Category Archives: Republicans

Biden urges Senate to eliminate filibuster in voting rights pitch: ‘I’m tired of being quiet’ – as it happened

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The Republican who memorably resisted Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn his election defeat in Georgia has said he will run for re-election on a platform of “integrity and truth”, against an opponent who as a churchman “should know better” than to advance the former president’s lies.

Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, became a household name after he turned down Trump’s demand that he “find 11,780 votes” in order to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the southern state. It was the first victory by a Democrat in a presidential race in Georgia since 1992.

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Voters move to block Trump ally Madison Cawthorn from re-election

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North Carolina group files candidacy challenge, citing Republican congressman’s alleged involvement in 6 January attack

A group of North Carolina voters told state officials on Monday that they want Republican congressman Madison Cawthorn to be disqualified as a congressional candidate, citing his involvement in the 6 January attack on the Capitol.

Cawthorn questioned the outcome of the presidential election during the “Save America Rally” before the Capitol riot later that day that resulted in five deaths.

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Democrats look to renew push for voting rights protections bill – live

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Joe Biden spoke today to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, as the country continues to suffer through a bloody civil war that has attracted international condemnation for alleged war crimes.

“President Biden commended Prime Minister Abiy on the recent release of several political prisoners, and the two leaders discussed ways to accelerate dialogue toward a negotiated ceasefire, the urgency of improving humanitarian access across Ethiopia, and the need to address the human rights concerns of all affected Ethiopians, including concerns about detentions of Ethiopians under the state of emergency,” the White House said in a readout of the call.

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Is the US really heading for a second civil war?

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With the country polarised and Republicans embracing authoritarianism, some experts fear a Northern Ireland-style insurgency but others say armed conflict remains improbable

Joe Biden had spent a year in the hope that America could go back to normal. But last Thursday, the first anniversary of the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol, the president finally recognised the full scale of the current threat to American democracy.

“At this moment, we must decide,” Biden said in Statuary Hall, where rioters had swarmed a year earlier. “What kind of nation are we going to be? Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm?”

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Strategy shift: Biden confronts Trump head on after year of silent treatment

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President strikes different tone in tacit admission that ignoring the most powerful force in the Republican party is risky

In the first moments of his presidency, Joe Biden called on Americans to set aside their deep divisions inflamed by a predecessor he intentionally ignored. He emphasized national unity and appealed to Americans to come together to “end this uncivil war”.

Nearly a year later, as a divided nation reflects on the first anniversary of the 6 January assault on the US Capitol, the uncivil war he sought to extinguish rages on, stronger than ever. In a searing speech on Thursday, Biden struck a different tone.

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Capitol attack panel investigates Trump over potential criminal conspiracy

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Messages between Mark Meadows and others suggest the Trump White House coordinated efforts to stop Joe Biden’s certification

The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack is examining whether Donald Trump oversaw a criminal conspiracy on 6 January that connected the White House’s scheme to stop Joe Biden’s certification with the insurrection, say two senior sources familiar with the matter.

The committee’s new focus on the potential for a conspiracy marks an aggressive escalation in its inquiry as it confronts evidence that suggests the former president potentially engaged in criminal conduct egregious enough to warrant a referral to the justice department.

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Biden addresses pandemic: ‘We’re going to be able to control this’ – live

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There’s been a lot of back-and-forth about the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccine – which, reminder, while everybody here is highly educated in law, nobody is an epidemiologist – and Justice Elena Kagan went hard at Ohio solicitor general Ben Flowers.

“You said we understand that 18- to 29-year-olds, even though they’re not going to die or end up with very serious injuries, they can spread. You don’t doubt that, that they can spread to other people who are more vulnerable?” Kagan asked Flowers.

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Assault on American democracy has gained pace since US Capitol attack

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Analysis: Republican strategy has focused on sowing doubt about 2020’s result, passing new laws and taking over key election offices

On 6 January 2021, it seemed like the stitching holding America’s democracy together might finally collapse. As armed supporters of a defeated president laid siege to the Capitol, the US Congress did something extraordinary – it suspended the official procedure to certify the winner of a presidential election.

The attack was eventually put down and Congress returned to officially certify Joe Biden’s victory. “They tried to disrupt our democracy. They failed,” Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, said when the Senate came back into session.

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Biden condemns Trump’s ‘web of lies’ a year on from deadly Capitol assault

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Joe Biden on Thursday forcefully denounced Donald Trump for spreading a “web of lies” about the legitimacy of the 2020 election in a desperate attempt to cling to power, accusing the former president and his allies of holding a “dagger at the throat of American democracy”.

The US president condemned his predecessor’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election as a “failed” pursuit, but one that continues to imperil American democracy one year after the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol, when a violent mob of Trump loyalists breached the Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of Biden’s presidential election victory.

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Trump cancels news conference for Capitol attack anniversary – US politics live

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While the Republicans of Congress may be a little wishy-washy when it comes to the 6 January attack on the US Capitol - and exactly who bears responsibility for it - the White House said Americans should be prepared for Joe Biden to speak tomorrow about “the singular responsibility of President Trump for the chaos and carnage that we saw”.

“President Biden has spoken repeatedly about how the former president has abused his office, undermined the constitution and ignored his oath to the American people in order to amass more power for himself and his allies,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at today’s press briefing.

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Biden to speak ‘truth’ on Capitol attack anniversary as Trump cancels his event

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President will honor police in his remarks while Republicans voiced concerns about Trump overshadowing the somber day

Joe Biden will mark the first anniversary of the deadly assault at the US Capitol this Thursday by honoring the bravery of law enforcement on the scene, and outlining the unfinished work the nation needs to do to strengthen its democracy, the White House said in its first preview of the president’s remarks.

“On Thursday, the president is going to speak to the truth of what happened, not the lies that some have spread since, and the peril it has posed to the rule of law and our system of democratic governance,” the White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

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US Congress reports unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases – as it happened

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More than 140 mayors have asked the US Senate to act to pass two pieces of sweeping voting rights legislation. Both bills have been stalled for months because no Republicans support them.

Senate Democrats are expected to make a new push in the coming days to do away with the filibuster, a senate rule that requires a 60-vote supermajority to advance legislation. Republicans used the rule to block the voting rights bills several times last year.

One bill, the Freedom to Vote Act, would set sweeping national guarantees for voting access, including 15 days of early voting, as well as guaranteed automatic and same-day voter registration. The second measure, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, would restore a critical provision of the Voting Rights Act that gives the federal government more oversight over US elections.

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Twitter permanently suspends Marjorie Taylor Greene’s personal account

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Georgia Republican’s Covid misinformation violation prompts move, after being issued a ‘fourth strike’ in August

The personal Twitter account of the Georgia Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has been permanently suspended, for violating policies on Covid misinformation.

The action against Greene on Sunday came under the “strike” system Twitter launched last March, which uses artificial intelligence to identify posts about the coronavirus misleading enough to cause harm.

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Trump acolytes vie for key election oversight posts in US midterms

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Swing state races for governor and secretary of state are the most consequential midterm contests

When Americans go to the polls in the 2022 midterms, the most important elections won’t be for office in Washington. The most high-stakes races will be statewide contests, in some cases for long overlooked offices, that have profound consequences for the future of free and fair elections in America.

The races for governor and secretary of state, the chief election official in many places, will determine which officials have control over setting election rules and the post-election certification process.

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Capitol panel to investigate Trump call to Willard hotel in hours before attack

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Committee to request contents of the call seeking to stop Biden’s certification and may subpoena Rudy Giuliani

Congressman Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack, has said the panel will open an inquiry into Donald Trump’s phone call seeking to stop Joe Biden’s certification from taking place on 6 January hours before the insurrection.

The chairman said the select committee intended to scrutinize the phone call – revealed last month by the Guardian – should they prevail in their legal effort to obtain Trump White House records over the former president’s objections of executive privilege.

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Caller tells Joe Biden ‘Let’s go Brandon’ during White House Christmas event

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The saying has became an internet sensation as a coded vulgarity among Trump supporters

A vulgar anti-Biden slogan made for an awkward moment on Friday during Joe Biden’s phone calls with children tracking Santa’s flight when a father said, “Let’s Go Brandon.”

The refrain, a sanitized version of “Fuck Joe Biden,” has been an internet sensation since a television journalist told race car driver Brandon Brown that a Nascar crowd shouting the vulgarity was actually saying, “Let’s go Brandon.”

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Republicans woo Joe Manchin as senator clashes with Democrats

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Centrist senator has rejected the idea of joining GOP but has indicated openness to being an independent

For many Democrats, Joe Manchin has become an unshakeable problem. The centrist senator is at odds with other Democrats on everything from filibuster reform to climate policy, and he recently announced his opposition to the Build Back Better Act, the lynchpin of Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.

But Republicans think Manchin now represents an opportunity to boost their numbers.

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Republican congressman refuses to cooperate with Capitol attack panel

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Scott Perry is first sitting member of Congress to get request for interview as Trump announces 6 January press conference

Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican and the first sitting member of Congress to be requested to provide documents and sit for an interview with the committee investigating the Capitol riot, said on Tuesday he would not comply with the panel.

The news came shortly after Donald Trump provocatively announced that he will hold a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on 6 January, the first anniversary of the deadly attack on Congress.

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Republicans are shamelessly working to subvert democracy. Are Democrats paying attention?

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Voting rights activists say the country has not fully awakened to the threat

A dry run. A dress rehearsal. A practice coup. As the first anniversary of the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol approaches, there is no shortage of warnings about the danger of a repeat by Republicans.

But even as Donald Trump loyalists lay siege to democracy with voting restrictions and attempts to take over the running of elections, there are fears that Democrats in Washington have not fully woken up to the threat.

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Rahm Emanuel leads confirmed Biden nominees in late-night logjam break

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Ex-Obama chief of staff will go to Japan after deal for vote on Russia pipeline sanctions ends Republican Senate resistance

The former Obama White House chief of staff and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel was among more than 30 ambassadors and other Biden nominees confirmed by the Senate early on Saturday.

The Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, broke a Republican-stoked logjam by agreeing to schedule a vote on sanctions on the company behind the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany.

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