Closing summary
A New York City judge ruled that Ivanka Trump may appear on the witness stand in the civil fraud trial of her father Donald Trump and other family members as soon as next week. In Long Island, the Republican congressman and prolific liar George Santos pleaded guilty to a slate of new federal charges against him, and learned he would stand trial beginning on 9 September of next year. That’s about two months before the presidential election, and it appears Joe Biden will have a challenger for the Democratic nomination: Dean Phillips, a relatively inexperienced Minnesota congressman who declared his candidacy today.
Here’s what else happened:
Biden was briefed on the manhunt for the perpetrator of a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine that killed 18 people on Wednesday.
A new Gallup poll shows the president’s approval rating slipping among Democrats, potentially due to his pro-Israel stance in its boiling conflict with Gaza.
Some of Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia election subversion case are being offered plea deals, while others are not.
Mike Johnson signaled he would be willing to continue the impeachment inquiry into Biden, in the Republican’s first interview since being elected House speaker.
Democrats hope an upcoming Wisconsin supreme court case could turn the balance of power in the crucial swing state back in their favor.
Updated
The mass shooting in Lewiston has prompted one of Maine’s two House representatives, Jared Golden, to reverse his opposition to an assault weapons ban, the Guardian’s Erum Salam reports. There could be political implications to this, as Golden is one of five Democrats nationwide whose districts voted for Republican Donald Trump in 2020:
US house representative Jared Golden, of Maine’s second district, has made a stunning reversal of his opposition to efforts to ban assault rifles – in the wake of the mass shooting in a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston in the state on Wednesday night, which killed 18.
In 2022, Golden was among the few Democrats to vote against a bill in Congress that would have banned the sale of assault weapons to the American public for the first time since 2004. Joe Biden has repeatedly sought such a ban and, on Thursday, a day after the worst such massacre in his state’s history, Golden joined the US president’s calls.
The bill would have blocked the sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of military-style semiautomatic assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition devices and Golden also voted against a bill that would have raised the age limit for purchasing a semiautomatic rifle and banned the sale of high-capacity magazines.
Golden is now receiving praise from many of his constituents and colleagues for his change of position.
Biden updated on Maine mass shooting as search for gunman continues
The White House just announced that Joe Biden has received an update on the search for the gunman behind a mass shooting Lewiston, Maine on Wednesday that left 18 people dead.
From their statement:
This afternoon the president was updated by his senior staff on the latest information about the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. He also spoke with FBI director Christopher Wray, who described the more than 200 FBI personnel who are in Maine to support the investigation – including the ongoing manhunt – and provide assistance to the victims. The president expressed appreciation for the courageous work of all the federal, state and local law enforcement personnel.
We have a live blog covering the latest on the manhunt, and you can read it here:
Updated
In Wisconsin, a crucial swing state for any presidential candidate, the Guardian’s Alice Herman and Sam Levine report a supreme court decision could unravel gerrymandered maps that Republicans have used to their advantage for more than a decade, potentially boosting Democratic candidates:
Lynn Carey, a retired nurse with a double lung transplant, has spent years trying to get Wisconsin lawmakers to improve healthcare. Carey organized voters in support of the Affordable Care Act back in 2009. Since its passage, she has pushed to get her Republican representatives in the state legislature to expand Medicaid coverage to its poorest residents.
The idea has been overwhelmingly popular in Wisconsin: a 2019 poll showed 70% of voters in the state supported it. But Medicaid expansion hasn’t gone anywhere – even after Democrats won back Wisconsin’s governorship in 2018.
Republicans still hold near-supermajorities in both chambers of the legislature, and have shown no sign of compromise on this issue or many others popular with most Wisconsinites. Their legislative majorities are virtually impenetrable, cemented by Republican-drawn district lines that have guaranteed Republicans control of the legislature even in years where Democrats received more votes statewide. “We don’t have competitive districts where people have to listen to their constituents,” Carey said.
That could change soon.
Differing opinions over the conflict between Israel and Hamas erupted in the House yesterday, when the rightwing lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced a resolution to censure Rashida Tlaib.
The progressive Democrat from Michigan is one of two Muslim lawmakers in the chamber, and has been calling for a ceasefire in the worsening conflict. Tlaib responded to Greene’s allegations of antisemitism by calling her Islamophobic in a statement:
My statement on Marjorie Taylor Greene’s effort to censure me. pic.twitter.com/dzUNflJPh2
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) October 26, 2023
Later in the day, the Democratic congresswoman Becca Balint introduced a separate resolution to censure Greene for allegations of racism and dishonoring people who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Here’s her reading the proposal on the House floor:
There is no place for anti-semitic, Islamophobic, anti-LGBTQ, racist rhetoric and conspiracy theories in the House of Representatives.
— Rep. Becca Balint (@RepBeccaB) October 26, 2023
I move to censure Marjorie Taylor Greene. https://t.co/MIFuM5Ip8b
And the Republican Anthony D’Esposito also spoke to introduce a resolution expelling his fellow New Yorker George Santos from the chamber, citing his many lies and federal criminal charges:
Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-NY) introduces resolution to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY), noting Santos' indictments & “history of misrepresenting his and his family's connections to major events, including the Holocaust, 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the Pulse nightclub shooting.” pic.twitter.com/VytqCJ0ZLi
— The Recount (@therecount) October 26, 2023
Thus, the first full day of work for the House since Kevin McCarthy’s removal as speaker and eventual replacement by the conservative Republican Mike Johnson ended with two censure resolutions and one expulsion petition pending before it. The chamber is in recess today.
Updated
Speaking of Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, the president has thrown his support firmly behind Israel in the wake of the 7 October terror attack and its threat to invade the Gaza Strip to defeat Hamas. As the Guardian’s Tom Perkins and Erum Salam report, it’s a stance that could have consequences for his ability to win electoral votes in Michigan, a swing state with a large Arab American population:
Leading up to the 2020 election, Arab American organizers in south-east Michigan like Terry Ahwal worked to convince their community to go to the polls for Joe Biden. The message was simple: Donald Trump’s Islamophobic rhetoric and policies such as the Middle East travel ban were a threat to Arab Americans. Voters mobilized to help push Biden over the top in this critical swing state.
Several years on, amid Biden’s full-throated support of Israel in the current war and an unfolding humanitarian crisis that has claimed thousand of lives in Gaza, Ahwal feels deep regret: “I have to say “I’m sorry’ to my friends.’”
Ahwal is among hundreds of thousands of Arab Americans in Michigan, many of whom are watching with horror as the US supports Israel as it carries out its bombing campaign. After the community backed Biden by a wide margin in November 2020, the feeling goes “beyond betrayal”, about a dozen Arab Americans in Michigan said.
“This is a complete loss of humanity, it is the active support of a genocide, and I don’t think it gets any worse than that,” said Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian American activist and attorney. “I’ve gotten a few comments, ‘Well, the GOP is going to be worse,’ and my question is: ‘How can you get worse than active support of a genocide?’”
Polls show that Americans have generally been supportive of Israel and its response to the 7 October attack, though Morning Consult data released this week also shows the number of people who sympathize equally with Israelis and Palestinians is on the rise. That poll also showed support for Biden’s response is growing.
But Arab Americans who spoke with the Guardian said they did not know of anyone in their community who would vote for Biden in 2024. That could have profound consequences in a state in which Trump won by 10,000 votes in 2016, and a tight rematch is taking shape.
Updated
Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, the Democratic congressman Dean Phillips launched his bid to oust Joe Biden atop the party’s presidential ticket next year.
In remarks after he began his campaign, he eluded both to Biden’s dire poll numbers and his advanced age as reasons for running:
“I am running for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States … I do so not in opposition to President Biden, who has my affection and my gratitude…”
— The Recount (@therecount) October 27, 2023
— Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) announces his presidential campaign in New Hampshire pic.twitter.com/88eOZPBE5i
Phillips also responded to a question about a reported 2019 campaign donation from Harlan Crow, the billionaire Republican donor who also lavished gifts on conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas:
While filing his paperwork in New Hampshire to challenge President Biden for the Democratic nomination, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) is asked about the report that GOP megadonor Harlan Crow gave the maximum contribution to his congressional campaign in 2019. pic.twitter.com/728pkNkNQ1
— The Recount (@therecount) October 27, 2023
Updated
Now that all three of Donald Trump’s adult children are due to testify at the civil fraud trial of the family business, in addition to the former president himself, the scene is set for a great reunion in New York.
Ivanka Trump has been relatively absent from mainstream media headlines since her father lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden and the clan packed their boxes and departed the White House, where Ivanka had acted as an aide to her father as president.
She testified briefly but devastatingly to the congressional bipartisan committee investigating the 6 January 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol encouraged by the then president.
She admitted to the panel in July 2022 that she did not believe Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him because of widespread voting fraud. She hadn’t stood up and made statements to that effect when all the malarkey was going down with Trump’s failed legal campaign to reverse the result and then the deadly attack on the Capitol.
She accepted that Biden had won after Trump’s former attorney general Bill Barr essentially told her he had, something Barr also told Donald Trump and had acknowledged publicly in 2020.
So Ivanka, Donald Jr and Eric can now be expected on the witness stand in the trial of the Trump Organization. She stepped down from the family business empire in 2017. Ivanka had her own fashion business that was also based in New York before her father won the White House. That ended in 2018.
Her lawyer told the court on Friday that she hadn’t personally done business in the Big Apple since 2017.
Ivanka's atty says she last did business in New York in 2017.
— Frank G. Runyeon (@frankrunyeon) October 27, 2023
"So what?" Justice Engoron says.
(pause) .... "You have to have jurisdiction over her now," Ivanka's attorney says.
The judge then asks why there's no affidavit from Ivanka swearing she hasn't done business in NY.
Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner and their children live in Florida and have appeared to distance themselves from presidential politics.
Updated
The day so far
Ivanka Trump may appear on the witness stand in the civil fraud trial of her father Donald Trump and other family members as soon as next week, thanks to a judge’s ruling. Elsewhere in New York state, Republican congressman and liar George Santos pleaded guilty to a slate of new federal charges against him, and learned he would stand trial beginning on 9 September of next year. That’s about two months before the presidential election, and it appears Joe Biden will have a challenger for the Democratic nomination: Dean Phillips, a relatively inexperienced Minnesota congressman who declared his candidacy today.
Here’s what else has happened:
A new Gallup poll shows Biden’s approval rating slipping among Democrats, potentially due to his pro-Israel stance in its boiling conflict with Gaza.
Some of Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia election subversion case are being offered plea deals, while others are not.
Mike Johnson signaled he would be willing to continue the impeachment inquiry into Biden in the Republican’s first interview since being elected House speaker.
Donald Trump’s legal troubles extend far and wide, including to Georgia, where the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports some of his co-defendants in his election meddling case are not being offered plea deals by prosecutors – while others are:
Donald Trump’s top co-defendants charged with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia have not been offered plea deals since they were indicted, people close to the matter said on Wednesday, raising tensions among some in that group as they prepare to recalibrate their legal strategies.
The co-defendants without offers include the former US president himself, former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and former Trump lawyers John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani, the people said – individuals who played leading roles in the alleged conspiracies.
The lack of offers from the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, in contrast to those deals agreed with the other Trump election lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, has caused some of Trump’s top co-defendants to reconsider their legal strategy and weigh options such as seeking an expedited trial or trying to sever their cases.
Trump and his original 19 co-defendants pleaded not guilty in August to charges that they violated the Rico statute in Georgia in trying to reverse his election defeat. But the pressure on Trump’s closest allies has increased in recent weeks after four co-defendants accepted plea agreements.
Shifting back to Donald Trump and his family’s civil fraud trial in New York City, NBC News reports that it is unclear what Ivanka Trump may say on the witness stand, but prosecutors have waged a hard-fought campaign to get her to testify.
Her lawyers could also still appeal the ruling that will see her take the stand after 1 November. Here’s more from NBC’s report:
Trump’s attorneys had challenged New York Attorney General Letitia James’ subpoena to Ivanka Trump, noting an appeals court had ruled earlier this year that she should be dropped as a defendant in the case over statute of limitations issues.
They contended the AG’s office was trying “to continue to harass and burden President Trump’s daughter long after” the appeals court “mandated she be dismissed from the case.”
They also argued that the AG waited too long to subpoena her, and argued the office doesn’t have jurisdiction over her because she no longer lives in the state.
The AG’s office countered that Ivanka Trump, a former White House official, still has information important to their case.
“While no longer a Defendant in this action, she indisputably has personal knowledge of facts relevant to the claims against the remaining individual and entity Defendants. But even beyond that, Ms. Trump remains financially and professionally intertwined with the Trump Organization and other Defendants and can be called as a person still under their control,” the AG contended in a court filing.
The office said it wanted to ask her questions about Trump’s former Washington, D.C. hotel, and noted she profited from the sale.
“Ms. Trump remains under the control of the Trump Organization, including through her ongoing and substantial business ties to the organization,” the AG argued, adding that she “does not seem to be averse to her involvement in the family business when it comes to owning and collecting proceeds from the OPO (hotel) sale, the Trump Organization purchasing insurance for her and her companies, managing her household staff and credit card bills, renting her apartment or even paying her legal fees in this action. It is only when she is tasked with answering for that involvement that she disclaims any connection.”
George Santos has been a target of protesters and hecklers from practically the day he arrived in the Capitol, and there were plenty of those waiting for him as he departed federal court this morning:
People scream at Rep. George Santos (R-NY) as he leaves federal court on Long Island, where he pleaded not guilty to 10 new felony counts:
— The Recount (@therecount) October 27, 2023
“You killed my dog, George!”
“Put that liar in the fryer!” pic.twitter.com/f4qL3TAx4A
Santos was there to enter a “not guilty” plea to a slate of new federal charges, and learn he would stand trial on the allegations on 9 September.
George Santos trial date set for 9 September
George Santos, a Republican congressman from New York who has admitted to lying about much of his resume, will stand trial on an array for federal charges on 9 September of next year, the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports:
Just in: Trial date for US v Rep. George Santos has been scheduled for Sep. 9 — less than 60 days before the 2024 election
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) October 27, 2023
That’s days before the election that could see Santos booted from office.
Santos was first indicted in May, and earlier this month, federal prosecutors unveiled a slate of new charges against him, including that he stole political donors’ identities and committed credit card fraud. Reuters reports he pleaded not guilty to those allegations today.
The damages phase of Donald Trump and his family’s civil fraud trial is continuing with testimony from a former tax attorney to their company, Law360 reports:
Ok, returning to witness testimony. Back on the stand today is the Trump Org. former outside tax counsel Sheri Dillon of Morgan Lewis.
— Stewart Bishop (@stewartbishop) October 27, 2023
The ex-president has appeared personally in the New York City courtroom where it is being held for weeks, leading to some interesting moments. For instance, judge Arthur Engoron earlier this week fined him $10,000 and attacked his credibility when Trump made a brief appearance on the witness:
Judge orders Ivanka Trump to testify in family's civil fraud trial - report
Amid all the jockeying in next year’s presidential race, frontrunner for the Republican nomination Donald Trump has been busy in a New York City courtroom, where a judge is presiding over his family’s civil fraud trial – and just ruled that his daughter can appear as a witness.
Law360 reports that judge Arthur Engoron decided Ivanka Trump can be called to testify in the trial, where he is deciding what penalties to impose against the Trumps after finding they committed financial fraud:
The judge returns. Short version, Ivanka has to testify.
— Stewart Bishop (@stewartbishop) October 27, 2023
Justice Engoron rules that the court does indeed have jurisdiction. Personal jurisdiction, he explains, has two elements, notice and power.
— Stewart Bishop (@stewartbishop) October 27, 2023
Notice is obvious here.
“I find that the power element is also clearly satisfied,” Justice Engoron says.
However, the soonest Ivanka could appear on the witness stand is next week, Engoron ruled:
However, Justice Engoron says Ivanka cannot be called to the stand before Nov. 1, in order to give her a chance to appeal his order, if she so chooses.
— Stewart Bishop (@stewartbishop) October 27, 2023
Updated
Age is in the eye of the beholder, but Dean Phillips does have a point about Joe Biden being unpopular.
The president’s public approval ratings have been underwater for more than two years, and Gallup yesterday reported that his support has slipped among Democrats.
Approval from his own party has dropped 11 points to 75% from September, Gallup said, the lowest rating of his presidency among Democrats so far. Overall, Biden’s approval rating is at 37%.
What could be the cause of Biden’s ebbing support among his allies? Gallup says it could have to do with his decision to publicly back Israel in its escalating conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip – which has involved a bombing campaign that has killed thousands. Noting a separate survey that found Democrats are more sympathetic towards Palestinians than Israelis, “the daily results strongly suggest that Democrats’ approval of Biden fell sharply in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and Biden’s promise of full support for Israel on the same day,” Gallup said.
Updated
Congressman Dean Phillips challenges Biden for presidential nomination
Joe Biden is getting a challenger for next year’s Democratic presidential nomination in the form of Dean Phillips, a third-term House representative from Minnesota. Phillips is kicking off his campaign in New Hampshire today, and, while he’s been vague on his actual policy proposals, appears to be arguing that Biden is too old and unpopular to be trusted to win next year.
Needless to say, the decision to go up against their sitting president is not making Phillips popular with his fellow Democratic lawmakers. Here’s the Guardian’s Rachel Leingang with the full report:
Little-known Democratic congressman Dean Phillips has launched a campaign to challenge sitting President Joe Biden, leaving many of his supporters and colleagues confused, if not outright upset.
After weeks of speculation and behind-the-scenes manoeuvreing, Phillips finally publicly announced he’s running in an interview on CBS.
A campaign website, dean24.com, went live Thursday night, but simply solicits donations and carries no details on Phillips’ plans or policy ideas. He also filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission Thursday night.
The centrist third-term Minnesota congressman is expected to file paperwork to run in the primary contest in New Hampshire on Friday morning, the secretary of state’s office there confirmed Thursday.
Running on a slogan of “Make America Affordable Again,” a nod to former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again,” Phillips brought a campaign bus and “government repair” van to New Hampshire to make his case to voters.
In his interview on CBS News, Phillips said Biden had done a “spectacular job for our country.”
“But it’s not about the past,” Phillip said. “This is an election about the future. I will not sit still, I will not be quiet, when we’re facing numbers that are so clearly saying that we’ll be facing an emergency next November.”
Phillips so far has not articulated the policy differences between himself and Biden. Instead, he’s pointed to Biden’s age, saying a younger generation should be given the opportunity to lead.
It’s not clear how Phillips’ entry into the Democratic primary would achieve the goal of passing the torch to younger politicians: He is near-certain to lose the Democratic nomination contest, and his pressure on the president’s campaign cannot solve the issue of Biden’s age. Phillips’ end goal with the campaign could be an attempt to boost himself nationally, though it’s likely to anger more Democrats than win them over.
He will not have the financial or organizational support of the Democratic Party, either nationally or locally, as it will work to keep the top office in party control by backing Biden. Phillips, though, has his own wealth. He is heir to a distilling company and the former co-owner of gelato company Talenti.
And here’s a clip from Mike Johnson’s time in Louisiana’s House of Representatives in which he calls the US “a completely amoral society”:
Mike Johnson blames mass shootings on “no-fault divorce laws,” “feminism,” and Roe v. Wade pic.twitter.com/qjlWSsYmeQ
— DNC War Room (@DNCWarRoom) October 26, 2023
That’s a small piece of a larger speech – once again being shared by Democrats – Johnson delivered at the Christian Center of Shreveport during his campaign to be elected to the US House.
Updated
In his previous life as an attorney for what is now called the Alliance Defending Freedom, speaker of the House Mike Johnson was much more open about what he thought about same-sex marriage:
Mike Johnson, calling to ban same-sex marriage: If you change the definition of marriage, then you open the floodgates for chaos and sexual anarchy pic.twitter.com/DdALk3Xq9A
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) October 26, 2023
It’s no surprise these comments are being promoted by Joe Biden’s re-election campaign. Democrats are seizing on his rise to power to argue the GOP is too extreme to govern, and will press that message further next year.
Mike Johnson’s interview on Fox News was as notable for what he said as for what he didn’t say. He has been outspoken against gay marriage before – and we’ll get to that shortly on this blog – but as the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports, declined to reiterate those attacks in last night’s interview:
Questioned about comments and actions deemed by many to be homophobic, the new Republican US House speaker, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, told Fox News his worldview was: “Go pick up a Bible.”
Speaking on Thursday, Johnson said he “genuinely love[d] all people regardless of their lifestyle choices.
“This is not about the people themselves. I am a Bible-believing Christian. Someone asked me today in the media, they said, ‘… People are curious. What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?’ I said, well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it – that’s my worldview. That’s what I believe and so I make no apologies for it.”
Johnson added: “That’s my personal worldview.”
New House speaker Mike Johnson signals willingness to continue Biden impeachment
Good morning, US politics blog readers. In his first major interview since winning election as speaker of the House, Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson both made clear that the conservative ideology he embraced throughout his six years in office has not changed, while also avoiding weighing in one some of the most controversial issues before him. Speaking to conservative Fox News commentator Sean Hannity, he declined to reiterate his attacks on same-sex marriage, nor elaborate on if he would push for a national ban on abortion.
But there was one topic on which Johnson did not hold back, perhaps because it’s not particularly controversial among Republicans: Joe Biden. “I think it’s been a failed presidency,” he said, and repeated the familiar allegation that the president is suffering from cognitive decline. The speaker also said it was “very likely” the ongoing impeachment inquiry into the president, which centers into long-running and still-unverified corruption allegations regarding his son Hunter Biden, will turn up offenses worth of bringing charges. It was as sure a sign as any that the divisive and almost certainly quixotic effort will continue in the months to come.
Here’s what else we expect to happen today.
Dean Phillips, a Democratic congressman from Minnesota, is launching a presidential campaign aimed at challenging Biden for the party’s nomination.
GOP bigshots are converging on Las Vegas for the kickoff of the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Summit. Today’s speakers include Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, senators Rick Scott and Lindsey Graham and the Nevada’s own governor, Joe Lombardo.
George Santos, the Republican congressman and admitted fabulist, is expected to enter a not guilty plea to 10 new federal charges in court today.
