Biden news: President meets with GOP on Covid bill as Democrats move to oust Marjorie Taylor Greene

Queen Elizabeth will host President Joe Biden in addition to other world leaders prior to the G7 summit in June, the Sunday Times has reported.  

The Queen shall be joined by Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, Charles and Camilla, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate. Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the report.

Britain will be hosting the first in-person summit of the G7 in two years in Carbis Bay, Cornwall. The G7 group consists of the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Leaders from Australia, India and South Korea have also been invited to attend.

Bethany Dawson reports.

Jen Psaki has kicked off today’s media call on the White House’s support of the massive snow storm on the east coast.

More to come.

The Georgia Republican Party was already licking its wounds after the formerly solid red state elected two Democratic Senators in the 5 January runoff and voted for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since Bill Clinton won the presidency in 1992. Now a fight is brewing in the party over controversial Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.  

The state’s Republican election administrator Gabriel Sterling told Politico: “If you have any common sense, you know she's an anchor on the party. She is weighing us down."

Gustaf Kilander has the latest on the MTG saga.

This line from press secretary Jen Psaki seemed like a non sequitur in the middle of today’s media briefing:

“Last thing I want to do before I get to your questions, I often note I’m going to circle back, I hate to disappoint conservative Twitter, but I am going to circle back on a number of things, as we often do directly."

Psaki made the comment before… circling back… with answers to past questions on Hurricane Maria funds and the White House fence.

What is she talking about? Various versions of this supercut doing the rounds on how often she has been taking questions on notice.

Asked if Joe Biden considers public support – if not GOP support - of the Covid relief package as success to achieving unity, Jen Psaki said it’s not an either-or. And it's both.

“When the president talks about unifying and bringing the country together, he’s not suggesting that he is going to make one party out of the Democratic and Republican parties in Congress, but he is meeting with Republicans today, 10 Republicans who sent this letter, because he feels they made a good faith effort,” Psaki said.

“So I don’t think it’s an either-or, but I think it’s a both. And we certainly feel that the components that are in this package are the basis of what should garner bipartisan support.”

“It’s something obviously under review but there was not a conclusion last I asked about it,” says Jen Psaki.

Asked if Trump’s absence from social media has made the White House’s job any easier on Covid negotiations, Jen Psaki said they aren’t exactly lingering on the former president’s missing voice from the political discourse.

“This may be hard to believe, we don’t spend a lot of time talking about our thinking about president Trump here, former president Trump to be very clear, I think that’s a question that’s probably more appropriate for Republican members who are looking for ways to support a bipartisan package on whether that give them space,” she said.  

"But I can't say we miss him on Twitter.”

Asked if Joe Biden’s response the coup in Burma was a message to China, Jen Psaki said it was a message for all countries in the region.

“And countries who will be asked to respond or to consider what the appropriate response will be in reaction to the events that have happened over the past couple of days,” Psaki said.

Graeme Massie if following the story as it unfolds.  

Former US first lady Melania Trump was reportedly the first to call Donald Trump after every campaign event to praise him.

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, 50, a former adviser and friend of Ms Trump, told the Hollywood Life podcast on Monday that the former first lady would call Mr Trump after every public event to give him an ego boost.

“I believe their way of showing affection towards one another is her telling him how wonderful and great he is,” Ms Winston Wolkoff said.

“She was always his first phone call, always, no matter where she was. And the first thing he’d say was: 'Hey Baby, how'd I do?' Like he wants her approval,'” she added.

James Crump reports.

Donald Trump has been forced to ask his allies to tweet insults for him after having his account permanently banned, according to The Daily Beast.

Becoming frustrated that he cannot weigh in online against his political enemies, particularly Wyoming representative Liz Cheney, the former president has taken to writing out his observations of the world.

“But with no ability to tweet them himself, he has resorted to suggesting put-downs for others to use or post to their own Twitter,” the outlet reported.

Louise Hall has more on Trump’s private journaling.