Today's recap
Mitt Romney, the only Republican to vote to convict Trump in the 2020 impeachment trial, said he would not be seeking reelection as Utah senator. In an interview with the Washington Post, he offered harsh criticism of Joe Biden and his own party, which he said “is inclined to a populist demagogue message”.
A day after House speaker Kevin McCarthy announced a long-shot attempt to impeach Joe Biden, it became clear that Donald Trump has been in discussions with influential House Republicans to push the effort. Trump was in contact with Elise Stefanik, the third most senior Republican in the House of Representatives, and far-right representative Marjorie Taylor Greene in the lead-up to McCarthy’s announcement.
Attorneys for Hunter Biden filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against Garrett Ziegler, a former Trump White House aide over his alleged role in publishing online a trove of emails and images obtained from one of Biden’s laptops.
The White House sent a letter to US news outlets, urging them to “scrutinize House Republicans’ demonstrably false claims” surrounding their impeachment inquiry into Biden. The memo, which was sent by Ian Sams, the White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, and addressed to editorial leadership at media organizations.
The federal judge overseeing Trump’s classified documents case issued a protective order pertaining to classified evidence in the case, according a court filing.
In the Georgia election subversion case, Trump waived his right to seek a speedy trial, according to a court filing. The move is in line with efforts he has taken in other cases to delay proceedings until after the November 2024 election.
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Eugene Peltola Jr, the husband of the Democratic Alaska congresswoman Mary Sattler Peltola, has died in a plane accident, a spokesperson said.
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Tech leaders and experts convene in Washington for forum on AI safety
A delegation of top tech leaders including Sundar Pichai, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman convened in Washington on Wednesday for the first of nine meetings with US senators to discuss the rise of artificial intelligence and how it should be regulated.
Billed as an “AI safety forum,” the closed door meeting was organized by the Democratic senator Chuck Schumer who called it “one of the most important conversations of the year”. The forum comes as the federal government explores new and existing avenues to regulate AI.
“It will be a meeting unlike any other that we have seen in the Senate in a very long time, perhaps ever: a coming together of top voices in business, civil rights, defense, research, labor, the arts, all together, in one room, having a much-needed conversation about how Congress can tackle AI,” Schumer said when announcing the forum.
Several AI experts and other industry leaders are also in attendance, at the listening sessions, including Bill Gates; the Motion Picture Association CEO, Charles Rivkin; the former Google CEO Eric Schmidt; the Center for Humane Technology co-founder Tristan Harris; and Deborah Raji, a researcher at University of California, Berkeley.
Some labor and civil liberties groups are also represented among the 22 attendees including Elizabeth Shuler, the president of the labor union AFL-CIO; Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers; Janet Murguía, the president of UnidosUS; and Maya Wiley, the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights.
While Schumer describes the meeting as “diverse”, the sessions have faced criticism for leaning heavily on the opinions of people who stand to benefit from AI technology. “Half of the people in the room represent industries that will profit off lax AI regulations,” said Caitlin Seeley George, a campaigns and managing director at Fight for the Future, a digital rights group.
“People who are actually impacted by AI must have a seat at this table, including the vulnerable groups already being harmed by discriminatory use of AI right now,” George said. “Tech companies have been running the AI game long enough and we know where that takes us – biased algorithms that discriminate against Black and brown folks, immigrants, people with disabilities and other marginalized groups in banking, the job market, surveillance and policing.”
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Key quotes from Romney's retirement announcement
As he steps away from the Senate, Mitt Romney is critical of both Democrats and Republicans.
Here are some of the key quotes from his interview with the Washington Post at a glance:
Romney, a vocal Trump critic, condemned the increasing shift to the extreme right in the Republican party, saying:
It’s pretty clear that the party is inclined to a populist demagogue message.
But he was also critical of Biden’s record:
Biden is unable to lead on important matters and Trump is unwilling to lead on important matters.
In what seemed to be a veiled dig at Biden and Trump’s age (80 and 77 respectively), Romney said he was stepping down to make way for a younger crop of leaders:
He called for a new generation to ‘step up [and] shape the world they’re going to live in’.
And Romney, who was the only Republican to vote to convict Trump in the 2020 impeachment trial, said he worried that his party had veered too far right, and lost touch with young voters:
I know that there are some in MAGA world who would like Republican rule, or authoritarian rule by Donald Trump. But I think they may be forgetting that the majority of people in America would not be voting for Donald J. Trump. The majority would probably be voting for the Democrats…
Young people care about climate change…They care about things that the MAGA Republicans don’t care about.
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Hunter Biden sues former Trump aide Garrett Ziegler over publication of laptop materials
Attorneys for Hunter Biden filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against Garrett Ziegler, a former Trump White House aide over his alleged role in publishing online a trove of emails and images obtained from one of Biden’s laptops.
The 13-page suit, filed in federal court in California, accuses Ziegler of improperly “accessing, tampering with, manipulating, altering, copying and damaging computer data that they do not own” in violation of the state’s computer fraud laws.
The lawsuit describes in detail how Ziegler and 10 additional unnamed defendants allegedly obtained data belonging to Hunter Biden and disseminated “tens of thousands of emails, thousands of photos, and dozens of videos and recordings” on the internet, ABC News reported.
Ziegler, a former aide to White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, has emerged as one of the Biden family’s most outspoken critics. Navarro himself has been convicted of contempt of Congress after he refused to cooperate with an investigation of the deadly January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
The suit reads:
Garrett Ziegler is a zealot who has waged a sustained, unhinged and obsessed campaign against [Hunter Biden] and the entire Biden family for more than two years. While Defendant Ziegler is entitled to his extremist and counterfactual opinions, he has no right to engage in illegal activities to advance his right-wing agenda.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has continued his running-against-Trump-but-not-really campaign with a speech at the former US president’s favourite Washington thinktank.
The biotech entrepreneur, who made a splash at the first Republican debate last month, praised Trump several times during remarks at the America First Policy Institute, which spun out of the Trump administration. He also gave a shout out to Matt Gaetz, a congressman from Florida who endorsed Trump for 2024 and was among the guests.
Ramaswamy declared his wildly unrealistic plan to slash a million government jobs if elected. In a turbo charged version of Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s “deconstruction of the administrative state”, he would reduce the federal employee headcount by 75%, rescind a majority of federal regulations and shut down government agencies including the Department of Education, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The candidate theatrically tore down posters supposedly showing “myths” to reveal supposed “truths” about a president’s power to take such action – an argument rejected by legal experts. “Do we want incremental reform or do we want revolution?” the candidate asked.
I stand on the side of a revival of those 1776 ideals, on the side of yes, we created a government accountable to the people, not the other way around.
Democrats reacted to the plans with scorn. The Democratic National Committee said in a press release:
Ramaswamy’s not the only MAGA Republican running for president who wants to gut support for federal law enforcement and public education as the GOP hopefuls continue racing to be the most extreme candidate in the field.
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Here’s more from that Washington Post interview with Mitt Romney, in which the Republican Utah senator announced he would seek reelection in 2024.
Asked how he sees a 2024 election rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Romney said “it could go either way” but that “so much can happen between now and then”. He added that talk by the centrist group No Labels of mounting a third party candidacy would be a mistake and only help to reelect Trump.
Romney said he doubted the criminal charges pending against Trump, saying he believe people “don’t respond to old news”. Instead, he believed the investigation of Hunter Biden has the potential for political impact that could harm the president.
Former vice president Mike Pence, who has been campaigning in Iowa, was forced to backtrack on earlier comments after House speaker Kevin McCarthy announced he would open an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden without a floor vote.
On Monday, Pence said he did not think an impeachment inquiry should “ever” be started unilaterally, as he praised McCarthy because he made it clear that if there is to be an impeachment inquiry, he would submit that to a vote on the floor of the Congress”, NBC reported.
Less than two days after he made those comments, Pence told a reporter he would have “preferred” a vote on an inquiry but would defer to House Republicans, the Hill reported. He said:
I want to respect Speaker McCarthy’s authority and decision to be able to initiate an impeachment inquiry. The American people have a right to know whether or not President Biden or his family personally profited during his time serving as Vice President.
Why are Republicans launching a Biden impeachment inquiry?
Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the US House, announced on Tuesday he is launching a formal impeachment inquiry into president Joe Biden – despite resistance from Republicans in the House and Senate, where an impeachment vote would almost certainly fail.
The order comes as McCarthy faces mounting pressure from some far-right members of his chamber, who have threatened to tank his deal to avert a government shutdown by the end of the month if he does not meet their list of demands.
According to McCarthy, findings from Republican-led investigations over the summer recess revealed “a culture of corruption”, and that Biden lied about his lack of involvement and knowledge of his family’s overseas business dealings.
McCarthy said during a brief press conference at the US Capitol on Tuesday:
These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption. And they warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives.
Many of the allegations center on the president’s son, Hunter Biden, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, during his father’s term as vice-president. Republicans allege that Joe Biden improperly benefited from his son’s foreign connections but, after several months, have produced no evidence. Watchdog groups say Republicans do not actually have evidence to back up their claims.
McCarthy previously indicated an impeachment inquiry “would occur through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person”, in a statement to rightwing Breitbart News earlier this month. But he declared the launch of an impeachment probe just a week and a half later, without a House floor vote, which likely means he does not have the support.
GOP presidential hopeful Mike Pence was heckled during a campaign stop in Iowa earlier this week by a man who yelled:
Get the fuck out of our country and the fuck out of Iowa!
“Thank you,” the former vice president responded, before addressing the others in attendance.
I’m going to put him down as a ‘maybe’.
Heckler: “Leave and get the fuck out of our country and get the fuck out of Iowa!”
— The Recount (@therecount) September 13, 2023
2024 GOP candidate Mike Pence: “Thank you. I’m going to put him down as a maybe.” pic.twitter.com/lMTaeRSwjP
Utah Republican senator Mitt Romney is the sixth incumbent senator to announce plans to retire after the end of the term in 2025, AP reported.
He joins Republican senator Mike Braun of Indiana, as well as Democrats Tom Carper of Delaware, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Dianne Feinstein of California and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.
Romney, who ran as the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee, became the first US senator in history to vote to convict a president of their own party in an impeachment trial. He was the only Republican to vote against Donald Trump in his first impeachment and one of seven to vote to convict him in the second. Romney has also been an outspoken critic of Joe Biden.
Romney’s decision to retire effectively surrenders his senate seat to a GOP successor who could be more closely aligned with Trump and the hardline conservative politics of Utah’s other senator, Mike Lee, Reuters reported.
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Utah senator Mitt Romney, who told the Washington Post he will not be seeking reelection in 2024, also announced his intentions in a video statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Romney, a former Republican presidential candidate and governor of Massachusetts, said it was “time for a new generation of leaders”.
The 76-year-old said:
At the end of another term, I’d be in my mid-80s. Frankly, it’s time for a new generation of leaders. They’re the ones that need to make the decisions that will shape the world they will be living in.
Romney said neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump are leading their parties to confront issues on deficits and debt, and took aim at Trump for calling global warming “a hoax”.
The next generation of leaders must take America to the next stage of global leadership. While I’m not running for re election, I’m not retiring from the fight. I’ll be your United States senator until January of 2025. I will keep working on these and other issues and I’ll advance our state’s numerous priorities. I look forward to working with you and with folks across our state and nation in that endeavour. It really is a profound honour to serve Utah and the country.
My message to Utahns on my Senate reelection plan: pic.twitter.com/kgbsfIxMeR
— Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) September 13, 2023
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In pushing back against House Republicans’ impeachment investigation, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that Joe Biden is giving a major speech on economic policy tomorrow and is focussed on “real issues”, in contrast to what she called the GOP’s “ridiculous attacks” on the US president by alleging he is corrupt when they have “no evidence.”
“We have heard this over and over in their investigation. Even House Republicans have said the evidence does not exist,” Jean-Pierre said.
She added: “The only reason McCarthy [House speaker and Republican congressman Kevin McCarthy] is doing this is because Marjorie Taylor Greene threatened to shut down the government. Can you imagine shutting down the government over a political stunt?” she said, referring to the the extreme rightwing representative from Georgia.
McCarthy is facing an increasingly militant hard-right group including Greene that hopes to stop him supporting the raising of the US debt ceiling in a bipartisan vote that would avoid a government shutdown next month.
“We are talking about vital programs that Americans” rely on, Jean-Pierre said of the specter of a government shutdown, while saying that Florida extremist congressman Matt Gaetz “is threatening to oust him [McCarthy] as speaker.”
Republicans' impeachment investigation of Biden "baseless" - White House
House Republicans’ long-shot attempt to impeach Joe Biden over corruption allegations relating to his son Hunter’s foreign business dealings is “baseless” and a “political stunt,” the White House press secretary just said at the media briefing in Washington, DC, moments ago.
“They have spent all year investigating the president and have turned up no evidence, none, that he did anything wrong,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
She said the “only reason” there were impeachment moves led by Kevin McCarthy was because the House speaker is under pressure from right-wingers among his fellow Republican members of Congress.
“They couldn’t even put it up for a vote because they don’t have the vote,” Jean-Pierre said.
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Romney signals likelihood that Trump will be 2024 nominee
Mitt Romney was critical of fellow Republican Donald Trump, in his interview with the Washington Post in which he announced that he will not seek a second term in the US Senate.
The Utah Senator has staked his reputation on being a moderate Republican and said he did not want Trump to be the party’s nominee for president in the 2024 election and had been working to support an alternative, but added:
That apparently isn’t going to happen.”
Romney noted to the Post that the three candidates from the far right “Maga wing” of the Republican party, Trump, hardline Florida governor Ron DeSantis and extremist and political novice Vivek Ramaswamy have collectively garnered the bulk of the support so far for the nomination, with Trump well out in front (despite four criminal indictments against the former president).
It’s pretty clear that the party is inclined to a populist demagogue message,” he said in the interview.
Romney will not seek second term in US Senate
Utah’s US Senator Mitt Romney, who as the Republican nominee lost the 2012 presidential election to incumbent Barack Obama, has announced that he won’t seek a second term. He told the Washington Post it was time for a new generation to “step up” and “shape the world they’re going to live in”.
Romney twice voted to impeach Donald Trump and the 76-year-old told the Post that he believed a second term, which would take him into his 80s, would be “less productive” than his work now.
More to follow. Here’s the report.
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Jared Bernstein, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, said at the media briefing now underway in the west wing that the White House urges America’s auto workers and companies to “work around the clock” to reach a deal, while refusing to say if Joe Biden supports the idea of a carmakers’ strike.
“The president believes that the autoworkers deserve a contract that sustains middle class jobs,” Bernstein said.
He said that supporting union workers was “pillar one” of “Bidenomics”, the US president’s economic policies emphasizing public investment and tax policies aimed at boosting the middle class, in contrast to Reagan-style trickle down economics, which Bernstein said “does not work”.
The deadline for “the biggest auto strike in generations” is looming for 150,000 US autoworkers, employees at Ford, Stellantis and General Motors are set to walk off the job at 11.59pm on 14 September if tentative agreements for new union contracts aren’t reached by then, the Guardian’s Michael Sainato reports today in this analysis piece.
Bernstein said the White House is hoping that negotiators “stay at the table and work 24/7 to get a win-win agreement” rather than strike action occurring.
He added he had no “read out” on whether there was any talk in bringing the opposing sides to the White House to lubricate talks.
He noted that the Biden administration was closely monitoring the situation and evaluating alternatives to strike action.
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McCarthy questioned over why he wants to skip House vote on Biden impeachment
House speaker Kevin McCarthy tried to evade questions on Wednesday about why he does not intend to hold a floor vote on the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, despite having said just weeks ago that he would not open an official probe without a floor vote.
“To open an impeachment inquiry is a serious matter, and House Republicans would not take it lightly or use it for political purposes. The American people deserve to be heard on this matter through their elected representatives,” McCarthy told Breitbart News on 1 September.
That’s why, if we move forward with an impeachment inquiry, it would occur through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person.
Asked why he had changed his position since the interview, McCarthy responded:
I never changed my position.
Here’s the clip:
Speaker McCarthy gets into back and forth with @mkraju over his flip-flop on starting impeachment inquiry without a House vote:
— The Recount (@therecount) September 13, 2023
Raju: “I’m curious why you changed your position.”
McCarthy: “I never changed my position.”
Raju: “You told Breitbart 12 days ago you’d have a vote.” pic.twitter.com/BCJjWNZ3sF
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Top New Hampshire election official says he will not block Trump from ballot
David Scanlan, New Hampshire’s secretary of state, said there is no legal basis for keeping Donald Trump off the ballot in the state, which will hold the first Republican presidential primary next year.
Scanlan, speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, rejected claims made in lawsuits filed in New Hampshire and elsewhere that Trump is ineligible to run for re-election under section 3 of the 14th amendment, which prohibits those who “engaged in an insurrection or rebellion” against the US constitution from holding higher office, according to an AP report.
Scanlan said:
There is no mention in New Hampshire state statute that a candidate in a new presidential primary can be disqualified using the 14th amendment of the United States constitution referencing insurrection or rebellion.
Similarly, there is nothing in the 14th amendment that suggests that exercising the provisions of that amendment should take place during the delegate selection process held by the different states.
He also raised concerns that an uneven application of the clause in different states could lead to “chaos, confusion, anger and frustration”. He added:
As long as he submits his declaration of candidacy and signs it under the penalties of perjury and pays the $1,000 filing fee, [Donald Trump’s] name will appear on the presidential primary ballot.
Scanlan’s announcement came a day after the Trump campaign sent him a letter signed by a group of Republican state lawmakers urging him to reject what they called “an absurd conspiracy theory”.
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Trump waives right to speedy trial in Georgia election subversion case
Donald Trump has waived his right to seek a speedy trial in the Georgia election subversion case, according to a court filing.
The waiver of a speedy trial came on the heels of a brief filed by the office of Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, that all 19 defendants in the sprawling racketeering case should be tried together starting next month.
The former president’s latest move is in line with efforts he has taken in other cases to delay proceedings until after the November 2024 election.
From Lawfare’s Anna Bower:
New on the Fulton County docket: Trump files waiver of speedy trial rights "in exchange for the severance he previously requested in his motion to sever." pic.twitter.com/InT7Wbfsl0
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) September 13, 2023
House speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to call for a formal impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden came after weeks of pressure from hardline House GOP members, but his decision to bypass a floor vote was designed to protect frontline Republicans from having to publicly cast a vote that could come back to bite them in next year’s election, the Punchbowl News report writes.
The reality for the 58-year-old, nine-term McCarthy is that once he opens an impeachment inquiry, it’s almost guaranteed that House Republicans will impeach Biden.
Remember, a sizable number of Republicans were ready to impeach before the inquiry even began. And once the House has begun the process, not impeaching Biden will look like a validation of the president to many rank-and-file lawmakers. That may be too much for McCarthy to control.
The report says most of the 18 Republicans who represent districts that Biden won in 2020 told them they supported the inquiry.
John Duarte, a California congressman who represents a district Biden won by 11 points, told the outlet:
I think that there’s been enough preliminary work here to absolutely justify going forward with an inquiry. So I think it’s a great middle step. Let’s just get all the facts out and then decide what goes forward from there.
The Republican-led House oversight committee is leading the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, with the House judiciary committee and House ways and means committee playing supporting roles.
The committees are expected to send letters this week requesting Biden family members’ bank records and other documents in a bid to prove corruption allegations relating to the president’s son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, according to Punchbowl News.
The House oversight committee panel’s next steps will be to “pursue Hunter and James Biden’s personal and business bank records” and interview more members of the Biden family, a committee spokesperson told the outlet.
James Comer, who is chair of the House oversight committee, said his investigation will focus on the president’s alleged wrongdoing, while the other two committees will train their focus on the alleged “cover-up”. All these issues will be discussed at a special House GOP meeting on Thursday, according to the report.
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Lauren Boebert’s campaign manager confirmed media reports that the far-right Colorado Republican was escorted out of a performance of the Beetlejuice musical in Denver on Sunday night, for alleged disruptive behaviour.
In a statement to media, Drew Sexton said: “I can confirm the stunning and salacious rumors: in her personal time, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is indeed a supporter of the performing arts (gasp!) and, to the dismay of a select few, enthusiastically enjoyed a weekend performance of Beetlejuice, which the Denver Post itself described as ‘zany’, ‘outrageous’, and a ‘lusty riot’.”
Local media, led by the Colorado Sun, were first to publish an incident report which did not name Boebert but described the incident at the Buell Theatre.
As the Washington Post reports:
Surveillance footage from the theater published by KUSA, an NBC affiliate in Denver, appears to show Boebert and a man being escorted from their seats. In the hall, Boebert is seen rebuking an usher, at one point giving him the middle finger.
As they were being escorted from the premises, according to the incident report, the pair made statements such as: ‘Do you know who I am?’ and ‘I am on the board’ and ‘I will be contacting the mayor.’ Officers with the Denver police department responded to the incident and stayed in the lobby until the pair left the venue, the report says.
The Post adds that “the man did not appear to be her husband, and his identity is unclear”.
Boebert has courted controversy consistently since winning election to Congress in 2020. A narrow winner in her first re-election campaign last year, she is set to face the same Democrat, Adam Frisch, at the polls in 2024.
Sexton added that Boebert “appreciates the Buell Theatre’s strict enforcement of their no photos policy and only wishes the Biden administration could uphold our border laws as thoroughly and vigorously”. He told the Post Boebert had not been vaping during the show.
The congresswoman, Sexton said, recommended the musical but offered constituents “a gentle reminder to leave their phones outside of the venue”.
On Twitter, Boebert said she “did thoroughly enjoy the AMAZING Beetlejuice at the Buell Theatre and I plead guilty to laughing and singing too loud!”
She also asked followers who went to see the show to “please let me know how it ends!”
The trouble for House speaker Kevin McCarthy started in the spring, after the House passed the compromise debt ceiling bill, known as the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
Seventy-one members of the House Republican conference opposed the legislation over concerns that it did not go far enough to reduce government spending, and they sharply criticized McCarthy for agreeing to the inadequate deal.
The speaker has been bracing for a potential shutdown ever since the debt ceiling showdown concluded, Gordon Gray, vice-president for economic policy at the center-right thinktank American Action Forum, told the Guardian. He said:
Since the debt limit grenade was diffused, there’s a big chunk of House Republicans who just want to break something. That’s just how some of these folks define governing. It’s how their constituents define success.
With just 12 legislative days left before the end of the fiscal year, the Republican-controlled House must quickly pass some kind of spending package to keep the federal government open after 30 September. If the chamber does not approve a spending bill, the government will shut down for the first time in nearly five years, furloughing federal employees and stalling many crucial programs.
McCarthy has indicated his preference to pass a continuing resolution, which would keep the government funded at its current levels for a short period of time as lawmakers continue to negotiate over a longer-term deal.
But members of the hard-right House freedom caucus, who are still furious over the deal that McCarthy and President Joe Biden struck to suspend the debt ceiling earlier this year, insist they will not back a continuing resolution unless the speaker agrees to several significant policy concessions, such as increased border security and an impeachment inquiry into Biden.
Kevin McCarthy faces threat to oust him as speaker despite impeachment move
The speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, faces a significant leadership test ahead of a looming government shutdown and despite giving ultraconservative Republicans the Biden impeachment inquiry they wanted.
By announcing the inquiry, McCarthy conceded to weeks of pressure from hardline House GOP members and sidestepped as many as 20 Republican House members opposed to the action by avoiding a floor vote, according to Reuters.
But even after the announcement, the Republican Florida congressman Matt Gaetz threatened to oust McCarthy under the terms of a deal he agreed to become speaker. Under those terms, any one member of the chamber can force a vote on removing the speaker. Given House Republicans’ narrow majority and this new motion, McCarthy faces losing his gavel after just eight months in power.
On Tuesday, Gaetz outlined a series of demands in a speech on the House floor, including calling for passage of individual spending bills and not a short-term stopgap measure to fund the government, CNN reported. Addressing McCarthy directly, he said:
The path forward for the House of Representatives is to either bring you into immediate, total compliance or remove you.
The firebrand congressman warned there could be multiple votes to remove McCarthy as speaker.
If we have to begin every single day in Congress with the prayer, the pledge and the motion to vacate then so be it.
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign moved to use the impeachment inquiry into a fundraising opportunity in an email urging supporters to “show that you’re standing with the president”.
The fundraising email on Wednesday – the Biden’s campaign first since House speaker Kevin McCarthy launched the inquiry yesterday – was sent to supporters in vice president Kamala Harris’ name. It says:
Kevin McCarthy, Marjorie Taylor Greene and MAGA Republicans just launched a beyond ridiculous impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
It’s clear: They’re going to throw everything they have at Joe, because they know they can’t run against our record. If you’re waiting for a moment to show your support for him, trust me when I say: This is it.
The Democratic congressional campaign committee sent out a similar email on Tuesday evening, writing:
This MAGA Majority needs to be DEFEATED.
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White House urges media to ramp up scrutiny of Biden impeachment inquiry
The White House sent a letter to US news outlets, urging them to “scrutinize House Republicans’ demonstrably false claims” surrounding their impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.
The memo, which was sent by Ian Sams, the White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, and addressed to editorial leadership at media organizations. It says:
It’s time for the media to ramp up its scrutiny of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies.
It was sent after the speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, announced he had ordered a formal impeachment inquiry into the president’s unproven corruption allegations relating to his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.
The inquiry has no supporting evidence, which “should set off alarm bells for news organizations”, Sams argued in the memo.
Covering impeachment as a process story – Republicans say X, but the White House says Y – is a disservice to the American public who relies on the independent press to hold those in power accountable.
He added:
In the modern media environment, where every day liars and hucksters peddle disinformation and lies everywhere from Facebook to Fox, process stories that fail to unpack the illegitimacy of the claims on which House Republicans are basing all their actions only serve to generate confusion, put false premises in people’s feeds, and obscure the truth.
Republicans have sought to directly connect Hunter Biden’s financial dealings to his father, but have so far failed to produce evidence that the president directly participated in his son’s work.
Husband of Alaska congresswoman Mary Peltola dies in plane crash
Eugene Peltola Jr, the husband of the Democratic Alaska congresswoman Mary Sattler Peltola, has died in a plane accident, a spokesperson said.
“We are devastated to share that Mary’s husband, Eugene Peltola Jr – ‘Buzzy’ to all of us who knew and loved him – passed away earlier this morning following a plane accident in Alaska,” said a statement from Anton McParland, the congresswoman’s chief of staff.
“He was one of those people that was obnoxiously good at everything. He had a delightful sense of humor that lightened the darkest moments. He was definitely the cook in the family. And family was most important to him. He was completely devoted to his parents, kids, siblings, extended family, and friends – and he simply adored Mary. We are heartbroken for the family’s loss.”
Mary Sattler Peltola became the first Alaska Native in Congress when she won her seat in the US House in a special election and then in the 2022 midterms, twice defeating the former governor and Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
McParland said: “Mary is returning home to be with their family, and we ask that their privacy be respected during this time. Our team will continue to meet with constituents and carry on the work of the office while Mary and her family grieve.”
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The language in US district judge Aileen Cannon’s court order pertaining to classified evidence in Donald Trump’s classified documents case is surprisingly close to the government case against the former president, according to Politico’s Kyle Cheney.
This seems like a problem for Trump’s defense, given the breadth of what the government considers classified, Josh Gerstein also of Politico writes, pointing to the order that says “the defense shall discuss classified information only within the Scif (sensitive compartmented information facility) or in an area authorized by the Ciso”.
This seems like a problem for Trump's defense, given the breadth of what the government considers classified, unless the CISO is going to bless Trump offices, lawyers office or Mar-a-Lago as such a place. https://t.co/9npJFmvaBP pic.twitter.com/tFfSe9hAah
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) September 13, 2023
Trump must review evidence in classified documents case in secure location - court filing
Donald Trump and his lawyers may only review classified evidence in a secure place as he prepares for a criminal trial over his handling of classified documents after he left office in 2021, according to a court filing.
In July, the government filed a motion for a proposed protective order pursuant to section 3 of the Classified Information Procedures Act (Cipa) “to prevent the unauthorized use, disclosure or dissemination of classified national security information and documents that will be reviewed by or made available to, or are otherwise in the possession of, Defendant and defense counsel.”
After a sealed hearing on Tuesday, US district judge Aileen Cannon granted the government’s motion.
Trump had opposed strict security protocols for the classified evidence as inconvenient, saying he and his lawyers should be able to review them in his office at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, Reuters reports. Prosecutors had argued it would be inappropriate for Trump to review classified documents at the very location where is accused of illegally and haphazardly storing them.
The order by Judge Cannon requires Trump and his lawyers to review and discuss all classified evidence in a so-called sensitive compartmented information facility, or Scif.
US district judge Aileen Cannon has issued a protective order governing classified evidence in the classified documents case against Donald Trump, according to a court filing.
The Classified Information Procedures Act, or Cipa, section 3 order means the justice department can begin producing classified discovery to Trump’s legal team. Trump’s lawyers may challenge the conditions of the protective order, including by asking Cannon for an exemption – potentially to extend access to the former president himself.
Once the Cipa section 3 protective order is settled, the justice department can file a Cipa section 4 motion, my colleague Hugo Lowell explains.
Once the CIPA Section 3 protective order is settled, DOJ can file a CIPA Section 4 motion asking to redact the classified docs for use at trial or to substitute the docs for unclassified summaries. Explainer via @guardian https://t.co/U91f9C36Id
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) September 13, 2023
Section 4 stipulates that Cannon can authorize the government to “delete specified items of classified information from documents to be made available to the defendant through discovery” or to substitute the classified documents for “unclassified summaries” of the material.
It is unclear whether the government will file a section 4 motion. But if it does, that could prompt a challenge from the Trump legal team. If Cannon then agrees that Trump can have all the discoverable documents without restrictions, the government may seek an interlocutory appeal.
Updated
The US district judge Steve Jones has denied former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ request for an emergency stay of a ruling that sent his Georgia 2020 election interference case back to state court.
Meadows had asked Jones to pause his ruling pending an appeal to the US court of appeals for the 11th circuit, after the judge denied his initial effort to transfer his case from state to federal court on the basis that some of the charged conduct was within the scope of his official duties.
The latest ruling means the prosecution of Meadows brought by the Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis will stay in superior court in Atlanta.
Meadows faces two felony charges, including racketeering and solicitation of a violation of oath by a public officer. He has sought to remove the case to federal court arguing that the charges related to his normal work undertaken as a White House chief of staff, which gave him immunity from prosecution and prevented him from being prosecuted at the state level.
Updated
Judge denies Mark Meadows' request in Georgia election interference case
Former Trump White House chief Mark Meadows’s request for an emergency stay of the order sending his criminal case back to Fulton county superior court, while he appeals to the 11th circuit, has been denied by a federal judge.
Just in: Former Trump White House chief Mark Meadows’s request for an emergency stay of the order sending his criminal case back to Fulton County superior court, while he appeals to the 11th Circuit, has been DENIED by a federal judge https://t.co/rZDjDIgwae
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) September 13, 2023
Updated
Judge issues protective order in Trump classified documents case
The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s classified documents case issued a protective order pertaining to classified evidence in the case, according a court filing.
The US district court judge Aileen Cannon ruled:
If there is any question whether information is classified, the defense must handle that information as though it is classified unless counsel for the government or the CISO confirms that it is not classified.
From my colleague Hugo Lowell:
New: US judge Aileen Cannon overseeing the Trump classified docs case has issued the CIPA Section 3 protective order — meaning DOJ can finally start producing classified discovery to Trump’s lawyers. But Trump can challenge the protective order and delay. https://t.co/ROKqHEQGQU
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) September 13, 2023
Updated
Donald Trump’s behind-the-scenes lobbying of prominent House Republicans, including Elise Stefanik, and members of the hard right of the party including Marjorie Taylor Greene, tallies with his increasingly shrill public calls for impeachment.
The twice impeached former president posted on Truth Social last month:
Either IMPEACH the BUM, or fade into OBLIVION. THEY DID IT TO US.
Trump was impeached first for seeking dirt on opponents in Ukraine, then for inciting the deadly attack on Congress on 6 January 2021. Retaining sufficient Republican support in the Senate, he was acquitted both times.
James Comer, the chair of the House oversight committee who has led the Republican charge for an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, spent “eight months of abject failure” in trying to prove the US president guilty of wrongdoing, according to a watchdog report published on Monday.
Comer has been leading an aggressive investigation into unsubstantiated claims that Biden was involved in his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business affairs during his time as vice-president. But the report by the Congressional Integrity Project, which monitors the Republican investigations, says Comer repeatedly overhyped allegations of bribery and corruption against Biden without once producing hard evidence. The report says:
After months of political stunts, dozens of hearings, transcribed interviews, and memos, and despite hours on Fox peddling conspiracy theories, Comer and his Maga crew have failed to find a single shred of evidence linking President Biden to any of their lurid accusations.
Donald Trump thanked House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik for publicly backing the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden in July in one of their weekly phone calls, according to the NYT report.
Despite his eagerness to see an inquiry move forward, Trump has not been twisting House speaker Kevin McCarthy’s arm, a source told the paper.
Mr. Trump has been far more aggressive in pushing several members to wipe his own impeachment record clean, the person said, potentially by getting Congress to take the unprecedented step of expunging his two impeachments from the House record.
Trump spoke with leading House GOP member Elise Stefanik shortly before impeachment announcement
Donald Trump has been weighing in behind the scenes in support of the House GOP push to impeach Joe Biden, including talking with House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik, the third-ranking House Republican, shortly before House speaker Kevin McCarthy announced Republicans would be pursuing the inquiry.
Trump has been speaking weekly with Stefanik, who was the first member of the Republican leadership to come out in support of impeachment, according to a Politico report. Stefanik confirmed she had spoken with Trump on Tuesday, telling reporters:
I speak to President Trump a lot. I spoke to him today.
Stefanik, who has been floated as a potential running mate for Trump in his 2024 presidential bid, added that she believes the Biden family’s business dealings are “the biggest political corruption scandal of our lifetime”.
The Politico report writes:
The extent of [Trump’s] private involvement in encouraging House Republicans to plow forward with the process shows the influence he continues to wield inside the party as its likely presidential nominee.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right congresswoman who dined with Donald Trump two days before Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced a formal impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, told reporters on Tuesday she wanted to see “a very deep dive” “no matter how long it takes”.
Greene, who has been pushing for the inquiry since the GOP took control of the House in January, said the inquiry “may take months and months”. Speaking after McCarthy’s announcement, she said:
It may go all the way to the November election. But what we need to do is we need to investigate Joe Biden. But we also need to investigate the web of people that exist in our federal agencies, the FBI, the DOJ, the CIA, and many others, serving not only in this administration, the former administration and the one before it, maybe even further, we need to find the people that have covered up Joe Biden’s crimes and all of the Biden family’s corruption.
A New York Times report published this morning says Greene dined with Trump on Sunday night at his Bedminister club, where she told the paper she laid out her plan for a “long and excruciatingly painful” impeachment inquiry into Biden.
Trump dined with Marjorie Taylor Greene to plot 'excruciatingly painful' Biden impeachment - report
Donald Trump has privately and publicly pushed for an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, including weekly telephone calls with the chair of the House GOP conference, Elise Stefanik, and dinner with the far-right congresswoman from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene, at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, according to a New York Times report published today.
Greene, a conspiracy theorist and Trump ally, confirmed to the paper that she dined with the former president on Sunday night, and that the pair discussed the push by House Republicans to impeach Trump’s likely opponent in the 2024 presidential election.
Greene, who has introduced articles of impeachment against Biden, said she laid out her impeachment strategy at the dinner, telling Trump she wanted the inquiry to be “long and excruciatingly painful for Joe Biden”.
The dinner took place just two nights before the speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, under intense pressure from his right flank, announced his decision to order a formal impeachment inquiry into the president. Trump has spoken regularly with members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and other congressional Republicans who pushed for impeachment, according to the report.
Just earlier this month, House speaker Kevin McCarthy said he would not move forward with an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden without a floor vote.
In an interview with Breitbart published on 1 September, McCarthy made clear that the move would come not as an announcement from him or anyone else, but from a formal vote on the floor of the House. He said:
To open an impeachment inquiry is a serious matter, and House Republicans would not take it lightly or use it for political purposes. The American people deserve to be heard on this matter through their elected representatives.
That’s why, if we move forward with an impeachment inquiry, it would occur through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person.
In 2019, McCarthy posted a tweet warning his predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, that she could not call on an impeachment probe against Donald Trump without a House vote. “Speaker Pelosi can’t decide on impeachment unilaterally. It requires a full vote of the House of Representatives,” McCarthy wrote.
Here are the facts:
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) September 24, 2019
1. Speaker Pelosi can't decide on impeachment unilaterally. It requires a full vote of the House of Representatives.
2. The House has voted three times on articles of impeachment. Each vote failed.
3. For Dems, this is all about politics. Not about facts.
He now appears to have changed his mind.
Trump 'privately encouraged House GOP members to impeach Biden'
Good morning, US politics blog readers. The speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, on Tuesday announced that Republicans would open an impeachment investigation into Joe Biden over unproven allegations of corruption in his family’s business dealings.
In a statement, McCarthy said the House investigations into the Biden family this year uncovered a “culture of corruption” that demands deeper review. But it is unclear if the Republican party has the evidence to substantiate the long-running claims, or even the votes for impeachment.
In response, White House spokesperson Ian Sams described McCarthy’s move as “extreme politics at its worst”, while a spokesperson for the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign said the House speaker has “cemented his role as the Trump campaign’s super-surrogate by turning the House of Representatives into an arm of his presidential campaign”.
Since gaining the House majority in January, House GOP members have aggressively investigated the president and his son, Hunter Biden, over allegations that echo those that Donald Trump has made for years against Biden and his family.
Trump has talked regularly with members of the House Freedom Caucus and other congressional Republicans who pushed for a Biden impeachment inquiry, according to a New York Times report published this morning. The former president dined with the far-right congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said she told Trump she wanted the impeachment inquiry to be “long and excruciatingly painful for Joe Biden”. A Politico report on Tuesday wrote that the former president has been speaking on a weekly basis with House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik, who was the first member of Republican leadership to come out in support of impeachment.
Here’s what else we’re watching today:
8.30am Eastern time: August consumer price index date released by the bureau of labor statistics.
10am: House majority whip Tom Emmer, House Republican conference chair Elise Stefanik, House oversight chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and congressman Ken Calvert will speak to reporters after the GOP conference meeting.
10.45am House Democratic caucus chair Peter Aguilar and vice-chair Ted Lieu will speak to reporters after their closed-party meeting.
1pm: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein will brief reporters.
2.30pm: President Joe Biden will hold a meeting of his “cancer cabinet”.
