Closing summary
We’re wrapping up our live political coverage on this blog, but you can follow ongoing developments of the Ukraine crisis on the Guardian’s 24-hour live news blog here.
Here’s what happened in US politics today:
- Joe Biden said the US had reached “a new moment in this pandemic” as he announced a new Covid-19 website, and took a second vaccination booster shot at the White House.
- Biden pledged an additional $500m to assist Ukraine after speaking with the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for almost an hour by phone.
- The White House announced that any decision to scrap the Trump-era Title 42 policy of blocking asylum seekers from entering the US because of the Covid-19 pandemic would be made on public health grounds by the CDC, and not by Joe Biden.
- New sanctions were imposed on Iran by the US treasury department in response to a missile attack on the Iraq Kurdish city of Erbil earlier this month.
- Susan Collins, the Republican senator for Maine, announced she would support Joe Biden’s pick of Ketanji Brown Jackson to become the first Black woman on the US supreme court.
The Pentagon says it has seen only minor “repositioning” of Russian troops as it assesses the validity of Vladimir Putin’s insistence that his country is scaling back its attacks in Ukraine.
“We have seen over the last 24 hours the repositioning of a small percentage of the troops, the battalion tactical groups that Russia had arrayed against Kyiv, probably in the neighborhood of 20% of what they had,” John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said at an afternoon briefing.
“We assess they are beginning to reposition some of those troops into Belarus. We’ve seen none reposition to their home garrison and that’s not a small point. If the Russians are serious about de-escalating, because that’s their claim here, they should send them home. But they’re not doing that, at least not yet.”
Kirby added: “Our assessment would be, as we said yesterday, they’re going to refit these troops, resupply them, and then probably employ them elsewhere in Ukraine.
Bedingfield was asked if Joe Biden and Volodoymyr Zelenskiy had discussed in their earlier call their respective positions not to trust Russia’s claim that it was scaling back its assault in Ukraine.
“I won’t characterize President Zelenskiy’s thinking, but I will say that we continue to see evidence today of Russia advancing, attacking in places where they have previously said they would not, so I think that is self-evident,” she said.
The readout of the call also did not mention specifics of any military assistance Ukraine was requesting. Bedingfield was asked if anything Zelenskiy had asked for had changed Biden’s position on what was being offered.
“I’m not going into detail on what was discussed except to say we’re doing everything we can to ensure Ukraine has what it needs on the battlefield,” Bedingfield said.
“We have provided an unprecedented amount of security assistance to Ukraine, including anti-air [and] anti-tank systems, small munitions, things that our military has assessed are the most impactful weapons.
“So as the president is making a decision about what to send, he takes into account two things, the assessment of our military about what is most impactful… and, as he has said many times, he is not looking for direct American military conflict with the Russian military.”
The White House said the decision on when to terminate the Trump-era policy of blocking refugee admissions to the US because of the coronavirus pandemic was an issue of public health, and would not be made by the Biden administration.
Speculation has been growing in recent days that Joe Biden was about to end Title 42, implemented by the previous administration as admissions at the US southern border increased.
Republicans seeking to reintroduce immigration as a central issue for the midterm elections have claimed a surge could occur if the policy ends, while homeland security officials say as many as 18,000 migrants could arrive at the border each day.
At her afternoon briefing, however, the White House communications director Kate Bedingfield insisted that it was not the president’s decision to make.
“Title 42 is a public health directive. It is not an immigration or migration enforcement measure, so the decision ... we defer to the CDC,” she said.
“We are planning for multiple contingencies and we have every expectation that when the CDC ultimately decides it’s appropriate to lift Title 42 there will be an influx of people to the border. And so we are doing a lot of work to plan for that contingency.”
At White House press briefing. Communications Director Kate Bedingfield on southern border: “The decision on when to lift Title 42 we defer to the CDC.” pic.twitter.com/nwRDCcECA9
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) March 30, 2022
Updated
The White House has declared Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “a strategic blunder that has left Russia weaker over the long term and increasingly isolated on the world stage.”
Kate Bedingfield, the White House communications director, was reacting to a question at her afternoon briefing about reports that the Russian president Vladimir Putin was misled by advisers too frightened to tell him the truth about how badly the war was going.
“We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military, which has resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership,” she said.
“What this does is paint a picture of what a strategic error Putin and Russia have made here.
“They are now publicly trying to redefine the goals of their invasion to be different than they were at the outset. Putting forward this information simply contributes to a sense that this has been a strategic error for them.”
Biden says US 'at a new moment in this pandemic. Covid-19 no longer controls our lives'
Joe Biden was just at the podium in the White House launching a government website for coronavirus information, and telling the nation: “We’re now at a new moment in this pandemic. It does not mean that Covid-19 is over. It means that Covid-19 no longer controls our lives.”
“Thanks to the foundation we’ve laid, America has the tools to protect our people,” the president said, promoting the new website covid.gov.
“The bottom line, no longer will Americans have to scour the internet to find vaccines, treatments, tests or masks.”
But he swiftly turned his remarks towards asking Congress for more money to continue the effort to halt the coronavirus pandemic.
“Just as we’ve reached a critical turning point in this fight, Congress has to provide the funding America needs to continue to fight Covid-19,” he said.
“This isn’t partisan, it’s medicine,” he added, warning that without the $22.5bn his administration is asking for, monoclonal antibodies will begin to run out by the end of May and preventive therapies for the immunocompromised will be exhausted by the fall.
‘It does not mean that COVID-19 is over, it means that COVID-19 no longer controls our lives’ — On Wednesday, Pres. Biden provided an update on his admin’s response to the pandemic, which now includes https://t.co/LDEdMq9eOg, a ‘one-stop shop’ website full of resources pic.twitter.com/qfsgvGzV9r
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) March 30, 2022
As for vaccines, he said: “If Congress fails to act we won’t have the supply we need this fall to ensure the shots are available free and easily accessible for all Americans.”
Calling on politicians to act in unity, Biden gave a somewhat rosy account of taking over the presidency with Covid-19 omnipresent.
“I’m gonna remind you, I took office about 14 months ago, the pandemic was raging, the economy was reeling, the deficit was soaring. Most schools were closed,” he said.
“We didn’t have enough vaccines. The unemployment claims were sky high. And then we got to work and we delivered enough vaccines for every American months ahead of schedule, effective treatments, at-home tests that are free and accessible. Over 99% of our schools are open again.”
The Biden administration’s response to the pandemic, however, stalled in several key areas, particularly after the growth of the spread of the Omicron variant.
He concluded the event by taking a second booster shot – authorized for Americans over 50 on Tuesday – and refusing to answer questions about the situation in Ukraine, or his earlier telephone call with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“It didn’t hurt a bit,” Biden said of the shot, apologizing if the sight of a needle going into his arm had “discouraged” anybody from taking one.
Updated
Vladimir Putin was misled by advisers who were too scared to tell him how poorly the war in Ukraine is going and how damaging Western sanctions have been, US and European officials have said, Reuters reports, signaling that the Russian president spends too much time with “yes men”.
Russia’s February 24 invasion of its southern neighbor has been halted on most fronts by stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces, who have recaptured territory even as civilians are trapped in besieged cities.
“We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military,” leading him to mistrust the military leadership, the U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity and citing newly declassified intelligence reports.
“Putin didn’t even know his military was using and losing conscripts in Ukraine, showing a clear breakdown in the flow of accurate information to the Russian president.”
The official did not provide the intelligence report, but said the information had been declassified.
The Kremlin made no immediate comment after the end of the working day in Moscow, and the Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Washington’s decision to share its intelligence more publicly reflects a strategy it has pursued since before the war began. In this case, it could also complicate Putin’s calculations, a second US official said.
It’s potentially useful. Does it sow dissension in the ranks? It could make Putin reconsider whom he can trust,” that official said.
One senior European diplomat said the US assessment was in line with European thinking.
Putin thought things were going better than they were. That’s the problem with surrounding yourself with ‘yes men’ or only sitting with them at the end of a very long table,” the diplomat said/
He was referring to the Russian president and his predilection of late for meeting with his top government officials and even other world leaders at an immense distance, often at either ends of comically-long tables.
“We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions, because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth,” the US official added.
Updated
Biden pledges additional $500m to assist Ukraine, in call with Zelenskiy - White House
Joe Biden was back on the telephone to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy a little earlier and pledged extra aid for the country as it battles the invasion by Russia.
The US president told his Ukrainian counterpart that the US intends to provide his government with another $500m in direct budgetary aid.
"President Biden informed President Zelenskyy that the United States intends to provide the Ukrainian government with $500 million in direct budgetary aid." pic.twitter.com/cVvuRln85O
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) March 30, 2022
Biden already signed a $1.5 trillion bill into law two weeks ago that included $13.6bn in assistance for Ukraine, both humanitarian and military. This is understood to be an additional pledge.
The two leaders spoke for 55 minutes earlier.
Zelenskiy discussed specific defensive support with Biden, the Ukrainian president wrote on Twitter, Reuters reports.
Just finished an hour-long conversation with @POTUS. Shared assessment of the situation on the battlefield and at the negotiating table. Talked about specific defensive support, a new package of enhanced sanctions, macro-financial and humanitarian aid.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 30, 2022
The two leaders also discussed a new package of enhanced sanctions against Russia, Zelenskiy said, as well as financial and humanitarian aid support for Ukraine.
For all the developments on the ground in the war, please follow the Guardian’s global, 24/7 live blog on the crisis in Ukraine, here.
Updated
The US is imposing new financial sanctions against Iran following the country’s missile attack on a target in Iraq earlier this month, the treasury department has announced.
Iran sent at least 12 ballistic missiles into Erbil, Iraq’s northern Kurdish regional capital, on 13 March. They landed close to a US consulate under construction, but did not cause any damage or injuries, the state department said.
Wednesday’s announcement of sanctions is aimed at Iran’s revolutionary guard corps, which is responsible for the development of ballistic missiles, according to CNN. An Iranian company with government links, Parchin Chemical Industries, was also sanctioned.
“This action reinforces the United States’ commitment to preventing the Iranian regime’s development and use of advanced ballistic missiles,” Brian Nelson, treasury department undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence said in a statement announcing the sanctions.
“We will not hesitate to target those who support Iran’s ballistic missile program [and] work with other partners in the region to hold Iran accountable for its actions, including gross violations of the sovereignty of its neighbors.”
A military base in Erbil housing US forces came under Iranian missile attack in January 2020, in retaliation for the US killing of the Iranian military commander Qassem Suleimani.
Updated
In a symbolic moment following Joe Biden’s lunchtime Covid-19 address, the president will receive his second booster shot from a member of the White House medical unit.
The move will punctuate Biden’s announcement of a new government website collating coronavirus resources and information, and yesterday’s decision by the US food and drug administration, later endorsed by the federal centers for disease control and prevention (CDC), to approve an additional vaccine dose for adults over 50, and those immunocompromised.
Biden received his first booster on 27 September last year, at a time when 23% of the US population had not been vaccinated at all.
“Boosters are important, but the most important thing we need to do is get more people vaccinated,” he said at the time.
Discussion over the need for a second booster has led to the administration making it an option for those whose most recent shot was at least four months previously, but not specifically recommending that they get it.
“Giving people the choice to have an added level of protection is where we should be at this point in the pandemic,” said Leana Wen, professor of health policy at George Washington university, according to Axios.
“To me, the decision of getting an extra booster dose is not much different from the decision to continue masking or to use rapid tests before getting together with people indoors.”
Biden and Zelenskiy spoke directly on 5 March, when the US president laid out moves his administration was taking to “raise costs” on Russia in the early days of its invasion, and to discuss the stalled progress of recently begun peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
According to a White House readout of their call, Biden also praised the decision by Visa and Mastercard to halt business in Russia, and noted the administration’s “surging security, humanitarian, and economic assistance to Ukraine.”
Zelenskiy subsequently made an historic and captivating address to Congress on 16 March, in which he laid out the need for more military and humanitarian support from the Nato, the US and its European allies.
Biden called the address “convincing and significant” but was not moved on Zelenskiy’s call for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, or request for Polish fighter jets to be delivered in a swap involving the US military.
Biden and Zelenskiy to discuss support for Ukraine
Joe Biden is about to speak directly with the Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the White House has just announced.
The discussion is certain to include Zelenskiy’s call for additional military and humanitarian assistance from the west. The White House bulletin says the US president will affirm “our continued support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.”
There had been speculation that the leaders would meet during Biden’s visit to Europe last week, but the encounter was not deemed feasible.
Updated
Police officers in America continue to kill people at an alarming rate, according to a data analysis that has raised concerns about the Biden administration’s push to expand police investments amid growing concerns about crime.
Law enforcement in the US have killed 249 people this year as of 24 March, averaging about three deaths per day and mirroring the deadly force trends of recent years, according to Mapping Police Violence, a non-profit research group.
The data, experts say, suggests in the nearly two years since George Floyd’s murder, the US has made little progress in preventing deaths at the hands of law enforcement, and that the 2020 promises of systemic reforms have fallen short.
Police have killed roughly 1,100 people each year since 2013. In 2021, officers killed 1,136 people – one of the deadliest years on record, Mapping Police Violence reported.
Read more here:
Here’s some more on Joe Biden speaking later about the Covid-19 pandemic. The president is set to announce a new White House initiative to incorporate a “one-stop shop website” designed to give Americans better access to tools and information in fighting coronavirus.
The president will announce that the US is at “a new moment in the pandemic” with lifesaving tools such as improved testing, vaccines and treatments available, and that the website covid.gov will consolidate guidance into a single point of information.
“With a click of a button, people will be able to find where to access all of these tools, as well as receive the latest CDC data on the level of Covid-19 in their community,” a press release about Biden’s announcement states.
“Protecting the American people… now and into the future relies on affordable and accessible tools like vaccines, treatments, tests and high-quality masks. Through efforts like covid.gov and test-to-treat, the Administration continues to take steps to make these tools even more readily available. Now, we need Congress to do its part and continue to fund the Covid-19 response.”
The funding of vaccinations, and the wider government response to the pandemic, has become a bone of contention, even as rates of infection and the number of deaths have tumbled since the peak of the Omicron variant.
In a statement earlier this month, the White House blasted Congress for failing to provide an additional $22.5bn the Biden administration says it needs to continue, among other initiatives, the funding and distribution of vaccines nationwide, and warned of the risk of a new wave of infections.
On Tuesday, the US food and drug administration (FDA) and federal centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) approved a second booster vaccine for Americans over 50, and those with compromised immune systems.
Many health officials are concerned about the fast spread of the BA.2 Omicron sub-variant, which has now become dominant in the US, the New York Times reports.
Here’s more about the FDA approving a second round of booster shots:
Ketanji Brown Jackson will almost certainly become the first Black woman to sit on the US supreme court following a declaration by the Maine senator Susan Collins that she will vote for her confirmation.
Collins is the first Republican to announce support for Joe Biden’s pick, citing Jackson’s “stellar qualifications.” Her decision, assuming all Senate Democrats follow suit in the floor vote to be held before Easter, will avoid the prospect of vice-president Kamala Harris having to break a 50-50 tie.
Significantly, it will also allow Biden to claim that Brown’s seating was a bipartisan appointment, regardless of how many of Collins’ colleagues end up supporting her.
Mitt Romney of Utah is seen as another possible Republican vote, and has said he is still making up his mind. Other Republicans, including the Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, have already said they will not support her.
In a statement, Collins said she reached her decision after meeting twice with Jackson, who endured a rough ride from other Republicans in the senate judiciary committee during confirmation hearings last week:
After reviewing Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s extensive record, watching much of her hearing testimony, and meeting with her twice in person, I have concluded that she possesses the experience, qualifications and integrity to serve as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court. I will, therefore, vote to confirm her to this position.
Judge Jackson has sterling academic and professional qualifications. She was a Supreme Court clerk, a public defender, a respected attorney, and a member of the Sentencing Commission. She has served as a Federal District judge for more than eight years and currently sits on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Her stellar qualifications were confirmed by the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which awarded her its highest rating of ‘unanimously well qualified.’
Jackson’s likely elevation to the supreme court will not alter the panel’s ideological balance, which will still be tilted 6-3 in favor of conservatives. But the lifetime appointment for the 51-year-old will seal a liberal voice on the bench potentially for decades.
Jackson will replace the retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, who is 83 and has served since his nomination by Bill Clinton in 1994.
Updated
Susan Collins to support Ketanji Brown Jackson
Good morning, and welcome to Wednesday’s US politics blog. We open with the news that Susan Collins of Maine has become the first Republican senator to declare her support for Joe Biden’s supreme court pick Ketanji Brown Jackson. Her confirmation vote all but ensures a Black woman will sit on the nation’s highest court for the first time.
Developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine can be followed on our main live blog here.
And here’s what else is on the schedule in US politics today:
- Joe Biden will speak at 1.30pm about the Covid-19 pandemic, one day after the FDA approved a second booster vaccination for Americans over 50, and those with compromised immunity.
- Texas senator Ted Cruz and other Republicans will talk at noon about immigration and the predicted ending of the Trump-era Title 42 policy that blocked refugees because of the pandemic.
- White House communications director Kate Bedingfield will brief reporters at 2.30pm.
- Vice-president Kamala Harris will meet with the Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness later this afternoon.
