Closing summary
In his first speech on the House floor since winning the speaker’s gavel, Mike Johnson recited familiar rightwing talking points regarding undocumented migrants, while again warning that he did not like what he was hearing about measures under discussion in the Senate to tighten immigration policy. That’s a bad sign for a potential deal Republicans have demanded to support Joe Biden’s request for another round of military assistance to Ukraine, and to Israel. In the Senate, Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer made clear he did not think much of the House GOP’s impeachment of homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, indicating the chamber would acquit him if a trial occurs.
Here’s what else happened today:
Congresswoman Cori Bush demanded an apology from rightwing lawmaker Troy Nehls, who referred to her husband as a “thug”, and Bush as “loud”. Yesterday, Bush acknowledged she was under investigation by the justice department over allegedly misusing federal funds.
James Biden will appear for an interview with a House committee leading the impeachment inquiry into his brother, the president.
Nikki Haley says America doesn’t need any more “Grumpy Old Men”.
Rob Menendez, a Democratic House lawmaker from New Jersey, accused Republicans of kowtowing to “the orange Jesus” with their charges against Mayorkas.
Taylor Swift is the latest subject of a rightwing conspiracy theory.
Later this evening, the House is expected to vote on a bipartisan bill that would extend tax credits for low-income families, as well as restore some tax breaks for businesses.
It’s unclear if it will pass the House, but the below comment, captured by Semafor, from Republican senator Chuck Grassley is raising eyebrows nonetheless. Asked about the bill’s chances in Congress’s upper chamber, Grassley seems to imply that passing the legislation would be a bad idea, because measures to assist poor families could boost Joe Biden’s re-election chances:
👀 GOP Sen. Grassley tells me he’s concerned passing Wyden-Smith tax bill might aid Biden’s re-election:
— Joseph Zeballos-Roig (@josephzeballos) January 31, 2024
“I think passing a tax bill that makes the president look good mailing out checks before the election, means he could be reelected and then we won’t extend the 2017 tax cuts”
It’s unclear how many Republican lawmakers feel the same way, but the sentiment could bode ill for Congress getting any major legislation passed prior to November’s presidential election.
Federal judge dismisses Walt Disney lawsuit against DeSantis
A high-profile lawsuit filed by entertainment giant Walt Disney alleging retaliation by Florida governor Ron DeSantis has been dismissed by a federal judge, but the company appears set to file an appeal, Reuters reports:
A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed Walt Disney’s lawsuit against the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, and members of a state board for allegedly retaliating after the company criticized state limits on classroom discussion of sexuality, according to a court filing.
“This is an important case with serious implications for the rule of law and it will not end here,” a Disney spokesperson said.
“If left unchallenged, this would set a dangerous precedent and give license to states to weaponize their official powers to punish the expression of political viewpoints they disagree with. We are determined to press forward with our case.”
DeSantis and other defendants had urged Allen Winsor, the US district judge in Tallahassee, Florida, to dismiss the case because Disney could not sue them over constitutionally enacted state laws.
The dispute began after Disney criticized the classroom discussion ban, dubbed the “don’t say gay” law by opponents. DeSantis began repeatedly attacking what he termed “woke Disney” in public appearances as he geared up for his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, an effort he abandoned earlier this month.
State lawmakers stripped Disney of its control over the special development district that since 1967 had given the company virtual autonomy around its theme parks, including the Walt Disney World Resort.
In the latest clash between pro-Palestine protesters and the Biden-Harris campaign, two women claim they were kept out of an event with Kamala Harris because they were wearing hijabs. The campaign says they had disrupted other events. Here’s what we know about the incident, from the Guardian’s Gloria Oladipo:
Two women have accused Biden-Harris campaign staffers of Islamophobia, claiming they were profiled and disinvited from a campaign event because they were wearing hijabs.
Staff with the campaign have since countered that the women were barred after disrupting other events held by Democratic leaders.
The incident was captured on video and shared to X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday by an account named Nevadans for Palestinian Liberation.
The viral video, which has garnered over 2m views, shows an unidentified staffer for the Get the Vote Out event in Las Vegas on Saturday telling the women that they are not allowed to enter the venue.
“We are choosing who’s going in and out of the event. I’m sorry,” the staffer said.
Off camera, one woman responds: “Why are you choosing us not to go in when we have an invite?”
A separate woman, also off camera, says: “You specifically singled us out.”
Speaking of Donald Trump, he’s within striking distance of winning the Republican presidential nomination, but his last remaining rival, Nikki Haley, is not giving up.
Today, she launched another salvo at one thing the former president and the current president have in common: their advanced age. Joe Biden is 81, Trump is 77, and both are too old for the presidency, Haley argues. She also debuted a meme that will look familiar to those fluent in early 90s cinema:
The rematch nobody wants... pic.twitter.com/aIBkDQbiP4
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) January 31, 2024
Fani Willis, prosecutor, subpoenaed to testify on alleged improper relationship in Trump case – report
Atlanta-area district attorney Fani Willis, who indicted Donald Trump and 18 others on charges related to trying to overturn Georgia’s election result in 2020, has been subpoenaed to testify regarding her relationship with a prosecutor she hired for the case, ABC News reports.
Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney for co-defendant Michael Roman, earlier this month accused Willis and Nathan Wade, who she hired to work on the case, of having an improper relationship that resulted in financial gain for both of them. Merchant has asked for Willis to be removed, and the indictment dismissed.
Here’s more on what the subpoena means, from ABC News:
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Nathan Wade, one of her top prosecutors in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump and 18 others, have been subpoenaed to testify at an upcoming evidentiary hearing set to examine allegations that they were involved in an improper relationship while investigating the former president, according to a new lawsuit filed in Georgia this week.
The claim that Willis and Wade had been subpoenaed to testify was contained in a copy of the lawsuit, obtained by ABC News, that was filed by the attorney for one of Trump’s co-defendants in the election case, accusing the Fulton county district attorney’s office of “intentionally withholding information”.
The lawsuit accuses the office of “stonewalling” the attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, in her efforts to obtain records from the office through public information requests.
In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for the DA’s office said they had not yet been served the lawsuit, and said, “We provided her with all the materials she requested and is entitled to.”
In a letter sent to Merchant on Friday, provided to ABC News by the DA’s office, the DA’s office pushed back on her allegations that they have failed to meet their obligations, writing they “disagree with your disingenuous implication”.
The issuing of the subpoenas could set up a high-stakes battle for both Willis and Wade, who have remained virtually silent on the issue but may now have to testify under oath during the televised hearing on 15 February, as Trump and other co-defendants seek to use the allegations to have the two removed from the case and the indictment thrown out.
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US attributes Jordan drone attack to Islamic Resistance in Iraq
Away from domestic politics, the AP is reporting that the US has attributed a drone attack that killed three American troops in Jordan to umbrella group Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
Updated
James Biden will appear before House Republicans for a private interview next month as lawmakers seek to regain some momentum in their monthslong impeachment inquiry into his brother, Joe Biden, The Associated Press reports.
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee announced on Wednesday that the Democratic president’s younger sibling will come to Capitol Hill on February 21. The date was set after months of negotiations between the sides.
We look forward to his interview,” the committee posted on X, the website formerly known as Twitter.
James Biden’s interview will take place just days before the president’s son Hunter Biden will be deposed in private by the Republican-run committee, which has been investigating the Biden family’s overseas finances for the past year.
🚨BREAKING🚨
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) January 31, 2024
James Biden will appear for a transcribed interview on February 21, 2024. We look forward to his testimony.
Both James and Hunter Biden were subpoenaed by the committee in November. So far, the GOP investigation has failed to uncover evidence directly implicating the president in any wrongdoing.
A lawyer for James Biden said at the time that there was no justification for the subpoena because the committee had already reviewed private bank records and transactions between the two brothers. The committee found records of two loans that were made when Joe Biden was not in office or a candidate for president.
There is nothing more to those transactions, and there is nothing wrong with them. And Jim Biden has never involved his brother in his business dealings,” lawyer Paul Fishman said in a statement in November.
Joe Biden kicked his re-election campaign into high gear earlier this month. So, too, have protesters upset over his policy towards Israel’s invasion of Gaza, the Guardian’s Ed Pilkington reports:
Joe Biden had barely started speaking at a high-profile re-election campaign rally focusing on abortion rights in Virginia last week when the carefully choreographed made-for-TV spectacle exploded into a cacophony of angry yelling.
“Genocide Joe!”, a protester holding up a Palestinian flag cried from the back of the hall. “How many kids have you killed in Gaza? How many women have you killed in Gaza?”
Biden looked bemused, blinking silently into the cameras. In all, he was to be interrupted at least 13 more times. “This is going to go on for a while,” he said at one point. “They’ve got this planned.”
As Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign gets under way, it is becoming increasingly clear that they have indeed got it planned. A decentralized network of pro-Palestinian groups and individuals, including Muslim Americans, Jewish Americans and anti-war organizations, are hounding Biden over his firm support for Israel despite the heavy cost in civilian lives of its war against Hamas.
“Our community is going to be active, with actions big or small, until this genocide ends and there’s a permanent ceasefire,” Mohamad Habehh told the Guardian. He was the individual who stood up and shouted: “Genocide Joe!” in Virginia.
Habehh said that Biden should expect much more of the same as election year unfolds. “Every event the president does, no matter where it is, not matter what state or city, there will be Americans who stand against his stance on Gaza.”
The day so far
In his first speech on the House floor since winning the speaker’s gavel, Mike Johnson recited familiar rightwing talking points regarding undocumented migrants, while again warning that he did not like what he was hearing about measures under discussion in the Senate to tighten immigration policy. That’s a bad sign for a potential deal Republicans have demanded to support Joe Biden’s request for another round of military assistance to Ukraine, and to Israel. In the Senate, Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer made clear he did not think much of the House GOP’s impeachment of homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, indicating the chamber would acquit him if a trial occurs.
Here’s what else is going on:
Congresswoman Cori Bush demanded an apology from rightwing lawmaker Troy Nehls, who referred to her husband as a “thug”, and Bush as “loud”. Yesterday, Bush acknowledged she was under investigation by the justice department over allegedly misusing federal funds.
Rob Menendez, a Democratic House lawmaker from New Jersey, accused Republicans of kowtowing to “the orange Jesus” with their charges against Mayorkas.
Taylor Swift is the latest subject of a rightwing conspiracy theory.
Johnson says he does not believe Senate talks would 'stop the border catastrophe'
Mike Johnson reiterated his attack on the Senate’s immigration policy deal, saying that, though its exact provisions have not been released yet, he does not think it would cut down on migrant arrivals to the degree he demands.
“Last Friday, President Biden came out in support of the Senate’s deal, which we haven’t seen yet. There is no text yet. But from what we’ve heard, this so-called deal … does not include … these transformational policy changes that are needed to actually stop the border catastrophe,” the House speaker said.
He specifically took issue with reports that, under the deal’s proposed terms, the border would be closed once crossings exceeded 5,000 people in a given day:
Apparently, we’re concocting some sort of deal to allow the president to shut down the border after 5,000 people break the law. Why is it 5,000? If you add that up, that’d be a million more illegals into our country every year before we take remedial measures. It’s madness. We shouldn’t be asking what kind of enforcement authority kicks in at 5,000 illegal crossings a day. The number should be zero.
“Anything higher than zero is surrendering our border, surrendering our sovereignty and our security,” Johnson said.
He has now concluded his remarks.
Updated
This speech by Mike Johnson has thus far amounted to a lengthy attack on the Biden administration’s immigration policy, and migrants themselves.
The Republican speaker said he had received a letter from former FBI officials warning of “a soft invasion along our southern border”, and said the migrants trying to enter the United States from Mexico “are not huddled masses of families seeking refuge and asylum. These are people coming into our country to do only God knows what and we are allowing it – the Biden administration is allowing it. And we’ve noted that they’re coming from adversarial nations, from terrorist regions. We have no idea what they’re planning.”
Johnson speaks about ‘so called' border security deal
Speaking out the House floor, Republican speaker Mike Johnson has again signaled he is not happy with the Senate’s immigration policy negotiations.
He kicked off his speech decrying the impact of undocumented immigrants on communities nationwide, before describing the Senate talks as focused on “a so-called border security deal”. That’s not a good sign for the prospects of the deal, if one emerges, in the House, and, by extension, aid to Ukraine and Israel.
Updated
Republican speaker Johnson to address border in House floor speech
Republican Mike Johnson is set to give his first speech on the floor of the House since becoming speaker, where he is expected to discuss immigration policy.
Johnson has criticized the Senate’s bipartisan negotiations on the border, the success of which Republicans have linked to supporting another round of aid for Ukraine’s military.
We’ll let you know what Johnson has to say.
Chuck Schumer also said negotiations on immigration policy changes “have not concluded”, and warned that “many on the hard right are mightily trying to sink the bipartisan work happening here in the Senate”.
A bipartisan group of senators has for weeks been bargaining over changes to border policy, which Republicans have demanded in exchange for supporting Joe Biden’s request for military assistance to Israel and Ukraine. Those negotiations have not yet resulted in a deal, but rightwing Republicans, most worryingly House speaker Mike Johnson, have attacked them.
In his comments on the Senate floor, Schumer warned that the collapse of talks would imperil two of America’s allies:
For months, we have been true to our word, working with Republicans on border security, listening to their proposals, and coming to agreement on a vast range of issues.
We have not concluded negotiations, so we will keep going to get this done.
Democrats have always been ready and willing to have a debate on the border. We want to get this done, we have continued to work to get this done, and we remain committed – we remain committed – to bipartisanship. Both sides will have to give.
It is unfortunate, but frankly not surprising, that many on the hard right are mightily trying to sink the bipartisan work happening here in the Senate. But in the Senate, our responsibility is clear: we need to put the needs of our country above the interests of party politics.
Because the security of our southern border is on the line.
The security of Israel is on the line.
The health and safety of innocent Gaza civilians is on the line.
The stability of the Indo Pacific region is on the line.
And finally – as every Senator on both sides knows – the survival of Ukraine is on the line.
Senate Democratic leader criticizes Mayorkas impeachment following committee vote
The Senate’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer just offered a preview of the reception the articles of impeachment against homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will receive, should they arrive in his chamber.
In remarks on the Senate floor, the New York lawmaker called the effort “absurd”, “unserious” and a “sham”:
House Republicans have not shown that he has violated the constitution. House Republicans have failed to present any evidence of anything resembling an impeachable offense.
Instead, what House Republicans are doing by advancing this sham impeachment effort is denigrating our constitution, all for the sake of appeasing one person and one person only: Donald Trump.
And let this be clear: this unserious spectacle by House Republicans does nothing – nothing – to secure our border.
The House homeland security committee approved the articles of impeachment earlier this morning, and they are expected to be put to a floor vote next week. If they pass, the Senate is expected to hold a trial, but would need the support of two-thirds of its lawmakers to convict Mayorkas. Democrats hold the chamber’s majority, and are unlikely to support the effort.
Updated
Here’s more from the Guardian’s Gloria Oladipo and Lauren Gambino on Cori Bush’s announcement yesterday that she was under federal investigation:
The congresswoman Cori Bush has confirmed that the US Department of Justice is investigating whether the Missouri Democrat misused campaign funds for security services, an accusation she denied as “simply false”.
In a statement, Bush said her campaign was “fully cooperating” with the investigation and said she had always “complied with all applicable laws and House rules”.
“I hold myself, my campaign, and my position to the highest levels of integrity. I also believe in transparency, which is why I can confirm that the Department of Justice is reviewing my campaign’s spending on security services,” said Bush, part of a progressive group of Democratic women known as “the Squad”.
She added that the allegations were rooted in “baseless complaints” raised by rightwing organizations who have long made her a target.
In a lengthy statement, Bush, a nurse and Black Lives Matter activist turned lawmaker who represents the St Louis area, said she has endured threats to her “physical safety and life” since before she took office in 2021.
Bush said that as a rank-and-file member of Congress she is not entitled to receive security protection by the House and has instead used campaign funds to pay for security services.
“I have not used any federal tax dollars for personal security services,” she said. “Any reporting that I have used federal funds for personal security is simply false.”
Bush, Omar demand apology after 'racist' comments from rightwing lawmaker
Cori Bush, a Black Democratic congresswoman from Missouri who is a member of “the Squad” of progressive lawmakers, yesterday acknowledged she was under justice department investigation over allegations of misusing taxpayer funds. She denied any wrongdoing, but that wasn’t enough for rightwing lawmaker Troy Nehls, who attacked the congresswoman for allegedly funneling money intended for her security to her husband.
Here’s what he said, according to CNN:
GOP Rep. Troy Nehls slammed Dem Rep. Cori Bush today for using campaign funds to pay her husband for security services, and also said Bush -- a black member of the Squad who has faced death threats – is “loud” and should “tone it down” if she doesn't want to face threats.
— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) January 31, 2024
Full quote:
— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) January 31, 2024
“She doesn't even support the police. But the idea to pay her thug money to try to help protect her this and that, for what?” Nehls said. “Maybe if she wouldn't be so loud all the time, maybe she wouldn't be getting threats.”
Bush demanded an apology from the Texas Republican for calling her husband a “thug”, and characterizing her as “loud”:
.@RepTroyNehls just called my husband, a Black man and army veteran, a thug. And I’m the loud Black woman who needs to be silent in order to be safe from violence, or else?
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) January 31, 2024
This is the kind of rhetoric that endangers Black lives. He must apologize. https://t.co/QeqZ7yYfRX
Fellow Squad member Ilhan Omar went further, describing Nehls’s remarks as “racist”:
The loud black woman trope is racist and tired. The Congressman should apologize and all members of Congress should condemn him. No one in our government deserves to be threatened regardless how loud they advocate for their positions and blaming the victim of harassment and… https://t.co/B60X1dd910
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 31, 2024
Nehls appears in no mood to answer either lawmaker’s demand. He replied to Bush on X today, saying, “You should apologize to every law enforcement officer across the nation. I’m waiting.”
Updated
Speaking of conspiracy theories, the Guardian’s Ramon Antonio Vargas reports that a progressive House Democrat once published poems and made other statements questioning the facts of the September 11 attack on his personal blog:
Progressive US congressman Jamaal Bowman is seeking to distance himself from conspiracy theories about the deadly September 11 terrorist attacks which he published on a personal blog that he ran before his career in elected office.
The New York representative was linked to the blog in question by the Daily Beast on Monday as he faces a substantial primary challenge from a fellow Democrat over his criticism of Israeli military strikes in Gaza in response to Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack.
Bowman was also grappling with the Daily Beast’s reporting after his 2023 fine and misdemeanor guilty plea for apparently pulling a fire alarm at the US Capitol shortly before the US House was supposed to vote on a government funding bill. Though he maintained that the fire alarm pull was accidental, the House censured Bowman, who was accused of trying to delay the funding bill vote.
“I don’t believe anything that these cranks have said, and my life’s work has proved that,” said a statement that Bowman distributed to media outlets about the far-right conspiracy theories once featured on a blog.
Bowman’s statement alluded to a resolution which condemned the racist white replacement theory that drove a gunman to murder 11 Black people in Buffalo in 2022 and said: “My life’s work has proved that … I’ve called out the endless bullshit of the far right.”
There’s no escaping politics these days, not even if you’re Taylor Swift, the Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt reports:
Taylor Swift is a “Pentagon asset”, an “election interference psyop” who, with unnamed left-leaning forces, has conspired to “rig” the Super Bowl and then endorse Joe Biden in the presidential election.
That’s according to a raft of influential rightwing figures, who have begun to spread a conspiracy theory that Swift, a pop star, is part of a nefarious plot ahead of November’s presidential election.
Swift has found herself at the center of the rightwing commentariat’s attention in recent weeks after intense media focus on her relationship with Travis Kelce, a star tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs football team.
She has been in the crowd as the Chiefs have progressed through the NFL playoffs: on Sunday, the team won the AFC Championship game, and will play in the Super Bowl on 11 February. The attention their romance has received has led to a number conspiracy theories.
“I think – and I’ve said this, I’ve taken a lot of crap for this online – I think they’re using Taylor Swift right now,” Jack Posobiec, an influential rightwing conspiracy theorist, said in a video posted on Truth Social on Monday.
“They’re gearing up for an operation to use Taylor Swift in the election against everything: against Trump, for Biden, they’re gonna get her and all you know they call them the Swifties they’re going to turn those into voters, you watch.”
For an idea of the vibe during the House homeland security committee’s lengthy hearing into impeaching Alejandro Mayorkas, here’s video of one Democrat accusing Republicans of kowtowing to “the orange Jesus” with their charges.
It was New Jersey’s Rob Menendez who deployed that figure of speech – “the orange Jesus” being, of course, Donald Trump:
Menendez: We have not lived up to our oversight obligation on this committee because you all bend the knee to the orange Jesus pic.twitter.com/kGjacyunOr
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 31, 2024
Updated
Top House Democrat says Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene behind Mayorkas impeachment
The House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, blasted the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas in an interview with MSNBC this morning, saying the charges amounted to a “stunt” done at the behest of the party’s right wing.
“House Republicans are engaged in another partisan political stunt. They apparently have been ordered to do so by Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene because these are the individuals who are basically running the House Republican Conference, which is why we’ve seen nothing from this do-nothing Republican Congress but chaos, dysfunction and extremism,” Jeffries said.
“We should be focused on issues related to the economy, inflation, national security, public safety, fixing the border. There are many challenges that we are ready, willing and able to confront with our Republican colleagues in a bipartisan way, but they’ve basically spent this Congress engaging in reckless political activity designed to distract from their failed agenda.”
Updated
The House homeland security committee convened at 10am yesterday, but it took them until 1am this morning to finally approve the articles of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas, after hours of debate on various amendments offered by both parties. Here’s a recap the marathon hearing, and what happens next:
House Republicans voted along party lines after midnight on Wednesday to move toward impeaching the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, for a “willful and systematic” refusal to enforce immigration laws as border security becomes a top 2024 election issue.
In a charge against a cabinet official unseen in nearly 150 years, the homeland security committee debated all day on Tuesday and well into the night before recommending two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas to the full House.
The committee Republicans voted in favor, while the Democrats unified against, 18-15.
The partisan showdown reflected the Republicans’ efforts to make the Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s hard-line deportation approach to immigration their own.
That approach was mirrored on a second front on Tuesday, as Republicans also lambasted the border deal recently brokered between the Joe Biden White House and a bipartisan group of senators, Democrats and Republicans alike.
Mayorkas, in a letter sent to the Republican chair of the House committee on homeland security before the hearing began, dismissed the impeachment process against him as “politically motivated”.
As effort against Mayorkas moves ahead, White House asks, “Is there anyone House Republicans won’t impeach?”
Good morning, US politics blog readers. In the wee hours of this morning, the Republican-controlled House homeland security committee approved the charges against Alejandro Mayorkas by a party line vote and sent them for consideration by the full chamber. House speaker Mike Johnson is expected to hold a vote on impeaching the homeland security chief at some point next week, though with a margin of just one seat (!) it’s going to be interesting to see if any GOP lawmakers defect from the effort. Even the charges are approved, the impeachment is headed for a trial in the Senate that will likely prove futile. Democrats control the chamber, and convicting Mayorkas of the “high crimes and misdemeanors” he is accused of requires a two-thirds majority, which is likely unobtainable.
The White House is nonetheless peeved by the committee’s action, describing it as petty and noting that Republicans have talked about impeaching Joe Biden and various officials ever since he took office. “Is there anyone House Republicans won’t impeach?” read an email from the White House press team this morning. We’ll be keeping an eye out for the latest on the impeachment, and the broader debate over immigration policy playing out in Congress.
Here’s what else is happening today:
Johnson is expected to give his first speech on the House floor since becoming speaker at 12pm ET, which will concern immigration.
Nathan Wade, the Georgia prosecutor who is in an alleged romantic relationship with Fani Willis, the district attorney who indicted Donald Trump and 18 others for trying to meddle in the state’s 2020 election, will not have to testify today in a divorce case after reaching an agreement with his estranged wife. Defense attorneys have argued Willis and Wade’s relationship represents a conflict of interest, potentially upending the election subversion case.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will take reporters’ questions at 1pm.
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