Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP
Closing summary
It’s been a busy day and there are still threads our reporters will be following so keep reading the site for the latest. Thanks for following!
Biden delivered remarks to the Canadian parliament this afternoon, as part of packed visit to Ottawa. He is due to appear shortly at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at which the leaders will almost certainly be pressed on a new asylum proposal amid a rise in irregular immigration at the US-Canada border. Under the leaked details of the deal, Canada will bring in 15,000 more South and Central American migrants to Canada.
This evening, the Bidens will attend a gala hosted by the Trudeaus before returning to the US.
Meanwhile tensions remain high in New York and elsewhere around the country as Trump’s claims of his imminent arrest have yet to be realized. This morning, Trump warned of “potential death and destruction” if he was indicted. On Friday afternoon, the FBI and NYPD were reportedly investigating a death threat addressed to the Manhattan district attorney, who is leading the probe into Trump.
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As we prepare to close our liveblog for the day, some disturbing news out of Manhattan, where tensions are high in anticipation of the former president’s possible indictment.
According to NBC News, federal and local law enforcement officials are investigating a letter containing “a death threat and white powder” that was mailed to Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, who is leading the investigation into Trump over his role in the payment of hush money to the adult film star Stormy Daniels.
The letter was addressed to Bragg and said, “ALVIN: I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!” the sources said. It contained a small amount of white powder, NBC News reported, citing law enforcement sources.
There were no evacuations or injuries, officials said.
Earlier on Friday, Trump warned of “potential death and destruction” if Bragg indicts him on charges he denies.
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Applause filled the chamber as Biden wrapped up his speech to the Canadian parliament on Friday.
The US president closed his remarks with a rousing call about the nations’ astronauts returning together the moon – and possibly Mars – and inspiring a new “Artemis” generation of star-gazers and dreamers.
“Today our world once more stands at the cusp of breakthroughs and possibilities that have never before even been dreamt of and Canada and the United States are leading and will continue to lead the way,” Biden said. “Ladies and gentleman, we’re living in an age of possibilities.”
Next Biden will hold a press conference with Trudeau where we expect they will be asked about the new asylum plan.
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“Bonjour Canada,” Biden said, opening his address to the Canadian parliament. The translator appeared momentarily surprised and then leapt into action: “Hello Canada.”
After some self-deprecating jokes about his poor French, some teasing about hockey teams, and some flattery about recent polling that showed “Americans love Canadians”, Biden got to business declaring the countries’ ambitions “fundamentally aligned”.
“Today I say to you, to all the people of Canada, that you will always, always be able to count on the United States of America,” Biden said to loud applause.
In his remarks, Biden addressed the countries’ efforts to support Ukraine, crack down on the flow of fentanyl, stand up to China and combat climate change.
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Biden is in Ottawa this afternoon, where he will address the Canadian parliament shortly. First up, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is touting the strong, longstanding ties that bind the Northern American nations.
During his remarks, he introduced Natalia, a Ukrainian who lives and works in Canada. She received a standing ovation.
“The Ukrainian people are counting us,” Trudeau said. “We must stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine with as much as it takes, for as long as it takes.” Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, applauded loudly.
Beyond the pomp and circumstance, Trudeau and Biden are expected to announce a “major shift in how Canada and the US handle asylum claims, a move that effectively closes a controversial border crossing”, according to the Guardian’s Leyland Cecco.
Under the leaked details of the deal, which Canadian officials hope will temper the increase in irregular border crossings in recent months, Canada will bring in 15,000 more South and Central American migrants to Canada.
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Interim summary
It’s been a busy day so far. We’re waiting for any updated details in the Trump criminal cases and also waiting for Joe Biden to address the Canadian parliament imminently.
Here’s where things stand:
Eric Garcetti, the former mayor of Los Angeles, was sworn in as the US ambassador to India by vice-president Kamala Harris earlier today.
House leader of the Democrats, New York congressman Hakeem Jeffries, denounced Donald Trump’s social media posts in which the former president warned of “death and destruction” should he be indicted in New York in the Stormy Daniels hush money case. “The former president’s rhetoric is reckless, reprehensible and irresponsible. It’s dangerous,” Jeffries told reporters. “And if he keeps it up, he’s gonna get someone killed.”
House Republicans took a victory lap today afternoon after passing their midterm campaign promise, legislation they named the “parents bill of rights”.
A federal judge has ordered Mark Meadows and other former top aides to Donald Trump to testify before a federal grand jury investigating the former president’s efforts to overturn the election that led to the January 6 attack on the US capitol, ABC News reported.
A federal appeals court in New Orleans has upheld a judge’s ruling blocking enforcement of Joe Biden’s 2021 executive order requiring all federal employees take a Covid-19 vaccine.
Donald Trump’s principal lawyer, Evan Corcoran, testified at federal court in Washington DC. He appeared before the grand jury investigating the federal criminal case into Trump’s hoarding of boxes of classified documents at his Florida residence after he left office in 2021.
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Eric Garcetti, the former mayor of Los Angeles, was sworn in as the US ambassador to India by vice-president Kamala Harris on Friday.
Earlier this month, the Senate confirmed his appointment, ending a nearly two-year drama that left the critical diplomatic post vacant while lawmakers debated whether he mishandled workplace misconduct and sexual harassment allegations.
Putting that behind him, Garcetti was all smiles on Friday as he took the oath of office, with his daughter, Maya, in attendance.
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At that same press conference, Jeffries denounced Donald Trump’s social media posts in which the former president warned of “death and destruction” should he be indicted.
“The former president’s rhetoric is reckless, reprehensible and irresponsible. It’s dangerous,” Jeffries told reporters. “And if he keeps it up, he’s gonna get someone killed.”
Jeffries continued: “We’ve already seen the consequences of incitement from the former president. He’s principally responsible for inciting the violent insurrection that happened on January 6, but clearly he has not learned his lesson.”
House Republicans took a victory lap on Friday afternoon after passing their midterm campaign promise, legislation they named the “parents bill of rights”.
“Today was a win for every mother, every father but most importantly for every student in America,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters after the vote. “This is a win and a change for America.”
Republicans assailed Democrats as “extreme” for opposing the measure and denounced the “education bureaucrats” and “teachers’ unions” who they say have kept parents in the dark about what their children are learning in schools.
“It is clear today that the Republican party is the party of parents,” said Elise Stefanik, the House Republican conference chair.
But Democrats said their unified opposition was a testament to the bill’s true design, which they said would embolden a conservative movement that has already pressured school districts and state legislatures to ban books and curricula that address certain subjects related race, racism and gender identity.
“Extreme MAGA Republicans passed a bill that would put politics over parents and would ban books, censor librarians and bully children. It’s shameful,”minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said, standing next to a pile of books he said Republicans want to ban.
Dem Leader Jeffries has stacks of books next to the podium at today’s presser as he responds to the HR5 vote - says it would lead to book bans pic.twitter.com/Zt0tnA6rB2
— Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) March 24, 2023
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Perhaps the only other politician presently embroiled in as many closely watched legal battles as the former president is the first-term Republican congressman George Santos.
According to a new CNN report, prosecutors in Brazil have accepted a deal with Santos related to a case in which the US lawmaker was accused of defrauding a Rio de Janeiro area clerk of $1,300 over clothes and shoes in 2008.
Citing documents obtained by the network, CNN reports that as part of the deal sought by Santos’s lawyers, the congressman would agree to formally confess to the crime and pay damages to the clerk. Prosecutors reportedly sought assurances from Santos’s legal team that Santos had the contact information of the clerk in order to repay him before agreeing to the deal.
The petition by Santos’s lawyers to prosecutors in Brazil said the congressman, whose political career was built on a web of lies, exaggerations and embellishments that are still coming to light was now gainfully employed and had been “re-socialized”.
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Special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the investigation into the January 6 attack, is seeking testimony and documents from the aides, ABC reports.
Trump’s legal team had challenged the subpoenas by asserting executive privilege, which is the right of a president to keep confidential the communications he has with advisers.
According to the ABC report, some of the aides Howell ordered to testify have already appeared before the grand jury, but, the network’s sources said they did not answer some questions directly related to “interactions” with Trump.
The grand jury proceedings are being held under seal.
CBS reported on Thursday that Chief Judge James Boasberg separately weighed arguments in a dispute between former vice-president Mike Pence, Trump’s lawyers and Smith over whether Pence had to testify in the special counsel’s investigation.
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Meadows and former Trump aides ordered to testify in Jan 6 investigation – report
A federal judge has ordered Mark Meadows and other former top aides to Donald Trump to testify before a federal grand jury investigating the former president’s efforts to overturn the election that led to the January 6 attack on the US capitol, ABC News reported on Friday.
EXCLUSIVE: A judge has rejected former Pres. Trump's claims of executive privilege, ordering Mark Meadows and other ex-aides to testify in the special counsel's Jan. 6 probe. https://t.co/pGqEgulO1o
— ABC News (@ABC) March 24, 2023
Citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, ABC reported that the judge, Beryl Howell, rejected Trump’s claim of executive privilege for Meadows and other aides and officials who worked for him, including his former director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe, his former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, former top aide Stephen Miller, and former deputy chief of staff and social media director Dan Scavino.
Former Trump aides Nick Luna and John McEntee, along with former top DHS official Ken Cuccinelli, were also included in the order, the report said.
ABC says the judge issued her decision in a “sealed order” last week and that Trump was likely to appeal the ruling.
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The debate over Republicans so-called “Parents Bill of Rights” was animated, and followed a 16-hour committee hearing during which lawmakers offered dozens of amendments that underscored the deepening divide over public education in America.
Republicans offered proposals that sought to eliminate the Department of Education, ban transgender students from participating in girls’ sports at public schools and expand gun rights on school campuses. Democrats pushed for changes that would have prohibited book bans, barred censorship of American history and bolstered funding for mental health resources and teacher training.
During Friday’s debate, conservatives successfully added amendments that would require schools to report when transgender students join a girls’ sports team and or are permitted to use girls’ bathrooms or locker rooms. Democrats argued that language in the bill could force schools to out LGBTQ+ students to families that are not accepting of their gender identity, possibly leading to abuse or homelessness that occurs at a higher rate among trans students.
The clash in Congress this week reflected the fights happening in state houses around the country, fueled by a conservative “parents’ rights” movement that grew in response to pandemic-era school policies and the racial justice protests of 2020.
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A lawyer representing a key witness in the investigation into Donald Trump over hush-money payments has drawn comparisons between the case and the sex scandal that embroiled Bill Clinton, as it became clear there would be no indictment in the Trump investigation until next week.
Lanny Davis, who represents Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer, hypothesized about what may have happened if Clinton had handled his affair with Monica Lewinsky differently.
Clinton was impeached in his second term after lying about his relationship with Lewinsky while he was president. Davis, who served as a special advisor to Clinton, speculated about how the Democrat might have been perceived if a representative had paid money to Lewinsky.
Cohen, who was Trump’s lawyer and fixer for more than a decade before he turned on his former boss, paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels to prevent her from going public with allegations that she and Trump slept together a decade before he won the White House.
“I won’t mention the name of the former president I worked for,” Davis told Politico in an interview. “But can you imagine if … he had written personal checks as part of that controversy?”
Davis continued: “Can you imagine if I had personal checks out of a checking account of a sitting president that reimburses a hush-money scheme, and then I used a legal argument to say why he should get off: because New York state law doesn’t apply to federal law? Good luck!”
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House Republicans pass 'Parents bill of rights'
House Republicans on Friday advanced legislation they branded a “parents bill of rights”, a central plank of their midterm campaign agenda.
The 213-208 vote, largely along party lines, followed a vigorous, hours-long debate that saw lawmakers clash over the true nature of the bill. Five Republicans joined all Democrats in opposing the plan.
Proponents said it would give parents greater control over what their children are taught in public classrooms by requiring schools to make public library books, curricula and budgets.
Democrats decried the measure as the “politics over parents” act, arguing that it would did little to expand the rights of parents and instead emboldened a far-right movement that has upended school boards with their efforts to ban books and restrict instruction related to race and gender identity.
The bill next goes to the Senate, where it is unlikely to advance in the Democratic-controlled chamber.
Here’s a longer read by yours truly on how the present-day “parents’ rights” movement is being embraced by national conservative groups and ambitious Republican politicians.
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The US launched an airstrike in Syria on facilities apparently used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in retaliation for a suspected Iranian drone attack that killed an American contractor and injured five US service members.
In a statement, the Pentagon said the intelligence community had determined the drone to be of Iranian origin, and called the actions “proportionate and deliberate.”
At the direction of President Biden, I authorized US Central Command forces to conduct precision airstrikes tonight in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC),” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
“The airstrikes were conducted in response to today’s attack as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the IRGC,” Austin continued.
“As President Biden has made clear, we will take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing. No group will strike our troops with impunity.”
According to the Pentagon, two of the injured service members were treated on site while three other service members and the injured contractor were transported to Iraq for care.
Meanwhile, on Truth Social, the former president is warning darkly of the possibility that “death and destruction” would follow if he was indicted by the Manhattan district attorney in a case involving hush money paid to the adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Over on Truth Social, Trump indicates there could be “potential death and destruction” if he is charged in the Manhattan district attorney’s probe into hush money payments. pic.twitter.com/rI3fVllvdM
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 24, 2023
With memories of the deadly January 6 attack on the Capitol still fresh, Republicans nervously sought to tamp down Trump’s earlier calls for supporters to protest ahead of a potential indictment. But Trump has criticized calls for calm and peace, vaguely and then explicitly raising the possibility of violence.
In the post, Trump again proclaimed his innocence and asked why Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, would bring charges knowing “that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our country”.
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Evan Corcoran’s appearance comes just two days after the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit issued a sealed ruling.
This appeared to compel him to comply with a lower court order to testify and provide records as part of Smith’s investigation, the Associated Press reports.
US media outlets including ABC News previously reported that special counsel Jack Smith’s office was seeking court approval to compel Corcoran’s testimony, citing evidence that Trump intentionally mislead his attorneys about his retention of classified materials at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort.
Corcoran sought to block enforcement of the subpoena, citing attorney-client privilege.
ABC reported a federal judge ruled that Smith’s team had made a sufficient showing that Trump may have deceived his attorneys in furtherance of a crime, and determined that attorney-client privilege could not be used to shield Corcoran from complying with the grand jury subpoena.
Corcoran and Christina Bobb, another attorney representing Trump, were both involved in talks with the justice department last year in the lead-up to the FBI’s 8 August search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
In May 2022, Trump received a grand jury subpoena ordering him to turn over any records with classified markings, and officials from the justice department and FBI met with Trump’s attorneys in June to enforce the subpoena.
At that June meeting, they handed over a single envelope containing 38 documents with classified markings.
In a certification drafted by Corcoran and signed by Bobb, they attested they had thoroughly searched the premises and found no other records bearing classification markings.
That claim later proved to be false, after the FBI discovered about 100 additional classified records among some 13,000 government documents in its August search.
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US court upholds block on Biden’s vaccine order for federal workers
A federal appeals court in New Orleans has upheld a judge’s ruling blocking enforcement of Joe Biden’s 2021 executive order requiring all federal employees take a Covid-19 vaccine, the Associated Press reports.
The US court of appeals for the fifth circuit said on Thursday that, contrary to arguments by the Biden administration, the judge had jurisdiction to issue a nationwide mandate against the requirement.
Here’s more from the AP on what the decision, written by Judge Andrew Oldham, a Trump appointee, means for federal workers:
The ruling maintains the status quo for federal employee vaccines. It upholds a preliminary injunction blocking the mandate issued by a federal judge in January 2022. At that point, the administration said nearly 98% of covered employees had been vaccinated.
And, Oldham noted, with the preliminary injunction arguments done, the case will return to that court for further arguments, when “both sides will have to grapple with the White House’s announcement that the Covid emergency will finally end on 11 May 2023.”
The White House defended the order, citing the high compliance rate among the federal workforce and saying in a statement Friday that “vaccination remains one of the most important tools to protect people from serious illness and hospitalizations” against Covid.
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Key event
Donald Trump’s principal lawyer, Evan Corcoran, was seen entering federal court in Washington moments ago.
He is scheduled to testify there today before the grand jury investigating the federal criminal case into Trump’s hoarding of boxes of classified documents at his Florida residence after he left office in 2021.
Corcoran and his attorney Michael Levy headed in and went to the third floor where the grand jury usually meets.
The special counsel, Jack Smith, appointed by attorney general Merrick Garland last year, is leading two Department of Justice (DoJ) investigations. One is into whether Trump illegally took the documents away, when he should have turned them over to the federal government when he left the White House. The other is into his efforts to overturn his defeat by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, wrongly claiming voter fraud.
Not forgetting that there is a New York investigation into whether he illegally paid hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels, for which criminal charges could come under state law next week.
Other New York and Georgia cases see Trump in unprecedented legal turmoil for a former president, following one of the most controversial presidencies in US history, during which he was twice impeached, accused of extorting Ukraine and triggering the insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 as he tried to cling to power.
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Trump lawyer to testify in federal secret documents case
Good morning, US politics live blog readers, it may be Friday but there is plenty of action coming up on Capitol Hill and in some of the various criminal cases involving former US president Donald Trump. Stick with us and we’ll bring you the news as it happens.
Here’s what is swirling today:
Evan Corcoran, currently Donald Trump’s main lawyer – who was involved in turning over to the Department of Justice government documents marked as classified and allegedly illegally stored by the former president at his Mar-a-Lago resort after leaving office – is set to testify today to the grand jury examining the federal criminal case.
Meanwhile another grand jury, weighing the New York state criminal case being investigated by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg over Trump reimbursing his then fixer Michael Cohen over hush money paid to Stormy Daniels, will not meet today but Trump is ranting on his social media platform that there will be “potential death and destruction” if he’s charged.
Joe Biden is staying well out of the fray, in the pleasant environs of Canada, where he’s having bilateral meeting today with prime minister Justin Trudeau and addressing the Canadian parliament, in his first visit there as president.
The House will vote later today on a Republican-initiated bill aimed at boosting parents’ rights over what their children are taught at school, and other matters, amid the battle that has fueled book bans and bitter division in education and politics. We have a separate report coming on this shortly, by our senior politics reporter Lauren Gambino.
