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      George Santos, liar and fantasist, fits the Republican party just fine | Moira Donegan

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      When news broke on Tuesday afternoon that the justice department was indicting George Santos – the disgraced Republican Long Island congressman whose election to the House of Representatives in 2022 was enabled by a series of lies about his background and elaborate, inventive frauds – it was at first hard to think of just what he was being indicted for. George Santos, after all, is alleged to have been so prolifically criminal in his 34 years that one imagines law enforcement would have a hard time narrowing things down.Would Santos be charged over the fake pet charity he seems to have invented, collecting money for things like surgery for the beloved dog of a veteran, which was never turned over to the animal’s owner? Or would he face charges stemming from his lies about his professional background, like the claim he made during his most recent congressional campaign, wholly false, that he used to work for Goldman Sachs, or his bizarre story, also a fabrication, about having been a college volleyball star?Would it be something like the check fraud he allegedly committed in Brazil as a teenager, or like the bad check he supposedly wrote to, of all people, a set of Amish dog breeders in Pennsylvania?What George Santos has been indicted for is not one of his funnier or more colorful scandals, but something extremely typical in Washington: lying about money. On Wednesday, prosecutors at a federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, charged Santos with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of making false statements to the House of Representatives, and one count of theft of public funds. He pleaded not guilty, and was released on a half-million dollar bond.The indictment against Santos is sprawling and complicated, reflecting the expansiveness of the congressman’s alleged frauds, but the allegations that federal prosecutors make fall essentially into three columns: first, they charge that Santos set up a fraudulent LLC, where he directed donors to give money that he claimed would be spent on his political campaign. Instead, he used the funds to make car payments, pay off his debts, and notably, to buy expensive clothes.Second, the Department of Justice charges that Santos defrauded the government when he applied for and received special Covid unemployment benefits in New York, despite drawing a salary of approximately $120,000 from an investment firm in Florida. (That firm, Harbor City Capital, is itself alleged to be a “classic Ponzi scheme”.)And third, the indictment claims that Santos falsified financial disclosure forms related to his congressional seat, falsely certifying to Congress that he drew a $750,000 salary and between $1m and $5m in dividends, and had between $100,000 and $250,000 in a checking account and between $1m and $5m in savings. It was often remarked upon with wonder, and not a small amount of alarm, that Santos, who had not long before his election to Congress struggled to pay rent and faced eviction, was suddenly in possession of so much income and such apparent good luck. How, exactly, had Santos come across all that money? Now, a federal indictment alleges that he simply didn’t: he made it up, like so many college volleyball championships.Maybe it’s for the best that Santos is being charged, ultimately, for the most typically white-collar of his crimes: it will help dispel the myth that he is not a typical Republican. Since the revelation of Santos’s seemingly bottomless dishonesty and malfeasance, a number of House Republicans have tried to distance themselves from the congressman. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina congresswoman trying to style herself as a moderate, called for his resignation; so did Max Milner, of Ohio, over Santos’s false claims of Jewish heritage and having lost relatives in the Holocaust. Reportedly, Senator Mitt Romney encountered Santos at the State of the Union address and told him, with his signature air of the put-upon patrician: “You don’t belong here.”But doesn’t George Santos belong in the modern Republican party? After all, how different, really, is Santos’s alleged scheme to defraud donors for his own enrichment from Donald Trump’s insistence, in the aftermath of the 2020 election, that his supports should donate to him to fight the “election fraud” that didn’t exist? How different is Santos’s use of his congressional campaign to raise funds for fancy clothes from Clarence Thomas’s use of his seat on the supreme court to get fancy vacations on Harlan Crow’s dime? How different is George Santos’s alleged falsification of his financial records to Congress from the conspicuous omissions on the financial disclosure forms required of justices of the supreme court?Even where the technicalities of the malfeasance are different, the Republican spirit is the same, in everyone from George Santos to Clarence Thomas to Donald Trump: the use of public office for personal enrichment, the contempt for the public interest, the indignant declarations that any efforts to hold them accountable are partisan, illegitimate and conducted in bad faith. Outside the federal courthouse on Wednesday, George Santos channeled Trump, calling the indictment against him a “witch-hunt”. I’d say he fits in with the Republican party just fine.
      Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist More

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      US authorities ‘seeing large numbers of migrants at border’ before Title 42 expiration – as it happened

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      From 4h agoAs the White House press briefing kicked off, homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned migrants against trying to enter the United States after Title 42 ends at midnight tonight.“If anyone arrives at our southern border after midnight tonight, they will be presumed ineligible for asylum and subjected to steeper consequences for unlawful entry, including a minimum five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution,” Mayorkas said.“We are clear-eyed about the challenges we are likely to face in the days and weeks ahead, and we are ready to meet them,” he said, noting that immigration authorities expect “to see large numbers of encounters” and “are already seeing high numbers of encounters in certain sectors”.“I want to be very clear: our borders are not open. People who cross our border unlawfully and without a legal basis to remain will be promptly processed and removed,” Mayorkas said.The Biden administration is bracing for the end of the pandemic-era Title 42 and a potential surge of migrants at the southern border. Homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas held a press conference where he warned people against trying to cross into the US, while fending off criticism from both the right and left over how the White House has prepared for this moment.Here’s what else happened today:
      A meeting between Joe Biden and the top Republicans and Democrats in Congress aimed at reaching an agreement to raise the debt ceiling was postponed, which could be a good sign for the long-running talks.
      E Jean Carroll is considering another lawsuit against Donald Trump over comments he made about her at last night’s CNN town hall. You’ll recall that a jury earlier this week found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation of Carroll, and awarded her $5m. The former president is appealing that verdict.
      CNN’s chief executive defended last night’s town hall with Trump in a call with employees.
      House Republicans approved a bill to reform the US immigration system in line with conservative priorities. It faces doom in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
      Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s Democratic leader, condemned Republican senator Tommy Tuberville for remarks that appeared to defend white nationalists in the military.
      A meeting set for Friday between Joe Biden and the top Democrats and Republicans in Congress intended to find an agreement on raising the debt ceiling has been postponed, Reuters reports.The two parties have been at odds for months over finding a way to raise the US government’s legal limit on how much debt it can take on, ahead of a 1 June deadline after which America could default on its obligation and potentially spark an economic crisis.Citing a source familiar with the negotiations, Reuters said the delay in the meeting was a good sign. “Meetings are progressing. Staff is continuing to meet and it wasn’t the right moment to bring it back to principals,” the source said.A White House spokesperson confirmed the delay, saying, “Staff will continue working and the all the principals agreed to meet early next week.”Biden had met with congressional leaders, including Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy, earlier this week, but there seemed to be little progress made towards an agreement. McCarthy has demanded spending cuts and the enactment of conservative priorities in exchange for the GOP voting to increase the debt limit, which Biden and the Democrats have rejected.Donald Trump has formally appealed a jury’s finding earlier this week that he is civilly liable for sexual abuse and defamation of advice columnist E Jean Carroll, Law & Crime reports:The federal jury in New York City ordered him to pay a combined $5m in punitive and compensatory damages, following a trial in which Trump opted not to testify.In a sign of the complexity of US immigration law, the conservative-dominated supreme court this morning issued an unanimous decision that offers a transgender woman from Guatemala a reprieve from deportation. Here’s more about it, from the Associated Press:The US supreme court ruled on Thursday in favor of a transgender Guatemalan woman fighting deportation on the grounds that she would face persecution if returned to her native country.The unanimous decision in favor of Estrella Santos-Zacaria gives her another chance to argue that immigration officials were wrong to reject her bid to remain in the US.Lawyers for Santos-Zacaria, now in her mid-30s, said she first fled to the US after being raped as a young teenager and threatened with death because of her gender identity in a country that has targeted the LGBTQ+ community.But a US immigration judge found she did not make a strong enough case that she would face persecution if sent back to Guatemala.E Jean Carroll, the advice columnist who this week won a $5m civil judgment against Donald Trump for sexually abusing and defaming her, says she may again sue the former president over comments he made at last night’s CNN town hall.In an interview with the New York Times, Carroll described her shock at reading a transcript of Trump’s comments, which included him calling her a “whack job” and saying the sexual assault she said he committed was “fake”.Here’s more from the interview:
      Ms. Carroll said on Thursday morning that she had been asleep as Mr. Trump talked about her on the town hall program. She said that her lawyer, Roberta A. Kaplan, had sent her the transcript of his comments, and that she had read only the first paragraph.
      “It’s just stupid, it’s just disgusting, vile, foul, it wounds people,” Ms. Carroll said in an interview with The New York Times, adding that she had been “insulted by better people.”
      Ms. Carroll said she had been infuriated when her longtime stylist told her that her 15-year-old son was talking about what Mr. Trump had said.
      “I am upset on the behalf of young men in America,” Ms. Carroll said. “They cannot listen to this balderdash and this old-timey view of women, which is a cave-man view.”
      In addition to the case that ended Tuesday, Ms. Carroll has an earlier defamation suit against Mr. Trump that is still pending. Mr. Trump has argued in that case that he cannot be sued because he made those comments in his official capacity as president.
      On Thursday, Ms. Kaplan said no decision had been made on whether a new defamation suit would be filed in light of Mr. Trump’s latest comments.
      “Everything’s on the table, obviously, and we have to give serious consideration to it,” Ms. Kaplan said. “We have to weigh the various pros and cons and we’ll come to a decision in the next day or so, probably.”
      CNN is out with a statement about its town hall with Donald Trump, the target of widespread criticism since its staging in Manchester, New Hampshire, last night.The network defends both its decision to stage the event and the performance of the anchor, Kaitlan Collins, who took the hospital pass that was going one-on-one with Trump in front of a Republican audience:
      Kaitlan Collins exemplified what it means to be a world-class journalist.
      She asked tough, fair and revealing questions. And she followed up and fact-checked President Trump in real time to arm voters with crucial information about his positions as he enters the 2024 election as the Republican frontrunner.
      That is CNN’s role and responsibility: to get answers and hold the powerful to account.
      Here’s our report:The Guardian’s Alexandra Villareal has written about what the end of Title 42 will mean for the US’s commitment to being a land of refuge. Here is the top of her analysis:
      The right to seek asylum in the United States is in the balance as migrants fleeing violence and instability at home anxiously await a chance at safety – amid a major policy shift at the US’s southern border.
      The Title 42 public health order – which has allowed officials to quickly expel migrants without giving them access to asylum for years now – is expected to finally end on 11 May. What does this mean for the US’s historic commitment as a beacon for freedom from persecution?
      As government leaders brace for an anticipated uptick in migrants and asylum seekers trying to cross the border, the hardline policies they’re advancing to keep people out may spell potentially deadly consequences for some of the world’s most vulnerable.
      In Congress, an immigration and border security package that backs an enforcement-only approach is expected to receive a vote on the Republican-controlled House floor as soon as this week.
      If enacted, the proposed legislation would significantly curtail asylum, limit other humanitarian pathways, restart border wall construction, do away with safeguards for migrant kids and otherwise rewrite the US’s laws to be far less welcoming to those in need of protection.
      With Title 42 set to expire within hours, my colleague Joanna Walters has put together this guide explaining what it is, how it started, why it’s ending and what happens next:As Mayorkas mentioned in the White House briefing, there have been large numbers of people gathering at the southern border. Here are some of the pictures sent to us on the newswires:The Democratic US Senate leader, Chuck Schumer, has condemned as “utterly revolting” remarks in which the Alabama Republican Tommy Tuberville appeared to defend white nationalists in the US military.In an interview with the Alabama station WBHM, published on Monday, Tuberville was asked: “Do you believe they should allow white nationalists in the military?”He answered: “Well, they call them that. I call them Americans.”The Senate armed forces committee member added: “We are losing in the military so fast. And why? I can tell you why. Because the Democrats are attacking our military, saying we need to get out the white extremists, the white nationalists, people that don’t believe in our agenda, as Joe Biden’s agenda.”Tuberville is currently attempting to impose his own agenda on the US military, by blocking promotions and appointments in protest of Pentagon rules about abortion access.On Thursday, Schumer said: “Does Senator Tuberville honestly believe that our military is stronger with white nationalists in its ranks? I cannot believe this needs to be said, but white nationalism has no place in our armed forces and no place in any corner of American society, period, full stop, end of story.”Previously, Sherrilyn Ifill, a former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) legal defense fund, said: “I hope we are not getting so numb that we refrain from demanding that Mr Tuberville’s colleagues in the Senate condemn his remarks.”Schumer added: “I urge Senator Tuberville to think about the destructive spectacle he is creating in the Senate. His actions are dangerous.”Read on …The Biden administration is bracing for the end of the pandemic-era Title 42 and a potential surge of migrants on the southern border. Homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas just concluded a press conference where he warned people against trying to cross into the US, while fending off criticism from both the right and left over how the White House has prepared for this moment.Here’s what else has happened today so far:
      Debt ceiling negotiators from the White House and Congress’s leaders are back at the Capitol to break the high-stakes deadlock ahead of a 1 June deadline for a potential default.
      CNN’s chief executive defended how last night’s town hall with Donald Trump went in a call with employees.
      House Republicans are expected to later today approve a bill to reform the US immigration system in line with conservative priorities. It faces doom in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
      Joe Biden campaigned on undoing Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies, but in recent months, the president has announced new rules for migrants that advocacy groups say are strikingly similar to those of his Republican adversary.Mayorkas was challenged to respond to those claims at the briefing. Here’s what he had to say:
      This administration stands markedly different than the prior administration … We have, in fact, a family reunification task force that has now reunified, I think, more than 700 families that were cruelly separated … We have rescinded the public charge rule that punishes individuals who have migrated to the United States just for accessing public resources to which they are entitled. We have granted temporary protected status to quite a number of countries. This president has led the unprecedented expansion of lawful pathways. We stand markedly different than the prior administration. We do not resemble it at all.
      He concluded by saying: “We are a nation of immigrants, and we are a nation of laws. And those laws provide that, if one qualifies for humanitarian relief, then one has established the basis to remain in the United States. And if one has not, then one is to be removed. And that is exactly what is going to happen.”Since Joe Biden took office, Republicans have repeatedly accused his administration of “opening” the southern border.Asked about that claim, Mayorkas said that’s not the case.“We removed, returned and expelled 1.4 million people last year,” he said. “Ask those 1.4 million people if they think the border is open. Our apprehension rate at the border is consistent with the average apprehension rate in prior years.”Mayorkas warned that “we could see very crowded border patrol facilities” after Title 42’s end, but declined to say how long that situation could last.“We are working as hard as we can to make sure that that time it takes is as little as possible,” the homeland security secretary said. “This is a challenge, and we’re going to meet this challenge.”Republican administrations in states such as Texas have lately taken to bussing recently arrived migrants to Washington DC, with a new group being dropped off outside Kamala Harris’s residence this morning.Asked about that at the press conference, Mayorkas condemned the practice:
      It is a both sad and tragic day when a government official uses migrants as a pawn for political purposes.”
      Mayorkas was challenged by a reporter about why the Biden administration didn’t move faster to prepare for Title 42’s end, considering they’ve known it was going to expire for about two years.Here’s what he had to say:
      I have said for months and months that the challenge at the border is, and is going to be, very difficult. And we have spoken repeatedly about the fact that that difficulty may actually only increase at this time of transition. It is going to take a period of time for our approach to actually gain traction and show results. And I’ve been very clear about that … The fundamental reason why we have a challenge at our border, and we’ve had this challenge many a time before, is because we are working within the constraints of … a fundamentally broken immigration system. And we also are operating on resources that are far less than those that we need.”
      Mayorkas had some choice words for Congress, which he blamed for not changing immigration law to better react to the latest trends in immigration.“Our current situation is the outcome of Congress leaving a broken, outdated immigration system in place for over two decades, despite unanimous agreement that we desperately need legislative reform,” Mayorkas said. “It is also the result of Congress’s decision not to provide us with the resources we need and that we requested.”“We … yet again, call on Congress to pass desperately needed immigration reform,” he concluded.There are plenty of ideas for immigration reform in Congress – in fact, the House will probably pass a measure to do that later today. What’s lacking is enough common ground between Democrats and Republicans, and even within the parties, to get a bill through Congress.As the White House press briefing kicked off, homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned migrants against trying to enter the United States after Title 42 ends at midnight tonight.“If anyone arrives at our southern border after midnight tonight, they will be presumed ineligible for asylum and subjected to steeper consequences for unlawful entry, including a minimum five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution,” Mayorkas said.“We are clear-eyed about the challenges we are likely to face in the days and weeks ahead, and we are ready to meet them,” he said, noting that immigration authorities expect “to see large numbers of encounters” and “are already seeing high numbers of encounters in certain sectors”.“I want to be very clear: our borders are not open. People who cross our border unlawfully and without a legal basis to remain will be promptly processed and removed,” Mayorkas said.The White House press briefing should be getting under way any minute now.This blog will follow it live as homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks. Or, you can watch it as it happens at the livestream above. More

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      Schumer decries Republican senator’s ‘revolting’ remarks on white nationalists

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      The Democratic US Senate leader, Chuck Schumer, condemned as “utterly revolting” remarks in which the Alabama Republican Tommy Tuberville appeared to defend white nationalists in the US military.In an interview with the Alabama station WBHM, published on Monday, Tuberville was asked: “Do you believe they should allow white nationalists in the military?”He answered: “Well, they call them that. I call them Americans.”The Senate armed forces committee member added: “We are losing in the military so fast. And why? I can tell you why. Because the Democrats are attacking our military, saying we need to get out the white extremists, the white nationalists, people that don’t believe in our agenda, as Joe Biden’s agenda.”Tuberville is currently attempting to impose his own agenda on the US military, by blocking promotions and appointments in protest of Pentagon rules about abortion access.On Thursday, Schumer said: “Does Senator Tuberville honestly believe that our military is stronger with white nationalists in its ranks? I cannot believe this needs to be said, but white nationalism has no place in our armed forces and no place in any corner of American society, period, full stop, end of story.”Previously, Sherrilyn Ifill, a former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) legal defense fund, said: “I hope we are not getting so numb that we refrain from demanding that Mr Tuberville’s colleagues in the Senate condemn his remarks.”Schumer added: “I urge Senator Tuberville to think about the destructive spectacle he is creating in the Senate. His actions are dangerous.”On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Tuberville said he was “being skeptical of the notion that there are white nationalists in the military, not that he believes they should be in the military”.A Tuberville spokesperson told the Washington Post the senator “resents the implication that the people in our military are anything but patriots and heroes”.The same spokesperson told NBC Tuberville “has kind of a sarcastic sense of humor” and “was expressing doubt about this being a problem in the military”.Reports have shown the US military has a problem with white nationalism and white supremacy, despite the Pentagon having prohibited “active participation” in extremist groups since 1996.In October 2020, a Pentagon report warning of a problem with white supremacists in the military was sent to Congress. It was released in 2021.In February 2022, the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors extremism, co-published documents showing one in five applicants to one white supremacist group claimed ties to the US military.On Thursday, Adam Hodge, spokesperson for the White House national security council, said it was “abhorrent that Senator Tuberville would argue that white nationalists should be allowed to serve in the military, while he also threatens our national security by holding all pending DoD military and civilian nominations.“Extremist behavior has no place in our military. None.”Fact-checking Tuberville, WBHM, an NPR station, noted Pentagon efforts “to keep extremists, particularly fascists, out of the military”.The station also fact-checked a remark about “what [Joe Biden’s] done to our military with the woke ideas, with the [critical race theory] that we’re teaching in our military”.Critical race theory is an academic discipline that examines the ways in which racism operates in US laws and society. Republicans have turned it into an electoral wedge issue.WBHM said: “The US military is not requiring that CRT be taught and there is little evidence that it’s being discussed much at all in the ranks. According to Military Times, the one instance in which it is being used in an educational setting is at the US Military Academy at West Point.” More

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      Fox News sued for defamation by ex-government disinformation chief

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      The former head of a disinformation group created by the US Department of Homeland Security has sued Fox News for defamation, saying its attacks threatened her safety.In the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, Nina Jankowicz alleged that multiple Fox News hosts spread lies about her work, fueling an internet campaign against her that ultimately led to her resignation and the disbandment of the group.Jankowicz was executive director of the Disinformation Governance Board, created to coordinate efforts to combat disinformation posing a threat to US security.The group was created in April 2022 but paused just three weeks later, after a barrage of conservative attacks. Jankowicz resigned and in August the group was shut down.Jankowicz’s lawsuit focuses on three claims she says Fox levied against her: that she intended to censor speech, that she was fired, and that she wanted to give verified Twitter users, including herself, the power to edit others’ tweets, a claim taken from a video clip used out of context.“Several of these falsehoods stand out as especially destructive – and directly contrary to available, verifiable evidence,” the lawsuit says.The lawsuit also says Fox hosts continuously attacked Jankowicz, calling her a “wicked witch”, a “disinformation czaress” and a “lunatic”, among other things.The suit adds: “Fox’s defamatory coverage has caused Jankowicz and her family immense suffering. Jankowicz has been doxxed, threatened, harassed and even cyber-stalked.“Threatening and harassing messages and social media posts are usually linked to Fox’s coverage of Jankowicz and nearly always premised on Fox’s false statement that Jankowicz intends to police online speech.”Speaking to the New York Times, Jankowicz, 34, said Fox News used her as a “punching bag” even after her resignation and the closure of the Disinformation Governance Board.“It shouldn’t be something we just accept,” she said, “that the most powerful cable network in the world can attack individuals willy-nilly and not face any consequences after they ruin their lives.”Fox did not comment to the Times or immediately respond to Guardian inquiries.Jankowicz’s lawsuit references the recently settled $1.6bn defamation suit between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems, saying the network’s “commitment to stay the course even as readily available information contracted statements of fact made on Fox’s platform” can be seen in both cases.Before the Dominion case was settled, internal communications in court filings revealed that Fox hosts and executives knew Donald Trump’s claims about a stolen election were false but did not stop their broadcast.Last month, Fox and Dominion reached a $787.5m settlement. Fox did not air an apology, though it did acknowledge “court rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false”.Fox faces other lawsuits, including a $2.7bn claim from another voting machine company, Smartmatic, and a suit filed by a former producer for the now fired host Tucker Carlson, who accuses the network of sexism and trying to use her as a scapegoat in the Dominion case.Fox has said the former producer’s claims are “riddled with false allegations”. It has called the Smartmatic suit “outrageous, unsupported and not rooted in sound financial analysis”. More

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      ‘We’re living in madness’: George Santos’s constituents on federal charges

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      “It’s like we’re living in madness,” said Danielle Gentile at a Brazilian restaurant in Long Island’s Westbury, one of a cluster of towns close to the eastern border of the fabulist Republican congressman George Santos’s third congressional district.“I know politicians lie all the time, but you’ve got to at least try to keep up,” Gentile added. “But what’s he going to say? I didn’t mean to lie? He’s like the Brian Williams of politics.”The hostess’s comments came just hours after Santos was hit with 13 criminal counts in federal court. The 34-year-old politician, flanked by just one defense lawyer, was pitted against five attorneys wielding the power of the government.But Santos did not appear overly fazed, later boasting that he had surrendered earlier in the day to authorities so that his entrance to the imposing criminal justice complex would not happen “under the noses” of the media.He pleaded not guilty to charges alleging financial fraud at the center of a political campaign built on a résumé touting his personal wealth and business success that began to unravel six weeks after he won office.Outside the court, Santos appeared almost to relish the attention of a large number of media that gathered. He refused to answer questions until a podium was produced, and then called the investigation and the charges that followed a “witch-hunt”. He was asked if he would resign (he wouldn’t), and if he would campaign for re-election next year (he would).But within the third congressional district, a typically Democratic suburban district north-east of New York City, the first-generation Brazilian American, who ran as a member of a “new generation of Republican leadership”, is received as a deeply oddball figure.The first five people approached by the Guardian – in a diner and a burger joint – professed to be unfamiliar with Santos or his alleged crimes. “Never heard of him, I’m not into politics,” said one woman crossing the street.A sixth approach – to Jerry Spitzkoff, a gas station manager – elicited a response. “He’s a liar and a thief, and he should go to prison,” Spitzkoff, 70, said. “But I blame both parties and the media. No one looked into him. He’s not the first politician to lie, but this is a beauty: he lied about everything.”Santos’s fabrications were the stuff of a committed fantasist. He had not, in fact, worked at Citigroup or Goldman Sachs, graduated from a New York college, or run a pet rescue charity, and his mother had not been in the 9/11 attacks as he claimed. Nor had he been a producer on the Broadway Spider-Man musical. He had, though, perhaps been a Brazilian drag queen called Kitara Ravache.Not surprisingly, Santos’s tall tales made him a laughingstock and fodder for late-night comics.Life-story embellishments do not produce criminal charges, but material wrongdoing can. On Wednesday, the government charged Santos with crimes ranging from duping donors and stealing campaign funds to lying to Congress and illegally collecting unemployment benefits. He was released on a $500,000 bond about five hours after he surrendered to authorities.“It’s absolutely crazy, but for whatever reason George was able to get through all the traditional checkpoints,” said Joshua Sauberman, who ran for Congress in the district on a Democratic ticket in 2018. “There was no vetting and you had the Democratic candidate saying she couldn’t afford it because they needed to run TV ads. Voters did not have the proper information.”Many in his district maintained a broader distaste for politics of which Santos was a symptom, but not the cause of a political system that has produced two roughly octogenarian presidential frontrunners for 2024.“I wouldn’t trust one word from a politician ever again,” said a tow-truck driver who said his name didn’t matter because he had no intention of getting involved in the business of politics. “I think their job has become to demoralize us. If you listen to them, you just be upset. They bring you down.”But others said Santos’s alleged dishonesty did matter and he would be held accountable for it.“They took his word for it and didn’t check him out because they didn’t think he’d win,” said Rafael Joseph at a restaurant in Mineola. “But nobody knows who he is, and I think they’re going to get rid of him.”On Wednesday evening, the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, said he would not support Santos in his re-election bid. “No, I’m not going to support him,” he told CNN. “I think he has other things to focus on in his life other than running for re-election.”But Santos said he was determined to fight. “I appreciate everyone’s patience with my presence in Congress and allowing this process to play out. I believe in innocence until proven guilty, and I have my right to prove my innocence just as the government has a right to try to find me guilty.”However this plays out in the coming days, there was little question that voter anger lies with the system, and not necessarily Santos, whom one local voter described as self-starring in a fictitious remake of the 2022 con artist film Catch Me If You Can.Meanwhile, back at the Brazilian restaurant, Gentile was beginning to seat diners.“He’s a little crazy,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with wearing drag but it seems a little hypocritical to wear it and support a party that opposes it. Everything about him is lie. At least be who you are.” More

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      Trump repeats conspiracy theories and election lies in CNN town hall

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      Donald Trump appeared at a CNN town hall on Wednesday night to unleash a litany of lies about the 2020 election and E Jean Carroll’s lawsuit, just one day after a New York jury found the former president liable for sexual abuse and defamation.Trump took questions from a friendly crowd of Republican and undeclared voters in New Hampshire, who often greeted the former president’s divisive comments and gestures toward moderator Kaitlan Collins with laughter and applause.Trump offered his thoughts on everything from the debt ceiling to abortion access and the war in Ukraine, but he frequently deflected when asked to outline specific policy objectives if he takes back the White House next year.The town hall turned combative as soon as it began, with Trump reiterating his lies about the 2020 election as Collins repeatedly interjected.Pressed by Collins on whether he would acknowledge Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, Trump refused to do so. When Collins later asked if he would accept the results of the 2024 election regardless of the outcome, Trump replied, “Yeah, if I think it’s an honest election, absolutely.”Collins appeared to grow exasperated as the 70-minute town hall drew on, telling Trump at one point, “The election was not rigged, Mr President. You can’t keep saying that all night long.”Turning to Trump’s many legal liabilities, she asked the former president for his message to voters who argue that the verdict in Carroll’s lawsuit should disqualify him from seeking office. On Tuesday, a New York jury concluded that Trump had sexually abused Carroll 27 years earlier, ordering the former president to pay her $5m in damages for her battery and defamation claims.Trump responded by attacking Carroll as a “whack job” and raising baseless doubts about the objectivity of the judge who oversaw the case. The New Hampshire crowd welcomed Trump’s offensive and often untrue statements, and some audience members laughed when Collins noted that the former president had been found liable for sexual abuse.The verdict in Carroll’s case came a month after Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in connection to a hush-money scheme during the 2016 election. He also faces potential criminal charges in Georgia and Washington over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents.Asked why he had refused to voluntarily deliver the requested documents to federal authorities, Trump replied by calling Collins as a “nasty person”, echoing his characterization of former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton as a “nasty woman” in 2016.Meanwhile, Trump often shied away from offering a direct response to policy questions. Asked whether he would sign a federal abortion ban, he replied, “I’m looking at a solution that’s going to work. Very complex issue for the country. You have people on both sides of an issue, but we are now in a very strong position. Pro-life people are in a strong position to make a deal that’s going to be good and going to be satisfactory for them.”Trump would similarly not state whether he wanted Ukraine to win its war against Russia, which launched an unprovoked invasion last year. “I want everybody to stop dying,” Trump said. “Russians and Ukrainians, I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done. I’ll have that done in 24 hours.”The few policy positions that Trump did clearly articulate may be unpopular with a wide swath of the American electorate. Trump said he was “inclined to pardon many” of those convicted for their participation in the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. He also discouraged congressional Republicans from approving an increase in the government’s debt ceiling, which could soon cause a disastrous federal default.“I say to the Republicans out there – congressmen, senators – if they don’t give you massive [spending] cuts, you’re going to have to do a default,” Trump said. “I don’t believe they’re going to do a default because I think the Democrats will absolutely cave.”Trump’s position represents a reversal from his stance during his presidency, when he repeatedly suspended the debt ceiling to allow the government to continue borrowing money. Asked why he had changed his tune, Trump replied, “Because now I’m not president.”The flippant comment was met with laughter and applause, underscoring the former president’s enduring hold on the Republican base. Despite his many legal challenges, Trump remains the frontrunner in polls of the Republican primary field.A number of commentators who had criticized CNN for agreeing to host the town hall cited the contentious nature of the conversation and the audience’s positive reaction to Trump’s lies as confirmation of the network’s poor judgement.“CNN should be ashamed of themselves,” progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter. “They have lost total control of this ‘town hall’ to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim. The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host.”But CNN defended its decision, arguing voters deserved the opportunity to hear from the current frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary.“Our job, despite his unique circumstances, is to do what we do best,” a CNN spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday morning. “Ask tough questions, follow up and hold him accountable to give voters the information they need to sort through their choices. That is our role and our responsibility.”Biden appeared to have watched the town hall, as he sent out a fundraising request once the event concluded.“It’s simple, folks,” Biden said on Twitter. “Do you want four more years of that?” More

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      US Senator Dianne Feinstein returns to duty after months-long absence – as it happened

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      From 3h agoPresident Joe Biden has begun his address in New York’s Hudson Valley to make his public appeal the country’s debt limit fight.“They’re literally holding the economy hostage,” Biden told a crowd of supporters about MAGA Republican lawmakers.“It makes huge cuts to important programs for millions of working middle-class Americans, programs they count on. According to estimates, the Republican bill would put 21 million people at risk of losing Medicaid,” Biden said about the Republican debt limit bill.“It’s not right,” added Biden, as he vowed to protect Medicaid and Social Security programs.It is slightly past 4pm in Washington DC. Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
      Senator Dianne Feinstein has issued a statement following her return to Washington DC after a months-long absence, saying that she is ready to resume her Senate duties as she recovers from shingles. “Even though I’ve made significant progress and was able to return to Washington, I’m still experiencing some side effects from the shingles virus. My doctors have advised me to work a lighter schedule as I return to the Senate. I’m hopeful those issues will subside as I continue to recover,” she said.
      Joe Biden addressed New York’s Hudson Valley in his public appeal the country’s debt limit fight. “They’re literally holding the economy hostage,” Biden told a crowd of supporters about MAGA Republican lawmakers. “It makes huge cuts to important programs for millions of working middle-class Americans, programs they count on. According to estimates, the Republican bill would put 21 million people at risk of losing Medicaid,” Biden said about the Republican debt limit bill.
      George Santos has been arrested on federal criminal charges. Santos, who turned himself into a federal courthouse in New York, has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. He has maintained his innocence and said he will fight the charges.
      A group of independent advisors to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended that the birth control pill can be sold without requiring a prescription. The advisors said that the benefits of selling the birth control pill over the counter outweighed the risks. The pill in question is HRA Pharma’s Opill, also known generically as norgestrel, which was approved by the FDA as a prescription drug in 1973.
      CNN, the leading 24-hour news network, will host Donald Trump for a “town hall” forum as if he were a regular candidate leading the race for the nomination of a regular party. The forum comes just one day after Trump was found liable for $5m in damages for sexually assaulting and defaming the journalist E Jean Carroll.
      The former House January 6 committee member Liz Cheney released an attack ad against Donald Trump in New Hampshire on the eve of his appearance there in a controversial CNN town hall. “There has never been a greater dereliction of duty by any president,” Cheney warns in the ad, which focuses on Trump’s incitement of the deadly Capitol attack on 6 January 2021. “Donald Trump has proven he is unfit for office. Donald Trump is a risk America can never take again,” the ad said.
      That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for following along.Following Santos’s appearance at court earlier today where he faced 13 counts of federal criminal charges, Santos told reporters that he is headed back to Washington DC and that he believes he is innocent.
      “I have to go back and vote. Tomorrow we have one of the most consequential votes in this congress which is the border bill and I’m very looking forward to vote on it.”
      He went on to add:
      “I think this is about innocence until proven guilty… I have my rights to fight to prove my innocence as the government has the right to try and find me guilty… I do my best to be a positive person, life is already as bad as it gets… I believe I’m innocent.”
      Video has emerged of Dianne Feinstein being escorted onto the Senate floor by Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer. Feinstein was sitting in a wheelchair as she was being escorted by Schumer.Feinstein’s office saying that she is currently experiencing vision/balance impairments and at times will need a wheelchair to get around the Capitol, ABC7 reporter Liz Kreutz reports.Senator Dianne Feinstein has issued a statement following her return to Washington DC after a months-long absence, saying that she is ready to resume her Senate duties as she recovers from shingles.
      “I have returned to Washington and am prepared to resume my duties in the Senate… The Senate faces many important issues, but the most pressing is to ensure our government doesn’t default on its financial obligations. I also look forward to resuming my work on the judiciary committee considering the president’s judicial nominees.
      Even though I’ve made significant progress and was able to return to Washington, I’m still experiencing some side effects from the shingles virus. My doctors have advised me to work a lighter schedule as I return to the Senate. I’m hopeful those issues will subside as I continue to recover.”
      Feinstein’s ailing health has led to a handful of lawmakers to demand her resignation.In March, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that Feinstein should retire as her absence has affected Democrats’ efforts to fill federal courts with liberal judges.A month earlier, Feinstein announced that she will not be seeking reelection in 2024.George Santos has pleaded not guilty to his charges, the eastern district court of New York announced.Santos, who faces a total of 13 charges including wire fraud, was released on $500,000 bond around five hours after he surrendered himself to federal authorities.Santos spoke only a few words in court, answering “yes, ma’am” to the judge presiding over the 15-minute hearing, the Associated Press reports.His lawyer, Joseph Murray, said Santos plans on continuing his reelection campaign and asked the judge for permission to travel freely, though he did surrender his passport.“We’re bringing jobs back all across America. There is no reason to put all this at risk, to threaten a recession, to…undermine America’s standing in the world,” said Biden following a lengthy address about America’s economic progress and the need to maintain it.
      “Republican threats are dangerous and they make no sense… We have to keep going and finish the job… It’s never a good bet to bet against America,” said Biden as he concluded his speech.
      “Would your rather cut…$30 billion from big oil or cut $30 billion from veterans? Would you rather cut big pharma or cut healthcare for Americans? These are real world choices,” urged Biden.He went on to talk about the need to fund the country’s infrastructure, saying, “Under my predecessor’s infrastructure…you became a punchline. Under my watch, we’re making infrastructure…a headline.”
      “How can we be the most prosperous economy in the world without having the greatest infrastructure in the world?” Biden continued.
      “I don’t have anything against Wall Street or hedge fund executives but just pay your taxes, man,” said Biden as he proceeded to talk about tax cuts.
      “I’m not talking about 70% tax rates. At least pay something… We got past the corporate minimum tax of 15%…and it paid for everything we did…
      No billionaires should be paying a lower tax rate than a school teacher or a firefighter,” added Biden.
      He went on to explain that his budget has some of the “strongest anti-fraud proposals ever.
      “I think we should have inspector generals again looking at what we’re spending, where it’s gone and where it’s going to go,” said Biden.
      “The last guy who served in this offie for four years increased the total national debt by 40% in just four years,” Biden said about his predecessor Donald Trump.
      “The Trump tax cuts skewed to the wealthy and large corporations,” he added.
      “I made it clear. America is not a deadbeat nation. We pay our bills… If we default on our debt, the whole world is in trouble,” said Biden, adding that he was pleased but not surprised by Senate Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell’s comment in which he said that the US is not going to default on its debt and that it never has.
      “This is not your father’s Republican party. Here’s what happens if MAGA Republicans get their way. America default on our debt, higher interest rates for credit cards, car loans, mortgages, payments for social security… Our economy would fall into recession and our international reputation will be damaged in the extreme,” warned Biden.
      President Joe Biden has begun his address in New York’s Hudson Valley to make his public appeal the country’s debt limit fight.“They’re literally holding the economy hostage,” Biden told a crowd of supporters about MAGA Republican lawmakers.“It makes huge cuts to important programs for millions of working middle-class Americans, programs they count on. According to estimates, the Republican bill would put 21 million people at risk of losing Medicaid,” Biden said about the Republican debt limit bill.“It’s not right,” added Biden, as he vowed to protect Medicaid and Social Security programs.A group of independent advisors to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended that the birth control pill can be sold without requiring a prescription.The advisors said that the benefits of selling the birth control pill over the counter outweighed the risks.The pill in question is HRA Pharma’s Opill, also known generically as norgestrel, which was approved by the FDA as a prescription drug in 1973.The FDA is expected to issue its final decision this summer on HRA Pharma’s application for over-the-counter sales of its pill.Should it be approved, women across the country will be able to purchase the pill without needing to visit a doctor for a prescription.
      “The FDA has been put in a very difficult position of trying to determine whether it is likely that women will use this product safely and effectively at the nonprescription setting,” Karen Murry, deputy director of the FDA office of nonprescription drugs, said on Wednesday, the New York Times reported.
      “We can’t just approve it based on the experience in the prescription setting without the applicant doing adequate studies to look at what’s likely to happen in the nonprescription setting… But I wanted to again emphasize that FDA does realize how very important women’s health is and how important it is to try to increase access to effective contraception for US women,” she added.
      Our columnist Siva Vaidhyanathan is not a fan of CNN’s decision to host Donald Trump in New Hampshire this evening…CNN, the leading 24-hour news network, will host Donald Trump for a “town hall” forum as if he were a regular candidate leading the race for the nomination of a regular party.The forum comes just one day after Trump was found liable for $5m in damages for sexually assaulting and defaming the journalist E Jean Carroll.Of course, CNN will probably do the same for the three or four others who are likely to challenge him for the Republican nomination (so far, the former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson are the only non-crank candidates).A few more might jump in, but the more challenges Trump faces, the more likely he will lock up the nomination on the first primary day, rather than a month later.Putting a microphone and three cameras on Trump as if he were just another candidate and not an instigator of the violent disruption of American democracy and leader of a conspiracy to overthrow the results of a national election is the height of journalistic irresponsibility.Read on…There will be a ghost at the feast – sort of – in New Hampshire later, after the former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney took out an ad attacking Trump over his incitement of the January 6 attack on Congress which will only play on CNN before and during tonight’s town hall event. Here’s more…The former House January 6 committee member Liz Cheney released an attack ad against Donald Trump in New Hampshire on the eve of his appearance there in a controversial CNN town hall.“There has never been a greater dereliction of duty by any president,” Cheney warns in the ad, which focuses on Trump’s incitement of the deadly Capitol attack on 6 January 2021.“Donald Trump has proven he is unfit for office. Donald Trump is a risk America can never take again.”Trump incited the attack by his supporters in an attempt to block certification of Joe Biden’s election win. Nine deaths have been linked to it. Thousands of arrests have been made and hundreds of convictions secured – some for seditious conspiracy.Trump was impeached for inciting an insurrection but acquitted by Senate Republicans.Cheney, the daughter of the former congressman, defense secretary and vice-president Dick Cheney, was vice-chair of the House committee which investigated the Capitol attack and, regarding Trump, made criminal referrals to the Department of Justice.Cheney lost her Wyoming seat to a Trump-backed challenger last year.Now working on a book – entitled Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning – she has not counted out running for the Republican nomination against Trump, or running for president as an independent conservative.Read on… More

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      Republicans holding economy ‘hostage’, says Biden on US debt ceiling – video

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      Joe Biden has accused Republican lawmakers of ‘holding the economy hostage’. Speaking at New York’s Hudson Valley in an appeal to lift the country’s debt limit, Biden said: ‘They’re literally, not figuratively, holding the economy hostage by threatening to default on our nation’s debt.’ Biden added: ‘There is no reason to put all this at risk, to threaten a recession, to … undermine America’s standing in the world’ More