Our live coverage of US politics continues in Thursday’s blog:
Updated
Today so far
- The US has imposed more Russia-related sanctions.
- Republicans in Tennessee have booted a Donald Trump-endorsed candidate from a congressional primary.
- Congressman Jamie Raskin said that Donald Trump attempted a coup on 6 January 2021, and that will be a central focus of forthcoming public hearings of the special House panel investigating events surrounding the insurrection at the US Capitol.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki addressed treasury secretary Janet Yellen and her walkout of a G20 meeting in protest of Russia and the country’s presence at the meeting:
“The president and secretary Yellen have both said we can’t have business as usual at the G20 or at a lot of these international forums as it relates to Russia,” Psaki said. “She and the treasury team have made clear that she was planning to participate in some and not other meetings, which is something we support. The president has conveyed that he doesn’t believe that Russia should be part of the G20.”
Psaki said Joe Biden supports Yellen’s walkout, which involved a number of other finance leaders from other countries. “It’s an indication that President Putin in Russia has become a pariah on the international stage,” Psaki said.
The Biden administration is still preparing for the end of Title 42 enforcement on 23 May, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
“The president agrees that immigration in our country is broken - it’s a system that’s broken,” Psaki said. “There are a range of ideas out there in Congress - Democrats, Republicans, others - some who support a delay of Title 42 implementation, some who strongly oppose it, and there are a range of other ideas for reforming our immigration system. This would all require congressional action. We’re happy to have that conversation with them.”
Joe Biden is processing the images coming out of Ukraine “with horror, with sadness, with fear for the people of Ukraine, for the families, the children, the innocent civilians are risk,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
“Obviously this conflict is consuming a great deal of his time,” Psaki said. “He is consuming (these images) as many people are, as I am, as you are, as Americans out there watching all of your networks are: it’s emotional. Watching these images is really raw for people, including the president, because you’re watching people suffering at the hands of a dictator who is brutally targeting civilians.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the US is “working around the clock to provide security assistance to Ukraine”.
Five flights with military assistance have arrived in the region over the last few days, Psaki said, with more than half a dozen flights from the US scheduled to arrive shortly with even more equipment.
“We made a strategic decision given we’ve seen Russia reposition their troops and their military to the eastern part of Ukraine to fight a different kind of war on the ground, which will be more shooting back and forth through long range,” Psaki said. “We have been working with Ukrainians and the Ukrainian military to determine exactly the kind of security assistance they need for this stage of the war. That has included an increase in artillery and ammunition.”
Right off the bat, White House press secretary Jen Psaki received a question at today’s press briefing about the federal mask mandate for travel - specifically, on the answer that Joe Biden gave when asked when asked if Americans should continue to wear masks on planes: “That’s up to them.”
“Right now, we’re not implementing the mask mandate because of the court order, which we disagree with,” Psaki said. “While [Biden] is still abiding with CDC guidance and we recommend that Americans do that across the country - they’re still recommending that people wear masks on airplanes, and on Air Force One, which is a federally owned, not a private plane, we all wore masks when we traveled to New Hampshire yesterday - people are not legally bound to wear masks. It is a point in time when it is their choice, in that regard.”
Updated
White House press secretary Jen Psaki kicked off today’s press briefing by talking about changes that the Department of Education has made regarding student loan repayment.
These changes will “move more than 3.6m borrowers closer to student debt forgiveness, make 40,000 borrowers eligible for the immediate discharge of their loans under the public service loan forgiveness program and provide immediate relief to thousands of borrowers in income-driven repayment plans,” Psaki said.
The changes will fix a system for tracking payments that Psaki said has been broken “for too long”. “There were significant flaws that suggested borrowers who were entitled to forgiveness were missing out on their progress toward debt forgiveness,” she said.
“These steps include making sure that any months in which borrowers made payments will count toward IDR forgiveness regardless of their repayment plan and that any borrowers who have made the required number of payments for IDR forgiveness based on this payment count revision will receive loan cancellation automatically,” she said.
Updated
Reuters has more details on treasury secretary Janet Yellen and other US officials walking out of a G20 meeting of the world’s 20 largest economies this morning when Russian officials began to speak.
It appears that Yellen was joined by top finance officials from Britain and Canada, according to Rishi Sunak, the finance minister for the United Kingdom. Ukraine officials in attendance also walked out of the meeting, a source told Reuters.
Earlier my representatives, along with US & Canadian counterparts left today’s G20 meeting in Washington as Russian delegates spoke.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) April 20, 2022
We are united in our condemnation of Russia’s war against Ukraine and will push for stronger international coordination to punish Russia. https://t.co/XxmscvRrRt
“Earlier my representatives, along with US and Canadian counterparts left today’s G20 meeting in Washington as Russian delegates spoke,” Sunak said on Twitter. “We are united in our condemnation of Russia’s war against Ukraine and will push for stronger international coordination to punish Russia.”
Russian deputy finance minister Timur Maksimov attended the meeting in person, while Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov and Russia’s central bank governor joined virtually, a second source told Reuters.
Yellen reportedly told attendees she strongly disapproved of a senior Russian official’s presence at the meeting, saying there could be “no business-as-usual” for Russia in the global economy. She plans to boycott two G20 sessions on the international financial architecture and sustainable finance, one of the source said, though treasury officials said she would join a discussion of the Ukraine war’s impact on the global economy.
Yellen was joined in her walkout by Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey and Canadian finance minister Chrystia Freeland, among others.
This week’s meetings in Washington are about supporting the world economy – and Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine is a grave threat to the global economy. Russia should not be participating or included in these meetings. #G20 #IMFMeetings
— Chrystia Freeland (@cafreeland) April 20, 2022
The world’s democracies will not stand idly by in the face of continued Russian aggression and war crimes. Today Canada and a number of our democratic partners walked out of the G20 plenary when Russia sought to intervene. pic.twitter.com/J67gU810sO
— Chrystia Freeland (@cafreeland) April 20, 2022
US imposes more Russia-related sanctions
Reuters is reporting that in its continued economic onslaught on Russia, the US has imposed sanctions on a Russian commercial bank, an oligarch and dozens of individuals.
This new round of sanctions include Russia-based units of virtual currency mining firm Bitriver.
A curious turn of events in Florida, where agriculture commissioner Nikki Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat and a candidate for the party’s nomination to challenge Republican governor Ron DeSantis in November, is suing the Biden administration.
It’s a spat over pot, specifically a federal rule that prohibits users of medical marijuana from buying guns or obtaining a concealed weapons permit.
Fried, whose office issues the permits, is also a supporter of the legalization of marijuana, and doesn’t see a problem with those prescribed marijuana for medical purposes having one.
“Medical marijuana is legal. Guns are legal. This is all about people’s rights. And I don’t care who I have to sue to fight for their freedom,” Fried said in a statement to NBC News, which obtained a draft copy of the lawsuit.
At issue is the federal form that asks applicants if they unlawfully use drugs, and which points out marijuana is illegal under federal law in all forms.
Users of medical marijuana have two choices: tick yes and be rejected, or tick no and face a prison sentence of up to five years for lying.
The NBC report notes the lawsuit has ramifications beyond Florida: at least 37 states have legalized medical marijuana, and recreational use is legal in 18 states, as well as Guam and Washington DC.
The bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives (ATF), which is named as a defendant alongside the justice department and US attorney general Merrick Garland, said it could not comment on pending legal action.
Fried has timed the lawsuit for today, 20 April, with 420 having a storied history as a reference for the drug.
I’m suing the Biden Administration because people’s rights are being limited. Medical marijuana is legal. Guns are legal.
— Nikki Fried (@NikkiFried) April 20, 2022
This is about people’s rights and their freedoms to responsibly have both.
https://t.co/8ItPeQrPeL
Republicans in Tennessee have booted a Donald Trump-endorsed candidate from a congressional primary, ruling that Morgan Ortagus did not meet strict new residency rules.
The Associated Press reports that Ortagus, a former state department spokesperson in the Trump administration, was one of three hopefuls removed from the August ballot for Nashville’s 5th congressional district.
Leaders of the Tennessee Republican party were concerned that the Florida-born Ortagus, 39, had only just moved to the state and did not know the region or its voters.
The state recently passed a new law imposing residency requirements on congressional candidates, but it was not restropective, leaving the state party’s executive committee to make a final decision.
Ortagus, who was removed as a candidate alongside fellow candidates Baxter Lee and Robby Starbuck, said she was “deeply disappointed” by the decision.
Updated
Donald Trump attempted a coup on 6 January 2021 as he tried to salvage his doomed presidency, and that will be a central focus of forthcoming public hearings of the special House panel investigating events surrounding the insurrection at the US Capitol, the congressman Jamie Raskin has said.
Raskin is a prominent Democrat on the committee and also led the House efforts when Trump was impeached for a historic second time, in 2021, accused of inciting the storming of the US Capitol by his extremist supporters who were trying to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
“This was a coup organized by the president against the vice-president and against the Congress in order to overturn the 2020 presidential election,” Raskin said in an interview with the Guardian, Reuters news agency and the Climate One radio program.
Public hearings by the bipartisan special committee investigating January 6 and related actions by Trump and his White House team and other allies, chaired by the Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson, are expected next month.
“We’re going to tell the whole story of everything that happened. There was a violent insurrection and an attempted coup and we were saved by Mike Pence’s refusal to go along with that plan,” said Raskin.
He was referring to Trump’s vice-president, who went ahead in his role of overseeing the certification of Biden’s win, which was delayed until the early hours of the following day after Pence and other lawmakers, staff and journalists ended up running for their lives as rioters stormed the building, shortly after Trump held a rally near the White House exhorting his supporters to “fight like hell”.
Read the full story:
Today so far
- The Biden administration is awaiting the guidance of public health officials on whether or not to appeal a federal judge’s ruling to overturn the national mask mandate for travel.
- Two polls have come out showing that despite the noise, the majority of Americans are in favor of the federal mask mandate and think it’s too soon in the pandemic to lift it.
- Joe Biden today will meet with defense secretary Lloyd Austin, deputy defense secretary Kathleen Hicks, the joint chiefs of staff and the combatant commanders at the White House
- Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend the White House correspondents dinner, the first president and first lady to do so since 2016.
- Defense secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his counterpart in China, general Wei Fenghe, for the first time since Austin became Pentagon chief more than a year ago.
- Biden is considering delaying the repeal of Title 42.
In a pointed statement, treasury secretary Janet Yellen and other US officials walked out of a G20 meeting this morning when Russian officials began to speak.
NEWS: Ukrainian, U.S. officials including Janet Yellen walked out of the G-20 meeting this morning when Russian officials began to speak, per people familiar. Story TK
— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) April 20, 2022
Multiple other international finance ministers and central bank governors also walked out at the same time
— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) April 20, 2022
Defense secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his counterpart in China today for the first time since Austin became Pentagon chief more than a year ago, breaking a communications stalemate that had American officials concerned amid the possibility that Beijing might provide military support to Russia in its war on Ukraine, the Associated Press is reporting.
This morning, I had a call with PRC Minister of National Defense General Wei Fenghe as a follow-up to the recent call between President Biden and Xi Jinping. We discussed U.S.-PRC defense relations, regional security issues, and Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/WmrTK0fYYY
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) April 20, 2022
Austin had requested the telephone call with general Wei Fenghe after months of failed efforts to speak with general Xu Qiliang, the highest ranking uniformed officer in the Communist Party military structure.
As deputy chairman of the party’s central military commission, which controls the people’s liberation army, Xu is more influential than Wei, but Beijing insisted on having Austin speak to Wei, who officially is his counterpart as defense minister but ranks below Xu in the hierarchy and has less military operational clout. Austin’s predecessors typically spoke with Wei - former defense secretary Mark Esper spoke to him on 6 August 2020 to request greater transparency on the origins of Covid-19, amid other issues.
A senior defense official who was involved in arranging the phone call told the Associated Press that Austin had no expectation of a major breakthrough on key issues with Wei with this phone call. Austin has called China the US military’s leading long-term challenge.
In a brief statement after the 45-minute call, the Pentagon said Austin and Wei discussed US-Chinese defense relations, regional security issues and “Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.”
In March, Joe Biden had a call with Xi Jinping in which he laid out stiff consequences the Chinese would face if they provided military or economic assistance for Russia’s war in Ukraine. It’s still unclear if Biden received any assurances from the Chinese leader, and the Pentagon did not say how Wei responded today.
A letter from Joe Biden to Sir Bill Beaumont, chairman of World Rugby, was part of a finalised package submitted by USA Rugby in its bid to host the men’s event in 2031 and the women two years later.
World Rugby is due to announce the success or not of the US bid on 12 May. Alan Gilpin, chief executive of the governing body, has said World Rugby believes it “can deliver the right outcomes with this hosting plan”.
In his letter to Beaumont, Biden wrote: “The United States strongly supports the effort to bring the 2031 Menʼs Rugby World Cup Tournament and the 2033 Womenʼs Rugby World Cup Tournament to our country and looks forward to working with Rugby World Cup Limited to help deliver the most successful Rugby World Cups in history”.
The president also pledged “to promote the development of rugby in the United States and worldwide in a sustainable and humanitarian manner, without any discrimination whatsoever, regardless of race, nationality or creed”, and says the US government will work to ensure that “any adverse impacts on the environment as a result of the tournaments are minimised”.
Biden said governmental guarantees sought by World Rugby would be “executed by officials who have the competence and authority” to do so, or in co-operation with states and private entities. The US will also seek the enactment of any necessary legislation, the letter says.
Biden’s Democrats stand to lose control of Congress to Republicans this November. There is however a bipartisan Congressional Rugby Caucus which supports the World Cup bid.
In the formal letter, Biden does not mention his own rugby experience as a player at law school and as a fan, notably of Ireland. The president has often expressed his love for the game and recently hosted a White House visit from the former Ireland and Lions full-back Rob Kearney, a cousin.
After Kearney’s visit, when Barack Obama made his own White House visit, a signed rugby ball was visible in the Oval Office. In a tweet, Kearney shared a picture of himself giving Biden the ball before “kicking practice in the garden”.
Story:
The White House correspondents association has announced that Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend the White House correspondents dinner next week - the first time a president and first lady have attended since Barack Obama and Michelle Obama in 2016.
Donald Trump was famously against attending the White House correspondents dinner, as part of his tirade against the “lamestream media”.
The @WHCA is pleased to host President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden as we honor the First Amendment at our dinner on April 30.
— WHCA (@whca) April 20, 2022
Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal will meet with House speaker Nancy Pelosi and other bipartisan congressional leaders tomorrow.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal will be on Capitol Hill tomorrow to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and bipartisan Congressional leaders amidst Russia's ongoing invasion of his country.
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) April 20, 2022
Report: Biden considering delaying Title 42 repeal
Axios is reporting that Joe Biden is considering delaying the repeal of Title 42 , after some moderate Democrats have broken with his administration over the decision to end the use of this policy to deny asylum claims at the US-Mexico border.
Title 42 is a law enacted by Donald Trump in March 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a World War II-era public health law that authorizes border officials to deport migrants and grants the government the “power to prohibit, in whole or in part, the introduction of persons and property” to stop a contagious disease from spreading in the US.
Since March 2020, the US has carried out more than 1.7 million migrant expulsions under Title 42. Most have been expelled by land to Mexico, with the Mexican government agreeing to accept expelled migrants if they are from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador.
Punchbowl News reported yesterday that nine senate Democrats have publicly expressed opposition to Biden’s decision to repeal Title 42.
“In the region where I’m from, we’re seeing infections rise. I think Philadelphia, for example, just returned to a mask mandate. So my hope is that that will be reconsidered appropriately,” Chris Coons, the Democratic senator from Delaware, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
With the war in Ukraine still raging on, Joe Biden today will meet with defense secretary Lloyd Austin, deputy defense secretary Kathleen Hicks, the joint chiefs of staff and the combatant commanders at the White House.
Following this meeting, Biden and first lady Jill Biden will host a dinner for this same group and their spouses, also at the White House.
Biden administration considers appeal against end of federal mask mandate
The Biden administration is awaiting the guidance of public health officials on whether or not to appeal a federal judge’s ruling to overturn the national mask mandate for travel.
The Associated Press is reporting that the justice department said it would appeal Monday’s ruling by US district hudge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined the mandate was needed to protect public health.
“If CDC concludes that a mandatory order remains necessary for the public’s health after that assessment, the department of justice will appeal the district court’s decision,” the justice department said in a statement.
Before Monday’s ruling that overturned the mandate requiring mask coverings on planes, trains and other public transportation, the mandate was due to expire on 3 May.
“We will continue to assess the need for a mask requirement in those settings, based on several factors, including the US Covid-19 community levels, risk of circulating and novel variants, and trends in cases and disease severity,” a CDC spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.
The CDC reiterated its recommendation that people wear masks on public transportation while indoors. The court’s order had caught the administration by surprise and left it struggling to grasp its impact both on the requirement’s end and on CDC’s authorities going forward.
24 hours ago, a federal judge vacated @CDCgov mask mandate on airplanes
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@AshishKJha46) April 19, 2022
This was deeply disappointing
CDC scientists had asked for 15 days to make a more data-driven durable decision
We should have given it to them
But I'll continue to follow CDC guidance & mask up on planes
Updated
The Associated Press-Norc Center for Public Affairs Research conducted its own separate poll on the federal mask mandate and found that 56% of Americans were in favor of requiring people on planes, trains and public transportation to wear masks. Meanwhile, 24% opposed this requirement and 20% say they’re neither in favor nor opposed.
Unsurprisingly, the poll uncovered a wide partisan divide on the mask mandate. Among Democrats, 80% were in favor of the mandate while just 5% opposed the requirement. Among Republicans, 45% were opposed compared with 33% in favor, with 22% saying neither.
Updated
Here’s a bit more on Florida district court judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, the 35-year-old conservative federal court judge appointed by Donald Trump who on Monday overturned Joe Biden’s federal mask mandate for transit.
Mizelle is the youngest Trump appointee to the federal bench, just 33 in September 2020 when she was received the nomination to the lifetime appointment. The American Bar Association rated her “not qualified”, in part because she had only eight years experience in practicing law.
Since Monday’s ruling, however, she has become a hero among Republicans.
Read more here:
Confusion spreads as Biden weighs appeal against end of federal mask mandate
Greetings, live blog readers. Here’s what we got ahead of us today:
Two days after the overturning of Joe Biden’s national mask mandate covering airplanes, airports and other public transportation, a Politico/Morning Consult poll is showing that most American voters are against the decision made by the conservative federal judge appointed by Donald Trump.
WIth coronavirus cases surging by 29% in the past two weeks, 49% of voters polled by Politico/Morning Consult before the overturning of the mask mandate said they thought it was too early to end the federal mask mandate for travel. Just 16% said it was the right time to end the mandate, with 11% saying it never should have been in place to begin with.
The poll found that 59% supported the original extension of the travel mask mandate issued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while 32% opposed it.
Yesterday, when asked if Americans should continue to wear masks on planes, Biden answered, “That’s up to them.” His press secretary, Jen Psaki, however, had much harsher words for the ruling.
“Public health decisions shouldn’t be made by the courts,” she said. “They should be made by public health experts. We’ve said from the start that our Covid response should be guided by the science and data and by experts.”
The Biden administration is now considering appealing the decision made by Florida district court judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle.
More to come.
