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      Biden raises $30m at LA fundraiser featuring Obama, Clooney and Roberts

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      Some of Hollywood’s brightest stars headlined a glitzy fundraiser for President Joe Biden, helping raise what his re-election campaign said was a record $30m-plus and hoping to energize would-be supporters for a November election that they argued was among the most important in the nation’s history.George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand were among those who took the stage at the 7,100-seat Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Saturday night. Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel interviewed Biden and former president Barack Obama, who both stressed the need to defeat former president Donald Trump in a race that’s expected to be exceedingly close.During more than half an hour of discussion, Kimmel asked if the country was suffering from amnesia about the presumptive Republican nominee, to which Biden responded, “all we gotta do is remember what it was like” when Trump was in the White House.Luminaries from the entertainment world have increasingly lined up to help Biden’s campaign, and just how important the event was to his re-election bid could be seen in the Democratic president’s decision to fly through the night across nine time zones, from the G7 summit in southern Italy to Southern California, to attend.He also missed a summit in Switzerland about ways to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, instead dispatching Vice-President Kamala Harris who made a whirlwind trip of her own to represent the United States there, a stark reminder of the delicate balance between geopolitics and Biden’s bid to win a second term.Further laying bare the political implications were police in riot gear outside the theater, ready for protests from pro-Palestinian activists angry about his administration’s handling of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.The event featured singing by Jack Black and Sheryl Lee Ralph, and actors Kathryn Hahn and Jason Bateman introduced Kimmel, who introduced Biden and Obama. The comedian deadpanned, “I was told I was getting introduced by Batman, not Bateman.”But he quickly pivoted to far more serious topics, saying that “so much is at stake in this election” and listing women’s rights, healthcare and noting that “even the ballot is on the ballot” in a reference to the Biden administration’s calls to expand voting rights.Kimmel asked the president what he was most proud of accomplishing, and Biden said he thought the administration’s approach to the economy “is working”.“We have the strongest economy in the world today,” Biden said, adding, “we try to give ordinary people an even chance.”Trump spent Saturday campaigning in Detroit and criticized Biden’s handling of the economy and inflation. The president was fundraising “with out-of-touch elitist Hollywood celebrities”, Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.But Biden told the crowd in California that “we passed every major piece of legislation we attempted to get done.” And Obama expressed admiration for sweeping legislation on healthcare, public works, the environment, technology manufacturing, gun safety and other major initiatives that the administration of his former vice-president has overseen.“What we’re seeing now is a byproduct of in 2016. There were a whole bunch of folks who, for whatever reason, sat out,” said Obama, who, like Biden wore a dark suit and a white shirt open at the collar.Obama, speaking about the supreme court, added that “hopefully we have learned our lesson, because these elections matter in very concrete ways”.Trump nominated three justices who helped overturn Roe v Wade, the landmark decision guaranteeing a constitutional right to an abortion. The audience expressed its displeasure at the mention of Roe, to which Obama responded, “don’t hiss, vote.”Biden said the person elected president in November could get the chance to nominate two new justices, though a second Biden term probably wouldn’t drastically overhaul a court that currently features a 6-3 conservative majority.He also suggested if Trump wins back the White House, “one of the scariest parts” was the supreme court and how the high court has “never been this far out of step”.Biden also referenced reports that an upside-down flag, a symbol associated with Trump’s false claims of election fraud, was flown outside the home of supreme court Justice Samuel Alito in January 2021. He worried that if Trump is re-elected “He’s going to appoint two more who fly their flags upside down.”Biden’s campaign said it was still counting, but Saturday night’s gathering had taken in more than $30m, more money than any event for a Democratic candidate in history.That meant outpacing the president’s fundraiser in March at Radio City Music Hall in New York, which raised $26m and featured late-night host Stephen Colbert interviewing Biden, Obama and former President Bill Clinton.Biden held an early lead in the campaign money race against Trump, but the former president has gained ground since he formally locked the Republican nomination. More

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      Biden goes on offense over age issue, wishing Trump a happy 78th birthday

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      Taking a line out of Donald Trump’s playbook, Joe Biden offered his rival a tongue-in-cheek birthday greeting on X on Friday, saying: “Happy 78th birthday, Donald. Take it from one old guy to another: Age is just a number.”The president then coupled his thoughts with a caustic video sarcastically touting “78 of Trump’s historic … ‘accomplishments’” before a Biden re-election campaign spokesperson added: “On behalf of America, our early gift for your 79th: making sure you are never president again.”Biden’s message comes as his campaign attempts to inject some wit and zippy one-liners into its output, critiquing his presidential predecessor beyond baseline warnings about democracy over other topics such as Trump’s hairstyle, his hawking of Bibles and his energy levels at his New York trial, where he frequently closed his eyes before being convicted of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments delivered to adult film actor Stormy Daniels.Trump’s conviction came less than two weeks before Biden’s son, Hunter, was convicted on charges related to him buying a handgun while being a user of crack cocaine.Taking the age issue to the campaign wrestling mat is a strategy that comes with risks for both candidates. For Democrats, a willingness to embrace it marks a change of direction.For months, the Biden campaign has played down questions about Biden’s mental acuity. But it’s now confronting the issue head-on after polls showed that 86% of Americans say the 81-year-old president is too old for a second term compared with 59% for Trump, fewer than four years his junior.But after Biden appeared to wander off several times during his visits to Europe last week, and was steered back into position by the first lady, Jill Biden, or other world leaders, the age issue is again bubbling to the surface.There was also a hard-hitting, 3,000-word Wall Street Journal article recently that quoted numerous lawmakers who said they had witnessed Biden “slipping” and experiencing good and bad moments. The Journal said the White House had “kept tabs” on Democrats who participated in the story and encouraged them to call back to emphasize Biden’s strengths.At a campaign event in Wisconsin hosted by older supporters of Biden and his vice-president, Kamala Harris, the first lady advanced the argument that her husband’s age is an asset.“This election is most certainly not about age,” Jill Biden said. “Joe and that other guy are essentially the same age. Let’s not be fooled, Joe isn’t one of the most effective presidents of our lives in spite of his age, but because of it.”Meanwhile, for the former president, turning 78 on Friday meant a CNBC report quoting CEOs of various businesses who had met with Trump and found him to be “remarkably meandering”. The CEOs found that Trump “could not keep a straight thought [and] was all over the map”, including one who added that the former president “doesn’t know what he’s talking about” when it comes to explaining how he would accomplish any of his policy proposals, the report asserted.Trump otherwise spent Friday addressing Club 47 fan club members at a convention center in West Palm Beach and going after his rival. “Our country is being destroyed by incompetent people,” Trump said while calling for all presidents to pass aptitude tests.That came a day after Republicans in Congress sang their own rendition of Happy Birthday and presented Trump with a cake and gifts during his first visit to Capitol Hill since his supporters attacked the Capitol building on 6 January 2021, weeks after Biden defeated him in the 2020 presidential election.Trump himself didn’t seem too thrilled by the prospect of a close-to-milestone birthday. He told supporters at a rally in Las Vegas last week: “There’s a certain point at which you don’t want to hear ‘happy birthday’. You just want to pretend the day doesn’t exist.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionIn spite of the bickering over age, the two candidates have agreed to the rules of their first TV debate scheduled for 27 June.Host network CNN released details it hopes will keep the candidates within the realm of a debating format after both candidates refused to share a stage with party rivals during the primary season.According to CNN, Biden and Trump have agreed to a 90-minute debate with commercial breaks, during which they will not be allowed to consult campaign staff.They will appear on a uniform podium stage with left and right positions determined by the flip of a coin. Microphones will be muted except for when it is each person’s time to speak, and each will be provided with a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water.There also will not be a studio audience, meaning that the first of two crucial confrontations will be moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash who will, CNN said, “use all tools at their disposal to enforce timing and ensure a civilized discussion”.Biden’s campaign on Saturday touted raising $28m heading into an evening fundraiser in Los Angeles featuring former president Barack Obama, talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel, and actors George Clooney as well as Julia Roberts.Meanwhile, Trump on Saturday was campaigning in Michigan, seeking to rally support from people ranging from churchgoing Black voters to a conservative group popular with white supremacists: Turning Point Action. More

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      How the US supreme court could be a key election issue: ‘They’ve grown too powerful’

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      “Look at me, look at me,” said Martha-Ann Alito. “I’m German, from Germany. My heritage is German. You come after me, I’m gonna give it back to you.”It was a bizarre outburst from the wife of a justice on America’s highest court. Secretly recorded by a liberal activist, Martha-Ann Alito complained about a neighbour’s gay pride flag and expressed a desire to fly a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag in protest.This, along with audio clips of Justice Samuel Alito himself and a stream of ethics violations, have deepened public concerns that the supreme court is playing by its own rules. The Democratic representative Jamie Raskin has described a “national clamour over this crisis of legitimacy” at the court.A poll last month for the progressive advocacy organisation Stand Up America suggests that the supreme court will now play a crucial role in voters’ choices in the 2024 election. Nearly three in four voters said the selection and confirmation of justices will be an important consideration for them in voting for both president and senator in November.Reed Galen, a co-founder of the Lincoln Project, a pro-democracy group, said: “The idea that these guys act as if they are kings ruling from above, to me, should absolutely be an issue. It was always Republicans who said we hate unelected judges legislating from the bench and we hate judicial activism. That’s all this stuff is.”View image in fullscreenPublic trust in the court is at an all-time low amid concerns over bias and corruption. Alito has rejected demands that he recuse himself from a case considering presidential immunity after flags similar to those carried by 6 January 2021 rioters flew over his homes in Virginia and New Jersey. Justice Clarence Thomas has ignored calls to step aside because of the role his wife, Ginni, played in supporting efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in 2020.Ethical standards have been under scrutiny following revelations that some justices failed to report luxury trips, including on private jets, and property deals. Last week Thomas, who has come under criticism for failing to disclose gifts from the businessman and Republican donor Harlan Crow, revised his 2019 form to acknowledge he accepted “food and lodging” at a Bali hotel and at a California club.These controversies have been compounded by historic and hugely divisive decisions. The fall of Roe v Wade, ending the nationwide right to abortion after half a century, was seen by many Democrats as a gamechanger in terms of people making a connection between the court and their everyday lives.There are further signs of the debate moving beyond the Washington bubble. Last week, the editorial board of the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper argued that, since the court’s own ethics code proved toothless, Congress should enact legislation that holds supreme court justices to higher ethical standards. The paper called for the local senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, who is chair of the Senate judiciary committee, to hold a hearing on the issue.Maggie Jo Buchanan, managing director of the pressure group Demand Justice, said: “It’s important to keep in mind that, even though debate among members of Congress would lead you to believe that court reform is a polarising issue, it really isn’t. For years we have seen broad bipartisan support for basic supreme court reforms such as ethics.“A broad bipartisan consensus exists that they’ve grown too powerful, that they have too much power over laws and regulations. That’s shared among nearly three-fourths of Americans, including 80% of independents, so the demand is there and this isn’t something where it’s Democrats versus Republicans in the sense of real people. The American people want change and want to check the judiciary.”Congressional Democrats have introduced various bills including one to create an independent ethics office and internal investigations counsel within the supreme court. Broader progressive ideas include expanding the number of seats on the court or limiting the justices to 18-year terms rather than lifetime appointments.But such efforts have been repeatedly thwarted by Republicans, who over decades impressed on their base the importance of the court, ultimately leading to a 6-3 conservative majority including three Trump appointees.This week Senate Republicans blocked the ​​Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, legislation that would require the court to adopt a binding code of conduct for all justices, establish procedures to investigate complaints of judicial misconduct and adopt rules to disclose gifts, travel and income received by them that are at least as rigorous as congressional disclosure rules.In response, Christina Harvey, executive director of Stand Up America, said its “nearly 2 million members are fired up and ready to continue advocating for supreme court reform – in Congress and at the ballot box”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionBut Galen of the Lincoln Project worries that Democrats lack the necessary aggression to capitalise on the issue. “[Senate majority leader Chuck] Schumer and Durbin are not change agents. They consider themselves institutionalists and they continue to call themselves that. They’re in a place where they can’t possibly conceive of something like that. Democrats are just afraid of their own shadow.”That principle might apply to the US president himself. The 81-year-old, who served in the Senate for 36 years, is reluctant to call out justices by name or call for sweeping reforms of the court, although he is making its decision to end the constitutional right to abortion a centrepiece of his campaign.Ed Fallone, an associate law professor at Marquette University Law School said: “I don’t know that Joe Biden is the politician to try and benefit from this issue. Biden has always presented himself as an institutionalist and more of a centrist than many segments of the Democratic party.“There’s a real risk here for Biden because, if he does try to get political advantage from the public’s growing concern about the supreme court, it seems to conflict with his message that we should all respect the court system and the judicial system and the Trump prosecutions and the various legal problems of former Trump advisers. It seems difficult to reconcile telling the public to respect the judicial system with also embracing the idea that the very top of the system is flawed and needs reform.”Fallone added: “You will see other Democrats seize on this issue and start to push it, in particular those who are are going to try to energise the left side of the base, maybe not necessarily for this election, but maybe anticipating Biden might lose and starting already to look ahead to the following election.”Other argue that, competing for voter attention with the cost of living, immigration and other issues, the supreme court will ultimately fade into background noise.Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center thinktank in Washington DC, said: “The middle of the country, the independents and the swing voters do not care about the supreme court, and I don’t think any effort by Democrats or the media bringing up these things about Alito or Thomas is going to register or motivate those people. It motivates partisans. It doesn’t motivate swing voters on either side.”Read more: The supreme court’s decisions this week
      US supreme court strikes down federal ban on ‘bump stock’ devices for guns
      US supreme court unanimously upholds access to abortion pill mifepristone
      US supreme court sides with Starbucks in union case over fired employees More

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      Donald Trump to address Republicans at US Capitol in first visit since January 6

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      Donald Trump will go to the US Capitol to rally congressional Republicans today in his first visit since January 6, 2021, when his supporters descended on the building in an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in Trump’s favour.The high-profile meeting will set out Trump’s priorities for a second presidency, but is also expected to see him demand that the GOP further intensify efforts to overturn a recent conviction by a New York court on felony charges.Ahead of the meeting, anti-Trump and pro-Palestinian protesters were seen gathering outside the Capitol Hill Club. One sign visible from one protester read: “No one is above the law.” Some protesters implored Republicans entering the meeting to not “drink the Kool-Aid”.Trump, the presumptive GOP 2024 presidential nominee, was found guilty last month of 34 counts of document falsification relating to hush money paid to an adult film star, Stormy Daniels, shortly before his 2016 election victory.He has since corralled the Republicans into pushing a narrative line that the conviction is a result of the Department of Justice (DoJ) being weaponised against him by Joe Biden – even though the DoJ has no jurisdiction over the New York state court in which he was tried.Thursday’s visit comes a day after his Republican allies secured a significant victory in a House of Representatives vote to hold the attorney general, Merrick Garland, in contempt of Congress. Garland is being held in contempt for refusing to turn over recordings of an interview Biden gave to a special prosecutor, Robert Hur, appointed to investigate the president’s illegal retention of classified documents.The meeting was billed in advance as forward looking, with Trump supposedly focused on his agenda for a future presidency.This was expected to feature pledges against cuts to social security and Medicare in what is seen as a boon to older voters, as well as a promise to make permanent his multitrillion-dollar tax cuts of 2017, which are due to expire next year.He is also expected to amplify his plans for a crackdown on migrants trying to cross the US southern border and flag up plans for a U-turn away from the Biden administration’s foreign policy priorities, which have included aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, per Politico.But a focus on the legal cases against him is likely to be given equal – or perhaps greater – priority.This could, according to Politico, include urging greater efforts to defund the office of special prosecutor Jack Smith. Smith was notably appointed by the DoJ to investigate Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection and the removal of classified documents from his presidency to his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.Congressional Republicans are also preparing, at Trump’s urging, legislation that would move state state cases against him, including the New York conviction, and a separate charge of attempted election interference in Georgia to federal courts.Trump apparently signified his desire for congressional support in an expletive-laden phone call with Mike Johnson, the House speaker, after his 31 May conviction.Johnson, who initially opposed an attempt by the far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene to defund Smith’s office, has now backtracked and held talks with the House judiciary chairman, Jim Jordan, about how to target it through the congressional appropriations system.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“That country certainly sees what’s going on, and they don’t want Fani Willis and Alvin Bragg [the district attorneys in the Georgia and New York cases respectively] and these kinds of folks to be able to continue to use grant dollars for targeting people in a political lawfare type of way,” Jordan, a vocal Trump backer, told Politico.Some GOP members have expressed scepticism about the efforts on behalf of Trump.“We accuse Democrats of weaponising the Justice system. That’s exactly what we’d be doing,” one unnamed congressman, apparently granted anonymity for fear of reprisals from the former president’s Make America Great Again (Maga) allies, told the outlet.In another development underscoring Trump’s vicelike grip on the congressional party, five GOP senators, led by JD Vance of Ohio, reportedly in the running to be the ex-president’s running mate, will announce a plan to subject lower level Biden administration nominees to confirmation votes – a move designed to use up senate floor-time – in protest against the hush money conviction.Such appointments, including federal judges, US attorney and sub-cabinet level appointments, are normally approved without a vote.Thursday’s meeting was to be attended by senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, who has not met Trump since December 2020 after criticising him over the January 6 attack but who has endorsed his 2024 candidacy.Three prominent Republican senators known for their hostility to Trump will be absent; Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. More

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      Hunter Biden conviction could boost father against Trump, experts suggest

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      Hunter Biden’s conviction on gun-ownership charges may have handed his father, Joe, a boost in the forthcoming presidential election, analysts say, because it undermines the image of a president weaponising the US justice system to pursue Donald Trump.Trump, the former president and presumptive GOP presidential nominee, has pushed that line relentlessly to explain his conviction last month on charges related to the concealment of hush-money payments to a porn star to help him win the 2016 election.He has made the claim even though his prosecution was brought in a New York state court that is independent of the Department of Justice, which is overseeing 54 other criminal charges against him that have so far not come to trial.Hunter Biden, by contrast, was prosecuted and convicted under the authority of the justice department, which is part of his father’s administration – an inconvenient fact that weakens Republican claims that it has been turned into a political weapon in the president’s hands.The result, some observers say, is that Hunter’s conviction may help the president in a close race, even though the personal cost of his son’s troubles is heavy.That suspicion was further fuelled by a low-key reaction from Republicans that attempted to switch the focus to other supposed crimes they say, but have never proved, that father and son have committed.“It’s a marginal political gain, that’s what I’m feeling,” said John Zogby, a veteran pollster. “I don’t see it hurting him in any way, and especially when he neutralised the issue when he said he was not going to extend the pardon, which is very painful for him.“It pulls the rug out from under that Republican argument that the justice system is rigged against Republicans to get Trump … a Biden did not get a pass.”Zogby said the verdict – and Biden’s acceptance of it – could revive an image that was electorally helpful in 2020 of “Uncle Joe”, a man of empathy who had known suffering and personal tragedy, through the deaths of his eldest son, Beau, from cancer in 2015, and his first wife and baby daughter in a car accident in 1972.“It could put some folks who have been wavering … on the track towards seeing that more sympathetic fellow, a father who is experiencing pain again,” he said. “You know, enough to give them another point or two. I don’t think it moves mountains, but it may not have to [in a close race].”Larry Jacobs, a professor of politics at the University of Minnesota, said the verdict, while a “personal disaster” for Biden, could boomerang on the Republicans and translate into Democratic gain.“The tragic case of Hunter Biden is painful for Joe and Jill Biden [the first lady], but it is a win for the Democratic party and the Biden campaign,” he said. “It puts a lie to the Republican claims that the justice system is being manipulated by [and for] the benefit of Democrats.“It’s harder for the Republicans to say with a straight face and to audiences not already in their capture that the legal system is captured by the Democratic party.”View image in fullscreenBiden is known to be deeply concerned by the troubles of Hunter, who was found guilty by a jury in Delaware on Tuesday of lying about his drug use and addiction when buying a gun in 2018. Close aides have voiced worries about the emotional strain the matter is putting on the 81-year-old president in the midst of a close election race.“I don’t think voters are going to hold Biden accountable for his son’s addiction or his son’s misbehaviour. But I think the real question is the toll it takes on him and his family,” David Axelrod, a senior Democratic operative and former adviser to President Barack Obama told the Washington Post.“To a guy who’s already experienced great loss and tragedy, this is another heavy brick on the load. And it’s going to take enormous strength to carry that load, given all the other bricks that are on there of the presidency and being a candidate.”Despite the fact that his son now faces a possible jail sentence – and will stand trial again on unrelated tax-evasion charges in September – Biden has said he will not use his presidential powers to pardon him. That message was somewhat clouded on Wednesday when the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, on board Air Force One en route to the G7 summit in Italy, was reported as refusing to rule out a commutation of whatever sentence Hunter receives.Hunter’s conviction followed legal manoeuvring in which some observers said he had received harsher treatment because he is the president’s son. A plea bargain worked out last year that would have seen him plead guilty to the tax charges while avoiding prosecution on the gun charge was dropped following criticism from the judge in the latter case, Maryellen Noreika, who was appointed to the bench by Trump.Republicans, who have pursued Hunter Biden for years in an unsuccessful effort to prove his father profited financially from his business dealings in Ukraine, had denounced it as a sweetheart deal.The president, who travelled on Wednesday to Italy for the G7 summit, said that he would respect whatever outcome the legal process reached – a jarring contrast to Trump’s repeated assaults on the judicial system as “rigged”.“So many families who have had loved ones battle addiction understand the feeling of pride seeing someone you love come out the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery,” Biden said.“I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal. Jill and I will always be there for Hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support. Nothing will ever change that.” More

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      Trump was hoping for a slam dunk. But Hunter Biden’s trial has only highlighted his father Joe’s dignity | Emma Brockes

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      If you didn’t know better, you might think the jury that found Hunter Biden guilty this week knew precisely what they were doing. The evidence against the president’s son – that he lied about his drug use on a firearms form six years ago – was overwhelming, but so too was the impression of a trivial, overegged charge. But, by finding him guilty, the jury in this area of solid Democratic support have potentially done more injury to his father’s political rival than if they had found him not guilty on all counts.For those of us watching, the entire spectacle has at times been an uncomfortable exercise in flushing out biases. Like the Trump children, Hunter Biden has the demoralised air of a scion struggling to escape his father’s shadow, albeit in a different style. If the Trump boys are chinless dimwits, Hunter has about him the seedy air of a second- or third-tier Hollywood actor, clamped behind aviators and accompanied seemingly everywhere by his much younger wife.In September, the 54-year-old will face nine federal tax charges, and the business of the recovered laptop rumbles on (Biden’s laptop, which he accidentally left at a repair shop and the contents of which ended up in the hands of the New York Post, is still the subject of dispute; the Post’s claim that the machine contained evidence of incriminating emails was dismissed by liberals at the time as part of a Russian disinformation campaign – a claim that has never been substantiated). And yet, when he was found guilty this week, I found myself thinking: poor Hunter, what a ridiculous verdict.As an exercise then, I went back over the coverage and tried to read it as if he were one of Trump’s sons. The charges against Hunter Biden were widely regarded as trivial. Still, a lie is a lie and as Biden confessed in his memoir, while addicted to crack cocaine he was an inveterate liar.After the verdict, the president wrote that he was proud to see his son “so strong and resilient in recovery” – a pathetic diversion, surely, from the trouble at hand. Hunter Biden, meanwhile, remarked that “recovery is possible by the grace of God, and I am blessed to experience that gift one day at a time” – a clear appeal not only to give him a free pass, but to find him inspiring because he’s an addict. This is a man, remember, who while dating his own late brother’s widow, got her on crack cocaine, too. There’s addiction, and then there’s being an arsehole.The odd thing about the business of trashing Hunter Biden this week is that Republicans have largely avoided it. In a plan they must have arrived at through strategic consensus, several leading Republicans spoke after the guilty verdict with degrees of sympathy for the president’s son. Senator Lindsey Graham, of all people – a man who fought for Brett Kavanaugh to be confirmed to the supreme court and has sucked up to Trump relentlessly – said: “I don’t think the average American would have been charged with the gun thing. I don’t see any good coming from that.”Matt Gaetz, the Republican congressman from Florida, tweeted: “The Hunter Biden gun conviction is kinda dumb tbh.” And other Republicans twisted themselves inside out to applaud the verdict while maintaining their insistence that the justice system under President Biden is rigged.This is the problem they face in the wake of a verdict that, after only three hours of deliberation, came in even quicker than Trump’s 34 guilty counts last month: exactly how to sustain the narrative that US justice is untrustworthy. If Trump’s efforts to get the phrase “Biden crime family” off the ground haven’t flown the way “crooked Hillary” or “lyin’ Ted” did, it is partly because it doesn’t scan, partly because Hunter seems so slight and pathetic a figure, and partly because “Biden” doesn’t have the ring of a dynastic mafia name about it.My own efforts to see past my own biases, meanwhile, foundered when the president, who had earlier stated that if his son were found guilty he wouldn’t pardon him, doubled down on Tuesday with the statement that he would “continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal”.Gets me every time, Joe Biden’s loving but strong-boundaried support of his son. Hunter Biden has, in some ways, had a very hard life, losing his mother and infant sister in a horrific car accident in childhood, and his brother to a brain tumour in 2015. But when the president stands firmly behind him, urging him on, one understands he is the beneficiary of something Trump’s kids have never had, and that should perhaps increase our sympathy for them: a decent, loving parent.
      Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist
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      Nancy Mace beats Kevin McCarthy-backed challenger in South Carolina primary

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      The South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace easily survived a primary challenge on Tuesday, against Kevin McCarthy-backed Catherine Templeton, while a much closer than expected special election in Ohio offered warning signs for Republicans ahead of November.In Ohio’s sixth district, candidate Michael Rulli prevailed in the special election to replace fellow Republican Bill Johnson, who resigned from Congress in January. Rulli’s victory will help expand his party’s razor-thin majority in the House, but his nine-point win over Democratic contender Michael Kripchak may unnerve Republicans, given that Donald Trump carried the district by 29 points in 2020.In South Carolina, McCarthy, the former House speaker, attempted to oust Mace by backing her rival, but the the two-term incumbent received a crucial endorsement from Trump. The grudge match was personal for McCarthy, as Mace was one of the eight Republicans who voted to oust the then speaker last year.The high stakes made the race a costly one, with outside groups dumping millions of dollars into the district. The South Carolina Patriots Pac spent nearly $4m backing Templeton’s primary bid, while the Win It Back Pac and Club for Growth Action collectively invested roughly $2.5m supporting Mace. Despite Templeton’s external support, Mace led by 29 points when the Associated Press called the first congressional district race about an hour and a half after polls closed in South Carolina.Mace was not the only South Carolina Republican facing a primary threat on Tuesday. Over in the fourth district, the Republican congressman William Timmons was running neck and neck with state representative Adam Morgan, who leads the South Carolina legislature’s freedom caucus. Like Mace, Timmons had the benefit of Trump’s endorsement, but the race was still too close to call three hours after polls closed.And at least one of South Carolina’s House Republican primaries will advance to a runoff later this month. In the reliably Republican third district, Trump-backed pastor Mark Burns and Air National Guard Lt Col Sheri Biggs will compete again on 25 June to determine who will have the opportunity to succeed Jeff Duncan, the retiring representative.Meanwhile, the fate of South Carolina’s abortion laws rests in part on the results of three Republican primaries in state senate races. State senators Katrina Shealy, Margie Bright Matthews, Mia McLeod, Sandy Senn and Penry Gustafson collectively blocked a near-total abortion ban in South Carolina earlier this year. The “Sister Senators” were feted as a profile in courage by the Kennedy Center, but the three Republicans among them – Shealy, Senn and Gustafson – face primary challengers from their right on abortion. If two of the three lose to challengers, abortion foes will have the votes to restrict abortion beyond the current six-week ban.In addition to South Carolina, three other states held primaries on Tuesday. In Maine’s second congressional district, the former Nascar driver turned state representative Austin Theriault resoundingly defeated fellow state representative Michael Soboleski in the Republican primary. Theriault will advance to the general election against Democratic congressman Jared Golden, who faces yet another difficult re-election campaign.Republicans are hopeful that Theriault has the résumé to defeat Golden, but the Democrat has proven politically resilient since he was first elected to Congress in 2018, when he narrowly defeated the Republican incumbent, Bruce Poliquin, thanks to Maine’s ranked-choice voting system. In 2022, Golden again defeated Poliquin by six points in the second round of voting, even though Trump had carried the second district by seven points two years earlier.The Cook Political Report rates Golden’s seat as a toss-up, so Theriault’s victory will kick off what is expected to be a heated and closely contested race in the general election. Just minutes after the AP made Theriault’s primary win official, the left-leaning Pac American Bridge 21st Century began attacking him over his views on abortion access.In Nevada, a dozen Republicans are vying for their party’s Senate nomination, but the primary appears to have become a two-person race between the retired army captain Sam Brown and former US ambassador to Iceland Jeff Gunter. Polling indicates Brown has a significant lead over Gunter, and Brown has received a last-minute boost from Trump, who made a much-awaited endorsement in the race on Sunday.The winner of the Republican primary will go on to face the Democratic incumbent, Jackie Rosen, in one of the most closely watched Senate races this year, as the Cook Political Report rates the seat as a toss-up.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionFurther down the ballot, the Democratic congresswoman Susie Lee faces a tough re-election campaign in Nevada’s third congressional district. Seven Republicans – including video game music composer Marty O’Donnell and former state treasurer Dan Schwartz – are running for the chance to face off against Lee, but Trump has stayed out of the primary so far. The former president’s only House primary endorsement in Nevada went to the former North Las Vegas mayor John Lee in the fourth district, but the winner of that race will face a much steeper climb to defeat the Democratic incumbent, Steven Horsford, in the general election.View image in fullscreenOver in North Dakota, five Republicans and two Democrats are running to replace the Republican congressman Kelly Armstrong representing the state’s at-large congressional district, but no Democrat has won the seat since 2008. Rather than seeking re-election, Armstrong has launched a gubernatorial bid, and he won his primary on Tuesday. Armstrong is widely favored to replace the outgoing governor, Doug Burgum, who has been named as a potential running mate for Trump.North Dakota voters also weighed in on a ballot measure regarding age limits for congressional candidates. If approved by a majority of North Dakota voters, the measure would prevent candidates from running for Congress if they would turn 81 during their term. Although the policy would only apply to congressional candidates, the age cutoff is noteworthy considering Joe Biden, who is four years older than Trump, turned 81 in November. More

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      Joe Biden delivers gun safety speech hours after son’s firearms conviction

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      Joe Biden, facing a backlash from young voters over the war in Gaza, has sought to rally support around the issue of gun safety just hours after his son Hunter was convicted of lying about his drug use to illegally buy a firearm.Contrasted his record with election rival Donald Trump, the US president brought an audience that included many students to its feet at the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund’s annual Gun Sense University conference in Washington on Tuesday.But in a reminder of the issues jostling for priority in voters’ minds, Biden’s remarks were briefly interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters. One shouted: “You’re complicit in genocide!” As the crowd booed, Biden said: “No, no, no, no … It’s OK. Look, they care. Innocent children have been lost. They make a point.”He went on to give an otherwise uneventful speech that made no mention of Hunter Biden’s conviction in Delaware earlier in the day on three felony counts relating to buying a handgun while being a user of crack cocaine.The conference, which brings together Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers and survivors of gun violence from all 50 states, served as a show of strength for Biden at a time when his position looks fragile in opinion polls.Speakers praised his commitment, compassion and willingness to listen. Julvonnia McDowell, whose 14-year-old son JaJuan was shot and killed by another teenager playing with an unsecured firearm in Savannah, Georgia, told the gathering: “I can say today, standing here right now, he’s been true to his word on the urgency of creating a safer future for families like mine and yours.”She added: “I am proud to stand with him.”Biden was greeted by chants of “Four more years” and “Let’s go, Joe!” He received loud acclaim when he reminded the audience that in June 2022 he signed the most significant federal bipartisan gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years. On Wednesday the justice department announced it has charged more than 500 defendants under the new law.There was another big cheer when Biden noted his creation last September of the first White House office of gun violence to coordinate a nationwide effort to reduce gun violence, “overseen by my incredible vice-president”.But perhaps the most enthusiastic response came to the president’s renewed call for a ban on assault weapons, sparking prolonged cheering, whooping and chants of “Four more years!” Biden asked: “Who in God’s name needs a magazine which can hold 200 children?” Someone shouted: “Nobody!” Biden replied: “Nobody. That’s right.”He added: “They’re weapons of war and, by the way, it’s time we establish universal background checks.”Biden asserted that the country’s murder rate saw the highest increase on record in the year before he came to the presidency. But last year saw the largest drop in murder rates in history, he added.He condemned congressional Republicans for seeking to abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a law enforcement agency responsible for fighting gun crime. “You can’t be pro-law enforcement and say you are pro-law enforcement and be pro-abolishing the ATF. It’s outrageous.”He went on to take a swipe at Trump, reminding voters of the stakes in November. “After a school shooting in Iowa killed a student and a teacher, my predecessor was asked about it. You remember what he said. He said, have to get over it. Hell no, know enough to get over it!“More children are killed in America by guns and cancer and car accidents combined. My predecessor told the NRA [National Rifle Association] convention recently he’s proud that ‘I did nothing on guns when I was president’ and by doing nothing, he made the situation considerably worse.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“That’s why Everytown, why all of you here today are so damned important. We need you. We need you to overcome the unrelenting opposition of the gun lobby, gun manufacturers, so many politicians when they oppose commonsense gun legislation.”In the 2024 election cycle the NRA has contributed a total of $191,900 to 166 House Republicans, according to the non-profit group OpenSecrets. It gave nearly $75,000 to Senate Republican candidates and the Senate Republican Campaign Committee. The NRA has spent more than $100m to help elect Republicans over the past decade.Trump has said there is “no bigger fan” of the NRA and is vowing to roll back the measures and implement national concealed carry reciprocity legislation which, critics say, will weaken states’ gun safety laws and harm law enforcement.A 2022 poll by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 71% of Americans say gun laws should be stricter, including about half of Republicans, the vast majority of Democrats and a majority of those in gun-owning households.Believing this to be an arena where the electoral choice is clear cut, the Biden campaign is seeking to make a major push on gun safety. Last week the vice-president Kamala Harris held a gun violence prevention campaign event in Maryland with Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks and hosted a Students for Biden-Harris organising call.Voters cited addressing gun violence as their third most important issue during the 2022 midterm elections, according to a Politico-Harvard survey. But in this cycle it is competing with the cost of living, immigration, abortion rights, the defence of democracy and the war in Gaza.Drew Spiegel, 19, a gun violence survivor and student from Deerfield, Illinois, said: “Joe Biden has done the most any administration in my life has done for gun violence prevention. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was the first comprehensive gun reform we got in 30 years, which is remarkable and I am super proud of his administration for that.“I believe that Biden is certainly on the right track, which is why it’s critical to keep him in office. We saw what Donald Trump has in store and he has no intentions of making our communities safer, of keeping guns off the hands of dangerous people. He will cosy up to the NRA, as he has already done, and not only will they stop reform from happening but they will actively take us in the opposite direction.” More