Gun violence rattles US amid Independence Day celebrations – latest updates

Suspect pre-planned Highland park attack and wore ‘women’s clothing’, police say

A new poll from Monmouth University has found that President Joe Biden remains unpopular, but for Democrats, that’s not its most troubling finding. The Biden administration has hoped that the supreme court’s recent rulings curtailing abortion access and expanding concealed weapons possession would fire up Democrats ahead of the midterm elections, but the poll instead shows that voters’ biggest issue remains the nation’s high rate of inflation - a trend that Biden has had little success in reversing.

First the bad news about Biden’s approval rating, which Monmouth reports actually worsened last month:

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Supreme court decisions: court deals blow on climate but Biden wins immigration case – live

In its second and final decision of the day, the Supreme Court on Thursday said Biden can terminate a controversial Trump-era immigration policy, known as Remain in Mexico. The ruling affirms a president’s broad power to set the nation’s immigration policy.

The ruling concludes the most consequential supreme court term in recent memory.

The case, which was backed by a host of other Republican-led states including Texas and Kentucky, was highly unusual in that it was based upon the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era strategy to cut emissions from coal-fired power plants that never came into effect. The Biden administration sought to have the case dismissed as baseless given the plan was dropped and has not been resurrected.

Not only was this case about a regulation that does not exist, that never took effect, and which would have imposed obligations on the energy sector that it would have met regardless. It also involves two legal doctrines that are not mentioned in the constitution, and that most scholars agree have no basis in any federal statute.

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Jan 6 committee hearings: Cheney describes possible witness tampering after ex-aide’s testimony – as it happened

The Guardian’s Ashifa Kassam and Ramon Antonio Vargas report:

Fifty suspected migrants were found dead and at least a dozen others were hospitalized after being found inside an abandoned tractor-trailer rig on Monday on a remote back road in south-west San Antonio, officials have said.

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Protests sweep across nation as supreme court overturns Roe v Wade – follow live

Former president Barack Obama has condemned the supreme court’s ruling overturning Roe v Wade, calling it an attack on “the essential freedoms of millions of Americans”:

President Joe Biden is expected to address the nation:

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January 6 hearings outlined ‘inner workings of political coup in service of Trump’, panel chair says – as it happened

Committee ends fifth hearing, with next sessions expected in July

Gun rights have been in the news for weeks following two shocking mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York — a fact that has not escaped the supreme court.

In his concurrence with the majority opinion, conservative justice Samuel Alito connects the latter shooting with the concealed weapons regulation that the court struck down. “Will a person bent on carrying out a mass shooting be stopped if he knows that it is illegal to carry a handgun outside the home? And how does the dissent account for the fact that one of the mass shootings near the top of its list took place in Buffalo? The New York law at issue in this case obviously did not stop that perpetrator,” wrote Alito, who was also the author of the draft opinion overturning abortion rights that leaked in May.

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Ex-Trump adviser Peter Navarro pleads not guilty to contempt charges in January 6 case – as it happened

President Joe Biden has cheered the Food and Drug Administration’s decision today to authorize Covid-19 vaccines for children younger than five years old, the last group of Americans that didn’t have access to the jabs.

“Today is a day of huge relief for parents and families across America. Following a rigorous scientific review, the Food and Drug Administration has authorized the first COVID-19 vaccines for kids under the age of five. As early as next week, pending recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), parents will finally be able to get their youngest kids the protection of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

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Abortion and gun decisions loom as US supreme court releases more opinions – live

A special election in south Texas last night ended with bad news for Democrats when the district chose a Republican to represent it in the House of Representatives for the first time. But as Victoria Bekiempis reports, the victor Mayra Flores will face a stiffer challenge in November, when she must stand for her seat once more.

A south Texas congressional district will be represented by a Republican for the first time following a special election Tuesday. The election of Mayra Flores, who bested her Democrat competitor in a 51%-43% vote, comes as Republicans continue to make inroads among Latino voters in south Texas.

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Democrats voice concerns over Biden’s Saudi trip: ‘Their values are not ours’ – as it happened

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said the text of the gun control compromise reached by senators this weekend should come in the “coming days.”

Before the chamber can vote on the proposal, it needs to see a bill first, following this weekend’s announcement of an agreement that could pass the evenly divided Senate.

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Jan 6 hearings: Trump ‘lit the fuse that led to horrific violence’, committee chair says – live

It looks like William Barr, Trump’s final attorney general during the time of the 2020 election, will be playing a major role in the today’s hearing.

The committee last Thursday aired video in which he said he thought Trump’s claims of election fraud were “bullshit,” and committee members say he will reappear today to elaborate on his views.

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AOC refuses to endorse Biden for 2024 as Democrats doubt his ability to win

Congresswoman says she’s focused on trying to preserve Democrats’ congressional majority in November’s midterms

Left-wing congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday refused to endorse Joe Biden for another run at the White House, adding to growing anxiety in Democratic circles over the president’s ability to run in and win the 2024 election.

The powerful progressive New Yorker said she could not commit to supporting Biden during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, saying she was more focused on trying to preserve Democrats’ congressional majority in November’s midterms.

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Biden says forces behind January 6 attack ‘remain at work today’ – as it happened

Did the January 6 committee really cut through the “thick fog of propaganda” around the attack? Not if you watched Fox News, which didn’t broadcast the hearing. My colleague Adam Gabbatt took a look at what they showed in its place:

The millions of people who tuned into America’s main television channels on Thursday heard how the January 6 insurrection was “the culmination of an attempted coup”, a “siege” where violent Trump supporters mercilessly attacked police, causing politicians and staffers to run for their lives.

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US braces for House committee’s primetime January 6 hearings – live

The US Department of Justice has announced a federal civil rights investigation into the Louisiana State Police following a raft of brutality cases and the fatal beating of a Black motorist, Ronald Greene, in 2019.

Greene, an unarmed 49-year-old, was arrested by six white officers with body camera footage of the incident, obtained years later by the Associated Press, revealing he had been punched, tasered and placed in a chokehold and later dragged face down in handcuffs and left prone for over nine minutes.

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Pressure mounts on Senate to act on gun safety amid Republican resistance

Relatives of victims urge action while group of over 220 CEOS send joint letter pushing Senate to address gun violence

Pressure is mounting on the US Senate to act on gun safety in the wake of the Uvalde and Buffalo massacres, as Republican intransigence continues to stand in the way of all but modest reforms.

On Wednesday the House of Representatives passed a package of gun safety measures designed to staunch the disaster of mass shootings. The extent of Republican resistance was underlined by the fact that only five out of 208 House Republicans voted for the legislation.

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Uvalde survivor, 11, tells House hearing she smeared herself with friend’s blood

Miah Cerrillo recounts at gun violence hearing how she watched as her teacher and friends were shot and acted quickly to save herself

An 11-year-old survivor of the elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas testified before the House oversight committee on Wednesday, as lawmakers continued to try to reach a compromise on gun control legislation after a series of devastating mass shootings.

The House hearing came two weeks after an 18-year-old opened fire at Robb elementary school, killing 19 children and two teachers, and three weeks after 10 people were killed at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

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Uvalde native Matthew McConaughey says ‘real change can happen’ on gun reform – as it happened

Actor speaks at White House in effort to sway legislators skeptical of gun control legislation

The Senate judiciary committee hearing comes one day the House oversight committee will hold its own hearing on addressing gun violence in the US.

Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-grade student at Robb Elementary school who survived the shooting by smearing blood on herself, will testify at the House hearing. Felix and Kimberly Rubio, who lost their daughter Lexi in the Uvalde shooting, will also testify, as will Zeneta Everhart, whose son Zaire was shot in Buffalo and thankfully survived.

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Capitol attack panel to unveil new evidence against Trump at public hearings

Committee intends to reveal previously secret White House records, photos and videos to prove how Trump broke the law

The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack will unveil new evidence at Watergate-style public hearings next week showing Donald Trump and top aides acted with corrupt intent to stop Joe Biden’s certification, according to sources close to the inquiry.

The panel intends to use the hearings as its principal method of revealing potential crimes by Trump as he sought to overturn the 2020 election results, the sources said, in what could be a treacherous legal and political moment for the former president.

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‘Significant’ consequences if lawmakers fail to act on gun control, Democrat warns

Senator Chris Murphy says measures passed in Florida after Parkland shooting could attract Republican support

The Democratic senator leading his party’s push for stronger gun laws said on Sunday he believed measures passed in Florida following the 2018 high school shooting in Parkland could attract Republican support and provide a workable template for action in Congress.

Chris Murphy of Connecticut, speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, said he was optimistic that recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, could finally prompt enough bipartisan support for legislation that has previously proven elusive.

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House panel considers gun control bill after Texas school shooting – US politics live

Republican Dan Bishop challenged David Cicilline’s argument that Democrats’ gun-control bill is fully compliant with the constitution, instead insisting that the proposals would infringe on Americans’ Second Amendment rights.

“And let me be clear, you are not going to bully your way into stripping Americans of fundamental rights,” Bishop said.

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Clinton lawyer acquitted of lying to FBI when he briefed them on Trump-Russia links – as it happened

Jury’s verdict is setback for special counsel John Durham’s search for alleged misconduct in investigation of Trump’s 2016 campaign

• Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer acquitted of lying to the FBI

US supreme court clerks may be required to hand over phone records – report

• ‘We have to do something’: calls mount for Texas gun control laws after latest deadly attack

• Trump aide Peter Navarro ordered to testify before grand jury over January 6

In an unprecedented move, US supreme court clerks may be required to release their phone records as the investigation into who leaked the Roe v Wade opinion draft widens.

The possible mandated release of private cell records and signed affidavits, reported by CNN, is reportedly causing some clerks to consider retaining legal counsel.

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Democrats rush to push gun safety laws after mass shootings as Republicans stall

New York governor seeks to ban people under 21 from buying assault rifles, while California governor intends to sign restrictions, including the right to sue gun manufacturers

With Republicans stonewalling for years on any significant federal gun safety legislation, some states are now rushing to take steps themselves following large-scale shootings in New York and Texas this month.

Democrats in some blue states are making fresh efforts to reinvigorate proposals toward what gun control advocates call “evidence-based policy interventions”.

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