Biden news - live: Trump Jr deposed over inaugural funds as White House defends migrant camp after AOC attack
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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?
- Twitter erupts over Hawley appearance at Capitol probe
- 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
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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