Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Vivian Ho in Oakland (now) and Ben Jacobs in Washington (earlier)

Trump and Beto O'Rourke speak at dueling rallies in Texas – as it happened

Evening summary

Thanks for sticking with us through another eventful day.

  • Democratic and Republican leaders reached an agreement to avoid another partial government shutdown, just days before the 15 February deadline. The deal would allocate far less money than what Trump asked for when it came to his border wall, but it would fund 55 miles of new fencing.
  • President Trump and former Congressman Beto O’Rourke both held rallies in El Paso, Texas. Trump’s speech felt more like a preview for the 2020 race than a push for a border wall, while O’Rourke stayed on message in declaring that “walls do not make us safer.”

Deal to avoid shutdown includes 55 miles of new fencing

The Guardian’s Tom McCarthy has the details on the agreement reached by Democratic and Republican leaders late Monday to avoid another government shutdown:

The agreement would allocate far less money for Trump’s border wall than the White House’s $5.7bn wish list, settling for a figure of nearly $1.4bn, according to congressional aides. The funding measure is through the fiscal year, which ends 30 September.

The agreement means 55 miles of new fencing — constructed through existing designs such as metal slats instead of a concrete wall — but far less than the 215 miles the White House demanded in December. The fencing would be built in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

At a rally in El Paso, Texas, on Monday Trump said he had been informed about the committee’s progress. “Just so you know, we’re building the wall anyway”, he added.

Read more here.

Trump's expected 'border wall' speech feels like 2016 election rally

At what was expected to be a border wall-focused event, President Trump energized his base over much more than just immigration.

He took jabs at all the usual crowdpleasers at a Trump rally, drawing unified boos against the media, the Democrats, abortion, and, yes, Hillary Clinton.

“The Democratic Party has never been so far out of the mainstream,
he said. “They’ve become the party of socialism, late-term abortions, open borders, and crime.”

As in many of his speeches, this one was filled with heavy boasting and factual inaccuracies. Trump made a point several times throughout his speech to pile on former Congressman Beto O’Rourke, who was holding a counter-protest outside.

Just as with his inauguration, he tossed a variety of different numbers in comparing attendance that were questionable and unconfirmed.

Trump also poked fun at Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, who is currently under fire after admitting that he wore blackface as a young man.

“I like him,” Trump said. “Keeps us out of the paper.”

But of course, there were plenty of “build the wall” chants that brought the focus back to the border. Attendees in “Make America Great Again” hats sitting under giant signs reading “Finish the Wall” roared in approval when Trump wrongly asserted that construction on the wall had already begun - what has actually been built is just replacement fence.

Trump also made a series of false statements about Ice arresting more than 200,000 migrants with criminal histories. He repeated his false statement on how the border fence has affected security in El Paso. He accurately talk about hundreds of thousands of immigration cases in backlog.

Regardless of what the president said, the crowd loved every moment of the rally.

“Is there any place that’s more fun to be than a Trump rally?” President Trump asked the cheering crowd.

The rally was interrupted at least twice, to which Trump twirled his fingers around his ears to signify that he thought whoever caused the disruption was crazy. “Where do they find these people?” he said.

Updated

Trump arrives at rally to raucous cheers

President Trump began his address with his usual call for “America First” and a boast about a 52% approval rating.

“Despite the fact that the media refuses to acknowledge what we’ve done and how well we’re doing it, a new poll just came out,” he told the crowd, which booed the media and applauded the report of his approval rating.

Trump shared the Rasmussen Report Daily Presidential Tracking Poll, which put Trump’s approval rating at the highest it’s been since “shortly after his inauguration.”

He made sure to throw a dig at former Congressman Beto O’Rourke, who was speaking outside at a counter-protest. Trump said that O’Rourke’s only claim to fame was losing an election to Senator Ted Cruz, while as president, he has won “one for one” for elections, meaning he won the first presidential campaign he ran.

“A young man who has very little going for himself except he has a great first name,” Trump said of O’Rourke.

Beto O'Rourke takes the stage at counter-protest before Trump at rally

Beto O’Rourke took the stage before President Trump, telling a lively crowd that “walls do not make us safer.”

“We, together, we are making a stand for the truth against lies and hate and ignorance and intolerance,” O’Rourke said to cheers and applause. “We are going to show the country who we are. A president who describes Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals, we have the chances to tell him and this country that immigrants commit crimes, including violent crimes, at a lower rate than Americans who are born in this country.”

The crowd erupted with cheers as Donald Trump Jr. made his way to the stage.

The minute he reached the podium, he mocked the protest being led by former congressman Beto O’Rourke.

He repeated his father’s words from the State of the Union, saying, “America will never be a Socialist country,” and was greeted with cheers and “USA! USA!” chants.

Trump Jr. also took the opportunity to go after the Democrats for the Green New Deal, “the witch hunt” - a reference to the Mueller investigation - and the economic policies of the Obama administration.

“The left hates Trump more than they love America,” he said, energizing the crowd before his father’s arrival.

Agreement reached 'in principle' to avoid another government shutdown

Negotiators in Congress say they have reached an agreement to fund the government, just days before the 15 February deadline of another partial government shutdown, the Associated Press is reporting.

Officials say an agreement could be in sight as early as Monday night. The talks had cratered over the weekend because of Democratic demands to limit immigrant detentions by federal authorities, but that impasse seems to be loosening.

A Friday midnight deadline is looming as negotiators strain to prevent a second partial government shutdown, for which there is virtually no support from lawmakers of either party.

If bargainers don’t reach an agreement and get President Donald Trump’s signature by then, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed for a second time this year.

Updated

Senator John Cornyn was the first speaker to take the stage prior to President Trump’s appearance tonight.

Cornyn sought to get the crowd excited by thanking them for their support for Senator Ted Cruz during the midterm election in November and by making mention of the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

Border Security requires of physical barriers, technology and “boots on the ground”, Cornyn told the crowd, and Trump is listening to Border Patrol instead of “the media and the far-left.”

Among other topics Cornyn referenced is the number of conservative judges confirmed to federal courts, and the tax cuts passed at the end of 2017.

Every mention of the borer wall, tax cuts, and jobs received loud applause and cheers, while every mention of the Democrats and the media was met with boos.

Cornyn asked the crowd to remain vigilant ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

“We cannot get complacent,” he said. “(Senator) Chuck Schumer and (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi have their sights on Texas. I need your support next year. President Trump needs your support next year.”

Updated

With Beto O’Rourke leading the counter-march to President Trump’s rally in El Paso, Texas, there were plenty of raised eyebrows about what this bit of community organizing meant in terms of a potential 2020 presidential run.

Many of his supporters at the march shouted and chanted for his candidacy, on which the former congressman said he’s still undecided.

But O’Rourke seemed to deflect questions about his political future on Monday, choosing instead to focus on the issue at hand.

El Paso, Texas
Attendees at President Trump’s first rally in El Paso, Texas begin filing into the El Paso County Coliseum on 11 February 2019 Photograph: Edwin Delgado/The Guardian

The El Paso County Coliseum was quickly filling up for President Trump’s first rally of 2019.

Attendees filed into the arena under giant red-and-white signs reading, “Finish the Wall.” Shortly after the national anthem played, they began chanting, “Build the wall!”

Local Trump supporter Cody Perkins told the Guardian that he was he excited by the president’s visit, Trump’s first official visit to the city ever. He hoped that the main focus of the rally would be on immigration and the potential government shutdown over border wall funding.

Meanwhile, a counter protest was taking place in the vicinity of the Coliseum. Organizers for both events have told attendees to respect those with different views and not to engage in any physical altercations.

Rally organizers pre-recorded a message that stated that first amendment rights are a priority but emphasized the rally is a private event and protesters will be escorted out.

With just a few hours to go before President Trump’s rally in El Paso, protesters and supporters have gathered with signs and chants.

California governor calls Trump's border crisis "political theater"

As President Trump prepared to speak at the border Monday in another expected call for a wall to curtail illegal immigration, Governor Gavin Newsom defended his decision to withdraw national guardsmen from the California-Mexico border, saying that “this whole border issue is manufactured.”

“The crisis on the border is a manufactured crisis and we are not interested in participating in this political theater,” Newsom said in a press conference. “We are living in a state and in a nation where people that are here without documentation commit crimes at a substantially lower level than native-born citizens. We have families that are crossing the border that are doing so legally through the asylum process. We have 550,000 people fewer without documentation in this state than we did a decade ago.

“This is pure politics. Period. Full stop. The rest is frankly just a lot of misdirection and a waste of everybody’s time. We’re just not going to participate in it. We’re not interested in perpetuating this.”

About 360 guardsmen are currently stationed at the border, though the number changes from day to day, Newsom said. He planned to leave 100 at the border to combat drug and guns trafficking, and redeploy the remaining 260 “to more appropriate venues and to more appropriate purposes” such as wildfire abatement.

Updated

White House tell-all author sues Trump over selective nondisclosure agreement enforcement

Cliff Sims, the former White House communications aide who wrote a tell-all about life working for President Trump, is suing the president, alleging that he used his campaign organization to selectively enforce nondisclosure agreements to silence or punish former employees, the New York Times is reporting.

Mr. Sims was a White House aide from the beginning of the administration. But it was the campaign organization that filed an arbitration claim against him last week, accusing him of violating the nondisclosure agreement he signed with it during the 2016 presidential race with the publication of his book, “Team of Vipers,” last month.

The White House had dozens of people sign such agreements at the beginning of the president’s term. But those agreements are widely seen as likely unenforceable. In the suit, Mr. Sims says he does not recall whether he signed one when he came to the White House.

Mr. Sims’s lawsuit alleges that Mr. Trump “is seeking to impose civil liability against Mr. Sims through application of NDAs that apply to information Mr. Sims learned solely during his federal service.”

Trump was unhappy with the book, just as he was with Omarosa Manigault Newman’s tell-all - according to the New York Times, the lawsuit noted that he had attempted to enforce the nondisclosure agreement against her as well, but he did not do so against Sean Spicer, or Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, three former aides who wrote books that the president “found flattering and therefore not objectionable.”

Ahead of President Trump’s rally in El Paso tonight, the county judge and commissioners court passed a resolution stating that the Trump administration has “disseminated false information to local officials across the nation regarding its perceived need for border security funding priorities.”

With all the attention on Representative Ilhan Omar’s apology for comments that were by condemned House Democratic leaders as antisemitic, some have raised questions over why President Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are not being similarly taken to task by Republicans for making jokes about the Trail of Tears and genocide against Native Americans.

View this post on Instagram

Savage!!! Love my President.

A post shared by Donald Trump Jr. (@donaldjtrumpjr) on

Updated

Hey all, Vivian Ho on the west coast, taking over for Ben Jacobs. Buckle up - it’s going to be long night with both President Trump and Beto O’Rourke hosting rallies in El Paso.

Summary

  • Representative Ilhan Omar issued an apology for comments that were widely condemned as antisemitic.
  • CNN will host a town hall with Senator Amy Klobuchar next Monday in New Hampshire.
  • Articles of impeachment will not be filed yet against Virginia lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax, who is facing two different allegations of sexual assault.
  • Donald Trump will hold his first rally of 2019 later tonight in El Paso.

Updated

Questions are being raised about a new MRE “meals ready to eat” pack distributed to troops. The image on the front is said to look like a silhouette of Donald Trump sitting with Kanye West.

Updated

The Iowa Democratic party has unveiled its new process for running the caucuses in 2020. There are some key changes including the addition of an absentee element to the caucuses.

Updated

A number of staffers for Virginia lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax have resigned.

Two of Fairfax’s three staffers on government payroll as well as two staffers at his political action committee have moved on after the allegations of sexual assault against Fairfax.

Updated

Former Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen has postponed his appearance before the Senate intelligence committee Tuesday for medical reasons.

Updated

Congressional negotiators are meeting today in an effort to salvage a deal to keep the federal government open.

Fights on immigration policy have imperiled the prospect of a deal that would avoid second partial government shutdown.

As Politico notes:

The confab carries with it significant urgency: Negotiators have hoped to post compromise legislation that funds the government and gives President Donald Trump new money for border security by Monday evening to meet the House Democratic majority’s new rules and allow passage of the legislation through the Senate by Friday evening, the new shutdown deadline.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo is going to Washington DC on Tuesday to meet with Donald Trump about reinstating state and local income tax deductibility for federal income tax.

The 2017 Republican tax cut bill capped the deduction at $10,000 which had a major impact on residents of high tax states like New York.

Updated

Ilhan Omar has now issued an apology for her tweets last night which have been almost universally condemned as antisemitic.

Updated

A Democratic Super Pac has filed an FEC complaint against billionaire Howard Schultz.

The Huffington Post reports:

American Bridge 21st Century – which primarily focuses on obtaining opposition research on Republicans – argues in its complaint that Schultz is pushing the limits of an exemption in the Federal Election Campaign Act that allows potential candidates to “test the waters” before officially deciding to run for office, during which time they adhere to less stringent election rules. The complaint has been sent but not yet officially received by the FEC.

“Mr Schultz cannot continue to skirt the Act’s disclosure requirements by publicly stating that he has not made a final decision regarding his candidacy if such a decision has already been made,” the complaint reads.

Schultz has become anathema for Democrats since he started floating a third-party presidential bid which they fear would divide the anti-Trump vote and give an opportunity for Trump to win re-election.

Updated

In other news today in Virginia, the House of Delegates just voted to raise the age to buy cigarettes to 21.

In a state where tobacco dominated the economy for three centuries, it represents a major shift.

Both Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar and California senator Kamala Harris consulted with Hillary Clinton before launching their presidential bids.

The Daily Mail reports that Clinton had conversations with both women in recent weeks.

Updated

California governor Gavin Newsom will withdraw national guardsmen deployed to the US-Mexico border and deploy them elsewhere.

The California Democrat will shift 400 troops away from the border as Donald Trump escalates his rhetoric about illegal immigration and the need for a wall.

Updated

Tulsi Gabbard is making her visit to Iowa today since launching her presidential campaign.

The four-term Hawaii Democrat had a small crowd in Des Moines earlier today but has drawn a decent audience in far-left Fairfield, Iowa.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, along with the rest of Democratic leadership, has now condemned Ilhan Omar’s allegedly antisemitic tweets.

“Anti-Semitism must be called out, confronted and condemned whenever it is encountered, without exception.

“We are and will always be strong supporters of Israel in Congress because we understand that our support is based on shared values and strategic interests. Legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share. But Congresswoman Omar’s use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments.

“As Democrats and as Americans, the entire Congress must be fully engaged in denouncing and rejecting all forms of hatred, racism, prejudice and discrimination wherever they are encountered.”

Updated

After being indicted last year for illegally spending campaign money for personal reasons, California Republican Duncan Hunter used campaign funds at an amusement park and also ran up disputed charges with a drone company.

According to campaign finance records, Hunter’s campaign spent over $100,000 in the last five weeks of 2018 including over $200 for “food/beverages” at Belmont Park, an amusement park in his district.

Florida senator Rick Scott will no longer put his wealth in a blind trust. Scott, a millionaire who previously served eight years as the state’s governor, put wealth into a trust when taking office in Tallahassee.

However, he’s changing his stance now that the Republican has been elected to the Senate.

CNN will host another town hall next week with Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.

The three-term Democrat announced Sunday that she would be running for president.

The town hall will take place next Monday in New Hampshire. It has previously hosted town halls with Senator Kamala Harris and coffee mogul Howard Schultz.

Justin Fairfax has taken a leave of absence from his job as a lawyer for the prominent firm of Morrison Foerster.

The leave comes as the firm investigates allegations of sexual assault against Fairfax, the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. His official position is only a part time job and those holding it often have outside sources of income.

Kamala Harris endorsed marijuana legalization in an interview on Monday.

The Democratic senator from California became the latest 2020 presidential candidate to call for legalization, saying “listen, I think it gives a lot of people joy. And we need more joy.”

Former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt stormed off a podcast last week when asked about his work consulting for Howard Schultz.

Schmidt, a top advisor to John McCain’s 2008 campaign who left the GOP in reaction to Donald Trump, reacted angrily when pressed about his work for Schultz who is contemplating a third party run and whether the Starbucks mogul would serve as a spoiler to re-elect Trump.

In her presidential announcement yesterday, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar took a tough stance on big tech companies.

As the Washington Post reports:

Klobuchar’s decision to make privacy and Internet connectivity a central focus of her campaign could elevate tech policy issues during the Democratic primary. By touting these issues during her first major speech as a 2020 contender, Klobuchar is making a big bet that privacy and other digital concerns are increasingly important to American voters.

It’s especially striking since tech policy is not generally an issue that drives voters’ feet to the polls. In a survey about voter priorities ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, Gallup listed health care, the economy and immigration as the top concerns among voters. Technology wasn’t even included in the 12 issues on the list. Yet if Klobuchar shows Democratic voters — especially key demographics like millennials — are paying attention, other politicians may start to prioritize issues like privacy and net neutrality in campaigns.

“Way too many politicians have their heads stuck in the sand when it comes to the digital revolution,” she said. “Hey guys, it’s not just coming, it’s here. And if you don’t know the difference between a hack and Slack, it’s time to pull off the digital highway.”

A wave of Democrats have condemned Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s use of allegedly antisemitic tropes yet again on Twitter.

Updated

Prominent never-Trumper Erick Erickson announced today that he would back Trump’s re-election bid.

An ardent conservative, Erickson was motivated in part by character concerns about Trump in deciding not to vote for him in 2016 but he has changed his tune.

As he writes on The Resurgent:

At this point I can head into 2020 knowing several things. First, the behaviors this President routinely engages in are not going to change. He is who he is. Second, the pretty smiles and calm demeanors the other side will probably work through the media to contrast with the President will not hide the fact they think children can be killed at birth, Christians should be removed from policy making positions, and the economy should be bankrupted to implement environmental policies that will not actually mitigate climate change.

My friends in the center-right coalition who are flirting with Democrats are, more often than not, not really socially conservative. But I am. That party offers me no home and is deeply hostile to people of faith. The President has shown himself to not share my faith convictions any more than the other side, but the President has shown he is willing to defend my faith convictions and is supportive of them.

I could stay home or vote third party as I did in 2016. But what will that get me? The ability to say “not my problem” or the self-assurance that I didn’t get dirty in having to choose? I have many Christian friends who, when I have discussed this, tell me I should just stay home and turn my back. Both parties, they tell me, are profoundly corrupt. And they’re right. But I am not looking for a messiah in politics and don’t have some religious sentiment tied to my vote. While I understand and accept the sincere conviction of some of my friends who have decided they will just sit out the process, I have decided otherwise. In 2016, we knew who the Democrats were and were not sure of who Donald Trump was. Now we know both and I prefer this President to the alternative.

I will vote for Donald Trump and Mike Pence. And, to be clear, it will not be just because of what the other side offers, but also because of what the Trump-Pence team has done. They’ve earned my vote.

Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan has also yet to rule out a presidential bid.

Ryan, who represents a traditional Democratic stronghold in Ohio’s Mahoning Valley that shifted heavily towards Trump in 2016, is making visits to both Iowa and New Hampshire in the coming weeks.

The Ohio Democrat, who challenged Nancy Pelosi to be the Democratic leader in the House in 2016, was first elected to Congress in 2002.

Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts is still mulling over a presidential campaign.

The three-term Democrat, who was a vocal critic of Nancy Pelosi and served in Iraq, told Buzzfeed:

“I’m thinking about running for president. I’m not definitely running, but I’m going to take a very hard look at it. A very serious look at it. Because I believe it’s time for a new generation of leadership, and we gotta send Donald Trump packing.”

Justin Fairfax, the Virginia Lieutenant Governor, will preside over the state senate on Monday.

Despite a second allegation of sexual assault, the embattled Virginia Democrat will be back at work in the state capitol on Monday. Fairfax has maintained his innocence.

Updated

The source who leaked Jeff Bezos’s texts to the National Enquirer was the brother of his mistress, Lauren Sanchez.

The Daily Beast reports Michael Sanchez, who has ties to a number of people in Donald Trump’s orbit, was the source of the leaked messages.

No one who spoke to The Daily Beast implied that Michael Sanchez in any way hacked his sister’s phone, and he has not been charged with any crime. In fact, three people familiar with the Bezos-funded probe told The Daily Beast in late January that it had found no evidence of a hack. However, Bezos’ investigators have strongly suspected Sanchez was the leaker since at least last week, according to two people familiar with the investigation. “There is no one inside this inquiry process who doesn’t believe he’s ground zero,” one of those sources said.

The Republican tax bill of 2017 is going to have a major impact on whether Americans receive refunds this year.

Although the legislation cut taxes, it may have reduced tax refunds as well.

The Washington Post reports:

While the vast majority of Americans received a tax cut in 2018, refunds are a different matter. Some refunds have decreased because of changes in the law, such as a new limit on property and local income tax deductions, and some have decreased because of how the IRS has altered withholding in paychecks.

The average tax refund check is down 8 percent ($170) this year compared to last, the IRS reported Friday, and the number of people receiving a refund so far has dropped by almost a quarter.

Donald Trump has some advice for Democrats.

Updated

Congressman Walter Jones died Sunday at the age of 76.

The iconoclastic North Carolina Republican had been in hospice care.

Although Jones started out his career on Capitol Hill in 1994, he took increasingly heterodox stances in the aftermath of the Iraq War. An initial supporter of the conflict, Jones led the effort to rename french fries as “freedom fries” in Capitol Hill after France refused to join the U.S. led coalition in the conflict. However, he eventually became a vocal opponent of it and became a consistent gadfly to Republican leadership of a number of issues.

The son of a longtime Democratic congressman, Jones was first elected to serve his coastal North Carolina district in 1994.

Articles of impeachment will not be brought against Virginia lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax this morning.

Delegate Patrick Hope, a Democrat from Northern Virginia, who initially promised to start the impeachment process today after Fairfax faced two allegations of sexual assault, is now holding back.

Updated

Good morning,

A government shutdown is less than a week away as congressional negotiators have reached an impasse, a Democratic member of Congress is facing heavy criticism after once again tweeting anti-Semitic tropes and Donald Trump is holding a rally in El Paso this evening.

It’s Monday in American politics.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.