Summary
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Tom Barrack, a businessman and ally of Donald Trump, was arrested on charges that he was acting as an unregistered agent of the United Arab Emirates. Barrack’s spokesman said he plans to plead not guilty, but experts are speculating that his arrest is a sign of more to come from the Trump camp – especially in terms of foreign policy.
- Chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci clashed with Kentucky senator Rand Paul today. Paul attempted to attack Fauci over the issue of “gain of function research” and Fauci just would not have it. “Senator Paul,” Fauci said, “you do not know what you are talking about.”
- Legislators have introduced bipartisan legislation looking to reform conservatorships in the US. The move comes in light of the #FreeBritney movement and the devastating testimony from Britney Spears last month that she wished to be free of the “abusive” conservatorship that she has lived under for 13 years.
- A White House official tested positive for Covid-19 after coming in contact with a staffer for House speaker Nancy Pelosi who tested positive after escorting some Texas Democrats who tested positive this weekend. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said there have been other breakthrough Covid-19 cases – positive cases among vaccinated individuals – that just have not been publicly disclosed.
A federal judge has blocked an Arkansas law banning nearly all abortions, preventing the enforcement of the law while its constitutionality is challenged.
The law allows abortions to save the mother’s life in an emergency but bans the procedure in most other cases. “Since the record at this stage of the proceedings indicates that women seeking abortions in Arkansas face an imminent threat to their constitutional rights, the court concludes that they will suffer irreparable harm without injunctive relief,” wrote district judge Kristine Baker.
“We’re relieved that the court has blocked another cruel and harmful attempt to criminalize abortion care and intrude on Arkansans’ deeply personal medical decisions,” said Holly Dickson, executive director of ACLU of Arkansas, in a statement.
Read more:
Updated
Here’s more on Tom Barrack, the Trump ally who was charged with acting as an unregistered agent for the UAE:
Barrack informally advised US officials oon foreign policy in the Middle East when Trump was in office, prosecutors said, and exploited his ties with Trump to boost the UAE’s agenda.
He is the latest member of Trump’s inner circle to be charged with a federal crime, joining Roger Stone and Paul Manafort. Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani is also under investigation.
Biden administration national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with democratic opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya of Belarus today, the White House said in a statement.
From the White House:
Mr. Sullivan reiterated the Biden Administration’s demand that the Lukashenka regime allow a credible international investigation into the events of May 23, immediately release all political prisoners, and enter into a comprehensive and genuine political dialogue with the leaders of the democratic opposition and civil society groups that leads to the conduct of free and fair Presidential elections under OSCE observation.
Secretary of state Antony Blinken also met with Tsikhanouskaya on Monday. She was president Alexander Lukashenko’s main challenger in the August 2020 elections. She is now seeking the backing of the Biden administration as Belarus’ main opposition leader.
Updated
Delta variant accounts for 83% of new cases in US, CDC director says
Maya Yang reports:
The highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus now accounts for 83% of all sequenced cases in the US, a top federal health official said on Tuesday.
“This is a dramatic increase, up from 50% [in] the week of 4 July,” Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said in Senate testimony.
Walensky also said Covid fatalities had risen by nearly 48% over the past week to an average of 239 a day.
“Each death is tragic and even more heartbreaking when we know that the majority of these deaths could be prevented with a simple, safe available vaccine,” she said.
A cluster of midwestern and southern states have emerged as the new hotspots for Covid-19.
With less than half of the US population fully vaccinated, infection rates in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi are among the highest – with vaccination rates among the lowest.
Alabama ranks lowest in vaccination rates, with only 42.4% of its adult population fully vaccinated. Vermont has the highest fully vaccinated adult population, at 77.3%.
In the last two weeks, the rate of infection across the US has increased by 198%. States that had some of the highest increases in that period include Oklahoma, at 387%, and Louisiana and Mississippi at 376% and 308%.
The national vaccination campaign has slowed down significantly. The US is administering 521,000 doses daily, a 85% decrease from a peak in April when 3.38m doses were administered every day.
“This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Walensky said last week. “We are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk. Communities that are fully vaccinated are generally faring well.”
With the Biden administration having fallen short of its goal of administering at least one shot to 70% of adults by 4 July, the rapid transmission of the Delta variant poses a serious challenge to attempts to control the pandemic.
Read more:
Thunderstorms and lightning threaten to spur more fires in US west
Oliver Milman in New York and Gabrielle Canon in San Francisco report:
Oregon’s explosive summer of wildfire is threatening to escalate further, with thunderstorms and lightning set to spur more of the blazes that have torn through much of a parched, dangerously hot US west this year.
“It’s shaping up to be another difficult wildfire season. And the weather conditions – windy and dry with lightning – are problematic,” said Kate Brown, Oregon’s governor, on Twitter Tuesday morning, noting that last year – when the state saw one of its most destructive fire seasons on record – proved no corner of the state is immune. “Unfortunately, we’re responding to new fires as we continue to recover from last year’s devastating fire season.
“We must be prepared. Each and every one of us,” she added, urging residents to have a plan in place.
More than 80 major wildfires currently pockmark western states, covering a combined area similar to that of the state of Delaware, with the largest a conflagration known as the Bootleg fire, a 537-sq-mile blaze burning in tracts of old-growth forest about 300 miles south-west of Portland, Oregon.
California’s Dixie fire exploded in size to roughly 94 sq miles (243 sq km) on Tuesday, with just 15% containment. The fire erupted on 13 July, close to where the deadly Camp fire burned in 2018, and is also believed to have been caused by faulty Pacific Gas & Electric equipment. Officials report that more than 800 structures remain under threat from the fire, which has begun generating its own dangerous weather conditions.
An enormous pyro-cloud – formed when hot smoke and atmospheric moisture meet – ballooned out of the flames on Monday and emitted lightning over the fire footprint, adding to the risk of new ignitions and complicating containment efforts.
Read more:
Today so far
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Tom Barrack, a businessman and ally of Donald Trump, was arrested on charges that he was acting as an unregistered agent of the United Arab Emirates. Barrack’s spokesman said he plans to plead not guilty, but experts are speculating that his arrest is a sign of more to come from the Trump camp - especially in terms of foreign policy.
- Chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci clashed with Kentucky senator Rand Paul today when Paul attempted to attack Fauci over the issue of “gain of function research” and Fauci just would not have it. “Senator Paul,” Fauci said, “you do not know what you are talking about.”
- Legislators have introduced bipartisan legislation looking to reform conservatorships in the US, in light of the #FreeBritney movement and the devastating testimony from Britney Spears last month that she wished to be free of the “abusive” conservatorship that she has lived under for 13 years.
- A White House official tested positive for Covid-19 after coming in contact with a staffer for House speaker Nancy Pelosi who tested positive after escorting some Texas Democrats who tested positive this weekend. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said there have been other breakthrough Covid-19 cases - positive cases among vaccinated individuals - that just have not been publicly disclosed.
Updated
Across the United States, Republican state officials are taking unprecedented steps to discourage or even purge critics of Donald Trump and promote potential allies of the former president.
These efforts are the latest sign of Trump’s stranglehold over areas of the Republican party that are usually neutral and reflect his intense popularity with a wide slice of the Republican base, despite his scandal-strewn four years in power and his loss to Joe Biden in 2020…
A spokesman for Tom Barrack has commented:
Spokesman for Trump ally Tom Barrack says he will be pleading not guilty to the lobbying, obstruction and false statements charges and "has made himself voluntarily available to investigators from the outset."
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) July 20, 2021
Here is the full 46-page indictment listing the details of the seven charges against Tom Barrack, the businessman and ally of Donald Trump who is now accused of acting as an unregistered agent of the United Arab Emirates.
Some key details:
- Barrack allegedly repeatedly refers to the UAE as “the home team” in his communications with unnamed Emirati officials.
- In March 2017, with Trump in office, Barrack allegedly sent a message to one of his co-defendants that he had briefed Trump “regarding the meeting with the senior official from the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia” and “force(d)” the White House to “elevate” the senior official “for protocol purposes”
- In that same message, Barrack also allegedly said he had arranged for a senior US government official to speak to an Emirati official on the phone.
- “Our ppl wants u to help. They were hoping you can officially run the agendas,” co-defendant and UAE national Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi allegedly texted Barrack in May 2017 when discussing Barrack’s role in helping the UAE navigate. the new administration. “I will!” Barrack responded.
- Barrack allegedly told his co-defendant and UAE contact Alshahhi that the US was considering convening a summit at Camp David with senior officials from the UAE, Qatar and other Middle Eastern governments to discuss issues with the Qatar blockade. in 2017.
Some more details on Tom Barrack, the businessman and ally of Donald Trump who was arrested on charges of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, as well as charges against him:
- He is accused of being an unregistered agent of the United Arab Emirates
- The Department of Justice alleges that he used Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign ties to insert propaganda into the media and into Trump’s speeches, drafted pro-UAE proposals - and lied to the FBI about it.
- Barrack was the one who helped recruit Paul Manafort to the campaign
The arrest of Tom Barrack, longtime associate & ally of Donald Trump, on federal charges raises many questions: assuming he wants to avoid prison, will he be inclined to cooperate with prosecutors against Trump; might Trump have given his friend Barrack a pocket pardon . . .
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) July 20, 2021
America needs to understand that Donald Trump's two best friends—in the world—are Howard Lorber and Thomas Barrack. This isn't just me or the Proof trilogy saying this, this is what people in Trump's circle have said.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) July 20, 2021
The arrest of Barrack massively threatens Trump's interests.
Florida congressman Charlie Crist and South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace have joined the #FreeBritney movement and introduced bipartisan legislation to protect the rights of those under conservatorship arrangements.
Britney Spears shocked the world last month when she delivered impassioned testimony about the conservatorship that has controlled her life for the last 13 years, calling it “abusive” and asking for it to come to an end.
In the US, an estimated 1.3 million adults are subjected to conservatorships, a form of court-appointed guardianship that give licensed conservators or family members the authority to make major decisions on behalf of people deemed incapacitated and incapable of managing their own affairs.
Crist and Mace’s proposed legislation would allow those living under conservatorships to petition a court to replace their conservators without having to prove misconduct or abuse. It would require caseworkers and guardians to disclose their finances to no conflicts arise - many activists in the #FreeBritney movement have alleged that Jamie Spears, Spears’ father who is in charge of her conservatorship, is keeping her under her care mainly to access her wealth.
Let’s #FreeBritney and countless others trapped in abusive guardianships. Proud to join @RepNancyMace to introduce the #FREEAct providing federal safeguards to protect persons under guardianship from abuse and exploitation. pic.twitter.com/cZwxCLAIRd
— Congressman Charlie Crist (@RepCharlieCrist) July 20, 2021
“Britney Spears’ conservatorship is a nightmare. If it can happen to her, it can happen to anyone. Conservatorships undoubtedly protect countless vulnerable Americans from abuse, but the case of Britney Spears reveals a darker side to a system meant to protect people,” Mace said in a statement.
“To see a woman like Britney Spears have her most basic human rights permanently stripped away from her under the guise of ‘protection’ should be illegal. Our bipartisan bill will do more than #FreeBritney, it will give anyone in a conservatorship the right to petition the court for a public guardian with absolutely no conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.”
Trump ally Barrack arrested
Tom Barrack, a businessman and ally of Donald Trump who played a leading role in the inauguration in 2017 has been arrested in California on charges of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, specifically the United Arab Emirates.
The 74-year-old was arrested on Tuesday, the Department of Justice said.
Here’s the top of the DoJ statement:
A seven-count indictment was unsealed today in a New York federal court relating to the defendants’ unlawful efforts to advance the interests of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the United States at the direction of senior UAE officials by influencing the foreign policy positions of the campaign of a candidate in the 2016 US presidential election and, subsequently, the foreign policy positions of the US government in the incoming administration, as well as seeking to influence public opinion in favor of UAE interests.
Thomas Joseph Barrack, 74, of Santa Monica, California; Matthew Grimes, 27, of Aspen, Colorado; and Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, aka Rashid Al Malik and Rashid Al‑Malik, 43, a UAE national, are accused of acting and conspiring to act as agents of the UAE between April 2016 and April 2018.
The indictment also charges Barrack with obstruction of justice and making multiple false statements during a June 20, 2019, interview with federal law enforcement agents.
Trump’s inauguration has attracted interest from the authorities. And here’s more on Barrack, from the Guardian in 2017:
Fauci to Paul: 'I have not lied before Congress. CASE CLOSED'
In another extraordinary confrontation in Congress today, chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci told Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky: “I have not lied before Congress, I have never lied. Certainly not before Congress. CASE CLOSED.”
The Republican politician attacked the career scientist over the issue of “gain of function research”, a canard among those who blame China for the coronavirus pandemic and subscribe to the theory – not counted out by official sources – that Covid-19 may have escaped from a lab in Wuhan.
“Viruses that in nature only infect animals were manipulated in the Wuhan lab to gain the function of infecting humans,” Paul said at a hearing of the Senate health, education, labor and pensions committee. “This research fits the definition of the research that the [National Institutes of Health] said was subject to the pause in 2014 to 2017, a pause in funding on gain of function, but the NIH failed to recognize this, defines it away, and it never came under any scrutiny.”
Referring to previous clashes with Fauci, Paul added: “Dr Fauci, knowing that it is a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement of 11 May where you claimed that the NIH never funded gain of function research?”
Fauci said: “Senator Paul, I have never lied before the Congress, and I do not retract that statement. This paper that you’re referring to was judged by qualified staff, up and down the chain, as not being gain of function.”
Things deteriorated from there.
“Senator Paul,” Fauci said, “you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and I want to say that, officially, you do not know what you are talking about.”
Paul said: “The evidence is pointing that [the virus] came from the lab, there will be responsibility for those who funded the lab, including yourself.”
Fauci said he “totally resent[ed] the lie that you are now propagating, Senator”, prompting Paul to say: “No one’s saying those viruses caused the pandemic. We’re saying they are gain of function viruses because they’re rare animal viruses that became more transmissible in human and you funded it.”
Visibly angry, Fauci responded: “You are implying that what we did was responsible for the deaths of individuals. I totally resent that. If anybody is lying here, Senator, it is you.”
Paul’s time was up but Tina Smith, a Democratic senator from Minnesota, spotted a chance for a political closer and asked Fauci if “there [was] anything more that you would like to say to counteract these attacks on your integrity that we’ve all just witnessed”.
“Well, Senator,” said Fauci, “thank you … this is a pattern that Senator Paul has been doing now at multiple hearings based on no reality. He was talking about gain of function, this has been evaluated multiple times by qualified people to not fall under the gain of function definition.
“I have not lied before Congress. I have never lied. Certainly not before Congress. CASE CLOSED.”
Summary
- A White House official tested positive for Covid-19 after coming in contact with a staffer for House speaker Nancy Pelosi who tested positive after escorting some Texas Democrats who tested positive this weekend. Everyone involved was vaccinated and are displaying mild symptoms. Medicals teams do not believe the staffer or the official have come in recent contact with Pelosi, Joe Biden, any White House principals or White House staff.
- Negotiations continue on Capitol Hill around the bipartisan infrastructure bill after Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer pushed for a procedural vote on Wednesday to move the process along. Schumer has the full support of the White House. From Republicans, not so much.
- Joe Biden welcomed Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the White House today.
- Mandela Barnes, lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, enters a crowded Democratic primary for a crucial Senate seat for Democrats hoping to secure the majority.
Many were surprised by the strong stance that Fox News host Sean Hannity took on Covid-19 Monday night when he told viewers, “I believe in science, I believe in the science of vaccination.”
Some speculated on “regular, high-level conversations between the White House and Fox News regarding pandemic and vaccine coverage.”
At today’s press briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said it’s not as complicated or cloak-and-dagger as it may seem.
“We’ve been in touch with every network and many, many media outlets about Covid-19 to make sure folks have accurate information,” she said. “We’re never shy when we have an issue with a story. That’s really the frame we’re looking at here.”
She noted that the White House was in regular contact with Fox News and that the administration understood “the importance of reaching Fox’s audience about Covid-19.” “(But) we don’t see it as a partisan issue,” Psaki said. “We don’t see vaccines as a political issue.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki made sure to state that Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer had the support of the White House when it came to his cloture vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill tomorrow.
“We back senator Schumer’s efforts to get this to the floor as quickly as possible,” she said.
Recap: the cloture vote is a procedural vote to move along the bipartisan infrastructure bill to improve roads, bridges and broadband. Democrats want this because they would like to turn their attention to the $3.5tn reconciliation bill that focuses on “human infrastructure” like social services and environmental measures. Republicans don’t want the reconciliation bill and are now picking at the bipartisan deal that they negotiated.
Psaki went further on the White House’s support of the cloture vote when asked about the possibility of the vote not passing - particularly as Senate minority whip John Thune said that Schumer is “not going to get 60, let’s put it that way” (cloture needs 60 votes to pass).
“This agreement was reached almost a month ago,” she said. “We believe that not only is this achievable, we owe it to the families in red states and blue states who have waited so long for the improvements in their lives.”
She said that Joe Biden “has been in touch with Democrats and Republicans for several days and that will certainly continue and that will continue until he has both pieces of legislation on his desk to sign them into law.”
While Republicans are balking at the cloture vote while there’s no text for the bill, Psaki pointed out this same sequence was followed for the endless frontier bill in May and the AAPI hate crime bill earlier this year. “This is normal process and procedure on Capitol Hill,” she said.
“There are no secrets about what’s in this legislation,” Psaki said. “It was agreed to in a bipartisan agreement. The only disagreement right now around some pay-fors, which we’re working through.”
On Cuba, White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted that “the prism through which the president has made his decisions” is that the US pursues measures that “both support the Cuban people and hold the Cuban regime accountable.”
After years of simmering tensions, Cubans have taken to the streets in protest over food shortages, high prices and communist rule. At least 140 have been disappeared or detained, and one has been killed in the demonstrations.
Psaki said the administration is “looking at options. There are a lot of ideas out there.”
“That includes working closely with the private sector and Congress to identify viable options to make the Internet more accessible to the Cuban people,” she said. “We are also looking to leverage our international organization partners to increase humanitarian assistance flows to Cuba and work with our international partners to both voice concern and put public pressure on.”
The administration has also formed a “remittance working group” to ensure that remittances - the practice of Americans transferring money to their Cuban relatives - end up in the hands of the Cuban people and not in the hands of the regime, Psaki said.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki has taken the podium for today’s press briefing and right off the bat gets a question about the White House official who tested positive for Covid-19.
She confirmed that this fully vaccinated individual is isolating off-campus and that the White House medical team has conducted contract tracing interviews. From those interviews, the medical team has determined that there have not been “close contacts between White House principals or staff or the president” with this individual.
“We know there will be breakthrough cases, but as this instance shows, cases in vaccinated individuals are typically mild,” she said. “We wish our colleague a speedy recovery.”
Updated
Brady references Trump election lie at White House
Slightly rueful laughter at the White House, as Tom Brady, the quarterback of the Super Bowl Tampa Bay Buccaneers, thanked Joe Biden for welcoming the team today.
“We were 7&5 struggling a little bit,” Brady said of his team’s season, “… but we found our rhythm, we got on a roll, not a lot of people, you know, think that we could have won.”
That might’ve described Biden’s surge to victory in the Democratic primary after a poor start. But Brady wasn’t finished.
“In fact,” he said, “I think, 40% of people still don’t think we won.”
“I understand that,” said Biden, who won the Super Bowl of politics, a presidential election, by a convincing margin only to find his opponent fuelling belief among a significant portion of Republicans in the lie that his defeat was the result of fraud.
“You understand that, Mr President?” said Brady.
Brady, as it happens, has been close to one Donald J Trump. On Tuesday he said it was “nice to be back” at the White House. But the great quarterback skipped visits after his New England Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2015 and 2017 before the whole team took a pass in 2019.
NEW: Tom Brady at the White House on the Bucs' Super Bowl run:
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) July 20, 2021
"Not a lot of people think that we could have won. In fact, I think about 40% of the people still don't think we won."
Biden: "I understand that."
Brady: "You understand that, Mr. President?" pic.twitter.com/wfFMx0Powi
Last year, Brady discussed his friendship with Trump, which he said predated Trump’s entry to politics, and which he had worked hard to keep that way.
“Yeah well, [Trump] wanted me to speak at [the 2016] convention too,” Brady told Howard Stern. “And I wasn’t going to do anything political.”
He added: “I didn’t want to get into all the political, because 50% of the people feel … there’s zero win in anything with regard to that. It’s politics.”
About 40 Buccaneers players and staff made the trip to the White House on Tuesday, reporters said.
The White House official who tested positive for Covid-19 has not come in contact with Joe Biden.
The White House official has not had any recent contact with President Joe Biden, another administration official said.
— Dianne Gallagher (@DianneG) July 20, 2021
The House select committee looking into the 6 January attack on the US Capitol is set to have its first hearing next week. By now, we know that House minority leader Kevin McCarthy will appoint representative Jim Jordan and two other representatives who voted to overturn the presidential election to the select committee.
The question on Capitol Hill now is lawmakers who supported the baseless objections to the certification of the presidential election - the baseless objections that many who stormed the Capitol cited as their reason for doing so - can adequately serve on a committee investigating the attack.
Pelosi told me she’s “considering” Kevin McCarthy’s “proposals” to serve on Jan. 6 committee. But she said how people voted on Jan. 6 on whether to certify the results is “not a criterion for service.” She wouldn’t say what she is weighing or say when she should make a decision. pic.twitter.com/3AEPBnlbEe
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 20, 2021
Asked Rep. Aguilar whether Pelosi should reject McCarthy picks for 1/6 committee who didn’t certify election - he says they’ll accept “that everyone in that room will be guided by seeking the truth of what happened. That's my, my presumption until I'm proven otherwise.”
— Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) July 20, 2021
(Aguilar himself is a select committee member)
— Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) July 20, 2021
Jim Jordan, who was selected by McCarthy to serve on the Jan. 6 select committee, told me he’s willing to testify before panel about his conversations with Trump. “If they call me, I got nothing to hide.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 20, 2021
Jordan also suggested that Speaker Pelosi's actions are of interest to him.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 20, 2021
"There's one question that needs to be answered, and that's why wasn't there proper security presence that day. And that's a question only the speaker can answer."
The staffer of House speaker Nancy Pelosi who tested positive for Covid-19 has not been in contact with Pelosi since exposure.
A senior aide in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office has tested positive for Covid after being in contact with Texas Democrats last week, @AnnieGrayerCNN confirms. The person has not been in contact w/Pelosi since exposure but Pelosi was seen earlier wearing a mask.
— Jessica Dean (@jessicadean) July 20, 2021
Report: White House official and Pelosi aide test positive for Covid
A White House official and an aide for House speaker Nancy Pelosi have tested positive for Covid-19, Axios is reporting.
The Pelosi staffer had escorted a delegation of Texas Democrats around the Capitol this week. Some of the Texas Democrats, who fled the state to Washington to prevent quorum on a restrictive voting bill, had tested positive over the weekend.
The staffer and the White House official then attended the same rooftop reception at the Hotel Eaton last Wednesday night.
Everyone involved had been vaccinated, highlighting once again that even vaccinated individuals can still contract and transmit the virus. However, as with the Texas Democrats, all reported symptoms have been mild.
Mandela Barnes, lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, announced today that he was running for Senate, joining a crowded field of Democrats vying for the seat.
“Hard-working families deserve every opportunity, but politicians like senator Ron Johnson aren’t delivering,” Barnes tweeted. “Instead of changing our dreams, we need to change the game.”
I’m Mandela Barnes and I’m running to be Wisconsin’s next Senator.
— Mandela Barnes (@TheOtherMandela) July 20, 2021
Hard-working families deserve every opportunity, but politicians like Senator Ron Johnson aren’t delivering. Instead of changing our dreams, we need to change the game. Join us. pic.twitter.com/XzVS3WHqQf
Barnes, along with governor Tony Evers, narrowly defeated incumbent Republicans Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch in 2018, a significant victory for Democrats during a Donald Trump presidency.
While Republican Johnson has not said if he plans to seek reelection, this seat would be an important win in securing the majority in a 50-50 Senate for Democrats - especially given that Joe Biden won Wisconsin.
Following a plunge yesterday brought on by concerns about the spread of the Delta variant, stocks are opening higher on Wall Street today, the Associated Press is reporting:
- The S&P 500 was up 0.4% in the early going, a day after its biggest drop since May
- The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.14%, its lowest level since February
- Hospital operator HCA Healthcare jumped after reporting a solid quarter
- IBM rose after reporting revenue that beat forecasts
- Crude oil prices fell again
US imposes sanctions against Honduran president and family
Secretary of state Antony Blinken has designated President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, former first lady Rosa Elena Bonilla Avila and their immediate family ineligible for entry into the US for their alleged involvement in corruption.
The state department alleges that the president accepted bribes from the narco-trafficking organization Los Cachiros in exchange for political favors, while his former wife engaged in fraud and misappropriated funds for her benefit as first lady.
In case you missed it, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture yesterday on the bipartisan infrastructure plan, meaning that the Senate will vote Wednesday on whether to begin debate on the deal negotiated between Republicans, Democrats and Joe Biden to bolster the country’s roads, bridges, public transit and broadband.
A quick recap because let’s face it, this is very confusing: we currently have two infrastructure bills before us: the bipartisan bill and the $3.5tn reconciliation bill that focuses on “human infrastructure” like social services and environmental measures.
Republicans are unhappy because they feel like after negotiating on the bipartisan bill, Democrats tacked on the reconciliation bill as a package deal. They’re also balking at the overall size of the reconciliation bill.
So something that was seemingly all negotiated out is now getting tied up once again in negotiations: the bipartisan group behind the bipartisan deal spent the weekend trying to plug a $100bn hole that arose after Republicans found another issue.
Thus, the cloture. Democrats would like to turn their attention to the reconciliation bill. Republicans, however, are not happy about getting rushed on the bipartisan bill.
GOP senators have appealed to WH to urge Schumer to back off his plans for Wednesday procedural vote on infrastructure, per source.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 19, 2021
Others made clear they need more time to negotiate.
"We are going to be hard-pressed to be ready to vote," Murkowski said
Schumer takes steps to set up Wednesday procedural vote on bipartisan infrastructure deal, rejecting GOP pleas to delay vote. “If we don't have a bill agreed to, I have a hard time understanding why we would proceed to a bill,” Romney said
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 19, 2021
Schumer: “They will continue to have more time to debate, amend and perfect the bill once the Senate votes to take up this crucial issue. But they have been working on this bipartisan framework for more than a month already, and it's time to begin the debate.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 20, 2021
Schumer needs 60 votes to get cloture and begin debate. Senate minority whip John Thune told Politico, “He’s not going to get 60, let’s put it that way. The legislation is not drafted, the pay-fors are a long ways away. Patience is going to be a virtue.”
Schumer, however, had the support of the White House.
We are grateful to @SenSchumer for continuing to push for progress in the Senate on bi-partisan legislation that will rebuild our nation's infrastructure
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) July 20, 2021
White House: social media companies 'should be held accountable' for Covid misinformation
Ahoy there, liveblog readers. Happy Tuesday.
Yesterday Joe Biden walked back some of his criticism of Facebook, saying he never meant to say “Facebook is killing people” when it came to the spread of misinformation around Covid vaccines.
President Biden clarifies his statement about Facebook: "My hope is, that Facebook instead of taking it personally, that somehow I'm saying 'Facebook is killing people', that they would do something about the misinformation." pic.twitter.com/GXfZOHxWKl
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 19, 2021
Later, White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified a bit further, but did not quite let the social media giant off the hook: “Our fight is not with one social media platform. It is with the virus,” she said. “We have a role, everybody has a role, in combating misinformation...In terms of monitoring whether there have been steps that have been taken, there are all things you all can assess...do you have access from these companies on who is receiving misinformation? I don’t think that information has been released.”
Today, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield went on Morning Joe to speak more about the spread of misinformation on social media. “Right now this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated: 99.5% of people who are in the hospital or who have died from this virus are unvaccinated,” Bedingfield said in an interview with Mika Brzezinski.
.@morningmika: Should social media companies be legally "liable for publishing" misinformation about vaccines and "open to lawsuits?"
— Quint Forgey (@QuintForgey) July 20, 2021
.@WHCommsDir: "We're reviewing that, and certainly they should be held accountable." pic.twitter.com/txXUWzmqRO
Brzezinski asked Bedingfield about section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which exempts platforms from legal liability for content generated by its users.
“Shouldn’t (social media platforms) be held accountable in a real way, shouldn’t they be liable for publishing that information and open to lawsuits?” Brzezinski asked.
“We’re reviewing that, and certainly they should be held accountable, and I think you heard the president speak very aggressively about this,” Bedingfield said. “He understands that this is an important piece of the ecosystem.”
She continued: “It is also the responsibility of the people creating the content. There are conservative news outlets who are creating irresponsible content that is sharing misinformation about the virus that is getting shared on these platforms. It is a big and complicated ecosystem and everybody bears responsibility to ensure we are not providing people with bad information about a vaccine that will save their lives.”
