House committee to vote on impeachment procedures – live

House judiciary panel to consider procedures for future hearings in first step towards possible impeachment of Trump

The Trump administration has reportedly given up efforts to write an Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) replacement bill.

After campaigning to repeal the law for eight years, Republicans have struggled to piece together a cohesive strategy for caring for the staggering 27.5m Americans locked out of the healthcare system.

A little live fact-checking from the Guardian’s reporter Joan Greve.

It appears this is the Al Green quote (from May) that Trump is referring to, which is different in both wording and meaning than the president claims here. https://t.co/FdpxlXsJeY pic.twitter.com/zlN1iTKrva

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Jeffrey Epstein: officials await more information before releasing cause of death – live

  • Multimillionaire financier was facing sex trafficking charges
  • Donald Trump on vacation with no public events scheduled
  • Sign up for the US briefing and get a new perspective

2.42pm BST

According to the Urban Institute, 1 in 7 adults in immigrant families are eschewing public benefits out of fear that it could affect their chances of getting a green card.

Respondents of the organization’s survey reported choosin...

Before Trump criticized the urban poverty he uses to attack Democrats, he profited from it

Cities are the problem, President Donald Trump told a typically riled-up crowd Thursday night in Cincinnati, and their problems are Democrats’ fault.

The latest iteration of the president’s evolving attack on urban — and specifically majority-black — communities expanded past Baltimore to encompass Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. In each case, he said, “these communities have been run exclusively by Democrat politicians” whose tapping of federal programs amounts...

There’s a party running on unpopular ideas in 2020, and it’s not the Democratic Party

The Republican Party has a problem. It’s abandoned the kind of popular reforms that will appeal to middle-of-the-road voters, and insists on running on unpopular ideas.

Worse, instead of rallying behind a sensible, moderate candidate with a history of winning elections in a blue state, the GOP frontrunner for the 2020 nomination is an unpopular former reality show host with little experience in elected office, and who has literally never won the popular vote in any election.

Trump, who has declared war on poor people, wants you to believe he cares deeply about Baltimore

President Donald Trump is said to be very concerned about the “rat and rodent infested” city of Baltimore, a place “no human being would want to live.”

Yet he failed to mention, in his string of tweets Sunday, the city’s proud history, its recent economic growth, and the fact that Maryland’s 7th District — which he attacked as a whole — has a median income above the national average. One must assume he was referring mainly to the black-major...

Trump renews attack on Baltimore congressman Elijah Cummings – live

Trump’s comments this morning to 9/11 first responders that he “spent a lot time” at Ground Zero are raising serious doubts.

A New York Times reporter who spent years covering the fallout of the attacks for the New York Post tweeted this:

So, I covered rebuilding at the WTC for three years after covering the immediate aftermath of the attacks for NYPost. Giuliani was a frequent presence w families, as was Pataki. I recall one instance where Trump was at the site. https://t.co/7Ish98CX1g

Trump’s reference to ‘7/11’ was a slip of the lip. News accounts from days just after 9/11 include references to Trump giving high-fives to police officers and volunteers on their way to the World Trade Center site. ‘I have a lot of men working down here. I want to make sure they’re OK,’ he said. Trump said his employers were cleaning and digging out, but declined to say where they were working.

Joe Biden’s campaign has released its own blistering criticism of Kamala Harris’ health care plan.

A statement from Biden’s campaign accuses the California senator of having “released a health care plan that both backtracks on her long-promised – but then-hedged – support of Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All legislation while at the same time committing to still unraveling the hard-won Affordable Care Act that the Trump Administration is trying to undo right now.”

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Trump’s real 2020 weakness: healthcare | Lloyd Green

The Affordable Care Act – AKA Obamacare – is more popular than Trump and the Republican party realize. They’ve opened themselves to an ambush

Unemployment and inflation are low. America growls, but its sword is sheathed. Donald Trump should be preaching peace and prosperity. Instead, the president appears determined to make his re-election bid about healthcare and relitigate the 2018 midterms. If past is prelude, that tale doesn’t come with a happy ending for Trump or his party.

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Trump defends ‘excellent’ labor secretary amid scrutiny over Epstein plea deal – live

Donald Trump ignores calls for Alexander Acosta to resign over role in securing a lenient 2008 plea deal for financier Jeffrey Epstein

It’s been quite a heavy day, so here’s a small dose of fun:

Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling firm, tested how Donald Trump would fare against US soccer star Megan Rapinoe in a 2020 matchup.

Barack Obama’s healthcare law is once again in jeopardy, as a federal appeals court on Tuesday hears arguments on its validity.

The case, which could once again place the fate of the Affordable Care Act before the supreme court, was brought by a group of Republican governors and attorneys general.

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‘It’s a sexist and racist attack’: Trump’s regulation to weaken home health care unions takes effect

Adarra Benjamin earns $13.48 an hour as a home health worker — a wage that includes a 48-cent-per hour raise thanks to her union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Illinois.

Benjamin, who’s 25 years old and lives in Chicago, also received $1,200 in backpay this year after Illinois agreed to the raises back in 2017. She was one of more than 49,000 employees statewide to receive this long-overdue backpay.

“After becoming a member… I...