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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Sam Levin in San Francisco (now) and Sabrina Siddiqui in Washington (earlier)

Trump reportedly considering far-right candidates for 'border czar' role – live

‘I want it known that this is a systematic, it’s a office issue, and we’re not a political office, but these decisions were being continuously overrode,” Tricia Newbold said.
A whistleblower told members of Congress that the White House had overturned more than two dozen denials of security clearances. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Summary

We’re ending our live coverage for the day - thanks for following along! Here are some of the key events of the day:

  • Joe Biden faced renewed scrutiny over his conduct toward women and claims of inappropriate touching, prompting some prominent people to come to his defense.
  • Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, Tom Carper and other Democrats brushed off questions about Biden, while some of their colleagues, including Kirsten Gillibrand and Mazie Hirono, were more critical.
  • Eight Democrats running for president spoke to progressive activists at a Washington DC forum.
  • Beto O’Rourke vowed mandatory monthly town halls for cabinet officials, and Bernie Sanders said he supported rotating judges onto the Supreme Court as a way to bring in “new blood”.
  • Democrats in the Senate announced they will introduce a constitutional amendment to do away with the electoral college.
  • The White House came under fire again over its security clearances process, after a whistleblower told Congress she knows of more than two dozen instances in which the Trump administration overruled intelligence officials and gave top-level clearance to individuals whose applications were denied.
  • A report suggested that Donald Trump is weighing a “border czar” as he picks another fight over immigration.
  • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised more then $90,000 in 24 hours for progressive Democrats.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi has answered questions about the claims of inappropriate touching by Joe Biden, saying, “No. No, I do not,” when reporters asked her if the allegations would disqualify him from being president:

I don’t think that this disqualifies him from being president ... Not at all.”

Here’s Trump earlier today, saying son-in-law Jared Kushner “had a very easy life” that became much harder when he decided “to do peace in the Middle East”.

The president made the remarks amid growing backlash to the reports that Trump personally intervened to grant Kushner, his senior advisor, a top-level security clearance, despite warnings from senior intelligence officials.

Emergency aid bill defeated over lack of funding for Puerto Rico

Senate Democrats have blocked an emergency aid bill for natural disaster victims, arguing that the proposed funding for relief in Puerto Rico for Hurricane Maria was inadequate.

Dianne Feinstein defends Joe Biden

Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic senator from California, has defended Joe Biden in the face of a number of allegations of inappropriate conduct, reports the Wall Street Journal’s Natalie Andrews:

Some have noted that this stance is in contrast to other Democratic senators:

Tom Carper, a Democratic senator from Delaware, also offered a defense of Biden:

Mazie Hirono and Kirsten Gillibrand were more critical:

More from Lauren Gambino on the We The People forum:

At the first 2020 cattle call for Democratic hopefuls, the candidates went back — sometimes all the way back to 1776.

At the We The People forum in Washington, co-hosted by a coalition of liberal organizations, Democrats and activists focused on sweeping democratic reforms to improve transparency and accountability. The ultimate goal, they said, was to create a government that moved toward the founders’ ideal of a “more perfect union”.

Pointing to the Trump administration as a “symptom and not the cause” of a government captured by corporate interests and carved up along partisan lines that don’t reflect the will of the majority, liberal activists peppered the candidates with questions about abolishing the electoral college, retiring voting rights and reforming the Supreme Court. The forum brought out eight of the Democratic candidates.

Some came with their own ideas. Beto O’Rourke proposed an executive order that would require every member of his cabinet to hold monthly town halls. He also embraced ending the electoral college.

Elizabeth Warren called for a constitutional amendment that would protect the right to vote. Bernie Sanders said he supported rotating judges onto the Supreme Court as a way to bring in “new blood”. He also called for making Election Day a federal holiday. Julián Castro said Congress should be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests in an effort to “shine a light” on the nation’s legislative body. And Amy Klobuchar said DC statehood was a “major priority” in the fight for voting rights.

Democrats believe a focus on democratic reforms, as the Democratic-controlled House has done under Nancy Pelosi’s leadership, draws a stark contrast to what they have deemed the Trump administration’s “culture of corruption”. As evidence, they pointed to the cabinet secretaries and staffers who have resigned amid scandal and the lawsuits alleging that Donald Trump is using the office to enrich himself and his allies.

Not every idea was fully embraced. Sanders did not support adding additional justices to the Supreme Court, an idea known as “court packing”. He said Republicans could simply do the same when they are in power. Cory Booker said he was skeptical to do away with the Senate filibuster, a tool that Republicans used to block much of President Obama’s agenda. He credited the filibuster with keeping in place Obamacare.

Kirsten Gillibrand was the final candidate to speak at the We The People forum today:

In big local news stories of the day, Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh has announced she is taking an indefinite leave of absence amid a widening scandal surrounding her book deals:

From the AP:

Baltimore’s embattled mayor announced Monday she is taking an indefinite leave of absence, just as a political scandal described by critics as a “self-dealing” book-selling arrangement intensifies dramatically and threatens her political career.

In a brief statement, Mayor Catherine Pugh’s office announced she feels unable to fulfill her obligations as mayor due to deteriorating health brought on by a recent bout of pneumonia.

The City Council president will take over Pugh’s day-to-day responsibilities.

The mayor’s decision to go on leave came the same day that Maryland’s Republican governor called on the state prosecutor to investigate allegations of self-dealing by Pugh and the state’s comptroller, a Democrat, urged Pugh to step down immediately.

In a letter to the state prosecutor released Monday, governor Larry Hogan said recent allegations facing Pugh and her questionable arrangements to sell her illustrated “Healthy Holly” books are “deeply disturbing”. Hogan said he was particularly concerned about a $500,000 sale to a university-based health care system “because it has significant continuing ties with the State and receives very substantial public funding.”

The officials’ calls came hours after Kaiser Permanente disclosed that it paid $114,000, between 2015 and 2018, for roughly 20,000 copies of Pugh’s self-published “Healthy Holly” illustrated paperbacks for children. And it came about two weeks after news broke that since 2011, Pugh has received $500,000 selling her illustrated books to the University of Maryland Medical System, a $4 billion hospital network that’s one of the largest private employers in the state.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has responded to Congresswoman Liz Cheney’s attacks on Twitter, saying it appeared she liked to get her news from “Facebook memes”:

The comments relate to attacks Ocasio-Cortez has faced from Fox News and others regarding her recent remarks on the the 22nd amendment. Newsweek has some background on the debate.

Another woman has come forward with an on-record claim of inappropriate touching against Joe Biden, saying he had “crossed” a line of “decency” during a 2009 interaction. The story signals that discussions about the former vice president’s conduct are going to continue dominating the news cycle:

Earlier in the day, a spokesperson for Biden dismissed allegations of inappropriate conduct as a “smear”. The latest story, which the Guardian has not corroborated, comes via the Hartford Courant, a Connecticut paper.

Some updates on the story of Tricia Newbold, the White House whistleblower who has told Congress that the Trump administration overturned more than two dozen denials for security clearances:

Part of the GOP’s response is that “only 4-5 of her unfavorable 25 adjudications were for ‘very serious reasons’”.

Her lawyer told Politico that she is in constant fear of losing her job, saying, “She needs the income for her healthcare and her kids. She’s very concerned.”

Sam Levin here in California, taking over our live coverage for the rest of the day. My colleague Lauren Gambino has more background on Bernie Sanders’ comments today, saying he does not support expanding the number of justices who serve on the Supreme Court:

“My worry is that the next time the Republicans are in power , they’ll do the same thing,” Sanders said at the We The People forum in Washington DC.

The idea, known as court-packing, has gained traction in the wake of the confirmation of Brett Kavnauagh, whose appointment sealed a conservative majority on the nation’s highest court.

The issue does not fall along ideological lines. So far only one Democratic presidential hopeful has endorsed the move: South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg. But several other candidates, including senators Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand and Elizabeth Warren, told the Washington Post that they are open to it.

Asked how he would reform the courts, Sanders said he is open to rotating judges from the Appellate Courts through the Supreme Court as a way to bring in “new blood”.

The controversial Kavanaugh confirmation was for many liberal Democrats a final straw in a process that began with a decision by Majority leader Mitch McConnell to block many of President Barack Obama’s nominees to lower courts and then his refusal to even hold a hearing on Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland. The Supreme Court vacancy helped rally conservatives around Trump, and he filled the seat with Justice Neil Gorsuch after he was elected.

There are currently nine justices on the court, a number that was set in law by 1869. But some liberal advocacy groups have called for an additional four justices to sit on the bench. The last president to embark on this effort was Franklin Roosevelt, who failed in his attempt to expand the court to 15 justices in 1937.

Demand Justice, a progressive group that organizes around reforming the nation’s courts, said Sanders’ support for a panel of rotating judges shows that there is a “growing consensus in the Democratic Party now that the Supreme Court must be reformed. The only remaining debate is how to best reform it.”

“No one is any longer defending the status quo of just letting the Roberts Court block progressive priorities for the next 30 years,” said the group’s executive director Brian Fallon, who was previously a spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. “Progressive activists have awakened to the danger posed by Trump’s packing of the courts, and Democratic candidates for president now see they need a plan to respond to this crisis.”

McConnell on Monday dismissed the idea as a “radical proposal”:

Updated

Never a dull day, as they say... nonetheless, Sabrina Siddiqui signing off and handing over to my ace colleague Sam Levin, who will take you through the rest of the day.

But first, a quick recap on what this day has brought us thus far:

  • Joe Biden, after facing scrutiny over his conduct toward women, is seeing some people come to his defense; Stephanie Carter, the wife of former defense secretary Ash Carter, said a widely shared photo of Biden whispering in her ear was an exchange between two close friends.
  • 2020 Democrats are speaking to progressive activists in Washington; so far, Beto O’Rourke has vowed mandatory monthly town halls for cabinet officials and Bernie Sanders is not a fan of adding seats to the supreme court.
  • Democrats in the Senate will introduce a constitutional amendment to do away with the electoral college, which is a long-shot, to say the least, but a sign of how the issue is picking up steam within the party.
  • The White House is under fire over its security clearances process once again, after a whistleblower told Congress she knows of more than two dozen instances in which the Trump administration overruled intelligence officials and gave top-level clearance to individuals whose applications were denied.
  • Donald Trump is weighing a ‘border czar’ as he picks another fight over immigration; surprise, surprise ... both potential candidates are far-right immigration hawks.
  • A showdown is looming in the Senate over disaster relief, as Trump resists efforts by congressional Democrats to secure more funding for hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.

Stay tuned for more...!

Bernie Sanders rejects calls to expand supreme court

Bernie Sanders has said he is not in favor of adding more seats to the US supreme court, putting the Vermont senator at odds with some of his 2020 Democratic opponents.

“My worry is that the next time the Republicans are in power, they’ll do the same thing,” Sanders said at the We the People summit in Washington, a gathering of liberal activists.

Sanders instead suggested “bringing in new blood” by rotating the justices, telling the crowd: “What may make sense is not term limits, but rotating them to the appeals court.”

More to come...

More people are coming for Joe Biden’s defense amid scrutiny over the former vice president’s conduct toward women.

USA Today has published an op-ed from Elizabeth Alexander, a former Biden aide, titled, I was with Joe Biden when no one was looking, and he was always a champion for women”.

“I write not to discount the writings of any other women or question their right to be heard, but to add to the unwritten story of Joe Biden,” she writes.

Alexander cites Biden’s record on women’s issues, pointing out he was the original co-sponsor of the Violence Against Women Act and “took the rare step of paying staffers through their entire maternity leaves” while in the US Senate. She also details what Biden was like with female staffers behind closed doors, portraying him as a boss who was sympathetic and supportive.

“Don’t get me wrong. No one is perfect, no legislative record is perfect,” Alexander adds.

“Joe Biden thrives on personal connections; he emotes and he empathizes like no other, and when he reaches out to you — man or woman — he’s reaching out to touch your heart. If that’s a failing, I’ll take it.”

The rush in some corners to defend Biden sets him apart other politicians who have faced allegations of inappropriate behavior.

It is not simply a sign of Biden’s reputation in Democratic circles, but also a moment of reckoning for the party as it attempts to draw a clear line in the #MeToo era that makes no excuses but also embraces nuance.

Whether or not the current Democratic primary electorate believes there are two sides to the issue is a separate, open-ended question...

Who said former FBI directors don’t have a sense of humor?

In case you didn’t quite get it, that’s James Comey throwing his hat into the 2020 race. Except it’s April Fool’s Day, and really this day should just be banned entirely.

Senate Dems to introduce constitutional amendment to abolish electoral college

Senate Democrats plan to unveil a long-shot constitutional amendment on Tuesday to abolish the electoral college.

Although the measure has no chance of becoming law in the near future, Democrats hope to draw more attention to a proposal that has also been championed by the party’s 2020 hopefuls. Democrats have long complained about the electoral college, the system by which the United States elects its president.

Senator Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, will introduce the measure alongside Senator Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, and Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee.

Two of the last three presidents -- George W Bush and Donald Trump, both Republicans -- lost the popular vote but won the electoral college. Trump’s opponents have especially chafed at the fact that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than two million votes, prompting renewed calls to do away with the current system.

At least seven of the 2020 Democratic contenders have called for eliminating the electoral college, according to a Washington Post tracker of the candidates’ positions.

Trump weighing 'border czar' amid immigration debate

The Trump administration is considering hiring a “border” or “immigration czar” to coordinate the president’s policies on immigration across various federal agencies, the Associated Press reports.

According to the AP, Trump is considering two potential candidates: former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach and former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli , both far-right conservatives with strong views on immigration.

It has yet to be decided whether the post would be housed within the department of homeland security or the White House.

White House press aides, Kobach and Cuccinelli did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The discussion comes as Trump is threatening to close the US-Mexico border if Mexico doesn’t halt all illegal immigration.

Beto O'Rourke promises mandatory town halls for cabinet officials

My colleague Lauren Gambino is reporting from the We the People summit in Washington, where 2020 Democratic hopefuls are speaking to a gathering of liberal activists.

First up is Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman who formally kicked off his campaign with a rally in his hometown of El Paso on Saturday:

If elected, Beto O’Rourke would require every member of his cabinet to hold monthly town halls.

The former Texas congressman and presidential hopeful said he would sign an executive order requiring each member to commit to the meetings as a way to hold the executive branch more accountable.

“At a time when we face an extraordinary concentration of power and access, when our government does too little for too few, we must ensure that the people of this country can hold their government to account for the decisions it makes in their name,” O’Rourke said at the annual We the People forum in Washington.

“It is only by listening to those we are sworn to serve and represent -- by gaining the full benefit of their ideas, their experiences, their creativity -- that we can come together to confront and overcome the very real challenges before us.”

O’Rourke launched his campaign last month with a roadtrip through the early voting states and the upper Midwest. At each stop, he held town hall-style meetings that began with him urging voters to “ask a question, make a comment, offer me some guidance or an idea. I am all ears”.

O’Rourke is a fan of town halls, which he believes are laboratories for innovative and consensus-building ideas that.

As a candidate for Senate in Texas, O’Rourke held more than 350 town halls during the course of his campaign, during which he visited all of the state’s 254 counties.

Virginia lieutenant governor's accuser gives first TV interview

Vanessa Tyson, the professor who has accused Virginia’s lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax of sexual assault, detailed her allegations on Monday in her first televised interview.

Speaking with CBS This Morning, Tyson called on Fairfax to resign more than a month after going public with her accusation in early February.

Recalling her encounter with Fairfax, as well as an allegation made by a second accuser, Tyson said: “I think the Virginia people, the voters of Virginia, have a right to know, you know, both my story and Meredith’s story.”

Tyson accused Fairfax of forcing her to perform oral sex on him in a Boston hotel room during the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

Tyson told CBS host Gayle King she connected with Fairfax through a mutual friend. What began as consensual kissing inside his hotel room, she added, quickly transformed into an assault.

“The next thing I know my head is like literally in his crotch and I’m choking and gagging and I couldn’t say anything because I’m choking and gagging,” Tyson said through tears.

“I was just completely caught off guard. It was almost as if I was dumbstruck.”

Tyson went on to say she was too “ashamed” to tell anyone about the incident.

A second accuser, Meredith Watson, has alleged that Fairfax raped her in 2000 when the two were students.

Fairfax has vehemently denied both allegations and resisted calls from Democrats to resign.

CBS is expected to air an interview with Watson on Tuesday.

In a statement to CBS, Fairfax reiterated his innocence:

“I am, and have long been, a strong proponent of the rights of women in our society — among them equal rights, reproductive rights, economic rights, the right to be heard and respected, the right to fair access to the criminal justice system, and right to be free from disrespect, harassment, and assault,” he said. “At the same time, I also believe that we must find a way to ensure that our justice system and even the court of public opinion provide due process and fairness both to accusers and the accused. I, for one, stand accused of crimes that I did not commit.”

Updated

Senate braces for showdown over disaster relief

A fight between Donald Trump and Democrats over hurricane relief for Puerto Rico is imperiling a widely backed disaster aid bill that’s a top priority for some of the president’s southern Republican allies, the Associated Press reports.

More from the AP:

The amount of money in dispute is relatively small, but Trump feels antipathy toward Puerto Rico’s government and Senate Republicans are taking a hard line — for now — in denying Democratic demands for more aid for the US territory, which was devastated by back-to-back hurricanes in 2017.

Democrats are poised to block the Republican bill in a showdown Senate vote on Monday afternoon. It’s a risky move, but top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York appears confident that a successful filibuster won’t kill the bill outright, but drive Trump and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell toward compromise.

Trump weighed in on Twitter Monday to preemptively attack Democrats for blocking the measure.

The $13.5b Senate measure mostly mirrors a $14.2b measure passed by the House in January, combining aid to southern farmers, California communities devastated by last summer’s wildfire, and rebuilding help for hurricane-hit states such as Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. Hurricane-damaged military bases in Florida and North Carolina would receive rebuilding funds.

Democrats want to add almost $700m more to unlock further disaster aid for Puerto Rico and several states, including help to rebuild badly damaged water systems. Democrats are also seeking to force the administration to release billions of dollars in rebuilding funds that have already been approved.

Trump has yet to veto a spending bill despite some tough talk and he has signed off on $600m to ease food stamp cuts in Puerto Rico. But he poor-mouthed the island’s government at a meeting with Senate Republicans last week and suggested Puerto Rico has gotten too much disaster help compared with states such as Texas.

“I have taken better care of Puerto Rico than any man ever. We have $91b going to Puerto Rico. We have $29b to Texas and $12b to Florida for the hurricane,” Trump said Thursday. “They have to spend the money wisely. They don’t know how to spend the money and they’re not spending it wisely.”

AOC raises more then $90,000 in 24 hours for progressive Dems

From my colleague Lauren Gambino, an update on progressive superstar and perhaps the only member of Congress known by her initials, AOC:

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has raised more than $90,000 for progressive, swing-district Democrats less than 24 hours after she urged supporters to donate to their re-election campaigns.

As Ocasio-Cortez faces criticism over her left wing politics, the appeal shows how she can use her star-power to boost ideological allies and colleagues in her freshman class.

Ahead of the Sunday night fundraising deadline, Ocasio-Cortez asked her Twitter followers to donate to freshman representatives Jahana Hayes of Connecticut, Katie Hill of California, and Mike Levin of California. By 1pm EST, the New York congresswoman reported raising $92,800 for the three candidates.

“It isn’t easy being a progressive from a swing district, but these three candidates have stuck to their principles by supporting progressive bills like Medicare-for-all or a Green New Deal,” the donation page says. “Show them that you have their back — split a contribution to all three before the FEC deadline midnight tonight, March 31.”

Official reports on fundraising for the first quarter of the year, a three-month period that went through Sunday March 31, are due on 15 April.

Ocasio-Cortez’s colleagues took to Twitter to thank her for her help:

“The more we opt into small-$ giving, the less our system relies on corp lobbyists,” Ocasio-Cortez replied on Twitter. “In a few hrs, we changed the game for swing-district members who stayed strong under pressure.”

In a statement, Corbin Trent, a spokesman for Ocasio-Cortez told The Guardian: “We are proud to stand with bold Democrats and excited to show that the grassroots will support Representatives who are willing to take a stand for progressive values.”

Trent said just under $90,000 was raised before the midnight deadline.

The appeal comes a day after Ocasio-Cortez asked her supporters to donate directly to individual candidates instead of the party, escalating her opposition to a new policy instituted by the House Democrats’ campaign arm that favors incumbents.

Ocasio-Cortez, who won her seat by upsetting a 10-term Democratic incumbent, is a vocal opponent of a new rule by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that prohibits its vendors from working with candidates who challenge incumbent Democrats.

In that appeal, she asked supporters to give to Levin as well as Lauren Underwood of Illinois and Katie Porter of California.

The campaigns did not immediately return a request for comment on how much were raised after her appeal.

The DCCC has defended the policy, arguing that it’s part of chairwoman Cheri Bustos’s commitment to protecting the Democrat’s House majority, which is the most female, diverse class in history.

“When Chairwoman Bustos was running to lead the DCCC, she stood up in front of her colleagues and made a promise to stand with and protect every member of the most diverse caucus in Congressional history as we work to defend and grow our Democratic majority,” said DCCC spokesman Cole Leiter. “This transparent policy follows through on that exact promise and will protect all Members of the Democratic Caucus - regardless of where they fall within our big tent.”

But progressives argue that it is in an effort to deter primary challenges.

Biden spox: Allegations of inappropriate contact are 'smears'

Joe Biden’s spokesman hit back at media coverage of the former vice president’s treatment of women, stating photos alleging to show inappropriate behavior on Biden’s part are a smear campaign led by “right wing trolls”.

These smears and forgeries have existed in the dark recesses of the internet for a while,” Bill Russo, Biden’s spokesman, said Monday. “And to this day, right wing trolls and others continue to exploit them for their own gain.

Russo’s new statement followed an essay by Stephanie Carter, the wife of former defense secretary Ash Carter, refuting claims that a photo featuring her and the vice president was an example of unwanted touching. Carter wrote that Biden, who was photographed in 2015 with his hands on her shoulders while whispering in her ears, was nothing more than an interaction with a close friend.

“As the sole owner of my story, it is high time that I reclaim it – from strangers, Twitter, the pundits and the late-night hosts,” Carter wrote. “I won’t pretend that this will be the last of that picture, but it will be the last of other people speaking for me.”

Read my full report here on the intense scrutiny surrounding Biden’s conduct with women, following an allegation by former Nevada state assemblywoman Lucy Flores that the former vice president violated her personal space at an event in 2014.

Russo criticized the media for establishing a supposed pattern in Biden’s behavior by circulating images of his interactions with women without first confirming that the individuals in those photos were ever uncomfortable.

In addition to Carter, another widely shared image showed Biden leaning toward the 13-year-old daughter of Senator Chris Coons, at the latter’s swearing-in ceremony in 2015, and kissing the side of her head.

Coons told the Washington Post his family is extremely close to the Bidens, and that his children view the former vice president as a grandfather figure.

“She did not think of it as anything,” Coons said of Biden’s exchange with his daughter. “All three of my kids have known Joe their whole lives.”

Republican senator urges Trump administration not to kill Obamacare

Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, is urging attorney general William Barr not to support a move by the Trump administration in favor of eliminating Obamacare.

In a letter to Barr on Monday, Collins warned the Justice Department against backing a legal challenge that threatens the existence of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the landmark healthcare law enacted by Barack Obama.

“Rather than seeking to have the courts invalidate the ACA, the proper route for the administration to pursue would be to propose changes to the ACA or to once again seek its repeal,” Collins wrote.

“The administration should not attempt to use the courts to bypass Congress.”

Collins’ letter comes one week after the Trump administration chose to side with a ruling by a federal judge in Texas that invalidated the healthcare law entirely. The move marked a sharp reversal for the Justice Department and posed an immediate threat to the healthcare coverage of millions of Americans.

Collins, a key swing vote among Republicans, said there were several provisions within the ACA that Congress would have done away with had US lawmakers desired to do so. That Congress let them stand, she noted reinforced that some of the law’s benefits were indeed “critical consumer provisions”.

The Trump administration’s decision, Collins add, jeopardized coverage for pre-existing conditions, the Medicaid expansion, preventive coverage and the ability for parents to keep their children on their insurance plans up to age 26.

Collins was one of three Republican senators who broke from the party and voted down an attempt in 2017 to repeal and replace the ACA. Donald Trump has claimed in recent days that Republicans are working on another alternative plan, insisting they will become known as “the party of health care”.

Any renewed effort by Republicans to repeal the ACA would be dead on arrival in the Democratic-led House of Representatives.

Republicans in Congress were reportedly caught off guard by Trump’s decision to revisit the issue again. The move was also opposed by Barr and Trump’s health and human services secretary, Alex Azar.

No more avocados if Trump shuts down US-Mexico border

Donald Trump’s insistence that there is a crisis at the border might soon lead him to create a national emergency unlike any millennials have seen before.

As the president threatens to shut down the US-Mexico border, experts have warned such a move could cause Americans to run out of avocados in three weeks.

You heard that right: If Trump closes the border, causing imports from Mexico to grind to a halt, there may be no more avocado toast.

“You couldn’t pick a worse time of year because Mexico supplies virtually 100 percent of the avocados in the U.S. right now,” Steve Barnard, president and chief executive of Mission Produce, the largest international distributor and grower of avocados, told NBC News.

“California is just starting and they have a very small crop, but they’re not relevant right now and won’t be for another month or so.”

Trump has long talked about shutting down the US-Mexico border, citing his frustration with illegal immigration. Last week, the president claimed such action was imminent in a dramatic escalation of his rhetoric.

Given Mexico is one of America’s most vital trading partners, a closure of the border stands to significantly damage the US economy. Roughly $137b of the US-Mexico partnership is rooted in food imports.

The millennial population is estimated at about 75m strong. Or so it was, until untold numbers of America’s brunch-loving youth perished in the Great Avocado Toast Starvation of 2019.

Updated

House Dem leader announces run for US Senate

Ben Ray Luján, the fourth-ranking House Democrat, has announced he will run for the US Senate in New Mexico.

“It has been the honor of my life to represent New Mexico in the US House and I am humbled by the opportunity to further serve our state in the United States Senate,” Luján said in a statement Monday.

Luján is running to fill the seat that will soon be vacated by retiring Senator Tom Udall. As the former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Luján will enter the race with an established name in Democratic Party circles and a wide network of donors.

Democrats are heavily favored to hold onto the Senate seat in New Mexico, which despite once being regarded as a swing state has emerged as reliably blue.

Trump's Federal Reserve nominee responds to Guardian report

Stephen Moore, Donald Trump’s nominee for a seat on the Federal Reserve board, has responded to a report in the Guardian that he was found in contempt of court for failing to pay his ex-wife $300,000 in alimony, child support and other debts.

Moore did not refute the Guardian’s reporting, but instead took a page from the president’s playbook by simply denouncing the media.

“I think it [reinforces] how sleazy the media is resorting to tabloid journalism,” Moore told CNBC.

Asked if he was concerned about the impact of the revelations on his nomination, Moore simply said “No”.

Court records obtained by the Guardian showed that Moore was reprimanded by a judge in 2012 for not paying his ex-wife, Allison Moore, hundreds of thousands of dollars owed in spousal support, child support and under the terms of their divorce settlement.

More from the Guardian’s Jon Swaine and David Smith:

In a divorce filing in August 2010, Moore was accused of inflicting “emotional and psychological abuse” on his ex-wife during their 20-year marriage. Allison Moore said in the filing she had been forced to flee their home to protect herself. She was granted a divorce in May 2011.

Moore said in a court filing signed in April 2011 he admitted all the allegations in Allison Moore’s divorce complaint.

The White House has yet to comment on the report.

Moore, an economics commentator, has been a sharp critic of the Federal Reserve and was an adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign. He has been a vocal proponent of the Trump administration and is a polarizing pick for a seat on the traditionally nonpartisan Federal Reserve board.

White House whistleblower: More than 25 security clearances reversed under Trump

A White House whistleblower has told members of Congress that Donald Trump’s administration overturned more than two dozen denials for security clearances, often ignoring the guidance of intelligence officials in what she dubbed as ‘systemic’ problems with the process.

Tricia Newbold, a White House security adviser holding nearly two decades of experience with clearances, made the revelation during an interview with the House Oversight and Reform Committee last month, according to documents released Monday.

“I feel that right now this is my last hope to really bring the integrity back into our office,” Newbold said, according to the panel’s memo summarizing her interview.

“I want it known that this is a systematic – it’s an office issue, and we’re not a political office, but these decisions were being continuously overrode [sic].”

The White House’s handling of security clearances has drawn repeated scrutiny.

Last month, it was reported that Trump personally intervened to grant Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and senior adviser, a top-level security clearance against the warnings of senior intelligence officials. Democrats in Congress have demanded more information on the security clearance process and delivered an ultimatum to the White House to comply or face a subpoena.

Newbold told lawmakers she maintained a list of White House officials whose clearance applications were initially denied, only for the decision to later be overturned. There were as many as 25 people on the list.

“According to Ms. Newbold, these individuals had a wide range of serious disqualifying issues involving foreign influence, conflicts of interest, concerning personal conduct, financial problems, drug use, and criminal conduct,” the panel wrote.

Newbold said she raised concerns with her superiors and the White House counsel’s office. According to Newbold, her supervisor Carl Kline, the director of personnel security, played a key role in reversing the security clearance denials of White House officials. Democrats on the committee have said they plan to interview Kline.

Updated

Trump insists census include citizenship question

Donald Trump hit back at Democrats for opposing his administration’s plan to add a question on citizenship to the US Census, defending the move from criticism amid a challenge in the supreme court.

In a tweet on Monday, Trump said the census report would be ‘meaningless’ without accounting for people’s citizenship.

Trump’s comments come as a hearing is expected this month before the supreme court. A lower court previously ruled against his administration’s to ask, “Is this person a citizen of the United States?” as part of the Census Bureau’s research on households across the US.

The census report is used by the US government for research on its population and plays a role in major decisions such as the allocation local and federal programs, as well as the drawing of congressional maps.

Critics of the Trump administration’s proposal said asking about citizenship status would depress participation and prompt fear in immigrant communities that they may be targeted for other means.

The questionnaire for the 2020 census report is due out soon. The supreme court is expected to hear oral arguments in April and reach a final decision in June.

Happy April Fool’s Day!

Unfortunately, it would appear the joke’s on all of us...

House Democrats to subpoena full Mueller report

House judiciary committee chairman Jerry Nadler will authorize a subpoena to obtain the full, unredacted report of special counsel Robert Mueller, marking an escalation by Democrats in Congress as they seek access to the 400-page report.

Nadler said Monday he expects to authorize the subpoena on Wednesday, demanding both the full report and underlying evidence relating to the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign’s ties to Moscow.

Democrats had provided attorney general William Barr with a deadline of 2 April to provide them with Mueller’s full report. Barr has said he will release a redacted version of the report later this month.

The looming confrontation comes a week after Mueller delivered his final report to Barr, closing the two-year investigation that has clouded much of Trump’s tenure in office.

In a controversial move, Barr released a letter with his own principal findings -- stating that the special counsel did not find a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and that he did not believe there was sufficient evidence to charge the president with obstruction of justice. According to Barr’s letter, Mueller found evidence on both sides of the obstruction issue and made clear he was not exonerating the president.

Democrats have blasted Barr for rapidly reaching his own public conclusions in what they believe is an effort to spin the findings in Trump’s favor. In a second letter released on Friday, the attorney general clarified that his initial statement was not intended to be a summary of Mueller’s report.

Nadler said his committee also has plans to subpoena five former White House staffers in relation to the special counsel’s inquiry.

“We have an obligation to read the full report, and the Department of Justice has an obligation to provide it, in its entirely, without delay,” Nadler wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Monday.

“We require the report, first, because Congress, not the attorney general, has a duty under the Constitution to determine whether wrongdoing has occurred,” he added.

“The special counsel declined to make a ‘traditional prosecutorial judgment’ on the question of obstruction, but it is not the attorney general’s job to step in and substitute his judgment for the special counsel’s.”

Updated

Ex-defense secretary's wife says photo of her and Joe Biden is misleading

As Joe Biden faces scrutiny of his behavior toward women, the wife of former defense secretary Ash Carter dismissed claims that a photo of her with the former vice president was an example of unwanted touching.

In a Medium post released late Sunday, Stephanie Carter addressed a viral photo in which Biden had his hands on her shoulders and appeared to be whispering in her ear during the swearing-in ceremony for her husband in 2015.

“As the sole owner of my story, it is high time that I reclaim it — from strangers, Twitter, the pundits and the late-night hosts,” Carter wrote. “I won’t pretend that this will be the last of that picture, but it will be the last of other people speaking for me.”

Carter said Biden had hugged her because he sensed she was “uncharacteristically nervous” and leaned in to thank her for letting her husband serve in the Obama administration. The then-vice president, she added kept his hands on her shoulders “as a means of offering his support”.

“But a still shot taken from a video — misleadingly extracted from what was a longer moment between close friends — sent out in a snarky tweet — came to be the lasting image of that day,” Carter added.

Carter’s move to correct the record came just days after Lucy Flores, a former Nevada state assemblywoman, penned an essay recounting an encounter with Biden in 2014 that made her uncomfortable. Flores wrote that Biden touched her shoulders, leaned in to smell her hair and kissed the back of her head -- conduct she found to be a violation of her personal space.

A spokesperson for Biden said the former vice president did not recall the interaction with Flores. Biden issued a statement of his own on Sunday denying allegations that he knowingly behaved inappropriately.

“In my many years on the campaign trail and in public life, I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support, and comfort,” Biden said. “And not once — never — did I believe I acted inappropriately. If it is suggested I did so, I will listen respectfully. But it was never my intention.”

Biden’s tendency to get close to women in public events has long been dismissed as part of the former vice president’s friendly posture. But his behavior has come under renewed focus in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement and as Biden is widely believed to enter the 2020 presidential race.

Numerous photos of Biden have been circulated in which the former vice president is seen wrapping his arms around women’s waists or pulling them close and whispering in their ears. Critics have suggested Biden has often failed to respect a woman’s personal space.

In her essay, Carter said Flores had the right to “speak her truth” about how she felt about her interaction with Biden.

“She should be, like all women, believed. But her story is not mine,” Carter wrote. “The Joe Biden in my picture is a close friend helping someone get through a big day, for which I will always be grateful.”

Updated

Democrats fight for full release of Mueller report

Happy Monday everyone! It’s Sabrina Siddiqui here, ready to kick off the week with the latest in US politics.

Famous last words, but it’s a relatively quiet day for Donald Trump, who is in private meetings all day...

But we do expect more fallout from the special counsel report, as Democrats continue to fight for its full release. And then there’s that whole thing where the president threatened to shut down the US-Mexico border this week, not to mention a renewed fight over the future of Barack Obama’s healthcare law.

The 2020 campaigns are also in full swing, so we’ll keep an eye on the candidates vying for the Democratic nomination -- many of whom are speaking at a summit in Washington this week.

Stay tuned for more!

Updated

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