Biden news - live: GOP senator claims ‘fake’ Trump supporters caused riot as distracted Ted Cruz taps on phone
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Your support makes all the difference.Senators questioned current and former security officials about the massive law enforcement failures on January 6, the day a violent mob overpowered police officers and laid siege to the US Capitol building.
Three of the four who testified before Senate committees resigned under intense pressure immediately after the deadly uprising, including the former head of the Capitol Police.
It comes as Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, said it was time for Mr Trump to “take responsibility for his own dirty deeds” after the Supreme Court ruled the ex-president has to hand over his tax returns to prosecutors in New York.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden, held his first meeting with Canadian president Justin Trudeau and announced he will make his first major trip as president to Houston to visit the winter-devastated state of Texas.
As he used this week to observe the 500,000 deaths of Americans from Covid-19, his administration came under fire for re-opening the migrant camps on the US-Mexico border that he previously called “horrific”, and Kamala Harris called “human rights abuses”, when open under the Trump administration.
• Trump made $1.6 billion while president, report says
• Trump Jr criticises ‘people’s republic of New York’
• Eric Trump blames ‘Biden policies’ for Texas freeze
• Biden leads memorial for nation’s Covid-19 victims
While Ted Cruz makes Cancun jokes at CPAC...
...his fellow Texas Senator John Cornyn will join Joe Biden and visit Texans badly hit by the winter storms that left millions without power and dozens dead.
Update on Syria air strikes
The National Security Council says the Department of Defense briefed Congressional leadership before the strikes in Syria last night.
The administration has been briefing lawmakers and congressional staff today.
CDC sounds alarm over Covid variants
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has sounded the alarm about new variants that have spread rapidly through the United States, as the agency finds the decline in Covid-19 cases has stalled in recent days.
In the last two months, the cases and hospitalisations in the United States have declined as more and more Americans receive the vaccine. But now the country could be experiencing how new variants might impact current case numbers.
“The latest data suggest that these declines [in cases] may be stalling,” CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky said during a White House coronavirus press briefing on Friday, adding there was a “very concerning shift in the recent trajectory.”
Danielle Zoellner reports.
CDC sounds alarm over Covid variants after plunge in cases stalls
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has sounded the alarm about new variants that have spread rapidly through the United States, as the agency finds the decline in Covid-19 cases has stalled in recent days.
Bidens due in Texas in one hour
The Bidens are due to touchdown in Houston in just under an hour to meet with those impacted by the winter storms, as well as to visit a food bank and the emergency operations centre.
It is Jill Biden’s first trip on Air Force One.
Some Democrats want to fire Senate parliamentarian over minimum wage plans
As Democrats sought to use budget reconciliation to keep Republicans from filibustering a minimum wage increase in the Senate, the decision on whether to allow the measure to be fast-tracked inside a proposed coronavirus relief package fell to one woman: the unelected and nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough.
After Ms MacDonough on Thursday dashed the majority party’s hopes of passing a $15-an-hour (about £11) minimum wage increase within the bill, Democrats were left to debate a range of options, from redoing the legislation to dropping the wage increase to trying to override Ms MacDonough’s ruling.
But at least one lawmaker called for an even more radical solution: firing the Senate’s referee.
Katie Shepherd has more.
Some Democrats want to fire Senate parliamentarian over minimum wage plans
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would still pass a version of the stimulus package including a miminim wage increase
White House says Ted Cruz never asked to join president on Texas trip
Joe Biden’s White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Air Force One that the administration never invited Mr Cruz, nor did he ask to accompany the president on his trip to Houston.
Instead, Mr Cruz attended the right-wing CPAC conference in Florida as his state continues to recover from the devastating winter storm that pounded it last week.
Mr Cruz infamously left Texas on a Mexican beach vacation as millions were left without power, heat or water.
The president will be joined by Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the state’s other US Senator, John Cornyn.
Ilhan Omar says she wants Biden to give ‘legal rationale’ for Syria strike
The congresswoman told CNN’s John King she wants the president to give “legal rationale on why they authorised this strike without congressional approval...We in Congress have congressional oversight in engaging in war, and we haven’t been briefed yet,” she said.
US intelligence report finds MBS responsible for murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi
A US intelligence assessment has found that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammad bin Salman ordered the killing of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi.
A long awaited report into the murder was released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Friday, more than two years after Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul.
Richard Hall has the story.
MBS responsible for murder of Jamal Khashoggi, US intelligence report finds
The State Department is due to announce is response to the killing soon
Joe Biden lands in Texas to see recovery from winter storm
The president and first lady have landed in Houston, Texas, where they will visit Harris County Emergency Operations Center, tour Houston Food Bank, and see the FEMA COVID-19 vaccination facility at NRG Stadium.
Trump Jr attacks Biden for visiting Texas
“I mean it’s only been 2 weeks but hey at least ‘his empathy will be on display’,” said Donald Trump Jr on Twitter.
“I don’t know about you but I would rather see competence on display and that clearly isn’t gonna happen. Biden heads to Texas to see storm damage, visit food bank.”
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