Closing summary
That’s all for today, everyone. Thanks for tuning in on yet another eventful day. A quick recap of recent developments:
- The Venezuela saga continues, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinting that the US would not be recalling its diplomats within the next 72 hours, as Nicolas Maduro demanded after the Trump administration recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s interim president.
- With the government shutdown is in its 33rd day, and no end in sight, 12 protesters were arrested outside of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office. The protesters, many of whom were federal union leaders, were chanting, “We want to work!” Meanwhile, union leaders for air traffic controllers, pilots, and flight attendants issued a statement expressing concern over safety during the shutdown, saying that with so many of their federal worker counterparts unsure of when they could return to work, they could not “even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break.” Lara Trump urged federal workers working without pay to “stay strong” through this “little bit of pain.”
- House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff and Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters are planning a joint investigation into Deutsche Bank, which is under scrutiny for its business dealings with President Trump.
- Iowa Senator Joni Ernst told Bloomberg that she was both a rape and domestic abuse survivor.
Updated
Air traffic controllers, pilots, and flight attendant are “have a growing concern for the safety and security of our members, our airlines, and the traveling public due to the government shutdown.”
Late on Day 33 of the longest government shutdown in the country’s history, the presidents of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the Air Line Pilots Association, and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA issued a statement that “in our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break. It is unprecedented.”
“Due to the shutdown, air traffic controllers, transportation security officers, safety inspectors, air marshals, federal law enforcement officers, FBI agents, and many other critical workers have been working without pay for over a month. Staffing in our air traffic control facilities is already at a 30-year low and controllers are only able to maintain the system’s efficiency and capacity by working overtime, including 10-hour days and 6-day workweeks at many of our nation’s busiest facilities. Due to the shutdown, the FAA has frozen hiring and shuttered its training academy, so there is no plan in effect to fill the FAA’s critical staffing need. Even if the FAA were hiring, it takes two to four years to become fully facility certified and achieve Certified Professional Controller (CPC) status. Almost 20% of CPCs are eligible to retire today. There are no options to keep these professionals at work without a paycheck when they can no longer afford to support their families. When they elect to retire, the National Airspace System (NAS) will be crippled.
“The situation is changing at a rapid pace. Major airports are already seeing security checkpoint closures, with many more potentially to follow. Safety inspectors and federal cyber security staff are not back on the job at pre-shutdown levels, and those not on furlough are working without pay. Last Saturday, TSA management announced that a growing number of officers cannot come to work due to the financial toll of the shutdown. In addition, we are not confident that system-wide analyses of safety reporting data, which is used to identify and implement corrective actions in order to reduce risks and prevent accidents is 100 percent operational due to reduced FAA resources.
“As union leaders, we find it unconscionable that aviation professionals are being asked to work without pay and in an air safety environment that is deteriorating by the day. To avoid disruption to our aviation system, we urge Congress and the White House to take all necessary steps to end this shutdown immediately. “
Republican Senator Joni Ernst told Bloomberg on Wednesday that she had been raped in college.
The Iowa lawmaker came forward with her story after details from affidavits she and ex-husband Gail Ernst filed in their divorce were inadvertently made public this week, and allegations that her ex-husband had physically abused her came out.
“I didn’t want to share it with anybody, and in the era of hashtag-MeToo survivors, I always believed that every person is different and they will confront their demons when they’re ready,” Ernst said. “And I was not ready.”
Ernst is a high-ranking member of her party, and she had been on a shortlist to be President Trump’s vice president. But with everything happening with her family, she later called Trump to withdraw from consideration.
She is planning on seeking reelection in 2020.
“People know my situation now,” she said. “What I can do is be honest about what happened. And I can move forward.”
In the latest twist in the Venezuela saga, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo seemed to imply that the US would not be recalling its diplomats within the next 72 hours.
Pompeo issued a statement Wednesday evening that “the United States does not consider former president Nicolas Madura to have the legal authority to break diplomatic relations with the United States or to declare our diplomats persona non grata.”
“We call on the Venezuelan military and security forces to continue protecting the welfare and well-being of all Venezuelan citizens, as well as US and other foreign citizens in Venezuela,” Pompeo said. “We call on all parties to refrain from measures that are inconsistent with the privileges and immunities enjoyed by the diplomatic community. The United States will take appropriate actions to hold accountable anyone who endangers the safety and security of our mission and its personnel.
In a message to federal employees in the midst of the longest government shutdown in the country’s history, Lara Trump, President Trump’s daughter-in-law and campaign adviser, described not being able to earn a paycheck for 33 days as “a little bit of pain.”
“But it’s going to be for the future of our country,” she said. She urged federal workers “to please stay strong.”
Trump spoke to BOLD TV about the shutdown, putting the blame squarely on the Democrats who “keep playing politics.” Her father-in-law is fighting for “what he knows is the right thing to do,” she said.
Toward the end of the 4-minute clip, BOLD founder Carrie Sheffield asked Trump, “In terms of the workers who are coming to work and not getting paid, what would you say to them?”
“It’s not fair to you, and we all get that, but this is so much bigger than any one person,” Trump said. “It is a little bit of pain, but it’s going to be for the future of our country, and their children and their grandchildren and generations after them will thank them for their sacrifice right now. I know it’s hard. I know people have families, they have bills to pay, they have mortgages, they have rents that are due. But the president is trying every single day to come up with a good solution here and, the reality is, it’s been something that’s gone on for too long and been unaddressed: our immigration problem.”
Updated
On Day 33 of the shutdown, 12 protesters, some with a federal workers union, were arrested outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office. All 12 were booked on suspicion of crowding, obstructing, or incommoding outside of room 317 in the Russell Senate Office Building, according to the US Capitol Police.
Activist Kristin Mink tweeted that the protesters were federal union leaders who were chanting “We want to work!” and “stop the shutdown!”
BREAKING: 11 national #union leaders ARRESTED outside @SenMajLdr Mitch McConnell’s office
— Kristin Mink (@KristinMinkDC) January 23, 2019
They want to work. Their members want to work. They all need paychecks. Mitch had them arrested.#WheresMitch #StopTheShutdown #OpenTheGovernment pic.twitter.com/P7FVUf4Ywy
Updated
Schiff, Waters plan joint investigation into bank with Trump business dealings
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff and Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters are planning a joint investigation into Deutsche Bank, Politico reports. The bank is under scrutiny for not just its possible role in money laundering schemes, but for its business dealings with President Trump.
According to Politico’s Zachary Warmbrodt:
The investigation into Deutsche Bank will be one of the most closely watched probes launched by the new Democratic-controlled Congress because it could provide a glimpse into Trump’s finances and his ties abroad.
Waters, who has called for the president’s impeachment, has vowed to follow the “Trump money trail” starting with Deutsche Bank. Before she became chairwoman, she asked the bank for details on its handling of Trump’s accounts and involvement in Russian money laundering schemes.
The bank declined her request, citing privacy issues for its customers. She now has subpoena power to get some answers.
After the Trump administration recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s interim president, Nicolas Maduro ordered all US diplomats to leave the country within 72 hours.
NEW: White House on Maduro's order to US diplomats to leave Venezuela in 72 hours: "The order is meaningless."
— Michelle Kosinski (@MichLKosinski) January 23, 2019
This is Vivian Ho with the west coast bureau, taking over for Sabrina Siddiqui. Buckle up, kids. It’s been an interesting day.
Alright folks, I’m handing over the keys of the blog to my colleague Vivian Ho on the West Coast. She’ll take you through the latest developments throughout the evening.
To recap yet another wild day so far:
- Nancy Pelosi told Donald Trump he can no longer hold his State of the Union address inside the House chamber, leaving the president in search of an alternative venue
- Michael Cohen, the president’s former attorney, delayed his planned testimony before Congress due to ‘threats’ from Trump and his legal team
- The Trump administration has recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s interim president, prompting Nicolas Maduro to cut off all diplomatic relations with the US
- The government shutdown is in its 33rd day, with no end in sight
Stay tuned for more!
Manafort attorneys dispute allegations he lied to investigators
The attorneys for former Trump campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, are pushing back once again on allegations by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office that he lied to federal investigators in a violation of his plea deal.
In a heavily redacted court filing filed on Wednesday, Manafort’s legal team argued that his answers simply amounted to “a lack of consistency”.
“Many of these events occurred years ago, or during a high-pressure U.S. presidential campaign he managed when his time was extraordinarily limited,” Manafort’s defense counsel wrote, “or during the difficult time that followed his departure from the 2016 presidential campaign because of the allegations leveled at him and the investigations that followed”.
They further added that Mueller had not provided evidence to “demonstrate any intentional falsehoods”.
Mueller’s team detailed Manafort’s alleged lies, with what they said was corresponding evidence, in a filing of their own last week.
Among the most damning revelations to come from the back-and-forth between Manafort’s legal team and the special counsel: that Manafort allegedly shared internal campaign polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a business associate of his with known ties to Russian intelligence.
Prosecutors allege that Manafort breached a plea agreement, struck with them in November, by lying to investigators during the course of 12 interviews. If convicted on the charge, Manafort could substantial jail time.
Updated
McConnell blocks bill to reopen government
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has blocked a bill to reopen the government ... again.
For those keeping track, this is the fourth time the Kentucky Republican has refused efforts by Democrats to advance a ‘clean’ government funding bill. Democrats in the House have passed a series of bills that would reopen the government one department at a time -- none of which include any money for a border wall.
McConnell has backed Donald Trump’s position on the shutdown, which requires that any measure to end the shutdown include $5.7bn for a border wall.
Read more in The Hill on McConnell’s tactics, which have prompted protests outside his office.
Donald Trump is now looking for an ‘alternative’ location from which to deliver the State of the Union, after his attempt to press on with holding the event inside the House chamber was rebuffed by Nancy Pelosi.
The president is still intent on giving the speech, with some Republicans suggesting he look at the Senate chamber -- where the GOP still holds control -- as an option. Trump could also opt for another Oval Office address.
Perhaps it will be the first State of the Union delivered via tweets! Certainly a Twitter thread for the ages...
What appears less likely is Trump submitting his address in writing, as Pelosi suggested he do. In case you hadn’t noticed, he really likes the sound of his own voice.
Believe it or not, Donald Trump is running out of insults.
The president told reporters his State of the Union has been cancelled by Nancy Pelosi “because she doesn’t want to hear the truth”.
This comes shortly after Trump said his former attorney, Michael Cohen, delayed his testimony before Congress because he was “threatened of the truth”.
Given the polls and the latest developments in the Russia investigation, one could argue it’s Trump who ought to be afraid of the truth.
In any case, here’s what else he had to say about Pelosi: “She’s afraid of the super-left Democrats, the radical Democrats. What’s going on in that party is shocking.”
“Now Nancy Pelosi, or Nancy as I call her, she doesn’t want to know the truth... I think that’s a great blotch on the great country we all love.”
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Wednesday he was cutting off diplomatic relations with the United States, after the Trump administration recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the South American country’s interim president.
Maduro ordered all US diplomats to leave the country within 72 hours, according to our latest report:
“We are defending the right to the very existence of our Bolivarian republic,” Maduro told supporters at a rally outside the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas. He urged them to resist “at all costs” what he called a coup attempt being orchestrated by “the coup-mongering, interventionist gringo empire” and the “fascist right”.
“They intend to govern Venezuela from Washington,” Maduro shouted from the palace’s people’s balcony. “Do you want a puppet government controlled by Washington?”
Updated
Trump on Cohen: 'He's only been threatened by the truth'
Hours after Michael Cohen delayed his testimony before Congress, citing Donald Trump’s threats against him and his family, the president responded by stating: “He’s only been threatened by the truth.”
“He’s always been threatened by the truth and he doesn’t want to do that probably for me or other of his clients,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“He has other clients also, I assume, and he doesn’t want to tell the truth for me or other of his clients.”
Trump’s comments came as Cohen, his former personal attorney, canceled plans to appear before the House oversight and reform committee on 7 February. An attorney for Cohen said the decision was made following “ongoing threats against his family” by Trump and the president’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Top Democrats condemned what they said were “completely legitimate concerns” for the safety of Cohen and his family.
“Efforts to intimidate witnesses, scare their family members, or prevent them from testifying before Congress are textbook mob tactics that we condemn in the strongest terms,” Elijah Cummings, the House oversight committee chairman, and Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee chief, said in a joint statement.
“Our nation’s laws prohibit efforts to discourage, intimidate, or otherwise pressure a witness not to provide testimony to Congress,” they added.
“The President should make no statement or take any action to obstruct Congress’ independent oversight and investigative efforts, including by seeking to discourage any witness from testifying in response to a duly authorized request from Congress.”
The Democratic chairmen nonetheless said it was “never an option” for Cohen not to appear before Congress. While they stopped short of subpoenaing his testimony, Cummings and Schiff said they expected Cohen to appear before both of their committees and would remain engaged in discussions with his legal counsel.
Updated
Pelosi to block Trump from delivering State of the Union address
Shortly after Trump insisted he would deliver his State of the Union address next Tuesday from the US Capitol, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi formally told the president she would bar him from giving the speech inside the House chamber during the government shutdown.
“I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the President’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to Trump.
“I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened.”
Trump’s speech had been planned for 29 January. But citing security concerns amid the shutdown, Pelosi urged the president last week to postpone the event. She said Trump could otherwise deliver his speech in writing.
Trump responded by canceling a congressional delegation, led by Pelosi, to Afghanistan, marking a dramatic escalation of the standoff between the two sides as the shutdown surpassed one month.
The president told reporters he was “not surprised” by Pelosi’s decision not to authorize his State of the Union address during the shutdown.
“It’s really a shame what’s happening with the Democrats. They’ve become radicalized,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“They don’t want to see crime stopped, which we could very easily do on the southern border.
He added of the shutdown: “This will go on for a while.”
Updated
The US Senate has adjourned for the day, meaning no further action is expected until Thursday when the chamber votes on two competing measures to reopen the government.
To recap, Mitch McConnell scheduled a vote on two bills:
- One is the deal put forward by Donald Trump on Saturday, in which the president offered a temporary extension of protections for young, undocumented immigrants, known as Dreamers, in exchange for $5.7bn in funding for the wall. The bill would also enable immigrants from certain vulnerable countries to stay in the US, after Trump revoked their status.
- The second measure, backed by Democrats, would reopen the government with no strings attached. It would largely fund the departments and agencies at current levels and would not include money for the border wall.
Both are expected to fall along partisan lines and ultimately fail.
Cohen cited threats from Donald Trump in his decision to postpone his testimony.
Democrats recently warned the president he should not intimidate witnesses after Trump repeatedly suggested Cohen’s father-in-law and family should be investigated.
In a Fox News interview Trump said Cohen “should give information maybe on his father-in-law, because that’s the one that people want to look at”, and has tweeted similar remarks.
Kevin Corke, @FoxNews “Don’t forget, Michael Cohen has already been convicted of perjury and fraud, and as recently as this week, the Wall Street Journal has suggested that he may have stolen tens of thousands of dollars....” Lying to reduce his jail time! Watch father-in-law!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2019
Cohen cancels House testimony due to 'ongoing threats' from Donald Trump
Michael Cohen has said he will not testify before Congress on 7 February due to “threats” from the president.
In a statement released on Wednesday Lanny Davis, Cohen’s attorney, said Cohen would be willing to appear before the House Oversight Committee in the future but would not appear as planned.
“Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr Cohen’s continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr Cohen’s appearance will be postponed to a later date,” Davis said.
“This is a time where Mr Cohen had to put his family and their safety first.”
Updated
The White House has said it will recognize Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaidó as president of the country, after Guaidó declared himself interim leader in a bid to force President Nicolás Maduro from power.
From the Guardian’s Joe Parkin Daniels and Mariana Zúñiga:
Before thousands of protesters in the capital Caracas, [Guaidó] raised his right hand and said he was “formally assuming the responsibility of the national executive”.
Guaidó, the head of the opposition-run congress, has said he would be willing to assume the presidency on an interim basis with the support of the armed forces to call elections.
The move was immediately welcomed by Donald Trump who called on other countries in the western hemisphere governments to recognize Guaidó as the interim president of Venezuela.
“In its role as the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people, the National Assembly invoked the country’s constitution to declare Nicolas Maduro illegitimate, and the office of the presidency therefore vacant. The people of Venezuela have courageously spoken out against Maduro and his regime and demanded freedom and the rule of law,” Trump said in a statement.
The move comes as tens of thousands joined marches across the country’s capital in what opponents of Nicolás Maduro hope will prove a turning point for the country’s slide into authoritarianism and economic ruin.
Trump insists he will give State of the Union at House
Donald Trump is insisting he will deliver his State the Union address at the House of Representatives on January 29, despite Nancy Pelosi asking the president to postpone the speech.
In a letter Trump said he has been told by the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service “there would be absolutely no problem regarding security” should he deliver the address.
Pelosi had asked Trump to delay the speech, or deliver it in writing, due to concerns the DHS and secret service would be unable to provide adequate security. The House speaker said both agencies had been “hamstrung” by the government shutdown.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders posted Trump’s letter to her Twitter account.
“It would be so very sad for our country if the state of the union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!”
Updated
Democrats to investigate Trump administration's use of security clearances
Democrats on the House oversight committee have launched an investigation into the Trump administration’s use of security clearances, citing ‘grave breaches’ in the process that awards access to some of the nation’s most closely guarded secrets.
Elijah Cummings, the oversight committee chairman, announced the inquiry on Wednesday and penned a letter to the White House requesting a wide range of documents:
The goals of this investigation are to determine why the White House and Transition Team appear to have disregarded established procedures for safeguarding classified information, evaluate the extent to which the nation’s most highly guarded secrets were provided to officials who should not have had access to them, and develop reforms to remedy the flaws in current White House systems and practices.
Questions over security clearances have long plagued the Trump White House:
- Former national security adviser Michael Flynn maintained a security clearance even after lying to the FBI about his secret conversations with the Russian ambassador to the US.
- Trump’s former secretary Rob Porter operated on an interim security clearance despite allegations of spousal abuse.
- And the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was forced to revise his form three times after omitting 100 foreign contacts while applying for top-level security clearance.
And that’s just to name a few of the hiccups along the way.
Cummings has also requested documents pertaining to former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly’s own internal review of the security clearance process in 2018, which according to his statement “found that 34 White House officials who had started working on the first day of the Trump administration were still working with interim security clearances as of November 2017 and that more than 130 political appointees in the Executive Office of the President were working with interim security clearances as of that date”.
Updated
House Democrats are preparing a counteroffer to Donald Trump’s plan to end the government shutdown, according to Politico.
In a bid to renew negotiations, Democrats are drafting a proposal that would reopen the Department of Homeland Security and boost border security funding. But it would not include any money for a wall along the US-Mexico border, which Trump has insisted on throughout the 33-day shutdown.
The bill will likely include funding to improve technology and increase staff at certain ports of entry, with an aim to reduce the flow of illegal drugs.
While the proposal is unlikely to garner support from Trump and Republicans, House Democrats said they see it as a starting point for fresh negotiations.
Joe Biden was paid six figures for a speech before a conservative-leaning audience in Michigan just three weeks before the 2018 November midterm elections, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
In his remarks, the former vice president also praised a Republican congressman who went on to defeat his Democratic challenger on 6 November.
The event, hosted by the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan, saw Biden praise incumbent Republican Fred Upton as “one of the finest guys I’ve ever worked with”.
The business-centric group that hosted Biden paid him $200,000 for his appearance, including a $150,000 speaking fee and a $50,000 travel allowance. It is supported in part by an Upton family foundation.
Biden is widely expected to seek the Democratic nomination for president. Biden’s appearance -- casting a vulnerable Republican in a positive light ahead of the crucial midterms -- could pose challenges as he vies for approval from a more progressive Democratic base.
Biden has cut a more centrist figure since leaving the office of the vice president, even as he has lobbed sharp criticisms at Donald Trump.
A spokesperson for Biden said his speech was not intended as an endorsement of Upton, and stemmed instead from the congressman’s role in crafting a bipartisan bill aimed at accelerating cancer research. Biden’s son, Beau, died of cancer in 2015.
“It was one of the few bipartisan bills passed in an otherwise deeply divided and gridlocked Congress,” Biden’s spokesman, Bill Russo, said in response to the NYT report.
“Vice President Biden believes to his core that you can disagree politically on a lot and still work together in good faith on issues of common cause — like funding cancer research.”
Concern over delay in tax refunds amid shutdown
Hundreds of employees at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have been granted permission to skip work, citing the financial burden of the ongoing government shutdown.
As the annual US tax season gets underway, the Washington Post is reporting that IRS employees across the US are expected to be absent in what is partially a coordinated protest of the shutdown and otherwise out of ‘financial necessity’.
The move comes after the Trump administration ordered IRS employees to return to return to their offices, where they had been working without pay since the partial closure of the federal government on 22 December.
IRS union leaders are now warning that the absence of IRS workers could cause a delay in the processing of tax refunds, dramatically raising the stakes for the shutdown’s impact on the American public.
“Federal employees are about to miss their second paycheck and they are growing increasingly desperate,” National Treasury Employees Union President Tony Reardon said in a statement.
“The suffering of thousands of middle-class working families has to end, and it has to end now.”
House Republicans have postponed their annual retreat due to the ongoing government shutdown.
The House GOP was due to convene in West Virginia to discuss policy and strategy behind closed doors.
NEW: House GOP retreat scheduled for next week in West Virginia has been POSTPONED to date TBD because of shutdown, per two sources. Announcement was made in closed conference meeting this morning.
— Alex Moe (@AlexNBCNews) January 23, 2019
We know this is the event you were most looking forward to, but we will surely find the strength to prevail.
Julian Assange launches legal action against Trump administration
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is launching a legal challenge against the Trump administration in an attempt to force US prosecutors to “unseal” any secret charges against him.
The Guardian’s Owen Bowcott reports:
“The legal move is an attempt to prevent Assange’s extradition to the US at a time that a new Ecuadorian government has been making his stay in the central London apartment increasingly inhospitable.
He has been staying in the Knightsbridge flat, which houses the embassy, since 2012 when he fled extradition proceedings at the UK’s supreme court. Swedish prosecutors have since dropped their request to extradite him to Stockholm over a rape investigation.
If he were to walk out on to the street, Assange is likely to face contempt of court charges for fleeing British justice. His chief fear, however, is that once arrested, the US authorities would begin fresh extradition proceedings against him alleging security offences.”
Assange has been residing in London’s Ecuador’s embassy since seeking asylum in 2012, after he came under investigation by the US government for publishing classified diplomatic cables and other secret government records.
A November court filing by US prosecutors, which appeared to be submitted in error, indicated that Assange had been criminally charged by the justice department.
Assange has also come under intense scrutiny for the role WikiLeaks played in publishing thousands of emails in the 2016 election that were stolen by Russian hackers from Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Pete Buttigieg, openly gay mayor from Indiana, joins 2020 race
The 2020 Democratic primary field continues to grow as Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, announced on Wednesday he will form an exploratory committee for president.
Buttigieg is the seventh Democrat to throw his hat into the race to defeat Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Although not yet known on the national level, Buttigieg has been viewed as a rising star in the Democratic Party and fittingly framed his candidacy in a video announcement as ushering in a “new generation” of leadership and a “fresh start”.
“The reality is there’s no going back, and there’s no such thing as ‘again’ in the real world,” Buttigieg says in the video. “We can’t look for greatness in the past.”
I launched a presidential exploratory committee because it is a season for boldness and it is time to focus on the future. Are you ready to walk away from the politics of the past?
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) January 23, 2019
Join the team at https://t.co/Xlqn10brgH. pic.twitter.com/K6aeOeVrO7
Buttigieg was elected mayor of South Bend in 2011 at age 29, becoming the youngest mayor of a US city with at least 100,000 residents. While running for a second term, Buttigieg came out as gay and was re-elected with 80% of the vote.
If successful, Buttigieg would be the first openly gay presidential nominee of a major political party in the US. Following the 2016 presidential race, Buttigieg ran unsuccessfully for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee.
Buttigieg previously served as a lieutenant in the Navy Reserve and is a veteran of the Afghanistan war. He joins what is expected to be a crowded and diverse Democratic field, which already includes the likes of Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris, and former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro.
Updated
Donald Trump's disapproval rating hits record high
A record number of Americans disapprove of Donald Trump’s job performance amid the longest government shutdown in US history.
A new poll released Wednesday by Morning Consult/Politico found that 57% of registered US voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the presidency. The number is the highest disapproval rating for Trump since he took office two years ago.
The survey was conducted from January 18-22, as the partial shutdown of the US government hit the one-month mark. The previous two lows for Trump’s presidency, according to the poll, came during the first weekend of the shutdown, which began on 22 December, and over his response to the August 2017 violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Trump still has the backing of 81% of Republicans but is losing ground with the independent voters who were key to his victory in 2016, with 60% of independents now registering their disapproval of the president.
Trump has insisted the American public supports his stance on the shutdown, which has left roughly 800,000 federal workers without pay. Despite several polls showing otherwise, the president has refused to back down from his demand that a bill to reopen the government including funding for a wall along the US-Mexico border.
But another new survey spells more doom for Trump, showing seven in 10 Americans do not believe the issue of a border wall is worth a government shutdown. The CBS News poll found Trump’s overall approval rating at just 36%, with 59% of Americans disapproving of his job performance.
Tough crowd.
Updated
Good morning! Sabrina Siddiqui here running the live blog today, as the US government shutdown enters its 33rd day.
No signs of a breakthrough as Donald Trump hosts a series of private conversations on immigration at the White House, with the proposal he put forward to end the shutdown that has already been rejected by Democrats.
The Republican-led US Senate is meanwhile debating Trump’s offer and a counter-proposal by Democrats, both of which are expected to be voted down on Thursday.
In other words, it’s another day of dysfunction in Trump’s Washington and we’ll be giving you all the latest updates here. Watch this space.
