Summary
That’s it for this US politics liveblog. Here are the key points from today:
The US supreme court has issued a new code of ethics following controversies involving conservative justices who failed to disclose financial ties to republican mega-donors.
Biden is getting ready to meet Xi Jinping on Wednesday in San Francisco – a demonstration of goodwill on the part of China, whose leader hasn’t visited the US in six years.
2024 Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley reacted to the news of Tim Scott suspending his presidential bid. “Tim Scott is a good man of faith and an inspiration to so many. The Republican primary was made better by his participation in it,” Haley said on Twitter/X. “South Carolina is blessed to continue to have him as our senator. Scott announced conceded on Sunday, just six months after launching his campaign.”
New House speaker and Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson has until Friday to garner support for his spending plan, or risk a government shutdown and a fate similar to his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted from the role in October.
Trump, Trump, and more Trump: The former president received swift condemnation from the Biden-Harris campaign for comparing his political enemies on the left to vermin – language criticized as mirroring that of fascist dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. And ongoing is Trump’s civil fraud trial, after which he could be fined $250m.
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Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries is considering Mike Johnson’s proposal to stave off a shutdown and discussing it with members.
Jeffries says he has concerns with the proposal, specifically what he calls “the bifurcation of the continuing resolution in January and February 2024” as well as Republicans’ failure to address national security and domestic funding priorities of Americans. He also said Democrats wouldn’t accept “any extreme right-wing policy provisions in connection with funding the government”.
But he doesn’t reject it outright, writing:
House Democrats will continue to put people over politics, work with our colleagues to keep the government open and push back against right-wing extremism.
He added:
We will proceed this week through the lens of making progress for everyday Americans by continuing to put people over politics.
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What’s not clear is who will enforce the code, or how.
The code was released just days before the Senate judiciary committee was expected to vote to authorize subpoenas for Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo – two mega-wealthy donors to conservative causes and political figures, and who paid for luxury trips for justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
The committee had advocated for an ethics code in the wake of the controversies, and in recent months, justices Amy Coney Barrett, Elena Kagan and Brett Kavanaugh expressed support for one. In May, chief justice John Roberts said there was more the court could do to “adhere to the highest ethical standards”, without providing any specifics.
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The full 14-page ethics code can be read here:
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Although judges have long been beholden to certain rules surrounding conduct, this marks the first time the supreme court has published and adopted a formal code of ethics, similar to those of lower federal courts.
A statement of the court that precedes the new code says:
“For the most part these rules and principles are not new: The Court has long had the equivalent of common law ethics rules, that is, a body of rules derived from a variety of sources, including statutory provisions, the code that applies to other members of the federal judiciary, ethics advisory opinions issued by the Judicial Conference Committee on Codes of Conduct, and historic practice.
“The absence of a Code, however, has led in recent years to the misunderstanding that the Justices of this Court, unlike all other jurists in this country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules. To dispel this misunderstanding, we are issuing this Code, which largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct.”
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The new supreme court ethics code has arrived in the wake of public pressure due to ProPublica’s revelations about undisclosed gifts received by justices.
In April, ProPublica revealed supreme court justice Clarence Thomas had taken undisclosed trips paid for by Dallas billionaire and major Republican donor Harlan Crow.
In June, it was revealed another conservative justice Samuel Alito, took a trip to Alaska with a Republican billionaire in 2008, which he also did not disclose.
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Supreme court announces new ethics code
The highest court in the nation has announced today its justices must abide by an ethics code.
The code begins: “A Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States should maintain and observe high standards of conduct in order to preserve the integrity and independence of the federal judiciary.”
The news comes on the heels of revelations about undisclosed financial ties involving conservative justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito that many have argued is a conflict of interest for people in their positions.
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If found guilty, Donald Trump faces a fine of at least $250m. The former president also might soon lose his business license due to fraud, New York judge Arthur Engoron ruled.
Readers can follow along in our standalone liveblog on the trial here.
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Trump's civil fraud trial continues as Donald Trump Jr testifies
In other Trump-related news, Donald Trump Jr is testifying today as a defense witness in the New York civil fraud trial against him, his father and their company.
The Trumps and the Trump Organization are accused of massively inflating the value of their properties in order to secure loans. They have denied any wrongdoing.
Upon taking the stand, Trump Jr said: “I’d say it’s nice to be here, but I have a feeling the attorney general would sue me for perjury,” a dig at New York attorney general Letitia James.
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The Biden-Harris 2024 campaign criticism of Donald Trump’s remarks at the weekend that the campaign, along with others, compared directly to fascistic dictatorial speech, included a list of articles in various US publications.
They include prominent voices slamming Trump and the list is below. Meanwhile, the statement from the Biden-Harris campaign, via spokesperson Ammar Moussa, concludes with this remark: “Donald Trump thinks he can win by dividing our country. He’s wrong, and he’ll find out just how wrong next November.”
Then it adds: read what they’re saying about Trump’s statement.
Washington Post: “Trump calls political enemies ‘vermin,’ echoing dictators Hitler, Mussolini”
Forbes: “Trump Compares Political Foes To ‘Vermin’ On Veterans Day—Echoing Nazi Propaganda”
The New Republic: “It’s Official: With “Vermin,” Trump Is Now Using Straight-up Nazi Talk”
HuffPost: “Fascism Expert Offers Truly Chilling Take On Donald Trump’s ‘Vermin’ Rant”
The Post piece includes this:
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian at New York University, said in an email to The Washington Post that “calling people ‘vermin’ was used effectively by Hitler and Mussolini to dehumanize people and encourage their followers to engage in violence.”
One year after their last in-person talks, Xi Jinping and Joe Biden will come face-to-face once again on Wednesday in San Francisco.
The encounter will dominate events at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit as the Chinese and US presidents seek to stabilise relations in an increasingly fraught geopolitical climate.
The meeting, which could last several hours, is the culmination of months of lower level dialogues which took place over the summer, with Washington sending more delegates to China than Beijing did to the US.
The fact of China’s leader visiting the US for the first time in six years demonstrates some goodwill from the Chinese side.
A speech from Xi to the US-China business community would underline his keenness to attract foreign businesses back to China, many of whom have been spooked by the three years of zero-Covid and the recent raids foreign consulting firms, as well as an increasing number of US restrictions on doing business with China, especially in hi-tech sectors.
Sweeping restrictions on the export of advanced technology to China will come into effect on 16 November, the day after Xi’s meeting with Biden. The new rules are a tightening of controls introduced last year, aimed at cutting off China’s access to the most sophisticated semiconductors, which are required to develop advanced artificial intelligence. Read more here.
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Interim summary
The US political news landscape is tense, with a government shutdown looming, Joe Biden getting ready to meet Xi Jinping and Donald Trump being slammed for parroting fascist dictators, even as he dominates the opinion polls a year out from the presidential election.
Stay tuned for more news. The day so far:
The Biden-Harris 2024 election campaign has issued a strong statement condemning remarks Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump made in a speech on Saturday, Veterans Day, in which he compared his political enemies on the left to vermin.
GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley praised fellow South Carolinian Tim Scott after he suspended his White House bid.
A fourth government shutdown in a decade would have far-reaching consequences for the nation in numerous different fields, including national security.
New House speaker and Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson is up against the clock to see if he can win support for his suggested spending plan, before the looming government shutdown this Friday.
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The Democrat Abigail Spanberger will quit Congress next year to run for governor of Virginia.
Announcing her move a week after voters delivered a rebuke to the current Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, she cited rightwing threats to reproductive rights and attempts to clamp down on public schooling.
“Today, we find ourselves at a crossroads,” Spanberger, 44, said in a video on Monday. “Our country and our commonwealth are facing fundamental threats to our rights, our freedoms and to our democracy.”
Last week, voters gave Democrats control of both houses of the Virginia legislature, seemingly ending talk of a late entry into the Republican presidential primary by Youngkin, a governor deemed relatively centrist who has nonetheless chosen to focus on culture war issues in office.
Spanberger is seen as a centrist. A former CIA officer and gun control group organiser, she was elected to the US House in 2018 from a state which has trended Democratic but remains keenly fought. In 2022, she won a redrawn seat by her widest margin to date.
I'm officially running to become the next Governor of Virginia.
— Abigail Spanberger (@SpanbergerVA07) November 13, 2023
I'm a former CIA case officer, former federal agent, current Member of Congress, and mom to three great kids.
I know that when we rise above the chaos and division, we can focus on what matters most to Virginians. pic.twitter.com/rB5EoNnD2H
Biden campaign accuses Trump of parroting Hitler
The Biden-Harris 2024 election campaign has issued a strong statement condemning remarks Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump made in a speech on Saturday, Veterans Day, in which he compared his political enemies on the left to vermin.
The term was an echo of the most infamous fascist dictators of the last century that immediately brought criticism, although the former president’s remarks were staunchly defended by a Trump campaign spokesman.
A statement from Joe Biden’s campaign on Monday said: “On a weekend when most Americans were honoring our nation’s heroes, Donald Trump parroted the autocratic language of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini – two dictators many US veterans gave their lives fighting, in order to defeat exactly the kind of un-American ideas Trump now champions.”
On Saturday, Trump promised in a speech to “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and radical left thugs that live like vermin” in the US. Many commentators noted how the term “vermin” echoed antisemitic rhetoric that the Nazis frequently employed to dehumanize Jews as they murdered six million of them during the Holocaust.
Here's Trump echoing Adolf Hitler during his rally yesterday saying he will "root out the communist, Marxist, fascist and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country..." pic.twitter.com/t9Gjq7yfub
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) November 12, 2023
As well as objecting to the remarks, Biden-Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa’s statement also condemned the timing, as it coincided with Veterans Day and a weekend when many countries hold events to commemorate all those lost to war, including the second world war where Britain and key allies such as the US fought to defeat Hitler and Mussolini.
“Trump doesn’t care about our troops or what they fought for – he thinks they’re ‘losers’ for making the ultimate sacrifice defending our country from forces opposed to democracy and its ideals,” the statement said.
This refers back to remarks Trump made in 2018 that war dead were losers.
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2024 republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, has reacted to the news of fellow South Carolinian Tim Scott suspending his presidential bid
“Tim Scott is a good man of faith and an inspiration to so many. The Republican primary was made better by his participation in it,” Haley said on Twitter/X. “South Carolina is blessed to continue to have him as our senator. Scott announced conceded on Sunday, just six months after launching his campaign.”
Tim Scott is a good man of faith and an inspiration to so many.
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) November 13, 2023
The Republican primary was made better by his participation in it.
South Carolina is blessed to continue to have him as our senator.
Scott conceded on Sunday, just six months after launching his campaign.
“I think the voters, who are the most remarkable people on the planet, have been really clear that they’re telling me: ‘Not now Tim’,” Scott said.
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How unusual are US government shutdowns?
For the first 200 years of the US’s existence, they did not happen at all. In recent decades, they have become an increasingly regular part of the political landscape, as Washington politics has become more polarised and brinkmanship a commonplace political tool. There have been 20 federal funding gaps since 1976, when the US first shifted the start of its fiscal year to 1 October.
Three shutdowns in particular have entered US political lore:
A 21-day partial closure in 1995 over a dispute about spending cuts between Bill Clinton and the Republican speaker, Newt Gingrich, that is widely seen as setting the tone for later partisan congressional struggles.
In 2013, when the government was partially closed for 16 days after another Republican-led Congress tried to use budget negotiations to defund Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare.
A 34-day shutdown, the longest on record, lasting from December 2018 until January 2019, when Donald Trump refused to sign any appropriations bill that did not include $5.7bn funding for a wall along the US border with Mexico. The closure damaged Trump’s poll ratings.
You can read the full explainer here:
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We’ve been here before
Johnson has found himself in a position similar to his predecessor, former House speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted after working with Democrats to keep the government open.
McCarthy eventually lost the job after far-right House representative Matt Gates filed a rare motion to vacate, which passed 216-210. It was a spectacle of Republican infighting, one Johnson hopes to not recreate.
The fate of the funding plan could come as early as Tuesday, when the House votes.
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Johnson’s funding plan has also been met with resistance from his colleagues on the other side of the aisle, further adding to fears that a government shutdown is looming.
Democratic senator Brian Schatz called Johnson’s measure “super convoluted”.
“There’s nothing inherently conservative about making simple things super convoluted, and all of this nonsense costs taxpayer money,” Schatz said on Twitter/X. “We are going to pass a clean short term [resolution]. The only question is whether we do it stupidly and catastrophically or we do it like adults.”
We are going to pass a clean short term CR. The only question is whether we do it stupidly and catastrophically or we do it like adults. There’s nothing inherently conservative about making simple things super convoluted, and all of this nonsense costs taxpayer money.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) November 11, 2023
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What happens if the funding plan doesn’t get the votes it needs?
This would result in the fourth government shutdown in a decade, the consequences of which are numerous.
Millions of federal workers and military service members would see a disruption in their pay, federal funded scientific research could be halted, and national parks and museums would close.
Although, social security payments would still be made to US seniors and the US postal service would continue operating so people can still expect to receive their mail. Other federal employees deemed “essential” would also continue working.
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Far right House representative Chip Roy tweeted his thoughts about Johnson’s plan.
In reference to Johnson’s characterization of the funding plan as having continuing resolutions which are “clean,” Roy said: “It’s a 100% clean. And I 100% oppose.”
It’s safe to say Roy will likely vote against the plan.
It’s a 100% clean. And I 100% oppose. https://t.co/uantzAUroV
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) November 11, 2023
What is not included?
What’s not included is any additional funding such as aid for Israel, Ukraine, or the US-Mexico border – all requests made by Biden himself.
The plan is meant to maintain spending at current levels so it does not include any spending cuts, a point Johnson’s rightwing colleagues take issue with.
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What’s in the plan?
Included in Johnson’s plan is funding for military construction, veterans benefits, transportation, housing, urban development, agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and energy and water programs up until 19 January.
Funding for all other federal operations expires on 2 February.
“This two-step continuing resolution is a necessary bill to place House Republicans in the best position to fight for conservative victories,” Johnson said shortly after announcing the plan.
Speaker Mike Johnson faces new challenges as government shutdown looms
Good morning US politics blog readers. As the race against the clock to keep the government open continues, Speaker Mike Johnson found himself in a situation all too similar to that of his predecessor Kevin McCarthy: He won’t be able to secure the Democratic votes needed to reach an agreement.
On Saturday, Johnson unveiled an obfuscating, two-pronged funding plan that would stretch government funding to 19 January and include a spending bill to cover the budget until 2 February. The government is slated to shutdown on Friday if no agreement is reached and, given Johnson’s new proposal does not include any of the cuts that his Republican brethren are looking for, it’s not looking good. Though, it remains unclear how many, if any, Democrats the new bill may appeal to.
The House Rules Committee will meet today at 4pm ET to discuss. Here’s what else is going on today:
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina revealed on Sunday that he’ll be suspending his presidential campaign in a surprise move to his supporterss.
Donald Trump Jr is expected to take the witness stand in New York for a second time on Monday as defense lawyers for the family firm make their case in the $250m fraud trial.
Spendthrift and presidential hopeful Nikki Haley is planning to drop $10m on her presidential campaign in just television, radio and digital advertising across Iowa and New Hampshire beginning in the first week of December.
