Closing summary
Democrats are planning an offensive against the GOP over access to contraception, and have seized on a vote by Louisiana’s Republican state lawmakers to tighten access to abortion medication and argue that Donald Trump, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, will undermine reproductive rights, if elected. The party is also mulling a response to last week’s report that conservative supreme court justice Samuel Alito once flew a flag associated with Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, though top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell defended the court. The nine justices are still considering cases concerning Trump’s immunity on charges related to meddling in the 2020 election, and on abortion access. The court announces more decisions tomorrow, and those issues could be among them.
Here’s what else happened today:
Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, reiterated that the United States supports a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine crisis after three European allies unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state.
A Guardian poll conducted by Harris found a majority of voters think the economy is in worse shape than it actually is, and are blaming Joe Biden.
Rudy Giuliani reportedly agreed to stop attacking two Georgia election workers who last year won a major defamation judgment against him.
Republican House speaker Mike Johnson wants to “punish” the international criminal court for its chief prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders.
Hunter Biden’s laptop will soon get its day in court.
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Republican House speaker Mike Johnson wants to invite Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a joint address to Congress, but is waiting to hear from the Senate’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer before sending the invitation, ABC News reports.
If he does not hear from Schumer, Johnson said: “We were going to proceed and invite Netanyahu just to the House.”
Schumer is publicly open to the idea, saying: “I’m discussing that now with the speaker of the House, and as I’ve always said, our relationship with Israel is ironclad and transcends any one prime minister or president.”
Netanyahu last addressed Congress in 2015. A meeting between Schumer and Netanyahu could be a little awkward, since the Senate leader recently called him “an obstacle to peace” in Gaza and said Israel should hold new elections:
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