Capitol attack panel chair urges Trump to accept ruling on White House records: ‘We have the law on our side’ – live | US news

Joe Biden met this morning with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, in the Oval Office.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, von der Leyen said she and Biden had a “very productive” discussion about the need to increase coronavirus vaccination rates.

Biden is now en route to Baltimore, Maryland, where he will deliver a speech this afternoon on the benefits of the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

The House passed the infrastructure bill on Friday night, sending the proposal to Biden’s desk, although the president has not yet signed it.

Biden did not take any questions from reporters as he left the White House to start the short trip to Baltimore.

Despite centrists’ concerns about the reconciliation package, it’s worth noting that some economists have said the bill will not have a negative long-term impact on inflation.

Jason Furman, who served as the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under Barack Obama, said on Twitter, “Your regular reminder: The reconciliation bill would have essentially no discernible effect on the medium- or long-term path of inflation. That legislation should be evaluated on other criteria like what it does for opportunity, climate change & long-term growth.”

The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, echoed that message, arguing that the reconciliation bill would help curb rising inflation by lowering the costs of childcare and prescription drugs.

“Good news out there for members of Congress (you too Republicans) there is a bill that they can support that will bring down costs and combat inflation. We welcome your support!” Psaki said on Twitter.

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, one of the holdout votes in the negotiations over the reconciliation package, expressed serious concern about the latest inflation report.

“By all accounts, the threat posed by record inflation to the American people is not ‘transitory’ and is instead getting worse,” the West Virginia senator said on Twitter.

“From the grocery store to the gas pump, Americans know the inflation tax is real and DC can no longer ignore the economic pain Americans feel every day.”

Manchin does not explicitly mention the reconciliation package in his tweet, but he has previously warned that the bill could have a negative impact on inflation.

Manchin wrote in a September op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, “An overheating economy has imposed a costly ‘inflation tax’ on every middle- and working-class American.”

He added, “Ignoring the fiscal consequences of our policy choices will create a disastrous future for the next generation of Americans.”

However, since Manchin wrote that op-ed, the top-line cost of the reconciliation bill has been cut in half — from $3.5tn to $1.75tn — because of his demands. So that may have allayed some of his concerns about the inflationary impact. Time will tell.

Joe Biden acknowledged there is still “more work to do” to strengthen the US economy, after the labor department reported that inflation reached a 30-year high last month.

“Inflation hurts Americans pocketbooks, and reversing this trend is a top priority for me,” the president said in a new statement.

“I want to reemphasize my commitment to the independence of the federal reserve to monitor inflation, and take steps necessary to combat it.”

Biden noted he will travel this afternoon to Baltimore, Maryland, where he will “highlight how my Infrastructure Bill will bring down [energy] costs, reduce these bottlenecks, and make goods more available and less costly”.

The House passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill last week, although Biden has not yet signed the legislation. Meanwhile, Democrats continue to negotiate over their $1.75tn reconciliation package.

The president urged Congress to pass the reconciliation package, which he argued will “get more Americans working by reducing the cost of child care and elder care”.

“We are making progress on our recovery. Jobs are up, wages are up, home values are up, personal debt is down, and unemployment is down,” Biden said.

“We have more work to do, but there is no question that the economy continues to recover and is in much better shape today than it was a year ago.”

Bennie Thompson, the chair of the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection, said the federal judge’s ruling was a “big deal”.

“We have the law on our side, and you know, we are a nation of laws,” Thompson told CNN anchor Chris Cuomo last night.

The Democratic chair urged Donald Trump to accept the judge’s ruling, although the former president plans to appeal the decision to give Thompson’s committee access to White House documents.

“If you take your issue to court and lose, then you need to man up and deal with it and not be a spoiled brat,” Thompson said. “So I look forward to getting this information.”

Although Trump’s appeal could affect this timeline, the National Archives is expected to start sending White House documents to the select committee starting Friday.

Although Donald Trump intends to appeal the federal judge’s ruling, the National Archives is expected to start turning over documents to the select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection starting Friday.

CNN reports:

As of now, the National Archives remains on track to turn over to the House a number of documents on Friday, including White House call logs, video logs and schedules related to January 6 as well as three pages of handwritten notes from Trump’s then-chief of staff. The outcome in court also could help the House in its pursuit of more information from those around Trump, including witnesses who’ve been subpoenaed and haven’t spoken to the committee yet.

Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.

A federal judge ruled late last night that documents from the Trump White House can be turned over to the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.

The decision marked a crucial loss for Donald Trump, who has tried to shield the documents from the committee’s investigation by claiming executive privilege.

US district judge Tanya Chutkan said in her ruling: “His position that he may override the express will of the executive branch appears to be premised on the notion that his executive power ‘exists in perpetuity’… but presidents are not kings, and plaintiff is not president.”

Trump is expected to appeal the ruling, but the decision is still an important victory for the select committee, which is seeking phone records, visitor logs and other documents to shed more light on the former president’s response to the insurrection.

Combined with the new subpoenas that the committee has issued this week, the investigation seems to be picking up steam.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.