Summary
That’s all the live coverage for today, thanks for following along. Some highlights and links from the day:
House lawmakers voted to reauthorize section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), including a key measure that allows for warrantless surveillance of Americans.
The reauthorization of Fisa was considered a win for the embattled House speaker, Mike Johnson.
New research showed that rates of people seeking permanent contraception – such as tubal ligation or vasectomies – jumped after the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade.
Donald Trump and Mike Johnson held a joint press conference promoting legislation to “require proof of citizenship to vote” despite federal law already prohibiting non-citizen voting and a lack of evidence of migrants casting ballots.
Trump said he would “absolutely” testify at his upcoming New York criminal trial.
Trump took credit for eroding abortion rights, saying, “We broke Roe v Wade … and we gave it back to the states.”
Kamala Harris condemned Arizona’s abortion ban at a rally in Tucson, saying Trump “wants to take America back to the 1800s” and blaming the former president for state bans across the US.
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Kamala Harris on Arizona's abortion ban: 'Donald Trump did this'
Speaking about abortion rights at a campaign rally in Tucson, vice-president Kamala Harris said “momentum is on our side”, citing voters’ support for reproductive rights in ballot measures across the US:
From Kansas to California to Kentucky, in Michigan, Montana, Vermont, and Ohio, the people of America have voted for freedom and not just by a little, but often by overwhelming margins, proving also that this is not just a partisan issue, proving that the voice of the people has been heard.
Harris was speaking days after Arizona’s supreme court ruled that a near-total abortion ban law dating back to 1864 could go into effect. Of that law, she said:
Women here live under one of the most extreme abortion bans in our nation. No exception for rape or incest, prison time for doctors and nurses and abortion made illegal before most women even know they’re pregnant. The overturning of Roe was without any question a seismic event, and this ban here in Arizona is one of the biggest aftershocks yet … this law was passed in the 1800s before Arizona was even a state, before women could even vote. What has happened here in Arizona is a new inflection point … overturning Roe was just the opening act of a larger strategy to take women’s rights and freedoms … we all must understand who is to blame. Former president Donald Trump did this.”
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Kamala Harris: 'Trump wants to take America back to the 1800s'
Vice-president Kamala Harris is strongly condemning Arizona’s near-total abortion ban and tying the policy and other state bans directly to Donald Trump:
Donald Trump is the architect of this healthcare crisis, and that is not a fact that he hides. Just this week, he said he was ‘proudly’ responsible for overturning Roe.
Harris summarized Trump’s remarks from minutes earlier in Mar-a-Lago: “Trump just said the collection of state bans is working the way it’s supposed to.” On Trump’s backtracking of support of a federal abortion ban, Harris said, “Enough with the gaslighting.”
A second Trump term, she said, would mean “more bans, more suffering and less freedom. He basically wants to take America back to the 1800s,” she continued. “But we are not going to let that happen.”
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Kamala Harris condemns abortion ban in Arizona speech
Vice president Kamala Harris is now speaking in Tucson, Arizona to condemn the 1800s-era ban supported by the state supreme court this week:
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled an extreme abortion ban from the 1800s with no exceptions for health, rape, or incest will go into effect. Trump is responsible for this.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) April 12, 2024
I’m in Tucson to discuss the fight ahead for our reproductive freedom. Tune in.
https://t.co/ocUnZWa18Z
Trump: I would 'absolutely' testify at New York criminal trial
Donald Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago he would “absolutely” testify at his New York criminal trial, which is set to start next week. It is not, however, clear if he will actually do so.
NEW: Trump vows to testify at his New York criminal trial that starts next week -- "Yeah I would testify absolutely" -- though whether he will actually testify remains to be seen given his track record of self-incrimination
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) April 12, 2024
Asked if it was “risky” for him to testify, the former president responded, “I tell the truth.” Trump’s testimony has previously hurt him in court, and he was ordered by a jury earlier this year to pay millions to E Jean Carroll for defamation.
Trump shared familiar grievances about his various criminal ongoing criminal trials before his “election integrity” press conference with House speaker Mike Johnson came to an end.
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Donald Trump, speaking at Mar-a-Lago, was asked why voters should trust he will not sign a federal abortion ban, when he had previously indicated support. He responded:
We don’t need it any longer, because we broke Roe v Wade … and we gave it back to the states.
He claimed he does not support the unpopular Arizona state supreme court ruling this week supporting a near total abortion-ban dating back to 1864. When asked whether he is “pro-life” or “pro-choice”, he gave a meandering, unclear response.
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Mike Johnson promotes legislation to 'require proof of citizenship to vote'
House speaker Mike Johnson says Republicans are introducing legislation to “require proof of citizenship to vote” despite the fact that it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote and there is no evidence of widespread migrant voting (or even many specific examples of this happening).
Johnson hasn’t shared a ton of details about the mechanics of the legislation, but claimed that if “hundreds of thousands” of migrants cast votes, it could impact the result of the elections. Research has repeatedly shown that the systems in place have not allowed non-citizens to register or cast ballots.
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Donald Trump and Mike Johnson’s press conference at Mar-a-Lago has begun
The former president has started his presser with his signature xenophobic rhetoric on immigration, which has become increasingly dehumanizing and viscous on the campaign trail. He has frequently called migrants “animals” and has said they are “poisoning the blood” of the US, echoing Nazi speech and the racist, far-right Great Replacement Theory suggesting the left is promoting migration to replace white people.
Trump’s introductory remarks included misinformation tying migrants to crime.
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As we await the joint press conference of Donald Trump and House speaker Mike Johnson at Mar-a-Lago, here’s a refresher on some of the misleading and false information they have been promoting about non-citizens and voting:
The two have said they are pushing legislation to ban non-citizens from voting – despite the fact that it is already illegal under federal law for people without US citizenship to cast a ballot.
Trump has spread racist conspiracy theories on the campaign trail – claiming without evidence that migrants will try to illegally vote and steal the election for him, saying, “They can’t speak a word of English for the most part, but they’re signing them up.”
As the Guardian’s democracy reporter Rachel Leingang reported: “There is no evidence of widespread non-citizen voting, nor are there even many examples of individual instances of the practice, despite strenuous efforts in some states to find these cases.”
A study by the Brennan Center of the 2016 election found just 0.0001% of votes across 42 jurisdictions, with 23.5m votes, were suspected to be non-citizens voting, 30 incidents in total.
The press conference is scheduled for 4.30pm local time. For more background, check out Leingang’s coverage from earlier this week:
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Donald Trump and Mike Johnson to hold 'election integrity' press conference
Donald Trump is set to meet House Republican speaker Mike Johnson in Mar-a-Lago on Friday where the two will hold a press conference on “election integrity”.
Earlier on Friday, Johnson told reporters, “I don’t ever comment on my private conversations with President Trump, but I’m looking forward to going to Florida and spend some time with him.”
Meanwhile, a senior Trump adviser told CNN that the two will “draw attention to” state proposals and lawsuits that would allow non-citizens to vote.
Johnson’s meeting with Trump comes after the Republican speaker secured a crucial win in the House earlier on Friday after the Republican-led chamber voted to pass Fisa reauthorization. The legislation, which allows for warrantless surveillance of Americans by intelligence officials, is supported by Johnson but heavily opposed by hard-right Republicans and Democrats alike.
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The Wyoming Republican representative Harriet Hageman has also released a video address following the House’s passage of Fisa’s reauthorization.
In her address, Hageman, who voted no, said:
I was a no vote for the reason that the amendment that would have required the intelligence agencies to obtain a warrant to search the records of American citizens was not adopted.
I truly believe that as members of Congress, it is our responsibility to ensure that all of these agencies are following the constitution and the protecting the civil liberties of American citizens yet that’s not what happened today.
I voted NO on FISA 702 reauthorization today. It is a violation of the Fourth Amendment to our Constitution for the government to conduct warrantless searches of American citizens. pic.twitter.com/UoUP0hSso3
— Rep. Harriet Hageman (@RepHageman) April 12, 2024
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The Colorado Republican representative Lauren Boebert has released a video address following the House’s passage of Fisa’s reauthorization.
In her address, Boebert said:
… 86 Republicans betrayed you, the American people, today, saying the federal government does not need a warrant to start a query or illegally spy on you or tap your phones or whatever they want to do.
Boebert went on to point to the Florida Republican representative Anna Paulina Luna, who objected to the legislation’s passage and requested a vote to reconsider the legislation. As a result, the bill will not be able to head to the Senate until the House votes on the motion.
That bill cannot be sent to the Senate until we take another vote on the warrant amendment for Fisa on Monday. That means we need you, the American people, putting pressure on these 86 Republicans who sold you out today,” said Boebert.
The Uniparty just voted to allow the Deep State to violate your Fourth Amendment rights and spy on millions of Americans for two more years. @RepLuna just forced an additional procedural vote to stop them.
— Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) April 12, 2024
GET. A. WARRANT. #FISA pic.twitter.com/JoWrYm2CQA
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Here is the list of the 86 House Republicans who voted against Arizona’s Republican representative Andy Biggs’ amendment to Fisa’s section 702 which called for the prohibition of warrantless surveillance:
NEW: 86 Republicans just voted against @RepAndyBiggsAZ’s amendment to require a warrant to spy on Americans under FISA causing it to fail.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 12, 2024
Here are the names: pic.twitter.com/6mAoJfnlac
The Minnesota Democratic representative Ilhan Omar has criticized the House’s passage of the reauthorization of Fisa.
In a series of tweets on Friday, Omar, who voted against the legislation, wrote:
Section 702 still allows the government to collect communications of non-Americans abroad without a warrant. This has enabled warrantless surveillance that disproportionately targets Muslim Americans, African Americans, and other minority communities.
This has enabled warrantless surveillance that disproportionately targets Muslim Americans, African Americans, and other minority communities.
— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) April 12, 2024
In 2022, the FBI exploited Section 702 more than 200,000 times to search for Americans' data.
This raises serious 4th Amendment…
She went on to add:
True reform of surveillance powers needs warrants for searches of Americans, strict rules against racial and religious profiling [and] oversight to protect civil liberties.
Anything less continues a system used to unfairly target Americans under the guise of counterterrorism.
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Fisa bill's House passage proves a crucial victory for Mike Johnson
The 273-147 bipartisan vote reauthorizing Fisa is a win for the embattled House speaker, Mike Johnson, and comes at a time when he faces direct challenges to his leadership.
Johnson was seen on the House floor speaking to the far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who last month filed a motion to remove Johnson from the speakership.
Greene later told reporters she and Johnson spoke about “all sorts of things”, CNN reported.
Johnson said he and Greene “agree on our conservative philosophy”, adding:
We just have different ideas sometimes on strategy. The important part of governing in a time of divided government like we have is communication with members and understanding the thought process behind it, that they have a say in it.
Johnson is also scheduled to meet with Donald Trump in Florida later on Friday.
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The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or Fisa, which gives the government expansive powers to view emails, calls and texts, has long been divisive and resulted in allegations from civil liberties groups that it violates privacy rights.
Section 702 has faced opposition before, but it became especially fraught in the past year after court documents revealed that the FBI had improperly used it almost 300,000 times – targeting racial justice protesters, January 6 suspects and others. That overreach emboldened resistance to the law, especially among far-right Republicans who view intelligence services like the FBI as their opponent.
Debate over Section 702 pitted Republicans who alleged that the law was a tool for spying on American citizens against others in the GOP who sided with intelligence officials and deemed it a necessary measure to stop foreign terrorist groups.
One proposed amendment called for requiring authorities to secure a warrant before using section 702 to view US citizens’ communications, an idea that intelligence officials oppose as limiting their ability to act quickly.
Another sticking point in the debate was whether law enforcement should be prohibited from buying information on American citizens from data broker firms, which amass and sell personal data on tens of millions of people, including phone numbers and email addresses.
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Conservatives strike deal with Johnson to get Fisa bill passed
House conservatives who had blocked the Fisa bill earlier this week amid a push from Donald Trump allowed it to move forward on Friday after striking a deal with the speaker, Mike Johnson.
Under the agreement, the new version of the bill would be a two-year reauthorization of section 702 of Fisa, cut down from the original proposed five years.
This would mean that if Trump won the presidential election this year, the legislation would be up in time for Trump to overhaul Fisa laws next time around.
The far-right Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, speaking to CNN earlier today, said:
We just bought President Trump an at bat. The previous version of this bill would have kicked reauthorization beyond the Trump presidency. Now President Trump gets an at bat to fix the system that victimized him more than any other American.
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Two-year reauthorization of Fisa passes in House, 273-147
The House passed a two-year reauthorization of the nation’s warrantless surveillance program that had stalled earlier this week amid Republican resistance and after Donald Trump had urged GOP members to “kill” the law.
In a 273 to 147 vote, lawmakers renewed section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), which is set to expire on 19 April, through 2026. The bill now heads to the Senate, which is expected to give it bipartisan approval.
Section 702 allows the US government to collect the communications of targeted foreigners abroad by compelling service providers to produce copies of messages and internet data, or networks to intercept and turn over phone call and message data.
But the law is controversial because it allows the government to incidentally collect messages and phone data of Americans without a court order if they interacted with the foreign target, even though the law prohibits section 702 from being used by the NSA to specifically target US citizens.
The White House, intelligence chiefs and top lawmakers on the House intelligence committee have warned of potentially catastrophic effects of not reauthorizing the program.
Friday’s vote marks the fourth attempt to pass the bill, which was blocked three times in the past five months by House Republicans bucking their party. Earlier this week, House conservatives refused to support the bill that the speaker, Mike Johnson, put forward.
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The Republican Ohio congressman Warren Davidson, has responded to the House vote to reauthorize Fisa, calling it a “sad day’.
From Punchbowl news’ Mica Soellner:
Reacting to FISA bill passing without warrant, Rep. Warren Davidson says “it’s a pretty sad day”
— Mica Soellner (@MicaSoellnerDC) April 12, 2024
Davidson led support on getting a warrant provision included and handed out buttons to members to express support
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Fisa reauthorization passes in House
The House’s vote to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Service Act has passed.
Following days of Republican infighting that has put House Republican speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership in a precarious position, Fisa passed with a vote of 273 yays and 147 nays in the Republican-led chamber.
The vote marks a win for Johnson who has come under fire from hard-right Republicans including Georgia’s representative Marjorie Taylor Greene over his support for Fisa. Greene, who is opposed to Fisa, has repeatedly threatened to oust Johnson as he has “not lived up to a single one of his self-imposed tenets”.
With the vote’s passage, the reauthorization of Fisa, specifically its amendments to section 702, allows for intelligence officials to extend their warrantless surveillance on electronic communications between Americans and foreigners abroad.
Despite intelligence officials including the FBI director, Christopher Wray, arguing that a warrant requirement would “blind ourselves to intelligence in our holdings”, civil rights organizations such as the ACLU have criticized the legislation.
“Given our nation’s history of abusing its surveillance authorities, and the secrecy surrounding the program, we should be concerned that section 702 is and will be used to disproportionately target disfavored groups, whether minority communities, political activists, or even journalists,” it said.
Updated
A vote to amend Fisa’s section 702 to update the definition of foreign intelligence to help target international narcotics trafficking has passed.
The amendment, introduced by Texas Republican representative Daniel Crenshaw, passed after 268 yays and 152 nays.
A vote to amend Fisa’s section 702 to require the FBI to report to Congress on the number of queries conducted on Americans has passed.
The amendment, introduced by Texas Republican representative Chip Roy, passed after 269 yays and 153 nays.
A vote to amend Fisa’s section 702 to prohibit warrantless surveillance in the House has failed.
The amendment, introduced by Arizona Republican representative Andy Biggs, failed after the yays and nays votes tied at 212-212.
House votes on Fisa reauthorization
The Republican-led House is voting on the reauthorization of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, controversial legislation that is also being seen as a crucial test for the House speaker, Mike Johnson.
The House’s vote comes after rightwing Republicans – and Democrats – blocked the chamber’s consideration of the bill on Wednesday, which seeks to expand intelligence officials’ warrantless surveillance of communications between Americans and foreigners abroad.
With House Republicans divided over Fisa, Johnson, who supports it, is currently in a precarious position surrounding his leadership.
“We cannot allow Section 702 of Fisa to expire. It’s too important to national security. I think most of the members understand that,” Johnson said.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has thrown his support behind hard-right Republicans, writing on Truth Social on Wednesday, “KILL FISA.”
Updated
Sterilization rates rise following overturning of Roe v Wade - study
With Kamala Harris set to visit Tucson, Arizona, on Friday to explicitly blame Donald Trump as the “architect” of the abortion rights crisis, a new study has revealed that the rate of sterilizations in the US has jumped following the supreme court’s overturn of Roe v Wade.
The Guardian’s Jessica Glenza reports:
Rates of people seeking permanent contraception – such as tubal ligation or vasectomies – shot up after the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, in the Dobbs decision.
Although both procedures increased, the rate of increase was double for tubal ligations, commonly known as a woman getting her “tubes tied”.
“The major difference in patterns of these two procedures likely reflects the fact that young women are overwhelmingly responsible for preventing pregnancy,” Jacqueline Ellison, assistant professor in the department of health policy and management at the Pitt School of Public Health in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said in a release.
For the full story, click here:
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Evan Corcoran, a longtime lawyer for Donald Trump, has reportedly quit the former president’s legal team and could now become an important witness for the prosecution in the federal criminal case against Trump for hoarding and hiding classified documents after he left office, CNN reported last night.
The report calls it a quiet exit, in recent months, but a significant one, citing unnamed sources familiar with Trump’s legal circle.
The outlet reports:
Corcoran was brought on to help Trump fend off charges in the classified documents investigation, but instead turned into a central witness after Trump allegedly misled him about the whereabouts of the documents at his Mar-a-Lago club and encouraged him to lie to the justice department and withhold those documents.
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DNC covered Biden legal bills - report
Democratic party election campaign donations were used to pay for Joe Biden’s legal bills when a special counsel was investigating the fact that he hung on to classified documents after his time as US vice-president, Axios reports today, citing two unnamed sources and the outlet’s own analysis of finance records.
Axios immediately points out the bitter irony for Republicans, in that Democrats have been fiercely critical of Donald Trump for spending his election coffers on his massive legal bills, which amounted to more than $50m last year, according to the outlet.
Filings by the Democratic National Committee showed it paid more than $1.5m to lawyers or firms representing Biden during Robert Hur’s investigation, Axios said and the Guardian US now reports here.
Trump was fined and sanctioned in a huge civil fraud case in New York involving his family business empire the Trump Organization, as well as fined in his civil case with writer E Jean Carroll, whom he was found liable to have sexually abused in the past.
The former president is also facing four criminal cases, with the first one going to trial in an unprecedented event for an ex-US president, in New York on Monday.
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With the spotlight on Donald Trump as Kamala Harris is expected to take aim at him today as the “architect” of the country’s abortion rights crisis, the former president is reported to have once thought Ukraine “must be part of Russia” during his presidency.
The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports:
As president, Donald Trump “made it very clear” that he thought Ukraine “must be part of Russia”, his former adviser Fiona Hill says in a new book about US national security under threat from Russia and China.
“Trump made it very clear that he thought, you know, that Ukraine, and certainly Crimea, must be part of Russia,” Hill, senior director for European and Russian affairs on the US National Security Council between 2017 and 2019, tells David Sanger, a New York Times reporter and author of New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion, and America’s Struggle to Defend the West.
“He really could not get his head around the idea that Ukraine was an independent state.”
This, Sanger writes, meant Trump’s view of Ukraine was “essentially identical” to that of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who would order an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a year after Trump left office.
For the full story, click here:
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Arizona congressman on abortion ban: 'It is a dark day in Arizona'
In a new interview with Forbes Women, the Democratic Arizona US representative Greg Stanton condemned the state’s abortion ban: “It is a dark day in Arizona. A dark day that will hurt women across our state.”
Stanton went on to add:
The Arizona supreme court … [on Tuesday] issued its ruling saying this territorial law that was passed even before Arizona became a state, at a time when women could not even vote, when Native Americans were not considered fully human under law in the United States, a law from that time period is now the law of the land again in the state of Arizona. And that’s why it’s a dark day in our state …
First time in America, we’ve gone backwards on constitutional rights. We’re going restore that right and send a message that in our country, we go forward on civil and constitutional rights, not backwards.
"It is a dark day in Arizona. A dark day that will hurt women across our state."@RepGregStanton joins @ForbesWomen's @mcgrathmag on "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss the Arizona Supreme Court reinstating a 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions Tuesday. https://t.co/E1nSxeJzXu pic.twitter.com/R23OTaSTQu
— Forbes (@Forbes) April 12, 2024
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Kari Lake, Arizona’s far-right US Senate candidate, has also condemned the state’s abortion ban that she once supported.
In a video address released on Thursday evening, Lake said:
This total ban on abortion the Arizona supreme court just ruled on is out of line with where the people of this state are … I agree with President Trump – this is such a personal and private issue.
Abortion is a very sensitive issue & voters deserve to know where every candidate stands.
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) April 11, 2024
Here’s my position: ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/EjxtaOZXF6
In 2022, Lake hailed the 1864 abortion law which makes no exceptions for cases of rape or incest, saying:
I’m incredibly thrilled that we are going to have a great law that’s already on the books … I believe it’s ARS 13-3603, so it will prohibit abortion in Arizona except to save the life of a mother. And I think we’re going to be paving the way and setting course for other states to follow.
For the full story, click here:
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Ahead of her campaign trip to Tuscon, Arizona, on Friday, where she is expected to blame Donald Trump for the country’s abortion rights crisis, Kamala Harris tweeted:
Women across our country are suffering at the hands of extremists who say they’re motivated by the well-being of women and children but ignore the crisis of maternal mortality.
Women across our country are suffering at the hands of extremists who say they’re motivated by the well-being of women and children but ignore the crisis of maternal mortality. pic.twitter.com/xU4qM81aE3
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) April 12, 2024
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Kamala Harris expected to blame Trump for US abortion rights crisis on Arizona visit
Good morning,
The vice-president, Kamala Harris, is set to travel to Tucson, Arizona, for a campaign event where she is expected to explicitly blame Donald Trump as the “architect” of the abortion rights crisis in the US.
Harris’s trip to Arizona comes after the state’s supreme court ruled on Wednesday that a 1864 law with no exceptions for rape or incest can go into effect.
“Donald Trump is the architect of this healthcare crisis. And that’s not a fact he hides. In fact, he brags about it,” Harris is expected to say, Politico reports. “We all must understand who is to blame. It is the former president, Donald Trump. It is Donald Trump who, during his campaign in 2016, said women should be punished for seeking an abortion.”
With Harris instructing her team to designate the trip as a campaign event, one senior Harris aide told Politico that she is “not subject to the Hatch Act and she can say whatever the heck she wants … we could really be unencumbered in how we tell the story.”
Since the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, Harris has repeatedly gone after anti-abortion conservatives as she and Joe Biden cement abortion as a key campaign issue in this year’s presidential election campaign.
Here are other developments in US politics:
The House Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, will meet with Trump in Mar-a-Lago, where they plan to deliver remarks on “election integrity”, NBC reports.
The House is set to vote on the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the controversial legislation that failed two days ago in the Republican-led chamber.
Biden is set to deliver a virtual keynote address at Rev Al Sharpton’s annual racial justice conference in New York.
