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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Léonie Chao-Fong (now) and Chris Stein (earlier)

Ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio given 22 years in longest January 6 sentence yet – as it happened

Enrique Tarrio Proud Boys
Enrique Tarrio at a rally in Portland in August 2019.
Enrique Tarrio at a rally in Portland in August 2019. Photograph: Noah Berger/AP

Closing summary

Here’s a recap of today’s developments:

  • The former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his part in the failed plot to keep Donald Trump in power after the 2020 election. Prosecutors had sought a 33-year-term for Tarrio, who was convicted of charges including seditious conspiracy in May. The judge did not agree but nonetheless handed down the longest sentence yet in a case relating to 2020 and the January 6 Capitol attack.

  • The Republican leader in the Senate Mitch McConnell is not evidently suffering from “a seizure disorder”, a stroke or a “movement disorder such as Parkinson’s disease”, the congressional physician said, a little less than a week after the 81-year-old senator suffered a second worrying freeze in front of reporters. McConnell alluded to his freeze in Kentucky as a moment in the Senate summer recess that “received its fair share of attention in the press” in remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday afternoon.

  • The former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of participating in an illegal scheme to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia and will not appear in court in Atlanta this week. Scott McAfee, the Fulton county superior court judge, had scheduled arraignment hearings for Wednesday for Meadows, Donald Trump and the other 17 people charged last month in a sprawling indictment.

  • The final co-defendant in the Georgia election subversion case, Misty Hampton, pleaded not guilty and waived her right to an in-person arraignment. Hampton’s filing on Tuesday means that all 19 co-defendants have now pleaded not guilty and opted to skip tomorrow’s arraignment in Atlanta.

  • The attorney general of New York state is seeking $20,000 in sanctions against Donald Trump, his adult sons, other defendants and their lawyers, for repeating “frivolous” arguments rejected in court in a $250m civil suit over family business practices.

Updated

The case was one of the most significant prosecutions in the federal investigation of the attack on Congress, which saw supporters of Donald Trump shock the world with their attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.

The Proud Boys are a so-called “western chauvinist” group, often involved in street fighting with leftwing activists. Enrique Tarrio was involved in the run-up to the January 6 insurrection but did not take part in the violence. Before members of the Proud Boys joined thousands in storming the Capitol as lawmakers met to certify Biden’s victory, Tarrio was arrested and ordered to leave Washington. But prosecutors showed he organised and led from afar.

Prosecutors said:

Using his powerful platform, Tarrio has repeatedly and publicly indicated that he has no regrets about what he helped make happen on January 6.

Tarrio’s lawyers denied the Proud Boys had any plan to attack the Capitol, arguing that prosecutors used Tarrio as a scapegoat for Trump, who spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on January 6, urging supporters to “fight like hell”.

The justice department has charged Trump with conspiring to subvert American democracy. But the Tarrio case and hundreds of others stand as vivid reminders of the chaos fueled by Trump’s lies, including the storming of the Capitol in an attempt to thwart the peaceful transfer of power, a riot now linked to nine deaths including suicides among law enforcement.

Urging a lenient sentence, Tarrio’s lawyers noted that he has a history of cooperating with law enforcement. Court records uncovered in 2021 showed that Tarrio worked undercover and cooperated with investigators after he was accused of fraud in 2012.

During the riot, however, Tarrio posted encouraging messages on social media, expressing pride and urging followers to stay at the Capitol. He posted a picture of rioters in the Senate chamber with the caption “1776”, the year of the Declaration of Independence.

Several days before the riot, a girlfriend sent Tarrio a document entitled “1776 Returns”. It called for storming and occupying government buildings, “for the purpose of getting the government to overturn the election results”, prosecutors said.

More than 1,100 people have been charged in relation to the Capitol attack. More than 600 have been sentenced, more than half receiving prison terms.

In remarks to the court in Washington, Enrique Tarrio said he was sorry for the events of January 6, and credited police officers for their bravery in resisting the attack.

“What happened on January 6 was a national embarrassment,” Tarrio said, adding that he both now knew Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden and blamed himself for actions that led to losing his freedom.

Becoming emotional, Tarrio said:

I do not think what happened that day was acceptable.

The judge, Timothy Kelly, emphasised the damage done.

“That day broke our previously unbroken tradition of peacefully transferring power,” he said.

That previously unbroken tradition is broken now, and it’s going to take time and effort to fix it.

Enrique Tarrio was not at the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection. Two days before, he was arrested in Washington and accused of vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church. Also charged with possessing two high-capacity rifle magazines, he was released the following day and ordered to stay out of the capital.

But federal prosecutors said Tarrio organized and led the Proud Boys’ assault from afar, inspiring followers with his charisma and penchant for propaganda.

Judge Timothy Kelly, who was nominated to the bench by Donald Trump, agreed with prosecutors that the Proud Boys’ crimes could be punished as “terrorism” but ultimately sentenced Tarrio to a shorter prison term than what prosecutors were seeking.

Kelly last week sentenced another far-right Proud Boys leader, Ethan Nordean, to 18 years in prison – less than the 27 years prosecutors had sought.

Updated

'Please show me mercy,' Tarrio asked judge

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio has just been sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and leading a failed plot to prevent the transfer of presidential power after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.

Tarrio’s sentence is the longest so far among more than 1,100 Capitol riot cases. The Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and one-time Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean had received 18-year sentences.

Speaking in a courthouse in Washington before the sentence was handed down, Tarrio pleaded for leniency, describing January 6 as a “national embarrassment” and apologizing to law enforcement who defended the Capitol and the lawmakers who fled in fear.

“Please show me mercy,” Tarrio asked US district judge Timothy Kelly. “I ask you that you not take my 40s from me.”

Federal prosecutors had asked Judge Kelly to impose a 33-year prison sentence on Tarrio, describing him as the ringleader of a plot to use violence to shatter the cornerstone of American democracy and overturn the election victory by Joe Biden.

Updated

Ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio sentenced to 22 years over Capitol attack

A judge has sentenced Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader convicted of seditious conspiracy in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, to 22 years in prison.

Tarrio, who once served as national chairman of the far-right extremist group, and three lieutenants were convicted by a Washington jury in May of conspiring to block the transfer of presidential power in the hopes of keeping Donald Trump in the White House after the Republican president lost the 2020 election.

Tarrio, who was not at the Capitol riot itself, was a top target of what has become the largest justice department investigation in American history. He led the neo-fascist group – known for street fights with leftwing activists – when Trump infamously told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during his first election debate with Joe Biden.

The sentence is by far the longest punishment that has been handed down in the massive prosecution of the riot on 6 January 2021. The Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in a separate case, had received the longest sentence to date – 18 years.

During the sentencing, US district judge Timothy Kelly, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, said the evidence suggested Tarrio was “the ultimate leader” of the seditious conspiracy, “the ultimate person, who organized, who was motivated by revolutionary zeal”.

That conspiracy ended up with about 200 men amped up, encircling the Capitol, prepared for battle, led by his codefendants.

The judge said Tarrio not being present in Washington on 6 January served some strategic purposes in that it allowed him to attempt to “insulate” himself from what unfolded at the US Capitol. Despite this, Tarrio had an “outsized impact on the events of the day”, Kelly said.

The judge said he didn’t see any indication that Tarrio was remorseful for what he was convicted for, adding that there was a strong need to send a signal to others.

It can’t happen again.

However, the judge said he did not believe Tarrio intended to kill anyone and said he would not go as high as what prosecutors had sought.

Updated

US district judge Timothy Kelly is speaking in the Washington court before the sentencing of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio.

From ABC’s Steven Portnoy:

During his statement to the court, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio appeared emotional.

January 6 'was a national embarrassment', says ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio is speaking now ahead of his sentencing in Washington’s federal courthouse for his role in the January 6 Capitol attack.

From CBS News’ Scott MacFarlane:

And from Vice News’ Greg Walters:

Updated

Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in the January 6 Capitol attack, is poised to speak in federal court.

From Vice News’ Greg Walters:

New York attorney general asks judge to sanction Trump over ‘frivolous’ arguments

The attorney general of New York state is seeking $20,000 in sanctions against Donald Trump, his adult sons, other defendants and their lawyers, for repeating “frivolous” arguments rejected in court in a $250m civil suit over family business practices.

In a filing on Tuesday, Andrew Amer, an assistant to Letitia James, the attorney general, noted repeated rejections of arguments deemed “borderline frivolous even the first time defendants made them”.

Amer also noted a previous observation by the judge in the case that “reading [the] defendants’ brief ‘was, to quote the baseball sage [Yogi] Berra, deja vu all over again’.” Berra was a New York Yankees catcher and manager whose garbled sayings – also including “It ain’t over till it’s over” and “You can observe a lot by watching” – somehow seemed to make sense.

James thinks she has made sense of how defendants including Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump played fast and loose with both the true state of the former president’s finances and with New York corporate law.

Last week, filings in an attempt to resolve the case without trial showed prosecutors’ contention that annually between 2011 and 2021 Trump inflated his net worth by between $812m and $2.2bn.

The judge has not ruled on that filing. Trial is set for October. In the filing on Tuesday, James’s assistant also noted the judge’s ability to impose financial penalties for conduct deemed frivolous if because without merit in law or pursued to delay a case.

The judge presiding over the Georgia election subversion case has announced he will hold a hearing tomorrow to decide two of the 19 defendants’ requests to be tried separately.

Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell were both attorneys for Donald Trump’s campaign during the period when he tried to stop Joe Biden from taking office, even though the Democrat won the 2020 election. Powell and Chesebro have both filed motions demanding their trial be resolved quickly and separately, and Lawfare reports a judge will consider their request tomorrow:

Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis wants to try all 19 defendants, including Trump, together, while the former president and several of the other defendants are seeking ways to postpone their trials, including by arguing they should be held in federal court.

The sentencing hearing of Enrique Tarrio is ongoing in Washington DC, with federal prosecutors making their case for why the former Proud Boys militia group leader should face a stiff jail term, Vice News reports:

Miami broadcaster NBC 6 also picked up on this detail from inside the courtroom:

The Senate is back in session today for the first time since late July, and in remarks on the floor, the chamber’s top Republican alluded to his health scare last week.

Mitch McConnell appeared temporarily unable to speak when taking questions from reporters, the second similar incident the 81-year-old has suffered in as many months. Earlier this year, he fell and sustained a concussion that kept him away from Capitol Hill for about six weeks.

The Kentucky lawmaker has generally downplayed the incidents and said he is fine to continue serving, and earlier today, the Capitol physician said there was no evidence that McConnell had suffered a stroke or seizure last week.

Here’s a clip of McConnell’s remarks to the Senate:

Updated

A judge has granted a motion to postpone a hearing in congressman and admitted fabulist George Santos’s federal fraud and money laundering case, the Messenger reports.

The hearing was supposed to take place on Thursday, but will instead happen on 27 October amid potential signs the New York Republican is trying to negotiate a plea agreement with federal prosecutors:

Updated

Federal judge Tim Kelly has ruled that the terrorism enhancement will be applied to Enrique Tarrio’s sentence, Politico report, a sign that he could potentially face a long jail sentence:

Sentencing begins for ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio

The sentencing hearing has begun in Washington DC for Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys militia group who was found guilty of seditious conspiracy and other crimes for his role in the January 6 insurrection.

Prosecutors have recommended that Tarrio receive a 33-year jail term, but it will be up to federal judge Tim Kelly to decide.

Vice News has updates from inside the courtroom as Tarrio’s lawyer argue for a lesser sentence:

Updated

Here’s the Guardian’s Erum Salam with a closer look at Texas attorney general Ken Paxton’s trial before the state senate:

The impeachment trial of the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, began on Tuesday – a rare and historic event in the state.

The ultra-conservative Paxton has a history of ethically questionable conduct that dates back to his first term in 2014, when he was fined by the Texas state securities board for violating financial laws.

Paxton’s colleagues gathered in the state chamber of the Texas capitol building in Austin in the morning preparing to cast a vote that would decide his fate. At the end of the trial, which will probably continue through the week, it will be known if Paxton will be removed from office and if he can ever hold office again.

In a shocking 121-23 vote on 27 May, the Republican-majority house voted to impeach Paxton, also a member of the party, on 20 articles of misconduct, immediately suspending him from office. In this trial, only 16 articles will be considered, and the remaining four will be considered at a later date.

The core of Paxton’s alleged wrongdoing involves his relationship with the Austin real estate developer Nate Paul. Paxton has been accused of illegally using his office to benefit Paul, who in return gave Paxton’s mistress, Laura Olsen, a job in his office. In early June, Paul was arrested on eight charges of making false statements to financial institutions.

Also being scrutinized are allegations that Paxton wrongly fired his former employees who blew the whistle on his dealings to the FBI and other agencies.

To remove Paxton from office, votes from two-thirds of the Republican-majority senate on any article of impeachment will be needed. If he is acquitted on all charges, Paxton will resume his work as attorney general. Paxton maintains his innocence.

Here’s footage from the start of Texas attorney general Ken Paxton’s trial in the state senate today.

The rightwing lawyer, who among other cases led a failed attempt by Republican-governed states intended to stop Joe Biden from taking office, is facing removal from office over corruption charges. He was in May impeached by the state House, and has been suspended without pay ever since:

Donald Trump is facing four different criminal indictments, and as the Guardian’s Sam Levine reports, could soon be the subject of a supreme court case that will determine whether he can continue as a presidential candidate:

The US supreme court is likely to soon determine whether Donald Trump is eligible to run for president in 2024, the well-respected former federal judge Michael Luttig said on Sunday.

Some legal experts believe Trump could be disqualified under section 3 of the 14th amendment. The measure bars someone from holding federal office if they have “previously taken an oath … to support the constitution” and subsequently “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same”. Interpreting that language, Luttig and some other prominent conservative scholars have concluded Trump’s actions on January 6 and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election bar him from running for president.

Other scholars have been more skeptical of a disqualification claim, questioning whether Trump’s conduct actually amounted to insurrection.

The provision has never been enforced and it is unclear what the exact mechanism for doing so would be. Secretaries of state, who are charged with overseeing candidate eligibility requirements, are studying how the process will probably play out.

“This is one of the most fundamental questions that could ever be decided under our constitution,” Luttig said on Sunday during an appearance on MSNBC’s Velshi. “And it will be decided by the supreme court of the United States sooner rather than later, and most likely before the first primaries.”

All 19 defendants in Trump’s Georgia case plead not guilty

The final co-defendant in the Georgia election subversion case, Misty Hampton, has pleaded not guilty and waived her right to an in-person arraignment.

Hampton’s filing means that all 19 co-defendants have now pleaded not guilty and opted to skip tomorrow’s arraignment in Atlanta.

From NBC’s Charlie Gile:

Joe Biden tested negative for Covid-19 again on Tuesday, the White House has said, after it announced that first lady Jill Biden had tested positive for the virus on Monday.

Jill Biden continues to experience mild symptoms after testing positive for Covid-19 and will remain in Delaware for the week, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Donald Trump’s lead over his closest rival for the Republican presidential race, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, has widened to 34 points, according to a new poll.

The CNN poll, conduced 25-31 August, shows 52% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independent voters support Trump for the part’s nomination, compared with 18% who back DeSantis.

More than four in 10 potential GOP primary voters said they have definitely decided to support the former president for the nomination, while nearly two-thirds consider him one of their top two choices.

Most respondents said they did not feel the criminal charges Trump faces are relevant to his ability to serve as president, and the majority said they were not seriously concerned about the impact the charges could have on his electability. On the other hand, about one in five Republican-aligned voters said they would not vote for Trump in the primary under any circumstances.

Speculation about Mitch McConnell’s future as Republican leader is bound to continue despite the congressional physician Brian Monahan’s assurances.

After McConnell’s first freeze in front of reporters, at the Capitol in late July, other falls including a “face plant” at an airport were widely reported.

Senate Republicans have avoided openly questioning their leader’s fitness to serve but some, speaking on condition of anonymity, have said it is increasingly at issue.

Public polling shows that most Americans think their leaders are becoming too old, with majorities in favour of upper age limits.

Majorities also think that at 80, Joe Biden is too old to run for re-election as president. Smaller majorities are concerned about the age of his likely challenger, Donald Trump, who at 77 has 14 fewer years on the clock than he faces criminal indictments.

In the Senate, the oldest on record, the evidently deteriorating health of the 90-year-old senior Democrat from California, Dianne Feinstein, has long been a subject of controversy, particularly during her own lengthy, health-enforced absence.

Feinstein will retire next year. McConnell has repeatedly said he intends to complete his seventh term in office, which ends in 2026.

If the seat became vacant, Kentucky state law says the Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, must pick a Republican replacement. Asked if he would seek a way round that requirement, Beshear has avoided comment.

The day so far

It’s been a busy day in courts at various levels nationwide. A panel of federal judges has rejected an attempt by Republican lawmakers in Alabama to pass another congressional district map that dilutes Black voting power, in defiance of the US supreme court. In Georgia, Donald Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces in the election subversion case, leaving only one defendant who has not yet entered their plea. And in Washington, jury selection has kicked off in the contempt of Congress trial of Peter Navarro, a former Trump aide who defied the January 6 committee last year, and was indicted for it. We are also waiting for the sentencing hearing of Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys militia group who was convicted of seditious conspiracy over the January 6 insurrection.

Here’s what else has happened today so far:

  • The Capitol physician said there is no sign that top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell had a stroke or a seizure last week, when the 81-year-old appeared to freeze while taking questions from the press.

  • Attorneys in Republican congressman and admitted fabulist George Santos’s fraud and money laundering trial asked to postpone a hearing. Might a plea deal be in the offing?

  • The Texas attorney general Ken Paxton may be booted from office over corruption allegations in a state Senate trial that began today.

Updated

George Santos prosecutors say parties discussing 'possible paths forward' – report

Attorneys have unexpectedly requested to postpone a hearing in the case of George Santos, the Republican congressman who admitted to fabricating his resume and is facing federal fraud and money laundering charges, Law & Crime reports.

A hearing was set to be held in the case on Thursday, but both parties now want it pushed back to 27 October. In a filing, New York-based federal prosecutors said the two sides “have continued to discuss possible paths forward in this matter” and “wish to have additional time to continue those discussions” – potentially an indication Santos is considering a plea agreement. Prosecutors also said Santos’s attorneys need more time to review all the evidence in the case.

In a recent interview, Law & Crime reports Santos was noncommittal about whether he would seek a plea deal to resolve the charges. He is also under investigation by the ethics committee in the House of Representatives.

Updated

Here’s more from the Guardian’s Sam Levine on a decision by federal judges today rejecting an attempt by Republican legislators in Alabama to defy a supreme court ruling and keep Black voting power in the state diluted:

A panel of federal judges struck down Alabama’s redrawn congressional map on Tuesday, saying the state clearly continued to violate the Voting Rights Act and had ignored a clear mandate from the federal judiciary to increase the political power of Black voters in the state.

The panel said that a court-appointed special master and cartographer would draw a new map ahead of the 2024 election. Alabama is expected to appeal the decision to the US supreme court, which upheld an earlier ruling ordering the state to redraw its map.

The decision is a win for Black voters in Alabama, who have long had their political influence cracked among several congressional districts.

“We do not take lightly federal intrusion into a process ordinarily reserved for the state legislature,” the panel wrote. “But we have now said twice that this Voting Rights Act case is not close.

“The law requires the creation of an additional district that affords Black Alabamians, like everyone else, a fair and reasonable opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.”

'No evidence' McConnell experienced seizure, stroke – Capitol doctor

There is “no evidence” that Mitch McConnell experienced a seizure or stroke when he froze up last week, the Capitol’s physician Brian Monahan told the top Senate Republican in a letter today:

McConnell last week appeared suddenly unable to speak when taking questions reporters, the second such occurrence in as many months following a fall earlier this year that sidelined him from work for several weeks. The episodes have raised concerns about the health of 81-year-old McConnell, a fixture in Republican politics.

Here’s the moment he froze last week:

Updated

With Mark Meadows’s plea, all but one of the defendants in the Georgia election subversion case have pleaded not guilty and opted to skip tomorrow’s arraignment in Atlanta.

The lone holdout is Misty Hampton, the former elections supervisor for Coffee county, Georgia, who was present when a Trump-aligned group sought to illegally access voting machines in search of fraud, and directed much of the group’s search.

Ex-Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows pleads not guilty to Georgia election subversion charges

Mark Meadows’s mug shot following his arrest in Atlanta last month.
Mark Meadows’s mug shot following his arrest in Atlanta last month. Photograph: Fulton County Sheriff’s Office/PA

Mark Meadows, who served as Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff during the period when he lost re-election to Joe Biden, has pleaded not guilty to charges related to trying to overturn Georgia’s election result, Reuters reports.

Meadows was among the 19 people indicted last month by Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis for the campaign to keep Biden from collecting the swing state’s electoral votes three years ago. By entering his plea, Meadows has opted to skip the arraignment scheduled for tomorrow in Atlanta. Trump, along with several other defendants including attorney Rudy Giuliani, have also entered not guilty pleas.

Republican lawmakers have been on a losing streak lately, as judges strike down congressional maps drawn by the party that disadvantage Black lawmakers, the Guardian’s Michael Sainato reports:

A judge in Florida has ruled in favor of voting rights groups that filed a lawsuit against a congressional redistricting map approved by Ron DeSantis in 2022. Voting rights groups had criticized the map for diluting political power in Black communities.

In the ruling, Leon county circuit judge J Lee Marsh sent the map back to the Florida legislature to be redrawn in a way that complies with the state’s constitution.

“Under the stipulated facts (in the lawsuit), plaintiffs have shown that the enacted plan results in the diminishment of Black voters’ ability to elect their candidate of choice in violation of the Florida constitution,” Marsh wrote in the ruling.

The ruling is expected to be appealed by the state, likely putting the case before the Florida supreme court.

The lawsuit focused on a north Florida congressional district previously represented by the Democrat Al Lawson, who is Black. Lawson’s district was carved up into districts represented by white Republicans.

DeSantis vetoed a map that initially preserved Lawson’s district in 2022, submitting his own map and calling a special legislative session demanding state legislators accept it. Judge Marsh rejected claims from Florida Republicans that the state’s provision against weakening or eliminating minority-dominant districts violated the US constitution.

“This is a significant victory in the fight for fair representation for Black Floridians,” said Olivia Mendoza, director of litigation and policy for the National Redistricting Foundation, an affiliate of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, in a statement.

Federal court strikes down GOP-drawn Alabama congressional map, again

A three-judge federal court panel struck down Alabama’s new congressional map, saying the Republican-dominated state again violated the Voting Rights Act. The judges wrote that they were “deeply troubled” the state’s effort to redraw its map did not fix issues it identified.

The supreme court had in June ruled that Alabama must draw a second majority Black congressional district, which would likely give Democrats another seat on the southern state’s congressional delegation. But rather than go along, GOP lawmakers attempted to sidestep the ruling by approving new maps that still included only one district where a majority of voters are Black – an effort the federal judges just rejected.

Meanwhile, in Texas, the state senate will today begin considering whether to impeach attorney general Ken Paxton, a staunch conservative who used his office to try to stop Joe Biden’s 2020 election win but has now attracted the ire of his fellow Republicans over corruption allegations.

Texas’s house of representatives impeached Paxton in May, and he’s been suspended without pay ever since. If a two-thirds majority of senators convicts him, he will be removed from his position, but they will need to take another vote to decide whether to permanently bar Paxton from office, the Associated Press reports.

Here’s more from the AP on what we can expect from his trial, which is expected to last between two and three weeks:

Paxton is only the third sitting official in Texas’ nearly 200-year history to be impeached. The House vote suspended the 60-year-old from the office he used in 2020 to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn President Joe Biden’s electoral defeat of Donald Trump.

Paxton decried the impeachment as a “politically motivated sham” and said he expects to be acquitted. His lawyers have said he won’t testify before the Senate, but the trial remains fraught with political and legal risk.

The attorney general is under federal investigation for the same conduct that prompted his impeachment, and his lawyers say removal from office would open the door to Paxton taking a plea in a long-stalled state fraud case.

Here’s what Paxton is accused of and how the trial will work.

WHY WAS PAXTON IMPEACHED?

At the center of Paxton’s impeachment is his relationship with a wealthy donor that prompted the attorney general’s top deputies to revolt.

In 2020, the group reported their boss to the FBI, saying Paxton broke the law to help Austin real estate developer Nate Paul fight a separate federal investigation. Paul allegedly reciprocated, including by employing a woman with whom Paxton had an extramarital affair.

Paul was indicted in June on federal criminal charges that he made false statements to banks to get more than $170 million in loans. He pleaded not guilty.

Paul gave Paxton a $25,000 campaign donation in 2018 and the men bonded over a shared feeling that they were the targets of corrupt law enforcement, according to a memo by one of the staffers who went to the FBI. Paxton was indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015 but is yet to stand trial.

The eight deputies who reported Paxton — largely staunch conservatives whom he handpicked for their jobs — went to law enforcement after he ignored their warnings to not hire an outside lawyer to investigate Paul’s allegations of wrongdoing by the FBI. All eight were subsequently fired or quit and four of them sued under the state whistleblower act.

Paxton is also accused of pressuring his staff to intervene in other of Paul’s legal troubles, including litigation with an Austin-based nonprofit group and property foreclosure sales.

Updated

Jury selection begins in ex-Trump aide Navarro's contempt of Congress trial

Jury selection has started today in the trial of Peter Navarro, a former aide to Donald Trump who was indicted for contempt of Congress after defying subpoenas from the January 6 committee, Politico reports:

Last week, a judge rejected Navarro’s argument that Trump had asserted executive privilege in the case, clearing the way for him to stand trial.

Trump confidant Steve Bannon was convicted of similar charges last year, after declining to cooperate with subpoenas from the committee investigating the insurrection at the Capitol. He is appealing the verdict.

Updated

Jill Biden contracts Covid-19, president tests negative

Yesterday, the White House announced that first lady Jill Biden had tested positive for Covid-19, but the president appears to have avoided the virus.

“This evening, the first lady tested positive for Covid-19. She is currently experiencing only mild symptoms. She will remain at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware,” her communications director Elizabeth Alexander said in a statement.

“Following the first lady’s positive test for Covid-19, President Biden was administered a Covid test this evening. The president tested negative. The President will test at a regular cadence this week and monitor for symptoms,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said minutes later.

Both Joe and Jill Biden came down with Covid-19 in the summer of 2022, and recovered without side effects.

Updated

Here’s more from the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe on the sentencing of the two Proud Boys militia group members last Friday:

Two members of the far-right Proud Boys militia group who took part in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol with the intention of keeping Donald Trump in the White House were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on Friday.

Ethan Nordean, described by prosecutors as a leader of the extremist group, received an 18-year sentence for crimes that included seditious conspiracy, committed when thousands of Trump supporters overran the Capitol building.

Dominic Pezzola, who attacked a police officer and was filmed using the officer’s shield to smash a window, got 10 years from the federal judge Timothy Kelly in Washington DC, following his conviction in May for assault and obstructing an official proceeding.

Prosecutors had sought terms of 27 and 20 years, respectively, for Nordean and Pezzola.

The pair, described by prosecutors as “foot soldiers of the right [who] aimed to keep their leader in power”, were part of a mob seeking to disrupt the certification by a joint session of Congress of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Nine deaths have been linked to the riot, including law enforcement suicides.

Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio faces sentencing after seditious conspiracy conviction

Good morning, US politics blog readers. The comeuppance continues today for the the Proud Boys, a rightwing militia group whose members are blamed for organizing and perpetrating some of the violence on January 6, and have been convicted of serious federal crimes. The Proud Boys former leader Enrique Tarrio will be sentenced today after being found guilty of seditious conspiracy, and prosecutors are asking he receive a 33-year prison term.

Last week, a judge handed down an 18-year sentence to Ethan Nordean, a leader of the group, and a 10-year term for Dominic Pezzola – both penalties that were less than prosecutors had requested. We’ll see if that pattern continues when Tarrio goes before a judge in Washington DC.

Here’s what else is going on today:

  • The first big book providing an insider account of Joe Biden’s presidency is out today, and appears to be full of scoops.

  • The Senate is back to work for the first time since July, and will today consider Philip Jefferson’s nomination as vice-chair of the Federal Reserve

  • White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and national security adviser Jake Sullivan brief reporters at 1pm eastern time.

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Using abbreviations in text messages comes across as less sincere, study finds
People who use abbreviations were less likely to receive responses, analysis by psychologists found
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
I didn't finish Wednesday on Netflix, but Lady Gaga’s reported cameo in season 2 is the only thing I need to give the show another shot
After a busy run promoting Joker: Folie à Deux, Lady Gaga is reported to have a cameo in Wednesday season 2 on Netflix.
TechRadar
TechRadar
“That’s a gutless thing to say!” Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine once walked out of spinal surgery because Metallica’s manager insulted him
There’s “determined”, then there’s whatever the hell “climbing off of a surgery table to prove someone wrong” is
Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Bakery responds to Whoopi Goldberg saying an order was refused because of political reasons
The bakery has claimed that the order was initially declined because of a boiler issue in their building
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
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