Closing summary
That’s all from the US politics blog for today, and indeed the week. Please join us again on Monday.
Donald Trump learned that he would continue to be fined $10,000 a day by a court in New York for failing to hand over documents pertaining to the state’s criminal probe of his business dealings.
State court judge Arthur Engoron was scathing of a two-paragraph affadavit submitted by the former president’s lawyers claiming he didn’t have any of the documents wanted by New York’s attorney general Letitia James.
Here’s where else our day went:
- The White House expressed dismay to Indonesia over its invitation for Russia’s president Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit in Bali later this year.
- House speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers will vote “as soon as possible” to approve Joe Biden’s request for an additional $33bn in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an emergency fuel waiver to allow sales of plant-based E15 gasoline during the summer, which the White House says can save families 10c per gallon.
- Biden and Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador discussed US plans to lift Covid-19 immigration restrictions and the countries’ differences over sanctions on Russia for its war in Ukraine.
- Children younger than five will probably have to wait at least another two months before being able to receive Covid-19 vaccines, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) set hearings for June.
- Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin said the House panel investigating Donald Trump’s 6 January insurrection would consider subpoenas if senior Republicans won’t testify voluntarily.
A quick reminder that you can follow developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict on our 24-hour live news blog here.
White House dismayed over Indonesia's G20 invitation to Putin
The Biden administration has expressed its dismay to Indonesia over the Asian country’s invitation to Russian president Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit in Bali later this year.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said at her afternoon briefing:
The president has expressed publicly his opposition to President Putin attending the G20... we’ve conveyed our view that we don’t think they should be a part of it publicly, and privately as well.
The UK, US and Canada staged a coordinated walkout of a G20 session in Washington DC earlier this month in protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden has also publicly called for Russia to be expelled from the G20 group of the world’s leading industrial nations.
Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo said Friday he had spoken to Putin and the Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy by phone this week, and that both said they would attend the G20 gathering, according to the Associated Press:
I reiterated the importance of ending the war immediately. I also emphasized that peaceful efforts should continue and Indonesia is ready to contribute to these peaceful efforts.
Psaki said it was too early to predict what the summit would look like, or if both leaders would attend:
There’s a lot that can happen between now and then but we certainly haven’t seen an indication to date of Russia’s plan to participate in diplomatic talks constructively.
