Liz Cheney was praised on MSNBC this morning by, of all people, White House chief of staff Ron Klain.
“I don’t think there was anything we agree on,” said Klain, who was tasked by Joe Biden with getting his legislative proposals through Congress. “But, I respect enormously her commitment to democracy.”
Continue reading...Party leaders hope approval of Inflation Reduction Act will boost their prospects in the midterm elections this November
Joe Biden signed Democrats’ healthcare, climate and tax package on Tuesday, putting the final seal of approval on a landmark bill that party leaders hope will boost their prospects in the midterm elections this November.
During a bill-signing ceremony at the White House, the US president celebrated the bill as a historic piece of legislation that would reduce healthcare costs for millions of Americans and help address the climate crisis.
Continue reading...White House hopes climate and healthcare plan will mark turning point for Biden’s presidency and boost Democrats in the midterms
Meanwhile in Kansas, abortion foes have apparently not given up on the state’s ballot initiative to allow lawmakers to restrict the procedure, which voters resoundingly rejected earlier this month.
The Associated Press reports that an anti-abortion activist and an election conspiracy promoter have teamed up to coordinate a recount of the ballots in nine of the state’s counties, which accounted for more than half of the votes cast on the initiative and all but one of which rejected it. According to the report, the abortion foe, Mark Gietzen put almost all of the $120,000 cost on his credit card to pay for the recount.
Continue reading...The suicide of a man who crashed his car into barricades outside the US Capitol over the weekend underscores the tense atmosphere the search of Mar-a-Lago created, Maya Yang reports:
A man drove into a barricade near the US Capitol in Washington DC on early Sunday morning, fired several shots into the air after his vehicle ignited, and then shot himself to death, according to police.
Continue reading...Author is off ventilator and able to talk after suffering stab wounds to his neck, stomach, eye, chest and thigh in New York attack
Salman Rushdie’s “road to recovery has begun” but “will be long” after his stabbing in western New York late last week, the novelist’s agent has said.
“The injuries are severe,” the agent, Andrew Wylie, said Sunday in an email to the Guardian, alluding to stab wounds that the author suffered to his neck, stomach, eye, chest and thigh two days earlier. “But his condition is headed in the right direction.”
Continue reading...FBI was seeking evidence about whether the mishandling of documents violated three criminal statutes, search warrant shows
Further evidence that things are looking up for Democrats: Joe Biden’s approval rating is above 40 percent for the first time since early June, per RealClearPolitics’ polling average:
Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned attacks by Donald Trump and other Republicans on the FBI following their search this week of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
Continue reading...Two leaders raised possibility of in-person encounter when they last talked by phone in late July, US official confirms
US and Chinese officials have been discussing a face-to-face meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, amid a significant escalation in friction over Taiwan.
Kurt Campbell, the coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs in Biden’s national security council, confirmed on Friday that the two leaders had raised the possibility of an in-person meeting when they last talked by phone in late July “and agreed to have their team’s follow up to sort out the specifics”.
Continue reading...The planned gala reception is in stark contrast to the low-key audience afforded Joe Biden in June, as ties between China and the kingdom grow closer
The Chinese president Xi Jinping is expected to visit Saudi Arabia next week, where plans are under way for a gala reception to match that given to Donald Trump on his first trip abroad as president.
The welcome being prepared for the Chinese leader is in stark contrast with that afforded to Joe Biden in June, when the US president received a low-key reception, reflecting strained ties between the two countries and personal distaste between Biden and the de facto Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman.
Continue reading...In lengthy statement, Trump says he refused to answer questions during deposition as part of inquiry into real estate dealings
The justice department has announced charges against a Tehran-based member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for attempting to hire someone in the United States to kill John Bolton, a national security adviser under Donald Trump.
According the department, 45-year-old Shahram Poursafi last year promised an unnamed person in the United States $300,000 to kill Bolton, probably as retaliation for Washington’s assassination of Qassem Suleimani in January 2020. The goal was apparently to have Bolton killed by the 3 January anniversary of Suleimani’s death in Baghdad, but the person Poursafi allegedly hired for the job was actually a confidential informant.
Continue reading...President urges regime, which denies involvement, to release Tice, who disappeared in 2012 covering Syrian war
Joe Biden has said that the US knows “with certainty” that the Syrian government is holding Austin Tice – an American journalist who has been missing for a decade – and called on Damascus to release him.
Ten years after the freelance reporter disappeared while reporting on the Syrian war, Biden said the US government knows “that [Tice] has been held by the Syrian regime”.
Continue reading...Former US president angered by ‘unannounced raid’ as part of ongoing investigation into potentially unlawful removal of White House records
Barbara McQuade at USA Today explains quite why the FBI and Justice Department might be concerned about White House documents being left lying around a Trump residence like Mar-a-Lago. It isn’t just a matter of wanting to retain a complete record of Trump’s time in office for the sake of it. She writes:
Mishandling classified information is a serious crime because it puts at risk sources and methods of information relating to national security. If the content of the documents were to end up in the wrong hands, the identity of government sources could become known and their lives put at risk. Or our methods of collecting information, such as technological capabilities, could become known, undermining their utility. You can’t leave boxes lying around when they contain the kinds of government secrets that can get people killed, even if you’re the former president.
Continue reading...Bill makes concessions to the fossil fuel industry as frontline community groups call on Biden to declare climate emergency
The landmark climate legislation passed by the Senate after months of wrangling and weakening by fossil-fuel friendly Democrats will lead to more harm than good, according to frontline community groups who are calling on Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency.
If signed into law, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) would allocate $369bn to reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions and invest in renewable energy sources – a historic amount that scientists estimate will lead to net reductions of 40% by 2030, compared with 2005 levels.
Continue reading...On Joe Biden’s visit to flood-ravaged eastern Kentucky today he is not just viewing the effects through the lens of a disaster needing federal assistance but also through the lens of the climate crisis that is making events like this more intense, more common and more deadly, in America and around the world.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed the issue in her media briefing aboard Air Force One en route to Lexington with the US president and first lady Jill Biden a little earlier.
Continue reading...Inflation Reduction Act could put US within striking distance of Biden’s goal of halving emissions by 2030, analysis suggests
The US is, following decades of political rancor and fossil fuel industry obfuscation, almost certain to make its first significant attempt to tackle the climate crisis. Experts say it will help rewire the American economy and act as an important step in averting disastrous global heating.
Independent analysis of the proposed legislation, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, shows it should slash America’s planet-heating emissions by about 40% by the end of the decade, compared with 2005 levels.
Continue reading...President, 79, to abide by ‘strict isolation measures … in an abundance of caution’, White House doctor says
President Joe Biden tested negative for Covid on Saturday but will continue to isolate at the White House until a second negative test, his doctor said.
Dr Kevin O’Connor wrote in his latest daily update that the president “in an abundance of caution”, will abide by the “strict isolation measures” in place since his “rebound” infection was detected on 30 July, pending a follow-up negative result.
Continue reading...Amy Weirich, a Memphis prosecutor with a checkered record who is best known for cracking down on a woman just for trying to register to vote, has lost her re-election bid. As Sam Levine reports:
Amy Weirich, the Memphis prosecutor who stirred national outrage for bringing criminal charges against a Black woman for trying to register to vote, has lost her re-election bid.
Continue reading...Griner has been sentenced to nine years in prison, Bloomberg reports:
A court in Russia has found Brittney Griner, an Americans women’s basketball star, guilty of drug smuggling, Reuters reports.
Continue reading...President calls star’s detention ‘unacceptable’ as Tony Blinken reiterates commitment to bringing Griner home from Russia
The nine-and-a half-year sentence handed down by a Russian court to WBNA player and US Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner after she was found guilty of drug possession was greeted in America with outrage and condemnation.
Joe Biden released a statement following Griner’s sentencing, calling her detention “unacceptable”.
Continue reading...The directive equips the Heath and Human Services agency to expand coverage for patients seeking out of state care
Joe Biden is set to sign a second executive order on Wednesday that aims to protect access to reproductive healthcare after the US supreme court struck down the constitutional right to abortion.
Most significantly, the order directs the Health and Human Services agency to consider ways to expand coverage for patients traveling out of state for reproductive healthcare. Biden’s order does not detail how this could be achieved; currently, government-subsidized Medicaid health insurance plans cover medically necessary abortions in only 16 states and do not reimburse patients who leave their state to seek an abortion.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
Another area of tension lies between the US and Russia, which Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has ratcheted up again this morning.
On his daily call with the media, Peskov said any talks on a possible prisoner exchange involving US basketball star Brittney Griner needed to be discreet, and that “megaphone diplomacy” would not achieve results, Reuters reports.
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