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Biden hails Carter’s ‘enduring attribute: character, character, character’
Joe Biden began by noting that he may have been the first senator to endorse Jimmy Carter’s candidacy for president in 1976, “based on what I believe is Jimmy Carter’s enduring attribute: character, character, character”.
“Character, I believe, is destiny. Destiny in our lives, and, quite frankly, destiny in the life of the nation. It’s an accumulation of a million things built on character that leads to a good life in a decent country,” Biden said.
“Jimmy Carter’s friendship taught me, and through his life, taught me, that strength of character is more than title or the power we hold. It’s the strength to understand that everyone should be treated with dignity, respect, that everyone, and I mean everyone, deserves an even shot.”
Key events
Supreme court to hear oral arguments on law that could ban TikTok in the US
Tomorrow, the supreme court will hear oral arguments over a law that requires TikTok to divest its US business by 19 January or face a ban in the country.
Many in Washington, Republicans and Democrats alike, view the popular social media network as a national security threat over concerns it could be used by the Chinese government to harvest the data of American users. Donald Trump, however, has said he wants to keep TikTok available. Here’s more on tomorrow’s hearing:
Speaking of Trump, the president-elect has appealed to the supreme court to block his sentencing scheduled for tomorrow in New York, where he was last year convicted of 34 felony business charges for covering up a hush money payment. Yesterday, reports emerged that he spoke with conservative justice Samuel Alito shortly before lodging his appeal. Here’s more on that:
Sure enough, the Senate has voted to advance the Laken Riley Act, with eight Democrats in favor of the bill, Reuters reports.
Most legislation in Congress’s upper chamber requires at least 60 votes to pass, due to the existence of the filibuster. While Republicans frequently propose bills to crack down on undocumented immigrants that attract little bipartisan support, Democrats – particularly those representing states or that voted for Donald Trump in November – have come around to this backing this bill.
The bill will now be debated, and Democrats have said they intend to offer unspecified amendments before another vote is taken on passing the measure.
Top Senate Democrat says party will support bill targeting undocumented immigrants accused of theft
Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer says he expects some of his lawmakers to vote for a bill that will require the detention of undocumented immigrants accused of theft.
“I expect that this bill will have enough votes from both parties to proceed. If we get on the bill, Democrats want to have a robust debate where we can offer amendments and improve this bill,” Schumer said in remarks on the Senate floor.
The willingness of some Democrats to back the Laken Riley Act – named after a Georgia college student murdered by a Venezuelan who was in the United States illegally – underscores the pressure on the party over immigration, after Donald Trump made concerns over undocumented migrants a central part of his campaign to return to the White House.
The measure attracted votes from 48 Democrats when it passed the House earlier this week. Here’s more on the bill:
Biden cancels trip to Italy, Vatican City as California wildfires rage, convenes emergency meeting
Joe Biden has canceled a trip to Italy and the Vatican City he was scheduled to embark on today in response to the wildfires ravaging Los Angeles county.
“After returning this evening from Los Angeles, where earlier today he had met with police, fire and emergency personnel fighting the historic fires raging in the area and approved a Major Disaster declaration for California, President Biden made the decision to cancel his upcoming trip to Italy to remain focused on directing the full federal response in the days ahead,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced yesterday.
The White House just announced Biden will convene a meeting of senior officials at 4.30pm to discuss his administration’s response to the fires. For the latest on the blazes, follow our live blog:
The House has voted 243-140 to pass a bill that sanctions the international criminal court over its arrest warrant for Israeli leaders including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, NBCLA’s Jacob Wheeler reports.
According to Wheeler, 45 Democrats sided with Republicans in voting “yes” to the bill.
The vote comes amid American lawmakers’ attempts to defend Israel and its leaders over its war waged across the Gaza strip which has killed over 46,000 Palestinians since 7 October 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel and killed over 1,200 Israelis.
Last June, 93 member states said that the ICC must be allowed to carry out its work “without intimidation” following revelations of Israeli interference.
Pennsylvania’s Democratic senator John Fetterman said on Thursday that he has expected an invitation to meet with Donald Trump, CBS reports.
According to the outlet, Fetterman, who will be the first sitting Democratic senator to meet with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort, said:
“That is the plan. Yes, we are going to have a conversation.”
He went on to add:
“I think that one, he’s the president, or he will be officially… And I think it’s pretty reasonable that if the president would like to have a conversation — or invite someone to have a conversation — to have it. And no one is my gatekeeper.”
As Donald Trump attended Jimmy Carter’s funeral service at the National Cathedral in Washington DC on Thursday, New York’s court of appeals declined to block his sentencing in his hush-money case.
The Guardian’s Joan Greve and agencies report:
One judge on the New York court of appeals issued a brief order declining to grant a hearing to Trump’s legal team.
“Your proposed order to show cause was reviewed by Judge Rivera, who declined to sign the order,” the court’s chief clerk wrote to Todd Blanche, one of Trump’s lawyers. “As a result of the Judge’s determination, no motion is pending in the above title at the Court of Appeals.”
The news comes less than a week after the judge who presided over Trump’s trial, Juan Merchan, denied the president-elect’s motion to dismiss the case. Trump’s legal team had argued that the presidential transition process should be allowed to continue without the disruption of a criminal sentencing hearing, but Merchan disputed that logic.
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The day so far
Joe Biden and the four living ex-presidents, Donald Trump among them, met at the National Cathedral in Washington DC for Jimmy Carter’s memorial service, the first time such a gathering had occurred since George HW Bush’s funeral in 2018. The president delivered a eulogy for Carter, in which he hailed Carter’s character, which he called his “enduring tribute”. So, too, did Carter family members, and the sons of his vice-president Walter Mondale and Gerald Ford, the Republican president Carter defeated in 1976. Carter’s casket is now on its way to his hometown Plains, Georgia, where he will be buried at his home after a private funeral for family later today.
Here’s what else has happened today so far:
Politico reports that Michelle Obama is in Hawaii, and missed Jimmy Carter’s memorial service because she had a scheduling conflict.
She was the lone former first lady not to attend, leaving Barack Obama to sit next to Donald Trump. The two former presidents – the latter of whom will be back in power soon – shared what looked to be some amiable conversation before the memorial started.
Trudeau, Brown and Guterres among foreign dignitaries and at Carter memorial service
Jimmy Carter’s memorial service was attended by a host of foreign officials, including Canada’s outgoing prime minister Justin Trudeau, United Nations secretary general António Guterres and Britain’s Prince Edward.
Former British prime minister Gordon Brown was also in attendance:
Pallbearers move Carter’s casket from National Cathedral ahead of burial in Georgia
Military pallbearers have picked up Jimmy Carter’s casket and taken it out of the National Cathedral. Joe Biden and the former presidents stood with their hands over their hearts as they passed.
Carter’s casket is now scheduled to be driven to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland and then flown to an army airfield in Georgia. There, it will be Secret Service employees who protected the former president.
This afternoon, Carter’s family will hold a private funeral at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown Plains, where he taught Sunday school. Carter will then be buried at his home.
Joe Biden reached out and touched Jimmy Carter’s casket as he walked back to his seat after finishing his eulogy.