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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Gabrielle Canon in Oakland (now) and Adam Gabbatt in New York (earlier)

North Carolina to hold new congressional election after tampering claims – as it happened

Mark Harris, a Republican candidate in North Carolina’s ninth congressional race, listens to testimony during a voting irregularities investigation on Wednesday.
Mark Harris, a Republican candidate in North Carolina’s ninth congressional race, listens to testimony during a voting irregularities investigation on Wednesday. Photograph: Travis Long/AP

Up to a third of the military construction budgets President Trump hoped to tap to fund his border wall may have already been spent, Congressional Quarterly reports:

Yesterday, Fox News host Laura Ingraham tweeted a thank you to a free enterprise advocacy organization that calls itself the Job Creators Network, for a Times Square Billboard blasting Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over the Amazon pullout in New York.

AOC was quick to quip back, highlighting who funded the billboard criticizing her.

According to a report from the Public Accountability Initiative published today, the Job Creator’s Network is funded Trump-supporting billionaires and conservative lobbyists with ties to big corporations, but claims to be “the voice of Main Street”.

Andrew Perez, a reporter for a nonpartisan financial investigation organization called MapLight, shared tax documents also tying the Job Creators Network to Mitch McConnell’s former chief of staff.

Updated

Senator and 2020 Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris responded today to the allegations against actor Jussie Smollett, who has been charged with faking a hate crime against himself to boost his salary.

Harris quickly and publicly condemned the attacks against Smollett before investigators uncovered the actor’s alleged fraud. Some divisive public figures have used the case to draw untrue conclusions about hate crimes in the US.

As VICE reports, hate crimes are on the rise and only 0.03 % of those reported turn out to be faked. It’s far more likely that they are underreported as only half of hate crime victims alert the authorities, according to a report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Per VICE:

FBI data, which relies on voluntary reporting from local police departments, has also pointed to a rise in hate crimes nationwide in recent years. According to the bureau’s most recent count, hate crime reports jumped by nearly 17 percent in 2017, compared to the previous year. Black and Jewish victims accounted for the biggest spikes”.

Updated

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released data today showing that the Republican tax plan helped US banks make more than $28 billion in additional profit this year, the Hill reports:

Yearly profits increased increased $72. 4 billion from 2017, and the rise includes $28.8 billion more than banks would have kept under the previous tax regime. Bank profits in the fourth quarter of 2018 rose to $59 billion, an $8.1 billion increase from the same period in 2017.

The Republican tax-cut bill reduced the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent. The bill’s supporters said the corporate tax cut would fuel the U.S. economy, while Democrats panned it as a handout to wealthy elites”.

The money hasn’t exactly been spread around. As HuffPost reporter Matt Fuller pointed out on Twitter, wages continue to fall flat. A report from 2018 from the Economic Policy Institute found the cuts have not led to compensation growth.

Nearly $200 million in military construction funds, approved by Congress for projects like submarine manufacturing, aircraft improvement, and repair of aging military facilities across Pennsylvania could be diverted for Trump’s border wall Senator Bob Casey’s office told the Associated Press today.

It’s still unclear how the Trump Administration will pay for the wall but Casey said in a statement that he will “fight like hell to keep this funding and these projects up and running in Pennsylvania”.

On a weekly news show in Iowa today, Representative Steve King announced that would be seeking reelection in 2020. He will face three challengers, the Des Moines Register reports.

The Republican Congressman faced calls for his resignation and was removed from key committees after questioning why white nationalism and white supremacy was offensive, in an interview with the New York Times released in January. It wasn’t the first time King made racist remarks that sparked controversy, but he has refused to step down.

“Don’t let the elitists in this country, the power brokers in this country, tell you who’s going to represent you in the United States Congress” he told hosts on the Iowa Press show, saying he had “nothing to apologize for”.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has weighed in on the State Board of Elections’ decision to re-do the election for his state’s 9th Congressional District, after a months-long investigation into allegations of ballot tampering.

“I thank the Board for unanimously doing the right thing” he said in a statement. “People must have confidence that their vote matters and this action sends a strong message that election fraud must not be tolerated”.

Gabrielle Canon here, taking over for Adam Gabbatt

A newly unsealed complaint filed by federal prosecutors revealed today that an investigative analyst from the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was charged for handing over former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s private bank records to Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti, along with disclosing details of the confidential information to the New Yorker, CNN reports.

Per CNN:

The analyst, John C. Fry, was charged by prosecutors in the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California with the unauthorized disclosure of a document called a suspicious activity report, or SAR, which banks file when they review transactions that raise red flags...

In May 2018, Fry, who works in the IRS’ San Francisco office, accessed and downloaded five SARs connected to Cohen, according to the complaint, and then, seeing that other such documents were unavailable in the database, turned over some of the SARs to Avenatti and told The New Yorker reporter that he was alarmed to see other SARs were inaccessible, the complaint says”.

A little more detail on North Carolina ordering that fresh election, from the Associated Press:

The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted 5-0 on Thursday to hold a new election in the 9th Congressional District. The board did not immediately set a schedule.

Following last November’s election, Republican Mark Harris had held a slim lead over Democrat Dan McCready in unofficial results from the district running from Charlotte through several counties to the east. But the state refused to certify the win because of absentee-ballot irregularities.

Harris said Thursday during the hearing that he thought a new election should be called, despite his lawyers arguing in recent legal filings to the state board that he should be certified the winner.

The Republican said he was still struggling from health problems caused by a blood infection that landed him in a hospital and led to two strokes. Harris said he was suffering from confusion, but that he could see there were substantial doubts about fairness and that a new election is necessary.

Summary

  • Roger Stone has been handed a stricter gag order by a federal judge. The long-time Donald Trump confidante was ruled to have defied an earlier order when he posted a photo of the judge, alongside crosshairs, on social media. Stone is charged with lying to Congress about his communications with Wikileaks, witness tampering and obstruction of an official proceeding.
  • North Carolina ordered a new Congressional election in the ongoing voter fraud case in the state. The election will be for the state’s ninth congressional district. After November’s mid-term elections the Republican Mark Harris held a slim lead, but North Carolina refused to certify the win due to irregularities. Harris’s campaign has been subject to a hearing amid fraud claims relating to absentee ballots.
  • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he will not run for Senate in 2020. Pompeo had been widely linked with running – Senate leader Mitch McConnell reportedly approached the secretary – in his home state of Kansas, where he previously served as a US congressman. “It’s ruled out,” Pompeo said. “I’m here, I’m loving it.”

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Updated

Stone hit with stricter gag order

Judge Amy Berman Jackson has issued a new set of restrictions on Trump associate Roger Stone in a DC federal court.

Under the new ruling, Stone may make no statements about the case and hold no press releases or press conferences.

Stone has also been ordered not to make posts about the case on social media. Stone also may not comment about the case indirectly, Jackson said.

Any violation of this fresh gag “will be a basis for revoking your bond”, Jackson said – which could mean Stone going to jail.

Giving her ruling, Jackson told Stone she had “serious doubts about whether you’ve learned any lesson at all”. His apology “rings quite hollow”, the judge said.

Since posting the photograph, Stone has “decided to pursue a strategy of attacking others,” Jackson said.

She added: “Mr Stone could not even keep his story straight on the stand.”

Jackson said the photo Stone posted “was not selected randomly”. She noted that a Google search brings up “many unaltered photographs”.

Updated

Judge Amy Berman Jackson, presiding over the Roger Stone hearing, has taken a break before ruling on Stone’s fate.

David Smith is reporting that Stone claimed one of his “many” volunteers who operate out of his house could have posted the photo. Stone was unable to identify which volunteer posted it, however.

Prosecutor Jonathan Kravis has told the court that even after posting the crosshairs photo, Stone continued to give interviews to amplify the coverage.

Judge Jackson, speaking to Stone’s attorney Bruce Rogow, has seemed skeptical about the chances of Stone keeping quiet, David Smith reports.

Updated

Guardian reporter David Smith is tweeting from inside the DC court where Roger Stone is appearing.

Stone has told the court that he is “heartfully sorry” and admitted abusing the court order that originally allowed him out on bail.

Of the crosshairs in the photo, Stone told the judge: “It’s a celtic occult symbol... I’m not into the occult.”

He added: “I honestly did not believe it was crosshairs. I honestly thought it was a misinterpretation.”

While Stone appears to have begun his statement with a full-scale apology, he seems to have switched, at least briefly, to trying to explain his actions:

Roger Stone: crosshairs Instagram was 'Celtic symbol'

Stone is reportedly claiming that the crosshairs in the photo he posted of Judge Amy Berman are not crosshairs, but a Celtic symbol.

Here’s the image:

Updated

Roger Stone is on the witness stand in court, and apparently channelling Oliver Twist. Here’s the Huffington Post’s Ryan Reilly:

Roger Stone has made it to court... here he is arriving at the E. Barrett Prettyman courthouse in Washington DC a little back.

You’ll remember that the long-time Trump consort is back in court to face Judge Amy Berman Jackson. Stone posted a photo of the judge next to some crosshairs on Instagram – now we’ll find out whether Stone violated the terms of his release by doing so.

If he did, Stone could be put in jail.

Roger Stone
Roger Stone arriving at court. Photograph: Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images

Updated

Earlier we saw Donald Trump tweet out a video of some fence panels being put into place on the border.

“THE WALL IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION RIGHT NOW!” Trump whooped under the video.

But it now seems that the video is actually five months old. Not to mention it doesn’t show a new barrier being constructed – just an existing barrier being upgraded.

The website Task & Purpose reports that Trump’s footage was actually filmed on September 18 2018.

A spokeswoman for the US Army Corps of Engineers told Task & Purpose it had filmed the upgrade project last September.

Bernie Sanders announces campaign co-chairs

A Silicon Valley congressman with plans to bring big tech to Iowa, a sharp-tongued mayor who took on the Trump administration after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, and a leader of the Bernie Sanders’ grassroots army will serve as co-chairs for the Vermont senator’s second presidential campaign.

Representative Ro Khanna, who is the first member of Congress not from Sanders home state of Vermont to publicly endorse him, Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, and Nina Turner, the president of Our Revolution, will serve as Sanders’ surrogates and ambassadors, offering guidance to the campaign and hitting the trail to amplify issues such as healthcare, the environment and tech innovation. They are only the first wave of co-chairs to be announced and more are expected soon.

Collectively the co-chairs represent an effort by the campaign to build a diverse operation, in light of Sanders difficulty attracting minority voters in 2016 and recent revelations of sexual harassment by former female staffers on his first presidential campaign.

Sanders, who launched his campaign for president on Tuesday, hired Faiz Shakir, the former political director of the American Civil Liberties Union, to be the campaign manager. The former aide to Harry Reid is the first Muslim campaign manager for a major party candidate in presidential history.

Khanna has built his profile as a progressive voice in the House, working with Sanders on the campaign to raise the minimum wage for Amazon workers and on legislation to end US-support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. Re-elected to a second term in 2018, Khanna has spent a significant portion of his time outside his blue district, pushing big tech investment in parts of the Midwest and Appalachia.

“Every 50 years, there is someone who can fundamentally alter the course of American politics,” Khanna said in a statement. “Bernie Sanders has the chance to reorient our economic policy towards workers and communities left behind instead of corporate interests and to reorient our foreign policy to prioritize peace, diplomacy and restraint instead of war.”

Cruz met with Sanders during his visit to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria left residents without electricity and clean water. Her high-profile altercation with Donald Trump over his administration’s response to Puerto Rico earned national attention. She said in a statement that she is hopeful Sanders can “usher a new path towards the resolution of many of the issues facing Puerto Rico.”

Turner, a former Ohio state senator, is one of Sanders most loyal supporters. As the head of Our Revolution, which was a spin off of Sanders’ 2016 campaign, she led the effort to draft him into the race this season.

Updated

A few people are pointing out that Trump is yet to say anything about the coast guard who had stockpiled weapons and was plotting to attack Democratic members of Congress, but weighed in on Jussie Smollett almost immediately:

Christopher Hasson, a neo-Nazi serving as a lieutenant in the US coast guard, was arrested last week. Prosecutors described Hasson, who had compiled a spreadsheet of apparent targets including Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and anchors from CNN and MSNBC, last week.

Vice-president Mike Pence is off to Colombia next week to “voice the United States’ unwavering support for [Venezuala] interim president Juan Guaido”, according to the White House.

Pence will be in Bogota on Monday to reiterate US support for Guiado, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled national assembly who swore himself in as interim president in January. Guaido has been recognized by more than 40 countries, including the US, the UK, Brazil and Germany.

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has refused to step down, despite ongoing chaos in the country that has prompted an estimated four million people to flee the country.

Last week Trump urged to the Venezuelan military to abandon their support for Maduro and back Guaido.

Juan Guaido
Juan Guaido. Photograph: Ariana Cubillos/AP

At least 245 children have been separated from their families at the southern border since the Trump administration announced it would end the practice.

CNN reports that those separations occurred between late June 2018 – when the government – and early February 2019. The number was released in a court filing as part of an American Civil Liberties Union case against the Trump administration.

“The administration said the basis for the separation in the majority of cases was ‘criminality, prosecution, gang affiliation or other law enforcement purpose’,” according to CNN.

The Trump White House is forcing interns to sign non-disclosure agreements, the Daily Beast is reporting.

The latest batch of interns, who joined the White House earlier this year, were warned against leaking during their induction, the Beast says, before signing the NDAs. They were then warned that breaching the agreements could “result in legal, and thus financial, consequences for them”.

It’s not the first time Trump has ordered staff to sign NDAs – even though some believe that the agreements would never be held up in court.

Trump to Smollett: 'What about the millions you insulted?'

Empire actor Jussie Smollett was charged with felony disorderly conduct this morning, after allegedly lying when he claimed to have been attacked and beaten by two masked men shouting racist and homophobic slurs.

Smollett had claimed the men shouted “This is Maga country” – a reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan – during the alleged attack, which has led to:

In the days after the alleged attack on Smollett, Democratic presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Cory Booker described it as “an attempted modern day lynching”.

Updated

Florida is planning a “final lobbying blitz” to lure the 2020 Democratic National Convention to the state, according to a Politico report.

Speculation has been mounting in recent days that Democrats will choose Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the site of the pre-election convention. DNC chairman Tom Perez has been weighing Milwaukee, Houston and Miami as potential sites, and Politico says Florida Democrats are concerned Perez might be about to shun them for America’s Dairyland.

Miami’s stable of Democratic donors — many of whom have hosted President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton multiple times and are already being hit up by numerous Democratic presidential hopefuls — are applying their clout to the city’s bid. Some of them say they’re already leaning on potential 2020 candidates — they won’t say which ones — to get them behind Miami’s convention bid.

Something we may have missed yesterday – long-time Trump attorney and aide Michael Cohen has launched a fundraising campaign to pay his legal costs.

The description on Cohen’s Go Fund Me page seeks to paint Cohen, who was convicted of lying to the Senate and House intelligence committees, as something of a truth-telling patriot:

On July 2, 2018, Michael Cohen declared his independence from Donald Trump and his commitment to tell the truth.

On August 21, Michael Cohen made the decision to take legal responsibility and to continue his commitment to tell the truth.

Michael decided to put his family and his country first. Now Michael needs your financial help.

Virginia governor Ralph Northam, who once put shoe polish on his face to impersonate Michael Jackson, has cancelled the first stop on his “listening tour” about race.

The announcement comes after Virginia Union University’s student body wrote to Northam asking him not to attend a planned event at the college.

The governor announced the tour after admitting smearing shoe polish on his face in the 1980s while impersonating Jackson. Northam made the confession after it emerged his 1984 yearbook page included a photo of a man wearing blackface standing next to someone in a Ku Klux Klan outfit.

Northam has said he won’t resign.

Updated

Mike Pompeo says he won't run for Senate in 2020

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has ruled out running for Senate in 2020.

Pompeo had been widely linked with running in his home state of Kansas, where he previously served as a US congressman.

The Kansas seat will become vacant in 2020, and Senate leader Mitch McConnell had reportedly urged Pompeo to run. But the secretary of state told NBC News it ain’t going to happen.

“It’s ruled out,” Pompeo said. “I’m here, I’m loving it.”

Pompeo added that he plans to “be the secretary of state as long as President Trump gives [him] the chance to serve as a senior diplomat.”

Given Trump’s record of firing senior members of staff, one could argue that that leaves Pompeo some wiggle room.

Mike Pompeo
Pomp(eo), but no (Senate) ceremony. Photograph: Richard Drew/AP

Updated

Look who’s up:

Couple of points here: a) that is not a wall, b) this is merely a renovation of an existing fence. Trump has built no new miles of wall.

Updated

Democrats are being urged to sign a resolution which would halt Trump’s national emergency declaration.

With the backing of Houser speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep Joaquin Castro started circulating a letter round House members yesterday, seeking co-sponsors to his one-page resolution. Democrats have until 3pm today to sign, and it is likely to be introduced on Friday.

“I write to invite all Members of Congress to cosponsor Congressman Joaquin Castro’s privileged resolution,” Pelosi wrote to colleagues, “to terminate this emergency declaration using the termination mechanism within the National Emergencies Act”.

All Members take an oath of office to support and defend the Constitution.

[...]

The President’s decision to go outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process violates the Constitution and must be terminated. We have a solemn responsibility to uphold the Constitution, and defend our system of checks and balances against the President’s assault.

Joaquin Castro
Joaquin Castro pictured yesterday, after touring the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Florida. Photograph: Wilfredo Lee/AP

Updated

Longtime Trump ally Roger Stone due in court

Good morning.

•‘Get Me Roger Stone’ is not just the name of a documentary about the long-time Donald Trump associate. It’s also what a DC federal court is saying, after Stone posted a photo to Instagram showing Judge Amy Berman Jackson next to a set of rifle crosshairs. Stone is due in court at 2.30pm and could be sent to jail.

•Democrats are continuing to hit the trail today, hoping to win the nomination for an election that is now just 20 months away. Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris and Julian Castro are all appearing at various events around the country.

•Donald Trump has managed to squeeze some meetings around his executive time. He will receive an intelligence briefing at 11.30am, then have lunch with acting secretary of the interior David Bernhardt at 12.15pm. At 6.15pm he is hosting a reception for National African American History Month.

•Last but far, far from least, Robert Mueller is said to be close to concluding his investigation into potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. It likely won’t drop today, but we’ll have updates if there’s any news.

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