Biden news: White House defends ‘Neanderthal’ slur of GOP states, as Trump shifts blame for Senate loss

US agrees to suspend retaliatory tariffs on Scotch whisky

Retaliatory tariffs imposed by the United States on UK goods including Scotch whisky have been temporarily suspended, the international trade secretary Liz Truss has announced.

In a de-escalation of a long-running dispute over aerospace tariffs, the suspension, which is due to come into force on Monday, will reduce the 25 per cent tariff rate to zero per cent for four months.

Ashley Cowburn serves it neat from across the pond.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has delayed its guidelines for people who have already received a Covid-19 vaccination at the urging of the White House, according to Politico.

Quoting two senior administration officials, the outlet reported that the Biden administration’s Covid-19 task force told the CDC to “hold off on releasing” the recommendations during a series of meetings and calls over the last two days.

The CDC had planned to release the guidelines on Thursday that were supposed to outline how vaccinated Americans could socialize with each other in small groups.

While the outlet went to lengths to suggest it was not a case of the White House suppressing or overriding the CDC’s scientists, they say officials are on edge about political interference following years of intrusion during the Trump administration.

The governor of Mississippi and Congressman Jim Jordan have likened Joe Biden’s comments over his decision to scrap mask mandates as “neanderthal thinking” to being “called deplorable” by Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“First we were “deplorables.” Then “chumps.” Then “spineless cowards” who only eat at Olive Garden. And now? We’re “neanderthals.” Not smart enough to make decisions for ourselves, said Jordan in a tweet. “This is what the Democrats think of us.”

Earlier, governor Tate Reeves also compared the remarks Clinton’s infamous “basket of deplorables” comment that came at a crucial moment in the 2016 campaign won by Donald Trump.

“Today I feel the same way as I did the day that Hillary Clinton called all of us in middle of America deplorables when president Biden said that we were all neanderthals,” he said.

Of the 15 president of the past 100 years, all have held a press conference within 33 days of being sworn into office. Trump did it 27 days in. Obama outdid Trump by a week at 20 days.

Joe Biden is at 43 days, so it was weird yesterday when the live stream of his virtual meeting with Democrats was cut off just as he offered to answer questions.

Press secretary Jen Psaki was asked on Monday what, exactly, is up with the lack of press conference.

“Not yet, but we will definitely have one,” Psaki said. “We will schedule it, and you’ll be the first to know. Cause you’re pivotal participants in that,” she told White House reporters.

Odds Psaki being asked about this again today when her daily briefing begins shortly.

Nathan Place has more.

US border resources are being overwhelmed as an average of 321 children are taken into custody per day, according to internal documents from the Department of Health and Human services reported by Axios.

That is compared to just 47 per day under the Trump administration during the first week of January, with the rate steadily increasing to 203 in late January/early February and 321 in the week ending 1 March.

The document from 2 March says the shelter system is at 94 per cent occupancy, with capacity expected to be reached before the end of the month.

Press secretary Jen Psaki is joined today by secretary of veterans affairs Denis McDonough.

Follow live with The Independent.

Asked if Joe Biden had any second thoughts calling the governors of Texas and Mississippi “Neanderthals” and whether it helps convince them to change, the White House press secretary downplayed the slur as not calling them Neanderthals directly.

“The behaviour of a Neanderthal, just to be very clear, the behaviour of,” Jen Psaki said.

The semantic distinction is that Biden said the governors had “Neanderthal thinking”, not that the governors were, in fact, “Neanderthals”.

“Look I think the president, what everybody say yesterday, was a reflection of his frustration and exasperation which I think many American people have that for almost a year now people across the country have sacrificed,” she added.

Donald Trump tried to shift the blame for the Senate race defeats in Georgia to other Republicans and lashed out at the Wall Street Journal in new statement.

The ex-president lashed out at Senator Mitch McConnell for the defeats of Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in the January special elections that handed control fo the Senate to Democrats.

Mr Trump, who also lost the state to Joe Biden, blamed Mr McConnell for only offering $600 stimulus checks while his opponents campaigned on payments of $2000.

Graeme Massie has the latest from Trump.

With Republican governors in Texas and Mississippi rolling back Covid-related public health safeguards, the Joe Biden administration has recognised the stark reality when it comes to overseeing the pandemic response: There’s only so much the White House can do.

“He can't do this alone. The federal government cannot do this alone,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday, reiterating a point Mr Biden has made repeatedly in his first month and a half in office.

“This is going to require additional sacrifice from the American people. He doesn't think that's easy. None of us think that's easy,” Ms Psaki said.

Griffin Connolly has more on this angle.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has blamed the spread of Covid-19 on undocumented immigrants, as he criticised President Joe Biden's "Neanderthal" comment regarding him rolling back guidelines for his state amid the pandemic.

"The Biden Administration is recklessly releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants who have Covid into Texas communities," Mr Abbott wrote in a tweet on Wednesday.

"The Biden Admin must IMMEDIATELY end this callous act that exposes Texans & Americans to Covid," he added.

Danielle Zoellner has the report.