Category Archives: US Politics

House Democrats and Republicans strike deal to investigate deadly Capitol insurrection – live

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  • Members of Congress agree to establish 10-person commission
  • Pro-Trump Elise Stefanik replaces Cheney as GOP conference chair

Here’s a quick summary of what’s happened so far today:

A new New York Times story points out just how influential Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s logo, with its bold, slanted text, was to future progressive candidates who emulated her poster’s style. It’s now seen all over the country in races big and small and was even used by a communist candidate in France.

Gavan Fitzsimons, a business professor at Duke University, told the Times that copycat posters are likely trying to get potential voters to subconsciously associate the candidate with Ocasio-Cortez.

NEW: The iconography of @AOC — my dive into how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s logo has formed a new graphical language for progressivism.

From KY to VA to NYC and even France, imitators abound.https://t.co/eakjRoSEZn pic.twitter.com/sw9Z6oM0hz

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‘It can’t be that easy’: US conservative group brags about role in making voting harder

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Leaked video published by Mother Jones shows executive director of Heritage Action bragging about crafting voting restriction bills

A top official at one of America’s most influential conservative groups bragged about playing a key role in crafting voting restrictions across the country, according to leaked video published by Documented, a watchdog group, and Mother Jones on Thursday.

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Liz Cheney refuses to rule out run for president in bid to thwart Trump

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  • Leading Republican vows to do ‘whatever it takes’ to stop Trump
  • Cheney: ‘It’s an ongoing threat. Silence is not an option’

Liz Cheney has refused to rule out running for US president if it would prevent Donald Trump from ever taking charge of the White House again, saying she will do “whatever it takes” to stop her fellow Republican.

Cheney, who on Wednesday was ousted as House Republican conference chair by her colleagues, in a voice vote behind closed doors, was asked three times on NBC’s Today show in an interview aired on Thursday whether she would run to stymie a comeback by the former president.

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Republicans vote to remove Liz Cheney from leadership role over Trump ‘big lie’ criticism – live

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Taking over the White House briefing, Jen Psaki was asked for Joe Biden’s reaction to the ouster of Liz Cheney as House Republican conference chair for her criticism of Donald Trump and the “big lie” that there was widespread fraud in the presidential election.

The White House press secretary noted that more than 80 judges threw out lawsuits challenging the results of the election, confirming the legitimacy of Biden’s victory. She criticized Republicans for punishing Cheney and ignoring the violent fallout from Trump’s false claims, specifically citing the six deaths from the January 6 insurrection.

The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, is now holding her daily briefing with reporters, and she was joined by transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg and EPA administrator Michael Regan.

Buttigieg and Regan provided updates on fallout from the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline over the weekend, which has caused gasoline supply issues in some east coast states.

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Liz Cheney vows to work to keep Trump from return to power – video

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After being voted out from her role as House Republican conference chair, Liz Cheney said she planned to ‘lead the fight’ to create a stronger party in the future. The congresswoman said: ‘I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office.’ Cheney was one of 10 Republicans in the House who voted to impeach Trump over the US Capitol breach

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Liz Cheney’s ousting proves the ‘big lie’ is the Republican party’s religion

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The ousting of Cheney snuffs out all doubt – Republicans don’t think they can win next year’s midterm elections without Trump

Lafayette Square, outside the White House, reopened this week to strolling couples, tourists and scampering children. After nearly a year sealed off by eight-foot metal fencing, it was one more sign of life in America getting back to normal.

Then there’s the danger. For more than three months it’s been tempting for many to assume that, with Joe Biden in the White House and Donald Trump off Twitter, democracy survived its near-death experience, recovered and checked out of hospital. But the ousting of Liz Cheney by the Republican party shows that the potential for a relapse is all too real.

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Liz Cheney castigates Republican colleagues for backing Trump – video

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The US representative Liz Cheney, speaking in the House a day before her expected ouster from a Republican leadership post, chastised her party colleagues for not standing up to the former president Donald Trump and his false claim that the November election was stolen. ’Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that,’ she said. 

Cheney, the No 3 Republican in the House of Representatives, was one of 10 Republicans in the House who voted to impeach Trump in January after he delivered a fiery 6 January speech to supporters, many of whom then stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to block certification of his election loss to Joe Biden

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‘We must speak the truth’: Liz Cheney defiant ahead of ouster from top Republican job

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The Wyoming representative stands by her opposition to Trump’s election lies as she prepares to be removed from No 3 House role

On the eve of a vote almost certain to remove her from a leadership role in the Republican party, a defiant Liz Cheney embraced her fall from party grace and offered a final appeal to her colleagues: “We must speak the truth.”

Republicans are poised to remove Cheney from her House leadership position over her refusal to support Donald Trump’s “big lie” that last year’s election was stolen from him. Cheney, a Wyoming representative who hails from a Republican political dynasty, was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection” following the deadly 6 January attack on the Capitol.

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Tens of thousands of migrant children held in opaque network of US facilities – report

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Confidential data obtained by AP shows the number of children in government custody more than doubled in the past two months

The Biden administration is holding tens of thousands of asylum-seeking children in an opaque network of some 200 facilities that the Associated Press has learned spans two dozen states and includes five shelters with more than 1,000 children packed inside.

Confidential data obtained by the AP shows the number of migrant children in government custody more than doubled in the past two months, and this week the federal government was housing around 21,000 kids, from toddlers to teens.

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Trump family members got ‘inappropriately close’ to Secret Service agents, book claims

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Concerns over bonds involving Trump’s then daughter in-law Vanessa and daughter Tiffany revealed in Carol Leonnig’s Zero Fail

Two Trump family members got “inappropriately – and perhaps dangerously – close” to agents protecting them while Donald Trump was president, according to a new book on the US Secret Service.

Related: A Very Stable Genius review: dysfunction and disaster at the court of King Donald

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Trump’s grip over Republicans hardens as party cleaves to election ‘big lie’

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Far from losing influence over the party, critics say, Trump has in fact burrowed far into its DNA so that the two are now all but inseparable

Ron DeSantis was exultant. “The way Florida did it I think inspires confidence; I think that’s how elections should be run,” the state governor told reporters last November. “Rather than us be at the centre of a Bush v Gore in 2020, we’re now being looked at as the state that did it right.”

This boast of a smoothly run election just six months ago makes DeSantis’s actions this week all the more curious. The governor suddenly found it necessary to impose sweeping reforms that limit mail-in voting and ballot drop boxes – and signed the new law live on the Fox News network on Thursday with no other media allowed.

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US ‘turning the corner’ on pandemic as vaccinations sharply reduce infections

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Restrictions on public behavior to be gradually lifted, key figures in the fight against the disease say

The US is approaching a turning point where Covid vaccinations are sharply reducing infection and hospitalization rates and in turn allowing restrictions on public behavior to be gradually lifted, key figures in the fight against the disease said on Sunday.

“We are turning the corner,” said Jeffrey Zients, the White House Covid response coordinator. With about 58% of adult Americans having received at least one shot of vaccine, and with some 113 million people now fully vaccinated, the country was on track to meet Joe Biden’s goal of 70% of the population at least partially vaccinated by 4 July, he said.

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Secret Service extension for Trump’s adult children cost $140,000 in a month

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  • Trump extended post-presidency protections by six months
  • Secret Service detailing four siblings and two of their spouses

Donald Trump’s adult children reportedly cost taxpayers $140,000 in Secret Service security in the month after the clan’s patriarch left the White House in January.

Related: The sleazy, sordid Matt Gaetz scandal: are the walls now closing in on him?

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Janet Yellen says US ‘will reach full employment next year’ despite poor jobs report – live

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  • Treasury secretary says US has made ‘remarkable progress’
  • Biden insists country is ‘moving in the direction’ on economy
  • Republicans look to oust Cheney as Trump allies push election lie

Hello everyone, this is Julia Carrie Wong picking up the blog from the San Francisco bay area, where we’re bracing for unusually early fire weather amid another climate crisis-fueled drought.

Suffice it to say that it's very unusual that NorCal has seen Red Flag Warnings straight through calendar this year. Vegetation is very rarely dry enough to trigger in spring, even with strong winds, but vegetation remains at/near record dry levels in many places. #CAwx #CAfire https://t.co/97rlEVhytM

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Julia Carrie Wong, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

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Fox News made me do it: Capitol attack suspect pulls ‘Foxitis’ defense

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Anthony Antonio, who faces five charges over role in January riot, ‘started believing what was being fed to him’, lawyer says

The lawyer for a Delaware man charged over the Capitol attack in January is floating a unique defense: Fox News made him do it.

Anthony Antonio, who is facing five charges including violent entry, disorderly conduct and impeding law enforcement during civil disorder, fell prey to the persistent lies about the so-called “stolen election” being spread daily by Donald Trump and the rightwing network that served him, his attorney Joseph Hurley said during a video hearing on Thursday.

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Footage reveals Ohio state senator driving during Zoom call

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Andrew Brenner used background of home office on same day a bill to ban distracted driving was introduced

An Ohio state senator used a virtual background of his home office in an apparent attempt to conceal the fact that he was driving during a Zoom meeting – on the same day a bill to ban distracted driving was introduced.

Andrew Brenner might have succeeded in fooling the meeting with the state’s controlling board, were it not for the seatbelt strapped across his chest, glimpses of the road behind him and the constant turning of his head as he changed lanes.

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Florida ‘moving in wrong direction’ with voting restrictions, White House says – as it happened

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Mike Jordan reports for the Guardian:

Idaho’s governor, Brad Little, has a bill signed into law that aims to restrict critical race theory from being taught as a subject in schools and universities.

The bill, H377, prevents teachers from “indoctrinating” students into belief systems that claim that members of any race, sex, religion, ethnicity or national origin are inferior or superior to other groups. Signed into law last week, H377 also makes it illegal to make students “affirm, adopt or adhere to” beliefs that members of these groups are today responsible for past actions of the groups to which they claim to belong.

Related: Idaho governor signs bill to ban critical race theory from being taught in schools

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Joe Biden: Republicans are in the midst of a ‘mini-revolution’ – video

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The president said he has never seen internal party conflict like the one Republicans are experiencing at the moment and was in a ‘mini-revolution’.

Earlier on Wednesday Biden said: ‘I don’t understand the Republicans’ in regards to House Republicans’ efforts to oust Liz Cheney from her leadership role over her criticism of Donald Trump

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Facebook fudge potentially lets Trump live to lie another day

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Analysis: Trump will try to have it both ways over the verdict – decrying censorship but also eyeing an eventual return

It was not so much “Release the Kraken!” as “please tell the Kraken to pace around the room a few more times while we think about it”.

Facebook’s oversight board ruled that Donald Trump should remain banned from the platform for incendiary posts on the day of the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol. But it also told the company that its “vague, standardless penalty” should be reviewed within six months.

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Biden administration backs waiving Covid vaccine patent protections – as it happened

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We’re wrapping up today’s live US politics coverage for the evening. It’s been a day of major developments with global reach here in the United States, as well as sustained infighting within the Republican party over Republicans’ allegiance to Donald Trump and his lies. Here’s an updated summary:

This time, Elon Musk’s SpaceX prototype did not explode

SpaceX’s Starship prototype SN15 sticks the landing! https://t.co/QX9P6d14mt #SpaceX #Starship pic.twitter.com/mO4N0fuzZK

SpaceX makes a statement with SN15 Starship landing, coming amid the bid protests on the NASA lunar lander contract. https://t.co/PQ4nrRtqU6

For Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship program more smoke, fire and shrapnel. But at least "the crater is in the right place." Next up: SN15. https://t.co/50DX5ONogF

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