Summary
That’s all from me! Here’s a rundown on the day’s major events:
- The Trump administration defied Congress to complete a weapon sale to Saudi Arabia.
- Incidents of disruption and intimidation against abortion providers increased in 2018, according to a new report.
- A federal judge blocked Mississippi’s new abortion law.
- Trump plans to send 1,500 more troops to the Middle East.
- The president continued to protest Democrats’ efforts to investigate him, while Robert Mueller himself is reluctant to testify on Capitol Hill except behind closed doors.
- The ACLU and Planned Parenthood sued the attorney general and a bunch of District Attorneys in Alabama, to block the state’s legislation aimed at banning most abortions there and testing Roe vs Wade at the US Supreme Court.
Happy Memorial Day!
'Alarming escalation' of intimidation tactics against abortion providers: report
Abortion providers reported an “alarming escalation” in incidents of disruption and intimidation in 2018, according to a new report by their professional association, the National Abortion Federation (NAF).
Trespassing reached the highest level since the NAF began recording such incidents in 1999, while incidents of obstruction grew 78% from 2017 to 2018. Providers also reported record levels of picketing (99,409 incidents) since recording began in 1977, and the highest number of incidents of vandalism (125) since 1990.
The group also recorded decreases in incidents of stalking, burglary and assault and battery.
“Anti-choice individuals and groups have been emboldened by the rhetoric of President Trump, Vice President Pence and other elected officials and we are seeing this play out in more instances of activities meant to intimidate abortion providers and disrupt patient services,” said interim president and CEO of NAF Katherine Ragsdale in a statement.
Trump and other anti-abortion politicians frequently engage in false and inflammatory rhetoric about abortion, using emotive and inaccurate language such as “infanticide” or “late-term abortion”. In recent weeks, a spate of so-called “heartbeat” bills have been enacted by state legislatures.
These laws criminalize abortion after six weeks, when what anti-abortion activists call a “fetal heartbeat” is detected. At six weeks, a pregnancy involves an embryo, not a fetus, and while some tissue does throb, the embryo has not yet developed an actual heart.
“Demonizing health care providers and women who rely on them for abortion care has become one of the go-to tactics for anti-choice politicians,” added Ragsdale. “Those lies have consequences and it is not the anti-choice politicians who are facing those consequences; it is those who are denied abortion care and the providers targeted by threats, harassment, and violence who are.”
NAF began tracking violence and disruption against abortion providers in 1977, though the categories it tracks have changed over the years.
Trump to defy Congress to complete sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia and UAE
The Trump administration has informed Congress that it will circumvent its objections and complete the sale of more than $8bn in weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirate and Jordan, according to a new report by Reuters.
Per Reuters:
Members of Congress had been blocking sales of offensive military equipment to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for months, angry about the huge civilian toll from their air campaign in Yemen, as well as human rights abuses such as the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkey.
Lawmakers and congressional aides warned earlier this week that Trump, frustrated with Congress holding up weapons deals including the sale of bombs to Saudi Arabia, was considering using a loophole in arms control law to go ahead by declaring a national emergency ...
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that US partners in the Middle East needed the contracts to be completed to help deter Iran, and that the decision to circumvent Congress was meant to be a “one-time event.”
Read the rest of the report here.
Governor Jay Inslee became the latest Democratic candidate to qualify for the debates by receiving donations from 65,000 people, he announced today.
Big news from the #ClimateStrike in Las Vegas: We've officially hit the 65,000 donor mark and secured a spot on the debate stage in June. Thank you to every single person who's brought us this far. Let's go get 'em and let's defeat climate change together. pic.twitter.com/LjbXvhpypx
— Jay Inslee (@JayInslee) May 24, 2019
Inslee launched his bid on 1 March, and he’s campaigning almost exclusively on one issue: a plan to combat climate change.
Hello everyone, this is Julia Carrie Wong in San Francisco taking over the live blog to see you through to the weekend.
While I enjoy these Friday afternoons on the politics blog, in my day job I’m a technology reporter, so it’s been interesting today to see those beats collide as political reporters and pundits express astonishment at Facebook’s decision not to delete a video of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that has been distorted to make her appear drunk.
To wit:
One of the nation's largest and most important media companies doesn't care if the content it publishes is true. https://t.co/VbG2vf4TJo
— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) May 24, 2019
While it’s understandable that people who don’t cover Facebook on a daily basis are surprised to hear this policy stated so baldly, it’s worth remembering what the alternative would be.
Do we want Facebook to have a policy that stipulates that the information posted on Facebook must be true? What would that look like? And how would it be enforced?
Could a cartoonist no longer depict a politician with exaggerated features? Could a satirical publication (such as the Onion) no longer publish articles that exaggerate reality in order to comment on broader truth? What about topics where scientists and researchers disagree? What is truth?
These discussions get very philosophical very quickly. Mark Zuckerberg has made very clear that he does not want to be forced into the position of arbitrating what is and is not true, and I think almost all of us would agree that we don’t want Zuckerberg or any other individual to have that much power either.
Many experts on misinformation have advocated for an approach referred to as “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach”. Under this framework, platforms such as Facebook should allow people to say what they want (within certain hard limits), but limit the reach of certain content that is objectionable but not banned.
This is the approach that Facebook decided to take on fake news in the aftermath of the 2016 election. It relies on third-party fact-checkers to determine which objectionable content should have its distribution cut back. Once an article or video has been fact-checked and found false, the number of people who see it without actively seeking it out diminishes rapidly.
So while the mechanics of the fact-checking program have rightly faced scrutiny and criticism, keep in mind that requiring Facebook to delete content based on truth would likely generate even more problems.
Afternoon summary
For a Friday before the Memorial Day weekend and with Congress in recess it’s been a surprisingly lively political scene in the US today.
And no sign of things calming down, as Trump is tweeting from Air Force One on his way to Japan and the 2020 Democratic candidates are fanning out across the nation to burn up shoe leather and make their mark.
- A federal judge blocked Mississippi’s strict abortion law, which sought to outlaw the procedure after just six weeks of pregnancy.
- House judiciary chairman Jerry Nadler is recovering after briefly fainting at an event in New York City earlier today with mayor Bill De Blasio.
- Trump plans to send 1,500 more troops to the Middle East as extra protection from and a show of force to Iran.
- The president continued to protest Democrats’ efforts to investigate him further in the wake of the Mueller report, while Robert Mueller himself is reluctant to testify on Capitol Hill except behind closed doors.
- The ACLU and Planned Parenthood sued the attorney general and a bunch of District Attorneys in Alabama, to block the state’s legislation aimed at banning most abortions there and testing Roe vs Wade at the US Supreme Court.
Updated
Federal judge blocks strict abortion law in Mississippi
A federal judge in Mississippi has blocked that state’s latest strict abortion law.
Judge Carlton Reeves on Friday afternoon blocked the ban on procedures after six weeks of pregnancy.
Reeves earlier this week heard arguments from the Center for Reproductive Rights, which challenged the state’s recently-passed ban that outlaws abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, CBS reported.
The new law was signed by the governor on March 21 and was scheduled to be implemented on July 1. Reeves is the same judge who struck down Mississippi’s 15-week ban late last year.
“Doesn’t it boil down to six is less than 15?” Reeves said, according to local news reports. The judge later said that new law “smacks of defiance to this court.”
On Friday, the ruling, on an order granting preliminary injunction, by the judge included this remark: “Here we go again. Mississippi has passed another law banning abortions prior to viability.”
The document does, however point out unquestioningly that the bill had sought to ban abortions “after a fetal heartbeat is detected.”
As the Guardian has previously pointed out, at six weeks, an embryo is not a fetus and does not have a recognizable heart. “Fetal heartbeat” is a term the anti-abortion lobby and certain extremists use to try to give its efforts extra emotive and visceral heft, but is sadly medically inaccurate and therefore misleading.
Updated
No ‘kiddies table’ at the first presidential primary debates - report
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and NBC News TV network have adopted a rule for next month’s opening presidential primary debates, Politico’s Zach Montellaro tweets about his latest story.
NEW: The DNC and NBC News adopted a rule for the first presidential primary debates to ensure there's no "kiddie table" debates, I scoop w/ @POLITICO_Steve. Top-tier candidates will be randomly and evenly divided between the debates on June 26 and June 27 https://t.co/xNsB3cDx8J
— Zach Montellaro (@ZachMontellaro) May 24, 2019
He continues that the eight candidates that have a polling average at or above two percent and fall into this top-tier group are: Biden, Booker, Buttigieg, Harris, Klobuchar, O’Rourke, Sanders and Warren. This means four will appear on night one and four on night two.
Sounds like a recipe for better ratings! Lordy, November 2020 such is a long way off.
Jerry Nadler recovering
House judiciary committee chairman Jerry Nadler ended up in hospital on Friday after apparently briefly fainting at a press event in New York.
We reported on this a little earlier, and Nadler later tweeted that he was okay.
Appreciate everyone's concern. Was very warm in the room this morning, was obviously dehydrated and felt a bit ill. Glad to receive fluids and am feeling much better. Thank you for your thoughts.
— (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) May 24, 2019
Nadler was taken to a hospital after apparently fainting during a road safety news conference with city mayor (and newly-minted, though not terribly popular, 2020 presidential candidate) Bill De Blasio.
Nadler, 71, was seated at a table in a gymnasium at Public School 199 on the Upper West Side, where De Blasio was heralding the expansion of New York City’s speed camera program, the New York Times writes.
Thirty minutes after Nadler made brief remarks, his head appeared to slump. Three medical professionals who were in the room rushed to attend to the congressman, who was conscious as gym bunny De Blasio helped him take sips from the mayor’s own metal water bottle. The area was cleared and a fan switched off to help cool the politician down.
It’s been a tough month at the political front lines for Nadler, a long-time foe of Donald Trump’s from their time ruling the roost in New York politics and real estate, what with subpoenas and contempt of congress votes over witness no-shows at his hearings, and the like, in what many think amount to a constitutional crisis in US politics amid White House stonewalling.
The Guardian’s Lauren Gambino listed him as one of the top figures set to make life difficult for Trump after the Democrats took control of the House in January, following their victory in the 2018 midterm elections.
Updated
Supreme Court blocks order to redraw congressional maps
The US Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked lower court rulings that had ordered Republican legislators in Michigan and Ohio to redraw US congressional maps ahead of the 2020 elections after finding that the current districts were designed to illegally diminish the power of Democratic voters.
The justices granted requests from Republican lawmakers in both states to stay those decisions, Reuters reports.
The lower courts had found that the electoral maps had been drawn to entrench the majority party in power, a practice known as partisan gerrymandering, in violation of the US Constitution.
While both disputes involve House of Representatives districts in the two states, the Michigan case also challenges districts in the state legislature as well.
The decisions in Michigan and Ohio that were put on hold by the justices were the latest rulings by federal courts determining that electoral maps designed by a state’s majority party unconstitutionally undermined the rights of voters who tend to support the other party.
Two other gerrymandering challenges are already pending at the Supreme Court, with rulings due by the end of June.
In one case, Republican legislators in North Carolina are accused of rigging congressional maps to boost their party’s chances in that state. In the other case, Democrats in Maryland face similar allegations over one House district.
Updated
Trump to send troops to the Middle East over Iran threat
The US currently has troops stationed in Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as part of its Middle East contingent.
The Pentagon plans to boost surveillance, intelligence and reconnaissance aircraft in the region as well as boots on the ground.
Trump has in recent weeks alternated between tough talk toward Iran and a more conciliatory message, insisting he is open to negotiations with the Islamic Republic. He seemed to downplay the prospect of conflict when he spoke at the White House earlier today.
“Right now, I don’t think Iran wants to fight and I certainly don’t think they want to fight with us,” he said.
The administration notified Congress earlier in the day about the troop plans.
The forces would number “roughly” 1,500 and would deploy in the coming weeks, “with their primary responsibilities and activities being defensive in nature,” according to a copy of the notification obtained by The Associated Press.
Their mission would include protecting US forces already in the region and ensuring freedom of navigation, the notification said.
Some allies have previously said they had detected no heightened threat from Iran and observers have speculated that the whole ratcheting up of tensions could have been a misunderstanding - or one of Trump’s ploys to boost his electoral chances with a show of force or simply as a habitual distraction.
Off the wall
A federal judge is expected to decide later today whether to block the White House from spending billions of dollars to build a wall on the US-Mexico border with money secured under Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency.
The judge is weighing two cases that challenged the maneuver to redirect mostly military-designated funding for wall construction.
California and 19 other states, along with environmentalists, civil liberties groups and communities along the border, are seeking a temporary injunction to halt construction plans, the AP writes.
At stake is billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money that Trump wants for the wall, his signature 2016 campaign promise when he had crowds chanting his slogan that Mexico would pay for it (which it has refused to do), heading into his 2020 campaign.
He declared the emergency in February after losing a fight over fully paying for it that led to a 35-day government shutdown.
Attorney general William Barr has been hanging out in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, one of the president’s flagship properties.
He was there at the same time as Donald Trump on Wednesday, ABC reporter Katherine Faulders tweeted.
Although Trump has distanced himself from the running of his business empire since ascending to the White House, this hotel in particular is a conservative power players’ destination in DC (and the source of emoluments complaints, though so far in vain).
Meanwhile, The Hill reports, Republican candidates and campaign committees have spent more than $4 million at hotel, golf and vineyard properties that bear Trump’s name since he was inaugurated in 2017.
More than three dozen members of Congress have held fundraisers or spent the night at Trump properties, according to a review of filings made with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over the last two years.
More than a quarter of the money spent has come from Trump’s own campaign, which has paid his businesses nearly $1.5 million over that span, both for rent and for fundraisers.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) has spent more than $1.1 million at Trump-branded properties in both Washington and Florida.
Trump is aboard Air Force one
The White House reporters’ pool sends this dispatch:
Marine One landed at a delightfully sunny, breezy Joint Base Andrews at 12.32PM. POTUS boarded AF1 five minutes later with a wave and thumbs up, but without talking to pool. He was accompanied by FLOTUS. Also spotted: Sarah Sanders, Dan Scavino and Mick Mulvaney.
We’re expecting a little less than 15 hour journey to Tokyo, arriving Saturday afternoon local for a trip, ending Tuesday.
The president will become the first foreign leader to meet with Emperor Naruhito since his enthronement.
Sumo, bilats with PM Shinzo Abe and a naval base visit also expected.
Then, extraordinarily, after yesterday’s combustion between Trump and Pelosi, where she implied that Potus was nuts or unfit, or something, and needed an intervention, while he actually called her “Crazy Nancy”, Donald Trump just earlier told reporters on the White House lawn: “I can work with the Speaker. Absolutely I can work with her.”
Is this same-as-it-ever-was politics as usual? Is this an episode of Veep? It’s been a mad, mad week in Washington.
Photograph: HBO
Updated
Trump called Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia investigation 'attempted coup'
Trump says he will declassify documents related to the origins of the investigation into Russia’s links to 2016 election campaign.
Speaking on the White House lawn, he reporters that the investigation was “an attempted coup,” Reuters writes.
The president said the documents could run to “millions of pages” and the comments come a day after he granted attorney general William Barr new powers to review and potentially release classified information.
The president ordered the US intelligence community to “quickly and fully cooperate” with Barr’s investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation.
Trump said Barr is “in charge” and “let’s see what he finds.”
Our David Smith further reported thus:
Trump: “The attorney general’s one of the most respected people in our country and he has been for a long period of time... It was the greatest hoax probably in the history of our country... We’re going to find out what happened and why it happened.”
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) May 24, 2019
Updated
Trump says he will declassify documents related to the origins of the investigation into Russia’s links to his 2016 election campaign
I’m not sure it you’ve become mixed up about investigations, especially on a Friday afternoon, but in short, Trump, via his attorney general William Barr, is now investigating the origins of the investigation of links between his 2016 campaign and Russia, which began when James Comey was director of the FBI and continued under Robert Mueller, who was appointed as special counsel by the Department of Justice in May 2017 after Trump fired Comey.
Meanwhile, Democrats in congress want to investigate more of what Mueller was investigating, because of perceived gaps in his inquiry and a good deal of opacity around the findings and underlying evidence.
But it’s the investigation of the investigation that Trump is interested in and was getting at in another rant at reporters outside the White House a little while ago. Trump believes it was all based on a hoax, namely false allegations that he or his campaign had improper or illegal relations with Moscow and its operatives during the election and that he later tried to obstruct justice.
Trump even said he may talk to Theresa May about it when he meets with her next month on his UK visit.
“I may talk to her about that, maybe that the FBI and the others, CIA, were involved, having to do with the Russian hoax,” he said, somewhat bafflingly, on the White House lawn - bearing in mind that he has accused, without evidence, the US intelligence community of being hostile towards his presidency.
He also said he will declassify related documents.
Updated
Trump again says no re-do over Mueller
Returning to the subject that blew up relations entirely between the president and congressional Democrats this week - post-Mueller investigations of the president by Democrat-led House committees and a vicious war of words between Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - Trump reiterated yesterday’s speech that he can’t cooperate over bipartisan legislation in the current political climate.
“All they talk about is this,” he told reporters on the White House lawn moments ago, referring to Democrats’ requests and subpoenas for the un-redacted report by special counsel Robert Mueller of his Trump-Russia investigation, and related witness testimony.
“I would like to talk about lowering drug prices,” he said, referring to America’s notoriously pricey prescription drugs and health care.
“I can get prices down but I can’t do that if all they try to do is a re-do of the Mueller report. It’s over, there is no re-do, they lost,” Trump said.
Donald Trump further praised the departing British PM, Theresa May, saying: “She worked very hard. She was very strong. She tried to do something [Brexit....] that some people were surprised at, but it was for the good of the country. I’ll see her in two weeks.”
The president is bringing a large family entourage to Britain when he begins a state visit on June 3.
As my colleague Julian Borger wrote yesterday, during the three-day visit Trump will meet May in what is likely to be an uncomfortable session.
Trump has been a persistent critic of the prime minister, and an enthusiastic supporter of the Brexit party leader, Nigel Farage, and a hard UK exit from the European Union.
Trump will briefly visit Ireland on June 5 before going to England and France for June 6 D-Day commemorations.
On a glorious late spring day in the capital, our David Smith snapped this shot of Potus and Flotus heading for the heli, across the gorgeous lawn with a backdrop of verdant trees and the Washington Monument.
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) May 24, 2019
Who knew the swamp could look so idyllic?
Updated
Trump praises British PM: 'I feel badly for Theresa'
The Guardian’s David Smith is at the White House and tweeted this picture of Trump outside the presidential gaff, just before boarding Marine One to head to Japan.
He went out of his way to praise Theresa May, the British prime minister who this morning announced her plan to resign next month, having failed to get an agreement in Parliament on what to do about Brexit.
At the White House. Donald Trump on Theresa May’s resignation: “I feel badly for Theresa. I like her very much.” pic.twitter.com/I3YoQEuY5m
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) May 24, 2019
Updated
Donald Trump speaks to press outside White House before heading to Japan
The president paused on the lawn outside the White House before boarding Marine One, which was warming up its engines in the sunshine.
On the minor troop build-up confirmed earlier today for US forces in the Middle East, Trump told the gathered journalists: “We want to have protection in the Middle East. We’re going to be sending a relatively small number of troops...1,500,” he said.
The decision to send the additional forces to US Central Command, which oversees military operations across the Middle East, was made late Thursday during a meeting at the White House between Trump and top Pentagon leaders, US officials told the Washington Post.
“Our job is deterrence. This is not about war,” acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan said. “We have a mission there in the Middle East: Freedom of navigation, counterterrorism in Syria and Iraq, defeating al-Qaeda in Yemen, and the security of Israel and Jordan.”
It hasn’t been specified where the troops will be deployed.
Meanwhile, talking to reporters on the White House lawn early Friday afternoon, the president then answered questions about congressional Democrats wanting to investigate him further, Nancy Pelosi, Theresa May, Robert Mueller, William Barr, and the press. back to you in just moments with those details.
Updated
Jerry Nadler requires medical assistance at event in New York
New York’s Democratic member of congress and, as it happens, powerful House judiciary committee chairman and presidential nemesis, Jerry Nadler, just had a nasty turn at a press conference he was attending in New York.
NY1’s Gloria Pazmino tweeted that the room was cleared and medical assistance called for Nadler.
Scary moment at this press conference now, @RepJerryNadler appears to be dehydrated, perhaps low sugar as the conference was underway. They are clearing the room so he can get medical assistance. He’s conscious, drinking water and has just been fed an orange
— Gloria Pazmino (@GloriaPazmino) May 24, 2019
Nadler was attending an event in his own district, where New York mayor and presidential candidate Bill De Blasio was announcing new measures in his road safety campaign.
The good thing is there are some doctors in the room and he appears to be in okay spirits: pic.twitter.com/bpgPoRUO3R
— Gloria Pazmino (@GloriaPazmino) May 24, 2019
Updated
Trump confirms plan to send 1,500 additional troops to Middle East
The Trump administration notified Congress today that it plans to send about 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East amid heightened tensions with Iran, officials said.
Members of Congress were notified a day after a White House meeting to discuss Pentagon proposals to bolster the US force presence in the Middle East.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the troop plans have not yet been formally announced, the AP reported.
The forces would number “roughly” 1,500 and would deploy in the coming weeks “with their primary responsibilities and activities being defensive in nature,” according to a copy of the notification obtained by The Associated Press.
Their mission would include protecting US forces already in the region and ensuring freedom of navigation, the notification said.
Earlier this week, officials said Pentagon planners had outlined plans that could have sent up to 10,000 military reinforcements to the region.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan later said planners hadn’t settled on a figure.
Updated
Marine One landed on the lawn outside the White House some minutes ago, ready to take the president and first lady out to Air Force One to depart for their trip to Japan. Picture here captured for Twitter by an NBC corr.
Wind kicks up the suit jacket of a Secret Service agent as Marine One lands on South Lawn pic.twitter.com/XN7rLX5Foc
— Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) May 24, 2019
Trump to appeal Deutsche Bank subpoena ruling
Donald Trump, three of his children and the Trump Organization this morning appealed a court order in New York allowing Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp to hand their financial records over to Democratic lawmakers, per a congressional subpoena.
They are asking the 2nd US circuit court of appeals in Manhattan to overrule US district judge Edgardo Ramos, who on Wednesday refused to block the banks from responding to subpoenas issued last month by two US House of Representatives committees.
Deutsche Bank, Capital One, the House Financial Services Committee and House Intelligence Committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
The committees have agreed not to enforce the subpoenas for seven days after Wednesday’s ruling.
The subpoena on Deutsche Bank, issued by both committees, seeks extensive records of accounts, transactions and investments linked to Trump, his three oldest children, their immediate family members and several Trump Organization entities, as well as records of ties they might have to foreign entities.
Deutsche Bank has long been a principal lender for Trump’s real estate business and a 2017 disclosure form showed that Trump had at least $130 million of liabilities to the bank.
The subpoena on Capital One, issued by the Financial Services Committee, seeks records related to multiple entities tied to the Trump Organization’s hotel business.
Ramos’ ruling on Wednesday came just two days after a federal judge in Washington ruled against the president in a similar case, finding that Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars LLP, must comply with a congressional subpoena for Trump’s financial records.
Updated
GOP conservative temporarily blocks $19bn disaster bill
A House GOP conservative, complaining of Washington’s free-spending and opaque ways, blocked a long-overdue $19 billion disaster aid bill a little earlier today, meanwhile, extending a tempest over hurricane and flood relief that has left the measure meandering for months, the AP writes.
Texas Republican Chip Roy, a former aide to Texas right-winger Senator Ted Cruz, objected to speeding the measure through a nearly empty chamber, also complaining that it does not contain any of Donald Trump’s $4.5 billion request for spending at the US-Mexico border.
“It is a bill that that includes nothing to address the international emergency and humanitarian crisis we face at our southern border,” Roy said.
As the Guardian has written before, critics of the Trump administration’s immigration policy believe that any crisis has emerged from the chaos caused by the government itself – whether deliberately to stoke anti-immigration sentiment, or simply as collateral from the crackdown.
Democrats, the AP continues, said the House will try to again pass the measure next week during a session, like Friday’s, that would otherwise be pro forma. If that doesn’t succeed, a quick bipartisan vote would come after Congress returns next month from its Memorial Day recess.
Representative Donna Shalala, Democrat of Florida, said she was very disappointed at Roy’s action. “The fact that one person from a state that is directly affected could object, it’s just irresponsible,” she said. Texas was slammed by record floods last spring, though not Roy’s San Antonio-area district.
Updated
Donald and Melania Trump will be departing for Japan shortly
Stand by. Will the president stop on the lush grass and take questions from huddled journalists?
As usual habits go, he will and they will struggle to hear him clearly over the roaring rotors of the Marine One helicopter warming up to take them across town to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews.
Or will he simply stride across the lawn and get on board?
Updated
Missouri governor signs ultra-conservative anti-abortion bill
Missouri’s governor Mike Parson has signed one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bills, banning the procedure on or beyond eight weeks of pregnancy.
The Republican signed the bill this morning.
The legislation includes an exception for medical emergencies, but not for cases of rape and incest, the AP writes.
The ban is set to take effect August 28 unless it’s blocked in court. A legal challenge is expected.
Doctors who violate the eight-week cut-off face five to 15 years in prison. Women won’t be prosecuted for receiving abortions.
Alabama’s governor signed a bill May 15 making performing an abortion a felony in nearly all cases, at any stage of pregnancy, also regardless of whether it is the result of rape or incest.
Missouri’s bill would also ban almost all abortions, but only if the US Supreme Court overturns the landmark 1973 Roe vs Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
The legislature had passed the bill last week, amid fierce protests.
Updated
Who passed Alabama’s abortion ban legislation?
The Republicans who dominate the state senate. The votes to pass the bill came from 25 of the 27 GOP senators, who are all white males (the other two were absent on the day).
The handful of Democratic senators, which included the chamber’s only senators of color and females, made strenuous efforts to sink the legislation or, at the very least, have included exceptions for rape and incest. The efforts were led on the senate floor by Democratic senators Bobby Singleton and Vivian Figures. But the GOP was overwhelming.
When it became clear that it was 25 conservative white guys, some loudly citing purist and zealous religious justification, who were responsible for the bill’s passage, women in Alabama and around the country were outraged.
These included music megastar Rihanna, who shared our pic of the dudes.
Updated
Here’s the ACLU’s own tweet on the news of its lawsuit to block the abortion ban in Alabama.
BREAKING: We just filed our lawsuit to stop Alabama's abortion ban from ever going into effect. pic.twitter.com/o3j25NsaHM
— ACLU (@ACLU) May 24, 2019
New Trump administration rule would roll back sex discrimination protection for transgender people in health services
In the proposed rule issued today, the Trump administration’s Health and Human Services Department says laws banning sex discrimination in health care don’t apply to people’s “gender identity.”
LGBT rights campaign groups have long warned such a move could lead to denial of needed medical care, the Associated Press writes.
That rule reverses the policy of the Obama administration, which had found that sex discrimination laws do protect transgender people.
The proposal faces a 60-day comment period and court challenges are expected.
A federal judge in Texas said the rule went too far by concluding that discrimination on the basis of gender identity is a form of sex discrimination, which is forbidden by civil rights laws.
Under the Obama rule, a hospital could be required to perform gender-transition procedures such as hysterectomies if the facility provided that kind of treatment for other medical conditions.
The rule was meant to carry out the anti-discrimination section of the Affordable Care Act, which bars sex discrimination in health care but does not use the term “gender identity.”
In the Texas case, a Catholic hospital system, several states and a Christian medical association argued that the rule went beyond the law as written and would coerce providers to act against their medical judgment and religious beliefs.
Dr. Yashica Robinson, owner of Alabama Women’s Center and one of the plaintiffs in the case, said her patients “already have to overcome so much just to get to our doors, and this law further shames them, punishes providers like myself, and stigmatizes essential health care.”
“Alabama has a long track record of passing laws designed to close clinics and push abortion care out of reach, and just like we have before, we will fight for our patients and do all we can to stay open,” she said.
“Make no mistake: Abortion remains – and will remain – safe and legal in Alabama,” said Randall Marshall, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama. “We hope our state’s elected leaders take note and stop using taxpayer dollars on a legal gamble that they know is unconstitutional and unenforceable.”
“Alabama’s state motto is audemus jura nostra defendere, which means ‘we dare defend our rights.’ That’s exactly what we’re doing here today,” said Staci Fox, President and CEO at Planned Parenthood Southeast. “Abortion has been safe and legal in this country for more than 45 years and we aim to keep it that way. We are protecting the rights of our patients. We are defending the work of the brave folks who came before us. And we are fighting to take this country forward, not backwards.”
“What we’re seeing in Alabama is a manmade public health emergency and we’re fighting back. To patients seeking safe, legal abortion care in Alabama: this extreme ban hasn’t gone into effect yet — and we will make sure of it,” said Dr. Leana Wen, President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
“This dangerous, immoral, and unconstitutional ban threatens people’s lives and well-being and we are suing to protect our patient’s rights. The facts are on our side, the public is on our side, and we will do whatever it takes to ensure women across Alabama can receive the health care they need today, tomorrow, and beyond.”
Other plaintiffs represented in the case are Alabama Women’s Center, Reproductive Health Services, West Alabama Women’s Center, and Planned Parenthood Southeast.
Updated
The ACLU and Planned Parenthood Federation of America have also filed suit against the ban on abortion after six weeks that was passed in Ohio recently, and the organizations are preparing a legal challenge in Georgia, too, the ACLU said this morning.
As a reminder: no abortion ban, including Alabama’s, is in effect and abortion remains legal in all 50 states.
The groups have sued in the United States district court of the middle district of Alabama, naming as defendants the attorney general of Alabama, Steven Marshall, and a number of district attorneys.
The suit in Alabama follows dramatic scenes at the state capitol in Montgomery last week after the legislature, dominated by white, Republican men, passed the United States’ strictest ban on abortion, refusing to make exceptions for rape or incest.
It was then signed into law by the governor, but will not come into effect yet and, given that it is unconstitutional, is designed as a legal vehicle to take court challenges all the way to the US Supreme Court, where the anti-abortion zealots hope to overturn Roe vs Wade, which was the landmark ruling that led to the legalization of abortion nationally in the US in 1973.
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ACLU and Planned Parenthood sue over Alabama abortion ban
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Alabama and Planned Parenthood Federation of America filed a lawsuit today on behalf of Alabama abortion providers challenging an extreme law passed earlier this month, which bans abortion in nearly every case and punishes doctors with up to 99 years in prison for providing care.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed the bill into law on May 15, making Alabama the fifth state this year to enact an outright abortion ban.
The lawsuit comes, the ACLU explained in a press statement, amid nationwide opposition to the extreme ban and follows a week of protests throughout the country opposing state abortion bans. Earlier this year, Kentucky, Georgia, Ohio, and Mississippi also enacted laws banning abortion, and the Missouri governor is expected to sign a ban soon.
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Facebook refuses to delete fake Pelosi video spread by Trump supporters
The Guardian’s media editor Jim Waterson writes today that Facebook says it will continue to host a video of Nancy Pelosi that has been edited to give the impression that the Democratic House Speaker is drunk or unwell, in the latest incident highlighting its struggle to deal with disinformation.
The viral clip shows Pelosi – who has publicly angered Donald Trump in recent days – speaking at an event, but it has been slowed down to give the impression she is slurring her words.
The president’s personal lawyer, the former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, was among the Trump supporters who promoted the story. He tweeted – then deleted – a link to a copy of the video on Facebook with the caption: “What is wrong with Nancy Pelosi? Her speech pattern is bizarre.”
Despite the apparently malicious intent of the video’s creator, Facebook has said it will only downgrade its visibility in users’ newsfeeds and attach a link to a third-party fact checking site pointing out that the clip is misleading.
As a result, although it is less likely to be seen by accident, the doctored video will continue to rack up views. Facebook only took the action following inquiries from the Washington Post, which first reported the story.
Read the full story here.
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Bad boy Bailey
Okay, back to the really serious stuff in just a moment, we promise, but you’ve got to give it up for Bailey, 2020 presidential election candidate Elizabeth Warren’s pooch.
He’s a campaign trail star in his own right, but the Democratic Senator from Massachusetts has called him out on Twitter today.
It’s not entirely clear what he had a go at - cushion? Pillow? Duvet?
The hound may have been channeling Donald Trump’s id from the Oval Office and Rose Garden performances yesterday, where the president (and, later, all the president’s lackeys/ladies) insisted he was very calm before he stalked out of a three-minute meeting with Nancy and Chuck, then held a presser to say he won’t work with the Democrats until they stop investigating him.
But while Trump was clearly boiling inside, Bailey let it all out this morning and had the full-on tantrum the president probably wanted to have, at Warren’s furniture and accessories.
Bailey was a bad boy this morning. But at least he’s sorry. pic.twitter.com/LbIwv2X7qX
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 24, 2019
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Robert Mueller wants to testify – but behind closed doors
House judiciary committee Chairman Jerry Nadler told Rachel Maddow in an MSNBC interview last night that Robert Mueller “wants to testify in private” on Capitol Hill, not in a public hearing, about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign and all the allegations of collusion and obstruction of justice.
Nadler said he didn’t know why Mueller was so keen only to talk to Congress off camera, but mused that the special counsel wants to avoid the “political spectacle” that’s engulfed matter since the release of his report last month.
“He envisions himself, correctly, as a man of great rectitude, and apolitical, and he doesn’t want to participate in anything he might regard as a political spectacle.”
Nadler said a transcript of the testimony would be issued afterwards.
“We want him to come in and testify, we want others to come in and testify,” he said. “There are a lot of people who should come in and testify who the administration is saying they will not permit to testify...We think it’s important for the American people to hear from him and to hear his answers to questions about the report,” he said.
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Donald Trump is still tweeting regularly about what he describes as a continuing “witch hunt” in congressional Democrats’ demands for testimony from Mueller and some of his key witnesses, and the full un-redacted Mueller report and the documentary evidence underlying it.
As flunkies, no doubt, were packing his suitcases for Japan, Trump pinged out the following tweet at 8.34AM today:
“I don’t know why the Radical Left Democrats want Bob Mueller to testify when he just issued a 40 Million Dollar Report that states, loud & clear & for all to hear, No Collusion and No Obstruction (how do you Obstruct a NO crime?) Dems are just looking for trouble and a Do-Over!”
I don’t know why the Radical Left Democrats want Bob Mueller to testify when he just issued a 40 Million Dollar Report that states, loud & clear & for all to hear, No Collusion and No Obstruction (how do you Obstruct a NO crime?) Dems are just looking for trouble and a Do-Over!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2019
Good morning
A long weekend ensues, Trump is departing for an overseas trip and Congress is in recess, but don’t for a moment imagine that the drama in US politics is going away.
Donald Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, head from the White House to Air Force One this morning for a four-day trip to Japan.
Foreign trips are normally a great way for leaders to escape the swamp of domestic politics and strut like statesmen on the world stage but there’s no sign of the war of words between Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi going away.
The Japan trip will be swiftly followed by a European trip to Britain (coz Britain is STILL IN Europe, folks), Ireland and France in early June. The state visit to the UK will be one of now-departing British Prime Minister Theresa May’s last tasks at 10 Downing Street after she announced her planned resignation earlier today. Follow the UK politics live blog for more on that.
Trump is tweeting away this morning, taking issue with the idea that anyone might want special counsel Robert Mueller to testify on Capitol Hill to, you know, fill in the giant gaps in our knowledge of what’s in his report, the reasoning behind his conclusions (or non conclusions) on collusion and obstruction and how he really feels about attorney general William Barr’s summary of the report.
And today, of the almost two dozen Democratic Party 2020 election candidates, Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand are campaigning in Iowa, Jay Inslee is in Nevada and Pete Buttigieg will be tootling around New Hampshire.
Strap in.
