Category Archives: Joe Biden

Biden says three objects shot down over US ‘most likely’ private, and not more Chinese spy balloons – as it happened

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The special grand jury empaneled in the Georgia’s Fulton county worried that at least one of the 75 witnesses it heard from may have lied under oath, according to portions of their report released today.

They also determined “by a unanimous vote that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election that could result in overturning that election,” the jurors wrote in the report’s introduction, which was released along with its conclusion and a brief chapter outlining the perjury concerns.

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FBI searched University of Delaware in Biden documents investigation

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The justice department is looking into how classified documents came to be found in Joe Biden’s home and former office

The FBI searched the University of Delaware in recent weeks for classified documents as part of its investigation into the potential mishandling of sensitive government records by Joe Biden.

The search, first reported by CNN, was confirmed to the Associated Press by a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The person would not say whether anything was found.

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US could default this summer unless $31.4tn debt ceiling is raised, CBO warns

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Historic federal debt default could occur before July, cautions non-partisan agency

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Wednesday said the US treasury department will exhaust its ability to pay all its bills sometime between July and September, unless the current $31.4tn cap on borrowing is raised or suspended.

In a report issued alongside its annual budget outlook, the non-partisan CBO cautioned that a historic federal debt default could occur before July if revenue flowing into the treasury in April – when most Americans typically submit annual income tax filings – lags expectations.

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Biden drops candidate’s nomination to human rights post over Israel remarks

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Professor says his selection was dropped for describing Israel as an ‘apartheid state’ and accusing Jeffries of being ‘bought’ by Aipac

The Biden administration has withdrawn the nomination of a leading law professor to an international human rights post, for describing Israel as an “apartheid state” and accusing the top Democrat in Congress of being “bought” by pro-Israel groups.

James Cavallaro, of Wesleyan and Yale universities, said he was told by the US state department on Tuesday it had dropped his selection to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) “due to my statements denouncing apartheid in Israel/Palestine”.

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‘Significant’ debris from China spy balloon retrieved, says US military

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Sensors and electronics pulled from waters off South Carolina, says military, after White House says Beijing’s surveillance program dates back years

The US military has recovered “significant debris” from a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon shot down this month, the Pentagon has said, after the White House claimed China had been operating a high-altitude balloon program spying on the US and its allies for many years.

The US Northern Command said in a statement: “Crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure.”

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Biden administration forming team to study unidentified aerial objects – as it happened

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US will have its experts try to understand unknown objects, including broader policy implications, says John Kirby

“I told you so”.

That’s more or less what Republican senator Marco Rubio has to say about the three downings of unidentified objects over North American skies over the weekend:

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Schumer says Chinese ‘humiliated’ after three flying objects shot down

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‘Chinese were caught lying',’ says Senate majority leader as US and Canadian military scramble to recover pieces

US and Canadian military are continuing to search by sea and land amid hostile weather conditions in a scramble to recover portions of three flying objects shot down over North American airspace in the past week.

The Democratic majority leader of the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, told ABC’s This Week on Sunday that he had been briefed by the White House and that officials were now convinced that all three of the flying objects brought down by air-to-air missiles this week were balloons. He put the finger of blame firmly on China.

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Biden appeals to governors for ‘less partisanship’ to help rebuild economy

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President says at White House dinner that passage of infrastructure laws is evidence of ‘some bipartisan progress’

Joe Biden appealed to Republican and Democratic governors on Saturday to continue working across political divides to improve Americans’ lives and rebuild the economy after the hardships brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking at a black-tie dinner at the White House, the president told 31 governors that the passage of laws on investing in infrastructure and domestic manufacture of semiconductors was evidence of “some bipartisan progress” among Republicans and Democrats. Vice-President Kamala Harris was also in attendance.

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US confirms ‘high-altitude object’ taken down over Alaska – as it happened

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John Kirby says defense department was tracking flying object, and Biden ordered military to ‘down’ it

Reports are now confirming that the FBI is searching Pence’s Indiana home for additional classified documents.

CNN reported that “a source familiar with the situation” is confirming that the search is taking place and in relation to classified documents.

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Biden says he’s Republicans’ ‘nightmare’ over social spending cuts – as it happened

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Francine Prose, the novelist and Guardian US columnist, takes a look today at Republican attacks on reading in schools, particularly in Florida under Ron DeSantis, a leading (notional) contender for the presidential nomination in 2024.

For some time now, conservative groups pressured libraries and classrooms to remove certain “controversial” books from their shelves and their syllabi. These are texts that tell uncomfortable or unpopular truths about our nation’s origins, including inequality, race, history, gender, sexuality, power and class – a range of subjects that a small but vocal group of Americans would prefer to ignore or deny.

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‘Pride is coming back’: Biden touts victories on jobs and climate in State of the Union address

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President hopes to combat widespread sense of pessimism and to tout his accomplishments from first two years in office

Joe Biden called on Republicans to help him to “finish the job” of rebuilding the economy and restoring faith in American democracy in his second State of the Union address on Tuesday night, as he made an unfettered call to action on police reform, gun control and the climate crisis.

Addressing a divided Congress for the first time, an optimistic Biden made the case that the nation was stronger and more stable than when he assumed office two years ago.

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Bullish Biden hails achievements in combative State of the Union address – as it happened

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US president believes he has an economic success story to tell although polls indicate voters are skeptical

Joe Biden has left the White House and is driving down Washington’s Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol to give the State of the Union address.

As he walked to his armored limousine known as The Beast, Biden told reporters he was “feeling good.” Asked what the state of the union was, he replied, “great shape. Getting better.”

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‘Hot air’: Marjorie Taylor Greene in State of the Union balloon stunt

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Republican extremist appears to reference Chinese surveillance dirigible by parading halls of Congress with white balloon

Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared to tee up a State of the Union stunt on Tuesday, patrolling the halls of Congress with a large white balloon in reference to Republican criticism of Joe Biden over his handling of a flight over US territory by a Chinese surveillance dirigible.

“Just an innocent white balloon everybody,” the Georgia extremist said, hours before Biden’s address to Congress, attempting to keep aloft the balloon saga which ended when it was shot down off the Carolinas on Saturday.

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Biden set to highlight economic gains in State of the Union address – live

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How Republicans are responding to the State of the Union address will offer a preview into what message the party will sell to voters in the 2024 presidential election. Republicans are already making media appearances on their chosen conservative news networks.

Elise Stefanik, House Republican Conference chair and rising GOP star from New York state whose staunch defense of Donald Trump helped her get a House seat, set up over 300 House Republican interviews with local media outlets, according to this morning’s Politico Playbook.

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McCarthy calls on Biden to accept spending cuts in debt ceiling fight

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White House has said Biden will discuss issue after ceiling is lifted, while Republicans insist on cuts first

Kevin McCarthy, the House speaker, called on Joe Biden to agree to compromises and spending cuts, as the two remain deadlocked over raising the nation’s $31.4tn debt ceiling.

McCarthy spoke on Monday before Biden gives the annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, aiming to get ahead of the president and reinforce his role as the leading congressional negotiator.

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Biden prepares for State of the Union as US collects Chinese balloon debris – as it happened

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Former US vice president Mike Pence was expected to visit South Carolina today, as the signals grow louder that he’ll make his own run for the White House in 2024 as a rival to the former boss he’s essentially fallen out with, Donald Trump. But that visit has been postponed.

Fresh reports say that Pence has decided to delay his trip to the crucial primary state because his oldest daughter, Charlotte Pence Bond, has gone into labor in California. The ex-veep and his wife, Karen Pence, headed for California instead and will reschedule the trip to South Carolina.

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Buttigieg backs Biden 2024 run but poll says most Americans don’t

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Poll shows 60% of Democrats want someone else as 2024 nominee and nearly 50% of Republicans want someone other than Trump

Nearly 60% of Democrats and nearly 50% of Republicans want someone other than Joe Biden or Donald Trump to be their party’s nominee for president in 2024, a new poll showed on Sunday.

A key member of Biden’s cabinet, however, insisted Biden’s record in office was more important than any “generational argument” for change.

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Trump campaign promised to ‘fan the flame’ of 2020 election lie, audio reveals – as it happened

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Senior state officials have commented on the postponement of Blinken’s trip to China after a Chinese spy balloon was discovered over the US yesterday, noting that conditions were no longer right for Blinken’s travel.

From Reuters’ reporter Hümeyra Pamuk:

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Why prosecutors might get Trump – and not Biden – for classified documents

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Trump’s situation is more perilous because of his reluctance to cooperate and his suspected obstruction of justice

Donald Trump’s retention of classified-marked documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort is distinguished in the eyes of the justice department from that of Joe Biden or Mike Pence as a result of one particularly crucial difference: suspected obstruction of justice.

Legal experts believe the situation for the former US president is more perilous than others swept up in the scandal because of his reluctance to cooperate at key moments in the investigation and his unwillingness to proactively search his properties for marked documents after becoming aware that he possessed such papers.

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Republicans remove Ilhan Omar from House foreign affairs committee – as it happened

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The House voted along party lines as it ousted Democratic representative Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee while Democrats defended her.

The vote was divided 218 to 211, CBS reports. One GOP member voted “present.”

“This debate today, it’s about who gets to be an American? What opinions do we get to have, do we have to have to be counted as American?… That is what this debate is about, Madam Speaker. There is this idea that you are suspect if you are an immigrant. Or if you are from a certain part of the world, of a certain skin tone or a Muslim.

Well, I am Muslim. I am an immigrant, and interestingly, from Africa. Is anyone surprised that I’m being targeted? Is anyone surprised that I am somehow deemed unworthy to speak about American foreign policy?” she said.

“A blatant double standard is being applied here. Something just doesn’t add up. And what is the difference between Rep. Omar and these members? Could it be the way that she looks? Could it be her religious practices?” he said.

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