Biden news: Trump ally subpoenaed, as president pledges ‘once-in-a-generation’ infrastructure plan

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says the president's $2.25 trillion infrastructure announcement was "not nearly enough" and is well below the $10 trillion needed to create jobs for union workers, while also solving health care, housing and carbon emissions.

The New York congresswoman appeared on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow to express "serious concerns" that Joe Biden was underspending on the future of America by $7.75 trillion to realize his "inspiring vision"

"We're talking about, realistically, $10 trillion over 10 years. And I know that may be an eye-popping figure for some people, but we need to understand that we are in a devastating economic moment," Ms Ocasio-Cortez said.

"Millions of people in the United States are unemployed. We have a truly crippled health care system and a planetary crisis on our hands, and we’re the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. So we can do $10 trillion."

The federal sex trafficking investigation surrounding Florida congressman Matt Gaetz is “substantial and very serious,” a former top FBI official said this week, as explosive reports indicated the Justice Department had launched the new probe.

Andrew McCabe, former FBI deputy director, said the Justice Department requires “a significant degree of information” before launching an investigation like the one announced this week, which reportedly seeks to uncover whether the Republican had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old whose travels he paid for.

Speaking to CNN on Wednesday night, the former FBI director said: “I can assure you the FBI doesn’t open these cases lightly, and don’t get briefed to the attorney general without some significant momentum behind them.”

Chris Riotta has the report.

Matt Gaetz claims a collection of emails, text message screenshots and typed documents shared with media are evidence the FBI was investigating a $25m extortion plot that he says is behind an investigation into sex trafficking.

Images of the materials appeared in a Washington Examiner report that Mr Gates tweeted out with a caption saying the documents “support his claims that a federal investigation into his relationship with a 17-year-old is related to an extortion scheme against him”.

One of the emails, also shared withPolitico, is said to be from assistant US Attorney for the Northern District of Florida David Goldberg, confirming that Mr Gaetz’s father was working with his office and the FBI.

While the documents had not been independently verified, conservative outlet RedState reported that a Florida Department of Justice source anonymously confirmed that Don Gaetz wore a wire and that the FBI was investigating the scheme.

Mr Gaetz made the extortion claim during a live interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson shortly after The New York Times reported that he was being investigated over an alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl.

The documents shared with the Washington Examiner to back up the extortion claim include images of text messages to Mr Gaetz’s father on 16 March from a former Air Force intelligence officer.

“I have a plan that can make his future legal and political problems go away,” the message says.

It went on to outline a plan to rescue former FBI agent Robert Levinson from an Iranian prison with the help of the Florida congressman, making him “the most sought after public figure in the world”.

“Then, my partner will see to it that Matt receives a Presidential Pardon, thus alleviating all his legal issues,” it supposedly said.

The ensuing operation, titled “Project Homecoming”, was outlined in screenshots of a three-page hardcopy document provided to the Examiner that had a detailed plan to save Mr Levinson, who went missing in 2007, for the price of a $25m loan.

Republican lawmakers in Texas have advanced a sweeping bill to restrict ballot access by cutting early voting hours and banning drive-through voting sites that proved popular in 2020 elections for one of the largest counties in the US.

If signed into law, the measure would also make it illegal for local elections officials to mail out absentee ballots to voters who did not request them, even if they qualify, and would give partisan poll watchers more power to potentially intimidate voters at the ballot box.

The Texas Senate passed the bill by a vote of 18-13 after roughly seven hours of debate, including objections from Democrats who repeatedly warned lawmakers that the measure – among several similar proposals in state houses across the US – revives and enshrines the legacy of Jim Crow-era voter suppression that disproportionately targets voters of colour.

The Independent’s Alex Woodward reports.

Looks like the new transportation secretary is getting ahead of that milage tax he’s been considering.

Pete Buttigieg appears to have made his way to the White House for the first full cabinet meeting of Joe Biden on the back of a two-wheeler, according to CNN correspondent Donald Judd.

While there was no milage tax in the president’s infrastructure plan, Buttigieg has previously indicated during a CNBC interview that he’s open to the tax, which would cover electric vehicle owners who currently wouldn’t pay gas tax.

"I think that shows a lot of promise," Buttigieg said. "If we believe in that so-called user pays principle, the idea that part of how we pay for roads is you pay based on how much you drive."

At least 361 bills to restrict voting rights have been filed by Republican lawmakers in nearly every state, according to a new analysis from the Brennan Centre for Justice, which has tracked suppressive voting legislation across the US.

More than 100 of those bills were added to the centre’s list within the last month – a 43 per cent increase from February.

At least 55 bills in 24 states are moving through legislatures. Of those bills, 29 have passed at least one chamber of a state legislature, while 26 have been the subject of a committee hearing.

Alex Woodward takes count.

Well this is, as the saying goes... problematic.

An Illinois school is facing protests from its local Latin community over a proposal to change the name of Thomas Jefferson Middle School over that president’s history of oppression, according to ABC Chicago.

District 60 school board member Edgar Castellanos, who entered the US as an undocumented migrant as a child, said he would not be part of renaming a school after someone who does not represent the undocumented community.

"From the time Barack Obama became President until 2017 when he left, he today is still the highest ranking president with deportations in our nation," he said, according to ABC.

"If you're removing the name of Thomas Jefferson - one oppressor - the name of Obama is another oppressor and our families do not want to see that name."

School board president Brandon Ewing told ABC he didn’t object to naming the school after Obama, but that he has to be aware of the concerns.

Might be best not to mention Obama’s past record of drone strikes or his historical (since changed) position on gay marriage.

Joe Manchin has contradicted the Biden administration to call the surge of illegal migrants at the US border a “human crisis”.

The White House has avoided using the term “crisis”, with press secretary Jen Psaki saying labels don’t change the challenges that need to be addressed. Further left Democrats like AOC, meanwhile, say acknowledging a surge is pushing white supremacy.

After visiting the border, Manchin, who has become one of the most influential Senators during the current presidency, said it’s “beyond time” to do immigration reform; including security of the border “using all of the technology we have available”.

Just don’t call it a wall.

“Let me just say when I call this a crisis, I’m not blaming the crisis on the present administration of president Biden, former administration of president Trump,” he said.

“This has been a human crisis for a long, long time. I remember back in the 80s Ronald Regan talking about how he was going to take care of immigration.”

Joe Manchin has contradicted the Biden administration to call the surge of illegal migrants at the US border a “human crisis”.

The White House has avoided using the term “crisis”, with press secretary Jen Psaki saying labels don’t change the challenges that need to be addressed. Further left Democrats like AOC, meanwhile, say acknowledging a surge is pushing white supremacy.

After visiting the border, Manchin, who has become one of the most influential Senators during the current presidency, said it’s “beyond time” to do immigration reform; including security of the border “using all of the technology we have available”.

Just don’t call it a wall.

“Let me just say when I call this a crisis, I’m not blaming the crisis on the present administration of president Biden, former administration of president Trump,” he said.

“This has been a human crisis for a long, long time. I remember back in the 80s Ronald Regan talking about how he was going to take care of immigration.”

Nancy Pelosi has not dismissed the possibility of taking punitive action against Congressman Matt Gaetz pending the results of an investigation into allegations that he trafficked and had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl.

“If in fact these allegations are true, of course being removed from the Judiciary Committee is the least that could be done,” Ms Pelosi told reporters at her press conference on Thursday.

The speaker, whose opening remarks on Thursday revolved around Joe Biden’s new $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, initially expressed surprise that the first question she faced from reporters dealt with the investigation into Mr Gaetz.

“It's an important issue, the integrity of the Congress,” she said, collecting her thoughts. “Not to minimise that, it just surprised me,” she said.

Griffin Connolly reports.