Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Gabrielle Canon in Oakland (now) and Ben Jacobs in New York (earlier), Lauren Gambino in Washington (earlier)

Trump 'unhappy' with new shutdown deal – as it happened

Trump with Wilbur Ross at the White House on Tuesday.
Trump with Wilbur Ross at the White House on Tuesday. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

That’s it for me tonight. Here’s what happened this afternoon:

  • California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, took on Trump in his first State of the State address, discussing his decision to pull troops from the border and promising to push for progressive policies. He also shared that he is limiting the scope of the high-speed rail, and no longer pursuing his predecessor’s plan to build a line from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
  • The Senate overwhelmingly approved a new public lands package that protects millions of acres of wilderness, expands national monuments, and secures funding for the Land and Water Conservation fund, which reinvests revenue from offshore drilling into conservation.
  • Trump is expected to sign a bipartisan agreement to ensure the government doesn’t shut down again. It provides only $1.375bn for border security rather than the $5.7bn he’s been fighting for. In an unexplained tweet, the president countered that he would be getting $23 billion from other sources.
  • The Minnesota senator and 2020 presidential hopeful Amy Klobuchar went on Fox News tonight to talk about her campaign and address reports that she was abusive to her staff. She also announced that she’s raised $1m from supporters online in the two days since her official announcement.

Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow.

Updated

Klobuchar is also on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report” with Bret Baier this evening, and is the first of the Democratic presidential hopefuls to appear on the network.

Known as a moderate, she described the “Green New Deal” as aspirational and described herself as “a Democrat and not a socialist”. She also pushed back against Huffpost’s reporting, which alleged that Senator Harry Reid asked her to change her behavior toward staff.

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who officially announced her bid for the presidency over the weekend, that donors have pledged $1 million online in just two days.

Her announcement came amidst allegations of abuse from former staffers, who spoke anonymously to Huffpost.

Republican Senator Rand Paul pulled away from his party today, voting against moving William Barr’s Attorney General nomination forward. Senator Paul just released his statement on the vote, citing concerns on Barr’s record.

Here’s his statement in full:

I am unable to support Bill Barr’s nomination to be the next Attorney General. While I support President Trump and have supported most of his nominees, I have too many concerns about the record and views of this nominee. Bill Barr was a leading proponent of warrantless surveillance, and his overall record on the Fourth Amendment is troubling to me. I remain concerned that Bill Barr does not agree with our bipartisan efforts to reform our criminal justice system. Finally, Bill Barr has a troubling record on the Second Amendment. For these reasons, I voted today against his nomination for Attorney General”.

President Trump, who earlier today expressed dissatisfaction with a bipartisan border security deal that would give him just $1.375 billion for 55 new miles of fencing along the southern border, tweeted this afternoon that his plan will “be hooked up with lots of money from other sources”.

The White House has not yet clarified what this means or where that money would come from, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters earlier today that Trump would still need Congressional approval for investing funds from other budgets toward the wall.

Tonight Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz will appear on CNN for the network’s second town hall on the 2020 presidential race ahead of several high-profile democrats — even though he hasn’t yet declared if he is running.

Democrats are expressing concerns, Huffpost reports, that this is a bad sign for how the media will cover their party’s campaigns and that history will repeat itself.

Per HuffPost:

The Schultz rollout has been an epic train wreck from a messaging and execution standpoint, and that has to be part of the appeal to the show’s producers,’ said a Democratic adviser to one of the 2020 candidates. ‘If 2016 showed us anything, it’s that the camera follows controversy’.

‘As someone who was on Hillary’s campaign in 2016, it really feels like major media didn’t learn their lesson,’ a different senior 2020 campaign staffer said. ‘Just because someone says something loud doesn’t mean you have to pay attention to them’”.

Today the Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation protecting millions of acres of public lands and reinforcing the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

The sweeping public lands package aims to protect 1.3 million acres of wilderness, condenses the areas where mining is allowed, and secures funding for the LWCF, a popular program hampered during the government shutdown that reinvests revenue from offshore drilling into conservation efforts.

The bipartisan Natural Resources Management Act passed 92-8, showing that “there are bipartisan spirits alive in the United States Senate to support access for hunting, fishing and recreating to our public lands” Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington who co-introduced the bill said in a press conference.

William Barr has gotten one step closer to becoming attorney general, clearing a procedural vote in the Senate that will advance his nomination, Reuters reports. It’s expected that he will be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate this week despite concerns from Democrats.

This is Gabrielle Canon taking over for Ben Jacobs.

Earlier today, newly inaugurated California governor Gavin Newsom gave his first State of the State address, promising to take on the Trump Administration and enact progressive policies championed by his constituents.

Saying the President’s state of the union was “fundamentally at odds with California values”, Newsom began his speech responding to what he called the “so called border emergency” and spoke about the actions he took Tuesday to pull troops from the Southern border, a move that deviated from his predecessor Jerry Brown who had adhered to Trump’s requests for troops.

“California will not be part of this political theater” he said. “The answer to the White House, with all do respect, is no more division no more xenophobia. No more nativism.”

The new governor also raised eyebrows by announcing he will pump the breaks on completing the high-speed rail project, saying that construction from Los Angeles to San Francisco would be too costly and would take too long. Instead, new plans for the railway would only go through California’s agricultural region in the Central Valley.

He outlined his outlook on water issues in the state, called out problems with the education system, and spoke about the homelessness crisis, announcing the a new commission on homelessness. He shared plans for a new incentive package to address affordability in the state, pushed cities to meet housing goals, and told legislators that he would sign a rent stability package if proposed.

“If we want a California for all, we have to build housing for all”, he said, adding “we cannot defer this anymore” over applause.

He also shared his plan to help seniors in a “new master plan on aging” that includes a task force on Alzheimer’s headed by former first lady Maria Shriver, and said he wanted to create a “data dividend” that would redistribute the wealth made by tech companies.

Summary

  • Negotiators in both parties have reached a deal to keep the government open and avoid a shutdown before the Friday deadline.
  • President Donald Trump though is still skeptical about this.
  • Mark Kelly, an astronaut and husband of former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, announced he will run for Senate in Arizona in 2020 as a Democrat. The seat is currently held by appointed Republican incumbent Martha McSally.
  • The White House condemned an attack on a BBC cameraman at a Trump rally yesterday in El Paso.

Sign up for our morning briefing for a new perspective on the US. We’ll email you a summary of the day’s top stories and must-reads. Subscribe now.

Updated

The Senate just passed major conservation legislation.

The Washington Post reports:

The bill protects 1.3 million acres as wilderness, the nation’s most stringent protection that prohibits even roads and motorized vehicles. It permanently withdraws from mining more than 370,000 acres of land around two national parks, including Yellowstone, and permanently authorizes a program to spend offshore drilling revenue on conservation efforts.

A House vote on the border security deal to avoid another government shutdown could come as early as tomorrow according to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

A number of Democrats will unveil legislation on Wednesday that will allow people between the ages of 50-64 to buy into Medicare. The idea of expanding Medicare has long been popular among Democrats. There were past proposals to allow people over 55 to buy in and, on the left, Medicare for All has become a rallying cry.

The White House has issued a statement condemning the attack on the BBC cameraman at the Trump rally in El Paso last night.

For the first time in American history, the national debt now exceeds $22 trillion.

Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, the sponsor of the Green New Deal in the Senate, has condemned Mitch McConnell’s pledge to bring the legislation up for a vote as sabotage.

In an interview, New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker expresses doubt that Donald Trump will even be the Republican nominee in 2020, echoing comments made by Elizabeth Warren over the weekend.

Norm Eisen, a former White House lawyer in the Obama administration and a vocal Trump critic, has joined the House Judiciary Committee as a part time staffer.

Eisen will help beef up efforts by House Democrats to conduct oversight on the White House, particularly in relation to the Russia investigation.

An entire federal agency is at the break of collapse.

The Merit Systems Protection Board, a federal office that rules on personnel issues for federal employees, will enter a twilight zone at the end of the month.

The board has three members who rule on appeals of decisions from administrative judges about a variety of issues relating to firing and suspending workers. However, none has been confirmed since Trump has taken office and the only remaining member whose term has yet to expire will depart at the end of February.

As the Washington Post reports:

At midnight on Feb. 28 . . . the board could enter uncertain legal territory. Justice Department attorneys have told Robbins that once he leaves, the office could be operating illegally.

House and Senate lawmakers, scrambling to head off a crisis, have scheduled hearings for this week.

CNN has opinion polling show both name id and net favorability for a number of 2020 presidential candidates and potential candidates among Democrats.

For the most part, candidate favorability tracks with how many people have heard of the candidate. The one exception is Starbucks mogul Howard Schultz who is deeply unpopular.

Cory Booker is holding a campaign event in a New Hampshire video arcade Sunday.

This is Booker’s second major video game event after playing Pacman with a Washington Post reporter in October.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said he would bring Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal to the Senate floor for a vote. This would force Democrats to take a position on the issue, including many 2020 presidential candidates to vote on a resolution that Republicans have panned as a “socialist manifesto”.

The GOP believes it can exploit Democrats’ vote on this issue as part of an effort to paint the entire party as radical, and too-far left.

The resolution, which has been endorsed by several political aspirants, has next to no chance of passing the Senate. They also seek to drive a wedge among Democrats on the issue.

Updated

The BBC reporter whose cameraman was assaulted last night at the Trump rally in El Paso has just filed his report on the event.

Updated

Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, is at risk of seeing one of his biggest initiatives in office be overturned.

Hogan, who has been mooted as potential primary opponent of Donald Trump, decreed that public schools in the Old Line State couldn’t open until Labor Day. However, the Maryland general assembly is poised to overturn that through veto-proof legislation.

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced today that the state would not move forward on a controversial and hugely expensive project to link San Francisco and Los Angeles via high speed rail.

Mark Meadows, one of the leaders of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, doesn’t think there will be another shutdown and that Trump will accept the deal from congressional negotiators.

Iowa caucus season is truly underway.

Albia, Iowa, a town of less than 4,000, will host a spaghetti dinner with three different presidential candidates on Sunday night.

The White House Correspondents Association has issued a statement on the attack on a BBC cameraman at the Trump rally Monday night in El Paso.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced today that we would bring the Green New Deal proposed by Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York to a vote on the floor of the Senate. While the proposal has rapidly become orthodoxy among many Democrats, Republicans already see political opportunity in forcing swing state senators to pick between the left of the Democratic Party or swing voters who look askance of many of the more radical aspects of the policy.

New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has risen to the defense of her friend and Democratic colleague, Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, after the president called on Omar to “resign from Congress” over comments she made that were widely denounced as anti-semitic.

Ocasio-Cortez pointed to a double-standard in the way Republicans have reacted to Omar and to the president, who has his own long history of making controversial and insensitive remarks.

A joke in the HBO show Veep was inspired by an unsubstantiated rumor about senator Amy Klobuchar’s alleged poor treatment of her staff, according to Slate.

A representative called the rumor “completely false” and said it was “ridiculous.”

Senator Susan Collins, a Republican who is up for re-election in 2020, defended her vote for controversial supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh after he dissented from a decision to put an abortion law on hold in Louisiana.

“I have always been concerned about preserving Roe v. Wade” Collins told CNN recently.

Collins, one of the few Republicans who supports abortion rights, said Kavanaugh assured her during the confirmation process that he would not overturn the landmark Supreme Court that legalized abortion access.

“To say that this case, this most recent case, in which he wrote a very careful dissent, tells you that he’s going to repeal Roe v Wade I think is absurd,” she said.

Democrats believe the Maine Republican is vulnerable after her vote for Kavanaugh, who was narrowly confirmed to the court after facing allegations of sexual misconduct.

Yahoo is out with a new story building on a spate of stories that allege senator and now-presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar created a toxic work environment for staff in her Washington office.

The story includes an explanation of why so many former staffers are afraid to go on the record with reporters.

Speaking out could lead to retribution from Klobuchar, should she be able to identify them. She has been known to grow irate at staffers who find work elsewhere, calling their new employers to have the offers rescinded. The practice, which three former staffers for Klobuchar described and one other Capitol Hill veteran confirmed, was seen as vindictive, mystifying and counterproductive. It was also a sign of how far Klobuchar would go to punish those who she thought betrayed her.

Klobuchar addressed the allegations after her campaign announcement in Minneapolis on Sunday.

The three-term senator told reporters that she can “be tough” and “push people” but said she has staff who have worked for her for years and gone on to work in senior roles elsewhere in government.

Trump told reporters he would “add whatever I have to add” to the government funding agreement reached by Congress. But he can’t actually do that.

The taunting from right-wing commentators started with Fox’s Sean Hannity last night and continues today.

Trump reversed-course on government funding negotiations last year after conservatives like Ann Coulter attacked him over the deal. That decision triggered a 35-day shutdown, during which 800,000 federal employees and countless contractors went without pay.

Trump puts on his “builder” hat in a tangent about how “unattractive” walls have given the barriers a bad rap.

“I never kid about construction. I love construction and I know how to do it for the right price,” he said, promising to build a “beautiful-looking structure” along the southern border.

Mexican drug lord ‘El Chapo’ was found guilty:

Trump addressing reporters in the Cabinet room has also called on freshman congresswoman Ilhan Omar to resign both from Congress and from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Omar apologized “unequivocally” for her comments on Twitter, which were widely condemned as “anti-semitic”.

Trump, who has longed faced charges of racism, sexism and anti-semitism and blamed “both sides” after a deadly neo-Nazis rally in Virginia, said Omar’s remarks are “deep-seeded, in her heart” and said her apology was “lame” and “not appropriate”.

Updated

More comments from the president:

Trump on funding deal: 'Can't say I'm happy'

Crowd size has long been a preoccupation of the president. And Monday’s rally in El Paso was no different.

During the rally, Trump claimed that 69,000 people signed up to be here” and that the local fire department was able to squeeze and extra 2,000 people into the area to hold “10,000” people in total.

“There has never been anything like this in the history of our country,” Trump said, thanking the fire department.

The El Paso Fire Department, however, corrected the record. It said the facility held 6,500 people and that’s how many were allowed in, according to the El Paso Times.

Meanwhile, they estimated that the crowd size for a rally protesting the Trump administration’s border policies – and featuring El Paso native and possible presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke – drew between 10,000 and 15,000 people.

Freezing rain prevented a congressional delegation from landing in Detroit, where headed to attend the memorial service for former congressman John Dingell. After being unable to land, the plane was routed back to Washington. But the weather didn’t stop them from remembering Dingell.

Embattled Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, who is facing calls to resign after the revelation of racist images on his medical school yearbook page, announced on Tuesday that his administration restored the voting rights of 10,992 previously convicted felons.

“I believe in second chances,” he said in a statement.

Updated

One of the key sticking points in negotiations over border security was immigration detention.

The deal, as drafted, is an attempt to rein in immigrant detention, which has greatly expanded under Trump. This explainer from Vox’s Dara Lind is a must read.

It’s not just a partisan fight. It’s an inter-branch fight over whether the deference that the executive branch generally gets on immigration extends to budgeting, or whether Congress’ “power of the purse” can force the administration to make decisions about who it really needs to detain. And while the detention deal is a new effort by Congress to rein in the executive branch, we won’t know for several months whether it’s worked.

This is a grim count:

The jury of one is still out:

Dingell
Michigan congresswoman Debbie Dingell consoles former Michigan congresswoman Candice Miller at the casket of her husband, former Michigan congressman, John Dingell. Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP

Mouners are gathering in Dearborn, Michigan, to pay their respects to former Michigan congressman John Dingell, who died on Thursday. He was 92.

Dingell, remembered as a “Giant of the House” and the longest-serving member of Congress, served with 2,427 members of the House, or 22 percent of the House’s total membership, 11 presidents, and 11 speakers of the House, according to the historian for the House of Representatives. After his retirement he became something of a celebrity on Twitter.

A sampling of his wisecracks, as curated by BuzzFeed.

Updated

NBC is reporting that the Senate Intelligence Committee have found “no direct evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to both Democrats and Republicans on the committee.”

The Republican chair of the committee, Richard Burr, had said as much this weekend in an interview with CBS: “If we write a report based upon the facts that we have, then we don’t have anything that would suggest there was collusion by the Trump campaign and Russia.”

He also said the investigation was nearing it’s end: “We know we’re getting to the bottom of the barrel because there’re not new questions that we’re searching for answers to.”

NBC is reporting that Democratic Senate investigators are not disputing Burr’s characterizations, though they contend it lacks necessary context.

“We were never going find a contract signed in blood saying, ‘Hey Vlad, we’re going to collude,” one Democratic aide told NBC.

New polling by the Washington Post-Schar School found that Americans view Robert Mueller as far more credible than Trump, but the public’s view of the investigation is scattered.

“ Fifty-six percent to 33 percent, more say they trust Mueller’s version of the facts than Trump’s. And by nearly as wide a margin, more believe Mueller is mainly interested in “finding out the truth” than trying to “hurt Trump politically,” according to the Washington Post.

“Strong majorities of Democrats and Republicans say Mueller’s report should be made public in its entirety, with 81 percent overall supporting its release.”

The GOP shared some new messaging as Donald Trump prepares for his re-election bid in 2020. The wording is conspicuously close to the same as Hillary Clinton’s campaign slogan in 2016: “Stronger Together”.

On Tuesday, Clinton clapped back.

Senate leaders optimistic on bipartisan deal to avert government shutdown

In a positive sign for the tentative agreement on government funding, senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he looks forward to “reviewing the full text as soon as possible and hope the Senate can act on this legislation in short order”.

“I know I speak for members on both sides of the aisle when I say that we are grateful to our colleagues on the Appropriations Committee for their leadership and are eager to see them complete this work,” he continued in remarks on the Senate floor this morning. “As we speak, our colleagues are working hard to produce full legislative text.”

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called the agreement “welcome news” and said the “parameters of this are good.”

“I urge President Trump to sign this agreement. We must not have a re-run of what happened a few months back,” he said in remarks on the Senate floor.

Updated

It’s a time-honored tradition in presidential politics for a candidate to cop to smoking, snorting or inhaling an illegal substance in their youth.

Bill Clinton famously admitted that he had “experimented” with marijuana as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University but “didn’t inhale.” Years later, Barack Obama called back Clinton’s remark and admitted he “inhaled frequently”. Even ultra-conservative Rick Santorum confessed to smoking weed but added that he was ashamed and the experience was “not all it’s made up to be.”

Which brings us to 2020. On Monday, presidential contender Senator Kamala Harris, raised in Berkeley, California, admitted to smoking weed in an interview with The Breakfast Club. (The admission was part of a discussion about legalizing marijuana, which she said she supports, telling the hosts that of course she does: “Half my family is from Jamaica!”)

When Charlamagne Tha God asks if she has ever smoked, she replied: “I have. And I did inhale,” she said . “It was a long time ago.” She went on detail the experience of smoking a joint in college, possibly while listening to Tupac and Snoop.

One problem:

Watch the full conversation here:

Updated

The two major pieces were funding for physical barriers along the border – a wall, fencing, “steel slats” – and the number of detention beds for immigrants detained by enforcement officers within the US.

A bipartisan, bicameral group of negotiators have tentatively agreed to allot $1.375bn for border barriers and Democrats dropped their demand for a cap on the number of detention beds for interior enforcement. However, the overall number of detention would drop from 49,057 to 40,520.

Trump has made no decision yet on whether he will accept the bipartisan funding agreement, Reuters is reporting according to a White House official.

At Donald Trump’s rally in El Paso last night, a supporter violently shoved a BBC cameraman.

Trump apparently saw the attack, checked that everything was ok with a thumbs up sign and carried on with his speech, according to the BBC.

Congressman Ruben Gallego, a Democrat, is also considering running for the Arizona Senate seat. After Kelly’s announcement this morning Gallego tweeted that he is “looking seriously” at a run and will make an announcement soon.

Updated

Mark Kelly to run for Senate

Some news out of the west this morning.

Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut and the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords, announced that he will run for the Arizona senate in 2020.

The Democrat will challenge Republican Senator Martha McSally, who was appointed to the seat formerly held by Arizona senator John McCain in 2018.

McSally was appointed to the seat after losing an election to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema for the state’s other Senate seat, which came open after Senator Jeff Flake announced his retirement.

The 2020 election will be watched closely as a bellwether of political change in the Sunbelt states. The race will determine who will serve the final two years of McCain’s term, until 2022. The winner will have to run again for the seat to serve a full six-year term.

Updated

Leaders on Capitol Hill agree deal 'in principle' to avoid shutdown

Hi and welcome to our live coverage from Washington. Late on Monday night lawmakers on Capitol Hill reached an “agreement in principle” to fully fund the US government and stave off another partial shutdown.

The tentative deal includes $1.375bn for border “barrier fencing” – not a concrete wall from sea to shining sea. This is far less than the $5.7bn Trump is seeking to build his wall. We expect to hear more from the president today about whether he would sign such legislation when it comes to his desk.

Both chambers of Congress are in session today and we expect to hear a lot more about the possible accord to avoid a government shutdown.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Does A$AP Rocky Know Ivanna Ortiz? Rihanna's Attempted Shooter Allegedly Had an Affair With Rapper
The alleged motive behind the shooting of Rihanna's home has just been released, and it involves allegations of cheating by A$AP Rocky.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
Avengers: Secret Wars Rumor Will Please Longtime Spider-Man Fans (If It’s True)
Big changes may be ahead for the wall-crawler.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Gwen Stefani Addresses Her Christian Pivot After Promoting Controversial Anti-Abortion App
Critics pointed to a prayer asking God to guide women considering abortion, including pregnancies from non-consensual acts.
Bored Panda
Bored Panda
One Move Kanye West’s Wife Bianca Censori Is (Allegedly) Considering If They Split
This would be a big decision.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
“I was a good bass player, and I am proud of my Celebrity Skin work, but oh my God, it changed my level of musicianship forever”: Melissa Auf der Maur on what she learned from playing with Billy Corgan and The Smashing Pumpkins
Auf der Maur joined the Pumpkins in October 1999 following a five-year stint with Hole
Guitar World
Guitar World
The View guest host Sheryl Underwood addresses feud with former co-star Sharon Osbourne
‘I still believe there's some love between me and Sharon Osbourne,’ Underwood said about her former ‘The Talk’ co-host
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play