Closing summary
House Democrats released a report that found Donald Trump’s businesses received $7.8m from foreign governments during his presidency. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member on the oversight committee that spearheaded the investigation, said the findings proved unconstitutional conduct by Trump, and also vowed to introduce legislation to stop future presidents from accepting such payments. Of particular note for Trump’s detractors is the fact that the biggest spender at his properties by far is China – the US’s communist rival that Trump and his fellow Republicans campaign on countering.
Here’s what else went on today:
Democratic congressmen criticized Trump after his businesses were found to have accepted payments from foreign governments during his presidency.
Joe Biden is set to accuse Trump of being an existential threat to American democracy in a speech on Friday in Pennsylvania. His campaign today released its first television ad of the year, which feature images of the January 6 attack and the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Trump released his own campaign ad that dings both Republican rival Nikki Haley and Biden, accusing them of jeopardizing national security.
Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio issued a rare veto by a Republican of a bill restricting youth transgender medical care and participation in sports, but the state legislature is now moving to override it.
Elise Stefanik, a top House Republican, withdrew her endorsement of a promising Republican candidate for Congress running in a swing district after he criticized Trump.
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Speaking of flipping control of chambers, Jon Tester is out with a new campaign ad that criticizes the Biden administration, as the Democratic senator from deep-red Montana fights for a fourth term in office.
The ad tries to separate the senator from Joe Biden’s gun policies, and features a hunting educator talking about how Tester fought to continue federal funding for gun safety classes:
Tester’s contest is seen as crucial to deciding control of the Senate, which Democrats currently hold with a one-seat majority. The party is not expected to gain any seats this year, and in order to maintain control, will have to see Biden re-elected along with Tester, the Ohio senator Sherrod Brown, and Democratic lawmakers in the swing states Nevada and Pennsylvania.
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Top House Republican pulls endorsement from GOP swing district candidate who reportedly criticized Trump
The fourth highest-ranking Republican in the House, Elise Stefanik, today withdrew her endorsement of a candidate for Congress in Ohio after audio emerged of him criticizing Donald Trump.
The former state representative Craig Riedel is running for Congress in Ohio’s ninth district, a Republican-leaning area currently represented in the House by Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat. In 2022, Kaptur defeated the Republican nominee JR Majewski, a Trump ally and election denier who the Associated Press found misled voters about being deployed to Afghanistan and seeing combat. Majewski is again running for the party’s nomination in the district next year, but so is Riedel, who is seen as having a much better chance of beating Kaptur. But Politico reports Riedel called Trump “arrogant” and said he will not endorse him in a leaked audio tape and Stefanik, an up-and-comer in Republican circles, now says she has withdrawn her endorsement of his campaign:
Earlier this week, I informed Craig Riedel (OH-09) that I will be withdrawing my endorsement. I was very disappointed in his inappropriate comments regarding President Trump. As we begin 2024, my focus is on ensuring we nominate the strongest candidates on the ballot who are…
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) January 4, 2024
Trump’s influence on Republican primaries for House and Senate seats in 2022, which led to the elevation of candidates who Democrats were able to cast as too extreme for elected office, is seen as one reason why the GOP failed to retake the Senate that year, and gained only a slim majority in the House.
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Elizabeth Warren’s comment criticizing continued US aid to Israel comes as evidence grows that Democrats and their allies are becoming concerned about supporting the invasion of Gaza.
Joe Biden has called for Congress to approve $14bn in military assistance to Israel, but the proposal is caught up in a broader fight over aid to Ukraine and changes to border security policies. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders, an independent senator who caucuses with Democrats, earlier this week said he would oppose military assistance to Israel, which has been criticized for killing thousands of civilians in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza:
Let me be clear: NO MORE U.S. funding for Netanyahu’s illegal, immoral, brutal, and grossly disproportionate war against the Palestinian people. Congress must reject any effort to pass $10 billion of unconditional military aid for the right-wing Netanyahu government. pic.twitter.com/P3AoprlKli
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 2, 2024
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The Massachusetts Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren has criticized the US’s military aid to Israel amid Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza which has killed over 22,400 Palestinians since 7 October.
In a post on X, Warren wrote:
When it comes to military aid to Israel, the US cannot write a blank check for a right-wing government that’s demonstrated an appalling disregard for Palestinian lives. The US should use all the tools at its disposal to condition aid & move the parties toward a lasting peace.
When it comes to military aid to Israel, the U.S. cannot write a blank check for a right-wing government that's demonstrated an appalling disregard for Palestinian lives. The U.S. should use all the tools at its disposal to condition aid & move the parties toward a lasting peace.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) January 4, 2024
For updates on additional developments in Gaza and the Middle East, click here:
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Robert Garcia, another Democratic representative from California, said: “Trump crime family needs to be held accountable.”
Garcia joined the Maryland Democratic representative Jamie Raskin and the Texas Democratic representative Jasmine Crockett in releasing today’s House report which found that Donald Trump “pocketed at least $7.8 million from 20 foreign states while in office”.
In several posts on X, Garcia wrote:
The millions in receipts and documents represent just a tip of the iceberg. The Trump Crime Family needs to held accountable.
I joined @RepRaskin & @RepJasmine today to release a staggering report of the illegal gifts and payments that the Trump family received from foreign governments while he was in office.
— Congressman Robert Garcia (@RepRobertGarcia) January 4, 2024
The millions in receipts and documents represent just a tip of the iceberg. The Trump Crime… https://t.co/5EqV1WP35S
Referring to Kentucky’s Republican representative and House oversight committee chair James Comer, Garcia added:
And an important reminder to the public: we only have access to limited records from four properties because James Comer is blocking the rest. Donald Trump has hundreds of business interests so the amount of gifts and illegal payments are likely eno[r]mous and unprecedented.
And an important reminder to the public: we only have access to limited records from four properties because James Comer is blocking the rest.
— Congressman Robert Garcia (@RepRobertGarcia) January 4, 2024
Donald Trump has hundreds of business interests so the amount of gifts and illegal payments are likely enoumous and unprecedented.
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The House speaker, Mike Johnson, has accused the Joe Biden administration of “not enforcing America’s laws” when it comes to the US-Mexico border.
In response to a CBS interview with the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, who said: “What we are doing is enforcing our laws … criminal laws, our immigration laws and that includes our asylum laws,” Johnson said:
No, Mr Secretary, this administration is not enforcing America’s laws. If this White House wanted to take action to stem the flow of illegal immigration, it could. But you and the president are refusing to act.
No, Mr. Secretary, this administration is not enforcing America’s laws.
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) January 4, 2024
If this White House wanted to take action to stem the flow of illegal immigration, it could. But you and the President are refusing to act. pic.twitter.com/6PvGmTh0fv
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The California Democratic representative Eric Swalwell has criticized Donald Trump following the new House Democratic report that investigated countries whose officials spent the most on Trump’s businesses.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Swalwell said:
No president EVER personally enriched himself more while in office than Donald Trump. And mostly, in his case, from foreign cash. I don’t want to hear another peep about bogus Biden allegations. Game, set, match. Move on.
No president EVER personally enriched himself more while in office than Donald Trump. And mostly, in his case, from foreign cash. I don’t want to hear another peep about bogus Biden allegations. Game, set, match. Move on. https://t.co/mHtNi7GOxw
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) January 4, 2024
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The day so far
House Democrats have released a report that finds Donald Trump’s businesses received $7.8m from foreign governments during his presidency. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member on the oversight committee that spearheaded the investigation, said the findings prove unconstitutional conduct by Trump, and also vowed to introduce legislation to stop future presidents from accepting such payments. Of particular note for Trump’s detractors is the fact that the biggest spender at his properties by far is China – America’s communist rival that Trump and his fellow Republicans tell voters is a threat.
Here’s what else is going on today:
Joe Biden is set to accuse Trump of being an existential threat to American democracy in a speech on Friday in Pennsylvania. His campaign today released its first television ad of the year, which feature images of the January 6 attack and the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Trump released his own campaign ad that dings both Republican rival Nikki Haley and Biden, accusing them of jeopardizing national security.
Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio issued a rare veto by a Republican of a bill restricting youth transgender medical care and participation in sports, but the state legislature is now moving to override it.
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A man was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill California’s Democratic representative Eric Swalwell and his children.
The man has been identified by the US attorney’s office in the southern district of Florida as 72-year-old Michael Shapiro from Greenacres, Florida.
Swalwell was not identified by the office but confirmed the threats on X (formerly Twitter), writing:
“No threat is going to stop me from representing my constituents. MAGA Republicans have chosen violence over voting and this is what it looks like. But I’m not going away and neither should you.”
No threat is going to stop me from representing my constituents. MAGA Republicans have chosen violence over voting and this is what it looks like. But I’m not going away and neither should you. https://t.co/A4GcATb5GR
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) January 4, 2024
According to the US attorney’s office, Shapiro left five threatening voicemail messages for Swalwell’s congressional office in DC last month.
In one of the messages to Swalwell, Shapiro allegedly said that he was going to “come after you and kill you”. In another message, he allegedly said that he was going to “come and kill your children”.
Shapiro also allegedly left messages in which he accused Swalwell of being a “Chinese spy” and repeatedly said “Fang Fang”.
Last May, the House ethics committee ended a two-year investigation into Swalwell over allegations that he had ties to suspected Chinese spy Christine Fang. The committee told Swalwell that it will “not take any further action into the investigation”.
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Republicans are seeking to override Ohio’s Republican governor Mike DeWine’s veto of a trans rights bill that would impose widespread restrictions on trans children.
The Guardian’s Ava Sasani reports:
The veto by DeWine, a Republican, marked a rare victory for LGBTQ+ advocates, who spent the past year battling a historic rise in anti-trans legislation and rhetoric across the United States.
Maria Bruno, policy director for Equality Ohio, said the governor’s veto was “a relief for Ohio’s transgender youth, parents, healthcare professionals and educators who can finally take a breath and get back to their lives”.
But that relief could be short-lived. Top Ohio Republicans, including the secretary of state, Frank LaRose, are now urging the state legislature to reverse the governor’s decision by overriding his veto.
“We have a duty to protect safety and fair competition for female athletes and to protect children from being subjected to permanent, life-altering medical procedures before the age of 18,” LaRose said.
The Republican speaker, Jason Stephens, announced this week that the Ohio house would reconvene on 10 January, weeks earlier than scheduled, in an attempt to revive the bill before the official start of the 2024 legislative session. Republicans hold a supermajority in both chambers of the Ohio legislature, meaning Stephens’ push to sidestep the governor is likely to succeed.
For the full story, click here:
Donald Trump releases new ad targeting Nikki Haley and Joe Biden
Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign has released a new ad on the border crisis titled “Enough is Enough”.
The 30-second ad attacks Trump’s Republican opponent Nikki Haley and President Joe Biden, with a dramatic voice-over saying:
Record numbers streaming across our border, costing taxpayers billions and almost as many Americans killed from fentanyl as killed in world war two. Yet Haley and Biden oppose Trump’s border wall … Yet Haley joined Biden in opposing Trump’s visitor ban from terrorist nations. Haley’s weakness puts us in grave danger. Trump’s strength protects us.”
🚨 MUST SEE — New Ad from Team Trump: “Enough is Enough" pic.twitter.com/Nl9x4lgQ0A
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) January 4, 2024
Trump’s latest ad follows an ad released by Biden’s campaign earlier today called “Cause”. In the 60-second ad, Biden talks about his defense of democracy without mentioning Trump. The ad also features shots of the 2021 January 6 insurrection, as well as the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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According to the report from the House oversight committee’s Democrats, Donald Trump’s properties received money from China during his presidency from the country’s communist government, as well as from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Hainan Airlines Holding Company, both state-owned enterprises.
The report also finds Trump’s properties received spending from Huawei and Hongkong Huaxin Petroleum Unlimited, which is a subsidiary of CEFC China Energy, one of the country’s largest energy companies. Beijing has been linked to both firms but the extent of its involvement is unclear (though Huawei is seen as a security threat by the US government).
“Former President Trump violated the Constitution when the businesses he owned accepted these emoluments paid by the P.R.C. without the consent of Congress,” the report reads, while also saying the payments made by Huawei and Hongkong Huaxin Petroleum Unlimited “created conflicts of interest”.
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Donald Trump is meanwhile fighting against efforts to remove him from the ballot in states where judges or officials have disqualified him due to his involvement in the January 6 insurrection. Yesterday, he asked the US supreme court to overturn a decision that will keep him off the ballot in Colorado, the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly and Sam Levine report:
Donald Trump appealed to the US supreme court on Wednesday to undo the Colorado ruling that removed him from the ballot in the western state under the 14th amendment to the US constitution, for inciting an insurrection.
“In our system of ‘government of the people, by the people, [and] for the people,’ Colorado’s ruling is not and cannot be correct,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in their Wednesday filing. They also said the Colorado supreme court’s decision “if allowed to stand, will mark the first time in the history of the United States that the judiciary has prevented voters from casting ballots for the leading major-party presidential candidate”.
They went on to lay out several reasons why the supreme court should restore Trump to the ballot. Only Congress, not the courts, had the authority to evaluate a dispute over the eligibility of a presidential candidate, they wrote. As president, his lawyers argued, Trump was not an “officer” of the United States – relevant language in the constitution bars anyone from serving if they have “engaged in insurrection” as an officer of the United States.
They also argued that Trump’s conduct did not amount to an insurrection and that the Colorado supreme court’s decision ran afoul of a provision of the constitution that empowers state legislatures to decide how to appoint presidential electors.
Trump’s appeal came after both the Colorado Republican party and the challengers who brought the case both asked the justices to take the case. They are widely expected to do so.
Here’s more from the Guardian and Reuters on what we learned from the 156-page report on foreign spending at Donald Trump’s businesses during his presidency just released by House Democrats:
Businesses tied to Donald Trump received at least $7.8m in foreign payments from 20 countries during his four years in the White House, Democratic congressional investigators said on Thursday.
House oversight committee Democrats said those payments detailed in the 156-page report are likely a fraction of the foreign payments made to the former Republican president and his family during his 2017-2021, single term administration.
These countries spent – “often lavishly” – on apartments and hotel stays at properties owned by Trump’s family business empire, “personally enriching President Trump while he made foreign policy decisions connected to their policy agendas with far-reaching ramifications for the United States”, the report said.
The countries included China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Malaysia.
Trump’s re-election campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment. He is the frontrunner for the GOP nomination for the 2024 election, despite facing 91 criminal indictments in four trials across the US.
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Report details 'only a fraction' of foreign spending at Trump's businesses while president – top Democrat
The $7.8m spent by foreign governments at Donald Trump’s businesses during his presidency revealed in a report by House Democrats is “only a fraction” of what the former president may have actually received, a top lawmaker says.
Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democratic member on the House oversight committee, said lawmakers might have learned more if the panel’s Republican chair James Comer had not told Trump’s former accounting firm Mazars that it would no longer have to comply with a subpoena that was sent when Democrats controlled the chamber.
“Despite Chairman Comer’s decision to bury further evidence, however, even this small slice of a picture of unknown proportions allows America to glimpse the rampant illegality and corruption of the Trump presidency. It is true that $7.8 million is almost certainly only a fraction of Trump’s harvest of unlawful foreign state money, but this figure in itself is a scandal and a decisive spur to action,” Raskin said.
The Maryland lawmaker said he would propose a set of ethics reforms intended to stop presidents from benefiting from foreign spending.
“We will develop a package of proposed legislative reforms to ensure that all occupants of the Oval Office abide by the Constitution’s unequivocal language commanding loyalty to the interests of the American people – not the interests of homicidal Saudi monarchs, totalitarian Chinese bureaucratic state capitalists, or other foreign actors looking to obtain policy favors and indulgences by paying off a president or his wholly owned businesses,” Raskin said.
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China tops spenders at Trump businesses during presidency – Democratic report
The country whose officials spent the most on Donald Trump’s businesses during his presidency was China, according to a report from the House oversight committee’s Democratic members.
China spent nearly $5.6m at Trump Tower in New York City, and at his two Trump International Hotels in Washington DC and Las Vegas.
Saudi Arabia spent the next-greatest sum, with $615,422 channeled to Trump Tower and the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC. Qatar spent $465,744 at Trump World Tower, a New York City apartment building.
Other countries named in the report include Afghanistan, Kuwait, India, Malaysia, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates.
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Trump's companies received $7.8m from foreign leaders and governments during presidency – Democratic report
During his time as president, companies controlled by Donald Trump received $7.8m from foreign governments and leaders, according to a report released today by the House oversight committee’s Democrats.
“By elevating his personal financial interests and the policy priorities of corrupt foreign powers over the American public interest, former President Trump violated both the clear commands of the Constitution and the careful precedent set and observed by every previous Commander-in-Chief,” wrote Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the committee.
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While polls of Iowa Republicans are far less plentiful than they are of the national electorate, those we do have show Donald Trump with an overwhelming advantage in the state.
The poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight shows the former president with 50% support in the first state to vote in the GOP’s nomination process. The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, is his closest runner-up, with 18.4% support, and Trump’s former UN ambassador Nikki Haley is in third place, at 15.7%.
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Trump plans two rallies on 6 January in Iowa
Donald Trump, whose false claims of election meddling set the stage for the January 6 insurrection, will be campaigning in Iowa on the third anniversary of the attack.
He has two rallies planned in the afternoon that day, one in Newton, and the other in Clinton. The former president is leading in polls for the Republican nomination, and also facing federal criminal charges in Washington DC for his plot to disrupt Joe Biden’s election win, of which the January 6 attack was its most violent development.
It’s unclear what he will tell attendees at the rallies he has planned.
In campaign ad 'Cause', Biden casts himself as defender of democracy
The Biden campaign’s first television advertisement of 2024 sees the president talk about his defense of democracy, without mentioning Donald Trump’s name.
But viewers will notice shots of the January 6 insurrection, as well as the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, which occurred shortly after Trump moved into the White House. There are also plenty of images of the military and global crises that Biden wants voters to believe he is best qualified to handle.
You can watch the whole advertisement, titled “Cause”, here:
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Biden seeks to wield January 6 against Trump as 2024 campaigning kicks off
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Donald Trump’s presidency ended with his supporters breaking into the US Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to block the certification by Congress of Joe Biden’s election victory. As the two men gear up for an expected general election rematch in November of this year, the Biden campaign has moved to make sure voters are aware of the now former president’s intimate involvement with the January 6 insurrection. The Biden campaign announced today that its first television advertisement of the year will be narrated by the president and focus on Trump and the threat his “Make America great again” (Maga) philosophy poses to US democracy. Biden will hammer the message home on Friday, with a speech in Pennsylvania marking the third anniversary of the assault that will double as a major campaign speech.
The Democrats put concerns over US democracy at the center of their pitch to voters in 2022, when many of their lawmakers and governors won their elections despite historical trends against the president’s party. They seem set to repeat the strategy with Biden on the ballot and struggling with persistently low approval ratings and several opinion polls showing him trailing Trump. We’ll see if the strategy works in the months to come.
Here’s what we expect to hear more about today:
Senators from both parties continue to negotiate over reaching a compromise on immigration policy, which will face long odds to passage even if they succeed.
Americans did not give majority approval to a single elected or appointed government official in a new Gallup survey.
We are 11 days away from the Iowa Republican caucuses, which Trump is looking to dominate, while Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley are both hoping for a strong performance, or even an upset win.
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