Biden news - live: Trump Jr deposed over inaugural funds as White House defends migrant camp after AOC attack

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday blasted a Republican senator who is still espousing conspiracy theories about the nature and origins of the attack on the US Capitol last month by a pro-Trump mob.

The Senate Rules and Homeland Security Committees held a joint hearing on Tuesday with four law enforcement leaders who were in charge of securing the Capitol on the day of the riot.

While the hearing was a mostly bipartisan effort to ascertain facts about how and why authorities failed to stop the pro-Trump mob from overrunning the legislature that day, GOP Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin used his five minutes to suggest “fake Trump supporters” and other possibly left-wing “provocateurs” turned an otherwise “festive” and “positive” protest into a full-blown, bloody insurrection.

The Independent’s Griffin Connolly reports.

Asked if the Biden administration would characterize its migrant holding areas as either “kids in cages” or “kids in containers” after images surfaced of the shipping container-like structures, Jen Psaki said they were Health and Human Service-run “migrant facilities”.

“What we are not doing, what the last administration did, was separate those kids, rip them from the arms from their parents at the border. We are not doing that. That is immoral and that is not the approach of this administration,” she says.

“This facility in Texas that has been reopened has been revamped, there are teachers, there are medical facilities, and out objective is to move these kids quickly form there.”

“That’s the choice we’ve made,” she added.

Asked if she had a reaction to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s criticisms, Psaki says she hadn’t seen the Congresswoman’s tweet.

“We only have a couple of choices, what we are not doing is dividing these kids and separating them from their parents at the border,” she repeated.

Press secretary Jen Psaki said “we were surprised to learn that Johnson & Johnson was behind on their manufacturing”.

Earlier today, the White House Covid response coordinator Jeff Zients said they were “ready to roll out” the 3 to 4 million doses of the vaccine as soon as next week.

“As you noted, it was kind of reported earlier to be about 10 million and now it’s more like 3 to 4 million doses that they would be ready to ship next week if they are moved through the FDA process which is not yet concluded,” Psaki said.

The company is aiming for 20 million doses by March.

A former aide to Andrew Cuomo has written a lengthy blog account of her time working for the governor, alleging he harassed her with unwanted kissing, touching, and an offer to play strip poker.

Lindsey Boylan, Cuomo’s former deputy secretary for economic development, has previously accused Cuomo of harassing her in a toxic work environment.

In a statement previously provided to the Associated Press, Cuomo’s press secretary Caitlin Girouard said: “There is simply no truth to these claims.”

In her new post on Medium on Wednesday, Boylan says Cuomo “smirked” when showing her cigar box he said was given to him by former President Bill Clinton.

“The two-decade-old reference to President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky was not lost on me,” she wrote.

In another incident, she claimed, Cuomo kissed her in his New York City office.

"I was in shock, but I kept walking," Boylan wrote. "The idea that someone might think I held my high-ranking position because of the Governor's crush' on me was more demeaning than the kiss itself."

The Independent has reached out to the Governor’s office for a response.

This piece of Oval Office scuttlebutt comes via White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins, who asked Biden if he’s now confident they recognize the legitimacy of his presidency.

“You’ll have to ask them,” Biden responded.

Donald Trump Jr has been deposed by the Washington DC attorney general as part of a lawsuit alleging the misuse of Trump inaugural funds.

The Independent’s Graeme Massie is following this developing story.

Here are the Republicans meeting with Biden at the moment, along with Democratic colleagues, to discuss the country’s supply chain: John Cornyn (R-TX), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Senator Mike Braun (R-IN), Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), John Joyce (R-PA-13) and Michael McCaul (R-TX-10).

Whtie House correspondent Jennifer Jacobs has photos of the moment.

As the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci is now fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.

In an interview with NBC’s WRC-TV in Washington, Dr Fauci revealed how he was continuing to follow strict safety guidelines — which include wearing a face mask and social distancing — while remaining “very careful”.

“I still do not do dining indoors and I still do takeout,” Dr Fauci said, noting how he wants “to continue to support the restaurants in my neighborhood that I would normally go to”.

Chris Riotta reports.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has shot down a pitch from Republican lawmakers to increase the federally set minimum wage to $10 as “legislated poverty” following a push among congressional Democrats and the White House for a $15 minimum wage.

In their Higher Wages for American Workers Act, GOP senators Mitt Romney and Tom Cotton proposed raising the federal hourly minimum from $7.25 to $10 over a five-year period. It also would penalise employers who hire unauthorised immigrants.

“When members of Congress fight to set the minimum wage below a living wage, they are playing a role in creating and preserving poverty in the United States,” the New York congresswoman said on Tuesday. “The $15/hr proposal with multi-year phase in is already a deep compromise. $10 an hour is legislated poverty.”

Alex Woodward reports.

Tennessee state Republicans want to ban student-athletes from kneeling at sporting events to protest police brutality.

Every member of the GOP in the state senate signed a letter that encourages university leaders to punish protesting athletes after basketball players at East Tennessee State University kneeled during the national anthem.

The letter says that the lawmakers "do not condone any form of protest that could be viewed as disrespectful to our nation or flag," and argues that athletes should protest in their "personal time".

Gustaf Kilander reports.