Biden news - live: GOP senator claims ‘fake’ Trump supporters caused riot as distracted Ted Cruz taps on phone

Asked by Senator Rick Scott if any of the witnesses have seen intelligence or threat assessments behind the decision for the National Guard remaining in Washington DC, none of the four witnesses testifying could respond.

For the three of the four that have since resigned since the Capitol riot, that’s not remarkable. Their replacements are now in charge of those decisions.

The one witness still active in the city’s law enforcement, Metropolitan Police Acting Chief Robert Contee, however, also hasn’t seen any intelligence behind the reasoning either.

“I have not personally seen anything that would suggest that,” Contee says. “That has not been shared with me, no,” he added.” I can’t say that I’m really surprised, quite frankly.”

Adam Kinzinger, the Republican congressman whose family said he was supporting the “Devil’s army” for opposing Donald Trump in a letter last month, has said the former president is responsible for causing such division.

"I'm glad the letter came out," Mr Kinzinger told CNN's Cuomo Prime Time on Monday, "because I think that people need to see — if you haven't experienced that division in your family, this is the best example of it”.

Mr Kinzinger was among 11 Republicans who voted to impeach the former president on 13 January for inciting the insurrection on the Capitol on 6 January.

Gino Spocchia reports.

Ted Cruz has begun his line of questioning at the Senate hearing on the US Capitol riot.

The Independent’s James Crump has more on the reaction from Cruz looking at his phone during the opening remarks, which social media users were quick to criticise. As @kachelme1 tweeted: “Why does @tedcruz even bother coming to committee?”

The president has begun his round table for Black History Month.

Former GOP senator David Perdue has decided against running for the Senate in 2022, in an apparent about-face that followed a meeting with former president Donald Trump in recent days.

A source close to Mr Perude denied that the meeting between the pair was related to his decision not to run again, but said the meeting at Mar-a-Lago “did not go well”, according to the New York Times.

Maggie Haberman, Washington correspondent for the New York Times, wrote on Tuesday that “Perdue had dinner with and played a long round of golf with Trump last week. It did not go well.”

“The person close to Perdue says ultimately he and his wife couldn’t get comfortable with another campaign”, she added.

Iran officially started restricting international inspections of its nuclear facilities Tuesday, a bid to pressure European countries and President Joe Biden’s administration to lift crippling economic sanctions and restore the 2015 nuclear deal.

World powers slammed the restrictions as a “dangerous” move.

It came as the International Atomic Energy Agency reported in a confidential document distributed to member countries and seen by The Associated Press that Iran had added 17.6 kilograms (38.8 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 20% to its stockpile as of Feb. 16.

It was the first official confirmation of plans Iran announced in January to enrich to the greater purity, which is just a technical step away from weapons-grade levels and far past the 3.67% purity allowed under the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. - AP

The president took a swipe at Donald Trump during his round table today, saying claims of injecting bleach to fight Covid-19, attributed Donald Trump, “doesn’t do it for you”.

“I think there’s a growing awareness that, you know, injecting bleach into your system doesn’t do it for you,” Biden said.

“I’m being serious, I mean think about all the ridiculous things, and there is online still there are those who are the vaccine...” Biden said before an extended pause.

Susan Rice chimed in with “deniers” as Biden continued: “Deniers, and telling all these stories about that aren’t true.”

The bleach swipe dates back to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, in which Trump talked about the potential effects of ultraviolet light and disinfectant on the virus.

Mr Trump said: “And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that.”

When asked to clarify, he said: “It wouldn’t be through injections, almost a cleaning and sterilization of an area.”

Despite the clarification, Trump’s comments were widely reported as a recommendation of injecting or ingesting bleach that nonpartisan fact-checking organisation, PolitiFact, says is “mostly false”.

PolitiFact concluded that Mr Trump did not specifically recommend ingesting disinfectants, “but he did express interest in exploring whether disinfectants could be applied to the site of a coronavirus infection inside the body, such as the lungs”.

The fallout from the worst-timed vacation of the year continues, and Heidi Cruz, the wife of Senator Ted Cruz, is “pretty p***ed” at whoever leaked her text messages planning their infamous trip to Cancun while millions of Texans suffered without power or water.

In an appearance on conservative podcast Ruthless, the Texas senator was asked if the couple knew the identity of the individual on his wife’s text group who had betrayed them to the media.

“Yeah, I will say Heidi’s pretty pissed about that, she was actually over at a neighbour’s house yesterday, walking it through,” said Mr Cruz.

Oliver O’Connell reports.

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton left the state while a brutal winter storm caused millions of residents to be without power and clean water, on the same day senator Ted Cruz travelled from the state on a controversial trip to Mexico.

Mr Paxton’s spokesman Ian Prior told the Houston Chronicle on Monday that the attorney general and his wife, Texas state senator Angela Paxton, travelled to Utah last Wednesday.

The spokesperson said that Mr Paxton left Texas to speak with Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, for a “previously planned” meeting to discuss a myriad of topics, including an antitrust lawsuit against Google.

“While there, AG Paxton had a number of meetings with the Utah Attorney General over the course of several days,” Mr Prior told the Chronicle on Monday.

James Crump reports.

Joe Biden is set to visit Texas, as thousands of people struggle to return to normal in the wake of the winter storm power blackouts.

The president and first lady will fly to Houston on Friday to see the situation on the ground and discuss recovery efforts with state officials, the White House has confirmed.

“On Friday the president and the first lady will travel to Houston,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki at her daily briefing.

“The president will meet with local leaders to discuss the winter storm relief efforts, progress towards recovery and the incredible resilience shown by the people of Houston and Texas.”

It will be Mr Biden’s first trip to Texas as president.

Graeme Massie reports.