Category Archives: Joe Biden

Republicans accuse Biden of hypocrisy over classified documents discoveries

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House oversight chair requests Delaware visitor logs as Democrats stress difference from Trump classified records case

Republicans pounced on the discovery on Saturday of more classified documents at Joe Biden’s residence, accusing the president of hypocrisy and questioning why the records were not brought to light earlier.

Biden lawyers have discovered at least 20 classified documents at his residence outside Wilmington, Delaware, and at an office in Washington used after he left the Obama administration, in which he was vice-president.

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Biden lawyers found more classified documents at his home than was known

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White House acknowledges six pages of classified documents had been found in a search of private library

Lawyers for Joe Biden found more classified documents at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, than previously known, the White House acknowledged on Saturday.

The White House lawyer Richard Sauber said in a statement that a total of six pages of classified documents were found during a search of Biden’s private library. The White House had said previously that only a single page had been found there.

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Ex-Russian president suggests Japanese PM should ritually disembowel himself

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Dmitry Medvedev accuses Fumio Kishida of shameful subservience to US after Joe Biden meeting

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has accused Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida of shameful subservience to the US and suggested he should ritually disembowel himself.

His remarks on Saturday were the latest in a long line of shocking and provocative statements from Medvedev, who was once seen as a western-leaning reformer but has reinvented himself as an arch-hawk since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.

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How will Biden handle a hostile Republican House and what does it mean for 2024?

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As Republicans threaten to ensnare the president in investigations and legislative brinkmanship, Biden is touting bipartisanship

After a bruising fight over the House speakership, newly empowered Republicans officially set to work this week on what they say is a mandate to hold Joe Biden and his administration to account.

Several of the president’s chief antagonists took control of powerful committees, eager to use their subpoena power to frustrate and undermine the president, his administration and his family.

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Democratic lawmakers demand Biden revoke Bolsonaro’s visa after Brazil riot

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Former president entered the US after his election loss and is staying in Florida

Dozens of Democratic lawmakers, including some of the top members of the House foreign affairs committee, sent a letter to Joe Biden on Thursday demanding former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s diplomatic visa be canceled in the wake of the rampage in Brazil’s capital by his supporters.

“We request that you reassess his status in the country to ascertain whether there is a legal basis for his stay and revoke any such diplomatic visa he may hold,” said the letter. It continued: “The United States must not provide shelter for him, or any authoritarian who has inspired such violence against democratic institutions.”

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White House pledges to cooperate with special counsel over classified documents – as it happened

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Attorney general Merrick Garland may announce the appointment of a special counsel to handle the matter of the classified documents discovered at Joe Biden’s properties, Bloomberg News reports.

Garland is scheduled to make a public address at 1.15pm, though the justice department has not said what the speech will be about. In November, Garland appointed veteran prosecutor Jack Smith to handle the investigation into government secrets found at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, as well as his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

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Trump appointee named special counsel in Biden papers investigation

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Robert Hur chosen by US attorney general after classified materials discovered in Delaware and Washington

The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, appointed a special counsel on Thursday to investigate Joe Biden’s retention of classified documents from his time as vice-president.

The move to name Robert Hur, a former Trump-appointed federal prosecutor and former top justice department official, was a rapid decision from Garland to insulate the department from possible accusations of political conflicts or interference.

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House’s Republican majority gets to work with two abortion measures – as it happened

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House to vote on medical protections for ‘babies that survive an attempted abortion’ and ‘attacks on pro-life’ groups and churches

Venture to certain corners of conservative media today and you’ll find lots of discussion of gas stoves. The Guardian’s Alaina Demopoulos explains why:

After Joe Biden’s administration announced it was considering regulating – or banning – gas stoves, Richard Trumka of the US consumer product safety commission (CPSC) offered some words of clarity: “To be clear, CPSC isn’t coming for anyone’s gas stoves,” he tweeted.

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Biden’s response to Israel’s far-right government: avoid confrontation

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As Netanyahu takes an aggressively anti-Palestinian line, the White House will seek to avoid the humiliations heaped on Obama

The more things change in Israel, the harder Joe Biden is working to make sure they stay the same.

The new far-right government of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes openly anti-Arab racists, is already causing concern in the White House with commitments to expand illegal settlements in the occupied territories and annex Palestinian land.

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Kevin McCarthy faces rocky first day as House speaker – live

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California Republican takes reins of Congress’s lower chamber after 15 rounds of voting last week

The Guardian’s Kira Lerner reports that the GOP has been waging a legal assault on voting nationwide, with more lawsuits aimed at restricting ballot box access filed last year than ever before:

The Republican party filed a record number of anti-voting lawsuits in 2022, a sign that they are shifting the battle over voting access and election administration to courtrooms in addition to state legislatures.

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World leaders condemn Brazil violence as US lawmakers call for Bolsonaro extradition

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Joe Biden says situation in Brazil is ‘outrageous’ as presidents across South America denounce ‘assault on democracy’

Joe Biden said the situation in Brazil was “outrageous” after supporters of the former president Jair Bolsonaro invaded the country’s congress, presidential palace and supreme court on Sunday, with some senior US lawmakers calling for the far-right figure to be extradited from the US.

Biden’s words of condemnation were echoed by world leaders across the globe, including some of Brazil’s closest neighbours.

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Russia launches strikes in Ukraine in violation of self-declared ceasefire

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At least two civilians killed in attacks across country after Russia declared ceasefire for Orthodox Christmas

Russia has launched attacks across Ukraine, killing at least two civilians, in violation of a unilateral, self-declared ceasefire for the Orthodox celebration of Christmas on Saturday.

The attacks came as the US announced it would send Ukraine another $3.75bn of weapons and other aid, including a first shipment of Bradley armoured vehicles known as “tank killers”.

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Republican McCarthy says he finally has enough votes to win House speaker – as it happened

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House party leader says he’s confident he has the votes after losing 13 straight rounds

It’s just after noon and the House is reconvening now to pick up the already tortuous quest to seat a speaker. But two Republicans at least won’t be there.

Congressman-elect Wesley Hunt of Texas is heading home to be with his premature newborn son.

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Biden salutes January 6 heroes ‘who did not flinch’ in medal ceremony

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The president spoke with passion about police officers and election officials who held the line on the second anniversary of the attempted insurrection

Joe Biden has marked the second anniversary of the January 6 insurrection by awarding medals to heroes who “did not flinch” when the US Capitol came under attack and warning that democracy cannot be taken for granted.

The US president on Friday awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to 14 people, some posthumously, and spoke with passion – and flashes of humour – at a White House ceremony.

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Republican Kevin McCarthy falls short on 10th ballot for House speaker – live

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As president Joe Biden prepares to deliver remarks at the US-Mexico border, some of the topics on his agenda include addressing border enforcement operations, as well as the record numbers of migrants escaping gang violence.

According to administration officials, Biden plans to ask Congress to fund his request for Department of Homeland Security resources and pass immigration reforms, PBS NewsHour’s White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López reports.

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US and Germany agree to send infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine

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Joe Biden and Olaf Scholz indicate shift in position on supplying heavier weapons to Kyiv to help in war against Russia

Joe Biden and his German counterpart Olaf Scholz have agreed to send infantry fighting vehicles to help Ukraine fight Russia, a day after France said it would supply its own armoured vehicles to Kyiv in an attempt to create a breakthrough in the 10-month war.

The joint announcement followed a phone call between Biden and Scholz and amounts to a step change in western military support for Ukraine, which has asked for up to 700 armoured vehicles to help force the Russians out.

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House adjourns after Kevin McCarthy falls short in three rounds of voting for speaker – as it happened

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Leader of slim Republican majority has been negotiating to secure backing of hardliners but voting could go to multiple rounds

A crescendo of bipartisan outrage will accompany the swearing in due today of George Santos, one of the Republican party’s most controversial new Congress members, who has admitted large parts of his biography are a fantasy.

The New York politician, caught in lies over his family background, education and work history, is facing calls to step down from several senior figures within his own party before he even sets foot on the floor of the chamber.

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What Democrats achieved – and didn’t – in two years controlling Congress

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From same-sex marriage protections to veterans’ aid, Joe Biden’s party used its thin majority to deliver many campaign promises

In January, Democrats will lose their unified control of Capitol Hill, ending a remarkable legislative streak that saw the party deliver on many of their campaign promises.

While Joe Biden and his party did not accomplish everything they set out to do, Democrats in Congress spent the last two years marshalling their thin majorities to pass consequential legislation that touches nearly every aspect of American life from water quality to marriage equality. Some of the most notable measures even earned Republican support.

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‘I had to fulfil my responsibility’: Fauci on his career, Covid and stepping down

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America’s top health official, a cult figure for millions, has advised seven US presidents – but will he speak freely about Trump’s response to coronavirus?

Dr Anthony Fauci speaks to the Guardian via Zoom a couple of hours before his leaving do, marking the end of a 54-year career at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

“That’s going to be done according to all public health guidelines,” America’s top public health official, wearing dark suit, blue shirt and blue-and-white polka dot tie, is quick to add. “People with masks and people online and people dialling in through Zoom, so it’s not going to be the classical party.”

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House passes $1.7tn spending bill to avert US government shutdown

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Bill will be signed by president after receiving Senate approval and passing the House mostly along party lines

A $1.7tn spending bill financing federal agencies through September and providing more aid to a devastated Ukraine cleared the House of Representatives on Friday as lawmakers raced to finish their work for the year and avoid a partial government shutdown.

The bill passed mostly along party lines, 225-201. Having already received Senate approval, it is headed to Joe Biden’s desk for the president to sign it into law.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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