Democrats and Republicans in Senate and House have pledged to hold hearings on crash that has sparked major pollution fears
Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has made a surprise visit to Kyiv, where she’s underscoring Washington’s continued support for Ukraine one year after Russia invaded.
We at the Guardian have a separate live blog with all the latest Ukraine news, which you can follow along here.
Continue reading...Ronna McDaniel says loyalty pledge by primary candidates should be a ‘no-brainer’ for party’s presidential hopefuls
The Republican National Committee’s chairperson has said that all GOP primary candidates should sign a pledge promising to support the eventual party nominee if they wish to participate in the presidential debates.
Ronna McDaniel, the RNC’s leader since 2017, told CNN in an interview Sunday that even though the debate criteria have not yet been released, the loyalty pledge should nevertheless be a “no-brainer” for the party’s presidential hopefuls.
Continue reading...Country’s capacity to generate renewable energy shot up last year, producing enough electricity to power 64m households
A new report by Climate Central shows how US capacity to generate renewable energy shot up last year – and surprisingly, red states lead the nation in solar and wind power production.
National wind and solar capacity grew 16% compared to 2021. All told, renewables generated enough electricity to power 64m American households. The report comes as the Biden administration starts to make billions of dollars available for renewable energy projects. The administration has committed to decarbonizing the grid completely by 2030 and getting the US to net zero emissions by mid-century.
Continue reading...While Antony Blinken spoke highly of Ukraine’s will to fight in his interview with ABC News, he declined to say whether he thought the war would still be raging this time next year.
Here’s more from his appearance:
Continue reading...At issue is whether a protection afforded by the constitution applies to ‘informal’ fact-finding by members of Congress
A federal appeals court appeared skeptical on Thursday of the justice department’s interpretation of US Congress members’ immunity from criminal investigations and whether it allowed federal prosecutors to access House Republican Scott Perry’s phone contents in the January 6 investigation.
The department seized Perry’s phone in the criminal investigation last year and was granted access to its contents by a lower court, until Perry appealed the decision on the grounds that the speech or debate clause protections barred prosecutors from seeing his messages.
Continue reading...The derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio has become a political football, but now we have an idea of what may have caused it: an overheating wheel bearing. Here’s more from the National Transportation Safety Board’s just-released interim report:
Crew members on the freight train that derailed in Ohio earlier this month, unleashing a huge blaze and spreading dangerous chemicals, tried to slow and stop the train after seeing an alert about an overheating wheel bearing, but it came off the tracks, according to an interim report released on Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Continue reading...Former president heading to East Palestine, Ohio, after loosening safety regulations for rail operators
Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg will visit East Palestine, Ohio on Thursday, Politico reports.
He’ll receive an update from the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the freight derailment that spilled toxic chemicals in the community, according to the report, which cites a person familiar with his plans.
Continue reading...Comments from right wing are business as usual – but could signal future political battles to come if US to keep sending aid to Ukraine
For Joe Biden to safely visit Ukraine, the White House spirited him out of the country in the middle of the night and made reporters traveling with him swear a temporary oath of secrecy – none of which could protect the president from attacks by Republicans.
The journey was only complicated further by an unexpected announcement. In a speech marking a year since he sent his armies over Ukraine’s borders in an ill-fated attempt to take Kyiv, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced his country would no longer participate in the last nuclear arms control treaty with the United States still standing, and accused the west of posing an existential threat to his country.
Continue reading...Speaking before a crowd of thousands in the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle, Joe Biden hailed the resilience of Ukraine’s people and the benevolence of Poland and other western allies in helping fend off the Russian invasion.
“Autocrats only understand one word: no.” Biden said. “No, you will not take my country. No, you will not take my freedom. No, you will not take my future. I’ll repeat tonight what I said last year at the same place. A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never be able to ease the people’s love of liberties. Brutality will never grind down the will of the free. Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, never.”
Continue reading...Ex-Maryland governor tells Meet the Press: ‘I care about making sure we have a future for the Republican party’
The danger of splitting anti-Trump Republicans and helping the former president win the nomination again “would be a pretty good reason to consider not running” for the White House in 2024, the former Maryland governor Larry Hogan said.
“I don’t care that much about my future in the Republican party,” Hogan told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. “I care about making sure we have a future for the Republican party.
Continue reading...Bills are part of religious right’s post-Roe strategy, with most prevalent ones relating to age verification of sex-related websites
A wave of proposed legislation pushed by Republicans across the US at the state level is aimed at outlawing aspects of sexuality that could have a huge impact on Americans’ private lives and businesses.
Opponents to the laws before legislatures in various states say the planned new legislation could spawn prosecution of breast-pump companies in Texas for nipples on advertising, or a bookstore might be banned from selling romance novels in West Virginia, or South Carolina could imprison standup comics if a risque joke is heard by a young person.
Continue reading...A year after the conflict began, the consensus against Russian aggression has held but alarm bells are ringing in Congress
Vladimir Putin has proven adept at exploiting the US political divide, so the solid bipartisan consensus behind arming Ukraine over the past year may well have come as a surprise to him. The question one year into the war is: how long can that consensus last?
Two weeks before the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion on 24 February, a group of Trump-supporting Republicans led by Matt Gaetz introduced a “Ukraine fatigue” resolution that, if passed, would “express through the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States must end its military and financial aid to Ukraine, and urges all combatants to reach a peace agreement”.
Continue reading...Glenn Youngkin blocks bill passed in Democratic-led state senate to ban search warrants for menstrual data on tracking apps
The Republican governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, appears to have thwarted an attempt to stop law enforcement obtaining menstrual histories of women in the state.
A bill passed in the Democratic-led state senate, and supported by half the chamber’s Republicans, would have banned search warrants for menstrual data stored in tracking apps on mobile phones or other electronic devices.
Continue reading...Trump’s secretary of state makes comments on podcast to defend former administration siding more openly with Israel
Mike Pompeo, the former US secretary of state, has defended Israel’s decades-long control of the Palestinian territories by claiming that the Jewish state has a biblical claim to the land and is therefore not occupying it.
Pompeo told the One Decision podcast that his religious beliefs, US strategic interests and his view of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, as a “known terrorist” underpinned his support as the Trump administration’s top diplomat for the shift in US policy away from mediating a two-state solution and toward more openly siding with Israel.
Continue reading...Democrats attempted to advance bills requiring secure storage of firearms and expanding background checks for gun buyers
Less than a year before a gunman attacked Michigan State University’s campus on Monday, killing three students and injuring five, Republican legislators in the state rejected an opportunity to change gun regulations.
In the aftermath of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Michigan Democrats attempted to advance bills requiring secure storage of firearms and expanding background checks for gun buyers. Six months earlier, a shooting at Oxford high school near Detroit had also reinvigorated Democratic efforts to change Michigan gun laws. But the gun bills were blocked by Republicans, who controlled both chambers of the state legislature.
Continue reading...Only Black Republican in Senate set to challenge Donald Trump for nomination, Wall Street Journal says
South Carolina senator Tim Scott is reportedly taking steps to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
Reporting the news, the Wall Street Journal cited anonymous sources “familiar with his plans”. Jennifer DeCasper, a senior adviser, said the senator was “excited to share his vision of hope and opportunity and hear the American people’s response”.
Continue reading...US will have its experts try to understand unknown objects, including broader policy implications, says John Kirby
“I told you so”.
That’s more or less what Republican senator Marco Rubio has to say about the three downings of unidentified objects over North American skies over the weekend:
Continue reading...President says at White House dinner that passage of infrastructure laws is evidence of ‘some bipartisan progress’
Joe Biden appealed to Republican and Democratic governors on Saturday to continue working across political divides to improve Americans’ lives and rebuild the economy after the hardships brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking at a black-tie dinner at the White House, the president told 31 governors that the passage of laws on investing in infrastructure and domestic manufacture of semiconductors was evidence of “some bipartisan progress” among Republicans and Democrats. Vice-President Kamala Harris was also in attendance.
Continue reading...State attorney general must also apologize to four former aides whose claims initiated ongoing FBI investigation
The attorney general for the state of Texas, Ken Paxton, has agreed to apologize and pay $3.3m in taxpayer money to four former staffers who accused him of corruption in 2020, igniting an ongoing FBI investigation of the three-term Republican.
Under terms of a preliminary lawsuit settlement filed on Friday, Paxton made no admission of wrongdoing to accusations of bribery and abuse of office, which he has denied for years and called politically motivated.
Continue reading...John Kirby says defense department was tracking flying object, and Biden ordered military to ‘down’ it
Reports are now confirming that the FBI is searching Pence’s Indiana home for additional classified documents.
CNN reported that “a source familiar with the situation” is confirming that the search is taking place and in relation to classified documents.
Continue reading...