Donald Trump is supposedly writing a book on how presidency was stolen from him
Texas Senator Ted Cruz is facing a lawsuit from a campaign group seeking to get him disbarred in Texas for his participation in a failed attempt to get the 2020 election overturned at the US Supreme Court.
Mr Cruz, who formally objected to Joe Biden’s victory in the Senate even after the Capitol was attacked by Trump supporters during the proceedings, is accused of violating legal ethics by participating in the doomed Texas v Pennsylvania case that his state sue several others that Mr Biden had legitimately won.
Meanwhile, as the 6 January committee prepares for a summer of what promise to be shocking and disturbing hearings about the Capitol riot, Donald Trump has laid into committee member Liz Cheney, claiming that she has taken her opposition to him to extremes. In an interview with The Washington Post, he called her a “crazed lunatic.”
The committee’s first public hearing since last year is set for 9 June.
Liberals are blaming Trump for the baby formula shortage, but is that accurate?
Infant formula in the US is dominated by domestic manufacturers; foreign manufacturers make up only a few percentage points of the total US market share for baby formula, largely due to strict Food and Drug Administration standards for both content and labeling that restricts many European companies from the market.
Trump is facing criticism on social media due to one trade deal, the 2020 United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, which established new trading rules for business and trade across North America and placed heavy restrictions on Canada’s dairy sector, long a target of criticism on the US conservative right due to its government-imposed price and import controls.
But there was bipartisan agreement surrounding the issue of restrictions on Canada’s dairy sector, and one of the loudest champions for the issue was a Democrat, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Alex Woodward20 May 2022 00:00
Kellyanne Conway says Ivanka shared couples therapist numbers as Melania backed her through marital woes
Former White House adviser and Trump campaign manager Kellyane Conway claims in a new book that Ivanka Trump gave her the numbers of marriage therapists after her husband – Trump critic George Conway – attacked and insulted her boss on Twitter.
Alex Woodward19 May 2022 23:28
Michigan’s chief elections official says Trump suggested she be tried for treason and executed
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who has pushed back against a wave of threats after Joe Biden won the state in the 2020 presidential election, said in an interview with NBC News that she was told Trump had “suggested in a White House meeting that she should be arrested for treason and executed.”
“It was surreal and I felt sad,” she told the network, which is airing the interview in full on Thursday night. “It certainly amplified the heightened sense of anxiety, stress and uncertainty of that time – which I still feel in many ways – because it showed there was no bottom to how far [Trump] and his supporters were willing to stoop to overturn or discredit a legitimate election.”
Alex Woodward19 May 2022 23:00
Legal watchdog asks Texas Bar to suspend or disbar Ted Cruz for trying to overturn 2020 election
A legal watchdog group that seeks to sanction the lawyers who pushed Trump’s bogus “stolen election” narrative through the courts has asked the Texas state bar to suspend or revoke Senator Ted Cruz’s licence to practice law for his involvement in “frivolous” election lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Texas.
Alex Woodward19 May 2022 22:30
Republicans denied the idea that were ‘reconnaissance’ tours before Jan 6. The committee investigating the attack says evidence ‘directly contradicts’ that.
In February, Republicans on the House administration committee sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claiming they had “reviewed the security footage” around the 6 January, 2021 attack on the halls of Congress and said “[knew] it [did] not support these repeated Democrat accusations about so-called ‘reconnaissance’ tours”.
But in their letter to Republican congressman Barry Loudermilk, the chairs of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack said their “review of evidence directly contradicts that denial”.
The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg has more:
Alex Woodward19 May 2022 21:52
Jan 6 committee asks GOP congressman for information about tour he led the day before riot
The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack has asked US Rep Barry Loudermilk to give evidence about a tour he allegedly led the day before a pro-Trump mob stormed the same halls.
Alex Woodward19 May 2022 20:57
Pelosi challenges GOP to reject ‘replacement theory’ after only one Republican backs domestic terrorism bill
“Why isn’t everyone in this congress saying, ‘I reject replacement theory’?” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said outside the US Capitol on 19 May.
Her remarks came the day after a vote in the House of Representatives to establish domestic terrorism offices across three federal agencies, with the mass shooting in Buffalo among white supremacist-driven attacks that federal law enforement has repeatedly warned is on the rise.
Only one Republican, Illinois Rep Adam Kinzinger, broke from instructions from House GOP leaders to vote against the bill and joined all Democrats in support. Four Republicans abstained from voting. It passed by a vote of 222 to 203.
Alex Woodward19 May 2022 20:30
Bill Barr in talks to cooperate with Jan 6 committee, Axios reports
Former US Attorney General Bill Barr is in “active discussions” with the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack, according to Axios, citing “sources with direct knowledge.”
Barr resigned on 14 December 2020. He repeatedly was pushed by the former president to get the Justice Department to declare that the presidential election was marred by fraud, according to reports. He allegedly told Trump that his bogus “stolen election” narrative was “bull****.”
Alex Woodward19 May 2022 20:18
Senate approves $40bn aid for Ukraine despite MAGA senators’ resistance
The US Senate has voted overwhelmingly to approve a $40bn supplemental spending bill to provide further defensive and financial assistance to Ukraine’s government as it continues to resist Russia’s unprovoked invasion.
The bill passed with support from 86 senators – 47 Democrats and 39 Republicans, a sign of the strong bipartisan support for Ukraine’s efforts to defend against Russia.
Only 11 senators – Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn and Ted Hagerty, Montana’s John Boozman, Indiana’s Mike Braun, Idaho’s Mike Crapo, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Mike Lee of Utah, Cynthia Lummis of Mississippi, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama – voted against the funding measure, which Mr Paul had blocked from consideration last week.
Alex Woodward19 May 2022 19:57
ICYMI: Report says Trump administration unlawfully punished Ukraine whistleblower
A new report from the Defense Department’s inspector general has concluded that multiple Trump administration officials violated federal whistle-blower protection laws by removing from his position after he blew the whistle on Donald Trump’s efforts to extort the Ukranian government.
Colonel Yevgeny Vindman lost his job as a National Security Council lawyer after he made “protected communications” alleging that former president Donald Trump violated US law by asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate then-former Vice President Joe Biden and his son during a 2019 phone call. The incident led to Mr Trump’s first impeachment in 2019-20, which ended with him being acquitted on an almost entirely partisan vote.
Andrew Feinberg has the story.
Andrew Naughtie19 May 2022 16:40