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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Vivian Ho in Oakland (now) and Ben Jacobs in Washington and Erin Durkin (earlier) in New York

Virginia: woman who accused lieutenant governor of sexual assault speaks out – as it happened

Virginia lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax addresses the media about a sexual assault allegation from 2004 on 4 February.
Virginia lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax addresses the media about a sexual assault allegation from 2004 on 4 February. Photograph: Logan Cyrus/AFP/Getty Images

Evening summary

It was a quiet ending to an eventful day. Thanks for sticking with us, everyone.

  • The Virginia saga continues with a Virginia congresswoman issuing a brief but damning tweet in support of the woman accusing Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax of sexual assault.
  • Paul Erickson, the Republican operative boyfriend of Maria Butina (the Russian national who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to influence US politics during the 2016 presidential election) was indicted by a federal grand jury in South Dakota in an entirely separate case involving a chain of assisted living homes.

Updated

Paul Erickson, the boyfriend of Maria Butina, the Russian national who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to influence US politics during the 2016 presidential election, was indicted by a federal grand jury in South Dakota on charges of wire fraud and money laundering, the Daily Beast is reporting.

The case against Erickson, a conservative US political activist and National Rifle Association insider, does not appear to be linked to the foreign agent case against Butina, who tried to infiltrate the NRA and relay intelligence on American politicians to a Russian government official.

Erickson was arrested on Feb. 6 and entered a plea of not guilty, according to the court filings.

The indictment alleges that Erickson ran a criminal scheme from 1996 to 2018 using a chain of assisted living homes called Compass Care. Erickson also allegedly defrauded investors through a company called Investing with Dignity that claimed to be “in the business of developing a wheelchair that allowed people to go to the bathroom without being lifted out of the wheelchair.” The indictment says he also ran a fraudulent scheme that claimed to be building homes in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota.

Lawyers for Erickson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Updated

Virginia Congresswoman spoke out in support of the woman accusing Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax of sexual assault.

Updated

Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley is weighing whether to join the packed Democratic race for president.

Hey all, Vivian Ho on the west coast, taking over for Ben Jacobs. Let’s see what the rest of Wednesday has in store for us, shall we?

Summary

  • Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring admitted Wednesday morning that he had appeared in blackface in college. The revelation came after he called for the state’s Governor Ralph Northam to resign for appearing in blackface.
  • Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax is under even more fire after the woman accusing him of sexual assault came forward in a public statement
  • Donald Trump formally nominated David Malpass to lead the World Bank.

Updated

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine has reacted to the topsy-turvy day in his state’s politics.

A new profile of Beto O’Rourke’s youthful stint in New York has new details of how the former Texas congressman tried to adjust to life after graduating from college there.

As the New York Times reports:

He seemed like any other punk-minded student: Jawbox T-shirt, hair past his shoulders and a grim insistence that the Smashing Pumpkins had grown pretentious.

Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill today, Elizabeth Warren couldn’t say whether she had identified as Native American in other legal documents besides her Texas state bar registration.

Cory Booker has now weighed in the allegation of sexual assault against Justin Fairfax, the lieutenant governor of Virginia. Although Booker has called on Ralph Northam to resign over his blackface scandal, he didn’t go quite as far with Fairfax.

Kamala Harris avoided criticizing Elizabeth Warren, her rival for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, when asked about the latest flap over Warren’s claims of Native American heritage.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller will receive a lot of transcripts from the House Intelligence Committee now that they have voted to release them to him. The transcripts were conducted over the past two years when the committee was led by Republican Devin Nunes. A partial list is below.

Although Amy Klobuchar appears likely to announce a presidential bid this weekend, there is one potential candidate who can now be safely crossed of the list of Democrats running in 2020.

A local reporter in Virginia tweets that they are working on getting a photo of Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring in blackface.

CNN will hold a town hall with billionaire Howard Schultz, who is considering mounting an independent presidential bid, next week in Texas.

Schultz, who made his fortune running Starbucks, has received significant national attention for his flirtation with a centrist bid for the White House. However, much of it has not been positive.

Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office today that he doesn’t think that Stacey Abrams can beat incumbent Republican David Perdue if she runs for Senate in Georgia in 2020.

Abrams, who was the losing Democratic gubernatorial nominee in the Peach State in 2018, delivered the Democratic response to the State of the Union on Tuesday night.

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney criticized the presidential campaign of her fellow New Yorker Kirsten Gillibrand today and suggested that Gillibrand can’t win a general election.

In an interview with the New York Daily News, Maloney said “I’m not supporting her because I feel, at this point, I feel that we have to win Ohio and Pennsylvania and Michigan and Wisconsin,” Maloney said. “And if we win Ohio, we win the presidency, in my belief. So I am very interested in candidates that I believe can win Ohio.”

Instead, Maloney pointed to Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and former Congressman Beto O’Rourke of Texas as candidates who could potentially win.

Updated

Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown is already set to have one prominent endorser if the three-term senator decides to run for President.

Vanessa Tyson’s full statement about Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax and her allegations of sexual assault against him is posted below.

Trump responds to Adam Schiff’s statement that the House Intelligence Committee will look into his financial affairs by attacking the Democratic congressman.

“On what basis would he do that, he has no basis to do that, he’s just a political hack who is trying to build a name for himself,” said Trump, who went on to say that Schiff was engaging in “presidential harassment.”

Trump condemned what he called “ridiculous partisan investigations” in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Fairfax accuser issues on-the-record statement

Vanessa Tyson, the woman who has accused Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax of sexual assault, has issued a statement about the incident.

“What began as consensual kissing quickly turned into a sexual assault,” Ms. Tyson said, adding: “Mr. Fairfax forced me to perform oral sex on him.

Trump formally announces David Malpass as his pick to lead the World Bank

Speaking at the White House, President Donald Trump is formally announcing that David Malpass will be tapped to lead the World Bank.

Malpass, the current under secretary of the Treasury for international affairs, served in both the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations before becoming the chief economist at Bear Stearns.

The House Intelligence Committee will continue investigation of allegations connecting Donald Trump and the Trump organization to money laundering. In a statement, Adam Schiff, the new Democratic chair of the committee, said:

During the prior Congress, the Committee began to pursue credible reports of money laundering and financial compromise related to the business interests of President Trump, his family, and his associates. The President’s actions and posture towards Russia during the campaign, transition, and administration have only heightened fears of foreign financial or other leverage over President Trump and underscore the need to determine whether he or those in his Administration have acted in service of foreign interests since taking office.

Unfortunately, these and numerous other avenues of inquiry were not completed during the last Congress.

Republicans in a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on climate change questioned the overwhelming science that humans are causing rising temperatures, worsening extreme weather and triggering sea-level rise. That comes as government reports find 2018 was the fourth-warmest year on record and that global warming could exceed a 1.5C increase within five years.

Judith Curry, the retired chair of earth and atmospheric sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology who is often called on by Republicans to highlight uncertainties about the causes and impacts of climate change, said there have been worse droughts and weather events in the past.

Congressman Louie Gohmert, a Republican from Texas, suggested proposals for a Green New Deal to limit greenhouse gases would eliminate all overseas military bases and cut the military in half, leaving the country vulnerable to Russia, China and the Islamic State. Those type of military provisions have been part of the Green Party’s vision for a Green New Deal but are not part of ongoing discussions led by New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Gohmert also asked Curry if humans are causing the polar ice caps on Mars to melt, adding “that’s probably the sun.”
Colorado Congressman Doug Lamborn (R) suggested young people advocating for a Green New Deal may not have the life experience or maturity to understand that it’s “literally impossible.”

Other GOP lawmakers said the transition away from fossil fuels would be too expensive, would hurt the poor and would be technologically infeasible.

The Republicans’ comments come in stark contrast to Democrats, who highlighted the impacts of climate change in their own districts. New Mexico congresswoman Deb Haaland was tearing up when apologizing to youth climate activist Nadia Nazar for the problems her generation is inheriting.


A new poll from CNN shows that only 22% of Americans support replacing all private health insurance with government health insurance, a stance controversially endorsed by Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Iowa last week.

If all three scandal plagued Virginia Democrats resign, the identity of Virginia’s next governor may be determined by a bowl.

Under Virginia’s constitution, fourth in line to be governor is the Speaker of the House of Delegates Kirk Cox. The Republican holds his position because of a narrow 51-49 in the Commonwealth’s lower chamber. There was a tie race for the deciding seat and the deadlock was broken by names from a bowl. The Republican’s name was chosen and instead of a House of Delegates evenly split on partisan lines, Republicans ended up with a one seat majority.

This seems to be the current state of play among Virginia Democrats

It is not every day that a Capitol Hill briefing on marginal tax rates draws a packed house. But these are unusual times.

The attendance was perhaps due in no small part to congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s ability to turn “arcane” policy matters, as one panelist described it, into progressive rallying cries.

Since she suggested a 70% marginal tax rate on income exceeding $10 million, the proposal has spread like wildfire. It has already become a defining issue of the 2020 campaign and the idea was ridiculed by the billionaires gathered at Davos.

On Wednesday, the House Progressive Caucus convened a panel of lawmakers, experts and economists to discuss how to translate the progressive plan into a legislative reality.

“For the last 20, 25, 30 years we’ve not been allowed to talk about taxes – at all,” said Jeffrey Sachs, an economist and the director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. In a graphic showing countries’ total tax revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product, the US unsurprisingly lagged behind Canada and Scandinavian countries.


“What do you get out of that?,” he asked. “Health care. Free tuition. Paid leave. All of the social benefits we utterly lack in this country “

In brief remarks, Ocasio-Cortez said Democrats had for too long allowed conservatives to define progressive policies, which she said created the turned taxes into a “boogieman [with a] negative association”.

“It should be a tool,” she said, to help pay for policies such as Medicare for all and a Green New Deal.

The freshman Democrat from New York also noted that her conservative critics expected the proposal would create a “scandalous moment”. Instead, she pointed to polling showing that a majority of Americans, and a significant percentage of Republican voters support the concept.

She said: “We respect the intellect of the public enough to trust them to understand what we have to say.”

Updated

Virginia Senator Mark Warner told reporters on Capitol Hill that he was “shocked and disappointed” about attorney general Mark Herring wearing blackface in college. The two-term Democrat had previously called on Ralph Northam to resign after Northam’s disastrous press conference on Saturday.

Former New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu all but ruled out a presidential bid in an interview this morning.

Landrieu, a member of a prominent Louisiana dynasty, drew national attention with his decision to take down Confederate statues in the Crescent City in 2017.

This led to some hype that he might go from City Hall to the White House as a moderate Southern Democrat. However, he said when asked about a presidential bid on CNN this morning, “I don’t think so. A lot of people have asked me that. I never say never, but at this point in time I don’t think I’m going to do it.”

Nancy Pelosi was skeptical of Trump’s proposal to cure childhood cancer while meeting with the House Democratic Caucus this morning.

The House Intelligence Committee just voted to release all witness transcripts to the Department of Justice and to special counsel Robert Mueller. This was something Republicans had declined to do when they controlled the House and had been delayed since the Democratic takeover of Congress as Republicans took their time in naming members to the committee.

As Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has now admitted to wearing blackface in college, details of a private meeting that Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, who is facing an allegation of sexual assault, have just leaked out

This is a good recap of the current state of politics in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Mark Herring has now issued a statement about wearing blackface at a party in 1980 where he says he dressed as rapper Kurtis Blow.

Virginia attorney general says he wore blackface at a party

Mark Herring, the second in line to succession to be Virginia’s governor says he wore blackface at a party in college.

The governor, Ralph Northam, admitted to doing so in a dance contest and the first in line, lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax, is facing an allegation of sexual assault.

Updated

The far left Democratic Socialists of America have issued their response to Trump’s State of the Union speech last night and it is an attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The increasingly bizarre situation in Virginia has taken another turn.

First, Governor Ralph Northam was plunged into a scandal over a racist photo on his medical school yearbook page. Although Northam insisted that it wasn’t him in the photo, he did acknowledge wearing blackface for a Michael Jackson dance contest in 1984. As Democrats almost universally called for Northam to resign, his lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, then faced an allegation of sexual assault, further complicating the situation. Fairfax has denied the allegation and insisted he had a consensual sexual encounter with the accuser.

Now, it seems the third in line of succession, Attorney General Mark Herring may face his own scandal.

It seems that Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan really didn’t enjoy the State of the Union last night.

Democrats calling attention to climate change in dual House hearings are meeting resistance from Republican lawmakers.

“The majority of Americans consider climate change to be a moral and economic imperative, and they’re absolutely right,” said House Natural Resources Chairman Raul Grijalva, from Arizona. He noted the last few years have been the hottest recorded and that ice sheets are melting faster than expected.

Democrats who have taken control of the House for the first time since early 2011 are planning to focus on climate change throughout February. The House science committee will hold another hearing next week. Their efforts come as government scientists announce today that 2018 was the fourth hottest year on record and warn the “impacts of long-term global warming are already being felt.”

Rep. Rob Bishop, the committee’s ranking Republican from Utah, jokingly thanked Grijalva for making February the month of climate change hearings.

“I appreciate the fact that you picked the shortest month of the year to do that,” he said, adding that the panel should instead focus on black history month, wildfires and a maintenance backlog at the National Park Service.

The committee has jurisdiction over the public lands handled by the Interior Department. Public lands and the fossil fuel development on them account for a significant portion of US greenhouse gas emissions.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) testified that his state has suffered from more intense hurricanes, mudslides in the mountains and drought that has killed crops. He said that transitioning to clean energy would save money spent on adaptation and healthcare.

At a simultaneous House Energy and Commerce hearing on climate change, Republicans took aim at the Green New Deal, a proposal from some Democrats that is meant to eliminate inequity, create jobs and reduce the greenhouse gases that heat the planet. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts are expected to release a high-level document laying out the tenets of a Green New Deal this week.

Illinois Rep. John Shimkus, the ranking Republican on that panel’s climate change subcommittee, said such a proposal would be “radical” and include “wealth transfer schemes.” He said a top-down strategy for reducing emissions “may not be the most realistic way to address the climate change problem.”

Shimkus said fossil fuels and nuclear power will remain the top sources of power.

The Bulwark has a tribute to Dr. Sebastian Gorka, a former Trump administration official.

It notes the unique career of the Anglo-American conservative activist and how rare it was for a figure like him to ever get a White House job.

Sebastian Gorka is a man of many distinctions. He was one of the first Breitbart alums to be tapped to serve a U.S. president. The first deputy assistant to a president to also be a fugitive from justice in a foreign county. And the only White House employee to ever be confused with an Olmec head.

In short: At some point in the medium-future, Donald Trump will be gone, the executive branch will return to something resembling normalcy, and people like Seb Gorka won’t be allowed within sniffing distance of political power. So we ought to appreciate him while we have him.

Few presidential advisors ever struggled with security clearance the way Gorka did. Shortly before he was fired, he had his clearance revoked while he was on vacation. And even now, two years after his departure, the fact of his clearance is being investigated by the Democrats.

Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard repeatedly refused to label Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator, as an “enemy or adversary” of the United States.

In an interview on MSNBC, the four-term congresswoman from Hawaii declined to criticize Assad. Gabbard has visited Assad in Syria and has been one of the few American politicians to defend his regime, which is responsible for the death of over 500,000 people and led to five million people fleeing the country.

The woman who accused Virginia lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax of sexual assault deserves “due process,” the chair of the Democratic National Committee said.

“We need to always take these allegations seriously,” chairman Tom Perez said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, according to Politico. “I said this whenever this issue has come up. We must accord respect to an accuser and we must accord due process to the accused.”

“I believe she is entitled to due process,” he said.

Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke was greeted by climate change protesters in New York Tuesday at an event where he said he would announce a decision about a 2020 presidential run by the end of the month.

Demonstrators blasted the former Congressman for breaking a pledge not to accept campaign donations from donors in the fossil fuel industry, and pushed him to throw his weight behind the Green New Deal.

“It’s a very corrosive influence. You can’t be taking money from the people you’re supposed to legislate against and regulate,” said Gustavo Gordillo, 31, a Democratic Socialists of America member from Manhattan, who joined a group of protesters outside the PlayStation theater, where O’Rourke was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey.

“We want to make sure that we can count on him to propose an aggressive, comprehensive plan.”

Organizers said they plan to target other potential Democratic presidential candidates to press them to get behind an aggressive climate plan. But O’Rourke, who lost a bid against Texas Sen. Ted Cruz last year but gained a national following in the process, has sparked a backlash among a small but vocal group of progressive activists who believe he is not liberal enough.

O’Rourke was removed from a list of signers of Oil Change USA’s pledge not to accept fossil fuel money after Sludge reported that he got $430,000 from individuals working in the oil and gas industry. His spokesman told the Huffington Post he is “supportive of the concept” of a Green New Deal.

In his interview with Winfrey at a taping of her program “Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations,” O’Rourke gave himself an end of the month deadline to decide on a presidential run, saying he wanted to help unify the country and make sure it lives up to its promise.

“If I can play some role in helping the country to do that, by God I’m going to do it,” O’Rourke said.

Pressed for a timeline on an announcement, he said, “The serious answer is really soon. Before the end of the month.”

Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell is asking for prayers for her ailing husband, former Rep. John Dingell, saying his health has “entered a new phase.”

The Congresswoman missed Donald Trump’s State of the Union Tuesday night to be with her 92-year-old husband.

There’s a hint of progress in negotiations toward a border security deal before a stopgap government funding bill expires.

“Hopefully the lesson has been learned that shutting down the government is not a legitimate negotiating tactic,” New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the chair of the Democratic caucus, said at a press conference Wednesday.

He said he was “cautiously optimistic” there would be a deal.

Jeffries hinted at how a deal could come together: Democrats may be willing to support “enhanced fencing” in certain places, which could be an area of “bipartisan consensus.”

“Some sort of physical barrier or medieval border wall from sea to shining sea is ridiculous,” he said, adding that much of the land that would be needed for such a wall is private property or sacred land for Native Americans.

Former Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen has delayed planned testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, which had been scheduled for Friday, until Feb. 28.

“In the interests of the investigation, Michael Cohen’s testimony has been postponed until February 28th,” Committee chairman Adam Schiff said, according to MSNBC.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he’s trying to talk his wife into running for Congress.

“Listen, the state would be incredibly lucky if Mary Pat Christie would run for office,” the Republican said Tuesday night at a book signing, according to the New Jersey Globe. “I’ve been trying to convince her that maybe she should run for Congress. I think she would be fabulous.”

If the former New Jersey first lady ran, it would be against Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who represents Montclair.

Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu is likely a no on running for president, he tells CNN this morning.

Two undocumented immigrants who were employed by Donald Trump’s golf clubs were among the guests at the State of the Union.

“It was hard to be face to face with him and realize he didn’t change his position, especially for those of us who helped his businesses prosper,” one of the women, Sandra Diaz, told the New York Times after the speech. “I had the trust to be inside his home and serve him.”

Trump’s businesses have initiated a purge and fired a number of unauthorized immigrants since it was revealed that he for years employed people in the country illegally.

Senator Bernie Sanders praised Stacey Abrams speech in response to Donald Trump’s State of the Union, calling it “very, very effective.”

“Let me also just congratulate Stacey Abrams for her very, very effective response to President Trump’s State of the Union,” Sanders said Tuesday,” according to the Hill. “Now I think we all know why she would have been a great governor of Georgia.”

The GOP, meanwhile, branded her with an unflattering nickname,

Updated

Stacey Abrams’ speech in response to Donald Trump’s State of the Union is touching off speculation about a potential presidential run.

The Georgia Democrat and former state representative made an unsuccessful run for governor last year, but came close in an overwhelmingly Republican state.

The House intelligence committee is expected to vote Wednesday to send more than 50 interview transcripts from its now-closed Russia investigation to special counsel Robert Mueller, the Associated Press reports.

It’s the panel’s first act since Democrats took control of the House.

From AP:

The panel’s new chairman, California Rep. Adam Schiff, has long said that sending Mueller the transcripts from the probe into Russian election interference would be one of his first actions. Two associates of President Donald Trump have already been charged with lying to the committee, and Schiff has said Mueller should consider whether additional perjury charges are warranted as part of the special counsel’s investigation.

As is tradition, the committee will meet behind closed doors. A notice for the meeting says that one of the agenda items is “transmission of certain committee transcripts to the Department of Justice.” A person familiar with the meeting said the vote is to send the transcripts to Mueller’s office. The person asked not to be named because committee business is confidential.

The vote comes the morning after Trump criticized “ridiculous partisan investigations” in his State of the Union speech. Schiff has indicated that he will re-open parts of the committee probe that Republicans closed last March, concluding there was no evidence of conspiracy or collusion between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign. Democrats strongly objected at the time, saying that the Republicans prematurely closed the investigation.

Trump associate Roger Stone was charged with lying to the panel after Mueller requested his interview transcript, and the committee voted to release it.

Among the transcripts now expected to be released are interviews with Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.; his son-in-law, Jared Kushner; his longtime spokeswoman, Hope Hicks; and his former bodyguard Keith Schiller. There are dozens of other transcripts of interviews with former Obama administration officials and Trump associates.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo penned an op-ed in the New York Times Wednesday responding to Donald Trump’s call in the State of the Union to outlaw abortion rules like the ones the state just passed.

“Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments before birth,” Trump said in the speech, also taking a shot at comments on the issue by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam. “To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother’s womb.

He’s referring to New York’s Reproductive Health Act, which allows abortions after 24 weeks if the woman’s health is in danger or if the fetus would not survive outside the womb. Previously, abortions were barred after 24 weeks unless the mother’s life was at risk.

Cuomo writes in the new op-ed:

As part of their attack on women’s rights, Mr. Trump and his allies are intentionally spreading lies about New York’s Reproductive Health Act. Their goal is to end all legal abortion in our nation.

The Reproductive Health Act guarantees a woman’s right to abortion in the first 24 weeks of a pregnancy or when the fetus is not viable, and permits it afterward only when a woman’s life or health is threatened or at risk. Contrary to what its detractors claim, the Reproductive Health Act does not allow abortions minutes before birth, nor does it allow third-trimester abortions “for any reason.” Third-trimester procedures are extremely rare, making up only about 1 percent of all abortions. The option is available for exactly the reason stated in Roeand successor cases: to protect the life or health of the woman.

Although New York was a trailblazer in protecting a woman’s right to choose, we did not update our laws after Roe to conform with the right established by the Supreme Court, particularly regarding a woman’s right to make decisions to protect her health. And in an increasingly fractious political environment, there has been continual anxiety that the court will overrule the Roe precedent.

He goes on:

But these objections aren’t about the rare occasion when a woman has an abortion to protect her health or life. This is about the desire of Mr. Trump and allies on the right to outlaw abortion entirely. It is about bringing America back to the pre-Roe days.

Mr. Trump and the religious right are spreading falsehoods about New York’s law to inflame their base. Activists on the far right continue to mislead with the ridiculous claim that the act will allow abortions up to a minute before birth.

Updated

The Guardian’s Emily Holden is speaking to climate change experts who attended Trump’s State of the Union. Here’s what two of them had to say:

A climate scientist and a former government expert in the audience for Donald Trump’s speech said this will likely be the last administration that can forego talking about climate change.

Trump didn’t mention rising temperatures or extreme weather, although he did tout the country’s status as the top producer of oil and gas and boast about how quickly his officials have moved to cut regulations. In a wide-ranging speech, he claimed investigations of him would hurt the country and renewed his vows to build a wall on the southern US border with Mexico.

Lisa Graumlich, dean of the environment college at the University of Washington, studies environmental systems and has used tree-ring data to understand long-term climate trends. She attended the State of the Union address as a guest of Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal.

“I have been doing research on climate change since the 1970s…and it always seemed very far away in time and space. It was something that was going to happen when peoples’ grandchildren were alive. And that has changed,” Graumlich said. “I don’t think that future presidents will find themselves in this position, because people are feeling the effects of climate change. There is, I believe, a stronger and stronger call for action.”

Joel Clement, who resigned from the Interior Department because he said the administration was muzzling scientists and ignoring climate change impacts on vulnerable communities, now works with the Union of Concerned Scientists. He was invited by Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree.

“The Trump administration’s strategy is to ignore climate change and pretend it doesn’t exist and pretend the science doesn’t exist even if it’s coming from its own agencies,” Clement said. “To not say anything about it is just ignorance, and it’s irresponsible.”

New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot says Donald Trump’s pledge to end AIDS transmissions by 2030 is contradicted by his own policies.

She said in a statement Wednesday morning: “President Trump’s pledge to end the HIV epidemic within 10 years is encouraging, but it is difficult to reconcile this statement with his Administration’s systematic assault on the HIV community – including undermining access to affordable health insurance and HIV drugs; cutting funds for HIV research; and attacking LGBTQ+ people...A pathway exists for the President to end the HIV epidemic, but he cannot reach this goal by alienating the very communities most affected by it. Any legitimate plan must begin by righting these wrongs.”

West Virginia woman indicted for threat to kill Trump

A West Virginia woman has been indicted on charges she threatened to kill Donald Trump.

From the Associated Press:

A federal grand jury in Wheeling on Tuesday indicted 25-year-old Taryn Corrinne Henthorn of Middlebourne.

Prosecutors say Henthorn made the threat on Facebook and elsewhere last month.

Henthorn faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of three counts if convicted.

It’s unclear if Henthorn has a lawyer.

Trump 'was like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' – Schumer

Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, mixing a rhetorical call for unity with a hard line on issues like immigration and abortion, and getting in a shot at “ridiculous partisan investigations,” which he claimed could ruin the economy.

Democrats are unsurprisingly unimpressed. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday morning on CNN that Trump “was like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.”

“And the excitement was all in the Mr Hyde part,” he said. “All the enthusiasm was on the divisive issues. It was not a good speech. The president is hurting, he knows he is hurting, but he doesn’t seem to be able to dig himself out of the hole.”

Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams delivered the party’s response Tuesday night. But the substantive response comes today, when the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives will kick off its legislative business in earnest.

A House committee will hold its first hearing on gun violence in years, according to the Associated Press. Two other committees are holding hearings on climate change. Three will be discussing healthcare protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Katherine Clark, a Massachusetts Democrat, told AP.

Democrats got a bit of a slow start with their legislative agenda because of the government shutdown, but are now trying to make up for lost time. On the schedule today, per AP:

  • The House Judiciary Committee holds its first hearing on gun violence in at least eight years.
  • The Natural Resources Committee kicks off a month of hearings on climate change, its first sustained look at the issue in a decade.
  • The Foreign Affairs Committee will debate the war in Yemen, and consider a war powers resolution to halt U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led coalition.
  • The Oversight Committee will hold a hearing on ethics in the executive branch.
  • The Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing taking stock of the recent government shutdown.
‘The president is hurting,’ said Chuck Schumer.
‘The president is hurting,’ said Chuck Schumer. Photograph: Jim Young/Reuters

Updated

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After her split from fiancé Sid Wilson, Kelly Osbourne has fuelled fresh romance speculation after sharing images of Kiinicki on social media.
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