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      Senator Bob Menendez charged with acting as foreign agent of Egypt

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      Federal prosecutors on Thursday filed a superseding indictment against the Democratic senator Bob Menendez, charging him with being an unregistered agent of the Egyptian government, a court filing showed.The New Jersey senator has thus far resisted calls for his resignation. His trial on corruption charges will begin next May.The superseding indictment, filed in Manhattan federal court, accuses Menendez of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires people to register with the US government if they are acting as “an agent of a foreign principal”. As a member of Congress, Menendez was prohibited from being an agent of a foreign government, even if he did register as one.Messages left with Menendez’s Senate staff and attorney were not immediately answered.The indictment says the conspiracy occurred from January 2018 to June 2022. It alleges that in May 2019, Menendez, his wife and a business associate, Wael Hana, met an Egyptian intelligence official in Menendez’s Senate office in Washington.During the meeting, they allegedly discussed a US citizen who was seriously injured in a 2015 airstrike by the Egyptian military using a US-made Apache helicopter, the indictment says.Some members of Congress objected to awarding certain military aid to Egypt over that episode and the perception that the Egyptian government was not willing to fairly compensate the injured American, according to the indictment.Shortly after the meeting in Washington, the Egyptian official texted Hana that if Menendez helped resolve the matter, “he will sit very comfortably”.Hana, the indictment says, replied: “Orders, consider it done.”The new charge comes weeks after Menendez and his wife were accused of accepting bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car from three New Jersey businessmen who wanted the senator to help and influence over foreign affairs. The couple have pleaded not guilty.Hana, the business associate, pleaded not guilty last month to charges including conspiracy to commit bribery.The indictments said that while Menendez was chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, he took several steps to secretly aid Egyptian officials. They included ghostwriting a letter to fellow senators encouraging them to lift a hold on $300m in aid. He was also accused of passing along information about employees at the US embassy in Egypt and transmitting nonpublic information to Egyptian officials about military aid.Menendez, 69, has insisted that he did nothing unusual to assist Egypt and that prosecutors misunderstood the work of a senator involved in foreign affairs.Authorities who searched Menendez’s home last year said they found more than $100,000 worth of gold bars and over $480,000 in cash – much of it hidden in closets, clothing and a safe.More than 30 Senate Democrats – including his home state colleague, Cory Booker – have called on Menendez to resign. Menendez has remained defiant, telling his colleagues in a closed-door luncheon two weeks ago he will not leave the Senate.Menendez has not said if he will run for reelection next year. The congressman Andy Kim has jumped into the primary, and the head of Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, Gary Peters of Michigan, has called on Menendez to resign, signaling that he may not receive campaign assistance. More

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      Republicans nominate Steve Scalise to replace McCarthy as House speaker

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      House Republicans nominated Steve Scalise to be the next speaker on Wednesday, a week after the unprecedented ouster of Kevin McCarthy. But a handful of objections to Scalise’s nomination left House Republicans unable to move to a final floor vote, making it unclear when a new speaker might be elected.By a vote of 113 to 99, Scalise, currently the second-ranking House Republican, defeated a challenge from congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chairman of the judiciary committee and a far-right firebrand.Still, the result fell well below the 217-vote threshold needed to be elected speaker on the House floor, where Republicans chaos and division triggered 15 rounds of balloting before the caucus united behind McCarthy earlier this year. The timing of a potential floor vote to elect Scalise remained uncertain on Wednesday afternoon, when the House held a brief pro forma session and then went into recess.If all 433 current House members participate in the vote, Scalise can only afford four defections within the Republican conference and still win the speakership. As of Wednesday, at least 10 House Republicans said they were not prepared to back Scalise, with several more still undecided.“Obviously we still have work to do,” Scalise said after winning the nomination. “We need to make sure we’re sending a message to people all throughout the world that the House is open and doing the people’s business.”Emerging from their conference meeting on Wednesday afternoon, a couple of Jordan’s allies, including Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado, indicated they would still support Jordan in the floor vote.“We had a chance to unify the party behind closed doors, but the Swamp and K Street lobbyists prevented that,” Boebert said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The American people deserve a real change in leadership, not a continuation of the status quo.”Even as his allies rallied around him, Jordan appeared ready to support Scalise on the floor. According to a source with direct knowledge of the situation, Jordan plans to vote for Scalise and has encouraged his colleagues to do the same. Jordan also offered to deliver the nominating speech on Scalise’s behalf, the source said.That encouragement has not yet swayed some of Scalise’s detractors. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a hard-right Republican from Georgia, said she would not support Scalise because of concerns over his health, as the congressman is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for blood cancer.“I will be voting for Jim Jordan on the House floor,” Greene said on X. “I like Steve Scalise, and I like him so much that I want to see him defeat cancer more than sacrifice his health in the most difficult position in Congress.”Some members on Tuesday had suggested they would prefer an alternative – or McCarthy. But McCarthy, who recently suggested he would be open to reclaiming the gavel, said on Tuesday that he asked his caucus not to re-nominate him for the job.Leaving a meeting with Scalise on Wednesday, McCarthy reiterated his plans to support his former deputy. Of the Republican holdouts, McCarthy said: “Steve’s going to have to talk to them all, see what the concerns are. But I’m supporting Steve.”Republicans’ tenuous grasp on power was on full display last week, when McCarthy became the first House speaker in US history to be ejected from office. Eight Republicans, led by the hard-right congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida, joined with House Democrats to remove McCarthy as speaker.But Gaetz said Wednesday that he was “excited” to support Scalise on the floor, telling reporters, “Long live Speaker Scalise!”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionUntil a new leader is chosen, the Republican congressman Patrick McHenry of North Carolina will continue serving as the acting speaker while the House remains unable to conduct other business.Republicans hope they can choose a speaker by the end of the week and avoid the spectacle that unfolded in January. A quick election would allow Republicans to turn their full attention to the situation in Israel, following this weekend’s attacks staged by Hamas.On Tuesday, the Republican chair of the House foreign affairs committee, Michael McCaul of Texas, and the panel’s top Democrat, Gregory Meeks of New York, introduced a bipartisan resolution expressing support for Israel. As he entered the conference meeting on Wednesday, Scalise said the resolution would be his top priority if he ascends to the speakership.“The first order of business under Speaker Steve Scalise is going to be bringing a strong resolution expressing support for Israel. We’ve got a very bipartisan bill, the McCaul-Meeks resolution, ready to go right away to express our support for Israel,” Scalise told reporters.Meanwhile, Democrats once again unanimously nominated their leader, congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York, during a closed-door caucus meeting on Wednesday.Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, California congressman Pete Aguilar, the Democratic caucus chair, said Republicans’ “self-inflicted chaos” spoke volumes about their governing priorities.“Israel, policy, friendship, alliance, strength, national security: that is what the Democratic caucus talked about this morning,” Aguilar said. “What the Republican conference is talking about are rule-changes and who’s in charge, so a dramatic difference.” More

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      Hamas attack on Israel might be setback for Palestinian cause in US just as progress was in view

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      If Hamas intended to remind the world that the Palestinians are still there after years of marginalisation and international indifference to occupation and deepening oppression, then its bloody assault on Israel certainly achieved that.At the same time, the attack that Joe Biden called “pure unadulterated evil” might represent a huge setback for the Palestinian cause in the US just as the political debate and public opinion was gradually shifting away from decades of often lockstep support for Israel in Washington.Pictures of slaughtered children among the 1,000 dead, and traumatised Israeli survivors filling US television screens begging for the return of abducted relatives, prompted an outpouring of revulsion across the US political spectrum and among ordinary Americans.Yet, Palestinian and more dovish pro-Israel groups who have worked for years to push a more open debate about the Israel-Palestinian conflict said there were signs of it paying off in the reaction to the Hamas attack.Hadar Susskind, president of Americans for Peace Now, sister organisation of the Israeli peace movement, said that where once there would have been only unequivocal denunciations, some politicians and others wanted to give a more nuanced take that took account of the Palestinian reality.“Right now, it’s very difficult. Over the last years we are having better, more reasonable conversations in our political sphere. Not perfect by any means but we’ve been moving in the right direction. This is a very, very difficult moment. Everybody who’s talking about it needs to deal with this. But I think we are dealing with it from a different baseline,” he said.“I spoke to a number of members of Congress and congressional staff and others this week who were trying to figure out how to say things that are hopefully helpful and positive but also true and not simply trying to score points for your side.”Several politicians strongly denounced the “horrific acts” by Hamas but said the attack did not happen in a vacuum and that the way to end such violence was to “end Israeli military occupation and apartheid”.Before the Hamas attack, Americans for Peace now and likeminded groups had been hoping to build on shifts in US public opinion seen in a Gallup poll earlier this year that found for the first time more Democrats were sympathetic to the Palestinians than the Israelis by a margin of 11%, a significant shift from a decade ago.Two years ago, a Jewish Electorate Institute poll found that 58% of American Jewish voters support restrictions on US military aid to prevent Israel using it to expand West Bank settlements. One-third agreed that “Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is similar to racism in the United States” and one-quarter said that “Israel is an apartheid state”, numbers that shocked some Jewish community leaders.Once unswerving US political support for Israeli governments has also eroded as they move ever further to the right. In August Chris Van Hollen, a Democratic senator, called on Biden to “get more personally engaged” in stopping “racists” in the Israeli government from a land grab in the occupied territories and committing “gross violations” of Palestinian rights or risk damage to the US’s credibility.Yousef Munayyer, former executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, said it is too early to predict the lasting impact but that the attack has forced the Palestinian issue back onto the agenda.“Moments of this scale tend to have longer developing impacts on everybody. I would emphasise that it’s hard to walk away from this moment over time and continue to ignore this issue. People around the world, including here in the United States, have dropped the issue of Palestine and peace. The urgency of addressing this issue and resolving it should be clear to everyone,” he said.For years, Israel has worked to marginalise the Palestinians abroad as well as at home, and to curb even non-violent means of protest and action, including pushing laws in the US to punish boycotts as antisemitic.The Biden administration paid lip-service to a two state solution that appeared to amount to little more than cover for inaction and an unwillingness to confront the reality of the Israeli prime minster Benjamin Netanyahu’s repeated statements that he would never permit a Palestinian state.Susskind said that the recent attack forces the Palestinians back onto the agenda “in a bloody, murderous, horrific way”.“The world is paying attention to the Palestinians, and specifically to Hamas, which is not accidental. That’s a fact. There are many moments in history and people in different countries forcing attention by committing horrible acts,” he said.“Obviously the Biden administration is being forced to pay attention right now. Nobody in this moment is talking about what I would call the positive agenda, how to make things better, a peace process kind of agenda. When this immediate fighting comes to an end, we’ll see what happens. I think there is going to be an Israeli reckoning for Netanyahu and his government, and then we’ll see what comes out of that.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe direction of that debate in the US is also likely to be influenced by Israel’s military response over the coming days and weeks. While the focus for now is on the Israeli casualties, the rising toll among Palestinian civilians in Gaza who cannot flee the enclave is likely to demand growing attention.Munayyer is concerned that Israeli rhetoric is being turned into action.“Now we are likely to see mass atrocities being committed as the Israeli military is out for vengeance in the words of the Israeli prime minister. So a lot of people’s reactions to understanding all of this are going to be impacted by what is still to come in the days ahead of us,” he said.Large-scale Israeli military assaults on Gaza in 2008 and 2014 were instrumental in shifting public opinion in the US, especially on university campuses.The response to the Hamas attack has also divided the US Jewish community which is largely united in its condemnation, but has differences over whether to acknowledge the occupation and Israeli government actions as a cause of continuing conflict.Susskind said Americans for Peace Now declined to sign a statement by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations denouncing the assault by “Iran-backed Hamas terrorists”.“We didn’t sign it because although I agree with most of what it said, it also called the Hamas attacks unprovoked and that’s not true. The Hamas attacks were horrific. They are war crimes. They are inexcusable. I condemn them, unequivocally 100 times over. But unprovoked is not true,” he said.“This attack does demand a military response. I am not a pacifist. But there is a difference between the military response and some of the language that you’ve seen from Israeli political leaders and others who are calling for war crimes in return. The response to that, is not to go in and indiscriminately kill Palestinian people. That’s not an acceptable answer. War crimes are never okay, by anyone.”The “pro-Israel, pro-peace” group J-Street was strident in its denunciation of Hamas and support for military action to defeat it.But Debra Shushan, J-Street’s policy director, said the attack obliges US politicians to recognise that things cannot go on as before. She said it is right, for now, for Washington to focus on Israel’s “legitimate right of self-defence in accordance with international law” and securing the release of Israelis abducted to Gaza.“In the longer term, there are many questions that must be asked about flawed policies and narratives. I expect fertile ground for a recognition that a return to the status quo ante of “managing the conflict” is unacceptable. The vision for a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a negotiated end to the occupation of Palestinian Territory, and a future of genuine security, self-determination and equality for Israelis and Palestinians must prevail.” More

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      The Israel crisis is horrific. Republicans say it’s a ‘great opportunity’ to attack Biden | Andrew Gawthorpe

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      This week the eyes of the world have been fixed on the horrific panorama of violence in the Middle East. Once all of the dead are counted, it is likely that nearly as many Israelis will have died in a single day as in the entire second intifada, which lasted from 2000 to 2005. The death toll is also growing in Gaza, with no telling how high it may reach. The United States has dispatched naval forces to the region amid fears that the conflict may spiral to include Hezbollah or even Iran, an eventuality which could see the US join the fighting directly. The region is a tinderbox – and one wrong move could set it ablaze.In the US, steady and sober leadership is needed. Americans may be among those held hostage in Gaza, and the risk of a wider war is ever present. Now is not the time for partisan point-scoring. Unity shouldn’t mean a stifling consensus – there’s plenty of room for discussion about what the best American response to the situation should be – but it should mean agreement around basic norms of constructive debate and decision-making. This should also be a time in which everyone can agree that it’s important that the US government is able to perform its basic functions smoothly, both to ensure good decisions are made and that lives are protected.Unfortunately, Republicans seem incapable of rising to the occasion. From the first hours in which the world began to learn of the horrific events unfolding in southern Israel, prominent Republican figures have seemed just as interested in blaming Joe Biden as they have Hamas.One of the party’s first reactions came from Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel, who greeted news of the greatest atrocity in Israeli history by calling it a “great opportunity” for Republican presidential candidates to criticize Democrats. The candidates themselves seemed to agree, with many leaping into the fray to pin the blame for the attack on Biden’s supposed “weakness”.Perhaps most disgusting and divisive has been the spectacle of Republicans telling outright lies in order to claim that the Biden administration is directly “complicit” in the attack, as Senator Tim Scott has claimed. Donald Trump and others say that the Biden administration helped finance the attack with a recent deal in which $6bn in Iranian oil revenue was unfrozen in exchange for the release of five American hostages. But this money – not a cent of which has yet been spent – is controlled by Qatar and can only be used by Tehran to purchase humanitarian supplies. Meanwhile, it’s clear that this attack has been in the work for months – far before the deal was even struck.Cheap and partisan attacks not only make it difficult to have a serious discussion about American foreign policy – they also allow Republicans to avoid talking about the ways in which their own actions have made the US less prepared for a serious international crisis. The Republican senator Tommy Tuberville is single-handedly blocking 300 routine military appointments, including many top posts in the Middle East, in protest of the Pentagon’s abortion policy. And he’s signaled he has no intention of changing his mind.Senators Rand Paul and JD Vance have also placed blanket holds on confirming nominees to the state department – in one case because Vance wanted them to fill in a “wokeness questionnaire” first. Among the positions that remain unfilled with a permanent appointments are the state department coordinator for counter-terrorism and ambassadors to both Israel and Egypt. Meanwhile, thanks to Republican dysfunction, there is currently no speaker of the House, making it unclear how additional US aid might be made available to Israel or Palestinian civilians if it is needed.In order to avoid the sort of partisan point-scoring that Republicans are engaging in, it should be made clear that these facts almost certainly had nothing to do with the decision by Hamas to launch its attack. The attack is not in any way the fault of the Republican party. But what is the fault of the Republican party is the fact that the US government is lacking crucial personnel at a time of grave international crisis.Hamstringing the ability of the Biden administration to act might even be a feature rather than a bug of the Republican response. If the party recognizes the unfolding horror primarily as a “great opportunity” to hammer the Democrats, then that opportunity can be maximized by making it as difficult as possible for the Biden administration to respond effectively. This is a grave charge, not to be made lightly. But how else to explain a party which refuses, in a time of possible war, to let the military appoint the officers it wants to their posts in the war zone?It is a perilous sign that Republicans would rather engage in partisan criticism rather than a constructive discussion over the best and most humane policies for the US to adopt. The party no longer believes in the basic idea of a functioning, competent government, even in the face of a regional war. As the Biden administration makes tough decisions about how to save American lives and stop the war from spreading, it can expect little help from across the aisle.Republicans have made the choice to put their own narrow interests over those of the nation. They could at least have the decency to stop pretending otherwise.
      Andrew Gawthorpe is a historian of the United States and the creator of America Explained, a podcast and newsletter More

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      AOC decries ‘bigotry and callousness’ at pro-Palestinian rally in New York

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      Criticising a pro-Palestinian rally held in Times Square in New York City in the aftermath of Hamas attacks on Israel which left hundreds dead, the progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said: “It should not be hard to shut down hatred and antisemitism where we see it.”The attacks, including the killing of at least 260 concertgoers and the taking of hostages, sparked a new war between Israel and Hamas. In Gaza, Israeli airstrikes killed hundreds. By Tuesday, the Israeli death toll approached 1,000.The Sunday rally in New York, endorsed by members of the Democratic Socialists of America and promoted by the group’s New York chapter, attracted a crowd of more than 1,000. Some chanted “resistance is justified when people are occupied” and there were reports of a Nazi emblem being shown and Israeli flags burned and trodden on.Amid attacks from Republicans, Ocasio-Cortez, a New York representative popularly known as AOC, was among Democrats to condemn the rally.Speaking to Politico, she said shutting down hatred and antisemitism was “a core tenet of solidarity”.“The bigotry and callousness expressed in Times Square on Sunday were unacceptable and harmful in this devastating moment,” she said.“It also did not speak for the thousands of New Yorkers who are capable of rejecting Hamas’s horrifying attacks against innocent civilians as well as the grave injustices and violence Palestinians face under occupation.”Earlier, Ocasio-Cortez was among leading congressional progressives to call for a ceasefire. In a statement, she said: “I condemn Hamas’s attack in the strongest possible terms.“No child and family should ever endure this kind of violence and fear, and this violence will not solve the ongoing oppression and occupation in the region. An immediate ceasefire and de-escalation is urgently needed to save lives.”Cori Bush, a progressive congresswoman from Missouri, said that while she “condemn[ed] the targeting of civilians”, to “achieve a just and lasting peace” in the Middle East, “US government support for Israeli military occupations and apartheid” should be ended. More

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      The political ripples of the Israel-Palestine crisis are already hitting both US parties | Lloyd Green

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      Once again, the Middle East looms large in US politics. Hamas’s attack on southern Israel will reverberate in the weeks and months to come. On Monday, Joe Biden announced that 11 Americans were killed. Already, the political fallout is being felt in the White House and Capitol Hill, in California and in New York.The strains between the Biden administration and Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have subsided. As a result, the Republicans can no longer try to lay sole claim to the pro-Israel card heading into the 2024 elections.On Sunday, the US president and Netanyahu spoke by phone. The White House readout of the call was unambiguous, referring to Hamas as “terrorists” and adding that: “The two leaders committed to stay in regular contact over the coming days.”Then, on Monday, Biden took things further. “The ties between Israel and the United States run deep … the American people stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israelis,” he announced in a statement. “The US and the State of Israel are inseparable partners.”This is all a big deal. Until recently, Netanyahu and Biden had not been the closest of friends. The prime minister’s ongoing gambit to curb the independence of Israel’s judiciary coupled with the presence of hardline Jewish supremacists in his cabinet complicated things.Team Biden has not generally been keen to roll out a red carpet to Israel’s longest serving prime minister. Unlike Benny Gantz, Israel’s former defense minister and the head of an opposition party, Netanyahu has not yet been to the White House. The nearest he came to Biden was at the sidelines of the opening of the UN general assembly. Netanyahu is expected to officially visit the US by year’s end.Responding to Israel’s request, the US is poised to arm the Jewish state. On Sunday, Lloyd Austin, the US secretary of defense, ordered the Ford carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean in a show of support. For the record, the USS Gerald R Ford is the navy’s latest and most advanced carrier.How exactly the uptick in relations between the US and Israel plays out remains to be seen. Right now, the Senate is in recess and the Republican-led House lacks a speaker. Until the House elects a permanent successor to Kevin McCarthy, doubt surrounds the ability of Congress to appropriate supplemental funds to Israel. Likewise, Ukraine and the Mexico border wall may complicate things, too.Beyond that, abortion politics may hinder administration attempts to replenish Israel’s stockpiles. Right now, Alabama’s Republican senator Tommy Tuberville, the ex-Auburn football coach, is holding up confirmation of hundreds of Pentagon officials over abortion policy. Some of them stand to be involved in weapons transfers.Apparently, the freshman senator forgot that the US supreme court’s decision in Dobbs gutting abortion rights cost the Republican party control of the Senate and turned a much-anticipated “red wave” in the House into a trickle, leaving McCarthy to suffer at the hands of Matt Gaetz and his fellow arsonists.In addition, the Senate has yet to act on the nomination of Jack Lew as US ambassador to Israel. An Orthodox Jew and Harvard graduate, Lew served as treasury secretary under Obama. In August, the rightwing and Republican-aligned Zionist Organization of America announced its opposition to his nomination.Then there is also the issue of normalization of Israeli-Saudi relations. Right now, normalization no longer appears to be on the front burner.The Hamas attack also shook internal Democratic politics. In California’s Senate race, Congressman Adam Schiff is the only one of the three leading Democratic candidates to voice unambiguous support for Israel. By contrast, Representative Katie Porter condemned the loss of lives on both sides. Representative Barbara Lee called for a ceasefire and offered her prayers for Israelis and Palestinians alike.Yet it was in New York City where the left’s not-so-subterranean skirmishes over Israel burst into the open. On Sunday, several hundred pro-Palestinian demonstrators chanted “Globalize the intifada”, and “Smash the settler Zionist state”. They also taunted Israel over the number of people killed. The Democratic Socialists of America was an event sponsor. Expect middle-America to be turned off by these antics.Kathy Hochul, New York’s governor, blasted the rally as “abhorrent and morally repugnant”. Representative Ritchie Torres, a Bronx congressman, wrote: “There is a special place in hell for those who glorify the cold-blooded murder of civilians and children.”Joe Biden may yet be the last unalloyed pro-Israel Democratic president. But right now, it is he who sets the tone of US policy.
      Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 More

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      Robert F Kennedy Jr announces independent run for president; siblings condemn his ‘perilous’ campaign – as it happened

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      From 5h agoRobert F Kennedy Jr has officially announced that he will be running for US president as an independent.“I’m here to declare myself an independent candidate for president of the United States,” Kennedy said to applause and chants.Before announcing his run, Kennedy thanked his wife and children, his campaign staff, and other members of his family.The 69-year old had previously been running for the Democratic nomination for president, the only person to challenge Joe Biden for the nomination.But over the weekend, Kennedy teased a “much-anticipated announcement” about his campaign.Kennedy, a member of the Kennedy political family, has received backlash for peddling antisemitic conspiracy theories that Covid-19 was designed to spare Chinese and Ashkenazi Jews.That’s it for our US politics blog.Here’s what happened today:
      Robert F Kennedy Jr officially announced that he will be running for US president as an independent. “I’m here to declare myself an independent candidate for president of the United States,” Kennedy said during a campaign event in Philadelphia.
      The siblings of Kennedy Jr denounced their brother’s campaign, calling it “perilous” for the US. “Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment. Today’s announcement is deeply saddening for us,” read the siblings’ statement in part.
      More centrist Republicans are already casting doubt on Representative Jim Jordan as a potential House speaker. Lawmakers passed around a mailer from Jordan’s campaign, raising concerns about his potential priorities as House speaker.
      At least nine US citizens have died in Israel amid Israel’s war with Hamas. US state department spokesman Matthew Miller confirmed the deaths on Monday, adding that some US citizens have not been accounted for.
      McCarthy has not ruled out a return to his former position of House speaker, if House lawmakers were still at a gridlock over the position.
      Republican House representatives faced mounting pressure to rally around a House speaker candidate after the ousting of former speaker Kevin McCarthy. Only two candidates have tossed their hat in the ring for the role: House majority leader Steve Scalise, a representative of Louisiana, and Ohio representative Jim Jordan, who is the judiciary chairman.
      Thank you for following our politics live blog.Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow.More on Tuberville blocking military promotions from the Guardian’s Oliver Milman:
      Tuberville, a former Auburn University football coach turned Alabama senator, has indicated he will maintain the blockade even in the wake of the assault on Israel, in which at least 700 mostly civilians are thought to have died, including several hundred revelers killed at a music festival, while dozens more people are believed to have been taken hostage. Israel has responded with airstrikes on the Gaza Strip that authorities in the penned-in territory say has killed at least 493 Palestinian people, including entire families sheltering in their apartments.
      US military appointments currently in limbo include top officers slated to command American forces in the Middle East, and two picks for the joint chiefs of staff. Separately, the US also does not have an ambassador to Israel, its close ally; Democrats have called for a swift confirmation of the nominee, Jack Lew.
      Joe Biden has previously called Tuberville’s stance “totally irresponsible”, and the president accused him of undermining the strength and capabilities of the US military. But the Alabama senator said on Sunday that even the attack on Israel would not shift his position.
      “The Pentagon clearly thinks forcing taxpayers to facilitate abortion is more important than confirming their top nominees without a vote,” a Tuberville spokesperson told NBC. “They could end this situation today by dropping their illegal and immoral policy and get everyone confirmed rapidly, but they refuse.”
      Invoking a name Tuberville calls himself because of his prior job, the spokesperson added: “If the Biden administration wants their nominees confirmed then Senate Democrats can do what Coach just did in September and file a cloture petition to force a vote.”
      Military nominees are usually bundled together and confirmed by a voice vote in the Senate to speed along appointments, but under Senate rules a single senator can hold up this process. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, has said that individual votes on each of the nominees would eat up a huge amount of time, and urged Republicans to get Tuberville “in line”.
      Read the full article here.Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville appears to not be lifting holds on military promotions, despite fighting in Israel, the Hill reports.Tuberville has been criticized by other lawmakers who say that his hold on military promotions is affecting US readiness, especially in light of the Israel-Hamas war.Democratic senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island said in a Sunday interview that the recent escalation in fighting “underscores the foolishness” of Tuberville’s actions.Tuberville’s spokesperson Steve Stafford responded, saying in part:“The hold is still not affecting our readiness and it’s certainly not affecting the readiness of other countries.”Tuberville has held military promotions for seven months because of a Pentagon policy that covers travel for service members seeking abortion care.Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released a statement on Monday regarding the violence in Israel. She said: “Today is devastating for all those seeking a lasting peace and respect for human rights in Israel and Palestine. I condemn Hamas’ attack in the strongest possible terms. No child and family should ever endure this kind of violence and fear, and this violence will not solve the ongoing oppression and occupation in the region. An immediate ceasefire and de-escalation is urgently needed to save lives.”Cortez, along with other members of ‘the squad’ have long been vocal against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Others also further to the political left, including house representative Cori Bush also called for a ceasefire and condemned both Hamas militants and the Israeli military on the ongoing violence. Representative Rashida Tlaib, who is Palestinian said she grieves the “Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day.” She did not outright mention Hamas.“As long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue.”The US’s secretary of the army Christine Wormuth has called for more congressional funds to support Israel with munitions.In the annual meeting of the association of the US army held on Monday, Wormuth said: “To be able to increase our capacity… to expand production, and then to also pay for the munitions themselves, we need additional support from Congress.”Biden has already said Israel has “rock-solid and unwavering” support from the US and US defense secretary Lloyd Austin said the US will send munitions.Military ships and aircraft have already been ordered to move closer to Israel.The US contributes about $3bn annually to Israel, the largest current recipient of United States military aid.Biden is speaking with several US allies about the Israel-Hamas war, according to White House officials.Biden spent the morning being brief on the situation by his national security team.Remarks from Biden on the developing situation were expected Monday morning, but have been postponed after the White House announced a “lid” for the day.The White House has called a “lid” for the day, meaning Biden will not be delivering any remarks.The lid could be lifted if Biden decides to make remarks later on or attend an event.The decision to call a lid is surprising. The White House previously announced that Biden would speak about the Israel-Hamas war on Monday afternoon.Meanwhile, Republicans have condemned the decision to call a lid.Florida governor and US presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has criticized the White House and called for immediate steps, including shutting down the US southern border.From DeSantis campaign spokesperson Carly Atchison:The siblings of Robert F Kennedy Jr have denounced their brother’s campaign, calling it “perilous” for the US.The Kennedy siblings said that Robert’s announcement to run as a third party candidate was “dangerous to our country”, in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter.“Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment. Today’s announcement is deeply saddening for us,” read the statement in part.Kennedy has largely embraced that his campaign and platform rejects dogmatism, arguing that people can have different opinions and still tolerate them.“People can disagree and still respect each other. You can be pro-choice and not think that pro-lifers are women hating zealots. You can support the second amendment and not think that gun control advocates are totalitarians who hate freedom.”“It’s more than being independent of two existing parties. It’s also independence from tribal thinking,” Kennedy said of his political philosophy.“It’s freedom from the reflex of having to take sides.”Kennedy is not the only candidate running as an independent in the US presidential election.Academic and activist Cornel West is also running in the US election as an independent.West previously ran for US president as a a Green party candidate, but dropped from the party last Thursday.Read a recent interview with West and Robert Tait for the Guardian, available here. More

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      Robert F Kennedy Jr’s siblings condemn his ‘perilous’ presidential campaign

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      Robert F Kennedy Jr’s run for the White House as an independent candidate is “perilous” for the US, his siblings said in a statement on Monday, immediately following their brother’s campaign launch in Philadelphia.“The decision of our brother Bobby to run as a third party candidate against Joe Biden is dangerous to our country,” said sisters Rory Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend; and brother Joseph P Kennedy II in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.“Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment. Today’s announcement is deeply saddening for us. We denounce his candidacy and believe it to be perilous for our country.”All are children of Robert F Kennedy, the Democratic former US attorney general and New York senator who was assassinated in 1968, and his widow Ethel, 95, founder of the Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.It is not the first time Kennedy family members have criticized their relative, a noted conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxxer. In July, Kerry Kennedy, chair of the Robert F Kennedy human rights center, denounced as “deplorable and untruthful” Robert F Kennedy Jr’s claim that Covid was engineered to target some ethnic groups and spare others.In an email to the Guardian, Rory Kennedy said: “There is a great deal of hate in the world and remarks like Bobby’s only serve to fuel that hate. Such conspiracy mongering not only creates more divisiveness, it actually puts people’s lives in danger.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe Democratic former Massachusetts congressman Joe Kennedy III, Robert F Kennedy’s nephew, and US special envoy to Northern Ireland, said in a tweet: “My uncle’s comments were hurtful and wrong. I unequivocally condemn what he said.” More