Biden news: President assesses storm damage in California as classified documents scandal hurts polls
President Biden’s visit comes as White House remains adamant it will not interfere in the ongoing investigation into classified documents
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Your support makes all the difference.President Joe Biden assessed storm damage in Santa Cruz County, California on Thursday accompanied by Governor Gavin Newsom. Mr Biden met first responders and locals impacted by the succession of storms that struck the region.
“If anybody doubts the climate is changing, then they must’ve been asleep for the last couple years,” the president said during remarks from a storm-damaged beach in the town of Capitola.
During the California tour, Mr Biden continued to defend how his office handled classified material, amid ongoing investigations from the DoJ.
“I think you’re going to find there’s nothing there. There’s no there there,” he said.
His visit comes a day shy of his second anniversary in the White House, and as the US hits the debt ceiling forcing the government to take “extraordinary measures to make payments on the national debt”.
Joe Biden, the ‘consistently inconsistent’ ally for racial justice and civil rights
Biden insists there’s no ‘there there’ over classified papers as poll suggests scandal has hurt him
Biden links California storm damage to climate change as he surveys damage
Classified documents case is starting to become a problem for Biden, poll finds
Biden and Newsom mentioned search for Kyle Doan during visit
During a tour of storm damage on Thursday, President Biden and California governor Gavin Newsom both touched on the fate of Kyle Doan, a 5-year-old who was swept away by flood waters during the January storms and remains missing despite an intensive search efforts.
Mr Newsom provided one of the first major updates on the search, noting that rescuers had found one of Doan’s sneakers.
“We won’t give up until we find Kyle and hopefully, miracle of miracles, he’ll be ok,” the governor said.
Mr Biden also talked about the emotional impact of seeing the storm damage firsthand, and said local residents he spoke with frequently brought up Doan and his story.
“It’s not as obvious form the air just how much damage has been done,” Mr Biden said, later adding, “You don’t feel it until you walk the streets.”
Here’s our report on Doan’s disappearance.
Family describes losing missing child 5-year-old Kyle Doan in California floods
‘He was calm. He was trying to say, ‘Stay calm, Mom’. She was doing her best’
House GOP Oversight committee to hold border hearing on week of State of the Union
The Republican-controlled House Committee on Oversight and Accountability with hold a hearing on the “invasion of our southern border” on the week of 6 February to investigate the Biden administration’s policies “that have fueled the ongoing border crisis”.
“President Biden’s radical open borders agenda has ignited the worst border crisis in American history. The Biden Administration’s deliberate actions are fueling human smuggling, stimulating drug cartel operations, enabling deadly drugs such as fentanyl to flow into American communities, and encouraging illegal immigrants to flout US immigration laws. Republicans will hold the Biden Administration accountable for this ongoing humanitarian, national security, and public health crisis that has turned every town into a border town,” said Chairman James Comer.
President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address on 7 February.
Briden brushes off question about documents probe during California tour
During his California visit on Thursday, President Biden continued to downplay a Republican-led inquiry into his handling of classified materials.
The president said he had “no regrets” about how he handled official documents, telling reporters he followed the advice of his lawyers and immediately turned over materials requested by the National Archives under law.
“There’s no there there,” Mr Biden said.
Biden on classified docs discovery: 'There's no there there'
President Joe Biden says there is “no there there” following the discovery of classified documents and official records at his home and former office
Lara Trump’s Biden documents discussion devolves into conspiracy theories
The daughter-in-law of former President Donald Trump held a discussion about Joe Biden’s retention of classified documents from his time as vice president this week which quickly devolved into conspiracies about allies of Mr Biden.
Lara Trump hosted a podcast discussion with ex-Trump administration official Lynne Patton and Turning Point USA contributor Erin Elmore where the three quickly agreed that there was a nefarious conspiracy afoot behind the discovery of documents at Mr Biden’s Wilmington home and a DC think tank linked to him. The comments were first reported by RawStory.
John Bowden has the story.
Lara Trump’s show devolves into conspiracies over Joe Biden’s classified papers
Ex-president’s daughter-in-law helps take heat off Mar-a-Lago scandal
WATCH: Biden inspects damage near iconic pier destroyed in storm
The president toured storm damage in California by air and foot on Thursday.
His stops included Capitola, where a historic pier and iconic set of painted beach houses were heavily damaged.
Here’s our report on some of the hardest-hit regions.
Sinkholes, fallen trees, floods: Dramatic images capture California storm devastation
Storms expected to continue through the week
Will epic California storms be enough to end state’s drought?
An “atmospheric river” drenched California with storms, bringing exceptionally high levels of precipitation across the golden state.
Thanks to a series of storms beginning in late December, areas of California have received 400 to 600 per cent of their normal rain levels, according to the National Weather Service. By early January, state scientists at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada mountains were recording snows that were 177 per cent higher than average.
The intense weather has often proved catastrophic on the ground, causing flooding, downed trees, and mudslides that have killed at least 16 people and left roughly 224,000 people in the state without power, the Washington Post reports.
Despite all the destruction it has caused, will the atmospheric river end California’s historic drought, the worst in state history? Not quite, according to scientists.
Read our full story on the question for more details.
Will epic California storms be enough to end state’s drought?
It will take more than a few storms to rescue California from its historic drought
ICYMI: President Joe Biden: ‘Miraculous’ dealmaker or ‘consistently inconsistent’? What experts say two years in
As the president enters his third year in office, how should we remember his term at its halfway point? The Republican takeover of the House likely signals the end of Mr Biden’s ability to pass new laws, so answering that question is a decent start on evaluating his presidency as a whole.
Summarising a Washington chameleon-like Mr Biden under one headline misses the achievements – and shortcomings – of one of the most successful and interesting Democrats in US history. Sometimes it can seem like we’re dealing with a variety of characters who all happen to live in the White House.
Introducing the six Joe Bidens. Read more of our special report on the six key themes of the Biden administration so far.
Joe Biden: ‘Miraculous’ dealmaker or ‘consistently inconsistent’?
As Joe Biden enters his third year in office, The Independent digs deep into how the president did on key issues like labour, climate, legislation, inflation, Covid and civil rights. Josh Marcus introduces the series
Supreme Court internal probe did not identify Dobbs ruling leaker
A monthslong investigation by the Marshal of the Supreme Court has failed to determine who leaked a draft version of the court’s decision overturning Roe v Wade to Politico last year, the court said on Thursday.
In a statement, the court said the leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization was “one of the worst breaches of trust in its history” and “a grave assault on the judicial process,” but the person who provided the draft to a pair of reporters for the Washington, DC-based publication has not yet been identified despite the Marshal’s best efforts.
Andrew Feinberg has the latest from Washington, DC.
Supreme Court says internal probe hasn’t found leaker of Roe v Wade ruling
‘The team has to date been unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence’
Special report: Joe Biden’s second anniversary in office
To mark the second anniversary and halfway point of President Joe Biden’s term in office, The Independent takes an in-depth look at his time in the White House so far.
This special report looks at how Mr Biden, a Washington survivor, has managed to last so long in government, as one of the longest-serving senatorsm before becoming the oldest-ever president.
Josh Marcus introduces the series by showing how Mr Biden has changed over his five decades in national office as he went from backslapping, tough-on-crime Democrat to passionate speaker on global warming, racial equity, and abortion rights. These days, he usually manages to fall in the exact middle of a Democratic caucus ranging from socialists to coal boosters.
Meet the six Joe Bidens:
Joe Biden: ‘Miraculous’ dealmaker or ‘consistently inconsistent’?
As Joe Biden enters his third year in office, The Independent digs deep into how the president did on key issues like labour, climate, legislation, inflation, Covid and civil rights. Josh Marcus introduces the series
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