Mark Esper tells Fox News Trump was ‘threat to democracy’ – follow live

Senator Bob Casey, one of the last anti-abortion Democrats in the Senate, announced on Tuesday that he would support Democrats’ legislation to codify the protections in Roe v Wade.

Eric Garcia reports from Washington, DC.

In an appearance on The View, Beto O’Rourke said that Texas Governor Greg Abbott is “trying to mimic Donald Trump’s behaviour.”

“He’s not trying to be governor of the state of Texas, he’s trying to get that pole position in the Republican presidential primary.”

President Joe Biden on Tuesday said his administration is taking action to lower energy costs and bring down inflation rates that are the highest in decades by clearing supply chain bottlenecks and reigning in corporate greed, but warned against handing the reins of power to a Republican Party more interested in protecting corporate profits than American families.

Mr Biden opened his remarks by laying out what he described as the two major causes of the inflation that has reached levels not seen since the early 1980s: The Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg has the latest from the White House.

President Joe Biden was asked about whether he would eliminate Donald Trump’s tariffs on China to help tackle inflation.

“We’re discussing that right now … no decision been made on that front.”

President Joe Biden: “I never expected the ultra-MAGA Republicans who seem to control the Republican Party now to have been able to control the Republican Party. I never anticipated that happening.”

IN a Q&A session with White House reporters, the president says he doesn’t blame Americans for being frustrated with siituation.

He says he believes his administration’s policies have helped not hurt when asked if those policies are partly to blame for inflation.

President Biden says he is “asking large corporations and the wealthiest Americans to not engage in price gouging … The Republican plan is to … let billionaires and large companies off the hook as they raise prices and reap profits at record amounts.”

Hitting out at Rick Scott’s economic plan, the president mistakenly says he is from Wisconsin and not Florida.

“It’s the ultra MAGA agenda,” says Biden, using his new label for Republicans. “Their plan is to raise taxes on 75 million American families.”

“The bottom line is this,” Biden says. “Americans have a choice right now between two paths reflecting two very different sets of values.”

“Our economy has gone from being on the mend to on the move,” says President Joe Biden, delivering a speech at the White House on inflation. “But… I know that families all across America are hurting because of inflation.”

“I want every American to know that I am taking inflation very seriously and it’s my top domestic priority,” he says blaming the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

“I’m here today to talk about solutions,” Biden says noting that the cost of a barrel of oil has been steady for a week, but the price at the pump keeps increasing.