Texas House achieves quorum as Democrats return to statehouse
The Texas House achieved quorum today for the first time in two weeks since state Democrats staged a walkout in protest of a gerrymandered congressional map drawn by Republicans.
“Let me also be clear about where we go from here. We are done waiting. We have a quorum. Now is the time for action. We will move quickly, and the schedule will be demanding until our work is complete,” said House speaker Dustin Burrows, a Republican. Burrows added that members who left the state, and for whom civil arrest warrants were issued, will only be given permission to leave the legislature if they agree to have a state trooper assigned to them to make sure they return.
The House began a second special session, after ending the first early, on Friday. Today’s quorum now paves the way for the new map to pass the Texas legislature – and for the redistricting battle across the country to continue. State lawmakers in California are set to return from recess today to get to work in considering a special election in November, and approving a new congressional map.
This is part of the overall redistricting race that California governor Gavin Newsom pushed for in order to offset Texas’s map, which could see the GOP pick up five US House seats.
Key events
Also in my last post, I cited the former Maricopa County recorder – Stephen Richer. A little reminder Richer is a Republican whose refused to agree with the president’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen. He was in charge of election operations in Arizona’s largest county until 205.
In his post on X, takes a number of the president’s other claims about mail-in voting and machines and debunks them one by one.
From watermark paper:
This is a way of authenticating that the ballot is legitimate. It is NOT a way of counting the ballot. The watermark ballot would still have to be counted either by tabulators or by hand. Watermark has no impact on speed. This makes no sense.
To how voting machines actually work:
Most “voting machines” are simply scanners that read the ovals that you hand marked on your ballot. These work the same way that scanners work when you took standardized tests in high school and college.
Richer also reiterated how, legally, the decision to end mail-in voting, and overhaul the way states conduct their elections is not up to the federal government:
Article 1 Section 4 Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution gives states authority over the “Times, Places, and Manner” of election administration.
Trump doubles down on baseless claims that mail-ballots are ‘corrupt’
In his press conference with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump has spent a chunk of time answering a question about his earlier threats to end mail-in voting and the use of voting machines. He said today that “we’re going to start with an executive order that’s being written right now by the best lawyers in the country to end mail in ballots because they’re corrupt.”
It was a winding detour where he repeated a conspiracy that Democrats prefer mail-in voting because it’s “the only way they can get elected”, and to promote what he described as “transgender for everybody”, “open borders” and crime – which he says is a “they new thing they [Democrats] love”.
The president’s remarks included a number of false claims. Namely that the US is “just about the only country in the world” that uses mail-in ballots. Dozens western democracies use mail-in voting, including Canada, the UK, and Germany. Most European countries offer some form of mail voting, and over 100 countries let their citizens vote by mail when living abroad, according to data from International IDEA. The president has, in the past, voted by mail.
Trump also said that voting machines are inefficient and costly, adding that paper ballots allow for results to be released “the same night”. Election officials and experts routinely say this is inaccurate. Stephen Richer, the former recorder of Maricopa County in Arizona, debunked a number of the president’s falsehoods about voting machines.
Richer characterised machines as “highly accurate. And fast. And cheap,” in a post on X today responding to the president’s earlier comments. Similarly, a recent report from the Brennan Center for Justice found that “hand counts are not only less accurate, they take more time than machines, which delays election results.” They add that voting machines also save tax payers money.
Per my last post, my colleague Lucy Campbell is covering the president’s meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House in detail.
She reports that Trump doesn’t rule out future security guarantees in the form of US troops. He added earlier that “it’s never the end of the road. People are being killed and we want to stop that.”
For Zelenskyy’s part, Lucy reports that when Ukraine’s leader is asked if he’s prepared to agree to “redraw the maps” (i.e. cede territory to Russia), Zelenskyy highlights Russia’s continued attacks ahead of today’s talks and emphasises the need to stop the war, stop Russia, by way of diplomacy.
Zelenskyy returns to White House for crucial talks with Trump alongside European allies
Lucy Campbell
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived at the White House for high-stakes talks with Donald Trump and European allies. He was greeted by the US president, both men stopped for pictures by the press before moving swiftly inside.
Zelesnkyy notably appeared to be wearing a suit, thus removing at least one previous point of contention from his last visit in February.
Tate Reeves, Mississippi’s Republican governor, announced that he approved the deployment of about 200 Mississippi National Guard troops to Washington, DC.
“I’ve approved the deployment of approximately 200 Mississippi National Guard Soldiers to Washington, DC, to support President Trump’s effort to return law and order to our nation’s capital,” he said in a statement today. “Crime is out of control there, and it’s clear something must be done to combat it. Americans deserve a safe capital city that we can all be proud of. I know the brave men and women of our National Guard will do an excellent job enhancing public safety and supporting law enforcement.”
The deployment is part of the Trump administration’s effort to overhaul policing in DC through a federal crackdown on crime and homelessness.
The move comes as protesters pushed back as federal law enforcement and National Guard troops flooded the city following Trump’s executive order federalizing local police forces and activating about 800 District of Columbia National Guard members.
Texas House achieves quorum as Democrats return to statehouse
The Texas House achieved quorum today for the first time in two weeks since state Democrats staged a walkout in protest of a gerrymandered congressional map drawn by Republicans.
“Let me also be clear about where we go from here. We are done waiting. We have a quorum. Now is the time for action. We will move quickly, and the schedule will be demanding until our work is complete,” said House speaker Dustin Burrows, a Republican. Burrows added that members who left the state, and for whom civil arrest warrants were issued, will only be given permission to leave the legislature if they agree to have a state trooper assigned to them to make sure they return.
The House began a second special session, after ending the first early, on Friday. Today’s quorum now paves the way for the new map to pass the Texas legislature – and for the redistricting battle across the country to continue. State lawmakers in California are set to return from recess today to get to work in considering a special election in November, and approving a new congressional map.
This is part of the overall redistricting race that California governor Gavin Newsom pushed for in order to offset Texas’s map, which could see the GOP pick up five US House seats.
Richard Luscombe
A federal judge in Miami heard arguments on Monday that detainees at the remote immigration jail in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz” are routinely subjected to human rights abuses and denied due process before being deported.
The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), is one of two separate actions before the courts that could lead to the closure of the controversial facility celebrated by Trump for its harsh conditions.
District court judge Kathleen Williams is expected to rule this week in the other case, brought by an alliance of environmental groups and a Native American tribe, claiming that the immigration jail has inflicted irreversible damage to the fragile wetlands.
Earlier this month, Williams issued a temporary restraining order against the state of Florida halting new construction and expansion of the tented camp, although its operations for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (Ice) were allowed to continue.
The jail currently holds an estimated 700 detainees.
European leaders have begun arriving at White House. Mark Rutte, NATO’s secretary general, was the first to arrive, followed by Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Keir Starmer, the prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to be last to arrive.
Democratic lawmakers in Texas have returned to the state, ending a walkout that broke quorum and blocked Republican efforts to redraw congressional maps at the behest of Trump.
Texas House of Representatives minority leader Gene Wu, chairperson of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement that Democrats had returned and had “rallied Democrats nationwide to join this existential fight for fair representation.”
But Texas governor Greg Abbott on Friday already called a second special legislation session in another attempt to rework the state’s congressional maps in an effort to give Republicans another five seats in Congress.
Texas House Democrats left the state earlier this month to deny Republicans the quorum needed to vote on redistricting legislation, a tactic taken several times but is usually unsuccessful.
Gavin Newsom, California’s Democratic governor, unveiled his own redistricting plan on Thursday that he said would give Democrats there five more congressional seats.
Newsmax to pay $67m to Dominion to settle 2020 election defamation lawsuit
Sam Levine
The conservative outlet Newsmax has agreed to pay $67m to Dominion voting systems to settle a defamation suit over lies about voting in the 2020 election.
The settlement came as the case was headed to trial. Earlier this year, Delaware superior court judge Eric Davis ruled that Newsmax had defamed the voting technology by broadcasting false claims about its equipment after the 2020 election. A jury would have considered whether Newsmax was liable for damages. Dominion had sued the outlet for $1.6bn.
“We are pleased to have settled this matter,” Dominion said in a statement to CNN.
In a lengthy statement of its own, Newsmax was defiant, saying it chose to settle not because it was admitting wrongdoing, but because it believed Davis wouldn’t give the company a fair trial.
“Newsmax believed it was critically important for the American people to hear both sides of the election disputes that arose in 2020,” the company said in a statement. “We stand by our coverage as fair, balanced, and conducted within professional standards of journalism.”
Dominion obtained a $787.5m defamation settlement from Fox in 2023 on the eve of a defamation trial in Delaware.
Newsmax agreed to pay $40m to settle a defamation case against Smartmatic, another voting equipment company, last year. One America News, another far right outlet, also settled a defamation case with Smartmatic last year.
Fox is currently defending itself in a pending defamation suit against Smartmatic.
Trump comments to end mail-in voting are part of a strategy to ‘sow distrust’, says ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) – one of the country’s largest civil rights organisations – has issued a statement criticising the the president’s posts to social media that threaten to end mail-in voting and end the use of voting machines. They deem his attacks as “part of his strategy to sow distrust in our elections and prevent voters from holding him accountable”.
Here’s the full statement from Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project:
“Mail-in voting remains a vital safeguard of our democracy. It ensures that voters with disabilities, those without transportation access, and others who rely on its flexibility and access can exercise their right to vote. President Trump’s attempts to undermine a safe, proven, and reliable method of voting — that he himself uses — along with his attacks on voting technology, are just another part of his strategy to sow distrust in our elections and prevent voters from holding him accountable. We are prepared to protect mail-in voting in court against unfounded and unconstitutional attacks, as we have in Pennsylvania, Mississippi, and other states. Access to mail-in voting is necessary to a fair and inclusive electoral process.”
Ahead of a busy afternoon at the White House, here’s a list of the European leaders arriving shortly. They’ll also take part in a larger meeting with Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen
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Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni
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French president Emmanuel Macron
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UK prime minister Keir Starmer
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German chancellor Friedrich Merz
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Finnish president Alexander Stubb
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NATO secretary general NATO Mark Rutte
DC’s mayor shows signs of pushback since federal takeover
In recent days, DC mayor Muriel Bowser has shown small but concerted signs of pushback against the Trump administration following last week’s federal takeover of the Metropolitan police department (MPD), and deployment of national guard Troops.
Over the weekend, Bowser posted on X: “American soldiers and airmen policing American citizens on American soil is #UnAmerican”.
This came just a day after the DC attorney general Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit against the Trump White House, alleging a “hostile takeover” of the city’s police when drug enforcement administrator Terry Cole was named “emergency police commissioner”. The justice department ultimately agreed to keep DC police chief Pamela Smith in charge, after a federal judge threatened to block the order.
At a press conference on Friday, Bowser said she was “encouraged” by the administration’s decision to renege on the management of the MPD. She also described last week’s federal takeover as “unsettling and unprecedented” in a letter to residents published on social media. Bowser also characterised the administration’s actions as an “authoritarian push”, having taken a measured approach to the president’s invocation of Section 740 of the Home Rule Act.
