Politics recap

That’s it for us on this busy Monday. Here’s what happened:

  • Biden signed the $1.2tn infrastructure bill into law at a White House ceremony attended by Democrats and Republicans.
  • The CBO announced that it would finish scoring the Build Back Better Act by Friday, setting up a potential House vote on the second piece of Biden’s legislative agenda this week. Pelosi said she expects the House to vote “this week” as members of her caucus previously agreed.
  • Steve Bannon “self-surrendered” to the FBI this morning after being charged with two counts of contempt of Congress. He was released without bail and will be arraigned in court later this week.
  • Democrat Beto O’Rourke announced that he is running for governor of Texas. Current Texas governor Greg Abbott immediately went on the offensive.
  • Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont, currently the longest serving senator, announced he will not run for re-election next year, setting up a potentially competitive race for his seat.
  • The US State Department said Russia’s anti-satellite missile test into space was “reckless” and threatens the interest of all nations. Spokesperson Ken Price said the test has so far generated “1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris”.
  • Wyoming Republicans voted to stop recognizing Rep. Liz Cheney as a member of the party. Cheney is among the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, who has endorsed an opponent running against Cheney in the primary. Trump also announced his endorsement of John Gibbs in the Michigan primary. Gibbs is running against Rep. Peter Meijer, another one of the Republicans who voted to impeach Trump.
  • The Pentagon chief has ordered the military to brief him on a 2019 airstrike on Syria that killed dozens of women and children. A New York Times investigation previously found that the military sought to conceal this attack and has never publicly acknowledged it despite reports of it being one of the largest civilian casualties during the years-long fight against the Islamic State.

    – Johana Bhuiyan and Lauren Gambino

Updated

Senior Democrats are thinking about censuring Arizona’s Republican representative Paul Gosar for posting a video of an animation altered to depict him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and using a sword against Joe Biden, sources told Politico.

The decision is not yet final though Politico sources say Democrats feel strongly there should be consequences. Another option they’re considering, those sources said, was to remove Gosar from his committees.

While Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that it was up to Republican leadership to monitor “the questionable behavior of their members,” Ocasio-Cortez on Monday night said she expressed to Pelosi and the leadership that it’s “ very important for there to be a concrete response to the congressman’s threats.”

Politico is reporting Democrats plans to discuss this with caucus before making a final decision.

Pentagon orders a briefing on 2019 Syria airstrike that killed dozens of women and children

Defense secretary Lloyd J Austin III has asked for a briefing on what is reportedly one of the largest civilian casualties in the war against Islamic State fighters, the New York Times is reporting. The 2019 airstrike, which killed dozens of women and children, has never been publicly acknowledged by the military.

A New York Times investigation found the military sought to conceal the airstrike on Baghuz, Syria on 18 March 2019. A Pentagon spokesperson told the Times that while he was not going to re-litigate something that happened in 2019, the head of the military’s Central Command, Gen Kenneth McKenzie Jr, plans to brief Austin “specifically on that particular airstrike”.

More from the New York Times:

The Times investigation showed that the death toll from the strike was almost immediately apparent to military officials. A legal officer flagged the bombing as a possible war crime that required an investigation. But at nearly every step, the military made moves that concealed the catastrophic strike. The death toll was downplayed. Reports were delayed, sanitized and classified. U.S.-led coalition forces bulldozed the blast site. And top leaders were not notified.

An initial battle damage assessment quickly found that the number of dead was about 70.

The Times investigation found that the bombing by Air Force F-15 attack jets had been called in by a classified American Special Operations unit, Task Force 9, which was in charge of ground operations in Syria. The task force operated in such secrecy that at times it did not inform even its own military partners of its actions. In the case of the Baghuz bombing, the air command center at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar had no idea the strike was coming, an officer who served at the command center said.

The Defense Department’s independent inspector general began an inquiry, but the report containing its findings was stalled and stripped of any mention of the strike.

Updated

Senate banking chairman Sherrod Brown was told the White House expects to announce Biden’s pick for Federal Reserve chair “imminently”, Bloomberg is reporting.

“I hear it’s imminent,” Brown, an Ohio Democrat, told Bloomberg on Monday. “I’m not going to speculate who I think it might be now. I assume the decision’s been made and they haven’t announced it, but I don’t even know that,” he said.

From Bloomberg:

Biden’s choice has been expected before Thanksgiving. Current Chair Jerome Powell’s term ends in February, and Biden interviewed both he and Fed Governor Lael Brainard for the top job earlier this month. Powell was elevated to the chairmanship by Donald Trump. Brainard, a Democrat, has won backing from progressive elements for her stronger stance on financial regulation.

From what he’s heard from different people at the White House, Brown said “I’m pretty sure it’s Powell or Brainard.”

Read more from Bloomberg here.

“I hear it’s imminent,” @SenSherrodBrown, an Ohio Democrat, told @StevenTDennis, referring to Biden’s Fed chair announcement. “I’m pretty sure it’s Powell or Brainard.”https://t.co/Ff1lQ7p8YG

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) November 16, 2021

Updated

Trump is making the rounds, working to settle scores with Republicans who voted to impeach him.

The former president announced on Monday that he was endorsing John Gibbs, a former housing official in the Trump administration and an opponent running against Michigan Representative Peter Meijer in the upcoming primary. Meijer is one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for his role in the Capitol riots.

“Meyer [sic] has been a terrible representative of the Republican party and beyond,” Trump’s statement announcing his endorsement of Gibbs read.

Gibbs is not without his controversies, however. CNN previously reported that Gibbs circulated a conspiracy theory that claimed John Podesta, the presidential campaign chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 run for president, took part in a satanic ritual. He also called the Democrats the party of Islam and “gender-bending” and defended a Twitter user who was banned for making anti-semitic remarks.

Busy score-settling endorsement day for Trump. He just endorsed the primary opponent running against @RepMeijer, one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach him. pic.twitter.com/at1Mm4RRex

— Cameron Joseph (@cam_joseph) November 15, 2021

Updated

Wyoming GOP vote to stop recognizing Liz Cheney as Republican

The Wyoming Republican party voted to censure the state’s sole US representative, Liz Cheney, for voting to impeach Donald Trump for his role in the 6 January insurrection.

The state’s GOP central committee voted 31-29 to pass a resolution to stop recognizing Cheney as a member of their party. The resolution, however, does not strip Cheney of any tangible powers.

Cheney has repeatedly come under fire for her criticism of Trump, who she said “incited the mob” and “lit the flame” of the Capitol riots.

“She is bound by her oath to the Constitution. Sadly a portion of the Wyoming GOP leadership has abandoned that fundamental principle and instead allowed themselves to be held hostage to the lies of a dangerous and irrational man,” Cheney spokesman Jeremy Adler told the Associated Press.

This symbolic vote could hurt Cheney’s road to reelection in the 2022 primary. Cheney is facing at least four Republican opponents including a Trump-endorsed candidate, attorney Harriet Hageman.

“It’s fitting because Liz Cheney stopped recognizing what Wyomingites care about a long time ago. When she launched her war against President Trump, she completely broke with where we are as a state,” Hageman said in a statement.

Updated

And more from the US state department: The agency called Russia’s recent anti-satellite missile test “reckless” and “dangerous”.

On Monday, the US space command confirmed that a “debris-generating event” had taken place. A US official said a ground-based missile was launched at a target in orbit, according to CNN, which would be one of just a handful of successful anti-satellite tests conducted by US, China, Russia and India.

However, the state department spokesperson Ken Price said the US warned Russian officials against conducting such a test because of the potential dangers on multiple occasions.

“The test has so far generated over 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller orbital, orbital debris that now threaten the interests of all nations,” Price said during a state department press briefing.

Britain’s defence minister Ben Wallace also expressed his concern and said Russia showed “a complete disregard for the security, safety and sustainability of space.”

.@StateDeptSpox discusses the Russian Federation’s reckless test of a direct-ascent anti-satellite missile that has created over 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller orbital debris that now threaten the interests of all nations. pic.twitter.com/WkO0fULrTy

— Department of State (@StateDept) November 15, 2021

Updated

To focus on resettling Afghan evacuees, the US state department said it will limit admissions of refugees from other parts of the world who do not meet specific qualifications.

“This temporary prioritization of new bookings will allow resettlement agencies and community partners to provide necessary services to the Afghans that will be leaving US safe havens in the coming weeks and months as well as to receive refugees already booked for travel in November and December,” the state department said in a statement according to CBS.

Afghans will be prioritized for resettlement through 11 January with the exception of some refugees including those who need to reunite with family in the US, who have urgent cases, or those whose medical or security screenings will expire soon. They will continue to be admitted.

CBS sources say this move was requested by local non-profit refugee settlement agencies. The groups have struggled to resettle the more than 70,000 Afghan refugees who escaped Afghanistan after the Taliban reconquered the country. Latest government numbers show that about 46,000 Afghans are currently living at eight military bases that are serving as temporary housing for these evacuees across the US.

Updated

Johana Bhuiyan here reporting for duty from foggy San Francisco.

In non-infrastructure news, a judge in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial threw out a weapons charge before closing arguments even began. Rittenhouse shot and killed two men and wounded another during anti-racism protests last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Here’s the Guardian’s Maya Yang with more on the decision:

Discussing instructions that would be provided to the jury, judge Bruce Schroeder dismissed a count of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18, saying that he had a “big problem” with the gun statute as written.

Rittenhouse was 17 when on 25 August 2020 he traveled from his home in Antioch, Illinois, across the state border to Kenosha, a city in the throes of protests following a white police officer’s shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, after a call to a domestic disturbance.

Bystander video captured the critical minutes when Rittenhouse, armed with a Smith & Wesson AR-style semiautomatic rifle, shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 28.

Rittenhouse is white, as are the three men he shot. But the case has raised questions about racial justice, policing, firearms and white privilege that have polarized people far outside Kenosha.

Rittenhouse faced charges ranging from intentional homicide – punishable by life in prison – to the underage weapons charge, which could have sent him to jail.

But in court on Monday, Schroeder said: “If the barrel length is less than 16in or an overall length less than 27in, then I’ll deny either motion. If it does not need those specifications then this was defense. Motion will be granted.”

According to Schroeder, the shorter barrel size of the rifle Rittenhouse carried meant he did not violate the law, as it does not fall into either category. Schroeder also said the relevant Wisconsin law was vaguely written.

Rittenhouse was left facing five counts, including two of homicide, one of attempted homicide and two of recklessly endangering safety, for firing his weapon near others.

He has argued self-defense, leaving prosecutors with the burden of proving that his fear for his safety and his use of deadly force were unreasonable. Some legal experts said the prosecution struggled to do so.

Read more:

Today so far

  • Biden signed the $1.2tn infrastructure bill into law at a White House ceremony attended by Democrats and Republicans.
  • The CBO announced that it would finish scoring the Build Back Better Act by Friday, setting up a potential House vote on the second piece of Biden’s legislative agenda this week. Pelosi said she expects the House to vote “this week” as members of her caucus previously agreed.
  • Steve Bannon “self-surrendered” to the FBI this morning after being charged with two counts of contempt of Congress. He was released without bail and will be arraigned in court later this week.
  • Democrat Beto O’Rourke announced that he is running for governor of Texas.
  • Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont, currently the longest serving senator, announced he will not run for re-election next year, setting up a potentially competitive race for his seat.

What’s in the infrastructure bill?

The legislation includes billions in funding to”

  • upgrade and repair nation’s aging highways, bridges and roads
  • improve public transit, making it greener and more accessible for people with disabilities
  • modernize the nation’s electric grid, making it greener and more resilient
  • improve America’s national rail system, with substantial investments in Amtrak, which suffers from a maintenance backlog, as well as upgrades to existing rail lines and funding for news ones.
  • fund broadband access and improve internet services for rural areas, low-income families and tribal communities.
  • fund climate resiliency that would help regions prone to extreme weather better prepare for future catastrophes.
  • Replace lead pipes and modernize water systems to eliminate contaminated drinking water that has harmed residents in communities across the country.
  • build electric vehicle charging stations, which the administration believes are critical to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles as a climate mitigation strategy

Biden signs $1.2tn bipartisan infrastructure bill into law

“Folks, I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time,” Biden said, animatedly before finishing his remarks.

He moved to the table next to the rostrum and held up a pen, as Harris, his cabinet officials, and elected officials of both parties crowded behind him.

“Here we go,” he said and signed his name, finally signing into law the $1.2tn infrastructure bill.

It’s official, folks: I’ve signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal into law.

— President Biden (@POTUS) November 15, 2021

Updated

Joe Biden is taking a major victory lap before signing the infrastructure bill.

My message to the American people is this:America’s moving again and your life is going to change for the better,” he said, speaking on a windy afternoon from the White House lawn.

The president was ebullient as he relished this moment, a campaign promise fulfilled in his view.

“I promised we couldn’t just build back as it was before. We literally had to build back better,” he said. He called the bill a “blue collar blueprint to rebuild America.”

“It leaves no one behind,” he said.

Thanking the elected officials in attendance, he singled out Republican senator Rob Portman, who helped negotiate the deal. “Senator Rob Portman is a hell of a good guy. I’m not hurting you, Rob, because I know you’re not running.”

He called calls senator Kyrsten Sinema the “most determined person I know.” He also thanked Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader who voted for the bill but was not in attendance.

To organized labor, Biden said promised: “Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs!”

He also thanked his wife and Harris’ husband, the second gentleman Doug Emoff, who will also travel to promote the bill. “These guys travel all over the country together, I’m getting worried, you know,” he joked. “Doug’s one hell of a lawyer, besides.”

Updated

Vice president Kamala Harris praised the president as a “believer and a builder” for envisioning the infrastructure bill – and the bipartisan team that shaped it. She also called on Congress to pass the Build Back Better Act, the domestic policy and climate change bill.

“This bill, as significant as it is, as historic as it is, is part 1 of 2,” Harris said. “To lower costs and cut taxes for working families, to tackle the climate crisis at its core, the Congress must also pass the Build Back Better Act. The work of building a more perfect union did not end with the railroad or the interstate and it will not end now.”

Harris will travel the country promoting the legislation, the White House said today. Her first stop will be in Ohio on Friday.

In a moment of levity, but one that the White House probably regrets as it defends Harris’ importance to the team, the announcer introduced “Heather Kurtenbach” as Harris stepped to the microphone.

“In a moment,” Harris said laughing. Kurtenbach, organizer and political director at the Iron Workers Local 86, who spoke the vice president about how the legislation would be a boon for American workers and unions.

Pelosi says House will pass Build Back Better bill 'this week'

House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, speaking at the White House signing ceremony, said she hopes to pass the Build Back Better act “this week.” The CBO said it would release the final cost analysis of the legislation on Friday.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “This is a great accomplishment and there’s more to come. Hopefully this week we will be passing Build Back Better.”

— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) November 15, 2021

Of course, we’ve seen deadlines come and go, so we’ll take it with a very large grain of salt.

Updated

The White House signing ceremony for the bipartisan infrastructure bill is underway. Speaking before the president is Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema, one of the Democratic co-negotiators of this bill and a holdout on the other piece of Biden’s agenda, touted the bipartisanship that yielded the infrastructure bill.

Our legislation represents the substantive policy changes that some have said are no longer possible in today’s Senate. How many times have we heard that bipartisanship isn’t possible anymore or that important policy can only happen on a party line,” Sinema said. “Our legislation proves the opposite.”

It was a popular theme.

“This is what can happen when Republicans and Democrats decide we’re going to work together to get something done,” senator Rob Portman, the retiring Ohio Republican and co-negotiator.

We can expect Biden to hit the same notes when he speaks in a moment. Bringing the country together was a major theme of his campaign. He was often mocked by more progressive and younger activists in the party for his belief that bipartisanship was still possible in the post-Trump era of zero-sum politics and partisan tribalism. And though investing in roads, bridges, ports and waterways was long considered the last realm of common ground between the parties, the issue nevertheless eluded past presidents and Congresses.

But this achievement hardly foreshadows a new golden era of bipartisanship. Republicans who voted for the measure are now facing intense backlash from conservatives who view their vote as a betrayal to Trump, who repeatedly promised to pass an infrastructure bill but never seriously tried. Meanwhile, Democrats are pushing ahead with an expansive domestic policy bill over unanimous Republican opposition.

Since Leahy announced his retirement, there has been a lot of speculation about who might run to replace him in the Senate. Democratic congressman Peter Welch, of Vermont, is seen as a likely contender.

Welch, who is at the infrastructure bill signing ceremony at the White House on Monday, was asked about his plans and definitely did not say no.

Seems like almost the entire Senate Dem caucus is at the WH for infrastructure bill signing, including Pat Leahy.

Peter Welch is also here. Asked if he’s running to replace Leahy, Welch said, “Today is Patrick’s day.”

— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) November 15, 2021

The state’s Republican governor Phil Scott has repeatedly ruled out running for the seat and did so again this morning, via a spokesman. Nevertheless, Leahy’s retirement opens the door to the possibility that a Republican could pick up the seat, especially if the forecast remains dour for Democrats. Such a defeat would likely doom the Democratic majority in the evenly divided Senate.

Updated

Bannon to be arraigned on Thursday

Bannon was released without bail after he “self-surrendered” to the FBI, after being charged with two counts of contempt of Congress for his refusal to comply with subpoenas issued by the House committee investigating the 6 January invasion of the US capitol.

According to Hugo Lowell, Bannon will be arraigned on Thursday, 18 November, and not today as was expected. His case will be heard by US district judge Carl Nichols, an appointee of Donald Trump.

Bannon will not be detained pre-trial. As part of the agreement, he agreed to surrender his passport, submit to pretrial supervision and inform the court of any domestic US travel.

Bannon was defiant as he left court, having claimed that he and his allies were “taking down the Biden regime.”

“This is going to be the misdemeanor from hell for Merrick Garland, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden,” he said. “We’re going to go on the offense on this. Stand by.”

Updated

CBO score expected on 19 November

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said it hopes to publish a complete cost estimate of the sprawling Build Back Better Act by Friday.

CBO anticipates publishing a complete cost estimate for H.R. 5376, the Build Back Better Act, by the end of the day on Friday, November 19. https://t.co/Bluk2zHQsw

— U.S. CBO (@USCBO) November 15, 2021

Earlier this month, a half-dozen House centrists staged a revolt and refused to vote for Biden’s domestic policy plan until they saw an independent cost analysis. According to a deal brokered by the president, centrists said they would vote for his legislation this week if the CBO’s estimate matched the White House’s cost analysis.

The timing of a House vote remains unclear, but this likely means it wouldn’t be before Friday at the earliest and possibly into the weekend. The CBO has already released estimates for portions of the legislation, but major pieces are still pending.

As for when the Senate might take up the legislation, that is anybody’s guess.

When do you think the Senate will vote on BBB?@timkaine: “I think it’s December.”@SenAngusKing: “I don’t know. Next week?”@ewarren: “Not soon enough.”

— Julie Tsirkin (@JulieNBCNews) November 15, 2021

Updated

Biden is going to New Hampshire because “there is a broken down bridge that needs to be repaired,” Psaki said. It’s an opportunity to highlight how the infrastructure bill will help communities and “show people visually what the impact will be.”

In terms of who is coming to the signing, Psaki said: “He invited everybody who supported it. Whether they come or not, that’s their choice.”

As for how sustained the president’s tour of the country will be, Psaki said Biden, Harris and cabinet officials will be making the case for weeks to come. “No one loves a bridge or rail more than president Biden,” she said.

Updated

Biden still doesn’t consider Xi a longtime friend, Psaki says with a laugh. But the president views the Chinese leader as someone “with whom he can raise directly areas where we have concern, whether it’s security issues, whether it’s economic issues, whether it’s human rights issues - and he will certainly do this during the call. but he will also looks for areas where we can work together.”

Asked about the reports of tensions between the West Wing and the vice president, Psaki said: “They don’t reflect his view or our experience with the vice president.” She called Harris a “key partner” and “bold leader” who wasn’t looking for a “cushy role”.

She insisted that Biden relies on Harris for counsel and that she is a “valuable member of the team” who will be on the road selling his agenda.

On inflation, Psaki was adamant that Biden’s agenda – the infrastructure bill and the domestic policy and climate change bill – would address the short-term and long-term economic pain felt by the American public.

Asked about Biden’s aforementioned dip, to put it politely, in polling, Psaki said they White House views the upcoming PR blitz as an opportunity for the president to sell his popular agenda.

Democratic haggling on Capitol Hill over Biden’s agenda detracted from the touting the benefits of his legislative policies, Psaki said, pointing to the internecine feuding as a reason for his low poll numbers. She also cited pandemic fatigue.

“You don’t design a communications around infighting within the Democratic party in Washington,” Psaki said. “That has been a necessity in order to get this legislation done. and looking back the president would have done the same thing because the president wants to deliver for the American people.”

Earlier, she said that the president, like voters, was “also frustrated by the negativity and the infighting that we’ve seen in Washington over the last couple of months. He’s tired of it too.” She said he’s excited to get on the road and highlight his agenda. He’ll travel this week to New Hampshire and Detroit, Michigan.

Updated

Psaki said the virtual meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping is an opportunity for the US to “set the terms of the competition with China in a way that reflects our interest and values.”

She said the meeting is expected to run for two hours and told reporters in the briefing room to prepare for a late night call recapping the conversation.

“The president is coming into this meeting from a position of strength,” Psaki adds.

She said the infrastructure bill is part of the effort to counter the rise of China and prove that democracies can work, as Biden frequently says.

“For the first time in 20 years we will be investing more in infrastructure than China.”

Updated

Jen Psaki is at the podium to brief reporters before Biden’s infrastructure signing ceremony.

She begins with the executive order, signed by the president this morning, to guide the implementation of the sprawling public works bill. The guideline encourages domestic manufacturing, puts an emphasis on distributing the funding equitably and promotes unionization.

Former New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu will lead the implementation, the White House announced.

Psaki said the attendance list has yet to be finalized. Elected officials are still RSVPing, she says. But expect a bipartisan showing from the Senate, where 19 Republicans voted for the legislation.

Psaki said Biden is very attentive to how the funds are dispersed and prioritizes the prevention of “waste, fraud and abuse.”

“They call him Sheriff Joe for a reason,” she said.

One publicly mourned the “moral tragedy of abortion”. Another suggested that same-sex marriage “imperils civic peace”. A third tweeted negatively about Hillary Clinton using the hashtags #CrookedHillary, #basketofdeplorables and #Scandalabra.

James Ho, Stuart Kyle Duncan and Cory Wilson are among six judges appointed by Donald Trump to the US court of appeals for the fifth circuit, skewing one of the most conservative – and influential – courts in America even further to the right.

The consequences of Trump’s reshaping of the federal judiciary are being felt acutely at the fifth circuit on issues ranging from abortion to immigration to the coronavirus pandemic. The court’s willingness to entertain Republican extremism has effectively made it their principal legal bulwark against Joe Biden.

Trump hits out at Karl and McConnell over inauguration reporting

Speaking of Jon Karl of ABC, his reporting that the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, decided not to invite Donald Trump to Joe Biden’s inauguration, only to have the House GOP leader, Kevin McCarthy, tell Trump, thereby allowing the disgraced president to pretend it was his idea not to go, has drawn an intemperate response from … you guessed it, Donald Trump.

You know it would, and you knew Trump would say it really was his idea not to go, but nonetheless here’s some of it all the same:

The decision was mine and mine alone. The old broken-down Crow [capital Trump’s own] Mitch McConnell had nothing to do with it.

Trump also calls Karl a “third-rate” reporter and says if McConnell had said he shouldn’t go to the inauguration, he would have “held my nose and gone”.

In truth, it wouldn’t have been Trump holding his nose had he turned up for Biden’s big day, what with the continued whiff of Trump’s lies about electoral fraud (repeated in today’s statement, obviously) and indeed the lingering, acrid stench of the Capitol riot, around which five people died two weeks before Biden was sworn in on the very same steps, an outcome the rampaging Trump supporters very much tried to prevent.

So there’s that. Oh, and that Trump accuses McConnell of being “probably too busy working on deals with China for his wife and family”. McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, was Trump’s transportation secretary – until she resigned, after the Capitol riot.

And breathe.

Fun History Dad fact: Trump was the first president not to attend the inauguration of his successor since Andrew Johnson refused to show for Ulysses S Grant in 1869. Johnson was in a huff because he was the first president to be impeached. Trump outdid him, being impeached twice. So, as this chap had it, it goes.

More on Karl and his book:

Updated

Ex-Pence aide: liking Taylor Swift might've got me fired

An aide to Mike Pence when he was vice-president has claimed she was told not to listen to the music of Taylor Swift, lest someone high up in the Trump administration find out, disapprove and fire her.

Olivia Troye was Pence’s homeland security, counterterrorism and coronavirus adviser but left the administration before its electoral defeat, establishing a media presence as an anti-Trump Republican.

Speaking to MSNBC last week, she said she was listening to Swift’s music in her office when a colleague told her: “Are you trying to get fired?’”

“For being blunt in meetings or for what?” Troye said she answered.

“I don’t think she’s a fan of Trump’s,” Troye said her colleague replied, referring to the star. “And so, if somebody hears that, you should really watch your back. You should be careful on that.”

Troye was speaking after the Atlantic published an excerpt of Betrayal, a new book by Jonathan Karl, in which ABC’s chief Washington correspondent describes alarm elsewhere in the Trump administration when an unnamed but low-level aide “liked” a social media post in which Swift endorsed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Karl writes: “The first photo in the post was of Swift with the word vote superimposed on it in large blue letters. But a swipe revealed a second photo, of Swift carrying a tray of cookies emblazoned with the Biden-Harris campaign logo.

“… Never mind that nearly 3 million other people had liked the post or that the young woman was a Taylor Swift fan who liked just about everything Swift had ever posted. To the enforcers of Trumpian loyalty, this was a sign of treachery in the ranks.”

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is reported to have said: “We really can’t have our people liking posts promoting Joe Biden.”

Karl’s reporting, in this instance about efforts to instill loyalty to Trump led by his close aide Johnny McEntee, is rather remarkable, as is the rest of the book, which the Guardian has read.

See here, for an interview with Karl by our own Washington chief, David Smith, and here, for a review by Lloyd Green. Betrayal is published tomorrow.

Joe Biden is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad couple of months – at least according to new polling.

A Washington Post/ABC survey released over the weekend found the president’s approval rating was just 41%, continuing a downward slide since August, when a resurgence of the coronavirus and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan hit him hard.

He struggled to recover ever since, according to the new poll, which was taken after the House gave final passage to the bipartisan infrastructure bill which Biden will sign today.

Perhaps most alarming for the administration is that 63% of respondents said Biden had accomplished “not very much” or “little or nothing”, despite a mass vaccination campaign and a historic relief package that sent $1,400 checks to most Americans, even before the infrastructure win.

Economic discontent, as inflation causes the cost of consumer goods to rise, seems to be driving the dismal polling, with 70% rating the economy as “not so good” or “poor”.

Biden’s low approval isn’t helping Democrats, who already face significant headwinds in their attempts to defy a historical pattern in which the president’s party suffers heavy losses in the first midterms of the new administration.

Among registered voters, 51% said they would vote for the generic Republican candidate if the elections were today. That’s the strongest result for Republicans in the four-decade history of the question being asked in the poll, including in years that preceded Republican waves, as in the midterms of 2010.

The White House hopes his political fortunes will begin to reverse today, when Biden the infrastructure bill and the House returns, in theory, with renewed momentum to pass the second pillar of his domestic agenda, the Build Back Better domestic spending package.

But even if the House gives swift approval to that, a political and procedural slog awaits in the Senate, where Democratic holdouts have promised to pare down the bill.

Updated

The Trump Organization has reportedly agreed on a $375m deal to sell its hotel near the White House in Washington DC.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the long-in-the-offing deal, with CGI Merchant Group, a real estate investment firm from Miami.

The New York Times said the buyer was exploring a renaming of the hotel, replacing the Trump brand with Waldorf-Astoria, under a deal with Hilton.

Any deal must be approved by the federal government, which leased the Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue to Donald Trump in 2013.

Full story:

Biden is speaking now at the tribal nations summit, the first to be hosted by the White House since 2016 this morning.

“This is a big day,” Biden said, opening the two-day virtual event that brings together leaders from 570 tribes in the US. He began by thanking Deb Haaland for being his Secretary of Interior. A member of the Pueblo of Laguna, Haaland is the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary.

He also invoked the legacy of the late Hawaii senator Daniel Inouye, a revered, longtime chairman of the Senate committee on Indian affairs. Biden said Inouye taught him that, “tribal nations do better when they make their own decisions.”

He said the first lady would speak shortly, joking: “She’s visited the Navajo Nation so many times I’m worried she’s not going to come home.”

He touted the American Rescue Plan, which included $31bn for Tribal nations, calling it the “most significant investment in the history of Indian country.” He also noted that the infrastructure bill includes more than $13nm in direct investments to Indian country, including funding to improve drinking water and high-speed Internet.

He then signed five executive orders that he said would take new steps to improve public safety and advance justice for Native Americans as well as banning on oil and gas drilling on New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, an ancient Native American heritage site.

“I’m proud to sign it – it’s long overdue,” Biden said, surrounded by cabinet officials, as he signed a measure that aims to address “the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people.”

According to the Association on American Indian Affairs, American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.5 times more likely to be victims of a violent crime and at least two times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted compared to other races.

Updated

Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was found guilty by default in a defamation case brought by the families of the children and educators killed in a 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

The judge in a Connecticut superior court ruled that Jones was guilty by default as a result of his refusal to turn over documents ordered by the court. The decision marks the latest victory for families of the victims of the mass killing.

For years, Jones has spread baseless conspiracy theories on his Infowars website about the shooting, which killed 20 first graders and six school staff members, including that it was a government plot to confiscate Americans’ firearms.

The ruling in Connecticut follows a decision by a Texas judge last month, who found Jones liable for damages in three defamation lawsuits brought by the parents of two children killed in the Sandy Hook massacre.

In a statement, a lawyer representing the families said that they are “grateful” for the today’s decision but “remain focused on uncovering the truth.”

“While today’s ruling is a legal victory, the battle to shed light on how deeply Mr Jones has harmed these families continues,” lawyer Chris Mattei of Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, said in a statement after the ruling.

Updated

Michael Flynn, Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, has been widely condemned after calling for the establishment of “one religion” in the US.

Religious freedom is enshrined in the first amendment to the US constitution, which says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”.

Regardless, at a rally staged in San Antonio on Saturday by the Christian “nonprofit news media network” American Faith, Flynn said: “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God and one religion under God.”

In response, the Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar, one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress, said: “These people hate the US constitution.”

The veteran reporter Carl Bernstein told CNN Flynn, one of the “knaves and fools and dangerous authoritarian figures” with whom Trump surrounded himself, was “saying out loud things that have never been said by an aide or close associates to the president of the United States”.

Bernstein added: “It should be no surprise to know that Michael Flynn is saying the kind of things that he is saying, but what’s most significant here is that much of the Republican party … something like 35% in in exit polls said they favour Trump because Christianity is being taken away from them.

“So Michael Flynn is not that far away from huge numbers of people in this country.”

Full story:

As we reported earlier, Steve Bannon is expected to make his initial court appearance later this afternoon in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

At this hearing, which will be held virtually before magistrate judge Robin Meriweather, Bannon may be arraigned on the contempt charges.

New: Former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon is expected to make his initial appearance sometime after 1:30p today in the US District Court for the District of Columbia

— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) November 15, 2021

The White House is defending vice president Kamala Harris against a devastating new report that describes an office adrift, with no clear focus or direction, mired in conflict and dysfunction.

For anyone who needs to hear it. @VP is not only a vital partner to @POTUS but a bold leader who has taken on key, important challenges facing the country—from voting rights to addressing root causes of migration to expanding broadband.

— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) November 15, 2021

A lengthy CNN report, based on interviews with “three dozen former and current Harris aides, administration officials, Democratic operatives, donors and outside advisers,” reports that the White House has become “worn out by what they see as entrenched dysfunction and lack of focus” in her office.

Harris’ assignments include some of the thorniest issues facing the administration, among them the handling diplomatic relations with the Northern Triangle nations, in hopes of addressing the root causes of migration to the US, and passing voting rights legislation, which is stalled in Congress. Harris’ supporters are frustrated. They believe she is being underutilized at best and set up to fail at worst.

As the first woman and first woman of color to serve in the role, she has faced a constant barrage of sexism and racism – some explicit and some coded. She has also become a target of Republican ire, in no small part, perhaps, because she is viewed – or was, according to this piece – as the most likely heir to the presidency in 2024 or 2028.

The attacks from the right are relentless, and sometimes bizarre, such as claims last week that she spoke with a French accent while in Paris.

“Kamala Harris is a leader but is not being put in positions to lead,” CNN quotes “a top donor to Biden and other Democrats” saying anonymously. “That doesn’t make sense. We need to be thinking long term, and we need to be doing what’s best for the party.”

As if speaking to the president, the donor says: “You should be putting her in positions to succeed, as opposed to putting weights on her. If you did give her the ability to step up and help her lead, it would strengthen you and strengthen the party.”

Read the full report on CNN here.

Patrick Leahy of Vermont will not seek re-election in 2022

Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont announced on Monday that he will not seek re-election in 2022. The 81-year-old is currently the longest-serving senator in the chamber, having served since 1975.

“It’s time to put down the gavel,” he said. “It’s time to pass the torch to the next Vermonter.”

As Senate pro tempore, he is currently third in line to the presidency, after the vice president, Kamala Harris and the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. In the role, he presided over the second Senate impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump earlier this year. (The chief justice is only constitutionally obligated to preside over impeachment trials of current presidents.)

Leahy announced his plans during a press conference in his home state of Vermont. His retirement means a promotion for the state’s junior senator, Bernie Sanders, 80, who was re-elected in 2018.

Though Vermont exists in popular imagination as a pastoral bastion of progressivism, Leahy is the state’s first and only Democratic senator to date. Sanders is an independent who caucuses with Democrats.

He is also, as far as we know, the only member of the Senate to appear in a Batman film – five to be exact – and an accomplished photographer.

Updated

Bannon surrenders to federal authorities over contempt charges

Steve Bannon, a close ally and onetime senior advisor to Donald Trump, surrendered to federal authorities on Monday after being charged with contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena request from the House committee investigating the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

Bannon surrenders after indictment on Friday pic.twitter.com/2w5dBMUY8A

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 15, 2021

Bannon, who served for a time as White House chief strategist, was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of contempt of Congress on Friday. The two counts are related to his refusal to appear for a congressional deposition and his refusal to provide documents to the committee.

Reporting for the Guardian, Hugo Lowell, says a source close to the attorney’s office said Bannon would appear in a DC court this afternoon. The source said Bannon may not appear at the hearing, even if he’s in the courthouse.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington field office, where Bannon surrendered on Monday morning, and prosecuted by the public corruption and civil rights Section of the US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia. It comes days after former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows defied his own subpoena from the committee. If the House voted to hold Meadows in contempt, the case would then be referred to the justice department, where the former North Carolina congressman could face a similar fate.

Updated

Beto O'Rourke announces run for Texas governor

Beto O’Rourke, the former El Paso congressman and one-time presidential aspirant, announced on Monday that he is running for governor of Texas.

“I’m running for governor, and I want to tell you why,” O’Rourke says in a video message. He begins by recalling the anger, fear and frustration when the state’s power grid failed, leaving Texans without heat in freezing temperatures.

“Those in positions of public trust have stopped listening to, serving and paying attention to — and trusting — the people of Texas,” he said.

I’m running for governor.

Together, we can push past the small and divisive politics that we see in Texas today — and get back to the big, bold vision that used to define Texas. A Texas big enough for all of us.

Join us: https://t.co/eMY5wwf6an pic.twitter.com/yrG1WOkpqk

— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) November 15, 2021

The long-anticipated announcement comes after O’Rourke energized the state’s young, liberal voters in a closely-fought but ultimately unsuccessful bid for Senate in 2018.

O’Rourke, a national figure with a small-dollar fundraising juggernaut, enters the race as a potentially formidable opponent to the state’s incumbent Republican governor Greg Abbott. Actor Matthew McConaughey has also been coy about a potential run, though it’s unclear whether he would run as a member of a political party or as an independent.

Still, O’Rourke, like all Democrats this cycle, faces difficult odds in a national environment that has turned sharply against the party in power.

Texas is a traditionally conservative state, and largely remained so in 2020, despite massive investments by Democrats. But demographic change and population growth are reshaping the state’s politics, changes O’Rourke seized on in his 2018 run, which convinced many Democrats the state was on the verge of turning blue.

Texas has become ground zero in the fight over abortion rights and voting rights, as the state’s conservative majority and governor push some of the harshest, most restrictive laws in the nation. A Texas law taken up by the Supreme Court effectively bans abortion in the state.

In the video, O’Rourke condemns what he calls the “extremist policies” of the state’s Republicans. “It’s a really small vision for such a big state, but it doesn’t have to be that way,” he said. “And I know that together, we can get back to being big again.”

Updated

Good morning and welcome to our coverage of all things politics. My name is Lauren Gambino, stepping in today for Joanie Greve.

Today Joe Biden will sign into law the $1tn infrastructure bill that the House sent to his desk earlier this month, with notable bipartisan support. New polling released this weekend show economic discontent hurting Biden’s approval rating, with voters giving him little credit and plenty of blame.

The signing ceremony is part of a concerted push by the president and his party to champion the legislative feat that had bedeviled past administrations and Congresses alike. During last week’s recess, lawmakers returned to their districts to tout the infrastructure projects that would receive funding under the massive public works bill.

Before the ceremony, Biden will participate in a Tribal Nations Summit coinciding with national Native American Heritage Month. And this evening he will hold a virtual summit with China’s president, XI Jinping.

Members of both chambers return today from their Veteran’s Day recess, with Democrats hopeful they can pass Biden’s sweeping social policy and climate change bill through the House by the week’s end.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki will brief reporters at 1.30.

Contributors

Johana Bhuiyan (now) and Lauren Gambino (earlier)

The GuardianTramp

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