Closing summary
We’re closing our live blog now at the end of another tumultuous day, and week, in US politics. Thanks for joining us.
The House panel investigating Donald Trump’s January 6 insurrection issued a subpoena to the former president for documents and testimony.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, was sentenced to four months in prison for contempt of Congress, and fined, for defying his own subpoena. But he was allowed to remain free pending his appeal.
The White House dismissed claims by Russia’s ambassador to the US that it had shut down communication with Moscow as the war in Ukraine continues. US defense secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoygu earlier.
The Washington Post reported that documents seized by the FBI at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida contained secrets about Iran’s missile program, and China.
Joe Biden touted a “record” reduction of the federal deficit, $1.4tn since last year and the largest one year drop in American history, the president said.
A Miami judge dismissed one of the 19 voter fraud prosecutions loudly trumpeted by Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis. Former felon Robert Lee Wood, 56, voted after being sent a registration card by the state.
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Biden: student debt relief program 'a game changer'
Joe Biden is appealing to younger voters in a speech Friday afternoon touting his student debt relief program. The president is addressing students at the historically black Delaware state university in Dover.
Ahead of his address, the supreme court gave Biden a lift on Thursday by refusing a request by a taxpayers’ group in Wisconsin to block the program, which cancels up to $20,000 in student debt for millions of borrowers.
Biden addressed an enthusiastic crowd:
You are an example of why I’m so optimistic about the future. You are the most involved, the most educated, the most engaged, least prejudiced generation in American history.
Biden says the debt relief program is changing lives, and urged those qualified to sign up online:
This is a game changer. We’re hearing from people all over the country. Over 10,000 students have written me letters so far. It’s as easy to sign up as hanging out with your friends or watching a movie.
My commitment when I ran for president was if I was elected I’d make the government work and deliver for the people.
And he attacked congressional Republicans for attempting to block the aid “to their own constituents”:
As soon as I announced my administration’s plan on student debt they started attacking it and saying all kinds of things. Their outrage is wrong and it’s hypocritical.
But we’re not letting them get away with it. They’ve been fighting us in the courts. But just yesterday, state courts and the supreme court said no, we’re on Biden’s side.
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