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      Judge blocks Georgia DA from investigating ‘fake elector’ in setback for Trump inquiry – as it happened

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      The criminal inquiry into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden in Georgia has hit a speed bump. In what the Atlanta Journal Constitution calls “a surprise decision and a significant rebuke” of Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis, superior court judge Robert McBurney said Monday she cannot pursue her investigation of state senator Burt Jones.Jones was one of the 16 secretive “fake electors” who were lined up to fraudulently certify a Trump victory in the state he lost to Biden in 2020 by almost 12,000 votes.McBurney granted a motion by Jones, a Republican running for Georgia lieutenant governor, to remove Willis and her team from looking into his role in the scandal, citing the fact Willis hosted a campaign fundraiser last month for Jones’s now opponent, Democrat Charlie Bailey.McBurney wrote: .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}An investigation of this significance, garnering the public attention it necessarily does and touching so many political nerves in our society, cannot be burdened by legitimate doubts about the district attorney’s motives.
      The district attorney does not have to be apolitical, but her investigations do. As a consequence, an alternative prosecutor must now decide whether to continue treating Jones as “a target” of the investigation, as Willis designated the 16 “fake electors” last week, and whether to charge him with criminal misdeeds.The Georgia inquiry is widely seen as one of the best chances of holding Trump liable for his “big lie” that the election was stolen from him, and efforts to alter the result, which included the deadly 6 January Capitol insurrection.Earlier this month, the Georgia prosecutors issued subpoenas for several members of Trump’s legal team, including South Carolina’s Republican senator Lindsey Graham and former New York city mayor Rudy Giuliani to testify.On Monday, CNN reported, Georgia governor Brian Kemp, who has clashed frequently with Trump over the state’s certification of Biden’s victory, gave recorded testimony to a grand jury assisting the investigation.The inquiry has focused in part on an infamous phone call Trump made to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election urging him to “find” the number of votes the outgoing president needed to win the state. We’re closing the US politics blog now. It’s been a busy day, thanks for being with us, and please join us again tomorrow.Here’s what we’ve been following today:
      Joe Biden appeared at a virtual White House roundtable on the semiconductor industry, sounding somewhat hoarse from his Covid-19 infection, coughing occasionally and sipping from a mug, but otherwise looking relatively healthy. White House physician Kevin O’Connor said the president was “almost completely” recovered after contracting the virus last week.
      Six staffers were arrested in Congress for staging a sit-in at Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer’s office to protest a lack of legislative action on the environment. One male staffer said they were demanding renewed negotiations on the climate reconciliation package.
      Elaine Luria, a member of the January 6 House panel looking into Donald Trump’s efforts to reverse his 2020 election defeat, posted to Twitter a video featuring handwritten changes he made to a speech the day after the deadly Capitol riot. The original script showed deletions and changes including the removal by Trump of a line saying the rioters “do not represent me”.
      A Georgia judge has blocked Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis from investigating one of the 16 “fake electors” who falsely certified Donald Trump as the winner of the 2020 election in the state. Superior court judge Robert McBurney said Willis’s hosting of a fundraiser for a Democratic rival to Burt Jones, Republican candidate for Georgia lieutenant governor, precludes her from pursuing him.
      Nancy Pelosi received rare praise from Republican former House speaker Newt Gingrich for her planned trip to Taiwan. Gingrich, the highest ranking American official ever to the island, said during a conservative conference in Washington DC that his Democratic successor should take a bipartisan delegation with her.
      Joe Biden’s Covid-19 symptoms are “almost completely” resolved, the president’s physician Dr Kevin O’Connor said in a letter. O’Connor said Biden’s blood pressure and breathing are normal, and he will continue to take the antiviral drug Paxlovid.
      Meanwhile, Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator for West Virginia, announced he had contracted the virus. Manchin said on Twitter he is experiencing only mild symptoms and is working remotely.
      Kamala Harris met with state lawmakers in Indiana to discuss a push for legislation to secure abortion rights, one month after the supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade protections. Politico reports the vice-president is taking the lead in a push to promote action at state level, as Democrats’ efforts to codify federal abortion rights falter.
      The White House is bracing for a slew of bad news in economic reports due this week, including the consumer confidence index and second quarter gross domestic product results, which could confirm the US is in recession. Biden administration officials have been talking up the strength of the economy, and low unemployment.
      Joe Biden was asked at the conclusion of the meeting how he was feeling, and says he hopes to be back at work in person “by the end of this week”.Four days after testing positive for Covid-19, Biden said:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}I’m feeling great. I’ve had two full nights of sleep all the way through. My dog had to wake me up this morning, my wife’s not here. She’s takes him out in the morning while I’m upstairs working out, so I felt this nuzzle of my dog’s nose against my chest about five minutes to seven.
      I’m feeling good. My voice is still raspy… I’m feeling better every day. I still have this little bit of a sore throat and a little bit of a cough.
      But it’s changing significantly. It’s now up in the upper part of my my throat, actually around my nose and everywhere else, and they tell me that’s par for the course. And I think I’m on my way to full recovery, God willing.Joe Biden is appearing virtually at a White House roundtable with leaders of the US semiconductor industry, sounding somewhat hoarse from his Covid-19 infection, but otherwise appearing relatively healthy.White House physician Kevin O’Connor gave an update on the president’s condition earlier, saying he had “almost completely” recovered from symptoms after contracting the virus last week.He was seen occasionally coughing during the meeting, and regularly sipping from a mug on the desk beside him, but exhibited few other signs of his illness.Biden’s appearance at the summit, which also featured labor leaders, commerce secretary Gina Raimondo, and Brian Deese, the president’s senior economic adviser, was announced at short notice, an apparent indication of the strength of his recovery.Biden, wearing a blue suit and tie, and seated at his desk, gave brief opening remarks and listened attentively as the speakers laid out the importance of the US semiconductor industry to national security, healthcare and manufacturing.The Chips act moving through Congress this week seeks billions of dollars in subsidies and tax credits for the industry. A semiconductor shortage has disrupted production in industries from automobiles to electronics and high-tech weapons. “We are unable to get the components we need. Semiconductors are what makes everything happen in the industrial sector just as they do in the medical sector,” said Tom Linebarger, chief executive of Cummings Inc, a manufacturer of engines and power generation equipment.Biden asked Linebarger about the effect any increased availability of semiconductors would have, particularly in the electric car industry.“The exponential curve will keep growing,” Linebarger replied. “We solve the problems we need to solve in the US and use the same technology to export to the rest of the world. “We have a big opportunity here but we need to invest now.”Six staffers were reportedly arrested in Congress on Monday afternoon for staging a sit-in at Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer’s office and protesting about a lack of legislative action on the environment.A tweet posted by NBC News reporter Julia Jester features a short video purporting to show one of the staff members in handcuffs, explaining why the group jeopardized their careers to take the action.USCP arrested six House staffers this afternoon for protesting inside @SenSchumer’s office demanding the majority leader restart negotiations to pass climate legislation.“He’s giving up, but some of us are going to live through the climate crisis,” @saaaauuull told @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/YDHc0N1FFD— Julia Jester (@JulesJester) July 25, 2022
      The reporter asked the male staffer what they were demanding of the senior Democrat. He replied: “to reopen negotiations on the climate reconciliation package … and pass climate legislation”.Joe Biden’s efforts to advance climate legislation have been thwarted largely because of the opposition of Democratic West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, who has been branded a “modern day villain” for his ties to the fossil fuel industry and killing off the president’s environmental proposals.The reporter asked why the group had chosen Schumer’s office, and not that of Manchin. (Earlier today, Manchin announced he had tested positive for Covid-19 and was working remotely).The staffer replied cryptically: “Because there’s always going to be a sheep that strays away from the herd.”Earlier today, a tweet from an activist named Saul, who identified himself as a staffer for Democratic Missouri congresswoman Cori Bush, said he was among the group.Right now, we Hill staffers are peacefully protesting Dem leaders INSIDE. To my knowledge, this has never been done. We’ve also never seen climate catastrophe, so we’re meeting the moment. Follow along as we fight with everything we have to jumpstart climate negotiations. pic.twitter.com/PwuWVFQoED— Saul (@saaaauuull) July 25, 2022
      “Right now, we Hill staffers are peacefully protesting Dem leaders INSIDE. To my knowledge, this has never been done,” he wrote.“We’ve also never seen climate catastrophe, so we’re meeting the moment. Follow along as we fight with everything we have to jumpstart climate negotiations”.Elaine Luria, a member of the January 6 House panel looking into Donald Trump’s efforts to reverse his 2020 election defeat, has posted to Twitter a video featuring handwritten changes he made to a speech the day after the deadly Capitol riot.The committee showed last week during a public hearing outtakes of Trump’s speech on 7 January 2021 in which he refused to speak certain phrases critical of his supporters who violently ransacked the Capitol building.It took more than 24 hours for President Trump to address the nation again after his Rose Garden video on January 6th in which he affectionately told his followers to go home in peace. There were more things he was unwilling to say. pic.twitter.com/cJBIX5ROxs— Rep. Elaine Luria (@RepElaineLuria) July 25, 2022
      The original script posted Monday by Luria, a Virginia Democrat, shows deletions and changes made by the outgoing president. Lines included in the original stating that the justice department would “ensure all lawbreakers are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law” and that the rioters “do not represent me” were struck through in black ink, presumably by Trump.The video also includes Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, confirming to the panel the document “looks like a copy of a draft of the remarks for that day” and the writing “looks like my father’s handwriting”, the Associated Press reported.In her tweet Monday, Luria said: “It took more than 24 hours for President Trump to address the nation again after his Rose Garden video on January 6th in which he affectionately told his followers to go home in peace. There were more things he was unwilling to say”.In other highlighted changes to the script, in the original line: “I am outraged and sickened by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem”, the word “sickened” is crossed out. So, AP reports, are the later lines, “I want to be very clear you do not represent me. You do not represent our movement.” But Trump left in, “You do not represent our country.” The line “you belong in jail” was replaced with “you will pay”.In its succession of public hearings, which has concluded for the time being, the panel was attempting to present to the American public substantial evidence of Trump’s illegal efforts to reverse his election loss to Joe Biden. The justice department is pursuing its own inquiry.Read more here:‘US democracy will not survive for long’: how January 6 hearings plot a roadmap to autocracyRead moreHere’s where things stand on a busy Monday in US politics:
      A Georgia judge has blocked Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis from investigating one of the 16 “fake electors” who falsely certified Donald Trump as the winner of the 2020 election in the state. Superior court judge Robert McBurney said Willis’s hosting of a fundraiser for a Democratic rival to Burt Jones, Republican candidate for Georgia lieutenant governor, precludes her from pursuing him.
      Nancy Pelosi received rare praise from Republican former House speaker Newt Gingrich for her planned trip to Taiwan. Gingrich, the highest ranking American official ever to the island, said during a conservative conference in Washington DC that his Democratic successor should take a bipartisan delegation with her.
      Joe Biden’s Covid-19 symptoms are “almost completely” resolved, the president’s physician Dr Kevin O’Connor said in a letter. O’Connor said Biden’s blood pressure and breathing are normal, and he will continue to take the antiviral drug Paxlovid.
      Meanwhile, Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator for West Virginia, announced he had contracted the virus. Manchin said on Twitter he is experiencing only mild symptoms and is working remotely.
      Kamala Harris met with state lawmakers in Indiana to discuss a push for legislation to secure abortion rights, one month after the supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade protections. Politico reports the vice-president is taking the lead in a push to promote action at state level, as Democrats’ efforts to codify federal abortion rights falter.
      The White House is bracing for a slew of bad news in economic reports due this week, including the consumer confidence index and second quarter gross domestic product results, which could confirm the US is in recession. Biden administration officials have been talking up the strength of the economy, and low unemployment.
      There’s plenty more politics to come this afternoon, including the release by the January 6 committee of additional evidence detailing Trump’s efforts to reverse his election defeat. Please stick with us.Newt Gingrich, the last speaker of the House of Representatives to visit Taiwan, has backed current speaker Nancy Pelosi’s planned trip to the self-governing island.“I feel very strongly that Speaker Pelosi should go to Taiwan and she should take a bipartisan congressional delegation,” Gingrich told a conservative gathering in Washington on Monday. “And I say this with some authority as the highest ranking American official ever to visit Taiwan.”Gingrich, a Republican, went to the island in 1997. Pelosi’s planned visit has prompted China to threaten “forceful measures” and even a possible military response, the Financial Times reported, causing a headache for the White House.Joe Biden has said the US military assessed “it is not a good idea right now”.But Gingrich, addressing the America First Policy Institute – a thinktank comprising many Donald Trump administration alumni – accused the state department of “timidity covered by insecurity and an eagerness to appease” and claimed that the “woke” defence department’s own timidity is “dangerous”.Would it surprise you to learn that Nancy Pelosi got a round of applause at a meeting of the Trump-backed America First Policy Institute? Because that’s exactly what just happened, when Newt Gingrich declared support for her upcoming trip to Taiwan. “I commend Nancy,” said Newt pic.twitter.com/FJ1Xh8H0PK— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) July 25, 2022
      He added: “If the Department of Defense is not certain that it can protect the American speaker of the House in a public visit, why would they think they could protect Taiwan? If you’re the Chinese communists and you watch us flinch after the total mess in Afghanistan and the total mess in Ukraine, you begin to think this is an administration that’s just begging to be bullied.”Gingrich added that he has “enormous disagreements” with Pelosi on many issues. “But on this one, I think her instinct is right and I hope she sticks to her guns. The only thing I would suggest is she should make it a bipartisan congressional delegation to show both parties are committed to the independence of China.” The criminal inquiry into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden in Georgia has hit a speed bump. In what the Atlanta Journal Constitution calls “a surprise decision and a significant rebuke” of Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis, superior court judge Robert McBurney said Monday she cannot pursue her investigation of state senator Burt Jones.Jones was one of the 16 secretive “fake electors” who were lined up to fraudulently certify a Trump victory in the state he lost to Biden in 2020 by almost 12,000 votes.McBurney granted a motion by Jones, a Republican running for Georgia lieutenant governor, to remove Willis and her team from looking into his role in the scandal, citing the fact Willis hosted a campaign fundraiser last month for Jones’s now opponent, Democrat Charlie Bailey.McBurney wrote: .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}An investigation of this significance, garnering the public attention it necessarily does and touching so many political nerves in our society, cannot be burdened by legitimate doubts about the district attorney’s motives.
      The district attorney does not have to be apolitical, but her investigations do. As a consequence, an alternative prosecutor must now decide whether to continue treating Jones as “a target” of the investigation, as Willis designated the 16 “fake electors” last week, and whether to charge him with criminal misdeeds.The Georgia inquiry is widely seen as one of the best chances of holding Trump liable for his “big lie” that the election was stolen from him, and efforts to alter the result, which included the deadly 6 January Capitol insurrection.Earlier this month, the Georgia prosecutors issued subpoenas for several members of Trump’s legal team, including South Carolina’s Republican senator Lindsey Graham and former New York city mayor Rudy Giuliani to testify.On Monday, CNN reported, Georgia governor Brian Kemp, who has clashed frequently with Trump over the state’s certification of Biden’s victory, gave recorded testimony to a grand jury assisting the investigation.The inquiry has focused in part on an infamous phone call Trump made to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election urging him to “find” the number of votes the outgoing president needed to win the state. Dan Cox, an extremist pro-Trump Republican, won his party’s nomination for governor in Maryland last week thanks to “collusion between Trump and the national Democrats”, the current Republican governor said. “I don’t think there’s any chance that [Cox] can win,” Larry Hogan added, speaking to CNN’s State of the Union.Hogan previously called Cox “a QAnon whack job”.“Collusion” is a loaded word in US politics, in the long aftermath of the Russia investigation, in which the special counsel Robert Mueller scrutinised election interference by Moscow and links between Trump aides and Russia.The battle to succeed Hogan as governor of Maryland might seem small beer in comparison. But the race attracted national attention.Cox, endorsed by Donald Trump, surged past Kelly Schulz, a member of Hogan’s cabinet, to win the Republican nomination.In the Democratic race, Wes Moore, a bestselling author, beat candidates including Tom Perez, a former Democratic national committee chair and US labor secretary.In a midterm election year, Democrats have sought to boost pro-Trump Republicans in competitive states, placing the risky bet that as the January 6 committee remains in the headlines, extremists who support the former president’s lie about electoral fraud in his 2020 defeat will prove unpalatable to voters.Hogan said: “There’s no question this was a big win for the Democratic Governors Association that I think spent over $3m trying to promote this guy [Cox]. And it was basically collusion between Trump and the national Democrats, who propped this guy up and got him elected.“But he really is not a serious candidate.”Read the full story:How a Trump-backed ‘QAnon whack job’ won with Democratic ‘collusion’Read moreHere’s the letter from Joe Biden’s physician, Dr Kevin O’Connor, giving the president an (almost) clean bill of health as he recovers from Covid-19.Biden is apparently now feeling so robust he’s willing to take on a virtual meeting later today with chief executives of Lockheed Martin, Medtronic, Cummins Inc and labor leaders to discuss the US semiconductor industry.A bill moving through Congress this week seeks billions of dollars in subsidies and tax credits for the industry. A semiconductor shortage has disrupted production in industries from automobiles to electronics and high-tech weapons. Progressive Democrat Tom Nelson has dropped out of the race to challenge incumbent Republican Ron Johnson for his Wisconsin Senate seat in November, he announced on Monday.Nelson was trailing Lt Gov Mandela Barnes, businessman Alex Lasry, owner of basketball’s Milwaukee Bucks, and state treasurer Sarah Godlewski, in support and donations for the 9 August primary.Barnes and Lasry are in a close tussle for the nomination, with Nelson now opting to support Barnes. Toppling Johnson and flipping the Wisconsin seat is one of the Democratic Party’s top priorities in the midterms, with the most recent polling indicating the race is a toss-up.Joe Biden’s Covid-19 symptoms are “almost completely” resolved, his physician said in a memo on Monday, according to Reuters.Biden tested positive for the virus last Thursday, and carried on working remotely. He is scheduled shortly to address remotely a gathering of black law enforcement executives.In a White House memo released Monday morning, the president’s physician, Dr Kevin O’Connor, said: “When questioned, at this point he only notes some residual nasal congestion and minimal hoarseness”.Biden, the memo said, is experiencing no shortness of breath, his blood pressure is normal, and he is continuing to take the prescribed antiviral Paxlovid.First lady Jill Biden, who remained in Delaware while her husband was in Washington, tested negative for Covid-19 this morning, her office said.While we’re (briefly) discussing Trump’s apparently falling star, another bête noire, congressman Adam Kinzinger, says the former president’s waning popularity is extending even to his formerly “hard core” supporters.The Illinois Republican and 6 January committee member made the comment on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, warning that “Trumpism isn’t dying, even though Trump is becoming irrelevant”.Asked if he believed the 6 January panel’s revelations about Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden was having any impact on colleagues, Kinzinger said:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Every day I ceased to be amazed at how much they’re willing to accept and not say anything. In terms of Republicans in general, you have kind of the bulk of Republican voters, this doesn’t appear to be having a ton of impact, maybe people are shifting more towards a potential for, I don’t know, a Ron DeSantis.
      I’m hearing a lot of anecdotal stuff around the edges of people who have been hard core with Trump that now just can’t stand him… in like five years I still believe that it’s going to be hard to find somebody that will admit they were ever a Trump supporter. West Virginia’s Democratic senator Joe Manchin has Covid-19, he announced this morning on Twitter.Manchin, who is vaccinated and boosted, said he was experiencing “mild symptoms” of the infection and was continuing to work remotely.This morning I tested positive for COVID-19. I am fully vaccinated and boosted and am experiencing mild symptoms. I will isolate and follow CDC guidelines as I continue to work remotely to serve West Virginians.— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) July 25, 2022
      The announcement comes as Joe Biden, whose agenda Manchin has blocked in recent months, continues his own recovery after the president tested positive for Covid last week.Biden is reportedly in much better condition this morning, and will address a gathering of black law enforcement executives at lunchtime remotely. It’s not been a good few days for Donald Trump in media circles. Two prominent newspapers owned by one-time cheerleader Rupert Murdoch have turned against him, and one of the former president’s favorite bugles, the far-right One America News (OAN), has lost its last major US television platform.My colleague Ed Helmore has this report on the New York Post issuing an excoriating editorial indictment of Trump’s failure to stop the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.The editorial, in a tabloid owned by Murdoch since 1976, began: “As his followers stormed the Capitol, calling for his vice-president to be hanged, President Donald Trump sat in his private dining room, watching TV, doing nothing. For three hours, seven minutes.”Trump’s only focus, the Post said, was to block the peaceful transfer of power.“As a matter of principle, as a matter of character, Trump has proven himself unworthy to be this country’s chief executive again.”Notable from the Murdoch-owned NY Post: “It’s up to the Justice Department to decide if this is a crime. But as a matter of principle, as a matter of character, Trump has proven himself unworthy to be this country’s chief executive again.” https://t.co/yiLjAVhDe6— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) July 23, 2022
      The Wall Street Journal, another Murdoch paper, issued a similar critique in which it said evidence before the House January 6 committee was a reminder that “Trump betrayed his supporters”.Meanwhile, the Guardian’s Sam Levine reports Verizon Fios will no longer carry OAN from the end of this month, dealing a major blow to the network that has become a hotbed of misinformation.Verizon was the largest pay-TV provider still carrying the OAN, according to the Daily Beast, which first reported the network was getting dropped. Verizon and OAN were unable to reach an agreement to continue providing the network and customers will not be able to access the service after 30 July.The development means that OAN in effect will not have a major television platform in the US. DirecTV, a major revenue provider, announced it was dropping the network in April.OAN is facing billion-dollar lawsuits from voting equipment vendors Dominion and Smartmatic over its false claims the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.Read more:Is Murdoch tiring of Trump? Mogul’s print titles dump the ex-presidentRead moreKamala Harris is in Indianapolis this morning, talking to lawmakers in her new role as spearhead for the Biden administration’s push to codify abortion rights into law.According to Politico, the vice-president is taking the lead on what looks to be an uphill fight following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade abortion protections one month ago.She is planning an “aggressive bid to elevate Democratic state legislators and governors on the abortion rights frontlines”, Politico says, claiming Harris recently told staff:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We need to make it a goal that we’re out in America three days a week. In a bleak assessment of the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court decision, the Guardian’s Jessica Glenza reports today on the creation of a “dystopian American reality” and consequences “both chaotic and predictable”.Alarmingly, activists are promising even more draconian restrictions to come.Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research organization, told the Guardian:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Everything is super in flux right now. We’re looking at probably about 15m women living in a state with an abortion ban.
      That number we expect to increase, because more states are looking to ban abortion – and we could see as much as half of the country without abortion access very soon. Democrats lost their first attempt to enshrine abortion rights into federal law in May, West Virginia senator Joe Manchin crossing the aisle to join Republicans in voting down the measure.A renewed effort passed the House of Representatives earlier this month, but was largely symbolic because of ongoing Republican resistance in the evenly-divided Senate, where it would need 60 votes to pass. Harris’s upcoming tour is, Politico says, aimed more at securing action at state level. A poll taken in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision showed 62% of Americans said abortion should be legal in all or most cases.Read more here:The dystopian American reality one month after the Roe v Wade reversalRead moreWhat some are calling Joe Biden’s “moment of truth” on the economy comes this week, with a number of key data indicators likely to paint a bleak picture for the president as Congress heads for summer recess and the midterm elections loom ever larger.That’s why treasury secretary Janet Yellen and other White House figures have been prominent, attempting to talk up the strengths and resilience of the US economy while inflation rages at four-decade highs.On Sunday, Yellen told NBC’s Meet the Press that, despite what she conceded were “threats on the horizons”, the US was not in recession: .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}You don’t see any of the signs now – a recession is a broad-based contraction that affects many sectors of the economy – we just don’t have that. It’s a message Brian Deese, Biden’s senior economic adviser and director of the national economic council, was keen to reinforce in an appearance on CNN on Monday: .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We have seen extraordinary resilience in this economy due largely to the resilience of our businesses and our consumers, but we need to take more action right now to make things more affordable.In a tweet, Deese insisted that “hiring, spending and production data look solid”. Their comments are widely seen as efforts to get ahead of bad news on the economy coming this week, starting with the consumer confidence index report coming tomorrow, an expected steep interest rate hike on Wednesday, then second quarter gross domestic product results the following day.Analysts say the predicted interest rate rise by the Federal Reserve could help slow inflation, but fuel the recession risk at the same time. It’s a gamble that Biden, whose popularity ratings are at term lows, is likely to support. In a CNN poll last week, only 18% of Americans described the nation’s economy as in good shape, while 82% said economic conditions are poor.Tellingly, 75% said inflation and the cost of living were the most important economic problems facing their family, up from 43% last summer. Impt context ahead of this wk’s Q2 GDP release:The data will capture Apr-Jun economic conditions, ie backward lookingHiring, spending, and production data look solidCEA outlines why economists look broadly at data to assess the economy’s healthhttps://t.co/vzl38Z2g5E— Brian Deese (@BrianDeeseNEC) July 24, 2022
      The conservative National Review on Monday accused Biden’s economic team of being in “recession denial”, and predicted that official confirmation the US was in recession could come as early as Thursday when the second quarter GDP figures are released.Good morning, politics blog readers. Joe Biden’s allies are scrambling to get ahead of what’s likely to be a troubling week of economic news for the White House, with Congress beginning to think about its August recess with little to no progress on the president’s economic agenda, and inflation at 40-year highs.Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has been talking up the resilience and “historical strengths” of the US economy, and low unemployment, while conceding “threats on the horizon” could nudge the country closer to recession, just as the midterm elections loom. We’ll get a snapshot of consumer confidence in a report tomorrow, while Wednesday is likely to bring a sharp hike in US interest rates that could help slow inflation, but fuel the recession risk. Biden, whose popularity ratings are slumping, has plenty else on his plate. Here’s what else we’re watching today.
      We’ll get the chance to gauge the progress of the president’s recovery from Covid-19 when he addresses the national organization of black law enforcement executives at 12.30pm.
      Covid-19 will feature heavily at the White House press briefing. Pandemic response coordinator Dr Ashish Jha will join WH press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at the podium.
      It’s the last full week in Congress before the August recess. Today, senators will discuss healthcare benefits for veterans episode to toxins, and vote to progress a bill providing grants to the computer chip industry.
      There’s also a push to get the same-sex marriage bill through the Senate this week, after it passed the House with supports from dozens of Republicans last week.
      We’ll bring you all the developments as they happen. Please stay with us… More

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      To avert election disaster, Democrats need to run a fiercely pro-worker campaign | Steven Greenhouse

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      To avert election disaster, Democrats need to run a fiercely pro-worker campaignSteven GreenhouseYou won’t hear this on Fox News, but Biden did a terrific job lifting America out of the pandemic-induced downturn. The nation added 8.9m jobs during Biden’s first 18 months in office If the Democrats hope to avoid disaster in this November’s elections, they need to do a far better job making their case to working-class voters. Many blue-collar Americans are understandably upset about inflation, but it’s less understandable that they give higher marks on the economy to Republicans than to Democrats, considering that President Biden and the Democrats have done far more to boost the economy and help workers.You will hardly ever hear this on Fox News, but Biden and the Democrats pushed through an emergency rescue plan that did a terrific job lifting America’s economy out of the pandemic-induced downturn. They did such a good job that millions of workers moved to higher-paying employment as the nation added 8.9m jobs during Biden’s first 18 months in office – more than in any other president’s first 18 months.TopicsJoe BidenOpinionBiden administrationDemocratsUS unionsUS politicsWorkers’ rightsUS economycommentReuse this content More

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      These companies are as complicit as the far right in threatening US democracy | Robert Reich

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      Boeing, GM, FedEx: these are as complicit as the far right in threatening US democracyRobert ReichCorporations are underwriting the thuggery of Trump and his allies – all because they want to pay as little tax as possible In 2016, when clashes with taxi drivers broke out in 2016 in Paris, Uber’s then-chief executive Travis Kalanick texted fellow executives that “violence guarantees success” in what was a key market for the company.Uber leveraged the violence against its drivers to win sympathy from regulators and the public, as it also did in South Africa where Uber drivers were burned when their cars were set on fire. (This look inside Uber’s internal deliberations came from records Uber lobbyist Mark MacGann turned over to the Guardian.)John Bolton says he ‘helped plan coups d’etat’ in other countriesRead moreI’ve been thinking about Uber’s capitalist thuggery in light of the corporations underwriting Trump’s thuggery, which includes violent groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who led the attack on the US Capitol.Tuesday’s hearing of the January 6 committee added more grim details, such as numerous connections between these violent groups and Trump confidants Roger Stone, Michael Flynn.Trump’s thuggery continues. A phone message received by White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson just before she testified before the January 6 committee warned that someone “let me know you have your deposition tomorrow. He wants me to let you know he’s thinking about you. He knows you’re loyal. And you’re going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition.”If this sounds like a gangster threat, that’s the point.During Hutchinson’s earlier depositions before the committee, her legal counsel was paid for by Trump’s “Save America Pac” (the Pac paid the legal expenses of other panel witnesses, too.) When she realized “she couldn’t call her attorney to say, ‘Hey, I’ve got more information’” because the attorney “was there to insulate the big guy”, according to a friend, she secured free counsel who would not inhibit her. Now, after testifying in public, Hutchinson is in hiding.Meanwhile, the “big guy” continues to stir up his mob with lies about stolen elections and secret plots – fueling a new wave of threats against committee members.Several have increased their personal security. Committee chair Bennie Thompson, co-chair Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger have security details; other members have requested them.Kinzinger, one of the panel’s two Republican members alongside Cheney, says he’s received “constant” death threats. “There is violence in the future, I’m going to tell you,” Kinzinger told ABC. “And until we get a grip on telling people the truth, we can’t expect any differently.”Kinzinger has announced he will not be seeking re-election. Cheney has paused participating in public events in part because of safety concerns.Does any of this remind you of Hitler’s Brown Shirts or Mussolini’s Blackshirts?At the least, it should raise questions about the wealthy individuals and corporations that continue to bankroll this thuggery – among them, billionaires Peter Thiel, Rebecca Mercer, Charles Koch, Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, ex-casino mogul Steve Wynn, and shipping magnate Richard Uihlein.Funding is also coming from Boeing, Koch Industries, Home Depot, FedEx, General Dynamics, Toyota, AT&T, Valero Energy, Lockheed Martin, UPS, Raytheon, Marathon Petroleum, GM and FedEx.In April alone, the most recent month for which data is available, Fortune 500 companies and trade organizations gave more than $1.4m to members of Congress who voted not to certify the election results. AT&T led the pack, giving $95,000 to election objectors.Toyota is even funding Trump ally Andrew Biggs, a fervent devotee of the big lie who refuses to comply with a congressional subpoena to testify before the committee. Six congressmen who have refused to testify have raked in more than $826,000 from corporate donors since the assault on the Capitol.Why are these wealthy individuals and corporations doing this? Presumably because they want to pay as little in taxes as possible and believe Trump and his Republicans will deliver even more tax cuts than they did before.But how is this capitalist thuggery in pursuit of profits different from Uber’s thuggery? And is it more excusable than the political thuggery it’s enabling?To state the question in historical terms, how different is their behavior from the wealthy European industrialists who quietly backed the fascists in the 1920s and 1930s?These billionaire and corporate funders are as complicit as are the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers in threatening American democracy.
      Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com
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      Why is US inflation so high – and how long will it last?

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      Why is US inflation so high – and how long will it last? Soaring prices a top concern for many Americans, and likely influencing many voters in a midterm election year Inflation in the US is at a 40-year high – an astounding 9.1% year-over-year, according to a government report released Wednesday.Prices have climbed every month, while consumer confidence has hit record lows. Inflation is now a top concern for many Americans, and is likely influencing many voters in a midterm election year.What is driving this inflation, however, is not new: rather, it is largely the fallout of two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. Here is what we know.Why is inflation in the US so high?The Covid-19 pandemic strapped the US economy on to a rollercoaster. In early 2020, nationwide lockdowns caused millions of Americans to be temporarily laid off from their jobs. Then president Donald Trump responded by signing a $2tn aid package aimed at directly helping businesses and individuals, including stimulus checks that put money directly into people’s pockets. It would ultimately be the first of three stimulus packages, together pumping an eye-watering $5tn into the economy.That summer, businesses slowly started to reopen. But it would take another year and a half for the unemployment rate to fall back to where it was before the pandemic, and with wages rising due to a tight labor market, consumer spending started to climb: people wanted new homes, restaurant meals, appliances and furniture.As the demand for goods soared, supply remained constrained – because of the infamous supply chain crisis, which is only just now starting to ease. At the peak of the crisis, ports were clogged with ships trying to dock, containers were falling into the ocean and there was a shortage of truck drivers. The war in Ukraine, along with China’s own coronavirus lockdown in the spring of this year, also played roles in keeping supply tight during 2022. That means higher prices.What sectors are driving inflation?Gas, food and housing prices have all soared, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Year-over-year, gas prices are up 7.5% – though Joe Biden has called the inflation rate “out-of-date”, as gas prices have been falling the last few weeks.Prices have also gone up at grocery stores, particularly for fruit, vegetables and non-alcoholic beverages. Grocery prices over the last year have risen 12.2% – the highest increase since April 1979. Home prices and rent have increased too – up 5.6% compared with last year.How long will inflation last?No one can really predict, nor do we know if it has peaked, because so many factors are at play. Gas prices are going down, it’s true, but it’s unclear whether that will be enough to send inflation downward as well.The Federal Reserve, headed by Jerome Powell, has been aggressive in its response to inflation, raising interest rates twice this year. Early reports indicate that the Fed is looking at yet another three-point interest rate hike at the end of the month.What are the lasting effects of inflation?High, long-lasting inflation is worrisome because it decreases the value of currency, weakening the purchasing power of the American dollar and eroding savings.The Fed’s control of interest rates is its most powerful tool to curb inflation. But it is a tough balancing act, as it risks a recession. A slowdown in investments could have a cascading effect on jobs and spending, though it remains too early to predict any recession – not that that has stopped certain people, and banks, from doing so.And there are some things inflation doesn’t necessarily affect. The unemployment rate has held steady at 3.6% – around the same rate as before the pandemic. And the economy has shown other signs of resilience – particularly in jobs, which grew 372,000 in June.TopicsUS economyEconomicsConsumer spendingFederal ReserveBiden administrationUS politicsexplainersReuse this content More

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      Why is the US about to give away $52bn to corporations like Intel? | Robert Reich

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      Why is the US about to give away $52bn to corporations like Intel? Robert ReichThe Chips Act would provide an enormous subsidy to chipmakers for making their chips in the US. This is extortion Congress will soon put final touches on the Chips Act, which will provide more than $52bn to companies that design and make semiconductor chips.The subsidy is demanded by the biggest chipmakers as a condition for making more chips in America.It’s pure extortion.Fed chief vows to keep raising rates until ‘compelling evidence’ of falling inflationRead moreThe world’s biggest chipmaker (in terms of sales) is already an American corporation – Intel, based in Santa Clara, California.Intel hardly needs the money. Its revenue rose to $79bn last year. Its chief executive, Pat Gelsinger, got a total compensation package of $179m (which was 1,711 times larger than the average Intel employee).Intel designs, assembles, and tests its chips in China, Israel, Ireland, Malaysia, Costa Rica, and Vietnam, as well as in the US.The problem for the US is Intel is not helping America cope with its current shortage of chips by giving preference to producers in the United States. And it’s not keeping America on the cutting edge of new chip technologies.Obviously, Intel would like some of the $52bn Congress is about to throw at the semiconductor chip industry. But why exactly should Intel get the money?Among the other likely beneficiaries of the Chips Act will be GlobalFoundries, which currently makes chips in New York and Vermont – but in many other places around the world as well.GlobalFoundries isn’t even an American corporation. It’s a wholly owned subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Co.,the sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates.The nation where a chipmaker (or any other high-tech global corporation) is headquartered has less and less to do with where it designs and makes things.Which explains why every industry that can possibly be considered “critical” is now lobbying governments for subsidies, tax cuts, and regulatory exemptions, in return for designing and making stuff in that country.It’s a giant global shakedown.India, Japan and South Korea have all recently passed tax credits, subsidies and other incentives amounting to tens of billions of dollars for the semiconductor industry. The European Union is finalizing its own chips act with $30bn to $50bn in subsidies.Even China has extended tax and tariff exemptions and other measures aimed at upgrading chip design and production there.“Other countries around the globe … are making major investment in innovation and chip production,” says Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer. “If we don’t act quickly, we could lose tens of thousands of good-paying jobs to Europe.”But who is “we,” senator?John Neuffer, the chief executive of the Semiconductor Industry Association (the Washington lobbying arm of the semiconductor industry) warns that chipmaking facilities are often 25 to 50% cheaper to build in foreign countries than in the United States.Why is that? As he admits, it’s largely because of the incentives foreign countries have offered.As capital becomes ever more global and footloose, it’s easy for global corporations to play nations off against each other. As the then-chief executive of US-based ExxonMobil unabashedly stated: “I’m not a US company and I don’t make decisions based on what’s good for the US”People, by contrast, are rooted within nations, which gives them far less bargaining power.This asymmetry helps explain why Congress is ready to hand over $52bn to a highly profitable global industry but can’t come up with even $22.5bn the Biden administration says is necessary to cope with the ongoing public health crisis of Covid.If they are publicly owned, corporations must be loyal to their shareholders by maximizing the value of their shares. But over 40% of the shareholder value of American-based companies is owned by non-Americans.Besides, there’s no reason to suppose a company’s American owners will be happy to sacrifice investment returns for the good of the nation.The real question is what conditions the United States (or any other nation that subsidizes chipmakers) should place on receipt of such subsidies.It can’t be enough that chipmakers agree to produce more chips in the nation that’s subsidizing them, because chipmakers sell their chips to the highest bidders around the world regardless of where the chips are produced.If the US is going to subsidize them, it should demand chipmakers give highest priority to their American-based customers that use the chips in products made in the United States, by American workers.And Congress should demand they produce the highest value-added chipmaking in the US – design, design engineering, and high precision manufacturing – so Americans gain that technological expertise.What happens if every nation subsidizing chipmakers demands these for itself?Chipmakers will then have to choose. The extortion will then end.
      Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com
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      January 6 hearings: Barr ‘not sure at all’ transition would have happened had DoJ not resisted Trump – live

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      The January 6 committee has concluded its hearing for the day, with the next sessions expected later in July, when House lawmakers return to Washington from a recess.In his closing remarks, committee’s chair Bennie Thompson outlined what the committee had found thus far and what it expected to show in the future..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Up to this point, we’ve shown the inner workings of what was essentially a political coup and attempt to use the powers of the government, from the local level all the way up, to overturn the results of the election. Send fake electors, just say the election was corrupt. Along the way, we saw threats of violence, we saw what some people were willing to do. In a service of the nation, the constitution? No. In service of Donald Trump.
      When the Select Committee continues this series of hearings, we’re going to show how Donald Trump tapped into the threat of violence, how he summoned the mob to Washington, and how after corruption and political pressure failed to keep Donald Trump in office, violence became the last option.The testimony of the justice department officials who gave the bulk of the day’s evidence has concluded, but before they did, Jeffrey Rosen, the acting attorney general, told a tale familiar to those who have watched the committee’s hearings closely: he never heard from Trump on the day of the attack.“I spoke to a number of senior White House officials, but not the president,” Rosen said.What Trump was doing during the attack and who he was talking to are both expected to be focuses of later hearings of the committee.The committee has just unveiled evidence of more Republican congressmen requesting pardons from Trump in his final days in office. NEW on PARDONS: Republican congressman Mo Brooks sent an email on 11 January 2021 seeking pardons for “Every Congressman and Senator who voted to reject the electoral college vote submissions of Arizona and Pennsylvania.”— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) June 23, 2022
      Trump WH aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified that Brooks and Gaetz pushed for pardons for every Republican lawmaker who participated in Jan. 6 planning meeting — and Reps. Perry, Biggs, Gohmert asked for pardons. Jordan asked whether White House would pardon members.— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) June 23, 2022
      The testimony adds to the list of pardon requests that have emerged as the January 6 committee aired its evidence.Capitol attack pardon revelations could spell doom for Trump and alliesRead moreJeffrey Clark came very close to be the acting attorney general, a position in which he could have used his authority to disrupt the certification of Biden’s election win in several states, according to evidence the committee is airing.On January 3, three days before the attack on the Capitol, the White House had already begun referring to Clark as acting attorney general, according to Adam Kinzinger, the Illinois Republican leading the committee’s questioning today.The committee then turned to exploring a meeting between Trump and the leaders of the justice department that day in the Oval Office, in which Trump repeated specific claims of fraud that had been debunked and expressed his will to see Clark take over the department.Richard Donoghue said he warned of mass resignations to follow if Clark took over the department. “You’re gonna lose your entire department leadership. Every single (assistant attorney general) will walk out. Your entire department of leadership will walk out within hours. And I don’t know what happens after that. I don’t know what the United States attorneys are going to do,” Donoghue said. “My guess would be that many of them would have resigned.”Jeffrey Rosen, the acting attorney general in the final weeks of the Trump administration, is now recounting Trump’s attempt to replace him with Jeffrey Clark, who was playing a major roles in his efforts to have states that voted for Biden overturn their results.In a meeting on a Sunday, Rosen said Clark “told me that he would be replacing me,” and had made the atypical request to ask to meet him alone, “because he thought it would be appropriate in light of what was happening to at least offer me, that I couldn’t stay on his his deputy.”“I thought that was preposterous. I told him that was nonsensical,” Rosen said. “There’s no universe where I was going to do that, to stay on and support someone else doing things that were not consistent with what I thought should be done.”However, Clark also said he would turn down Trump’s offer to replace Rosen if the acting attorney general signed the letter disputing the validity of Georgia’s electors for Biden. Richard Donoghue recounted that Rosen made the decisions to begin informing other department officials about the quandary, and almost all the assistant attorney generals said they would resign if Trump replaced Rosen with Clark.As this hearing has unfolded, the justice department officials testifying have said they investigated many of the claims of fraud in the 2020 election brought forward by Trump and his allies. The decision to look into these claims in the weeks after polls closed may be more significant than it appears at first glance.In video testimony aired earlier in the hearing, William Barr, Trump’s attorney general during the election, said be believes that the department’s ability to debunk the false claims of fraud as Trump was making them were essential to allowing Joe Biden to assume office.“I felt the responsible thing to do was to be… in a position to have a view as to whether or not there was fraud,” Barr told investigators.“I sort of shudder to think what the situation would have been if the position of the department was, we’re not even looking at this until after Biden’s in office. I’m not sure we would have had a transition at all.”The committee has returned, and is now asking Jeffrey Rosen, the acting attorney general, about a request from Trump to seize voting machines.“We had seen nothing improper with regard to the voting machines,” Rosen said he replied, noting that investigators had looked into allegations the machines gave fraudulent results and found nothing wrong. “And so that was not something that was appropriate to do … I don’t think there was legal authority either.”Richard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general, is recounting a meeting with Trump, in which he pushed him unsuccessfully to seize voting machines. By the end, “The president again was getting very agitated. And he said, ‘People tell me I should just get rid of both of you. I should just remove you and make a change in the leadership with Jeff Clark, and maybe something will finally get done,’” Donoghue said.Donoghue said he responded: “Mr President, you should have the leadership that you want. But understand the United States justice department functions on facts and evidence, and then those are not going to change. So you can have whatever leadership you want, but the department’s position is not going to change.”The committee is now in recess, but before they finished, Richard Donoghue described his reaction when he first learned of Jeffrey Clark’s proposed letter to the Georgia legislature asking them to convene to declare alternate electoral college voters.“I had to read both the email and the attached letter twice to make sure I really understood what he was proposing because it was so extreme to me I had a hard time getting my head around it initially,” Donoghue said. He responded in writing to Clark’s letter, saying that its allegations were “not based on facts,” and, in his view, “for the department to insert itself into the political process this way, I think, would have had grave consequences for the country. It may very well have spiraled us into a constitutional crisis. And I wanted to make sure that he understood the gravity of the situation because he didn’t seem to really appreciate it.”Clark himself made a brief appearance in video testimony the committee played before it took its break, responding to questions by asserting his fifth amendment rights and executive privilege.The committee will reconvene in a few minutes.One name that’s coming up a lot in this hearing is Scott Perry, the Pennsylvania Republican congressman who the committee said took part in Trump’s plan to pressure the justice department, and in particular install Jeff Clark at its helm.The committee just showed text messages between Perry and Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, which showed the lawmaker encouraging Meadows to work on promoting Clark. Richard Donoghue also detailed a phone call from Perry where the congressman claimed fraud in the results in Pennsylvania from the 2020 election – which the justice department determined unfounded.The committee had sought documents and requested an interview with Perry last year, but the Republican refused to comply. Last month, Perry was among a group of congressmen subpoenaed by the committee.Capitol attack panel subpoenas five Republicans in unprecedented stepRead moreRichard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general, is outlining his efforts to convince the president that the justice department could not interfere with a state’s election.“States run their elections. We are not quality control for the states,” he recalled explaining to Trump. “The bottom line was, if a state ran their election in such a way that it was defective, that is to the state or Congress to correct, it is not for the justice department to step in.”But Trump wanted something simpler, Donoghue said.“That’s not what I’m asking you to do,” Donoghue told the committee Trump said after he explained the department’s position. “Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen,” the president said.Today’s hearing is focusing on the inner workings of the justice department, but as in previous sessions, the committee has tried to make sure the insurrection isn’t far from viewers’ minds.Case in point: lawmakers just aired video from the day of the attack showing marchers chanting “Do your job!” outside the justice department — evidence that Trump’s most ardent supporters were well aware of the president’s attempts to push government lawyers to interfere with Joe Biden’s victory.But as justice department officials tell it, they never believed in Trump’s fraud claims. Richard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general, said Trump lawyer Pat Cipollone described the letter Clark wanted to send for Trump as a “murder-suicide pact. It’s going to damage everyone who touches it.”The committee’s top Republican Liz Cheney is offering more details about the actions of justice department official Jeffrey Clark, who had his house raided today by federal investigators.According to Cheney, Clark and another justice department lawyer drafted a letter addressed to the Georgia state legislature, which would have said the department had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states, including the state of Georgia”, and that the legislature should convene and consider approving a new slate of electors. Joe Biden had won Georgia, but Trump made baseless allegations of fraud in the polls, and the new electors would have presumably given him the state’s electoral votes.“In fact, Donald Trump knew this was a lie,” Cheney said. “The Department of Justice had already informed the president of the United States repeatedly that its investigations had found no fraud sufficient to overturn the results of the 2020 election.”Cheney said Clark had met with Trump privately and agreed to help him sway these states’ legislatures without telling his bosses at the justice department. But Cheney said Clark’s superiors – who are the witnesses testifying today – refused to sign it. That was when Trump began considering installing Clark at the helm at the justice department – which he never ended up doing. The House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection has started its fifth hearing, which will focus on Donald Trump’s efforts to get the justice department to go along with his plans to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Testifying in the chamber will be:
      Jeffrey Rosen, the acting attorney general for the final weeks of Trump’s term, including during the attack on the Capitol.
      Richard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general, who appeared in a video aired at the conclusion of Tuesday’s hearing threatening to resign if Trump appointed Jeffrey Clark to head the justice department.
      Steven Engel, the former assistant attorney general for the office of legal counsel.
      We’re about 10 minutes away from the start of today’s January 6 hearing, which my colleague Lauren Gambino reports will offer new evidence of how Trump pressured the justice department to take part in his plot to overturn the 2020 election:The House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection plans to present new evidence on Thursday about Donald Trump’s brazen attempts to pressure the justice department to overturn the 2020 presidential election that he lost, aides said.After exhausting his legal options and being rebuffed by state and local elections officials, the president turned to the justice department to declare the election corrupt despite no evidence of mass voter fraud, the nine-member panel will seek to show in their fifth and final hearing of the month.Testifying from the Cannon Caucus Room on Capitol Hill are Jeffrey Rosen, the former acting attorney general; Richard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general; and Steven Engel, the former assistant attorney general for the office of legal counsel.Capitol attack panel to show how Trump pressured DoJ to overturn electionRead more More

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      Yellen says US recession not ‘inevitable’ but expects ‘economy to slow’

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      Yellen says US recession not ‘inevitable’ but expects ‘economy to slow’ Treasury secretary says ‘inflation unacceptably high’ and it is Biden’s ‘top priority to bring it down’ Joe Biden’s treasury secretary Janet Yellen says she expects “the economy to slow” but continued insisting that a full-blown recession is not “at all inevitable”.Yellen’s remarks on Sunday came days after the US central bank moved to sharply raise interest rates in an effort to contain soaring inflation.She told ABC’s This Week host George Stephanopoulous that her financial outlook results from how the economy has “been growing at a very rapid rate, as the economy, as the labor market, has recovered and we have reached full employment”.“It’s natural now that we expect a transition to steady and stable growth, but I don’t think a recession is at all inevitable,” Yellen added.Pressed on the issue of inflation, which polls indicate is a top priority for US voters as the midterm elections in November approach, Yellen said inflation causes are global, not local, and those factors are unlikely to diminish immediately.Yellen said some trade tariffs on China inherited from the administration of former President Donald Trump made “no strategic sense”. She added that Biden was reviewing them as a way to bring down inflation.“Clearly, inflation is unacceptably high,” Yellen said. “It’s President Biden’s top priority to bring it down.”The US central bank’s chairperson, Jerome Powell, has also said “it’s his goal to bring it down while maintaining a strong labor economy,” according to Yellen.The comments from Biden’s top economist came reflect the administration’s ongoing push to change the national narrative around the economy.Yellen’s comments were more in line with that push than they have been recently.Last month, she broke with the administration’s preferred talking points when she admitted to the American public that she “was wrong” about the path inflation would take.Recent economic confidence polling has shown sharp drops, with Gallup recording the lowest reading during the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s likely the lowest confidence has been since the tail end of the Great Recession in early 2009.Dissatisfaction with Biden’s handling of the economy could ricochet through the midterms elections. Central to those concerns are gasoline prices, which have surged during Biden’s term.On Sunday, Yellen voiced measured support for temporarily pausing gasoline taxes, describing it as an idea “certainly worth considering”.Separately, energy secretary Jennifer Granholm warned drivers against expecting quick relief in prices amid tight oil supplies worldwide.The US energy information administration has projected that prices at the pump will average about $4.27 per gallon in the third quarter – down from the current $4.98 – but that its forecast could be “completely upended” by world events.“We know this is going to be a tough summer because driving season just started,” Granholm said. “And we know that there will be continued upward pull on demand.”Looking ahead to Biden’s scheduled – and highly controversial – visit to Saudi Arabia next month, Granholm said the president “has asked for all suppliers around the globe to increase production”.The planned trip has become a lightning rod for criticism as it appears to be a reversal of the president’s stated intent to make the kingdom a “pariah” over its human-rights record, including the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which the CIA concluded was ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.Granholm said Biden is “very concerned” about human rights in Saudi Arabia and surely will raise the issue, “but he’s also very concerned about what people are experiencing at the pump and Saudi Arabia is head of OPEC”.“We need to have increased production so that everyday citizens in America will not be feeling this pain that they’re feeling right now,” Granholm added.Yellen was not alone Sunday in presenting a more upbeat economic message than the recessionist narrative most US economists are presenting. A survey of economists published Sunday by The Wall Street Journal raised the probability of recession to 44% in the next 12 months – a level of probability that the newspaper wrote is “usually seen only on the brink of or during actual recession.”The director of the National Economic Council, Brian Deese, told Margaret Brennan on CBS’ Face the Nation that the US “is in an uncertain moment and we face real challenges, global challenges.”“We need to navigate through this transition in a way that gets us to stable growth without giving up all of the incredible economic gains that we’ve made,” he said.Pressed on how the administration plans to lower inflation, running at a 40-year high of 8.6% and projected by the congressional budget office to remain high into 2024, Deese said a package of legislative measures was being prepared in congress to lower prescription drug costs, utility costs and enacting tax reforms.“If we can do a package like that we can move forward in the near future,” Deese said. “It will not only help in lowering prices, but it will send a signal to the markets and the global economy that the United States is really deadly serious about taking on this inflation.”In a rare one-on-one interview last week, Biden set out his administration’s public line.“First of all, it’s not inevitable,” he said to the Associated Press. “Secondly, we’re in a stronger position than any nation in the world to overcome this inflation.”As clouds gathered over the US economic position during the past 18 months, administration economic officials and central bankers have reformed their inflation message from “transitory” to an economy, as Deese said, that is “in a transition.”TopicsUS politicsUS economyReuse this content More

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      Fauci tests positive for Covid with mild symptoms – as it happened

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      Steve Bannon, former president Donald Trump’s one-time campaign manager and senior White House strategist, will face trial on contempt of Congress charges, a federal judge has ruled.BREAKING: Judge Carl Nichols DENIES Steve Bannon’s motion to dismiss the indictment against him for contempt of Congress. Trial set for July 18. Story to come.— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) June 15, 2022
      Bannon was indicted for the offense last year after he refused to cooperate with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection. He pled not guilty to the charges, which are rarely used and punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.Following the ruling, Bannon vowed to call the committee members to testify at his trial.BANNON used the post-ruling avail to say he expects his lawyer to call members of the Jan. 6 select committee to testify at his trial. That seems…highly unlikely. pic.twitter.com/ZG46vPUjrW— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) June 15, 2022
      Steve Bannon pleads not guilty to criminal contempt of CongressRead moreJudges in Washington were busy today. The supreme court started Wednesday off with a slew of rulings that touched on the farthest reaches of federal law, while a federal judge ruled Trump confidante Steve Bannon will have to stand trial on contempt of Congress charges and another judge found two January 6 rioters guilty at a bench trial. Here’s what else happened today:
      The Federal Reserve made its biggest rate hike in nearly 30 years to fight runaway inflation.
      The Biden administration announced another $1 billion in weapons for Ukraine as it tries to defend cities in the east from Russia’s advance.
      The justice department has brought federal hate crimes charges against the alleged shooter at a Buffalo supermarket who killed 10 Black people in a racist attack.
      Questions continue to swirl over the actions of Republican House representative Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, after the January 6 committee released video evidence of a man who accompanied the lawmaker on a tour taking photos of Capitol hallways and a security checkpoint the day before the insurrection.
      A special election in Texas ended with bad news for the Democrats when voters sent a Republican to represent their district for the first time. GOP voters also embraced a number of candidates who endorsed Trump’s “big lie.”
      The US politics live blog returns Thursday at 9 am eastern time, ahead of another hearing of the January 6 committee.The January 6 committee hasn’t publicly said whether they’ll recommend prosecuting Trump, but CNN reports that its members agree the former president committed a crime by acting to stop Joe Biden from entering the White House. The question is, what to do about it?From CNN’s article:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The internal debate, which has heated up in recent weeks, spilled into the open on Monday night when the committee’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, repeatedly told a group of reporters at the Capitol that the committee would not be issuing any criminal referrals.
      “No, that’s not our job,” Thompson said when pressed.
      Thompson’s off-the-cuff remarks sparked an immediate response from several of his fellow committee members who rushed to knock down the notion they would not be pursuing criminal charges.
      “The January 6th Select Committee has not issued a conclusion regarding potential criminal referrals. We will announce a decision on that at an appropriate time,” GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the vice chair of the committee, tweeted 15 minutes after Thompson’s comments.
      Sources tell CNN Cheney is a leading voice among those members who believe the committee should issue a criminal referral.
      Committee member Elaine Luria, a Virginia Democrat, took it one step further, tweeting Monday night that the committee has yet to vote on whether it will recommend criminal referrals but made clear she believes “if criminal activity occurred, it is our responsibility to report that activity to the DOJ.”
      In a video released Tuesday, Cheney said that Trump likely violated two criminal statues in his efforts to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to count lawful electoral votes.
      The episode Monday night illustrates that after nearly a year of work, the committee remains divided over what is likely the most pressing question it faces: whether to seek criminal charges against Trump based on the evidence it has uncovered.Also under pressure as the committee airs its evidence is attorney general Merrick Garland, who could order the opening of an investigation into Trump. He’s only said that he’s watching the hearings, but Democrats want him to do more than watch.Garland says he is watching January 6 hearings amid pressure to investigate TrumpRead moreTwo more January 6 rioters have been found guilty by a federal judge today, including one who jabbed Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman with a flagpole.Kevin Seefried and his adult son Hunter Seefried opted for a bench trial before judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee who sits in Washington. Goodman, who was hailed for diverting the rioters away from lawmakers, testified at their trial.Reminder:Kevin Seefried === > pic.twitter.com/Igf0bgZzyK— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 15, 2022
      Mixed verdict coming here for kevin Seefried’s son Hunter NOT GUILTY – of some destruction charges. Judge says it wasn’t shown Hunter smashed window. But GUILTY – of disorderly and entering restricted building— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 15, 2022
      But as for Kevin Seefried .. who carried the Confederate flag …. GUILTY of top charge of obstruction Also guilty of other charges: disorderly, entering restricted building Among many other things, judge cites Seefried jabbing Confederate flag at Capitol officer.— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 15, 2022
      Federal courts are working through the many cases of people who participated in the January 6 insurrection, with a former West Virginia city councilmember sentenced yesterday to a brief stint in jail for breaking into the Capitol.The primaries held yesterday in states across the country confirmed that the spirit of Donald Trump is very much still alive in the Republican party. My colleague Lauren Gambino reports that voters embraced candidates who campaigned on the former president’s “big lie” about the 2020 election:In pivotal primary races from Nevada to South Carolina on Tuesday, Republican voters chose candidates who fervently embraced Donald Trump’s lie about a stolen election, prompting warnings from Democrats that US democracy will be at stake in the November elections.Victories of pro-Trump candidates in Nevada set the stage for match-ups between election-deniers and embattled Democrats in a state both parties see as critical in the midterms.In South Carolina, a vote to impeach Trump for inciting the January 6 insurrection proved one Republican’s undoing while another survived the former president’s wrath to win the nomination.Pro-Trump Republicans’ primary wins raise alarm about US democracyRead moreMore than two years after he became the public face of the US government’s response to the world’s largest Covid-19 outbreak, top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has tested positive for the coronavirus, National Institutes of Health (NIH) said.“He is fully vaccinated and has been boosted twice. He is currently experiencing mild symptoms. Dr. Fauci will isolate and continue to work from his home,” according to the NIH.“He has not recently been in close contact with President Biden or other senior government officials,” the NIH said, noting Fauci will return to the institutes when he tests negative.The 81-year-old is a frequent guest in media outlets and in Congress, and also the target of ire from people opposed to Covid-19 restrictions, particularly Trump supporters. Fauci has, in turn, criticized the former president for his handling of the pandemic’s early months.Fauci says he will resign if Trump retakes the presidency in 2024Read moreOn the complete opposite end of the pay spectrum from the world of Washington politics, The Guardian’s Dani Anguiano has delved into a new American Civil Liberties Union report that has found people who work while imprisoned are often paid literally pennies for their labor, or not at all:Incarcerated workers in the US produce at least $11bn in goods and services annually but receive just pennies an hour in wages for their prison jobs, according to a new report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).Nearly two-thirds of all prisoners in the US, which imprisons more of its population than any other country in the world, have jobs in state and federal prisons. That figure amounts to roughly 800,000 people, researchers estimated in the report, which is based on extensive public records requests, questionnaires and interviews with incarcerated workers.ACLU researchers say the findings outlined in Wednesday’s report raise concerns about the systemic exploitation of prisoners, who are compelled to work sometimes difficult and dangerous jobs without basic labor protections and little or no training while making close to nothing.US prison workers produce $11bn worth of goods and services a year for pittanceRead moreRemember Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager in 2020 who told the January 6 committee he never believed the election was stolen, and implied he had somehow cut ties with the former president? Stepien played a major role in Monday’s hearing of the committee investigating the attack on the Capitol, but HuffPost has discovered that Stepien seems to still have plenty of ties to Trump:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Yet Stepien never really left Trump, with his firm receiving $20,000 in both February and March of 2021, and as much as $30,000 and no less than $10,000 in every month since. His work for Trump to this day, according to an adviser to the former president, is to coordinate Trump’s political strategy, including Trump’s efforts to defeat candidates who challenge his false claim that the election was stolen from him or, worse, voted to impeach him for inciting the Jan. 6 attack.
      Each week, Stepien is on an hourlong call with other top Trump aides, including Dan Scavino, Jason Miller, and Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. The last such call was June 6; Monday’s call was canceled because it conflicted with the Jan. 6 committee hearing.
      “He’s trying to tell the world he quit,” the Trump adviser, who is familiar with Trump’s political operation, said on condition of anonymity. “He has been on every call since Jan. 6. He gets paid every month to do that. … I mean, come on, man.”The article doesn’t say how Stepien’s relationship with Trump is following the airing of the campaign manager’s testimony to the committee.The Federal Reserve has announced its largest increase rate increase in almost 30 years as it looks to tame inflation by reducing demand. Dominic Rushe explains what the central bank’s decision means:With soaring inflation and the shadow of recession hanging over the United States, the Federal Reserve announced a 0.75 percentage-point increase in interest rates on Wednesday – the largest hike since 1994.In a statement after a two-day meeting, the Fed said “overall economic activity appears to have picked up after edging down in the first quarter”.But it warned that “inflation remains elevated”, and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia had created “additional upward pressure on inflation and [is] weighing on global economic activity. In addition, Covid-related lockdowns in China are likely to exacerbate supply-chain disruptions.”It added: “The committee is highly attentive to inflation risks.”Federal Reserve announces biggest interest rate hike since 1994Read moreSteve Bannon, former president Donald Trump’s one-time campaign manager and senior White House strategist, will face trial on contempt of Congress charges, a federal judge has ruled.BREAKING: Judge Carl Nichols DENIES Steve Bannon’s motion to dismiss the indictment against him for contempt of Congress. Trial set for July 18. Story to come.— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) June 15, 2022
      Bannon was indicted for the offense last year after he refused to cooperate with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection. He pled not guilty to the charges, which are rarely used and punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.Following the ruling, Bannon vowed to call the committee members to testify at his trial.BANNON used the post-ruling avail to say he expects his lawyer to call members of the Jan. 6 select committee to testify at his trial. That seems…highly unlikely. pic.twitter.com/ZG46vPUjrW— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) June 15, 2022
      Steve Bannon pleads not guilty to criminal contempt of CongressRead moreJoe Biden’s optimism persists. In fact, he has “never been more optimistic about our future”, he often tells the public.Today on Twitter is no exception and it’s because of America’s trade unions, the perseverance and revival of which was a strong theme during his 2020 election campaign to restore a Democrat to the White House after Donald Trump’s corrosive one-term presidency.Wall Street didn’t build this country.The middle class built this country.And unions built the middle class.— President Biden (@POTUS) June 15, 2022
      Biden was in Philly yesterday with organizers, and is still aglow about it.It was great to be with AFL-CIO yesterday in Philadelphia. These folks are a big reason why I’ve never been more optimistic about our future. Unions have never let this country down, and we’re going to keep building a better America – together. pic.twitter.com/NT1Jqmcd5h— President Biden (@POTUS) June 15, 2022
      Joe Biden has freshly reaffirmed American commitment to Ukraine’s efforts against the Russian invasion as US and NATO allies meet in Europe amid talk of cracks opening in the west’s resolve.The US president announced more aid for Ukraine, $1bn more in military aid and $225m in humanitarian assistance, and back up his defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, who said in Brussels earlier today that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was at a “pivotal” moment and America and its allies “cannot afford to let up and lose steam”.Biden said in a statement just released by the White House that he had spoken with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy this morning:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} To discuss Russia’s brutal and ongoing war against Ukraine. I reaffirmed my commitment that the United States will stand by Ukraine as it defends its democracy and support its sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of unprovoked Russian aggression.He announced more funding for “additional artillery and coastal defense weapons, as well as ammunition for the artillery and advanced rocket systems that the Ukrainians need to support their defensive operations in the Donbas,” the heart of Ukraine’s industrial east where Russia has focused its bombardment to increasingly powerful effect in recent weeks.The pledge came amid clear signs that Zelenskiy is hardening his determination to try to beat back Russia in the east, against the odds, amid fierce combat, and has been urging the west for more weaponry.Biden added:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} We also discussed Secretary Austin’s efforts in Brussels today to coordinate additional international support for the Ukrainian armed forces. We also remain committed to supporting the Ukrainian people whose lives have been ripped apart by this war….The bravery, resilience, and determination of the Ukrainian people continues to inspire the world. And the United States, together with our allies and partners, will not waver in our commitment to the Ukrainian people as they fight for their freedom.The New York Times has reported western unity “seems to be fraying among some Western allies”, with those further east close to Russia hardening their resolve while countries such as Italy, France and Germany were wary of stagnation in Ukraine (and stagflation at home, among other fears), but without a clear path to resolution. Meanwhile, the US continues, for now, to bolster Ukraine’s resistance.The day thus far has been busy, with the supreme court releasing a slew of decisions in cases that touched on the farthest reaches of federal law. In the Senate, signs emerged that the bipartisan compromise on gun control was facing obstacles that could delay its passage.Here’s a rundown of the day’s events:
      The Biden administration is set to announce another $1 billion in weapons for Ukraine as it tries to defend cities in the east from Russia’s advance.
      The justice department has brought federal hate crimes charges against the alleged shooter at a Buffalo supermarket who killed 10 Black people in a racist attack.
      Questions continue to swirl over the actions of Republican House representative Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, after the January 6 committee released video evidence of a man who accompanied the lawmaker on a tour taking photos of Capitol hallways and a security checkpoint the day before the insurrection.
      A special election in Texas ended with bad news for the Democrats when voters sent a Republican to represent their district for the first time.
      June is Pride Month, and President Joe Biden’s administration announced today he had signed an executive order that would counter “legislative attacks” against LGBTQ+ children and adults.“President Biden believes that no one should face discrimination because of who they are or whom they love. Since President Biden took office, he has championed the rights of LGBTQI+ Americans and people around the world, accelerating the march towards full equality,” the White House said.Among the provisions of Biden’s executive order detailed by the White House:
      Addressing discriminatory legislative attacks against LGBTQI+ children and families, directing key agencies to protect families and children;
      Preventing so-called “conversion therapy” with a historic initiative to protect children from the harmful practice;
      Safeguarding health care, and programs designed to prevent youth suicide;
      Supporting LGBTQI+ children and families by launching a new initiative to protect foster youth, prevent homelessness, and improve access to federal programs; and
      Taking new, additional steps to advance LGBTQI+ equality.
      The provision addressing “legislative attacks” is meant to deal with the more than 300 “anti-LGBTQI+ laws” the White House said were introduced in statehouses over the past year, many of which are targeted at transgender youth. The order directs the federal health and human services department to “release new sample policies for states on how to expand access to comprehensive health care for LGBTQI+ patients.” The education department is also directed to release “a sample school policy for achieving full inclusion” of students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer.The alleged gunman who killed 10 people in a racist massacre at a Buffalo, New York supermarket last month could face the death penalty after prosecutors brought hate crimes charges against him.The Associated Press reports:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Payton Gendron already faced a mandatory life sentence without parole if convicted on state charges in the 14 May shooting which also wounded three survivors – one Black, two white.
      The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, was in Buffalo on Wednesday to visit families of the 10 people killed. He was expected to address the federal charges during the visit.
      Gendron’s radical, racist worldview and extensive preparation for the attack at the Tops Friendly Market are laid out in documents he apparently posted online.
      The documents embrace a conspiracy theory about a plot to diminish white Americans’ power and “replace” them with people of color, through immigration and other means.
      The posts detail months of reconnaissance, demographic research and shooting practice for a bloodbath meant to scare anyone not white and Christian into leaving the country.
      Gendron drove more than 200 miles from his home in a nearly all-white town near the New York-Pennsylvania border to a predominantly Black part of Buffalo. There, authorities say, he killed shoppers and workers using an AR-15-style rifle, wearing body armor and livestreaming the carnage from a helmet-mounted camera.
      The 18-year-old surrendered to police as he exited the supermarket.Buffalo mass shooting suspect charged with federal hate crimesRead moreWhile Washington has publicly stated it remains committed to defending Ukraine, Bloomberg News reports that some in the White House worry the sanctions on Russia have worsened the American economy more than expected while doing little to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin.From their story:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Some Biden administration officials are now privately expressing concern that rather than dissuading the Kremlin as intended, the penalties are instead exacerbating inflation, worsening food insecurity and punishing ordinary Russians more than Putin or his allies.
      Officials were initially impressed by the willingness of companies from BP Plc. to McDonald’s Corp. to abruptly “self-sanction,” sometimes selling assets at fire-sale prices. But the administration was caught off-guard by the potential knock-on effects — from supply chain bottlenecks to uninsurable grain exports — due to the companies’ decisions to leave, according to people familiar with internal discussions.
      In some cases, companies have signaled that they are being extra-cautious or want clearer guidance from the US before continuing business with Russia. Until that happens, they are going beyond any legal requirements to ensure they don’t accidentally violate sanctions policies, according to Justine Walker, the head of global sanctions and risk at the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists, an industry group.
      “Because we just have so many changes at once, governments are not able to step in and give precise clarification and we are seeing many, many examples of authorities coming to different positions,” Walker said in an interview. “Companies ask, ‘Should we be applying sanctions to this entity?’ and the government will come back and say, ‘You need to make your own decision.’”The war in Ukraine has played a role in driving inflation higher in the United States, and in particular the price of gas, which has played a major role in the Biden’s deepening unpopularity.According to an article in Politico, the White House is growing frustrated with its ability to respond to the increase in costs across the economy:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Prices keep rising. And the clock keeps ticking.
      So the White House has started to change up its messaging on inflation, even though President Joe Biden has limited tools at his disposal to battle the crisis. The president stepped up efforts to draw contrasts with Republicans, unleashing a series of new attack lines Tuesday in a speech delivered amid a flurry of sobering headlines on rising costs and interest rates.
      “America still has a choice to make. A choice between a government by the few, for the few,” Biden said at an AFL-CIO union convention in Philadelphia. “Or a government for all of us – a democracy for all of us, an economy where all of us have a fair shot.”
      But with the midterms rapidly approaching, voters’ patience appears likely to run out – and the president and party in power stand poised to pay the political price.
      “The political environment is brutal for Democrats. There are few more economic issues more politically painful than high food and high gas prices and we are heading into high stakes midterms,” said Dan Pfeiffer, former senior advisor to President Barack Obama. More