Romney will not seek second term in US Senate
Joanna Walters
Utah’s US Senator Mitt Romney, who as the Republican nominee lost the 2012 presidential election to incumbent Barack Obama, has announced that he won’t seek a second term. He told the Washington Post it was time for a new generation to “step up” and “shape the world they’re going to live in”.
Romney twice voted to impeach Donald Trump and the 76-year-old told the Post that he believed a second term, which would take him into his 80s, would be “less productive” than his work now.
More to follow. Here’s the report.
Key events
Hunter Biden sues former Trump aide Garrett Ziegler over publication of laptop materials
Attorneys for Hunter Biden filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against Garrett Ziegler, a former Trump White House aide over his alleged role in publishing online a trove of emails and images obtained from one of Biden’s laptops.
The 13-page suit, filed in federal court in California, accuses Ziegler of improperly “accessing, tampering with, manipulating, altering, copying and damaging computer data that they do not own” in violation of the state’s computer fraud laws.
The lawsuit describes in detail how Ziegler and 10 additional unnamed defendants allegedly obtained data belonging to Hunter Biden and disseminated “tens of thousands of emails, thousands of photos, and dozens of videos and recordings” on the internet, ABC News reported.
Ziegler, a former aide to White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, has emerged as one of the Biden family’s most outspoken critics. Navarro himself has been convicted of contempt of Congress after he refused to cooperate with an investigation of the deadly January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
The suit reads:
Garrett Ziegler is a zealot who has waged a sustained, unhinged and obsessed campaign against [Hunter Biden] and the entire Biden family for more than two years. While Defendant Ziegler is entitled to his extremist and counterfactual opinions, he has no right to engage in illegal activities to advance his right-wing agenda.
David Smith
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has continued his running-against-Trump-but-not-really campaign with a speech at the former US president’s favourite Washington thinktank.
The biotech entrepreneur, who made a splash at the first Republican debate last month, praised Trump several times during remarks at the America First Policy Institute, which spun out of the Trump administration. He also gave a shout out to Matt Gaetz, a congressman from Florida who endorsed Trump for 2024 and was among the guests.
Ramaswamy declared his wildly unrealistic plan to slash a million government jobs if elected. In a turbo charged version of Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s “deconstruction of the administrative state”, he would reduce the federal employee headcount by 75%, rescind a majority of federal regulations and shut down government agencies including the Department of Education, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The candidate theatrically tore down posters supposedly showing “myths” to reveal supposed “truths” about a president’s power to take such action – an argument rejected by legal experts. “Do we want incremental reform or do we want revolution?” the candidate asked.
I stand on the side of a revival of those 1776 ideals, on the side of yes, we created a government accountable to the people, not the other way around.
Democrats reacted to the plans with scorn. The Democratic National Committee said in a press release:
Ramaswamy’s not the only MAGA Republican running for president who wants to gut support for federal law enforcement and public education as the GOP hopefuls continue racing to be the most extreme candidate in the field.
Here’s more from that Washington Post interview with Mitt Romney, in which the Republican Utah senator announced he would seek reelection in 2024.
Asked how he sees a 2024 election rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Romney said “it could go either way” but that “so much can happen between now and then”. He added that talk by the centrist group No Labels of mounting a third party candidacy would be a mistake and only help to reelect Trump.
Romney said he doubted the criminal charges pending against Trump, saying he believe people “don’t respond to old news”. Instead, he believed the investigation of Hunter Biden has the potential for political impact that could harm the president.
Former vice president Mike Pence, who has been campaigning in Iowa, was forced to backtrack on earlier comments after House speaker Kevin McCarthy announced he would open an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden without a floor vote.
On Monday, Pence said he did not think an impeachment inquiry should “ever” be started unilaterally, as he praised McCarthy because he made it clear that if there is to be an impeachment inquiry, he would submit that to a vote on the floor of the Congress”, NBC reported.
Less than two days after he made those comments, Pence told a reporter he would have “preferred” a vote on an inquiry but would defer to House Republicans, the Hill reported. He said:
I want to respect Speaker McCarthy’s authority and decision to be able to initiate an impeachment inquiry. The American people have a right to know whether or not President Biden or his family personally profited during his time serving as Vice President.
Why are Republicans launching a Biden impeachment inquiry?
Mary Yang
Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the US House, announced on Tuesday he is launching a formal impeachment inquiry into president Joe Biden – despite resistance from Republicans in the House and Senate, where an impeachment vote would almost certainly fail.
The order comes as McCarthy faces mounting pressure from some far-right members of his chamber, who have threatened to tank his deal to avert a government shutdown by the end of the month if he does not meet their list of demands.
According to McCarthy, findings from Republican-led investigations over the summer recess revealed “a culture of corruption”, and that Biden lied about his lack of involvement and knowledge of his family’s overseas business dealings.
McCarthy said during a brief press conference at the US Capitol on Tuesday:
These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption. And they warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives.
Many of the allegations center on the president’s son, Hunter Biden, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, during his father’s term as vice-president. Republicans allege that Joe Biden improperly benefited from his son’s foreign connections but, after several months, have produced no evidence. Watchdog groups say Republicans do not actually have evidence to back up their claims.
McCarthy previously indicated an impeachment inquiry “would occur through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person”, in a statement to rightwing Breitbart News earlier this month. But he declared the launch of an impeachment probe just a week and a half later, without a House floor vote, which likely means he does not have the support.
GOP presidential hopeful Mike Pence was heckled during a campaign stop in Iowa earlier this week by a man who yelled:
Get the fuck out of our country and the fuck out of Iowa!
“Thank you,” the former vice president responded, before addressing the others in attendance.
I’m going to put him down as a ‘maybe’.
Heckler: “Leave and get the fuck out of our country and get the fuck out of Iowa!”
2024 GOP candidate Mike Pence: “Thank you. I’m going to put him down as a maybe.” pic.twitter.com/lMTaeRSwjP
— The Recount (@therecount) September 13, 2023
Utah Republican senator Mitt Romney is the sixth incumbent senator to announce plans to retire after the end of the term in 2025, AP reported.
He joins Republican senator Mike Braun of Indiana, as well as Democrats Tom Carper of Delaware, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Dianne Feinstein of California and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.
Romney, who ran as the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee, became the first US senator in history to vote to convict a president of their own party in an impeachment trial. He was the only Republican to vote against Donald Trump in his first impeachment and one of seven to vote to convict him in the second. Romney has also been an outspoken critic of Joe Biden.
Romney’s decision to retire effectively surrenders his senate seat to a GOP successor who could be more closely aligned with Trump and the hardline conservative politics of Utah’s other senator, Mike Lee, Reuters reported.
Utah senator Mitt Romney, who told the Washington Post he will not be seeking reelection in 2024, also announced his intentions in a video statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Romney, a former Republican presidential candidate and governor of Massachusetts, said it was “time for a new generation of leaders”.
The 76-year-old said:
At the end of another term, I’d be in my mid-80s. Frankly, it’s time for a new generation of leaders. They’re the ones that need to make the decisions that will shape the world they will be living in.
Romney said neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump are leading their parties to confront issues on deficits and debt, and took aim at Trump for calling global warming “a hoax”.
The next generation of leaders must take America to the next stage of global leadership. While I’m not running for re election, I’m not retiring from the fight. I’ll be your United States senator until January of 2025. I will keep working on these and other issues and I’ll advance our state’s numerous priorities. I look forward to working with you and with folks across our state and nation in that endeavour. It really is a profound honour to serve Utah and the country.
Joanna Walters
In pushing back against House Republicans’ impeachment investigation, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that Joe Biden is giving a major speech on economic policy tomorrow and is focussed on “real issues”, in contrast to what she called the GOP’s “ridiculous attacks” on the US president by alleging he is corrupt when they have “no evidence.”
“We have heard this over and over in their investigation. Even House Republicans have said the evidence does not exist,” Jean-Pierre said.
She added: “The only reason McCarthy [House speaker and Republican congressman Kevin McCarthy] is doing this is because Marjorie Taylor Greene threatened to shut down the government. Can you imagine shutting down the government over a political stunt?” she said, referring to the the extreme rightwing representative from Georgia.
McCarthy is facing an increasingly militant hard-right group including Greene that hopes to stop him supporting the raising of the US debt ceiling in a bipartisan vote that would avoid a government shutdown next month.
“We are talking about vital programs that Americans” rely on, Jean-Pierre said of the specter of a government shutdown, while saying that Florida extremist congressman Matt Gaetz “is threatening to oust him [McCarthy] as speaker.”
Republicans’ impeachment investigation of Biden “baseless” – White House
Joanna Walters
House Republicans’ long-shot attempt to impeach Joe Biden over corruption allegations relating to his son Hunter’s foreign business dealings is “baseless” and a “political stunt,” the White House press secretary just said at the media briefing in Washington, DC, moments ago.
“They have spent all year investigating the president and have turned up no evidence, none, that he did anything wrong,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
She said the “only reason” there were impeachment moves led by Kevin McCarthy was because the House speaker is under pressure from right-wingers among his fellow Republican members of Congress.
“They couldn’t even put it up for a vote because they don’t have the vote,” Jean-Pierre said.
Romney signals likelihood that Trump will be 2024 nominee
Joanna Walters
Mitt Romney was critical of fellow Republican Donald Trump, in his interview with the Washington Post in which he announced that he will not seek a second term in the US Senate.
The Utah Senator has staked his reputation on being a moderate Republican and said he did not want Trump to be the party’s nominee for president in the 2024 election and had been working to support an alternative, but added:
That apparently isn’t going to happen.”
Romney noted to the Post that the three candidates from the far right “Maga wing” of the Republican party, Trump, hardline Florida governor Ron DeSantis and extremist and political novice Vivek Ramaswamy have collectively garnered the bulk of the support so far for the nomination, with Trump well out in front (despite four criminal indictments against the former president).
It’s pretty clear that the party is inclined to a populist demagogue message,” he said in the interview.
Romney will not seek second term in US Senate
Joanna Walters
Utah’s US Senator Mitt Romney, who as the Republican nominee lost the 2012 presidential election to incumbent Barack Obama, has announced that he won’t seek a second term. He told the Washington Post it was time for a new generation to “step up” and “shape the world they’re going to live in”.
Romney twice voted to impeach Donald Trump and the 76-year-old told the Post that he believed a second term, which would take him into his 80s, would be “less productive” than his work now.
More to follow. Here’s the report.
Joanna Walters
Jared Bernstein, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, said at the media briefing now underway in the west wing that the White House urges America’s auto workers and companies to “work around the clock” to reach a deal, while refusing to say if Joe Biden supports the idea of a carmakers’ strike.
“The president believes that the autoworkers deserve a contract that sustains middle class jobs,” Bernstein said.
He said that supporting union workers was “pillar one” of “Bidenomics”, the US president’s economic policies emphasizing public investment and tax policies aimed at boosting the middle class, in contrast to Reagan-style trickle down economics, which Bernstein said “does not work”.
The deadline for “the biggest auto strike in generations” is looming for 150,000 US autoworkers, employees at Ford, Stellantis and General Motors are set to walk off the job at 11.59pm on 14 September if tentative agreements for new union contracts aren’t reached by then, the Guardian’s Michael Sainato reports today in this analysis piece.
Bernstein said the White House is hoping that negotiators “stay at the table and work 24/7 to get a win-win agreement” rather than strike action occurring.
He added he had no “read out” on whether there was any talk in bringing the opposing sides to the White House to lubricate talks.
He noted that the Biden administration was closely monitoring the situation and evaluating alternatives to strike action.
McCarthy questioned over why he wants to skip House vote on Biden impeachment
House speaker Kevin McCarthy tried to evade questions on Wednesday about why he does not intend to hold a floor vote on the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, despite having said just weeks ago that he would not open an official probe without a floor vote.
“To open an impeachment inquiry is a serious matter, and House Republicans would not take it lightly or use it for political purposes. The American people deserve to be heard on this matter through their elected representatives,” McCarthy told Breitbart News on 1 September.
That’s why, if we move forward with an impeachment inquiry, it would occur through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person.
Asked why he had changed his position since the interview, McCarthy responded:
I never changed my position.
Here’s the clip:
Speaker McCarthy gets into back and forth with @mkraju over his flip-flop on starting impeachment inquiry without a House vote:
Raju: “I’m curious why you changed your position.”
McCarthy: “I never changed my position.”
Raju: “You told Breitbart 12 days ago you’d have a vote.” pic.twitter.com/BCJjWNZ3sF
— The Recount (@therecount) September 13, 2023
Top New Hampshire election official says he will not block Trump from ballot
David Scanlan, New Hampshire’s secretary of state, said there is no legal basis for keeping Donald Trump off the ballot in the state, which will hold the first Republican presidential primary next year.
Scanlan, speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, rejected claims made in lawsuits filed in New Hampshire and elsewhere that Trump is ineligible to run for re-election under section 3 of the 14th amendment, which prohibits those who “engaged in an insurrection or rebellion” against the US constitution from holding higher office, according to an AP report.
Scanlan said:
There is no mention in New Hampshire state statute that a candidate in a new presidential primary can be disqualified using the 14th amendment of the United States constitution referencing insurrection or rebellion.
Similarly, there is nothing in the 14th amendment that suggests that exercising the provisions of that amendment should take place during the delegate selection process held by the different states.
He also raised concerns that an uneven application of the clause in different states could lead to “chaos, confusion, anger and frustration”. He added:
As long as he submits his declaration of candidacy and signs it under the penalties of perjury and pays the $1,000 filing fee, [Donald Trump’s] name will appear on the presidential primary ballot.
Scanlan’s announcement came a day after the Trump campaign sent him a letter signed by a group of Republican state lawmakers urging him to reject what they called “an absurd conspiracy theory”.
Trump waives right to speedy trial in Georgia election subversion case
Donald Trump has waived his right to seek a speedy trial in the Georgia election subversion case, according to a court filing.
The waiver of a speedy trial came on the heels of a brief filed by the office of Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, that all 19 defendants in the sprawling racketeering case should be tried together starting next month.
The former president’s latest move is in line with efforts he has taken in other cases to delay proceedings until after the November 2024 election.
From Lawfare’s Anna Bower:
New on the Fulton County docket: Trump files waiver of speedy trial rights “in exchange for the severance he previously requested in his motion to sever.” pic.twitter.com/InT7Wbfsl0
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) September 13, 2023
House speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to call for a formal impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden came after weeks of pressure from hardline House GOP members, but his decision to bypass a floor vote was designed to protect frontline Republicans from having to publicly cast a vote that could come back to bite them in next year’s election, the Punchbowl News report writes.
The reality for the 58-year-old, nine-term McCarthy is that once he opens an impeachment inquiry, it’s almost guaranteed that House Republicans will impeach Biden.
Remember, a sizable number of Republicans were ready to impeach before the inquiry even began. And once the House has begun the process, not impeaching Biden will look like a validation of the president to many rank-and-file lawmakers. That may be too much for McCarthy to control.
The report says most of the 18 Republicans who represent districts that Biden won in 2020 told them they supported the inquiry.
John Duarte, a California congressman who represents a district Biden won by 11 points, told the outlet:
I think that there’s been enough preliminary work here to absolutely justify going forward with an inquiry. So I think it’s a great middle step. Let’s just get all the facts out and then decide what goes forward from there.
The Republican-led House oversight committee is leading the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, with the House judiciary committee and House ways and means committee playing supporting roles.
The committees are expected to send letters this week requesting Biden family members’ bank records and other documents in a bid to prove corruption allegations relating to the president’s son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, according to Punchbowl News.
The House oversight committee panel’s next steps will be to “pursue Hunter and James Biden’s personal and business bank records” and interview more members of the Biden family, a committee spokesperson told the outlet.
James Comer, who is chair of the House oversight committee, said his investigation will focus on the president’s alleged wrongdoing, while the other two committees will train their focus on the alleged “cover-up”. All these issues will be discussed at a special House GOP meeting on Thursday, according to the report.
