Budget deal: Republicans and Democrats agree to raise debt ceiling – as it happened

Here’s a story from today about a neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee that apparently collectively organized to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) from detaining a man:

A thread from a local reporter on the scene:

As “know your rights” trainings and materials have spread across the country, more residents and communities have stood up to Ice in this manner, blocking agents from making apprehensions.

Trump’s 2020 campaign has escalated its attacks on Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, this time by presenting quotes of hers in an out-of-context and misleading manner. My colleague Jon Swaine has some helpful fact checks here:

The president’s campaign tweeted a comment of hers from a recent speech – “I’m more Palestinian in the halls of Congress than I am anywhere in the world” – without context.

“Why not be a voice for the Americans who elected you?” the Trump 2020 “War Room” Twitter account added.

But in the video in question, Tlaib was discussing the ways in which she has faced discrimination in Congress - how people refuse to respect that she is an American and instead treat her like an outsider. Further contradicting the presentation by Trump’s team in its tweets, a minute later in the speech, as Tlaib discussed how hard it was for her to have to deal with attacks on her identity, she added:

I’m an American. I don’t want to have to frickin’ keep saying it. I shouldn’t have to keep saying it.

The latest attack on Tlaib resembles some of the rightwing racist attacks on congresswoman Ilhan Omar, which have also relied on taking her quotes out of context, making misleading or false statements about her positions, and questioning her status as an American.

You can watch the full video of the speech here:

Immigrant rights groups have sent a letter today challenging the legitimacy of Ken Cuccinelli’s appointment as acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services:

The groups argued his appointment was unlawful, violating procedures outlined in a federal act on how vacancies should be filled. After the resignation of the previous USCIS director in May, the agency’s deputy director should have assumed the role until someone else was nominated and confirmed by the Senate.

Instead, the Trump administration conducted what the groups allege was an illegal workaround to appoint Cuccinelli, a controversial conservative figure who has been busy implementing the president’s anti-immigrant agenda in recent weeks.

He made headlines last month when he blamed a migrant father for his death after he drowned alongside his daughter in a tragedy that sparked international outrage after photos of their bodies were published.

Betsy DeVos, the billionaire US education secretary, has seen her and her family’s profits soar after Trump’s tax reform legislation, according to a new CNBC analysis out today.

Business leaders and corporations have, as expected, earned massive benefits from Trump’s tax policy. That apparently includes DeVos, whose total income had a valuation of at least $33m in 2018 through assets listed on her most recent public filing, CNBC reported.

A DeVos family spokesman, Nick Wasmiller, disputed in a statement to CNBC whether the financial gains could be attributed to Trump’s policies, but did offer a vague claim that the Trump administration “has had a positive impact on the investments of all Americans”:

Like all investors, the family seeks investments that grow in value over time. These long-term investments have and do fluctuate in terms of income produced annually and that fluctuation is based on a variety of factors,” he said in a statement to CNBC. “It is impossible, given the complexity and diversity of these investments, to attribute any individual shifts to specific policy changes as you suggest. Certainly, the strong economic expansion during the Trump administration has had a positive impact on the investments of all Americans – whether direct or via their 401Ks, IRAs, pensions, etc.

CNBC said it did not appear that DeVos or her family had made any recent investments that pose a direct conflict of interest with her role as secretary education, though some have argued that the complexity and size of her finances make it difficult to assess ethical questions.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate democratic leader Chuck Schumer have released a statement on the budget deal, saying the bipartisan agreement would “enhance our national security and invest in middle class priorities”. M0re:

Importantly, Democrats have achieved an agreement that permanently ends the threat of the sequester. We are pleased that the Administration has finally agreed to join Democrats in ending these devastating cuts, which have threatened our investments to keep America Number One in the global economy and to ensure our national security. With this agreement, we strive to avoid another government shutdown, which is so harmful to meeting the needs of the American people and honoring the work of our public employees.

Democrats are also pleased to have secured robust funding for critical domestic priorities in this agreement. Democrats have always insisted on parity in increases between defense and non-defense, and we are pleased that our increase in non-defense budget authority exceeds the defense number by $10 billion over the next two years. It also means Democrats secured an increase of more than $100 billion in funding for domestic priorities since President Trump took office.

More details from the Democratic leaders here:

Justice department officials have told Robert Mueller that the DOJ expects him to limit his testimony to only the public findings outlined in his final report, two officials told Politico.

The DOJ’s position is that “anything outside the written pages of the report are things about which presidential privilege hasn’t been waived”, one former official said.

The former special counsel has, however, already suggested that he does plan to stick to the details of his report.

The White House and DOJ have signaled that they aren’t going to have attorneys in the room during the hearings on Wednesday, which means they may not have any way to object if they disapprove of his testimony, Politico noted.

That’s it from me today. I’m handing it off to my colleague Sam Levin on the West Coast.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

• Details are starting to trickle out about special counsel Robert Mueller’s highly anticipated congressional testimony on Wednesday. The former FBI director is expected to deliver an opening statement and has been preparing for the back-to-back hearings with some of his colleagues from the special counsel’s office, per CNN.
• The Trump administration is moving to fast-track deportations by more frequently bypassing immigration judges. Officials intend to immediately expand the government’s “expedited removal” policy to apply anywhere in the country to immigrants who have been in the country for less than two years.
  
• Trump kept up his barrage of attacks on “the Squad.” He wrote on Twitter that the four minority congresswomen are a “very Racist group of troublemakers who are young, inexperienced, and not very smart.” ‘
• Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, said social media platforms are not prepared for the 2020 election and the “deep fakes” likely to come up during it.

But more news is expected on the proposed debt ceiling deal and Mark Esper’s likely confirmation as defense secretary, so stay tuned.

Mueller preparing for his testimony with members of the special counsel’s office

Robert Mueller is preparing for his congressional testimony by conferring with some of his colleagues from the special counsel’s office at Wilmer Hale, the law firm he joined after leaving his role as FBI director in 2014.

Mueller has said he will strictly stick to the details of his report in his congressional testimony, so he is likely studying it closely as he prepares for Wednesday’s back-to-back hearings.

Mueller will make opening statement

In some not exactly earth-shattering news, special counsel Robert Mueller will deliver an opening statement during his highly anticipated congressional testimony on Wednesday.

Mueller’s spokesman confirmed to NBC News that he would make an opening statement and reiterated that the special counsel intends to stay within the bounds of his report during his testimony. Mueller also plans to make the report his official statement for the hearing record.

Protests continue in Puerto Rico as governor resists calls for him to resign

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Puerto Rico as Governor Ricardo Rosselló declined to resign over leaked text messages showing misogynistic and homophobic language. Rosselló has stepped aside as president of the ruling party and announced he will not seek re-election but has refused to relinquish his office.

Our colleague Oliver Laughland reports:

A general strike took place across the US territory on Monday morning, protesters chanting the now familiar cry of ‘Ricky resign!’, waving flags and banging drums. ...

Puerto Rico’s largest mall, Plaza de las Américas, closed before Monday’s demonstration along with many other businesses. Last week police used teargas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters at a huge rally outside the governor’s residence in the island’s capital, San Juan.

In the Oval Office on Monday, Donald Trump once again laid into Rosselló and the mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz, a vocal critic of the governor and the president.

‘He’s a terrible governor. You have an even worse mayor of San Juan,’ Trump said. ‘We did a great job in Puerto Rico. They don’t want to give us credit … I have many Puerto Rican friends.’

Another House Democrat joins call for an impeachment inquiry

Representative Joyce Beatty, a Democrat who has represented Ohio’s Third District since 2013, has thrown her support behind an impeachment inquiry of Trump.

Citing both his lack of cooperation with congressional investigations and his recent racist comments about “the Squad,” Beatty said the time has come to open an impeachment inquiry.

“As the Mueller report makes crystal clear, this president believes he is above the law and it is the responsibility of Congress to hold him accountable for his words and actions,” Beatty said in a statement to Politico.

Trump expresses preference for Pakistani reporters over US reporters

During his Oval Office meeting with Pakistan’s prime minister, Trump said he preferred reporters from that country to American reporters. “Are you from Pakistan?” Trump asked one reporter as members of the press shouted questions at him. “Good, I want a couple of Pakistani reporters. I like them much better than our reporters.”

The offhand comment came hours after Trump spent the morning railing against the “Mainstream Media,” claiming that journalists “constantly lie and cheat in order to get their Radical Left Democrat views out their for all to see.”

Warren: An economic crash is coming

Elizabeth Warren warned that the economy is showing signs of a coming crisis, comparing the situation to the events foreshadowing the Great Recession.

“I’ve spent most of my career getting to the bottom of what’s happening to working families in America. And when I saw the seeds of the 2008 crisis growing, I rang the alarm as loud as I could,” the presidential candidate and Massachusetts senator wrote in a Medium post.

“When I look at the economy today, I see a lot to worry about again,” she added. “I see a manufacturing sector in recession. I see a precarious economy that is built on debt — both household debt and corporate debt — and that is vulnerable to shocks. And I see a number of serious shocks on the horizon that could cause our economy’s shaky foundation to crumble.”

Warren goes on in the post to lay out a number of policies she believes will prevent such a crisis. Many are proposals she has repeatedly promoted on the campaign trail, including raising the minimum wage, canceling student debt and her Green Manufacturing Plan. “Congress and regulators should act immediately to tamp down these threats before it’s too late,” Warren concludes.

Siemens CEO calls out Trump’s racism

Joe Kaeser, the CEO of the German industrial giant Siemens, wrote in response to Trump’s racist comments on “the Squad” that he is turning the US presidency into “the face of racism and exclusion.”

“I lived in the USA for many years and experienced freedom, tolerance and openness as never before,” he said in a tweet, arguing that Trump’s suggestion to the four minority congresswoman to “go back” to their home countries does not reflect American values. (All four congresswomen are US citizens, and three were born here.)

Kaeser has previously called out nationalism in his native Germany and pulled out of a Saudi Arabian conference over the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Important baby news: Chelsea Clinton and her husband have welcomed their third child, a boy named Jasper Clinton Mezvinsky. He joins his older sister Charlotte, 4, and brother Aidan, 3.

This is Joanie Greve, taking over for Jessica Glenza.

Trump will soon meet with Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, at the White House. But he and first lady Melania Trump first stopped at the Supreme Court to pay their respects to John Paul Stevens as the late justice lies in repose.

Former Texas state senator Wendy Davis just announced she will run for Congress in Texas’s 21st Congressional District. Davis is best known for a 13-hour filibuster against abortion restrictions in Texas.

The district represents a sliver of San Antonio and a swath north of the city, and is now held by Republican Chip Roy. The district went to Trump in 2016. Here’s a brief documentary from the Texas Tribune on Davis’s filibuster:

The same fight has rippled out to sports broadcaster ESPN, where host Dan Le Batard skipped a show Monday after criticizing the president’s comments as “un-American”.

Le Batard criticized Donald Trump’s recent racist comments and ESPN itself on air last week. ESPN later sent out a notice to employees reminding them of the network’s policy of not discussing politics on air.

This is how AOC responded to Trump’s attack yesterday:

Trump’s attacks on The Squad have proved an effective way to push the four Congresswoman to the front of the Democratic party, a spotlight the squad is happy to take.

From our column on the fight:

The Squad have welcomed and sought out public attention because they want to use their celebrity to push the party to the left, just as the conservative movement pushed the Republican party to the right in decades past. They believe that this transformation not only will lead to progressive legislative victories, it will also win elections.

Congressional leaders and the White House appear to be on the cusp of a deal to raise the national debt limit and avoid a government shutdown.

The “debt ceiling” is a legislative limit on the amount of debt the US Treasury can incur. It must be raised by Congress, or the federal government shuts down, resulting in park closures, furloughed federal workers and late pay checks.

The longest government shutdown in history was last January, when the Trump administration unsuccessfully tried to force Congress to approve payments for his Southern border wall.

At the height of the #MeToo movement in 2017, former US Senator Al Franken of Minnesota resigned amid allegations he forcibly kissed women. Now, at least seven of his former Senate colleagues have said they regret joining calls for him to resign.

The news comes in a lengthy examination of one allegation against Franken made by a conservative radio talk show host from Los Angeles. The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer has found “almost nothing” she claimed checked out upon examination.

The Trump administration named Trump National Doral, the president’s Miami golf club, as a “finalist” location for next year’s G7 meeting. Trump’s properties have featured prominently during his presidency, despite concerns about conflicts of interest.

The meeting is a gathering of leaders of the world’s most powerful economies. Axios reported the administration is nearing a decision after conducting several site surveys for the upcoming meeting.

Here is more from House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff’s interview with Recode:

The tech companies aren’t ready,” Schiff said. “They don’t have, I think, their policies fully thought out yet. The government isn’t ready. We don’t have the technologies yet to be able to detect more sophisticated fakes.”

And the public, by and large, when you bring up ‘deepfake,’ they don’t know what you’re referring to,” he added. “And so we don’t have much time. It’s eight months until the primaries begin to try to prepare the public, prepare ourselves, determine what other steps need to be taken to protect ourselves from this kind of disinformation.”