Chuck Schumer attacks ‘shameful’ Fox News over use of January 6 footage – live

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The White House is adding its voice to a barrage of criticism aimed at Fox News and Tucker Carlson for “sanitizing” the January 6 Capitol riot by airing selected footage on Monday night.

Earlier Tuesday, Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer branded the rightwing network, and its star host, “shameful” for their skewed presentation of the attack, which attempted to portray the violent Donald Trump supporters who overran the Capitol as tourists.

Karine Jean-Pierre addresses reporters at the White House on Tuesday. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, was equally dismissive at her Tuesday briefing to reporters of Carlson’s claims the mob was merely “sightseeing”:

Anybody who watched that video with their own eyes, in a real way, and saw what happened on that day, would disagree. The president has been very clear January 6 was the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.

We should be focused on making sure that never happens again. We hope that keeping the Capitol and Congress safe and secure remains congressional leaders’ number one goal.

All you have to do is watch those videos and see how horrific it was, see how sad it was. It was an attack on our democracy.

Her mention of congressional leaders and their priorities was presumably directed at Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy, who caused outrage by handing over about 44,000 hours of footage from the attack exclusively to Carlson.

The primetime Fox host is a Trump loyalist who repeatedly pushed the big lie of a stolen 2020 election on air, despite revelations that he and other Fox presenters and executives who also promoted it knew it was false.

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Biden family immigration move reports infuriate Democrats

Karine Jean-Pierre says the White House “won’t comment on rumors that are out there” about the Biden administration potentially reinstating a Trump-era rule of detaining immigrant families at the southern border.

The New York Times first reported that the move was under consideration to stem an expected migrant surge once Title 42, a policy stemming from the Covid pandemic that allowed the swift deportation of migrants, is ended.

“I’m not saying it is, I’m not saying it isn’t,” Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said at her Tuesday afternoon briefing.

“The department of homeland security is working through ways on how to go forward once Title 42 is lifted. I’m going to let them do their work. [The president] is going to use the tools that he has before him to make… the immigration system safe, orderly and humane.”

Ben Ray Luján. Photograph: Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal/ZUMA/REX/Shutterstock

The report angered congressional Democrats. New Mexico senator Ben Ray Luján told Punchbowl he was frustrated it didn’t come up when he and other Hispanic senators met with homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last month.

“It was a time to have honest conversations with one another,” Luján said. “And this is another one of those surprises – if it’s true – that was covered by the media. Fortunately for the media, we continue to find out decisions that are being made.”

Mayorkas will hold a virtual meeting with congressional Hispanic caucus members at 5pm ET to discuss the uproar over the Times report, Punchbowl says.

More on this subject:

The Biden administration has expressed its “deep condolences” to the families of US citizens who were killed in Mexico by members of a suspected drugs cartel.

Speaking at her daily briefing at the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said:

We’re still working with Mexican officials to learn more and to have all Americans returned to the United States.

President Biden has been kept updated on this incident. Senior members of the White House has have also been engaged. We extend our deepest condolences to their families and friends.

She added that US investigators were working with Mexican authorities to establish details of the incident.

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Talking of abortion bans in Republican strongholds, Kamala Harris is backing five Texas women who are suing the state, having been denied the procedure.

A statement from the vice-president’s office at the White House on Tuesday blasted Texas legislators for passing near-total block on abortions:

When I convened health care providers at the White House in September 2021 in wake of Texas SB 8, we discussed the harm that doctors and nurses feared their patients would experience as a result of Texas’ extreme laws. Now, multiple women impacted by these abortion bans announced a joint lawsuit against the state of Texas, showing those fears have turned into reality.
The lawsuit includes devastating, first-hand accounts of women’s lives almost lost after they were denied the health care they needed, because of extreme efforts by Republican officials to control women’s bodies.

Many extremist ‘so-called’ leaders espouse ‘freedom for all,’ while directly attacking the freedom to make one’s own health care decisions. Like the overwhelming majority of Americans, the President and I believe women – in consultation with their doctors – should be in charge of their reproductive health care, not politicians.

We’re about to hear from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at the daily White House briefing, but she’s already made clear the Biden administration’s feelings on Florida’s six-week abortion ban proposal, introduced to the state’s legislature this morning.

In a statement to the Miami Herald, Jean-Pierre says the move would “ban abortion before many women know if they are pregnant”:

Politicians like Governor DeSantis espouse ‘freedom for all,’ while directly attacking the freedom to make one’s own healthcare decisions. This proposal is wrong and out of touch with the overwhelming majority of Americans, including Floridians, who support a woman’s right to choose.

This ban would prevent not just the nearly four million Florida women of reproductive age from accessing abortion care after six weeks, but would also impact the nearly 15m women of reproductive age who live in states across the South with abortion bans and would no longer be able to rely on Florida as an option to access care.

Interim summary

It’s been a furiously busy day so far in US politics, and we still have the daily White House press briefing to come.

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, blasted Fox News, and its star rightwing host Tucker Carlson, for their “shameless manipulation” of footage of the January 6 Capitol riot aired on Monday.

Carlson attempted to portray a violent mob Donald Trump supporters who carried out the deadly insurrection as peaceful sightseers enjoying a day out, and the backlash has been swift and strong.

Here’s what else we’ve been following:

• Florida’s loyalist Republican legislature handed extremist governor and probable White House hopeful Ron DeSantis a key policy objective by proposing a six-week abortion ban.

• Lloyd Austin, the defense secretary, made an unannounced trip to Iraq, promising to keep US military forces in the country, almost exactly two weeks before the 20th anniversary of the 2003 Iraq war that toppled Saddam Hussein.

• Democrats are growing fearful that a third-party candidate could take votes away from Joe Biden during the 2024 presidential election and hand Republican favorite and former president Donald Trump a ticket back to the White House.

Democrats in Florida’s Republican-dominated House and Senate face a bruising legislative session, which began this morning. Outnumbered by a Republican supermajority in both chambers, the best the party’s members will be able to do on many pieces of legislation is to offer dissent.

Still, they’re as upbeat as they can be, and some are saying it with flowers. Here’s first-term state representative Christine Hunschofsky’s view as she prepares to do battle: caffeine, a desk fan and a colorful array of petals.

Florida's lawmakers seek six-week abortion ban

The Florida legislature is back in session, and lawmakers have wasted no time in promoting an agenda favorable to extremist Republican governor Ron DeSantis, including a six-week abortion ban.

The bill was filed Tuesday morning as DeSantis, seen as a likely candidate for his party’s 2024 presidential nomination, was preparing to deliver his state of the state address.

Ron DeSantis. Photograph: Wade Vandervort/AFP/Getty Images

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Republican state senators Erin Grall and Jenna Persons-Mulicka introduced the bill, which builds on the 15-week ban that the legislature approved and DeSantis signed into law last year.

Unlike the existing law, the bill for the six-week abortion ban does contain exceptions for rape and incest, up to 15 weeks of pregnancy, and allows for exceptions for medical emergencies that threaten the life or serious harm to the mother, the newspaper reports.

DeSantis has previously said he will sign any new, more restrictive abortion legislation presented to him, and with a Republican supermajority in both chambers of the Florida legislature, its passage is seen as almost certain.

Abortion rights activists have been critical of Florida’s clampdown since the Supreme Court swept away last summer half a century of federal protections for the procedure.

Last month, a Florida couple who are unable to get an abortion announced they would have to bring their fatally ill baby to term and have it die after delivery.

Last August, a Florida judge ruled a 16-year-old was “not mature enough” to consent to an abortion, effectively a court-ordered pregnancy for a minor child.

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Democrats are becoming increasingly fearful that a third-party candidate could take votes away from Joe Biden during the 2024 presidential election and hand Republican favorite Donald Trump a ticket straight back to the White House.

The claim comes in an article on Politico Playbook this morning.

“A new two-page memo from Third Way, obtained by Playbook, takes aim at the potential ‘unity ticket’ being promoted by the centrist group No Labels,” it says.

Donald Trump. Photograph: Dominic Gwinn/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

“With tens of millions of dollars in financial backing, No Labels’ stated intention is to nominate a moderate alternative to potential extreme major-party nominees as an insurance policy.

“But Third Way notes that No Labels has been cagey about what scenario would prompt it to move forward, including whether it would stand down if Joe Biden seeks reelection. In any case, the memo argues, a third-party ticket would mainly peel off Democrats, ultimately boosting the former president who tried to steal an election and incited a riot on the Capitol.

“The conclusion is inescapable. No Labels is committed to fielding a candidate that will, intentionally or not, provide a crucial boost to Republicans – and a major obstacle to Biden,” they write.

“As a result, they’ll make it far more likely – if not certain – that Donald Trump returns to the White House.”

You can read the memo in full here.

Schumer blasts 'shameful' Fox over January 6 footage

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, has delivered a scathing rebuke of Fox News and its rightwing host Tucker Carlson for “manipulating” selected footage of the January 6 riot aired on his show last night.

On the chamber floor this morning, he accused the network and its star presenter of disdain towards politicians who were at the Capitol when it was overrun by a violent mob of Trump supporters, and the law enforcement officers who tried to defend it:

Last night, millions of Americans tuned into one of the most shameful hours we have ever seen on cable television.

With contempt for the facts, disregard of the risks, and knowing full well he was lying to his audience, Fox News host Tucker Carlson ran a lengthy segment arguing the January 6 Capitol attack was not a violent insurrection.

By diving deep into the waters of conspiracy, and cherry picking from thousands of hours of security footage, Mr Carlson told the bald faced lie that the Capitol attack,which we also with their own eyes, somehow, not an attack at all.

He tried to argue it was nothing more than a peaceful sightseeing tour. Can you imagine, a non-violent demonstration,a perfectly fine and appropriate instance of people expressing their opinion? I so many others who were here in the Capitol, and millions and millions of Americans are just furious with Tucker Carlson and Kevin McCarthy today.

Many of my staff were here at the Capitol on January 6, their lives were put in danger, as were the lives of many of my colleagues, as well as police, maintenance staff, reporters, countless others.

To say January 6 was not violent is a lie. A lie pure and simple. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a primetime cable news anchor manipulate his viewers the way Mr Carlson did last night.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen an anchor treat the American people and American democracy with such disdain.

Austin makes surprise trip to Iraq

Lloyd Austin, the defense secretary, made an unannounced trip to Iraq on Tuesday and promised the US would maintain its military presence in the country, almost 20 years after it led an alliance that toppled Saddam Hussein.

“US forces are ready to remain in Iraq at the invitation of the government of Iraq,” Austin said.

“And these forces are operating in a non combat, advise assist and enable role to support the Iraqi led fight against terrorism. This is a critical mission. And we’re proud to support our Iraqi partners.”

Iraqi Kurdish regional government president Nechirvan Barzani (right) and defense secretary Lloyd Austin in Erbil, Iraq, on Tuesday. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

His visit comes just two weeks before the 20th anniversary of the 2003 invasion that cost tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians their lives and created the instability that many believe paved the way for the rise of Islamic State militants after the western alliance withdrew in 2011, Reuters reports.

Austin, the agency says, is the most senior Biden administration to visit Iraq, and was the last commanding general of US forces there after the invasion. He spoke with Iraqi prime minister Mohammed al-Sudani.

Sudani said in a statement that his government’s approach was to maintain balanced relations with regional and international governments based on shared interests and respect for sovereignty, and that “the stability of Iraq is the key to the security and stability of the region.”

The US has 2,500 troops in Iraq, and 900 more in Syria, to help “advise and assist” local troops in combating Islamic State, which seized swathes of territory in both countries from 2014.

Between 185,000 and 208,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in the preceding war, according to the Costs of War Project by the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.

Kari Lake, the Donald Trump loyalist and election denier who still refuses to accept the reality of her defeat in Arizona’s governor’s race last November, is emerging as a favorite to become the former president’s running mate in 2024, Axios reports.

Lake, a former television reporter turned combative rightwing politician, is Trump’s “model” for whom he might choose, according to Axios sources “who discussed the topic with him”.

Kari Lake. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

Chief among her attributes is her unwavering loyalty and willingness to defend him, “no matter the issue or controversy”, the outlet says.

But it warns:

Trump friends say Lake carries a big downside. He wants no risk that his running mate could outshine him. Lake would be assumed to be angling for president from the day she entered the White House. And of course losing her winnable governor’s race hurts her mojo.

There will be inevitable speculation that the story comes from from within the Lake camp itself, especially given this statement from Trump spokesperson Steve Cheung: “Anyone who thinks they know what President Trump is going to do is seriously misinformed and trying to curry favor with ‘potential’ VP candidates. President Trump will choose his running mate on his own time, and those who are playing the media game are doing so at their own peril.”

Michelle Obama admits she cried “uncontrollably” for more than 30 minutes following Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration, and as she and outgoing president Barack Obama were leaving the White House for the final time.

The concession comes in the former first lady’s her new Audible podcast, which launches Tuesday, a clip of which was provided to People magazine.

“When those doors shut, I cried for 30 minutes straight, uncontrollable sobbing, because that’s how much we were holding it together for eight years,” Obama says of the moment Air Force One was readied to take them from Joint Base Andrews on 20 January, 2017.

“You walk through the Capitol, you wave goodbye, you get on Marine One, and you take your last flight flying over the Capitol,” where there weren’t that many people,” she added in a blatant dig at Trump’s false boast, articulated by his pugilistic first press secretary Sean Spicer, that “this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration – period.”

The podcast is hosted by TV presenter Hoda Kotb. In the first episode, entitled “Kids just want our gladness”, Obama tells her: “That day was so emotional for so many different reasons.

“We were leaving the home we had been in for eight years, the only home our kids really knew. They remembered Chicago but they had spent more time in the White House than anywhere, so we were saying goodbye to the staff and all the people who helped to raise them.”

Carlson condemned for 'sanitizing' Jan 6 riot footage

Tucker Carlson’s first take on the January 6 Capitol riot footage, controversially provided to him as an exclusive by Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy, was widely condemned on Tuesday for “sanitizing” the deadly insurrection.

The rightwing TV host showed selected clips from Capitol security cameras on his Fox News show on Monday night, including small pockets of supporters of Donald Trump wandering around, and a particular focus on the so-called Q-Anon shaman Jacob Chansley, sentenced in November 2021 to more than three years in prison for his part in the riot.

“The footage does not show an insurrection or a riot in progress. Instead it shows police escorting people through the building,” Carlson told his viewers, parroting Trump’s narrative that the rioters were simply sightseeing.

“Taken as a whole, the video does not support the claim that January 6 was an insurrection. In fact, it demolishes that claim.”

As NBC points out, footage Carlson didn’t air shows police and rioters engaged in hours of violent combat, or the assaults on about 140 law enforcement officers. Several people, including police officers, lost their lives during or after the attack.

On Tuesday, the family of Brian Sicknick, a Capitol police officer who died a day after a confrontation with the rioters, issued a statement condemning Carlson.

“Every time the pain of that day seems to have ebbed a bit, organizations like Fox rip our wounds wide open again and we are frankly sick of it. Leave us the hell alone,” the statement reads in part.

On CNN, Adam Kinzinger, a Republican former congressman and member of the House January 6 committee, called Carlson’s presentation “disgusting”.

And Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, condemned McCarthy’s decision to hand the footage to Fox, adding it could lead to the same thing happening again:

Other media outlets are also trying to obtain the 44,000 hours of security camera footage given to Carlson, so far without success. McCarthy’s office said on Monday it was working to arrange it, but gave no details.

Joe Biden has been laying out some of his budget plans today in a guest opinion piece for the New York Times, and wastes little time bashing Republicans over benefits for future generations.

The president, whose full budget proposal is set to be unveiled on Thursday, says expanding Medicare will be a priority to maintain a “rock-solid guarantee that Americans have counted on to be there for them when they retire.”

Biden writes:

For decades, I’ve listened to my Republican friends claim that the only way to be serious about preserving Medicare is to cut benefits, including by making it a voucher program worth less and less every year. Some have threatened our economy unless I agree to benefit cuts.

Only in Washington can people claim that they are saving something by destroying it.

Biden’s returning to a tactic that served him well during last month’s State of the Union speech, when he goaded Republicans over plans by Florida senator Rick Scott, among others, to incorporate the termination or slashing of welfare benefits, including Medicare and social security, into policy.

It prompted some hasty backtracking and scrambling by Scott, and a stern rebuke from Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell.

Biden’s plans for preserving Medicare, meanwhile, include what he says will be “a modest increase” in the contributions of wealthiest Americans.

Raising the Medicare tax rate from 3.8% to 5% on income exceeding $400,000 per year, including salaries and capital gains, would “help keep the Medicare program strong for decades to come,” he writes.

Biden is heading for Pennsylvania on Thursday to release his full budget plans, instead of the more traditional setting of the White House, the Associated Press notes.

But with Republicans controlling the House, the budget has little chance of passing.

Good morning Tuesday blog readers!

Joe Biden has been laying out some of his budget proposals today in a guest essay for the New York Times. He’s jabbing at Republicans again over their perceived agenda to cut benefits for future generations, and providing details of plans to expand Medicare by imposing a “modest increase” in contributions by wealthier Americans to pay for it.

As the Times notes, the president’s budget stands next to no chance of passing the divided Congress. But it’s a topic that helps draw 2024 attention back from Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, and who the Republicans might nominate to oppose his re-election, assuming Biden runs.

We’ll take a closer look at that coming up. Meanwhile, here’s what else we’re following on a busy Tuesday:

• Rightwing TV host Tucker Carlson is receiving pushback for “sanitizing” the January 6 Capitol riot in selective footage aired on his Fox News show on Monday night, provided to him exclusively by Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy.

• The growing threat of a third party candidate running in 2024 and soaking up votes from Biden is worrying Democrats, according to Politico’s Playbook.

• Trump is mulling who he might pick as a running mate in 2024, Axios says, with election denier and failed Arizona governor candidate Kari Lake emerging as a favorite.

• Michelle Obama “cried uncontrollably for 30 minutes” after Trump’s January 2017 inauguration after she and outgoing president Barack Obama left the White House for the last time, according to the ex-first lady’s new podcast airing today. The Washington Post has the story.

We’ll have all this, and much more coming up in the blog today. Please stick with us.