Closing summary
House speaker Mike Johnson traveled to New York to appear alongside Donald Trump at his ongoing business fraud trial, which Johnson called a “disgrace” in a press conference outside the courthouse. An array of other Republican politicians were also on the scene, all of whom have one thing in common: they are said to be potential running mates for Trump or, as the Democrats have dubbed them, “emotional support”. Back in Washington DC, the Republican-led House oversight committee released a report saying that attorney general Merrick Garland should be held in contempt for not handing over recordings of interviews with Joe Biden and his ghostwriter conducted by a special counsel. The committee’s top Democrat, Jamie Raskin, was also busy, demanding answers from petroleum industry executives over Trump’s reported promise to roll back all sorts of environmental regulations if they each raise $1bn for his campaign.
Here’s what else happened today:
Johnson’s appearance in New York comes as the House GOP plans to shift into “campaign mode” before the 5 November election.
Federal prosecutors asked a judge to send far-right strategist Steve Bannon to jail after an appeals court rejected overturning his conviction for contempt of Congress. Bannon has until Thursday to respond.
Biden announced new tariffs against China, and took shots at Trump’s trade policies.
Maryland is traditionally a Democratic stronghold, but this year’s Senate race is shaping up to be surprisingly competitive. The state’s voters are choosing their candidates in today’s primary.
Why are Biden’s approval ratings so stubbornly low? Here’s what White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had to say, when asked at her briefing today.
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At her daily briefing today, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about Joe Biden’s low approval ratings, and why they have not moved much for years.
The question from a Fox News reporter came a day after the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College released polling showing the president trailing Donald Trump in five of six key swing states. Here’s what Jean-Pierre had to say:
Fox's Peter Doocy: “Why do you think Americans are so down on Pres. Biden right now?...It doesn't seem like anything you guys are doing is making him more popular.”
— The Recount (@therecount) May 14, 2024
Karine Jean-Pierre: “People have had to deal with a pandemic...[Biden] had a lot to deal with when he walked in.” pic.twitter.com/1ixEcI2zZO
The reporter who posed the question, Peter Doocy, is the conservative network’s main man in the White House, and something of a thorn in its side. Two years ago, Biden appeared to insult Doocy by name, then later reportedly called him to “clear the air”:
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Earlier today, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson condemned the prosecution of Donald Trump outside the New York courthouse where Trump’s business fraud trial is taking place.
That drew a strong rebuke from Democratic representative and Trump foe Jamie Raskin, who aired his grievances in a statement to the Daily Beast:
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) not pulling any punches re: Speaker Mike Johnson appearing at Trump’s NYC trial. pic.twitter.com/gKeDrUqD8Z
— Riley Rogerson (@riley_rogerson) May 14, 2024
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Judge gives Steve Bannon until Thursday to respond to prosecutors' request to jail him
Federal judge Carl J Nichols has given far-right strategist Steve Bannon until Thursday to respond to a request by justice department prosecutors that he report to jail to serve his four-month sentence after being convicted of contempt of Congress.
Nichols’ order came after an appeals court rejected Bannon’s appeal of his July 2022 conviction for ignoring a subpoena and an order to appear for a deposition from the January 6 committee. Here’s more on that:
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The traditionally blue state of Maryland suddenly finds itself in an unfamiliar role: political battleground.
Whoever wins the race for its open Senate seat, vacated by retiring Democrat Ben Cardin, could decide control of the chamber. On the Democratic side, representative David Trone is locked in a competitive primary with Prince George’s county executive Angela Alsobrooks. Whoever wins the primary will almost certainly face Larry Hogan, the former Republican governor whose high-profile clashes with Donald Trump made him a household name.
The Democratic primary contest to succeed Trone features as many as a dozen candidates. The field is led by former Biden official April McClain Delaney and state delegate Joe Vogel.
Growing up, I didn’t see too many people like me running for office. And I was frustrated that Congress wasn’t taking action to keep us safe in our schools and protect our planet.
— Joe Vogel (@JoeVogel_) May 14, 2024
I just voted for a better future for all of us — and I hope you will too! pic.twitter.com/U3PfBC9ncH
The Guardian caught up with Vogel shortly after he cast his ballot in Gaithersburg on Tuesday morning. At 27, Vogel is among a handful of gen Z candidates running for federal office this year.
Vogel said he is appealing to voters of all ages by channeling his generation’s urgency to address the most pressing problems of our time.
“The experience that I have is not only the experience as a legislator, but the lived experience of sitting in a classroom with the doors locked and the windows down in the dark in a school-shooting drill. I have the experience of fearing what the climate crisis is going to hold for our generation,” he said.
“What we need are people with the lived experiences to bring urgency to all of these issues.”
The sixth district, a seat that spans the diverse suburbs of Montgomery county to conservative western Maryland, is expected to remain in Democratic hands but is still the most competitive open House seat in the state.
If elected, Vogel, born in Uruguay, would be the first Latino and first openly LGBTQ+ member of Congress from Maryland.
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An election to watch is taking place today in Maryland, where Democratic voters will select a candidate to face off against Republican former governor Larry Hogan for its open Senate seat. The Guardian’s Joan E Greve reports on how the race in the heavily Democratic state has become surprisingly competitive:
Republicans have a rare opportunity to flip a Senate seat in Maryland in November, and the outcome of that race could determine control of the upper chamber. The high stakes of the Maryland Senate election have put intense scrutiny on the state’s primaries this Tuesday.
Maryland primary voters will cast ballots in the presidential race as well as congressional elections, and leaders of both parties will be closely watching the results of the Senate contests. The retirement of Senator Ben Cardin has created an opening for Republicans to potentially capture a seat in a reliably Democratic state, thanks to former governor Larry Hogan’s late entry into the race. A Hogan victory would mark the first time that a Republican has won a Maryland Senate election since 1980, and it could erase Democrats’ narrow majority in the chamber.
Ten Democrats will compete for the party’s Senate nomination, but two candidates have become the clear frontrunners: Congressman Dave Trone and the Prince George’s county executive Angela Alsobrooks. The race has historic implications, as Alsobrooks would become the first Black person elected to represent Maryland in the Senate and just the third Black woman to ever serve in the chamber.
The battery of tariff increases on China Joe Biden announced is a symbolic move intended to head off the possibility that Beijing one day steps up its exports of vehicles and other technologies to stimulate its economy. The policy is also not quite as different from that of the Trump administration as the White House would have you think, the Guardian’s Larry Elliott reports:
The US president, Joe Biden, has announced a 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles as part of a package of measures designed to protect US manufacturers from cheap imports.
In a move that is likely to inflame trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies, the White House said it was imposing more stringent curbs on Chinese goods worth $18bn.
Sources said the move followed a four-year review and was a preventive measure designed to stop cheap, subsidised Chinese goods flooding the US market and stifling the growth of the American green-technology sector.
As well as a tariff increase from 25% to 100% on EVs, levies will rise from 7.5% to 25% on lithium batteries, from zero to 25% on critical minerals, from 25% to 50% on solar cells, and from 25% to 50% on semiconductors.
Tariffs on steel, aluminium and personal protective equipment – which range from zero to 7.5% – will rise to 25%.
Despite the risks of retaliation from Beijing, Biden said the increased levies were a proportionate response to China’s overcapacity in the EV sector. Sources said China was producing 30m EVs a year but could sell only 22m-23m domestically.
Biden’s car tariffs are largely symbolic because Chinese EVs were virtually locked out of the US by tariffs imposed by Donald Trump during his presidency. However, lobby groups have suggested there is a future threat as Beijing seeks to use exports to compensate for the weakness of its domestic economy.
The day so far
Top Republicans traveled to New York to appear alongside Donald Trump at his ongoing business fraud trial, which House speaker Mike Johnson called a “disgrace”. Also on the scene were an array of politicians who share one thing in common: they are all said to be potential running mates for Trump, or, as the Democrats dubbed them “emotional support”. Back in Washington DC, the Republican-led House oversight committee released a report saying that attorney general Merrick Garland should be held in contempt for not handing over recordings of interviews conducted by a special counsel and Joe Biden. The committee’s top Democrat Jamie Raskin was also busy, demanding answers from petroleum industry executives over Trump’s reported promise to roll back all sorts of environmental regulations if they each raise $1bn for his campaign.
Here’s what else has happened today so far:
Johnson’s appearance in New York comes as the House GOP plans to shift into “campaign mode” as the 5 November election draws ever nearer.
Federal prosecutors asked a judge to send far-right strategist Steve Bannon to jail after an appeals court rejected the appeal of his conviction for contempt of Congress.
Biden announced new tariffs against China, and took shots at Trump’s own trade policies.
Top House Democrat demands answers from oil executives after report on Trump dinner
The top Democrat on the House oversight committee is demanding answers after a report emerged that Donald Trump promised oil executives he would repeal regulations intended to lower climate emissions if they each contributed $1bn to his campaign.
In a letter to the executives of nine major petroleum companies, including ExxonMobil and Chevron, Jamie Raskin cited a Washington Post article from last week that said Trump promised to rescind a Biden administration moratorium on permits for liquified natural gas exports and allow more drillings in the Alaskan Arctic and Gulf of Mexico, among other policies.
In response, Raskin wrote in letters to nine oil industry executives:
I write to request any information you may have about quid pro quo financial agreements related to US energy policy that were reportedly proposed at a recent campaign fundraising dinner with ex-president Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago Club that you appear to have attended. Media reports raise significant potential ethical, campaign finance, and legal issues that would flow from the effective sale of American energy and regulatory policy to commercial interests in return for large campaign contributions.
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Biden hammers Trump as he announces tighter trade measures on China
In a White House address where he announced his administration’s moves to counter Chinese industries, including by imposing a 100% tariff on electric car imports, Joe Biden took a number of shots at Donald Trump and his policies.
“My administration is combining investments in America with tariffs that are strategic and targeted,” Biden said. “Compare that to what the prior administration did. My predecessor promised to increase American exports and boost manufacturing. But he did neither, he failed. He signed a trade deal with China. They’re supposed to buy $200bn more in American goods. Instead, China imports from America barely budged.”
He also said that Trump has proposed “across-the-board tariffs on all imports from all countries if re-elected”, and accused the former president of wanting to drive up prices. “He simply doesn’t get it,” Biden said.
Asked later by a reporter about Trump’s comments that China has been eating America’s lunch, Biden responded, “He’s been feeding them a long time.”
The apparent dearth of evidence may not be the only reason House Republicans have held back on impeaching Joe Biden. As the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reported yesterday, the evidence continues to mount that Biden is struggling to rebuild the coalition that supported him in 2020, giving Donald Trump the edge in the November elections:
Donald Trump leads Joe Biden in five crucial battleground states less than six months out from election day, new polls showed.
The surveys from the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College put the former president up in Pennsylvania (three points), Arizona (seven), Michigan (seven), Georgia (10) and Nevada (12). Biden led by two points in Wisconsin.
All leads bar Trump’s in Georgia and Nevada were within the margin of error.
As the poll resonated throughout the political scene, the Biden campaign issued a statement from Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster.
“The only consistency in recent public polls is inconsistency,” Garin said.
“These results need to be weighed against the 30-plus polls that show Biden up and gaining – which is exactly why drawing broad conclusions about the race based on results from one poll is a mistake.”
By many accounts, the House GOP’s campaign to impeach Joe Biden is not going particularly well.
The Republican-led committees investigating the president have managed to reveal plenty of details about his family’s finances, but no proof that Biden illicitly profited from their overseas business dealings. Last month, CNN reported that James Comer, the chair of the oversight committee, said privately that he was ready to be “done with” the investigation, even as he pressed for Biden to testify before his panel – drawing a response of “LOL” from the White House.
The House voted to formally authorize the investigation last year, but there’s no telling when, or if, they will vote on the charges against Biden. Even if they did, the Democratic-led Senate is sure to reject them.
Most recently, a White House lawyer wrote to speaker Mike Johnson demanding he end the investigation. Here’s more on that:
House Republicans release report calling on Merrick Garland to be held in contempt
The Republican-controlled House oversight committee has released a report calling for attorney general Merrick Garland to be held in contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena related to their impeachment investigation of Joe Biden:
🚨BREAKING🚨
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) May 14, 2024
We have released our report recommending Attorney General Merrick Garland be held in contempt of Congress.
We will mark up the resolution and accompanying report on Thursday.
Link: https://t.co/mlVDBEZaHG pic.twitter.com/QVgH2CmJk1
The 27 February subpoena was sent after special counsel Robert Hur released a report that said no criminal charges should be filed against Biden over classified documents discovered at his personal residences, while criticizing his ability to recall events. House Republicans demanded audio and video recordings of Hur’s interviews with Biden and a ghostwriter for a memoir released after his term as vice-president concluded. In a report recommending Garland be held in contempt, the oversight committee says the justice department has refused to turn the recording over.
“The Department continues to withhold key material responsive to the subpoenas from the Oversight and Judiciary Committees – specifically the audio recordings of Special Counsel Hur’s interviews with President Biden and Zwonitzer. The Department has invoked no constitutional or legal privilege to support withholding this material,” the report reads.
“Its failure to fully comply with the Committees’ subpoenas has hindered the House’s ability to adequately conduct oversight over Special Counsel Hur regarding his investigative findings and the President’s retention and disclosure of classified materials and impeded the Committees’ impeachment inquiry.”
The Democratic National Committee is out with a statement mocking Donald Trump for calling in what they dub “emotional support” at his business fraud trial in New York City.
“Donald Trump is convening the saddest posse of MAGA loyalists in Lower Manhattan today, desperate for emotional support and political cover as he spends another week tending to his personal affairs rather than talking to actual voters,” their rapid response director Alex Floyd said.
Referring to the potential running mates who have turned up at the Manhattan courthouse over the past two days, Floyd went on:
Trump’s pathetic band of MAGA extremists seemingly have nothing better to do than echo Trump’s lies and nod approvingly in the background – because they certainly aren’t doing their day jobs of serving their constituents or running a functional political operation. If deploying this motley crew of cranks and conspiracy theorists was the Trump campaign’s ham-handed attempt to divert attention from their candidate’s disappearance from the campaign trail, they’re in for a stormy six months ahead.”
Justice department asks judge to put Steve Bannon in jail after court upholds contempt conviction - report
The justice department has asked a federal judge to order influential far-right strategist Steve Bannon to begin serving his four-month prison sentence after an appeals court last week upheld his contempt of Congress conviction, ABC News reports.
A jury in July 2022 found Bannon guilty after he failed to appear for a deposition with the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, and ignored a subpoena from the panel. Bannon appealed the verdict, but a three-judge panel last week rejected his case.
“I’m shocked they want to silence the voice of MAGA,” Bannon told ABC in response to the news that prosecutors want him behind bars.
Here’s more on Bannon’s long-running legal saga:
The appearance of Mike Johnson and other Republican lawmakers at Donald Trump’s business fraud trial comes as the House GOP shifts into “campaign mode”, the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly and Sam Levine report:
The US House was in session on Tuesday with vital business to complete but its speaker, Mike Johnson, was 200 miles north, attending another day in the criminal trial of Donald Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee charged over hush-money payments to an adult film star who claimed an affair.
Punchbowl News first reported Johnson’s decision to appear at the courthouse in Manhattan where Trump faces the first 34 of 88 criminal charges.
Michael Cohen, who as Trump’s lawyer and fixer made the payments to Stormy Daniels, was due to return to the stand.
Trump has used his trial as a loyalty test for supporters and vice-presidential hopefuls, both at the courthouse and on the airwaves. On Tuesday, Johnson was joined in Manhattan by the governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum, the Florida representatives Byron Donalds and Cory Mills, and Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur who ran for the Republican presidential nomination.
Before proceedings began, as Johnson and other supporters stood behind him, guarded by six court officers, Trump spoke to reporters.
“I do have a lot of surrogates and they are speaking very beautifully,” he said, adding, of a gag order over which he has been fined and threatened with incarceration: “You ask me questions that I’m not allowed to answer.”
In his testimony so far today, Michael Cohen has admitted to in 2018 misleading federal election authorities out of a sense of loyalty to his then-boss, Donald Trump.
Follow our live blog for the latest from the Manhattan courtroom:
Potential running mates join Trump at court as star prosecution witness Cohen testifies
Republican House speaker Mike Johnson is not alone in making a show of support for Donald Trump outside his business fraud trial in New York.
Also joining the former president are several potential Republican running mates, including Ohio senator JD Vance, who showed up yesterday:
In addition to Johnson, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, Florida congressman Byron Donalds and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy turned up outside the courtroom. All are considered potential vice-presidential choices for Trump:
Their appearances coincided with the testimony of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer who testified that he submitted phoney invoices to cover up hush money payments.
Cohen is a major witness for the prosecution, and is continuing his testimony today. Here’s what he told the court on Monday:
Johnson says Trump is 'innocent of these charges' in appearance outside fraud trial
Mike Johnson offered a strident defense of Donald Trump in an appearance outside the New York courthouse where the former president is being tried on charges related to falsifying business documents to conceal hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election.
“President Trump is innocent of these charges,” the Republican House speaker said. He went on to condemn both the case against Trump in New York, and the indictments brought against him elsewhere for allegedly hiding classified documents and attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
“It’s impossible for anybody to deny, that looks at this objectively, that the judicial system in our country has been weaponized against president Trump. The system is using all the tools at its disposal right now to punish one president to provide cover for another,” said Johnson.
“These are politically motivated trials and they are a disgrace. It is election interference, and they show how desperate, the opposition that President Trump has, how desperate they truly are.”
The speaker said he was making the appearance “on my own, to support President Trump, because I am one of hundreds of millions of people and one citizen who is deeply concerned about this”.
Updated
Mike Johnson to decry Trump's 'sham' trial in courthouse appearance as House GOP plans votes on divisive messaging bills
Good morning, US politics blog readers. With Donald Trump set to once again be the Republican nominee for president, the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, will this morning make an appearance in New York at his trial on charges of falsifying business documents to conceal hush-money payments ahead of the 2016 election. According to his office, Johnson will spend time in the courtroom with the former president, and then decry Trump’s “sham” trial in a speech outside to the press. The move by the rightwing speaker comes as the House GOP gears up to put Democrats on the spot by proposing a series of messaging bills that address divisive issues. Politico reports that one of these bills would prevent Joe Biden from freezing aid to Israel – a particularly contentious topic for Democrats as the president navigates a backlash to his support for its invasion of Gaza, as well as objections to his recent decision to stop some bomb shipments to the US ally. Republicans also plan to put to the floor resolutions and measures dealing with immigration and the police, including legislation to mandate the deportation of migrants who assault law enforcement.
The Democrats who control the Senate and Biden himself will likely have the final say over whether any of these measures become law. But the tactic is intended to tighten the vises not just on Biden as he tries to win back voters who polls signal have drifted away from him over the past four years, but also Democrats in swing districts who Republicans are hoping to pick off in November.
Here’s what else we are watching today:
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer who is a top witness for the prosecution, continues his testimony in the former president’s business fraud trial. Follow our Trump hush-money live blog for more.
It’s primary day in West Virginia and Maryland, both states with contests that will likely determine which party controls the Senate next year.
Biden speaks from the White House on how his policies have promoted hiring and investment at 12.15pm ET.
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