New law prompts League of Women Voters to suspend voter registration in Kansas

A new Republican-backed Kansas voting law has prompted the nonpartisan League of Women Voters and other get-out-the-vote groups in Kansas to say they are going to suspend voter registration drives for fear of criminal prosecution, two local media outlets report.

“We are legitimately concerned that our staff and volunteers might face criminal charges if someone at the farmers market subjectively thinks they might be impersonating an election official and reports them,” said Caleb Smith, a voter engagement campaign director for Kansas Appleseed, told the Kansas Reflector.

“Because [the law] is so broad it can be applied arbitrarily and discriminatory,” Davis Hammet, the director of Loud Light, a youth voter registration group, told the Kansas City Star. “These are people who would be registering voters and they’d have to take a very real risk that they’d lose their right to vote.”

The groups have filed a lawsuit against the new law and have asked a judge for a temporary injunction to block implementation of the law until the case is resolved.

‘Anti-white mania’ and comparisons to Nazis: right-wing rhetoric intensifies

The extremist rhetoric from rightwing news networks and some elected Republicans is “intensifying”, experts have warned, after a Republican congressman compared Democrats to Nazis and a hard-right news host suggested tens of thousands of Americans should be executed.

On his Fox News show on 24 June, Tucker Carlson, seated in front of a screen blaring the words “anti-white mania”, raged that the US could “become Rwanda”, apparently referencing the 1994 genocide in the country, when hundreds of thousands of Tutsi people were slaughtered.

Brian Stelter, CNN’s chief media correspondent, whose newly released book Hoax explores how Fox News covered Trump, told an interviewer in June that the US had entered an environment “where the Fox base” prefers “propagandistic opinion shows [rather] than any semblance of news”.

“People want to be lied to, and it’s above my head to know what to do about that,” Stelter told the Washington Post. “What do we do about that, when millions of people want to be lied to every day?”

Is Breyer retiring? Legal experts watched law clerk ranks for clues

In mid-June, my colleague David Smith reported, a group of 18 legal academics issued an extraordinary joint letter urging the US supreme court justice Stephen Breyer to retire so that Joe Biden can name his successor.

The pressure on Breyer to retire was the result of a blunt warning from Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader in the Senate, that Biden would not get a supreme court nominee confirmed in 2024 if Republicans regain control of the chamber.

One proxy for what might be on Breyer’s mind—his staffing choices—suggests he’s not going anywhere immediately.

Relief and anxiety as crowds of people plan to gather to celebrate Independence Day

Americans enjoying newfound liberty are expected to travel and gather for cookouts, fireworks, concerts and beach outings over the Fourth of July weekend in numbers not seen since pre-pandemic days, the Associated Press reports.

There are fears that the mixing of large numbers of vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans at a time when the highly contagious delta variant is spreading rapidly could undo some of the progress made against the scourge.

But experts said outdoor events did not pose a lot of risk: “Outdoor stuff remains, I think, pretty safe for unvaccinated or vaccinated people,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health. “Probably a packed outdoor concert is not ideal, but short of that, outdoor activity is safe for people. Watching fireworks is fine.”

‘We need you to stop the counting’: new details on White House interference in Arizona

During the 2020 election, Clint Hickman, a 56-year-old lifelong Republican, was the chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which oversees elections in the most populous county in Arizona.

In the wake of the election, the Arizona Republic reports, he twice let calls from the White House trying to connect him with the president go to his voicemail, as Donald Trump and his allies tried a range of tactics to try to influence the local elections process in Arizona and other swing states.

One of the voicemails to the Arizona Republican official came the very same night that news broke about Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump asked the Georgia elections official to “find” enough votes there to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state. The call was recorded, and the Washington Post published the full audio.

Hickman, the Arizona official, said he was appalled by Trump’s attempt to interfere in Georgia, and that he did not want to be the target of similar interference or record his own conversation with Trump, so he did not return the White House voicemail.

“I’m not going to tape a president, so I’m not going to talk to a president,” he said.

The local Republican official’s defense of the legitimate election process came at a cost: Hickman received death threats, there were protesters outside of his house, and his wife received a phone call threatening sexual violence, the Arizona Republic reported, noting the threats were serious enough that sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to his home to protect him and his family.

Biden praises teachers’ sacrifices in address to the National Education Association

Addressing the nation’s largest union of teachers and other school staff, Joe Biden praised teachers’ dedication during the coronavirus pandemic and told them that they deserved a raise. He quipped that American parents who had to educate their kids at home this past year now truly understand why teachers should be paid more, and also made an awkward sex joke about the Lincoln Bedroom.

On the latest episode of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly Extra podcast, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Yasmeen Abutaleb, author of a new book that details just how serious Donald Trump’s condition was when he contracted Covid-19 last October:

Two-thirds of Americans believe democracy is under threat, polls finds

This is Lois Beckett, picking up our live US politics coverage from Los Angeles.

At the start of this holiday weekend, it’s worth remembering that this country’s national anthem is less a celebration than a question: is the star-spangled banner still waving? Can this embattled democracy endure?

This Fourth of July, a lot of Americans are worried about that question: a new poll found that two-thirds of them believe that democracy in the United States is under threat.

The new poll results make an interesting contrast with a previous poll of 50,000 people from 53 countries around the world, which found that nearly half of respondents believed the United States itself threatened democracy in their home countries. The poll found that the US was seen as a greater threat to democracy than Russia or China.

The Guardian’s Maanvi Singh reports on how the delta variant is affecting Americans who lack the protection of a vaccine:

Just as the troubling Delta variant was spreading through the US, Charis Hill got a worrying call from their doctor.

The medications Hill takes to treat their spondylitis affect their immune system, and they knew the Covid-19 vaccine might not work as well for them as it does for others. So weeks after their second shot, they got a test.

The results were shocking: “No antibodies were detected in my system,” said Hill, who lives in California. As the rest of their state celebrated a grand reopening, a jubilant lifting of social distancing rules and mask mandates, Hill went back into isolation.

Across the country, coronavirus death rates have plummeted as more and more Americans who are eligible for the vaccine get inoculated. And research from the UK indicates that the current vaccines are effective against new variants.

But even in states like California, which has one of the highest rates of per capita vaccination in the world, those who don’t want to get vaccinated, those who can’t, and those like Hill – for whom the vaccines don’t provide adequate protection – remain unprotected against Delta, which researchers believe to be the most infectious variant yet.

Scientists are also studying whether the variant is deadlier than others, and causes more severe infections. Epidemiologists and other public health experts worry that state and federal policies are leaving the most vulnerable behind.

Joe Biden voiced similar concerns about the delta variant of coronavirus earlier today, while taking reporters’ questions after delivering prepared remarks on the June jobs report.

Asked about the possibility of additional outbreaks in the US because of the delta variant, Biden said, “I am concerned that people who have not gotten vaccinated have the capacity to catch the variant and spread the variant to other people who have not been vaccinated.”

He added, “I am not concerned there is going to be a major outbreak -- in other words, that we’re going to have another epidemic nationwide, but I am concerned lives will be lost.”

Senior health officials have been going on television this week to spread the message that the delta variant does not pose a threat to vaccinated individuals. They have also encouraged all eligible unvaccinated people to get their shot as quickly as possible.

Before concluding the naturalization ceremony, Joe Biden recognized Sandra Lindsay with an “Outstanding American by Choice” award, which celebrates noteworthy contributions from naturalized US citizens.

Biden recounted how Lindsay, who was the first person in America to get fully vaccinated against coronavirus outside of the clinical trials, immigrated to Queens, New York, from Jamaica when she was 18 years old.

She later got multiple advanced degrees in nursing and now serves as the director of nursing for critical care at a Long Island hospital, where she dedicated herself to helping coronavirus victims during the pandemic.

Biden noted that Lindsay lost an aunt and an uncle to coronavirus. “In her pain, she didn’t lose hope,” Biden said.

The scrubs and badge that Lindsay wore when she received her coronavirus vaccination will be included in the Smithsonian’s national exhibit on Covid-19, Biden added.

Joe Biden noted that six of the 21 immigrants who became citizens at the White House today have served in the US military.

The president asked those six new citizens to stand up and be recognized for their military service.

Biden then led the room in applauding the six service members.

After homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued the oath of citizenship, Joe Biden delivered remarks to congratulate the 21 immigrants present at the White House.

Biden noted the new citizens represented many different backgrounds and nationalities. “There is one trait you all share in common: courage,” Biden said.

The president praised the new citizens, saying they reflected what was best about America. Biden recounted how he once told Chinese President Xi Jinping that America is defined by one word: “possibilities”.

“That’s what America’s built on,” Biden said. “Anything is possible in America.”

The president then expressed gratitude to the group for choosing to become citizens, saying, “Thank you for choosing the United States of America, believing that America is worthy of your aspirations, worthy of your dreams.”

During the White House press briefing, Jen Psaki was asked about a Politico report that some staffers in Kamala Harris’ office are complaining of an “abusive” work environment there.

“I try not to speak to or engage on anonymous reports or anonymous sources,” Psaki said. “I will say that the vice-president is an incredibly important partner to the president of the United States.”

Some White House reporters criticized Psaki’s response, noting that the administration often makes senior officials available “on background” (meaning they cannot be quoted by name) to explain new policies being enacted.

Psaki bristled against that criticism, saying on Twitter, “I think everyone knows the difference between attacking someone as an anonymous source and providing details on a policy announcement to reporters in an effort to provide information and answer media questions.”

Joe Biden will soon participate in a naturalization ceremony at the White House to welcome new citizens to the US ahead of the July 4 holiday.

The ceremony comes as the Biden administration launches an effort to encourage eligible immigrants to apply for US citizenship.

CNN reports:

The effort stems from one of President Joe Biden’s early executive orders that called on federal agencies to develop ‘welcoming strategies that promote integration, inclusion, and citizenship.’ ...

‘The idea is to find a whole-of-government way to reach out to people who are able to naturalize,’ [a] Citizenship and Immigration Services official said, adding that there are 9 million people in the US who are lawful permanent residents who may be eligible to apply for citizenship.

That includes, for example, holding naturalization ceremonies at national parks to raise awareness, partnering with the US Postal Service to display promotional posters at Postal Service facilities about becoming a US citizen, and engaging with the Department of Veterans Affairs and veteran service organizations to find ways to educate service members and veterans on citizenship, according to the strategy, titled ‘Interagency Strategy for Promoting Naturalization.’

Jen Psaki also announced that Joe Biden will deliver remarks on Sunday evening, at 7.30 pm ET, to commemorate Independence Day and the country’s independence from coronavirus.

The July 4 holiday comes as the US is falling short of Biden’s goal to get 70% of American adults at least partially vaccinated by Independence Day.

Psaki said of the missed goal, “Our job is not done. The work continues even on July 5.”

Taking the podium at the White House press briefing, Jen Psaki announced that the US will send 1.5 million doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine to El Salvador this Sunday.

The US has already allocated 80 million coronavirus vaccine doses to countries around the world, as Joe Biden promised to do by the end of June.

The White House pandemic response team director, Jeff Zients, also said yesterday that the US will distribute millions more vaccine doses over the next couple of months.

“Just as our work to vaccinate Americans does not stop on July 4th, our work to help vaccinate the world does not stop at these 80 million doses,” Zients said at the pandemic response team’s press briefing yesterday.

“We will continue to share tens of millions more US doses over the summer months as we help lead the fight to end the pandemic across the globe.”

The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, is now holding her daily briefing, and she is joined by the White House director of the National Economic Council, Brian Deese.

The NEC director celebrated this morning’s jobs report, which showed the US economy added 850,000 jobs last month, outpacing expectations.

Deese credited Joe Biden’s economic strategy with accelerating the country’s economic recovery. He also noted that wages have been on the rise in recent months, benefitting American workers.

On another note, Deese announced that the president will direct the department of transportation to take steps to protect airline passengers.

For example, one proposal is to require airlines to refund checked bag fees if the bag does not arrive in a passenger’s destination city on time.

Another reporter asked Joe Biden whether he was “confident” that Congress would enact his American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan.

The question prompted a laugh from the president, who asked the reporters, “Who wants to put money on anything that Congress is going to do? Look, folks, this is a process.”

Biden said he was going to “try to be as persuasive as I can” to convince lawmakers that his plans will help the nation’s economic recovery.

The president’s comments come as Congress considers action on both the bipartisan infrastructure framework and a Democratic reconciliation bill.

Joe Biden took a few questions from reporters after concluding his prepared remarks on the June jobs report.

The first couple of questions focused on the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, as service members leave the crucial airbase of Bagram north of Kabul after 20 years.

Asked whether the withdrawal of troops would be complete in the next few days, Biden said no but noted the US is “on track” with their plans to leave Afghanistan.

The president pushed back against concerns that the Afghan government will fail once the US leaves, saying, “We were in that war for 20 years.” He added, “I think they have the capacity to be able to sustain the government.”

When a reporter asked another question about Afghanistan, Biden tried to brush it aside. “I want to talk about happy things, man,” the president said.

Joe Biden argued the strong June jobs report is a “direct result” of his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

However, the president emphasized that more work still needs to be done, urging Congress to pass his American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan.

“Now’s the time to accelerate the progress we’ve been making,” Biden said.

The president’s comments come as Democratic congressional leaders work to advance the bipartisan infrastructure framework, as well as a separate reconciliation bill to cover other infrastructure proposals.

On Wall Street, stocks have hit a new record high as investors welcome today’s employment report.

The S&P 500, which covers a broad swathe of the US market, is up 13 points or 0.3% at 4,333 points in early trading.

The tech-focused Nasdaq also hit a new high, currently up 54 points or 0.35% at 14,576.

The Dow is slightly higher at 34,661.58 with tech stocks leading the way: Intel, Apple and Microsoft are all up around 1.2%, while aerospace manufacturer Boeing and pharmaceuticals group Walgreens Boots Alliance are both down around 1.8%.

Joe Biden will soon deliver remarks on the strong June jobs report, and it seems likely the president will take a victory lap about the economy adding 850,000 jobs last month.

Biden and his aides have been tweeting out messages like this since the report came out, citing the numbers as evidence of how the president’s economic strategy is proving effective:

The president’s senior advisers have also made a point to compare Biden’s jobs record so far to that of Donald Trump. From Biden’s chief of staff:

The Washington Post’s Heather Long said the latest US jobs report demonstrates how raising wages is an effective strategy for attracting workers.

The leisure and hospitality industry, where pay has increased by 3.6% in the past three months, accounted for 40% of the 850,000 jobs added last month.

In the face of increasing legal scrutiny on his company, Donald Trump has remained defiant, attacking the New York investigation as politically motivated.

“Do people see the Radical Left prosecutors, and what they are trying to do to 75M+++ Voters and Patriots, for what it is?” Trump said in a statement yesterday.

The former president’s attacks on New York prosecutors may energize his loyal supporters, but it won’t stop the investigation from continuing or protect his family business from legal exposure.

On the surface, the charges against Allen Weisselberg did seem like “smaller fish”. In an interview with Politico, Donald Trump’s lawyer Ronald Fischetti said: “It’s like the Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing. This is so small that I can’t believe I’m going to have to try a case like this.”

But surfaces can be deceptive.

After three years of subpoenas, supreme court hearings and existential legal rows about the legality of charging a president of the United States with wrongdoing, New York’s fearsome prosecutorial team have charged a little-known 73-year-old accountant with defrauding taxpayers of $1.7m over 15 years. That is big money for most people, but not an amount that would worry Trump, who Forbes calculates is worth $2.4bn.

Downplaying the significance of this week’s indictment would, however, be a mistake. Alongside Weisselberg, Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance, and the New York state attorney general Letitia James also charged the Trump Organization with tax fraud, the start of a process that could crack the secretive Trump empire wide open.

The salvo in the long-brewing legal battle will, at the very least, wrap up Trump for years in legal woes, and at worst could destroy his family business and put not just Weisselberg but the Trump family members who run his business and Trump himself in the dock.