Category Archives: Joe Biden

Joe Manchin to face critics in meeting with Black civil rights leaders on voting – live

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Vice-President Kamala Harris, who has been taking some criticism for her blunt speech in Guatemala to Central American migrants to “do not come” to US, is now getting some backlash from Republicans for an NBC interview she did on this same trip.

Reminder: Joe Biden tasked Harris in March with efforts to stem migration at the US-Mexican border. On her first foreign trip, NBC’s Lester Holt asked if she had any plans to visit the border.

“We have to deal with what's happening at the border.”@VP Kamala Harris spoke exclusively with @LesterHoltNBC on her first trip overseas, how the administration is addressing the immigration crisis, and if she plans to visit the southern border herself. pic.twitter.com/sA4We7peeR

LESTER HOLT: You haven't been to the border.

KAMALA HARRIS: And I haven't been to Europe. pic.twitter.com/Vj6M261Nx3

Vice-President Kamala Harris is in Mexico now, meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

President Lopez Obrador shows Vice President Harris a Diego Rivera mural at the national palace. Asked if he will do more about border enforcement, Lopez Obrador said “We will touch on that subject but always addressing the fundamental root causes” pic.twitter.com/URiJdWaUM9

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Biden accused of U-turn over Egypt’s human rights abuses

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Critics say US president’s realpolitik ignores Sisi regime’s ‘hostage-taking tactics’ against dissidents

“It’s a hostage negotiation and it has been all along,” said Sherif Mansour, describing the arrest of his cousin Reda Abdel-Rahman by Egyptian security forces last August as an attempt to intimidate Mansour into silence.

Abdel-Rahman has been imprisoned without trial for nine months. Mansour, an outspoken human rights advocate in Washington with the Committee to Protect Journalists, has since learned that he and his father are listed on the same charge sheet, all accused of joining a terrorist group and spreading “false news”.

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US recovers millions in ransom paid to hackers after pipeline attack – live

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Newly released audio from a 2019 phone call between Rudy Giuliani, US diplomats and a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has added credence to the claims that Trump’s longtime adviser pressured the Ukrainians to help the former president politically.

In the call — which occurred prior to the infamous conversation between Trump and Zelensky that led to his first impeachment — Giuliani pushes the Ukrainians to publicly announce unfounded investigations into Joe Biden.

So @CNN got audio of @RudyGiuliani pressuring Ukrainian officials into announcing a fake investigation into @JoeBiden pic.twitter.com/OJljFCcH6h

Related: Giuliani pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden family, new transcript reveals

The new audio demonstrates how Giuliani aggressively cajoled the Ukrainians to do Trump’s bidding. And it undermines Trump’s oft-repeated assertion that “there was no quid pro quo” where Zelensky could secure US government support if he did political favors for Trump.

The call was one of the opening salvos in the years-long quest by Trump and his allies to damage Biden and subvert the 2020 election process — by soliciting foreign meddling, lying about voter fraud, attempting to overturn the results, and inciting the deadly January 6 assault on the Capitol”.

A Republican representative in Oregon may be ousted from his seat after video footage was published Friday showing he let violent protesters into the state capitol late last year.

On 21 December, far-right rioters descended on the statehouse, attacking police officers and assaulting journalists as lawmakers inside were meeting to discuss how to respond to the Covid crisis. Many of the demonstrators would also be among the mob that attacked the US Capitol on 6 January.

Update: Rep. Mike Nearman "willing to have some consequences for what I did" but says OSP and Salem police also to blame for not keeping armed demonstrators out of the Capitol after Nearman opened a door for the demonstrators. https://t.co/zd68zviL5Z #orleg #orpol

In her resolution, Kotek said personnel who were authorized to be in the Oregon Capitol described the events on Dec. 21 as intense and stressful, terrifying and distressing.

‘Law enforcement officers were visibly injured and shaken due to the demonstrators’ action,’ Kotek added.

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Johnson likely to defy Tory rebels by ignoring order for vote on aid cuts

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At least 40 Conservative MPs are fighting on to get overseas funding restored after setback in Commons

Boris Johnson has set himself on a collision course with scores of his MPs as No 10 suggested it would defy an order by the House of Commons speaker to bring a vote on swingeing foreign aid cuts.

Between 40 and 50 Conservative MPs were said to be considering defying the government on Monday before an ambush in the Commons was thwarted, with rebels now exploring options including legal action.

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Biden trumpets democracy abroad in Post op-ed – as threats spread at home

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Joe Biden will use his visit to Europe this week to “rally the world’s democracies” in a reset of US foreign policy after four turbulent years under Donald Trump – all while threats to American democracy, stoked by Trump, proliferate at home.

Related: After Trump: Biden set to outline US policy to Johnson, Putin and more

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White House says Republicans increased offer on Biden infrastructure deal by $50bn – as it happened

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That’s all from me today. Here’s a rundown of the day’s biggest stories:

At least 10 US states have siphoned millions of dollars from federal block grants, meant to provide aid to their neediest families, to pay for the operations of ideological anti-abortion clinics.

These overwhelmingly Republican-led states used money from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (Tanf), better known as welfare or direct cash aid, to fund the activities of anti-abortion clinics associated with the evangelical right. The clinics work to dissuade women from obtaining abortions.

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Joe Biden outlines plan to share 80m Covid vaccine doses with world

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First 25m doses will be disbursed across Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa

Joe Biden has outlined how the US plans to share 80m Covid-19 vaccine doses with other countries, saying the first 25m doses will be disbursed across Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa.

After months of mounting pressure from the international community, the Biden administration said last month that it intended to send the 80m doses of US-approved coronavirus vaccines overseas by the end of June, but did not outline which continents or countries would benefit until now.

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Biden provides details on plan to share 80m Covid vaccine doses – live

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Jen Psaki said she did not consider Monday to be the deadline for reaching a bipartisan deal on an infrastructure bill.

The White House press secretary said Joe Biden will “continue to have conversations with Democrats and Republicans about what the path forward may look like”.

As Jen Psaki briefs the press, Joe and Jill Biden are enjoying a bike ride in Rehoboth Beach, where they are celebrating the first lady’s 70th birthday.

The president gave a wave to reporters as he rode past them:

President Biden and ⁦@FLOTUS⁩ bike along a trail in Rehoboth Beach to celebrate her birthday pic.twitter.com/wpm33Y0JIY

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Cyprus could block EU adoption of minimum corporate tax plan

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EU directive on Joe Biden’s proposal for 15% tax rate on multinationals would require unanimous support

Cyprus could veto the EU’s adoption of Joe Biden’s proposal of a global minimum corporate tax rate, the country’s finance minister has suggested.

A White House proposal of a 15% tax rate for multinationals applied to profits in all jurisdictions is expected to be endorsed in principle by finance ministers of the world’s seven largest economies, the G7, at an upcoming meeting in Cornwall.

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Biden announces ‘month of action’ to get 70% of Americans vaccinated

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President dangles promise of a ‘summer of freedom’ to reluctant Americans and lays out plan to achieve Fourth of July target

Joe Biden has announced a national “month of action” to try to get at least 70% of Americans vaccinated against coronavirus before the Fourth of July holiday.

Touting the progress already made, and dangling the promise of a “summer of freedom” from Covid-19 to those reluctant to get a shot, the US president urged citizens, especially those under 40, to play a role in the “wartime effort” to defeat the virus.

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‘A summer of freedom’: Joe Biden sets new vaccine target – video

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Joe Biden has announced a national “month of action” to try to get at least 70% of Americans vaccinated against coronavirus before the Fourth of July holiday.

The president said the vaccines would allow the public to enjoy "a summer of freedom" where they could safely gather with loved ones without fear of the virus


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‘This was a massacre’: Biden honours Tulsa race massacre survivors 100 years on – video

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Joe Biden on Tuesday became the first sitting US president to visit the site in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where hundreds of Black Americans were massacred by a white mob in 1921, as he marked the country’s legacy of racial violence. 

Biden oversaw a moment of silence for the victims after meeting with three people who lived in the district during the massacre: Viola Fletcher, Hughes Van Ellis and Lessie Benningfield Randle. 

Now between the ages of 101 and 107, the survivors who met Biden asked Congress for ‘justice’ this year and are parties to a lawsuit against state and local officials seeking several remedies for the massacre, including a victim compensation fund

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Biden corporate tax plan could earn EU and UK billions, study shows

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EU forecast to reap extra €50bn per year with UK expected to gain €200m from BP alone

A proposal to be tabled by the US president, Joe Biden, at the upcoming G7 meeting for a 15% global corporate tax rate could reap the EU €50bn (£43bn) a year, and earn the UK nearly €200m extra alone from the British multinational BP, according to research.

Should the tax rate be set higher at 25%, the lowest current rate within the seven largest world economies, the EU would earn nearly €170bn extra a year – more than 50% of current corporate tax revenue and 12% of total health spending in the bloc.

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‘Democracy itself is in peril’: Biden delivers Memorial Day speech – video

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Joe Biden warned in a speech commemorating the US's war dead on Memorial Day that American democracy was 'in peril' and called for empathy among his fellow citizens.

Speaking at Arlington National Cemetery, the president, joined by the first lady, Jill Biden, the vice-president, Kamala Harris, and her husband, paid tribute to America’s war dead

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Joe Biden seeks Republican buy-in but how long before patience snaps?

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Talks continue on a compromise over infrastructure but GOP intransigeance on a Capitol riot commission does not bode well

It’s become a familiar process in the Joe Biden era.

Biden and Democrats say they will work with Republicans. Republicans say they want a seat at the negotiating table. Then the prospect of Democrats going alone begins to hover over the negotiations.

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Joe Biden stakes out position against discriminatory abortion rule

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President’s budget proposal seeks to end Hyde amendment that limits insurance coverage of terminations for nearly 8m women

For the first time in nearly 30 years, a US president has released a budget that doesn’t ban federal funding for abortion.

On Friday, Joe Biden released his full budget proposal for fiscal year 2022, and in keeping with his campaign promise on abortion access, Biden did not include the Hyde amendment, an annual budget rider that bans federal Medicaid money from being used for almost all abortions. (There are exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest or that would threaten the pregnant person’s life.)

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Republicans’ blocking of the Capitol commission shows how deep the rot is

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Analysis: one of America’s two major parties now falls outside the democratic mainstream but are Democrats taking the existential threat seriously?

The question now is not so much whether the Republican party can be saved any time in the foreseeable future. It is what Joe Biden and the Democrats should do when faced with a party determined to subvert democracy through any means necessary, including violence.

On Friday Republicans in the Senate torpedoed an effort to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the deadly insurrection by Donald Trump’s supporters at the US Capitol on 6 January, deploying the procedural move known as the filibuster to stop it even being debated.

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Republicans propose nearly $1tn counteroffer to Biden’s infrastructure plan – live

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Democratic Senator Bob Casey signaled this morning that it may be time to move on from negotiating with Republicans and instead pass an infrastructure bill using reconciliation, allowing Democrats to circumvent the Senate filibuster.

Asked whether it was time to focus on setting up a reconciliation pathway for the infrastructure bill, Casey told CNN anchor Jim Sciutto, “I think we’re getting to that point, Jim. It’s an old expression, fish or cut bait.”

Me: “IS IT TIME TO MOVE ON TO RECONCILIATION (on infrastructure)?”@SenBobCasey: “I THINK WE'RE GETTING TO THAT POINT, JIM. IT'S AN OLD EXPRESSION, FISH OR CUT BAIT” pic.twitter.com/T0HLUKygrL

The Guardian’s Sam Levine and Daniel Strauss report:

After six months of aggressive Republican efforts to restrict voting access, Democrats are facing new questions about how they will actually pass voting rights reforms through Congress.

Related: ‘A ticking timebomb’: Democrats’ push for voting rights law faces tortuous path

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Did Covid come from a Wuhan lab? What we know so far

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To China’s fury, Joe Biden has ordered a review of rival theories about lab leaks and animal hosts

President Joe Biden has ordered US intelligence agencies to conduct a 90-day review of what is known about the origins of Covid-19 and whether it could have escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan. So what does this mean for the lab leak theory?

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‘Please save him’: Belarus blogger’s parents urge action as Biden mulls sanctions

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Parents of Raman Pratasevich fear for his life, as mother of girlfriend Sofia Sapega says she was not involved in politics

The parents of Raman Pratasevich have pleaded for international help to free the Belarusian journalist as US president Joe Biden said sanctions against Alexander Lukashenko’s regime were “in play”, without revealing further details.

From their new home in Poland, Natalia Pratasevich, the blogger’s mother, told Agence France-Presse: “I’m asking, I’m begging, I’m calling on the whole international community to save him.

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