Category Archives: Joe Biden

Biden hails ‘good day for democracy’ as Democrats defy midterm expectations

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President says ‘giant red wave didn’t happen’ as Senate still in balance and race for House control much closer than predicted

Joe Biden hailed “a good day” for democracy after Democrats defied history and outperformed expectations in America’s midterm elections, leaving control of Congress on a knife-edge.

With ballots still being counted, Democrats were hopeful about holding the Senate while Republicans felt they were on course to win the House – but by a much narrower margin than widely predicted.

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Midterm elections 2022: Democrats beating expectations as John Fetterman wins crucial US Senate race – live

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Latest updates and results as millions across the US cast votes in what is largely seen as a referendum on Biden’s presidency

The Republican candidate for governor in Arizona, Kari Lake, told reporters earlier she will be their “worst fricking nightmare for eight years” if she defeats the Democrat Katie Hobbs.

Lake has been talked up as a running mate for Donald Trump in his widely expected run for the Republican presidential nomination.

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Midterm elections 2022: US voters head to polls as Republicans fight to take Senate control – live

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Millions across the country vote while Florida state department tells DoJ that federal election monitors won’t be permitted

Andrew Gawthorpe is a historian of the United States at Leiden University and host of the podcast America Explained, and he writes for the Guardian today to argue that the future of American democracy is at stake in the midterm elections:

Never before in American history has there been an organized movement which was only one vote away from having the motivation and opportunity to make that election America’s last. Never that is, until now. Today’s anti-democratic movement is propelled not by genuine controversy or scandal, but rather by their commitment to ending competitive elections in the United States. There is no other way to interpret their belief that only one side, the Republicans, can legitimately be considered to win, and the plans that they hold to make this belief a reality.

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Biden makes final plea for high stakes midterms: ‘Next year will shape our lifetimes’

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In his final speech before election day, the president attacked Republicans on the economy but also offered a hopeful note

Joe Biden rallied with fellow Democrats on Monday night, delivering a message of optimism and determination in the face of widespread concerns about his party’s showing in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Addressing a boisterous crowd in Maryland, Biden stressed the high stakes of the races that will determine control of the US Congress for the next two years. Painting a grim picture of a Republican-controlled Congress, Biden predicted that the opposing party would use their majorities to roll back Americans’ rights and dismantle social welfare programs.

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Karl Rove on the midterms: ‘Trump looms over this. No ifs or buts’

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The veteran political strategist on why he believes his Republican party will benefit from dissatisfaction with the status quo

On the eve of a crucial midterms election that Joe Biden has warned “will preserve democracy or put us at risk”, veteran top Republican strategist Karl Rove says his party will benefit from dissatisfaction with the status quo, despite the specter of a Trump 2024 run and the end of federal abortion rights.

Rove, widely as a villain by the left for his orchestration of George W Bush’s victory over Al Gore in 2000, and for his senior role in Bush’s two terms as president, says American voters are being propelled by fears over inflation, the economy, crime in some areas, and feelings about the overall direction the country.

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Biden fights to stop midterms defeat as Republicans poised for sweeping gains

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Momentum appears to be with Republicans capitalising on economic frustration as experts say party peaking at right time

Joe Biden is fighting a rearguard action to stave off defeat in Tuesday’s midterm elections as Republicans look poised to make sweeping gains in the US Congress, setting up two years of political trench warfare.

The president, along with former president Barack Obama, has been criss-crossing America in a last-ditch bid to persuade voters that a Democratic victory is critical not only to Biden’s legislative agenda but the preservation of American democracy.

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Democrat John Fetterman gets boost from Oprah Winfrey in key Senate race – live

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In less than an hour, Twitter employees expect official notification of whether or not they will keep their jobs under Elon Musk’s ownership.

A bloodbath is expected, and Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco has been closed today while the news is delivered and employees digest their fates, or, as Musk may prefer, let the news “sink in”.

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Chuck Schumer insists Democrats can hold or expand Senate majority – as it happened

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In Pennsylvania, Chris McGreal reports that a major pro-Israel group is facing criticism for backing Republicans who denied the 2020 election, but not a Democratic candidate who would make history if elected:

More than 240 Jewish American voters in Pittsburgh have signed a letter denouncing the US’s largest pro-Israel group for backing extremist Republican election candidates while spending millions of dollars to oppose a Democrat who would be Pennsylvania’s first Black female member of Congress.

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Biden addresses nation on threats to democracy ahead of midterms – live

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The president speaks against election deniers running for office, saying they are leading a path to ‘chaos in America’

Donald Trump’s lawyers tailored their petition specifically to supreme court justice Clarence Thomas for reasons both practical and symbolic, Politico reports.

Thomas is well known for his conservative jurisprudence, but Politico notes he is also the justice responsible for handling emergency filings out of Georgia – which means he would get the Trump legal team’s petition about its election conduct, Politico says.

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Republicans urged to purge extremists after attack on House speaker’s husband – live

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Leading historian warns that assault of Paul Pelosi was not an aberration amid erosion of democratic norms

Supreme court chief justice John Roberts has temporarily stopped the Internal Revenue Service from turning over Donald Trump’s tax returns to a House committee, Reuters reports.

The decision comes after Trump yesterday petitioned the high court to review lower court rulings that allowed the Democratic-led House ways and means committee to receive six years of the former president’s filings. According to the New York Times, Roberts, who handles petitions filed in Washington, wants the House committee to respond by Thursday:

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Biden accuses oil companies of ‘war profiteering’ and threatens windfall tax

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A week out from US midterm elections, president pleads with energy firms to invest profits in lowering costs for American consumers

President Joe Biden has accused oil companies of “war profiteering” as he raised the possibility of imposing a windfall tax if companies don’t boost domestic production.

In remarks on Monday, just over a week away from the 8 November midterm elections, Biden criticised major oil companies for making record profits while refusing to help lower prices at the pump for American people. The president said he would look to Congress to levy tax penalties on oil companies if they don’t begin to invest some of their profits in lowering costs for American consumers.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Russia has fired 4,500 missiles on Ukraine since invasion, says Zelenskiy; more than 300 drones ‘shot down’ – as it happened

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Ukraine president says there were 8,000 air strikes; air force spokesman says Ukraine has shot down hundreds of Iranian-made drones

Russia has probably bolstered its troops with “mobilised reservists” west of the Dnieper River, the UK’s ministry of defence has said.

The region encompasses most of Kherson, a strategically important Russian-held city braced for a counter-offensive from Ukrainian troops.

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Man who attacked speaker’s husband Paul Pelosi facing attempted homicide charge – as it happened

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Paul Pelosi was attacked at San Francisco home while House speaker was in Washington

The Guardian’s Joan E Greve has taken a close look at Democrats’ chances ahead of the 8 November midterms, and finds things are not looking good for Joe Biden’s party:

With less than two weeks to go until election day, Democrats’ hopes of defying political history and keeping their narrow majorities in the House and Senate appear to be fading, as many of the party’s candidates go on the defensive in the final days of campaigning.

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Fetterman’s performance in high-stakes Pennsylvania debate splits Democrats – live

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Joe Biden is the oldest president ever inaugurated, and will turn 80 this year – but still plans to run for re-election, according to a reporter who recently interviewed the president, Martin Pengelly reports:

Joe Biden is “totally running” for a second term, the MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart has said, just days after interviewing the US president.

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Biden and Sunak vow to support Ukraine and counter China in first call

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US president and new British PM reaffirm ‘special relationship’ after Sunak becomes Britain’s third leader in 2022

The US president, Joe Biden, and Britain’s new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, agreed during talks on Tuesday to work together to support Ukraine and stand up to China, the White House said.

They spoke for the first time a few hours after Sunak became Britain’s third prime minister this year, inheriting an economic crisis after the resignation of Liz Truss whose tenure lasted 49 days.

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‘Groundbreaking milestone’: world reacts to Rishi Sunak as next British prime minister

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World leaders lauded the significance of Sunak’s victory as the UK’s first prime minister of colour

Rishi Sunak’s arrival in No 10 as Britain’s third prime minister in less than two months drew calls for stability from Europe and continued support from Ukraine, as well as cheers in New Delhi and praise as a “groundbreaking milestone” from the US.

In Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wished the UK’s new head of government success in overcoming “all the challenges facing British society and the whole world today”, adding: “I’m ready to continue strengthening the strategic partnership together!”

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Trump aides reportedly face pressure to testify in Mar-a-Lago case – live

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Prosecutors urging two aides for more information about how documents were handled at the resort

Good morning, US politics blog readers. The steady drip of details about the investigation into government secrets found at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort continues, with the New York Times reporting yesterday that prosecutors are pressuring two aides to the former president for more information about how documents were handled at the south Florida property. There’s no saying yet what the revelation means, but it makes clear how many avenues investigators are pursuing as they look for answers about sensitive documents Trump took with him when he left the White House.

Here’s what’s happening in politics today:

Joe Biden will speak about America’s fight against Covid-19 at 2.05pm eastern time.

There’s a slew of debates between candidates standing in the 8 November midterm elections, including Pennsylvania’s Senate candidates Mehmet Oz, a Republican, and John Fetterman, a Democrat, who face off at 8pm eastern time.

Progressive Democrats appear to be walking back a letter sent to Biden yesterday urging more diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine.

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Two Chinese spies charged with trying to obstruct US Huawei investigation, Garland says – as it happened

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Republican senator Ted Cruz was a vociferous objector to the 2020 election, but ended up hiding in a supply closet when insurrectionists stormed the Capitol on January 6, as Ramon Antonio Vargas reports:

As a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol during the January 6 attack in a desperate attempt to keep him in the Oval Office, Ted Cruz hid in a closet next to a stack of chairs, but he never thought twice about continuing to sow doubt about the former president’s electoral defeat, the Republican senator from Texas has revealed.

Tight Senate margins and a Democratic president would make it impossible for GOP leaders to deliver on the party’s most hardline fiscal wishes, at least with President Joe Biden still in office. The disappointment would surely prompt blowback from right-leaning Republicans already known as the sharpest thorns in the party’s side.

“Spare me if you’re a Republican who puts on your frigging campaign website, ‘Trust me, I will vote for a balanced budget amendment, and I believe we should balance the budget like every family in America.’ No shit,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a member of the pro-Trump Freedom Caucus, said in an interview.

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White House urges borrowers to apply for student debt relief despite court order

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Federal appeals court temporarily halts Biden’s cancellation of student debt after motion brought by six Republican-led states

The Biden administration is urging student loan borrowers to continue applying for debt relief despite a federal appeals court order late on Friday that temporarily halted this program.

“[This] temporary order does not prevent borrowers from applying for student debt relief,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement following the eighth circuit court of appeals’ temporary stay.

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Appeals court temporarily halts Biden’s student debt cancellation scheme

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Program has been paused as the court considers a motion filed by six Republican-led states

Joe Biden’s plan to cancel billions of dollars in federal student loans has been temporarily halted by a federal appeals court as it considers a motion from six Republican-led states to block the program.

The eighth circuit court of appeals issued the temporary stay on Friday, ordering the Biden administration not to act on the program while it considers the appeal.

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