Summary
- The supreme court ruled a New York grand jury may receive the president’s financial records and tax returns. In a 7-2 decision, the court rejected Trump’s argument that he was categorically immune from tgrand jury subpoenas, delivering a victory for Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance. But Vance will still have to go back to court to have his subpoena enforced, which will delay the case.
- The supreme court said House committees could not receive Trump’s financial records for now. In another 7-2 decision, the justices sent the case back to a lower court for a more thorough review of the separation of powers issues in the case.
- Another 1.3 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. The figure marks a slight decrease from a week before, but unemployment numbers remain alarmingly high as many states report increases in new cases of coronavirus.
- Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, was taken back into federal custody. Cohen was expected to sign papers related to his home confinement today, several weeks after being released from prison, but federal authorities took him back into custody for unclear reasons.
- Former US attorney Geoffrey Berman told the House judiciary committee that attorney general Wiliam Barr repeatedly urged him to resign. In a copy of his prepared opening statement obtained by several news outlets, Berman said Barr told him he would be fired if he did not resign and warned that a firing would “not be good for [his] resume or future job prospects.” Berman refused to resign and was ultimately fired after a public spat with Barr and the president.
The White House pressured the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to issue an unscientific statement in support of Trump’s false claims that Hurricane Dorian was likely to severely impact Alabama in September 2019, according to an internal watchdog report.
The White House also pushed for a “correction” to a National Weather Service tweet about the hurricane that contradicted Trump, according to a report from the commerce department inspector general released on Thursday.
On 1 September, Trump falsely stated that Alabama would be “hit (much) harder than anticipated” by Dorian. To reassure panicked residents, Noaa’s National Weather Service office in Birmingham tweeted, “Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east.”
But Trump doubled down and displayed an altered Noaa forecast map that had been drawn on with a marker in support of his erroneous assertions (aka “Sharpiegate”).
According to the report, former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney instructed the commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, to help push through a Noaa statement backing the president. The move “potentially undercut public trust in NOAA’s and the NWS’s science and the apolitical nature of that science”, according to the IG report.
The incident foreshadows the White House’s conduct during the coronavirus pandemic – Trump has repeatedly contradicted public health officials. The US is bracing for a heavy hurricane season amid a surge of coronavirus cases in Florida, Louisiana, and other storm-prone states.
Updated
Sam Levine reports:
The Wisconsin supreme court gave state Republicans a significant victory on Thursday, upholding a suite of laws passed during a lame-duck session in 2018 designed to curb the power of incoming Democratic officials.
In 2018 Wisconsin voters elected Tony Evers and Josh Kaul, both Democrats, to be the state’s governor and attorney general, respectively. In turn, Republicans passed a host of laws that blocked Evers and Kaul from withdrawing from lawsuits involving the state and forced the attorney general to seek approval from the legislature before withdrawing from lawsuits. The law also gave the legislature the ability to intervene in state lawsuits using their own attorneys.
The case underscores the brazen way Republicans in Wisconsin have been able to maintain power despite major Democratic victories. In 2011, Republicans passed a sweeping voter ID law and drew state legislative districts that made it virtually impossible for Democrats to take control of the state legislature. It worked tremendously well – in 2018, Republicans lost every statewide race, won less than half of the statewide vote, but won 63 of 99 seats in the state assembly and a majority in the state senate. Republicans used their majorities to pass the contested laws curbing Democratic power.
Venezuela’s second-most powerful leader and Bolivia’s interim president tested positive for coronavirus. Read up on that news and more on The Guardian’s global liveblog:
As the US set a world record for most Covid-19 cases in one day, with 60,000 reported on Wednesday, Dr Anthony Fauci, a senior member of the White House coronavirus taskforce, said states needed to pause reopening efforts.
“Rather than think in terms of reverting back down to a complete shutdown, I would think we need to get the states pausing in their opening process,” the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told the Hill.
Fauci’s comment represented a retreat from a remark made on a Wall Street Journal podcast on Wednesday, when he said “any state that is having a serious problem, that state should seriously look at shutting down” again.
Fauci has been attacked by Donald Trump and reportedly barred from major media appearances but he has found other ways to reach the American public, speaking to webcasts and in testimony before a Senate committee.
In remarks published by the Journal on Thursday and likely to anger the president, Fauci said the government needed to do better in making the case for personal responsibility and added: “We need to get people like myself, like my colleagues, out there more.”
Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, said “most Americans don’t care about” Trump’s tax return.
It seems like the only people that really care about it are my Democratic colleagues, or my previous Democratic colleagues on Capitol Hill, because this is the number one issue for them,” Meadows told reporters at the White House.
Today’s Supreme Court rulings, despite making it increasingly likely that a grand jury will eventually access Trump’s financial documents, also stopped Democrats in Congress from obtaining tax returns before election day.
Abené Clayton reports:
California lawmakers and top criminal justice officials joined organizers and families to urged governor Gavin Newsom to release thousands of people from state prisons, as several of the state’s facilities battle dramatic surges in coronavirus cases.
“We are in the middle of a humanitarian crisis that was created and wholly avoidable,” said the California assembly member Rob Bonta at a press conference in front of San Quentin state prison on Thursday.
“We need act with urgency fueled by compassion,” he added. “We missed the opportunity to prevent, so now we have to make things right.”
The officials, including the San Francisco district attorney, Chesa Boudin, and the Alameda public defender, Brendon Woods, are asking for the release of prisoners over 60 and people with less than a year left to serve. They also asked Newsom to tour San Quentin, the historic state prison that has seen the most positive cases.
Almost 1,500 people at San Quentin tested positive for the virus, and seven people have succumbed to complications from Covid-19. The facility has seen an exponential rise in coronavirus cases – up until the end of May it had not recorded a single confirmed case.
On what he called a “sweltering day” in the White House rose garden – I can confirm my laptop briefly fainted in the heat – Donald Trump repurposed his culture war for a Hispanic audience.
The US president signed an executive order establishing the Hispanic Prosperity Initiative and returned to a recent theme that portrays a left wing mob intent on destroying history and defunding police. This, he warned, would make America resemble the strife-torn countries that many immigrants have fled.
“Now Hispanic Americans are watching as the cities they helped build, the communities they helped police, the businesses they created and the dreams they pursued are being threatened by an extreme movement that wants to tear everything down,” Trump said. “At the centre of this movement is an aggressive effort to defund the police, if you can even believe that. Defund the police: think about that. It’s a sad, sad thing. These people are crazy – they are crazy.”
Defunding police “would inflict great harm on our hard working Latino communities,” continued the president, who champions a border wall and has frequently demonised immigrants from Central America. “Many immigrants came to the United States in order to leave counties where the rule of law had been eroded and they don’t want those same conditions to be replicated here. They don’t want them back. They know what it is first hand.
“They know what happens when the police cannot protect the innocent, when the rule of law is destroyed, when justice becomes an instrument of vengeance. Hispanic Americans, they know. They’re hard working patriots who support our police, protect our communities and believe strongly in the rule of law. I will stand arm in arm with the Hispanic community to ensure that every child in America can grow up in safety, security, dignity and in peace.”
During his speech, Trump also reiterated his demand for schools to reopen, citing Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden as countries that have done so successfully. Sweden notoriously decided against a mass lockdown and suffered a higher death toll with little economic reward.
The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Mark Milley, had some forthright things to say about the naming of army bases after Confederate generals, whom he described as traitors. His remarks to the House armed services committee stand out in the context of Trump’s insistence he would not even consider renaming the 10 army bases named for Confederate military leaders.
Milley noted that the military is 43% minority, and 20% African American, rising to 30% in some bases. He recalled a staff sergeant at Fort Bragg who told him he had go to work every day at a base named after a man, Confederate general Braxton Bragg, who had enslaved his grandparents.
The Confederacy, Milley told the committee, “was an act of rebellion. It was an act of treason at the time, against the Union, against the Stars and Stripes, against the US Constitution, and those officers turned their back on their own.”
Updated
The Republican national convention, which is scheduled to take place in Jacksonville, Florida, next month, could be moved to an outdoor venue, officials told the Washington Post.
As coronavirus cases in Florida soar, organizers are reportedly looking into hosting the event at an outdoor sports stadium.
The planning of the convention has been marked by uncertainty — it was moved from North Carolina to Florida after a disagreement between state leaders and convention organizers about safety measures. North Carolina governor Roy Cooper and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles wouldn’t commit to allowing a full convention, even as Trump insisted he wanted a “packed” crowd.
Several Republican leaders have said they would not attend the convention, including senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Mitt Romney of Utah.
Updated
Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a $700bn proposal to grow American industry as the centerpiece of his presidential campaign pitch to lead the nation’s economic recovery in the wake of the devastating coronavirus pandemic.
The ambitious “buy American” campaign is one pillar of a broader economic platform, titled “Build Back Better”, which Biden is expected to outline at a speech near his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Thursday afternoon.
Though Biden leads Donald Trump in national and battleground state polls, voters consistently say they trust the president’s stewardship of the economy.
The proposal calls for the federal government to purchase $400bn worth of US goods and services and invest $300bn in research and development of technologies such as electric vehicles, 5G cellular networks and artificial intelligence. According to an outline provided by the campaign, the plan would create “at least 5m new jobs in manufacturing and innovation”.
“This will be the largest mobilization of public investments in procurement, infrastructure and [research and development] since WWII,” the proposal states.
Other policies included in the plan are proposals to make it easier for workers to unionize and bargain collectively and to tighten enforcement of “buy American” laws that are designed to protect American industry but can be easily circumvented.
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- The supreme court ruled a New York grand jury may receive the president’s financial records and tax returns. In a 7-2 decision, the court rejected Trump’s argument that he was categorically immune from tgrand jury subpoenas, delivering a victory for Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance. But Vance will still have to go back to court to have his subpoena enforced, which will delay the case.
- The supreme court said House committees could not receive Trump’s financial records for now. In another 7-2 decision, the justices sent the case back to a lower court for a more thorough review of the separation of powers issues in the case.
- Another 1.3 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. The figure marks a slight decrease from a week before, but unemployment numbers remain alarmingly high as many states report increases in new cases of coronavirus.
- Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, was taken back into federal custody. Cohen was expected to sign papers related to his home confinement today, several weeks after being released from prison, but federal authorities took him back into custody for unclear reasons.
- Former US attorney Geoffrey Berman told the House judiciary committee that attorney general Wiliam Barr repeatedly urged him to resign. In a copy of his prepared opening statement obtained by several news outlets, Berman said Barr told him he would be fired if he did not resign and warned that a firing would “not be good for [his] resume or future job prospects.” Berman refused to resign and was ultimately fired after a public spat with Barr and the president.
Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
More from the Guardian’s Mario Koran in California:
The silver lining about this wildfire season, said California governor Gavin Newsom, is that while the number of wildfires are on the rise — a fact he attributed to both climate change and man-made disasters brought on by state utility company PG&E — crews are handling fires more effectively, containing them to under 10 acres.
PG&E in June pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges stemming from a devastating 2018 wildfire that killed 84 people and wiped out the northern California town of Paradise. The utility company emerged from bankruptcy and will face new requirements earlier this month.
“None of us were shy about our condemnation of PG&E ”, said Newsom. “But they’re coming out (of bankruptcy) a new company, with new expectations and accountability. And new criteria, that if they don’t perform, California can intervene in ways we couldn’t in the past.”
The threat comes also from individual actors. Already this year, CalFire arrested 45 arsonists setting blazes, said the governor.
Another challenge presented by the pandemic: Inmate crews, long a mainstay in the state’s response to fires, have been depleted due to isolation and safety precautions.
This week, state prison officials said they had placed 12 of the state’s 43 inmate fire camps on lockdown due to a massive outbreak at a Northern California prison in Lassen County that serves as the training center for fire crews, SacBee reported. The state is looking to bring in hundreds of temporary responders to fill in the vacancies.
Inmates will be allowed to work alongside staff firefighters, risking their lives for several dollars a day, but will not mingle with them outside of work and meals, Newsom said.
The Guardian’s Mario Koran reports from California:
California is entering peak wildfire season just as coronavirus cases and fatalities reach record highs. The conditions create a two-sided battlefront that will tax resources, stretch the state’s capacity to provide medical care, and pose new challenges should residents need to seek shelter if wildfires lay waste to their communities.
#COVID19 has created unique challenges for CA to fight wildfires but that isn't slowing us down from preparing.
— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) July 9, 2020
Since 2019, CA has:
🚒 Completed 35 fuel projects to protect high-risk locations
🚁 Invested in firefighting tech
💡 Worked to develop more responsive utilities
& more pic.twitter.com/jTi8ir5m2F
Already this season, more than 4,000 wildfires have erupted, topping the average for this time of year by more than 1,500, said California governor Gavin Newsom.
“We are in peak fire season”, said CalFire Chief Thom Porter. “That means that fires aren’t just going to go out as the sun goes down”, he said.
Fire officials say the pandemic will add new challenges to the state’s response. Should wildfires rip through communities and destroy homes, officials plan to modify shelter conditions, creating additional space for Covid-positive patients, and switching from buffet-style dinners to Meals Ready to Eat, individually packaged meals that US soldiers eat.
Trump has just signed an exectuive order establishing the Hispanic Prosperity Initiative in the Rose Garden.
In his remarks before signing the order, the president reiterated his demand that US schools reopen next month, despite concerns about the spread of coronavirus once in-person instruction restarts.
“We have to open our schools,” Trump said. “Open our schools. Stop this nonsense.”
Earlier today, Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, said the president supports reopening all US schools, even those located in coronavirus hot spots where hospitalizations are on the rise.
After signing the order, the president left the Rose Garden without taking any questions from reporters.
Trump expressed displeasure with today’s supreme court rulings during a White House roundtable with leaders in the Hispanic community.
“It’s a political witch hunt, the likes of which nobody’s ever seen before,” the president said, according to a White House pool report.
“It’s a pure witch hunt, it’s a hoax, just like the Mueller investigation was a hoax that I won, and this is another hoax. This is purely political.”
The president similarly complained this morning that he was being held to a different standard than his predecessor, Barack Obama.
But interestingly, the president’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, described today’s rulings as a “big win” for Trump, an assessment that he does not appear to agree with.
The latest request in the Michael Flynn case, or one could say saga, emerged even as defense secretary Mark Esper and top military brass Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs, are on Capitol Hill testifying essentially about boundaries blurring between the role of the US Army in domestic law enforcement, as our colleague Julian Borger is reporting.
The Flynn saga has become about boundaries blurring between the Department of Justice and the White House when someone like the attorney general intervenes in a criminal case ie Michael Flynn’s.
Last month, as my colleague Joan Greve reported at the time in this blog, a federal appeals court ordered the prosecution of Flynn to be dismissed.
In a surprise ruling, the DC circuit court of appeals Judge Sullivan and has ordered him to accept the justice department’s motion (highly unusual aka outrageous to many) to dismiss the criminal case against Flynn.
Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in 2017, but the justice department filed a motion in May to dismiss the criminal charges against him, prompting accusations of political bias.
This prompted accusations of political bias against the AG, coming after Trump repeatedly accused federal investigators of unfairly targeting his former adviser.
Secretary of defence Mark Esper and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Mark Milley, were both asked repeatedly at the House armed services committee hearing about intelligence reports indicating Russian military intelligence offered bounties to Taliban fighters to kill American soldiers.
Esper said Milley and head of US Central Command, Gen Kenneth McKenzie, were first briefed on the reports in January, and Esper became aware in February.
Esper said that defence department intelligence agencies, which account for nine of the total 19 agencies in the “intelligence community”, had not corroborated the reports as yet.
Milley said: “That is a unique discrete piece of information that is not corroborated. You’ve all been briefed on it. I have too, and I and the Secretary and many others are taking it seriously. We’re going to get to the bottom of it. ... And if it is true, we will take action.”
Flynn case far from over
The judge hearing the criminal prosecution against Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn on Thursday asked an appeals court to reconsider a recent decision dismissing the case.
US District Judge Emmet Sullivan asked the entire US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reconsider the June 24 decision that directed him to drop the Flynn case, Reuters reports.
More to follow...
Some wondered if New York City mayor Bill de Blasio would somehow chicken out of allowing Black Lives Matter to be painted on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue right outside Trump Tower - but they would be wrong.
De Blasio, flanked by his wife Chirlane McCray, and the city’s civil rights leader Al Sharpton, grabbed a roller earlier today and took part in the creation of the street mural, one of several in the city but surely the most provocative right outside Donald Trump’s previous gilded abode/office/shopping complex.
The president’s race-baiting bullhorn was in full working order last week when he tweeted that the street mural would be “a symbol of hate.”
As the paint rolled, activists watching chanted, “Whose streets? Our streets!” TheAP reported.
Ding-dong:
Here’s what you don’t understand:
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) July 1, 2020
Black people BUILT 5th Ave and so much of this nation.
Your “luxury” came from THEIR labor, for which they have never been justly compensated.
We are honoring them. The fact that you see it as denigrating your street is the definition of racism.
Rahima Torrence, 20, who was taking part in the creation of the mural said it was “the beginning of something more” than a symbol.
She said the location in front of Trump’s own skyscraper “shows that we matter and it shows to him that you can’t ignore us.”
Washington was the first US city to get a giant yellow “Black Lives Matter” mural across a thoroughfare when Mayor Muriel Bowser had it painted on the street leading to the White House.
Bowser said the painting was intended to show solidarity with Americans outraged over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Earlier today, De Blasio said: “When we say ‘Black Lives Matter,’ there is no more American statement, there is no more patriotic statement because there is no America without Black America. We are acknowledging the truth of ourselves as Americans by saying ‘Black Lives Matter.’ We are righting a wrong.”
Some Trump supporters heckled those creating the mural.
McEnany: All schools, even those in coronavirus hot spots, should reopen
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has just concluded her briefing, during which she was repeatedly pressed on Trump’s demands that schools reopen.
McEnany said the president “absolutely” wants to see all of America’s schools reopen next month, including those in coronavirus hot spots where hospitalizations are on the rise.
Trump has criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines to schools on safely reopening, describing the guidance as too restrictive.
However, even as the administration sends mixed signals on how schools should reopen, Trump continues to demand that school officials observe his timeline for bringing students back.
Updated
The Guardian’s David Smith is at today’s White House briefing, and he asked press secretary Kayleigh McEnany about a recent rise in new coronavirus cases in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
A top health official in Tulsa has said the president’s recent rally there is at least partly to blame for the increase in new cases.
Asked whether the president regrets moving ahead with the widely criticized rally, McEnany said, “We have not seen data to reflect that, and we do not regret holding the rally.”
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany dodged a question about Lt Col Alexander Vindman, a key witness in the Trump impeachment inquiry who announced his retirment yesterday.
In a statement from his lawyer, Vindman said he chose to retire because a retaliation campaign spearheaded by the White House had limited his career options.
“I’m not going to focus or comment on a former junior employee,” McEnany said.
Vindman served as the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council before he was fired in February.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany insisted today’s supreme court rulings were a “big win” for the president.
When a reporter noted Trump did not appear to consider the decisions a victory in his tweets this morning, McEnany replied, “The president was making a general point about deference.”
The press secretary also deflected a question about when the president would release his tax returns, as he promised to do during the 2016 campaign.
“For four years, the president has said the same thing: his taxes are under audit. When they are no longer under audit, he will release them,” McEnany said.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany argued that today’s supreme court decisions do not represent a defeat for Trump.
“The justices did not rule against him,” McEnany said, insiting the court provided “a roadmap for the president” on how to continue fighting the subpoenas from House committees and New York prosecutors.
The court sent both cases back to lower courts. However, in a 7-2 decision, the court dismissed the president’s argument that he was categorically immune from grand jury subpoenas.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked whether Trump was frustrated by the two supreme court justices he nominated, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, who sided with the majority in the cases involving subpoenas for the president’s financial records.
“The justices are entitled to their opinion,” McEnany replied. “This is an independent branch of government.”
McEnany pushes for schools to reopen
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany is now holding a briefing, and she opened it by pushing for the reopening of America’s schools.
Echoing the president, McEnany said it was vital that students return to school, despite concerns about the spread of coronavirus in classrooms.
“Sustained school closures hurt students with fewer resources the most,” McEnany said, describing Trump as “the most vocal advocate for reopening.”
The president has been criticized in recent days for pressuring schools to reopen and threatening their funding while simultaneously disparaging the CDC guidelines for safe reopenings.
Michael Cohen taken back into custody - report
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer, has been taken back into federal custody, according to Reuters.
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen has been taken into custody, according to a @Reuters witness pic.twitter.com/uOCvgBc1DU
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 9, 2020
Cohen was expected to sign papers about his home confinement today, several weeks after being released from prison amid concerns about the spread of coronavirus among inmates.
But Cohen now seems to have been remanded back into federal custody. This development comes after Cohen was photographed outside of his home at a Manhattan restaurant, apparently violating the conditions of his release.
The secretary of defence, Mark Esper, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Mark Milley, are testifying to the House Armed Services Committee, on the subject of the military role in civilian law enforcement, in the wake of the George Floyd protests, during which Donald Trump had threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy active duty troops to US cities.
Esper repeated his early resistance to using the act:
“As a former soldier and member of the National Guard, I’m a firm believer that in these situations the [national] guard is best suited to provide domestic support to civil authorities in support of law enforcement. Using active duty forces in a direct law enforcement role should remain a last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire situations.”
Gen Milley echoed Esper, in his account of the events at the end of May and beginning of June.
“I continually assessed and advised that it was not necessary to employ active duty troops in response to the civil unrest occurring in our nation was my view then and remain so now that local, state and federal police backed up by the National Guard under governor control, could and continually can effectively handle the security situation in every case across the country,” Milley said.
“However, I recommended to the secretary of defence, and he ordered, about 1700 active duty troops to an increased alert posture, in the vicinity of Washington DC, but none of them were ever used.”
In his opening statement to the House judiciary committee, former US attorney Geoffrey Berman detailed how he learned of his firing.
Berman said he spoke to attorney general William Barr again on June 19 after their meeting and reiterated he would not resign from his position as the top prosecutor in the southern district of New York office.
Barr promised to call Berman the next day, Instead, hours later, Barr issued a statement saying Berman had resigned.
“That statement was false,” Berman said in his opening statement. “In addition, the press release said, among other things, that the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Craig Carpenito, had been appointed by the president as Acting U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York effective July 3rd pending Jay Clayton’s nomination and confirmation for that position.
“The appointment of Craig Carpenito as Acting U.S. Attorney, or anyone from outside of the Office, would have been unprecedented, unnecessary and unexplained.”
Berman then issued a statement saying he had not resigned. He received a letter the next day informing him he had been fired. But after Barr assured him his deputy would instead take over the office in an acting capacity, Berman agreed to step aside and not litigate his removal.
According to his opening statement, former US attorney Geoffrey Berman told attorney general William Barr that he would not resign partly because there were investigations in the southern district of New York office he wanted to see to completion.
Berman also told the House judiciary committee that Barr explictly said the push for his resignation was unrelated to his job performance.
“I asked the Attorney General if he was in any way dissatisfied with my performance as U.S. Attorney. He said that he was not at all dissatisfied,” Berman said.
“He said the move was solely prompted by Jay Clayton’s desire to move back to New York and the Administration’s desire to keep him on the team,” Berman said, referring to the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who has been named as Berman’s replacement.
“I told the Attorney General that I knew and liked Jay Clayton but he was an unqualified choice for U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York because he was never an AUSA and had no criminal experience.”
Berman says Barr pressured him to resign - reports
Former US attorney Geoffrey Berman reportedly told the House judiciary committee that attorney general William Barr urged him to quit before he was fired last month.
According to a copy of Berman’s opening statement obtained by multiple news outlets, Berman said Barr asked to meet him on June 19 at the Pierre Hotel in New York.
“I was not told the purpose of the meeting,” Berman told the committee behind closed doors. “The meeting took roughly 45 minutes and was held in the Attorney General’s hotel suite. ... There were sandwiches on the table, but nobody ate.”
Berman said Barr urged him to step down and take a job in the justice department’s civil division. When Berman said he would not do so, Barr warned that his refusal would impact his career.
“The Attorney General said that if I did not resign from my position I would be fired,” Berman said. “He added that getting fired from my job would not be good for my resume or future job prospects. I told him that while I did not want to get fired, I would not resign.”
Berman was ultimately fired from his job last month after refusing to resign, causing a public spat with Barr and Trump.
Updated
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- The supreme court ruled a New York grand jury may receive the president’s financial records and tax returns. In a 7-2 decision, the court rejected Trump’s argument that he was categorically immune from the grand jury process, delivering a victory for Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance. But Vance will still have to go back to court to have his subpoena enforced, which will delay the case.
- The supreme court said House committees could not receive Trump’s financial records for now. In another 7-2 decision, the justices sent the case back to a lower court for a more thorough review of the separation of powers issues in the case.
- Another 1.3 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. The figure marks a slight decrease from a week before, but unemployment numbers remain alarmingly high as many states report increases in new cases of coronavirus.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Echoing his fellow Democratic lawmakers, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said today’s supreme court rulings proved that no one, including the president, is above the law.
“No matter how much he wishes it to be true, President Trump is not king,” Schumer said in a new statement. “In a devastating blow to President Trump and his enablers in the Republican party, the Supreme Court today upheld a fundamental tenet of our democracy that no one is above the law.”
Schumer argued that the rulings served as a somber reminder of how Trump’s political allies, including attorney general William Barr, have helped him skirt the law.
“Sadly, today’s rulings are a stark reminder that while President Trump is actively undermining our democracy, Senate Republicans and Attorney General Barr are not lifting a finger to stop him—something that is not lost on the American people,” Schumer said.
Congressman Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committeee, celebrated the supreme court’s decision today as a recognition that the president is not above the law.
But Schiff, who served as the lead impeachment manager during Trump’s Senate trial, expressed disappointment that the court had set a new standard for congressional oversight.
No one is above the law, not even the President of the United States.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) July 9, 2020
Nor are they immune from congressional oversight or criminal investigation, no matter how much they endeavor to delay or evade them.
My statement on the Supreme Court decision this morning: pic.twitter.com/a31B0sgSIX
“No one is above the law, not even the President of the United States. Nor are they immune from congressional oversight or criminal investigation, no matter how much they endeavor to delay or evade them,” Schiff said in a new statement.
“While we are disappointed that the Supreme Court abandoned its prior precedent and promulgated a new standard for Congressional subpoenas implicating the President, we are grateful that the Court reaffirmed Congress’ broad power to investigate in aid of its legislative authority.”
Schiff acknowledged the court’s decision would delay the House investigations but expressed confidence that Democrats would ultimately prevail in their legal battle.
“The Supreme Court’s remand of this case to permit the lower courts to apply the new standard will serve to delay the Committee’s investigation — and, given the risk of foreign influence over this President, such delay is dangerous — but we remain confident that we will ultimately prevail,” Schiff said. “And in light of the President’s tweets this morning, he appears to believe the same.”
Meanwhile, in New York, a Black Lives Matter mural is being painted on the section of Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower today.
It’s happening: the Black Lives Matter mural is being painted today in front of Trump Tower. pic.twitter.com/7WodMnkoKQ
— Sarah Jorgensen (@SarahLJorgensen) July 9, 2020
The president has previously complained about the planned mural, saying the anti-racist message would be “denigrating” the “luxury avenue” on which his property sits.
New York mayor Bill de Blasio fired back at Trump last week, “Black people BUILT 5th Ave and so much of this nation. ... We are honoring them. The fact that you see it as denigrating your street is the definition of racism.”
Here’s what you don’t understand:
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) July 1, 2020
Black people BUILT 5th Ave and so much of this nation.
Your “luxury” came from THEIR labor, for which they have never been justly compensated.
We are honoring them. The fact that you see it as denigrating your street is the definition of racism.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the supreme court’s decision today gives House Democrats “a path” to obtain Trump’s financial records, even though they will not receive them right now.
Pelosi says that although the SCOTUS ruling does not give the House access to Trump’s financial records, it gives them “a path."
— ABC News (@ABC) July 9, 2020
“We have a path that the Supreme Court has laid out that we will certainly not ignore and we will never stop our oversight.” https://t.co/khAEbuTzr8 pic.twitter.com/NGXN9o9Oax
“We have a path that the Supreme Court has laid out that we will certainly not ignore and we will never stop our oversight,” Pelosi said. “That is our responsibility under the constitution of the United States.”
The Democratic speaker indicated that she and her caucus had reasonable expectations about the court’s decision going into today.
Pelosi said, “There was never any way they were going to give us the records right now, but they would give us a path to the records.”
House Democrats, including judiciary committee chairman Jerry Nadler, are emphasizing that today’s rulings mean the president is not above the law.
No one is above the law.https://t.co/6slegKBc9P
— Rep. Nadler (@RepJerryNadler) July 9, 2020
The President of the United States is not above the law. https://t.co/q3pmoosZZD
— Congressmember Bass (@RepKarenBass) July 9, 2020
During the Trump impeachment inquiry and trial, Democrats frequently said that no one is above the law to argue their case against the president.
Congressman Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House judiciary committee, lamented the fact that today’s supreme court decisions mean the cases involving Trump’s financial records will continue.
Today’s decisions by the Supreme Court sadly will not end the Democrats’ partisan obsession. Americans around the country deserve better than the Democrats' never-ending political games.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 9, 2020
“For almost four years, Democrats have been singularly focused on attacking President Trump for political gain,” Jordan said in a statement.
“Today’s decisions by the Supreme Court sadly will not end the Democrats’ partisan obsession. Americans around the country deserve better than the Democrats’ never-ending political games.”
There appears to be an interesting divide developing among Trump and his allies in terms of their responses to today’s rulings.
Trump, and now Jordan as well, have complained that the court should have given the president more authority to essentially ignore these subpoenas for his financial records.
But one of Trump’s lawyers, Jay Sekulow, celebrated the fact that the court’s rulings mean there will be a delay in the release of the records, meaning they will almost certainly not be made public before the November election.
Pelosi pledges to continue legal battle to obtain Trump's financial records
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would continue its legal efforts to obtain Trump’s financial records after the supreme court sent the case back to a lower court.
The Congress will continue to conduct oversight #ForThePeople, upholding the separation of powers that is the genius of our Constitution. We will continue to press our case in the lower courts. https://t.co/Ax5KQdryJb
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 9, 2020
“A careful reading of the Supreme Court rulings related to the President’s financial records is not good news for President Trump,” Pelosi said in a statement.
“The Court has reaffirmed the Congress’s authority to conduct oversight on behalf of the American people, as it asks for further information from the Congress. Congress’s constitutional responsibility to uncover the truth continues, specifically related to the President’s Russia connection that he is hiding.
“The Congress will continue to conduct oversight For The People, upholding the separation of powers that is the genius of our Constitution. We will continue to press our case in the lower courts.”
At her weekly press conference, the Democratic speaker said the court’s decision sent a clear message that the president is not above the law, a frequent rallying cry for Democrats during the impeachment inquiry.
Striking a notably different tone than the president, one of Trump’s lawyers is celebrating today’s supreme court decisions.
We are pleased that in the decisions issued today, the Supreme Court has temporarily blocked both Congress and New York prosecutors from obtaining the President’s financial records. We will now proceed to raise additional Constitutional and legal issues in the lower courts.
— Jay Sekulow (@JaySekulow) July 9, 2020
“We are pleased that in the decisions issued today, the Supreme Court has temporarily blocked both Congress and New York prosecutors from obtaining the President’s financial records,” lawyer Jay Sekulow said in a statement.
“We will now proceed to raise additional Constitutional and legal issues in the lower courts.”
As Sekulow notes, today’s decisions mean there will be additional legal battles over the subpoenas in the months to come, virtually ensuring the president’s financial records will not be seen before the November election.
Trump is still tweeting away, painting himself as the victim of a double standard in comparison to the “totally corrupt previous Administration.”
“Now the Supreme Court gives a delay ruling that they would never have given ... for another president,” the president tweeted.
“This is about PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT,” Trump said of the subpoenas for his financial records.
“We catch the other side SPYING on my campaign, the biggest political crime and scandal in U.S. history, and NOTHING HAPPENS.”
Trump criticizes 'political prosection' of financial records cases
Trump has now weighed in (via Twitter, of course) on this morning’s supreme court decisions involving subpoenas for his financial records.
“The Supreme Court sends case back to Lower Court, arguments to continue. This is all a political prosecution,” the presient said.
“I won the Mueller Witch Hunt, and others, and now I have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt New York. Not fair to this Presidency or Administration!”
The Supreme Court sends case back to Lower Court, arguments to continue. This is all a political prosecution. I won the Mueller Witch Hunt, and others, and now I have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt New York. Not fair to this Presidency or Administration!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2020
Trump took specific aim at the court in a separate tweet, implying the justices were holding him to a different standard than past presidents.
“Courts in the past have given “broad deference”. BUT NOT ME!” Trump said.
Courts in the past have given “broad deference”. BUT NOT ME!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2020
Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance issued a statement celebrating the supreme court’s ruling that the president is not categorically immune from grand jury requests.
“This is a tremendous victory for our nation’s system of justice and its founding principle that no one – not even a president – is above the law,” Vance said.
“Our investigation, which was delayed for almost a year by this lawsuit, will resume, guided as always by the grand jury’s solemn obligation to follow the law and the facts, wherever they may lead.”
In terms of the substance of the two supreme court decisions, the opinions mark a defeat for Trump because the justices rejected his legal team’s argument that the president should be immune from such proceedings.
However, the president appears to have secured a victory in terms of the logistics of the decisions.
The justices ruled that Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance may receive the president’s tax returns and financial records. However, even if Vance can get the records soon, they will likely not be made public because they will be turned over to a grand jury, legally requiring them to be kept secret.
In terms of the House subpoenas, the supreme court sent the case back down to the lower court to more closely consider separation of powers issues. That will almost certainly delay the release of Trump’s financial records to the committees until after the election.
So the court has made an important decision in terms of executive power, but this virtually guarantees the American people will not see the president’s financial records before heading to the polls in November.
Supreme court sends congressional subpoenas case back to lower court
The supreme court has issued its second opinion in cases related to subpoenas of the president’s financial records.
It is another 7-2 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, and it calls for sending the case back to the lower court to more closely review concerns over the separation of powers.
“The courts below did not take adequate account of the significant separation of powers concerns implicated by congressional subpoenas for the President’s information,” Roberts wrote in the decision.
The opinion is not a total victory for Trump, but it does buy him time in the case, virtually ensuring the matter won’t be settled until after the November election.
Chief justice John Roberts wrote the 7-2 opinion that the president is not categorically immune from grand jury requests. Both supreme court justices nominated by Trump, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, sided with the majority.
“Two hundred years ago, a great jurist of our Court established that no citizen, not even the President, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding,” Roberts wrote in the decision.
“We reaffirm that principle today and hold that the President is neither absolutely immune from state criminal subpoenas seeking his private papers nor entitled to a heightened standard of need.”
Supreme court rules Trump's tax returns may be turned over to grand jury
The supreme court has issued its decision in one case involving subpoenas for Trump’s financial records.
The justices issued a 7-2 decision that the president’s tax returns and business records may be turned over to a grand jury in New York.
The ruling marks a defeat for Trump, who has pushed for years to hide the documents from the public.
Updated
Trump is also repeating his debunked claim that the US has more coronavirus cases than any other country because the US is testing more people.
For the 1/100th time, the reason we show so many Cases, compared to other countries that haven’t done nearly as well as we have, is that our TESTING is much bigger and better. We have tested 40,000,000 people. If we did 20,000,000 instead, Cases would be half, etc. NOT REPORTED!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2020
It’s true that testing has increased in recent weeks, but the number of cases in the US has outpaced the increase in testing, and the positivity rate of tests was also on the rise in several states recently.
The president’s efforts to downplay the number of cases comes as he pushes schools to reopen in the fall, despite concerns about the spread of the virus in classrooms.
The president seems to be eagerly awaiting this morning’s supreme court decisions, tweeting about “prosecutorial misconduct” and “presidential harassment” in preparation for the opinions.
PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2020
PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2020
Trump similarly complained about “presidential harassment” during the House impeachment inquiry, and House committees are now seeking the president’s financial records in a subpoena that the supreme court is considering.
The Guardian’s Maanvi Singh reports:
Newly released transcripts of the minutes leading up to George Floyd’s death reveal he told officers “I can’t breathe” more than 20 times, only to have his plea dismissed by Derek Chauvin, the white officer pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck, who said: “It takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk.”
Floyd’s dying words have become a rallying cry at demonstrations around the world amid a reckoning with systemic racism and police brutality. The chilling transcripts of body camera video recordings that were made public on Wednesday provide the most detailed account yet of what happened after police apprehended Floyd on 25 May.
Before he died, Floyd cried for his dead mother and his children. “Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I’m dead,” he said.
The new evidence was made public as part of efforts by one of the officers involved, Thomas Lane, to have charges that he aided and abetted in murder thrown out.
The transcripts make clear Floyd tried to cooperate with police and told them he was not feeling well. “My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts. I need some water or something, please,” Floyd told them. Begging not to be put in a squad car, Floyd said he was claustrophobic.
The transcripts show that Floyd was deathly afraid of the officers as they approached him. As Lane initially approached Floyd, who was in a car with two other people, Floyd repeatedly said: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
“God dang man. Man, I got shot. I got shot the same way, Mr Officer, before,” he told Lane, who had his gun drawn. “Mr Officer, please don’t shoot me. Please, man.”
Later, Lane asked Shawanda Renee Hill, a witness inside the car, why Floyd was “getting all squirrelly and not showing us his hands and just being all weird like that?” according to the transcript.
“Because he’s been shot before,” Hill said. “He got a thing going on, I’m telling you, about the police.”
This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Martin Belam.
The supreme court will start issuing its final decisions of this term in about 40 minutes, and Donald Trump is waiting to hear whether the justices will block the subpoenas for his financial records.
But again, even if the justices rule in favor of the House committees and the New York prosecutors seeking his financial records, it doesn’t necessarily mean we will quickly see the president’s tax returns.
The House is not explicitly seeking the president’s tax returns, and the New York prosecutors are asking for the returns to share them with a grand jury, which would mean they are legally required to be kept secret.
Long story short: Americans are still unlikely to see Trump’s tax returns before they head to the polls in November.
1.3m workers filed new unemployment claims last week
The Department of Labor figures are out and 1.3 million workers filed new state unemployment claims last week. That’s about 100,000 down on the week before.
It is the 15th straight week that the number of new claims has been declining, but it means that 48 million people have now filed for unemployment benefits for the first time in the past 15 weeks. The number of people collecting ongoing benefits fell by 800,000 to just over 18 million.
Here’s our full report:
You’ll be able to follow more market reaction to the news over on our live business blog
Updated
I mentioned earlier (see 7.19am) a piece in the Washington Post looking at the Republican Senate candidates who are at pains to avoid name-checking Donald Trump in their campaign ads as it is perceived it will harm their chances when people vote.
That isn’t the case for everybody though. Bridget Bowman at Roll Call has a look at candidates in two Republican run-off contests who are desperate for the personal endorsement of the president, and who believe it will play well for them.
“For people who may either not know anything about either candidate, or may know a little bit about both and have maybe not made up their mind, I think it can push people in one direction,” Texas Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak said. “It’s the single most important endorsement you can have.”
Read it here: Roll Call – What’s Trump endorsement worth? Texas House and Alabama Senate runoffs will tell
Any goodwill that country band Lady Antebellum may have gained by changing their name to Lady A in order to drop slavery-era connotations will surely dissipate with the news that they are to sue black female artist Lady A over the use of their new name. Anita White had already been performing as Lady A for 20 years when the country trio made their move.
Back in June, White criticised the band, saying:
They’re using the name because of a Black Lives Matter incident that, for them, is just a moment in time. If it mattered, it would have mattered to them before. It shouldn’t have taken George Floyd to die for them to realize that their name had a slave reference to it.
My colleague Laura Snapes has more here: Lady Antebellum sue black singer Lady A over name change
Lawrence Hurley and Matt Scuffham at Reuters have put together a really useful refresher about what is going on in the court cases involving Donald Trump’s financial records that the supreme court is expected to decide on today.
Two of the three cases concern attempts by House committees to enforce subpoenas seeking Trump’s financial records from three businesses: Trump’s longtime accounting firm Mazars and two banks, Deutsche Bank and Capital One.
The court consolidated these two cases. During May oral arguments, some conservative justices raised questions about subpoenas being used to harass the president.
The House Oversight Committee in April 2019 issued a subpoena to Mazars seeking eight years of accounting and other financial information in response to the congressional testimony of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer. Cohen said Trump inflated and deflated certain assets on financial statements between 2011 and 2013 in part to reduce his real estate taxes. Cohen was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to charges including violating campaign finance law, bank fraud, tax evasion and lying to Congress.
The House Financial Services Committee has examined possible money laundering in US property deals involving Trump. The House Intelligence Committee has investigated whether Trump’s dealings left him vulnerable to the influence of foreign individuals or governments.
The two committees issued subpoenas in April 2019 requiring Deutsche Bank to hand over the banking records of Trump, his children and his businesses. Investigators hope the records will reveal whether there are any financial links between Trump and Russia’s government.
If Trump loses, the material would need to be handed over to Democratic lawmakers. However Trump’s lawyers advanced several arguments, including that Congress had no authority to issue the subpoenas, a broad assertion of presidential power. If the court were to embrace Trump’s broadest arguments, it would severely weaken the ability of Congress to conduct oversight of a president.
The other case concerns another subpoena issued to Mazars for similar information, including tax returns. This one was issued as part of a grand jury investigation into Trump being carried out by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, a Democrat. In the May oral arguments in that case, the justices seemed less sympathetic toward Trump.
It is part of a criminal investigation into Trump and the Trump Organization, spurred by disclosures of hush payments made to two women who said they had past sexual relationships with him - Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Trump and his aides have denied the relationships.
Trump’s lawyers argue that his records cannot be handed over because of his authority as president under the Constitution, contending he is immune from any criminal proceeding while in office. In a lower court hearing, Trump’s lawyers argued that law enforcement officials would not have the power to investigate Trump even if he shot someone on New York’s Fifth Avenue.
In all three cases, lower courts in Washington and New York ruled against Trump. Now it is up to the supreme court to decide.
Joe Biden is traveling to Dunmore, Pennsylvania today to tour a metal works facility. He will then deliver remarks on his proposed economic recovery plan.
Joseph Ax and Jarrett Renshaw at Reuters have run the rule over what Biden is expected to announce. They report that he will propose boosting manufacturing and innovation by spending $700 billion in his first four-year term to procure more American-made goods for the US government and invest in research and development.
He’ll be outlining the plan near his childhood hometown of Scranton. Vice President Mike Pence, meanwhile, will attend a business roundtable focused on reopening the economy in Malvern, a suburb of Philadelphia, before speaking to the Philadelphia police union later in the day.
The fact that both men are there today underscores Pennsylvania’s status as a key battleground state in November’s presidential election. Donald Trump carried the state in 2016 by a slim margin, the first Republican to do so since 1988.
Biden’s announcement is the first prong of his broader economic plan titled “Build Back Better” to revive the US economy after the devastating coronavirus pandemic. We should get more job numbers today which will give us an idea of how much the economy is bouncing back.
Biden’s plan includes proposals to build a clean energy economy; support caregivers, including those providing child and elder care; and advance racial equity. Senior campaign officials say he will offer more details about those areas in the coming weeks.
My colleague Kenya Evelyn in Washington has been looking for us at the spate of car-driven attacks on Black Lives Matter protesters in recent weeks, one of which led to the death of 24 year old Summer Taylor in Seattle.
Last month a report from the University of Chicago’s Project on Security and Threats concluded that rightwing extremists were behind at least 50 vehicle-ramming incidents since the latest waves of protests began in late May. At least 18 were categorized as deliberate while another two dozen were considered unclear as to motivation, or were still under investigation. “The message they’re trying to send is, ‘You need to get out of the street and stop these protests,’” Ari Weil, a terrorism researcher and the report’s author, told NPR.
Read it here: Drivers target Black Lives Matter protesters in ‘horrifying’ spate of attacks
World Health Organization chief says global pandemic "still accelerating"
The US may be in the process of withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO), but there will still be intense interest in what it has to say about the development of the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been speaking today at the weekly member states information session, and painted a grim picture.
He said that the outbreak had exposed global and national inequalities, both in health systems and in wider societies, and that its impact had “unravelled gains” previously made in the fight against diseases. Tedros said:
It is often said that disease knows no borders. It does not care about our political differences, and it disregards the distinctions we draw between health and economy, lives and livelihoods. The #COVID19 pandemic has disrupted them all.
It has exploited the inequalities in our health systems and the schisms in our societies. It has exposed existing inequities, widening and deepening the cracks between us.
The virus has upended health systems in some of the world’s wealthiest nations, while some countries that have mounted a successful response have been of modest means.
But in most of the world the virus is not under control. It is getting worse. 11.8+M cases of Covid-19 have now been reported to WHO. More than 544,000 lives have been lost. The pandemic is still accelerating. The total number of cases has doubled in the last six weeks.
You can watch some of the session here:
Live with @DrTedros from the WHO weekly Member States information session on #COVID19 https://t.co/O51eRMif0O
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) July 9, 2020
His sentiments abut politics seem to echo the words of German leader Angela Merkel in the European Union Parliament yesterday, where she said “We are seeing at the moment that the pandemic can’t be fought with lies and disinformation, and neither can it be with hatred and agitation. Fact-denying populism is being shown its limits.”
Her words were widely interpreted as a swipe at Donald Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro.
We’ve got live blog coverage focused on the global coronavirus outbreak which you can find here:
Yesterday the Cook Political Report published their latest analysis of where the electoral college votes might go in November, and described it as looking like a “blue tsunami” for Joe Biden and the Democratic party.
There seems to be an increasing worry among Republican strategists that Donald Trump’s unpopularity and the bungled federal government’s response to Covid-19 is going to impact further down the ballot and hamper all Republican candidates.
One possible solution to this? Start campaigning without mentioning the president. Seung Min Kim has been looking at this phenomenon for the Washington Post, the Republicans in tight Senate races avoiding Trump in their campaign ads
This deliberate approach underscores the difficult position Republicans find themselves in as they head into an election season that looks increasingly grim for the party. The senators don’t want to clash with Trump and rile up his stable of loyal supporters whose votes they will need to be reelected, but they also don’t want to hug him tightly him and turn off more moderate voters whose views of the president have turned negative. “The sweet spot is finding real ways to show your independence and to do it in ways that don’t antagonize the base,” said Republican strategist Matt Gorman, vice president at the Republican consulting firm Targeted Victory.
Read it here: Washington Post – Trump Who? Senate GOP candidates in tight races avoid any mention of the president in campaign ads
One of the odder stories to crop up overnight was the news that a wooden sculpture of first lady Melania Trump near her home town of Sevnica, Slovenia, has been removed after being set on fire during the US independence day weekend.
The sculpture by Brad Downey, a Berlin-based American artist, had Melania Trump wearing a pale blue wraparound coat like the one she wore at her husband’s inauguration. The matter has been reported to the police.
Slovenia does have history for this. Five months ago a Donald Trump wooden statue was burned down.
While Republicans like Brian Kemp might be desperate to see sports coming back into action, it’s not entirely clear that that they will be comfortable with the protests against systemic racism that are going to accompany them.
The “MLS is back” tournament got underway yesterday, and it started with players giving an emotional show of support to the Black Lives Matter movement.
A player group called Black Players for Change made its first public demonstration since coming together last month. Formerly the Black Players Coalition of MLS, the group changed its name this week while joining forces with the NFL’s Players Coalition founded by Anquan Boldin and Malcolm Jenkins.
Before the match, players stood, fists raised, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the time that has become a symbol of police brutality, as it was the length of time Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck when he was killed.
More than 170 Black players, some wearing “Silence is Violence” T-shirts and Black Lives Matter face masks, took part in the pregame protest. “Really this protest is about fighting for racial equality and human rights,” organizer Justin Morrow of Toronto FC said.
“We’re standing with all of our brothers and sisters across the world - definitely across the North American sports landscape, but we see what’s happening over in Europe as well, how soccer players are fighting against racism there. We’re standing with all of our brothers and sisters to fight this fight.”
“It was very powerful to put my fist up and to be there on the field with so many people that are trying to make a change in this country. And that’s what we need to do,” Inter Miami’s Juan Agudelo said.
“This moment for us as a Black player pool, is that we can stand up, we can make this statement that’s come completely from us. It was so important that it was player led, it couldn’t have worked the other way around,” Morrow said.
“This moment of solidarity with our brothers and sisters fighting this battle for racial equality and human rights is so important. And we want to make sure that the narrative was player led, player driven in coming strictly from us.”
Yesterday, Atlanta’s mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms signed an executive order mandating masks in Georgia’s largest city, defying Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to strongly encourage but not require face coverings. It’s another flashpoint between the pair who have already clashed recently over policing issues.
“Other cities have taken the approach that they are going to defy the governor’s executive order. Savannah has done it, some other cities have done it, and Atlanta is going to do it today,” Bottoms told MSNBC. “Because the fact of the matter is that Covid-19 is wreaking havoc on our cities, specifically black and brown communities with higher death rates.”
Yesterday Georgia again recorded new high numbers of daily confirmed cases and people hospitalized with Covid-19. The number of people in hospitals rose to more than 2,200 on Wednesday, while confirmed infections leaped by more than 3,400, bringing the state total to 104,000.
David Ferguson has written for us today a piece highly critical of Georgia governor Brian Kemp’s approach.
At no point has science or any interest in the facts driven the governor’s policy decisions. Now, as the Republican party belatedly caves to the necessity of wearing face coverings in public, Kemp has joined the pro-mask chorus – but only because otherwise there might not be a college football season. Because that’s what counts in Georgia: not our neighbors, especially black Georgians, getting decimated in the early stages of the outbreak, not the health and welfare of the state’s healthcare workers and their families, but the God-given right of all Georgia’s people to assemble in outdoor stadiums and watch black bodies break themselves on a field for sport.
Read it here: David Ferguson – In Brian Kemp’s Georgia, college football matters more than our neighbors’ health
Here’s a little reminder of what we can expect at the US supreme court today. The cases being decided today hinge on whether Congress and the Manhattan district attorney can see President Donald Trump’s taxes and other financial records.
Trump has fought bitterly to keep them a secret. Mark Sherman at Associated Press reports that the case is viewed as a test of the balance of power between the White House and Congress, as well as Trump’s assertion that he can’t be investigated while he holds office.
Don’t get too excited though. It is unclear, even if Trump loses, how much of the material would become public, since some records would go to a confidential grand-jury investigation in New York and the rest, sought by committees of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, could contain highly sensitive information not just about Trump, but also about other members of his family and businesses.
Trump has so far lost at every step of the court process, but the records have not been turned over pending a final court ruling.
The subpoenas are not directed at Trump himself. Instead, House committees want records from Deutsche Bank, Capital One and the Mazars USA accounting firm. Mazars is also the recipient of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s subpoena.
The fight over the congressional subpoenas has significant implications regarding a president’s power to refuse a formal request from Congress. In a separate fight at the federal appeals court in Washington over a congressional demand for the testimony of former White House counsel Don McGahn, the administration is making broad arguments that the president’s close advisers are “absolutely immune” from having to appear.
Good morning, and welcome to our coverage of US politics. Here’s a quick summary of where we are, and what we might be able to expect today.
- Donald Trump criticized Dr Anthony Fauci and said the US was in a ‘good place’ as Covid-19 cases topped three million. More than 130,000 Americans have now died from coronavirus. At least five states — Missouri, Texas, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia — set single-day records for new infections
- Even as infections surge, the administration is pushing for schools to reopen, with Trump threatening on Twitter to pull federal funding if they don’t
- Tulsa’s top health official said a surge in Covid-19 cases there was probably connected to Trump’s rally in the city. The president still plans to hold his next campaign rally in New Hampshire on Saturday
- Newly released transcripts of the minutes leading up to George Floyd’s death reveal he told officers “I can’t breathe” more than 20 times, only to have his plea dismissed by Derek Chauvin, the white officer pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck, who said: “It takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk.”
- Alexander Vindman has retired from the US military, accusing Trump of running a “campaign of bullying, intimidation and retaliation” against him, after Lt Col Vindman acted as a key witness in the president’s impeachment case
- We should get a US supreme court ruling on whether congressional committees and a New York prosecutor are allowed to see Donald Trump’s personal financial records. Presidents aren’t required by law to release their tax returns but every president since 1974 has made their private finances public in some form. Until Trump
- At the White House, Trump has a roundtable with Hispanic community leaders this afternoon, and will sign an executive order on the White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative
I’m Martin Belam - you can email me at martin.belam@theguardian.com - and I’ll be with you for the next couple of hours.
