The president called out Maga forces as a threat ‘to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the very soul of this country’
Protesters outside Independence Hall were shouting “Let’s go, Brandon,” which Biden was able to brush off.
Biden addressed them, saying: “They’re entitled to be outrageous. This is a democracy.”
Continue reading...Peltola’s victory in the state’s first ranked choice voting election makes her the first Alaska Native to serve in the House
The Democrat Mary Peltola has won the special election for Alaska’s only US House seat, besting a field that included the Republican Sarah Palin, who was seeking a political comeback in the state where she was once governor.
Peltola, who is Yup’ik and turned 49 on Wednesday, will become the first Alaska Native to serve in the House and the first woman to hold the seat. She will serve the remaining months of the late Republican US Representative Don Young’s term. Young held the seat for 49 years before his death in March.
Continue reading...In overnight court filing, DoJ says it was ‘likely’ efforts had been made to move and hide documents
Donald Trump’s former White House counselor, Kellyanne Conway, does not think Republicans should move on from her former boss, despite signs his control of the party could cost it the chance to take Congress in November.
Speaking to Fox News on Tuesday, Conway said: “Those who want to move on from Trump: You go first.”
Continue reading...President details his Safer America Plan in Pennsylvania speech and says funding police provides ‘peace of mind’
The White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is holding a gaggle aboard Air Force One, as Joe Biden heads to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to talk about gun safety.
The first topic in the gaggle is the flooding in Mississippi and the failure of the Jackson area water treatment services, which has caused a crisis over clean drinking water.
US Secret Service official Tony Ornato, a figure of intense interest to the congressional committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack, has retired from the agency. He was an eyewitness to some of the most critical incidents involving Donald Trump in the hours leading up to the deadly assault on the US Capitol.
NBC News reported that Trump has hired a criminal attorney who was once Florida’s solicitor to his legal team. Chris Kise is expected to make his first appearance in federal court in West Palm Beach on Thursday when district judge Aileen Cannon mulls Trump’s request for a special master to oversee the justice department’s review of classified materials seized by the FBI at his home.
We’re awaiting at any moment the justice department’s legal response to Trump’s request, which will be a lengthy filing running up to 40 pages after Cannon waived a 20-page limit imposed by the court.
Incumbent Democratic Arizona senator Mark Kelly leads Republican challenger Blake Masters by more than three points in a poll released today, appearing to confirm a growing belief within the party that pro-choice messaging on abortion will be vote-winner in November’s midterms.
Continue reading...Justice department faces deadline for detailed inventory of files while ex-president’s team must argue for review by special master
More from Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe on the legal case around the FBI search and seizure of classified documents from former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club-resort and home.
Tribe v Oz
Continue reading...Party spent years chanting ‘lock her up’ at Hillary Clinton for private email system, says congressman, a vocal critic of Trump
Congressman Adam Kinzinger, the Illinois Republican who has been one of the most vocal critics of Donald Trump, called out his party for criticizing Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while continuing to defend the former president’s decision to take sensitive government information to his home at Mar-a-Lago.
Kinzinger’s comments came days after the FBI released a redacted version of the affidavit the agency submitted to a federal judge to justify a search of Trump’s home. The document details how Trump retained classified material at Mar-a-Lago and that the government had been working for more than a year to retrieve those materials. A batch of documents returned earlier this year contained 184 documents marked as classified, including 25 marked as top secret.
Continue reading...Heavily redacted document also says several documents contained what appears to be Trump’s handwritten notes
Three new sealed filings have appeared online in the federal court system related to the Mar-a-Lago case, Politico reports:
Since they are not public, it’s unclear what they are, but a federal magistrate judge gave the justice department until noon eastern time today to make the redacted affidavit justifying the search public.
Continue reading...President had campaigned on promise of loan forgiveness of up to $10,000 for those struggling with student debt
• Trump appears to concede he illegally retained official documents in filing
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The GOP is teeing up their counter-attack to Biden’s impending announcement on student debt relief, decrying it as a “bribe” that will be paid for by American taxpayers.
Here’s what the Senate Republicans said on Twitter:
Continue reading...Democrat Pat Ryan made abortion central to his campaign, and defeated Republican Mark Molinaro in contested House election
After months of bracing for staggering losses, Democrats are suddenly filled with a sense of optimism that the 2022 midterm elections could defy historical precedent and see them perform strongly, especially by highlighting the Republican threat to abortion rights.
On Tuesday night, Democrat Pat Ryan defeated Republican Mark Molinaro in a fiercely contested special House election in New York’s Hudson Valley, in a contest that was seen as a barometer of impact of the US supreme court’s decision to end the constitutional right to an abortion.
Continue reading...Former Republican governor who became a Democratic congressman edges out Nikki Fried to face the Donald Trump protégé in November
Charlie Crist will challenge Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, in November after trouncing Nikki Fried, the state agriculture commissioner, in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Crist, a former Republican governor of Florida who switched parties and became a Democratic congressman, fought a campaign touting his experience in office and opposition to the 15-week abortion ban signed by DeSantis.
Continue reading...The Republican candidate’s aide said John Fetterman would not have suffered had he ‘ever eaten a vegetable in his life’
John Fetterman, the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Pennsylvania, might not have had a stroke if he “had ever eaten a vegetable in his life”, an aide to the Republican candidate, Mehmet Oz, said on Tuesday in a strikingly nasty moment in an already bitter contest.
The statement, to Business Insider, came in response to Fetterman’s mockery of a video in which Oz complains about the price of crudités while mangling the names of two Pennsylvania grocery stores.
Continue reading...Florida and New York go to the polls as Democrats seek to defend their congressional majority in November
In other Florida news, voters are casting primary ballots as Democrats look ahead to November, where they’ll mount a challenge to governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis. Joan E Greve has the latest on what to expect from today’s polls:
Florida voters will head to the polls on Tuesday to determine which candidates will have the chance to face off in this November’s general election. Voters will cast ballots in races for the governorship and Congress, all the way down to circuit courts and local school boards.
Continue reading...In letter announcing defection, state senator Kevin Priola cites political and environmental threat from his erstwhile party
Announcing his switch to the Democrats, a Colorado state senator said Republican attacks on democracy were not the only “existential threat” posed by his former party.
“I have become increasingly worried about our planet and the climate crisis we are facing,” Kevin Priola said, in a letter posted to social media on Monday.
Continue reading...The departure of Anthony Fauci comes amid what is looking to be a major shake-up of American public health institutions. Last week, the head of the CDC announced reforms to the agency, which was criticized for its response to Covid-19 and, more recently, monkeypox:
The head of the top US public health agency on Wednesday announced a shake-up of the organization, intended to make it more nimble.
Continue reading...Cheney says two Republican US senators – Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley – have both made themselves ‘unfit for future office’
The former top Republican Liz Cheney, who lost her Wyoming seat in Congress last week when she was beaten in a primary by a Donald Trump-endorsed challenger, is threatening to turn her political muscle against other prominent politicians in her party who have embraced the former president’s attack on democracy.
In an interview with ABC News aired on Sunday, she said that some of the best known Republican figures are now within her sights. She name-checked Kevin McCarthy, Ron DeSantis, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley – all of whom have openly supported Trump’s lie that electoral fraudsters stole the 2020 presidential race from him and handed it to his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.
Continue reading...Ron Klain argues president has made a historic impact and that focus shouldn’t be on inflation or Afghanistan withdrawal
Democratic leaders went on the attack against Mike Pence, as the former vice-president under Donald Trump heads to Iowa today amid increased speculation of a potential 2024 campaign.
Jaime Harrison, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, sharply criticized Pence’s repeated calls for a national abortion ban in the wake of the supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade.
Continue reading...Carl Paladino, a Republican candidate for Congress in New York, recently caused controversy when he praised Adolf Hitler
A Republican candidate for Congress in New York said he was “being facetious” when, in the same interview, he said the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, should be executed for authorising the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s Florida home.
The candidate, Carl Paladino, recently caused controversy when he praised Adolf Hitler, as “the kind of leader we need today”.
Continue reading...An athletics association scrutinized the winner’s records after parents of two girls who lost the competition complained
A Utah high school athletics association secretly investigated a female athlete – without telling her or her parents – after receiving complaints from the parents of two girls she had defeated in competition questioning whether the girl was transgender.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the Utah high school activities association and the girl’s high school determined she indeed was born female after poring through school records dating back to kindergarten.
Continue reading...Justice department says release of document showing probable cause would jeopardize ongoing investigation
First lady Jill Biden appears to be on the mend following her positive Covid-19 test earlier this week, the White House has told reporters:
The Trump organization’s finance chief just pleaded guilty to tax charges and will soon testify against his former employer, Dominic Rushe reports:
Continue reading...The agency claims the restrictions, including a ban on providing water and food to those lining up to vote, are racially motivated
Florida Republicans intentionally targeted Black voters when they enacted new voting restrictions last year, the justice department said in a court filing on Wednesday.
The department told a federal appellate court that a lower court had correctly evaluated claims of racial discrimination when it came to Florida’s new law. In March, US District Judge Mark Walker blocked new restrictions on the availability of absentee ballot drop boxes, regulations for third party voter registration groups, and a ban on providing food and water to people standing in line to vote. The US court of appeals for the 11th circuit paused that ruling earlier this year while it considers an appeal from Florida officials.
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