The GOP is obsessed with the president’s son, but the party’s attacks make it difficult to discern legitimate concern from crazy conspiracies
“Sweetheart deal!” “Two-tiered justice!” “Mere traffic ticket!”
Republicans had their applause lines ready on Tuesday when Joe Biden’s son Hunter struck a plea deal over unpaid taxes, and gun possession while being a drug user, that is likely to keep him out of prison.
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More Republicans are condemning Hunter Biden’s plea deal.
New York representative Elise Stefanik released a statement on the plea deal, calling out “a two-tiered system of justice” that purportedly benefited Biden.
Continue reading...President enlists support of union members against GOP tax cuts for the wealthy at first political rally of 2024 re-election campaign
At his first political rally since announcing his re-election campaign for president in April, Joe Biden told a crowd of labor union supporters: “Wall Street didn’t build America – you did.”
“If the investment bankers of this country went on strike tomorrow, no one would notice,” Biden said on Saturday during a speech which alluded to his blue-collar childhood roots in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Renewing his longstanding vocal support for labor unions, he continued: “If this room didn’t show up to work tomorrow, the whole country would come to a grinding halt, so tell me – who matters more in America?”
Continue reading...The oldest president in history is ditching his Covid-imposed ‘basement strategy’ for the most gruelling campaign of his life
It became known as the “basement strategy”. As the coronavirus pandemic raged outside, presidential candidate Joe Biden addressed the nation from a makeshift studio under his Delaware home, avoiding off-the-cuff gaffes and allowing rival Donald Trump to self-destruct.
But three years on, with lockdowns lifted and America mostly back to a new version of normal, Biden knows that speeches on glitchy Zoom calls or in empty auditoriums will not be enough. The president, who at 80 is the oldest in American history, is facing the final, most gruelling campaign of his life.
Continue reading...President makes speech in Connecticut at summit marking passage of tougher gun control law last year
The Minneapolis police force use excessive force and discriminate against marginalized groups, including Black and Native Americans and people with behavioral issues, attorney general Merrick Garland said as he announced the findings of the justice department’s investigation following George Floyd’s death.
“We found that MPD … engages in a pattern or practice of using excessive force, unlawfully discriminating against Black and Native American people in enforcement activities, violating the rights of people engaged in protected speech and discriminating against people with behavioral disabilities and … when responding to them in crisis,” Garland said.
The city council approved the court-enforceable agreement on Friday on an 11-0 vote, but not before several members expressed harsh criticism of the Minneapolis police department and other city leaders over the years.
“The lack of political will to take responsibility for MPD is why we are in this position today,” council member Robin Wonsley said.
Continue reading...US attorney general praises Smith’s independence and accountability; Republican senators step up threats over Trump charges
Joe Biden has refused to publicly comment on the federal charges leveled against his predecessor Donald Trump over allegedly hoarding government documents from his time in the White House, and Politico reports the president has also instructed Democratic party offices to do the same.
While many top Democratic lawmakers have condemned the allegations against Trump, neither Biden nor top officials at the White House or his re-election campaign have spoken out about the indictment and his arraignment in Miami yesterday. Politico reports that some Democrats – none of whom would allow their names to be used – believe the strategy is a missed opportunity to cast Trump as reckless and boost Biden’s re-election chances.
Biden has privately told aides that he is disgusted by Trump’s behavior but is adhering to his promise that the Department of Justice would have independence from the White House. The DNC, meanwhile, has advised members of Congress seeking guidance on what to say that they should not comment on the Trump probes if they are speaking publicly in their role as Biden campaign surrogates.
While Biden has framed his stance as in line with longstanding tradition, it is not uncommon for presidents to occasionally weigh in on ongoing criminal investigations. Biden has at times done so himself – including weighing in before the verdict was announced in the 2021 trial of the white Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd.
Continue reading...Former US president arrives in New Jersey after indictment hearing in Miami over classified documents
Meanwhile in Washington, Donald Trump’s allies in Congress are vowing to do all they can to help him fight Jack Smith’s prosecution.
Here’s the judiciary committee’s Republican chair Jim Jordan hinting to CNN that he may demand testimony from Smith, the special counsel appointed by attorney general Merrick Garland specifically to handle the investigations into Trump:
Continue reading...Former US president lands in Miami ahead of court appearance on Tuesday; Miami officials detailed security measures in press briefing
The White House said Joe Biden will not be under anesthesia during his root canal today, meaning the 25th amendment won’t be invoked.
Ratified in 1967, the amendment is one of the most recent additions to the constitution, and outlines the procedure for the vice-president to temporarily assume the president’s duties at the chief executive’s request. In November 2021, Biden used its authority to hand power to Kamala Harris while he underwent a colonoscopy.
Continue reading...Indictment accuses former president of risking national security, foreign relations, safety of US military and intelligence gathering
The US senate judiciary committee chairman, Dick Durbin, has said the investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith should be allowed to continue “without interference”.
In a statement on Friday, Durbin added that Donald Trump “should be afforded the due process protections that he is guaranteed by our constitution, just like any other American”.
I think before the sun sets today, the attorney general of the United States should be standing in front of the American people, should unseal this indictment, should provide the American people with all the facts and information here.
And the American people be able to judge for themselves whether this is just the latest incident of weaponization and politicization at the justice department or it’s something different.
Continue reading...Former US vice president says was proud to stand by Trump but goes on to criticise attempts to overturn election result in Iowa campaign launch
We’re about an hour away from Mike Pence’s campaign launch in Iowa, and a CBS News reporter at the event noticed something telling in his campaign’s arrangements for the media.
As noted below, the password for the wifi provided to journalists seems to be a reference to Pence’s refusal to go along with Trump’s demand that he block Congress’s certification of Joe Biden’s election win on January 6:
Continue reading...House Republicans say they plan to vote on holding FBI director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress for declining to turn over a document outlining an unverified allegation of corruption against Joe Biden.
As the Associated Press reports, Republican House oversight committee chair James Comer along with GOP senator Chuck Grassley last month said they had heard the FBI possesses a document detailing “an alleged criminal scheme” “relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions” between a foreign national and Biden when he was vice-president. While Comer and other Republicans have played up the allegation, they haven’t offered any proof to substantiate it.
Three months before saboteurs bombed the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline, the Biden administration learned from a close ally that the Ukrainian military had planned a covert attack on the undersea network, using a small team of divers who reported directly to the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Details about the plan, which have not been previously reported, were collected by a European intelligence service and shared with the CIA in June 2022. They provide some of the most specific evidence to date linking the government of Ukraine to the eventual attack in the Baltic Sea, which U.S. and Western officials have called a brazen and dangerous act of sabotage on Europe’s energy infrastructure.
Continue reading...Former vice president filed papers on Monday; Democrats criticise Haley on abortion stance after CNN town hall
Donald Trump’s lawyers are at the justice department today to argue to top officials that the former president should not be charged over the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, the Washington Post reports.
The attorneys at the meeting include John Rowley and James Trusty, who last month sent a letter to attorney general Merrick Garland, asking for a meeting and complaining about the investigation into Trump, which is led by special counsel Jack Smith.
Continue reading...Kevin McCarthy, the House speaker, secured a number of cuts on federal spending, with the borrowing limit suspended until 2025
Joe Biden signed a bill on Saturday to suspend the US debt ceiling, ending a months-long standoff with the Republican House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, and averting a federal default that could have upended the world economy.
Economists warned that a default could have caused the US unemployment rate to double while significantly damaging gross domestic product.
Continue reading...Wife of Democratic Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman adds US political scene is ‘mean’ in interview with MSNBC
Gisele Barreto Fetterman, married to a former mayor and lieutenant governor who is now a US senator, regrets how “mean” the US political scene has become, saying: “I still hate politics.”
The wife of the Democratic Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman was speaking to MSNBC in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday.
Continue reading...Compromise package to suspend debt ceiling passed US Senate late on Thursday with 63 votes to 36
The bipartisan bill to solve the US debt ceiling crisis just days before a catastrophic and unprecedented default was on its way to Joe Biden’s desk on Friday as the US president prepared to address the nation and hailed “a big win for our economy and the American people”.
The compromise package negotiated between Biden and the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, passed the US Senate late on Thursday.
Continue reading...US president took a tumble at the end of a ceremony honoring air force graduates in Colorado; White House vows to use veto
Supreme court justices on Thursday took aim at pharmacies who overcharge the government for prescription drugs, their unanimous ruling reopening a pathway for legal action by individuals seeking to protect taxpayers’ money.
The case involves “whistleblowers” ostensibly acting for the government, whom a lower court said could not sue pharmacies claiming their own “objectively reasonable” reading of the law allowed them to overbill federal health programs including Medicare and Medicaid.
Continue reading...Freedom caucus has attacked House leader Kevin McCarthy’s deal with Joe Biden to raise the debt ceiling before the default deadline of 5 June
Members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus have attacked the proposed spending cuts in the debt ceiling bill as woefully inadequate, and vowed to oppose the legislation when it hits the floor.
“We had the time to act, and this deal fails – fails completely,” Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, chair of the Freedom Caucus, said on Tuesday. “We will do everything in our power to stop it and end it now.”
Continue reading...Committee debate comes amid opposition from both sides to agreement that would stave off a catastrophic default
Members of the House Freedom Caucus have said they will rethink the House speaker leadership if the debt ceiling agreement passes.
During a Tuesday press conference outside of the Capitol, several House Freedom Caucus members spoke out against the Biden-McCarthy deal.
Continue reading...Some members of Congress question if they received enough concessions in Biden and McCarthy’s agreement
US political leaders appeared bullish on Monday that they can sell a bipartisan compromise debt ceiling deal to enough mainstream lawmakers – overcoming boisterous criticism from left and right – urgently enough to avert a first-ever national default on the $31.4tn the US owes creditors.
Despite a lot of diplomacy and even arm-twisting still to come on Capitol Hill in the next few days, Joe Biden left the White House to head to Delaware on Monday afternoon smiling and teasing reporters as he took questions, while the first lady, Jill Biden, waited on the lawn.
Continue reading...Default deadline pushed to 5 June as work requirements for food aid recipients reportedly emerge as final sticking point
President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy held a phone conversation on Saturday evening, according to a person familiar with their plans, amid signs that a deal in the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations was close to being struck.
McCarthy said earlier on Saturday that he was making “progress” in negotiations on raising the federal government’s debt ceiling, as the nation faced risk of default in little more than a week.
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