Category Archives: House of Representatives

Release of House January 6 report expected to pile more pressure on Trump – as it happened

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Publication of report after 18-month investigation follows vote to publicly release Trump’s tax returns

Worrying news for Kevin McCarthy, the Republican House minority leader trying to secure the speaker’s gavel but having a hard time satisfying the far right of the party: according to Politico, a plan is forming to have Steve Scalise, currently McCarthy’s righthand man, step in if the Californian cannot seal the deal.

According to the website, “a group of lawmakers has quietly approached” Scalise “about running should McCarthy falter, according to multiple GOP members and aides.

Their message? ‘Steve, just be ready,’ according to one member currently backing McCarthy who spoke to us late last night on condition of anonymity. Scalise was uncontested in his bid for majority leader in the new Congress, the lawmaker noted, and ‘could be a good consensus leader if things don’t go well for Kevin’.

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From Liz Cheney to Donald Trump: winners and losers from the January 6 hearings

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As the House January 6 committee is set to publish its report, here are some of the key standouts

The House January 6 committee is set to publish its report on the attack on the Capitol that shocked both America and the world . After a year of dramatic hearings and bombshell testimony, here are some of the key winners and losers to emerge from its work.

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House committee votes to release Donald Trump’s tax returns – as it happened

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It’s lunchtime, and an opportunity to look at where we stand on a busy Tuesday in US politics. The House ways and means committee will meet shortly to discuss and vote on releasing Donald Trump’s tax returns to the public.

Here’s what else we’ve been looking at:

The fallout continues from Monday’s bombshell criminal referral by the House January 6 panel of former President Trump on charges including insurrection. Some Republicans don’t seem to be happy.

Long-serving Democratic senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont delivered an emotional farewell speech to the chamber, condemning the January 6 Capitol riot as an assault on democracy, and calling on colleagues to return to a more civil age of bipartisanship.

Details have emerged of the $1.7tn omnibus government spending package agreed by congressional leaders in Tuesday’s early hours. The bill includes more financial aid for Ukraine, more visas for Afghans who helped the US, and banning the TikTok app on government devices.

When I arrived here, bipartisan cooperation was the norm, not the exception.

Make no mistake, the Senate of yesterday was far from perfect. [But] the Senate I entered had one remarkable, redeeming quality. The overwhelming majority of senators of both parties believed they were here to do a job.

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House committee votes to release Trump’s tax returns to the public

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As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump broke decades of precedent by refusing to release his tax forms to the public

A powerful congressional committee on Tuesday voted to publicly release Donald Trump’s tax returns in a move that is sure to ignite a political row as well as anger among some privacy experts in America.

The Democratic-controlled House ways and means committee decided to release the documents, which the former US president has long tried to shield, after several hours of debate.

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Jan 6 committee refers Donald Trump for criminal prosecution on four counts – as it happened

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Four Republicans referred to House ethics committee for refusing to comply with panel’s subpoenas, including Kevin McCarthy

Joe Biden is condemning growing antisemitism, in remarks for a Hanukah reception at the White House that will include a menorah lighting and blessing.

The US president will tell guests at tonight’s event that silence is complicity, according to White House officials, and will add that it’s imperative that hate, violence and antisemitism are condemned, the Associated Press reports.

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House January 6 panel recommends criminal charges against Donald Trump

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The referral marks the first time in US history that Congress has taken such action against a former president

The January 6 committee has referred Donald Trump to the justice department to face criminal charges, accusing the former president of fomenting an insurrection and conspiring against the government over his attempt to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election, and the bloody attack on the US Capitol.

The committee’s referrals approved by its members on Monday are the first time in American history that Congress has recommended charges against a former president. They come after 18 months of investigation by the bipartisan House of Representatives panel tasked with understanding Trump’s plot to stop Joe Biden from taking office.

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January 6 committee to use last meeting to refer Trump to justice department

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Lawmakers expected to outline findings and vote to issue criminal and civil referrals on Monday

The House January 6 select committee plans at its final meeting on Monday to refer Donald Trump and top advisers to the justice department for criminal conduct connected to the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and release the executive summary of its final report.

The panel is expected to take several conclusive steps at the meeting, announced for 1pm, including outlining its investigative findings and legislative recommendations, voting to formally adopt the report, and then voting to issue criminal and civil referrals.

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Federal investigators focus on emails between Trump lawyers and congressman – as it happened

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Revelation casts light on direction of the criminal inquiry into the former president’s insurrection efforts

Joe Biden is at a town hall for veterans in New Castle, Delaware, choking with emotion when talking about his late son Beau, a former National Guard major for whom the center he was speaking at is named.

The president kept his comments tightly focused on the expansion of benefits and services for veterans resulting from the Pact Act, introducing a second world war pilot, and talking of the need to support and improve the physical and mental health of retired military members.

The Pact Act was the first step of being sure that we leave no-one behind.

We also need to pass the bipartisan government funding bill so we can deliver on the act’s promise.

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Nancy Pelosi tells of ‘proud’ record as speaker in likely final press conference – live

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Nancy Pelosi has given what she suggests will be her final press conference as House speaker, telling reporters this is “maybe the last time I see you in this way”.

She’s been reflecting on some of the successes of her tenure, and paying tribute to Joe Biden and Barack Obama for most of them, from the passing of the Affordable Care Act to this week’s signing of the same-sex Respect for Marriage Act.

He has been a remarkable president. He has a record that is so outstanding, and for such a short period of time as well.

People compare him to Lyndon Johnson, to Franklin Roosevelt, but I’d remind you all that Roosevelt had 319 Democrats in the House, President Biden 222, whatever it is, and even fewer now.

Passing the American rescue plan, getting vaccines at arms, money in pockets, children back to school and people safely back to work, the bipartisan infrastructure law, building roads, bridges, ports and water systems…

Bringing people together, not projects that divide communities but bringing people together, and this such a source of pride, putting justice and equity front and center.

We won’t relent until the job is done, until we can have background checks, and have banned assault weapons.

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Suspect in Paul Pelosi attack claimed ‘evil in Washington’ for wanting to harm House speaker

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Officer who interviewed David DePape after the attack testified he also wanted to target Hunter Biden, Tom Hanks and Gavin Newsom

The man accused of attacking the husband of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said there was “evil in Washington” and he was looking to harm Pelosi because she is second in line for the presidency, a San Francisco police investigator testified on Wednesday.

The suspect, David DePape, broke into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home on 28 October, seeking to kidnap the speaker – who was out of town – and instead beat her 82-year-old husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer, authorities said. The violence sent shock waves through the political world.

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Biden says he’s ‘all in’ on Africa’s future at leadership summit – as it happened

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President commits to strengthening Africa’s food supplies, tackling climate and partnering to take on rising global power

Back at the House oversight hearing into anti-LGBTQ+ violence, Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) says her group has recorded an alarming surge in hate-related killings:

Over the last 10 years, the campaign has tracked over 300 incidents of fatal violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people. In 2022 so far, we’ve recorded the murder of 35 people.

It’s fueled by nearly unfettered access to guns, political extremism and rhetoric that is deliberately devised to make our community less safe, less equal, and less free. Violence has become a lived reality for so many in our community.

We should have societal guilt for taking too long to deal with this problem. We have a moral obligation to pass and enforce laws that can prevent these things from happening again. We owe it to the courageous, young survivors and to the families who lost part of their soul 10 years ago to turn their pain into purpose.

A few months ago, I signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law. We’ve reined in so-called ghost guns which have no serial numbers and are harder to trace. We’ve cracked down on gun trafficking and increased resources for violence prevention.

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Republican who urged Trump to declare ‘Marshall’ law only regrets misspelling

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Text from Ralph Norman to Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s final chief of staff, urged president to declare martial law

A Republican who urged the Trump White House to declare martial law to stop Joe Biden taking office has only one regret: that he misspelled “martial”.

The text from Ralph Norman of South Carolina to Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s final chief of staff, was given to the January 6 committee by Meadows and revealed by Talking Points Memo.

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US announces fusion energy success ‘that could revolutionize the world’ – live

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Breakthrough came after experiment with 192 high-energy lasers, say US energy officials

The energy department’s press conference on the breakthrough in its fusion experiment has wrapped up, but before it concluded, a top official said it could be a long time before the technology becomes commonly used.

“There are very significant hurdles, not just in the science but in technology,” said Kim Budil, director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where the experiment was conducted. “This is one igniting capsule one time, and to realize commercial fusion energy, you have to do many things. You have to be able to produce many, many fusion ignition events per minute, and you have to have a robust system of drivers to enable that.”

Inside that was a small, spherical capsule about half the diameter of a BB. One hundred and ninety two laser beams entered from the two ends of the cylinder and struck the inner wall. They didn’t strike the capsule, they struck the inner wall of this cylinder and deposited energy, and that happened in less time than it takes light to move 10 feet, so it’s kind of fast.

X-rays from the wall impinged on the spherical capsule. Fusion fuel in the capsule got squeezed. Fusion reaction started.

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Nephew calls Republican who tearfully opposed gay marriage bill a homophobe

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Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler voted against bill protecting same-sex marriage but Andrew Hartzler, who is gay, was unimpressed

The backlash to the Republican member of Congress who broke down in tears in her opposition to the same-sex marriage bill has included a familiar face – her nephew, who has called the lawmaker a “homophobe”.

On Thursday, Vicky Hartzler, a Republican representative from Missouri, shed tears as she urged colleagues in the US House of Representatives to vote against the Respect for Marriage Act, which forces states without marriage equality laws to recognize LGBTQ+ marriages from other states.

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Trump Organization found guilty of tax fraud – live

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More on the Jan 6 committee’s announcement about upcoming criminal referrals.

Committee chairman Bennie G Thompson told reporters today that the committee has decided to make at least one criminal referral.

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January 6 officers and relatives snub top Republicans at gold medal ceremony

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Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy denounced as ‘two-faced’ by Brian Sicknick’s mother at Congressional Gold Medal event

Senior Republicans Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy were snubbed by law enforcement leaders and a fallen officer’s family at Tuesday’s Congressional Gold Medal award ceremony for Capitol police who defended against the 6 January attacks.

The pair were denounced as “two-faced” by the mother of Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after a mob of Donald Trump supporters ransacked the Capitol building and forced politicians to flee for their lives.

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Will the ‘cool, calm, collected’ Hakeem Jeffries change when in power?

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Some believe Black lawmakers adapt to leadership by becoming more moderate – others disagree

Democratic congressman Hakeem Jeffries first emerged in the mid-2000s as a former corporate lawyer homegrown from central Brooklyn. With his focus on criminal justice reform and housing affordability, he was seen as a progressive of the moment who took on the existing Democratic machine in New York.

Now, as the newly-elected successor to House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Jeffries has graduated from state politics to the national stage with the opportunity to make an impression on American politics for years to come.

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Hakeem Jeffries ‘stops talking’ when asked what he thinks of Kevin McCarthy

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McCarthy seeking votes to be speaker when Republicans take over the House next year party

In his first major interview since being elected the first Black leader in Congress, the New York Democrat Hakeem Jeffries was asked what he thought of Kevin McCarthy, the Californian now seeking the votes to be speaker when Republicans take over the House next year.

“We serve in Congress together,” Jeffries said.

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Garland vows to hold January 6 attackers to account after Oath Keepers conviction – live

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Attorney general condemns ‘those responsible for crimes related to the attack on our democracy’ – follow US politics live

The former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who was also Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, will use the coming Christmas holidays to decide whether to launch a run for the presidency in 2024.

Speaking in her home state and at her alma mater, Clemson University, on Tuesday, Haley said: “We are taking the holidays to kind of look at what the situation is. If we decide to get into it, we’ll put 1,000% in, and we’ll finish it.”

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What can Democrats push through Congress in the lame-duck session?

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Legislation on the debt ceiling, civil liberties and elections is still possible before Republican House majority kicks in

As a new era of divided government looms in the US, Democrats are rushing to complete a lengthy legislative to-do list that includes landmark civil liberties legislation, a routine but critical spending package and a bill to prevent another January 6.

There are only a handful of working days left before the balance of power in Congress shifts and Democrats’ unified control of government in Washington ends. In January, Republicans will claim the gavel in the House, giving them veto power over much of Joe Biden’s agenda.

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