First congressional hearing on attack comes day after Merrick Garland said he would expand investigation into 6 January assault
Testifying on Tuesday in the first congressional hearing on the US Capitol attack, the chief of Capitol police who resigned over the riot said the pro-Trump mob which stormed the building “came prepared for war”.
Related: Ruling on Trump tax records could be costliest defeat of his losing streak
Continue reading...
The supreme court has rejected Donald Trump’s request to block New York prosecutors from gaining access to his tax returns.
In a one-sentence unsigned order, the court ruled that it would not step in to prevent the Manhattan district attorney’s office from obtaining eight years of Trump’s financial documents from his accounting firm.
The work continues.
The Senate judiciary committee has now started the confirmation hearing for Merrick Garland, Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general.
Garland, a federal judge, is best known as Barack Obama’s supreme court nominee in 2016, who never received a hearing because Republican leader Mitch McConnell wanted to keep the seat open until after the presidential election. (The seat was eventually filled by Neil Gorsuch.)
Related: Merrick Garland vows to target white supremacists as attorney general
Continue reading...Unnamed source tells news site Axios Trump’s speech to the rightwing event will have the message ‘I’m still in charge’
Donald Trump will reportedly tell the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida this week he is the man to drain the Washington swamp – as Republicans’ “presumptive 2024 nominee”.
Related: Republicans failing to toe the Trumpist line feel wrath of their state parties
Continue reading...Analysis: members of Senate and House are targets but some doubt wisdom of enforcing fealty to the one-term president
Republican state parties have been lashing out at elected officials of their own party in a sign of ongoing fealty to Donald Trump.
The moves by state party officials are highly unusual and an indication of the heated internal battles the Republican party is facing in the months and years to come as it struggles with the legacy of its capture by Trump, his allies and his loyal supporters.
Continue reading...Texas Republicans will use federal funds to help pay exorbitant energy bills hitting ordinary Texans after a deep freeze crippled the state this week, a senior congressman said on Sunday.
Related: Texans rally to help neighbors amid big freeze as officials are caught cold
Continue reading...Former president Donald Trump will address the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, in Florida next week, about the future of the Republican party and the conservative movement, a source familiar with the plan told Reuters on Saturday.
Related: Trump ally Nunes sees CNN Ukraine lawsuit thrown out by New York judge
Continue reading...A defamation lawsuit brought against CNN by the California Republican Devin Nunes, a leading ally of former president Donald Trump, was tossed out by a Manhattan judge on Friday.
Related: Icy blast of anti-Ted Cruz outrage shows little sign of abating
Continue reading...Five US territories float in constitutional limbo, but impetus is growing to put and end to a ‘fundamental democratic flaw’
One of the most powerful prosecutions of former US president Donald Trump last week came from Stacey Plaskett of the US Virgin Islands, the first delegate from an American territory to hold the position of impeachment manager.
Yet Plaskett’s status meant that she was unable to vote for Trump’s impeachment because she has no vote on the floor of the House of Representatives. The US Virgin Islands has no representation at all in the Senate. Its residents cannot even vote for president.
Continue reading...
Meanwhile, in New Mexico, a Democrat-led legislature has overturned a dormant 1969 ban on most abortion procedures.
History made. #SB10, affirming that decisions about abortion should remain with NM women, has passed both chambers of the #nmleg. Thank you to every New Mexican who has fought for this progress. #nmpol pic.twitter.com/OigA95YhMB
This November, you elected leaders to build a better future for all New Mexicans. Thank you to the voters, activists, and champions who fought for a New Mexico where abortion care is accessible for all. You made this win possible! #nmleg #SB10 #repealtheban pic.twitter.com/ltIrJ0ZFJv
Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has already indicated that he would oppose Neera Tanden’s to be director of the Office of Management and Budget, in part because of combative statements she has made on Twitter.
New: Manchin is opposing Neera Tanden's nomination for OMB: "I believe her overtly partisan statements will have a toxic and detrimental impact on the important working relationship between members of Congress and the next director of the Office of Management and Budget."
OMB: Biden tells reporters he will not pull @neeratanden nomination, will find the votes for her
WH press secretary Jen Psaki: "Neera Tanden is an accomplished policy expert who would be an excellent Budget Director and we look forward to the committee votes next week and to continuing to work toward her confirmation through engagement with both parties."
Continue reading...World leaders expect Washington to prove commitment to accord after four years of inaction
The US is back in the Paris climate accord, just 107 days after it left.
While Friday’s return is heavily symbolic, world leaders say they expect the US to prove its seriousness after four years of being mostly absent. They are especially keen to hear an announcement from Washington in the coming months on the US’s goal for cutting emissions of heat-trapping gases by 2030.
Continue reading...Ted Cruz has provoked an outcry after the Republican senator from Texas left the state for a trip to the sunny Mexican tourist resort of Cancún, as millions of his constituents endured deadly power outages and freezing temperatures.
Cruz was spotted waiting for, then later boarding, a flight to Cancún on Wednesday night.
A day later, after the images went viral, he returned to Texas
More details on Cancun-gate: Ted Cruz’s office reportedly contacted the Houston Police Department to request security assistance at the airport yesterday.
The HPD told ABC News that its officers “monitored his movements through the terminal.” Cruz then boarded a flight to Cancun, as his state deals with a winter storm and widespread blackouts.
JUST IN from @houstonpolice, via @emcabcnewsprod:
"Cruz’s staff contacted HPD personnel at IAH on Wednesday ... and requested assistance upon the Senator’s arrival at the airport."
"HPD officers monitored his movements through the terminal."
In case you missed it this morning: the number of initial weekly jobless claims in the US rose to 861,000 last week, the labor department announced.
The number represents an increase of 13,000 from the previous week, the latest sign that the US economy continues to suffer as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...Analysis: The president stressed a willingness to work with Republicans – but some say his outreach has its limits
Joe Biden and his team have promised to extend the bipartisan olive branch like no previous administration in a move that on the surface appears to match the new president’s long political history of seeking support from Republicans.
Since taking office, the Biden administration has stressed a willingness to work with Republicans on its major initiatives like a Covid relief bill. Behind the scenes, it has initiated a broad push to reach out to as many congressional offices as possible, getting in contact with both former and current Republican lawmakers and their staffs, and hosting a high-visibility meeting between almost a dozen Republican senators and Biden himself.
Continue reading...
Joe Biden had an hour-long conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu today, the Israeli prime minister said.
In a tweet, Netanyahu’s office shared a photo of the prime minister on the phone with Biden. Netanyahu said the conversation was friendly, and the two leaders committed to strengthening the alliance between their nations.
ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו שוחח הערב עם נשיא ארה"ב ג'ו ביידן.
השיחה הייתה ידידותית וחמה ביותר ונמשכה כשעה. שני המנהיגים ציינו את הקשר האישי רב השנים ביניהם ואמרו שיפעלו יחד להמשך חיזוק הברית האיתנה בין ישראל לארה"ב pic.twitter.com/8LolsBhi0r
Related: Call me maybe? Disquiet in Israel that Biden has yet to phone Netanyahu
Jill Biden will soon sit down with Kelly Clarkson for her first solo television interview since Joe Biden was sworn in, the first lady’s office announced today.
A spokesperson for Jill Biden said the interview will be aired next Thursday, on “The Kelly Clarkson Show: White House Edition with the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden”.
NEW! @FLOTUS will sit down with @KellyClarkson for her FIRST solo TV interview, when @KellyClarksonTV comes to the White House! “The Kelly Clarkson Show: White House Edition with the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden” will air Thursday, Feb. 25 #kellyoke
Continue reading...Atlantic City authorities have demolished Donald Trump's former casino and hotel complex after it fell into disrepair. It was closed to the public in 2014. Trump, who opened the building on the oceanfront boardwalk in 1984, lost control of it in a 2009 bankruptcy
Continue reading...
The White House briefing has now concluded. Here’s where the day stands so far:
White House press secretary Jen Psaki would not say when specifically Joe Biden will address a joint session of Congress for the first time as president.
Biden said last month that he would lay out his Build Back Better plan in a February address to Congress.
Continue reading...Calls to investigate attack followed Trump’s acquittal in his second impeachment trial
Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, said on Monday that the US Congress will move to establish an outside, independent commission to review the “facts and causes” related to the deadly 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump in the waning days of his presidency.
Pelosi said in a letter to members of Congress that the commission would be modeled on a similar one convened after the 11 September 2001, terrorist attack on Washington and New York.
Continue reading...Governor, who has faced calls to resign, acknowledged that officials should have moved faster to release some information
Under fire over his management of the coronavirus’ lethal path through New York’s nursing homes, Andrew Cuomo insisted Monday the state didn’t cover up deaths – but the governor acknowledged that officials should have moved faster to release some information sought by lawmakers, the public and the press.
Continue reading...Infectious disease expert tells Axios he had been nervous going there when many were coming down with the virus
Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease expert and chief medical and coronavirus adviser to Joe Biden, revealed on Monday that he had been nervous entering the White House when many there were coming down with Covid-19 late in Donald Trump’s presidency.
Fauci is 80 years old and said that as such he was acutely aware that he was at high risk of suffering a “serious outcome” if he became infected by coronavirus, he told Axios in an interview clip posted online.
Continue reading...Democrats and Republicans both voice support for panel to ‘make sure it never happens again’
Democratic and Republican lawmakers have issued fresh calls for a bipartisan 9/11-style commission to investigate why government officials and law enforcement failed to stop the attack on the US Capitol in January, following Donald Trump’s acquittal in his impeachment on charges that he incited the insurrection.
The commission would be modeled after a panel created in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks, which reviewed what caused the atrocity and laid out recommendations on how to foresee and prevent any future incursions.
Continue reading...