Category Archives: Republicans

Senators reach agreement on $1tn infrastructure package – as it happened

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Andrew Brown Jr, a Black man who was shot by North Carolina deputies in April, died of a gunshot to the head, a state autopsy confirmed.

An independent autopsy commissioned by Brown’s family had found the same. But a North Carolina prosecutor said Brown’s death at the hands of officers “while tragic, was justified”. The prosecutor also would not release body-camera video of the confrontation.

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Joe Biden arrives in UK as domestic agenda hits a Republican wall – live

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Democratic Florida Representative Val Demings has announced she is running for Senate, challenging Republican Marco Rubio for his seat.

I'm running for U.S. Senate because I will never tire of standing up for what is right. Never tire of serving Florida. Never tire of doing good.

Join my campaign today: https://t.co/rHVPBuSzKU pic.twitter.com/HuWB80Mrxh

https://t.co/kPlysL0aZd pic.twitter.com/06iEZMpmfS

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Joe Manchin to face critics in meeting with Black civil rights leaders on voting – live

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Vice-President Kamala Harris, who has been taking some criticism for her blunt speech in Guatemala to Central American migrants to “do not come” to US, is now getting some backlash from Republicans for an NBC interview she did on this same trip.

Reminder: Joe Biden tasked Harris in March with efforts to stem migration at the US-Mexican border. On her first foreign trip, NBC’s Lester Holt asked if she had any plans to visit the border.

“We have to deal with what's happening at the border.”@VP Kamala Harris spoke exclusively with @LesterHoltNBC on her first trip overseas, how the administration is addressing the immigration crisis, and if she plans to visit the southern border herself. pic.twitter.com/sA4We7peeR

LESTER HOLT: You haven't been to the border.

KAMALA HARRIS: And I haven't been to Europe. pic.twitter.com/Vj6M261Nx3

Vice-President Kamala Harris is in Mexico now, meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

President Lopez Obrador shows Vice President Harris a Diego Rivera mural at the national palace. Asked if he will do more about border enforcement, Lopez Obrador said “We will touch on that subject but always addressing the fundamental root causes” pic.twitter.com/URiJdWaUM9

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Legal storm clouds gather over Donald Trump’s future

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As the ex-president hints at running once again, his future could lie in the courtroom, not the Oval Office

He’s Teflon Don no more, at least when it comes to court.

Donald Trump, no longer insulated by claims of presidential protections, faces a host of increasingly serious legal problems in some of the US’s most high-profile courts, including both criminal investigation and civil litigation.

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Joe Manchin’s hard no on voting bill leaves Democrats seeking new path

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The West Virginia senator has stated, in an op-ed, that he will not back the For the People Act unless it has bipartisan support

For months, Democrats in the US Senate have danced delicately around Joe Manchin, giving him space and holding out hope that the West Virginia Democrat would eventually come around and give his must-win vote to legislation that would amount to the most sweeping voting rights protections in a generation.

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Republicans pledge allegiance to fossil fuels like it’s still the 1950s

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Republican-led states are threatening retaliation against banks that refuse to lend to coal, oil and gas companies in effort to delay transition to clean energy

Joe Biden may be pressing for 2021 to be a transformational year in tackling the climate crisis, but Republicans arrayed in opposition to his agenda have dug in around a unifying rallying theme – that the fossil fuel industry should be protected at almost any cost.

For many experts and environmentalists, the Republican stance is a shockingly retrograde move that flies in the face of efforts to fight global heating and resembles a head in the sand approach to the realities of a changing American economy.

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Children are ‘vulnerable host’ for Covid as cases recede, US expert warns

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  • Cases plummet but children under 12 not yet eligible for shots
  • Mississippi governor defends low state vaccination rate

A US public health expert has warned that though cases of Covid-19 are at their lowest rates for months and much of the country is returning to normal life, young Americans are still “a vulnerable host” for the coronavirus.

Related: Post-lockdown summer: Americans out for fun and with money to spend

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White House says Republicans increased offer on Biden infrastructure deal by $50bn – as it happened

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That’s all from me today. Here’s a rundown of the day’s biggest stories:

At least 10 US states have siphoned millions of dollars from federal block grants, meant to provide aid to their neediest families, to pay for the operations of ideological anti-abortion clinics.

These overwhelmingly Republican-led states used money from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (Tanf), better known as welfare or direct cash aid, to fund the activities of anti-abortion clinics associated with the evangelical right. The clinics work to dissuade women from obtaining abortions.

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Mike Pence says he and Trump ‘may never see eye-to-eye’ on Capitol attack

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The former vice-president was speaking at a New Hampshire Republican dinner as he considers his own 2024 White House run

Mike Pence has said he isn’t sure that he and Donald Trump will ever see “eye to eye” over what happened on 6 January, when a mob of the president’s supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to overturn the election.

Pence, speaking at a Republican dinner in the early voting state of New Hampshire, gave his most extensive comments to date on the deadly events, when rioters broke into the Capitol building, some chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” after the vice-president said he did not have the power to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.

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Trump closes his ‘beacon of freedom’ website a month after launching it

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Jason Miller, senior aide to former president, confirms closing of the ‘From the Desk of Donald J Trump’ online communication tool

Donald Trump has discontinued the blog-type website he launched in a fanfare less than a month ago as “a beacon of freedom” and “a place to speak freely and safely”.

Jason Miller, a senior aide to the former US president, confirmed the closing of the “From the Desk of Donald J Trump” online communication tool in a statement to CNBC on Wednesday, just weeks after billing the venture as “a great resource” for his boss’s musings.

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Texas Republicans plot to resurrect restrictive voting bill after Democrats’ walkout

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Governor Greg Abbott plans to call special session after Democrats block 11th-hour attempt to ram through bill to make voting harder

Republicans in Texas are already plotting to resurrect their fight for sweeping voting restrictions after Democratic lawmakers walked out of the state capitol and blocked an 11th-hour attempt to ram through legislation that would have made it harder to cast a ballot.

Texas governor Greg Abbott – who leads the state’s domineering Republican majority – has announced he will include the high-stakes issue on his agenda when he reconvenes the legislature for a rapid-fire special session. He called the failure of the bill “deeply disappointing”.

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Texas Democrats’ late-night walkout scuppers Republican efforts to restrict voting rights

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SB7 bill that would introduce restrictions making it harder to vote fails to pass before midnight deadline after Democrats leave House

Texas Republican have failed in their efforts to push through one of the most restrictive voting measures in the US after Democrats walked out of the House at the last minute, leaving the bill languishing ahead of a midnight deadline.

The exodus came at the instruction of Chris Turner, the House Democratic chairman, who told colleagues at 10.35pm to “take your key and leave the chamber discreetly”, referring to the key that locks the voting mechanism on their desks, the Washington Post reported.

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How Mitch McConnell killed the US Capitol attack commission

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The story of how Republicans undermined the 6 January inquiry is informed by eight House and Senate aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity

Days before the Senate voted down the creation of a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Capitol attack, the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, was adamant: he would oppose the bill, regardless of any amendments – and he expected his colleagues to follow suit.

The commission that would have likely found Donald Trump and some Republicans responsible for the insurrection posed an existential threat to the GOP ahead of the midterms, he said, and would complicate efforts to regain the majority in Congress.

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Joe Biden seeks Republican buy-in but how long before patience snaps?

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Talks continue on a compromise over infrastructure but GOP intransigeance on a Capitol riot commission does not bode well

It’s become a familiar process in the Joe Biden era.

Biden and Democrats say they will work with Republicans. Republicans say they want a seat at the negotiating table. Then the prospect of Democrats going alone begins to hover over the negotiations.

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Patrick Byrne: pro-Trump millionaire pushing election conspiracy theories

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Weekend rallies with Roger Stone and Michael Flynn show key influence of libertarian helping to fund Arizona election audit

This Memorial Day weekend, several prominent conservative allies of Donald Trump, who have promoted almost nonstop his false narratives about the 2020 election results, are slated to hold rallies in Florida and Texas endorsed by the wealthy libertarian Patrick Byrne.

Billed as featuring the Trump confidant Roger Stone, the retired general Michael Flynn, Byrne and other pro-Trump stalwarts, the dual events underscore that Byrne – who has been leading private fundraising for the politically driven vote audit now under way in Arizona’s largest county – seems intent on funding and pushing conspiracy theories about the 2020 elections.

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Republicans’ blocking of the Capitol commission shows how deep the rot is

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Analysis: one of America’s two major parties now falls outside the democratic mainstream but are Democrats taking the existential threat seriously?

The question now is not so much whether the Republican party can be saved any time in the foreseeable future. It is what Joe Biden and the Democrats should do when faced with a party determined to subvert democracy through any means necessary, including violence.

On Friday Republicans in the Senate torpedoed an effort to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the deadly insurrection by Donald Trump’s supporters at the US Capitol on 6 January, deploying the procedural move known as the filibuster to stop it even being debated.

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Senate Republicans block creation of US Capitol attack commission

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Republicans killed effort to set up a 9/11-style inquiry into the 6 January attack despite broad support for such an investigation

Senate Republicans have blocked the creation of a special commission to study the deadly 6 January attack on the Capitol, dashing hopes for a bipartisan panel amid a Republican push to put the violent insurrection by Donald Trump’s supporters behind them.

Republicans killed the effort to set up a 9/11-style inquiry into the attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob despite broad popular support for such an investigation and pleas from the family of a Capitol police officer who collapsed and died after the siege and other officers who battled the rioters.

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Republicans propose nearly $1tn counteroffer to Biden’s infrastructure plan – live

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Democratic Senator Bob Casey signaled this morning that it may be time to move on from negotiating with Republicans and instead pass an infrastructure bill using reconciliation, allowing Democrats to circumvent the Senate filibuster.

Asked whether it was time to focus on setting up a reconciliation pathway for the infrastructure bill, Casey told CNN anchor Jim Sciutto, “I think we’re getting to that point, Jim. It’s an old expression, fish or cut bait.”

Me: “IS IT TIME TO MOVE ON TO RECONCILIATION (on infrastructure)?”@SenBobCasey: “I THINK WE'RE GETTING TO THAT POINT, JIM. IT'S AN OLD EXPRESSION, FISH OR CUT BAIT” pic.twitter.com/T0HLUKygrL

The Guardian’s Sam Levine and Daniel Strauss report:

After six months of aggressive Republican efforts to restrict voting access, Democrats are facing new questions about how they will actually pass voting rights reforms through Congress.

Related: ‘A ticking timebomb’: Democrats’ push for voting rights law faces tortuous path

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‘A ticking timebomb’: Democrats’ push for voting rights law faces tortuous path

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Democrats have yet to convince their entire Senate caucus to back the House-passed For the People Act – let alone beat the filibuster

After six months of aggressive Republican efforts to restrict voting access, Democrats are facing new questions about how they will actually pass voting rights reforms through Congress.

The most recent hand-wringing comes as Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democratic senator, made clear earlier this month he still is not on board with the For the People Act, which would require early voting, automatic and same-day registration, and prevent the severe manipulation of district boundaries for partisan gain.

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Biden orders US intelligence community to ‘redouble’ efforts to study Covid’s origins – live

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  • President received analysis of origins and asked for follow-up in 90 days
  • Senate Republicans want to lower cost of $1.7tn infrastructure proposal

Deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about the White House’s response to the shooting this morning at a railyard in San Jose, California.

“Our hearts go out to the victims and their families,” Jean-Pierre said. “There is an ongoing investigation, as we all know. We will continue to stay in close contact with them and offer any assistance as needed.”

BREAKING: At least eight people are confirmed dead after the mass shooting at a San Jose rail yard, in addition to the suspected shooter, police say https://t.co/BuWF2htFwf pic.twitter.com/ksGRW3gXSx

One reporter asked Karine Jean-Pierre to reflect on her history-making appearance at the White House briefing room podium today.

“It’s a real honor to just be standing here today. I appreciate the historic nature” of this moment, the deputy White House press secretary said.

Karine Jean-Pierre — the second Black woman to ever lead a White House press briefing — speaks about making history in her role: "It is a real honor to be standing here today. I appreciate the historic nature...Clearly, the president believes representation matters." pic.twitter.com/ErdayRW4VR

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