End of day summary
It’s been a lively day in Washington. Here’s where things stand.
- Joe Biden is headed to Camp David after a busy day that began at the White House, where he announced that the US would move to revoke Russia’s “most favored nation” trading status, in coordination with allies. Ending normal trade relations will “make it harder for Russia to business with the United States”. The US also banned the import of Russian seafood, alcohol and diamonds.
- In Philadelphia, Biden told House Democrats that this November’s mid-term elections are the “most important in modern history”, and urged them to make the economic case to voters in plain, simple language. He then visited an elementary school to mark the one-year anniversary of the American Rescue Plan.
- The president also warned that Russia would “pay a severe price” if it used chemical weapons against Ukraine. The White House declined to elaborate on what such a response might look like.
- The US Treasury Department has unveiled new sanctions targeting “Kremlin elites, oligarchs, and Russia’s political and national security leaders” as part of its coordinated effort to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
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Vice president Kamala Harris, speaking in Romania at the end of her high-profile trip there and to Poland, both fellow Nato members, said the military alliance is “ironclad” in its commitment to defend its territory.
Thank you for following along with us. Please follow our in-depth, around the clock global liveblog for all the latest on the war in Ukraine.
The US Treasury Department announced a new round of sanctions targeting “Kremlin elites, oligarchs, and Russia’s political and national security leaders.”
The new sanctions target the wife and adult children of Putin’s spokesman, Dmitriy Sergeevich Peskov; Russian tycoon and “Kremlin insider” Viktor Vekselberg; and 10 members of the management board of Russia’s second largest bank, VTB Bank. The list also includes 12 members of the Russian state Duma, including Vyacheslav Victorovich Volodin, who is also a permanent member of Russia’s Security Council.
“Treasury continues to hold Russian officials to account for enabling Putin’s unjustified and unprovoked war,” Treasury secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. “Today’s actions also further isolates the severely damaged Russian economy by prohibiting trade in products that are key to the economic and financial interests of all Russian elites.”
State department spokesman Ned Price denounced Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, for downplaying the strike on a maternity hospital during a security council meeting convened by Moscow earlier today.
“This was a brutal strike against a maternity hospital that killed innocent Ukrainians,” he said.
State Deptartment spokesperson Ned Price calls out Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya for peddling misinformation at the Security Council:
— The Recount (@therecount) March 11, 2022
“This was a brutal strike against a maternity hospital that killed innocent Ukrainians.” pic.twitter.com/W38FHUNxNV
The Senate confirmed George Tsunis to be the US ambassador to Greece on Friday.
The #Senate confirmed by voice vote: Executive Calendar #782 George J. Tsunis to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Greece.
— Senate Press Gallery (@SenatePress) March 11, 2022
Earlier this year, The Guardian’s David Smith wrote about Biden’s nomination of Tsunis, a hotel developer and Democratic donor with no diplomatic experience. Tsunis was previously nominated by Obama to be the ambassador to Norway. It did not go well, per Smith’s report.
On that occasion Tsunis was Barack Obama’s nominee for ambassador to Norway. Bumbling and ill-prepared, he admitted that he had never been to Norway and referred to the country as having a president when, as a constitutional monarchy, it does not.
At an Oval Office meeting with the then Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, in 2017, Donald Trump asked his national security adviser if US troops were in Donbas, territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists, which Vladimir Putin last month used as pretext for a full and bloody invasion.
Describing the meeting in a new book, the then US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, writes: “An affirmative answer to that question would have meant that the United States was in a shooting war with Russia.”
Yovanovitch adds: “I pondered whether it was better to interpret Trump’s question as suggesting that the commander-in-chief thought it possible that US troops were fighting Russia-led forces, or instead as an indicator that the president wasn’t clear which country was on the other side of the war against Ukraine.
“Either way, it was disconcerting that he did not seem to know where we had our troops – his troops – deployed. I could only imagine what the Ukrainians were thinking.”
Trump fired Yovanovitch in 2019, amid attempts to withhold military aid to Ukraine in return for political dirt on Joe Biden and other rivals, an affair which fueled Trump’s first impeachment.
Yovanovitch describes the Trump-Poroshenko meeting in Lessons from the Edge: A Memoir, which will be published on Tuesday. The Guardian obtained a copy.
Full story:
The justice department is sifting through a mountain of evidence from social media and body cameras as officials prosecute cases involving the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
The expansive scope of potential evidence has caused January 6 cases to move significantly slower than many expected, and it has created an opening for Republicans to criticize federal prosecutors’ handling of the situation.
The LA Times reports:
Some judges are getting antsy about how slow the cases are moving. And some Republican politicians have used the delays to criticize the Biden administration’s handling of the cases, saying it is time to wrap up the investigations and move on, an argument that could get louder if the party regains control of Congress next year.
U.S. attorneys are under immense pressure to successfully prosecute as many of these cases as possible and don’t want to risk defendants getting off on a technicality because they weren’t given all the evidence against them, or worse, evidence that could clear them.
At this rate it may take years to prosecute all the cases. The Justice Department continues to announce indictments nearly weekly. And is still trying to identify at least 350 more people.
As a result, 14 months after rioters brawled with police, resulting in several deaths and scores of injuries, caused millions of dollars of damage and disrupted the certification of President Biden’s victory, only one Jan. 6 defendant, Guy Reffitt, has faced a jury. Reffitt, a member of the Texas Three Percenter militia group, was found guilty on all counts Tuesday, including obstruction of an official proceeding and carrying a firearm while being unlawfully on Capitol grounds.
Read the LA Times’ full report on the collection of evidence in January 6 cases here.
A Capitol rioter who pushed a police officer off a ledge during the deadly January 6 riots has been arrested by the FBI after authorities identified him through a photo from a sea turtle fundraiser.
Authorities arrested Ralph Joseph Celentano III, 54, in Broad Channel, Queens on Wednesday and charged him with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, civil disorder, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, and related offenses, the Washington Post reported.
According to court documents, Celentano was captured by security cameras wearing a backpack with a Donald Trump flag and a folding chair affixed to it. He approached a Capitol police officer from behind and launched at him in a “football-type tackle,” causing the officer to fall over a ledge and onto a terrace below.
The officer, an Iraq war veteran, said he was “blind-sided” and recalled thinking, “I didn’t survive a war to go out like this.”
Investigators were able to identify Celentano after they received a tip with a picture of him and a group of people that was posted on the Jenny Albert Sea Turtle Foundation Facebook page.
A volunteer at the foundation confirmed Celentano’s identity and another person, who has been friends with Celentano for more than 13 years, also confirmed his identity.
Since the riots, over 775 individuals have been arrested across the country for crimes related to the break of the US Capitol, with over 245 being charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
Joe Biden traveled to Philadelphia today to speak with House Democrats, who are wrapping up a two-day retreat in the city.
Punchbowl News has details on what Biden told lawmakers behind closed doors:
Biden said Covid has interrupted politicians’ ability to communicate. He said constituents want to look you in the eye. Biden called himself a ‘rope line guy’ and told lawmakers that people want to get a feel for you.
Biden also said that, when he travels, he sees signs that say ‘Fuck you Biden’ and kids give him the finger. He said ‘you guys probably don’t get that kind of response.’ Speaker Nancy Pelosi said ‘I do’ to laughter.
Biden also told House Democrats that he has spoken to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, almost every day since the start of the Russian invasion.
Biden spoke to Zelenskiy today to update him on “the actions the United States is taking today in coordination with the G7 and the EU to further raise the costs on Russia,” according to the White House’s readout of the conversation.
Joe Biden met with students at Honorable Luis Muñoz-Marín Elementary School in Philadelphia as he promoted the benefits of the American Rescue Plan.
The elementary school students constructed a sign saying “Welcome Mr President!” to greet Biden upon his arrival this afternoon:
.@POTUS meets with students in Philadelphia pic.twitter.com/xtj7IwUXHX
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) March 11, 2022
According to the press pool, the president is hearing from school officials about the afterschool arts programs that have been launched using funds from the coronavirus relief package.
Biden is joined at the school by Miguel Cardona, the secretary of education, and Tom Wolf, the governor of Pennsylvania, among others.
Updated
Joe Biden has now arrived at Honorable Luis Muñoz-Marín Elementary School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the president marks one year since he signed the coronavirus relief bill into law.
In a memo shared with the press pool, the White House noted that the elementary school is a Title I, dual-language (English and Spanish) school with about 600 students enrolled from prekindergarten through eighth grade.
“The Hon. Luis Muñoz-Marín Elementary School has deployed American Rescue Plan funding for a number of purposes aligned with the President’s call to action in his State of the Union address and Unity Agenda to hire more school staff, provide tutoring, and address student mental health,” the White House said.
“As a result of additional funds provided through the American Rescue Plan, the school has been able to launch afterschool enrichment programs that it says have improved the school’s culture and supported student mental health, paid teachers to provide reading interventions after school for students that have experienced the most learning loss as a result of the pandemic, and hired coaches for their teachers, which the school has said resulted in teachers improving their instruction more quickly.”
News is coming through that the Walt Disney Co is pausing all political donations in Florida.
And, starting immediately, Reuters notes, the company said it is increasing support for advocacy groups to combat legislation in other states that is discriminatory to LGBTQ+ people.
The Republican-dominated Florida legislature passed a bill on Tuesday which would forbid instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, rejecting a wave of criticism from Democrats that it marginalizes LGBTQ+ people.
The proposal, which opponents have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, now moves to the desk of the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it into law.
Since its inception, the measure has drawn intense opposition from LGBTQ+ advocates, students, Democrats, the White House and the entertainment industry, amid increased attention on Florida as Republicans push culture war legislation and DeSantis ascends in the GOP as a potential presidential candidate.
Of course, Disney has its humungous business Disney World in Orlando, Florida, a destination for millions of tourists - including a gazillion gay ones - from the US and the whole world.
Meanwhile, Georgia lawmakers are trying to pass a similar bill that would ban discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation in private schools, introducing the measure. As are some other states.
Texas court deals fresh blow to abortion rights
Texas abortion providers conceded a final blow to their best hope of stopping the nation’s most restrictive abortion law after a new ruling ended what little path forward the US Supreme Court had left for clinics.
The decision by the Texas Supreme Court, which is entirely controlled by Republicans, spelled the coming end to a federal lawsuit that abortion clinics filed even before the restrictions took effect in September, but were then rejected at nearly every turn afterward.
“There is nothing left, this case is effectively over with respect to our challenge to the abortion ban,” said Marc Hearron, attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which led the challenge against the Texas law known as Senate Bill 8 (SB8), the Associated Press reports.
The AP continues:
Although Texas abortion clinics are not dropping the lawsuit, they now expect it will be dismissed in the coming weeks or months.
The Texas law bans abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy and makes no exceptions in cases of rape or incest. Abortions in Texas have plummeted by more than 50% since the law took effect.
It is likely to further embolden other Republican-controlled states that are now pressing forward with similar laws, including neighboring Oklahoma, where many Texas women have crossed state lines to get an abortion for the past six months.
The Republican-controlled Oklahoma Senate on Thursday approved a half-dozen anti-abortion measures, including a Texas-style ban.
The decision by the Texas Supreme Court turned on whether medical licensing officials had an enforcement role under the law known as Senate Bill 8, and therefore, could be sued by clinics that are reaching for any possible way to halt the restrictions.
But writing for the court, Justice Jeffrey Boyd said those state officials have no enforcement authority, “either directly or indirectly.”
Texas abortion providers did not immediately comment on the ruling but had already acknowledged they were running out of options and that the law would stay in place for the foreseeable future.
The U.S. Supreme Court has signaled in a separate case out of Mississippi that it would roll back abortion rights, and possibly overturn its landmark Roe v. Wade decision, in a ruling that is expected later this year.
Texas’s highly restrictive abortion law has forced thousands of women to cross state lines to seek the procedure, according to new research by the University of Texas, the Guardian reported earlier this week.
Interim summary
Hello again to all our US politics live blog readers, it’s been a busy day so far and more to come.
Joe Biden has just wrapped up an address to a gathering of the House Democrats, in Philadelphia, with much talk of Ukraine but also of coming elections.
If you would like to follow our global, in-depth, round-the-clock live blog on the Ukraine crisis, please click here. We’ll also continue to bring you Ukraine-related US news in this blog, too.
Here’s where things stand.
- Joe Biden told House Democrats that this November’s mid-term elections are the “most important in modern history”, as the Democrats’ triumvirate of control of the House, Senate and White House is under threat on Capitol Hill.
- The president warned that Russia would “pay a severe price” if it used chemical weapons against Ukraine.
- The US is moving to revoke Russia’s “most favored nation” trading status, in coordination with allies. Ending normal trade relations will “make it harder for Russia to business with the United States”, Biden said.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered all assistance from Congress to pass legislation codifying the revocation of normal trade status for Russia.
- Vice president Kamala Harris, speaking in Romania at the end of her high-profile trip there and to Poland, both fellow Nato members, said the military alliance is “ironclad” in its commitment to defend its territory.
The US ambassador to Nato, Julianne Smith, has been talking at a Washington Post Live event about Russia’s allegations of Ukrainian biological weapons.
She made counter-claims about Russia’s biological weapons, but in mentioning Alexei Navalny and Syria, she appears to be referring to chemical weapons rather than biological agents.
This is what she said: “What we’ve seen over the years is that Russia is actually the country that is the one that relies on biological weapons. We’ve seen them rely on biological weapons as it relates to attempted assassinations. You could think of Navalny, in particular, but others. You could look at what they did and how they operated in Syria, which was horrifying- their reliance on these types of weapons are in direct violation of international law. So yes, we are worried when we hear them making these accusations. Sometimes what they do is they accuse us of something that they’re about to do themselves- and to use that as a pretext for some sort of other attack on their part.”
Updated
Biden is now offering a lengthy explanation for rising gas prices, an issue that Republicans have used to hammer Democrats ahead of the midterms. The culprits, he said, were the coronavirus and Vladimir Putin, not Democrats’ spending.
He highlighted fact-checks and an op-ed accusing Republicans of hypocrisy for pushing Biden to ban Russian oil imports while attacking him for rising fuel costs.
“Democrats didn’t cause this problem, Vladimir Putin did,” he said.
While fighting to bring down the cost of gas, Biden said Democrats can “save people a lot of money” by bringing down the costs of childcare, prescription drugs and senior care.
“There’s no one way to increase the standard of living,” he said.
Biden is now sharpening his attacks on Republicans, a rhetorical pivot many Democrats have been waiting for.
“On this anniversary of the American Rescue Plan, let’s be clear,” Biden said. “We did it alone – without one single, solitary Republican vote.”
“The American economy was flat on its back, it was the Democrats – it was you that – brought us back,” Biden said, drawing a big applause.
Biden then praised passage of the Infrastructure law. In a notable shift, Biden, who has long touted the bipartisan support for the law, joked with Democrats that only a handful of Republicans in the House supported the measure but many more are eager to take credit for the public works projects in their districts.
How many House Republicans backed the infrastructure bill, Biden asked. “13, 14 or something? I mean c’mon, I was happy for them, don’t get me wrong,” he said, as members shouted 13.
He continued: “Have you noticed that every new bridge, every trench dug to take out lead pipes ... there’s a Republican standing there saying, ‘This is a great thing. Wonderful. We did it!”
Biden to House Democrats: November midterms are the 'most important in modern history'
Biden opened his remarks to House Democrats with a joke about having attending many such retreats himself and knows that when the “last speaker’s up you want to get the hell out of here no matter who it is.”
Getting serious, Biden sought to lay out the stakes this November, saying that the midterm elections may be “the most important in modern history.” He said the stakes were high and Democrats had much left to do.
If Democrats lose their majorities,” Biden said. “the only thing i’ll have then is the veto pen.”
Acknowledging tensions between House Democratic leaders and the White House over the response to Russia, Biden thanked members for their patience and said it gave him time to unify the US allies behind the latest efforts to punish Putin. Biden told them that he had just spoken to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy for nearly an hour, as he does almost daily.
He covered familiar territory – vowing to support Ukraine with weapons and humanitarian aid. He said the US would welcome refugees and that the US would not fight a war with Russia in Ukraine, but would defend Nato territory.
Then he moved to more domestic matters, touting the administration’s achievements combatting the pandemic and the impact of the American Rescue Plan, which Congress passed exactly one year ago today.
“It didn’t cause the inflation,” Biden said, rejecting a Republican attack line. “Look, there’s more to the story than that.”
Updated
Here’s the latest on Pamela Moses, from the Guardian’s own Sam Levine, whose incredible and dogged reporting that uncovered new information in a case that helped draw attention to the racial disparity between white and Black defendants when it comes to election crimes.
Attorneys for Pamela Moses, the Memphis woman who was granted a retrial after being sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register to vote, demanded that a local prosecutor drop the case against her.
“Ms Moses should not have to sit for another trial at all. You have the evidence that was there to show you there was no fraud done,” Rodney Diggs, one of her attorneys, said at a press conference in Memphis on Friday. If the local district attorney, Amy Weirich, decides to move forward with the case, Moses’ lawyers said she should recuse herself and appoint a special prosecutor.
Moses was sentenced to six years in prison in January after she tried to register to vote in 2019 while on probation for a felony. Even though Moses said she believed she had completed probation, prosecutors said she knew she had not and convinced a probation officer to sign off on a form saying she was eligible to vote.
A new document, obtained by the Guardian last month, significantly undermined that argument. It showed an internal investigation from the probation office concluded that the probation officer made a good-faith mistake in signing off on Moses’ voting eligibility and was negligent. The judge overseeing the case said the document should have been turned over to Moses’ legal team during the trial, which was part of why he ordered a retrial.
Read more:
The Russian ambassador to UN, Vasily Nebenzya, has been presenting the Kremlin’s allegations that Ukraine and the US had a plot to spread biological weapons with migratory birds, bats and insects. Nebenzya issued a chilling warning to Eastern Europe that biological agents could spread across Ukraine’s borders.
“We call upon you to think about a very real biological danger to the people in European countries, which can result from an uncontrolled spread of bio agents from Ukraine,” the Russian ambassador said. “And if there is a such a scenario then all Europe will be covered.”
“The risk of this is very real given the interests of the radical nationalist groups in Ukraine are showing towards the work with dangerous pathogens conducted together with the ministry of defence of the United States”.
After Nebenzya spoke, Albania, the US and France have voiced alarm that the allegations may be an advance cover story for Russian plans to unleash chemical or biological weapons.
US ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield said: “The intent behind these lies seem clear and it is deeply troubling. We believe Russia could use chemical or biological agents for assassinations as part of a false flag incident or to support tactical military operations.”
The UN security council hearing is underway. We have this dispatch from our world affairs editor, Julian Borger.
The UN security council is holding a hearing called for by Russia to make its allegations about a Ukrainian biological weapons lab.
The UN high commissioner for disarmament, Izumi Nakamitsu, has been speaking before the Russians: “The United Nations is not aware of any biological weapons programs. That is largely thanks to the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, which prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling, and use of biological and toxin weapons.”
Nakamitsu said that unlike chemical weapons, there is no independent verification regime for biological weapons, and monitoring is left to state parties, but she said there was a mechanism for those state parties to raise their concerns.
Bates only took one question before he was interrupted by the pilot asking passengers to take their seats. Shortly thereafter the feed your live-blogger was using to follow the mid-flight briefing cut out.
Asked to elaborate on what consequences Russia could face if it used chemical weapons against Ukraine, Bates deferred to the president’s remarks and said the “meaning was unmistakable”.
He said the US was taking part in today’s UN Security Council session so that it could “forcefully debunk” Russia’s claims that Ukraine was operating a biological weapons program and to “further call Putin out, as we have during this entire episode successfully at each juncture, where we have reason to believe they are trying to fabricate another false justification for more violence.”
“The truth is,” Bates said, “Russia is the only country in this equation with a chemical and biological weapons program in violation of international law.”
He also said there were “strong indications” that Russia was committing war crimes.
“If Russia is intentionally targeting civilians, that would be a war crime,” Bates said, noting that the attacks on apartment complexes, a maternity hospital and evacuation corridors have resulted in rising civilian deaths. “Evidence is mounting, and we are documenting it as as it takes place. There are strong indications that this is occurring and that the heinous way Russia is prosecuting this war will result in war crimes.”
Updated
This afternoon, after Biden addresses House Democrats at their retreat in Philadelphia, he will visit a majority-Hispanic elementary school to mark the one-year anniversary of the American Rescue Plan. There he will discuss how the pandemic aid helped schools across the country re-open and to help address the long-term impact the pandemic has had on students in terms of both learning and mental health.
Biden will also speak directly from the students, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told reporters aboard Air Force One, previewing the visit to Philadelphia.
He also highlighted bipartisan praise for Biden’s supreme court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, who completed a second week of meetings with senators ahead of her confirmation hearings later this month.
Bates said Biden would sign a short-term continuing resolution to keep the government open until the bipartisan funding bill is ready to be signed next week.
He added that the White House intends to hold an event next week commemorating women’s history month and that there was a “decent bet” it would celebrate St. Patrick’s day on Thursday.
Updated
This blog is largely focused on US-related Ukraine news and general US politics. If you’d like to read more about the war in Ukraine, I would invite you to follow the Guardian’s global liveblog, which is providing around the clock coverage sourced from our reporters around the world.
Biden: Russia would pay a 'severe price' for use of chemical weapons
At the end of his remarks, Biden took one question from a reporter who asked about the intelligence underpinning the US’ claims that Russia may be preparing to use chemical weapons and whether that would warrant a military response.
Biden declined to comment on the intelligence, and said only that Russia would “pay a severe price” if it used chemical weapons against Ukraine.
The US and Britain have warned that Russia may be creating a pretext to use chemical weapons by making “false flag claims” about a biological weapons program operating inside Ukraine.
The assertion by Russia that the US is conducting “biological activities” in Ukraine – a claim presented without evidence and which Ukraine has vehemently denied and the US has called gaslighting – is the subject of today’s UN Security Council meeting, due to convene shortly at Moscow’s request.
The development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons is banned by an international treaty signed by 193 countries, explain the Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh and Julian Borger. Direct attacks on civilians or civilian infrastructure are considered war crimes.
Nevertheless, chemical weapons have nevertheless been used on at least 17 occasions during Syria’s civil war, according to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which has accused the Russian-backed regime of Bashar al-Assad of being behind several high-profile attacks.
Updated
In his remarks, Biden said the US would welcome Ukrainian refugees with “open arms” and vowed to provide additional support to the besieged nation. Repeating the message Harris just delivered in Romania, Biden, speaking from the White House’s Roosevelt Room, pledged again that the US was prepared to defend “every single inch of Nato territory with the full might of a united and galvanized” security alliance.
“We will not fight a war against Russia in Ukraine,” he said. “Direct confrontation between Nato and Russia is world war three, something we must strive to prevent.”
Biden declared that Putin’s war against Ukraine had already failed.
[Putin] hoped to dominate Ukraine without a fight. He failed. He hoped to fracture European resolve. He failed. He hoped to weaken the Transatlantic alliance. He failed. He hoped to split apart American democracy, in terms of our positions. He failed.
The American people are united. The world is united and we stand with the people of Ukraine. We will not let autocrats and would-be emperors dictate the direction of the world. Democracies are rising to meet this moment, rallying the world to the side of peace and the side of security. We are showing our strength and we will not falter.”
Updated
Biden: US and allies to deny 'most favored nation' status to Russia
Joe Biden has announced that the US was moving to revoke Russia’s “most favored nation status” in coordination with allies.
Revoking Russia’s permanent normal trade relations will “make it harder for Russia to business with the United States”. He said the US was “taking the first steps” to ban imports of Russian vodka, seafood and diamonds.
Biden thanked Pelosi for pushing the US to take this action, and for holding off on a measure in Congress until he “could line up all of our key allies.”
“Putin is the aggressor and Putin must pay a price,” he said.
He also detailed other economic sanctions the US has taken to destabilize the Russian economy and squeeze Putin and those around him.
Biden said the US and its allies were targeting an expanded list of Russian oligarchs,and ramping up efforts to capture their “ ill-begotten gains.”
“They support Putin. They steal from the Russian people and they seek to hide their money in our countries,” Biden said, emphasizing one of the most popular aspects of the west’s crackdown on Russia. “They’re part of that kleptocracy that exists in Moscow and they must share in the pain of these sanctions.”
In addition to seizing their “superyachts” and vacation homes, Biden said the US was also banning the export of luxury luxury goods to Russia, calling it the latest, but “not the last step we’re going to take.”
Updated
Pelosi: US will seek to end normal trade relations with Russia
Speaking to reporters at the Democrats’ retreat-that-is-not-a-retreat in Philadelphia, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the US would revoke Russia’s “most favored nation” trade status over its invasion of Ukraine.
Before Biden speaks in Philly, PELOSI says she is pleased @POTUS today will announce the end of normal trade relations with Russia pic.twitter.com/n6p9rSSyRG
— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) March 11, 2022
Biden is set to speak shortly about ending Russia’s special trade status in coordination with the EU and G7 nations, a move that will allow the countries to raise tariffs on Russian imports. It is the latest step in a series of escalating economic sanctions and actions taken to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
The US currently only excludes two countries from this designation: Cuba and North Korea, the Guardian’s economic correspondent Richard Partington explains. Removing Russia’s status would would increase its border tax on Russian goods in the US to more than 10 times the current applied rate of about 3% on average.
Updated
Long after the sun set over the US capitol on Thursday, US senators, loathe to work on a Friday, gave final approval to a $1.5tn funding bill.
The sweeping omnibus bill belatedly funds the federal government through the fiscal year, ending a cycle of stop-gap measures and shutdown threats. The package, which was passed with bipartisan support in both chambers, includes $13.6bn of military and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine and its European allies. The bill now goes to Biden for his signature.
In a statement, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, said the bipartisan support for the bill “proves once more that members of both parties can come together to deliver results for the American people”.
It will reduce costs for families and businesses, support our economic recovery, and advance American leadership abroad. With these resources, we will be able to deliver historic support for the Ukrainian people as they defend their country and democracy, launch a bold new initiative to drive unprecedented progress in curing cancer and other diseases, and provide additional support to our law enforcement so they can protect our communities.
Psaki also urged Congress to re-start negotiations over “the funds urgently needed to prevent severe disruptions to our Covid response”. In a blow to Democrats and the White House, the House dropped a provision providing $15.6bn in funding for bolstering efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic after lawmakers balked at the proposed offsets for the relief money, which would have resulted in cuts to aid states were relying on.
Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union, welcomed the bill’s passage but said it was “no cause to celebrate”.
Because of continued threats of government shutdowns from political obstructionists and uncertainty caused by stopgap continuing resolutions, federal agencies for a year and a half have been forced to operate under the budget priorities of the previous administration,” he said.
“In the future, ideally beginning with the 2023 fiscal year approaching in just six months, Congress must pass agency operating budgets on time so government agencies avoid unnecessary obstacles to delivering for the American people.”
Updated
Harris: US commitment to Nato's article 5 'ironclad'
Speaking in Bucharest, Kamala Harris reaffirmed the US’s commitment to Nato’s article five, that an attack on one member is an attack on all. Echoing the president, she said the US was prepared to defend “every inch” of Nato territory, declaring the alliance “bigger and stronger than ever” and “ironclad”.
The message, delivered from a former Soviet satellite state, was intended to calm nerves in eastern Europe and to send a clear message to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, should he escalate the war beyond Ukraine’s borders.
Turning to Iohannis, Harris said she was moved by his stories of refugees fleeing Ukraine. She thanked Romania for welcoming tens of thousands of refugees with “such compassion and such grace”.
Updated
Good morning.
Welcome to our live coverage of the news in Washington and around the country.
Shortly we will hear from Joe Biden, where he is expected to announce that the US will join G7 nations and the European Union in calling for a suspension of normal trade relations with Russia to punish Moscow for what the White House calls its “unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine”.
Then he will travel to Philadelphia, where House Democrats are cooped up for a three-day retreat that began inauspiciously, with members angry and upset over the machinations that delayed and almost derailed passage of a $1.5tn omnibus funding bill. The president will deliver remarks at the conference, rallying his party ahead of what is expected to be a bruising midterm for Democrats.
That measure, which includes aid to Ukraine and funds the federal government through September, passed the Senate late Thursday night. It now goes to Biden’s desk for signature.
Meanwhile, vice-president Kamala Harris is concluding her trip to Poland and Romania. Any minute, she will appear with the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis for a press conference.
Updated
