Summary
That’s all from me here on the west coast. This is a bit of what’s been going on in US news and politics today:
- Joe Biden hosted his second foreign head of state at the White House. The pair emphasized their resolve to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and continue to address climate change and restore the environment. They were also asked respective questions about Israel-Palestine’s ongoing conflict.
- Louisiana police say they plan to release all video associated with the death of Ronald Greene tonight. Originally the family was told by police that he died from crashing his car into a tree. But recently released body-cam footage shows state troopers hitting and stunning Greene.
- Joe Biden awarded his first Medal of Honor since becoming president. The medal went to retired Colonel Ralph Puckett Jr, for his courageous actions during the Korean War. South Korean President Moon Jae-in was present for the medal ceremony. “Today we are hosting a true American hero and awarding an honor that is long overdue, more than 70 years overdue,” Biden said of Puckett.
- Biden’s team has proposed a slightly smaller infrastructure package in a counteroffer to Republicans, who have argued the bill should focus exclusively on issues like improving roads and bridges. Biden’s new proposal would cost $1.7tn, in comparison to his original $2.25tn plan, and Republicans have indicated they consider the president’s concessions to be insufficient.
- World leaders hailed the ceasefire in Gaza and pledged to help Palestinians rebuild. The ceasefire came after 11 days of violence between Israeli forces and Hamas, which killed more than 200 people, most of them Palestinian.
Updated
Louisianna police say they plan to release all video associated with the death of Ronald Greene tonight. Green died after being pulled over and then stunned, kicked and dragged on the ground by state troopers in May 2019.
Originally police told Greene’s family that he died from the impact of crashing his car into a tree, but a 46-minute video obtained by the AP shows completely contradicts the police’s version of events.
Here’s an excerpt from the Guardian’s coverage:
The 46-minute clip shows one trooper wrestling Greene to the ground, putting him in a chokehold and punching him in the face while another can be heard calling him a “stupid motherfucker”.
Greene wails “I’m sorry!” as another trooper delivers another stun gun shock to his backside. Another trooper can be seen briefly dragging the man face down after his legs had been shackled and his hands cuffed behind him.
Instead of rendering aid, the troopers leave the man unattended, face down and moaning for more than nine minutes, as they use sanitizer wipes to wash blood off their hands and faces.
Read the entirety of the Guardian’s most recent coverage here: “‘I’m scared!’: body-cam video shows deadly arrest of Black man in Louisiana”
Two years ago, Louisiana State Police said Ronald Greene was killed in a car crash.
— ACLU (@ACLU) May 21, 2021
They lied.
Bodycam footage just released to the public clearly shows Greene was tortured to death by officers who denied him life-saving aid.https://t.co/G1qhrjXBLv
Updated
Today, Joe Biden denounced the seizure of journalists’ phone and email records and said he will block the justice department from doing so. On his way out of this afternoon’s press conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in Biden described the practice as “simply wrong.”
Reuters reports:
Biden’s comments came after CNN reported that the Justice Department had told its correspondent Barbara Starr that the former Trump administration had obtained two months of her phone and email records in 2017.
“Absolutely, positively, it’s wrong,” Biden told reporters after a joint news conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. “It’s simply, simply wrong. I will not let that happen.”
President Biden said “it’s wrong, it’s simply, simply wrong” to seize emails and phone records of journalists. @kaitlancollins asked: “So, you won’t let your Justice Department do that?” The President replied: “I will not let that happen.”
— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) May 21, 2021
Updated
Daniel Hernandez Jr, a former staffer for then-US Representative Gabby Giffords is now running for her soon-to-be-vacant congressional seat. The seat is currently held by Democratic Rep Ann Kirkpatrick, who recently announced that she will not be running for re-election in the August 2022 race.
In January 2011 a gunman walked into a grocery store where Giffords was holding an event, opened fire, killed six people and injured 13 others, including Giffords. Hernandez held her bleeding head and kept her awake as they waited for an emergency response. Hernandez Jr has since been heralded as a hero and is a staunch advocate for strengthening gun laws.
While interning for @GabbyGiffords, I was working at her meet and greet when she was shot. Those nine minutes, between the first shots fired and the moment the first responders entered the scene, I ran to Gabby, kept her awake, and did what I could to take care of her.
— Daniel Hernandez Jr (@danielforaz) May 20, 2021
Updated
On his relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu and how sure he is that the Israeli prime minister will uphold the Palestine-Israel ceasefire, Biden said:
“I don’t talk about what I tell people in private ... I take Netanyahu at his word, he’s never broken his word. It’s essential that the Palestinians on the West Bank be secured.”
He also advocated for a “two-state solution” and says that though they see Hamas as a terrorist organization that does not negate the need for those living in the West Bank to be protected and not have their homes and neighborhoods destroyed.
Updated
The first question to Biden is about his stance on the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict and whether he will take a harsher stance based on the attitudes among Democrats and a growing number of Americans.
“There is no shift in my commitment to the security of Israel. But we need a two-state solution … I think my party still supports Israel,” Biden responded.
For more on Biden’s actions around the conflict an outcry from within his party read my colleague Julian Borger’s article “Joe Biden feels political ground shift as Israel-Gaza conflict rages on.”
Updated
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is now giving his address. In addition to praising the appointment of ambassador Kim, Jae-in says that “the most urgent common task is achieving complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula”.
He also says South Korea will continue to support joint efforts to address climate change.
Updated
Here are a couple of highlights from Biden’s conference:
- President Biden is announced longtime US ambassador Sung Kim will serve as the country’s envoy to North Korea
- Biden is also highlighting a new bill against Covid-induced anti-Asian hate crimes
President Biden has just begun a joint press with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Moon is the second head of state to visit since the Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga came to the White House in April.
H.E. Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea, and I just finished our bilateral meeting at the White House. Tune in for our joint press conference. https://t.co/wEu0SUbWaW
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 21, 2021
The Guardian’s Oliver Holmes and Peter Beaumont painted a picture of the devastation that Palestinians are met with once they return to their homes and communities after 11 days of warfare between Israel and Hamas, a militant group in Gaza. At least 243 people on the Palestinian side have been killed including dozens of Hamas fighters and over 60 children. Here’s a bit of what’s going on in Gaza City:
At the main Shifa hospital, many of the wounded were receiving visitors for the first time in days, as previously it was too dangerous to venture out.
In one recovery ward, several people crowded around a woman with fresh, red burns covering her entire face and a metal surgical rod protruding from just above her left ankle.
Mona Amin, 47, had been at home in the northern town of Beit Lahia when she said an Israeli missile pierced straight through her apartment and detonated in her neighbour’s building.
“I was asleep,” she wheezed quietly, barely moving her body except for her eyes and mouth. Her forearms were covered in white bandages, and a dressing on her head, mostly covered by her hijab, hid a shrapnel wound.
Amin said the strike killed her husband and three of her six children.
Read the entirety of the story here: “Palestinians return to devastated homes as UN calls for Gaza dialogue.”
Updated
My colleague Martin Pengelly reports that Donald Trump has not yet responded publicly to the news – first reported by the Guardian – that a new book says Barack Obama called him a “madman”, a “racist, sexist pig”, “that fucking lunatic” and a “corrupt motherfucker”. But he is fundraising off it.
The 44th president’s various soubriquets for the 45th are reported in the eagerly awaited Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats’ Campaigns to Defeat Donald Trump by Edward-Isaac Dovere, a staff writer at the Atlantic.
Trump might have been expected to respond in kind – he is after all one of the originators of the racist birther conspiracy which holds that Obama should not have been president, and has been far from shy about attacking his White House predecessor.
But nor is Trump shy of attempts to turn a quick buck, whether in service of his big lie about electoral fraud or in attacking opponents in general. And so Olivia Nuzzi of New York magazine duly reports a fundraising text, thus:
What year is it? pic.twitter.com/W09hJdo1mP
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) May 21, 2021
The website linked to in the text duly states: “FIGHT BACK! When the Left attacks President Trump, they’re really attacking YOU and everything YOU stand for. We’re printing a list with the names of EVERY Patriot who steps up and publicly DEFENDS President Trump TODAY. Can we add your name?
“Please contribute ANY AMOUNT IMMEDIATELY to get your name on the list of Patriots who DEFENDED President Trump from OBAMA and the radical Left!”
As a 10-minute countdown ticks, a box for a donation of $250 jumps up and down while those for other amounts sit still. A message says contributions “will benefit Save America Joint Fundraising Committee”. A pop-up box on the main screen tells viewers not acting immediately to wait, as “President Trump wants to see your name at the top of the donor list”.
CNBC recently reported that Save America had “amassed a war chest of more than $85m as [Trump] builds an operation meant to take on his enemies and possibly fuel another run for president in 2024”.
It was reported elsewhere on Friday that the Texas representative Ronny Jackson – a former White House doctor, he of the cauliflower in the president’s mashed potatoes and other stories – said of Trump: “He says he’s going to run.”
Intriguingly, in light of a recent New York Times report about donors unwittingly cleaned out, the site seeking to raise funds off Obama’s reported remarks also contains two pre-checked boxes – one to make a monthly contribution and one to “donate an additional $100 automatically on 5/31”.
Here’s more on that:
Hello, this Abené Clayton blogging from the west coast. Any moment now President Biden will begin his press conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Earlier in the day, Moon attended Biden’s first Medal of Honor ceremony to a retired veteran who served in the Korean war.
I’ll be following the conference here on the blog, and the live stream can be viewed here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/
Updated
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Abené Clayton, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Joe Biden awarded his first Medal of Honor since becoming president. The medal went to retired Colonel Ralph Puckett Jr, for his courageous actions during the Korean War. South Korean President Moon Jae-in was present for the medal ceremony. “Today we are hosting a true American hero and awarding an honor that is long overdue, more than 70 years overdue,” Biden said of Puckett.
- The South Korean president and Biden will soon hold a joint press conference. The two leaders participate in bilateral meetings this afternoon before taking questions from reporters. At the beginning of one meeting, Biden thanked Moon for coming to Washington, and he expressed gratitude for the South Korean president’s attendance at the Medal of Honor ceremony.
- Biden’s team has proposed a slightly smaller infrastructure package in a counteroffer to Republicans, who have argued the bill should focus exclusively on issues like improving roads and bridges. Biden’s new proposal would cost $1.7tn, in comparison to his original $2.25tn plan, and Republicans have indicated they consider the president’s concessions to be insufficient.
- World leaders hailed the ceasefire in Gaza and pledged to help Palestinians rebuild. The ceasefire came after 11 days of violence between Israeli forces and Hamas, which killed more than 200 people, most of them Palestinian.
- Arizona’s secretary of state urged Maricopa county officials to replace voting machines involved in the county’s controversial “audit”. Democrat Katie Hobbs said in her letter to county officials, “I have grave concerns regarding the security and integrity of these machines, given that the chain of custody, a critical security tenet, has been compromised.” Democrats have argued the county’s audit is a harmful sham meant to appease Donald Trump, who continues to spread lies about widespread fraud in the presidential election.
Abené will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Updated
Gloria Oladipo reports for the Guardian:
Donald Trump has billed the Secret Service more than $40,000 for a room for his own security detail, which has been guarding him at his Mar-a-Lago resort since he left office in January.
Spending records obtained by the Washington Post through a public records request show that Trump’s resort in Palm Beach charged the Secret Service $396.15 every night starting on 20 January, the day he left the White House and relocated to Mar-a-Lago full-time.
The charges continued until at least 30 April, costing taxpayers a total of $40,011.15. A source familiar with the transactions told the Post the charges were for a single room that functioned as a workspace for Secret Service agents.
Compared with protection provided at Mar-a-Lago during Trump’s tenure as president, Secret Service agents rented fewer rooms during their stay this year. The agency would previously rent four to five rooms for every night Trump was there. His security detail only rented out one room this spring.
Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held an expanded bilateral meeting at the White House.
Sitting alongside defense secretary Lloyd Austin and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Biden welcomed Moon to the White House and thanked him for attending the Medal of Honor ceremony for retired Colonel Ralph Puckett, Jr, earlier today.
Biden said the US and South Korea shared a “history of shared sacrifice,” and he noted his discussion with Moon ran over its scheduled end time because he was so enjoying talking to him.
The two leaders are scheduled to hold a joint press conference in about about 40 minutes, so stay tuned.
The White House has announced a partnership with popular dating apps to encourage people to get vaccinated.
The dating apps will offer badges showing vaccination status, premium content to vaccinated users and options to filter potential dates based on vaccination status.
"We have finally found the one thing that makes us more attractive: a vaccination."
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) May 21, 2021
Hinge, Tinder, Match, Bumble and other apps will show vaccine badges on user profiles as part of the White House's latest effort to encourage Americans to get the jab https://t.co/WJ5C6d9u91 pic.twitter.com/zAkQ2PJAx4
At the White House pandemic response team briefing earlier today, senior adviser Andy Slavitt said OKCupid has found users who report their vaccination status are 14% more likely to get a match.
“We have finally found the one thing that makes us more attractive: a vaccination,” Slavitt said.
The new partnership comes as the Biden administration works to get 70% of American adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4. As of now, about 60% of American adults have received at least one vaccine dose.
A spokesperson for Justice Democrats, the progressive group that helped elect congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, criticized the Biden administration for compromising with Republicans on infrastructure.
In response to a story about Joe Biden’s new $1.7 trillion counteroffer, spokesperson Waleed Shahid said on Twitter, “Democrats should compromise with the Americans who haven’t seen movement on jobs and inequality for over a decade -- not millionaire Republicans bought and paid for by billionaire Republicans.”
Democrats should compromise with the Americans who haven't seen movement on jobs and inequality for over a decade -- not millionaire Republicans bought and paid for by billionaire Republicans. https://t.co/edNgA6yOfk
— Waleed Shahid (@_waleedshahid) May 21, 2021
It’s important to note that Joe Biden and Republicans have been describing their infrastructure proposals in different ways when it comes to comparing them to current spending plans.
The Washington Post explains:
The category for ‘roads and bridges’ is a good example of the impact of the baseline. The GOP plan shows a line-item of $299 billion, which certainly looks bigger than Biden’s $115 billion. ... That’s because the Congressional Budget Office baseline spending on roads and bridges — various Federal Highway Administration accounts — for the next five years appears to be about $260 billion.
That means the GOP is proposing to spend an additional $39 billion, or 15 percent, on highway funds. That’s the right number to compare to Biden’s $115 billion — which is a 44 percent increase over the current spending path.
With those different methods in mind, the Post calculated that the original Republican offer would add $189 billion to the baseline of current spending, while Biden’s initial proposal would add $785 billion for the same line items.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that Biden’s initial proposal included a number of items not included in Republicans’ plan, such as investments in green energy.
Updated
Jen Psaki said Joe Biden’s “jobs cabinet,” the group of cabinet secretaries selected to lead the president’s infrastructure campaign, presented their newest offer to Republicans during a meeting today.
However, the offer will likely underwhelm Republicans, who continue to insist on a much smaller infrastructure package than the $1.7 trillion plan that Biden is now proposing.
A group of Senate Republicans met with White House officials on Tuesday as well, but the two sides continue to disagree over how broadly to define infrastructure.
One of the changes that Joe Biden made with his latest infrastructure offer to Republicans is to reduce the funding for research and development in the bill.
However, some of that funding will be provided anyway through the Endless Frontiers Act, which the Senate is already working on in a bipartisan fashion.
A Republican official told the Washington Post that Biden’s newest offer cannot be considered much of a concession when a lot of the cost being taken out of the bill is simply being funded elsewhere.
Dropping the topline because some of the spending is getting moved into another bill that the Senate is already working on (Endless Frontiers) doesn’t satisfy Republicans as a concession, per GOP source. https://t.co/4WrjJZdLAI
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) May 21, 2021
Biden offers Republicans slightly smaller infrastructure package as negotiations continue
Jen Psaki said Joe Biden has offered Republicans a counteroffer in their infrastructure negotiations, reducing the overall price tag of his plan by more than $500 billion.
While the president originally proposed spending about $2.25 trillion to improve America’s infrastructure systems, he is now suggesting a $1.7 trillion package.
Among other changes, Biden’s new proposal matches the Republican offer on broadband investment and reduces some spending on roads and bridges.
“In our view, this is the art of seeking common ground,” the White House press secretary said of the new offer.
However, Republicans are unlikely to see Biden’s new proposal as much of a compromise. They had originally suggested spending about $600 billion on infrastructure and had signaled a willingness to go up to $800 billion, which is less than half of the cost of Biden’s latest offer.
One Republican official told the Washington Post that the new offer was “not an encouraging one”.
Republicans said the offer was “not an encouraging one,” per one GOP official https://t.co/rG6PFcZtDb
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) May 21, 2021
One reporter asked Jen Psaki whether Joe Biden was reconsidering the planned US sale of $735 million in weapons to Israel after the violence in Gaza.
“We have no plans to change our security assistance that we’re providing to Israel,” the White House press secretary said, adding that the administration is committed to “playing a constructive role in rebuilding Gaza”.
Psaki says the U.S. has no plans to change its security assistance to Israel pic.twitter.com/RaYEFVChvR
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) May 21, 2021
Of the newly reached ceasefire, Psaki said the US has “strong assurances from the relevant parties” that they will work to keep the ceasefire in place.
The weapons sale to Israel has sparked outrage among progressives, some of whom have accused the Biden administration of helping Israel to carry out war crimes against Palestinians.
Yesterday, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a resolution disapproving of the weapons sale, saying the US “must help lead the way to a peaceful and prosperous future for both Israelis and Palestinians”.
The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, is now holding her daily briefing with reporters.
Psaki opened her comments by noting that Joe Biden will visit the FEMA headquarters on Monday to get a briefing on the upcoming hurricane season.
On Tuesday, the president will mark the one-year anniversary of the death of George Floyd, who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer who has now been convicted for Floyd’s murder.
Biden will also travel to Cleveland, Ohio, on Thursday to deliver remarks on the US economy.
The Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House has concluded. Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will now hold two meetings, before their joint press conference later today.
Joe Biden has officially given the Medal of Honor to retired Colonel Ralph Puckett, Jr, for his bravery during the Korean War.
After giving Puckett the medal, Biden called up the retired colonel’s family members so they could take a photo with him.
In a rather remarkable moment, Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in kneeled next to Puckett to be included in one of the family photos.
.@POTUS and @moonriver365 kneeled for a picture with Col. Puckett, Jr and his family after awarding the Korean war hero a medal of honor. pic.twitter.com/TLsCBg8Mwj
— Patsy Widakuswara (@pwidakuswara) May 21, 2021
South Korean President Moon Jae-in also spoke at the ceremony to award retired Colonel Ralph Puckett, Jr, the Medal of Honor for his bravery during the Korean War.
Speaking through a translator, the South Korean president noted he is the first foreign leader to ever attend a US ceremony of this kind.
Moon said it was a “great honor and pleasure” to be in attendance today, and he described Puckett as a “true hero” who had the gratitude of all South Koreans for his sacrifices.
Biden awards first Medal of Honor as president: 'We are hosting a true American hero'
Joe Biden is now awarding his first Medal of Honor as president to Ralph Puckett, Jr, for the retired colonel’s brave actions while fighting in the Korean War.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is also in attendance, and Biden said it was a “real honor” to have him at the White House for the ceremony.
“Today we are hosting a true American hero and awarding an honor that is long overdue, more than 70 years overdue,” Biden said of Puckett.
While his unit was trying to seize a hill in Korea in November 1950, Puckett repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to help his fellow soldiers achieve their mission.
Biden noted that Puckett had originally suggested he did not need an elaborate ceremony to mark this significant honor. “I think you deserve a little bit of fuss,” Biden told him.
Moon arrives at the White House for Biden meetings
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has arrived at the White House for his meetings and press conference with Joe Biden.
Moon will soon attend a Medal of Honor ceremony, where Biden will award the medal to retired Colonel Ralph Puckett, Jr, for his actions during the Korean War. This marks the first time Biden has awarded the medal since becoming president.
Moon is just the second foreign leader to visit the White House in person since Biden took office. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga met with Biden at the White House last month.
The White House pandemic response team held a press briefing this morning to provide an update on vaccination efforts and coronavirus case numbers.
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Rochelle Walensky, said she was encouraged by the recent decline in coronavirus cases as more Americans get vaccinated.
Walensky noted that the country’s current seven-day average of new cases is about 27,700. That is the lowest seven-day average since June 2020.
“As each week passes and as we continue to see progress, these data give me hope,” Walensky said.
"These data give me hope": CDC Director Rochelle Walensky details the national drop in new COVID cases, hospitalizations and fatalities, including a new low of 498 for seven-day average of daily deaths https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/UmIXkcSaKk
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 21, 2021
World leaders hail Gaza-Israel ceasefire
The Guardian’s Julian Borger and Oliver Holmes and agencies report:
World leaders have hailed a ceasefire that took hold in the early hours of Friday morning and vowed to help rebuild Gaza, after an Israeli bombing campaign that killed more than 230 people and Palestinian rocket attacks that killed 12 in Israel.
The United Nations secretary general urged Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers to observe the ceasefire and called on global leaders to develop a reconstruction package “that supports the Palestinian people and strengthens their institutions”.
Antonio Guterres said after Thursday’s announcement of an end to 11 days of clashes: “Israeli and Palestinian leaders have a responsibility beyond the restoration of calm to start a serious dialogue to address the root causes of the conflict.”
Few analysts believe there will be progress towards resolving the fundamental issues in the immediate future. There were no signals of an end to Israel’s decades-old military grip over the Palestinian territories and its blockade on the already-devastated Gaza enclave, within which 2 million people live under hardline Hamas rule.
However, Guterres said the UN was ready to work with Israel, the Palestinians, and others to return to “meaningful negotiations” on a two-state settlement based on territorial lines before the 1967 war.
In a televised address from the White House, the US president, Joe Biden, vowed to continue what he called “our quiet and relentless diplomacy” towards a long-term settlement, adding: “I believe we have a genuine opportunity to make progress.”
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has confirmed that America no longer wants to buy Greenland.
The Guardian’s Helen Sullivan reports:
Blinken visited the Danish autonomous territory as he ended a four-day trip that included a meeting of the foreign ministers of countries bordering the Arctic.
“I am in Greenland because the United States deeply values our partnership and wants to make it even stronger,” Blinken told reporters on his final stop of the Arctic tour.
He stressed that he was not there to buy the country, signaling a change in policy from the Trump administration. Asked whether the US had definitively ruled out any plans to buy Greenland, Blinken replied with a smile: “I can confirm that’s correct.”
Former US President Donald Trump announced in August 2019 that he was considering buying the land mass, which is a quarter of the size of the US.
Read Helen’s report here:
Updated
The White House has been buzzing with activity ahead of South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s visit this afternoon.
According to the latest White House pool report, military aides in dress uniforms have been moving about the grounds as employees mow the North Lawn to prepare for Moon’s arrival.
Friends and family of retired Colonel Ralph Puckett, Jr, who will receive the Medal of Honor this afternoon, were also spotted posing for photos outside the Palm Room doors.
Appearing alongside Kamala Harris this morning, South Korean President Moon Jae-in offered some implicit criticism of Joe Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.
“My congratulations on how the Biden-Harris administration is building back better with the world’s most successful vaccine deployment and fastest economic recovery and blazing a trail for inclusiveness and unity by restoring the soul of America,” Moon said.
Those comments echo Biden’s remarks on the 2020 campaign trail, where he described the presidential election as a “battle for the soul of the nation”.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in will also be present for a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House today.
Joe Biden will award the medal to retired Colonel Ralph Puckett, Jr, who served in the Korean War. This marks the first Medal of Honor ceremony since Biden took office.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the White House explained how Puckett distinguished himself for “conspicuous gallantry” by repeatedly putting himself in harm’s way to help his unit capture a hill in Korea in November 1950.
“Leaving the safety of his position and with full knowledge of the danger, First Lieutenant Puckett intentionally ran across an open area three times to draw enemy fire, thereby allowing the Rangers to locate and destroy the enemy positions and to seize Hill 205,” the White House said.
The Medal of Honor ceremony will start at the White House at 1 pm ET.
Biden to meet with South Korean president at the White House
Joe Biden will meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House later today, and the two leaders will hold a press conference this evening.
“This afternoon, I’m hosting H.E. Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea, at the White House for a bilateral meeting,” Biden said on Twitter. “I look forward to renewing the ironclad alliance between our two nations while working side-by-side to tackle our shared challenges.”
This afternoon, I’m hosting H.E. Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea, at the White House for a bilateral meeting. I look forward to renewing the ironclad alliance between our two nations while working side-by-side to tackle our shared challenges.
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 21, 2021
Moon’s trip makes him the second foreign leader to visit the White House in person since Biden took office in January. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga met with Biden at the White House last month.
Moon visited with Kamala Harris this morning, and the vice-president expressed appreciation for the relationship between the US and South Korea.
“We are connected through our shared democratic values,” Harris said.
Updated
As the Maricopa county “audit” unfolds, Republican-controlled legislatures in other states continue to approve bills restricting voting access in response to the “big lie” about widespread fraud in the presidential election.
Two groups have now filed a lawsuit challenging the new voting restrictions in Arkansas, which were approved by Republican legislators there last month.
The AP reports:
The League of Women Voters of Arkansas and Arkansas United filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the four election measures approved by the Republican Legislature and governor. An historic number of voting restrictions has advanced in statehouses across the country, fueled by former President Donald Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud in the 2020 election.
Lawsuits have also been filed challenging new restrictions recently enacted in Georgia and Florida.
The measures being challenged in Arkansas include a change to the state’s voter ID law that removes the ability for someone without identification to cast a ballot if they sign an sworn affidavit. The groups are also challenging a law preventing anyone other than voters from being within 100 feet of a polling place, and another requiring an absentee voter’s signature on a ballot to match the signature on their voter registration application.
Backers of the measures have said they’re needed to protect the integrity of the vote, but the lawsuit says there’s been no evidence presented of fraud in last year’s election that would necessitate the restrictions.
Jennifer Morrell, one of the Arizona secretary of state’s official observers of the Maricopa county “audit,” said she was alarmed by what she saw at the arena where the review is unfolding.
“In more than a decade working on elections, audits and recounts across the country, I’ve never seen one this mismanaged,” Morrell said in a Washington Post op-ed.
Morrell described the high level of security at the arena, recounting how observers for the firm Cyber Ninjas, which is overseeing the review, followed her as she took notes on the process.
Even more alarming, Morrell said, was the complete lack of a sophisticated process to ensure volunteers were accurately counting ballots.
“Each table had three volunteers tallying the ballots, and their tally sheets were considered ‘done’ as long as two of the three tallies matched, and the third was off by no more than two ballots,” Morrell said.
“The volunteers only recounted if their tally sheets had three or more errors — a threshold they stuck to, no matter how many ballots a stack contained, whether it was 50 or 100. This allowed for a shocking amount of error.”
Morrell concluded that Cyber Ninjas will likely release a damning report once the review is concluded, but she insisted the problems lie with the audit, not with the ballots.
She said, “This is not an audit, and I don’t see how this can have a good outcome.”
The Maricopa county recount has inspired some of Donald Trump’s supporters in other states to call for similar reviews of their election results.
The Washington Post reports:
At a public meeting last week in Cheboygan County, Mich., a lawyer from Detroit told county commissioners that the voting machines they used in 2020 could ‘flip’ votes and throw an election. She offered to send in a ‘forensic team,’ at no charge to the county, to inspect ballots and scanners.
In Windham, N.H., supporters of former president Donald Trump showed up to a town meeting this month chanting ‘Stop the Steal!’ and demanding that officials choose their preferred auditor to scrutinize a 400-vote discrepancy in a state representative race.
And at a board of supervisors meeting May 4 in San Luis Obispo County, on California’s Central Coast, scores of residents questioned whether election machines had properly counted their votes, with many demanding a ‘forensic audit.’
The ramifications of Trump’s ceaseless attacks on the 2020 election are increasingly visible throughout the country: In emails, phone calls and public meetings, his supporters are questioning how their elections are administered and pressing public officials to revisit the vote count — wrongly insisting that Trump won the presidential race.
Updated
To no one’s surprise, Donald Trump has cheered on the Republican-backed recount in Maricopa county and encouraged other local officials across the country to follow suit.
“A devastating letter written by Arizona Senate President Karen Fann on voting irregularities, and probably fraud, in Maricopa County during the 2020 Presidential Election,” Trump said in a statement last week.
He added, “The Fake News and Lamestream Media is doing everything they can not to cover this major story. They just refuse to talk or report about it. They don’t want the United States or World to see what is going on with our corrupt, third world election.”
This blog has covered this many times, but just to reiterate: there is absolutely no valid evidence of widespread fraud in the presidential election -- either in Arizona or in any other battleground state. Suggestions of widespread fraud are lies.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reported last week on the spectacle that is unfolding in Arizona as Maricopa county conducts its election review:
The [Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum] is where the Arizona senate, controlled by Republicans, is performing its own audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa county, home of Phoenix and most of the state’s registered voters.
The effort, which comes after multiple audits affirming the results of the November election in the county in favor or Joe Biden, includes an examination of voting equipment, an authentication of ballot paper, and a hand recount of the nearly 2.1m ballots cast there. Republicans in the state legislature are simultaneously considering measures that would make it harder to vote in Arizona, which Biden carried by about 10,000 votes in November.
The review – unprecedented in American politics – may also be one of the clearest manifestations to date of Donald Trump’s false claims of fraud and the conspiracy theories that spread after the election (the former president and allies have loudly cheered on the Arizona effort). Far-right conspiracy theorists appear to be connected to the effort and the firm hired to lead the charge, a Florida-based company called Cyber Ninjas, has little experience in elections. The firm’s CEO has voiced support for the idea that the election was stolen from Trump.
Election experts are watching the unfolding effort with deep alarm, pointing out that officials are not using a reliable methodology – they hesitate to even label it an audit – and will produce a results that will give more fodder for conspiracy theorists. More troublingly, they worry the Arizona audit could be a model for Republicans to try elsewhere.
‘There’s not gonna be a valid result,’ said the Arizona secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who is the state’s top election official. ‘They’re writing the playbook here to do this around the country.’
Arizona official says voting machines involved in recount should be replaced
Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.
The Arizona secretary of state, Democrat Katie Hobbs, has sent a letter to Maricopa county officials urging them to replace the voting machines involved in the county’s controversial recount of its November election results.
This equipment was accessed by amateur, uncertified “auditors” with zero transparency.
— Secretary Katie Hobbs (@SecretaryHobbs) May 20, 2021
I support election integrity, and therefore can’t support the continued usage of these machines. https://t.co/pwjQjpnkWp
In her letter, Hobbs suggested the machines may have been vulnerable to tampering due to “the lack of physical security and transparency” during the Republican-backed recount.
“I have grave concerns regarding the security and integrity of these machines, given that the chain of custody, a critical security tenet, has been compromised,” Hobbs said.
Hobbs’ letter will likely only intensify Democratic accusations that the recount is a potentially harmful charade meant to appease Donald Trump, who continues to peddle lies about widespread fraud in the presidential election.
Hobbs’ concerns also underscore the effects of Trump’s claims, even though he has presented no evidence to support them. Republican demands for recounts and state legislatures’ successful attempts to change voting laws underscore how the “big lie” continues to impact US election systems more than five months after Trump left office.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
