Closing summary
We’re closing the US politics blog now. The US Senate is edging closer to passing Joe Biden’s $40bn package of military, humanitarian and economic aid to Ukraine after a hold-up last week by Republican senator Rand Paul.
It’s been a busy day:
- New White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made her historic debut at the briefing room podium, calling out the hatred and bigotry behind the Buffalo mass shooting.
- Joe Biden paid tribute to retired police officer and nine other victims of the Buffalo massacre, and will visit the city tomorrow with first lady Jill Biden.
- Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis said his administration intends to take over the running of Disney’s government after stripping the company of autonomy for opposing his “don’t say gay” law.
- Vice-president Kamala Harris landed in Abu Dhabi with a US delegation for the funeral of United Arab Emirates president Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
- Liz Cheney, Wyoming Republican congresswoman and member of the bipartisan panel investigating the 6 January insurrection, accused Republican leadership of enabling “white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-Semitism”, following the tragedy in Buffalo.
Please join us again tomorrow, and remember you can follow developments in the Ukraine conflict on our live news blog here.
Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration would “continue to call out” anybody promoting the racist “great replacement theory” the Buffalo killer cited as a justification for the mass shooting, but would not be drawn into “a back and forth on names and who said what”.
Senior Republican and conservative figures including congresswoman Elise Stefanik and Fox News host Tucker Carlson are under scrutiny for promoting the discredited conspiracy theory that immigration threatens white values and western civilization.
Jean-Pierre was asked why she would not call out individuals:
If a person has a white supremacy kind of extremism, we need to call that out. It doesn’t matter who it is. I’m not going to speak or call out any individual names.
[The president] is determined to make sure that we fight back against the forces of hate and evil and violence. That’s what we’re going to continue to call out, but we reject hatred and extremist ideologies.
Before taking reporters’ questions, Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledged the significance of her appointment as White House press secretary.
I am acutely aware that my presence at this podium represents a few firsts. I am a Black, gay, immigrant woman, the first of all three of those to hold this position. I would not be here today if it were not for generations of barrier-breaking people before me. I stand on their shoulders.
This room, this building, belong to the American people. We work for them. It’s not about me. It’s about them. On Jen [Psaki]’s first briefing, she made clear that the president’s, and her priority, was to bring truth and transparency back to this briefing room.
Jen did a great job at that and I will work everyday to continue to ensure we are meeting the president’s high expectation of truth, honesty, and transparency.
The press plays a vital role in our democracy. And we need a strong and independent press, now more than ever. We might not see eye to eye here in this room all the time, which is okay. That give and take is so incredibly healthy, and it’s a part of our democracy.
Karine Jean-Pierre’s first White House press briefing is under way a little later than scheduled, and she is paying tribute to the victims of Saturday’s mass shooting in Buffalo that claimed 10 lives.
“I want to take a moment to recognize the lives lost and forever changed in Buffalo,” she said, before reading out the names and ages of those killed and a few details about them.
She started with Aaron Salter, 55, the retired Buffalo police officer and security guard at Tops Friendly Market, who fired at the gunman but was struck and killed himself in the exchange. Joe Biden earlier paid his own tribute, and Jean-Pierre said:
We recognize their lives today. And those lost and affected by gun violence this weekend in Houston, in Southern California, Milwaukee and communities across the country.
Jean-Pierre said the president and first lady Jill Biden will visit Buffalo on Tuesday:
[They will] meet with families of the victims, first responders and community leaders, they will comfort the families of the 10 people whose lives were senselessly taken in this horrific shooting, and they will express gratitude for the bravery of members of law enforcement and other first responders who took immediate action to try to protect and save lives.
The federal food and drug administration (FDA) is set to announce action on baby formula imports as soon as this afternoon to ease a chronic nationwide shortage, Reuters reports.
FDA commissioner Robert Califf told NBC News he does not expect the shortage of the critical baby product to last until the end of year, adding in a later appearance on CNN that he expects the situation to gradually improve in the coming weeks.
He did not provide a preview of what the measures would be.
Legislation introduced to the House on Monday seeks to ease restrictions on imports of formula from south America and Europe, and the surgeon general Vivek Murthy has just been on CNN saying that safety would be a priority:
The one thing the FDA will not compromise on in terms of these imports are the quality and safety of the products, and so they are setting up a process to be able to ascertain the quality of the ingredients, and the process in which these products are made to ensure that they’re safe.
The White House said it was continuing talks with the major formula manufacturers to identify logistical hurdles and provide any transportation support that could help them and major retailers get formula to where it is needed, Reuters says.
Updated
A historic moment is about to take place in the White House briefing room, where the newly appointed Karine Jean-Pierre is set to make her debut at the podium as the first Black press secretary.
Jean-Pierre’s appointment was announced earlier this month after Joe Biden’s only previous press secretary to date, Jen Psaki, said she was standing down.
Jean-Pierre, a political analyst, was Kamala Harris’s chief of staff during the vice-president’s presidential campaign in 2020 and served on Barack Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012. She was also an adviser and spokesperson for MoveOn.org, a progressive political action committee.
She is the first Black person and first out gay person in the role.
We’ll bring you coverage as she speaks.
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Updated
DeSantis touts Florida takeover of Disney's government
Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis has revealed who he’s going to place in charge of the Disney government he moved to abolish over the company’s resistance to his “don’t say gay” bill: himself.
At an event in Sanford, close to Disney’s Orlando theme park empire, on Monday, DeSantis laid out a new plan for the future of the company’s autonomous Reedy Creek development district, which was to have ceased to exist next summer.
Florida’s Republican-dominated legislature quickly acceded to his wish to pass legislation abolishing Reedy Creek in a special session last month, but failed to properly look at the economics involved.
Critics have pointed out that absorbing Reedy Creek into two local authorities per state law would likely land local taxpayers with an additional $1bn in debt burden, so DeSantis has had a rethink.
Now, according to the Orlando Sentinel, instead of abolishing Reedy Creek, he says he wants the state government he heads to take it over, and is working on an alternative proposal for the legislature later this year.
“I’d much rather have the state leading that effort than potentially having local government [in charge],” DeSantis said Monday, according to the Sentinel.
“Disney will have to follow the same laws that every other company has to follow in the state of Florida. They will pay their share of taxes, and they will be responsible for paying the debts.”
State will likely take over Disney World’s Reedy Creek, DeSantis says https://t.co/H7eBZTRX2S pic.twitter.com/DZOJnLJDJU
— Orlando Sentinel (@orlandosentinel) May 16, 2022
DeSantis, seen as a likely Republican presidential candidate for the 2024 election, has been feuding with Disney, the state’s largest private employer, over the “don’t say gay” law banning classroom discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation.
Disney, which is noted for the diversity of its workforce, known as cast members, angered DeSantis by halting political donations and pledging to help overturn the law.
Updated
Harris arrives in UAE on visit to new president, offer condolence on late president
Vice-President Kamala Harris has landed in Abu Dhabi and disembarked Air Force Two, while on her visit leading the presidential delegation to the United Arab Emirates.
The White House pool reports that Harris was greeted on the tarmac by a group of UAE and US officials. Among those already in the country from the US and greeting Veep were secretary of state Antony Blinken, defense secretary Lloyd Austin and Barbara Leaf, the national security council’s top Middle East and North Africa specialist.
She is being accompanied on the trip also by climate envoy John Kerry and CIA director Bill Burns, among others.
I am traveling to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates to express condolences on the passing of the President of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. I will emphasize the importance our partnership and the desire to further strengthen our ties.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) May 15, 2022
Harris’s official purpose on the visit is to offer condolences on the death of the president of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who suffered a stroke in 2014, and was 73.
She is meeting with the new president, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who has been regarded as the de facto leader of the country in recent years.
Harris spoke out strongly yesterday against the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, where the suspect has published white supremacists screeds.
She said: “Racially motivated hate crimes are harms against all of us.”
Our hearts are broken and we grieve for the victims of the horrific act of gun violence in Buffalo. Doug and I are praying for those who lost loved ones. Racially-motivated hate crimes are harms against all of us. We must do everything to ensure that our communities are safe.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) May 15, 2022
She said more on the tarmac on her way to Abu Dhabi, including:
In our country we have to recognize that we may very well be experiencing an epidemic of hate towards so many Americans.
That is wrong. It is taking on a level of violence in the case of what happened in Buffalo and we’ve seen it in other places in our country.
And we all must speak out against it. I think we all have to know that this is something that we have to not only speak about, but we’ve got to do everything in our power as a nation to stop it, to stop it.
There’s too much at stake. We should be working at it and thinking about it, not hating one another.”
Updated
Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot has tightened a citywide curfew for young people, a day after she restricted access by unaccompanied minors to downtown’s Millennium Park following the weekend shooting death of a 16-year-old boy near “The Bean” sculpture at the park, the Associated Press reports.
The citywide weekend curfew for minors now will begin each night at 10pm, instead of the 11pm curfew in place since the 1990s, Lightfoot said.
As a City, we must ensure that our young people—no matter what neighborhood they are from or are hanging out in—have safe spaces to congregate, and that in those spaces, they are peaceful and protected from harm. https://t.co/aVK2I8UA5k
— Lori Lightfoot (@LoriLightfoot) May 16, 2022
At Millennium Park, which is a popular stop for tourists and Chicago residents, minors will not be allowed in the park after 6pm Thursday through Sunday without an adult.
We need to make sure they are safe and importantly that our young people understand and respect basic community norms, respect for themselves, respect for each other, and we must ensure that every one of our residents and visitors no matter who they are or where they come from or how old they are are able to safely enjoy our public space.
My interest is not rounding up young people and throwing them in the back of a wagon... [but] we’re not going to hesitate to take action.
On Sunday, police announced that a 17-year-old boy who was taken into custody following Saturday evening’s shooting had been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated battery.
Another teen, who was allegedly armed with a ghost gun, a weapon that does not have a serial number and can’t be traced, was arrested in connection to the shooting, police said.
In total, 26 minors and five adults were arrested during the gathering in the park on Saturday evening.
Hundreds of people were at the park earlier Saturday as part of demonstrations around the US against the recently leaked draft opinion that suggests the US Supreme Court is prepared to overturn the nationwide right to abortion afforded by the 1973 landmark ruling Roe v Wade.
As @chicagosmayor has made clear.
— Ryan Johnson (@Ryan_Johnson) May 16, 2022
All youth are still welcome in Millennium Park.
After 6pm on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, young people must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
Updated
Interim summary
There’s been a stream of US politics news so far today and there will be more to come. The new White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, will hold her first briefing in the role today, expected at 2.30pm ET. Meanwhile, here’s where things stand:
- Joe Biden has paid tribute to the retired police officer, Aaron Salters Jr, 55, who was shot dead in Saturday’s Buffalo grocery store mass shooting that killed 10.
- The latest, massive, $40 billion US aid package for Ukraine could be passed by Congress this Wednesday. The bill has bipartisan support but was held up last week by libertarian Republican Rand Paul, of Kentucky.
- Liz Cheney, Wyoming Republican congresswoman and member of the bipartisan panel investigating the insurrection on Jan 6 2021 by extremist Trump supporters, has accused Republican leadership of enabling “white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-Semitism”, following the tragedy in Buffalo.
A group of voters who challenged extremist congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s eligibility to run for re-election have filed an appeal of the Georgia secretary of state’s decision that she can appear on the ballot.
The five voters from Greene’s district alleged that the rightwing Republican played a significant role in the 6 January Capitol attack, which they said put her in violation of a 14th amendment clause concerning insurrection and ineligibility for office.
Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, ruled against them earlier this month, after a judge also opined the case had no merit, following a lively day-long hearing in Atlanta last month, at which Greene herself appeared.
In taking their appeal to the Fulton county superior court, the voters say Raffensperger’s decision was “made upon unlawful procedures and affected by other errors of law”, the AP says.
The voters are represented by Free Speech for People, a national election and campaign finance reform group, which has filed similar challenges against lawmakers from Arizona and North Carolina.
Updated
Biden pays tribute to retired cop killed in Buffalo massacre
Joe Biden has paid tribute to the retired police officer shot dead in Saturday’s Buffalo grocery store massacre that killed 10.
Aaron Salter Jr, 55, who served more than three decades in the Buffalo police department, was working as a security guard at the Tops Friendly Market when the gunman entered and started shooting.
At a White House ceremony on Monday morning to award medals of valor to 15 police officers and firefighters for acts of heroism in public safety, the president singled out the Buffalo victim:
We pay tribute to all law enforcement officers and their families who understand what it takes, what’s at risk to save and protect all of us. That includes paying tribute to the Buffalo police officer Aaron Salter, who gave his life trying to save others when a gunman shot and killed 10 innocent people in a grocery store in Buffalo on Saturday.
He actually was able to shoot the assailant twice, but he had a bulletproof vest. He lost his life in the process.
Biden, who lost his wife and young daughter in a 1972 car crash, and his son Beau to illness in 2015, said he empathized with the victims’ families:
No one understands more than all of you here today the pain and anguish those families in Buffalo feel. When it happens, at least in my experience, you feel like you’re pulling on a black hole inside your chest. It’s just hard.
The president and first lady Jill Biden will visit Buffalo on Tuesday to grieve with victims’ families and pay tribute to first responders.
Updated
Joe Biden has signed an order to deploy US troops to Somalia amid heightened concerns about the country’s Islamic extremist rebel group al-Shabab, the Associated Press says.
The move is a reversal of Donald Trump’s late-term decision to remove nearly all 700 special forces that had been operating there.
Biden’s decision, which the AP says was confirmed by a senior administration official, comes after defense secretary Lloyd Austin requested the deployment “to reestablish a persistent US military presence in Somalia to enable a more effective fight against al-Shabaab, which has increased in strength and poses a heightened threat”.
The official, who requested anonymity to discuss a decision that has been formally announced, said American forces already in the region would be repositioned, the AP said.
The US’s top infectious disease expert has said he would resign if Donald Trump retakes the presidency in 2024.
Dr Anthony Fauci bluntly said “no” when CNN’s Jim Acosta asked him during an interview on Sunday if he would want to stay on as the director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases in the event that voters gave Trump a second stint as president.
Fauci, 81, has led the institute since 1984, serving under seven presidents. He said he wasn’t confident in Trump’s ability to lead the country through a public health emergency like the coronavirus pandemic, and his administration’s response at the beginning of the crisis in early 2020 was “less than optimal”.
“If you look at the history of what the response was during the administration, I think at best you could say it wasn’t optimal,” Fauci said. “And I just think history will speak for itself. I don’t need to make any further comment about that – it’s not productive.”
Acosta asked Fauci whether he would want to continue working his job if Trump won a second term after losing to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
“Well, no,” Fauci said, in part.
Fauci and Trump have a history of clashing with each other. The former president and his fellow Republicans villainized Fauci for urging Americans to take various measures to protect them from spreading and contracting the virus which had killed 1m people nationwide as of Monday, including wearing masks and getting vaccinated.
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Maryland’s Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen says he suffered a minor stroke and is being treated at George Washington university hospital, the Associated Press says.
In a statement Sunday night, Van Hollen, 63, said he has been advised by doctors to remain under observation at the hospital for a few days out of an abundance of caution. He said he had been told there are no long-term effects or damage.
“I look forward to returning to work in the Senate later this week and thank the medical team for their excellent care,” said Van Hollen, who has been a senator since 2016.
It follows weekend news that John Fetterman, lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania and frontrunner in the state’s Democratic US Senate primary, suffered a stroke Friday, and is recovering.
The conservative-majority supreme court handed Texas Republican senator Ted Cruz a victory on Monday in his challenge to a federal restriction on repayments of large campaign loans, the Associated Press reports.
The justices, in a 6-3 decision on ideological lines, agreed that the somewhat obscure section of the law violates the constitution.
Cruz deliberately loaned his campaign $260,000 during his successful 2018 Senate race to be able to test the $250,000 cap on repayments.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority that the provision “burdens core political speech without proper justification”.
The case could be important for some candidates for federal office who want to make large loans to their campaigns ahead of November’s midterm elections, the AP said.
Updated
Biden's Ukraine package edges closer to approval
Joe Biden might finally score a victory for his Ukraine aid package as early as Wednesday after the Senate made moves on Monday to overcome the resistance of Republican holdout Rand Paul and set up a final vote.
Minority leader Mitch McConnell downplayed Paul’s objections during his weekend visit to Kyiv with a group of fellow Republican senators, telling reporters that a bipartisan push involving an “overwhelming majority of Republicans in Congress” would nudge the $40bn package over the line.
The Senate will move to invoke cloture, the ending of formal debate on a bill, later today, which would set up a floor vote probably on Wednesday.
McConnell, according to Punchbowl’s Daily Punch podcast, said Paul’s resistance, and his demand for an inspector general to assess the impact of the aid package, was actually part of a healthy process.
There’s always been isolationist voices in the Republican party. There were prior to world war two. That’s perfectly alright. This is a debate worth having, it’s an important subject. I think one of the lessons we learned in world war two was not standing up to aggression early is a huge mistake.
Biden originally asked for $33bn for his latest Ukraine package last month, with $20bn for military supplies, $8.5bn in economic aid and $3bn for humanitarian relief.
Lawmakers beefed up the amount for the military spending and humanitarian components by $3.4bn each, but despite initial optimism of speedy approval, the bill’s progress has crawled.
It received overwhelming bipartisan backing in a 368-57 vote in the House last week, after Biden backed down on his insistence that it be coupled to a Covid-19 relief package opposed by Republicans.
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Cheney: Republican leadership 'enables white supremacy'
Liz Cheney has accused Republican leadership of enabling “white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-Semitism”, in a scathing message following the racially motivated massacre at a grocery store in Buffalo.
The Wyoming congresswoman, who was removed from her position as the No 3 House Republican last year after she joined the panel investigating the 6 January Capitol attack, urged party leaders in a tweet to “renounce and reject these views and those who hold them”.
The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism. History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse. @GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them.
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 16, 2022
It comes amid increasing scrutiny of Republican figures who have embraced the racist “great replacement theory” the Buffalo killer is said to have cited in a manifesto he used to justify the murders.
The far-right ideology expounds the view that immigration will ultimately destroy white values and western civilization.
Although a growing number of Republican lawmakers and hopefuls have promoted the discredited conspiracy theory, including JD Vance, the Donald Trump-endorsed candidate who won last week’s Republican Senate primary in Ohio, Cheney’s message will be mostly seen to be directed at one person: Republican House conference chair Elise Stefanik.
The New York congresswoman, who was swiftly installed to replace Cheney when House minority leader and Trump loyalist Kevin McCarthy orchestrated Cheney’s ouster last year, has utilized the great replacement theory to make false accusations that Democrats were plotting a “permanent election insurrection” by replacing white voters with immigrants.
The Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger, who sits alongside Cheney as the only Republicans on the House panel investigating Trump’s insurrection efforts, posted his own tweet slamming as “despicable” Stefanik’s promotion of the theory.
On Sunday he added another post, demanding that Stefanik, McCarthy, and extremist Republican congressmembers Marjorie Taylor Greene and Madison Cawthorn be “replaced”.
Here is my replacement theory: we need to replace @EliseStefanik @GOPLeader @RepMTG @CawthornforNC and a number of others.
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) May 15, 2022
The replacement theory they are pushing/tolerating is getting people killed.
McCarthy is one of five Republicans who received subpoenas from the House panel last week as it seeks more information about Trump’s actions to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden, including the deadly 6 January riots.
Stefanik, meanwhile, has been furiously tweeting this morning, doubling down on her claims that Democrats are purposely manipulating immigration policy “specifically for political and electoral purposes”.
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Updated
John Fetterman, the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania and frontrunner in the state’s Democratic US Senate primary, suffered a stroke Friday, and is recovering, he said in a statement.
“On Friday, I wasn’t feeling well, so I went to the hospital to get checked out. I didn’t want to go – I didn’t think I had to – but Gisele insisted, and as usual, she was right,” Fetterman said in a statement posted to Twitter, referring to his wife. “I hadn’t been feeling well, but was so focused on the campaign that I ignored the signs and just kept going.”
“On Friday it finally caught up with me. I had a stroke that was caused by a clot from my heart being in an A-fib rhythm for too long,” the statement continued.
On Friday, I wasn’t feeling well, so I went to the hospital to get checked out.
— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) May 15, 2022
I didn’t want to go – I didn’t think I had to – but @giselefetterman insisted, and as usual, she was right.
The good news is I’m feeling much better + I’m well on my way to a full recovery. pic.twitter.com/WQ5X6QgQen
“The good news is I’m feeling much better, and the doctors tell me I didn’t suffer any cognitive damage. I’m well on my way to a full recovery,” Fetterman said.
Doctors are keeping Fetterman in hospital for observation, he said in the statement, but “I should be out of here sometime soon.”
Good morning, and happy Monday! It’s a fresh new week in US politics, but it probably feels depressingly familiar to Joe Biden, who’s under pressure on multiple fronts, including a nationwide baby formula shortage, soaring gas prices and inflation, and relief bills for Ukraine and Covid-19 held up by political wrangling in Congress.
The president will see most hope for progress Monday on the $40bn package of military, humanitarian and economic aid for Ukraine as it continues to battle the Russian invasion.
Stalled in the Senate last week by a lone Republican holdout, the Kentucky senator Rand Paul, the bill is set for a cloture vote to end debate later today, setting up a final vote on Wednesday.
You can follow developments in the Ukraine conflict on our live blog here.
Here’s what else we’re watching today:
- Congress will begin discussions on two bills intended to ease the baby formula crisis, one loosening benefits restrictions for families, and another funding emergency imports of formula from south America and Europe.
- Joe Biden has two events on his calendar, presenting medals of valor to public safety officials this morning, and a bilateral meeting and reception later for Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
- Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon visits House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congress members this afternoon.
- Vice-president Kamala Harris is traveling to the United Arab Emirates for Tuesday’s funeral of President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
- The new White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is scheduled to give her first briefing at 2.30pm.
