Evening summary
- Former FBI director James Comey published an oped in the Washington Post in which he defended the FBI against President Trump and his “dumb lies.”
- President Trump came back with another confusing tweet about Kim Jong-un and their discussion about former vice president Joe Biden and his IQ.
Before he announced his 2020 bid, former vice president Joe Biden had to put out a video addressing complaints from women about the inappropriate way he touched them or commented on their looks.
“I get it,” he said in April. “I’ll be much more mindful. That’s my responsibility.”
Well.
In a somewhat odd moment at tonight's AFT town hall, Biden tells a 10-year-old girl, “I’ll bet you’re as bright as you are good-looking." He takes her over to the assembled reporters, then stands behind her and puts his hands on her shoulders while he's talking.
— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) May 28, 2019
When Donald Trump Jr. hits you with actual sound political advice, maybe it’s time to start reevaluating your decisions.
You mean like last time? You’re literally the only candidate who could lose a GOP seat in pro-Trump, pro-USA ALABAMA. Running for office should never become a business model. If you actually care about #MAGA more than your own ego, it's time to ride off into the sunset, Judge. https://t.co/Twg9isFRkY
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 28, 2019
If you need some help remembering, Roy Moore was the Alabama judge whose bid for the US Senate was foiled by allegations he sexually assaulted or pursued teenage girls while in his 30s. Despite losing the race to the Democratic candidate, Doug Jones, Moore has said he is considering entering the 2020 race.
President Trump now seems to be trying to walk back his “low IQ individual” comment about former vice president Joe Biden, whose campaign called him out today for “exchanging ‘love letters’ with Kim Jong-un.”
I was actually sticking up for Sleepy Joe Biden while on foreign soil. Kim Jong Un called him a “low IQ idiot,” and many other things, whereas I related the quote of Chairman Kim as a much softer “low IQ individual.” Who could possibly be upset with that?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2019
Updated
Comey: the president is a liar
Former FBI director James Comey penned an oped in the Washington Post today in which he defended his former agency against President Trump’s “whole ‘treason’ narrative ”.
“We must call out his lies that the FBI was corrupt and committed treason, that we spied on the Trump campaign, and tried to defeat Donald Trump,” Comey writes. “We must constantly return to the stubborn facts.”
In the piece. Comey uses a form of the the word “dumb” three times, a form of the word “lie” four times and the word “conspiracy” four times:
There is a reason the non-fringe media doesn’t spend much time on this “treason” and “corruption” business. The conspiracy theory makes no sense. The FBI wasn’t out to get Donald Trump. It also wasn’t out to get Hillary Clinton. It was out to do its best to investigate serious matters while walking through a vicious political minefield.
But go ahead, investigate the investigators, if you must. When those investigations are over, they will find the work was done appropriately and focused only on discerning the truth of very serious allegations. There was no corruption. There was no treason. There was no attempted coup. Those are lies, and dumb lies at that. There were just good people trying to figure out what was true, under unprecedented circumstances.
Read the whole piece here.
Hey all, Vivian Ho taking over the blog for Oliver Laughland. Hope you’re all enjoying your Tuesday.
Afternoon summary
I’m handing over to my colleagues on the West Coast shortly so here’s a summary of the day’s developments so far.
- Donald Trump arrived back in Washington on Tuesday afternoon following a state visit to Japan. The president had no other public engagements today and has, uncharacteristically, resisted from sending any incendiary messages on social media since yesterday.
- The state of Missouri could become the first jurisdiction in the United States without an abortion clinic after the state government declined to renew a license for Planned Parenthood. Missouri is one of a number of Republican controlled states to pass aggressive abortion laws this year, paving the way for a potential show down at the conservative controlled Supreme Court in which the right to abortion in America could be dramatically rewritten.
- Netflix became the first Hollywood giant to say it would reconsider its business operations in the state of Georgia should another hardline abortion law in the state go into effect.
- Joe Biden’s campaign labelled Donald Trump’s jabs at him - with reference to derogatory comments made by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un - as “beneath the dignity of the office”. Biden and a host of other Democratic candidates for president hit the campaign trail across the US as Congress was in recess.
- The Supreme Court handed down a number of notable rulings today, most significantly upholding an Indiana law that mandates aborted fetuses should be disposed of in the same manner as human remains.
Netflix has become the first Hollywood giant to pledge action should Georgia’s extremist abortion law come into effect.
In a statement to CNBC the streaming and film production company said it would “rethink our entire investment in Georgia” should the so-called “heartbeat law” go into effect.
“We have many women working on productions in Georgia, whose rights, along with millions of others, will be severely restricted by this law,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said in a statement. “It’s why we will work with the ACLU and others to fight it in court. Given the legislation has not yet been implemented, we’ll continue to film there — while also supporting partners and artists who choose not to. Should it ever come into effect, we’d rethink our entire investment in Georgia.”
Georgia is home to a blossoming film and television industry with more than 92,000 industry jobs and wages exceeding $4.6 billion in the state, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.
Vice president Mike Pence has responded to the Supreme Court decision earlier in the day that upholds an Indiana law requiring fetal remains be disposed of in the same way has human bodies.
The law was signed by Pence, then the governor of Indiana, in 2016.
Today, Justice Thomas wrote: SCOTUS has been zealous in the past in barring discrimination based on sex, race, & disability. Hopeful someday soon SCOTUS will recognize the same protections for the unborn when they rule on future appeals of pro-life legislation.
— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) May 28, 2019
Biden responds to Trump's North Korea insults
The Biden campaign has responded to Donald Trump’s inflammatory tweets over the weekend, in which he said he “smiled” after North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un told the president he believed Biden was a “low IQ individual”.
As quoted by NBC News Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said:
“The President’s comments are beneath the dignity of the office. To be on foreign soil, on Memorial Day, and to side repeatedly with a murderous dictator against a fellow American and former Vice President speaks for itself.”
The statement continued: “And it’s part of a pattern of embracing autocrats at the expense of our institutions — whether taking Putin’s word at face value in Helsinki or exchanging ‘love letters’ with Kim Jong-un.”
Reporting from Reuters suggests that Christopher Steele, the former British spy who wrote the dossier alleging links between the Trump campaign and Russia will not be co-operating with the US justice department as it reviews the start of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
From Reuters:
Christopher Steele, a former Russia expert for the British spy agency MI6, will not answer questions from prosecutor John Durham, named by Barr to examine the origins of the investigations into Trump and his campaign team, said the source close to Steele’s London-based private investigation firm, Orbis Business Intelligence.
Trump has given Barr broad authority to declassify intelligence materials related to the investigations. Last week Trump ordered the heads of U.S. spy and law enforcement agencies to cooperate with Durham.
Steele, who had previously collaborated with the FBI on issues such as corruption in the global soccer organization FIFA, was hired in 2016 by Fusion GPS, a Washington-based private investigations firm working for lawyers representing the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Steele produced for Fusion GPS a set of controversial and sometimes salacious reports describing alleged contacts Trump and his team had with Russians before the election.
The report continues:
The source close to Steele’s company said Steele would not cooperate with Durham’s probe but might cooperate with a parallel inquiry by the Justice Department’s Inspector General into how US law enforcement agencies handled pre-election investigations into both Trump and Clinton.
Steele also cooperated with Mueller’s investigative team, voluntarily submitting to two interviews in September 2017. He also gave written testimony to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee in August 2018, the source said.
The Justice Department had no immediate comment, and a spokesman for Durham declined to comment.
Returning to Missouri, the local ACLU chapter there have just announced they will seek a statewide referendum on a newly passed law that bans most abortions starting at eight weeks of pregnancy.
The civil liberties group announced this afternoon that it has submitted a referendum petition to the secretary of state’s office in a bid to block and potentially repeal the new law, signed by the state’s Republican governor last week.
ACLU-MO files Referendum Petition to stop MO’s anti-abortion law! A Referendum will take the law to a vote of the people. #StopTheBanshttps://t.co/1eJNrOZC2P pic.twitter.com/eNCTNQe1P7
— ACLU of Missouri (@aclu_mo) May 28, 2019
If the petition is approved for circulation, it requires more than 100,000 signatures to block the law from taking effect later this year.
Early afternoon summary
- Donald Trump is on his way back from a visit to Japan. Air Force One refueled in Alaska this morning and is en route to the Washington area.
- Missouri could become the first state in the US without an abortion clinic after Planned Parenthood announced it had not had an abortion license renewed in the state. The decision will be challenged in court.
- The journalist and writer Michael Wolff has claimed special counsel Robert Mueller drew up a three count obstruction of justice indictment against Donald Trump but never filed it. The suggestion has been forcefully denied by Mueller’s office.
- The US supreme court has partially upheld an Indiana law requiring abortion providers to dispose of aborted foetuses in the same manner as human remains.
- Democratic candidates for president of the United States have dispersed around the country to campaign during a recess week in Congress.
- Lawyer Michael Avenatti pleaded not guilty in New York court to stealing from his former client Stormy Daniels, who alleges, despite many presidential denials, that she slept with Donald Trump in 2006.
Updated
Michael Avenatti pleads not guilty to defrauding Stormy Daniels
Lawyer Michael Avenatti pleaded not guilty in New York on Tuesday to charges that he stole from pornographic actor and producer Stormy Daniels, the client who propelled him to fame as an outspoken adversary of Donald Trump.
Avenatti’s attorney Sylvie Levine entered the plea to charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Avenatti, 48, is accused of stealing about $300,000 from Daniels to fund an extravagant lifestyle, including a Ferrari, after helping secure her book deal, Reuters writes.
Daniels was paid $130,000 from Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen shortly before the 2016 presidential election to keep quiet about an affair she said she had with Trump in 2006. The president has denied having had sex with Daniels.
Avenatti represented Daniels in lawsuits related to the hush money, but she dropped him earlier this year.
Daniels’ book Full Disclosure was published in October 2018, with salacious descriptions time spent with Trump.
This morning prosecutors said Avenatti diverted two $148,750 installment payments from Daniels’ $800,000 book advance by forging her signature in a letter to her literary agent and directing that the money be sent to his bank account.
Meanwhile, Avenatti was arrested in March and charged by prosecutors in Manhattan with trying to extort more than $20m from Nike by threatening to expose what he called improper payments to recruits for college basketball teams it sponsored, which Nike denies. He’s due to face those charges in New York later today.
Also, Avenatti is charged in Los Angeles with stealing millions of dollars from clients, and lying to the IRS. He denies the charges.
Updated
The news from Missouri has already begun to spark calls for action among local political figures and national civil rights groups:
More action to #StopTheBans in Missouri:
— Brittany Packnett (@MsPackyetti) May 28, 2019
4. Text NOBANS to 22422 to sign the “Open letter to politicians everywhere”
5. MISSOURIANS: turn out to the Rally on Thursday in St. Louis: https://t.co/Ni3eYFlfDf
6. EVERYWHERE: join #emergencyresponse events: https://t.co/WRvR0ogsxH
This is not a drill. The moment is here.
— ACLU (@ACLU) May 28, 2019
After years of coordinated attacks by anti-abortion politicians, Missouri's last clinic will be forced to stop providing abortions.
If this isn't the country we want to be, none of us can stay silent.https://t.co/ZkY4vWs0G4
BREAKING: Missouri could soon become the first state in the country to have no health center that provides safe, legal abortion, leaving more than a million people in a situation we haven’t seen since Roe v. Wade.
— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) May 28, 2019
This is unacceptable. Abortion care is health care. Period. https://t.co/0qOHe7TCiO
We’re getting more details on the Planned Parenthood announcement in Missouri now as a press release first reported by CBS is circulated among other reporters.
Planned Parenthood are planning to file a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of St. Louis later today.
The release states: “Without court intervention, Missouri would be the only state in the country without access to a health center that provides safe, legal abortion – forcing the more than 1.1 million women of reproductive age in Missouri to face a world not seen since before Roe v Wade
“It is important to note that abortion is still legal and accessible in Missouri — for now. Despite the recent spate of abortion bans, abortion is still legal in all 50 states.”
Dr Colleen McNicholas, a reproductive health services specialist for Planned Parenthood in St Louis said:
“Planned Parenthood has served Missouri for more than 87 years and we will fight to provide care for another century. We are currently open for all services, and our top priority is to ensure access to abortion continues so that every patient can access high-quality care in Missouri.”
Updated
Missouri could become first state in the US without an abortion clinic
CBS news is reporting that the last remaining abortion clinic in the state of Missouri expects to close within the next 72 hours, effectively ending access to legal abortion in the state.
The news outlet reports that the state’s health department has refused to renew Planned Parent’s annual license, meaning it stands to cease its abortion operations within three days.
Planned Parenthood plans to sue, according to CBS. In a press release published ahead of schedule by the news channel, Planned Parenthood’s CEO Leana Wen said: “This is not a drill. This is not a warning. This is a real public health crisis.”
Missouri is one of six states to pass 2019 laws essentially banning abortion in the state, setting up a legal fight that could drastically change abortion rights in the US.
Updated
Turning back to the presidential race, I thought it was worth revisiting a few tweets sent by Donald Trump yesterday. They attempt to engage with Joe Biden’s record on criminal justice, pointing to his prominent role in the 1994 crime bill, passed by the Clinton administration. The legislation played a significant part in exacerbating the mass incarceration epidemic, which began under Richard Nixon. (Have a read of this useful backgrounder from 2016, if you’re interested.)
Here are Trump’s tweets:
....Super Predator was the term associated with the 1994 Crime Bill that Sleepy Joe Biden was so heavily involved in passing. That was a dark period in American History, but has Sleepy Joe apologized? No!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2019
Anyone associated with the 1994 Crime Bill will not have a chance of being elected. In particular, African Americans will not be able to vote for you. I, on the other hand, was responsible for Criminal Justice Reform, which had tremendous support, & helped fix the bad 1994 Bill!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2019
The issue Trump is raising is a significant one for Biden going forward. A number of his competitors in the Democratic field, including Kamala Harris and Bill De Blasio, have already criticised Biden’s record on this.
In contrast to the Clinton campaign in 2016 (Bill Clinton apologized for the legislation shortly after Hillary announced her bid), Biden has actually defended his role in the bill.
Criminal justice is also one of the few policy areas the Trump administration can point to a substantive legislative victory, following the passing of the First Step Act at the end of last year.
Of course, Trump himself has a checkered history on the issue, as many have pointed out:
Biden deserves everything he gets for his criminal justice record, but if you think the guy who personally paid for that Central Park Five ad would have opposed the ‘94 crime bill, you’re out of your mind.
— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) May 28, 2019
But don’t expect Biden’s record on this issue to go anywhere any time soon. Particularly if he continues to defend his role in that particular piece of legislation.
Updated
The Supreme Court has handed down a couple of other notable decisions this morning. Summaries of both are below:
- The Court declined to hear arguments over a Pennsylvania school district policy allowing transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their sexual identity. The court’s decision leaves in a place an appeals court ruling holding that the Boyertown School District, outside of Philadelphia, could continue to allow transgender students the choice of what facilities to use.
- The court has agreed to hear a case examining whether a US Border Patrol agent can be held liable for the cross-border shooting death of a 15-year-old Mexican boy. The court had previously heard this case in 2017 and sent it back to the lower courts for additional proceedings. The case hinges on whether the Mexican family of 15-year-old Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca has the right to sue in the US.
The US Supreme Court has partially upheld an Indiana law requiring abortion providers to dispose of aborted fetuses in the same manner as human remains.
The Associated Press reports, however, that the justices are staying out of the debate over a broader provision that would prevent a woman in Indiana from having an abortion based on gender, race or disability.
The court is splitting 7-2 in allowing Indiana to enforce the fetal remains measure that had been blocked by a federal appeals court. The justices say in an unsigned opinion that the case does not involve limits on a woman’s right to an abortion.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.
The decision comes as a number of Republican dominated states have passed restrictive abortion laws paving the way for a major legal battle in the now conservative controlled Supreme Court. The fight could fundamentally alter abortion rights across the US.
Mueller drew up obstruction indictment against Trump, new book claims
The Guardian has obtained a copy of the new book by journalist and author Michael Wolff, which contains an explosive claim related to the Mueller inquiry.
Wolff claims in his new book Siege: Trump Under Fire that Mueller’s office drew up a three-count indictment for obstruction of justice against Donald Trump, before shelving it.
The assertion has been flatly denied by the special counsel’s office. A spokesman for Mueller told the Guardian: “The documents that you’ve described do not exist.”
Nonetheless, the suggestion that the special counsel came this close to indicting a sitting president is likely to cause significant controversy for the administration.
You can read the full story from my colleague Edward Helmore here:
Here’s a key extract.
Mueller’s final report was handed to the attorney general, William Barr, on 22 March this year and made public in redacted form on 18 April. Mueller did not find a conspiracy between Trump and Russia but did lay out 11 possible instances of obstruction of justice, indicating Congress should decide what came next.
Barr said he had judged the instances of possible obstruction not to be conclusive. Trump and his supporters have claimed total exoneration. Democrats in Congress are weighing whether impeachment is merited.
And yet Wolff reports that Mueller’s office drew up a three-count outline of the president’s alleged abuses, under the title “United States of America against Donald J Trump, Defendant”. The document sat on the special counsel’s desk, Wolff writes, for almost a year.
According to a document seen by the Guardian, the first count, under Title 18, United States code, Section 1505, charged the president with corruptly – or by threats of force or threatening communication – influencing, obstructing or impeding a pending proceeding before a department or agency of the United States.
The second count, under section 1512, charged the president with tampering with a witness, victim or informant.
The third count, under section 1513, charged the president with retaliating against a witness, victim or informant.
The document is the most significant aspect of Wolff’s new book.
Updated
Democratic party 2020 candidates hit campaign trail in earnest
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of US politics.
Donald Trump is currently aboard Air Force One bound for Joint Base Andrews near Washington DC, as the president returns from his state visit to Japan over the Memorial Day weekend.
With the US Congress in recess this week most of the Democratic candidates for president are out on the campaign trail in earnest.
Former vice-president Joe Biden is in Houston, Texas. Senator Bernie Sanders is making a number of stops in New Hampshire and New Jersey’s Cory Booker is visiting Nevada. Senator Kamala Harris of California is preparing for an MSNBC town hall in South Carolina later today.
We’ll bring you all the news as it happens.
Updated
