Trump’s pick for attorney-general faces Senate hearing later today – US politics live | US news
Trump’s pick for attorney general faces Senate hearing later today
Hello, welcome to the live blog of US politics.
Former personal defense attorney Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’s pick to be the next U.S. attorney general, faces what is expected to be a contentious nomination hearing in the Senate today.
Blanche will face harsh questioning from Democrats and possibly some Republicans during her appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A single Republican “no” vote on the panel could be enough to undermine the appointment of Blanche, 51, to the post of chief US law enforcement officer, AFP reported.
Blanche has served as acting attorney general since Pam Bondi was fired by Trump and is closely linked to the Republican president’s “revenge” campaign against his political enemies.
This comes during the flurry of confirmation hearings scheduled for today. Jay Clayton, Trump’s pick to head the nation’s intelligence agencies, will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee, weeks after Trump abruptly postponed his nomination.
And the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold nomination hearings for Dr Erica Schwartz to permanently head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an agency that has been without a confirmed director for most of Trump’s second term.
The Committee may also approve Sean Kaufman to lead emergency and disaster preparedness efforts as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
In other developments:
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Federal immigration officials instructed to stop pulling over vehicles Until further notice, following two recent deadly shootings in Texas and Maine in which authorities shot and killed immigrants in vehicles, according to a homeland security source. More here.
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Darline Graham, sister of late Republican senator Lindsey Graham, was sworn in He will fill the Senate seat pro tempore on Tuesday, just three days after his sudden death. Graham was appointed by South Carolina governor Henry McMaster to serve out the remainder of his brother’s current term. More here.
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One person died during an encounter with federal immigration officers in Florida on Tuesday morning. It is the third death in a week linked to immigration enforcement operations. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officers, a component of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), had an “encounter” with four men in the vehicle in a convenience store parking lot along a busy road in St. Augustine, Florida, a highway patrol spokesman said. More here.
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Supreme court justices demand $14.6 million increase in security In a time when threats are increasing. Amy Coney Barrett told House lawmakers that a sharp increase in threats against her and other justices is increasingly affecting her personal and family life. More here.
important events
Cate Brown
Two US advocacy groups sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, arguing that sanctions targeting Palestinian rights groups, international criminal court (ICC) officials and a UN expert unlawfully violate Americans’ first amendment rights.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, argues that the administration’s sweeping 2025 sanctions package has had a “profound” chilling effect on Palestine-related advocacy, forcing Americans to cut professional relationships and abandon constitutionally protected jobs.
“The Trump administration is using the sharp tool of economic sanctions not only to punish human rights defenders but also to police the political expression of millions of Americans,” said Omar Shakir, executive director of Democracy in the Arab World Now (Dawn), a Washington-based advocacy group focused on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Dawn joined the New York-based Taxpayers Alliance Against Genocide in Wednesday’s lawsuit.
The 43-page legal complaint states that both organizations worked on ICC submissions documenting Israel’s war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza. Dawn also worked with three sanctioned Palestinian NGOs and UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese to publish research, organize conferences and lobby US policymakers.
Former president Joe Biden will release a memoir this fall, publisher Little, Brown and Company told the Associated Press.
‘Promise Me America,’ which Biden said will touch on everything from the economy to his decision to abandon his re-election bid, is scheduled to be released on November 17.
The timing of the book — two weeks after midterm elections in which Democrats are trying to regain control of Congress — could raise concerns in his party. Many Democrats are divided over Biden’s legacy and his ill-fated determination to seek a second term in the White House, and leaders hope to keep the fall campaign focused on the record of Republican president Donald Trump.
“‘Promise, America’ is about the challenges we face as a nation. It’s about the decisions I make and why I make them,” Biden said in a video statement accompanying Wednesday’s announcement. “Most importantly, this is about my belief in the promise of America.”
News of Biden’s book has been circulating for more than a year, and the former president himself has appeared to reference it in public statements, suggesting it would be published before the November election.
Dani Anguiano
U.S. officials are facing growing calls to remove U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from American streets after federal agents killed two people who were not targets of sanctions in less than a week.
Advocacy groups, including the National Police Accountability Project and the Humane Immigrant Rights Coalition, called the fatal shootings of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas extrajudicial killings.
“Bystander videos I have viewed make clear that ICE agents carried out another extrajudicial public shooting in Maine,” Lauren Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project, said in a statement.
“It is clear that the only way to stop ICE from killing us on the streets is to remove ICE from the streets.”
He added that Congress could do this by freezing funding for the agency and limiting its powers.
Details of how two murders occurred during operations that quickly turned deadly in recent days have emerged.
Trump’s pick for attorney general faces Senate hearing later today
Hello, welcome to the live blog of US politics.
Former personal defense attorney Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’s pick to be the next U.S. attorney general, faces what is expected to be a contentious nomination hearing in the Senate today.
Blanche will face harsh questioning from Democrats and possibly some Republicans during her appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A single Republican “no” vote on the panel could be enough to undermine the appointment of Blanche, 51, to the post of chief US law enforcement officer, AFP reported.
Blanche has served as acting attorney general since Pam Bondi was fired by Trump and is closely linked to the Republican president’s “revenge” campaign against his political enemies.
This comes during the flurry of confirmation hearings scheduled for today. Jay Clayton, Trump’s pick to head the nation’s intelligence agencies, will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee, weeks after Trump abruptly postponed his nomination.
And the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold nomination hearings for Dr Erica Schwartz to permanently head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an agency that has been without a confirmed director for most of Trump’s second term.
The Committee may also approve Sean Kaufman to lead emergency and disaster preparedness efforts as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
In other developments:
-
Federal immigration agents instructed to stop pulling over vehicles Until further notice, following two recent deadly shootings in Texas and Maine in which authorities shot and killed immigrants in vehicles, according to a homeland security source. More here.
-
Darline Graham, sister of late Republican senator Lindsey Graham, was sworn in He will fill the Senate seat pro tempore on Tuesday, just three days after his sudden death. Graham was appointed by South Carolina governor Henry McMaster to serve out the remainder of his brother’s current term. More here.
-
One person died during an encounter with federal immigration officers in Florida on Tuesday morning. It is the third death in a week linked to immigration enforcement operations. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officers, a component of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), had an “encounter” with four men in the vehicle in a convenience store parking lot along a busy road in St. Augustine, Florida, a highway patrol spokesman said. More here.
-
Supreme court justices demand $14.6 million increase in security In a time when threats are increasing. Amy Coney Barrett told House lawmakers that a sharp increase in threats against her and other justices is increasingly affecting her personal and family life. More here.
