Summary
- Joe Biden criticized the Trump administration’s handling of infrastructure during a tour of a Ford electric car plant in Dearborn, Michigan. “They announced infrastructure week,” Biden said of the Trump administration. “And they announced it, and announced it, and announced it, and announced it. Every week for four years, didn’t do a damn thing.” The president demanded that Congress take action to advance his $2.3tn American Jobs Plan, which includes a major investment in the electric car sector.
- Biden was greeted in Michigan with a series of pro-Palestinian demonstrations, as protesters criticized his administration’s response to the attacks launched by Israeli forces and Hamas in Gaza. More than 200 people, most of them Palestinian, have already died in the violence.
- House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said he will oppose the bipartisan bill to form a September 11-style commission to study the Capitol insurrection. Republican congressman John Katko negotiated the bill and helped secure many of the party’s demands for the legislation, but McCarthy claimed the proposal was still insufficient. The bill is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled House tomorrow, but its fate in the evenly divided Senate remains unclear.
- The House passed the anti-Asian American hate crimes bill in a vote of 364-62. The legislation, which would create a justice department point person to expedite the review of coronavirus-related hate crimes targeting Asian Americans, already passed the Senate and will now head to Biden’s desk. The White House has said the president plans to sign the bill later this week.
- A North Carolina district attorney said sheriff’s deputies were justified in their fatal shooting of Andrew Brown Jr, a Black man. District attorney Andrew Womble said the deputies had to fire at Brown because he tried to drive his car at one of the officers. However, lawyers for Brown’s family have claimed the car was stationary when the deputies started shooting. Brown’s death last month sparked protests in North Carolina.
Updated
Nancy Pelosi called for a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing over China’s human rights abuses of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.
“Let’s not honor the Chinese government by having heads of state go to China,” she said at a congressional hearing on the issue, calling on leaders around the world to forgo attending the games.
“For heads of state to go to China in light of a genocide that is ongoing - while you’re sitting there in your seat - really begs the question, what moral authority do you have to speak again about human rights any place in the world?” she said.
More than 1m Uyghurs and people from other Turkic and Muslim minorities forced to work in factories, unable to return home, according to the UN. Reports have also detailed allegations of rape, sexual abuse and torture of ethnic Uyghur women.
Katie Porter, a Democratic representative of California, is getting praised for her takedown of AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez.
Porter, using her signature whiteboard, demonstrated that the pharmaceutical company spends much more on marketing, litigation, stock buybacks and dividends than it does on research and development.
“The Big Pharma fairytale is one of groundbreaking R&D that justifies astronomical prices, but the pharma reality is that you spent most of your company’s money-making money for yourself and your shareholders,” she said. “You’re feeding us lies that we must pay astronomical prices to get innovative products.”
Big Pharma says they need to charge astronomical prices to pay for research and development. Yet, the amount they spend on manipulating the market to enrich shareholders completely eclipses what's spent on R&D. Today, I confronted a CEO about the industry's lies, with visuals ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/c3jSLr0yVd
— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) May 18, 2021
AbbVie repeatedly raised the cost of its anti-inflammatory drug Humira – justifying the increases to lawmakers by saying the company needed more funding to invest in research and innovation. The company decreased the price of Humira in other countries even as it increased prices in the US.
Progressive lawmakers and supporters online have applauded her grilling of the phrama CEO. “If Katie Porter is chatting with you and whips out her white board, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID!” wrote writer Roxane Gay, on Twitter.
The group Stop AAPI Hate said the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act was a positive in that it recognizes the “devastating impact of the pandemic-related racism and discrimination”, but lamented that it centers a law enforcement approach over community-led reform.
However, the group said in a statement: “because the act centers criminal law enforcement agencies in its solutions, it will not address the overwhelming majority of incidents reported to our site which are not hate crimes, but serious hate incidents”.
The act’s commitment to invest in community-centered solutions is good, Stop AAPI Hate said. But the group urged lawmakers to direct more funding toward community safety programs, mental health services, ethnic studies programs and education.
Updated
The AAPI Victory Alliance has applauded the House’s passage of the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act.
“Ending Asian hate should never be a partisan issue. Passing this bill is just the first step in a long process for AAPI’s and communities of color to have the equity and opportunities we deserve,” said executive director Varun Nikore.
But, he said: “Still, 62 House Republicans voted against this common-sense piece of legislation. To those 62 members, the AAPI Victory Alliance says to watch your back.”
The FBI is investigating whether a defense contractor illegally contributed $150,000 to a super PAC supporting Republican senator Susan Collins’ reelection campaign, Axios reports.
A recently unsealed search warrant application shows the FBI believes a Hawaii defense contractor illegally funneled $150,000 to a pro-Collins super PAC and reimbursed donations to Collins’ campaign. There’s no indication that Collins or her team were aware of any of it.
- Collins helped the contractor at issue, then called Navatek and since renamed the Martin Defense Group, secure an $8 million Navy contract before most of the donations took place.
- Former Navatek CEO Martin Kao was indicted last year for allegedly bilking the federal government of millions in coronavirus relief loans.
The unsealed warrant reviewed by Axios indicates prosecutors believe that Kao funneled money to the PAC via an LLC called Society for Young Women Scientists and Engineers. The CEO also reimbursed family members who donated to Collins’ campaign, prosecutors said.
Read more on Axios.
Collins, a moderate Republican of Maine, was one of seven Republicans who voted to convict Donald Trump in the former president’s second impeachment trial. Her stance on holding Trump accountable for inciting the deadly 6 January attack on the US capitol has earned her the ire of Republicans in Congress and in her home state.
She won reelection in 2020 by 9 points.
Updated
Nancy Pelosi has called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“There must be a serious effort on the part of both parties to end the violence and respect the rights of both the Israeli and Palestinian people,” she said, after reiterating the US’ support for Israel. “It is with respect for Israeli and Palestinian lives that leaders must strive for peace through a negotiated two-state solution.”
Pelosi’s statement is in line with Joe Biden’s stance – but the House Leader and president have drawn criticism from progressive lawmakers and activists for their meek stance, as the death toll from Israeli airstrikes ticks up. More than 200 people, including children, have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza strip.
“Hamas exploited a volatile situation to initiate hostilities against Israel, launching more than 3,000 rockets, and as always, Israel has a right to defend herself,” Pelosi said.
Hamas attacks have killed 10.
Rashida Tlaib, a Democratic congresswoman of Michigan, has criticized Biden and his administration for blocking efforts toward a consensus UN security council resolution.
“If you support a ceasefire, then get out of the way of the UN Security Council and join other countries in demanding it,” she said on Twitter. “Apartheid-in-chief Netanyahu will not listen to anyone asking nicely. He commits war crimes and openly violates international law.”
Updated
Ordered online, assembled at home: the deadly toll of California’s ‘ghost guns’
When Brian Muhammad, a program manager at a gun violence prevention group in California, asked a 16-year-old boy in 2018 how young people were getting guns, he assumed the answer would be Nevada, the neighboring state with looser gun laws.
“Who would waste time going to Nevada when you can just get them in the mail and put it together?” the Stockton teen nonchalantly replied.
Three years later, homemade weapons known as “ghost guns” have risen to the top of the Biden administration’s policy agenda. When Joe Biden announced executive actions targeting gun violence after the mass shootings in Georgia, California and Colorado, they included steps to regulate the sale of the devices – the first time the federal government took up such efforts.
Warnings about do-it-yourself guns have steadily grown in recent years, spurred by ominous news stories describing the weapons’ use in a slew of mass shootings, domestic terrorism cases and gun trafficking busts. In California alone, homemade guns were used in a 2013 mass shooting in Santa Monica, a 2014 bank robbery in Stockton and a shooting spree in rural Tehama county that killed six in 2017. In 2019, a 16 year old killed two students and injured three others before killing himself with a ghost gun at a school in Santa Clarita. The next year, as protests over police violence filled city streets, Steven Carrillo used a homemade machine gun to shoot two security guards at a federal building in Oakland and a sheriff’s deputy in an ambush in Santa Cruz.
But as the role of ghost guns in high profile criminal cases has grown, community violence reduction workers warn of the less visible toll ghost guns are taking : ghost guns, they say, have become a hot commodity in many vulnerable communities, a trend that has only intensified during the pandemic.
The ease with which these guns can be ordered and constructed, their low cost and the difficulties in tracing them have made them readily available in many California cities, the organizers say. Their rapid spread, combined with Covid-19 limitations to the in-person contact so many violence interrupters rely on, have created a dangerous combination that is contributing to the surge in gun deaths that began last year.
“We have people buying guns on the street at a faster pace. We can’t keep up with the number of guns especially when they may be more accessible than social services for some,” said Muhammad, of the Advance Peace program, a gun violence prevention organization
Read more:
Updated
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Joe Biden criticized the Trump administration’s handling of infrastructure during a tour of a Ford electric car plant in Dearborn, Michigan. “They announced infrastructure week,” Biden said of the Trump administration. “And they announced it, and announced it, and announced it, and announced it. Every week for four years, didn’t do a damn thing.” The president demanded that Congress take action to advance his $2.3tn American Jobs Plan, which includes a major investment in the electric car sector.
- Biden was greeted in Michigan with a series of pro-Palestinian demonstrations, as protesters criticized his administration’s response to the attacks launched by Israeli forces and Hamas in Gaza. More than 200 people, most of them Palestinian, have already died in the violence.
- House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said he will oppose the bipartisan bill to form a September 11-style commission to study the Capitol insurrection. Republican congressman John Katko negotiated the bill and helped secure many of the party’s demands for the legislation, but McCarthy claimed the proposal was still insufficient. The bill is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled House tomorrow, but its fate in the evenly divided Senate remains unclear.
- The House passed the anti-Asian American hate crimes bill in a vote of 364-62. The legislation, which would create a justice department point person to expedite the review of coronavirus-related hate crimes targeting Asian Americans, already passed the Senate and will now head to Biden’s desk. The White House has said the president plans to sign the bill later this week.
- A North Carolina district attorney said sheriff’s deputies were justified in their fatal shooting of Andrew Brown Jr, a Black man. District attorney Andrew Womble said the deputies had to fire at Brown because he tried to drive his car at one of the officers. However, lawyers for Brown’s family have claimed the car was stationary when the deputies started shooting. Brown’s death last month sparked protests in North Carolina.
Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Updated
House approves anti-Asian hate crimes bill, sending it to Biden's desk
The House has just approved the anti-Asian American hate crimes bill that passed the Senate last month.
The House approved the bill in a vote of 364-62, with all the opposing votes coming from Republicans. When the Senate passed the bill last month, only one Republican – Josh Hawley of Missouri – voted against the bill.
The House voted 364-62 to pass S. 937. https://t.co/zxLVMzZPKe
— House Press Gallery (@HouseDailyPress) May 18, 2021
The bill will create a point person at the justice department to expedite the review of coronavirus-related hate crimes targeting Asian Americans and will direct federal agencies to work with community groups to raise awareness of such crimes.
The legislation was introduced following a spike in reported hate incidents against Asian Americans across the country. The text of the bill also notes that six of the eight victims in the Atlanta spa shootings were Asian women.
The bill’s passage in the House sends it to Joe Biden’s desk, and the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, has already said the president will sign it later this week.
@potus was pleased to see the House pass the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. He looks forward to signing this important legislation into law at the White House later this week.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) May 18, 2021
Updated
The Guardian’s Daniel Strauss reports from Dearborn, Michigan:
At one of the protests outside a police station here, hundreds gathered to decry the brutal treatment of Palestinians as Israeli forces and Hamas continue to exchange attacks in Gaza.
Some of the attendees blamed Joe Biden himself and cited the weapons sales that his administration has approved to Israel.
“We are a loving, welcoming people, but you are not welcome in Dearborn today,” Amer Zahr, president of the New Generation of Palestine group, said of Biden.
Attendees waved Palestinian flags and brought signs, some of which called out Biden while others argued for better treatment of Palestinians.
— Daniel Strauss (@DanielStrauss4) May 18, 2021
“I’m here to protest against the Israeli apartheid that’s happening currently, in Sheikh Jarrah, Gaza, Lid, and all over the West Bank. And Palestinians are being occupied and bombed, especially in Gaza right now,” said Zeyna Salloum, 37.
Salloum said the demonstrations were meant to make Biden “hear our voices” and pressure him to “cut the funding that is happening right now”.
Salloum brought a sign that said Biden is a war criminal. “He’s supporting the bombing of civilians with American money,” she said.
The protest, which was one of multiple gatherings that happened as Biden toured the Ford plant, came a day after the US president expressed support for a ceasefire in Gaza during a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But progressives criticized Biden for not demanding an immediate end to the violence.
Biden greeted by pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Michigan
The Guardian’s Daniel Strauss reports from Dearborn, Michigan:
As Joe Biden toured a Ford Motor Company facility to highlight his push for more electric vehicles on the road, protests erupted in parts of Michigan over the escalating violence in Gaza.
Biden toured Ford Motor Company Rouge Electric Vehicle Center on Tuesday to tout part of his American Jobs Plan that incentivizes Americans to use electric vehicles and proposes building a national network of charging stations.
Biden’s visit to the Ford plant here in Dearborn, Michigan, was no coincidence. The state and region have deep roots in the American auto industry and would be one of the primary locations for production of a new era of electric vehicles. Biden’s visit came ahead of Ford rolling out an electric version of its F-150 pickup truck, one of the company’s most iconic products.
“I just got a tour of a groundbreaking electric vehicle center here alongside UAW workers,” Biden said at the Rouge center. “They showed me the technology they’re using to build the fully electric F150. … The future of the auto industry is electric. There’s no turning back.”
While Biden tours the Ford facility pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside the Dearborn, MI police station. pic.twitter.com/WfEIOdK76s
— Daniel Strauss (@DanielStrauss4) May 18, 2021
But Biden’s visit to Michigan tout his domestic priorities came under the shadow of ongoing bombings in Gaza. Ten Israelis and 192 Palestinians have been killed as a result of the fighting.
On Monday, the Washington Post reported that in the weeks ahead of the most recent fighting, the Biden administration had quietly approved selling $735m worth of precision-guided weapons to Israel.
That fact in particular came up repeatedly at the pro-Palestinian protests in Dearborn, which has one of the largest concentrated Arab communities in the country.
Updated
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer pledged that the bill to establish a commission to study the Capitol insurrection will receive a vote on the Senate floor, despite Republican opposition.
“We’ll see what the House vote is like, but I want to be clear: I will put the January 6 commission legislation on the floor of the Senate for a vote. Period,” Schumer told reporters.
The Democratic leader’s comments came hours after House minority leader Kevin McCarthy announced he would oppose the bill when it comes up for a vote in the lower chamber tomorrow, even though Republican congressman John Katko helped craft the legislation.
“It shows how difficult it is to negotiate with Republicans if the Republican leaders are just going to throw their lead negotiators under the bus,” Schumer said of McCarthy’s opposition. “Why do they even participate in negotiations at all?”
It remains unclear whether the bill can make it through the evenly divided Senate, given that it would need to attract the support of at least 10 Republican senators to overcome a filibuster.
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said today that Republican senators are “undecided” on whether to support the bill.
Joe Biden’s expression of support for a ceasefire between Israeli forces and Hamas has not quietened calls from progressive Democrats for more decisive intervention, but may have bought some time with the centre and right of his party.
Biden was left in little doubt about the strength of feeling on the issue on Tuesday when he visited Dearborn, Michigan, home to about 40,000 Arab Americans. The route taken by his motorcade was lined by protesting crowds waving Palestinian flags.
He was greeted there by the local congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib, who has been one of the sharpest critics within the party of his response to the new surge in bloodshed in the region, and has lambasted his administration for blocking three efforts to produce a consensus UN security council resolution in the past eight days.
Administration officials have said that the White House statement on Monday saying Biden “expressed his support for a ceasefire”, following a phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu did not amount to a demand for a truce but a pledge of support if a truce was agreed.
But Biden’s language did little to satisfy Democratic progressives, who believe administration policy is conferring impunity on Netanyahu.
Ro Khanna, a California congressman, told the Guardian: “It is not enough to express support for a ceasefire. President Biden should make an unequivocal public statement demanding a ceasefire and support the UN resolution calling for one.”
Joe Biden got the chance to test-drive the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning after delivering remarks at the Michigan plant where the pick-up truck is manufactured.
White House pool reporters spotted the president behind the wheel as the trucker sped through the Ford testing site near the Dearborn facility.
Biden got behind the wheel of the all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup during a visit to Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, for a test drive that went 0-60 mph in about 4 seconds.
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) May 18, 2021
"This sucker's quick," he said pic.twitter.com/NUvnrRGf3H
“This sucker’s quick,” Biden told reporters as he came to a stop near them.
The president noted the car can go from 0 to 60 mph in about 4.4 seconds. When Biden asked for clarification on the statistic from a Ford representative, the man said the exact number wasn’t supposed to be public until the official reveal tomorrow, but he laughed that off.
A reporter asked Biden if he could answer a question on Israel while he was stopped. The president replied, “No, you can’t. Not unless you get in front of the car as I step on it. I’m only teasing.”
Updated
House speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized minority leader Kevin McCarthy for his refusal to back the 6 January commission bill even though a Republican congressman helped craft it.
“Democrats made repeated efforts to seek a bipartisan compromise. But Leader McCarthy won’t take yes for an answer,” the Democratic speaker said in a statement today.
“In his February 22 letter, he made three requests to be addressed in Democrats’ discussion draft. Every single one was granted by Democrats, yet he still says no.”
Pelosi added, “The American people expect and deserve the truth about what happened on January 6th in a manner that strengthens our Democracy and ensures that January 6th never happens again.”
The House is scheduled to vote on the bill tomorrow, and it is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled chamber, but it still faces many hurdles in the Senate.
Updated
Senate Republicans are 'undecided' on 6 January commission bill, McConnell says
Back in Washington, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said Republicans are “undecided” on whether to support the bipartisan bill to form a September 11-style commission to study the Capitol insurrection.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says Republicans are “undecided” about commission to investigate Capitol insurrection:
— The Recount (@therecount) May 18, 2021
“If it’s gonna go forward, it needs to be clearly balanced and not tilted one way or the other. So we have an objective evaluation.” pic.twitter.com/NmPZtCuGF5
“If it’s gonna go forward, it needs to be clearly balanced and not tilted one way or the other, so we have an objective evaluation,” McConnell said at a press conference on Capitol Hill.
“So I think it’s safe for you to report that we are undecided about the way forward at this point. We want to read the fine print, and if the majority leader puts it on the floor, we’ll react accordingly.”
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy announced earlier today that he will oppose the bill, even though Republican congressman John Katko helped negotiate it.
The bill is still expected to pass the Democratic-controlled House tomorrow, but it’s unclear whether it can make it through the evenly divided Senate, where Republicans will determine its fate.
Updated
Joe Biden chatted with employees of the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center after wrapping up his remarks on the need to improve America’s infrastructure.
The president could be seen exchanging some laughs and fist bumps with the autoworkers at the plant, which is manufacturing the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning.
.@POTUS greets Autoworkers after making remarks at the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan. pic.twitter.com/FUnsjMIgnS
— Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) May 18, 2021
Joe Biden concluded his remarks at the Ford plant by emphasizing that inaction is not an option when it comes to improving America’s infrastructure.
“The world is not waiting,” Biden said. “The future will be built right here in America.”
The president said that he expects to hear more details about the Republican counterproposal on infrastructure either today or tomorrow.
Biden has previously indicated he is willing to move forward on parts of his infrastructure plan with or without Republican support.
He told MSNBC last week, “I want to know what can we agree on, and let’s see if we can get an agreement to kickstart this, and then fight over what’s left, and see if I can get it done without Republicans if need be.”
Updated
Biden criticizes Trump for not doing a 'damn thing' on infrastructure
Joe Biden described his proposal to invest $174bn in electric car manufacturing as an urgent foreign policy need because of China’s current success in the sector.
“They think they’re going to win,” Biden said of China. “But I got news for them. They will not win this race.”
The president also took a swipe at his predecessor, criticizing the Trump administration for not passing an infrastructure bill despite repeatedly announcing “infrastructure week”.
“They announced infrastructure week,” Biden said. “And they announced it and announced it and announced it and announced it. Every week for four years, didn’t do a damn thing.”
The president’s remarks at the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, come as his administration continues negotiations with lawmakers of both parties over Biden’s $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan.
Updated
Biden delivers remarks on infrastructure at Ford car plant in Michigan
Joe Biden is now delivering remarks to promote his infrastructure plan and his proposed investment in electric car manufacturing at the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan.
“My name is Joe Biden, and I’m a car guy,” the president said to kick off his speech.
Biden thanked the Michigan lawmakers who welcomed him to the state, including Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The president applauded Whitmer’s courage and intelligence, and he said he would assist her in whatever way he could with her reelection race next year.
“I’ll come campaign for you or against you, whichever would help the most,” Biden joked.
The president also applauded the work of Rashida Tlaib, the progressive congresswoman who has recently criticized the Biden administration’s response to the violence in Gaza.
“I admire your intellect, I admire your passion and I admire your concern for so many people,” Biden told Tlaib, adding that he was sending his best wishes to the congresswoman’s grandmother, who lives in the West Bank.
Joe Biden is about to deliver remarks on the need to invest in electric car manufacturing at a Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan.
The president has just wrapped up a tour of the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, where the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning will be manufactured.
As plant workers explained how the electric trucks come off the assembly line, Biden could be heard saying, “I’ll be damned.”
“I’ll be damned.” — President Biden during tour of the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, MI. pic.twitter.com/GJduq2DBWh
— The Recount (@therecount) May 18, 2021
Pelosi joins Biden and Schumer in calling for Gaza ceasefire
House speaker Nancy Pelosi has joined Joe Biden and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer in calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
“Israel is our friend and ally in the Middle East with whom we have shared values. It is in the U.S. national security interest to support security in Israel,” the Democratic speaker said in a new statement.
“Hamas exploited a volatile situation to initiate hostilities against Israel, launching more than 3,000 rockets, and as always, Israel has a right to defend herself.
“Now, after more than a week of hostilities, it has become even more apparent that a ceasefire is necessary. There must be a serious effort on the part of both parties to end the violence and respect the rights of both the Israeli and Palestinian people.”
Pelosi’s statement comes a day after Biden indicated his support for a ceasefire in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, the US president stopped short of demanding an immediate end to the violence.
Asked about Biden’s stance earlier today, the White House press secretary said, “He’s been doing this long enough to know that the best way to end an international conflict is typically not to debate it in public.”
Updated
Andrew Giuliani, the son of the embattled Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, has announced he will run for New York governor in 2022.
The 35-year-old, who served as a special assistant in Trump’s White House and is a contributor to the hard-right Newsmax TV channel, made the announcement on Tuesday, declaring: “I’m a politician out of the womb.”
If successful in the Republican primary, Giuliani would take on Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic incumbent who has refused to step down despite a number of women accusing him of sexual misconduct.
The election would represent a clash of New York political dynasties. Giuliani’s father, Rudy Giuliani, served as New York mayor from 1994 to 2001. Cuomo’s father, Mario Cuomo, was governor of New York from 1983 to 1994.
“Giuliani v Cuomo. Holy smokes. Its Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier. We can sell tickets at Madison Square Garden,” Giuliani told the New York Post.
“It would be one of the epic showdowns in the state’s history.”
Val Demings set to challenge Rubio for US Senate seat
Marco Rubio avoided a Senate challenge from Ivanka Trump but he seems certain to face one from Val Demings, a Democratic Florida congresswoman who was the first Black female police chief of Orlando and who was considered as a potential vice-president to Joe Biden.
An unnamed senior adviser told Politico Demings, 64, was “98.6%” certain to run against Rubio in the midterm elections next year, in a contest which could do much to determine control of a Senate currently split 50-50.
“If I had to point to one” reason why Demings had decided to run, the adviser was quoted as saying, “I think it’s the Covid bill and the way Republicans voted against it for no good reason. That really helped push her over the edge. She also had this huge fight with [Ohio Republican representative] Jim Jordan and it brought that into focus.
“This fight is in Washington and it’s the right fight for her to continue.”
The Associated Press adds: “Demings’ three-and-a-half-year tenure as police chief could become a vulnerability in a primary where progressives could be key. Demings led a police force that has grappled with excessive-force allegations. Demings often faced calls for reforms and more transparency during her tenure, which ended in 2011.
“From 2010 to 2014, the police department faced at least 47 lawsuits against its officers and paid out more than $3.3m in damages, according to local news station WFTV. And an Orlando Sentinel investigation covering the same period found that Orlando officers used force in 5.6% of arrests more than twice the rate of some other police agencies and used force disproportionately against Black suspects.
“Demings’ defenders note she was credited with reducing violent crime in the city by 40% at the time of her retirement from the department.”
Back at Politco, Quentin James of the the Collective Pac, a Florida group working on Black voter registration, said Demings’ police background and political views would not necessarily be a handicap.
Young and progressive Floridians “aren’t really anti-police”, he said. “They’re against police brutality.”
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Joe Biden has arrived in Michigan to tour a Ford electric car facility. The president’s trip to the Dearborn plant is meant to promote his infrastructure plan, but local groups have organized protests in response to Biden’s visit due to his response to the Israeli and Hamas attacks in Gaza, which have killed more than 200 people.
- House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said he will oppose the bipartisan bill to form a September 11-style commission to study the Capitol insurrection. Republican congressman John Katko negotiated the bill and helped secure many of the party’s demands for the legislation, but McCarthy claimed the proposal was still insufficient. The bill is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled House tomorrow, but its fate in the evenly divided Senate remains unclear.
- A North Carolina district attorney said sheriff’s deputies were justified in their fatal shooting of Andrew Brown Jr, a Black man. District attorney Andrew Womble said the deputies had to fire at Brown because he tried to drive his car at one of the officers. However, lawyers for Brown’s family have claimed the car was stationary when the deputies started shooting. Brown’s death last month sparked protests in North Carolina.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
North Carolina district attorney says fatal police shooting of Andrew Brown was justified
A district attorney in North Carolina has concluded that sheriff’s deputies were justified in their actions last month, when they shot and killed Andrew Brown Jr, a Black man.
The AP reports:
District Attorney Andrew Womble said Andrew Brown Jr.‘s actions caused deputies to believe it was necessary to use deadly force. Brown ignored deputies’ commands to stop and began to drive his car directly at one of the officers, Womble told a news conference.
He said the first shot fired at Brown’s car went through the front windshield, not the back as was previously reported.
Deputies attempting to serve drug-related search and arrest warrants shot and killed Brown outside his Elizabeth City home on April 21. Three deputies involved in the shooting remain on leave, while four others who were at the scene were reinstated after the sheriff said they didn’t fire their weapons.
Lawyers for Brown’s family have previously said that his car was stationary when the deputies started shooting. The FBI has opened a civil rights investigation into Brown’s death, which sparked protests last month.
Joe Biden has arrived in Detroit, where he was greeted by two Michigan lawmakers, congresswomen Debbie Dingell and Rashida Tlaib.
The president was seen speaking to Tlaib for a few minutes after exiting Air Force One, according to a White House pool report. Asked what they discussed with the president, Dingell said, “A lot of things.” Tlaib did not respond.
The trio may have been talking about Tlaib’s forceful criticism of the administration’s response to the recent violence in Gaza, which has killed more than 200 people, most of whom were Palestinian.
.@POTUS + @SecBlinken: If you support a cease-fire, then get out of the way of the U.N. Security Council and join other countries in demanding it.
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) May 18, 2021
Apartheid-in-chief Netanyahu will not listen to anyone asking nicely. He commits war crimes and openly violates international law. https://t.co/KuDSbFStBv
Tlaib tweeted at Biden and secretary of state Antony Blinken yesterday, “If you support a cease-fire, then get out of the way of the U.N. Security Council and join other countries in demanding it.”
Referring to the Israeli prime minister, Tlaib added, “Apartheid-in-chief Netanyahu will not listen to anyone asking nicely. He commits war crimes and openly violates international law.”
During his call with Netanyahu yesterday, Biden indicated his support for a ceasefire in Gaza, but he avoided explicitly demanding an immediate end to the violence.
Peter Beaumont and Quique Kierszenbaum report:
Israeli television stations are providing security for some of their highest-profile reporters after physical attacks and death threats from far-right Jewish extremists.
According to reports in the Israeli media, the N12 channel has provided security details for four of its on-air reporters: Dana Weiss, Guy Peleg, Yonit Levi and Rina Mazliah, after a rise in online threats against them amid recent intercommunal violence.
Police have arrested one suspect in connection with threats against Weiss.
Reporters from Channel 12, Kan news and Channel 13 have been physically attacked in recent days after rightwing extremists took to the streets to target Israeli citizens of Palestinian origin in various locations.
Among them was Ayala Hasson, a journalist and presenter who was part of a TV crew assaulted in Lod with rocks last week by a group from the far-right Jewish La Familia. “La Familia wanted to smash his camera and they threw a rock the size of a boulder at me, the soundman protected me,” she said.
Sometimes diplomacy 'needs to be quiet,' White House says in response to criticism over Gaza
The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, gaggled with reporters aboard Air Force One as Joe Biden traveled to Michigan to tour a Ford electric car plant.
Psaki began the gaggle by noting that the president’s trip is meant to highlight the need to invest in the electric vehicle sector, but reporters’ questions immediately turned to Biden’s response to the attacks between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.
A reporter asked Psaki if Biden insisted that a ceasefire happen immediately when he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday.
The press secretary replied that she would leave the description of the conversation to the readout released by the White House yesterday, which said Biden “expressed his support for a ceasefire and discussed US engagement with Egypt and other partners towards that end”.
“The president’s objective is clear, which is that he wants to see an end to the violence on the ground,” Psaki said. “He’s been doing this long enough to know that the best way to end an international conflict is typically not to debate it in public.”
She added that sometimes diplomacy “needs to be quiet” to meet the objectives of those talks.
Psaki’s comments come as Israeli airstrikes and Hamas rocket attacks continue in Gaza, where more than 200 people, most of them Palestinian, have already been killed in the violence.
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One House Republican told the Hill that as many as 50 members of the GOP caucus may join Democrats in supporting the 6 January commission bill tomorrow, even after minority leader Kevin McCarthy said he would vote against it.
One House Republican estimating that between 30-50 Republicans buck McCarthy tomorrow and vote FOR the 1/6 commission.
— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) May 18, 2021
The bill was already expected to pass the Democratic-controlled House, but the true test will come when the evenly divided Senate takes up the legislation.
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Biden administration says it supports 6 January commission bill
No surprise here: the Biden administration has released a statement of administration policy saying the president supports the bipartisan bill to create a September 11-style commission to study the Capitol insurrection.
The attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on our democracy, an effort to undo the will of the American people and threaten the peaceful transition of power.
— Office of Management and Budget (@OMBPress) May 18, 2021
“The attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on our democracy, an effort to undo the will of the American people and threaten the peaceful transition of power,” the statement says.
“While the Federal Government has already begun taking action to improve the safety and security of the U.S. Capitol, the Administration supports the proposed bipartisan, independent National Commission to study and investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. The Nation deserves such a full and fair accounting to prevent future violence and strengthen the security and resilience of our democratic institutions.”
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy announced this morning that he will oppose the bill, which was negotiated by Republican congressman John Katko.
The bill will still likely pass the Democratic-controlled House when it comes up for a vote later this week, but McCarthy’s opposition indicates the hurdles that the legislation will face in the evenly divided Senate.
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House minority leader Kevin McCarthy’s decision to oppose a bill that one of his members, John Katko, helped craft may deter other congressional Republicans from working with Democrats, as a New York Times reporter noted.
Larger issue w Katko on 1/6 commission - or Scott and Bass on policing + Capito on infrastructure- is that you can’t recruit and retain good members if they not truly empowered. You can be assured that other members will see this, find it demoralizing
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) May 18, 2021
Katko, the ranking member of the House homeland security committee, worked with the Democratic chairman, Bennie Thompson, to secure many Republican requests in the bill to create a 6 January commission, but McCarthy still says the legislation is insufficient.
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If the 6 January commission bill fails to pass the Senate, Democrats will probably continue to investigate the Capitol insurrection through their leadership of congressional committees.
That leadership gives them the power to call hearings and subpoena witnesses, meaning Republicans will actually have less say in the investigations than they would have had on the committee proposed by the bill.
However, the lack of a bipartisan committee will probably make it easier for Republicans to dismiss the investigations’ findings as the result of a partisan attack strategy.
That strategy will certainly please Donald Trump, who praised the Capitol insurrectionists as the attack unfolded and has continued to spread the lies of election fraud that incited the riot.
McCarthy may also be betting that it will be easier to take back the House next year without a bipartisan commission releasing findings on a deadly attack launched by a group of Trump’s supporters, as an NBC News reporter noted.
Every day House GOP spends talking about January 6th is a bad day for them in terms of taking back the House majority. The calculation here may be as simple as: A meaty commission report coming out at the beginning of '22 hurts that effort.
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) May 18, 2021
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House minority leader Kevin McCarthy’s opposition to the 6 January bill will present a problem for Republican congressman John Katko, who helped negotiate the bipartisan proposal.
Katko, the ranking member of the House homeland security committee, worked with Democratic chairman Bennie Thompson to reach a deal on the bill.
Democrats agreed to most of Republicans’ demanded changes to the original proposal, including making the 10-person commission evenly divided between the two parties.
However, moments after Katko and Thompson announced that a deal had been reached on Friday, McCarthy signaled he had not yet decided whether he would support the revised bill.
“You’ve got to look at what the buildup [was] before and what has gone on afterwards, otherwise the commission does not work,” McCarthy said on Friday.
With McCarthy voting against the bill, many House Republicans will likely do the same.
The vote will throw another harsh spotlight on the divisions within the House Republican caucus, just a week after members ousted Liz Cheney as conference chair over her criticism of Donald Trump and his lies about election fraud, which incited the Capitol insurrection in the first place.
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McCarthy says he will oppose bipartisan bill to form 6 January commission
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy has just released a statement announcing he will oppose the bipartisan bill to form a September 11-style commission to study the Capitol insurrection.
The Republican leader argued that the commission would be “duplicative and potentially counterproductive” because of the other existing investigations into the 6 January attack.
“While the Speaker has wasted time playing political games, numerous Congressional and intergovernmental agency efforts have picked up the slack,” McCarthy said.
.@GOPLeader out with a new statement this morning OPPOSING the bipartisan deal struck by Katko & Thompson on a Jan. 6 commission pic.twitter.com/FIVQPA1xEv
— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) May 18, 2021
McCarthy also criticized Democrats for ignoring “the political violence that has struck American cities, a Republican Congressional baseball practice, and, most recently, the deadly attack on Capitol Police on April 2, 2021”.
“Given the political misdirections that have marred this process, given the now duplicative and potentially counterproductive nature of this effort, and given the Speaker’s shortsighted scope that does not examine interrelated forms of political violence in America, I cannot support this legislation,” he concluded.
The bipartisan bill is expected to come up for a vote this week, and it will likely still pass the Democratic-controlled House. However, McCarthy’s stance demonstrates that it may be difficult to get the legislation through the evenly divided Senate.
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If the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, wanted to symbolise the Joe Biden administration’s determination not to become embroiled in the Israel-Palestine issue, he could not have timed better his current trip to Copenhagen, Reykjavik and Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.
Important discussions on the Arctic and the climate crisis may be on the agenda, but the chilly north is a distance from the tunnels, rocket fire and screams of those suffering in the latest war in the Middle East.
It may well be that in his numerous calls to key regional actors on the plane to Denmark Blinken made more progress in inching Israel, and Hamas, towards a ceasefire the US had been reluctant to demand in public.
But an impasse at the UN security council, where the US has opposed any move towards a resolution calling for a ceasefire, has left the European Union pondering the extent to which the new administration, at least when it comes to Israel, is truly different from its predecessor, and asking how the US can be persuaded to be less phobic about expending capital in the search for peace in the Middle East.
Joe Biden had another call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, as Israel and Hamas continued to engage in violent attacks in Gaza that have already killed more than 200 people, most of them Palestinian.
In the conversation, the US president indicated he supported a ceasefire in Gaza, but he avoided explicitly calling for an end to the violence.
“The president reiterated his firm support for Israel’s right to defend itself against indiscriminate rocket attacks,” the White House statement said in readout of the call.
“He encouraged Israel to make every effort to ensure the protection of innocent civilians. The two leaders discussed progress in Israel’s military operations against Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza. The president expressed his support for a ceasefire and discussed US engagement with Egypt and other partners towards that end.”
Biden to travel to Michigan to promote infrastructure plan amid criticism of Gaza response
Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.
Joe Biden will travel to Dearborn, Michigan, today to tour the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center and deliver remarks at the plant.
The trip marks the president’s latest effort to promote his $2.3tn infrastructure plan as he continues to negotiate with Republicans over the proposal.
Biden has called for a $174bn investment in the electric vehicle industry to create US jobs and lead the world in a sector that is viewed as crucial to decreasing carbon emissions.
However, the president’s trip may not be as promotional as he had originally hoped. The Detroit Free Press reports that a group of Arab-American residents plan to protest Biden’s visit because of his recent comments about the violence in Gaza:
The protests are set for 10am at the American Moslem Society mosque in Dearborn that sits close to the Ford Rouge plant, 1pm outside the Dearborn Police station on Michigan Ave. and 1.30pm in Lapeer Park in Dearborn. Different Arab American groups are organizing the various protests.
The demonstrations would be the latest of several held in Dearborn over the past week as Arab American activists in Michigan are outraged by Biden’s support of Israel over its attacks in Jerusalem and Gaza, where more than 200 have been killed, most of them Palestinians. Dearborn is 47% Arab American, most of them Muslim, the highest percentage among cities in the US. Israeli officials maintain they are defending themselves from Hamas rocket attacks and violence from some Palestinian extremists.
The president will soon leave for Michigan, and the blog will have more details on the trip as it unfolds, so stay tuned.
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