Category Archives: US Politics

Capitol attack panel set to issue letters to Kevin McCarthy and other key Republicans

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Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert among those poised to receive letters requesting voluntary cooperation, sources say

The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol is expected to issue letters requesting voluntary cooperation from House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and around a dozen other Republican members of Congress, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The panel intends to issue a letter to McCarthy – the top House Republican – and is considering further letters to Scott Perry, Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Mo Brooks, Lauren Boebert, Andy Biggs, as well as some Republican senators, the sources said.

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Biden asks Congress for $33bn Ukraine aid package

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President’s request includes over $20bn in military aid, $8.5bn in economic aid to Kyiv and $3bn in humanitarian relief

Joe Biden has called for a giant $33bn package of military and economic aid to Ukraine, more than doubling the level of US assistance to date, in an emphatic rejection of Russian threats of reprisals and escalation.

A few hours after Biden spoke, Kyiv was shaken by two powerful cruise missile strikes, while the UN secretary general, António Guterres, was visiting the Ukraine capital following a meeting with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.

More artillery and armored vehicles, as well as anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft systems.

Help to build up Ukraine’s cyber warfare capabilities.

More intelligence sharing.

Support to increase Ukraine’s ability to produce munitions and strategic minerals.

Assistance in clearing landmines and other explosives and in Ukraine’s defence against chemical, biological and dirty bomb attacks.

A further buildup in the US military presence on Nato’s eastern flank.

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‘We’re not attacking Russia,’ Biden says as he asks for $33bn in Ukraine aid – as it happened

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Joe Biden is also taking steps to ensure the money raised from assets seized from sanctioned allies of Vladimir Putin directly aids Ukraine.

According to a White House fact sheet about Biden’s new aid request, the administration is “proposing legislation to streamline the process to recoup proceeds from seized and forfeited assets and use them to remediate the harm caused in Ukraine”.

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Republicans in Congress give McCarthy standing ovation for defense of leaked audio – live

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Joe Biden has delivered a moving eulogy to Madeleine Albright, telling mourners at her funeral in Washington DC that the former secretary of state “turned the tide of history”.

The president was among about 1,400 masked attendees at Washington National Cathedral service honouring the top diplomat from the Bill Clinton administration who died last month at the age of 84.

With her humanity and her intellect, she turned the tide of history.

Her story was America’s story. She loved to speak about America as the indispensable nation. To her, the phrase was never a statement of arrogance, it was about gratitude.

That’s why there was nothing she loved more than swearing in new citizens to this great nation of ours. She’d light up reminding them that she once stood where they stood. Having gained the blessings of liberty she wanted nothing more than the share them around the globe.

To Madeleine, from my perspective, there was no higher mission, no greater honor, than to serve this great experiment of freedom known as the United States of America.

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Trump appeals against judge’s contempt order and $10,000-a-day fine

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Ex-president found to be in contempt after failure to comply with subpoena in New York state attorney general’s fraud investigation

Donald Trump is appealing the contempt of court order he received from a Manhattan judge that fines him $10,000 a day for failing to comply with a subpoena, according to documents filed Wednesday.

The contempt order was issued in the civil investigation by New York state attorney Letitia James into the former president’s business practices. On 7 April, James asked Judge Arthur Engoron to hold Trump in contempt of court for not turning over documents and information she had subpoenaed as part of the investigation.

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Republican can’t list himself as ‘The Patriot’ on ballot, state rules

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State lawmaker claims it’s his nickname – but he struggles to spell it and opponent says he doesn’t use it

A state Republican lawmaker who wanted to refer to himself as “The Patriot” on the ballot can’t use that nickname, the Oklahoma Election Board has ruled.

Sean Roberts can still run for Oklahoma labor commissioner, but he can’t refer to himself using that nickname on the ballot, the board decided Monday.

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Republican Madison Cawthorn cited for carrying gun in his bag at airport

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North Carolina congressman faces misdemeanor criminal charge after gun spotted at security screening checkpoint

The far-right North Carolina Republican congressman Madison Cawthorn is facing a misdemeanor criminal charge after police at an airport in his home state said they found a gun in his bag Tuesday.

Police at Charlotte Douglas international airport handed Cawthorn, 26, a municipal citation accusing him of possessing a dangerous weapon on city property, officers said in a statement.

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‘No sign Putin is serious’ about Ukraine negotiations, says Blinken – as it happened

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The vice-president Kamala Harris has tested positive for Covid-19, her office has announced.

A statement from Harris’s press secretary Kirsten Allen said:

Today, vice-president Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on rapid and PCR tests. She has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from the vice-president’s residence.

She has not been a close contact to the president or First Lady due to their respective recent travel schedules. She will follow CDC guidelines and the advice of her physicians. The vice-president will return to the White House when she tests negative.

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Ron DeSantis signs bill to create Florida voter-fraud police force

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Republican governor embraces top priority of his party, following Donald Trump’s false claims that his 2020 re-election was stolen

Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill Monday to create a police force dedicated to pursuing voter fraud and other election crimes, embracing a top priority of Republicans after Donald Trump’s false claims that his reelection was stolen.

DeSantis, who is running for reelection and considered a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate, made voting legislation a focus this year, pushing the Republican-controlled Legislature to create the policing unit in a speech where he referenced unspecified cases of voter fraud, which have become popular talking points in his party.

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Trump to be fined $10,000 a day after New York judge finds him in contempt – as it happened

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A New York judge on Monday held former president Donald Trump in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena for documents in the state attorney general’s civil probe into his business practices, Reuters reports.

The decision relates to Trump’s non-compliance in a case brought by New York state attorney general Letitia James.

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‘Get up off our rear ends’ or lose badly in midterms, Elizabeth Warren warns Democrats

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Warren gives party stark warning in CNN interview, and condemns House minority leader Kevin McCarthy as ‘liar and a traitor’

Democrats need to “get up off our rear ends” and work to bring down prices and runaway inflation, or face wipeout in November’s midterm elections, the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren warns.

In a forthright interview Sunday morning on CNN’s State of the Union, the former candidate for her party’s presidential nomination also lambasted the Republican House minority leader Kevin McCarthy as “a liar and a traitor” after he was caught on tape lying about his support for Donald Trump after the 6 January insurrection.

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Saudis’ Biden snub suggests crown prince still banking on Trump’s return

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Refusal to help US punish Russia and $2bn investment in Kushner fund signal crown prince’s displeasure with Trump’s successor

Saudi Arabia appears to be banking on Donald Trump’s return to office by refusing to help the US punish Russia for the Ukraine invasion, and by placing $2bn in a new, untested investment fund run by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

In seeking to persuade Riyadh to increase oil production so as to lower prices by as much as 30%, and thereby curb Russian government revenue, the Biden administration is looking for ways to reassure the Saudi government that it is dedicated to the kingdom’s security.

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Mark Meadows was warned of illegality of scheme to overturn 2020 election

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A former staffer testified that White House counsel said the scheme involving fake electoral college votes was not legally sound

Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows was warned the effort to overturn the 2020 election with fake electoral college votes was not legally sound – and yet proceeded anyway, the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack said Friday.

In a court filing, the panel also said that Meadows went ahead with plans to have Trump speak at the Ellipse rally that descended into the Capitol attack, only days after being expressly told by the US Secret Service that there was potential for violence on 6 January 2021.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene appears in court over attempt to bar her from Congress

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Effort, brought by voters and liberal groups, to ban Republican for aiding the Capitol attack comes under the 14th amendment

The far-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared in court in Georgia on Friday for a hearing in an attempt to bar her from Congress for aiding the insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

A lawyer for Greene, James Bopp, tried to portray her as a “victim” of the Capitol attack, rather than an instigator.

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Kevin McCarthy said Trump recognized ‘some responsibility’ for Capitol attack, report says – as it happened

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The questioning moves on to Greene’s use of social media to communicate with her “hundreds of thousands of followers” and possibly millions of other people. There is extensive argument about what Greene tweeted about the 2020 election and whether it was fraudulent, and what she was trying to tell her Twitter followers.

Things are not proceeding smoothly. The court did swear Greene in, even though the prosecutor thought it didn’t. He then asks: “Can I ask the court to acknowledge that this is an adverse witness?”

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Biden: Republicans’ Disney law shows ‘far right has taken over party’

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Florida strips company of self-governing power for opposing Governor Ron DeSantis’s ‘don’t say gay’ law

For Joe Biden, the vote by Florida Republicans on Thursday to strip Disney of its self-governing powers was a step too far.

“Christ, they’re going after Mickey Mouse,” the president exclaimed at a fundraiser in Oregon, in apparent disbelief that state governor Ron DeSantis’s culture wars had reached the gates of the Magic Kingdom.

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Donald Trump Jr to appear before House Capitol attack panel – report

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The meeting comes in the wake of other family members such as Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner testifying to the committee

Donald Trump Jr. has agreed to meet in the near future with the US House of Representatives panel that is investigating the 6 January 2021, attack on the US Capitol, the New York Times reported Thursday, citing a source.

Trump, the eldest son of former president Donald Trump, is set to meet with the House committee of his own will and without the threat of a subpoena, the outlet said without reporting when the testimony was scheduled.

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Florida Republicans pass congressional map severely limiting Black voter power

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Plan drawn by Ron DeSantis gives Republicans a significant boost and is one of the most aggressively gerrymandered maps in US

Florida Republicans approved a new congressional map that severely curtails Black voting power in the state on Thursday, taking a final vote as Black lawmakers staged a sit-in on the floor of the legislature.

The new plan, which was drawn by Governor Ron DeSantis, gives Republicans a significant boost in the state and is one of the most aggressively gerrymandered maps passed in recent months. Republicans would be expected to win 20 of the state’s 28 congressional districts, a four seat increase from the 16 they hold now. It also eliminates two of four districts where Black voters have been able to elect the candidate of their choice.

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Biden announces another $800m in military aid for Ukraine: ‘We’re in a critical window’ – as it happened

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Here are some more details from the defense department on the new $800m military assistance package to Ukraine:

For those keeping track on how much the US has provided Ukraine so far in military assistance:

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Joe Biden weighs appeal as judge’s lifting of travel mask mandate sows confusion – live

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Ruling by district court judge in Florida that Covid-19 measure was illegal is opposed by 49% of Americans, poll shows

Defense secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his counterpart in China today for the first time since Austin became Pentagon chief more than a year ago, breaking a communications stalemate that had American officials concerned amid the possibility that Beijing might provide military support to Russia in its war on Ukraine, the Associated Press is reporting.

Austin had requested the telephone call with general Wei Fenghe after months of failed efforts to speak with general Xu Qiliang, the highest ranking uniformed officer in the Communist Party military structure.

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