Mike Johnson faces Republican-led ouster vote as Congress returns this week
Good morning and welcome to the politics liveblog.
Congress returns to Washington this week with all eyes on the House, the place Speaker Mike Johnson is predicted to face a vote over his ouster within the coming days.
House Democratic leaders have stated their members would lend sufficient votes to defend Johnson from removing, an effort led by far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
Though her drive to depose Johnson is sort of sure to fail, Greene has stated she plans to drive the vote to indicate that the conservative speaker should depend on Democrats to maintain his job. Republicans’ wafer-thin majority within the House provides any particular person member with a grievance huge leverage over the occasion’s agenda – and the destiny of the Speaker.
Johnson has infuriated hardline conservatives after working throughout the aisle to go a authorities funding measure and approve a overseas support package deal with help for Ukraine. But many are reluctant to set off a a repeat of final yr’s ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, which plunged the chamber into chaos as they looked for his alternative.
So far, Greene is joined publicly by simply two different House conservatives: congressmen Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona.
Elsewhere in Washington:
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Biden will return to the White House from his house in Wilmington, Delaware. At noon, he’ll current the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy to the US Military Academy Army Black Knights, earlier than internet hosting King Abdullah II of Jordan for lunch. Later this night, he’ll host a Cinco de Mayo reception within the Rose Garden with first girl Jill Biden.
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Vice president Kamala Harris is headed to Detroit for the second cease on her “Economic Opportunity Tour”.
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Donald Trump is again in a New York courtroom for his prison trial involving a hush cash fee to grownup movie star Stormy Daniel. Proceedings are attributable to begin round 9am in New York. Readers can follow here for updates.
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Trump on Sunday night time appeared to ride to the defense of Democratic congressman Henry Cuellar, who was just lately indicted in a $600,000 bribery scheme involving Azerbaijan and a Mexican financial institution. Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, Cuellar a conservative Democrat in a swing district was a “Respected Democrat Congressman” and accused the Biden administration of focusing on him as a result of he tends to align with Republicans on border safety: “They’re a bunch of D.C. Thugs, and at some point they will be paying a very big price for what they have done to our Country,” Trump wrote.
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Politico reports that second gentleman Doug Emhoff will host a small group of Jewish faculty college students on the White House amid the turmoil sweeping college campuses. Emhoff, who’s Jewish, has led the White House’s struggle towards antisemitism.
Key occasions
Interim abstract
Attention will flip to Congress this afternoon, forward of an anticipated summit between Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and House Speaker Mike Johnson. Greene has threatened to set off a vote on Johnson’s removing, however Democrats are anticipated to offer sufficient help to maintain him in energy. Still, Johnson would somewhat head off a vote if attainable and can probably attempt to persuade Greene towards shifting ahead with the so-called movement to vacate. Greene has not stated when she plans to set off the vote.
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Columbia University has canceled its foremost graduation ceremony deliberate for subsequent week as pro-Palestinian protests roil the Ivy League establishment. Smaller school-level ceremonies will nonetheless happen.
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Speaker Johnson known as on Columbia’s board of trustees to take away the president Minouche Shafik, echoing calls by conservative lawmakers and antiwar protesters livid over her dealing with of the scenario on campus.
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A New York decide held Trump in contempt of court, once more, slapping him with a positive and threatening jail time if the previous president continues to breach his gag order.
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Joe Biden spoke with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu this morning. The White House stated Israel was dedicated to making sure a key crossing into Gaza, Kerem Shalom, was open for vehicles carrying humanitarian help.
The former lieutenant governor of Georgia, Republican Geoff Duncan, will help Joe Biden within the November presidential election.
“Unlike Trump, I’ve belonged to the GOP my entire life,” Duncan writes in an op-ed for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass.”
Earlier this yr Duncan dominated out an impartial presidential run below the No Label’s banner.
In the piece, he wrote that he’s disenchanted that almost all of his fellow Republicans have chosen to fall in line behind Trump, together with a few of his “fiercest detractors”. He expands on his issues about Biden and the Democrats’ agenda, however says Trump has “disqualified himself through his conduct and his character.” He cited the previous president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, his position within the January sixth assault on the US Capitol as properly as his dealing with of the pandemic and his “incendiary” response to moments of nationwide turmoil.
“Trump has shown us who he is,” Duncan writes. “We should believe him. To think he is going to change at the age of 77 is beyond improbable.”
Nathan Wade, the previous Fulton County particular prosecutor whose affair with District Attorney Fani Willis, stated he regrets that their relationship has change into a distraction from the Georgia election interference case towards Donald Trump.
“I hate that my personal life has begun to overshadow the true issues in the case,” he informed ABC News in his first interview since resigning from the case.
A decide ruled in March that Willis might proceed to move the prosecution, as lengthy as Wade stepped apart attributable to a “significant appearance of impropriety” that stemmed from their romantic relationship. They testified that their relationship started in early 2022 and ended in the summertime of 2023.
“Workplace romances are as American as apple pie,” Wades stated within the interview. “It happens to everyone. But it happened to the two of us.”
Wade resigned following the decide’s ruling, permitting Willis to remain on the case.
Asked within the interview he regretted the affair, Wade stated: “I regret that that private matter became the focal point of this very important prosecution. This is a very important case.”
Martin Pengelly
The Texas senator Ted Cruz isn’t any stranger to scrutiny of his marketing campaign finance affairs.
In 2022, for one somewhat well-known instance, the rightwing-dominated supreme courtroom ruled in his favour in a case over whether or not candidates might absolutely recoup cash loaned to their very own campaigns.
Last month, in the meantime, two advocacy teams filed a complaint over how an excellent pac backing Cruz’s re-election bid this yr obtained greater than $630,000 in advert income from the senator’s personal podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
On a considerably smaller scale, the Guardian seen a possible anomaly in Federal Election Commission filings by Cruz’s management committee, Jobs, Freedom and Security PAC, that show a January fee of $22,900 to WPA Intelligence for “survey research”.
Noting many comparable if bigger funds to the identical polling agency by Cruz’s marketing campaign committee over the previous few years, the Guardian sought skilled recommendation.
That recommendation indicated that if such a fee by Cruz’s management committee was deemed to signify help to his marketing campaign committee, it could be in extra of contribution limits for transactions between such our bodies.
One skilled stated: “This would be an in-kind contribution if the leadership pac is paying for a poll and giving the results to the campaign.”
Importantly, the skilled added: “However, it could also be that the [leadership] pac is using the same vendor for polls it legitimately wants for its own work … as long as the pac has a bona fide use for a poll, it’s also allowed to split the costs of a poll with the campaign.”
The Guardian requested spokespeople for Cruz in regards to the goal of the fee from the management committee to WPA Intelligence.
A spokesperson stated “it was not for Senator Cruz’s race”, then added a jibe towards an excellent pac backing Cruz’s Democratic opponent, the NFL participant turned congressman Colin Alred, saying: “You don’t have to push Lose Cruz propaganda.”
Citing Cruz’s work with Maria Cantwell, a Washington state Democrat, on the Federal Aviation Authority Reauthorization Act, the spokesperson stated they might be “happy to help” the Guardian “cover all of the good things that bill does for Texas and the country”.
Asked what the fee was for if it was not for Senator Cruz’s re-election race, the spokesperson didn’t reply.
WPA Intelligence didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Biden spoke to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu by cellphone this morning after hopes of a short lived ceasefire appeared to break down and an Israeli navy invasion of Rafah looms.
According to a readout of their name, Biden up to date Netanyahu on “efforts to secure a hostage deal, including through ongoing talks today in Doha, Qatar. The Prime Minister agreed to ensure the Kerem Shalom crossing is open for humanitarian assistance for those in need. The President reiterated his clear position on Rafah.”
Kerem Shalom is the principle crossing used to ship humanitarian support into Gaza. It was closed yesterday after a rocket assault claimed by Hamas killed three troopers, the Israeli navy stated, with a reprisal strike on a home in Rafah reportedly killing not less than three Palestinians.
An invasion of Rafah seems imminent: the Israeli navy on Monday urged 100,000 folks within the southern Gaza metropolis to evacuate. The Biden administration has repeatedly expressed its disapproval of Israeli navy plans for a full-scale invasion of Rafah, the place a couple of million Palestinians displaced by Israel’s bombardment of Gaza have been sheltering.
Also in the course of the name, held on Holocaust Remembrance day, the leaders “discussed the shared commitment of Israel and the United States to remember the six million Jews who were systematically targeted and murdered in the Holocaust, one of the darkest chapters in human history, and to forcefully act against antisemitism and all forms of hate-fueled violence.”
Bernie Sanders, the progressive senator from Vermont and two-time White House hopeful, introduced his intention to run for re-election at 82. He is an impartial who caucuses with Democrats.
Let me thank the folks of Vermont, from the underside of my coronary heart, for giving me the chance to serve them within the United States Senate. It has been the distinction of my life.
Today, I’m saying my intention to hunt one other time period. Here is why: pic.twitter.com/cfO8MF4Cep
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 6, 2024
“In recent years, working together, we have made important progress in addressing some very serious challenges,” Sanders stated in a video to Vermont voters. “But much much more needs to be done if we are to become the state and the nation our people deserve.”
As chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee he has held a number of high-profile hearings on prescription drug pricing and staff’ rights.
Adam Gabbatt
As Donald Trump spews all-caps anger on his social media feed, he’s promoting the Good Word for a revenue. Our very personal Adam Gabbatt bought Trump’s “patriotic” retelling of the holy textual content for a cool $59.99 and supplied this assessment.
“All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many. It’s my favorite book,” Trump declared in March, in a video posted on Truth Social. “I’m proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible. We must make America pray again.” …
Well, who am I to defy a one-term, twice-impeached, former president who’s at the moment on trial over hush-money payments to a porn star. I purchased it.
Buying one thing from Donald Trump is fraught with hazard. Trump is thought for not following by on enterprise agreements: within the run-up to the 2016 election, literally hundreds of individuals, together with legal professionals, carpenters and painters, got here ahead to accuse Trump of not paying them for his or her work.
Happily the Bible, which value $83.37 after tax and delivery, ultimately arrived. I eagerly tore open the packaging, held the bag the wrong way up, and out plopped what is basically a Christian nationalist’s fantasy: a Bible that’s all American flags and bald eagles, with founding paperwork and lyrics to a patriotic anthem slotted in alongside the holy textual content.
Johnson calls on Columbia’s Board of Trustees to ‘instantly take away’ college president
Right on cue, Johnson has launched an announcement responding to the information that Columbia University is canceling its foremost graduation ceremony, by which he condemned each the college president and protesters.
“President Shafik and Columbia University administrators have displayed a shocking unwillingness to control their campus,” he stated. “They’ve allowed outside agitators and terrorist-sympathizing students and faculty to rewrite campus rules and spew vile, anti-Jewish aggression. Now, thousands of students who’ve worked hard to achieve their degrees will not get the recognition they deserve.”
Johnson known as on Columbia’s Board of Trustees to “immediately remove” Shafik and appoint a brand new president who will crackdown on the protests.
Since her look earlier than a Republican-led Congressional committee final month, Shafik has been going through requires her resignation from all sides. As she delivered testimony in Washington that remarks that some college students and free speech advocates noticed as far too acquiescent of Republican speaking factors, protesters arrange a pro-Palestinian solidarity encampment on Columbia’s campus.
Shafik known as on the NYPD to take away the protestors, a transfer that resulted in additional than 100 arrests and sparked solidarity protests throughout the US. Last week, protesters occupied Columbia’s Hamilton Hall for hours earlier than police in riot gear cleared the constructing and arrested greater than 100 demonstrators.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene will meet privately with the House speaker this afternoon, CNN’s Haley Talbot reviews. Greene, Talbot said, requested the assembly.
The reported summit comes as Greene is urgent forward with a removing vote towards Johnson, who’s all-but sure to outlive with the assistance of Democrats. Greene has been obscure on when precisely she would set off the movement.
House speaker Mike Johnson will meet privately with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene at 3:30pm immediately as she has vowed to set off a movement to oust him this week
The timing for when she’s going to set off the movement remains to be unclear
— Haley Talbot (@haleytalbotcnn) May 6, 2024
During the assembly, Johnson will conceivably attempt to persuade Greene of what he has argued publicly: that the vote gained’t finish in his removing and is just more likely to inflict additional political harm on their already turbulent majority.
Even although Johnson’s job is probably going secure, for now, remaining in energy with the assistance of Democrats is just more likely to make hardliners angrier, fueling their grievance that he has deserted his conservative ideas since changing into Speaker.
Only three House Republicans have publicly acknowledged their help for Johnson’s ouster, it’s attainable that quantity might develop if Greene forces a vote.
Johnson has tried to show consideration away from the occasion’s infighting by specializing in a difficulty that unites his members: fury towards the faculty campus protests.
Trump held in contempt, once more
Juan Merchan, the decide in Trump’s hush cash prison trial, has once more held the previous president in contempt of courtroom, fining him one other $1,000 for violating the phrases of his gag order and threatening him with the potential for jail time for future violations.
“As much as I do not want to impose a jail sanction … I want you to understand that I will, if necessary, and appropriate,” Merchan warned Trump.
On social media and in his public feedback, Trump has leveled repeated assaults on the trial, the jury, the decide, the legal professionals and even the witnesses, together with his former legal professional and fixer Michael Cohen.
Follow these developments on the hyperlink beneath.
Sunday present recap: over the weekend, elected elected officers weighed in on a wide range of issues.
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Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, warned that feedback by Kari Lake, a Trump acolyte working for the state’s different Senate seat, might incite violence. Last month Lake informed voters to “strap on a Glock” forward of the 2024 elections. “It’s dangerous,” he informed NBC News throughout an interview on “Meet the Press.” “What Kari Lake said could result in people getting hurt or killed.”
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In an interview on CBS, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem wouldn’t say whether or not she met North Korean chief Kim Jong-un though it appears she fabricated the encounter in her book. “I’m not going to talk about my specific meetings with world leaders. … This anecdote shouldn’t have been in the book and as soon as it was brought to my attention I made sure that was adjusted.”
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Noem additionally doubled down on her decision to kill her 14-month old dog Cricket, regardless of widespread blowback. “The reason that this story is in the book — because people need to understand who I am and some of those difficult decisions,” she informed CBS.
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California congressman Ro Khanna, a Democrat who has been visiting faculties across the nation throughout pupil protests, stated the president ought to be a part of him.
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“I think the president should and will get out there on campuses,” he informed CBS, including: “This is a defining moment for this generation, similar to anti-Vietnam protests, anti-apartheid protests, anti-Iraq war protests and they’re telling us that over 30,000 people have died. It’s time for this war to end.”
Columbia cancels foremost graduation ceremony amid antiwar protests
Columbia University announced on Monday that it had canceled subsequent week’s university-wide graduation ceremony amid pro-Palestinian protests which have roiled the campus and unfold to high schools throughout the nation. Instead, the college stated it could maintain smaller “school-level” ceremonies for college kids.
“Based on feedback from our students, we have decided to focus attention on our Class Days and school-level graduation ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers, and to forego the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15,” college officers stated in an announcement.
It continued: “These past few weeks have been incredibly difficult for our community. Just as we are focused on making our graduation experience truly special, we continue to solicit student feedback and are looking at the possibility of a festive event on May 15 to take the place of the large, formal ceremony.”
At Columbia, college students arrange an encampment on campus to protest Israel’s struggle in Gaza, which has killed greater than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them ladies and kids, in line with the native well being ministry. The protesters at Columbia and elsewhere have known as on their universities to divest funds from corporations or companies that help the Israeli navy and its operations in Gaza.
The determination comes after the University of Southern California canceled its foremost commencement ceremony amid campus-wide protests whereas permitting different graduation actions to proceed.
“Security concerns were one of the main reasons for our decision on whether to hold a large commencement ceremony,” a college official stated in an announcement to The Guardian.
Mike Johnson faces Republican-led ouster vote as Congress returns this week
Good morning and welcome to the politics liveblog.
Congress returns to Washington this week with all eyes on the House, the place Speaker Mike Johnson is predicted to face a vote over his ouster within the coming days.
House Democratic leaders have stated their members would lend sufficient votes to defend Johnson from removing, an effort led by far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
Though her drive to depose Johnson is sort of sure to fail, Greene has stated she plans to drive the vote to indicate that the conservative speaker should depend on Democrats to maintain his job. Republicans’ wafer-thin majority within the House provides any particular person member with a grievance huge leverage over the occasion’s agenda – and the destiny of the Speaker.
Johnson has infuriated hardline conservatives after working throughout the aisle to go a authorities funding measure and approve a overseas support package deal with help for Ukraine. But many are reluctant to set off a a repeat of final yr’s ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, which plunged the chamber into chaos as they looked for his alternative.
So far, Greene is joined publicly by simply two different House conservatives: congressmen Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona.
Elsewhere in Washington:
-
Biden will return to the White House from his house in Wilmington, Delaware. At noon, he’ll current the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy to the US Military Academy Army Black Knights, earlier than internet hosting King Abdullah II of Jordan for lunch. Later this night, he’ll host a Cinco de Mayo reception within the Rose Garden with first girl Jill Biden.
-
Vice president Kamala Harris is headed to Detroit for the second cease on her “Economic Opportunity Tour”.
-
Donald Trump is again in a New York courtroom for his prison trial involving a hush cash fee to grownup movie star Stormy Daniel. Proceedings are attributable to begin round 9am in New York. Readers can follow here for updates.
-
Trump on Sunday night time appeared to ride to the defense of Democratic congressman Henry Cuellar, who was just lately indicted in a $600,000 bribery scheme involving Azerbaijan and a Mexican financial institution. Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, Cuellar a conservative Democrat in a swing district was a “Respected Democrat Congressman” and accused the Biden administration of focusing on him as a result of he tends to align with Republicans on border safety: “They’re a bunch of D.C. Thugs, and at some point they will be paying a very big price for what they have done to our Country,” Trump wrote.
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Politico reports that second gentleman Doug Emhoff will host a small group of Jewish faculty college students on the White House amid the turmoil sweeping college campuses. Emhoff, who’s Jewish, has led the White House’s struggle towards antisemitism.