Amy Coney Barrett pledges ‘open mind’ and plays down conservative record

  • Nominee avoids answering directly on how she would rule
  • Lindsey Graham hails ‘woman who is unashamedly pro-life’

Judge Amy Coney Barrett, Donald Trump’s nominee to the US supreme court, promised to keep an “open mind” when considering cases before the court during a final round of questioning on Wednesday, as Republicans declared her confirmation all but assured despite Democrats’ forceful opposition.

Members of the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday att...

Trump says overturning Roe v Wade ‘certainly possible’ with Amy Coney Barrett – live

  • Senate minority whip says Democrats can only slow nomination by ‘days’
  • Amy Coney Barrett: what will she mean for women’s rights?
  • Biden hopes for repeat of 2012 as Trump debate nears
  • Recipe for chaos: election threatens to snap US society
  • Robert Reich: Trump Nation has already seceded
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5.29pm BST

Biden spoke briefly then answered a f...

Coronavirus US live: Biden says Trump plan to relax physical distancing could be ‘catastrophic’

Here’s a clip of World Health Organization director, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, condemning calls to bypass or lift social distancing restrictions.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus strongly warns against lifting social distancing measures too soon.

"The last thing any country needs is to open schools and businesses, only to be forced to close them again because of a resurgence." https://t.co/l7BtEcViAu pic.twitter.com/lsyAFYMbRV

The federal agency in charge of nursing homes nationwide confirmed that 140 have at least one confirmed coronavirus case. But the Washington Post reports the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are refusing to say which ones.

From the Post:

Citing data from the Centers for Disease Control, the press release tucked the new figure in the seventh paragraph. The release said although “147 is a small fraction of the over 15,000 nursing homes across the country, given the disproportionate effect on our nation’s older population, this is a cause for concern.”

A CDC spokesman, Scott Pauley, told The Post he was “not sure [the list] will be released at this time.”

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Trump signs coronavirus bill ordering free testing and aid for workers

Measure introduced by Democrats will expand Medicaid and unemployment benefits and mandate paid sick leave for some

  • Coronavirus – latest updates
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Donald Trump has approved legislation that will expand Medicaid and unemployment benefits, mandate paid sick leave and childcare leave for certain employees, and order free coronavirus testing, in an effort to to limit the damage from the pandemic.

The bill, introduced by House ...

Donald Trump backs quick dismissal of impeachment by Senate – live updates

Nancy Pelosi has said she will send the articles of impeachment ‘soon’ but the president is no longer keen on a showy televised trial

3.14pm GMT

Former Vice President Joe Biden rolled out a set of endorsements Monday underscore two aspects of the Democratic primary Biden’s campaign is focusing on in the final days before the Iowa caucuses.

First, Biden’s team announced that Rep. Colin Allred had backed...

Top Democrats criticize Elizabeth Warren’s Medicare for All plan – live

Biden campaign and others not sold on Warren’s $20tn proposal while Nancy Pelosi says any Trump impeachment case must be ‘ironclad’

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8.00pm GMT

Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said that it was “certainly possible” the House would vote to impeach Trump.

Speaking to reporters on the White House driveway, Conway went on to at...

Trump suggests House intelligence chair should face ‘arrest for treason’ – live news

  • Trump hits out at Adam Schiff over impeachment inquiry
  • Sanders to roll out new proposal on chief executive pay

Jeff Flake, a former Republican senator, has written a Washington Post op-ed imploring fellow members of his party to oppose Trump’s re-election.

Two years ago I stood in the Senate chamber and said: ‘There are times when we must risk our careers in favor of our principles.’ ...

Now, two years later, it is my former Republican Senate colleagues who have a decision to make. Or, as I see it, two decisions to make. The first is difficult; the second is easy. ...

“TrumpCare” does not exist – this has not stopped some firms from advertising insurance products under this banner, according to a new report from Axios.

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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 cancels key services for unaccompanied child migrants – live

Officials say language classes and recreation programs for immigrant children staying in federal shelters ‘not directly necessary’

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4.19pm BST

The Trump administration is canceling English classes, legal aid and recreational programs for unaccompanied immigrant minors staying in federal shelters, the Washington Post reports.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement is wit...

Trump’s Federal Reserve pick withdraws from consideration – live

Stephen Moore, economist beset by legal and financial issues, pulls out following multiple reports by the Guardian on his past

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8.26pm BST

While Trump has often claimed to want to provide Americans healthcare, his administration has been pushing to gut the Affordable Care Act, best known as “Obamacare...