Biden planning to release of up to 1m barrels of oil from strategic reserve – latest

Stephen Miller, the nationalist anti-immigration hardliner who crafted much of Donald Trump’s border policy, has hit out at the Biden administration’s move to scrap the provision known as Title 42 that blocked most asylum claims at the point of entry to the US.

Warning on Twitter that the move could unleash “one of history’s most spectaular travesties” and “open the floodgates on a biblical scale”, Mr Miller was soon upbraided by those on the other side of the argument. Among his critics was Congressman Brendan Boyle, who recalled his own family’s debt to a more accepting immigration policy.

Joe Biden has declared 31 March the Transgender Day of Visibility, an effort to “honor transgender people who are fighting for freedom, equality, dignity, and respect” and “celebrate the parents, teachers, coaches, doctors, and other allies who affirm the identities of their transgender children and help these young people reach their potential”.

This he has done as trans people across the US face an escalating legal effort to exclude trans women from women and girls’ sport, restrict the therapies available to gender non-conforming children, and limit what schoolchildren can be taught about gender identity and sexuality.

The Biden administration is reportedly planning to scrap Title 42, a contentious Trump-era border control policy invoked by the CDC at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The policy effectively suspended asylum claims at the point of entry to the US on the grounds of controlling Covid-19 transmission; the result was that as many as 1.7 million people seeking asylum were immediately expelled from the US without being able to present their cases.

Mr Biden’s tenure has so far seen him decline to move fast on easing the Trump administration’s sometimes draconian border policies and a surge of arrivals at the US’s southern border is expected in the coming weeks and months.

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Congress recently declined to provide billions of dollars in new funding for the government’s Covid-19 response effort, and Joe Biden yesterday warned that if the money isn’t forthcoming soon, the consequences could be severe.

Andrew Feinberg has the story.

Deborah Lipstadt, the historian whose work challenging Holocaust denial made her internationally famous, has been confirmed as the Biden administration’s special envoy to combat and monitor antisemitism. The vote to confirm her was introduced by a speech from Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, himself the descendant of Jewish refugees who fled antisemitism in Eastern Europe for a new life in the US.

Ms Lipstadt was nominated eight months ago, during which time various Republicans obstructed her because of her past remarks about them. Particularly angry was Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who took exception to a tweet in which Ms Lipstadt accused him of “white supremacy/nationalism” over the 6 January insurrection.

Republican Nebraska Congressman Jeff Fortenberry recently resigned his seat after being found guilty of lying on numerous counts of lying about an illegal foreign campaign donation. Below is the moment his resignation was formally read out on the House floor.

Speaking to the press at a briefing yesterday, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield

“So what I would say about is this,” she began. “What kind of American, let alone an ex-president, thinks that this is the right time to enter into a scheme with Vladimir Putin and brag about his connections to Vladimir Putin? There is only one, and it’s Donald Trump.”

Joe Biden yesterday met with the parents of Trevor Reed, a 30-year-old American citizen and former marine who has been imprisoned in Russia since 2019. He was originally convicted and sentenced on charges of assaulting two Moscow police officers after a drunken party, charges that his parents and the US government claim were trumped up so Mr Reed could be used as a bargaining chip for a potential prisoner exchange.

He is now on his second hunger strike in six months, and according to his parents is possibly suffering from tuberculosis and a broken rib.

The White House’s summary of the meeting reads:

Mr Reed’s parents were also reportedly grateful for the meeting:

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After his speech on the Covid-19 pandemic, during which he implored Congress to allocate more funds to the public health response, Joe Biden rolled up his sleeve to receive his second booster shot. The FDA recently approved the added measure for all over-50s and those considered clinically extremely vulnerable.

While being injected, Mr Biden was bombarded with questions about immigration and his call with Volodymyr Zelensky, among other things, but retained his cool.

Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenage gunman who was found not guilty on multiple charges after shooting two people dead at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, has complained that Joe Biden is declining to talk to him.

Speaking to right-wing podcast host Jenna Ellis, Mr Rittenhouse said: “I reached out to Joe Biden several times – crickets, nothing,” Mr Rittenhouse told Ms Ellis. “He still hasn’t replied. So it just shows how much of a man he is to not sit down and talk.”

He has previously accused the president of defaming him via an ad that used an image of him holding his gun at the protest while warning of “white supremacy”. On Ms Ellis’s show, he referred to “all the false narratives that were put out, where people called me a white supremacist, a murderer and racist, and all those other lies”.

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