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Your support makes all the difference.President Joe Biden has backed his Office of Management and Budget director nominee Neera Tanden after a vote confirming her appointment has been delayed.
Ms Tanden - who previously worked for President Barack Obama - has faced criticism from Republicans over her previous comments on social media and statements about Mitch McConnell.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the administration didn’t see it as a setback, and that they were continuing to fight for her nomination. “It’s a numbers game, right, it’s a matter of getting one Republican to support her nomination. We’re continuing to do that outreach,” she said.
It comes as Psaki defended the Biden administration’s reopening of a migrant facility for children after Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joining the GOP in strongly criticising the move. Taking to Twitter, AOC said: “This is not okay, never has been okay, never will be okay - no matter the administration or party.”
Mr Biden has previously called the child camps on the US-Mexico border “horrific” and promised during his 2020 election campaign to end the use of the facilities but The Washington Post reports that one centre in Texas is being reopened due to capacity issues at other facilities caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, veteran Utah Republican senator predicts that Mr Biden’s predecessor in the Oval Office would win the 2024 presidential nomination for the GOP, if he chose to run. “I don’t know if he’ll run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I’m pretty sure he will win the nomination,” Mr Romney told The New York Times.
If he does run, Trump may get the band back together. GOP rep Jim Banks says a group of conservative lawmakers met with Mike Pence to discuss a political action group to defend the Trump-Pence record. "He spoke very favourably about his relationship with President Trump," Banks told CNN. "I got the sense they speak often.”
- Lara said to be first Trump set for 2024 run - but can she win?
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- We couldn’t even get through one Senate hearing about the Capitol riot without Republican shenanigans
- Rudy Giuliani spent days dodging voting firm’s $1.3bn lawsuit
- The very convenient personal reason why Trump actually wants to run in 2024
Trump being Trump endorsing Bob Paduchik for RNC Ohio chair
“He successfully led my champaign in both 2016 and 2020, having even more success the second time around,” Trump says in his endorsement of Paduchik.
That is, of course, other than doing worse in 2020 than he did in 2016.
It’s a repeat of Trump’s unproven claims that he did, actually, win the election, which he made on his return media blitz in the past week.
“We did much better in the second election than we did in the first. The difference is we so-called lost,” Trump said during interviews after the death of Rush Limbaugh.
Well that escalated quickly...
Congresswomen Marjorie Taylor-Greene and Marie Newman are taking their battle over the Equality Act into the halls of the US Capitol.
AOC accuses Marjorie Taylor Greene of ‘trying to get out of work early’
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at Marjorie Taylor Greene on Wednesday, implying that the Georgia congresswoman was trying to take some undeserved time off.
“You could just vote ‘no’ instead of trying to get out of work early,” the Democratic representative from New York tweeted at Ms Greene, a Republican who has praised the QAnon conspiracy and whose outrageous statements have seen her removed from committee positions.
Nathan Place reports on the MTG latest.
AOC accuses MTG of ‘trying to get out of work early’
New York congresswoman hits out at controversial Republican over Equality Act
CPAC 2021: Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ about 2020 election fraud lives on
A quick scroll down the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) agenda presents a pretty clear picture of how the Republican party plans to navigate the post-Donald Trump era: by denying that that era has ended, writes The Independent’s Griffin Connolly.
“Featuring a seven-part series on “Protecting Elections” from voter fraud and a seemingly limitless docket of speeches from and panel discussions with champions of the “stop the steal” movement — including a keynote address from the head honcho himself, Mr Trump — the annual conservative conference is primed to be a four-day spree of 2020 election denial.”
At CPAC 2021, Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ about 2020 election fraud lives on
Analysis: Annual conservative confab is primed to be a four-day spree of 2020 election denial, writes US political correspondent Griffin Connolly
JILL BIDEN OPENS UP ABOUT HER DIVORCE DURING INTERVIEW WITH KELLY CLARKSON
First Lady Jill Biden has shared her advice for navigating divorce while reflecting on her own experience ending a marriage during a conversation with Kelly Clarkson.
Dr Biden discussed the topic during an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, where she offered some motherly guidance to Clarkson, who recently filed for divorce from her husband of nearly seven years, Brandon Blackstock.
“I want to tell you Kelly, I mean this is what I would say to you if I were your mother,” the first lady said during a preview clip of the upcoming interview. “You know, my mother always said to me: ‘‘Things are going to look better tomorrow. And if you can take one day at a time, things will get better.’”
Chelsea Ritschel reports.
Jill Biden opens up about her divorce during interview with Kelly Clarkson
Dr Biden was married to Bill Stevenson from 1970 to 1975
Angry Democrat Gerry Connolly tells Trump ally he ‘will not be lectured’ by someone who tried to overturn election
Virginia Democratic Representative Gerry Connolly blasted Ohio Republican Representative and staunch Trump ally Jim Jordan, telling him during a hearing on the postal service that he "will not be lectured" about partisanship by people who voted to overturn the election.
The hearing before the House Oversight Committee included questioning of the president of the American Postal Workers Union Mark Dimondstein and the Postmaster-General, Trump appointee Louis DeJoy.
Mr Jordan defended Mr DeJoy who he argued had been unfairly criticised by Democrats during the lead-up to the 2020 election, saying: "They accused you of things, they said you were restricting overtime - False. They told you you were taking the collection boxes, doing something that had never been done before, even though it had been done by every Postmaster-Genera
Gustaf Kilander reports.
Angry Democrat tells Trump ally he ‘will not be lectured’ by someone who tried to overturn election
Accusing Jim Jordan of ‘gaslighting,’ Gerry Connolly said ‘I didn’t vote to overturn an election and I will not be lectured by people who did about partisanship’
White House hits back at claims it is caging children of migrants two years after Trump scandal
The White House has hit back at claims it is caging children of migrants two years after the Trump border separation scandal.
The president’s press secretary defended the administration from allegations it has continued a similar detention policy that was much maligned by Democrats under the ex-president.
The Biden administration has just reopened an emergency facility for migrant children in Carrizo Springs, Texas, because of the extra space needed to observe Covid protocols.
It will hold 700 youngsters between the age of 13 and 17, the Washington Post reported.
Graeme Massie reports.
White House hits back at claims it is caging children of migrants two years after Trump scandal
More than 5,700 unaccompanied children apprehended crossing border in January
‘His face was in your windshield’: South Dakota attorney general confronted in new video after fatal wreck
Newly released video shows investigators confronting the South Dakota attorney general who is facing impeachment after he was charged last week with three misdemeanours for accidentally killing a man with his car last year.
The video, released on Tuesday by South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, shows officers interviewing attorney general Jason Ravsnborg, who struck and killed 55-year-old Joseph Boever last September as he walked along the shoulder of Highway 14.
In the clips, Mr Ravnsborg, who called the police directly after the accident and cooperated with their investigation, appears unaware of certain details of the crash, and the officers remind him of the gruesome particulars.
Josh Marcus reports.
New video shows officers confront South Dakota AG about fatal crash
South Dakota lawmakers begin impeachment proceedings against attorney general Jason Ravnsborg
Who is Heidi Cruz? The high-powered Goldman Sachs executive and wife to ‘disgraced’ Texas senator Ted Cruz
Heidi Cruz, the wife of Texas senator Ted Cruz, is reportedly on the hunt for the neighbour who leaked her text messages about their much-criticised trip to Cancun during a snow-storm that left thousands without heat or electricity.
“Ritz Carlton Cancun $309 plus tax,” she allegedly wrote in messages passed to The New York Times last week, that demonstrated the family was planning to violate government guidelines and the recommendations of her own husband.
They were later photographed on the beach in Mexico.
But who is the 48-year-old mother of two, who, like nearly all spouses of male politicians, is frequently referred to not by name but as his “lovely wife”?
Who is Heidi Cruz? The high-powered Goldman Sachs executive and wife to Texas senator Ted Cruz
Heidi Cruz’s ‘high powered’ role on her husband’s campaign trail prompts comparisons with Hillary Clinton
Ted Cruz approval rating with Republican voters crashes
Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s approval rating among Republicans has plummeted since last week amid the controversy over his family trip to Cancun as the state grappled with power outages triggered by an unusual deep freeze, a new poll has found.
More details below.
Ted Cruz approval rating with Republican voters crashes 23% following Cancun trip
Ted Cruz’s approval rating had been plummeting since he objected to the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory
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