White House condemns appointments of far-right Republicans to House oversight panel – as it happened

Among the lawmakers appointed to the panel are Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

9.02pm GMT

Summary

That’s it for today’s US politics live blog!

Here’s what happened so far:

• Kamala Harris will be traveling to Florida on Sunday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Roe v Wade, said the White House. White House officials have said that Harris will give a speech while in the Sunshine state, as local Democrats have battled against attempts to restrict abortion access from Republican governor Ron DeSantis, reported Associated Press.

• Trump is still the most popular man in the GOP, a new survey found.

• The Biden administration condemned the appointment of several far-right Republicans to the House committee overseeing investigations, Axios reports.

• Donald Trump is said to be planning a return to both Twitter and Facebook. The former president had his Facebook account locked following the January 6 insurrection, while Twitter did the same until its new owner Elon Musk reversed the ban after buying the platform last year.

• Trump claimed that classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago were just a bunch of cheap folders.

Thank you for reading! See you here tomorrow for more US live coverage.

8.53pm GMT

During today’s White House press briefing, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to questions about Representative George Santos being given committee positions, despite allegations that Santos fabricated several qualifications and life experiences.

From Real Clear News Philip Melanchthon Wegmann:

While "it's up to the Republican conference, who have to decide what they owe the American people" when it comes to Rep. George Santos, @PressSec adds that "sadly" GOP has demonstrated a lack of commitment by appointing Santos to committee assignments.

— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) January 18, 2023