Today's politics recap
- Joe Biden visited Kentucky to survey damage from the tornadoes that swept through the state on Friday, which killed at least 74 people. The president said the federal government would cover 100% of the costs related to the first 30 days of Kentucky’s tornado response. “I intend to do whatever it takes, as long as it takes – as long as it takes – to support your state, your local leaders, as you recover and rebuild,” Biden said in Dawson Springs this afternoon. “Because you will recover and you will rebuild.”
- Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer is considering delaying passage of the Build Back Better Act to focus on voting rights legislation, according to multiple reports. Democrats had originally hoped to pass the Build Back Better Act before the end of the year, but negotiations over the $1.75tn spending package have dragged on, as centrist Joe Manchin has voiced criticism of the bill’s price tag.
- Manchin has been meeting with other Senate Democrats to discuss potential filibuster rule changes that would allow voting rights legislation to advance. Senate Republicans have repeatedly used the filibuster to block voting rights bills from moving forward. Potential ideas for filibuster reform include requiring senators to actually talk and hold the Senate floor while filibustering or designating voting rights as an issue not subject to the filibuster.
- Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty to two counts of violating George Floyd’s civil rights. The change in Chauvin’s plea comes a year and a half after the former Minneapolis police officer murdered Floyd by keeping his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes.
- The Omicron variant now represents 3% of all coronavirus cases in the US, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at a press briefing today. Dr Rochelle Walensky added that Omicron cases have now been reported in 36 US states.
– Maanvi Singh and Joan E Greve
Updated
The National Archives released a trove of 1,500 documents related the 1963 assassination of John F Kennedy.
From the AP:
The disclosure of secret cables, internal memos and other documents satisfies a deadline set in October by Joe Biden and is in keeping with a federal statute that calls for the release of records in the government’s possession. Additional documents are expected to be made public next year.
There was no immediate indication that the records contained revelations that could radically reshape the public’s understanding of the events surrounding the 22 November 1963 assassination of Kennedy in Dallas at the hands of Lee Harvey Oswald.
But the latest tranche of documents was nonetheless eagerly anticipated by historians and others who, decades after the Kennedy killing, remain skeptical that, at the height of the cold war, a troubled young man with a mail-order rifle was solely responsible for an assassination that changed the course of American history.
The documents include CIA cables and memos discussing Oswald’s previously disclosed but never fully explained visits to the Soviet and Cuban embassies in Mexico City as well as discussion, in the days after the assassination, of the potential of Cuban involvement in the killing of Kennedy.
Read more:
Revealed: LAPD used ‘strategic communications’ firm to track ‘defund the police’ online
Sam Levin and Johana Bhuiyan report:
The Los Angeles police department worked with a Polish firm that specializes in “strategic communications” to monitor social media and collect millions of tweets last year, including thousands related to Black Lives Matter and “defund the police”, according to records reviewed by the Guardian.
Internal LAPD documents, obtained by the Brennan Center for Justice through public records requests, reveal that the department conducted a one-month trial of social media monitoring software from Edge NPD, a company that typically worked in advertising and marketing, had no prior experience contracting with law enforcement and was based thousands of miles away in Warsaw, Poland.
During the trial in fall 2020, Edge NPD tracked tweets on roughly 200 keywords for LAPD, the records show. In the process, the software collected millions of tweets, according to Edge NPD’s CEO, Dobromir Cias. The data set included tens of thousands of tweets related to Black Lives Matter and racial justice protests, some of them from prominent Black activists outside LA and private civilians advocating for reforms, the files show.
The records suggest that LAPD was interested in using the company’s services in part to help the department respond to “negative narratives”. Cias told the Guardian the company also aimed to flag possible threats.
Read more:
Guardian staff:
Joe Biden has nominated Caroline Kennedy, daughter of John F Kennedy, to be the US ambassador to Australia.
Kennedy, 63, a member of one of America’s most famous political families, has long been considered a leading candidate for a high-profile envoy position after she threw her support behind Biden’s presidential campaign.
In a statement, Kennedy called Australia “a country that is as vital to our future security and prosperity.”
She added: “I look forward to collaborating with the government of Australia to strengthen our alliance, improve global health and increase vaccine access during this terrible pandemic and to address the urgent climate crisis. I am excited to get to know the Australian people, learn about their fascinating country and share with them what I love most about America.”
Kennedy previously served as US ambassador to Japan under Barack Obama, from 2013 to 2010. She was the first female US ambassador to Japan and in a statement announcing the new position in Australia, the White House lauded her work there.
“She advanced the realignment of US Forces in Okinawa, promoted women’s empowerment in Japan, and increased student exchange between the US and Japan,” it said. “In 2017, she founded the International Poetry Exchange Project to virtually connect students in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and the Bronx through the power of the spoken word.”
Last month Kennedy was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun, the highest Japanese honor for which foreigners are eligible.
Kennedy was an important supporter of Biden in his campaign to be president. In a Boston Globe editorial to announce her endorsement, Kennedy praised Biden for his public service over his long career as a public servant and recalled him visiting Tokyo while she was ambassador.
Read more:
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 visited Kentucky to survey damage from the tornadoes that swept through the state on Friday, which killed at least 74 people. The president said the federal government would cover 100% of the costs related to the first 30 days of Kentucky’s tornado response. “I intend to do whatever it takes, as long as it takes – as long as it takes – to support your state, your local leaders, as you recover and rebuild,” Biden said in Dawson Springs this afternoon. “Because you will recover and you will rebuild.”
- Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer is considering delaying passage of the Build Back Better Act to focus on voting rights legislation, according to multiple reports. Democrats had originally hoped to pass the Build Back Better Act before the end of the year, but negotiations over the $1.75tn spending package have dragged on, as centrist Joe Manchin has voiced criticism of the bill’s price tag.
- Manchin has been meeting with other Senate Democrats to discuss potential filibuster rule changes that would allow voting rights legislation to advance. Senate Republicans have repeatedly used the filibuster to block voting rights bills from moving forward. Potential ideas for filibuster reform include requiring senators to actually talk and hold the Senate floor while filibustering or designating voting rights as an issue not subject to the filibuster.
- Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty to two counts of violating George Floyd’s civil rights. The change in Chauvin’s plea comes a year and a half after the former Minneapolis police officer murdered Floyd by keeping his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes.
- The Omicron variant now represents 3% of all coronavirus cases in the US, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at a press briefing today. Dr Rochelle Walensky added that Omicron cases have now been reported in 36 US states.
Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Updated
After delivering his prepared remarks in Kentucky, a journalist asked Joe Biden about reports that Senate Democrats will shift focus to voting rights and delay passage of their Build Back Better Act until 2022.
“If we can get the congressional voting rights done, we should do it. If we can’t, we’ve got to keep going. There’s nothing domestically more important than voting rights,” Biden said, per the Washington Post.
NEW: Just asked Pres. Biden whether cong Ds should move to voting rights & put off BBB to‘22. He said:
— Sean Sullivan (@WaPoSean) December 15, 2021
“If we can get the congressional voting rights done, we should do it. If we can’t, we’ve got to keep going. There’s nothing domestically more important than voting rights.”
Biden’s comments come as Democrats struggle to reach a final deal with centrist Senator Joe Manchin on their $1.75tn spending package, which they had originally hoped to pass before the end of the year.
Manchin has been meeting with other moderate Democratic senators to discuss potential filibuster rule changes to help voting rights legislation advance without Republican support.
Biden says federal government will cover 100% of costs for first 30 days of Kentucky recovery
Speaking in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, Joe Biden pledged to provide all federal assistance necessary to help the community rebuild after the deadly tornadoes last week.
“I intend to do whatever it takes, as long as it takes – as long as it takes – to support your state, your local leaders, as you recover and rebuild. Because you will recover and you will rebuild,” Biden said.
Pres. Biden to the Kentucky communities devastated by tornadoes: "I promise you: you're going to heal, we're going to recover, going to rebuild and you're going to be stronger than you were before. We're going to build back better than it was. " pic.twitter.com/82xtG04J8v
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 15, 2021
Four Fema search and rescue teams have already been deployed to Kentucky, Biden noted, and the agency has also provided 61 generators for those without power.
The president also announced that the federal government would be covering 100% of the costs related to the first 30 days of tornado recovery in Kentucky.
“I promise you: you’re going to heal. We’re going to recover. You’re going to rebuild. You’re going to be stronger than you were before. We’re going to build back better than it was,” Biden said.
Updated
Biden speaks in Kentucky after tornadoes kill at least 74
Joe Biden is now speaking in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, on his administration’s response to the tornadoes that swept through the state late Friday and early Saturday.
The president was introduced by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, who thanked Biden for his swift approval of the state’s major disaster declaration.
The governor’s voice shook with emotion as he recounted how, as a child, he spent Christmases with family not too far from where he was speaking.
“This town is part of who I am,” Beshear said. “To me, this was always a safe place. Bad things did not happen here – until Saturday.”
Updated
One source told Politico that the negotiations between Joe Biden and Joe Manchin over the Build Back Better Act are not going well.
“The talks between [Biden] and Manchin have been going very poorly. They are far apart,” the source said.
Democrats’ hopes of passing the bill before Christmas are rapidly diminishing, meaning families likely will not get checks from the expanded child tax credit program next month.
Joe Manchin became ... a bit frustrated today when a journalist asked him to respond to the report that he has voiced criticism of the proposal to include the expanded child tax credit program in Democrats’ Build Back Better Act.
“This is bullshit,” Manchin told a HuffPost reporter. “You’re bullshit.”
It’s seeming increasingly unlikely that Congress will be able to pass the $1.75tn spending package before the end of the year, so families may not receive checks from the expanded child tax credit program next month.
Potential ideas for filibuster reform include requiring senators to actually talk and hold the Senate floor while filibustering (they don’t currently have to) or designating voting rights as an issue not subject to the filibuster.
Black leaders are expected to push the White House to be more vocal in its support for the voting rights measures. There is already widespread frustration that the White House is not putting enough political muscle behind the issue.
There is a narrowing window to get the bills through Congress and doing so would be a major victory for Joe Biden to end his first year in office.
“It’s absolutely critical that we pass federal voting rights protections by the end of the year. Anything short of that would be a failure for our democracy. Let’s get it done. The clock is ticking,” said Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP, after a meeting with senators on Wednesday.
Updated
Senators meet with Joe Manchin to negotiate on filibuster
The push to move forward on voting rights comes as a group of senators, including Angus King of Maine, Jon Tester of Montana, and Tim Kaine of Virginia, have been meeting with Joe Manchin to try and figure out a path forward on the filibuster.
Schumer is still holding out hope for action on voting rights this year, multiple sources tell us. They are hoping for agreement on a rules change between four moderates who have been meeting - Tester, Kaine, King and Manchin 2/
— Leigh Ann Caldwell (@LACaldwellDC) December 15, 2021
.@SenSanders told reporters its more important to get voting rights bill thru Senate than BBB
— John Bresnahan (@bresreports) December 15, 2021
It’s unclear if a deal might come together before the end of the year. Democrats have already signaled they expect negotiations to carry over into January.
Manchin is a staunch supporter of the filibuster rule, and any changes are likely to keep it in place, while giving Democrats room to pass voting rights legislation.
Democrats made a similar carve-out this week for raising the debt ceiling, a move that prompted Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, to call for similar action on voting rights.
Updated
Schumer looks to take up voting rights bill before Christmas - reports
As it becomes increasingly less likely that the Senate will be able to vote on the Build Back Better Act this month, majority leader Chuck Schumer is now hoping to take up a voting rights bill before Christmas.
NBC News reports:
The Senate was scheduled to have already headed home for the Christmas holiday, but sources say Schumer isn’t ready to tell them to leave Washington, yet.
Schumer is instead hoping to take action on voting rights that has stalled in the chamber, multiple sources said. That legislation — which failed to get any Republican support and therefore could not clear the needed 60 vote threshold.
Senate Democrats are discussing changing the rules to allow for passage on a 50-vote majority, a move that remains uncertain. A group of four moderate Democrats, including [centrist Senator Joe Manchin], have held numerous meetings in the past several days to discuss a possible rule change. Additional meetings are planned for Wednesday.
The expanded child tax credit has reportedly become a sticking point in Democrats’ talks over the Build Back Better Act, as the party races to pass the $1.75tn spending package before the end of the year.
The Washington Post reports:
A push by Senate Democrats to pass a roughly $2 trillion tax-and-spending measure before Christmas appeared in new political peril on Wednesday, as talks soured between President Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) over the size and scope of the package.
The gaps between the two sides remain immense, with Biden seeking to safeguard his economic agenda from significant cuts while Manchin continues to insist on steep spending reductions, according to three people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to describe the sensitive negotiations. The sticking points include the fate of the expanded child tax credit, one of the sources said, a Democratic priority that Manchin hopes to defund or limit considerably in the bill. ...
The plussed-up payments are set to expire at the end of this year unless lawmakers reauthorize it as part of their broader package, known as the Build Back Better Act. This has prompted Democrats across the Capitol this week to call for swift action to prevent a lapse in benefits starting in January. But their urgent requests do not appear to have budged Manchin, who previously has expressed general skepticism about approving aid that sends more checks directly to Americans.
When asked about the report, Manchin told reporters on Capitol Hill this afternoon, “I’m not opposed to the child tax credit.”
However, as CNN notes, the centrist senator did not specify whether he would prefer the expanded child tax credit program to be taken out of the Build Back Better Act.
Manchin did not deny that he wants the child tax credit out of BBB. He told reporters that he’s “always” for the child tax credit. “I’m not opposed to the child tax credit.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 15, 2021
But he would not comment when asked if he wants it out of the BBB bill and for it to move separately
Senate passes NDAA, sending defense bill to Biden's desk
Over on Capitol Hill, the Senate has passed the National Defense Authorization Act, sending the annual funding bill to Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.
The final Senate vote was 88 to 11, with three Republicans and eight Democrats opposing the legislation.
The bill includes a 2.7% pay increase for troops, an overhaul of the military justice system aimed at combating sexual assaults and $300 million in aid to the Ukrainian Security Assistance Initiative, among other provisions.
Vote Record Update: Agreed to, 88-11: Motion to concur in the House amendment to S.1605, National Defense Authorization Act for FY2022. https://t.co/LVqSUFNzxc
— Senate Cloakroom (@SenateCloakroom) December 15, 2021
One of the eight Democrats who voted against the bill was Kirsten Gillibrand, who has lobbied for years to overhaul the military justice system and felt that the final version of the bill did not go far enough to ensure justice for sexual assault survivors.
“This bill represents a major setback on behalf of service members, women and survivors in particular,” Gilllibrand said in a statement last week.
“However, we will not stop seeking true military justice reforms for our brave service members and I will continue to call for an up or down floor vote.”
'I haven't seen this much damage from a tornado' - Biden in Kentucky
Joe Biden is visiting the parts of Kentucky hardest hit by the record tornado that roared through last Friday night as one of dozens of twisters that left hundreds of miles of death and destruction.
The US president traveled to the state from the White House this morning and is in Mayfield, the small city of around 10,000 residents that was wrecked by the largest of the twisters, including the leveling of a candle factory by winds up to 200mph, where workers died.
“I have not seen this much damage from a tornado,” Biden said. He met with Kentucky governor Andy Beshear and told local officials: “Don’t hesitate to ask for anything” from the federal government.
Biden said at the weekend that he would not travel to the state immediately so as not to distract officials or get in the way of frantic rescue and recovery efforts. Federal officials went to the state, including from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
I’m in Kentucky today to meet with local leaders and to survey the damage from the tornadoes and extreme weather. It will take all of us, working together, to recover and begin rebuilding — and we are committed to providing whatever support is needed for however long it takes.
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 15, 2021
The tornadoes killed at least 74 in Kentucky and another 14 people were killed in other states, including workers at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois.
Beshear said those killed in Kentucky included a dozen children and, in addition, more than 100 people remain unaccounted for and he expects the death toll to rise.
Biden has repeatedly emphasized that there should be no politics in dealing with the aftermath.
“There’s no red tornadoes, there’s no blue tornadoes,” the president said.
Updated
New York City mayor-elect Eric Adams named Keechant Sewell, a Long Island police official, as the city’s next police commissioner, making her the first woman to lead the nation’s largest police force.
Adams, himself a former New York police captain, introduced Sewell on Wednesday as his barrier-breaking choice for one of the most high-profile and powerful jobs in his upcoming administration, the Associated Press said.
The AP further reported:
“She’s the woman for the job,” Adams declared as he appeared with Sewell at a news conference in her native New York city borough of Queens.
“She carried with her throughout her career a sledgehammer and she crushed every glass ceiling that was put in her way,” Adams said. “Today, she has crashed and destroyed the final one we need in New York City.”
Sewell, who serves as the Nassau County Police Chief of Detectives, will be the third Black person to serve as New York Police Department commissioner. The 49-year-old will replace Dermot Shea. She’ll begin when Adams takes office January 1.
Adams praised Sewell for her “emotional intelligence,” describing her as “calm, collected, confident” and someone who had risen through the ranks.
It has been decades since a Black person ran the NYPD, with Benjamin Ward and Lee Brown, who served in the 1980s and 1990s, preceding Sewell. She will inherit a police department in flux. The NYPD has struggled to keep crime down a few years after achieving record lows.
The rise, particularly in shootings and killings, is part of a national trend in the wake of the pandemic.
Sewell said she will be “laser-focused on violent crime,” with a particular emphasis on gun crimes.
“We are in a pivotal moment in New York as our city faces the twin challenge of public safety and police accountability. They are not mutually exclusive,” Sewell said earlier today.
Adams, the cofounder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, an advocacy group that sought criminal justice reform and spoke out against police brutality, has pledged new strategies to fight crime, including the return of foot patrols.
He has pushed back against progressive calls to defund the police and has defended the controversial stop-and-frisk police strategy as a useful tool that has been abused. He has also pledged to diversify the NYPD’s ranks.
Among about 35,000 uniformed members of the department, about 45% are white, 30% are Hispanic, 15% are Black and 10% are Asian.
Sewell was named Nassau’s Chief of Detectives in September 2020 overseeing a staff of about 350 people. The NYPD has about 35,000 officers.
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Joe Biden has arrived in Kentucky to survey the damage from the tornadoes that swept through the state on Friday, which killed at least 74 people. The president is taking an aerial tour of Mayfield, one of the communities that suffered the most damage from the storms, and receiving a briefing from local officials before delivering remarks this afternoon.
- Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty to two counts of violating George Floyd’s civil rights. The change in Chauvin’s plea comes a year and a half after the former Minneapolis police officer murdered Floyd by keeping his knee on the Black man’s neck for several minutes.
- The Omicron variant now represents 3% of all coronavirus cases in the US, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at a press briefing today. Dr Rochelle Walensky added that Omicron cases have now been reported in 36 US states.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Biden arrives in Kentucky to survey tornado damage
Joe Biden has arrived in Kentucky to survey the damage wrought by the tornadoes that swept through the state on Friday and killed at least 74 people.
Biden was greeted at Ft Campbell Airport by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, First Lady Britainy Beshear and former Governor Steve Beshear, who is the father of Andy.
The president is taking an aerial tour of Mayfield, one of the communities that suffered the most damage from the tornadoes, before receiving a briefing from local officials.
Later this afternoon, Biden will deliver remarks on the federal government’s response to the tornadoes and other forms of extreme weather. He has already approved a major disaster declaration in Kentucky.
That’s still coming up, so stay tuned.
The White House Covid team has told the American public that
“there is no need to lockdown” the country amid the spread of the Omicron variant, but that getting vaccinated and taking booster shots is essential.
Jeff Zients, White House coronavirus response coordinator, and CDC director Rochelle Walensky both remarked at the briefing just now how the government and the public have “far more tools” to fight Covid that everyone had a year ago.
It’s been a year since the first person in the US was officially vaccinated after the first vaccine was given emergency use authorization by the federal regulator following successful testing - when a New York City intensive care unit nurse, Sandra Lindsay, got the shot. At that point, 300,000 people in the US had already been killed by Covid, a figure which has now reached 800,000.
Zients said that 95% of Americans are eligible to be vaccinated and that should be the route everyone chooses to protect against the virus.
“We know how to keep our kids in school, and businesses open and we are not going to shut down our economy in any way,” he said.
A reporter at the press briefing asked how worried, in the overall sense,a weary public should be about the pandemic, a winter surge and Omicron, given the data that it is spreading fast but perhaps is milder than the Delta strain.
Chief medical adviser to the president, Anthony Fauci, put it bluntly.
“If you are unvaccinated, you are very vulnerable, not only to the Delta surge we are currently experiencing but also to Omicron,” he said.
About early reports of the effects of Omicron being milder than previous strains, Fauci said that, if you are unvaccinated, it did not matter, you are vulnerable.
He added it was difficult to “read the tea leaves”, but the public should do what the officials keep saying, using the tools of, particularly, vaccinations and boosters, as well as using mask indoors with crowds. Fauci said last week he wears a mask indoors if he’s at gatherings with people whose vaccination status he does not know.
“If we did not have these tools I would be telling you to really, really be worried. So get vaccinated, get boosted...we take this very seriously,” he said.
Updated
CDC: Omicron variant now represents 3% of cases in US
A press briefing is now underway by the White House Covid-19 response team and related public health officials.
Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Protection, said that cases of the Omicron variant of Covid have now been reported in 36 US states – and 75 countries around the world.
The Delta variant, which emerged last spring and took hold over the summer to become the dominant source of infections in the US, still accounts for 96% of Covid cases across the country, Walensky said.
Omicron, which was identified just a few weeks ago, now represents 3% of US coronavirus cases, she said. Omicron is estimated to account for higher percentages in some areas, however, particularly New York and New Jersey, where it’s about 13% of all cases.
Walensky noted the tragedy that 800,000 people in the US have now died from coronavirus, since the pandemic reached the country in January, 2020.
Omicron spreads more easily and quickly than Delta, which itself was a lot more contagious than the first strains of the highly-contagious Covid-19 virus.
“It’s vital for everyone to get vaccinated and get boosted and continue to be vigilant,” Walensky said.
Booster shots give the best protection against catching the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
Walensky said 200 million Americans are now vaccinated and 55 million have received booster shots.
“When boosters are used, that protection works,” Walensky said.
Walensky said that US nursing home residents who have received a booster vaccine dose have a rate of catching Covid that is 10 times lower than those who have not been boosted, or are unvaccinateed.
Chief medical adviser to Joe Biden, Anthony Fauci, said that at this point in the pandemic there is no need for a variant-specific booster shot – the existing booster shots are effective against Omicron.
Updated
Chauvin pleads guilty to violating Floyd's civil rights
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has admitted this morning to violating George Floyd’s civil rights during the arrest that killed Floyd in May 2020, sparking mass racial justice protests across the US and beyond.
Chauvin appeared in federal court in person to change his former denials to a plea of guilty.
He is charged with two counts of depriving Floyd of his rights, for pinning his knee against Floyd’s neck as he held him on the ground during an arrest attempt while the Black man said repeatedly that he couldn’t breathe and cried out for help.
The charges also involve Chauvin’s failing to provide medical care to Floyd during the encounter, in which he was joined by three other Minneapolis officers, on 25 May 2020 in actions that resulted in Floyd’s death.
Chauvin, who is white, has already been convicted of state murder and manslaughter charges in April this year.
Chauvin is serving 22.5 years for murdering Floyd. His three fellow police officers, who were also arrested and fired after Floyd died, are due to stand trial later this year.
Updated
Former Trump aide John McEntee and Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the far-right Proud Boys group, were supposed to be deposed today by the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.
Those depositions have now been postponed, per NBC News:
Former Trump aide John McEntee and Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio’s depositions with the January 6th Committee — slated for today — are POSTPONED, per a cmte aide.
— Ali Vitali (@alivitali) December 15, 2021
The committee subpoenaed both McEntee and Tarrio last month. According to the committee’s statements, investigators wanted to ask McEntee about his participation in an Oval Office meeting where the president and his advisers discussed seizing voting motions in Georgia.
Tarrio was chairman of the Proud Boys at the time of the insurrection and the committee was looking for details on his group’s involvement in the planning of the events on 6 January.
Updated
Meanwhile, Democrats’ negotiations over the Build Back Better Act continue, as party leaders hope to pass the $1.75tn spending package before the end of the year.
Centrist Senator Joe Manchin, the most significant holdout in the talks, met with Joe Biden on Monday to discuss his remaining concerns about the bill.
Asked about Democrats’ progress, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said this morning, “The president and Senator Manchin are having many discussions, and we’re waiting to see the outcome of those.”
If Democrats cannot pass the bill before the end of the year, families may not receive checks next month from the expanded child tax credit program, which has become a lifeline for many Americans.
Updated
The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack has amassed a huge trove of evidence as it seeks to connect the Trump White House to the 6 January insurrection, three months after it issued its first subpoenas to the former president’s most senior administration officials.
The select committee revealed on Monday that members had reviewed thousands of documents turned over by Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, which showed the White House played a far more substantial role in overturning the 2020 election than previously known.
But those communications and other documents that Meadows turned over represent just a small sample of evidence potentially incriminating the Trump White House collected since September.
The committee expects this week to depose more top aides, including the Trump justice department official Jeffrey Clark, from whom they hope to learn more about Trump’s efforts to reinstall himself as president – even if Clark invokes his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination.
That hope stems from the fact that Clark agreed to appear for a deposition just moments before the select committee would have recommended his prosecution for defying a subpoena – a circumstance that members believe means he will cooperate.
Bennie Thompson, the panel chair, said on Monday that after depositions this week, the panel was on track to interview more than 300 witnesses and add to the more than 30,000 documents already turned over.
Joe Biden took a few questions from reporters as he left the White House to start his trip to Kentucky, where he will survey tornado damage.
Asked whether he believes the Build Back Better Act can still pass Congress before the end of the year, Biden said, “I hope so. It’s going to be close.”
Another reporter asked Biden about the House vote to refer Mark Meadows to the justice department for potential contempt charges, after the former chief of staff to Donald Trump defied a subpoena from the select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.
“I don’t know enough with what — just what I’ve seen; I’ve not spoken to anyone,” Biden said. “It seems to me he is worthy of being held in contempt.”
Workers at a Kentucky candle factory have said they pleaded with managers to be allowed to leave as a deadly tornado barreled towards them last weekend – but say they were told they would be fired if they left their posts.
The barrage of tornadoes that tore through Kentucky and surrounding states killed a dozen children, including a two-month-old infant, Governor Andy Beshear said on Tuesday. A total of 74 people died in Kentucky, with the oldest victim at 98 years old. Eight people have yet to be identified. More than 18,000 homes remained without power on Tuesday.
Beshear said the storms produced “the strongest set of tornadoes that we have ever seen in Kentucky and what we believe will probably be one of the most devastating tornado events in US history”.
The fatalities included eight at a candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, that was reduced to rubble. Deaths at the candle factory were initially feared to be much higher, but a company spokesman said on Monday that the remaining 102 workers on duty at the time are alive and have been accounted for.
Biden to visit Kentucky after tornado kills 74 residents
Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.
Joe Biden will visit Kentucky today to survey damage from the tornadoes that swept through the state on Friday and killed at least 74 people.
According to the White House schedule, the president will take an aerial tour of the hard-hit community of Mayfield and receive a briefing from local leaders before visiting some of the neighborhoods impacted by the tornadoes.
Later in the afternoon, Biden will also deliver remarks on his administration’s response to tornadoes and other forms of extreme weather.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Biden said, “I want you to know that this administration has made it clear to every governor: whatever they need, when they need it. When they need it, make it known to me and we’ll get it to them as rapidly as we can.”
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
