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      McConnell was ‘exhilarated’ by Trump’s apparent January 6 downfall, book says

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      McConnell was ‘exhilarated’ by Trump’s apparent January 6 downfall, book saysNew York Times reporters show how Senate leader’s opposition to Trump dwindled in face of hard political reality Hours after the deadly Capitol attack on 6 January 2021, the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, told a reporter he was “exhilarated” because he thought Donald Trump had finally lost his grip on the party.Biden finds Murdoch ‘most dangerous man in the world’, new book saysRead moreClose to a year and a half later, however, with midterm elections looming, Trump retains control over the GOP and is set to be its presidential candidate in 2024.What’s more, McConnell has said he will support Trump if so.McConnell’s short-lived glee over Trump’s apparent downfall is described in This Will Not Pass, an explosive new book by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns of the New York Times which will be published next week. The Guardian obtained a copy.The two authors describe a meeting between one of them and McConnell at the Capitol early on 7 January 2021. The day before, a mob Trump told to “fight like hell” in service of his lie about electoral fraud attempted to stop certification of Joe Biden’s election victory by forcing its way into the Capitol.A bipartisan Senate committee connected seven deaths to the attack. In the aftermath, 147 Republicans in the House and Senate nonetheless lodged objections to electoral results.According to Martin and Burns, McConnell told staffers Trump was a “despicable human being” he would now fight politically. Then, on his way out of the Capitol, the authors say, McConnell met one of them and “made clear he wanted a word”.“What do you hear about the 25th amendment?” they say McConnell asked, “eager for intelligence about whether his fellow Republicans were discussing removing Trump from office” via the constitutional process for removing a president incapable of the office.Burns and Martin say McConnell “seemed almost buoyant”, telling them Trump was now “pretty thoroughly discredited”.“He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger,” McConnell is quoted as saying. “Couldn’t have happened at a better time.”The authors say McConnell indicated he believed he would regain control of his party, alluding to a previous confrontation with the far right and saying: “We crushed the sons of bitches and that’s what we’re going to do in the primary in ’22.”McConnell also said: “I feel exhilarated by the fact that [Trump] finally, totally discredited himself.”McConnell’s words ring hollow, in fact, as the 2022 midterms approach. Trump endorsements are highly prized and Republicans who voted for impeachment are either retiring or facing Trump-backed challengers.Trump was impeached for a second time over the Capitol attack but as Burns and Martin describe, McConnell swiftly realised that most Republican voters still supported the former president – many believing his lie about electoral fraud – and that most Republicans in Congress were going to stay in line.Burns and Martin describe how in Trump’s Senate trial, Democratic House managers sought to convince McConnell of their case, knowing his loathing for Trump and hoping he would bring enough Republicans with him to convict.But McConnell, grasping a legal argument that said Congress could not impeach a former president, did not join the seven Republicans who did find Trump guilty of inciting an insurrection.After voting to acquit, McConnell excoriated Trump, saying he was “practically and morally responsible” for the Capitol attack.That did not change the fact that thanks in large part to McConnell, Trump remains free to run for office again.TopicsBooksDonald TrumpUS Capitol attackUS politicsUS SenateUS CongressRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

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      Joe Biden’s message drowned out by beat of the Republican culture-war drum

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      Joe Biden’s message drowned out by beat of the Republican culture-war drumDemocrats struggle to tell a good-news story, raising fears of midterm losses in November The interruption was unplanned but Joe Biden immediately knew this was no ordinary heckler. “I agree!” he told a babbling baby as the audience laughed. “I agree completely. By the way, kids are allowed to do anything they want when I speak so don’t worry about it.”It was a welcome note of light relief during a speech that could not be described as blockbuster television. Beside a blue sign that said “Building a Better America”, perched on a white boat at the New Hampshire Port Authority in Portsmouth, the US president was last week trying to gin up enthusiasm about infrastructure investment and supply chains.Biden’s choice of state was telling: Democratic senator Maggie Hassan faces New Hampshire voters in November as she seeks a second term in elections that will decide the control of Congress. And not for the first time, there are fears the Democrats have a messaging problem.The party does have a story to tell about the creation of 7.9 million jobs – more over his first 14 months in office than any president in history – along with progress against the coronavirus pandemic, the passage of a $1tn bipartisan infrastructure law, diverse judicial appointments and leading the Nato alliance against Russia’s Vladimir Putin.But opinion polls suggest this could be overwhelmed by Republicans’ characteristically blunt and visceral campaign targeting 40-year high inflation, rising crime, immigration at the Mexico border and “culture wars” over abortion, transgender rights and how race is taught in schools.“Hearts beats charts,” said John Zogby, an author and pollster. “Very simply, look at the Democrats who’ve won the presidency: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden. Contrast the obvious empathy and real-life stories with Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton.“It’s the ability to tell a story that relates to all Americans. All of which is to suggest that Republicans will tell stories that matter and Democrats will show statistics.”The stakes this time could hardly be higher: the Senate is currently split 50-50, while Democrats can afford to lose only three seats in the House of Representatives if they want to retain control. Given the headwinds typically faced by the president’s party in midterms, Republicans believe both chambers are within their grasp.Such an outcome could turn Biden into a lame-duck president, able to do little more than issue executive orders and veto legislation, while empowering congressional Republicans to launch investigations into his son, Hunter Biden, and other foes while paving the way for the return of the former president, Donald Trump.The polls look bleak for Democrats. Last month, NBC News found that 46% of registered voters prefer a Republican-controlled Congress while 44% want Democrats in charge – the first time Republicans have led in this survey since September 2014.Inflation fears dominate, according to online focus groups run last week by Navigator Research with swing voters in Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin. They found that presenting economic facts “only modestly moves the needle” and pervasive inflation concerns outweigh job creation.A North Carolina woman who took part said of the economy: “So you can tell me it’s doing great but if I’m struggling to buy groceries and gas and will be out of a job in two months, that to me is saying no, it’s not really doing that great.”Biden has attempted to shift blame for rising fuel costs to “Putin’s price hike” but with limited success. His public approval rating stands at 43%, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, with disapproval of his job performance at 51%.Democrats’ four most-endangered Senate incumbents – Hassan of New Hampshire, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada – duly seem to be distancing themselves from the president, for example by visiting the southern border and criticising his plan to lift a pandemic-era restriction there known as Title 42.Biden, touring the country and refocusing on domestic concerns after two months dominated by Ukraine, wants to convince voters that investing in roads and bridges is a major accomplishment after years of unfulfilled promises from his predecessor. But most of the benefits will not be felt for years and even the word “infrastructure” tends to land with a thud.There are further worries that the Democratic base, including many voters of colour, will stay at home on election day, disenchanted by the party’s failure to get gun safety, police reform and voting rights legislation through Congress. Biden no longer uses the phrase “Build Back Better” and is struggling to salvage parts of that plan to address the climate crisis.Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center thinktank in Washington, said: “The difficulty that Democrats have is that a message that would energise the base is not one that resonates with the centre. The swing voter doesn’t prioritise voting rights, climate change, big expansion of spending. They want much more pedestrian things and Democrats have not yet figured out how to have a narrative that combines both.”Biden launches $6bn effort to save America’s distressed nuclear plantsRead moreRepublicans have the luxury of opposition, Olsen added. “When you don’t have the power to be for anything, it’s easier to be against something and that’s what you’re going to see: Biden inflation, Biden weakness, Biden liberalism, Biden socialism.“They will try to paint the Democratic party as a whole with its left wing but, by and large, they will attack Biden and the Democratic party as out of touch and producing bad results for the average American on the things they care most about: crime, immigration and the economy. This is one of, if not the most, favourable environment for an out party that I’ve seen in my lifetime.”Indeed, Republicans are exuding confidence despite still being in thrall to a former president who incited a deadly insurrection and despite offering no policy agenda. Florida senator Rick Scott, the chairman of the national Republican senatorial committee, published his own 11-point plan that includes forcing poorer Americans who do not currently pay income tax to do so, but it was swiftly disowned by minority leader Mitch McConnell.Instead, Republicansare filling the vacuum by assailing rising prices at the petrol pump and at the supermarket (“Bidenflation”), increasing crime rates in major cities and Biden’s reversal of Trump-era policies on immigration. US authorities arrested 210,000 migrants attempting to cross the southern border in March, the highest monthly total in two decades.The party has also reverted to its playbook of social and cultural hot-button topics, railing against a caricature of “critical race theory” (CRT) in schools and pushing state legislation to restrict abortions and ban transgender children from sport. It casts itself as a champion of “parental rights” while portraying Democrats as “woke” socialists bent on controlling lives’ and “cancelling” dissent.Addressing the conservative Heritage Foundation thinktank in Washington last month, Scott warned:“We survived the war of 1812, world war one, world war two, Korea, Vietnam and the cold war. But now, today, we face the greatest danger we have ever faced: the militant left wing in our country has become the enemy within.”Come election season, Democrats are often accused of bringing a power-point presentation to a bar brawl: trying to explain policies in intellectual paragraphs while Republicans spin slogans ready-made for car bumper stickers. But this time some Democrats say they are ready to take the fight to their opponents.Congressman Eric Swalwell of California has just launched the Remedy political action committee, which turns Scott’s message on its head by contending that American democracy is “under attack from within” and promising to “hold accountable those who choose party over country”.Swalwell said: “At the end of the day, elections are about A or B. It’s about drawing a contrast and we can just make it as simple as chaos or competency. When it comes to transitions of power, do you want violence or voting? When it comes to the character of who runs the country, do you want indecency or integrity?”“When [pro-Trump members of Congress] Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene proudly declare that they’re not the fringe, they’re the base of the party, we’re going to make sure every voter knows that. That’s what they’re going to get if they give Republicans the keys to the country.”One dilemma for Democrats is how much time they should spend harking back to Trump, reminding voters of the existential threat that his party still poses to democracy, versus a positive forward-looking vision that encompasses bread-and-butter concerns.Swalwell acknowledges that Democrats must identify with the pain that people are feeling from inflation while also offering solutions. He points to last month’s example of the House passing a bill to limit the cost of insulin to $35 a month (Americans currently pay around five to eight times more than Canadians). Some 193 Republicans opposed the bill while just 12 voted in favour.Swalwell said: “We’re going to make them own walking away from solutions that would help people. Their plan for the economy is that 100 million people will pay more in taxes: that’s Rick Scott’s rescue plan that they’re running on. As people pay more already at the checkout stand, Rick Scott would have most Americans pay more in taxes.“It’s going to be about choices and, if we have the resources to tell America what the choices are, we’re going to win. Right now I see the punditry betting against us but I don’t see our supporters betting against us because, when you look at Democratic versus Republican fundraising quarter after quarter, we’re beating them. There’s no fatigue in our base. They get it.”The four embattled Senate Democrats – Cortez Masto, Hassan, Kelly and Warnock – outraised their Republican opponents in the first quarter of this year, boosting hopes that supporters will remain energised. Trump’s determination to insert himself into dozens of races with risky endorsements, campaign rallies and his “big lie” of a stolen election could also galvanise Democrats and independents.Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican national committee, predicts that Republicans will pick up 30 to 35 seats in the House but Democrats might just hold the Senate. He said: “The Republicans’ main message is going to be Democrats can’t run the country. ‘I give you the economy. I give you culture. I give you crime.’ And the Democrats’ message is, ‘Can we get back to you in a moment?’ That sums up the 2022 election.”He added: “Republicans don’t have to run on anything substantive; all they have to do is say, ‘gee, look how screwed up these guys are.’ You’re going to see Republicans run a culture war-based strategy that drives the fear and loathing that white suburban families, particularly women, have over things that are not even relevant to their children’s lives, like CRT. And Democrats will be sitting there pissed off at all the wrong stuff.”TopicsUS midterm elections 2022The ObserverJoe BidenDemocratsRepublicansUS CongressHouse of RepresentativesUS SenatenewsReuse this content More

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      Overcoming Trumpery review: recipes for reform Republicans will never allow

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      Overcoming Trumpery review: recipes for reform Republicans will never allow The depth of Trump’s corruption is familiar but still astonishing when presented in the whole. Alas, his party shares itThe great abuses of power by Richard Nixon’s administration which are remembered collectively as Watergate had one tremendous benefit: they inspired a raft of legislation which significantly strengthened American democracy.The Presidency of Donald Trump review: the first draft of historyRead moreThis new book from the Brookings Institution, subtitled How to Restore Ethics, The Rule of Law and Democracy, recalls those far-away days of a functioning legislative process.The response to Watergate gave us real limits on individual contributions to candidates and political action committees (Federal Election Campaign Act); a truly independent Office of Special Counsel (Ethics in Government Act); inspector generals in every major agency (Inspector General Act); a vastly more effective freedom of information process; and a Sunshine Law which enshrined the novel notion that the government should be “the servant of the people” and “fully accountable to them”.Since then, a steadily more conservative supreme court has eviscerated all the most important campaign finance reforms, most disastrously in 2010 with Citizens United, and in 2013 destroyed the most effective parts of the Voting Rights Act. Congress let the special counsel law lapse, partly because of how Ken Starr abused it when he investigated Bill Clinton.The unraveling of Watergate reforms was one of many factors that set the stage for the most corrupt US government of modern times, that of Donald Trump.Even someone as inured as I am to Trump’s crimes can still be astonished when all the known abuses are catalogued in one volume. What the authors of this book identify as “The Seven Deadly Sins of Trumpery” include “Disdain for Ethics, Assault on the rule of law, Incessant lying and disinformation, Shamelessness” and, of course, “Pursuit of personal and political interest”.The book identifies Trump’s original sin as his refusal to put his businesses in a blind trust, which led to no less than 3,400 conflicts of interest. It didn’t help that the federal conflict of interests statute specifically exempts the president. Under the first president of modern times with no interest in “the legitimacy” or “the appearance of legitimacy of the presidency”, this left practically nothing off limits.The emoluments clause of the constitution forbids every government official accepting “any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State” but lacks any enforcement mechanism. So a shameless president could be paid off through his hotels by everyone from the Philippines to Kuwait while the Bank of China paid one Trump company an estimated $5.4m. (As a fig leaf, Trump gave the treasury $448,000 from profits made from foreign governments during two years of his presidency, but without any accounting.)Trump even got the federal government to pay him directly, by charging the secret service $32,400 for guest rooms for a visit to Mar-a-Lago plus $17,000 a month for a cottage at his New Jersey golf club.The US Office of Special Counsel catalogued dozens of violations of the Hatch Act, which prohibits political activity by federal officials. Miscreants included Peter Navarro, Dan Scavino, Nikki Haley and most persistently Kellyanne Conway. The OSC referred its findings to Trump, who of course did nothing. Conway was gleeful.“Let me know when the jail sentence starts,” she said.There was also the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, addressing the Republican convention from a bluff overlooking Jerusalem during a mission to Israel. In a different category of corruption were the $43,000 soundproof phone booth the EPA administrator Scott Pruitt installed and the $1m the health secretary Tom Price spent on luxury travel. Those two actually resigned.The book is mostly focused on the four-year Trump crimewave. But it is bipartisan enough to spread the blame to Democrats for creating a climate in which no crime seemed too big to go un-prosecuted.Barack Obama’s strict ethics rules enforced by executive orders produced a nearly scandal-free administration. But Claire O Finkelstein and Richard W Painter argue that there was one scandal that established a terrible precedent: the decision not to prosecute anyone at the CIA for illegal torture carried out under George W Bush.This “failure of accountability” was “profoundly corrosive. The decision to ‘look forward, not back’ on torture … damaged the country’s ability to hold government officials to the constraints of the law”.However, the authors are probably a little too optimistic when they argue that a more vigorous stance might have made the Trump administration more eager to prosecute its own law breakers.The authors point out there are two things in the federal government which are even worse than the wholesale violation of ethical codes within the executive branch: the almost total absence of ethical codes within the congressional and judicial branches.The ethics manual for the House says it is “fundamental that a member … may not use his or her official position for personal gain”. But that is “virtually meaningless” became members can take actions on “industries in which they hold company stock”.Dignity in a Digital Age review: a congressman takes big tech to taskRead moreThe Senate exempts itself from ethical concerns with two brilliant words: no member can promote a piece of legislation whose “principal purpose” is “to further only his pecuniary interest”. So as long as legislation also has other purposes, personal profit is no impediment to passage.The authors argue that since the crimes of Watergate pale in comparison to the corruption of Trump, this should be the greatest opportunity for profound reform since the 1970s. But of course there is no chance of any such reform getting through this Congress, because Republicans have no interest in making government honest.Nothing tells us more about the collapse of our democracy than the primary concern of the House and Senate minority leaders, Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell. Their only goal is to avoid any action that would offend the perpetrator or instigator of all these crimes. Instead of forcing him to resign the way Nixon did, these quivering men still pretend Donald Trump is the only man qualified to lead them.
      Overcoming Trumpery is published in the US by Brookings Institution Press
      TopicsBooksDonald TrumpTrump administrationUS politicsUS political financingUS voting rightsUS constitution and civil libertiesreviewsReuse this content More

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      What caused the rise of anti-Asian hate crime in the US? Politics Weekly America – podcast

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      Last year, President Biden signed the anti-Asian hate crimes bill into law. Jonathan Freedland speaks to Prof Claire Kim of UCI about what’s behind the recent rise in anti-Asian hate in America, why this is an issue both sides of Congress can actually agree on, and what influence Asian-American voters could have in the midterms and in 2024

      How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know

      Archive: NBC, ABC Claire Jean Kim is professor of political science and Asian American Studies at the University of California Irvine Listen to this week’s episode of Politics Weekly UK with John Harris Send your questions and feedback to podcasts@theguardian.com Help support the Guardian by going to gu.com/supportpodcasts More

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      Biden announces another $800m in military aid for Ukraine: ‘We’re in a critical window’ – as it happened

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      US politics liveUS politicsBiden announces another $800m in military aid for Ukraine: ‘We’re in a critical window’ – as it happened
      President also announces ‘Unite for Ukraine’ refugee program
      US will take in 100,000 refugees, says Biden
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       Updated 1h agoVivian Ho (now) and Richard Luscombe (earlier)Thu 21 Apr 2022 16.31 EDTFirst published on Thu 21 Apr 2022 09.22 EDT Show key events onlyLive feedShow key events only
      The Florida legislature approved a congressional map approved by governor Ron DeSantis that will severely curtail Black voting power in the state – and also passed a bill dissolving the self-governance status of Disney World. This all took place despite Democrats staging a sit-in on the legislature floor in protest of the new congressional map.
      Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks momentarily in Portland, Oregon on infrastructure. He is then staying in Portland to participate in a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee, before flying to Seattle to participate in yet another fundraiser for the DNC.
      A federal judge temporarily blocked an anti-abortion law in Kentucky that was so restrictive that the two remaining abortion clinics had to halt procedures.
      A federal judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of a sweeping new anti-abortion law in Kentucky that banned abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy and called for a combination birth-death or stillbirth certificate for each abortion. The restrictive law forced Kentucky’s two remaining abortion clinics to halt procedures. NEWS: Abortions can happen again in Kentucky — for now.A federal judge has temporarily blocked the state’s sweeping new abortion law, HB3, which clinics said made it impossible to provide care.If Roe is overturned this summer, KY has a trigger ban that would outlaw abortion.— Shefali Luthra (@shefalil) April 21, 2022
      Despite the efforts of Florida Democrats, the Florida legislature approved a congressional map approved by governor Ron DeSantis that will severely curtail Black voting power in the state.Earlier today, Florida Democrats staged a sit-in on the floor of the state legislature to interrupt the special legislative session.“What we see today is an overreach, and it’s something we see as unacceptable,” Democratic representative Kamia Brown, who chairs the legislative Black caucus, told the Associated Press after the session adjourned. “Today was one thing we could not just take and stand. We’re sick and tired of being sick and tired.”The congressional map passed today favors the GOP in 20 of the state’s 28 congressional districts in an increase of four seats for the party, by eliminating two congressional districts where Black voters have the ability to elect the candidate of their choosing. One of those, the fifth congressional district, which stretches from Jacksonville to Tallahassee and has a voting population that is 46% Black, will be chopped up into four districts where Black voters comprise a much smaller share of the population. Rep. Al Lawson, whose district is on the chopping block in maps passed by FL legislation, tees off on DeSantis “Once again, DeSantis is showing Florida voters that he is governing the state as a dictator.” pic.twitter.com/TUVALHiV1S— Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) April 21, 2022
      Florida will be sued. https://t.co/wkoecH0Qbb— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) April 21, 2022
      Donald Trump is in the news again, this time for…not being on the news? Trump is denying that he stormed out of a televised interview with Piers Morgan, claiming instead that the clip released yesterday promoting “the most explosive interview of the year” was misleadingly edited to give the impression that he shouted “turn the camera off” while rising from his chair in anger. Trump’s team provided audio to US media outlets that suggested that he had said “turn the camera off” after he and Morgan exchanged pleasantries at the end of the interview. “This is a pathetic attempt to use President Trump as a way to revive the career of a failed television host,” said Taylor Budowich, Trump’s spokesperson.“He says it’s a rigged election, and he now says I have a rigged promo,” Morgan said. “What I would say is watch the interview. It will all be there. We won’t be doing any duplicitous editing.”Read more here: Donald Trump denies storming out of Piers Morgan interviewRead moreIt’s been quite a day in Florida. First Florida Democrats staged a sit in on the floor of the state legislature, halting a special legislative session in which Republicans are poised to pass new congressional districts that would severely curtail Black voting power in the state. All while this was happening, the Florida legislature passed a bill dissolving the self-governance status of Disney World.BREAKING: The Florida legislature has passed the bill dissolving Disney World’s self-governance status in retaliation for Disney’s (belated) opposition to Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law. It now heads to DeSantis’ desk to be signed into law.— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) April 21, 2022
      This bill dissolving Disney World’s self-governance came after Disney’s opposition to what critics call the state’s “don’t say gay” law that bars instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.If Florida governor Ron DeSantis signs the bill into law, it could have huge tax implications for Disney – but Democrats also warned that the move could cause local homeowners to get hit with big tax bills if they have to absorb bond debt from Disney.Politico-Morning Consult poll:75% of voters consider themselves “fans” of Disney’s movies and TV shows31% have a favorable view of Ron DeSantis— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 21, 2022
      This week in FL politics:-DeSantis announces a May special session on property insurance (+ other topics?)-DeSantis adds bills affecting Disney to redistricting special session-Lawmakers take up and pass Disney bills-Democrats stage unprecedented House sit-in.It’s Thursday.— Kirby Wilson (@KirbyWTweets) April 21, 2022
      ABC News is reporting that in the coming days, Donald Trump Jr is expected to meet with the House select committee tasked with investigating the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. Sources tell ABC News that the meeting is voluntary and the committee did not have to subpoena the eldest son of Donald Trump. Trump Jr joins his sister Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, as the most recent Trump family members to speak to the panel. An auction of artwork, including pieces by Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, and other personal items owned by the late supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is expected to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars next week.Much of her collection of paintings and ceramics forms a 115-lot modern art auction hosted by the Potomack company of Alexandria, Virginia, in an online catalog. An additional collection entitled “chambers and home” features 145 more lots of miscellaneous curios, including pewter bowls, crystal vases and numerous other personal items.Ginsburg, the iconic human and civil rights pioneer who died in 2020 aged 87 from complications of pancreatic cancer, owned a multitude of artefacts spanning the last two centuries, by artists including Picasso and Warhol.One of the most valuable items is a 1953 oil painting, Presagio-Premonition, by the Mexican artist Gunther Gerzso, which is expected to raise up to $100,000.Among the most personal is a “Gartenhaus natural black mink coat” with Ginsburg’s name embroidered in a pocket. By Thursday morning, bidding for that was already above $2,000, more than twice its original estimate.Ceramics by Picasso, and a Warhol painting of a can of tomato soup, are among the other highlights.“These items are truly tangible pieces of her life and times as one of America’s greatest supreme court justices,’’ Elizabeth Haynie Wainstein, owner of the Potomack Company, told the New York Times.Read more:Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s personal art collection up for auctionRead moreThe much vaunted and heavily promoted CNN+ subscription streaming service, which the network intended to be a value-added supplement to its regular news programming, has folded, less than a month after it was launched.The decision to halt the service on 30 April will be seen as a massive humiliation for CNN, which was relying on its big-name presenters to draw in customers at $5.99 a month.Take up was slow, however, and the new corporate owners of CNN+, Warner Bros Discovery, decided to pull the plug on Thursday. The company’s hopes of 2m subscribers in the first year appeared hugely optimistic, with reports saying it had attracted barely 150,000 in the three weeks since its launch. In a statement to staff attempting to paint the abrupt closure as a reshuffle of resources, CNN’s incoming president Chris Licht said:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}While today’s decision is incredibly difficult, it is the right one for the long-term success of CNN. It allows us to refocus resources on the core products that drive our singular focus: further enhancing CNN’s journalism and its reputation as a global news leader. Breaking: CNN+, the streaming service that was hyped as one of the most signifiant developments in the history of CNN, will shut down on April 30, just one month after it launched. Here’s our initial story – more to come https://t.co/JElI3cVyDF— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 21, 2022
      Black Democrats have staged a sit-in protest in the Florida legislature to disrupt approval of Republican governor Ron DeSantis’s congressional redistricting plans, which they say seeks to eliminate representation for Black voters.According to the Miami Herald, the special legislative session called by DeSantis was adjourned just before lunchtime Thursday as the Black lawmakers began chanting, and were joined in the protest by White colleagues.The Herald reports: “The House was halfway through a three-hour debate on the map when Rep Yvonne Hinson, a Gainesville Democrat, was cut off because she had exceeded the five-minute time limit set for member debate. “As her microphone was silenced, Rep Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat, walked on the floor with a T-shirt under her suit jacket that read ‘Stop the Black Attack’ and held a sign in protest.“As Black Democrats started chanting and white Democrats joined the protest, House Speaker Chris Sprowls ordered the House in recess and stunned Republicans slowly walked off the floor.”DeSantis has proposed his own redrawn map for Florida’s congressional districts, which the Republican-controlled legislature has said it will pass without change, despite it being lawmakers’ responsibility to draw up boundaries.The governor’s proposal would chop up the fifth congressional district into four new ones where Black voters would comprise a much smaller share of the vote. Critics say his “racist” plan would eliminate the seats of two Black congress members.Read more:‘A racist move’: Florida’s DeSantis threatens Black voter power with electoral mapsRead moreJoe Biden must act to reduce mounting economic pressure by ditching “woke advisers”, Mitt Romney said.The Utah senator and former Republican presidential nominee made the demand in a column for the Wall Street Journal.“A new set of priorities requires a new set of principals,” Romney wrote. “President Biden needs to ditch his woke advisers and surround himself with people who want to get the economy working again.”Romney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about what a “woke adviser” was or who might qualify for the title. The White House did not comment. As midterm elections approach, the Biden administration faces strong economic headwinds. Inflation is at long-term highs, adding to a cost-of-living crisis fueled by the coronavirus pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.Biden’s favourability rating has plummeted as polling shows disapproval of his handling of economic affairs.Read more:Joe Biden must ditch ‘woke advisers’ to fix US economy, Mitt Romney saysRead more
      Joe Biden announced that the US would be providing another $800m military assistance package to Ukraine, in addition to $500m in economic assistance. He acknowledged that he had nearly exhausted the drawdown authority authorized by Congress in a bipartisan spending bill last month, and that he would be making a supplemental budget request in order to continue funding Ukraine as it defends itself from Russia.
      In this same address, Biden announced the creation of Unite for Ukraine, a humanitarian parole program to expedite the migration of Ukrainian refugees from Europe to the US through sponsorship.
      In addition to more sanctions announced yesterday, Biden announced that Russian-affiliated ships are now banned from American ports.
      Ukraine prime minister Denys Shmyhal is in Washington, and met briefly with Biden and some of his cabinet members before Biden gave his remarks. Shmyhal then went on to Capitol Hill, where he met with House speaker Nancy Pelosi.
      A new book by reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns has new details of the days following the 6 January attack on the US Capitol in which Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell, the two top Republican leaders in Congress, privately told associates that they believed Donald Trump should be held responsible for the insurrection. McCarthy has come out strongly against the New York Times report on the book’s findings, calling it “totally false and wrong”. My statement on the New York Times pic.twitter.com/PWi2WkoWzh— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) April 21, 2022
      Read more here: Top Republicans held ‘atrocious’ Trump responsible for Capitol attack, book saysRead moreDelta Airlines will restore flight privileges to the 2,000 customers who were barred from flights for failing to comply with the federal mask mandate, Reuters is reporting. Now that a federal judge has ruled the mandate unlawful and the Biden administration will no longer enforce it on public transit – though the justice department appealed the ruling yesterday at the request of public health officials – Delta said it will restore passengers “only after each case is reviewed and each customer demonstrates an understanding of their expected behavior when flying with us.”“Any further disregard for the policies that keep us all safe will result in placement on Delta’s permanent no-fly list,” Delta said. This will not affect the 1,000 or so passengers “who demonstrated egregious behavior and are already on the permanent no-fly list.”Delta joins United Airlines in overturning a ban on passengers who had been banned for not wearing masks on a “case by case basis.”Here’s the White House readout of the meeting between Joe Biden and Ukraine prime minister Denys Shmyhal:NEW: White House releases readout of Pres. Biden’s meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. “President Biden conveyed the continued commitment of the United States to support the people of Ukraine and to impose costs on Russia.” https://t.co/CzlbOnpowT pic.twitter.com/l0z52cIK6z— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 21, 2022
      Now Ukraine prime minister Denys Shmyhal is on Capitol Hill with House speaker Nancy Pelosi. Earlier, Shmyhal spoke with Joe Biden, which delayed his remarks. Ukrainian PM Denys Shmyhal is here on the Hill with Speaker Pelosi today. pic.twitter.com/s7el1TuErZ— Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) April 21, 2022
      After providing an update on Ukraine, Joe Biden is now off to Portland, Oregon to talk about infrastructure and attend a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee.NewestNewestPrevious1 of 2NextOldestOldestTopicsUS politicsUS politics liveJoe BidenRepublicansDemocratsUS CongressHouse of RepresentativesUS SenateReuse this content More

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      ‘Birthing while Black’ is a national crisis for the US. Here’s what Black lawmakers want to do about it

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      ‘Birthing while Black’ is a national crisis for the US. Here’s what Black lawmakers want to do about it For Black women in Congress, maternal mortality hits close to home. The Black Maternal Health Caucus seeks changeWhen Alma Adams’s daughter complained of abdominal pain during a difficult pregnancy, her doctor overlooked her cries for help. The North Carolina congresswoman’s daughter had to undergo a last-minute caesarean section. She and her baby daughter, now 16, survived. “It could have gone another way. I could have been a mother who was grieving her daughter and granddaughter,” Adams told the Guardian, following a week in which the White House highlighted the crisis of pregnancy-related deaths among Black women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Black women die at three times the rate of white women.For Adams and other Black women in Congress, who formed the Black Maternal Health Caucus, the issue hits close to home. Last week, during Black Maternal Health Week, they talked about how their experiences and the work of advocates had propelled legislation, known as the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021, to fight a healthcare crisis that disproportionately affects Black women regardless of income.The US has the highest maternal mortality rate among industrialized countries. Since 2000, the maternal mortality rate has risen nearly 60%, making it worse now than it was decades earlier. More than half of these deaths are preventable.Health experts point to the fact that other industrialized countries have significantly different approaches to motherhood than the US, including paid maternity leave, access to comprehensive postpartum care and enough maternity care providers, especially midwives, to meet the needs of their populations. Policy advocates add that the crisis among Black women is a symptom of racism in the nation’s healthcare system – from who has access to care to attitudes toward Black people and their bodies.“It doesn’t matter what your socioeconomic status is. It doesn’t matter how much insurance you have, or how much education you have,” Adams said, adding that her daughter, Jeanelle Lindsay, had a master’s degree and health insurance. “Those things don’t matter. This could happen to anyone. Look at women like Beyoncé and Serena Williams, who had these near misses because the doctors really didn’t pay the kind of attention that they should have.”Black women in the House used the week of recognition to bring attention to several bills that are part of a sweeping Momnibus package to address the dangers of birthing while Black. Their efforts to elevate the longtime work of organizations such as the Black Mamas Matter Alliance showed the power of representation in putting issues affecting Black women on the congressional agenda, said Lauren Underwood, an Illinois congresswoman and registered nurse.“It takes women in these spaces to call out problems, set an agenda, and bring together a coalition of legislators, advocates, and community members to work toward comprehensive, evidence-based solutions that will save moms’ lives,” Underwood said in an email.In January 2019, after Underwood received her committee assignments, Adams met with her to see if she wanted to launch a caucus focused on Black maternal health. One of Underwood’s friends, an epidemiologist at the CDC, had died three weeks after she gave birth. “I was still grappling with her death when I came to Congress,” Underwood said.Three months later, they launched the caucus with 53 founding members, including Ayanna Pressley, Lucy McBath and Barbara Lee. Today, it has 115 members from both parties.After consulting with maternal health advocacy groups, Underwood and Adams introduced the Momnibus Act in March 2020, nine bills aimed at combating maternal health disparities through investment in community-based programs and other efforts to rectify social determinants of health – the conditions in which people live, work and grow up – that affect who lives and who dies in childbirth.Their legislative pursuit was timely, coming before a pandemic that would bring racial health disparities to the public’s attention. Between 2019 and 2020, the mortality rate for Black and Latina women and birthing people rose during the first year of the pandemic.Kamala Harris, the nation’s first Black and South Asian female vice-president, amplified the issue last week during a speech at the Century Foundation, a progressive thinktank based in Washington DC. Harris called for “building a future in which being Black and pregnant is a time filled with joy and hope rather than fear”.As a US senator from California, Harris was lead sponsor for the Senate version of the Momnibus Act in 2020, which stalled in committee. Underwood and Adams, along with Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, reintroduced the Momnibus bill in February 2021.Most of the proposals in the package are included in the Build Back Better Act, a social spending bill that is stuck in gridlock.“Were it not for Black women in the Congressional Black Caucus, there would not be a Black Maternal Health Caucus,” said the Massachusetts representative Ayanna Pressley. “When we say that we are the voice of Congress, we mean that.”Pressley lost her paternal grandmother, whom she never knew, when she died giving birth to Pressley’s uncle in the 1950s. “Decades later, the Black maternal mortality crisis continues to rob us of our loved ones and to destabilize families,” she said during the Century Foundation event.What explains the disparities in outcomes between Black and white mothers boils down to what Pressley called “policy violence”. It’s not just the discrimination that Black women and birthing people experience, but also the lack of access to quality healthcare and medical coverage.“These are the result of centuries of laws in a systematic, systematically racist health care system that too often discounts our pay, ignores our voices, disregards our lives,” Pressley said. “Birthing while Black should not be a death sentence.”In November 2021, Joe Biden signed into law one of the bills in the Momnibus package that invests $15m in maternity care for veterans. But other legislative efforts remain stalled in Congress. Eight bills that were part of the original Momnibus package are part of the Build Back Better Act, according to a tracker by The Century Foundation. They include awarding grants to community organizations to help pregnant people find affordable housing, documenting transportation barriers for pregnant and postpartum people, expanding food stamp eligibility and permanently expanding Medicaid coverage for mothers in every state for a year after childbirth.And on Friday, Booker and seven other lawmakers introduced Mamas First Act, which would expand Medicaid to cover services from doulas and midwives.“We’ve made historic progress, from the enactment of the first bill in my Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act to the recent cabinet meeting Vice-President Harris led, the first-ever White House cabinet meeting convened to address maternal health disparities as a national priority,” Underwood said.Adams pointed to another piece of the legislation that feels very close to home: the Kira Johnson Act, named after a 39-year-old Black mother who, after complaining of abdominal pain, died in 2016 from a hemorrhage following a routine caesarean section. The bill would direct the health and human services department to send grants to community groups focused on improving the maternal health outcomes for Black, Latino and other marginalized communities and for training to reduce racial bias and discrimination among healthcare providers.The connection between Johnson’s and her daughter’s situations resonated with Adams. The pain they experienced was dismissed – a familiar form of racial bias that the Momnibus package attempts to address.“Either you have a mother, you are a mother, or you know women who are moms,” Adams said. “When we raise the tide for Black women, who are among the most marginalized and the most vulnerable, we ultimately raise the tide for all women.”TopicsUS CongressParents and parentingFamilyKamala HarrisAyanna PressleyHouse of RepresentativesUS SenatefeaturesReuse this content More

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      Scott Pruitt, former Trump official, to run for US Senate seat in Oklahoma

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      Scott Pruitt, former Trump official, to run for US Senate seat in OklahomaScandal-plagued EPA chief is seeking seat being vacated by longtime Republican senator Jim Inhofe Scott Pruitt, who had a scandal-ridden spell in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency under Donald Trump, filed on Friday to run for an open US Senate seat in Oklahoma.Pruitt, 53, a former state senator and Oklahoma attorney general, is seeking the seat being vacated by the longtime Republican senator Jim Inhofe.Scott Pruitt is out but his impact on the environment will be felt for yearsRead morePruitt stepped down as EPA administrator in 2018 amid a wave of ethics scandals, including living in a bargain-priced Capitol Hill condo tied to an energy lobbyist.He also faced ethics investigations into pricey trips with first-class airline seats and unusual security spending, including a $43,000 soundproof booth for making private phone calls.He also demanded 24-hour-a-day protection from armed officers, resulting in a swollen 20-member security detail that blew through overtime budgets and racked up expenses of more than $3m.Like Trump, Pruitt was a staunch advocate for the continued use of coal and other fossil fuels, voiced skepticism about mainstream climate science and was a fierce critic of the Paris climate agreement.Trump cheered Pruitt’s moves to expand fossil fuel production and roll back regulations opposed by corporate interests. After leaving the agency, Pruitt registered as an energy lobbyist in Indiana.In a brief interview on Friday, Pruitt said he “led with conviction in Washington DC” and chalked up the criticism against him as resulting from leading an agency that was the “holy grail of the American left”.“And I made a difference in the face of that,“ Pruitt said. “I think Oklahomans know when the New York Times and CNN and MSNBC and those places are against you, Oklahomans are for you.”Pruitt will face a crowded primary field seeking to replace Inhofe, 87, who shook up Oklahoma politics with his announcement that he would step down in January, just two years into a six-year term.Ten Republican hopefuls have filed to run for the seat, including the congressman Markwayne Mullin, former speaker of the Oklahoma house TW Shannon, Inhofe’s longtime chief of staff, Luke Holland, state senator Nathan Dahm and Alex Gray, former chief of staff of the national security council under Trump.The rightwing US supreme court has climate change in its sights | Laurence H Tribe and Jeremy LewinRead moreA former congresswoman, Kendra Horn, was the only Democrat to file for the seat by early afternoon on Friday, the final day of the three-day candidate filing period.Because of Inhofe’s announcement, both of Oklahoma’s US Senate seats are up for grabs this cycle. The current senator James Lankford is seeking another six-year term.Lankford will face the Tulsa pastor Jackson Lahmeyer in the GOP primary. Four Democrats, a Libertarian and an independent also filed this week to seek the post.The most competitive US House race is expected to be for the open second congressional seat in eastern Oklahoma, which is being vacated by Mullin. At least 13 candidates, 12 Republicans and an independent, have filed for that post.TopicsRepublicansUS SenateOklahomaDonald TrumpUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      McConnell will ‘make Biden a moderate’ if Republicans retake Congress

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      McConnell will ‘make Biden a moderate’ if Republicans retake Congress Senate minority leader projects ‘pretty good beating’ for Biden administration in November midterms The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, said on Sunday Republicans will force Joe Biden to govern as a “moderate” if the GOP retakes Congress in November.Liz Cheney disputes report January 6 panel split over Trump criminal referralRead moreSpeaking to Fox News Sunday, McConnell attacked Biden on subjects including reported crime increases in large US cities, the decision to extend a moratorium on repaying student loan debts, and the administration’s attempt to lift a Trump policy that allowed border patrol agents to turn away migrants at the southern border, ostensibly to prevent the spread of coronavirus.“This administration just can’t seem to get their act together,” McConnell said. “I think they’re headed toward a pretty good beating in the fall election.”If that beating were to materialize, giving Republicans control of the Senate and House, McConnell said his party would try to confine Biden to the center of an increasingly polarized political spectrum.“Let me put it this way – Biden ran as a moderate,” McConnell said. “If I’m the majority leader in the Senate, and [House minority leader] Kevin McCarthy is speaker of the House, we’ll make sure Joe Biden is a moderate.”Without delving into specifics, McConnell outlined a broad set of policy priorities, including reducing crime, overhauling education, pursuing cheaper gasoline prices and investing in defense following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.McConnell said Biden’s low poll numbers reflected dissatisfaction with his administration’s response to all those problems.“I like the president personally,” McConnell said. “It’s clear to me personality is not what is driving his unpopularity.”McConnell did not mention – and was not asked about – whether he would seek to block any further Biden nominations to the supreme court, which for now has a 6-3 conservative majority.In a recent interview with Axios, McConnell would not commit to hearings for any potential nominees if he led the Senate at any point before the 2024 presidential election, Republicans’ next opportunity to retake the White House. ‘TV is like a poll’: Trump endorses Dr Oz for Pennsylvania Senate nominationRead moreLast year, he said the GOP would block a Biden supreme court nominee if it controlled the Senate in 2024, an election year. McConnell blocked Barack Obama’s final nominee, Merrick Garland, from even receiving a hearing in 2016, citing that year’s presidential election. In 2020, he oversaw the confirmation of Donald Trump’s third nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, shortly before polling day.McConnell’s comments on Sunday echoed some of the remarks he made in the interview with Axios, when he predicted that Biden would “finally be the moderate he campaigned as” if the Democrats lost their congressional majority in November.The Democrats hold a 12-seat advantage in the House and generally hold a single-vote edge in the 50-50 Senate, where vice-president Kamala Harris can serve as tiebreaker.TopicsUS midterm elections 2022US politicsJoe BidenBiden administrationUS CongressUS SenateUS domestic policynewsReuse this content More