White House criticizes wrangling over border deal, urging Congress to authorize funding
Today’s White House press briefing has just begun.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has kicked off the briefing addressing the bipartisan border agreement, which Republicans have in recent days attacked.
Jean-Pierre called out the Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, arguing that if the Republican party seeks to address illegal immigration, “he should give the [Biden] administration the authority and funding needed to secure the border.”
Key events
Closing summary
The Senate’s long-running bipartisan negotiations over immigration rule changes meant to curb migrant arrivals on the southern border continue to face road blocks. Joe Biden endorsed the bargaining over the weekend and said he would “shut down the border”, but Republican House speaker Mike Johnson responded by arguing that the president already has the authority to stop migrants from crossing in from Mexico. The White House responded by pointing out all the times in the past Johnson has said the opposite, a war of words that has cast an ominous shadow on the prospects for passage of what the GOP has named as its price to support another round of aid to Ukraine, as well as to Israel.
Here’s what else happened today:
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Michael Chertoff, a Republican former homeland security secretary, publicly opposes the House GOP’s plans to impeach the current officeholder, Alejandro Mayorkas.
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A former IRS consultant who leaked Donald Trump’s tax returns was sentenced to five years in prison by a federal judge.
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Biden met with his national security team after a strike blamed on Iran-backed militias killed three US service members in Jordan.
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Rightwing figures such as Donald Trump Jr and Marjorie Taylor Greene also attacked the immigration policy negotiations.
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The House sergeant at arms, its top law enforcement officer, is complying with a mysterious grand jury subpoena.
The House homeland security committee will consider the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas tomorrow, but it may not be until next week that the full chamber votes on the charges against him, Fox News reports:
1) Fox is told that the absolute earliest the impeachment articles for Mayorkas would hit the floor would be Tuesday, February 6. That’s because the GOP leadership is expected to whip the vote late this week and potentially make a decision about when it go over the weekend.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 29, 2024
2) The House Rules Committee would need to put to prep the articles of impeachment for the floor – possibly as early as Monday, February 5.
But keep in mind, this has a LONG way to go yet and could bleed later into the week or beyond.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 29, 2024
Interestingly, Fox News reports that House Republican leaders are concerned they may not have the votes to impeach the homeland security chief:
3) The problem: There are a few House GOPers who have outright objections to impeachment. Remember, this is about the math. The GOP can now only lose two votes and still pass any measure on their own.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 29, 2024
Yesterday, Michael Chertoff, a Republican who served as homeland security secretary under George W Bush, said he was opposed to impeaching Mayorkas, arguing that the House GOP was reacting to “policy disagreements” rather than the constitution’s bar of “high crimes and misdemeanors”.
Something interesting happened on the floor of the House today.
The chamber was moving through some the usual procedural business it starts the day with when the clerk announced that the chamber’s sergeant at arms was complying with a subpoena issued by a grand jury for documents from the justice department:
“This is to notify you formally pursuant to rule 8 of the rules of the House of Representatives that the office of the sergeant at arms for the House of Representatives has been served with a grand jury subpoena for documents issued by the U.S. Department of Justice” pic.twitter.com/Qct7SsGuRi
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 29, 2024
It’s unclear what the grand jury may be investigating. The sergeant at arms is the House’s top protocol and law enforcement officer.
A federal judge handed a five-year prison sentence to a former IRS consultant who leaked to news organizations the tax returns of Donald Trump and other wealthy people, Politico reports.
Trump broke with prior practice by refusing to release his tax returns during his campaigns for office. The New York Times obtained Trump’s returns from Charles Littlejohn, and shortly before the 2020 election published a report showing that the then-president paid little in income taxes.
Littlejohn received the maximum sentence from judge Ana Reyes, who likened his conduct to the January 6 insurrection. Here’s more on today’s sentencing, from Politico:
A former IRS consultant was sentenced to five years in prison for leaking former President Donald Trump’s tax returns as well as the filings of thousands of other wealthy people to the news media.
A district judge on Monday agreed with the Justice Department that Charles Littlejohn, 38, deserved the maximum statutory sentence for what she called “egregious” crimes.
Judge Ana Reyes, a Biden nominee to the bench, focused on Littlejohn’s decision to release Trump’s filings, which Reyes called “an attack on our constitutional democracy.”
Noting that Trump was under no legal obligation to release his filings and likening the case to the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol, Reyes said: “It cannot be open season on our elected officials.”
Littlejohn’s lawyers had asked for leniency in the form of a sentence of between 12 and 18 months, saying that, at the time, he believed the public had the right to know how much Trump and the others paid in taxes. He has since come to regret leaking the information, his representatives told the court.
Republican House speaker Johnson again attacks Senate immigration negotiations
Republican House speaker Mike Johnson again attacked the Senate’s bipartisan negotiations over immigration policy, even though the details of the agreement have not yet been released.
On X, Johnson insisted on hardline measures to block undocumented migrants from crossing into the United States. The senators negotiating the agreement are expected to announce a measure that would drastically cut down on migrant arrivals, but not stop them completely.
Here’s what Johnson had to say about that possibility:
Any border “shutdown” authority that ALLOWS even one illegal crossing is a non-starter. Thousands each day is outrageous. The number must be ZERO.
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) January 29, 2024
When asked about an event held in Jerusalem over the weekend that saw Israeli ministers and parlimentarians calling for the resettlement of Gaza, Kirby said the US’s policy is clear: there should be no reductions in Gaza territory.
For more on this, follow our coverage of the crisis in the Middle East here.
Kirby also the attack against the three American servicemen over the weekend will not affect a hostage deal, referring to releasing the Israelis still held hostage by Hamas since the 7 October attack.
He also said the US hopes to secure another humanitarian pause in Gaza, but did not provide additional details.
The White House’s national security adviser John Kirby has addressed the three “American lives taken” by the strike on the Jordan-Syria border, but stopped short of announcing what the US’s response will be.
“I will not get ahead of the president’s decision,” Kirby said.
“We are not looking for a war with Iran,” he said multiple times when asked about taking action against Iran, whom the US has blamed for the attack.
Kirby said Biden is meeting with his national security team and weighing the options before him. What those options are, however, remain unclear.
White House criticizes wrangling over border deal, urging Congress to authorize funding
Today’s White House press briefing has just begun.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has kicked off the briefing addressing the bipartisan border agreement, which Republicans have in recent days attacked.
Jean-Pierre called out the Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, arguing that if the Republican party seeks to address illegal immigration, “he should give the [Biden] administration the authority and funding needed to secure the border.”
The day so far
The Senate’s much-discussed negotiations to curb migrant arrivals on the southern border by changing immigration policy continues to face road blocks. Joe Biden endorsed the bargaining over the weekend and said he would “shut down the border” if the bill passed, but Republican House speaker Mike Johnson responded that the president already has the authority to stop migrants from crossing in from Mexico The White House responded by pointing out all the times in the past Johnson has said the opposite, a war of words that has casts an ominous shadow on the prospects of what the GOP has named as its price to support another round of aid to Ukraine, as well as to Israel.
Here’s what else is going on today:
-
Michael Chertoff, a Republican former homeland security secretary, publicly opposes the House GOP’s plans to impeach the current officeholder, Alejandro Mayorkas.
-
Biden met with his national security team after a strike blamed on Iran-backed militias killed three US service members in Jordan.
-
Rightwing figures such as Donald Trump Jr and Marjorie Taylor Greene also attacked the immigration policy negotiations.
Biden met with national security team after Jordan strike killed three US troops
The White House just announced that Joe Biden spent this morning meeting with his national security team after a strike Washington blamed on Iran-backed militias killed three US service members in Jordan.
Among those in attendance were national security adviser Jake Sullivan, defense secretary Lloyd Austin, director of national intelligence Avril Haines and his chief of staff Jeff Zients.
Follow our live blog for more on the intensifying crisis in the Middle East: