OK everybody, it’s been real. But now it’s time for the first of the 2020 DNC presidential primary debates! My colleague Adam Gabbatt is in Miami and will have all the updates you could possibly need. Follow along on the live blog here:
Seriously, is every 2020 Democratic presidential candidate visiting the Homestead facility?
.@BernieSanders will visit the Homestead detention facility tomorrow at 10 am.
— Sean Sullivan (@WaPoSean) June 26, 2019
He also says in a statement that as president, he would swiftly "convene a high level meeting" with leaders of Latin American countries to address conditions that motivate people to flee.
With just minutes to go to the first of the Democratic primary debates, President Trump has begun tweeting up a storm.
According to Fake News (and low ratings) @CNN, “Democrats say hearings could change impeachment debate.” That’s because they have lost the impeachment debate (80% say NO), and they are hoping that yet another DO OVER, after 2 1/2 years and $40,000,000, will turn things around....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2019
....No Collusion, No Obstruction! Robert Mueller said he was done after his last 9 minute news conference, as later corrected. Now the Dems want to give it another try. Does it ever end?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2019
Immediately after his tweets about impeachment and Robert Mueller, the president moved right on to immigration.
The Republican Senate just passed bipartisan humanitarian assistance for our Southern Border, 84-8! In addition to aid, Congress must close the catastrophic loopholes that are driving the Crisis. We must end incentives for Smuggling Children, Trafficking Women, and Selling Drugs.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2019
It’s almost as if he doesn’t want you to pay attention to something.
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper responds to his earlier rough start to tonight’s debate:
Last time, we elected the most famous candidate. Let’s try something new.
— John Hickenlooper (@Hickenlooper) June 26, 2019
The happening place to be?
Elizabeth Warren & Amy Klobuchar today went to the Homestead facility where immigrant children are being held - and that's being repeated by a number of other Democrats here in Miami pic.twitter.com/204Ncwymyq
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) June 26, 2019
The political celebrity sightings have begun. Andrew Gillum, the progressive from Tallahassee who almost won the red state Florida governor’s mansion for the Democrats, is spotted down the street.
Andrew Gillum sighting at the Miami Hilton down the street from the Dem debates. He’s hosting a watch party for Fla Dems
— Daniel Newhauser (@dnewhauser) June 26, 2019
Before the debate tonight, take a look at what some of the Democratic candidates had to say about the heartbreaking image of the drowned migrant father and daughter at the US-Mexico border:
On the lighter side of congressional news, transportation committee members raced scooters on capitol hill today.
Bipartisan scooter races! Just your average day at the Transport Committee @RodneyDavis @Malinowski @TransportGOP pic.twitter.com/r45t4cpoXD
— Abby Camp (@AbbyFayeCamp) June 25, 2019
Hey all, Vivian Ho here for a SUPER BRIEF live blog before the first of the Democratic primary debates. Hope everyone’s jazzed.
Summary
With that I bid you a good afternoon, as Vivian Ho comes on board to take you through the rest of the day until our Adam Gabbatt fires up late live blog coverage of the Democratic primary debate from south Florida tonight.
Here are a few key things you may have missed today:
- The House and Senate have both passed bills which provide in the neighborhood of $4.5bn in funding to address the crisis on the border, but it’s unclear how lawmakers expect to square the competing proposals.
- A Buzzfeed News investigation found that US investigators have found dismal conditions at migrant camps, similar to the ones that have been described in recent news accounts.
- More or less the whole Democratic field of contenders took trips to a detention camp in south Florida Wednesday ahead of this evening’s debate.
- Two Republican Senators have come out and said that new rape claims against Donald Trump should be investigated.
Also, Donald Trump (surprise, surprise) made a laundry list of off-color and meanspirited remarks today, during a televised interview and a speech at the Faith and Freedom Coalition. They included:
- Seeming excitement at the prospect of the late Senator John McCain spending eternity in damnation
- Threatening to fire his Federal Reserve Chairman
- Calling German chancellor Angela Merkel “someone who hates the United States perhaps worse than any person I’ve ever met”... Which is pretty weird because he’s definitely met Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un.
- Attacking a US women’s soccer player
- Joking about using his office to “go after” political rivals
All before heading off for Japan this afternoon.
Hundreds of people out to demonstrate in Boston in solidarity with Wayfair workers who walked out over their company’s decision to sell furniture for use in migrant detention centers.
Wow! Look at the hundreds of people gathered in Copley Square, Boston in solidarity with @wayfairwalkout workers. Thank you!#WayfairWalkout pic.twitter.com/Gug53kJh6u
— Lucky Tran (@luckytran) June 26, 2019
Senator and presidential hopeful Cory Booker is calling for hearings on reports of ICE using solitary confinement in migrant detention camps, often against mentally ill persons, and detainees who hadn’t violated any rules.
In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, Booker cites May reports by NBC News and The Intercept that ICE placed thousands of immigrants in solitary confinement between 2012 and 2017.
ICE’s own policy seems to recognize the dangers of solitary confinement. The policy states that the ‘[p]lacement of detainees in segregated housing is a serious step that requires careful consideration of alternatives... In particular, placement in administrative segregation due to a special vulnerability should be used only as a last resort and when no other viable housing options exist.’”
-Cory Booker
Senate passes $4.6bn in border funding
The Senate passed its own border supplement bill Wednesday with strong bipartisan support after the House passed one last night on a much tighter margin.
Both bills allocate funding to address the humanitarian crisis, but the two pieces of legislation differ substantially in the details. The House bill has more constraints than the Senate version on how the Trump administration would use the money, leaving the next step unclear.
Congressional leaders hope to send President Donald Trump a compromise measure before lawmakers leave town for a July 4 recess.
Senate Majority leader McConnell and House Speaker Pelosi have both said reaching some type of legislative solution is a high priority.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi on border supplemental bill: "It's for the children, the children, the children. It's about lifting them up in a way that takes them beyond what we do today. This is a very strong first step for us... for the children. It's very exciting." pic.twitter.com/r0gCeCSSkM
— The Hill (@thehill) June 25, 2019
Updated
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is reportedly planning a vote on a bipartisan amendment to the country’s current defense authorization legislation that would “prohibit funds from being used for military operations against Iran without explicit authorization from Congress.”
“It’s time for Congress to step up to our constitutional responsibilities before we find ourselves in another unnecessary and endless war in the Middle East,” said Democratic Senator Tom Udall, one of the sponsors. “We need to stand up and take the hard votes. Our troops face live fire and sacrifice their lives – and we should have no sympathy for Congress ducking a vote on whether or not we go to war. Congress has not authorized war with Iran, and we need to make sure that saber rattling and miscalculation don’t spark a catastrophic conflict, before it’s too late.”
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine added:
“It’s time we have a real conversation on the Senate floor about what another war in the Middle East would do to our troops and the safety of the American people at home. This amendment is a guardrail to prevent Trump from unilaterally starting a war with Iran.”
Rand Paul, a Republican, is also a sponsor.
McConnell says Friday vote on Udall amendment to ban funding for Iran without congressional consent. The vote will be held open during the day, he said.
— Siobhan Hughes (@siobhanehughes) June 26, 2019
Updated
DeVos: Education "clearly has not been at the top" of Trump's priorities
“Education clearly has not been at the top of his list of priorities to address directly, but he has been very supportive of all the work that we’ve done,” DeVos said Wednesday in an interview with Denver radio station KDMT.
“I have a great relationship with the president,” DeVos continued. “And he has been very supportive of and encouraging of all of the initiatives that we’ve undertaken.”
From Politico:
DeVos’ relationship with Trump was thrust into the spotlight earlier this year after the controversy over proposed funding cuts for the Special Olympics. DeVos publicly defended the administration’s proposal for days until Trump suddenly reversed course, declaring that he had “overridden my people.”
Earlier this month, Trump appeared to side with West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice in the governor’s rift with DeVos and GOP legislators over charter schools and education savings account programs in the state.
Online home goods retailer Wayfair sold roughly 1,600 mattresses and 100 bunk beds to Baptist Child and Family Services, a nonprofit that works as a federal contractor managing some of the camps along the southern border, according to a copy of the sales receipt obtained by CNBC and verified by an employee to the station.
Wayfair employees staged a walkout Wednesday afternoon at its headquarters in Boston while many customers called for a boycott on social media.
The announcement earlier today that Wayfair would donate profits from related sales to the Red Cross also haven’t gone over particularly well on Twitter.
This ain’t it.
— Brittany Packnett, a Dr. Marijuana Pepsi stan acct (@MsPackyetti) June 26, 2019
A) The Red Cross wasn’t the request, doesn’t do the same work, and is questionably trustworthy: https://t.co/cmNjIa0aAo
B) The letter didn’t say that they’d stop doing business with ICE. Did anyone else see that they would? Because if not? #WayfairWalkout https://t.co/xE3CrXxJmr pic.twitter.com/jWdbqwyBYO
According to the Daily Beast, Reddit quarantined the “The_Donald” subreddit on Wednesday, “citing threats made on the popular forum for Trump supporters against law enforcement officers.”
“Recent behaviors including threats against the police and public figures is content that is prohibited by our violence policy,” a Reddit spokesperson said in a statement. “As a result, we have actioned individual users and quarantined the subreddit.”
World Cup winner Ali Krieger has thrown her support behind fellow USA soccer alum Megan Rapinoe in her spat with Donald Trump.
In regards to the “President’s” tweet today, I know women who you cannot control or grope anger you, but I stand by @mPinoe & will sit this one out as well. I don’t support this administration nor their fight against LGBTQ+ citizens, immigrants & our most vulnerable.
— Ali Krieger (@alikrieger) June 26, 2019
The Daily Beast has compiled a friendly reminder of what candidates ought NOT to do at tonight’s Democratic debate. Let’s take a walk down memory lane, shall we?
So, this is what not to do at the Democratic debates https://t.co/T5BCOcLJ3K pic.twitter.com/cA6QTHiRej
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) June 25, 2019
Rough start for former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper.
Security person outside debate site just now : “are you here to pick up press credentials?”
— Scott Detrow (@scottdetrow) June 26, 2019
John Hickenlooper: “...I’m a candidate”
Justice Neil Gorsuch continued his trend of joining his generally more liberal US Supreme Court colleagues in certain criminal cases, reports Bloomberg Law.
Gorsuch wrote the court’s opinion, released Wednesday, siding with a man convicted of child pornography offenses who faced more prison time for violating supervised release.
From Bloomberg Law:
Though a more reliably conservative vote in other areas—and in criminal cases involving death row prisoners—it’s the latest instance of Gorsuch applying a limited government mentality to help convicts on appeal.
Just this week, he cast the tie-breaking vote for the defense in another criminal case, and earlier this term provided the liberals with a fifth vote in decisions favoring American Indian rights.
Thirty miles south of where Elizabeth Warren will take the stage on Wednesday night for the first of two presidential primary debates, the Massachusetts senator climbed a ladder to peer over a chain-link fence enclosing a detention center for young migrants.
From her vantage point, Warren said a sprawling campus with massive white tents, metal trailers, a soccer field – and organized in single file lines, the children and young adults who are being housed at the facility in Homestead, Florida.
“These were children who were being marched like they were soldiers - like they were prisoners - from one place to another,” Warren said. “This is not what we should be doing as a country. These children did not commit a crime. These children pose no threat.”
The facility, which is run by Comprehensive Health Services, Inc., a private, for-profit company, has become a backdrop for Democratic presidential hopefuls to rail against Donald Trump’s immigration policies while in Miami, a city known as the capital of Latin America” where more than 70% of the population is Hispanic, located in Florida, one of country’s most important battleground states.
Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar arrived on the scene shortly after Warren departed and Jane Sanders, the wife of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, also joined protesters on Wednesday. Democratic hopefuls Beto O’Rourke and author Marianne Williamson were due to visit later this week. California congressman Eric Swallwell documented his visit here on Monday: “These children need homes, NOT a privatized prison,” he said on Twitter.
Their visits come after photos were published of a father and his toddler daughter face down in the Rio Grande river, where they drowned trying to cross the border to seek asylum in the United States and amid a fresh found of reports about the conditions that children are being kept in at Border Patrol stations near the border. Lawyers who had visited the facilities said children were being kept without adequate food, water or basic sanitary needs such as toothpaste and soap.
“What is happening at Homestead to children – what is happening is the direct result of activities of the United States government is wrong,” Warren told a sweat-soaked crush of activists and reporters said Warren. “It is a stain on our country and we must speak out.”
Warren, who wore a hat with the message “Home Instead”, touted her plan to ban private, for-profit prisons and detention centers. =
The senator was not scheduled to visit the facility, but added the stop after hearing from activists ahead of her town hall in Miami on Tuesday night.
Jane Sanders told the Guardian it was “heartbreaking” to see the facility firsthand. She said Sanders first executive order as president would be to close the private detention facilities.
She also that her husband had voted against legislation in that led to the creation of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in 2002.
“Everything that he feared has come true,” she said, referring to the agency, “and it needs to be abolished. We need a complete overhaul of our immigration system.”
Trump tells CNN reporter that what he speaks about with Vladimir Putin is “none of your business.”
I asked President Trump whether he will ask Putin not to meddle in the 2020 election during their meeting. He said what he speaks to Putin about this week is “none of your business.”
— Sarah Westwood (@sarahcwestwood) June 26, 2019
Politico reporter Eliana Johnson says that, per a senior Democratic aide, House Speaker Pelosi and President Trump spoke this afternoon for 15 minutes. “The Speaker placed the call to the President to try to reconcile the House and Senate border supplementals.”
Updated
Report: Government watchdog says "immediate steps" need to be taken on "dangerous" detention conditions
Buzzfeed News is reporting that the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General found atrocious conditions in migrant detention facilities including “standing room only” living space, and little access to hot showers or food.
From Buzzfeed:
When Department of Homeland Security inspectors visited several border facilities in the Rio Grande Valley earlier this month, they found adults and minors with no access to showers, many adults only fed bologna sandwiches, and detainees banging on cell windows — desperately pressing notes to the windows of their cells that detailed their time in custody.
The inspectors compiled a draft report, obtained by BuzzFeed News, that described the conditions as dangerous and prolonged. Some adults were held in standing-room conditions for a week. There was little access to hot showers or hot food for families and children in some facilities. Some kids were being held in closed cells. There was severe overcrowding.
The draft report was written by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and addressed to the acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan. It comes after inspectors visited five border facilities and two ports of entry during the week of June 10.
It appears to have been sent to DHS officials last week for comments and requests for redactions before being released publicly.
“Specifically, we are recommending that the Department of Homeland Security take immediate steps to alleviate dangerous overcrowding and prolonged detention of children and adults in the Rio Grande Valley,” wrote Jennifer Costello, acting inspector general.
Trump, speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Wednesday, seemed to suggest that he believes the late Senator John McCain is in hell, and that this idea brings him some joy.
“We needed 60 votes. And we had 51 votes. And sometimes, you know, we had a little hard time with a couple of them, right,” Trump said, which could be alluding to any of a few Senators who sometimes bucked Trump on bills, including former Senators Jeff Flake and Bob Corker.”
Trump continued: “Fortunately, they’re gone now. They’ve gone on to greener pastures. Or perhaps far less green pastures... They’re gone. I’m very happy they’re gone.”
Trump suggests he’s “very happy” the late Sen. John McCain is gone - even to “far less green pastures” https://t.co/8ZZ126Jkoo
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 26, 2019
It takes a little bit of extrapolating, and Trump has plausible deniability if the comments attract widespread condemnation. But Trump’s well-known, petty dislike for John McCain seems to point in his remarks having a particularly morose and nasty meaning.
Updated
Trump made some light humor on authoritarianism to reporters Wednesday, saying that his administration wouldn’t be enforcing the Johnson Amendment on pastors “unless they speak against me, in which case I’ll bring it back,” before adding that he was “only kidding”.
The Johnson Amendment prohibits all 501(c)(3) organizations, including houses of worship, from endorsing political candidates.
Trump says his administration isn't enforcing the Johnson Amendment on pastors "unless they speak against me, in which case I'll bring it back," adding he's "only kidding"
— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) June 26, 2019
Manafort to be arraigned in New York tomorrow
Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort is expected to be arraigned tomorrow at approximately 2:15pm before Judge Maxwell Wiley in Manhattan, Courthouse News’ Adam Klasfeld is reporting.
Manafort is currently in prison after having pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and witness tampering in federal court in September. The charges in New York are unrelated mortgage fraud charges. Unlike the crimes he pleaded guilty to in the federal case, Manafort could not rely on a presidential pardon to eventually clear him in New York.
The Chicago bar whose employee spit on Eric Trump Tuesday night said in a statement that the employee in question has been placed on leave, calling the incident “unfortunate” and its fallout “troubling.”
“Last night an unfortunate incident occurred between an employee at The Aviary and Eric Trump,” began The Aviary’s statement, released Wednesday morning. “We did not witness the incident and we are just beginning to learn the details.”
“What is certain is this: no customer should ever be spit upon,” the Fulton Market cocktail lounge continued.
Multiple sources told NBC 5 that Eric Trump, the son of President Donald Trump, was a patron of the upscale cocktail lounge at around 8:30 p.m. when an employee approached and spit on him. Eric Trump later confirmed the incident in a statement to NBC News.
We have not yet spoken with the employee but our HR team has, in the meantime, placed her on leave,” The Aviary’s statement continued, adding that the establishment would not discuss internal HR matters any further.
More broadly, the online discussion about the incident is troubling,” The Aviary continued, adding, “Hundreds of people are calling for the demise of our business, threatening our employees, and posting fake reviews... they are wrong to do so based on the actions of a lone individual.
So too, however, are those people wrong who are praising this as an act of civil disobedience/ We have voices and the means to be heard. A degrading act lowers the tenor of debate. To some it might feel good, but it is unlikely to serve any larger purpose.”
We hope this incident can, at least, serve to illuminate the current absurdity of the discourse in our politics,” the bar’s statement concluded. “As fellow Americans and citizens, we should all aim higher.”
-The Aviary
As conditions in migrant detention camps remain a contentious and hotly debated topic, 2020 Democratic candidates are jockeying Wednesday to bring attention to, and/or plant a flag in the issue- depending on your level of cynicism.
Elizabeth Warren paid a visit to the Homestead detention facility outside Miami earlier this morning after a voter enccouraged her to show up during a town hall last night.
Warren is here and up on a ladder across the street from Homestead — she is waving to children inside that she can see above the wall pic.twitter.com/LOdR52cFJK
— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) June 26, 2019
Bernie Sanders’ wife Jane is also at Homestead, telling reporters that closing detention facilities would be her husband’s first executive order as president.
Jane Sanders arrives at Homestead, says that closing detention facilities would be @BernieSanders first executive order pic.twitter.com/ov3upmsDaY
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) June 26, 2019
Senators Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar also announced they would be visiting Homestead today. The Democratic candidates are all in south Florida in advance of the first primary debate scheduled for this evening.
Updated
House Oversight chairman Jerry Nadler doesn’t seem especially concerned about a White House attempt to block Robert Mueller from testifying next month.
Nadler on if WH may try to block Mueller from testifying: They may attempt to, I doubt that they would succeed because Mr. Mueller is an honest man and understands that you must, that that Congressional subpoena is not optional
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 26, 2019
Wayfair, the mega online furniture retailer, is reportedly backing down in a standoff with its employees over having accepted orders from the US government for items used in migrant detention camps.
A source just told me Wayfair plans to announce today that it will donate the profits from the sale of $200k worth of bedroom furniture for use in a migrant detention facility, following employee backlash over the sale.
— Cristina Alesci (@CristinaAlesci) June 26, 2019
The company had initially issued a statement which read in part:
As a retailer, it is standard practice to fulfill orders for all customers and we believe it is our business to sell to any customer who is acting within the laws of the countries within which we operate. We believe all of our stakeholders, employees, customers, investors and suppliers included, are best served by our commitment to fulfill all orders. This does not indicate support for the opinions or actions of the groups or individuals who purchase from us.
But pressure was mounting, not only from employees who staged a walkout Tuesday, but across social media where customers and potential customers were threatening boycotts. It remains unclear whether the announcement will satisfy either group.
I stand with the hundreds of @Wayfair employees who are planning to stage a walkout at their Boston headquarters tomorrow. The safety and well-being of immigrant children is always worth fighting for. https://t.co/L3hqbazX4l
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) June 25, 2019
Kellyanne Conway to be subpoenaed after she fails to show for hearing
A House committee voted Wednesday to authorize a subpoena for White House counselor Kellyanne Conway after she failed to show for a hearing on a government watchdog’s findings that she broke the law dozens of times.
Conway is skipping the hearings with the support of White House lawyers. Oversight committee chairman Elijah Cummings has warned that his panel would vote to hold Conway in contempt if she ignores the subpoena.
From The Washington Post:
The House Oversight Committee voted, 25-to-16, for the subpoena after Special Counsel Henry Kerner said she blatantly violated the Hatch Act, a law that bars federal employees from engaging in politics during work.
“Ms. Conway’s egregious and repeated Hatch Act violations, combined with her unrepentant attitude, are unacceptable from any federal employee, let along one in such a prominent position,” Kerner told the panel. “Her conduct hurts both federal employees, who may believe that senior officials can act with complete disregard for the Hatch Act, and the American people, who may question the nonpartisan operation of their government.”
Megan Rapinoe: 'I'm not going to the fucking White House'
In an interview shared yesterday, USA soccer player Megan Rapinoe scoffed at the notion of going to the White House in the event of a potential Women’s World Cup victory.
“I’m not going to the fucking White House.” - @mPinoe pic.twitter.com/sz1ADG2WdT
— Eight by Eight (@8by8mag) June 25, 2019
Trump heard and responded characteristically, in a series of Tweets:
Women’s soccer player, @mPinoe, just stated that she is “not going to the F...ing White House if we win.” Other than the NBA, which now refuses to call owners, owners (please explain that I just got Criminal Justice Reform passed, Black unemployment is at the lowest level... in our Country’s history, and the poverty index is also best number EVER), leagues and teams love coming to the White House. I am a big fan of the American Team, and Women’s Soccer, but Megan should WIN first before she TALKS! Finish the job! We haven’t yet...invited Megan or the team, but I am now inviting the TEAM, win or lose. Megan should never disrespect our Country, the White House, or our Flag, especially since so much has been done for her & the team. Be proud of the Flag that you wear. The USA is doing GREAT!”
One problem. Trump initially tweeted his reply to the wrong account.
my replies are popping off
— . (@meganrapino) June 26, 2019
Updated
The Environmental Protection Agency’s air chief—who has been leading the Trump administration’s rollbacks of rules for pollution and climate change—is departing amid a congressional probe of a possible ethics violation.
Bill Wehrum, a lawyer who has represented energy interests, came under scrutiny after meeting with two former clients and taking part in a decision in favor of a former client, the power company DTE Energy, according to the Washington Post.
EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler did not say why Wehrum is leaving but commended him for “his service, his dedication to his job, the leadership he provided to his staff and the agency, and for his friendship.”
Wehrum was confirmed in November 2017.
Two Republican senators say allegation against Trump should be investigated
Two Republican senators said Tuesday the sexual assault allegation made against President Donald Trump by writer E Jean Carroll should be investigated, while most of the party has mostly ignored the claims or defended the president.
Joni Ernst of Iowa said Trump and Carroll should be questioned about the alleged assault. “I think anybody that makes an accusation like that, they should come forward,” Ernst said when asked if Carroll should be believed. “But obviously there has to be some additional information. They need to interview her. They need to visit with him.”
Mitt Romney of Utah said there needs to be an “evaluation” but that he didn’t know what entity should conduct it, “whether it’s Congress or whether it’s another setting, I’m not sure.
“It’s a very serious allegation,” Romney said. “I hope that it is fully evaluated. The president said it didn’t happen and I certainly hope that’s the case.”
Ernst shared in January that she herself is a survivor of sexual assault.
Updated
A Senate hearing on the “unprecedented migration at the US southern border” is just getting underway and you can watch live here.
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, chairman of the committee holding the hearing, said in his opening remarks: “We’ll hear stories of [migrants who] probably have already been placed into involuntary servitude. We have records of people being beaten, and videos taken and sent back down to their home countries demanding payment.”
Johnson expressed concerns that the system for processing migrants at the southern border is completely overwhelmed, sentiments that were echoed by Brian Hastings, Chief of the Law Enforcement Operations Directorate of US Border Patrol.
“Three weeks into the month, we’ve already passed the apprehension level for every June since 2007,” Hastings said. “The flow continues to overwhelm resources throughout the immigration system.”
The hearings come as a photograph of a father and his 23-month-old daughter face down along the banks of the Rio Grande is being published around the world as a grisly representation of the dangers that migrants face on the border.
Updated
The Hill is reporting that Code Pink activists have been granted a permit to fly the “Baby Trump balloon” just blocks from the White House during Trump’s July 4 celebration.
With news coming yesterday that special council Robert Mueller will be testifying before Congress next month, Trump took his televised interview as a chance to make unfounded broadsides at him – accusing him of illegally disposing of evidence during the investigation.
Without any evidence, Trump is accusing Mueller of trying to erase evidence of Strzok and Page's messages.
— Chris Megerian (@ChrisMegerian) June 26, 2019
"He terminated them. They're gone. It's illegal. It's a crime."
Updated
Trump rules out replacing his vice-president, Mike Pence, with former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, as a Wall Street Journal op-ed suggested Trump ought to do earlier this week.
I love Nikki, she’s endorsed me, she’s my friend, but Mike has been a great Vice President...I love Nikki...but you can’t break up a team like us, we get along together.”
-Donald Trump on running mate questions.
Trump rules out Nikki Haley joining him on the 2020 ticket, says he's sticking with Pence: "I love Nikki, she's endorsed me, she's my friend, but Mike has been a great Vice President...I love Nikki...but you can't break up a team like us, we get along together."
— Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) June 26, 2019
Updated
On the escalating tensions between the US and Iran after a US drone was shot down last week Trump says he “hopes” the two countries don’t go to war, but “we are in a very strong position… it would not last long… I’m not talking boots on the ground… just saying if something happened it wouldn’t last long.”
.@realDonaldTrump on potential war with Iran War with Iran
— Adam Shapiro (@Ajshaps) June 26, 2019
“I hope we dont but we are in a very strong position… it would not last long… Im not talking boots on the ground… just saying if something happened it wouldn’t last long.”
Trump on Fed chair Powell: 'I have the right to fire him'
Good morning and welcome to the politics live blog for Wednesday the 26th of June. We kick off this morning with Fox Business Network, where Donald Trump started off the morning by attacking his Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, on national television.
Trump’s remarks came in the midst of a wide-ranging interview with host Maria Bartiromo. he president
“Here’s a guy, nobody ever heard of him before and I made him and now he wants to show how tough he is... I have the right to demote him. I have the right to fire him,” Trump says of Fed Chair Powell on Fox.
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) June 26, 2019
Trump and Powell have been at loggerheads over the chairman’s raising of interest rates while Powell has made a public display of touting the bank’s independence from the president’s wishes.
Other recipients of Trump attacks this morning include Twitter, Trump’s preferred means of public communication, who he says is “biased” against him, Google, who Trump says is “trying to rig the election” and German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who, without mentioning her by name, Trump claims “hates the United States perhaps worse than any person I’ve ever met.”
"Twitter is just terrible what they do," says @POTUS, claiming it has a bias against him and his supporters.
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) June 26, 2019
Updated
