Biden touts law enforcement plan while attacking 'MAGA' lawmakers

President Joe Biden had a message for lawmakers who defended the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol as he touted his Safer America Plan Tuesday. "Let me say this to my 'MAGA Republican' friends in Congress," the president said, referring to former President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan. "Don't tell me to support law enforcement if you won't condemn what happened on the sixth." "For God's sake, whose side are you on?" Biden said. Biden admonished the lawmakers as he called for more funding for police before a crowd at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Investments in community policing and crime prevention are key policy components of his Safer America Plan, and the president urged communities to use federal funds to supplement local police as early as May. Biden also chided Trump's supporters in the GOP for claiming the mantle as the "law and order" party while defending the insurrectionists who attacked police officers in Washington, D.C., last year. "You can't be pro-law enforcement and pro-insurrection," he said. "You can't be a party of law and order and call the people who attacked the police on Jan. 6, patriots. You can't do it." Biden recently slammed the "MAGA philosophy" as "like semi-fascism," which angered the Republican National Committee. RNC spokesperson Nathan Brand called the president's remarks "despicable."

Biden also renewed his commitment to banning assault weapons, saying America's lax gun laws contributed to mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas; Newtown, Connecticut; and Buffalo, New York, among other locations. "It's time to hold every elected official's feet to the fire and ask them, 'Are you for banning assault weapons? Yes or no?' The answer's no, vote against them," he said. Biden ended his speech by asking the crowd to vote for Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. and Democratic senatorial candidate, John Fetterman. Fetterman is running against Trump-endorsed candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz in a highly publicized Senate race.

The president is scheduled to return to Pennsylvania Thursday for a prime-time speech on the "continued battle for the soul of the nation" at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.

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Biden announces nearly $3bn in fresh Ukraine military aid

The United States has announced nearly $3bn in new military aid to Ukraine, with President Joe Biden saying the assistance aims to help the country defend against Russia’s invasion.

According to international media, in a statement on Wednesday, as Ukraine marked its independence from the Soviet Union, Biden said the $2.98bn package would allow Kyiv to acquire air defence systems, “artillery systems and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and radars”.

This is the single largest US aid package for Ukraine since Russian forces began their full-scale military invasion of the country in February.

“I know this independence day is bittersweet for many Ukrainians as thousands have been killed or wounded, millions have been displaced from their homes, and so many others have fallen victim to Russian atrocities and attacks,” Biden said in the statement.

For months, Russia has warned the US and European nations against providing heavy weaponry to Ukraine. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other government officials have urged their allies to send more assistance to help the country stave off Russian forces.

In total, the US has committed approximately $10.6bn in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration in January 2021, international media reported.

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Blasts, drone attacks rock Russian-held areas far from Ukraine war front

Russia reported fresh Ukrainian drone attacks on Friday, after explosions erupted near military bases in Russian-held areas of Ukraine. This photo taken on Aug. 16, 2022 shows smoke billowing from a munitions depot in the village of Mayskoye, Crimea. Stringer | AFP | Getty Images

Russia reported fresh Ukrainian drone attacks on Friday evening, a day after explosions erupted near military bases in Russian-held areas of Ukraine and Russia itself, apparent displays of Kyiv's growing ability to pummel Moscow's assets far from front lines. The latest incidents followed huge blasts last week at an air base in Russian-annexed Crimea. In a new assessment, a Western official said that incident had rendered half of Russia's Black Sea naval aviation force useless in a stroke. Russia's RIA and Tass news agencies, citing a local official in Crimea, said it appeared Russian anti-aircraft forces had been in action near the western Crimean port of Yevpatoriya on Friday night. Video posted by a Russian website showed what appeared to be a ground-to-air missile hitting a target. Reuters was unable immediately to confirm the video's veracity. Tass cited a local official as saying Russian anti-aircraft forces knocked down six Ukrainian drones sent to attack the town of Nova Kakhovka, east of the city of Kherson. Ukraine says retaking Kherson is one of its main priorities. Separately, an official in Crimea said defenses there had downed an unspecified number of drones over the city of Sevastopol. "The Ukrainian armed forces treated the Russians to a magical evening," said Seriy Khlan, a member of Kherson's regional council disbanded by Russian occupation forces. The night before, multiple explosions had been reported in Crimea — which Moscow seized in 2014 — including near Sevastopol, headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, as well as at Kerch near a huge bridge to Russia. Inside Russia, two villages had been evacuated after explosions at an ammunition dump in Belgorod province, more than 100 km (60 miles) from territory controlled by Ukrainian forces.

Kyiv coy about incidents in Crimea

Kyiv has been withholding official comment on incidents in Crimea or inside Russia while hinting that it is behind them using long-range weapons or sabotage. A Western official indicated on Friday that at least some of the incidents were Ukrainian attacks, saying Kyiv was consistently achieving "kinetic effects" deep behind Russia's lines. Huge explosions on Aug. 9 at Russia's Saky air base on the Crimean coast had put more than half of the Black Sea Fleet's combat jets out of use, the official said, in what would be one of the costliest attacks of the war. Russia has denied aircraft were damaged in what it called an accident, although satellite pictures showed at least eight burnt-out warplanes and several huge craters.

Moscow dismissed the head of the Black Sea Fleet this week. Ukraine hopes its apparent new-found ability to hit Russian targets behind the front line can turn the tide in the conflict, disrupting supply lines Moscow needs to support its occupation. A senior U.S. defense official said on Friday that U.S. President Joe Biden's administration was preparing another security assistance package for Ukraine valued at $775 million and containing surveillance drones and for the first time mine-resistant vehicles. Since last month, Ukraine has been fielding Western-supplied rockets to strike behind Russian lines. Some explosions reported in Crimea and Belgorod were beyond the range of ammunition Western countries have acknowledged sending so far. A senior Ukrainian official said around half of incidents in Crimea were Ukrainian attacks of some kind, and half accidents caused by Russia's poor operations. He emphasized that attacks were carried out by saboteurs rather than long-range weapons, though he would not say whether Kyiv now had ATACMS, a longer range version of the U.S. HIMARS rockets it began using in June. The official, who declined to be named, said Ukraine had hoped its strikes would have a bigger impact in reducing Russian artillery power but Moscow was adapting.

Concern about nuclear plant

Ukraine also issued dire warnings about a frontline nuclear power station, the Zaporizhzhia complex, where it said it believed Moscow was planning a "large-scale provocation" as justification to decouple the plant from the Ukrainian power grid and connect it to Russia's. "If the Russian blackmail with radiation continues, this summer may go down in the history of various European nations as one of the most tragic of all time. Because no nuclear power station anywhere in the world has a procedure for a terrorist state turning a nuclear power plant into a target," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address Friday evening. Continuing the mutual blame game, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of shelling the complex, risking a nuclear catastrophe.

Ukraine's nuclear power operator said on Friday it suspected Moscow was planning to switch over the Zaporizhzhia plant to Russia's power grid, a complex operation Kyiv says could cause a disaster. The power station is held by Russian troops on the bank of a reservoir. Ukrainian forces control the opposite bank. Moscow has rejected international calls to demilitarize the plant and Putin on Friday renewed his accusation that Kyiv was shelling it in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the Kremlin's readout. Macron's office said Putin agreed to a mission to Zaporizhzhia by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Thousands of people have been killed and millions forced to flee since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24, saying it aimed to demilitarize Ukraine and protect Russian speakers on what Putin called historical Russian land.

Ukraine and Western countries view it as a war of conquest aimed at wiping out Ukraine's national identity.

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Justice Department asks to unseal Trump raid search warrant

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department asked a federal judge Thursday to unseal a search warrant that was used by FBI agents to raid the Florida home of former President Donald Trump three days earlier.

That request came after days of pressure by Republican lawmakers and other allies of Trump on the Justice Department to explain why it authorized what is believed to be the first-ever search of a former president's residence in connection with a criminal investigation.

The Justice Department is seeking to unseal just the warrant and an inventory of items seized by the FBI during the search of Trump's home at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.

But the department is not asking the judge to unseal the affidavit of probable cause, which would detail how authorities believe a crime was likely committed and why there would be evidence of that crime in the location targeted in the search.

However, the warrant itself is likely to list the criminal statutes related to the search.

Later Thursday, a group of media companies, including NBC News, The Washington Post and CNN, filed a motion in to unseal all court records related to warrant, including "all probable cause affidavits filed in support of the search warrant." NBC News is a division of NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.

"The Media Intervenors are news organizations and are entitled, as members of the public, to view judicial records," the filing said. "The tremendous public interest in these records in particular outweighs any purported interest in keeping them secret."

Read the Justice Department's motion to unseal the warrant here.

The Justice Department is investigating Trump for the removal of documents from the White House, and possible violations of classified information laws because of the nature of some of those documents.

"The department filed the motion to make public the warrant and receipt in light of the former president's public confirmation of the search, the surrounding circumstances, and the substantial public interest in this matter," Garland said at a surprise press conference.

The department's motion was lodged in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, where Mar-a-Lago is located. It was signed by Jay Bratt, chief of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section of the National Security Division of the Justice Department.

Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally at the I-80 Speedway on May 01, 2022 in Greenwood, Nebraska.

Scott Olson | Getty Images

Garland at the press conference said, "I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter."

"The department does not take such a decision lightly," he said. "Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search, and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken."

Garland also condemned what he called "recent unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors" in connection with the search and related investigation.

"I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked," he said.

Trump's lawyer and his spokeswoman did not immediately respond when asked to comment on Garland's announcement, and if Trump will oppose the motion to unseal.

Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart later Thursday ordered the Justice Department to speak with Trump's lawyers and learn whether they will oppose the motion. Reinhart directed the Justice Department to inform him by 3 p.m. Friday of Trump's answer.

Trump in a post on his social media site after the press conference wrote that before the raid his attorneys and representatives "were cooperating fully" with the Justice Department, and "very good relationships had been established."

"The government could have had whatever they wanted, if we had it," Trump wrote.

"They asked us to put an additional lock on a certain area — DONE! Everything was fine, better than that of most previous Presidents, and then, out of nowhere and with no warning, Mar-a-Lago was raided at 6:30 in the morning, by VERY large numbers of agents and even 'safecrackers.' They got way ahead of themselves. Crazy."

Trump and his allies have claimed the Justice Department and Garland, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, searched Trump's residence to hurt the former president politically.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks about the FBI's search warrant served at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida during a statement at the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, U.S., August 11, 2022.

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

FBI agents seized about a dozen boxes from Mar-a-Lago, according to Trump's lawyer.

That lawyer said agents left a copy of the search warrant, which indicated they are investigating possible violations of laws related to the Presidential Records Act and the handling of classified material.

A senior White House official told NBC News that they were unaware of what Garland would say before he took the podium at the Justice Department.

"We have had no notice that he was giving remarks and no briefing on the content of them," the official said.

The Justice Department, and Garland, have a longstanding policy about not commenting on criminal investigations before charges are filed.

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UN Secretary General urges governments to tax 'immoral' oil profits

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during the 2022 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations in New York City on August 1, 2022.

Ed Jones | AFP | Getty Images

WASHINGTON — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged governments on Wednesday to tax excessive oil and gas profits as the world grapples with an energy crisis triggered in part, by Russia's war in Ukraine.

"It is immoral for oil and gas companies to be making record profits from this energy crisis on the backs of the poorest people and communities," Guterres said in a speech before the international forum.

He added that the funds, which equate to $100 billion in the first quarter of this year should instead be used to support vulnerable communities.

"This grotesque greed is punishing the poorest and most vulnerable people while destroying our only home," Guterres said, calling for governments to also address the mounting climate crisis.

He also urged governments to ramp up and diversify supply chains for raw materials and renewable energy technologies while eliminating bureaucratic red tape around the energy transition.

"Every country is part of this energy crisis," Guterres said.

He also said that the consequences of the Kremlin's war have extended beyond a budding energy crisis and have also exacerbated global food insecurity and crippling debt around the world, but specifically in developing nations.

"Many developing countries drowning in debt, without access to finance and struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic could go over the brink, Guterres warned. "We are already seeing the warning signs of a wave of economic, social and political upheaval that would leave no country untouched," he added.

The U.N. chief announced the establishment of the Global Crisis Response Group aimed at coordinating global solutions to the triple crisis of food, energy and finance.

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Guterres' comments come as the first vessel carrying Ukrainian agricultural goods departs from the Black Sea, a significant step in addressing the mounting food crisis provoked by Russia's naval blockade of Ukrainian ports sprinkled along the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

In July, representatives from the U.N., Turkey, Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement to reopen three Ukrainian ports, an apparent breakthrough as the Kremlin's war on its ex-Soviet neighbor marched into its fifth month.

Less than 24 hours after the deal was signed though, Russian missiles rained down on Odesa, Ukraine's largest port. World leaders swiftly condemned the Kremlin's missile strike on Odesa, another anxious turn in fruitless efforts to mitigate a mounting global food crisis.

Ukraine's infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, told NBC News on Monday that the vessel is expected to reach Tripoli, Lebanon in two days.

Kubrakov also said that 16 ships are ready to go, but that only three vessels will leave the port each day for the next two weeks. He added that in the next two months, Ukraine hopes to export up to 3 million tons of grain and other agricultural goods by sea per month.

Before Russia's invasion, Ukraine exported 5 million to 7 million tons per month.

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Sen. Graham challenges 2020 Georgia election probe subpoena

ATLANTA -- U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is challenging a subpoena to testify before a special grand jury that's investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and others broke any laws when they tried to overturn Joe Biden's win in Georgia.

Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, received a subpoena that was issued on July 26 and orders him to appear before the special grand jury to testify on Aug. 23, his lawyers said in a court filing. Graham is seeking to have the challenge to the subpoena heard in federal court in Atlanta rather than before the Fulton County Superior Court judge who’s overseeing the special grand jury.

The senator is one of the Trump allies who Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wants to question as part of her investigation into what she alleges was “a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.”

Graham had said repeatedly that he would fight the subpoena once he received it, which happened last week, according to his lawyers. He has denied meddling in Georgia's election.

In a court filing last month, Willis, a Democrat, wrote that Graham made at least two telephone calls to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and members of his staff in the weeks after Trump’s loss to Biden, asking about reexamining certain absentee ballots “to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.”

When he made those calls, Graham “was engaged in quintessentially legislative factfinding — both to help him form election-related legislation, including in his role as then-Chair of the Judiciary Committee, and to help inform his vote to certify the election,” his lawyers wrote in a court filing on Friday.

Graham's lawyers cite a provision of the U.S. Constitution that they say “provides absolute protection against inquiry into Senator Graham's legislative acts.” They also argue “sovereign immunity" prevents a local prosecutor from summoning a U.S. senator “to face a state ad hoc investigatory body.” And they assert that Willis has failed to demonstrate “the ‘extraordinary circumstances’ necessary to order a high-ranking federal official to testify.”

Willis' office will respond in court and expects Graham to testify before the special grand jury, spokesperson Jeff DiSantis said.

Given that Graham has been summoned to testify on Aug. 23, his lawyers asked for expedited consideration of his motion to quash. The judge granted that request, setting a hearing for Aug. 10.

Graham had previously filed a federal court challenge in South Carolina to try to stop Willis' efforts to compel him to testify. Before a judge there could hold a hearing, he withdrew that case and agreed to file any challenges to a subpoena in the investigation in either state superior court or federal court in Georgia, according to a court filing.

U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, a Georgia Republican, filed a federal court challenge similar to Graham's after he received a subpoena to testify before the special grand jury. After hearing arguments from his lawyers and from Willis' office, a federal judge last week declined to quash his subpoena.

U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May, who is also assigned to hear Graham's challenge, sent the matter back to Fulton County Superior Court, saying that there are at least some questions that Hice may be compelled to answer. If disagreements arise over whether Hice is protected under federal law from answering certain questions, he can bring those issues back to her to settle, she said.

Willis has confirmed that the investigation’s scope includes a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Raffensperger during which Trump urged Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss in the state.

“I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said during that call.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly described his call to Raffensperger as “perfect.”

Willis is also interested in false allegations of election fraud made by former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and others during Georgia legislative committee meetings in December 2020. Jacki Pick Deason, a Dallas-based lawyer and podcaster, spoke at one of those meetings on Dec. 3, 2020.

Willis is trying to compel Deason's testimony. Because she lives outside Georgia, Willis has to use a process that involves getting a judge in Texas to order her to appear. A judge in New York has already ordered Giuliani to testify next week.

In a court filing in Texas last week, Deason argued that she shouldn't be ordered to testify. She cited alleged flaws with the paperwork Willis filed seeking her testimony, argued that a summons to appear before a Georgia special grand jury is not recognized in Texas and said that the demand for her appearance is based on a false assertion that she was a lawyer for the Trump campaign. She also said that it would be an undue burden for her to travel to Atlanta on days when the special grand jury is meeting in August because of professional obligations and other commitments.

———

Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., and Jamie Stengle and Jake Bleiberg in Dallas contributed to this report.

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China competitiveness and chip bill passes House, goes to Biden

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) holds her weekly news conference with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 14, 2022.

Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

The House on Thursday passed bipartisan legislation to boost U.S. competitiveness with China by allocating billions of dollars toward domestic semiconductor manufacturing and science research.

The bill passed 243-187, with no Democrats voting against the bill. Twenty-five Republicans voted for the legislation, even after a last-minute push by GOP leaders to oppose it.

The bill, which passed the Senate on Wednesday, now heads to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law.

Lawmakers pushed to quickly approve the package before they depart Washington, D.C., for the August recess. But the final vote came after years of wrangling on Capitol Hill, with the legislation taking numerous forms, and names, in both chambers of Congress.

The ultimate version, known as the Chips and Science Act, includes more than $52 billion for U.S. companies producing computer chips, as well as billions more in tax credits to encourage investment in chip manufacturing. It also provides tens of billions of dollars to fund scientific research, and to spur the innovation and development of other U.S. technologies.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the bill "a major victory for American families and the American economy."

But House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., urged his colleagues to "reject this deeply flawed bill" and "start from scratch" in floor remarks before the vote.

The Senate passed the bill Wednesday in a 64-33 vote, drawing support from 17 Republicans. Among those yea votes was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who previously warned that Republicans would not back the China competition bill if Democrats continued to pursue an unrelated reconciliation package.

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Hours after Wednesday's bipartisan Senate vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., revealed that they have struck a deal on a sweeping reconciliation bill. They hope to pass that package next week with just a simple majority in the Senate, which is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats with Vice President Kamala Harris casting any tiebreaking votes.

Shortly after that deal was announced, House Republican leaders urged their members to vote down the Chips and Science Act. They argued against giving multibillion-dollar subsidies to chipmakers at a time of historically high inflation, while also noting the timing of the Democrats' reconciliation deal.

"The partisan Democrat agenda has given us record inflation, and now they are poised to send our country into a crushing recession," the office of House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said in a memo Wednesday night.

Some Republicans who opposed the bill said it lacked "guardrails" to prevent any of the funding from winding up in China's hands. Other critics have argued that the U.S. would have to spend many billions more to have a real chance at competing with the world's leading chipmakers.

But the bill's advocates say it is vital to America's economy and national security to build more chips, which are increasingly critical components in a vast array of products including consumer electronics, automobiles, health-care equipment and weapons systems.

The chips have been in short supply during the Covid-19 pandemic. Factory shutdowns at the beginning of the outbreak sidelined chip production in Asia while consumer demand for autos and upgraded home electronics that need the chips surged during the lockdowns. The U.S. share of global chip production also has fallen sharply in recent decades, while China and other nations have invested heavily in the industry.

The U.S. also makes few of the most advanced types of semiconductors, which are largely produced in Taiwan, the epicenter of rising political tensions with China.

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Much modern warfare requires sophisticated semiconductors — each Javelin missile launching system contains hundreds, for instance — leading U.S. defense officials to worry about the nation's reliance on foreign producers for its chip supply.

Biden has also blamed the chip shortage for the sky-high inflation that has dogged his presidency. A lack of chips available for new-car manufacturing has been linked to soaring prices for used cars, which are pushing inflation higher.

"America invented the semiconductor. It's time to bring it home," Biden said this week.

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Ahead of key Fed meeting, Biden says US will not enter recession

WASHINGTON

President Joe Biden on Monday threw cold water on fears the US could be heading into a recession, pointing to low unemployment and continued investment in the American economy ahead of a key Federal Reserve meeting.

"We're not gonna be in a recession," the president told reporters. "The unemployment rate is still one of the lowest we've had in history. It is in the 3.6 area. We still find ourselves with people investing.

“My hope is we go from this rapid growth to a steady growth, and we'll see some coming down, but I don't think we're going to, God willing, that we'll see a recession."

The comments come as the US Federal Reserve prepares to conclude a two-day meeting on Wednesday in which it is widely expected to again raise interest rates in its further drive to tamp down inflation.

Economists are anticipating another 0.75 basis point hike. Major Wall Street firms, including Apple, Google parent company Alphabet, and Microsoft are also due to release major corporate earnings reports this week.

Year-end projections put the central bank's benchmark rate at least at 3.5%.

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President Joe Biden likely has Covid-19 BA.5 variant; symptoms improving

President Joe Biden, who tested positive today for Covid-19 this morning, posts on Twitter "Folks, I'm doing great. Thanks for your concern. Just called Senator Casey, Congressman Cartwright, and Mayor Cognetti (and my Scranton cousins!) to send my regrets for missing our event today."

Courtesy: White House

President Joe Biden likely has the BA.5 Covid-19 variant but his symptoms "continue to improve," according to the White House.

"His primary symptoms, though less troublesome, now include sore throat, rhinorrhea, loose cough and body aches," White House physician Kevin O'Connor said in a memorandum on Saturday.

The president on Friday completed his second full day of Pfizer's Paxlovid, an antiviral pill that can reduce the risk of hospitalization for Covid-19 patients, O'Connor said.

While the president is responding to the therapy "as expected," he has likely contracted the Covid-19 BA.5 variant, which is currently responsible for 70% to 85% of U.S. infections.

Biden, who is fully vaccinated and received two booster shots, tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday and has reported "very mild symptoms."

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