California Sen. Laphonza Butler urged President Joe Biden on Wednesday to consider the fate of thousands of U.S. employees of TikTok hours after he signed legislation that will force a sale of the app or ban it from the U.S.

The forced divestiture of TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, was part of a legislative package that included military aid to Ukraine. It passed the Senate in a 79-18 vote, which included support from Butler.

Butler, a former labor leader appointed in October by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill the seat of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, said the administration should weigh the consequences of the legislation on the company’s approximately 8,000 workers, who are mostly in California and New York.

“Their employment and the livelihoods of their families hang in the balance,” she wrote.

Read More »

NEW YORK — Speaker Mike Johnson said he will call Joe Biden and demand the president send the National Guard to Columbia University — an escalation after protesters constantly shouted him and other Republicans down during a visit to the campus Wednesday.

Johnson, flanked by GOP lawmakers from New York and elsewhere, repeated his calls for the university’s embattled president to step down. But protesters shouted “who are you people?” "Mike, you suck!" and chanted “free Palestine,” making it almost impossible for the gaggle of reporters and others to hear the speaker.

“This is dangerous. This is not the First Amendment, this is not free expression,” Johnson said.

He later added: “If this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard.”

Read More »

Police arresting students. Helicopters buzzing over New York City. Demonstrators shouting and lawmakers condemning university officials.

Videos of the campus protests, shared widely on TikTok, X and elsewhere, are spreading on social media and show the most visceral aspects of the demonstrations. Much like the war in the Middle East itself, the images can inform and inflame viewers — and serve as a reminder that in the modern age, videos spread on social media can shape public opinion.

Videos from New York show tension spilling off campus

Aerial videos shot from above the city show hundreds of students have set up an encampment on Columbia’s campus, including dozens of tents where they have been sleeping and eating for a week. New York University had an encampment of its own but it was cleared out by police on Monday night. Students say the demonstrations are to show their support for Palestinians in Gaza and to pressure their universities to “divest all economic and academic stakes in Israel.”

Read More »

Despite the time and political capital spent on the $60 billion aid for Ukraine, some Biden administration officials are skeptical it’s enough for Ukraine to win its two-year war with Russia.

Battlefield dynamics have shifted a lot in the last few months, partly because Ukraine ran low on weaponry and ammunition while Congress debated authorizing more aid, according to three U.S. officials, all granted anonymity to detail sensitive internal thinking. During that period, Ukraine struggled to maintain eastern territory, though Russia didn’t make significant gains, either.

Russia maintains a manpower and weapons advantage, and it would take a lot to reverse months and years of territorial losses. U.S. officials also ask questions about Ukraine’s own tactics and priorities, especially after Kyiv’s counteroffensive failed, sapping forces of materiel and morale.

“The immediate goal is to stop Ukrainian losses and help Ukraine regain momentum and turn the tide on the battlefield. After that, the goal is to help Ukraine begin to regain its territory,” said one of the officials. “Will they have what they need to win? Ultimately, yes. But it’s not a guarantee that they will. Military operations are much more complicated than that.”

Read More »

The Biden administration last month secretly shipped long-range missiles to Ukraine for the first time in the two-year war — and Kyiv has already used the weapon twice to strike deep behind Russian lines.

In March, the U.S. quietly approved the transfer of a number of Army Tactical Missile Systems with a range of nearly 200 miles, said a senior Biden administration official and two U.S. officials, allowing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s forces to put at risk more Russian targets inside Ukrainian sovereign territory.

The administration will include additional long-range ATACMS in a new $1 billion package of military aid President Joe Biden approved on Wednesday, one of the U.S. officials said.

The provision of the long-range version of the ATACMS ends a lengthy drama in which Ukraine clamored for years to receive the weapon, driving a wedge between Washington and Kyiv. The U.S. quietly sent the medium-range version of the missile in October, but Ukraine continued to press for a weapon that would allow it to strike farther behind Russia’s lines.

Read More »

President Joe Biden on Wednesday praised passage of the long-awaited $95 billion aid bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and pledged that the money would quickly move to its intended destinations.

Speaking hours after the conclusion of months of a painstaking congressional standoff, the president was both celebratory and stern. He argued that the bill should have been done sooner and warned about what could have happened had it not passed at all.

He also said that the fresh aid reaffirmed America’s support of Ukraine, highlighting the threats facing Kyiv. The U.S., he added, will begin sending the first shipment of equipment, including air defense munitions, artillery, rocket systems and armored vehicles, in “a few hours.”

Biden also said the bill included “vital” support for Israel, noting that its passage comes less than two weeks after Iran launched an unsuccessful attack on the country. But he added that the bill will also increase humanitarian assistance to the “innocent people of Gaza,” warning that Israel must ensure the support reaches Palestinians without delay.

Read More »

President Joe Biden signed a bill Wednesday forcing TikTok to find a new owner within a year or face a ban — setting the course for what’s likely to be a drawn-out legal battle with potential political costs for the president.

His endorsement capped a nearly four-year effort spanning two administrations to cut off China’s access to the video app used by 170 million Americans.

The Senate voted Tuesday to pass the TikTok bill as part of a broader foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

A coming battle: "This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court,” TikTok said in a statement after the president signed the bill. The company claims it violates the First Amendment rights of its users.

Read More »

The battle for the House will be determined by a smaller number of races than it has in at least the past two decades.

There are roughly 30 truly competitive seats, split about evenly between Democratic and Republican-held districts, according to a POLITICO analysis based on fundraising data, candidate recruitment and interviews with a dozen party strategists, incumbents and challengers.

And with just over six months until Election Day, neither Democrats nor Republicans have a clear edge in the fight for control of the chamber. Anyone expecting either party to emerge from 2024 with a significant and easier-to-govern majority should think again.

“Both sides know that it's gonna be an incredibly close election,” said Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a former House GOP campaign chair. “Post-redistricting and with all the polarization in the country, both sides have a pretty high floor. Both sides have a pretty low ceiling. So I don't think we'll see majorities in the 240s and 50s.”

Read More »

The Biden administration is preparing a roughly $1 billion package of military aid for Ukraine, as the Senate is poised to pass a bill to provide urgently needed funding for Kyiv, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.

The tranche will include artillery, air defenses and armored vehicles — Bradley Fighting Vehicles, as well as potentially older Humvees and M113 armored personnel carriers POLITICO first reported on Monday. The Pentagon is still putting the finishing touches on the package, but the total will be roughly $1 billion, said the people, one of whom is a U.S. official. Both were granted anonymity to speak ahead of an announcement.

The package the U.S. is working on is significantly larger than the most recent tranche of weapons authorized for Ukraine in March, which totaled $300 million. That was only the second package the Defense Department was able to send Kyiv since December, when it ran out of funding to support the war effort.

The Senate put its recess on hold to vote Tuesday to begin votes on legislation that would provide $95 billion for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in total.

Read More »

Student Gaza solidarity protests are engulfing some of the nation’s top colleges as university presidents, U.S. lawmakers and even President Joe Biden struggle to quell the growing unrest amid fierce partisan blowback.

The protests, which began against the backdrop of Columbia University’s prominent campus lawn last week but in the past two days began to extend into New York City and spread to colleges across the country, are upending the final weeks of the spring semester as leaders scramble to respond.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was scheduled to meet with college administrators Tuesday to share best practices, including using security personnel to ensure individuals who don’t attend their schools do not enter campus, as Columbia and New York University students planned demonstrations outside their campus borders.

“We should address this when it is just a spark,” Adams told reporters during an unrelated press conference Tuesday. “Let’s not wait until it’s a blazing fire.”

Read More »

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania might be the most important state for both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in November. But with both of them having locked up their parties’ nominations already, the most interesting primaries in the Keystone State on Tuesday will be down the ballot.

In Pittsburgh, Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) is the first member of the progressive ‘Squad’ to face a primary challenge this year, although a victory for her seems more than likely at this point. And in a scattering of other districts, Democrats and Republicans will pick their nominees for potentially competitive general elections.

One congressional race is already set: the state’s already-expensive Senate race between Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat, and GOP businessperson Dave McCormick, who are both unopposed in their respective primaries.

There are also competitive primaries for state offices, and even the dormant presidential race might reveal some things about the key Pennsylvania suburbs. Here are five things we're watching tonight:

Read More »

MIAMI — President Joe Biden probably won’t carry Florida in November. But he hopes the state serves as a warning to voters elsewhere about what could happen if he doesn't win.

Biden plans to denounce Florida’s policies, especially a six-week abortion ban taking effect next week, during a campaign event in Tampa on Tuesday. It’s just one example of how the campaign in the coming months will try to designate the now conservative-leaning state as “ground zero for Trump’s MAGA blueprint,” citing not just abortion but also looser gun laws and book removals from school libraries.

Playing no small part into the boogeyman narrative for the Biden campaign is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed the abortion ban into law last year as he and Trump vied for the GOP presidential nomination.

Biden knows he has to spend time in Florida to show how "extreme" conditions have gotten in the state under DeSantis, said state Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried. "He understands that if we're going to fight back against the extremism of the MAGA Republicans, that you got to come to the belly of the beast," Fried said.

Read More »

Republicans are waking up to the reality that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could sink their standard-bearer just as easily as he could hurt President Joe Biden, after a pair of new polls showed the presence of third-party candidates on the ballot might not necessarily benefit former President Donald Trump.

Even Trump is acknowledging his potential problem.

“They say he hurts Biden. I'm not sure that that's true, and I think he probably hurts [us] both,” Trump said of Kennedy in a radio interview Monday night. “But he might hurt Biden a little bit more, you don't know."

For months, Democrats have been on the defensive over the renegade Kennedy, with Biden surrogates warning openly about the effect Kennedy could have on the election and the Democratic National Committee going so far as to set up an operation solely to counter the threat of third-party and independent candidates.

Read More »

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is pulling his support for Columbia University over the treatment of Jewish students and faculty during pro-Palestinian protests at the campus in New York City.

The announcement by Kraft, a former Columbia student and major donor, adds to pressure on the university, whose president is facing calls by members of Congress to resign.

"I am deeply saddened at the virulent hate that continues to grow on campus and throughout our country," Kraft said in a statement through his Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. "I am no longer confident that Columbia can protect its students and staff and I am not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken."

The businessperson helped kickstart funding for an $11.5 million building with a $3 million donation to construct what would become the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life in 2000, and he’s donated millions more since.

Read More »

President Joe Biden on Monday gave his first public remarks on anti-Israel protests roiling college campuses.

But in condemning the actions of demonstrators who he deemed “antisemitic,” Biden also chastised those who didn’t empathize with the suffering of those in Gaza.

“I condemn the antisemitic protests,” the president told reporters en route back from a speech he had delivered to commemorate Earth Day. “That’s why I have set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.”

Asked a second question about whether Columbia University’s president should resign, Biden said he wasn’t sure. “I will have to find out more about that,” he said.

Read More »

Republican Sens. Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley called on President Joe Biden to send the National Guard to Columbia University as pro-Palestinian demonstrations that saw over 100 people arrested last week roil the campus.

The senators issued the appeal for federal action as Monday marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. Over the weekend, a prominent rabbi at the school urged Jewish students to leave the Upper Manhattan campus amid heated protests, and Columbia University announced on Monday that it would hold classes remotely.

Cotton (R-Ark.) blamed Democrats for the protests in a social media post Monday morning, writing that “the radical anti-Israel protestors have always been part of the Democratic Party’s base.”

“The nascent pogroms at Columbia have to stop TODAY, before our Jewish brethren sit for Passover Seder tonight,” Cotton wrote on X. “If Eric Adams won’t send the NYPD and Kathy Hochul won’t send the National Guard, Joe Biden has a duty to take charge and break up these mobs.”

Read More »

The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the Biden administration acted legally when it implemented a crackdown on the sale of do-it-yourself “ghost gun” kits.

The justices announced Monday that they will take up a regulation Attorney General Merrick Garland issued in 2022 that sought to consider such kits as firearms so they can’t be used to make untraceable weapons sold without background checks and frequently used in crimes.

The New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s injunction against the rule, concluding that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms appeared to have exceeded its statutory authority when trying to rein in the circulation of ghost guns.

Last August, the Supreme Court voted, 5-4, to allow the Biden administration to implement the regulation while legal challenges to it continued. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberals in granting the federal government’s request to proceed with the rule.

Read More »

Read More »

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent decades as an environmental lawyer who sued polluters and founded a worldwide movement devoted to protecting waterways.

Now he’s running for president on a climate platform designed to appeal to supporters of both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump — but one that also walks away from some of Kennedy’s own past stances on issues such as fracking.

The independent candidate is staking out some positions well to Biden’s left — such as calling for a permanent ban on natural gas exports. But he criticizes the size of Biden’s mammoth subsidies for green energy, has not committed to keeping the administration rules aimed at cutting greenhouse gas pollution from vehicles and power plants, and hired a communications director who criticized “hysteria” around global warming.

He’s adorning these positions with the kind of anti-big-government, anti-corporate rhetoric and conspiracy theories that flourished among populists of all stripes during the Covid-19 pandemic — including many Trump supporters.

Read More »

Joe Biden has largely shied away from lengthy sit downs with national news outlets — but he made an exception for Univision last week.

The interview with the Hispanic media giant wasn’t just a tit-for-tat with Donald Trump, who had appeared on the network months prior. It was an implicit admission from Biden that he has to do more to reach Hispanic voters who have soured on him.

Biden’s campaign is ramping up efforts to reach this highly important group of voters. The campaign has placed ads on ESPN Deportes and LaLiga, to reach Latino voters tuning in to catch soccer games. Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris conducted a slew of Hispanic media interviews during respective swings out West last month. And the campaign has begun using a new app called Reach to connect with Latino voters.

“I think that Latino voters know how much is at stake,” said Michelle Villegas, the Biden campaign’s Latino engagement director. “But there is an information gap. Our job on this campaign is to reach folks and connect the dots.”

Read More »