Politics

TAIPEI (Reuters) – A senior U.S. lawmaker said on Friday he was doing everything possible to speed up the delivery of weapons to Taiwan, suggesting other countries that have the arms could sell them onto the island with U.S. government permission.

Taiwan has since last year complained of delays to U.S. weapons deliveries, such as Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, as manufacturers turn supplies to Ukraine to support its defence against Russia.

Speaking to reporters on a trip to Taiwan, Michael McCaul, chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Taiwan needed to be able to access weapons given the threat it faces from China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own territory.

“On the weapons issue, I sign off on those deliveries and we are doing everything in our power to expedite this,” he said, speaking at Taiwan’s parliament where he met its speaker, You Si-kun.

There is a need to “harden” Taiwan and help its deterrence capability, he added.

McCaul said ideas for getting the arms to Taiwan faster included reprioritising weapons sales given the island is in a high threat area and “third party sales” – getting the U.S. government to allow other countries that have these weapons to provide them to Taiwan.

“We want to do everything possible to deter a very aggressive nation, Communist China, from ever thinking about landing on the shores of this beautiful island, because that would be a serious mistake for everybody.”

The United States is Taiwan’s most important arms supplier, a constant source of Chinese anger with Washington.

McCaul, a Republican, is being accompanied by seven other lawmakers on a bipartisan trip taking place the same week Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles, which Beijing condemned.

While China staged war games around Taiwan in August after then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei its reaction this time has been more muted.

Speaking at the same news conference, You said he had invited McCarthy last year to visit Taiwan before he became speaker, and You said he thought it was just a timing issue as to when McCarthy visited.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and has stepped up military and political pressure to try and force Taipei to accept Beijing’s sovereignty.

You said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inability to quickly capture Ukraine served as a lesson to China’s leader Xi Jinping, likening Putin’s view of Ukraine as a “delicious meal” that had turned into a fishbone stuck in his throat.

“So I believe this is a warning for Xi Jinping as well,” You said.

McCaul’s group will meet Tsai, who arrives back in Taiwan late Friday, on Saturday.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

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By Katharine Jackson

(Reuters) – Stormy Daniels, the adult film star at the center of the criminal case against Donald Trump, said she does not think the former president should go to prison if convicted of concealing hush money payments he made to her.

“I don’t think that his crimes against me are worthy of incarceration. I feel like the other things that he has done, if he is found guilty, absolutely,” Daniels, 44, said in an interview with Fox Nation’s Piers Morgan to be broadcast on Thursday.

Trump was charged in New York on Tuesday with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records over allegations he orchestrated hush-money payments to Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal before the 2016 U.S. election to suppress publication of their alleged sexual encounters with him.

Trump, 76, also faces criminal investigations in Washington for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss and mishandling classified documents, and a separate criminal probe in Georgia about his attempt to overturn his defeat in that state.

Prosecutors in Manhattan accused Trump, the first sitting or former U.S. president to face criminal charges, of trying to conceal a violation of election laws during his successful 2016 campaign.

Trump, the front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination in 2024, denies having an affair with Daniels but has acknowledged the payment.

The next hearing in the case is set for Dec. 4. Legal experts said a trial may not even get under way for a year, and that indictment or even a conviction would not legally prevent Trump from running for president.

Daniels told Morgan that if the case goes to trial, she would like to testify.

“I have nothing to hide. I’m the only one that has been telling the truth,” she said.

(Reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Daniel Wallis)

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By Cheney Orr and Brad Brooks

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) -Republicans in control of the Tennessee House of Representatives expelled two Democratic representatives on Thursday for breaking decorum during a gun control demonstration at the statehouse last week in the wake of the latest school shooting.

In an extraordinary measure, when lesser forms of discipline including censure were available, the Republican supermajority voted to remove Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two young Black legislators.

The resolution to oust a third Democratic member who stood with them during the protest on the House floor, Gloria Johnson, a white woman, came up one vote short.

That protest came four days after a Nashville school shooting killed three 9-year-old children and three school staff members.

Republican Representatives Andrew Farmer, Gino Bulso, and Bud Hulsey had filed the three resolutions on Monday to expel their Democratic colleagues, saying they broke decorum by leading the demonstration in the well of the House floor.

The House voted 72-25 along party lines to remove Jones and 69-26 to remove Pearson. But Johnson was spared when the vote to expel her came up 65-30. The Republicans control the chamber 75-23 and needed 66 votes for expulsion.

Johnson may have been spared because unlike Jones and Pearson she did not use a megaphone to lead chants during last Thursday’s protest, when hundreds of demonstrators flooded into the statehouse.

But race came up several times during the often tense debate.

“You cannot ignore the racial dynamic of what happened today. Two young Black lawmakers get expelled and the one white woman does not. That’s a statement in and of itself,” Pearson told reporters after the vote.

President Joe Biden decried the proceedings, tweeting that they were “shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent.”

Only two Tennessee state representatives have been expelled by their colleagues since the Civil War era: one in 1980 for soliciting a bribe in exchange for blocking legislation and another in 2016 after being accused of sexual misconduct by numerous women. Both expulsions were made with overwhelming, bipartisan votes.

The Democratic Party in Tennessee said it was raising funds to support special elections for any of those expelled.

The three Democratic lawmakers led protesters on the House floor to demand stricter gun laws. Republicans in the resolutions calling for their expulsion accused the three of engaging in “disorderly behavior” and said they “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions.”

Hundreds of protesters gathered again outside the state house in the rain on Thursday and packed the gallery above the House floor, holding signs in favor of stricter gun control.

They broke out into cheers when Johnson was spared expulsion, then chanted “shame on you” and “no justice, no peace” after Pearson was kicked out.

Johnson, Jones and Pearson have said that taking part in the protest was within their First Amendment rights – the constitutional right to freedom of speech. They, along with other Democratic members, also said Thursday that Republican leaders have used their super majority to squelch speech in the chamber, and Johnson said that was one of the reasons they acted as they did last week.

Before being ousted, Jones had decried the proceedings.

“What we see here today is a lynch mob assembled not to lynch me but our democratic process,” Jones said. 

“At no point was there violence,” Jones added, referring to the demonstration he and his colleagues led on the chamber floor last week. “At no point did we encourage violence. In fact what we were doing was calling for the end of gun violence that is terrorizing our children day after day after day.”

But Bulso, a Republican who authored one of the expulsion resolutions, said it was clear to him that Jones “wants to be expelled.”

“He and two other representatives effectively conducted a mutiny,” Bulso said. “Not to expel him would simply invite him and his colleagues to continue to engage in mutiny on the House floor.”

(Reporting by Cheney Orr in Nashville and Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas; Editing by Donna Bryson, Mark Porter, Diane Craft and Lincoln Feast.)

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By Cheney Orr and Brad Brooks

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) -Republicans in control of the Tennessee House of Representatives voted to expel two Democratic representatives on Thursday for breaking decorum during a gun control demonstration at the statehouse last week in the wake of the latest school shooting.

Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two young Black legislators, were removed by the Republican supermajority.

But the resolution to remove a third Democratic member who stood with them during the protest on the House floor, Gloria Johnson, a white woman, came up one vote short.

Republican Representatives Andrew Farmer, Gino Bulso, and Bud Hulsey had filed the three resolutions on Monday to expel their Democratic colleagues, saying they broke decorum by leading the demonstration in the well of the House floor.

The House voted 72-25 along party lines to remove Jones and 69-26 to remove Pearson. But Johnson was spared when the vote to expel her came up 65-30.

Johnson may have been spared because unlike Jones and Pearson she did not use a megaphone to lead chants during last Thursday’s protest, when hundreds of demonstrators flooded into the statehouse.

That protest came four days after a Nashville school shooting killed three 9-year-old children and three school staff members.

Only two Tennessee state representatives have been expelled by their colleagues since the Civil War era: one in 1980 for soliciting a bribe in exchange for blocking legislation and another in 2016 after being accused of sexual misconduct by numerous women. Both expulsions were made with overwhelming, bipartisan votes.

The Democratic Party in Tennessee said it was raising funds to support special elections for any of those expelled.

The three Democratic lawmakers led protesters on the House floor to demand stricter gun laws. Republicans in the resolutions calling for their expulsion accused the three of engaging in “disorderly behavior” and said they “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions.”

Hundreds of protesters gathered again outside the state house in the rain on Thursday and packed the gallery above the House floor, holding signs in favor of stricter gun control.

They broke out into cheers when Johnson was spared expulsion, then chanted “shame on you” when Pearson was kicked out.

Johnson, Jones and Pearson have said that taking part in the protest was within their First Amendment rights – the constitutional right to freedom of speech. They, along with other Democratic members, also said Thursday that Republican leaders have used their super majority to squelch speech in the chamber, and Johnson said that was one of the reasons they acted as they did last week.

Before being ousted, Jones had decried the proceedings.

“What we see here today is a lynch mob assembled not to lynch me but our democratic process,” Jones said. 

“At no point was there violence,” Jones added, referring to the demonstration he and his colleagues led on the chamber floor last week. “At no point did we encourage violence. In fact what we were doing was calling for the end of gun violence that is terrorizing our children day after day after day.”

But Bulso, a Republican who authored one of the expulsion resolutions, said it was clear to him that Jones “wants to be expelled.”

“He and two other representatives effectively conducted a mutiny,” Bulso said. “Not to expel him would simply invite him and his colleagues to continue to engage in mutiny on the House floor.”

Race came up several times during the often tense debate.

Jones, who is Black, said Bulso, who is white, portrayed him as an “uppity Negro.” Another Republican in the chamber, Sarbjeet Kumar, said Jones saw everything through the lens of race. As the vote was held, Black members and other Democrats joined Jones at the podium.

Most Republican members are white.

   Pearson, speaking to reporters outside the House chambers, said the expulsion efforts were examples of white supremacy extinguishing democracy. 

   “It’s not a coincidence that the two youngest Black representatives and one of the few women have been targeted for expulsion,” he said. 

(Reporting by Cheney Orr in Nashville and Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas; Editing by Donna Bryson, Mark Porter and Diane Craft)

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(Corrects paragraph 2 to say previous protest was last Thursday, not Friday)

By Brad Brooks

(Reuters) -Republicans who control the Tennessee House of Representatives will vote on Thursday on whether to expel three Democratic members for their role in a gun control demonstration at the statehouse last week.

Last Thursday’s protest saw hundreds of demonstrators flood into the statehouse, four days after a Nashville school shooting ended with three 9-year-old children and three school staff members dead.

Three Democratic lawmakers stood on the House floor and used a bullhorn to lead protesters in chanting demands for stricter gun laws. In the resolutions calling for their expulsion, Republicans accused the three of engaging in “disorderly behavior” and said they “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions.”

The expulsion vote is likely to easily pass in the Republican-dominated House and lead to the ouster of Rep. Gloria Johnson, Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson. They say they were within their First Amendment rights to take part in the protest.

“It’s morally insane that a week after a mass shooting took six lives in our community, House Republicans only response is to expel us for standing with our constituents to call for gun control,” Jones wrote on Twitter this week. “What’s happening in Tennessee is a clear danger to democracy all across this nation.”

Republicans Rep. Andrew Farmer, Rep. Gino Bulso, and Rep. Bud Hulsey filed three resolutions on Monday to expel their Democratic colleagues. The resolutions on Monday passed in a preliminary vote along party lines, 72-23.

Only two Tennessee state representatives have previously been expelled by their colleagues since the Civil War era: one in 1980 for soliciting a bribe in exchange for blocking legislation, and another in 2016 after being accused of sexual misconduct by numerous women. Both those expulsions were made with overwhelming, bipartisan votes.

The Democratic Party in Tennessee is raising funds to support Johnson, Jones and Pearson in special elections that will take place if they are expelled.

(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas; editing by Donna Bryson and Diane Craft)

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By Brad Brooks

(Reuters) -Republicans who control the Tennessee House of Representatives will vote on Thursday on whether to expel three Democratic members for their role in a gun control demonstration at the statehouse last week.

Last Friday’s protest saw hundreds of demonstrators flood into the statehouse, four days after a Nashville school shooting ended with three 9-year-old children and three school staff members dead.

Three Democratic lawmakers stood on the House floor and used a bullhorn to lead protesters in chanting demands for stricter gun laws. In the resolutions calling for their expulsion, Republicans accused the three of engaging in “disorderly behavior” and said they “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions.”

The expulsion vote is likely to easily pass in the Republican-dominated House and lead to the ouster of Representatives Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson. They say that taking part in the protest was within their First Amendment rights – the constitutional right to freedom of speech.

“It’s morally insane that a week after a mass shooting took six lives in our community, House Republicans only response is to expel us for standing with our constituents to call for gun control,” Jones wrote on Twitter this week. “What’s happening in Tennessee is a clear danger to democracy all across this nation.”

Protesters gathered again outside the state house in the rain on Thursday, holding signs in favor of stricter gun control.

Republican Representatives Andrew Farmer, Gino Bulso, and Bud Hulsey filed three resolutions on Monday to expel their Democratic colleagues. The resolutions on Monday passed in a preliminary vote along party lines, 72-23.

Only two Tennessee state representatives have previously been expelled by their colleagues since the Civil War era: one in 1980 for soliciting a bribe in exchange for blocking legislation, and another in 2016 after being accused of sexual misconduct by numerous women. Both those expulsions were made with overwhelming, bipartisan votes.

The Democratic Party in Tennessee is raising funds to support Johnson, Jones and Pearson in special elections that will take place if they are expelled.

(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas; editing by Donna Bryson and Diane Craft)

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By Rami Ayyub

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on his fellow Republicans in Congress to slash funding for the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI, one day after pleading not guilty in New York to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Trump, who is seeking to regain the presidency in 2024, took aim at federal law enforcement authorities even though the criminal charges against him – the first brought against any former or sitting president – were pursued not by them but by the Manhattan district attorney.

But Trump faces two Justice Department criminal investigations led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. Both have seemed to accelerate in recent months.

“REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND THE DOJ AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSES,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. DOJ stands for the Department of Justice.

Trump’s proposal is unlikely to be heeded by Congress, with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans leading the House of Representatives. It would also be a sharp turn for Republicans, who in the past have supported robust funding for law enforcement and have criticized proposals from some on the left in recent years to “defund” local police departments.

Congressional Republicans have called for sharp federal spending cuts in return for voting to raise the U.S. debt ceiling but have yet to put forward specific proposals.

The FBI, part of the Justice Department, is the U.S. domestic intelligence and security agency. Trump himself appointed the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, after firing its previous chief, James Comey, in 2017.

Trump backed spending increases for the Justice Department while serving as president from 2017 to 2021. Its budget increased 4% during that span to $38.7 billion, White House figures showed.

One of the special counsel’s investigations focuses on efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Democratic President Joe Biden.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has decided not to appeal a judge’s ruling requiring him to testify to a grand jury in that investigation about conversations he had with Trump ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, a Pence spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Smith’s other investigation focuses on classified documents that Trump retained after leaving office.

The FBI on Wednesday declined to comment on Trump’s remarks. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Reduced funding for federal law enforcement also would not affect another criminal investigation involving Trump led by a county prosecutor in Georgia, focusing on whether he unlawfully sought to overturn his 2020 election loss in that state.

PAYMENTS TO TWO WOMEN

The office of Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, charged Trump on Tuesday with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records over allegations that he orchestrated payments to two women before the 2016 election to suppress publication of their sexual encounters with him.

Prosecutors said the payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal constituted an attempt to conceal a violation of election law.

Opinion polls show Trump as the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination as he seeks to deny Biden a second term in office.

Trump over the years has complained that law enforcement at the national and state level were targeting him for political purposes, and his fellow Republicans in Congress have held hearings to examine what they describe as the “weaponization” of government.

He and his allies have accused Bragg, a Democrat, of bringing the charges for political reasons. Bragg in comments after the charges were brought on Tuesday said he has a responsibility to ensure everyone stands equal before the law.

Trump appeared at an arraignment in New York on Tuesday before flying back to his home in Florida to make public remarks. He declared himself the victim of election interference, without offering evidence.

The judge in the Manhattan case, Juan Merchan, has set the next hearing for Dec. 4, when campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination will be intensifying. Legal experts have said a trial may not start for a year.

Indictment or even conviction does not legally prevent a person from running for president.

In court on Tuesday, prosecutors raised concerns about Trump’s social media posts, which have included a warning he made last month that the United States could face “death & destruction” if he were charged, and posting a photograph of him holding a baseball bat next to a picture of Bragg.

Merchan asked Trump’s lawyers to remind the former president to refrain from making statements likely to incite violence or civil unrest, or jeopardize the safety of individuals.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he does not agree with the charges brought against Trump.

“Supposedly legal issues should not be used for electoral, political purposes,” Lopez Obrador told a news conference in Mexico City.

Lopez Obrador, who took office in 2018, developed a friendly working relationship with then-counterpart Trump, despite the U.S. president launching his 2016 election campaign by calling Mexican migrants rapists and drug runners and promising to make Mexico pay for a border wall.

(Reporting by Rami Ayyub; Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and David Morgan in Washington and Karen Freifeld in New York; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Will Dunham and Andy Sullivan)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former Vice President Mike Pence will not appeal a judge’s ruling that requires him to testify to a grand jury about conversations he had with former President Donald Trump leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, a spokesman for Pence said on Wednesday.

In a March ruling, the judge also said Pence can still decline to answer questions related to Jan. 6.

Pence spokesman Devin O’Malley said in a statement on Wednesday that Pence’s argument that the subpoena violated the U.S. Constitution’s “Speech or Debate Clause” had been vindicated by the court.

“The Court’s landmark and historic ruling affirmed for the first time in history that the Speech or Debate Clause extends to the Vice President of the United States,” O’Malley said. “Having vindicated that principle of the Constitution, Vice President Pence will not appeal the Judge’s ruling and will comply with the subpoena as required by law.”

(Reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Alistair Bell)

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By Gram Slattery

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican U.S. presidential candidate Nikki Haley has raised more than $11 million since declaring her candidacy in February, her campaign said on Wednesday, a significant sum that could help her expand her support in the coming months.

Haley’s campaign said it has received 70,000 donations since she declared her bid on Feb. 15, with the biggest hauls coming from Florida, Texas and South Carolina. It noted that Haley’s fundraising figure exceeded the $9.5 million raised by rival Donald Trump in the fourth quarter of 2022, when he declared his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

“That’s a very solid number and a testament to what a strong launch she had,” Alex Conant, a Republican strategist, said of Haley’s fundraising numbers. “The key question is: will she be able to build momentum in the second quarter, especially as Trump surges?”

Trump’s campaign said he has raised $8 million since last Thursday, when news broke that he would face criminal charges in Manhattan in a case related to hush-money payments during his 2016 campaign. Trump, who pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, has not yet released fundraising totals for the first quarter of the year.

Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, is polling in a distant third place in the Republican race, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday. Some 6% of Republican primary voters intend to vote for Haley, according to the poll, versus 48% for Trump and 19% for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has not yet entered the race.

The Republicans are aiming to deny Democratic President Joe Biden a second term in 2024.

(Reporting by Gram Slattery; editing by Will Dunham and Andy Sullivan)

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By Joseph Ax and Daniel Trotta

(Reuters) – Wisconsin voters on Tuesday elected liberal Janet Protasiewicz to the state Supreme Court, flipping control to a liberal majority ahead of rulings on an abortion ban and other matters that could play a role in the 2024 presidential election.

Protasiewicz defeated conservative candidate Daniel Kelly in what New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice called the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history. More than $42.3 million had been spent as of Monday, according to a WisPolitics.com review, far outstripping the previous record of $15.2 million.

In a major victory for abortion rights advocates, the result turns a court with a former 4-3 conservative majority to liberal control after 15 years, likely affecting a number of issues that have polarized Americans in other states such as voting rights and partisan control over drawing legislative maps.

But it was abortion that dominated the campaign, with the court expected in the coming months to decide whether to uphold the state’s 1849 abortion ban.

That law took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year to eliminate a nationwide right to abortion by reversing Roe v. Wade and granting individual states the authority to ban abortion.

With 75% of the ballots counted, Protasiewicz had 55.4% of the vote to 44.6% for Kelly, a lead of nearly 160,000 votes, according to the Associated Press.

The wide margin in a normally closely contested state suggests Democrats have continued to benefit politically from the Roe decision, which has brought motivated voters to the polls.

Protasiewicz put abortion at the center of her campaign, saying in one advertisement that she supports “a woman’s freedom to make her own decision on abortion.” Kelly, meanwhile, won the endorsement of anti-abortion groups.

“Tonight we celebrate this historic victory that has obviously reignited hope in so many of us,” Protasiewicz told a victory celebration.

Republicans also underperformed expectations last November in the first national elections since the court struck down Roe.

Kelly reluctantly conceded in an address to supporters, calling Protasiewicz an unworthy opponent who ran a “deceitful, dishonorable, despicable campaign.”

But he added, “I respect the decision that the people of Wisconsin have made.”

The election’s outcome also holds major implications for the political future of the battleground state. Just as it did in 2020, the court could issue crucial voting decisions before and after the 2024 presidential election, when Wisconsin is again poised to be a vital swing state.

In addition, the court may revisit the state’s congressional and legislative maps, which Republicans have drawn to maximize their political advantage.

While the election is technically nonpartisan, neither Protasiewicz nor Kelly made much effort to hide their ideological bent. The state Democratic and Republican parties poured resources into their favored campaigns, and outside organizations spent millions of dollars supporting their preferred candidate, including anti- and pro-abortion rights groups.

Democrats asserted a Kelly victory could have endangered democracy itself in Wisconsin, noting that a lawsuit from Republican Donald Trump challenging his presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 came within one vote of succeeding at the court.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax in New York and Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Stephen Coates and Gerry Doyle)

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