Politics

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein is returning to Washington on Tuesday after a months-long absence due to illness, her spokesman said, restoring Democrats’ 51-49 majority to full strength.

The 89-year-old lawmaker had been sidelined since February as she recovered from a bout of shingles, which had led to calls from some fellow Democrats that she step aside and allow someone else to take her place.

“I’m glad that my friend Dianne is back in the Senate and ready to roll up her sleeves and get to work,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “After talking with her multiple times over the past few weeks, it’s clear she’s back where she wants to be and ready to deliver for California.”

Feinstein was first elected in 1992, nicknamed the “year of the women,” which saw the number of women U.S. senators double and California become the first state represented by two women: Feinstein and fellow Democrat Barbara Boxer.

Feinstein had previously served as mayor of San Francisco.

Feinstein’s absence had deadlocked the Senate Judiciary Committee she sits on, slowing Democrats’ drive to approve some of President Joe Biden’s most controversial nominees to vacant federal court positions, leading to a partial Republican blockade.

Her extended leave had prompted some Democrats, notably Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to call for her resignation.

Democrats’ worries were heightened as lawmakers have been arguing over raising the nation’s borrowing authority. Feinstein could provide crucial support for whatever debt limit bill comes before the Senate, which would avert a first-ever default on U.S. debt.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Additional reporting by Jasper Ward and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Scott Malone, Alistair Bell, Tim Ahmann and Leslie Adler)

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By Jack Queen and Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump must pay $5 million in damages for sexually abusing magazine writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s and then defaming her by branding her a liar, a jury decided on Tuesday.

“Today, the world finally knows the truth,” Carroll said in a statement. “This victory is not just for me but for every woman who has suffered because she was not believed.”

The former U.S. president, campaigning to retake the White House in 2024, will appeal, his lawyer Joseph Tacopina told reporters outside the Manhattan federal courthouse.

Carroll, 79, testified during the civil trial that Trump, 76, raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan in either 1995 or 1996, then harmed her reputation by writing in an October 2022 post on his Truth Social platform that her claims were a “complete con job,” “a hoax” and “a lie.”

Trump was absent throughout the trial which began on April 25. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called the verdict a “disgrace” and said, “I have absolutely no idea who this woman is.”

Because it was a civil case, Trump faces no criminal consequences and, as such, there was never a threat of prison.

The jury, required to reach a unanimous verdict, deliberated for just under three hours. Its six men and three women awarded Carroll $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages, but Trump will not have to pay so long as the case is on appeal.

In April, Trump gave election regulators only the rough estimates of his wealth that are required in financial disclosures, listing over a dozen properties as worth “over $50 million” each.

‘CORE PRO-TRUMP VOTERS ARE NOT GOING TO CHANGE’

President from 2017 to 2021, Trump is the front-runner in opinion polls for the Republican presidential nomination and has shown an uncanny ability to weather controversies that might sink other politicians.

It seems unlikely in America’s polarized political climate that the civil verdict will have an impact on Trump’s core supporters, who view his legal woes as part of a concerted effort by opponents to undermine him.

“The folks that are anti-Trump are going to remain that way, the core pro-Trump voters are not going to change, and the ambivalent ones I just don’t think are going to be moved by this type of thing,” said Charlie Gerow, a Republican strategist in Pennsylvania.

Any negative impact is likely to be small and limited to suburban women and moderate Republicans, Gerow said.

Trump has cited the Carroll trial in campaign fundraising emails as evidence of what he portrays as a Democratic plot. He has said Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist and a registered Democrat, made up the allegations to try to increase sales of her 2019 memoir and to hurt him politically.

His poll numbers improved after he was charged last month with falsifying business records over a hush money payment to a porn star before his victory in the 2016 presidential election.

The first U.S. president past or present to be criminally charged, Trump has pleaded not guilty and said the charges are politically motivated.

Lis Smith, a Democratic strategist, said it remained to be seen whether the verdict in Carroll’s case would make Trump “unpalatable” to Republican voters beyond his base, prompting them to coalesce around another candidate.

The trial featured testimony from former People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff, who told jurors that Trump cornered her at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in 2005 and forcibly kissed her for a “few minutes.” Another woman, Jessica Leeds, testified that Trump kissed her, groped her and put his hand up her skirt on a flight in 1979.

Jurors also heard excerpts from a 2005 “Access Hollywood” video in which Trump says women let him “grab ’em by the pussy.”

“Historically, that’s true, with stars … if you look over the last million years,” Trump said in an October 2022 video deposition played in court. He has repeatedly denied allegations of sexual misconduct.

TRUMP MISTAKES CARROLL FOR EX-WIFE

Carroll testified that she bumped into Trump at Bergdorf’s and agreed to help him pick out a gift for another woman. The two looked at lingerie before he coaxed her into a dressing room, slammed her head into a wall, pulled down her tights and penetrated her, she testified. Carroll said she could not remember the precise date or year the alleged rape occurred.

Jurors were tasked with deciding whether Trump raped, sexually abused or forcibly touched Carroll, and were separately asked if Trump defamed Carroll. The jurors found Trump sexually abused her but not that he raped her.

Before the jurors began deliberating, Judge Lewis Kaplan defined rape for them as non-consensual “sexual intercourse” through “forcible compulsion.” He described sexual abuse as non-consensual “sexual contact” through forcible compulsion.

Jurors awarded Carroll $2 million in compensatory damages and $20,000 in punitive damages for her battery claim, and $2.7 million in compensatory and $280,000 in punitive damages for her defamation claim.

Trump’s legal team attacked the plausibility of Carroll’s account including why she had never reported the matter to police or screamed during the alleged incident.

Two of Carroll’s friends said that she told them about the alleged rape at the time but swore them to secrecy because she feared that Trump would use his fame and wealth to retaliate if she came forward.

Carroll told jurors she decided to break her silence in 2017 after rape allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein prompted scores of women to come forward with accounts of sexual violence by powerful men. She went public with her account while Trump was president.

She said Trump’s public denials wrecked her career and instigated a campaign of vicious online harassment by his supporters.

While Trump did not testify at the trial, a video clip from the October 2022 deposition showed him mistaking Carroll for one of his former wives in a black-and-white photo among several people at an event.

“It’s Marla,” Trump said in the deposition, referring to his second wife Marla Maples. Previously Trump had said he could not have raped Carroll because she was “not my type.”

(Reporting by Jack Queen and Luc Cohen in New York; Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel, Nathan Layne, Jarrett Renshaw, Jasper Ward, Eric Beech and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Will Dunham, Noeleen Walder and Howard Goller)

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By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden and top lawmakers agreed on Tuesday to further talks aimed at breaking a deadlock over raising the $31.4 trillion U.S. debt limit, with just three weeks before the country may be forced into an unprecedented default.

After about an hour of talks in the Oval Office, Biden, a Democrat, and House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, committed their aides to daily discussions about areas of possible agreement as a default looms as soon as June 1.

Biden, McCarthy and the three other top congressional leaders were set to meet again on Friday.

Biden called the talks “productive” and appeared to offer Republicans some possible compromises, including taking a “hard look” for the first time at clawing back unspent coronavirus relief funds to reduce government spending.

But he repeated that Republicans must take the threat of default off the table. And he did not rule out eventually invoking the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, an untested approach that would seek to declare the debt limit unconstitutional. Doing so would require litigation, he said, but is an option he may study in the future.

“There’s a lot of politics and posturing, and that’s going to continue for a while,” Biden said, but political leaders are “getting to work.”

“Everyone in the meeting understood the risk of default,” Biden said.

McCarthy emphasized a lack of progress after the meeting. “I didn’t see any new movement,” McCarthy told reporters, complaining that Biden didn’t agree to talks until time was running out. “That’s not a way to govern,” he said.

But he did say Biden indicated that he was open to discussing reforms to the permitting process for new energy projects as part of the talks.

Economists warn that a lengthy default could send the American economy into a deep recession with soaring unemployment while destabilizing a global financial system built on U.S. bonds. Investors are bracing for impact.

Biden is calling on lawmakers to raise the federal government’s self-imposed borrowing limit without conditions. McCarthy, whose party has a slim majority in the House, has said his chamber will not approve any deal that doesn’t dramatically cut spending to address a growing budget deficit and signaled that he doesn’t see a short-term fix.

Past debt ceiling fights have typically ended with a hastily arranged agreement in the final hours of negotiations, thus avoiding a default. In 2011, the scramble prompted a historic downgrade of the country’s top-notch credit rating. Veterans of that battle warn the current situation is riskier because political divides have widened.

Tuesday’s meeting was the first between Biden and McCarthy since Feb 1. It was closely watched ahead of what is expected to be a fraught period in Washington with the approach of June, when the U.S. Treasury predicts the country could be forced to default on some debts.

Earlier Tuesday, McCarthy appeared to close the door to a short-term solution that’s been widely discussed on Capitol Hill: lifting the debt ceiling through September to allow more time for agreement. Biden specifically said after the meeting that he was not ruling out such a short-term arrangement.

INVESTORS WATCH CLOSELY

Neil Bradley, top policy official at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business association, said it was positive that the two sides would continue meeting. “But we cannot stress enough that time is short, with each passing day increasing the risk for a misstep resulting in a default.”

Few countries in the world have debt ceiling laws, and Washington’s periodic lifting of the borrowing limit merely allows it to pay for spending Congress has already authorized.

Biden would agree to a separate discussion on the budget but not tied to the debt ceiling, the White House said.

The start of active talks could nonetheless soothe the nerves of investors who last week forced the federal government to pay its highest interest ever for a one-month debt issue.

Prices for short-term Treasury bills fell on Tuesday as investors sold off debt that could come due around the time the U.S. debt limit could be hit. [MKTS/GLOB]

Graphic: World markets hunker down as US debt ceiling looms – https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-DEBT/xmpjkyowovr/graphic.jpg

Biden’s foreign travel plans and House and Senate recesses mean there are just seven days when all three parties are scheduled to be in town before June 1.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday said a failure to raise the debt limit would hurt the U.S. economy and weaken the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Treasury cash is dwindling as the extraordinary measures it is taking are exhausted.

Graphic: Cash at the Treasury gets depleted as the ‘X-date’ looms – https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-DEBT/movakordova/graphic.jpg

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, David Morgan, Moira Warburton, Katharine Jackson, and Nandita Bose; Writing by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Heather Timmons, Alistair Bell, Leslie Adler, Jonathan Oatis and Cynthia Osterman)

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Speaking at the White House, Biden described the talks as “productive” even though House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said after the high-stakes Oval Office meeting that he “didn’t see any new movement” toward resolving the stalemate.

Lawmakers and their staffs were to continue discussions as soon as Tuesday evening on the annual federal budget at Biden’s encouragement. Biden and the congressional leaders are to meet again on Friday.

After the hour-long discussion in the Oval Office, Biden said he was “absolutely certain” that the country could avert a default, declaring that failure to meet America’s obligations “is not an option.”

Still, time is short. The government is bumping up against its legal limit for borrowing and will not be able to pay all of its bills as soon as June 1 if Congress doesn’t agree to raise the debt ceiling. That failure would send the country into default with wide-reaching economic impacts at home and around the world.

Republicans came to the White House hoping to negotiate sweeping cuts to federal spending in exchange for allowing new borrowing to avoid default. Biden, on the other hand, reinforced his opposition to allowing the country’s full faith and credit to be held “hostage” to negotiations — while affirming his willingness to hold talks on the budget only after default is no longer a threat.

“I told congressional leaders that I’m prepared to begin a separate discussion about my budget, spending priorities, but not under the threat of default,” Biden said.

Outside the White House, McCarthy said, “I asked the president this simple question, Does he not believe there’s any place we could find savings.”

As the president welcomed McCarthy, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, he had quipped to reporters, “We’re going to get started, solve all the world’s problems.”

Biden described the meeting’s tone as “very measured and low key,” adding, “occasionally there would be a little bit of an assertion that maybe was a little over the top from the speaker.”

He especially took issue with McCarthy’s branding as a lie the Democrats’ assertion that the Republicans’ budget restraints would hurt veterans.

Still, Biden added, “I trust Kevin will try to do what he says.”

There seemed to be at least a bit of daylight between McConnell, who has let his House counterpart take the lead in negotiations and backed him up ahead of the White House meeting, and McCarthy.

The Senate leader categorically said, “The United States is not going to default. It never has and it never will.” The speaker, though, simply said, “I’ve done everything in my power to make sure we will not default.”

Democrats said there is room to “come together” on spending cuts as part of the budget process, but quickly jumped on McCarthy’s refusal to rule out the possibility of default, with Schumer saying the Republican is “greatly endangering America.”

“To use the risk of default, with all the dangers that has for the American people as a hostage and say it’s my way or no way, are mostly my way or no way, is dangerous,” Schumer said.

McCarthy said Biden had directed their staffs to continue discussions, and that the leaders themselves would convene again in person on Friday at the White House.

While Biden ruled out default, he also all but dismissed trying to unilaterally prevent it, saying that he didn’t believe invoking the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which says the validity of the federal debt shall not be questioned, was a solution to the current impasse.

White House lawyers will pursue the idea further, he added, but “the problem is it would have to be litigated.”

Before the White House meeting, both McCarthy and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted it would be simple to avert default — if only the other side capitulated.

The chasm between these opposite postures had fomented uncertainty that is roiling financial markets and threatens to turn into a tidal wave that swamps the country’s economy. Default, officials say, would have sweeping impacts, threatening to disrupt Social Security payments to retirees, destabilize global markets and tilt the nation into a potentially debilitating recession.

Last month, House Republicans passed a sweeping bill to slash spending, an opening offer in negotiations. But that legislation has no chance in the Democratic Senate and the White House has threatened to veto it. Republicans hope that bill would achieve $4.5 trillion in deficit savings through cuts in spending, eliminating tax breaks for investing in clean energy, and reversing Biden’s plans to reduce the burdens of student loan debt.

Referring to the House bill, McCarthy said, “We both said default is not an option — but only one of us took action.”

Already looking past the meeting, Biden on Wednesday is to go to Westchester County, New York, where he plans to deliver a speech on how proposed spending cuts approved by House Republicans could hurt teachers, older adults needing food aid and veterans seeking health care.

It’s part of a broader campaign by Biden to try to paint the Republican cuts as draconian. Aides believe that message both strengthens his position in talks with the GOP and boosts his nascent 2024 reelection effort. His Wednesday visit will be to a congressional district won by Biden in 2020 but now represented by a Republican, Rep. Mike Lawler.

Because the House Republican bill does not specifically spell out which federal programs would be cut, Democrats have gone on offense warning of steep hits to popular programs. The Democratic-aligned group House Majority Forward announced a $1 million campaign Tuesday amplifying such cuts, while the House Republicans’ campaign committee countered with its own effort portraying Democrats as “addicted to spending.”

McCarthy rejected as he said his caucus would take steps to increase funding for veterans despite their overall proposal. “First of all, cutting the veterans is a lie,” he said.

While calling for a “clean” increase to the debt limit, Biden has said he is open to discussion about how to reduce the federal deficit. His budget plan would trim deficits by nearly $3 trillion over a decade, mainly through tax increases on the wealthy and changes such as letting the government negotiate over prescription drug prices.

In response to McCarthy’s demand to claw back some unspent funds from his sweeping COVID-19 relief package, Biden said he would “take a hard look” at doing so independent of the talks to raise the debt limit.

“We don’t need it all, but the question is what obligations were there made, commitments, made, money not dispersed, etc.,” Biden said, adding: “It’s on the table.”

Biden added the debt limit should be raised for “more than a year, so that we can move things along.” The House GOP bill raised the possibility of another showdown over the government’s borrowing authority in the heat of a presidential election next year.

“Securing a bipartisan path forward to raise the debt ceiling could not be more urgent,” said Josh Bolten, the head of the Business Roundtable, a group that represents CEOs. “The cost of a default, or even the threat of a default, is simply too high.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce suggested its own priorities for a swift deal Tuesday, saying “there are no two better places to start than permitting reform and an agreement on spending caps.”

Biden’s refusal to negotiate on the debt limit is informed by his first-hand experience in 2011, when he was Barack Obama’s vice president and the administration made painful concessions to Republicans in an effort to avoid default. Biden has told aides it’s an experience he refuses to repeat, not just for himself, but for future presidents.

Notably, though, the administration has not ruled out a short-term increase in the debt limit that would align the deadline to increase federal borrowing authority with the talks on government spending that must be resolved by Sept. 30.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden and top Republican lawmakers met face-to-face on Tuesday as a deadlock over raising the $31.4 trillion U.S. debt limit threatened to push the country into an unprecedented default in as soon as three weeks if Congress does not act.

Biden is calling on lawmakers to raise the federal government’s self-imposed borrowing limit without conditions. Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said his chamber will not approve any deal that doesn’t cut spending to address a growing budget deficit.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN

“I had a productive meeting with congressional leadership about the path forward, to make sure America does not default on its debt.”

“We agreed to continue our discussions and we’re going to meet again on Friday. In the meantime, our staffs are going to meet today and daily between now and then and everyone in the meeting understood the risk of default.”

“I made clear during our meeting that default is not an option.” “I told congressional leaders I’m prepared to begin a separate discussion about my budget.”

Biden also did not rule out eventually invoking the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, an untested approach that would seek to declare the debt limit unconstitutional. Doing so would require litigation, he said, but it’s an option he may study in the future.

“I have been considering the 14th amendment,” Biden said. “It would have to be litigated.”

“Over these last few days and weeks, there’s a lot of politics, posturing and gamesmanship and it’s going to continue for a while.”

On canceling trip to the G7: “I’m still committed but obviously this is the single most important thing that’s on the agenda.”

“If somehow we got down to the wire and we still hadn’t resolved this,” and the due date was during the trip “I would not go. I would stay until this gets finished.” 

KEVIN MCCARTHY, SPEAKER, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

“Everybody in this meeting, reiterated the positions they were at. I didn’t see any new movement. President said the staff should get back together. But I was very clear with the president, we have now just two weeks to go.””Unfortunately, the president has waited 97 days without ever meeting. Every day I asked ‘could we meet?’ And he said no.”

“I asked him numerous times ‘are there some places we could find savings’? He wouldn’t give me any. So I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to find them.” “I would hope that he would be willing to negotiate for the next two weeks so we could actually solve this problem.”

CHUCK SCHUMER, SENATE MAJORITY LEADER

Schumer said legislative and White House staff will begin meeting as soon as Tuesday night to seek common ground on a potential appropriations package, but he warned: “The disagreements are wide.”

“We explicitly asked speaker McCarthy would he take default off the table? He refused.”

“Instead of him giving us a plan to remove default, he gave us a plan to take default hostage and that is a shame because that makes things more complicated.”

“The president asked the people from all four of the leaders to start sitting down as early as tonight, certainly tomorrow, to see whether we can come to an agreement on the budget and the appropriations process. There are probably some places we can agree and some places we can compromise, hopefully but that has to occur as part of the budget appropriations process.”

MITCH McCONNELL, SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADER

“We ought to have at least some restraint on our spending related to the debt ceiling, and this is not unusual. We’ve been here before. Debt ceilings have frequently carried other measures.”

“What we have here is we’re running out of time, and it’s time for the President to get serious and just sit down with the Speaker and get a solution.”

PROSPERUS, A COALITION OF PROGRESSIVE GROUPS”We cannot allow extremists in the House to make devastating ransom demands in exchange for not cratering our economy – period.”

“The Republican House majority’s shameful default bill is completely unworkable. Their plan is full of wildly unpopular and damaging cuts to health care, food assistance, clean energy jobs, and more. This bill would be devastating for workers and the economy while doing nothing to make corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share.”

NEIL BRADLEY, CHIEF POLICY OFFICER, U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

“While we are disappointed that there was no new movement today, we are pleased that the president and Congressional leadership will meet again this week, but we cannot stress enough that time is short, with each passing day increasing the risk for a misstep resulting in a default.

It is clear that a clean debt limit cannot become law, so we encourage both parties to focus on areas where a bipartisan agreement is possible, including reforming the permitting process and agreeing on limits on future federal spending.”

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumake, Stephen Coates and Shri Navaratnam)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Dozens of Democratic lawmakers on Monday called on the Biden administration to consider the climate and environmental justice impacts of the expansion of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry.

The 44 lawmakers, including Senators Jeffrey Merkley, Edward Markey and Representatives Jared Huffman and Raul Grijalva, urged the Council on Environmental Quality, a White House office, to “include greater scrutiny on the entire LNG supply chain” as it finalizes guidance on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change under bedrock U.S. environmental law.

In a letter to Brenda Mallory, the CEQ chair, the lawmakers asked for the scrutiny “from wellhead, through export outside the United States, to combustion.”

The CEQ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As the U.S. vies for the top LNG exporting spot, administration officials have been holding talks with global energy companies and foreign officials about potential ways to certify emissions reductions of natural gas.

While some gas drillers are marketing certified, or responsibly sourced gas, with carbon reductions certified by third parties, the administration has not weighed in on how such certification should work.

As Europe cuts gas purchases from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration has approving exports of LNG from projects, a step in opening potential projects.

In the latest support for the industry, it approved LNG exports from Alaska LNG last month. Project backers hope it will be open by 2030, though no final investment decision has not been made.

“Existing LNG infrastructure already has a disproportionate impact on Black, Brown, Indigenous, and poor communities; this will only be exacerbated with the addition of the proposed projects,” the letter said.

The lawmakers said U.S. agencies decide on LNG projects based on a public interest determination made during the era of former President Donald Trump that fails to incorporate drilling emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, which, they said, makes LNG exports worse than coal.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

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By Jack Queen and Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Jurors on Tuesday began weighing whether Donald Trump raped or assaulted writer E. Jean Carroll and then defamed her by claiming she made up the story.

During a seven-day civil trial in Manhattan federal court, Carroll, 79, told jurors that Trump, 76, raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in 1995 or 1996, and then ruined her reputation by denying it happened.

Her defamation claim concerns an October 2022 post on Truth Social in which he called her allegations a “complete con job” and “a Hoax and a lie.”

“I know you’re going to do your duty under your oath to render a just and true verdict,” U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan told the jury of six men and three women.

Jurors are required to reach a unanimous verdict.

They are tasked with deciding whether Trump raped, sexually abused or forcibly touched Carroll, any one of which would satisfy her claim of battery. They will separately be asked if Trump defamed Carroll.

A former Elle magazine advice columnist, Carroll is seeking unspecified compensatory damages, as well as punitive damages.

Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential field, has denied raping Carroll and accused her of making up the story to drive sales of a 2019 memoir in which she made her claims public.

On Tuesday, Trump posted a message on his Truth Social platform, claiming that “despite being a current political candidate and leading all others in both parties,” he was not “allowed to speak or defend himself” against what he called a false accusation.

“I will therefore not speak until after the trial, but will appeal the Unconstitutional silencing of me, as a candidate, no matter the outcome!”

Trump opted not to present a defense at trial, gambling that jurors will find Carroll failed to make a persuasive case.

Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, said during closing arguments that a 2005 “Access Hollywood” video in which Trump says women let him “grab ’em by the pussy” bolstered the accounts of Carroll and other women who have accused Trump of sexual assault.

“He admitted on video to doing exactly the kinds of things that have brought us here to this courtroom,” Kaplan said.

Two of Carroll’s longtime friends testified that she told them about the attack shortly after it occurred and said they believed her. Jurors heard from two other women who said Trump sexually assaulted them in separate incidents decades ago. Trump denies those claims as well.

“Three different women, decades apart, but one single pattern of behavior,” Kaplan said, arguing that Trump’s defense was asking jurors to believe the “ridiculous” claim that the other witnesses conspired to lie.

In a video deposition played for the jury last week, Trump denied raping Carroll.

“It’s the most ridiculous, disgusting story,” Trump said in the video. “It’s just made up.”

Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told jurors during closing arguments that the haziness of Carroll’s account made it impossible for Trump to defend himself.

“With no date, no month, no year, you can’t present an alibi, you can’t call witnesses,” Tacopina said. “What they want is for you to hate him enough to ignore the facts.”

(Reporting by Jack Queen and Luc Cohen; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Howard Goller)

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By Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and top Republican lawmakers will declare their positions face to face on Tuesday on raising the $31.4 trillion U.S. debt ceiling, with an unprecedented default looming in three weeks if Congress does not act.

Ahead of the 4 p.m. Eastern time (2000 GMT) Oval Office session, there were no signs that either side would immediately agree to any concessions that would head off a default as early as June 1.

Economists warn that a lengthy default could send the U.S. economy into a deep recession with soaring unemployment while destabilizing the global financial system that’s built on U.S. bonds. Investors are bracing for impact.

Graphic: World markets hunker down as US debt ceiling looms – https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-DEBT/xmpjkyowovr/graphic.jpg

The Democratic president is calling on lawmakers to raise the federal government’s self-imposed borrowing limit without conditions. Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said that his chamber will not approve any deal that does not cut spending to address a growing budget deficit.

Past debt ceiling fights have typically ended with a hastily arranged agreement in the final hours of negotiations, thus avoiding a default. In 2011, the scramble prompted a downgrade of the country’s top-notch credit rating. Veterans of that battle warn that the current situation is even riskier because political divides have widened.

Tuesday’s meeting was likely to be the start of an increasingly fraught period, marked by uncertainty.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday that Biden plans to say at the meeting: “It’s Congress’ constitutional duty to act, to prevent default. The president is going to be very clear about that.”

McCarthy, whose party holds the House by only a slim majority, wants to tie a vote on the debt ceiling to broad spending cuts the White House considers draconian.

On Tuesday, he appeared to close the door to one short-term solution to the problem, saying he opposed a deal that would lift the debt ceiling through September to allow more time for an agreement with Democrats on spending.

“No,” McCarthy said when asked by reporters if he would agree to align the debt ceiling with the budget process should Biden propose such an idea.

McCarthy added: “He’s got to stop ignoring problems. And why continue to kick the can down the road? Let’s solve it now.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business association, on Tuesday urged a “swift” bipartisan agreement on the debt limit that would also include energy project permitting reform and an agreement on discretionary spending caps.

Biden would agree to a separate discussion on the budget but not tied to the debt ceiling, the White House said.

His meeting with McCarthy will be their first since Feb. 1. They will be joined by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, and top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell. Top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries will also join the talks.

The start of active talks could soothe the nerves of investors who last week forced the federal government to pay its highest interest ever for a one-month debt issue.

White House staff and aides to the congressional leaders quietly met on Friday to begin talking about the debt limit. Louisa Terrell, the head of the White House Legislative Affairs Office, was present as were representatives from the Office of Management and Budget and the National Economic Council.

Biden’s foreign travel plans and House and Senate recesses mean there are just seven days when all three parties are scheduled to be in town before June 1.

On Tuesday, Biden added a stop in Papua New Guinea on May 22 to his itinerary that includes Japan and Australia, but the addition was not expected to extend the length of his trip to Asia.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday said a failure to raise the debt limit would cause a huge hit to the U.S. economy and weaken the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

Few countries in the world have debt ceiling laws and Washington’s periodic lifting of the borrowing limit merely allows it to pay for spending Congress has already authorized.

White House officials have discussed whether Biden has the authority to lift the debt limit on his own by invoking the U.S. Constitution’s 14th amendment, but Biden told MSNBC last week that “I’ve not gotten there yet” on this argument.

The 14th amendment says the validity of the public debt of the United States “shall not be questioned.” Invoking it would likely trigger a legal challenge.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and David Morgan; Editing by Heather Timmons and Alistair Bell)

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By Andrea Shalal and David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday that a failure by Congress to raise the $31.4 trillion federal debt limit would cause a huge hit to the U.S. economy and weaken the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

Asked whether the U.S. Treasury could prioritize payouts to bondholders in the event of a default, Yellen told CNBC that President Joe Biden would be forced to make decisions on what to do with Treasury’s resources if the debt ceiling was not raised, but declined to discuss or rank the options.

“There are a variety of different options, but there are no good options. Every option is a bad option,” she said. “The only option that really leaves our economy in good shape – and our financial system – is raising the debt ceiling.”

She said Biden hoped to establish a process for discussing and compromising on fiscal-policy issues and his budget proposal with congressional Republicans but would not do it “with a gun” to his or the American people’s heads.

Biden insists that Congress has a constitutional duty to raise the debt ceiling, which reflects previously spent federal money, without conditions, but Republicans have tied any increase to sweeping budget cuts that Democrats oppose.

Biden will meet on Tuesday with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and top congressional Democrats at the White House to try to break the impasse.

Yellen conceded there was “a very big gap” between Biden’s position and that of many Republicans, warning that their proposed spending cuts were “draconian.”

Risking default to secure budget cuts could bring “enormous harm to American households,” and even the current brinkmanship would harm financial markets and could jeopardize U.S. government credit ratings and undermine the U.S. currency.

“The dollar is regarded – and Treasury securities – as the bedrock safe asset in the entire global financial system,” she said. “It’s trusted, and it is the ultimate safe asset and a failure to raise the debt ceiling, impairing the U.S. credit rating, would put that at risk. So that is a real concern.

Yellen told lawmakers last week that Treasury will likely be unable to pay all the government’s bills as early as June 1 without an increase in the federal debt limit.

Yellen, other economists and analysts have repeatedly warned that a default on U.S. debt would result in millions of job losses, while driving household payments on mortgages, auto loans and credit cards higher.

Unlike most other developed countries, the U.S. puts a hard limit on how much it can borrow. Because the government spends more than it takes in, lawmakers must periodically raise the debt ceiling.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and David Lawder in Washington; Editing by Mark Porter and Matthew Lewis)

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By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden and top Republicans and Democrats from Congress are set to sit down this week to try to resolve a three-month standoff over the $31.4 trillion U.S. debt ceiling and avoid a crippling default before the end of May.

The Democratic president is calling on lawmakers to raise the federal government’s self-imposed borrowing limit without conditions. Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said his chamber will not approve any deal that does not cut spending to address a growing budget deficit.

Biden is due to meet on Tuesday at the White House with McCarthy for the first time since Feb. 1, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell. Top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries will also join the talks.

Analysts do not expect an immediate deal to avert a historic default, which the Treasury Department has warned could come as soon as June 1. Forecasters warn a default would likely send the U.S. economy into deep recession with soaring unemployment.

But the start of active talks could soothe the nerves of investors who last week forced the federal government to pay its highest interest ever for a one-month debt issue.

“We have a lot of frothy waters now. We need to calm them. Some of that could come just from saying, ‘We’ve found areas of agreement, we’ve found areas of disagreement, we’re going to get back together and work on a solution,’” Republican Senator Thom Tillis told reporters late last week.

Outside observers including people who have participated in past fiscal negotiations and business lobby groups have laid out a range of potential compromises largely revolving around extending the debt ceiling past the November 2024 presidential elections while freezing spending.

Graphic: U.S. debt ceiling and public debt – https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/gdpzqjmmxvw/U.S.%20debt%20ceiling%20and%20public%20debt.png

Legislative standoffs are nothing new in a nation with deep partisan divides, where Republicans hold a thin House of Representatives majority and Biden’s Democrats control the Senate by a scant two votes.

But the stakes of the debt-ceiling standoff are far higher than debates about budgeting that have caused partial shutdowns over the federal government three times in the past decade.

“That is painful. It is difficult. But it is not catastrophic,” Democratic Senator Chris Coons said, referring to past shutdowns, adding, “default would be catastrophic.”

Biden has insisted for months that raising the debt ceiling, a move needed to cover the costs of spending and tax cuts already approved by Congress, should not be linked to budget talks.

“The two are totally unrelated,” Biden said on Friday. “They’re two separate issues, two. Let’s get it straight.”

UNCERTAIN DEADLINE

McCarthy has called on Democrats to either offer their own plan or pass a House-approved package that would impose sharp spending cuts over the next decade and impose new work requirements on recipients in benefit programs in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion or until the end of March.

Biden in March proposed a budget that aimed to cut deficits by $3 trillion over 10 years by raising taxes on companies and people earning more than $400,000 a year.

Lawmakers face an uncertain deadline: the Treasury warned last week that it could be unable to pay all its bills as soon as June 1, but possibly go for weeks longer.

The Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank that specializes in budget issues, is due on Tuesday to release its own revised forecast, which could further muddy the talks if it is later than Treasury’s.

The last time the nation got this close to default was in 2011, with the same pattern of divided government – a Democratic president and Senate with a Republican-led House.

Congress eventually came around and averted default, but the economy endured heavy shocks, including the first-ever downgrade of the United States’ top-tier credit rating and a major stock selloff.

Worries about the standoff have already started to weigh on financial markets, but a default would have a far more immediate effect on average Americans.

“The thing for everyday folks is declines in their retirement savings, increases in interest rates that could affect their monthly payments for cars or houses – it’s just going to hurt a lot of people, and hurt low- and middle-income people the most,” said Democratic Senator Tim Kaine.

Adding to the challenge of striking a deal, McCarthy agreed to a change in House rules that allows for just one member to call for his ouster as speaker, which gives greater power to hardliners, including the roughly three dozen members of the House Freedom Caucus.

(Reporting by David Morgan, additional reporting by Ann Saphir, Dan Burns, Trevor Hunnicutt and Moira Warburton; Editing by Scott Malone and Deepa Babington)

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