Rand Paul launches filibuster in protest at foreign aid package
Alice Herman
Rand Paul has launched a talking filibuster in protest of the $95bn foreign aid package making its way through the Senate, $60bn of which would be sent to Ukraine and $14bn of which would be directed to Israel. In a rambling speech, Paul addressed disparate topics like Covid-19 vaccinations and immigration.
On the topic of foreign aid, Paul focused on bipartisan support for the military spending, invoking the popular idea in pro-Trump circles of a “uniparty” controlled by establishment Democrats and Republicans alike. “Really, there only is one party when you get down to it,” said Paul. “This is a secret you’re not supposed to expose in Washington.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY): “Open the champagne, pop the cork! The Senate Democrat leader and the Republican leader are on their way to Kyiv! … They’re taking your money to Kyiv! They didn’t have much time — really no time and no money — to do anything about our border.” pic.twitter.com/sKxe5m13zb
— The Recount (@therecount) February 12, 2024
Paul’s efforts will not likely affect the passage of the aid bill in the Senate, which currently has enough votes to pass. It is unclear if the same support exists in the House.
Key events
Austin to resume his duties tomorrow, doctors say
Defense secretary Lloyd Austin is expected to resume his duties tomorrow after being hospitalized for a bladder issue, Drs John Maddox and Gregory Chesnut of Walter Reed medical center said in a new statement.
“Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III underwent non-surgical procedures under general anesthesia to address his bladder issue. We anticipate a successful recovery and will closely monitor him overnight,” the doctors said.
“A prolonged hospital stay is not anticipated. We anticipate the Secretary will be able to resume his normal duties tomorrow. The current bladder issue is not expected to change his anticipated full recovery. His cancer prognosis remains excellent.”
The Pentagon said yesterday that Austin had been admitted to the critical care unit of Walter Reed after showing “symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue”. His deputy, Kathleen Hicks, had briefly assumed his duties as he recovered.
European leaders presented a united front in response to Donald Trump’s alarming criticism of Nato over the weekend, the Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh reports:
Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, said on a visit to Paris on Monday that there was “no alternative” to the EU and the transatlantic alliance before a summit in which he discussed deepening defence relationships with the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
“It is probably here in Paris that the words from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas resonate most clearly: ‘All for one, and one for all,’” said Tusk, in a thinly veiled riposte to the former US president and frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination.
On Monday, some European leaders were openly critical of Trump. On a visit to Cyprus, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s president, said: “These statements are not responsible, and they help Russia.”
Others were more nuanced. David Cameron, the UK foreign secretary, said Trump’s remarks were unhelpful: “Of course we want all countries, like us, to spend 2% [of GDP], but I think what was said was not a sensible approach.”
Read the Guardian’s full report:
Senator Mike Lee, a Republican of Utah and another vocal critic of the $95bn foreign aid package, took to the floor to continue the talking filibuster of the bill.
Attacking Senate leaders of both parties, Lee argued that the process of bringing the bill up for a vote had robbed lawmakers of the opportunity to help shape the proposal.
“Very often we consolidate power in the hands of the few. Legislative leaders put together a bill, a bill very much like this – in fact, this very bill – and then nobody allows, apparently by agreement, for anybody to get votes on anything,” Lee said. “This is not how it’s supposed to work at all.”
It’s worth noting that the bipartisan border and national security bill, which Senate Republicans blocked from advancing last week, was the result of months of negotiations between members of both parties.
After that bill was blocked, this standalone foreign aid package was introduced because Republicans made clear that they would not support the border provisions in the bipartisan deal. Hard-right Republicans like Lee are now insisting that they will not back any bill that does not include border provisions.
Even as some Republicans express alarm over Donald Trump’s criticism of Nato, other members of the party have shrugged off the former president’s suggestion that member nations should not be defended if they do not contribute enough money to the alliance, Martin Pengelly reports:
A leading Republican senator said Donald Trump was “simply ringing the warning bell” when he caused global alarm by declaring he would encourage Russia to attack Nato allies who did not pay enough to maintain the alliance, as Trump’s party closed ranks behind its presumptive presidential nominee.
“Nato countries that don’t spend enough on defense, like Germany, are already encouraging Russian aggression and President Trump is simply ringing the warning bell,” Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a former soldier, told the New York Times.
“Strength, not weakness, deters aggression. Russia invaded Ukraine twice under Barack Obama and Joe Biden, but not under Donald Trump.”
Cotton was referring to the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
As president between 2017 and 2021, Trump was widely held to have shown alarming favour, and arguably subservience, to Vladimir Putin.
Read the Guardian’s full report:
Alice Herman
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended Joe Biden’s choice not to speak at the Super Bowl during a press conference on Monday.
“We think there are different ways to communicate with the American people,” said Jean-Pierre. She also pushed back against the idea of the president taking a test to demonstrate his cognitive acuity amid increased focus on Biden’s memory after a report by special counsel Robert Hur suggested his memory was slipping.
“He is sharp. He is on top of things,” said Jean-Pierre.
Rand Paul launches filibuster in protest at foreign aid package
Alice Herman
Rand Paul has launched a talking filibuster in protest of the $95bn foreign aid package making its way through the Senate, $60bn of which would be sent to Ukraine and $14bn of which would be directed to Israel. In a rambling speech, Paul addressed disparate topics like Covid-19 vaccinations and immigration.
On the topic of foreign aid, Paul focused on bipartisan support for the military spending, invoking the popular idea in pro-Trump circles of a “uniparty” controlled by establishment Democrats and Republicans alike. “Really, there only is one party when you get down to it,” said Paul. “This is a secret you’re not supposed to expose in Washington.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY): “Open the champagne, pop the cork! The Senate Democrat leader and the Republican leader are on their way to Kyiv! … They’re taking your money to Kyiv! They didn’t have much time — really no time and no money — to do anything about our border.” pic.twitter.com/sKxe5m13zb
— The Recount (@therecount) February 12, 2024
Paul’s efforts will not likely affect the passage of the aid bill in the Senate, which currently has enough votes to pass. It is unclear if the same support exists in the House.
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
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Senator Rand Paul, a Republican of Kentucky, is holding a talking filibuster to protest the $95bn foreign aid package making its way through the upper chamber. The Senate is expected to hold another procedural vote on the bill this evening. The bill, which includes billions of dollars for Ukraine and Israel, cleared another procedural hurdle yesterday in a bipartisan vote of 67 to 27, and a final vote is expected in the coming days. Despite Paul’s tactics, the bill will likely pass the Senate this week.
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Donald Trump’s criticism of Nato sparked alarm and outrage on both sides of the Atlantic. Speaking in South Carolina over the weekend, Trump argued some Nato members do not contribute enough money to the alliance and suggested he would allow Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to those nations. Nikki Haley, Trump’s rival in the Republican presidential primary, accused him of embracing “a thug who kills his opponents”, referring to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
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Defense secretary Lloyd Austin is back in the hospital. The Pentagon said yesterday that Austin was brought to Walter Reed medical center in connection to “symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue”. He has been admitted to the critical care unit, and his deputy, Kathleen Hicks, has assumed his duties for the time being.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Rand Paul plans talking filibuster over foreign aid package
The $95bn foreign aid package making its way through the Senate cleared another procedural hurdle yesterday, and it appears increasingly likely that the chamber will be able to pass the bill, but one of its critics is doing everything he can to delay that outcome.
In a floor speech delivered this afternoon, the Senate majority leader, Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York, implored his colleagues to pass the funding bill as quickly as possible.
“By now, we have taken numerous procedural votes that prove beyond doubt that there’s strong support behind this bill,” Schumer said. “It’s time to finish the job and get this critical bill passed.”
But Senator Rand Paul, a Republican of Kentucky who ardently opposes the aid package, has indicated he will use every tool at his disposal to delay the final vote.
Paul said on X this afternoon, “Talking filibuster begins in earnest this afternoon!”
Talking filibuster begins in earnest this afternoon!
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 12, 2024
The next procedural votes are scheduled for 8.30pm ET this evening, and a final vote is expected on Wednesday, barring any kind of last-minute agreement to fast track the bill.
Given that 18 Republicans supported advancing the bill yesterday, it seems like the bill will ultimately pass, despite Paul’s tactics. But the bill’s prospects in the House, where Republicans hold a narrow majority, remain deeply unclear.
Senator JD Vance, a Republican of Ohio who ardently opposes sending additional money to Ukraine, is trying to argue that the foreign aid package under consideration in the Senate is a trap to impeach Donald Trump.
In a memo sent to his colleagues, Vance noted Trump’s first impeachment centered on allegations that the then-president withheld roughly $400m of aid from Ukraine in an attempt to pressure the Ukrainian president into launching an investigation of Joe Biden.
Vance warned that, if Trump wins the presidential race in November, Democrats would again try to impeach him if he moves to withhold funds from Ukraine. The foreign aid package making its way through the Senate includes $60bn for Ukraine, and some of those funds do not expire until well into 2025.
“The supplemental represents an attempt by the foreign policy blob/deep state to stop President Trump from pursuing his desired policy, and if he does so anyways, to provide grounds to impeach him and undermine his administration,” Vance wrote. “All Republicans should oppose its passage.”
In a procedural vote on the funding package yesterday, 18 Republicans supported the bill’s advancement, so it seems unlikely that all of Vance’s colleagues will agree with his assessment.
Donald Trump is attempting to dissuade Taylor Swift form endorsing Joe Biden, as far-right conspiracy theories swirl around the pop star and her partner, the Guardian’s Chris Michael reports:
Donald Trump, who attempted to overturn the democratic vote of the American people in 2020, on Sunday accused the pop star Taylor Swift of being “disloyal” should she endorse Joe Biden for president.
With the rightwing conspiracy theory machine fretting that Swift is a Pentagon plant whose relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and his team’s victory yesterday in the Super Bowl, was designed to give Swift a platform to swing the election for Biden, Trump weighed in with his own thoughts.
He said there was “no way she could endorse Crooked Joe Biden” and would never be “disloyal to the man who made her so much money”.
Trump said Swift and other artists benefited from the Music Modernization Act, which helped performing artists more easily earn royalties and licensing fees through music streaming services, and which was passed during his presidency.
Swift endorsed Biden in the 2020 race, though she has yet to support anyone publicly in the latest campaign.
Biden’s campaign had some fun with the conspiracy theories, tweeting after the Chiefs victory: “Just like we drew it up,” along with a photo of “Dark Brandon”, a rightwing meme of Biden looking demonic that his supporters have appropriated as their own.
Read the Guardian’s full report:
Reporters spotted Donald Trump arriving this morning at the Florida courthouse where the former president’s legal team is participating in a hearing in the classified documents case.
Some of Trump’s supporters gathered on a street corner to cheer on the former president, who faces 40 criminal charges in the case. Those charges include 32 counts of unlawful retention of national defense information, after Trump allegedly stored classified documents in unsecured rooms at his Mar-a-Lago resort and refused to return them to federal authorities.
Former President Trump arrives at federal court in Fort Pierce, FL for a closed-door hearing in the case charging him with mishandling classified documents pic.twitter.com/4GfKxX9DWm
— Aaron Katersky (@AaronKatersky) February 12, 2024
Trump attends court hearing in documents case
Donald Trump is in Florida today for a court hearing in the criminal case that accuses the former president of mishandling classified information, the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports:
Trump is attending a court hearing on Monday where his lawyers will present their defense theories to the judge presiding in the criminal case over his retention of classified documents and obstruction of justice, according to two people familiar with his plans.
The presence of the former president in the courtroom could raise the stakes for the US district judge, Aileen Cannon, as she decides whether prosecutors in the office of special counsel Jack Smith should be permitted to withhold or redact certain classified documents that will be turned over in discovery.
The hearing taking place behind closed doors at federal district court in Fort Pierce, Florida, started at 9.30am and is being conducted “ex parte”, meaning prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers will have separate sessions to make their arguments to the judge.
Read the Guardian’s full report: