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Politics

Biden calls for assault weapons ban at gun safety event

Biden calls for assault weapons ban at gun safety event 150 150 admin

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden, marking the first major federal gun safety bill passed in three decades, said the United States is “awash in weapons of war” on Monday and renewed his call for assault weapons to be banned.

Congress has shown little inclination to outlaw assault weapons after a ban on such weapons expired in 2004, but Biden is hoping to use growing American outrage about mass shootings to lead to greater pressure on lawmakers to change their mind.

“Assault weapons need to be banned. They were banned. … I’m determined to ban these weapons again, and high-capacity magazines,” he said.

The Democratic president also said lawmakers should add safe storage laws requiring personal liability “for not locking up your gun.”

Biden also said he supports the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment that gives Americans the right to possess firearms, but said “the right to bear arms is not an absolute right to dominate all others.”

Biden, joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, spoke at an event on the White House South Lawn to commemorate recent passage of the gun safety bill, the first such new law on guns in 30 years.

In the audience were many members of Congress who approved the legislation and family members of some of the people killed in mass shootings, including the recent attacks in Uvalde, Texas; Buffalo, New York; and Highland Park, Illinois.

The bipartisan bill came together just weeks after mass shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo that killed more than 30 people, including 19 children at an elementary school.

The law includes provisions to help states keep guns out of the hands of those deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. It also blocks gun sales to those convicted of abusing unmarried intimate partners and cracks down on gun sales to purchasers convicted of domestic violence.

The gun bill came the same week as the Supreme Court expanded gun owners’ rights.

Gun control has long been a divisive issue in the nation, with several attempts to put new controls on gun sales failing time after time.

Biden, who is looking to improve sagging public approval ratings ahead of Nov. 8 midterm elections for control of Congress, made securing victories on gun control a part of his campaign pitch to voters.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Steve Holland, Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Bradley Perrett and Jonathan Oatis)

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Mexican president heads to Washington, migration resurgence in focus

Mexican president heads to Washington, migration resurgence in focus 150 150 admin

MEXICO CITY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden will meet his Mexican counterpart on Tuesday to discuss ways to stem Mexican migrant crossings as arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border reached their highest levels in over a decade, with both sides hoping to address jobs and investment.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced the meeting in Washington last month just ahead of the U.S.-hosted Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, which he shunned because it excluded some left-leaning Latin American countries.

Most governments at the summit, including Mexico, signed a declaration intended to help the region regulate migrant flows, and a senior Biden administration official said the White House talks are intended to build upon those shared commitments.

The declaration did not include any U.S. pledges for additional work visas for Mexicans, and that will form part of Lopez Obrador’s discussions with Biden, said two Mexican officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to share the information ahead of the official announcement.

Lopez Obrador said on July 6 there was a grave shortage of workers in the United States and that he would seek to find a fix with Biden in the interests of both countries during the visit, his second to Washington since Biden took office.

“My vision is we’re going to agree on the labor issue and we’re going to put migrant flows in order, and we’re going to legalize hiring of workers,” he told a news conference.

Republican lawmakers have blamed Biden for the rising migrant numbers in the run-up to U.S. mid-term elections in November, and Texas in particular has sought to take the initiative in cracking down on illegal border crossings.

Lopez Obrador on Friday slammed Texas for one of its recent crackdown measures, saying he would urge people of Mexican origin in the United States not to vote for “anti-immigrant” candidates or parties in upcoming elections.

JOBS AND INVESTMENT

The two leaders will also make business announcements that will spur investment and jobs in Mexico, one of the Mexican officials said.

The senior U.S. official told Reuters the talks are expected to show “some progress” on resolving problems U.S. firms have faced in Mexico’s energy sector. Ken Salazar, U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said last month the two sides were working through such disputes involving over $30 billion in investment. High-level bilateral dialogue in September will focus heavily on investment, the official said.

Lopez Obrador’s interior minister last month said the United States had agreed to offer 300,000 work visas, with about half for Mexicans and the rest for Central Americans.

The U.S. government has not confirmed the numbers. If accurate, they would still be far short of migrant flows currently crossing the border.

The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “promoting labor pathways” would be a key part of the White House discussions but declined to provide specifics.

The perils of the migration journey to the United States were shockingly exposed on June 27 when over 50 migrants died in a suffocating trailer truck found on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas.

Francisco Diaz, whose taxi driver brother was among the Mexicans to die in the truck, said the lure of better wages was still a powerful draw for his compatriots.

“All the young people want to pursue the American dream,” Diaz told Reuters at his home in the indigenous mountain town of Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec in southern Mexico.

The higher number of arrests at the U.S. border partly reflect repeat attempts by migrants to enter the United States under a U.S. COVID-era policy that turns migrants back at the border.

It also reflects the fact that Mexico’s economy, which has yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels, is struggling to create jobs while murders are running close to record totals.

“The demand in Mexico for going north has increased quickly,” said Andrew Selee, President of the Migration Policy Institute, pointing to economic woes and gang violence.

 

(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon, Dave Graham and Matt Spetalnick; Additional reporting by Jose Cortes in Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

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Biden’s dilemma: What about a photo with Saudi Crown Prince MbS?

Biden’s dilemma: What about a photo with Saudi Crown Prince MbS? 150 150 admin

By Jarrett Renshaw

(Reuters) – Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia this week is a diplomatic challenge that comes with a thorny logistics question: Should the U.S. president be photographed meeting, or even shaking hands with, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman?

U.S. presidential visits, even with the closest of allies, are often highly choreographed affairs involving weeks of planning around seating arrangements, camera positions and how officials plan to walk into rooms to set up or avoid a handshake.

Biden, who called the Saudi government a “pariah” for its role in the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist and political opponent Jamal Khashoggi, is reluctantly meeting the crown prince, who U.S. intelligence believe was behind the killing.

But political experts say the White House understands that a photo, and perhaps one of the two men shaking hands, may be both inevitable and necessary, as Washington seeks to reset its relationship with the oil-rich nation and with a young crown prince destined to rule the kingdom for many years to come.

“I think the White House’s expectation is they’re going to be in the same room. They’re not going to be far apart. At some point, the crown prince is likely to come over and extend his hand and some sort of image will emerge,” said Jon B. Alterman, a former State Department official and senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

When it does, Biden is sure to face criticism from Republican opposition who argue the president is courting a questionable ally to boost oil production over domestic producers and from his own Democrats, who have urged Biden to delay any meeting due to human rights concerns.

Saudi officials have not disclosed whether MbS, as he is also known, or the ailing King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud will greet Biden when he arrives in Jeddah. Other details, such as whether there will be a formal dinner, have not been released.

BIDEN: HUMAN RIGHTS ON THE AGENDA

The White House did not respond to questions about the optics of the trip.

But in a Washington Post opinion piece published on Saturday, Biden wrote: “I know that there are many who disagree with my decision to travel to Saudi Arabia. My views on human rights are clear and long-standing, and fundamental freedoms are always on the agenda when I travel abroad.”

He wrote that as president his job was to keep America strong and secure, put the country in the best possible position to outcompete China, counter Russian aggression and work for greater stability in a consequential region of the world.

“To do these things, we have to engage directly with countries that can impact those outcomes. Saudi Arabia is one of them, and when I meet with Saudi leaders on Friday, my aim will be to strengthen a strategic partnership going forward that’s based on mutual interests and responsibilities, while also holding true to fundamental American values,” Biden wrote.

The White House National Security Council has said that Biden would participate in a bilateral meeting with the king and the crown prince, but Biden has sought to emphasize the meeting with a broader set of Gulf leaders. Typically, leaders will emerge from bilateral talks and jointly take questions from reporters, but it is unclear whether that is the plan.

BUSH, OBAMA, TRUMP SAUDI PHOTO OPS

Saudi Arabia is a strategic partner of the United States, thanks to oil and regional politics, and since the end of World War Two, U.S. presidents and Saudi kings have met on several occasions. The meetings have included many notable achievements but also produced a few awkward moments.

A photo of President George W. Bush holding hands with an aged Saudi King Abdullah during a stroll on the president’s Texas ranch in 2005 raised eyebrows among Americans uncomfortable with the Arab custom of men holding hands.

In 2009, Barack Obama greeted the Saudi King with what appeared to be a bow, and conservatives and Republicans were critical. The White House said that the president was “stooping” to look the feeble king in the eye while shaking hands.

In 2017, Donald Trump, who lambasted Obama for his alleged bow, greeted MbS with a firm, vertical handshake, then drew criticism from Democrats for bowing to MbS when accepting a civilian medal from the crown prince.

Biden on Friday will become the first president to fly from Israel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, he wrote. He called it a small symbol of “the budding relations and steps toward normalization” between Israel and the Arab world.

(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; Additional reporting by Nandita Bose; Editing by Heather Timmons, Chris Reese and Howard Goller)

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Links between Trump associates, militants in focus at Jan 6 hearings this week

Links between Trump associates, militants in focus at Jan 6 hearings this week 150 150 admin

By Richard Cowan and Katanga Johnson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Congressional investigators into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol expect this week to draw connections between militant groups that took part and government officials, possibly including then-President Donald Trump, a member of the committee conducting the investigation said on Sunday.

“We are going to be connecting the dots during these hearings between these groups and those who were trying in government circles to overturn the election,” Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Asked if Trump was aware members of these groups attended a rally he led outside the White House when he urged them to march on the Capitol, Lofgren said: “You have to reach your own conclusions but based on the events leading up to the day, I think that would be a logical conclusion.”

Trump, a Republican, has falsely claimed Democrat Joe Biden defeated him in the 2020 presidential election through massive fraud – assertions rejected in U.S. courts, by Trump’s own Justice Department and even Republican-led audits.

After Trump spoke outside the White House on Jan. 6, his supporters marched to the Capitol in a failed bid to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s victory in a session where then-Vice President Mike Pence was presiding.

Two groups, the self-described Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, will be under the spotlight in the two hearings this week, expected on Tuesday and Thursday.

NBC News reported that Jason Van Tatenhove, a former spokesperson for the Oath Keepers, would testify on Tuesday. A committee spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Federal prosecutors have alleged that Jeremy Brown, a member of the Oath Keepers, brought explosives to the Washington area on Jan. 6. Brown, in a statement, called the charges a “disgusting lie.”

During a September 2020 debate between Trump and Biden before the November election, Trump was asked whether he would condemn white supremacist and militia groups for violent activities during his presidency.

Trump responded, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.” He added, “Somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left. … this is a left-wing problem.”

On Friday, former White House counsel Pat Cipollone testified to committee investigators behind closed doors.

Videotaped excerpts of that testimony will be presented at Tuesday’s hearing, said Lofgren, who is one of nine members on a bipartisan House of Representatives Select Committee that began its current series of public hearings last month.

“He was able to provide information on basically all of the critical issues we are looking at, including the president’s what-I-would-call dereliction of duty on the day of Jan. 6,” Lofgren said.

The committee has yet to say whether this Thursday’s hearing, expected in evening prime time when U.S. television audiences are at their peak, will be the final one before a panel report is issued, possibly in September.

Representative Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the panel, is expected to lead witness questioning that night, along with Democratic Representative Elaine Luria.

“We’re going to really focus on what was the president doing from in essence the moment the insurrection started until he finally, hours later, put out a tweet that said, ‘We shouldn’t do anything like this,’” Kinzinger told ABC’s “This Week.”

He added, “Keep in mind in the middle of that was the tweet that said in essence this is what happens when you steal an election; that Vice President Pence deserved this.”

In earlier committee testimony, witnesses said Trump signaled support for rioters calling for Pence to be hanged.

Lofgren also said the committee had received a letter from Trump adviser Steve Bannon saying he would be willing to testify. Bannon was charged last year with two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a committee subpoena.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan and Katanga Johnson; Additional reporting by Tyler Clifford and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Mary Milliken, Howard Goller and Edwina Gibbs)

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Ex-Trump aide Steve Bannon offers to testify in U.S. probe of Jan. 6 riot

Ex-Trump aide Steve Bannon offers to testify in U.S. probe of Jan. 6 riot 150 150 admin

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump’s former close adviser Steve Bannon has told the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that he is ready to testify, a change of heart days before he is due to be tried for contempt of Congress.

In a letter to the committee seen by Reuters, Bannon’s lawyer Robert Costello, wrote to say the former president would waive the claim of executive privilege which Bannon had cited in refusing to appear before the committee.

Bannon, a prominent figure in right-wing media circles who served as Trump’s chief strategist in 2017, is scheduled to go on trial July 18 on two criminal contempt charges for refusing to testify or provide documents.

The letter from the lawyer said Bannon preferred to testify publicly, but Representative Zoe Lofgren, a committee Democrat, told CNN that ordinarily the committee takes a deposition behind closed doors.

“This goes on for hour after hour after hour. We want to get all our questions answered. And you can’t do that in a live format,” Lofgren said. “There are many questions that we have for him.”

Throughout the House of Representatives committee hearings, videotaped snippets of closed-door testimony by witnesses under oath have been shown to the public.

Trump has been chafing that none of his supporters have testified in his defense at the committee hearings which, separate from the trial, are focused on the attack by Trump supporters seeking to stop the certification in Congress of Trump’s defeat by Joe Biden in the November 2020 election.

In a letter from Trump to Bannon seen by Reuters, Trump said he was waiving executive privilege because he “watched how unfairly you and others have been treated.”

The House panel is due to hold public hearings on Tuesday and Thursday this week.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Howard Goller)

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Ex-Trump adviser Bannon offers to testify to U.S. panel probe of Jan. 6 riot

Ex-Trump adviser Bannon offers to testify to U.S. panel probe of Jan. 6 riot 150 150 admin

(Refiling to fix 2nd paragraph date to read July 18, not Jan. 18)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump’s former close adviser Steve Bannon has agreed to testify to the U.S. congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to media reports on Sunday, amid questions over the terms of his appearance.

His change of heart was reported by CNN, the New York Times and Washington Post ahead of a July 18 trial for Bannon on two charges of criminal contempt of Congress for previously refusing to testify or provide documents.

They said Bannon’s lawyer, Robert Costello, wrote to the House of Representatives committee to say Trump, the former president, would waive the claim of executive privilege which Bannon had cited in refusing to testify.

Trump has been chafing that none of his supporters have testified in his defense at the committee hearings which, separate from the trial, are focused on the attack by Trump supporters seeking to stop the certification in Congress of Trump’s defeat by Joe Biden in the November 2020 election.

Representative Zoe Lofgren, a committee Democrat, told CNN the panel received a letter around midnight on Saturday and “I expect that we will be hearing from him.”

It was unclear whether Bannon would agree to the committee’s practice of privately interviewing witnesses before possible public testimony. The media reports said Costello’s letter to the committee said Bannon wanted to testify at a public hearing.

“Ordinarily, we do depositions,” Lofgren told CNN. “This goes on for hour after hour after hour. We want to get all our questions answered. And you can’t do that in a live format.”

Lofgren added, “There are many questions that we have for him.”

Throughout the select committee’s hearings, videotaped snippets of closed-door testimony by witnesses under oath have been shown to the public.

The House panel said it had no comment on the possibility of Bannon testifying, and Costello did not immediately respond to queries from Reuters. The committee is due to hold public hearings on Tuesday and Thursday this week.

Bannon, a prominent figure in right-wing media circles, was an architect of Trump’s 2016 presidential victory and served as White House chief strategist in 2017.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Howard Goller)

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Greitens fans shrug off scandals threatening GOP Senate seat

Greitens fans shrug off scandals threatening GOP Senate seat 150 150 admin

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Eric Greitens resigned as Missouri governor amid criminal charges and legislative investigations, is accused by his ex-wife of abuse and bullying and has run a widely condemned ad suggesting he was hunting members of his own party with a gun. And the Republican is still a leading contender for election to the U.S. Senate.

In the final weeks before the Aug. 2 primary, Greitens remains well positioned to clinch the nomination for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Roy Blunt, who is not seeking a third term. If anything, the onslaught of criticism has made Greitens even more popular among his followers. They say they either do not believe the allegations against him or care more about his overarching message opposing the “radical left” and embracing former President Donald Trump.

“Every politician gets slammed for something or other,” Michael Moynihan, 74, said at a recent Greitens campaign appearance in the eastern Missouri town of Elsberry. “If you’re into politics, buddy, believe me, they’re going to come after you.”

Ron Lowrey, 71, a retired oil and gas geologist from St. Charles, likes Greitens’ resilience.

“He’s a fighter and he’s pushed through that, and that impresses me a lot,” Lowrey said.

The contest is emerging as the latest test of the GOP’s apparent willingness to embrace deeply flawed candidates who, before the Trump era, may have struggled to win their party’s nomination. Some in the GOP, particularly those close to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, are watching the dynamics closely, fearful that a Greitens victory could jeopardize the party’s ability to regain a Senate majority.

A new candidate is banking on the belief that Republicans want an alternative. Lifelong Republican John F. Wood, 52, a former U.S. attorney in Kansas City and most recently a top investigator for the U.S. House committee investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, announced his independent candidacy late last month. A super political action committee led by former Sen. John Danforth, R-Mo., is pledging to spend $20 million to support him.

“I’m in this race to win it no matter who the Republican nominee is,” Wood said in a phone interview. “But I think it’ll be Eric Greitens, and Eric Greitens is a big part of the reason I decided to get into the race.”

Danforth’s PAC, Missouri Stands United, is spending $3 million on TV, radio, digital and direct mail ads through July as Wood gathers signatures to get a spot on the ballot and said it will spend up to $20 million through November.

“We are too divided, and politicians are making it so,” Danforth says in one TV spot. “They are intentionally dividing us. They’re appealing to the very worst in us. To our anger. They’re trying to push us into enemy camps. But we’re not enemies. We’re all one people. We’re Americans.”

Danforth takes responsibility for some of that division. He was an early supporter of Missouri Republican Josh Hawley, who was elected to the Senate in 2018. But after Hawley’s Electoral College challenge to Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory, and after the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Danforth called supporting Hawley “the worst decision I’ve ever made in my life.”

Wood also alluded to the riot in his criticism of Greitens’ latest ad, a 38-second spot showing Greitens brandishing a shotgun and declaring he’s hunting RINOs — Republicans in Name Only. Though Greitens said the spot was meant to be humorous, Facebook removed it. Twitter said it violated its rules about abusive behavior but left up the post because it was in the “public’s interest” for the tweet to be viewable. The company’s move prevented the post from being shared any further.

“If Jan. 6 taught us anything, it’s that words can inspire action,” Wood said. “I think there’s a risk that Eric Greitens’ words and conduct could inspire somebody to act in a violent way, and that’s just wrong.”

Greitens, 48, is a former Navy SEAL officer and Rhodes scholar who was just a year into his first term as governor when in January 2018 he confirmed a TV report about an extramarital affair in 2015 with his St. Louis hairdresser.

The sex scandal turned into a criminal matter when the St. Louis prosecutor charged Greitens with felony invasion of privacy, accusing him of taking a nude photo of the woman and threatening to use it as blackmail if she spoke of their relationship.

Weeks later, a second charge accused Greitens of illegally using a donor list from a charity he founded to raise money for his campaign. An impeachment investigation began in the Missouri House.

The invasion of privacy charge was dropped in May 2018 amid concerns that the chief investigator and St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner mishandled the investigation. Earlier this year, investigator William Tisaby pleaded guilty to misdemeanor evidence tampering. Gardner is awaiting punishment from the Missouri Supreme Court, but is not expected to lose her law license. Greitens points to both in saying he was the victim of a political hit.

A special prosecutor examined the invasion of privacy case in June 2018 and said she believed the woman, but declined to file new charges. A House investigation was still ongoing when Greitens resigned in June 2018. The campaign finance-related charge was dropped when he stepped down.

Blunt’s announcement in March 2021 that he would not seek reelection set the stage for a potentially stunning political comeback for Greitens. His main opponents are Attorney General Eric Schmitt and U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler.

Greitens has faced a series of scandals during this race.

In March, Sheena Greitens filed an affidavit in a child custody case accusing her ex-husband of abusing her and their two sons. She cited one instance where Eric Greitens cuffed their then 3-year-old son across the face and yanked him by the hair. In another, he allegedly pushed her to the ground.

Greitens denied the allegations and accused Sheena Greitens of colluding with Republican stalwarts such as McConnell to sabotage his campaign. Sheena Greitens said she worked with no one.

If Greitens’ campaign is worried about Wood’s candidacy, its leaders are not letting on.

“We encourage anyone who wants to get in the race to do so, especially any prosecutors from the sham January 6th Committee,” Greitens’ campaign manager, Dylan Johnson, said in a text. “Missouri is Trump Red and only an America First candidate like Governor Greitens will be the next U.S. Senator.”

Trump has yet to endorse in the race, but recently ruled out the potential of backing Hartzler.

Trump, of course, has survived questions about his own past, winning election in 2016 just weeks after a 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape emerged of him bragging about grabbing women by the genitals. He carried Missouri by 19 percentage points in 2016 and by 15 percentage points in 2020.

Nonmajor party candidates do not have a history of success in Missouri, which concerns Joshua Dull, 22, a real estate consultant who serves on the St. Charles County Republican Central Committee. Dull supports Schmitt and said he was “disgusted” by Greitens’ RINO-hunting ad — but he will vote for Greitens if he wins the nomination.

“Independent candidates are great in theory, but in high-stakes elections like this one they can just create that party division that leads to Republican defeat,” Dull said.

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4 days in January: Trump push for Capitol coda to 2020 vote

4 days in January: Trump push for Capitol coda to 2020 vote 150 150 admin

WASHINGTON (AP) — It would have been something never quite before seen in America — a defeated president, Donald Trump, standing at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with a mob of supporters, some armed, contesting the election outcome.

Trump intended to go there that day. His allies had been planning for the moment, envisioning the president delivering a speech outside the building or even entering the House chamber amid objections to Congress certifying the 2020 election results for Democrat Joe Biden.

“He’s going to look powerful,” mused Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to a young White House aide four days earlier.

But White House lawyers thought it was a “terrible” idea. Counsel Pat Cipollone warned that Trump could be charged with “every crime imaginable” if he joined mob on Capitol Hill trying to interfere with the certification.

In the end, Trump never made it to the Capitol on Jan. 6. His security refused to take him as rioters, some with weapons, laid siege to the building.

Furious, and stuck at the White House, Trump watched the insurrection on television.

The Jan. 6 hearings are providing dramatic new insight about Trump’s intentions as he told loyalists he would join them on a march down Pennsylvania Avenue to “fight like hell” for his presidency. This account is drawn largely from the testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. Her recollections from her close proximity to the president and his inner circle suggest Trump’s demands were not the brash desires of an impulsive commander in chief but part of his last-ditch plan for stopping Biden’s victory.

Trump and his allies quickly disputed Hutchinson’s account, and the former president conducted his own interview days later disparaging her with derisive commentary and nicknames.

This coming week, the committee is set to focus on Trump’s own actions and those of the extremist Oath Keepers and Proud Boys in allegedly leading the Capitol attack.

A look at what’s known about Trump’s plans to join the mob on Jan. 6:

___

JAN. 2

It was a Saturday night. Giuliani had been meeting at the White House with Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and others.

The White House and Meadows had placed some 18 calls that day to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, before Trump finally got the elections official on the phone.

Trump had been disputing the election results in Georgia, which he narrowly lost. He was demanding that Raffensperger “find 11,780 votes,” exactly enough to tip the balance from Biden’s victory. The engineer-turned-civil servant declined.

As Giuliani left the White House that night, he walked out with Meadows’ young aide, Hutchinson, a senior adviser.

“Cass, are you excited for the 6th?” Giuliani asked, as Hutchinson recalled in testimony before the Jan. 6 committee. “It’s going to be a great day.”

Hutchinson had heard discussions about Jan. 6 and the rally being planned outside the White House as Congress was set to certify the election results. She also had heard, when Giuliani was around, mentions of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, two extremist groups.

She looked at Giuliani and asked him to explain.

“We’re going to the Capitol,” Giuliani told her. “It’s going to be great. The president’s going to be there. He’s going to look powerful.”

___

JAN. 3

On Sunday, Cipollone privately raised concerns to Hutchinson about the president’s planned trip to the Capitol.

Cipollone told her there were “serious legal concerns” if Trump went ahead as Congress was certifying the election. He urged her to relay the concerns to her boss, Meadows.

“We need to make sure that this doesn’t happen,” Cipollone said, according to Hutchinson’s testimony. “This would be a legally a terrible idea for us. We’re — we have serious legal concerns if we go up to the Capitol that day.”

That Sunday was a busy day at the White House.

The leaders of Trump’s Justice Department were threatening to resign if the president replaced the acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, with a lower-ranked civil division head, Jeffrey Clark, to pursue the electoral challenge.

And that same day, the U.S. Capitol Police issued a special event assessment, noting that the Proud Boys and other groups planned to be in Washington on Jan. 6.

The police assessment indicated that “unlike previous post-election protests, the targets of the pro-Trump supporters are not necessarily the counter-protesters… but rather Congress itself is the target on the 6th.”

___

JAN. 5

On Tuesday, the eve of Jan. 6, according to Hutchinson, Trump asked Meadows to be in touch with two of the president’s associates — Roger Stone and Michael Flynn.

Stone attended rallies for Trump in Washington and was photographed with multiple members of the Oath Keepers who were allegedly serving as his security detail, according to the committee. Both Stone and Flynn invoked their Fifth Amendment rights rather than testify before the committee.

The big “Stop the Steal” rally was planned for the morning of Jan. 6 near the White House. Meadows spoke with both Stone and Flynn that evening, Hutchinson said. Stone has disputed her account.

Meadows also sought to join Giuliani and others who had set up a “war room” at the Willard Hotel close to the White House, she testified.

“I had made it clear to Mr. Meadows that I didn’t believe it was a smart idea for him to go to the Willard Hotel that night,” she said.

___

JAN. 6: THE RALLY

The morning of the rally on Wednesday, Jan. 6, Cipollone pleaded once again with Hutchinson to ensure Trump did not head to the Capitol.

“Please,” he said, “make sure we don’t go up to the Capitol, Cassidy,” she recalled. “We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen.”

Hutchinson’s desk at the White House was just down the hall from the Oval Office, which was in one corner, and her boss Meadows’ office in the other. But that day she was with the president backstage as he surveyed the crowd of supporters outside the White House.

Trump was furious.

The crowd was not as full as Trump wanted it. Supporters lingered outside the security screening, unwilling to have their weapons confiscated by the Secret Service to join the main rally area.

Trump ordered his security to get rid of the metal detectors, known as magnetometers, insisting the armed supporters were no threat to him.

The police radios crackled with information; a man in the trees with a rifle or another with a handgun at his waist; three men with an AR-15 walking at 14th Street and Independence Avenue.

Trump has disputed Hutchinson’s account. “I didn’t want guns,” he said in an interview with Newsmax that aired two days after the hearing.

But Hutchinson had recounted to the committee what she heard.

“They’re not here to hurt me,” Trump told his staff, Hutchinson recalled. “Let them in. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol after the rally’s over. …. Take the effing mags away. Then they can march to the Capitol.”

___

JAN. 6: THE SPEECH

The president took the stage at the “Stop the Steal” rally complaining about the election outcome and the need to stop Biden from becoming president.

“We’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you,” Trump said to the thousand of supporters at the grassy Ellipse.

“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol,” Trump said. “You’ll never take back our country with weakness; you have to show strength.”

Many people had already started peeling off toward the Capitol, and Trump encouraged the crowd to go.

“I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” he said. “Let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.”

A White House security log, revealed by the Jan. 6 committee, shows the scramble that was underway for Trump to go to the Capitol as well.

“MilAide has confirmed that he wants to walk,” said one entry on the National Security Council chat.

“They are begging him to reconsider,” reads another.

The next entry was a discussion of the “current route” for Trump’s motorcade to take 15th Street, to F Street, to 6th Street, to Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol.

“So this is happening,” reads another entry.

Hutchinson was still in the tent behind the rally stage when she got a phone call from House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California.

McCarthy sounded rushed, frustrated and angry, she said. “You told me this whole week you aren’t coming up here. Why would you lie to me?” he asked Hutchinson, a former House aide.

“I’m not lying. I wasn’t lying to you, sir,” she replied. And McCarthy said, “Well, he just said it on stage, Cassidy. Figure it out. Don’t come up here.”

The mob was breaking past the security fencing around the Capitol.

“Capitol Police are reporting multiple breaches,” the security log reads. “Capitol is now calling for all available to respond.”

—-

JAN. 6: BEHIND THE WHEEL

Trump climbed into the presidential SUV determined to be taken to the Capitol, Hutchinson recalled.

The Secret Service now disputes her account, as does Trump. But Hutchinson testified under oath that she was told later by Anthony Ornato, the deputy chief of staff for White House operations, that Trump was irate.

“The president said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now,’” she recalled.

When the driver, Bobby Engel, responded, “Sir, we have to go back to the West Wing” Trump grabbed at the steering wheel, and lunged at the driver’s “clavicles,” she said.

Trump never made it to the Capitol. His motorcade headed back to the White House.

In the Newsmax interview, Trump dismissed the idea that he tried to “commandeer” the car to go to the Capitol as “totally false.” He marveled at the “incredible size” of the crowd — one of the biggest, he said, he has ever attracted. But he did not dispute wanting to go to the Capitol that day.

“I wanted to go so badly,” he said during an April interview with the Washington Post.

At the hearing, the security log made clear just how close Trump came to creating that unseen image — a defeated president standing with the mob as an armed insurrection was laying siege to the Capitol.

“Looks like he is coming home for now,” the security log stated.

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How a crowded GOP field could help Trump in 2024 campaign

How a crowded GOP field could help Trump in 2024 campaign 150 150 admin

NEW YORK (AP) — As Donald Trump considers another White House run, polls show he’s the most popular figure in the Republican Party. But it wasn’t always that way.

Competing at one point against a dozen rivals for the presidential nomination in 2016, Trump won only about one-third of the vote in key early states. He even lost in Iowa, which kicks off the nomination process.

But he prevailed because those in the party who opposed his brand of divisive politics were never able to coalesce around a single rival. That same dynamic could repeat itself as Trump mulls a new bid for the presidency as soon as this summer.

With a growing list of candidates gearing up to run, even a Trump diminished by two impeachments and mounting legal vulnerabilities could hold a commanding position in a fractured, multi-candidate primary.

“I fear it could end up the same way as 2016, which basically was everyone thought everyone else should get out,” said Republican strategist Mike DuHaime, who advised former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s campaign that year. “I think every major candidate realized that he or she would have a better shot against Trump one-on-one. But of course each person thought he or she should be the one to get that shot and nobody got out of the way. … And then it was too late.”

The anxiety is mounting as a growing list of potential rivals take increasingly brazen steps, delivering high-profile speeches, running ads, courting donors and making repeat visits to early voting states.

That group now includes upward of a dozen could-be-candidates, including Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence; his former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo; and Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Rick Scott of Florida and Tim Scott of South Carolina. All could run on the former president’s policies.

In the anti-Trump lane, politicians such as Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan are raising their profiles.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is increasingly seen as Trump’s heir apparent, even by Trump’s most loyal supporters, and viewed by Trump allies as his most formidable potential challenger.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and others have said they will not challenge Trump if he does go forward. But others, including Christie, seem to be gunning for the fight, even if they seem to be long shots.

“I’m definitely giving it serious thought. I’m not gonna make any decision probably until the end of the year,” Christie said in a recent interview. He has urged the party to move on from Trump and his ongoing obsession with the 2020 election.

“For me, it’s about the party needing to go in in a new direction from a personality perspective, and to continue to have someone who can bring strong leadership, tough leadership, that the country needs, but doesn’t have all of the other drama that goes along with it,” he said. “I’m hearing the same things from donors that I’m hearing from voters — that they’re very concerned that we can’t put ourselves in a position to have 2024 be about anything but the good of the country.”

Pompeo, who has had a busy travel schedule and plans to return to Iowa this summer, said in a recent interview that he has been spending time reading and listening to President Ronald Reagan’s speeches as he prepares for a possible run.

“We’re getting ready to stay in the fight,” he said last month as he courted evangelical Christians at a gathering in Nashville, Tennessee.

He said he and his wife would sit down after the November elections and “think our way through it, pray our way through it, and decide where’s best to serve. It could be presenting ourselves for elected office again. We may choose a different path. But we’re not gonna walk away from these things that I’ve been working on for 30 years now. They matter too much.”

Pompeo sketched out a possible approach in much the same mold as Trump.

“He was a disruptor that was most necessary in 2016, there’s no doubt about that,” Pompeo said. And now the task is to take those set of understandings, those set of principles, and defend them and build upon them. And it’s gonna take a lot of work to do that, leaders of real fortitude and character to do that.”

Such open talk comes as Trump faces a cascade of escalating legal troubles.

The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection has revealed increasingly damaging information about Trump’s final weeks in office. The Department of Justice has its own investigation. In Georgia, the prosecutor investigating Trump’s potentially illegal meddling in the state’s 2020 election has stepped up her inquiry by subpoenaing members of Trump’s inner circle. In New York, Trump, his namesake son and his daughter Ivanka have agreed to answer questions under oath beginning next week in the state attorney general’s civil investigation into his business practices.

Mick Mulvaney, a former South Carolina congressman who served as Trump’s acting White House chief of staff, said the moves suggested potential candidates “might see an opening where none existed two months ago.”

“Trump fatigue might be a real thing,” he said, with voters asking themselves whether, if they vote for another candidate, they “can get the same policies without all the baggage.”

At the same time, Trump has seen some of his endorsed primary candidates falter. Those who have won, including Senate hopefuls JD Vance in Ohio and Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, have done so with about 30% of the vote, meaning that two-thirds of party voters went against Trump’s picks.

“I don’t think anybody underestimates Trump. There’s a reason he’s the most sought-after endorsement in every single Republican primary,” said GOP strategist Alex Conant. “That said, I think there’s a recognition that a lot of Republican voters are looking to the future and ready for what’s next.”

To what extent remains an open question. During a trip to Iowa this week, Cotton declined to weigh in on Trump’s standing. But the senator said he hoped to be “an effective national leader, not only for my party but for the American people in my role in the Senate and any other future role I might serve.”

Still, Cotton argued, candidates should embrace Trump’s legacy.

“I know that Donald Trump is very popular among our voters who appreciate the successes he delivered for four years in a very hostile environment. They don’t want Republicans who are running against that legacy, because they view that legacy as a great success,” he said Thursday in Cambridge, Iowa.

Trump continues to move forward with his own events.

On Friday night, he campaigned in Las Vegas alongside Adam Laxalt, his pick for Nevada Senate. And on Saturday night, he planned a rally in Anchorage, Alaska, to campaign with Kelly Tshibaka, whom he has endorsed in her race against Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and others, including former Gov. Sarah Palin, now running for Congress.

Conant said it made sense for candidates to continue testing the waters for now.

“A lot of potential candidates are realizing that 2024 may be their last best chance, regardless of what Trump does,” he said. “There’s a very vulnerable Democrat in the White House, Republicans seem likely to win, and if it’s not Trump, they’re basically sidelined for the next 10 years.”

Still, Conant, who served as communications director to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential bid, noted the similarities.

“It looks like it’s increasingly clear there’s going to be a lot of people running for president. And while I think there’s an appetite for something different, the alternative to Trump needs to coalesce around one candidate,” he said. “That never happened in 2016. And it might not happen in 2024.”

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Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, and Steve Peoples contributed to this report.

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Biden says he has not decided on China tariffs, reviewing them ‘one at a time’

Biden says he has not decided on China tariffs, reviewing them ‘one at a time’ 150 150 admin

By David Lawder and Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden said on Friday that he has not yet made a decision on whether to cut some U.S. tariffs on imports from China, saying his administration was reviewing them “one at a time.”

Biden had been due to discuss the tariffs with his advisers on Friday, but it was unclear when he would make a decision on whether to remove some of them to try to fight inflation, people familiar with the deliberations said.

“I haven’t made that decision,” Biden told reporters when asked about his plans for the tariffs after signing an executive order to protect access to abortions. “We’re going through them one at a time,” he said of the tariffs.

Biden has been struggling in recent weeks to balance competing desires to use every lever possible to ease inflation and to maintain pressure on China to try to win concessions on Beijing’s state-driven economic policies.

The discussions surround the “Section 301” tariffs imposed in 2018 and 2019 by then-President Donald Trump on thousands of products valued at $370 billion at the time over China’s alleged theft of U.S. intellectual property.

Some in the administration, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, have argued that many of these duties are “non-strategic” and raise costs for American consumers and businesses. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai has said the tariffs are “a significant piece of leverage” in the U.S.-China trade relationship.

Other sources close to the process have said that Biden is taking his time to work through the complex web of options and consequences, which include removing a substantial amount of tariffs goods, and cutting them from a more limited list of Chinese-made consumer products.

The White House also is considering an expanded process for approving product-specific exclusions from the tariffs and whether to pair any action with a new Section 301 investigation into China’s state subsidies and plans to dominate high-technology industries, the sources have said.

The White House had no immediate comment on the tariff discussions.

More than 400 requests from industry and labor groups https://www.usw.org/news/media-center/articles/2022/june/22-06-06-LAC-mbrs-comments-on-301-Tariff-Extension.pdf have requested that the U.S. Trade Representative’s office keep the China tariffs in place, indicating that Biden could face some backlash if he chooses a substantial tariff reduction.

(Reporting by David Lawder; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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