Friday evening summary
That’s it for me this evening. Here’s the rundown of what we covered this afternoon:
- Roberta Jacobson, Biden’s “border czar”, and the former ambassador to Mexico will retire at the end of the month. Her departure comes as the administration races to stem the surge in migrant families fleeing Central American countries and seeking asylum in the US. A record number of migrants – including 19,000 unaccompanied children – crossed over the southern border in March, and immigration officials are now relying on hotels, convention centers, and military bases to temporarily house them.
- The Biden administration refrained from shutting down the controversial Dakota Access pipeline, opting instead to allow it to operate while additional environmental assessments are done. The move upset tribal and environmental groups who have spent years fighting the 1,200-mile pipeline, which was constructed without a sufficient environmental review.
- The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine could soon be made available to adolescents. The companies have asked the FDA to expand an emergency use authorization after trials show the vaccine is 100% effective on kids aged 12-15, with similar side effects experienced by adults.
- A man who allegedly participated in the pro-Trump January 6 attack on the US Capitol was arrested after the FBI caught him trying to procure materials to bomb an Amazon Web Services building.
Thanks for spending your Friday afternoon with us! See you next time.
Updated
The state department released new rules on how the US government will engage with Taiwan in an attempt to “liberalize” a “deepening unofficial relationship” while reimposing some restrictions revised by the Trump administration, the Associated Press reports.
With just days left in the Trump presidency, the former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lifted nearly all the restrictions on contacts with Taiwan, saying in a statement that the US-Taiwan relationship should not “be shackled by self-imposed restrictions of our permanent bureaucracy” and the US would no longer seek to “appease the Communist regime in Beijing”.
The US has not had formalized diplomatic relations with Taiwan since 1979. China, which views Taiwan as a province and has tried to stomp out any treatment that would reflect its independence, responded to the shift with threats. “Actions that harm China’s core interests are futile and will be met with resolute responses”, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in January during a press conference.
From AP:
‘These new guidelines will continue the U.S. government’s longstanding practice of providing clarity throughout the U.S. executive branch of how to implement our ‘one China’ policy,’ the department said. ‘This new guidance is a step forward from earlier versions, including the contact guidance that was in place for virtually all of the previous administration, by encouraging engagement with Taiwan counterparts and removing unneeded restrictions’.
Yet the statement contained no details about the new “contact guidance” and congressional aides briefed on the matter said the changes were actually more restrictive than those Pompeo had rolled out just 11 days before the end of the Trump administration”.
Updated
Man who participated in 6 January riot arrested after planning to plant a bomb
The FBI has arrested a man involved in the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, who allegedly had plans to detonate a bomb to take down the FBI, CIA, and other agencies, the Washington Post reports.
Seth Aaron Pendley was arrested Thursday, justice department officials said, after he allegedly sought materials for explosives from an undercover FBI agent. His plans, according to a criminal complaint, hinged on bombing the Amazon Web Services building in Ashburn, Virginia, in an attempt to disable internet access in key government agencies, hinder operations, and upset “the oligarchy”.
Feds just charged Seth Aaron Pendley, 28, of Wichita Falls, with trying to blow up a data center in Virginia. Allege he tried to buy an explosive device from an undercover FBI employee in Ft. Worth, bragged to friends on Facebook he was at Jan. 6 Capitol attack @CourthouseNews pic.twitter.com/EHMk5z3QFH
— David Lee (@davejourno) April 9, 2021
Pendley, who had bragged about his participation during the 6 January riot and who told others he brought a gun with him to the pro-Trump protest but left it in his car, was flagged by the FBI after posting threats on a website called MyMilitia.com.
He was charged with attempting to destroy a building with an explosive, and could face up to 20-years in prison.
From the Washington Post:
The case highlights a growing concern among law enforcement and terrorism experts that the insurrection could inspire further domestic terrorist attacks, and officials praised the unidentified person who first alerted them to Pendley’s online posts.
‘We are indebted to the concerned citizen who came forward to report the defendant’s alarming online rhetoric, said Prerak Shah, the acting U.S. attorney in Dallas. “In flagging his posts to the FBI, this individual may have saved the lives of a number of tech workers’”.
Updated
As the Biden administration scrambles to make space for the growing number of people crossing the US-Mexico border, officials announced that migrant families will now be held at hotels in Arizona, the Associated Press reports.
According to a statement from Senator Kyrsten Sinema, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will take over several hotels in the Phoenix area along the south-west border.
An $86.9m contract with Endeavors Inc, announced last month, will provide roughly 1,200 beds in Texas and Arizona, where families will stay for no more than 72 hours, the agency said.
Meanwhile, thousands of people – including children traveling alone – have poured into the US in recent months. In March, more than 52,900 families were found along the Mexican border and a record-breaking 19,000 children were picked up by US Border Patrol. Officials are expecting the numbers to increase, and are planning for the highest number in 20 years.
Only a third of the families were expelled immediately from the US. Those with children under the age of six have been released into the country while they await a decision on their asylum cases. The border patrol has released about 9,600 people, US Representative Henry Cuellar told reporters, asking the families to report back to Ice offices in 60 days.
But space is scant. Officials have relied on fair grounds, convention centers, and military bases house unaccompanied children.
From the AP:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — which places unaccompanied children with “sponsors,” most often parents and close relatives — has found space in convention centers, military bases and other large venues. Los Angeles County officials said Friday that its fairgrounds will be used to temporarily house up to 2,500 unaccompanied children.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican and frequent Biden critic, asked the administration to close a holding facility for unaccompanied children at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, citing allegations that they aren’t getting enough to eat and boys are unsupervised in showers.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that the administration takes the ‘safety and the well-being of children in our care very seriously’ and that authorities would investigate Abbott’s claims, but that, at this point, “we have no basis for his call” to shut down the facility.
Updated
Pfizer and BioNTech have filed a request to the FDA to expand their Emergency Use Authorization, so that the Covid vaccine could be administered to teens between the ages of 12 and 15.
Results from a Phase 3 trial of more than 2,200 children showed that the vaccine was 100% effective on adolescents, and side effects were similar to those experienced by adults.
Pfizer-BioNTech have asked the FDA to extend authorization of the vaccine to kids 12-15. That means the authorization could be in hand in just 3-4 weeks. (Dosage is the same as in adults, so no reason kids can't start getting vaccinated right after).https://t.co/K5Qly9vG6H
— Apoorva Mandavilli (@apoorva_nyc) April 9, 2021
If approved, the expanded authorization would help the US reach herd immunity more quickly. The companies have also already begun trials for younger children between the ages of 6 months and 11 years old.
Study participants will be monitored for two years from when they receive their second shot, according to the Associated Press.
“These submissions represent a critical step in Pfizer’s and BioNTech’s ongoing efforts to support governments in broadening global vaccination efforts. The companies look forward to working closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other worldwide regulatory authorities as part of the companies’ efforts to expand emergency or conditional authorization of their COVID-19 vaccine in 12- to 15-year-olds as quickly as possible” the companies wrote in a statement released today.
The controversial Dakota Access Pipeline will continue to operate as the federal government conducts its environmental review, the Biden Administration said today, dashing the hopes of tribal and environmental groups that expected big changes under a new president.
“The company gets to keep the benefits of operating the pipeline that was never properly authorized while the community has to bear the risks,” attorney Jan Hasselman, who represents the Standing Rock Sioux tribe told CNN. “It’s not right. It’s a continuation of a terrible history.”
In a court hearing on #DAPL, the Biden Administration's Army Corps just declined to step in and halt pipeline operations, despite the fact that the district court found it was constructed and is operating in violation of the National Environmental Protection Act.
— Nick Martin (@NickA_Martin) April 9, 2021
The $3.8bn (£3bn) pipeline, which transports hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil across 1,200 miles and 4 states, has been operating for years, despite questions over the validity of its environmental permits.
“The Dakota Access Pipeline is a dirty, dangerous, illegally-constructed pipeline that has continued to threaten Tribal sovereignty and our collective right to clean water and a healthy, sustainable climate” Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement responding to the announcement. “Today’s decision is deeply disappointing, and we expect the courts to rightfully put an end to the Dakota Access Pipeline, just as we expect the President’s future actions to meet his rhetoric and commitments.”
NOTEABLE: @edokeefe asks @PressSec to preview tomorrow's #DAPL hearing.
— Cara Korte (@CaraKorte) April 8, 2021
Does the admin support its continued operation? Psaki gives no indication that they are prepared to #StopDAPL
WATCH: pic.twitter.com/6R8a2d31Qv
Gabrielle Canon here, signing on from the west coast to take you through the Friday afternoon and evening news.
To start us off, Roberta S. Jacobson, the former ambassador to Mexico who now serves as Biden’s “border czar” will leave her post at the end of the month, the New York Times reports.
Roberta Jacobson — former ambassador to Mexico who was Biden‘s top advisor for the border — is retiring. pic.twitter.com/Tjyp8PSVyu
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) April 9, 2021
“President Biden knew there was no person better to usher in a more safe, secure, and just approach to our Southern Border,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement announcing Jacobson’s departure, adding that she had committed at the outset to serve during Biden’s first 100 days.
But Jacobson’s resignation from her post comes amidst an ongoing crisis, as record numbers of migrants fleeing Central American countries arrive at the US-Mexican border.
From the NYT:
Two weeks ago, in a separate interview with The New York Times, Ms. Jacobson talked expansively about her plans to travel to Central America, where she said she expected to work with government officials on reducing the flow of migrants north toward the United States.
Last month, she traveled to Mexico to discuss with leaders there ways to combat illegal immigration and bolster shelter capacity for migrants. Ms. Jacobson said in the interview that the trip was also an attempt to find ways to collaborate with Central American countries, as well as potentially Canada, to reduce pressure on the United States border.
“I would say that we’re — we’re having the beginnings of those conversations,” she said. “But right now, we’re focused more on how we can work with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries.”
At the end of March, the Administration put Vice President Kamala Harris in charge of efforts to reduce immigration from Central American countries, but Jacobson said that was not a factor in her decision.
Afternoon summary
It’s been a busy Friday in Washington. Here’s what’s happened so far.
- The House Ethics Committee has opened an investigation into Republican congressman Matt Gaetz, citing the growing allegations against him, including potential sex trafficking. The committee also announced it was opening an investigation into Republican congressman Tom Reed, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by a former lobbyist.
- Biden established a bipartisan commission to study Supreme Court reforms, including expanding the number of seats and imposing term limits on justices.
- Biden unveiled his first budget request for Congress, which calls for a 16% increase in discretionary domestic spending. The $1.52tn proposal would increase funding for education, health care and housing, while providing new investments for combating climate change.
- Amazon workers in Alabama voted against unionization, after a high profile organization drive that drew support from Biden and other high profile policymakers.
- Biden will meet with a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the White House on Monday to discuss infrastructure, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
Senator Bernie Sanders, who traveled to Alabama to rally support for Amazon workers attempting to form a union, said he was “disappointed but not surprised” by the result.
Sanders, who has long singled out Amazon, praised workers for taking on “one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful corporations, a company that spent unlimited sums of money to defeat the organizing effort.”
Citing the pending complaints before the NLRB, he said workers “should not be intimidated, or badgered” for attempting to form a union, charges Amazon stridently denies.
“At a time of mass income and wealth inequality, and when workers have very little power on the job,” Sanders continued, “I applaud the pro-union Amazon workers in Alabama for their courage and willingness to stand up for workers’ rights. They have been an inspiration to workers all across the country.”
House Ethics Committee launches investigation into congressman Gaetz
The House Ethics Committee announced that it will open an investigation into Republican congressman Matt Gaetz, amid a widening scandal involving allegations related to sex trafficking.
In a statement the committee listed said it was aware of the public allegations that Gaetz may have engaged in “sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct.”
Since the New York Times reported that Gaetz, a close ally of Donald Trump, was under investigation by the DOJ over whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old, the 38-year-old Florida congressman has faced a torrent of accusations ranging from alleged sexual misconduct to accusations of impropriety.
Gaetz has forcefully denied all the allegations against him.
The Ethics Committee also announced a second investigation into Republican congressman Tom Reed, after a former lobbyist publicly accused him of sexual misconduct. Days later, the New York congressman issued an apology and announced that he would not run for governor in 2022.
Updated
More on Joe Biden creating a commission to review the US Supreme Court.
Congressional freshman and New York Democrat Mondaire Jones cheered the announcement.
Today, @POTUS acknowledged that it is time to reform the Supreme Court, following the example of Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Ulysses S. Grant.
— Rep. Mondaire Jones (@RepMondaire) April 9, 2021
The question is no longer if we will reform SCOTUS, but how. https://t.co/GFsSni3LdV
Republicans less thrilled, obviously. Here’s the Texas attorney general.
Get ready for the first recommendation from this “bipartisan” commission to be court packing. It’s been the dream for Democrats for years. Yet another step the left has taken to destroy our country. #SCOTUS https://t.co/2O3nddVQLe
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) April 9, 2021
Medical examiner who performed autopsy on George Floyd testifies in murder trial of ex-cop
Minnesota’s Hennepin county medical examiner Andrew Baker is testifying this afternoon in the murder trial of white former police officer Derek Chauvin, accused in the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man last May. Chauvin denies all the charges against him.
Today is Day 10 of witness testimony.
Guardian US is running a dedicated live blog each day of the trial, with a live stream and posts on the testimony, analysis and related issues, so do tune in if that is of interest, you can follow it here.
This morning an expert witness for the prosecution, Lindsey Thomas, told the jury that “the activities of the law enforcement officers resulted in Mr Floyd’s death”.
Dr Thomas testified that she believes “the primary mechanism of [Floyd’s] death is asphyxia or low oxygen” that stemmed from police restraint.
The defense wants to show that the death was down to illicit drugs and underlying poor health.
We expect that this historic trial will reach defense witnesses next week. We’ll bring you the proceedings in a dedicated live blog each day, with a live stream, and with contemporaneous posts and analysis.
The killing of George Floyd on 25 May, re-galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement and the biggest US civil rights protests since the 1960s spread across the US in a reckoning on police brutality and entrenched racism.
Keeta and Philonise Floyd, George’s sister-in-law and brother, leave court with their attorney Ben Crump (right). Derek Chauvin is facing murder charges in the death of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last May. Photograph: Nicholas Pfosi/Reuters
The Trumps offered their “deepest and most profound condolences” to the Royal family and the British people over the passing of Prince Philip, calling his death an “irreplaceable loss for Great Britain, and for all who hold dear our civilization.”
In an effusive statement, Trump said the prince “embodied the noble soul and proud spirit of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth”, that he “defined British dignity and grace” and “personified the quiet reserve, stern fortitude, and unbending integrity of the United Kingdom.”
Trump fondly recalled his visit to the United Kingdom. “We saw firsthand how the Monarchy epitomizes and carries on the virtues of the British People—and no one did so more than Prince Philip,” Trump said.
Trump has long held a deep affection for the Royal Family, particularly Queen Elizabeth who he once claimed had “never really made a mistake” in her life.
“You don’t see, like, anything embarrassing,” he said. “She is just an incredible woman.”
Updated
Amazon workers in Alabama defeat union drive
Amazon workers in Alabama voted overwhelmingly against unionization, defeating a high-profile organizing effort that attracted support from the president, lawmakers, celebrities and activists.
Workers at the Bessemer, Alabama, plant have voted 1,798 to 738 so far to reject the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Counting concluded on Friday morning, and would next focus on adding up challenges and voided ballots, but the margin of victory may be too much to change the outcome.
The union immediately said it would launch a legal challenge to the result, which is likely to look at the high number of contested ballots and union allegations of unfair tactics during the campaign. Amazon shares rose 0.8% Friday, adding to earlier gains.
In a statement, RWDSU president Stuart Appelbaum vowed: “We won’t let Amazon’s lies, deception and illegal activities go unchallenged, which is why we are formally filing charges against all of the egregious and blatantly illegal actions taken by Amazon during the union vote.”
In a statement of its own, the e-commerce giant said: “Amazon didn’t win – our employees made the choice to vote against joining a union. Our employees are the heart and soul of Amazon, and we’ve always worked hard to listen to them, take their feedback, make continuous improvements, and invest heavily to offer great pay and benefits in a safe and inclusive workplace. We’re not perfect, but we’re proud of our team and what we offer, and will keep working to get better every day.”
Updated
Psaki said Biden will meet with Republicans and Democrats on Monday to discuss infrastructure. She insisted that Biden was still committed to seeking a bipartisan consensus even as Republicans unify against the plan.
“The disagreement is not really about the need to modernize our nation’s infrastructure,” she said. “It’s about the size, it’s about the pay-fors. We absolutely understand there will be compromise, there will be debate. That’s all a part of the process.”
Asked about the decision by Amazon workers in Alabama not to form a union, Psaki said that Biden would “wait for the NLRB to finish its process and declare a result before making a formal comment”, but underlined his support for the Pro Act, which would amend labor law to strengthen protections for workers seeking to form a union and outlaw tactics that employers often use to quash organizing drives.
In a video ahead of the vote, Biden said he supported the organizing drive in Alabama, without specifically naming Amazon.
On calls for Justice Breyer to retire, Psaki said that was a decision for him to make. She said she was unaware of any conversations between the president and the justice.
Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress will “not be next week”, Psaki said. She declined to offer a timeline of when the president might deliver that message to Congress, as the last several presidents have done during their inaugural year in office.
“I promise you, we will have something to sell in this speech, and we will use it for that opportunity,” she said.
Psaki said Biden has not been in touch with No 10 or the Royal Family about the death of Prince Philip and said the president has no current plans to attend his funeral.
Updated
Buttigieg said he hadn’t met with Senator Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat who is opposed to Biden’s plan to raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. He prefers a rate of 25%.
Buttigieg wouldn’t say how the lower rate might affect plans to underwrite the first piece of Biden’s nearly infrastructure plan, which totals $2.3tn, but said he looks forward to discussing this with Manchin during a forthcoming conversation.
But, he added, “I haven’t heard a proposal that I consider to be better than the one the president put forward.”
Biden will need the support of at least all 50 Senate Democrats – if not 10 Republicans – to pass the legislative package.
The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, is now taking over the briefing.
Updated
The transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, is at the podium in the White House briefing room today to promote Biden’s American Jobs Plan, which he called the “biggest investment in jobs since World War II”.
He said the jobs that would be created by the president’s sprawling infrastructure agenda were “not mysterious or overly futuristic” and would help create a pathway to the American class. He said the plan would pay for itself by tax hikes on corporations, which has drawn sharp criticism from Republicans and businesses.
“This is a jobs plan that builds the American economy from the middle class out,” he said. “And it’s coming at exactly the right time.”
Buttigieg is now taking questions.
Updated
Bidens extend "deepest condolences" over passing of Prince Philip
In a statement, president Biden and his wife, Jill, offered their “deepest condolences” to Queen Elizabeth and the entire royal family following the death of Prince Philip. Philip died on Friday, aged 99.
Over the course of his 99-year life, he saw our world change dramatically and repeatedly. From his service during World War II, to his 73 years alongside the Queen, and his entire life in the public eye — Prince Philip gladly dedicated himself to the people of the UK, the Commonwealth, and to his family. The impact of his decades of devoted public service is evident in the worthy causes he lifted up as patron, in the environmental efforts he championed, in the members of the Armed Forces that he supported, in the young people he inspired, and so much more. His legacy will live on not only through his family, but in all the charitable endeavors he shaped.
Jill and I are keeping the Queen and to Prince Philip’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in our hearts during this time.
Biden unveils $1.52tn budget blueprint
Biden unveiled his first budget proposal to Congress on Friday, unveiling a sweeping $1.52tn blueprint that would come on top of his multitrillion-dollar infrastructure agenda.
The request offers a glimpse into Biden’s policy priorities for the 2022 fiscal year, which includes boosts in spending on education and public housing as well as sharp increases in investments to combat climate change and “counter the threat from China”. In total, the plan would raise federal spending by 16% on domestic priorities.
The proposal only serves to outline the president’s priorities. It is up to Congress to appropriate government spending. With only the slimmest majorities in both chambers, Democrats may find it challenging to approve such high levels of spending.
“This moment of crisis is also a moment of possibility,” Shalanda Young, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in a letter the chairs of the House and Senate appropriations and budget committees detailing the request “Together, America has a chance not simply to go back to the way things were before the Covid-19 pandemic and economic downturn struck, but to begin building a better, stronger, more secure, more inclusive America.”
Read the nearly 60-page document here. [PDF]
Updated
Biden creates commission to study supreme court expansion
Biden will sign an executive order on Friday that creates a bipartisan, 36-member commission to study adding seats to the US supreme court.
The order fulfills a campaign promise to examine court reform, including expanding the number of justices or setting term-limits, amid growing calls from progressive activists. Biden has not said whether he supports expanding the court, also known as “court packing.”
During his presidency, Trump appointed three justices to the court, among them was a seat that Republicans had blocked his predecessor, Barack Obama, from filling. Despite arguing in 2016 that the seat should be filled by winner of the year’s presidential election, Republicans rushed to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg just weeks before the 2020 election.
The result was one of the most ideologically conservative courts in modern times.
The executive order directs the commission to complete its report within 180 days of its first meeting. It is comprised of a “bipartisan group of experts” that includes Constitutional and legal scholars; former federal judges; practitioners who have appeared before the Court as well as reform advocates.
The commission co-chairs are Bob Bauer, Professor of Practice and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at New York University School of Law and a former White House Counsel under Obama, as well as Yale Law School Professor Cristina Rodriguez, former deputy assistant Attorney General in the office of legal counsel at the US department of Justice under Obama.
The commission will hold public meetings appraising the “merits and legality of particular reform proposals,” according to the White House.
The announcement comes after the supreme court justice Stephen Breyer warned this week that efforts to expand the court could erode public “trust that the court is guided by legal principle, not politics.”
The remarks by Breyer, the court’s oldest justice and a member of its minority liberal bloc, prompted calls for his resignation from reform advocates. Demand Justice, a progressive group focused on the Supreme Court, started an online petition calling for his retirement.
“Tell Justice Breyer: Put the country first. Don’t risk your legacy to an uncertain political future. Retire now,” the petition states.
If an opening should arise, Biden has promised to appoint the nation’s first ever Black female justice.
Updated
At today’s briefing, Dr Anthony Fauci is attempting dispel concerns about the vaccines by emphasizing the science that led to the development of three effective vaccines.
Citing his article in Science Magazine, published on Friday, he highlighted the scientists and doctors behind this “extraordinary” accomplishment.
“This did not happen in 11 months,” Fauci said. “It was due to an extraordinary multidisciplinary effort involving basic clinical and pre-clinical science that had been underway out of the spotlight for decades before the unfolding of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Members of the White House coronavirus task force touted the administration’s progress vaccinating Americans, but warned that infections were climbing again across in several states across the country.
“On the one hand we have so much reason for optimism and hope,” said Dr Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “On the other hand, cases and emergency room visits are up and, as I’ve highlighted throughout the week, we are seeing these increases in younger adults, most of whom have not been vaccinated.”
She cited schools and youth sports as possible contributors to the rise of cases in the Midwest.
Updated
Jeff Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said 112 million Americans have received at least one does and more than 66 million Americans are fully vaccinated - more than a quarter of all American adults.
Touting “significant progress”, Zients said the current 7-day vaccination average, including slow downs over the Easter holidays, was 3 million shots per day.
“Our vaccination program is working, it’s accelerating and we’re on track to meet the president’s goal of administering 200m shots in his first 100 days,” he said during a press briefing on Friday.
He added that there are currently 66,000 sites where Americans can go to receive their vaccinations and emphasized that all adult Americans will be eligible for vaccination on 19 April, an accelerated timeline.
Updated
Trump appointees at the Health and Human Services department worked to undermine and alter scientists’ reports on the coronavirus pandemic to better reflect the former president’s rosy public commentary about the rampant outbreak, according to a new report in the Washington Post.
The revelations are based on newly released documents from congressional investigators.
The Post reports that:
Then-science adviser Paul Alexander wrote to then-HHS public affairs chief Michael Caputo on Sept. 9, 2020, touting two examples of where he said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had bowed to his pressure and changed language in their reports, according to an email obtained by the House’s select subcommittee on the coronavirus outbreak.
Pointing to one change — where CDC leaders allegedly changed the opening sentence of a report about spread of the virus among younger people after Alexander pressured them — Alexander wrote to Caputo, calling it a “small victory but a victory nonetheless and yippee!!!”
In the same email, Alexander touted another example of a change to a weekly report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that he said the agency made in response to his demands. The weekly Morbidity and Mortality Reports, which offer public updates on scientists’ findings, had been considered sacrosanct for decades and untouchable by political appointees in the past.
Two days later, Alexander appealed to then-White House adviser Scott Atlas to help him dispute an upcoming CDC report on coronavirus-related deaths among young Americans.
Read the story here.
Donald Trump on Friday gave his “Complete and Total Endorsement” of senator Marco Rubio, following rumors that his daughter, Ivanka Trump, was considering challenging him for the seat.
Trump called Rubio a “tireless advocate for the people of Florida” and praised his support for cutting taxes, gun rights, the US military and defense spending. He also recalled Rubio’s loyalty during the Russia investigation, quoting from the senator’s defense of him during what the former president called the “FAKE Russia, Russia, Russia HOAX.”
Rubio, who is running for a third term, is seen as the frontrunner in the 2022 Senate race. He is also considered a potential presidential contender in 2024, alongside Trump, who has flirted with the idea of a comeback.
After Ivanka Trump, the president’s eldest daughter and former White House adviser, moved to Florida, speculation mounted that she would seek to run against Rubio in 2022.
Stewart Boss, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement that Trump’s endorsement of Rubio is “another reminder for voters exactly what they don’t like about Rubio: he’s a self-serving politician who is only ever looking out for himself, while hardworking Floridians pay the price.”
Updated
The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington reports on the costly and potentially unlawful efforts of three conservative states to buy pharmaceutical drugs from illicit dealers in order to carry out lethal injection executions.
The states are using tax-payer money to source the drugs, which manufactures and distributors have said should not be used in executions.
Documents obtained by the Guardian reveal the full extent of the spending blitz that American death penalty states have embarked upon as they try to restart executions delayed by the pandemic. The findings show that Republican leaders are not only willing to run roughshod over their own state and federal laws, but are also prepared to spend lavishly in the process.
The most jaw-dropping outlay has been made by Arizona, a state in which Republicans hold both chambers of the legislature and the governor’s mansion. A single-page heavily redacted document obtained by the Guardian records that last October the department of corrections ordered 1,000 vials of pentobarbital sodium salt, each containing 1mg, to be shipped in “unmarked jars and boxes”.
At the bottom of the document, the record states: “Amount paid: $1,500,000.”
Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois became the first Republican lawmaker to call on his colleague, Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida, to resign amid allegations of sex-trafficking.
“Matt Gaetz needs to resign,” Kinzinger said in a Tweet, in which he linked to a report by the Daily Beast detailing Venmo transactions between Gaetz and accused sex trafficker Joel Greenberg in 2018.
Matt Gaetz needs to resign. https://t.co/AygfqAxQJX via @thedailybeast
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) April 9, 2021
The 38-year-old Republican, one of Donald Trump’s fiercest Congressional allies, is under federal investigation related to sex-trafficking charges, according to reporting by the New York Times and multiple other outlets.
Republican leaders have so far remained silent on the growing swirl of allegations against Gaetz.
- NBC News reported that prosecutors are examining Gaetz and Greenberg’s relationship, and whether they “used the internet to search for women they could pay for sex”. Also under investigation is whether Gaetz paid women to travel to the Bahamas for sex, according to NBC News.
- CNN reported that Gaetz would occasionally show other lawmakers naked pictures of women he claimed to have slept with.
- Accusations have also re-emerged that Gaetz had created a game with a point-scoring system for sleeping with “ aides, interns, lobbyists, and married legislators.”
- The New York Times reported that in the waning days of Trump’s presidency, Gaetz sought “blanket pre-emptive pardons” for himself and other allies in Congress.
Trump this week issued a tepid defense of Gaetz, denying the report that the congressman asked him for a pardon. “It must also be remembered that he has totally denied the accusations against him,” Trump said in the statement.
Gaetz is due to speak publicly for the first time on Friday night at a conference hosted by a conservative women’s group at Trump’s Miami golf course.
Updated
Hello and welcome to the day in US politics
Good morning and welcome to the Guardian’s coverage of the day in US politics.
All is relatively quiet this morning in Washington at the moment. Joe Biden has no public events scheduled for today, but he may take a few questions at the start of his economic briefing around 2.30pm.
Biden is expected to release his budget blueprint to Congress today, a first preview of the new administration’s spending priorities after four years of Republican control.
We’ll hear from Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, and Pete Buttigieg, the Transportation Secretary, at 12.30pm, and receive an update from the White House coronavirus task force at 11am.
Meanwhile, Jill Biden, is schedule to travel to Alabama this afternoon to promote the White House’s $1.9tn coronavirus relief package, with an emphasis on its provisions aimed at reducing child poverty. Actress Jennifer Garner was initially expected to join the First Lady on her visit to the Republican state, but the trip was postponed due to a storm and Garner is no longer scheduled to attend.
Updated
