Closing summary
House Democrats unveiled legislation to protect abortion access nationwide, but the GOP’s control of the chamber and hostility to the procedure means the bill will remain a symbolic effort, at least for now. Meanwhile, it turns out that the grand jury empaneled by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg is hearing about not one, but two alleged hush money payments that Donald Trump may have facilitated ahead of the 2016 election. There’s still no telling if and when an indictment will happen.
Here’s what else went on today:
Joe Biden issued a proclamation in recognition of today’s Transgender Day of Visibility that decried an “epidemic of violence” against the group.
The squabbling in a Republican-convened House committee investigating “the Weaponization of the Federal Government” grew particularly intense.
Joe Manchin, the centrist Democratic senator who stymied progressive demands over the past two years, called on the White House to negotiate with Republicans over the debt ceiling.
Prayer is all one Republican lawmaker has to offer when it comes to solving America’s epidemic of gun violence.
Despite it all, Trump continues to gain support among Republicans, a new Fox News poll shows.
Despite all the investigations surrounding him, Donald Trump appears to be consolidating his standing among Republicans as he embarks on a second campaign for the White House.
A Fox News poll released yesterday shows the former president’s lead over other Republicans growing, with Trump polling at 54% support against the 24% backing Florida governor Ron DeSantis – his most strongest presumed challenger. That’s a gap of 30 percentage points, up from the 15 percentage point gap he had last month.
None of the other Republicans in the survey, including former vice-president Mike Pence, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and ex-congresswoman Liz Cheney, crack double digits, according to the poll.
Updated
According to the Wall Street Journal, a key indicator of which direction Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation is going is the presence of David Pecker.
Pecker is the former CEO of American Media, which owns tabloid the National Enquirer. According to the Journal, Pecker bought exclusive rights to Karen McDougal’s story in order to keep it out of the public eye in the weeks before the 2016 election.
Now it seems that Pecker is cooperating with Bragg. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal reports that Pecker spoke to the grand jury investigating Trump in January, and again earlier this week, with his testimony focused on a broader scheme by Trump to suppress negative stories from coming out as he ran for president.
Manhattan grand jury examining second Trump hush money payment: report
The Manhattan grand jury that is considering whether to bring charges against Donald Trump for a hush money payment he allegedly facilitated just before the 2016 election is also examining a second payment made to a woman who claimed she had an affair with the real estate mogul, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The $150,000 payment being examined by the grand jury was allegedly made to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who said she had a relationship with Trump in 2006 that lasted 10 months. The panel is also looking into a $130,000 payment Trump allegedly arranged to be made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election, in exchange for her keeping quiet about an affair with him.
Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg was expected to last week indict Trump for the payment to Daniels, but the decision has been pushed back repeatedly. The revelation that the grand jury was hearing evidence of a second alleged hush money payment may explain the delay.
Speaking of angry scenes in Congress, there have been some chaotic goings-on today over at the “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government”, chaired by Jim Jordan, the hardline Republican from Ohio.
It all hinges on how two Republican witnesses, the Missouri senator Eric Schmitt and the attorney general of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, appeared to give statements about supposed censorship involving the Biden administration and big tech platforms, but departed without being cross-examined.
Amid Democratic protests and Republican counters, Linda Sanchez of California, a Democrat, told Jordan: “If allowing them to leave is not weaponisation, I don’t know what is.”
In another confrontation, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, a Republican, sought to introduce into the congressional record a letter from Landry in which, he said, the state AG “decries all political violence and calls for an end to that and asks for respect for all political viewpoints”.
The ranking Democrat on the panel, Stacey Plaskett, the delegate from the US Virgin Islands, sighed and said: “Another thing we can’t examine because he’s not here.”
Jordan said: “You can examine it, it’s a document.”
Plaskett said: “No, examine him for what he wrote and the intent behind what he said.”
As Johnson walked over and plonked the document on Plaskett’s desk, Jordan said: “I would just point out that … we got the document right here, I can hand it to you.”
Plaskett picked up the document, walked over the dais to Johnson, and threw it back on his desk.
Here’s the video:
.@RepMikeJohnson submits a letter written by an excused witness.
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 30, 2023
Del. @StaceyPlaskett gets up, walks over the throws it back at Rep. Johnson. pic.twitter.com/wkdTFIxsoo
Footage of an extraordinary confrontation between two members of Congress, the far-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, from Georgia, and the Florida Democrat Jared Moskowitz, continues to spread widely online.
The exchange happened yesterday, during a House oversight committee hearing about the governance of Washington DC which grew contentious amid Republican attacks and questions about crime and, in particular, public urination.
Moskowitz said: “Do you think parents in this country, as they’re putting their young kids into pajamas at night and are tucking them into bed, you think they’re worried about public urination in Washington DC? Or do you think they’re worried about sending their kid to school and their kid not coming home?”
Referring to the school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday in which three children and three adults were killed, Moskowitz said: “Mass murder in schools is crime. That’s crime. You want to talk about 1,300 cars being stolen? 550 people have been murdered in school. Who cares about the cars? What about the kids? No hearing for them.”
Greene said children could be made safer by arming more people in schools.
Growing angry, Moskowitz said: “You know, there are six people that are dead in that school [in Nashville] including three children because you guys got rid of the assault weapons ban. Because you guys made it easy for people who don’t deserve to have weapons, who are mentally incapable of having weapons of war, [to be] able to buy those weapons and go into schools.
“Did the good guys with the gun stop six people from getting murdered? No, but you know what? AR-15s, you ever seen what those bullets do to children? You know why you don’t hunt with an AR-15, with a deer? Because there’s nothing left. And there’s nothing left of these kids when people go into school and murder them while they’re trying to read.”
Moskowitz then referred to widespread Republican moves to ban books about race, sexuality, gender and other culture war issues from public schools.
“You guys are worried about banning books,” he said. “Dead kids can’t read.”
You can watch part of the exchange here.
After the White House remarks earlier, we also have brief comments from the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, about the reported arrest in Russia on espionage charges of Evan Gershkovich, an American citizen and reporter for the Wall Street Journal.
Blinken says: “We are deeply concerned over Russia’s widely-reported detention of a US citizen journalist. We are in contact with the Wall Street Journal on this situation.
“Whenever a US citizen is detained abroad, we immediately seek consular access, and seek to provide all appropriate support.
“In the strongest possible terms, we condemn the Kremlin’s continued attempts to intimidate, repress, and punish journalists and civil society voices.
“The Department of State’s highest priority is the safety and security of US citizens abroad. We reiterate our strong warnings about the danger posed to US citizens inside the Russian Federation. US citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately, as stated in our Travel Advisory for Russia.”
The charges against Gershkovich carry a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
Here’s the latest Guardian report, from Shaun Walker, our central and eastern Europe correspondent:
As the Democratic press conference concluded, a reporter asked Judy Chu about the chances of the Women’s Health Protection Act passing, given the GOP’s control of the House.
“We feel very confident that in two years we will be in a position to put it on the floor once again. And we are determined, also, of course, to keep our majority in the Senate. So, I think that the future is bright, and in two years, we can get this passed,” said Chu, who is introducing the bill that would protect abortion access nationwide.
Progressive Democrat Ayanna Pressley chimed in, saying that despite the bill’s dim chances, supporters of abortion had to keep fighting.
“They’re coming at us … using every tool available to them, to put their hands on bodies to deny access to this critical life saving healthcare,” Pressley said.
“And so we’re doing the same, whether it’s litigation, whether it’s legislation or mobilization, and we don’t stop organizing because we don’t have the gavel and we’re not in cycle. And we don’t stop legislating because we don’t have the gavel and we’re not in cycle. The other side isn’t stopping and neither are we.”
California Democrat Judy Chu is the sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act, and is introducing it for the second time in the House.
She cast it as a necessary response to the supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade, and the GOP’s commitment to cracking down on abortion nationwide.
“If Republicans had their way, this would be forever a nation of forced birth. They’ve already proposed a national abortion ban, so no matter where you live, politicians would have more say about what happens to your body than you do,” she said during an event with House Democratic leaders outside the Capitol.
“We are all standing here today because every person, no matter their circumstances, no matter how they became pregnant, deserves dignity, safety and care in seeking an abortion, because you should not have more rights if you’re pregnant in California than if you get pregnant in Texas,” Chu said.
“And most of all, because no one, not the president not a supreme court justice, not your partner, should be able to force you to remain pregnant if you do not wish to.”
Jeffries to the GOP: 'Back up off the women of America'
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries kicked off the press conference introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act by taking aim at “extreme Maga Republicans” he said want to control women’s health care choices.
“The Women’s Health Protection Act is so critical because extreme Maga Republicans want to impose a nationwide abortion ban. We’re gonna stop them,” Jeffries said. “Extreme Republicans want to criminalize abortion care across the nation. We’re gonna stop them.”
“Extreme Republicans think that they should be the ones who make a decision about abortion care and we’re here to say, back up off the women of America.”
Updated
The day so far
House Democrats are about to reintroduce legislation to protect abortion rights nationwide, a symbolic effort that has no chance of passing the chamber as long as Republicans remain in control. We’ll keep you posted on the press conference set to begin shortly, at 12:45 pm eastern time. Meanwhile, Washington is reacting to news that Russia has detained an American reporter working for the Wall Street Journal.
Here’s what else has happened today so far:
Joe Biden issued a proclamation in recognition of today’s Transgender Day of Visibility that decried an “epidemic of violence” against the group.
Joe Manchin, the centrist Democratic senator who stymied progressive demands over the past two years, called on the White House to negotiate with Republicans over the debt ceiling.
Prayer is all one Republican lawmaker has to offer when it comes to solving America’s epidemic of gun violence.
White House 'deeply concerned' by detention of American journalist in Russia
The Biden administration is “deeply concerned” by Russia’s reported detention of Evan Gershkovich, an American citizen and reporter for the Wall Street Journal, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
Russian authorities arrested Gershkovich on Wednesday in the Urals city of Ekaterinburg and accused him of espionage, a charge that carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
Here’s Jean-Pierre’s full statement:
We are deeply concerned by the troubling reports that Evan Gershkovich, an American citizen, has been detained in Russia.
Last night, White House and State Department Officials spoke with Mr. Gershkovich’s employer, the Wall Street Journal. The Administration has also been in contact with his family. Furthermore, the State Department has been in direct touch with the Russian government on this matter, including actively working to secure consular access to Mr. Gershkovich. The targeting of American citizens by the Russian government is unacceptable. We condemn the detention of Mr. Gershkovich in the strongest terms. We also condemn the Russian government’s continued targeting and repression of journalists and freedom of the press. I want to strongly reiterate that Americans should heed the U.S. government’s warning to not travel to Russia. U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately, as the State Department continues to advise.
For more on how rightwing figures have used the Nashville school shooting to attack transgender people and other LGBTQ+ groups, here’s the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe:
An already vigorous assault by Republicans on LGBTQ+ rights around the US is certain to gather pace in the wake of the Nashville school shooting, advocacy groups are warning.
Hard-right figures wasted little time in seizing on the reported transgender identity of the Covenant school killer to advance tenets of a “hateful” agenda that has become an obsession of Republican-controlled statehouses from Florida to Tennessee.
In contrast to a muted response to numerous mass shootings in which the majority of the killers were white, male and cisgender, these extremists appear to be manipulating the Nashville shooter’s self-identification to make their case for even more anti-trans legislation, even as they eschew gun control.
They include Donald Trump Jr seeking an end to what he calls “bullshit” gender-affirming care; Marjorie Taylor Greene having her Twitter account temporarily suspended for misrepresenting a planned protest against anti-trans laws; and homophobic and transphobic rants from Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, the latter blasting the trans movement as “the natural enemy of Christianity”.
Biden decries 'epidemic of violence' against transgender Americans
Joe Biden warned of “discriminatory state laws” and an “epidemic of violence” targeting transgender Americans in a proclamation recognizing this year’s Transgender Day of Visibility.
The president’s statement came as GOP-led states nationwide pass laws that ban gender-affirming care for minors or restrict transgender people’s ability to use their preferred pronouns on official documents or the bathrooms of their choice. It also came days after the mass shooting at a Nashville elementary school by a gunman who identified as transgender – which some rightwing figures seized on to further demonize the group.
Here’s more from the White House proclamation:
Transgender Day of Visibility celebrates the joy, strength, and absolute courage of some of the bravest people I know — people who have too often had to put their jobs, relationships, and lives on the line just to be their true selves. Today, we show millions of transgender and nonbinary Americans that we see them, they belong, and they should be treated with dignity and respect. Their courage has given countless others strength, but no one should have to be brave just to be themselves. Every American deserves that freedom.
Transgender Americans shape our Nation’s soul — proudly serving in the military, curing deadly diseases, holding elected office, running thriving businesses, fighting for justice, raising families, and much more. As kids, they deserve what every child deserves: the chance to learn in safe and supportive schools, to develop meaningful friendships, and to live openly and honestly. As adults, they deserve the same rights enjoyed by every American, including equal access to health care, housing, and jobs and the chance to age with grace as senior citizens. But today, too many transgender Americans are still denied those rights and freedoms. A wave of discriminatory State laws is targeting transgender youth, terrifying families and hurting kids who are not hurting anyone. An epidemic of violence against transgender women and girls, in particular women and girls of color, has taken lives far too soon. Last year’s Club Q shooting in Colorado was another painful example of this kind of violence — a stain on the conscience of our Nation.
House Democrats to make quixotic push for abortion access
House Democrats will today introduce legislation to restore abortion rights nationwide, but the measure has no chance of passing the chamber as long as Republicans maintain their majority.
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, whip Katherine Clark and other members of Democratic leadership will introduce the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2023 in a press conference at 12.45pm ET. The legislation would create a federal right to abortion and protect against restrictions on the procedure – such as those many GOP-led states have enacted since the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last year.
A version of the bill was earlier this month proposed in the Senate, but the push is largely symbolic. Republicans remain broadly against abortion access, dooming the legislation’s chances both in the House and the Senate, where they can use the filibuster to stop its passage.
Updated
In the wake of the shooting at a Nashville elementary school earlier this week that killed six people, three of them children, Republicans in Congress have made clear that they plan to do nothing in response to gun violence.
Well, perhaps not nothing. Tim Burchett, a House GOP lawmaker from Tennessee, told Fox News today that he’d keep praying for America’s rampant gun violence to stop:
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), when asked why his response to the Nashville school mass shooting made people mad:
— The Recount (@therecount) March 30, 2023
“They come back to me and say, ‘Burchett, look what your prayers have done for us.’ The people doing the praying aren’t the ones doing the shooting.” pic.twitter.com/4bgzj9Tnhq
Meanwhile in Congress, emotions are running high after the shooting at a Nashville elementary school, the Guardian’s Lauren Aratani reports:
Amid continuing national grief and anger over the Nashville elementary school shooting, in which three children and three adults were killed, two members of the US House of Representatives got into a shouting match outside the chamber on Wednesday.
While speaking to reporters, Jamaal Bowman, a Democrat from New York and a former school principal, called Republicans “gutless” for refusing to support meaningful gun control reforms.
Thomas Massie, a far-right Republican from Kentucky, overheard Bowman’s comments.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, adding: “There’s never been a school shooting in a school that allows teachers to carry guns.”
While Joe Biden may be taking flak from the Democrats’ right flank, the president appears to be in the midst of a pivot to the center that’s frustrated progressives, the Guardian’s Joan E Greve reports:
When he was running for president in 2020, Joe Biden promised “no more drilling on federal lands, period”. This month, he approved an $8bn oil project in Alaska, violating that campaign pledge.
Biden had said he wholeheartedly supports granting statehood to the District of Columbia. Last week, he signed a Republican bill overturning changes to the DC criminal code, which critics attacked as a violation of home rule.
Biden previously accused Donald Trump of waging “an unrelenting assault on our values and our history as a nation of immigrants” because of his handling of the US-Mexican border. This month, reports emerged that the Biden administration has considered reinstating the practice of detaining migrant families who cross the border illegally. Immigrant rights advocates have denounced the idea, as well as another proposal to further restrict who can seek asylum in the US.
One thing to keep in mind about Joe Manchin: his days in the Senate may be numbered.
He represents West Virginia, which years ago was a Democratic bastion, but is now considered one of the most Republican states in the country. Manchin is among a group of Democratic senators representing red states that are up for re-election next year, giving Republicans a great opportunity to seize control of the Senate.
Thus, breaking with the Biden administration may be in Manchin’s interest – though he still hasn’t said whether he’ll stand for re-election to the Senate.
Manchin calls for 'meaningful, serious reforms' to government spending
Joe Manchin acted as something of a congressional kingmaker for the first two years of Joe Biden’s presidency. With Democrats needing unanimity among the party’s lawmakers to get anything through the Senate without Republican support, Manchin flexed his muscles to, among other things, water down provisions addressing climate change from Biden’s signature legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Manchin saw his power diluted in last year’s midterm elections, when the Democrats increased their margin in the Senate and lost the House, ending the chances for Biden to get any big legislation through Congress for the next two years. But Manchin is still an influential voices and perhaps the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, and thus his criticism of the Biden administration’s strategy on the debt ceiling, and implementation of the IRA, is worth listening to.
Here’s some of what he wrote in the Wall Street Journal:
Instead of implementing the law as intended, unelected ideologues, bureaucrats and appointees seem determined to violate and subvert the law to advance a partisan agenda that ignores both energy and fiscal security. Specifically, they are ignoring the law’s intent to support and expand fossil energy and are redefining “domestic energy” to increase clean-energy spending to potentially deficit-breaking levels. The administration is attempting at every turn to implement the bill it wanted, not the bill Congress actually passed. Ignoring the debt and deficit implications of these actions as the time nears to raise the debt ceiling isn’t only wrong, it’s policy and political malpractice.
I believe the only person who can rein in this extremism is Mr. Biden.
The first step is for the president to sit down with fiscally minded Republicans and Democrats to negotiate common-sense reforms to out-of-control fiscal policy. While we can all acknowledge that raising the debt limit is an absolute necessity and Republicans shouldn’t threaten otherwise, are we seriously to believe there is no room to negotiate? Does the federal government operate so efficiently and effectively that there truly isn’t a dollar of waste, fraud or abuse? Let’s get serious.
In short, Manchin has two demands: “The president has the power, today, to direct his administration to follow the law, as well as to sit down with congressional leaders and negotiate meaningful, serious reforms to the federal budget.”
Updated
Democratic senator Manchin breaks with Biden on debt ceiling strategy
Good morning, US politics blog readers. The Wall Street Journal’s right-leaning editorial pages are rarely comforting reading for Democrats, and on Wednesday, they played host to a column criticizing the Biden administration from perhaps its top frenemy: Joe Manchin. West Virginia’s Democratic senator has acted as the gatekeeper for much legislation over the past two years of Biden’s administration, and in the column, he took issue with Joe Biden’s refusal to negotiate with Republicans over America’s debt limit. Manchin called for the White House to instead sit down with the opposition to find ways to reduce spending, which he argued was on an unsustainable path.
Here’s what else is going on today:
The Republican-dominated House of Representatives is expected to finish up consideration of a bill meant to lower energy costs via increased oil and gas drilling.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will brief reporters at 2pm eastern time.
Biden will not stop a Republican-backed measure to end the national emergency over the Covid pandemic, according to the Associated Press.
