Summary
Here’s a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
Donald Trump appears to have narrowed his search for a vice-presidential candidate down to four men: North Dakota governor Doug Burgum; and Senators Marco Rubio of Florida, Tim Scott of South Carolina and JD Vance of Ohio, NBC News reported. The former president and presumptive Republican nominee for this year’s election has sent out “vetting materials” to the quartet, according to sources cited by the outlet. Another source told NBC that Trump was focusing on a three-way contest between Burgum, Rubio and Vance, with Scott out of the picture.
Michigan’s Democratic representative Rashida Tlaib has condemned Joe Biden’s latest executive order that limits asylum seekers from crossing the US-Mexico border. In a post on X, Tlaib tweeted: “This executive order is outrageous. Seeking asylum is a human right. President Biden promised to end cruel Trump-era immigration policies, not resume them. We need to stop the dehumanization of migrants who are escaping violence and seeking a better life for their families.”
The White House and the Biden campaign are not pleased with the Wall Street Journal’s story raising questions about whether he is fit to serve. On X, his re-election campaign noted that Kevin McCarthy, who in his former job as speaker of the House repeatedly met with the president, has previously said he was able to follow conversations and participate in meetings just fine.
Alejandro Mayorkas, homeland security secretary, spoke with MSNBC about the agreement between US and Mexico for the Mexican authorities to enforce anti-migration measures before people even reach the border. “We have built a very strong and productive partnership with Mexico, with President Lopez Obrador. We expect that strong and productive partnership to continue under the presidency of Claudia Sheinbaum,” Mayorkas said today.
Joe Biden has congratulated the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, and his National Democratic Alliance for their election victory to form a new government for a third straight term. He posted on X: “The friendship between our nations is only growing as we unlock a shared future of unlimited potential.”
The White House office of management and budget just announced that Joe Biden supports the Right to Contraception Act, which the Democratic-led Senate is expected to vote on later today. “The Administration strongly supports Senate passage of S 4381, the Right to Contraception Act, which would protect the fundamental right to access contraception and help ensure that women can make decisions about their health, lives and families,” the office wrote.
That’s it as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for following along.
The Congressional Black Caucus criticized Marjorie Taylor Greene’s rant about George Floyd in which she complained that Democrats are “worshipping” the “convicted felon.”
In a video posted on X, Greene can be seen speaking to a reporter, saying, “We have Jamie Raskin in there accusing us of worshiping Trump, worshiping a ‘convicted felon’.” The reporter interjected, saying that Trump was indeed convicted.
In response, Greene said: “Well yeah, so was George Floyd. And everybody, and you all too, the media worships George Floyd. Democrats worship George Floyd. There were riots, burning down the fucking country over George Floyd and Raskin is in there, saying we worship him [Trump].
Following Greene’s comments, the Congressional Black Caucus condemned the Republican representative. “This is unhinged even for @RepMTG,” they wrote in an X post.
“Her actions are unacceptable even by the lowest of Republican standards. George Floyd did not deserve to die, and a member of Congress should have the decency to acknowledge his humanity,” the Congressional Black Caucus continued.
For the full story, click here:
Michigan’s Democratic representative Rashida Tlaib has condemned Joe Biden’s latest executive order that limits asylum seekers from crossing the US-Mexico border.
In a post on X, Tlaib tweeted:
“This executive order is outrageous. Seeking asylum is a human right. President Biden promised to end cruel Trump-era immigration policies, not resume them. We need to stop the dehumanization of migrants who are escaping violence and seeking a better life for their families.”
This executive order is outrageous. Seeking asylum is a human right. President Biden promised to end cruel Trump-era immigration policies, not resume them. We need to stop the dehumanization of migrants who are escaping violence and seeking a better life for their families. https://t.co/x7tEm2uBHY
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) June 5, 2024
Byron Donalds recently came under fire for suggesting that Black families were stronger during the Jim Crow era, when racial segregation was legalized through much of the US, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
During a Trump campaign event in Philadelphia titled “Congress, Cognac and Cigars”, Donalds claimed that Black families were “more together” during Jim Crow and have been on the decline as Black people started to vote increasingly for the Democratic Party.
“You see, during Jim Crow, the Black family was together. During Jim Crow, more Black people were not just conservative – Black people have always been conservative-minded – but more Black people voted conservatively,” Donalds said.
“And then HEW, Lyndon Johnson – you go down that road, and now we are where we are,” Donalds added, referring to former president Lyndon B Johnson.
The event was co-hosted with congressman Wesley Hunt of Texas, another Republican who is Black.
Updated
Despite the latest report from NBC News, Trump’s search for a VP may be wider than reported.
In addition to Rubio, Scott, Vance, and Burgum, other politicians have repeatedly come up as possible running mates for Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida is still widely considered a possible choice for vice-presidential candidate.
The first-term congressman has been a rising star within Republican the party and recently attended a campaign event for Trump in Philadelphia.
Talking of the former president, my colleague Cameron Joseph’s latest Trump on Trial newsletter takes a look at how voters feel about his conviction last week on 34 felony charges, and how it might affect their decision for November’s election.
It’s moderately good news for Joe Biden because of a slight uptick in support for the president in head-to-head surveys. In fact, more than half of voters approve of the guilty verdict, a trio of polls revealed, although there were mixed reactions in the crucial swing states of Wisconsin and Georgia, Guardian reporting found.
It’s Cameron’s final newsletter before he leaves the Guardian to take up a new role elsewhere. You can read it here, and don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already:
Trump VP search down to four: report
Donald Trump appears to have narrowed his search for a vice-presidential candidate down to four men: North Dakota governor Doug Burgum; and Senators Marco Rubio of Florida, Tim Scott of South Carolina and JD Vance of Ohio, NBC News is reporting.
The former president and presumptive Republican nominee for this year’s election has sent out “vetting materials” to the quartet, according to sources cited by the outlet.
Another source told NBC that Trump was focusing on a three-way contest between Burgum, Rubio and Vance, with Scott out of the picture.
The report also cautions: “Trump is working from a fluid shortlist that at times includes more than a half-dozen names. Additions, subtractions and the emergence of dark-horse candidates remain possible”.
Burgum has been seen in Trump’s company increasingly frequently in recent weeks, while all three of the others have become prominent and enthusiastic cheerleaders for Trump during TV appearances following his conviction on 34 felony charges in New York last week.
Some of those previously considered to be high on his list of VP “possibles” have fallen away, the NBC report suggests, most notably South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, whose star faded after the Guardian exposed in April how she shot and killed a rambunctious puppy in cold blood.
Congress members Elise Stefanik of New York and Byron Donalds of Florida, have also been mentioned, along with Ben Carson, who served as Trump’s housing secretary.
NBC notes Trump did not name former vice-president Mike Pence as his running mate until days before the 2016 Republican party convention, and said his decision this year is unlikely to be made public ahead of the July convention in Cleveland, Ohio.
Updated
Presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr could help Biden gain a bump in key swing states in the 2024 presidential election, according to a new survey, the Hill reported.
With Kennedy as an option, Biden gains a slight advantage in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, two major swing states ahead of November’s election.
Here’s more information from the Hill:
Polling from Mainstreet Research, PolCom Lab and Florida Atlantic University showed Trump with a slight lead over Biden in a head-to-head race in both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. But when Kennedy is added to the mix, Biden takes the lead in the states, according to the poll.
Kennedy, an independent candidate, is not currently on the ballot in either state, which along with Michigan are seen as crucial to Biden’s hopes for reelection….
Read the full article here.
Ahead of today’s Senate vote to protect access to contraception, reproductive right activists have put up a 20ft- inflatable of an IUD to raise awareness.
The gigantic contraception installation is currently on display at Union Station in Washington DC.
CNN’s Haley Talbot posted a picture of the installation to X.
Promises kept https://t.co/Q3DYF2SXV9 pic.twitter.com/qFZIMbjZ7l
— haleytalbotcnn (@haleytalbotcnn) June 5, 2024
The installation has caused a stir on social media.
“Ahhhh that’s why it was ‘currently unavailable’ on Amazon,” wrote one user on X.
Another simply commented: “Wow.”
Today’s Senate vote is due at 3.45pm.
Updated
The day so far
Senate Democrats are teeing up a vote on legislation to protect access to contraception, which the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, argues is under threat from Republican lawmakers and rightwing supreme court justices. The White House said Joe Biden supports the bill, while Republican senator Katie Britt slammed it as part of a “summer of scare tactics” ahead of the November election. Meanwhile, top Democratic lawmakers are decrying a Wall Street Journal story that reported Biden showed signs of “slipping” in important meetings – a sensitive allegation for the 81-year-old president. His campaign attacked the report as well, and White House communications director Ben LaBolt wondered if it was published with nefarious intent.
Here’s what else has happened today so far:
Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, said Biden’s immigration executive order signed yesterday was intended to discourage migrants from attempting to cross the border illegally.
Advocates for migrants warned the new restrictions on asylum seekers could put lives at risk.
Biden congratulated the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, on his election to a third term.
Updated
Joe Biden yesterday signed an executive order that will temporarily close the southern US border to new asylum seekers when crossings reach a certain level. As the Guardian’s Maanvi Singh reports, advocates for migrants warn that it will put lives at risk:
Joe Biden on Tuesday signed an aggressive new immigration order suspending asylum rights, signalling that “securing the border” was a central tenet of his re-election bid.
At the southern US border, the policy is set to cause chaos and hardship for those seeking the protection of the United States.
The executive order revealed on Tuesday revokes – at least temporarily – the country’s long-standing promise that anyone who sets foot on US soil can ask for refuge.
Starting at 12.01am Wednesday, the government will be able to return people apprehended at the border to Mexico or their home countries within hours or days if a daily number of crossings is exceeded, giving them little chance to apply for asylum.
On Tuesday afternoon, lawyers who work with people attempting to cross the border were still scrambling to understand how exactly the order would work – as detailed regulations had yet to be made public. But what was sure, they said, was that it would create panic and chaos at the border in the short term. The rush of people fleeing violence and chaos in their home countries is unlikely to stop overnight, they cautioned.
“It can’t be counted on to reduce, or to stop, people from coming,” said Monika Y Langarica, a senior attorney with the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) based at the border in San Diego. “But it certainly will create confusion. It will create disorder, and it will put people’s lives in danger.”
The White House and the Biden campaign is also not pleased with the Wall Street Journal’s story raising questions about whether he is fit to serve.
On X, his re-election campaign noted that Kevin McCarthy, who in his former job as speaker of the House repeatedly met with the president, has previously said he was able to follow conversations and participate in meetings just fine:
Kevin McCarthy publicly: Biden is unfit!!!
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) June 5, 2024
Kevin McCarthy privately: pic.twitter.com/cXAzMMYChJ
White House communications director Ben LaBolt wondered if there was nefarious intent behind the article’s publication:
Yep. Complete and utter editorial fail by the @wsj. Makes you wonder who they’re taking orders from … https://t.co/akqlpuhGrG
— Ben LaBolt (@WHCommsDir) June 5, 2024
Democrats say no truth in Wall Street Journal's report of Biden 'slipping'
An unusual spat has broken out between top Democratic lawmakers and the Wall Street Journal after the newspaper yesterday published a story about Joe Biden apparently having trouble following conversations and remembering details.
It is a sensitive subject for Democrats, considering that, at 81, Biden is the oldest president to ever serve, and polls have shown voters are concerned about his fitness to carry out the job for another four years. Here’s some of the eyebrow-raising details the Journal reported:
When President Biden met with congressional leaders in the West Wing in January to negotiate a Ukraine funding deal, he spoke so softly at times that some participants struggled to hear him, according to five people familiar with the meeting. He read from notes to make obvious points, paused for extended periods and sometimes closed his eyes for so long that some in the room wondered whether he had tuned out.
In a February one-on-one chat in the Oval Office with House Speaker Mike Johnson, the president said a recent policy change by his administration that jeopardizes some big energy projects was just a study, according to six people told at the time about what Johnson said had happened. Johnson worried the president’s memory had slipped about the details of his own policy.
Last year, when Biden was negotiating with House Republicans to lift the debt ceiling, his demeanor and command of the details seemed to shift from one day to the next, according to then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and two others familiar with the talks. On some days, he had loose and spontaneous exchanges with Republicans, and on others he mumbled and appeared to rely on notes.
“I used to meet with him when he was vice president. I’d go to his house,” McCarthy said in an interview. “He’s not the same person.”
On X, multiple Democratic lawmakers said they spoke to the report’s authors and told them the president is fit for the job, but their comments were not included in the story. This group includes Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the House:
Many of us spent time with @WSJ to share on the record our first-hand experiences with @POTUS, where we see his wisdom, experience, strength and strategic thinking.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) June 5, 2024
Instead, the Journal ignored testimony by Democrats, focused on attacks by Republicans and printed a hit piece. https://t.co/aq5BWK8zhf
As well as Patty Murray, a Washington senator who said she attended one of the meetings where the Journal reports Biden struggled to keep up, and contradicted that version of events:
Surprise, surprise—everyone attacking @POTUS is a Republican with an agenda.
— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) June 5, 2024
I made clear to the @WSJ regarding the January meeting on Ukraine that the President was absolutely engaged & ran that meeting in a way that brought everyone together.
I'm not quoted—I wonder why. https://t.co/vokfHWjk6p
Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island described the article as a “political hit job” orchestrated by Republicans:
I was there & went on record to @WSJ w/ opposite recollection that's not quoted in the story. Bottom line: Anonymous Republican sources didn't raise these issues in real time, day after, or week after. Trying to do so now reeks of political hit job.https://t.co/PBNdBu6gYr
— Senator Jack Reed (@SenJackReed) June 5, 2024
Alejandro Mayorkas, homeland security secretary, also spoke with MSNBC about the agreement between US and Mexico for the Mexican authorities to enforce anti-migration measures before people even reach the border.
“We have built a very strong and productive partnership with Mexico, with President Lopez Obrador. We expect that strong and productive partnership to continue under the presidency of Claudia Sheinbaum,” Mayorkas said today.
He added: “And this challenge of migration is a regional challenge and it requires regional solutions. Not just in partnership with Mexico, but in partnership with other countries such as Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Guatemala, Ecuador and the like.
“We are experiencing not just at the southern border, but throughout our hemisphere and around the world, an unprecedented level of migration, an unprecedented number of displaced people. And regional challenges require regional solutions.”
In further remarks, Alejandro Mayorkas, homeland security secretary, reminded viewers of MSNBC this morning that under the new rules, “individuals who arrive at our border and cross illegally will be barred from asylum, with exceptions”.
He noted that 1,400 people who have made appointments through “our CBP One app” will be able to seek asylum in the US via official ports of entry. Many thousands stuck just south of the US border try for an appointment each day on their mobile phones, unsuccessfully.
He continued: “Individuals who have accessed our parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans will be able to access asylum relief in the US. We have built an unprecedented number of lawful pathways, but we are going to secure our border and reduce the number of people who are encountered at it.”
Mayorkas, as does the White House, once again lamented the chronic lack of immigration reform legislation in Congress.
Here is analysis from the Guardian’s Maanvi Singh.
Updated
Homeland security secretary says goal of new immigration rule is to drive migrants from border
Alejandro Mayorkas, homeland security secretary, appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show today to talk about Joe Biden’s new executive order on immigration at the US-Mexico border.
Yesterday afternoon, the US president signed an executive order that will temporarily shut down the US-Mexico border to asylum seekers attempting to cross between lawful ports of entry, when a daily threshold of crossings has been exceeded. The average has to exceed 2,500 over a seven-day period, which it already does. The new law went into effect overnight.
It caused shock and dismay among migrants waiting on the Mexican side of the border for a chance to enter the US and exercise their international right to request protection, but who had no appointment.
“The goal here is to reduce the number of people who come to the southern border of the United States and cross illegally. Our goal is to drive people who seek and need humanitarian relief into the lawful, safe, and orderly pathways that we have built,” Mayorkas said on the Wednesday morning TV show.
Biden congratulates Modi
Joe Biden has congratulated the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, and his National Democratic Alliance for their election victory to form a new government for a third straight term. He posted on X:
The friendship between our nations is only growing as we unlock a shared future of unlimited potential.”
Congratulations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the National Democratic Alliance on their victory, and the nearly 650 million voters in this historic election.
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 5, 2024
The friendship between our nations is only growing as we unlock a shared future of unlimited potential.
However, Modi’s party lost its parliamentary majority, in a surprise result.
Updated
Here’s more from the Guardian’s Carter Sherman on Senate Democrats’ plan to hold a vote today on legislation protecting contraception access:
The US Senate will vote Wednesday on a bill that would recognize a legal right to contraception, weeks after Donald Trump made – and quickly walked back – comments indicating he is willing to restrict access to birth control.
Facing a Senate where bills need 60 votes to advance and a Republican-controlled House, passing the Right to Contraception Act will be a steep, if not impossible, uphill battle for Democrats. By putting the legal right to birth control up for a vote, Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, is effectively daring Republicans to go on the record opposing the right to something that almost all American women use in their lifetime.
“Donald Trump and Maga Republicans will not be able to outrun their anti-abortion records, because the American people know that if given the chance, extremist Republicans will not stop in their campaign to strip away fundamental liberties in this country,” Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a Monday letter to his Senate colleagues.
The Wednesday vote is part of an offensive broadside by Democrats to spotlight their work around reproductive rights, a vital issue in the upcoming 2024 elections, nearly two years after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade. On Monday, Democrats also unveiled a new, sweeping package of legislation designed to enshrine a federal right to in vitro fertilization as well as make it more affordable.
Biden administration announces support for bill protecting contraception
The White House office of management and budget just announced that Joe Biden supports the Right to Contraception Act, which the Democratic-led Senate is expected to vote on later today.
“The Administration strongly supports Senate passage of S 4381, the Right to Contraception Act, which would protect the fundamental right to access contraception and help ensure that women can make decisions about their health, lives and families,” the office wrote.
Here’s more:
Contraception is an essential part of reproductive health care that has become more important than ever following the supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade and the ensuing crisis for women’s health. Dangerous and extreme abortion bans are putting women’s health and lives at risk and disrupting access to critical health care services, including contraception, as health care providers are forced to close in states across the country. Contraception is also under attack. Officials in some states have made clear they want to ban or restrict birth control in addition to abortion, and Republicans in Congress have attacked contraception access nationwide by proposing to defund the Title X Family Planning Program. Attacks on contraception are an affront to women’s dignity and their ability to make their own decisions about their lives.
Women must have the freedom to make deeply personal healthcare decisions, including the right to decide if and when to start or grow their family. Now is the time to safeguard the right to contraception once and for all.
Updated
Top Senate Democrat says contraception protections necessary after Roe overturning
The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, argued yesterday that legislation protecting contraception access is a necessary response to the supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022.
That decision was authored by five of the conservative justices appointed by Republicans presidents, three of whom were handpicked by Donald Trump.
“We are kidding ourselves if we think the hard-right is satisfied with simply overturning Roe,” the majority leader said in a speech on the Senate floor.
“And for all those who say it can never happen, remember: people said before Dobbs that Roe would never be overturned. And of course, unfortunately it was, by the rightwing Maga court, appointed by Donald Trump and our Republican colleagues here in the Senate.”
He continued:
Supporting federal protections for contraceptives should be definition of simple and commonsense and easy to choose, too. The bill we will vote on tomorrow simply says if you want to access birth control, or if you’re a health care provider wanting to prescribe birth control, the government has no right to interfere. Doesn’t that seem like common sense? After all, access to birth control is something 90% of Americans support.
Of course, we’re already hearing the same predictable, tired and unpersuasive retorts from the other side. That this vote is somehow unnecessary, that birth control could never possibly be at risk, that this is much ado about nothing. That is simply not true.
Updated
Rightwing senator accuses Democrats of ‘summer of scare tactics'
Ahead of the vote on legislation protecting access to contraception, Katie Britt, a conservative Republican senator from Alabama, accused Democrats of “scaremongering” by pursuing a bill that goes too far.
“This week, my colleagues across the aisle will start their ‘summer of scare tactics’,” Britt said in a floor speech yesterday.
“Unfortunately, this is continuing the campaign of fearmongering we’ve already seen. Contraception is available in every state across the nation. And, of course, I want to be absolutely, 100% clear, that I support continued nationwide access to contraception.”
She said the Right to Contraception Act, which Democrats are bringing up for a vote in the Senate later this afternoon “tramples on foundational religious liberty protections that have long been bipartisan – and truly should remain bipartisan”.
The measure needs 60 votes to pass. Democrats control 51 seats, and we’ll have to see if the legislation can win nine Republican votes.
Updated
Senate Democrats up pressure on GOP with vote to guarantee contraception access
Good morning, US politics blog readers. When the supreme court’s conservatives overturned Roe v Wade and allowed states to ban abortion nearly two years ago, rightwing justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion where he said the court should also “reconsider” rulings guaranteeing same-sex marriage rights and access to contraception. Months later, Congress passed legislation protecting the former, and today, the Democratic-led Senate will hold a vote on a bill to guarantee access to the former. “Who knows how far the hard-right will go?” the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said on the Senate floor yesterday. “Two years ago, the Maga court eliminated the protections of Roe. Tomorrow it could be something else.”
It’s unclear if the legislation will pass, but the vote serves as a sign of a dynamic that will play out in both chambers of Congress as the November presidential election draws nearer. With little chance of passing substantive legislation ahead of the rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, congressional leaders are instead teeing up messaging bills intended to put their opponents in a bind, particularly those occupying vulnerable seats. The vote on the contraception bill is a prime example of that, and begins at 3.45pm.
Here’s what else is going on today:
The White House is not pleased by a Wall Street Journal story saying Biden occasionally has trouble conducting conversations in private. Many of those quoted in the story are Republicans.
Hunter Biden’s trial on federal gun charges is scheduled to continue in Wilmington, Delaware.
The president is in France to mark the 80th anniversary of D-day, and visit with Emmanuel Macron.
Updated
