Closing summary
Our live coverage is ending now. In the meantime, you can find all of our live US politics coverage here.
Here is a summary of the key developments from today:
Eric Swalwell officially resigned from Congress amid the threat of an expulsion vote and other misconduct allegations he has denied. A special election to fill his vacant seat will be held 18 August. At a Los Angeles press conference this morning, Lonna Drewes accused Swalwell of drugging and raping her in 2018, telling reporters she “did not consent to any sexual activity.” Later, the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department’s special victims bureau said it had opened an investigation into Swalwell, for a case inovloving an adult female who reported being sexually assaulted by Swalwell in West Hollywood in July 2018.
The House still needs to pass a bill to fund several Department of Homeland Security (DHS) subagencies, like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Coast Guard, amid a record-breaking partial government shutdown. The Senate advanced measure that remedies this funding lapse, but doesn’t include money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and border patrol, has stalled in the lower chamber. Now, House speaker Mike Johnson has to bring his fractured GOP conference together. Both he and John Thune, the Senate majority leader, are also on the clock to pass a budget bill that would fund ICE and CBP via reconciliation.
Meanwhile, House Democrats on Tuesday proposed creating a commission that would work with JD Vance to remove Donald Trump from office under the 25th amendment, should they determine he is no longer fit to serve. The measure, introduced by Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, follows a series of statements from Trump, including his recent warning that Iran’s “whole civilization will die” if it did not capitulate to his demands, and a social media post that depicted him as Jesus Christ.
Donald Trump has said that talks with Iran could resume in Pakistan over next two days, according to an interview with the New York Post. “You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” Trump was quoted as saying.
The US state department said Tuesday that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed-upon time and place. The state department “expressed hope” that the meeting between Israel and Lebanon would “lead to peace agreement”. This comes after Israel and Lebanon concluded their first direct diplomatic talks in decades, hosted by secretary of state Marco Rubio in Washington.
The Senate will hold its confirmation hearing for Kevin Warsh, the president’s pick to fill the vacant seat of Federal Reserve chair, next week, on 21 April. Both Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee are expected to probe Warsh about his wealth and ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as well as his views on the Fed’s independence.
The justice department has asked a federal appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of several leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who were involved in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. In a court filing today, the department asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the convictions – a step further than moves Donald Trump made to commute the leaders’ prison sentences last January when he granted clemency to all defendants charged in the attack.
Updated
Speaking at the HSBC Global Investment Summit in Hong Kong, former US treasury secretary Janet Yellen says the Iran war has created supply shocks in the global economy that could put more pressure on inflation.
Yellen said the war has worsened economic instability. “It puts upward pressure on inflation and we’ve already seen that in recent inflation reports, but we’re likely to see more,” she said. “This is really a broad supply shock.”
Updated
