Congress agrees on stopgap bill to fund federal government into March

US media reports congressional leaders have agreed on a ‘continuing resolution’, which extends deadlines

US congressional leaders have agreed on a two-tranche stopgap spending bill to keep the federal government funded into March and avert a partial government shutdown starting late next week, US media reported on Saturday.

Politico, CNN and Punchbowl reported that congressional leaders have agreed on what is called a “continuing resolution” or “CR”, that would fund the government – extending two deadlines through 1 March and 8 March. The media outlets reported that House of Representatives Republicans will unveil the plan Sunday night.

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John Kerry to leave White House to assist Biden re-election campaign

Kerry’s office announced the news on Saturday after he had informed his staff and spoken with Biden earlier in the week

John Kerry, the United States’ special climate envoy and former secretary of state and presidential contender, plans to leave the Biden administration later this winter and switch to helping Joe Biden campaign to be re-elected to the White House, Kerry’s office said.

Kerry informed his staff earlier on Saturday after speaking with Biden this week, a spokesperson for Kerry told Reuters.

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E Jean Carroll lawyer warns Trump plans to turn damages trial into ‘circus’

Letter accuses ex-president of intending to ‘sow chaos’ next week, while Trump ordered to pay New York Times nearly $400,000

Donald Trump’s legal woes continued to mount as a lawyer in an upcoming defamation case asked a judge to ensure the former president does not disrupt imminent legal proceedings – and, in a separate issue, he was ordered to pay nearly $400,000 in legal fees to the New York Times.

In the first of those two cases, a lawyer for E Jean Carroll – a columnist who last year won a $5m jury award against Trump for sexual abuse – urged a judge to take strong measures to ensure Trump does not “sow chaos” when a new jury considers next week if he owes even more in damages.

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Hunter Biden offers to testify privately if House Republicans issue new subpoena

President’s son switches gears and says he will speak to Congress members seeking to impeach his father

Hunter Biden offered on Friday to comply with any new subpoena and testify in private before House Republicans seeking to impeach his father over alleged but unproven corruption, an attorney for Joe Biden’s son said.

“If you issue a new proper subpoena, now that there is a duly authorised impeachment inquiry, Mr Biden will comply for a hearing or deposition,” Abbe Lowell wrote to James Comer and Jim Jordan, the Republican chairs of the oversight and judiciary committees.

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‘Unacceptable’: Biden denounced for bypassing Congress over Yemen strikes

Critics on left and right furious that president failed to seek congressional approval for strikes against Houthi militants

A bipartisan chorus of lawmakers assailed Joe Biden for failing to seek congressional approval before authorizing military strikes against targets in Yemen controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi militants, reigniting a long-simmering debate over who has the power to declare war in America.

The US president announced on Thursday night that the US and the UK, with support from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Bahrain, had launched a series of air and naval strikes on more than a dozen sites in Yemen. The retaliatory action was in response to relentless Houthi attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza.

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Who benefits as Christie ends presidential bid before Iowa caucus? – podcast

Hours before Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis took to the debate stage in Iowa on Wednesday night, more than 1,000 miles away in New Hampshire Chris Christie shocked his supporters by announcing he was dropping out of the race. The former New Jersey governor was the only candidate to consistently attack Donald Trump, in a field of Republicans trying to beat the former president, all the while keeping his base sweet.

With only three days until the Iowa caucus, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Elaine Kamarck about who is most likely to come out on top

Archive: CBS, CNN, MSNBC, CSPAN

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Nikki Haley emerges from TV debate as Trump’s nearest rival as Iowa vote looms

Former South Carolina governor, boosted by Chris Christie’s exit, has hopes of seizing second in Iowa caucuses from Ron DeSantis

The former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley emerged from the last televised debate before the Iowa caucuses clearly Donald Trump’s strongest challenger for the Republican presidential nomination, boosted by the withdrawal of Chris Christie, the only explicitly anti-Trump candidate to register significantly with voters.

Voting begins in Iowa on Monday, before New Hampshire stages its primary a week on Tuesday. Haley has closed on Trump in New Hampshire and has hopes of seizing second place in Iowa at the expense of the rightwing Florida governor, Ron DeSantis.

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Neo-Nazis in the US no longer see backing Ukraine as a worthy cause

Like mainstream Republicans blocking military aid, American rightwing extremists are disavowing a war they once admired

Two years into the war in Ukraine, once a destination for American extremists, many within the underground far-right movement in the US are avidly disavowing it and advising followers to stay away. Extremists now see the upcoming election year as tailor-made for activism on the home front.

At the outset of the war, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued an intelligence bulletin that far-right American extremists were heading to the conflict and could use it to hone terrorist skills to bring back stateside.

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Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley go head to head in Republican presidential debate – live

With less than a week to go before the first-in-the-country Iowa caucuses two challengers to Donald Trump make their case

Trump has decided the identity of his running mate in the presidential election but is not yet ready to announce it, he told a Fox News town hall in Iowa on Wednesday.

Asked who he would pick as vice-president, Trump replied: “Well, I can’t tell you that, really. I mean, I know who it’s going to be but –”
Co-host Bret Baier entreated: “Give us a hint.”

Trump joked in response: “We’ll do another show some time.”

Donald Trump began his Iowa town hall on Fox News by highlighting an incident in which Chris Christie was caught on a hot mic. “She’s going to get smoked, and you and I both know it,” the former New Jersey governor was heard saying on his campaign’s live stream. “She’s not up to this.”

It is widely assumed that Christie, who dropped out of the Republican primary race today, was referring to Nikki Haley, perceived as Trump’s principal rival in New Hampshire.

Trump said: “Chris Christie was in and he got a hot mic I heard about. I thought the bigger story wasn’t actually the fact that he dropped out – nobody cared too much about that – but he had a hot mic where he was talking to somebody about the weather and he happened to say she doesn’t have what it takes, she’ll be creamed in the election.”

The former president added: “I know her very well and I happen to believe that Chris Christie’s right. That’s one of the few things he’s been right about actually.”

Trump admitted he didn’t known whether Christie’s departure would change the dynamic of the race and complained that independents and Democrats can vote in the Republican primary. “Even with that, I think we’ll win substantially,” he added.

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Republican Chris Christie suspends presidential bid

Ex-New Jersey governor, only candidate to attack Trump, heard on hot mic predicting Nikki Haley would get ‘smoked’ in primary race

The former New Jersey governor Chris Christie has suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, he announced on Wednesday evening.

“It is clear to me tonight that there is not a path to win the nomination,” he said at a town hall in Windham, New Hampshire.

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Trump told European leaders that US ‘will never come to help you’

Then president told European commissioners in 2020 that ‘Nato is dead’ and the US would never defend Europe if it were attacked

Donald Trump told the president of the European Commission in 2020 that the US would “never come help” if Europe was attacked and also said “Nato is dead”, a senior European commissioner said.

Multiple news outlets said the exchange between Trump and Ursula von der Leyen at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2020 was described in Brussels on Tuesday by Thierry Breton, a French European commissioner responsible for the internal market, with responsibilities including defence.

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Touchscreen out, pen and paper in? Georgia trial could change voting rules

Plaintiffs in trial six years in the making say state’s computerized voting machines plane votes at unacceptable risk of being altered

A federal trial beginning this week in Atlanta could change the way people vote in next year’s election in a key swing state, and potentially affect voters in other states for years to come.

The trial, six years in the making, pits a non-profit organization and a handful of Georgia voters against the state, claiming that vulnerabilities in the state’s computerized voting machines place a voter’s choices at an unacceptable risk of being altered, infringing on their constitutional rights.

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Will hard-right Republicans derail the fragile US spending deal?

Mike Johnson and Chuck Schumer say they have a deal to avert a shutdown – but a divided Congress could yet stall its progress

Congressional leaders reached an agreement on overall spending levels to fund the federal government in 2024, a significant step toward averting a shutdown later this month. But political divisions on immigration and other domestic priorities could stall its progress.

The deal is separate from bipartisan Senate negotiations that would pair new border security measures with additional funding for Israel and Ukraine. That proposal is expected to be released sometime this week.

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Federal court to decide if Trump can be prosecuted for efforts to overturn 2020 election

Former president expected to attend Friday hearing on whether his efforts can be criminally prosecuted on federal charges

A federal appeals court is expected to consider Friday morning whether Donald Trump can be criminally prosecuted on federal charges over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election because it involved actions related to his office that he undertook while still president.

The decision that the appeals court in Washington reaches after the hearing – which the former president said on his Truth Social platform he will attend – and how long it takes to issue a ruling, could carry profound consequences for the scheduled March trial.

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Donald Trump did not sign Illinois pledge not to overthrow government

Former president sidestepped signing state’s loyalty oath, which opponents Nikki Haley and Chris Christie also have not signed

Joe Biden’s 2024 election campaign has lambasted former president and most likely Republican opponent Donald Trump for failing to sign a loyalty oath in the state of Illinois, in which candidates pledge against advocating for an overthrow of the government.

The Biden campaign was responding to an investigation by Illinois news outlets WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times, which reported that Trump sidestepped signing the McCarthy era voluntary pledge that is part of the midwestern state’s package of ballot-access paperwork submitted by 2024 electoral candidates last week.

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Lauren Boebert denies allegations that she punched ex-husband in restaurant

Colorado police reportedly arrived after Jayson Boebert called and claimed he was ‘victim of domestic violence’ and punched in face

Rightwing US congresswoman Lauren Boebert is denying allegations that she punched her ex-husband in the face in public after police in Colorado were reportedly called out to an encounter involving the pair Saturday night at a restaurant.

The incident was first reported by the Daily Beast. The news site said that Jayson Boebert called police claiming that he was a “victim of domestic violence”. In an interview with the Daily Beast, Jayson Boebert alleged that the congresswoman had “punched” him in the face several times. He claimed to have a witness to the events.

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Trump avoids mention of US Capitol attack on 6 January anniversary

Three years after insurrection, Trump was in Newton, Iowa, currying support before the 15 January Republican caucus

Donald Trump largely ducked speaking about the January 6 attack on the US Capitol during a campaign speech Saturday, which he delivered on the third anniversary of the insurrection, reflecting the degree to which Republican voters have absolved the former president of responsibility for that day’s deadly consequences.

Trump’s remarks came a day after Joe Biden appeared in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and spoke about how his presidential predecessor had urged his supporters to “fight like hell” shortly before they staged the Capitol attack.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting

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Election denier Kristina Karamo voted out as Michigan Republican party chair

Critics say the QAnon conspiracy theorist, in the position less than a year, failed to deliver on funding promises

A group of Michigan Republicans voted on Saturday to remove Kristina Karamo as state party chair after months of infighting and slow fundraising raised concerns her leadership would hurt the party’s chances in the key swing state in 2024.

Karamo, a former community college instructor and election-denying activist who was elevated to her post in February, has indicated she would not respect Saturday’s vote, setting the stage for a potentially messy court battle over party leadership.

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Pentagon reveals that defense secretary has been hospitalized since Monday

Press secretary acknowledged Lloyd Austin was admitted five days ago after minor elective procedure

The US defense secretary Lloyd Austin has been hospitalized since Monday due to complications after a minor elective medical procedure, his press secretary said, in the first official acknowledgement that Austin had been admitted five days earlier to Walter Reed national military medical center.

Air Force Maj Gen Pat Ryder said Friday that Austin was “recovering well”, but it was not clear when the secretary would be released from the hospital.

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Wife of financier who called for Harvard head’s exit faces plagiarism allegations

After Claudine Gay was ousted amid accusations of plagiarism, Neri Oxman was accused of copying from Wikipedia in dissertation

The wife of Bill Ackman, the hedge fund billionaire who accused Claudine Gay of being a plagiarist and led calls for her resignation as Harvard president, is now facing allegations of plagiarism herself.

Neri Oxman, a prominent former professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has apologized after Business Insider identified multiple instances in which she lifted passages from other scholars’ work without proper attribution in her 2010 dissertation. She also pledged to review the primary sources and request the necessary corrections.

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