Summary of the day
Here’s a recap of today’s developments:
Family members of Democratic presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy Jr joined the White House in condemning his “deplorable” claim that Covid-19 was engineered to target some ethnic groups and spare others. The former attorney and nephew of John F Kennedy made the extraordinary assertion during a recent dinner in New York city, saying the virus was “targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people”.
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and Republican former Utah governor Jon Huntsman repeatedly dodged questions on whether they would run on a third-party ticket in the 2024 presidential election under the No Labels movement. The pair appeared at the group No Labels’ town hall meeting to co-headline the organization’s “commonsense” policy platform release, the first in a series of events that the group says it will hold as the 2024 presidential election takes shape.
Manchin’s appearance at the No Labels event on Monday has fueled speculation that he is considering a run for the presidency. If he ran for the presidency as a No Labels candidate, it could not only split the Democratic vote in a way that gives the White House to the Republicans in 2024 but also hands the party his crucial seat in what is currently a finely-balanced Senate where the Democrats have a very narrow majority.
An Iowa judge has temporarily blocked the state’s new abortion ban from taking effect, just days after Governor Kim Reynolds signed the measure into law. The move restores access to abortion in Iowa for up to 20 weeks of pregnancy while the courts assess the new law’s constitutionality. Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut warned that it is “100% certain” that the Republicans will pass a national abortion ban if they win Congress next year.
House Democrats plan to unveil a resolution to formally censure Republican congressman George Santos for lying to voters about his education, work history and family background. The resolution from Representative Ritchie Torres will be privileged, meaning that the Republican-controlled House must act on it. Santos has “disgraced [Congress], and the institution should speak with one voice against his misconduct,” said Torres.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy announced a list of candidates he would nominate to the supreme court if he were elected, including Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Mike Lee of Utah as possible nominees for the nation’s top court.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds dodged a question about whether she would be Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s running mate if he won the Republican presidential primary. DeSantis, at a fundraising event on Saturday, told reporters that he would consider Reynolds as a pick for vice president if he won the GOP nomination.
Ohio secretary of state Frank LaRose formally announced his candidacy for US Senate, becoming the third prominent Republican hoping to challenge Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in 2024. Ohio’s Senate race looks to be one of the most competitive in the country next year, alongside races in Arizona, Montana and West Virginia. The state backed Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
A leading environmental group has hit out at US climate envoy John Kerry over comments he made rejecting calls for the US to pay climate reparations to developing countries affected by climate-change fueled disasters.
Joe Biden has invited Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to Washington for an official visit, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office. The phone call between the two leaders took place as Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, is traveling to Washington for meetings with Biden and to address a joint address to Congress.
The chair of the US Congressional Progressive Caucus apologized for calling Israel a “racist state”. “I offer my apologies to those who I have hurt with my words,” Pramila Jayapal of Washington state said in a statement on Sunday.
Joe Manchin refuses to rule out third-party run for president
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and Republican former Utah governor Jon Huntsman repeatedly dodged questions on whether they would run on a third-party ticket in the 2024 presidential election under the No Labels movement.
Manchin and Huntsman appeared at an event hosted by the bipartisan group in New Hampshire to unveil their platform, called Common Sense.
The event at Saint Anselm College in Manchester was described as the first public opportunity to highlight the group’s policies.
Asked if he would consider Huntsman as a potential running mate on a unity ticket, Manchin said people were “putting the cart ahead of the horse” and that the pair were there “to make sure the American people have an option”.
He dismissed concerns that his candidacy could serve as a “spoiler” to Joe Biden that could help Donald Trump become president.
I’ve never been in any race I’ve ever spoiled, I’ve been in races to win. And if I get in a race, I’m gonna win. I haven’t made a decision.
At a No Labels event in New Hampshire, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) says he “hasn’t made decision” on a 2024 independent run but rejects the idea he’d be a spoiler.
— The Recount (@therecount) July 17, 2023
"I’ve never been in any race I’ve ever spoiled, I’ve been in races to win. And if I get in a race, I’m gonna win." pic.twitter.com/SYGJ9JXC6Y
Asked what his party affiliation is, Manchin said he was “the most independent Democrat you’ve ever met”.
In an open letter to American librarians, Barack Obama has criticised “profoundly misguided” rightwing efforts to ban books from libraries in public schools.
“Some of the books that shaped my life – and the lives of so many others – are being challenged by people who disagree with certain ideas or perspectives,” the former president wrote.
It’s no coincidence that these ‘banned books’ are often written by or feature people of colour, Indigenous people, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Obama’s letter on Monday supported Unite Against Book Bans, a campaign led by the American Library Association (ALA).
Obama also appeared in a TikTok video posted by the Kankakee Public Library, from Illinois, which has found success with viral videos.
The 44th president appeared at the end of the short video, which otherwise featured staff reading books subject to bans or attempted bans. Obama was shown reading and sipping from a library-branded mug. More videos are set to be released.
The ALA has found that in US public schools last year, “a record 2,571 unique titles were targeted for censorship”, often by parent-led groups, “a 38% increase from the 1,858 unique titles targeted for censorship in 2021”.
“Of those titles, the vast majority were written by or about members of the LGBTQ+ community and people of colour,” it adds.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Republicans will move forward with a scheduled hearing featuring Robert Kennedy Jr after the Democratic presidential hopeful was condemned for falsely claiming that Covid-19 was engineered to target some ethnic groups and spare others.
“I disagree with everything he said,” McCarthy told reporters. But he rejected calls by Democrats to cancel Kennedy’s public appearance on Thursday before a Republican-controlled House committee.
The hearing we’re going to have this week is about censorship. I don’t think censoring somebody is the answer here.
Seconds after condemning purported Democratic anti-semitism, Kevin McCarthy defends House Republicans inviting RFK Jr to testify before Congress despite his anti-semitic remarks because "I don't think censoring somebody is actually the answer here" pic.twitter.com/yx5DscxSy8
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 17, 2023
Close Kennedy family members weighing in reflects the growing outrage at Democratic presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy Jr’s words, which he tried to disavow on Monday in a statement sent to the Guardian by his campaign staff.
The statement reads:
The New York Post story is mistaken. I have never, ever suggested that the Covid-19 virus was engineered to ‘spare Jews,’ and I unequivocally reject this disgusting and outlandish conspiracy theory.
New York Post reporter Jon Levine exploited this off-the-record conversation to smear me as an antisemite. This cynical maneuver is consistent with the mainstream media playbook to discredit me as a crank - and by association, to discredit revelations of genuine corruption and collusion.
Separate messages sent to the Guardian purportedly from Kennedy’s personal email address cite Wikipedia links to press articles about the plausibility of ethnically-targeted bioweapons.
“The study is solid, and not at all controversial,” one of the messages says of a research paper by the British Medical Association, reported by the Guardian in 2004, that “rogue scientists” could develop bioweapons designed to target certain ethnic groups based on their genetic differences.
Iowa judge temporarily blocks state's abortion ban
An Iowa judge has temporarily blocked the state’s new abortion ban from taking effect on Monday, just days after Governor Kim Reynolds signed the measure into law.
Polk County District Court Judge Joseph Seidlin ruled that a lawsuit by abortion providers is likely to succeed, and the temporary injunction will remain in place for the duration of the lawsuit.
The move restores access to abortion in Iowa for up to 20 weeks of pregnancy while the courts assess the new law’s constitutionality.
Last week, Iowa lawmakers passed a six-week ban on abortion in a rare special legislative session, called by Governor Reynolds, who signed the bill on Friday afternoon.
The law would ban almost all abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, which is usually six weeks into a pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant. Prior to the law, abortion was legal in the state up to 22 weeks of pregnancy.
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin is speaking at an event hosted by the moderate group No Labels, fueling speculation that he could run on a third-party ticket for the presidency.
Manchin has not declared whether he will run, but it’s difficult to see how his flirtation with No Labels would amount to a serious candidacy, according to a Vox report.
It’s true that many Democrats don’t want Biden to run again, and many Republicans say the same of Trump, who is the current GOP frontrunner. But while 2024 may shape up to be the rematch no one asked for, third-party candidates don’t have a successful track record in the US, and there’s no indication a third-party candidate would be able to launch a credible challenge to either party’s nominee this time. If Manchin or another third-party candidate runs, they would probably lose badly.
They might, however, get enough support among moderates to derail Biden in states that he narrowly won in 2020, despite No Labels co-chair Joe Lieberman’s assurances that his group is not looking to get in the race for a “spoiler.”
Updated
The White House’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, described Robert F Kennedy’s comments that Covid-19 was “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people as false” and “vile”.
“The claims made on that tape is false,” she said during a press briefing earlier this afternoon.
It is vile, and they put our fellow Americans in danger.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemns RFK Jr.’s comments that COVID -19 was “ethnically targeted” to spare Jewish and Chinese people:
— The Recount (@therecount) July 17, 2023
“The claims made on that tape is false. It is vile. They put our fellow Americans in danger.” pic.twitter.com/ANyTEqePGN
She declined to discuss Kennedy directly, citing the legal constraints on the administration’s ability to address campaign matters. But she warned that the presidential candidate’s remarks amounted to encouraging racist theories around the virus.
If you think about the racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories that come out of saying those type of things, it’s an attack on our fellow citizens.
And so it’s important that we essentially speak out when we hear those claims more broadly.
She also cited a statement from the American Jewish Committee that called Kennedy’s claims “deeply offensive” and reflective of “some of the most abhorrent antisemitic conspiracy theories throughout history.” Jean-Pierre added:
This is something that this president, and this whole administration, is going to stand against.
Updated
Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, who is due to speak at this evening’s No Labels event in New Hampshire, has insisted it is “not a campaign”.
Fmr. Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-UT) this AM to @scrippsnews in Manchester, NH: No Labels event tonight at St. Anselm is "not a campaign"
— Nathaniel Reed (@ReedReports) July 17, 2023
Huntsman tells me he is NOT weighing a third party presidential run. pic.twitter.com/2qh5bOxRGJ
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds dodged a question about whether she would be Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s running mate if he won the Republican presidential primary.
DeSantis, at a fundraising event on Saturday, told reporters that he would consider Reynolds as a pick for vice president if he won the GOP nomination.
Asked about DeSantis’s comments, Reynolds told Fox’s Ainsley Earhardt:
I appreciate the comments. But look, I’m so focused. We are implementing a boldest universal school choice plan in the country. I just called a special session last week. This last week we passed the fetal heartbeat bill, and I actually cut state government and I cut 21 agencies from my Cabinet and we’re implementing our alignment bill.
She added:
So I’m busy working on being governor of the great state of Iowa and I’m already working on cutting taxes again next year. So that’s my focus right now.
Donald Trump last week expressed his frustration with Reynolds for declining to endorse a candidate early in the race. In a post to Truth Social, Trump wrote:
I opened up the Governor position for Kim Reynolds, & when she fell behind, I ENDORSED her, did big Rallies, & she won. Now, she wants to remain ‘NEUTRAL.’ I don’t invite her to events! DeSanctus down 45 points!
DeSantis, speaking on Saturday, also dismissed Trump’s criticism of Reynolds, saying:
I thought the attacks on her were totally, totally out of hand and totally unnecessary.
Joe Kennedy III, a former congressman from Massachusetts and nephew of Robert F Kennedy Jr, has publicly distanced himself from his uncle’s latest comments.
My uncle’s comments were hurtful and wrong. I unequivocally condemn what he said.
— Joe Kennedy III (@joekennedy) July 17, 2023
Robert F Kennedy’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, has also sharply criticised his remarks about Covid.
A leading environmental group has hit out at US climate envoy John Kerry over comments he made rejecting calls for the US to pay climate reparations to developing countries affected by climate-change fueled disasters.
On Friday, at a congressional hearing on the state department’s climate agenda, Kerry said that “under no circumstances” would the US meet reparations demands. However, the US has previously committed to contributing to a “loss and damages” fund for developing countries that does not involve statements of liability.
“We are disappointed and angered by this news, but not surprised, because John Kerry’s words are just the latest example of Kerry and the US refusing to back up their vague claims for US support in global climate progress with real, substantive action,” said Jeff Ordower, North America director of the climate advocacy group 350.0rg.
Ordower added that Kerry and president Biden “have tried to walk a tightrope of limited culpability: they talk a big game about “interconnected nations” and “the need for a fossil fuel phasedown,” but shied away “when it comes to “put their words into practice.”
The criticism comes as Kerry met with Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua in Beijing to urge joint action to cut methane emissions and coal-fired power.
“In the next three days we hope we can begin taking some big steps that will send a signal to the world about the serious purpose of China and the United States to address a common risk, threat, challenge to all of humanity created by humans themselves,” Kerry said, according to Reuters.
“It is toxic for both Chinese and for Americans and for people in every country on the planet.”
The US climate envoy’s comments came as temperature records in the US, Europe and China are coming close to being broken this week, alongside intense rain and flooding in other areas that are collectively pushing climate change issue to the top of the global political agenda.
Claims made by RFK Jr on Covid 'vile' – White House
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has taken the chance to condemn remarks made by presidential hopeful Robert F Kennedy Jr after a video surfaced of him making false claims that Covid-19 was “ethnically targeted” to attack certain ethnic groups.
Kennedy, the infamous conspiracy theorist, famous scion and rogue candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination hit the headlines at the weekend after it emerged that he said at a press event in New York City last week that the coronavirus is a genetically engineered bioweapon that may have been “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people, the New York Post reported at the weekend.
Kennedy is garnering loud and swift criticism, including from members of his own family. The White House was asked about it during the press briefing today and Jean-Pierry called Kennedy’s remarks not just “false” but also “vile”.
The briefing is ongoing. Oh! It just wrapped up.
Updated
The US is not in a position to attribute the overnight attack that damaged the road bridge linking Crimea to southern Russia, the White House has stated on Monday.
The White House daily media briefing is still underway and press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is taking questions now. But a little earlier, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was at the podium and his part of the briefing mainly focused on foreign policy and overseas news.
Kirby was not prepared to commit to naming the perpetrator of the attack on the bridge. We’ve been covering this topic in our Ukraine war live blog, but that is closing now. It will be back on Tuesday.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has attributed the overnight attack to Ukraine and said that his forces are preparing a response.
You can read the Guardian’s full report on this topic here.
RFK's sister condemns Covid remarks
Robert F Kennedy’s sister is among those who have sharply criticised his remarks about Covid.
Kerry Kennedy wrote on Twitter: “I strongly condemn my brother’s deplorable and untruthful remarks last week about Covid being engineered for ethnic targeting.”
I STRONGLY condemn my brother's deplorable and untruthful remarks last week about Covid being engineered for ethnic targeting. https://t.co/9YCag7JtHm
— Kerry Kennedy (@KerryKennedyRFK) July 17, 2023
Democrats were quick to distance themselves from presidential hopeful Robert F Kennedy Jr after a video surfaced of him making false claims that Covid-19 was “ethnically targeted” to attack certain ethnic groups.
Kennedy’s comments included “reprehensible anti-semitic and anti-Asian comments aimed at perpetuating harmful and debunked racist tropes, the Democratic congressional campaign committee said in a statement.
The Democratic presidential candidate’s attempt to repurpose fringe-right conspiracy theories is not new for his candidacy, the Washington Post reported. The paper compares Kennedy’s remarks to how Donald Trump offered a conspiratorial right-wing worldview to Republican primary voters in 2015.
It’s not surprising that the party’s institutions and leaders would take this tack; the Democratic Party is keenly attuned to racist stereotypes and antisemitism. But it is also not much of a burden. Kennedy’s support in the primary is not particularly robust relative to the incumbent president, and his long-standing conspiratorial rhetoric has not been effective at building a constituency. The party is certainly eager that it doesn’t.
Compare the response here with the Republican Party’s response to Donald Trump in 2015. The chairman of the party then, Reince Priebus, didn’t excoriate Trump’s repeated rhetoric about criminal immigrants on social media. The party doesn’t appear to have done so either […] For the GOP, Trump’s controversial comments were already accepted by a large segment of its base, which is why his candidacy quickly gained traction.
There is an interesting question inherent to the Kennedy situation for the Democratic Party: How accountable is it for the espoused views of one of its candidates for the presidential nomination? What is it about Kennedy that demands a response at all? Is it his name? Because he’s getting more than zero percent in polls? Is it simply that Kennedy affords Democrats an opportunity to reinforce who they are relative to what he presents?
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who is set to headline the No Labels event in New Hampshire later today, is arguably the most conservative Democratic senator.
Manchin has not declared yet whether he will run for reelection to his Senate seat. He has told reporters that he will wait until late this year before announcing whether he will run.
Should Manchin seek another term, he would face a serious challenge from Governor Jim Justice, who is seeking the Republican nomination in the Senate race. West Virginia has been leaning heavily Republican, having overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.
Manchin has at times complicated legislative initiatives being pushed by his party leaders, Reuters reported. But Democratic leaders have treaded softly as Manchin also has been key to the party holding on to its Senate majority.
Robert F Kennedy Jr condemned for spreading conspiracy theory that Covid-19 was 'ethnically targeted'
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr faced widespread criticism over the weekend after a video surfaced of him making false claims that Covid-19 was “ethnically targeted” to attack certain ethnic groups while sparing Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.
The New York Post on Saturday originally published a clip of Kennedy’s conspiracy theory comments, made during a recent dinner in New York City. In the recording, Kennedy can be heard making a series of false and misleading claims, including saying:
Covid-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.
Kennedy is also heard saying:
We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact.
Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, said Kennedy’s comments are “deeply offensive and incredibly dangerous” in a tweet on Saturday.
The Anti-Defamation League told multiple outlets that Kennedy’s comment “feeds into sinophobic and antisemitic conspiracy theories about Covid-19 that we have seen evolve over the last three years.”
Democratic national committee chair Jaime Harrison condemned Kennedy’s remarks and said they do not reflect the views of the party.
Updated
Joe Biden has invited Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to Washington for an official visit, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office.
The two leaders shared a “long and warm” conversation where they discussed curbing threats from Iran and its proxies and strengthening the alliance between the two countries, the Israeli statement said.
The invitation comes more than seven months after Netanyahu was sworn in as prime minister. The delay was viewed as a major snub from Biden, as most Israeli prime ministers had already received an invitation to the White House this far into their terms.
The phone call between the two leaders took place as Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, is traveling to Washington for meetings with Biden and to address a joint address to Congress.
Ohio secretary of state Frank LaRose formally announced his candidacy for US Senate today, becoming the third prominent Republican hoping to challenge Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in 2024.
“It’s official: I’m running,” LaRose said on Twitter.
I’m on a mission to give back to the state that has given me so much. To continue to serve the country I love and fight to protect the values we share. That’s why I’m running to serve as your next United States senator.
It's official: I'm running. pic.twitter.com/YEs89T9uU4
— Frank LaRose (@FrankLaRose) July 17, 2023
LaRose, Ohio’s secretary of state since 2019, is the third major candidate to jump into the primary to take on Brown. He follows Bernie Moreno, a businessman running with Donald Trump’s encouragement, and state senator Matt Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team.
Ohio’s Senate race looks to be one of the most competitive in the country next year, alongside races in Arizona, Montana and West Virginia. The state backed Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
New York mayor Eric Adams has appointed Edward Caban as the first Hispanic officer to lead the city’s police department in its 178-year history.
Adams announced the appointment of Caban, 55, in a morning news conference outside the 40th Precinct in the South Bronx, where Caban began his career as an officer in 1991.
Caban had been instrumental to the NYPD’s efforts to decrease crime after the Covid-19 pandemic, Mayor Adams said, noting that major crimes are down across the city this summer. He added:
Commissioner Caban is truly one of New York’s finest, a leader who understands the importance of both safety and justice.
Edward Caban is sworn in as the first Latino officer to lead the New York Police Department in its 177-year history. pic.twitter.com/6Kpj9fgHQj
— The Recount (@therecount) July 17, 2023
Caban stepped in as acting police chief after the surprise resignation of Keechant Sewell, the first woman to lead the department, last month.
Florida governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has reduced campaign staff as his campaign has struggled to meet fundraising goals.
Fewer than 10 staffers were laid off, according to an anonymous staffer, reported Politico. The staffers were involved in event planning and may be picked up by the pro-DeSantis super Pac Never Back Down. Two senior campaign advisers, Dave Abrams and Tucker Obenshain, left the campaign this past week to assist a pro-DeSantis nonprofit group.
Sources within the campaign reported an internal assessment that the campaign hired too many staffers too early.
“They never should have brought so many people on; the burn rate was way too high,” said one Republican source familiar with the campaign’s thought process to NBC News. “People warned the campaign manager but she wanted to hear none of it.”
More shake-ups within the campaign are expected in the coming weeks after two months on the presidential campaign, with DeSantis still lagging substantially in second place behind former president Donald Trump.
Even in DeSantis’s home state of Florida, Trump still has a 20-point lead over the governor, according to a recent Florida Atlantic University poll.
House Democrats plan resolution to censure George Santos
House Democrats plan to unveil a resolution to formally censure Republican congressman George Santos for lying to voters about his education, work history and family background.
The resolution from Representative Ritchie Torres will be privileged, meaning that the Republican-controlled House must act on it, NBC News reported.
The measure faces long odds of passing in the House, but Democrats believe forcing a vote will help maintain political pressure on Republican leaders who have stood by the embattled New York congressman in the face of a 13-count federal indictment, the New York Times reported.
Santos has “disgraced [Congress], and the institution should speak with one voice against his misconduct,” said Torres, who wrote the resolution.
Updated
Lawsuit filed in Iowa to block Republicans’ six-week abortion ban
Abortion providers in Iowa have filed a lawsuit to block state Republicans’ latest attempt to ban the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, before most people even know they are pregnant.
Last week, Iowa lawmakers passed a six-week ban on abortion in a rare special legislative session, called by Governor Kim Reynolds, who signed the bill on Friday afternoon. The law takes immediate effect, further shrinking the options available to people seeking abortions in the midwest. Reynolds said on Friday:
In a rare and historic special session, the Iowa legislature voted for a second time to reject the inhumanity of abortion and pass the fetal heartbeat law.
The move to restrict abortion in Iowa came less than one month after a deadlocked state supreme court blocked enforcement of a near-identical six-week ban. Reproductive justice advocates across the country condemned Reynolds’ decision to call a special session on abortion.
“Every dirty trick in the book is being used to pass these extremely unpopular abortion bans,” said Kimberly Inez McGuire, executive director of Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity (Urge), a progressive advocacy group that supports abortion rights.
Updated
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut has warned that it is “100% certain” that the Republicans will pass a national abortion ban if they win Congress next year.
Murphy, tweeting this morning, was responding to the approval in the Republican-led House of Representatives of a huge defense bill that includes amendments overturning the Pentagon’s policies on covering abortion services for the military. He said:
If you didn’t know already, if Republicans win control of the House and Senate in 2024, they are going to pass a national abortion ban. It’s 100% certain. Just so we’re clear about the stakes.
If you didn’t know already, if Republicans win control of the House and Senate in 2024, they are going to pass a national abortion ban. It’s 100% certain.
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) July 17, 2023
Just so we’re clear about the stakes. https://t.co/Nq8ItTDq6D
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy announced a list of candidates he would nominate to the supreme court if he were elected.
Ramaswamy’s list includes Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Mike Lee of Utah as possible nominees for the nation’s top court, as well as federal judges behind the contentious rulings on abortion pills and Joe Biden’s airplane mask mandate.
The list makes Ramaswamy the first in the GOP’s field to itemize his possible top judicial appointments. Donald Trump in the 2016 primary released his own list of possible appointments to the high court.
In an interview, Ramaswamy said he was releasing the list of possible appointments to show voters where he stood. He said:
It’s important, when you’re asking voters to select the next president of the United States, that you be as transparent as you can about what you’re going to do.
Ramaswamy remains a long shot to be the Republican nominee, Axios writes, but his list signals that as president he’d seek to bend the court further to the right.
No Labels says presidential candidates will have full autonomy over platform
The bipartisan No Labels group has said any presidential candidates nominated at next year’s convention will have full autonomy to create their own policy platforms.
This means that the group’s Common Sense” document, released over the weekend and outlining broad statements of principle, is little more than a starting point to spur more debate.
The 63-page document claims to be a “blueprint for where America’s common sense majority wants the country to go.”
The Washington Post reports:
Many of the proposals in the No Labels plan are long-standing ideas that have not yet found majority support in Washington: a bipartisan deficit reduction commission that would produce a plan that Congress had to vote on without amendment. Tort restructuring to restrict medical malpractice lawsuits. More price transparency for hospital bills, and patent restructuring to encourage generic biologic drug production.
Other proposals have for years been blocked in the U.S. Senate, like a plan for universal background checks for gun purchases, a plan to ban gun purchases by anyone under the age of 21 and a plan to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented migrants brought to the United States as children.
Updated
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin’s decision to headline an event for No Labels is causing a stir among Democrats who are worried that he might declare a third-party presidential run.
“Joe is America’s biggest political tease,” Democrat Senator Dick Durbin told The Hill.
I trust that he’ll make a judgment to run for reelection in West Virginia. I hope he will.
Polls show a third-party bid by a No Labels candidate could create a real headache for Joe Biden. The Hill cited Senator Chris Van Hollen as saying:
It’s pretty clear that a No Labels candidate would help reelect Donald Trump, and I hope anybody who considers it recognizes that that’s a very possible outcome.
That path is not a path to winning. It’s a path to spoiling the election for Joe Biden and electing Donald Trump.
The chair of the US Congressional Progressive Caucus apologised for calling Israel a “racist state”.
“I offer my apologies to those who I have hurt with my words,” Pramila Jayapal of Washington state said in a statement on Sunday.
The day before, at Netroots Nation, a progressive event in Chicago, Jayapal addressed a group of pro-Palestinian protesters. She said:
As somebody that’s been in the streets and has participated in a lot of demonstrations, I think I want you to know that we have been fighting to make it clear that Israel is a racist state.
Jayapal also said “the Palestinian people deserve self-determination and autonomy” and that “the dream of a two-state solution is slipping away from us”.
Republican and pro-Israel groups seized on the comments. Ahead of a week in which the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, will address Congress, Democratic House leaders also rebuked Jayapal.
“Israel is not a racist state,” a statement from the leaders said, noting the “uniquely special relationship” between the US and Israel.
Democratic leaders also said they “strongly support[ed] Israel’s right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people” while remaining “firmly committed to a robust two-state solution where Israel and the Palestinian people can live side-by-side in peace and prosperity”.
The bipartisan No Labels group is building up a head of steam as it hopes to field a “unity” candidate for the 2024 presidential election, and it’s described as well-funded even though it’s not clear where a lot of the money is coming from.
But will it fall between two stools? An analysis piece in the New York Times assesses that the group has, in effect, something for everyone to like – or dislike…..
The newspaper reports:
A new political platform focused on cooperative governance by the bipartisan group No Labels has something for everyone to embrace — and just as much for both sides to reject.
For example, the government must stop “releasing” undocumented migrants into the country, it maintains. But the government must also broaden legal immigration channels and offer a path to citizenship to those brought to the country as children.
Or this one: The constitutional right to bear arms is inviolable but must be tempered with universal background checks and age restrictions on the purchase of military-style semiautomatic rifles.
Then there is this: A woman must have a right to control her reproductive health, but that right has to be balanced with society’s obligation to safeguard human life.
No Labels’ possible third-party challenge for the presidency next year has drawn fire from liberals, centrists and even some members of Congress who support the group’s principles but fear that their efforts — based on the seemingly high-minded ideals of national unity — could greatly damage President Biden’s re-election campaign and hand the White House back to Donald J. Trump.
But at an event on Monday, the group will formally release what it calls a “common sense” proposal for a centrist White House, in hopes of shifting the conversation from the politics of its potential presidential bid to the actual policies that it believes can unite the country and temper the partisanship of the major party nominees. If the ideas do not take political flight, or if one or both of the parties adopt many of the proposals the group’s leaders say no challenge will be necessary.
Democrats fear Joe Manchin, No Labels could hand White House back to Trump
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin is headlining today at the event in New Hampshire organized by No Labels, the third party outfit that promotes itself as “middle of the road” or “common sense” and hopes to get on the ballot in 50 states for the 2024 presidential election with a “unity ticket”, much to the Democratic Party’s chagrin.
No Labels has been around for more than a decade but is coming closer to full disrupter status now, despite being little known or understood outside political insiders.
Manchin has not declared yet whether he will run for reelection.
If he ran for the presidency as a No Labels candidate, it could not only split the Democratic vote in a way that gives the White House to the Republicans in 2024 but also hands the party his crucial seat in what is currently a finely-balanced Senate where the Democrats have a very narrow majority.
Manchin will appear today alongside former Utah governor and Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, at St Anselm College in the first of a series of so-called common sense town halls No Labels is hosting, the Hill reports.
Joe Manchin appearance at 'No Labels' event to stoke turmoil
Good morning, US politics live blog readers, there’s a lot of action outside of Washington, DC, today – although still involving national politics and, specifically, the 2024 presidential election. Here’s what’s on the agenda:
No Labels, the moderate group angling to get a foothold as a third party presidential force in US politics, is meeting in New Hampshire today and Joe Manchin, West Virginia’s conservative Democratic US Senator, is taking part in a town hall. The Democratic Party worries that if Manchin, who’s up for re-election, decided to run for president on a No Labels ticket, it would upend the 2024 election, split the Democratic vote and hand the White Houses back to Donald Trump.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is scheduled to conduct the daily media briefing in the West Wing at 3pm ET.
Donald Trump’s apparent appetite for greater authoritarianism in the US if he is in power will translate in 2025 if he’s won the White House into a plan for a “sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government, reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands,” according to the New York Times.
US climate envoy John Kerry is in Beijing meeting his Chinese counterpart, as both countries grapple with record high temperatures and punishing heatwaves driven by the human-caused climate crisis. We are currently running an extreme weather live blog and you can follow all the weather and climate developments here.
