Kevin McCarthy claimed Trump had no idea his supporters carried out Capitol attack – live

Here’s more from the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell about what Christina Bobb, a lawyer for Donald Trump involved in the Mar-a-Lago secrets case, told the justice department:

Donald Trump’s lawyer Christina Bobb was instructed to certify to the justice department that all sensitive government documents stored at his Mar-a-Lago resort subpoenaed by a grand jury had been returned, though she had not herself conducted the search for the records.

The certification of subpoena compliance appears to be at the center of a criminal investigation into obstruction of justice surrounding the former US president after the assurance was proved to be untrue when the FBI’s search of the property turned up more than 100 more documents marked classified.

The saga around the Mar-a-Lago documents has become increasingly mired in the courts as Trump has repeatedly claimed the FBI search and resultant investigation is politically motivated. Meanwhile, the justice department and Democrats have portrayed the taking of the documents as a potentially serious national security breach.

Trump lawyer spoke to justice department in Mar-a-Lago document investigation

Top White House adviser Jake Sullivan is set to talk about the Biden administration’s national security strategy in a speech Wednesday at Georgetown University:

American presidents periodically release the document spelling out their security concerns and how they intend to deal with them. Biden released an interim strategy last year, but was late getting the full report out because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, The New York Times reports:

The day so far

Biden condemns Russian strikes on Ukraine, says will support Kyiv ‘for as long as it takes’

Another of Donald Trump’s allies is on trial in New York over charges he acted as an unregistered foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates in order to access its vast investment pool, J Oliver Conroy reports:

“Trump is the man,” Thomas “Tom” Barrack, a wealthy investor friend of Donald Trump’s, wrote to someone in a foreign government, in 2016, as Trump’s likelihood of being named the Republican nominee for president began to become a certainty. Barrack added, cryptically, that someone called “HH” should be ready to travel.

The meaning of those words, and the intent behind them, are at the center of the latest court case to roil Trump’s circle. Prosecutors have said that the “HH” in Barrack’s email referred to His Highness Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the current leader of the United Arab Emirates, and that Barrack was trying to secretly and illegally trade his access to Trump’s ear for the graces of the Emirati government and its vast pool of investment money.

Republicans looking to win in the upcoming midterms have campaigned on high inflation and rising crime. But over the weekend, Alabama’s Republican senator Tommy Tuberville resorted to another tactic: racism.

“They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have. They want reparations because they think the people that do the crime are owed that. Bullshit!” Tuberville declared in a speech on Saturday.

The word reparation is the give away here. In the context of American politics, it typically refers to the idea of financial compensation to African Americans for slavery and racial discrimination. Thus, Tuberville appears to say that Black Americans are “the people that do the crime.” CNN breaks it down here:

Tuberville is not standing for re-election this year, and won’t face voters again until 2026. Instead, he was speaking at a rally for a politician who may well be on ballots across the country in two years time: Donald Trump.

The contenders in one of November’s most-watched Senate races will square off tonight in Ohio.

JD Vance, the Republican nominee for Senate, will face his Democratic opponent Tim Ryan in a debate hosted by Fox 8 News and beginning at 7pm eastern time. Ohio has trended Republican in recent years, and the Trump-endorsed Vance appears to have the edge in recent polls, though has struggled to establish a clear lead over Ryan.

GOP planning investigation of ‘Biden family influence peddling’ if they take House

Sanders is on to something. The state of the economy has been a determining factor in many elections, but as Dominic Rushe reports from Phoenix, high inflation and rock-bottom unemployment have put the world’s largest market in an unusually strange place right now:

In her back pocket, Ana Diaz carries a smooth grey pebble she calls her “knock-knocker”. She uses it to get a loud rap on the front doors of the South Phoenix neighborhood where she is canvassing for the Democrats ahead of November’s crucial midterm elections.

It’s 110F (43C) in the early afternoon sun, and Diaz is aiming to knock on 80 doors in this largely Latino neighborhood and speak to at least 20 people, encouraging them to vote. Diaz, a Los Angeles-based bartender and Unite Here union member, is a familiar face to many in this working-class area. In her T-shirt that reads “Worker power” she has been knocking on these doors since 2018.

Voters are all talking about the economy. Diaz, too, worries about inflation: her grocery bill is so high she thinks she may have to stop buying beef. But for her, the Democrats and good union jobs are the answer. “When we get together, we can make them change,” she says.

Senator Bernie Sanders has written a column for The Guardian, warning Democrats against campaigning exclusively on abortion in the midterms, and arguing that Republicans have plenty of vulnerabilities to seize on when it comes to their view of the economy:

As someone who has a lifetime 100% pro-choice voting record, and is outraged by the supreme court’s horrific decision to overturn Roe v Wade, there is no question but that Democrats must continue to focus on the right of women to control their own bodies. This is a fight that most Americans want us to wage and, given the Republicans’ extremist position on the issue, makes them genuinely vulnerable.

But, as we enter the final weeks of the 2022 midterm elections, I am alarmed to hear the advice that many Democratic candidates are getting from establishment consultants and directors of well-funded Super Pacs that the closing argument of Democrats should focus only on abortion. Cut the 30-second abortion ads and coast to victory.

I disagree. In my view, while the abortion issue must remain on the front burner, it would be political malpractice for Democrats to ignore the state of the economy and allow Republican lies and distortions to go unanswered.

The details of Kevin McCarthy’s recollection of January 6 come from Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop’s Battle for America’s Soul, by Michael Fanone, a Washington DC police officer who responded to the Capitol as it was being attacked.

He’s since left the city police force and become outspoken about the events of that day, and spoke to CBS News about his book set for release on Tuesday:

McCarthy isn’t the only Republican the book cast in an unfavorable light. Fanone also recounts a bizarre remark senator Lindsey Graham made when they met:

Spare a thought today for Matthew Cantor, who went on what must have been a tiring journey into the neediest corner of the Republican and Democratic parties:

“Is your phone off, Patriot?”

“Are you still a Republican?”

“This is getting SAD!”

“HOW MANY TIMES ARE WE GOING TO HAVE TO ASK?”

The midterm elections are approaching, and political messaging teams are hard at work overwhelming inboxes across America. And while Republicans and Democrats rely heavily on guilt trips to squeeze money out of voters, the language they employ is markedly different – and says a lot about what’s wrong with each of them.

But what are the midterms? The Guardian’s David Smith has all the answers you need about the 8 November elections that will decide control the House and Senate for the next two years:

American elections are like Olympics. Presidential votes happen every four years in step with the summer Games: 2020, 2016, 2012, 2008, 2004 and so on.

Midterms, meanwhile, happen every four years in line with the winter Games: 2022, 2018, 2014, 2010, 2006, 2002 and so on.

“Midterms” is therefore an apt name because they take place halfway through a president’s term of office. They are often regarded by pundits as a referendum on the incumbent president.

Indeed, this year’s midterms on 8 November will be voters’ the first opportunity to render a national verdict on the presidency of Joe Biden. But his name will not be on the ballot and other factors can come into play such as specific candidates, local dynamics or national issues.

In the days after the January 6 insurrection, top House Republican Kevin McCarthy was ready to dump Donald Trump. “I’ve had it with this guy,” he said, and pondered whether to ask him to resign, the New York Times reported.

It didn’t take long for McCarthy’s anger to subside. By the end of the month, he was with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, taking a picture together that made clear the now-former president was back on good terms with his party. While some Republicans never lost sight of the serious threat the January 6 insurrection posed to American democracy, many have since taken to downplaying the deadly attack on the Capitol, as today’s CNN report about McCarthy’s meeting with officers who fought the rioters makes clear.

Perhaps it was worth it for McCarthy and his party. They are favored to pick up the few seats necessary in the upcoming midterms to win a majority in Congress’s lower chamber, putting McCarthy on track to be elected speaker.

Poised to lead House, new book shows McCarthy denying reality of January 6