Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie announces 2024 presidential run – as it happened

House Republicans say they plan to vote on holding FBI director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress for declining to turn over a document outlining an unverified allegation of corruption against Joe Biden.

As the Associated Press reports, Republican House oversight committee chair James Comer along with GOP senator Chuck Grassley last month said they had heard the FBI possesses a document detailing “an alleged criminal scheme” “relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions” between a foreign national and Biden when he was vice-president. While Comer and other Republicans have played up the allegation, they haven’t offered any proof to substantiate it.

Three months before saboteurs bombed the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline, the Biden administration learned from a close ally that the Ukrainian military had planned a covert attack on the undersea network, using a small team of divers who reported directly to the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.

Details about the plan, which have not been previously reported, were collected by a European intelligence service and shared with the CIA in June 2022. They provide some of the most specific evidence to date linking the government of Ukraine to the eventual attack in the Baltic Sea, which U.S. and Western officials have called a brazen and dangerous act of sabotage on Europe’s energy infrastructure.

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Cornel West announces US presidential campaign with the People’s party

The 70-year-old activist, intellectual and democratic socialist said on Twitter that he will be a candidate for the 2024 contest

Cornel West, the 70-year-old activist and public intellectual, announced on Monday that he is running for president in the 2024 election as a candidate for the People’s party. West made the announcement in a video posted to Twitter, saying that he had “decided to run for truth and justice”.

“I come from a tradition where I care about you,” West said. “I care about the quality of your life, I care about whether you have access to a job with a living wage, decent housing, women having control over their bodies, healthcare for all.”

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Chris Christie just wants to ‘bludgeon’ Trump, Fox News’s Hannity complains

Sean Hannity says ex-New Jersey governor lacks ‘inspiring agenda’ as he prepares new presidential run

Chris Christie has promised to take the fight to Donald Trump when he launches a long-shot Republican presidential campaign next week, but he seems likely to have to do so without help from one key voice at Fox News.

The former New Jersey governor just wants to “bludgeon” Trump, the primetime host and close Trump ally Sean Hannity said on Friday, adding that he did not want to give Christie any airtime.

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Joe Biden gives first Oval Office address ahead of signing debt ceiling deal – as it happened

‘We averted an economic crisis and economic collapse,’ says president in address to the nation about deal, but will not sign bill before Saturday

Here’s more on how the debt ceiling crisis will impact the US’s credit rating, from the Guardian’s Joan E Greve.

The US is not yet out of the woods on a potential credit downgrade, even though Joe Biden is scheduled to sign the debt ceiling bill tonight to avert a federal default.

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Chris Christie will reportedly announce 2024 presidential bid next week

Former New Jersey governor, who ran for Republican nomination in 2016, intends a ‘more hopeful note’ as he takes on Trump

The former New Jersey governor Chris Christie will reportedly announce a second run for president next week, seeking to take the political fight over the 2024 Republican nomination to Donald Trump.

The news site Axios said Christie, 60, would launch his campaign in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Tuesday.

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Ron DeSantis faces battle against Trump for Republican nomination after Twitter launch descends into farce – live

Florida governor’s campaign gets off to shaky start after launch was marred by glitches

The House has finished its legislative work for the week, and members are preparing to go home for Memorial Day weekend without a deal reached on raising the debt ceiling.

The House speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy, told reporters this morning that debt ceiling talks continued well past midnight last night, and negotiators are working around the clock until a deal is reached.

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Ron DeSantis attacks Covid measures, media and praises Musk-led Twitter during campaign launch – follow live

Florida governor announces candidacy for the Republican nomination

With the executive and legislative branches locked in a standoff over raising the debt ceiling, let’s check on the third branch of government: the judiciary. The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports that supreme court chief justice John Roberts gave a speech in which he vowed that the court would maintain the highest ethical standards, despite allegations of improper ties between some justices and parties with interests in their cases:

The chief justice of the US supreme court, John Roberts, said he and the other justices were working to hold themselves to the “highest standards” of ethical conduct.

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Tim Scott says ‘I’m running for president of the United States’ in announcement speech – as it happened

South Carolina senator makes speech referencing work and immigration as he announces campaign to run for Republican nomination in 2024 race

Tim Scott is on stage now announcing his presidential bid.

“America is the greatest nation on God’s green earth,” the senator began. “And our greatness doesn’t come from politicians, doesn’t come from the government. It comes from we, the people.”

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House speaker McCarthy says ‘I see the path’ to debt ceiling deal with Democrats – as it happened

Republican gives positive remarks to reporters as 11 Democratic senators sign letter to Biden urging him to use 14th amendment to avoid default

Eleven Democratic senators have signed a letter to Joe Biden urging him to consider invoking the 14th amendment to prevent the United States from defaulting if the debt ceiling is not raised.

The letter, which first became public yesterday, was signed by Democrats Tina Smith, Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, Ed Markey, Mazie Hirono, Peter Welch, Richard Blumenthal, Jack Reed, Sheldon Whitehouse, John Fetterman and Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.

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Trump’s allies attempt to undermine prosecutors endangering his 2024 bid

Ex-prosecutors express criticism as key Republican allies attempt to derail investigations into former president

As Donald Trump’s legal troubles mount at the federal, state and local levels, the ex-president and his lawyers are banking on their political allies in the Republican party to make attacks on a New York prosecutor who has charged Trump with criminal offenses and to also get them to help derail investigations that endanger his 2024 campaign.

Former prosecutors and members of both parties have voiced strong criticism about the drives by Trump, his lawyers and Republican House allies to attack prosecutors who have filed charges against Trump, or are investigating him, calling such moves antithetical to democratic principles and the rule of law, as well as fruitless.

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Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley downplays federal abortion ban

The former South Carolina governor – far behind Donald Trump in the polls – says nationwide ban is currently unviable

Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina who is vying for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has distanced herself from calls for a federal abortion ban, saying that to promise such a universal barrier to terminations would be to lie to the American people.

In an interview with CBS News’s Face the Nation on Sunday, Haley declined to follow some of her other potential Republican rivals for the presidency by backing a nationwide ban through congressional legislation. Instead, she said she supported the right of each state to set its own abortion limits.

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CNN’s Trump debacle suggests TV media set to repeat mistakes of 2016

Network’s own reporters criticise decision to give ex-president platform in ‘town hall’ format that allowed him to spout freely

Donald Trump and CNN were in rare agreement: the former president’s hour of free prime-time television on Wednesday evening, dressed up as a “town hall” with Republican voters, was a triumph.

“America was served very well by what we did last night,” CNN’s chief executive, Chris Licht, told skeptical members of his own staff at the network’s daily news conference the following morning.

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As 2024 elections near, US media grapples with how to cover Trump

CNN’s Wednesday town hall with the ex-president could be a warning bell for cable news to not repeat mistakes from 2016

It claims to be the most trusted name in news. But on Wednesday it will devote an hour of prime time to a serial liar who sought to overthrow American democracy.

CNN’s live town hall with Donald Trump, the former US president, has been condemned by critics as a marriage of convenience: an ailing network looking to boost ratings and a disgraced 76-year-old candidate seeking rehabilitation.

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Biden dismisses concerns about his age: ‘It doesn’t register with me’ – as it happened

Oldest president to seek re-election tackles issue a day after officially kicking off his 2024 bid

Senate Democrats have demanded answers from the supreme court after a series of reports indicating at least two justices have relationships with parties interested in the court’s decisions that they did not disclose.

But the Senate’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell, said on the floor today that the court continues to have his confidence:

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Biden foregrounds abortion as he announces bid for second term as US president – live

In addition to making his campaign official, Joe Biden announced key members of its staff.

As co-chairs, he named Democratic house representatives Lisa Blunt-Rochester, Jim Clyburn, Veronica Escobar and Jeffrey Katzenberg, senators Chris Coons and Tammy Duckworth as well as Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan’s up-and-coming governor.

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Biden gears up for Trump rematch with age and approval front and center

The worst-kept secret in Washington is out – but at 80, and with low approval ratings, the president faces challenges in his re-election bid

Legend has it that when the artist Benjamin West told King George III that George Washington, the first US president, had decided to resign, the king replied: “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”

Some urged Joe Biden, the 46th president, to follow suit and, at the age of 80, hand power to a new generation. Who were they kidding? The worst-kept secret in Washington is out: Biden is running for re-election next year.

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Biden expected to announce 2024 presidential campaign on Tuesday

Launch would come exactly four years after president announced his 2020 bid, where he warned ‘soul’ of the nation is at stake

Joe Biden is expected to announce his 2024 re-election campaign as early as Tuesday, possibly setting the stage for an extraordinary rematch with Donald Trump.

A Tuesday launch would come exactly four years after Biden announced his 2020 presidential bid, in which he warned that the “soul” of the nation was at stake after four tumultuous years under Trump.

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‘Four-time loser’ Trump might not be nominee for 2024, Republican insists

New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu says ‘we need a candidate that can win’ even as Trump dominates national primary polls

Donald Trump is a “four-time loser” who will not necessarily be the Republican presidential nominee despite dominating primary polling, the New Hampshire governor said on Sunday.

“Donald Trump is positioning himself to be a four-time loser in 2024,” Chris Sununu said. “We need candidates that can win.”

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Mike Pence will enter presidential race ‘well before late June’ – if he does at all

Former vice-president, adrift of Trump and DeSantis in polls, makes less-than-bold presidential prediction to CBS

Mike Pence has not decided whether to enter the Republican presidential primary but if he does he will enter “well before late June”.

The former congressman, Indiana governor and vice-president to Donald Trump has been moving towards a run for months, releasing a memoir, visiting early voting states and establishing a political staff.

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North Carolina: Mark Robinson attracts scrutiny as extremist in Republican race

Lieutenant governor has achieved national notoriety over views on LGBTQ+ rights, guns, abortion and more

The Republican lieutenant governor of North Carolina, Mark Robinson, formally entered the race for governor at a rally on Saturday.

The sharp-spoken social conservative, who has made controversial remarks about LGBTQ+ rights, guns and abortion, said North Carolina needed a leader like him who can relate to the challenges and desires of working people.

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