Summary
Here’s a recap of today’s developments:
Federal prosecutors indicted Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, over illegally possessing a firearm in Delaware. The indictment comes a month after the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, appointed the US attorney David Weiss, a Trump nominee, to oversee the investigation as special counsel. Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
The charges against Hunter Biden come in the same week as House Republicans formally opened an impeachment inquiry into the president, seeking to tie Joe Biden to his son’s business dealings. James Comer, the chair of the House oversight committee leading the Republican charge for the inquiry, said the charges against Hunter Biden are “a very small start”.
Joe Biden has said Republicans launched an impeachment inquiry against him because “they want to shut down the government”.
A Georgia judge has ruled that Donald Trump and 16 others will be tried separately from two defendants, lawyers Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, who are set to go to trial next month in the case accusing them of participating in an illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, had been pushing to try all 19 defendants together.
Mark Meadows, the former Trump White House chief of staff, withdrew his motion for an emergency stay in proceedings against him in the Fulton county court. Meadows had requested to transfer his Georgia 2020 election interference case from state to federal court on the basis that some of the charged conduct was within the scope of his official duties.
Nancy Pelosi seemed to offer a less-than-ringing endorsement when asked if Kamala Harris was the best running mate for Joe Biden next year, saying: “He thinks so, and that’s what matters.” Pelosi, however, spoke glowingly of her fellow Californian’s political skills.
Donald Trump said Joe Biden is “not too old at all” to be president but that he was “grossly incompetent”. In an interview with Megyn Kelly, the former president also said he didn’t know who gave top infectious disease official Anthony Fauci a presidential commendation – despite the fact that it was him.
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A timeline of moments that propelled Hunter Biden into the limelight
Trump impeachment: Trump seeks to divert attention from his impeachment inquiry towards Hunter’s business dealings in China and Ukraine.
2020 presidential election: Trump repeatedly attacks Joe Biden over his family’s overseas business ties.
December 2020: A month after his father wins the presidential election, Hunter confirms a Delaware attorney has been investigating his “tax affairs”. He says he had learned of the investigation, overseen by Trump-appointed US attorney David Weiss, from his lawyer a day before he confirmed it publicly. The investigation had been temporarily paused in the months leading up to the election.
April 2023: An anonymous IRS whistleblower sends a letter to Congress saying the investigation into Hunter’s finances was mishandled.
20 June 2023: Hunter is expected to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors after a federal court in Delaware announced it had reached a deal that was set to shield him from jail time over gun charges in a separate case.
19 July 2023: Two former agents at the IRS, including the previously anonymous whistleblower, testify at a GOP-lead House oversight hearing that DoJ officials “constantly hamstrung, limited and marginalized” the US attorney, Weiss, in his investigation into Hunter.
26 July 2023: In a reversal, Hunter pleads not guilty to two tax misdemeanor charges after the judge, Maryellen Noreika, says she cannot accept the deal over a disagreement between the prosecution and Hunter’s legal team.
The two sides settled a disagreement over whether Hunter could face future charges for violating foreign lobbying laws. After a short recess, his lawyers said they agreed with the DoJ’s interpretation that he could face additional charges, subject to further investigation.
But Noreika again raises a question regarding a diversion agreement – where the prosecutor agrees to dismiss charges, with conditions – that would have cleared Hunter of his gun charges after two years if she found him to be compliant with the terms. Noreika said that power belonged to the DoJ, not her, and thus could not approve the deal.
August 2023: This is the deadline Noreika sets for the two sides to file additional briefs defending the constitutionality of the original plea deal.
Republican lawmakers are separately targeting the entire Biden family. The GOP-led House oversight committee is investigating whether the family’s business dealings harm US national security, and some extreme members are calling for impeachment.
11 August 2023: Merrick Garland, the attorney general, appoints special counsel David Weiss to oversee Hunter’s case.
14 September 2023: Hunter Biden is federally indicted with three felony counts, for illegally possessing a gun and making false statements when filling out paperwork to do so in 2018.
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In Wisconsin, Democratic attorney general Josh Kaul announced he had filed a lawsuit against Republican leaders, over the ousting of nonpartisan elections administrator Meagan Wolfe.
Wolfe became lightning rod for conspiracy theories during the 2020 elections. Groups and individuals that spread falsehoods about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election obsessed over Wolfe, publishing missives in Gateway Pundit, a site that peddles misinformation and earning a warning from state capitol police for allegedly stalking her.
State lawmakers, largely focusing their criticisms on pandemic-related policies like the expanded use of ballot drop boxes and the guidance for nursing home voting, joined the chorus calling for Wolfe’s ouster.
“The story today is not what the senate has purported to do with its vote,” he said in a press release. “It’s that the senate has blatantly disregarded state law in order to put its full stamp of approval on the ongoing baseless attacks on our democracy.”
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Hunter Biden lawyer says indictment decision is 'bending to political pressure'
Hunter Biden’s lawyer has responded to the indictment, releasing a statement that said special counsel David Weiss’ “bending to political pressure presents a grave threat to our system of justice”.
The statement by Abbe Lowell, reported by NBC News, says:
As expected, prosecutors filed charges today that they deemed were not warranted just six weeks ago following a five-year investigation into this case.
The evidence in this matter has not changed in the last six weeks, but the law has and so has Maga Republicans’ improper and partisan interference in this process. Hunter Biden possessing an unloaded gun for 11 day was not a threat to public safety, but a prosecutor, with all the power imaginable, bending to political pressure presents a grave threat to our system of justice.
He added:
We believe these charges are barred by the agreement the prosecutors made with Mr Biden, the recent rulings by several federal courts that this statute is unconstitutional, and the facts that he did not violate that law, and we plan to demonstrate all of that in court.
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At least half a dozen House Republicans say they are open to supporting a motion to oust the speaker, Kevin McCarthy, in the event of a floor vote, according to a CNN report.
The topic has come up in recent House Freedom caucus meetings, with some members feeling like McCarthy violated his terms to become speaker, the report says. It writes:
If all Democrats support the move, as many of them are signaling they would, it would take just five Republicans to succeed, thrusting the House into chaos. At that point, the House would be paralyzed until a new speaker is elected.
The Republican Florida congressman Matt Gaetz dismissed the indictment of Hunter Biden, comparing it to charging the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer with littering.
Matt Gaetz: "Getting Hunter Biden on the gun charge is like getting Jeffrey Dahmer on littering."
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 14, 2023
MTG wants Biden inquiry to take a "long time"
Dem Dan Goldman says Hunter should be held accountable if he committed crimes. "You don't hear any Republicans" saying that about Trump pic.twitter.com/fAQsmcm6BH
Hunter Biden has been charged by federal prosecutors with lying about his drug use when he bought a gun in 2018, in the same week as House Republicans formally opened an impeachment inquiry into the president, seeking to tie Joe Biden to his son’s business dealings.
A court filing in the US district court in Delaware alleged Biden, 53, illegally obtained and possessed a Colt revolver in October 2018 after falsely declaring that he was not a user of, or addicted to, narcotic drugs. He has been charged with two counts of making false statements by checking a box falsely saying he was not a user of or addicted to drugs and a third count for possessing the gun as a drug user.
The firearms indictment comes weeks after a plea deal collapsed that would have ensured Hunter Biden would avoid a criminal trial as his father runs for reelection for the 2024 presidential election.
On Tuesday, House speaker Kevin McCarthy announced he is launching a formal impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. According to McCarthy, findings from Republican-led investigations over the summer recess revealed “a culture of corruption”, and that Biden lied about his lack of involvement and knowledge of his family’s overseas business dealings.
Many of the allegations center on Hunter Biden, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, during his father’s term as vice-president. Republicans allege that Joe Biden improperly benefited from his son’s foreign connections but, after several months, have produced no evidence. Watchdog groups say Republicans do not actually have evidence to back up their claims.
Wisconsin Republicans vote to fire top election official
By a party-line vote, the Republican-dominated Wisconsin state senate has voted to oust the state’s top elections official, Meagan Wolfe.
The move advances the goal of election deniers and conspiracy theorists who falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen by Joe Biden. It’s the latest example of Wisconsin politicians repeatedly revisiting the 2020 election, despite the fact that numerous recounts and reviews of the last presidential election in Wisconsin affirmed Biden’s victory over former president Donald Trump.
Josh Kaul, the Wisconsin attorney general, objected to the proceedings, which Republicans in the Senate advanced despite the bipartisan commission failing to put forward Wolfe’s recommendation to the legislature. Nonpartisan attorneys agreed with Kaul’s legal objection and the status of Wolfe’s position will almost certainly be decided in court.
During the floor session, the Democratic senator Mark Spreitzer, who serves on the shared revenue, elections and consumer protection committee called the nomination “fake”, and accused Republicans in the senate of indulging conspiracy theorists by “relitigat[ing] the 2020 election”.
Elections observers worry the move will damage voters’ confidence in Wisconsin elections. And if Wolfe is removed or steps down, her vacancy will impact elections clerks around the state who rely on her office’s guidance during elections.
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James Comer says Hunter Biden indictment is 'a very small start'
James Comer, the chair of the House oversight committee leading the Republican charge for an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, said today’s charges against the president son, Hunter Biden, are “a very small start”.
Posting to X, formerly known as Twitter, Comer wrote:
Unless U.S. Attorney [David] Weiss investigates everyone involved in the fraud schemes and influence peddling, it will be clear President Biden’s DOJ is protecting Hunter Biden and the big guy.
🚨STATEMENT🚨
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) September 14, 2023
Today’s charges against Hunter Biden are a very small start, but unless U.S. Attorney Weiss investigates everyone involved in the fraud schemes and influence peddling, it will be clear President Biden’s DOJ is protecting Hunter Biden and the big guy.
Read👇 pic.twitter.com/XA7IbQFtyy
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Timeline of moments that pushed Hunter Biden into the spotlight
Federal prosecutors indicted Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, over illegally possessing a firearm in Delaware on Thursday. The indictment comes a month after the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, appointed the US attorney David Weiss, a Trump nominee, to oversee the investigation as special counsel.
Hunter Biden has been at the center of a years-long investigation into his tax affairs that was set to close with a guilty plea. But that plea deal fell apart at a Delaware courthouse after the Trump-appointed judge said she could not agree to the agreement, which ensured Biden would avoid jail time in a separate case of illegally possessing a gun while using drugs.
Amid the controversy, the president has repeatedly said he supports his son and Hunter has been seen regularly at family events. Asked if President Biden would pardon his son in the event of any conviction, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, told reporters: “No.”
But the younger Biden has been embroiled in a list of unrelated controversies for years, including his overseas dealings and struggles with addiction, which ex-President Trump and his allies have regularly sought to use as fodder for attacks.
Here’s a comprehensive timeline of the moments that have propelled Hunter Biden into the limelight.
Hunter Biden could face maximum of 25 years in prison if convicted on gun charges
Hunter Biden has been charged with three counts: two counts of making false statements by checking a box falsely saying he was not a user of or addicted to drugs and of illegally possessing the gun as a drug user, and one count for possessing the gun as a drug user.
Two counts are punishable by up to 10 years in prison while the third carries up to five years in prison, upon conviction, AP reported.
Hunter Biden has also been under investigation for his business dealings. The special counsel overseeing the case has indicated that charges of failure to pay taxes on time could be filed in Washington or in California, where he lives.
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Republican reactions to Hunter Biden’s indictment are starting to emerge online, with far-right Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene asking:
“But where are the indictments for tax fraud, FARA abuse, money laundering, and sex trafficking???”
🚨🚨🚨BREAKING: Hunter Biden has been indicted for three counts of federal gun charges
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) September 14, 2023
But where are the indictments for tax fraud, FARA abuse, money laundering, and sex trafficking??? pic.twitter.com/tOGdH6Uku1
FARA refers to the Foreign Agents Registration Act which requires individuals who engage in specified activities within the US on behalf of a foreign principal to register with and disclose those activities to the justice department.
Hunter Biden has drawn ire as a result of his overseas business dealings involving countries including Ukraine and China.
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Hunter Biden indicted on gun charges – court documents
Hunter Biden has been indicted by federal prosecutors on three criminal counts on firearm possession, according to court documents.
The indictment was filed at the US district court in Delaware on Thursday and charges President Joe Biden’s 53-year-old son with unlawfully possessing a firearm as a drug addict.
“Robert Hunter Biden, provided a written statement on Form 4473 certifying he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious,” the indictment said.
The indictment brought special counsel David Weiss follows the collapse of a plea deal for Hunter Biden in July that would have seen him plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and register in a program that would avoid prosecution on a gun-related charge.
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During the interview between Megyn Kelly and Donald Trump, they discussed the question Kelly asked Trump in 2015 during the Republican primary debate in which Kelly asked:
“You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals.”
Recalling the question, Trump said, “That was a badd question.”
Kelly replied, “That was a great question,” to which Trump said, “That was a nasty question.”
Trump continued to defend his 2015 answer to the question (“Only Rosie O’Donnell”) and said, “I came up with a good answer.”
Donald Trump and @MegynKelly rehash THAT debate moment from 2015:
— The Megyn Kelly Show (@MegynKellyShow) September 14, 2023
"That was a bad question..."
"That was a great question..."
"You handled it well, your poll numbers went up..."
"...I came up with a good answer."
FULL one-hour interview tomorrow:https://t.co/YJPxz5Gu8d pic.twitter.com/QpxFG13W0O
Trump co-defendant Mark Meadows withdraws motion to pause Georgia case
Mark Meadows, the former Trump White House chief of staff, has withdrawn his motion for an emergency stay in proceedings against him in the Fulton county court.
Meadows had requested to transfer his Georgia 2020 election interference case from state to federal court on the basis that some of the charged conduct was within the scope of his official duties.
From Politico’s Kyle Cheney:
JUST IN: Mark MEADOWS has withdrawn his emegency motion to stay the Fulton County proceedings now that the state judge has officially severed him from the speedy trial group. https://t.co/x3q5dDuqMO pic.twitter.com/Q2ZsE41szD
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) September 14, 2023
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Joe Biden has said Republicans launched an impeachment inquiry against him because “they want to shut down the government”.
Without agreement on new funding by 30 September, the federal government will at least partly shut down. Hard-right Republicans are demanding cuts to some spending and increases in other areas, particularly immigration enforcement. Some made an impeachment inquiry – regarding the business affairs of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and unsubstantiated allegations of corruption involving Joe Biden – a condition of support for keeping the government open.
Given he must run the House with just a five-seat majority, the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, is at the mercy of such pressure.
With more than five Republicans having expressed skepticism about whether impeachment would be merited, McCarthy skipped a vote on whether to open an inquiry.
That followed the example of Nancy Pelosi, his Democratic predecessor, who did not hold a House vote before proceedings against Donald Trump began in 2019. Notably, it also opened McCarthy to accusations of hypocrisy, given that he excoriated Pelosi and told rightwing news outlets at the time that he would hold a vote.
After an inquiry, impeachment must be voted on by the full House. A yes vote sends the president to the Senate for trial. A vote there decides if the president will be acquitted, or convicted and removed.
Trump was impeached twice, first for seeking political dirt on the Biden family and others in Ukraine, then for inciting the January 6 attack on Congress. The second Trump impeachment was the most bipartisan in history, with 10 House Republicans voting to impeach and seven Republican senators voting to convict. But enough Senate Republicans stayed loyal to see Trump acquitted.
The other impeached presidents – Andrew Johnson (1868) and Bill Clinton (1998) – also survived Senate trials. As Democrats now hold the Senate, the effort against Biden stands next to no chance of succeeding.
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Trump says Biden is 'not too old' to be president
Donald Trump, in the interview with Megyn Kelly, said Joe Biden is “not too old at all” to be president but that he was “grossly incompetent”.
Speaking on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Show, Trump said:
Age is interesting because some people are very sharp and some people do lose it, but you lose it at 40 and 50, also.
“But no, he’s not too old at all. He’s grossly incompetent,” he added.
Trump, who at 77 is just a few years younger than 80-year-old Biden, said he had friends “that are in their 90s and they’re sharp as a tack”. He added:
You know, there’s a great wisdom if you’re not in a position like [Biden]. But if you go back 25 years, he wasn’t the sharpest tack either.
A Wall Street Journal poll earlier this month found that 73% of voters said Biden is “too old to run for president” but just 47% of voters said the same about Trump.
Updated
Trump claims he doesn't know who gave Anthony Fauci a presidential commendation despite doing so himself
Donald Trump said he didn’t know who gave Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease official who became the face of the US’s Covid-19 pandemic response, a presidential commendation in an interview with the ex-Fox News host Megyn Kelly.
In a clip circulating on social media ahead of the interview’s release, Kelly questioned Trump over his elevation of Fauci during the pandemic. She said:
Not only did you not fire Fauci, who is loathed by many – millions of Republicans in particular, but also some Democrats – you made him a star.
Kelly said the former president had made Fauci the face of the White House coronavirus task force. “You think so?” Trump said. Kelly went on to say: “You actually gave him a presidential commendation before you left office. Wouldn’t you like a do-over on that?”
Trump responded:
I don’t know who gave him the commendation. I really don’t know who gave him the commendation.
Trump, in an interview with Megyn Kelly, says he doesn't know who gave Fauci the presidential commendation pic.twitter.com/LRZnFXqMWO
— Joel Weingart (@JoelWeingart_) September 14, 2023
Trump awarded a presidential commendation to Fauci in January 2021, a day before he left office.
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A Georgia judge’s ruling that Donald Trump and 16 allies will be tried separately from lawyers Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro deals a blow to Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis, who had been pushing to try all 19 defendants in the 2020 election interference case together.
Fulton county superior court Judge Scott McAfee wrote in his ruling:
The precarious ability of the Court to safeguard each defendant’s due process rights and ensure adequate pretrial preparation on the current accelerated track weighs heavily, if not decisively, in favor of severance.
He added that it may be necessary to further divide the defendants into smaller groups for trial. Willis had argued that trying all 19 together would be more efficient and more fair.
McAfee noted that the Fulton county courthouse does not have a courtroom big enough to hold 19 defendants, their lawyers and others who would need to be present.
Chesebro and Powell had sought to be tried separately from each other, but the judge also denied their request.
Federal prosecutors and FBI agents involved in the Hunter Biden investigation have been the targets of threats and harassments by critics who believe the president’s son should face more severe charges, according to an NBC News report.
The dramatic uptick in threats have coincided with attacks on the FBI and justice department by House Republicans and Donald Trump, who have accused both agencies of participating in a conspiracy to subvert justice, the report says.
Threats to FBI agents and facilities had more than doubled, an executive assistant director of human resources for the FBI told the House judiciary committee in June. The number of threats were “unprecedented. It’s a number we’ve never had before,” they said.
The threats have prompted the FBI to create an entire unit to investigate them, they added. “We are still in the process of staffing it right now. But their sole mission on a daily basis is threats to FBI employees at facilities.”
Kevin McCarthy was asked by a reporter if he wouldn’t mind sharing what exactly he said during a closed-door GOP conference meeting this morning, where he reportedly dared Republican hard-liners to “file the fucking motion” to remove him as speaker.
“I would mind sharing with you,” the House speaker replied, adding “we just had a discussion in there.”
Reporters after closed-door House GOP meeting: “Did you tell your critics who threatened to file a motion to vacate to ‘bring it on?’ What was the exact language you used, if you don’t mind sharing with us?”
— The Recount (@therecount) September 14, 2023
Speaker Kevin McCarthy: “I mind sharing with you.” pic.twitter.com/sApvMMnm3v
A spokesperson for Ron DeSantis responded to a report about undisclosed trips on donors’ private jets and said the report is an example of “Trump-legacy media collusion”.
The DeSantis spokesperson, Andrew Romeo, directed the paper to a former aide to the Florida governor now a top adviser to Donald Trump. Romeo said:
Additional questions regarding events, itineraries and documentation from almost five years ago should be directed to Susie Wiles, the staffer who oversaw such matters prior to her dismissal.
Wiles, the Washington Post said, “deferred questions to the Trump campaign”. Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said “the DeSantis campaign’s ridiculous statement doesn’t even merit a response”, but responded to it anyway.
Instead of pointing fingers and trying to place blame on others – like they have historically done – the DeSantises should take a good, hard look in the mirror to better understand why they chose to act unethically and sell access to their office.
On the subject of DeSantis’s travel arrangements, Romeo told the paper:
All travel and events you mention – from almost five years ago – were compliant and received proper payment. Efforts to fundraise for state political parties and cultivate relationships with state officials are standard for political leaders, especially during an election year.
Updated
Ron DeSantis enjoyed undisclosed private flights and lavish trips through wealthy donors – report
Florida governor and Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis traveled on private jets and enjoyed luxury travel and leisure time with wealthy donors that he failed to properly disclose, according to a Washington Post report.
The report about DeSantis’s travel arrangements concerned “at least six undisclosed trips on private jets and … lodging and dining in late 2018”, when DeSantis was Florida governor-elect, having won power with Donald Trump’s endorsement.
One of the undisclosed flights was to Augusta National in Georgia, home of the Masters golf tournament, the report said. The donor who supplied the jet, Mori Hosseini, also supplied a golf simulator for the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee.
DeSantis also took four other flights on a plane registered to donor John Cwik, the paper said, adding that the governor did not report the flights or accommodations as gifts or campaign contributions.
The report continues:
The undisclosed trips, which have not been previously reported, reflect how DeSantis fueled his political rise through close bonds with rich patrons and had a taste for luxury travel, in contrast to his campaign’s portrayal of DeSantis’s humble blue-collar roots and aversion to moneyed interests. His preference for private jet travel has continued into his White House bid, even as his campaign has struggled to rein in spending. In an unusual arrangement, the campaign is sharing some costs for private plane travel with the super PAC supporting him.
Updated
The poll of potential GOP primary voters in South Carolina also showed that people who said they support Donald Trump are more likely to say abortion should be illegal.
Of those who back Trump, 73% say abortion should be illegal in most or all cases, while 52% of those voters who support other Republican presidential candidates say abortion should be legal.
The poll also found that 65% of Trump primary supporters say “Whites losing out to preferences for Blacks and Hispanics” is a bigger problem in the US than “Blacks and Hispanic losing out due to preferences for Whites”.
Nearly half of South Carolina’s Republican primary voters favor Donald Trump, with the former president leading the state’s former governor, Nikki Haley, by nearly 30 points, according to a new poll.
The Washington Post/Monmouth University poll found that 46% of potential GOP primary voters in South Carolina support Trump. Haley stands in second place at 18%, while 10% support South Carolina senator Tim Scott and 9% back Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
Nancy Pelosi hesitantly supportive of Harris as running mate for Biden
Nancy Pelosi seemed to offer a less-than-ringing endorsement when asked if Kamala Harris was the best running mate for Joe Biden next year, saying:
He thinks so, and that’s what matters.
But the former House speaker also had praise for the vice-president, telling CNN:
And, by the way, she’s very politically astute. I don’t think people give her enough credit. She’s … consistent with the president’s values and the rest.
Anderson Cooper: "Is VP Kamala Harris the best running mate for this president?"
— The Recount (@therecount) September 14, 2023
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): "He thinks so, and that's what matters. And by the way, she's very politically astute ... People shouldn't underestimate what Kamala Harris brings to the table." pic.twitter.com/4VWW3unGd1
As Biden knows after eight years under Barack Obama, the vice-presidency has never been easy to fill. Harris may or may not agree with John Nance Garner’s famous observation, that the job he did for Franklin D Roosevelt wasn’t worth “a pitcher of warm piss”, but she has experienced familiar trials.
Speculation over her performance and possible replacement has been constant. In a deeply sourced new book about the Biden White House, the author Franklin Foer describes Harris’s struggles to define her role.
Nor does Harris enjoy favourable polling. Her approval rating – like Biden’s – has long been stuck at around 40%.
House speaker Kevin McCarthy, speaking to reporters after a tense closed-door GOP meeting, insisted he would not “walk away from a battle” as he tries to hang on to his position amid rising discontent among the party’s most hardline members. He said:
If it takes a fight, I’ll have a fight.
“What was your message to some members who have threatened to possibly raise a motion to try and oust you as speaker?”
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) September 14, 2023
Kevin McCarthy: “Threats don't matter...I don't walk away from a battle...If it takes a fight. I'll have a fight.” pic.twitter.com/V0m8rIayWI
Kevin McCarthy dares hardline Republicans to 'move the fucking motion' to remove him as speaker
The speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, issued a challenge to hardline Republicans who have threatened to oust him during a closed-door GOP conference meeting this morning, according to reports.
“If you want to the file the motion (to vacate),” McCarthy is reported by Axios to have said to a room of his colleagues, “file the fucking motion.”
From Politico’s Olivia Beavers:
Another source in room says this is the correct quote: “If you think you scare me because you want to file a motion to vacate, move the fucking motion” https://t.co/Qgw4n1JQCe
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) September 14, 2023
Updated
Fulton county superior judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the Georgia election interference case, ordered that 17 defendants – including Donald Trump – will not be tried alongside speedy trial defendants Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro.
The move deals a blow to the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, who repeatedly urged the judge to keep the defendants together and try them at the same time.
The order reads:
The Court joins the skepticism expressed by several federal courts that denying severance always ensures efficiency, especially in ‘mega trials’ such as this.
JUST IN: Fulton County Judge rules that Trump and 16 co-defendants will NOT be tried alongside Ken Chesebro and Sidney Powell starting October 23, 2023. Judge McAfee severs Chesebro and Powell’s case from the 17 defendants who did not request a speedy trial. pic.twitter.com/XaFQVCzo5N
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) September 14, 2023
Judge rejects request to try all Trump Georgia defendants together
A Georgia judge has ruled that Donald Trump and 16 allies will be tried separately from Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro in the 2020 election interference case.
Powell and Chesebro had filed demands for a speedy trial. Fulton county superior judge Scott McAfee set their trials to begin 23 October, rejecting prosecutors’ request to try all 19 defendants at the same time.
From my colleague Hugo Lowell:
NEW: Judge Scott McAfee has ruled that former Trump lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell will go to trial on Oct. 23 in Fulton County without the other co-defendants in the 2020 election case. Not the outcome that the Fulton County FA wanted.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) September 14, 2023
Updated
As House Republicans kick off an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, the White House is executing a long-planned strategy to meet politics with politics, according to a New York Times report.
The Biden team’s goal is to discredit the inquiry and convince Americans that it is nothing more than base partisanship driven by a radical opposition, the report says.
“We’re battling it out in the court of public opinion at this stage because that’s all that McCarthy has done, the theater of impeachment,” Ian Sams, the White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, told the paper.
The report continues:
For the Biden team, the mission now is to discredit the impeachment inquiry among independent voters and wayward Democrats before it reaches a crescendo. It is a strategy employed in the past by other presidents targeted for impeachment, Bill Clinton and Donald J. Trump.
The Republicans so far have helped Mr. Biden’s effort, often speaking about the investigations into the president’s family in starkly political terms.
The speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, tried to evade questions on Wednesday about why he does not intend to hold a floor vote on the Biden impeachment inquiry, despite having said just weeks ago that he would not open an official probe without a vote.
In an interview with Breitbart on 1 September, he said:
To open an impeachment inquiry is a serious matter, and House Republicans would not take it lightly or use it for political purposes. The American people deserve to be heard on this matter through their elected representatives.
That’s why, if we move forward with an impeachment inquiry, it would occur through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person.
When CNN’s Manu Raju asked about his change in position, McCarthy responded:
You know what’s interesting to me, you’re a reporter for CNN, right? I just laid out to you a lot of allegations based upon the American public.
Asked again why he had changed his position on an impeachment of Biden, he said: “I never changed my position.”
Speaker McCarthy gets into back and forth with @mkraju over his flip-flop on starting impeachment inquiry without a House vote:
— The Recount (@therecount) September 13, 2023
Raju: “I’m curious why you changed your position.”
McCarthy: “I never changed my position.”
Raju: “You told Breitbart 12 days ago you’d have a vote.” pic.twitter.com/BCJjWNZ3sF
The White House sent a letter on Wednesday to US news outlets, urging them to “scrutinize House Republicans’ demonstrably false claims” surrounding their impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.
The memo, which was sent by Ian Sams, the White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, and addressed to editorial leadership at media organizations, came after House speaker Kevin McCarthy announced the Biden impeachment inquiry on Tuesday. The memo reads:
It’s time for the media to ramp up its scrutiny of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies.
The inquiry has no supporting evidence, which “should set off alarm bells for news organizations”, Sams said. Republicans have sought to directly connect Hunter Biden’s financial dealings to his father, but have so far failed to produce evidence that the president directly participated in his son’s work.
In the modern media environment, where every day liars and hucksters peddle disinformation and lies everywhere from Facebook to Fox, process stories that fail to unpack the illegitimacy of the claims on which House Republicans are basing all their actions only serve to generate confusion, put false premises in people’s feeds, and obscure the truth.
For now, the White House views the situation from a communications standpoint rather than as a legal issue, according to CNN. The principal objective is to counter what many Democrats fear could become an ingrained narrative, with one source telling the outlet:
If you don’t answer it, it can sink into the voter psyche. They’re walking that line.
Joe Biden’s first public remarks on the House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry are a clear sign of the president’s broader re-election pitch: the idea that if he simply does his job and governs, Americans will see the results and reward him with four more years, according to AP.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, at a briefing yesterday, dismissed the inquiry as a “political stunt” and deflected questions about the details to the White House counsel’s office. She said:
This is an entire exercise of how to do this in an illegitimate way ... It is going after the president politically, not about the truth.
She added Republicans have turned up no evidence that Biden did anything wrong “because the president didn’t do anything wrong”.
The AP report writes:
The White House impeachment playbook so far has been: Dismiss. Compartmentalize. Scold. That is, shrug off the charges as baseless, stay focused on policy, leave the impeachment question to the lawyers and chide those who give too much credence to it all.
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Joe Biden, speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in Virginia on Wednesday night, made reference to the far-right Georgia congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is a close ally of Donald Trump. Biden said:
The first day she was elected, the first thing she wanted to do was impeach Biden.
The White House has blamed Taylor Greene into pressuring the speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, to order an impeachment inquiry into the president over unproven corruption allegations relating to his family’s business dealings.
According to the New York Times, Trump dined with Taylor Greene at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Sunday night, just two days before McCarthy announced his decision to order a formal impeachment inquiry.
Greene confirmed to the paper that the pair discussed the inquiry, and that she had laid out her impeachment strategy at the dinner, telling Trump she wanted the inquiry to be “long and excruciatingly painful for Joe Biden”.
Biden brushes off impeachment inquiry: 'I have a job to do'
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Joe Biden brushed off the House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry over unproven corruption allegations relating to his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, saying that he was “focused on the things the American people want me focused on”.
In his first remarks since the speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, announced on Tuesday he would formally open a Biden impeachment inquiry, the president linked the inquiry to the looming showdown over funding the government.
“I don’t know quite why, but they just knew they wanted to impeach me,” Biden told donors at a Democratic fundraiser in Virginia on Wednesday night.
Now, the best I can tell, they want to impeach me because they want to shut down the government.
He insisted that instead of being concerned about the inquiry, “I get up every day, not a joke, not focused on impeachment. I’ve got a job to do.” Biden’s remarks came hours after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the inquiry a “political stunt”.
McCarthy’s move kicks off what are expected to be weeks of Republican-led hearings intended to convince Americans that the president profited from the business dealings of his son and other family members, but it is unclear if the GOP has the evidence to substantiate the long-running claims, or even the votes for impeachment.
Here’s what else we’re watching today:
8.30am Eastern time: House Republicans will hold a closed conference meeting
11am: House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries will hold his weekly news conference.
1.30pm: Joe Biden will leave for Largo, Maryland, where he will speak about Bidenomics at Prince George’s county community college.
6.15pm: Biden will hold a call with rabbis in honor of Rosh Hashanah, which begins on Friday night.
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