World news

Subterms

    More stories

    • 125 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      How a Trump-backed ‘QAnon whack job’ won with Democratic ‘collusion’

      by

      How a Trump-backed ‘QAnon whack job’ won with Democratic ‘collusion’Dan Cox won the Republican nomination for Maryland governor, but the current governor, Larry Hogan, says that was thanks to Democrats promoting extremist opponents they think will be easier prey Dan Cox, an extremist pro-Trump Republican, won his party’s nomination for governor in Maryland last week thanks to “collusion between Trump and the national Democrats”, the current Republican governor said.‘US democracy will not survive for long’: how January 6 hearings plot a roadmap to autocracyRead more“I don’t think there’s any chance that [Cox] can win,” Larry Hogan added, speaking to CNN’s State of the Union.Hogan previously called Cox “a QAnon whack job”.“Collusion” is a loaded word in US politics, in the long aftermath of the Russia investigation, in which the special counsel Robert Mueller scrutinised election interference by Moscow and links between Trump aides and Russia.The battle to succeed Hogan as governor of Maryland might seem small beer in comparison. But the race attracted national attention.Cox, endorsed by Donald Trump, surged past Kelly Schulz, a member of Hogan’s cabinet, to win the Republican nomination.In the Democratic race, Wes Moore, a bestselling author, beat candidates including Tom Perez, a former Democratic national committee chair and US labor secretary.In a midterm election year, Democrats have sought to boost pro-Trump Republicans in competitive states, placing the risky bet that as the January 6 committee remains in the headlines, extremists who support the former president’s lie about electoral fraud in his 2020 defeat will prove unpalatable to voters.Hogan said: “There’s no question this was a big win for the Democratic Governors Association that I think spent over $3m trying to promote this guy [Cox]. And it was basically collusion between Trump and the national Democrats, who propped this guy up and got him elected.“But he really is not a serious candidate.”The New York Times reported the sum spent by the DGA on pro-Cox TV ads at “more than $1.16m”.Hogan’s host, Jake Tapper, pointed out that 142,000 Republicans voted for Cox, a state legislator, “So it’s really Republican voters that did this.”Hogan said: “Yes, well, some of them. I mean, we only have a little over 20% of the people in Maryland are Republican, and only 20% of them showed up at the polls. So it’s about 2% of the people of our state that voted for the guy. And in the general election, I think it’s going to be a different situation.”Hogan has sought to establish himself as a figurehead for anti-Trump Republicans. Asked if he would vote for Moore, he said he would “have to make a decision about that between now and November. But I’m certainly not going to support this guy [Cox]. I said I wouldn’t. He’s not qualified to be governor.”Cox tried to impeach Hogan over his handling of the Maryland Covid response. He has used QAnon-adjacent language and attended a QAnon-linked convention.QAnon is an antisemitic conspiracy theory which among other beliefs holds that the US is run by a cabal of child-molesting cannibals which Trump will defeat.Hogan has said he is considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination. He was not drawn further on the matter on Sunday. He did tell ABC’s This Week he thought a Trump 2024 announcement before November, which seems likely, would cost Republicans in the midterms.“We had discussions about that at the Republican Governors Association last week,” he said, “and I think most people are very concerned about the damage it does to the party if he announces now.“And, you know, it may help in very red states or very red districts. But in competitive places and purple battlefields, it’s going to cost us seats if he were to do that.” Hogan said he thought Trump’s “ego probably can’t take another loss – after all he lost to Joe Biden, which is hard to do – but he likes to be the center of attention”.Collusion: How Russia Helped Trump Win the White House by Luke Harding – reviewRead moreOn CNN, Tapper cited Liz Cheney, another anti-Trump Republican and possible presidential hopeful who seems set to lose her US House seat in Wyoming, and asked if Hogan felt Trump was winning the battle for the soul of his party.“There’s no question that we lost a battle and we’re losing a few battles,” Hogan said. “But the fight is long. It’s long from being over.“I mean, we have another couple of years before the next [presidential] election. In November of ’20, I gave a speech at the Reagan Institute saying, ‘There’s going to be a long battle for the heart and soul of the Republican party and this is just the beginning.’“I think, in November, we’re going to have a different story, when a lot of these fringe candidates lose. And then we’re going to have to start thinking about, between November’s election and the election two years later, what kind of a party are we going to be? And can we get back to a more Reaganesque big tent party that appeals to more people?“Or are we going to double down on failure?”TopicsUS midterm elections 2022MarylandRepublicansDemocratsUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

    • 150 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Biden ‘doing just fine’ after testing positive for Covid, White House says

      by

      Biden ‘doing just fine’ after testing positive for Covid, White House saysAshish Jha, coronavirus response coordinator, and physician Kevin O’Connor say president contracted BA.5 variant Joe Biden is “feeling well” and “doing just fine” after testing positive for Covid, the White House coronavirus response coordinator said.Joe Biden’s mild Covid symptoms are improving, doctor saysRead moreAppearing on CBS’s Face the Nation, Ashish Jha said: “So it is the BA.5 variant, which is about 80% of infections. But thank goodness, our vaccines and therapeutics work well against it, which is why I think the president’s doing well.“I checked in with his team late last night. He was feeling well. He had a good day yesterday. He’s got a viral syndrome, an upper respiratory infection … and he’s doing just fine.”The White House later released a letter in which Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, said the president’s “predominant symptom now is a sore throat”.O’Connor also said Biden had completed a third full day of treatment with Paxlovid, which would continue and was “experiencing no shortness of breath at all”.Biden’s positive test was announced on Thursday. At 79, the president is the oldest ever inaugurated. He is also, as he said, double-vaccinated and double-boosted and has access to the best possible care.On Sunday the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, told CNN’s State of the Union he knew Biden was still working “because on Thursday I got a call from the White House about something on transportation that he had asked me to follow up on”.Buttigieg also wished Biden “a speedy path back to 100%”.Jha was asked if the White House “will continue to make disclosures if [Biden] has long-term symptoms from this infection”.“Absolutely,” he said. “You know, we think it’s really important for the American people to know how well the president’s doing, which is why we have been so transparent, giving updates several times a day, having people hear from me directly, hear directly from his physician.“And obviously if he has persistent symptoms, if any of them interfere with his ability to carry out his duties, we will disclose that early and often.“But I suspect this is going to be a course of Covid that we’ve seen in many Americans who have been fully vaccinated, double-boosted, getting treated with those tools in hand. You know, the president has been doing well, and we’re gonna expect that he’s going to continue to do so.”Jha also suggested cities seeing high case rates, including New York, Phoenix and Miami, might consider re-instituting indoor mask mandates.“Masks work, right? They clearly slow down transmission. So in areas of high transmission, I think it’s very prudent for people to be wearing masks indoors, especially if they’re in crowded, poorly ventilated spaces. That’s what the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] recommends. And I think that’s a very important and effective way of reducing transmission, protecting yourself as well.“You know, in terms of mandates, that’s something that we’ve always felt strongly should be done by local officials, mayors, governors, local health officials, and we’re seeing different officials take different tactics. And I think that’s actually appropriate given that we have a very diverse country with different transmission patterns and and willingness to kind of engage in-in wearing masks.”Jha was also asked about monkeypox, which on Saturday the World Health Organization declared a “public health emergency of international concern”. Would the Biden administration declare a pandemic?“Pandemics are declared by the World Health Organization,” Jha said, “and I actually applaud the World Health Organization for declaring that public health emergency of international concern. We are seeing outbreaks that are out of control in many, many parts of the world. It’s very important that we get our arms around this thing.“In the US right now, we’re looking at public health emergency as something that [the health department] might … invoke but it really depends on what does that allow us to do. Right now we have over 2,000 cases, but we have ramped up vaccinations, ramped up treatments, ramped up testing, and we’re going to continue to look at all sort of policy options. Right now, we think we can get our arms around this thing but obviously if we need further tools we will invoke them as we need them.”Jha said he thought monkeypox could be contained.Monkeypox declared global health emergency by WHO as cases surgeRead more“The way we contain monkeypox is we have a very simple, straightforward strategy on this, which is: make testing widely available. We have done that. And now testing is far more frequent and common.Answering the charge that the US was caught flat-footed by monkeypox, Jha said: “What I would acknowledge is that when we started two months ago, we had a limited supply of vaccines. We have obtained more than any other country, probably more than every other country combined. We have acted swiftly.”Asked if people should be concerned about another infectious disease, polio, which has been detected in New York, Jha said: “There is a lot of surveillance that we do for polio, there’s wastewater surveillance that goes on, we are not seeing outbreaks of polio elsewhere.“This one case has heightened everybody’s surveillance. But … CDC and the Department of Health of New York are doing an investigation to try to understand more, but I do not expect polio to become more widespread in the country, again, because so many Americans are vaccinated against this.”TopicsJoe BidenUS politicsOmicron variantCoronavirusBiden administrationDemocratsnewsReuse this content More

    • 150 Shares119 Views

      in Elections

      Josh Hawley, senator who ran from Capitol mob, mocked by home paper

      by

      Josh Hawley, senator who ran from Capitol mob, mocked by home paperKansas City Star editorial excoriates Republican as ‘laughingstock’ as memes based on January 6 video proliferate

      Robert Reich: Trump’s coup continues
      01:08Josh Hawley, the Missouri senator shown running from the mob he incited on January 6, is “a laughingstock” who should be afraid of what the Capitol attack committee might disclose next, a leading newspaper in his home state said.‘US democracy will not survive for long’: how January 6 hearings plot a roadmap to autocracyRead moreHawley was widely criticised for raising a fist to protesters outside Congress on 6 January 2021, then after the mob sent by Donald Trump failed to stop certification of Joe Biden’s election win, voting to object to results anyway.The senator cast that vote, American voters now know, after running when rioters broke into Congress.In an editorial, the Kansas City Star noted that Hawley will soon publish a book entitled Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs, but said people watching the hearing “didn’t see much virile bravado as he ran from the mob”.The Star began: “Josh Hawley is a laughingstock. During Thursday night’s televised hearings of the House committee investigating the January 6 2021 coup attempt … [Democratic] representative Elaine Luria showed video of Missouri’s junior senator that will surely follow him the rest of his life.“In the clip, Hawley sprints across a hallway as he and his fellow senators are evacuated after insurrectionists had breached the Capitol building. When it played on the screen, the audience in the room with the committee erupted in laughter.”On Twitter, users spliced the video to songs including Born to Run, Running Up That Hill and the Benny Hill theme. Charlie Sykes, a conservative Trump critic, wrote: “Running Josh Hawley is a meme for the ages.”But the Star also noted that “Hawley has become one of the defining figures of that day. A famous photo captured by Francis Chung shows him raising a fist in solidarity with the crowds that would soon break through doors, loot offices and assault law enforcement.”The senator shows no sign of backing down. Speaking at a conservative conference in Florida on Friday, apparently without irony, he said: “I just want to say to all of those liberals out there and the liberal media, just in case you haven’t gotten the message yet, I do not regret [voting to object to electoral results].“And I am not backing down. I’m not going to apologise. I’m not going to cower. I’m not going to run from you. I’m not going to bend the knee.”He has also used the image to fundraise, selling among other items mugs said to be “the perfect way to enjoy coffee, tea, or liberal tears!”Politico, which owns the image, asked Hawley to stop using it. He refused. On Friday morning, he tweeted a link to a site selling the mug.In February, Hawley told the Huffington Post: “It is not a pro-riot mug. This was not me encouraging rioters … At the time that we were out there, folks were gathered peacefully to protest, and they have a right to do that. They do not have a right to assault cops.”As the Star noted, however, in Thursday’s hearing Luria “quoted a Capitol police officer who was there and told the committee that Hawley’s gesture ‘riled up the crowd, and it bothered her greatly because he was doing it in a safe space protected by the officers and the barriers’”.Hawley was the first senator to say he would object on January 6, when he was joined by 146 other Republicans. Hawley, the Star said, “took to the floor as the very first voice calling to throw out millions of Americans’ votes cast fairly and legally for the rightful winner in a presidential election”.Any Given Tuesday: Lis Smith on Cuomo, Spitzer and a political lifeRead moreIt continued: “Funny as the visual of the self-proclaimed manly senator’s immediate retreat was, there’s absolutely nothing amusing about January 6 2021. A bipartisan Senate report concluded seven people died as a result of the attack. Two more Metropolitan police officers took their own lives shortly after.“About 150 members of law enforcement were injured, and it’s impossible to know how many others caught up in the horrific event will carry scars for life, of body and mind. We said that day Hawley has blood on his hands for his role in perpetuating the lies that drove thousands of people to violence. That remains true.”The editorial signed off with a warning. Noting the work of Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican nonetheless vice-chair of the January 6 committee, it said: “Josh Hawley might not fear a little mockery of his hasty flight from Capitol marauders.“But he might be justified if he’s afraid of what emails or text messages some previously-loyal staffer might be considering turning over to the House committee.“Stay tuned to the hearings.”TopicsJanuary 6 hearingsUS Capitol attackRepublicansUS politicsMissourinewsReuse this content More

    • 138 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump and Pence duel in Arizona in fight for Republican future

      by

      Trump and Pence duel in Arizona in fight for Republican future Former president and his one-time wingman appear at rival events – and it’s all to play for as the US midterms approachEddie Palazuelos drove 200 miles and lined up for five hours under the baking sun to to see Donald Trump at a campaign event for candidates he is backing in the forthcoming Arizona Republican primaries.It’s the fifth Trump rally the 27-year-old has attended since the former president lost the White House in 2020 – because Palazuelos vehemently believes the election was stolen. Any judge or lawmaker who concludes otherwise is “willfully ignorant”, he said, referring to the dozens of lawsuits and recounts nationwide which ruled out fraud.‘It’s a kangaroo court’: in key state, Trump backers dismiss January 6 hearingsRead more“Fixing our election system is fundamental. That’s why Kari Lake is my No 1 for governor, because she won’t stop talking about the election,” said Palazuelos, an IT worker from Tucson, as Abba’s hit The Winner Takes it All blasted through the speakers. “Of course Trump’s endorsement means something.”How much it means is the big question.In Arizona’s gubernatorial race, candidate Kari Lake’s consistent and combative false claims about election fraud were rewarded with an endorsement from Trump back in January, which helped the former local Fox news anchor and Barack Obama supporter surge ahead in the race for the Republican nomination.But Trump’s visit on Friday also took place as his former wingman Mike Pence spoke at two campaign events for Karrin Taylor Robson, Lake’s main rival in the key battleground state, who has stopped short of calling the election corrupt.Trump and Pence squared off in Arizona the day after the congressional committee investigating the attempted coup on January 6 said that the then president’s refusal to call off the violent mob for over three hours amounted to a dereliction of duty. The duel signals a proxy war for the future of the Republican party, and follows revelations that Trump approved – or was at least nonchalant about – the mob chanting “hang Mike Pence”.The duelling appearances underlines the importance of Arizona on the national stage, with the 2 August primaries likely to serve as a litmus test for Trump’s endorsement prowess ahead of the midterms, where the Republicans hope to win key state races and regain control of the Senate and House.“Trump continues to have a tight hold over the Republican party in the state, but we’ll see whether the January 6 hearings have made enough of them decide that they want something less bombastic,” said Julie Erfle, a Phoenix-based communications consultant and political commentator.The Trump-Lake event on Friday evening took place about 90 miles north of Phoenix in the Prescott valley, one of the reddest parts of the state, with deep seated undercurrents of racism, including the presence of white supremacy groups such as the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters and the Oath Keepers.Friday was the hottest day of the year so far, and several people passed out and needed medical attention. Once inside, the mood was festive as exhausted supporters refueled on popcorn, cheesy nachos and small bottles of water that cost $4.50.It was very much the Trump show, with appearances by several far-right conspiracy theorists, including the MyPillow boss Mike Lindell, former sheriff Joseph Arpaio, Trump’s attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh, and Mark Finchem, a member of the militia group the Oath Keepers running for secretary of state. All of Trump’s endorsements have repeated the false claims about the stolen 2020 election.Trump came on stage to rapturous applause, and repeated his usual baseless complaints about rampant election fraud by the so-called radical left. But the crowd seemed to hang on to every word.“I’ll be voting for all of Trump’s endorsements, and for him in 2024. Pence? He’s a Rino and a traitor, not to be trusted,” said Kelly Ciccone, 58, referencing the shorthand for Republican In Name Only.Earlier in the day, Pence appeared at Taylor’s relatively small but spirited campaign event in Peoria, a Phoenix suburb, alongside the outgoing Republican governor Doug Ducey. Taylor, a pro-gun, anti-choice, anti-immigration developer, is catching up fast in the polls after spending least $13.5m of her own wealth on the race.It’s not the first time Pence has pitted himself against his former boss. In May, he backed Georgia governor Brian Kemp, who like Ducey has been repeatedly attacked by Trump for his refusal to overturn the 2020 results in his state. On that occasion, Kemp crushed Trump’s candidate David Perdue by more than 50 points.It’s unclear whether Pence, who has been campaigning for candidates nationwide, plans to launch a 2024 presidential bid but as polls stand now, only Ron DeSantis, the hardline Florida governor, looks capable of challenging Trump.The dozen Republican voters interviewed by the Guardian were more or less evenly split between Trump, Pence and DeSantis as their pick for 2024.“I probably wouldn’t vote for Trump again because of his alleged involvement in January 6. The country needs a lot of fixing. I don’t think going back is the answer,” said Kevin Coles, 30, a cybersecurity expert at the Taylor event.It’s all to play for in Arizona. Coles is among around 20% of voters who are still undecided in the gubernatorial race, but the momentum is with Taylor, and her backer Ducey, who is also co-chair of the Republican Governors Association, has seen his approval ratings rise to 60%.Pence did not criticise Trump – in fact, he boasted about their joint achievements in the White House. But backing Taylor against Lake will likely be seen as a combative move.Next week, the former allies will take the fight to Washington with speeches about the post-2024 Republican agenda at rival conservative think tanks on Tuesday. It will be Trump’s first public appearance in the capitol since he left the White House on Biden’s inauguration day on 20 January 2021.“Nationally, this signals what we’re going to see in the Republican presidential primary for 2024 – a contest between the Trump and Pence factions of the party,” said Erfle.“The two sides are not all that different on misogyny, racism and far-right nationalism. It’s more about choosing a cult of personality that revolves around Trump or continuing democracy in some form.”TopicsArizonaMike PenceDonald TrumpUS politicsRepublicansJanuary 6 hearingsnewsReuse this content More

    • 138 Shares189 Views

      in World Politics

      Italy, Europe, and the World Needed Super Mario to Stay On

      by

      The Fair Observer website uses digital cookies so it can collect statistics on how many visitors come to the site, what content is viewed and for how long, and the general location of the computer network of the visitor. These statistics are collected and processed using the Google Analytics service. Fair Observer uses these aggregate statistics from website visits to help improve the content of the website and to provide regular reports to our current and future donors and funding organizations. The type of digital cookie information collected during your visit and any derived data cannot be used or combined with other information to personally identify you. Fair Observer does not use personal data collected from its website for advertising purposes or to market to you.As a convenience to you, Fair Observer provides buttons that link to popular social media sites, called social sharing buttons, to help you share Fair Observer content and your comments and opinions about it on these social media sites. These social sharing buttons are provided by and are part of these social media sites. They may collect and use personal data as described in their respective policies. Fair Observer does not receive personal data from your use of these social sharing buttons. It is not necessary that you use these buttons to read Fair Observer content or to share on social media. More

    • 200 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      Big Oil V the World review – how can these climate crisis deniers sleep at night?

      by

      Big Oil V the World review – how can these climate crisis deniers sleep at night?This shocking documentary series reveals the lies oil lobbyists told to undercut democracy, prevent action against global heating – and bring our planet to the brink Al Gore described it as “in many ways the most serious crime of the post-world war two era, whose consequences are almost unimaginable”. Can you guess which one the former vice-president meant? Genocide in the former Yugoslavia? Genocide in Rwanda? The attack on the twin towers? The oxymoronic “war on terror” that produced – rather than eliminated – terrorism? The nuclear arms race? The invasion of Ukraine? The crimes of Stalin, Mao, or Pol Pot? Or other ones I haven’t the space to cite?Gore is in fact referring to a very specific moment that occurred on 25 July 1997. That day, the US Senate voted by 95-0 for the Byrd-Hagel Resolution, ruling that the US should not sign a climate treaty that would become known as the Kyoto protocol – despite the Clinton administration’s desire for the US to be a world leader in the fight to cut greenhouse gas emissions. It meant that Clinton would only be allowed to take action when developing countries – particularly India and China – were bound by the same strictures.‘What we now know … they lied’: how big oil companies betrayed us allRead moreThe worry, touted by purported experts (many of whom were briefed and funded by US oil companies), was that Kyoto would be a disaster for the US. Imposing strict emission controls on the US – while industrialising nations such as India and China were not similarly constrained – would cost the US upwards of 5,000 jobs, put more than 50 cents on a tank of gas, whack up electricity bills 25% to 50% and put the struggling US economy at a competitive disadvantage in international markets. Or so it was claimed.Jane McMullen’s excellent and shocking first instalment of a three-part series, Big Oil V The World (BBC Two) reveals another reason for senators Robert Byrd and Chuck Hagel’s resolution. For many years, the big oil lobby had poured scorn on the growing scientific orthodoxy that humanity is hurtling towards a climate catastrophe and that the leading reason is the rise in emissions of greenhouse gases.What I didn’t know, and this documentary helpfully explains, is that the US’s largest oil company, Exxon, had labs filled with researchers who had produced detailed reports showing the reality of the climate crisis. That research, though, was suppressed.The bitter irony, clinched by one of the company’s former climate scientists, Ed Garvey, was that Exxon could have been part of the solution rather than the problem. Garvey worked on Exxon’s carbon dioxide research programme from 1978 to 1983, when it was closed because falling gas prices made it seem an expendable luxury.Garvey also recalls that there were scientists at Exxon developing alternatives to fossil fuels such as solar power and lithium batteries. But their work was shelved. The future of the planet, Garvey suggests, was deemed less important than Exxon’s short-term profit.Although the Clinton administration in which Gore served had from the outset committed itself to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to their 1990 levels by 2000, and leaders of industrial nations such as the British prime minister, John Major, called for even deeper cuts, the Senate resolution effectively destroyed the president and his vice-president’s hopes of the US leading the world. Instead, the US, through its inaction, helped hasten the climate catastrophe we now live in.To clinch this rhetorical point, the programme repeatedly cuts from talking heads to scenes more hellish than those imagined by Dante or Milton. Floods in China, a fiery hellscape in California, storms lashing Louisiana and, in one shot, battering an Exxon gas station.After seeing such images, I wonder how Hagel, who sponsored that 1997 Senate resolution and went on to become defence secretary, sleeps at night. He was among the climate crisis deniers this documentary catches up with to hear them repent. Off-screen, the excellent interviewer asks Hagel if he feels he was misled, given that Exxon, whose execs lobbied him before the Senate vote, was making a concerted effort throughout the 1990s to cast doubt on the reality of the climate emergency and the role of human activity in increasing global temperatures – even though their own scientists were telling them that the science was sound.“We now know about some of these large oil companies … they lied,” says Hagel. “Yes I was misled. Others were misled. When they had evidence in their own institutions that countered what they were saying publicly – they lied.” If the truth had been told to Hagel and other climate crisis-denying senators, would the situation be different? “Oh absolutely,” says Hagel. “I think it would have changed the average citizen’s appreciation of climate change and mine. It would have put the United States and the world on a different track. It has cost this country and it’s cost the world.”Last August, the UN secretary general António Guterres said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) working group’s report confirming the link between human activity and rising greenhouse emissions is “a code red for humanity”. That Senate resolution, McMullen’s film argues, contributed to our climate emergency.No one in this programme explores the hideous political ramifications of this terrible state of affairs, namely that the virus of capitalism (in the form of big oil) undercut democracy through a sustained campaign of disinformation. How easy it proved for corporations to sucker politicians such as Hagel to subvert not just the will of the people but the wellbeing of the planet. If McMullen’s film has a moral, it’s that democracy must be healthy enough to resist commercial lobbying, so that we don’t get fooled again. In 2022, that seems an unlikely scenario.TopicsTelevision & radioTV reviewTelevisionDocumentaryClimate crisisFactual TVOilOil and gas companiesreviewsReuse this content More

    • 163 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      Joe Biden tests positive for Covid and has ‘mild symptoms’, White House says

      by

      Joe Biden tests positive for Covid and has ‘mild symptoms’, White House saysPress chief says Biden, 79, who has had two boosters, is taking antiviral Paxlovid, while first lady Jill Biden has tested negative Joe Biden tested positive for Covid on Thursday, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus as new variants challenge the nation’s efforts to resume normalcy after two and a half years of pandemic disruptions.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden was experiencing “mild symptoms” and has begun taking Paxlovid, an antiviral drug designed to reduce the severity of the disease.Biden to unveil $37bn proposal to tackle crime, including 100,000 more policeRead moreShe said Biden “will isolate at the White House and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time.“He has been in contact with members of the White House staff by phone this morning, and will participate in his planned meetings at the White House this morning via phone and Zoom from the residence.”Biden, 79, is fully vaccinated, after getting two doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine shortly before taking office, a first booster shot in September and an additional dose March 30.In a letter released by the White House, Kevin O’Connor, the president’s physician, described Biden’s symptoms as mild.“Mostly rhinorrhea (or runny nose) and fatigue, with an occasional dry cough, which started yesterday evening,” O’Connor wrote. He noted that he anticipates that “he will respond favorably” to Paxlovid, as “most maximally protected patients do”.First lady Jill Biden has tested negative, according to her office. The first lady is in Detroit for an event at a local school. Before the event started, Biden briefly addressed news of her husband testing positive for Covid.“My husband tested positive for Covid. I talked to him just a few minutes ago. He’s doing fine, he’s feeling good,” she said. “I tested negative this morning. I am going to keep my schedule.”The president was scheduled to deliver a speech on gun violence in Pennsylvania on Thursday. That trip has been cancelled, and he is expected to stay at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, for the weekend.While this is Biden’s first bout of coronavirus, multiple members of his administration have contracted the virus. Vice-president Kamala Harris had Covid in April, and Xavier Becerra, the secretary of health and human services, and Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, both tested positive in May.Coronavirus cases in the United States have been on the rise once again as the contagious BA.5 variant has become the dominant strain. The US has been recording as many as 150,000 new Covid cases a day, according to Johns Hopkins University.In her statement, Jean-Pierre said that the White House will provide a daily update on Biden’s status “as he continues to [work] in isolation”.TopicsJoe BidenUS politicsCoronavirusnewsReuse this content More

    • 163 Shares119 Views

      in Elections

      January 6 hearings return to recount 187 minutes of chaos at the Capitol

      by

      January 6 hearings return to recount 187 minutes of chaos at the CapitolCapitol attack committee plans to provide detailed account of insurrection and suggests this will not be final hearing The January 6 committee is returning to primetime. The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection will hold its eighth and final – for now, at least – public hearing on Thursday night.Like the first hearing, Thursday’s event will take place in the evening, as the panel seeks to capture the widest possible audience for its presentation. The first hearing, which was held last month, was watched by at least 20 million people.The eighth hearing will detail the 187 minutes that passed between the start and the end of the insurrection on that winter afternoon in 2021, as a mass of Donald Trump’s more extreme supporters overran the US Capitol in a vain attempt to disrupt the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the November 2020 presidential election.Democrat Elaine Luria, who will co-lead the Thursday hearing with fellow panel member and Republican Adam Kinzinger, said the committee will provide a “minute-by-minute” account of the insurrection, as Trump failed to quell the violence that left several people dead.“He didn’t act. He had a duty to act. So we will address that in a lot of detail,” Luria said Sunday. “And from that, we will build on the information that we provided in the earlier hearings.”One central committee member, Democratic chair Bennie Thompson, will not be attending the hearing in person. Thompson tested positive for coronavirus on Monday, but will chair the hearing remotely, a committee aide said.Two former Trump White House aides who resigned shortly after January 6, Matthew Pottinger and Sarah Matthews, are expected to testify on Thursday.Pottinger served in the Trump administration for four years and resigned as a deputy national security adviser, while Matthews was a White House press aide.When she announced her resignation last year, Matthews expressed dismay about the events of January 6, and she has continued to criticize Trump.After former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson appeared before the select committee last month, Matthews came to her defense, even as some of Trump’s allies dismissed the shocking testimony as “hearsay”.“Anyone downplaying Cassidy Hutchinson’s role or her access in the West Wing either doesn’t understand how the Trump [White House] worked or is attempting to discredit her because they’re scared of how damning this testimony is,” Matthews said on Twitter at the time.Anyone downplaying Cassidy Hutchinson’s role or her access in the West Wing either doesn’t understand how the Trump WH worked or is attempting to discredit her because they’re scared of how damning this testimony is.— Sarah Matthews (@SarahAMatthews1) June 28, 2022
      Hutchinson’s testimony is expected to feature prominently in the Thursday hearing. In her appearance before the committee, Hutchinson, a former adviser to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, painted a damning picture of an increasingly chaotic White House led by a president determined to hold on to power, even after he was repeatedly told he had fairly lost the election, including by his own attorney general, William Barr.According to Hutchinson, Trump was aware that some of his supporters were armed on January 6, yet he still encouraged them to march to the Capitol after he spoke at a rally near the White House.Hutchinson also provided a secondhand account of Trump grabbing for the steering wheel of a vehicle in a desperate attempt to go to the Capitol with his supporters, having said at the rally “I’ll be there with you”. Instead he returned to the White House.01:42Some of Hutchinson’s testimony relied on comments she heard from Pat Cipollone, Trump’s former White House counsel. Cipollone privately spoke to the January 6 investigators shortly after Hutchinson testified, and the committee is expected to show more of his interview during the Thursday hearing.The committee had also hoped to gather more information from the US Secret Service before the Thursday hearing, about Trump and Pence’s movements on the day, but that effort is proving far more difficult than anticipated. After receiving a subpoena for all agency communications on January 5 and 6, the Secret Service turned over just one text message to the select committee, an aide to the panel confirmed.The committee has promised to continue collecting information from important witnesses as it works to compile a comprehensive report on the Capitol attack by this fall, and additional hearings are still possible later in the summer.“There is no reason to think that this is going to be the select committee’s final hearing,” a committee aide said Wednesday. “The multi-step plan, overseen and directed by the former president, to overturn the results of the election and block the transfer of power couldn’t be clearer from the information that we’ve laid out. We expect that [the panel] is going to continue telling that story.”TopicsJanuary 6 hearingsUS Capitol attackUS politicsDonald TrumpJoe BidennewsReuse this content More