking for progress right now. They’re looking for action,” Murphy said. “And my hope is, in the coming days, we’ll be able to come together in a way that gets us 60-plus votes.”Noting that he is the father of a fourth-grader, Murphy expressed hope that Americans could soon live in a country where their children do not have to go through drills to prepare for a tragedy like the one seen in Uvalde.McConaughey is telling the story of slain 10-year-old Alithia Ramirez, describing how, due to the wounds inflicted on her by the AR-15 style weapon used in the Uvalde shooting, she was identified by the green Converse sneakers she wore to school that day.“Counselors are going to be needed in Uvalde for a long time. Counselors are needed,” McConaughey said. “I was told by many that takes a good year before people even understand what to do next … A lifetime is not going to heal those wounds.”“This gun responsibility issue is one that we agree on more than we don’t,” he continued. “But this should be a non-partisan issue. This should not be a partisan issue. There is not a Democratic or Republican value in one single act of the issue.”After wrapping up his speech, McConaughey left the room.The daily White House press briefing has started, and at the podium is actor and Uvalde native Matthew McConaughey, who is making his pitch for gun control.McConaughey said he’d spent the past week in his home town and was now in Washington to share stories of the victims and their families in hopes of swaying lawmakers skeptical of gun control legislation.“While we honor and acknowledge the victims, we need to recognize that this time seems that something is different,” McConaughey said, speaking from behind the White House podium. “There’s a sense that perhaps there’s a viable path forward. Responsible parties in this debate seem to at least be committed to sitting down and having a real conversation about a new and improved path forward.”“I’m here today in hopes of applying what energy, reason and passion that I have and to try to turn this moment into a reality. Because as I said, this moment is different. We are in a window of opportunity right now that we have not been in before. A window where it seems like real change. Real change can happen,” he continued.You can tune into the full briefing here.A package of legislation addressing gun violence will be introduced tomorrow in the House, its speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday:House update: Pelosi says gun package coming to the floor tomorrow: “Tomorrow, our Democratic Majority will bring the Protecting Our Kids Act to the Floor, under the leadership of Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler”— Jordain Carney (@jordainc) June 7, 2022
      It’s unclear if this proposal is related to the ongoing negotiations in the Senate, where Democrats and Republicans are trying to reach a bipartisan compromise that can clear the 60-vote bar needed for passage.Actor Matthew McConaughey will appear at the White House press briefing this afternoon, which is expected to begin at any moment.McConaughey was born in Uvalde, Texas, and he has voiced ardent support for strengthening America’s gun laws in the wake of the massacre at Robb Elementary school.In an op-ed published Monday, McConaughey wrote, “I believe that responsible, law-abiding Americans have a Second Amendment right, enshrined by our founders, to bear arms. I also believe we have a cultural obligation to take steps toward slowing down the senseless killing of our children.”In addition to his appearance at the White House, McConaughey met earlier today with House speaker Nancy Pelosi to discuss the ongoing negotiations over gun-control legislation.“After the recent tragedy in his hometown of Uvalde, we agreed on the need for urgent action to save lives — especially for the children,” Pelosi said on Twitter.Today, I had the privilege of welcoming @McConaughey to the US Capitol to discuss Congress’ efforts on gun violence prevention legislation. After the recent tragedy in his hometown of Uvalde, we agreed on the need for urgent action to save lives — especially for the children. pic.twitter.com/8eVpVDLUhJ— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) June 7, 2022
      The shooters in both Uvalde and Buffalo used an AR-15 style rifle, which many Democrats have said they would love to ban nationwide, while Republican have been more hesitant. CNN reporter Manu Raju has today been going around the Capitol asking Republican senators what people need AR-15s for.Here’s Missouri Senator Josh Hawley’s views:CNN’s @mkraju: “Why do people need [AR-15s]?”Sen. Hawley (R-MO): “That’s used for sporting events, for sporting activities all the time.”@mkraju: “People misuse them obviously.”Hawley: “People misuse handguns all the time. I think this [Uvalde] kid had a handgun as well.” pic.twitter.com/D9771zukF9— The Recount (@therecount) June 7, 2022
      And in this clip, John Thune of South Dakota and Texas’s John Cornyn, who has been negotiating with Democrat Chris Murphy on a potential gun deal, weigh in:Thune tells me on AR-15s: “In my state, they use them to shoot prairie dogs and other types of varmint”Cornyn: “You’re talking about a constitutional right to keep and bear arms — people who are law-abiding citizens are in good mental health and aren’t a threat to the public” pic.twitter.com/AffMpM7tQR— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 7, 2022
      It’s worth pointing out that the AR-15 was not always available to American gun owners. The 1994 Federal Assault Weapons ban specifically prohibited the Colt AR-15 and some similar weapons, though that measure lapsed in 2004. More

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      Ex-Trump adviser Peter Navarro indicted for defying Capitol attack panel

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      Ex-Trump adviser Peter Navarro indicted for defying Capitol attack panelNavarro in custody after indictment on two counts of contempt of Congress after he defied subpoena issued by January 6 committee Peter Navarro, a top former White House adviser to Donald Trump, was taken into custody after being indicted by a federal grand jury on Friday on two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena issued by the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack.The indictment against Navarro marks the first time that the justice department has pursued charges against a Trump White House official who worked in the administration on January 6 and participated in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.Navarro is facing one count of contempt of Congress for his refusal to appear at a deposition and a second count for his refusal to turn over documents as demanded by the select committee’s subpoena, the justice department announced in a news release.The former Trump White House adviser, who was involved in the former president’s unlawful scheme to have the then-vice president, Mike Pence, refuse to certify Joe Biden’s election win on January 6, was taken into custody at the airport – he had a pre-planned trip – Navarro told a magistrate judge.Navarro’s indictment comes just weeks after the full House of Representatives voted to hold him in criminal contempt of Congress for entirely defying the select committee’s subpoena, issued in February, demanding documents and testimony in the January 6 inquiry.The indictment is the latest twist in a series of developments surrounding Navarro’s position in the crosshairs of congressional and justice department investigators, who last week served him with a grand jury subpoena demanding his communications with Trump.In an attempt to block the justice department from prosecuting the contempt of Congress referral and to somehow invalidate the grand jury subpoena, Navarro on Tuesday filed a last-ditch, 88-page lawsuit seeking an injunction from a federal judge.It was not clear whether that grand jury subpoena – which also demanded records requested in the select committee subpoena – came as part of the contempt of Congress case, or whether he was being treated as a witness in a separate criminal investigation into the former president.But a potential benefit for the justice department is that through this indictment, it may be able to obtain those communications with Trump, according to a former assistant US attorney who spoke on the condition of anonymity.The status of the lawsuit is currently unclear and it was not clear whether the filing led the justice department to request Navarro’s indictment and arrest warrant will be placed under seal until the warrant was executed on Friday morning in Washington DC.TopicsUS Capitol attackUS politicsDonald TrumpUS CongressTrump administrationnewsReuse this content More

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      Biden plans primetime address on gun violence following mass shootings – live

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      President Joe Biden will address Americans at 7.30pm eastern time following mass shootings across the country, including at a Texas elementary school last week that left 19 children and two teachers dead.Biden will deliver “remarks on the recent tragic mass shootings, and the need for Congress to act to pass commonsense laws to combat the epidemic of gun violence that is taking lives every day”, the White House said.The speech comes on the same day that the House judiciary committee is holding a hearing to mark up Democrats’ omnibus gun-control bill, the Protecting Our Kids Act.Chris Murphy, the Democratic senator from Connecticut who was sworn into office shortly after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, has published an op-ed in Fox News calling for gun reform. Appealing to a conservative Fox News audience, he wrote: .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}I believe that the Second Amendment protects a citizen’s right to buy and own firearms. But I also believe that like every constitutional right, there are limits. I don’t believe the Constitution protects the right of criminals or people with serious mental illness to own weapons. And while all of us might draw the line in a different place, I think we all agree that the Constitution allows Congress to decide which weapons are so dangerous as to be kept exclusively in the hands of the military.
      And as I said on the Senate floor last week, I also acknowledge that in order to find common ground, I will need to agree to a smaller set of reforms than I would prefer. I’m willing to pass incremental change, like tightening up our background checks system and helping states pass laws to allow law enforcement to temporarily take guns away from individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others. I’m also very supportive of providing more mental health resources to help young men in crisis and more funding to pay for security upgrades at our schools.
      For me, the only thing we cannot do is nothing.
      The White House expects that Covid-19 vaccinations for children under 5 could begin as early as 12 June, said Dr Ashish Jha, Covid response coordinator. “Our expectation is that within weeks, every parent who wants their child to get vaccinated will be able to get an appointment,” he said. Children under 5 are the last remaining Americans who are not yet eligible for vaccines. Within weeks, “every parent who wants their child to get vaccinated will be able to get an appointment”, Jha said. A decision on authorizing the vaccine for young kids is expected soon after the panel of experts advising the US Food and Drug Administration meets 14 and 15 June. Donald Trump will “fight even harder” on the road to a possible White House run in 2024 because of the acquittal of a lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign on a charge of lying to the FBI.“If anything, it makes me want to fight even harder,” the former president told Fox News Digital. “If we don’t win, our country is ruined. We have bad borders, bad elections and a court system not functioning properly.”Full story:Trump says Clinton lawyer acquittal fuels 2024 election ambitionsRead moreOhio is poised to allow teachers and other school employees to forgo hundreds of hours of training normally needed to carry a gun at work under a bill awaiting the governor’s signature.House Bill 99 will streamline the process for school employees to carry weapons on campus, and has been welcomed by Republican governor Mike DeWine. “My office worked with the general assembly to remove hundreds of hours of curriculum irrelevant to school safety and to ensure training requirements were specific to a school environment and contained significant scenario-based training,” he said in a statement.The bill, which passed the Senate Wednesday, has raised eyebrows given its passage following a wave of mass shootings, including at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. The Associated Press reported that it’s opposed by teachers unions, gun control advocates and law enforcement groups, and supported by some police departments and school districts. Republicans who backed the law see it as a work around for a recent court ruling that said school employees must undergo a lengthy training process before coming to work armed.That’s it from me today. I’m handing the blog over to my west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, to cover Joe Biden’s speech tonight on gun violence. Here’s where the day stands so far:
      Biden will deliver a primetime address at 7.30pm ET on “the need for Congress to act to pass commonsense laws to combat the epidemic of gun violence”, the White House said. The speech comes less than two weeks after a mass shooting at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers. The massacre has intensified calls for national gun-control legislation, but it remains unclear whether any bill can pass Congress.
      The House judiciary committee held a markup hearing on Democrats’ omnibus gun-control bill, the Protecting Our Kids Act. The bill would raise the age requirement for purchasing semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, and it would also establish severe restrictions on the sale and possession of high-capacity magazines, among other reforms. The committee hearing could set up a full House vote on the bill, but the legislation currently has no path to passage in the evenly divided Senate.
      Democrats on the House judiciary committee accused Republicans of being “complicit” in mass shootings by refusing to amend gun laws, while Republicans argued Democrats were moving too quickly to pass gun-control legislation days after the Uvalde tragedy. Noting that it has been 23 years since the shooting at Columbine High school, committee chairman Jerry Nadler asked his Republican colleagues, “What the hell are you waiting for?”
      Donald Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, met with the House select committee investigating January 6. Barr’s conversation with the lawmakers investigating the Capitol attack lasted for two hours, CNN reports, and he discussed his interactions with Trump before and after the 2020 election.
      Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.A Florida legislative map that favors Republicans is set to stay in place during the state’s upcoming elections after a court declined on Thursday to block it.The ruling, reported by Politico, adds to the woes facing Democrats in Congress, where court rulings have given Republicans an edge in redistricting, while President Joe Biden faces low approval ratings. The Florida case centered on a Congressional district map drawn, in an unusual move, by Republican governor Ron DeSantis, rather than the legislature. Civil rights and voting groups had sued over the map, arguing it violates anti-gerrymandering clauses in the state’s constitution.The decision by the state supreme court not to intervene in the case means an appeals court will likely decide the matter, but not before the state’s August 23 primary. The map gives Republicans an advantage in congressional districts and also dismantles the district of House Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat representing North Florida.William Barr, who served as attorney general under former president Donald Trump, on Thursday met with the House select committee investigating January 6, CNN reports.Barr met for two hours with lawmakers investigating the assault on the US capitol, and discussed his interactions with Trump before and after the 2020 election, CNN said, citing sources familiar with the investigation. The network also saw him in the room where interviews are done. The meeting dealt with Barr’s interactions with Trump before and after the election, as well as his conclusion that the 2020 election was not affected by fraud, as the former president claims.The committee’s chairman Bennie Thompson said in January that the former attorney general had spoken to the panel repeatedly. Barr was accused of turning the Justice Department into the then-president’s tool during his time as attorney general, but ultimately resigned before the end of Trump’s term.John Hinckley, who shot and injured then-president Ronald Reagan in 1981, will have all court restrictions on him lifted later this month, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.Declaring 67-year-old Hinckley is “no longer a danger to himself or others,” US district court Judge Paul L. Friedman said as he decided to release Hinckley from court oversight on June 15, the Associated Press reports.A jury found Hinckley not guilty by reason of mental insanity in the March 30, 1981 shooting that also partially paralyzed Reagan’s press secretary James Brady and injured a Secret Service agent and a Washington police officer. Hinckley was obsessed with actress Jodi Foster and the movie “Taxi Driver,” in which a character attempts to kill a presidential candidate.Hinckley spent more than two decades in a mental hospital following the shooting before being gradually allowed to visit and eventually live in his parents’ Virginia community. The remaining restrictions include giving notice before traveling more than 75 miles from his home, allowing officials access to his electronic devices and online accounts and avoiding travel to areas where someone under Secret Service protection might be present. Friedman had made the decision to end the restrictions in September of last year but delayed its effective date to ensure Hinckley was fitting in well to his community.Reagan died in 2004, and his foundation issued a statement objecting to the end of restrictions on Hinckley, particularly his plans to pursue a career in music. “We strongly oppose his release into society where he apparently seeks to make a profit from his infamy,” the Reagan Foundation and Institute said.President Joe Biden’s approval rating has risen by six percentage points from the low point it hit last week, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday found, but it still lingers at an unpopular 42 percent.A spike in inflation coupled with the chaotic US military pullout from Afghanistan sent Biden’s approval rating sinking last August, and it has struggled to recover in the months since. The poll conducted over two days of more than 1,000 US adults found that 52 percent of Americans disapprove of Biden’s performance.The low numbers have raised alarms that Biden’s Democrats, who control both the House and Senate by narrow margins, could lose control of one or both chambers in the midterm elections set for November. Abortion rights groups have filed a lawsuit in Florida to stop its ban on abortions after 15 weeks from taking effect next month.The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of two Planned Parenthood affiliates and six abortion providers, attempts to block the law signed by governor Ron DeSantis from being enforced starting July 1, arguing it violates the state’s constitutional guarantee of privacy.The law “will force Floridians to remain pregnant against their will, violating their dignity and bodily autonomy, and endangering their families, their health, and even their lives,” the ACLU said in a statement announcing a suit.Florida’s law was one of a host of measures passed by states in anticipation of a Supreme Court ruling expected later this month that could see the Roe v Wade decision allowing abortion in the United States reversed or greatly weakened. Flordia’s law is modeled on similar legislation approved in Mississippi, which is the subject of the supreme court’s deliberations. More