Biden, Johnson looking to lift travel restrictions between US and UK Joe Biden and Boris Johnson committed to lifting travel restrictions between the US and UK, according to a statement from the British government. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the administration has formed two working groups of public health experts to “set out both milestones and criteria to enable a reopening of travel” between the two countries “as swiftly as possible”. A final announcement on the matter is unlikely during Biden’s trip to the UK and Europe, Sullivan told reporters. The cancellation of Keystone XL is the end of the road for Indigenous and environmental activists who have been fighting its construction for a decade. A Guardian investigation found that authorities in Montana and the surrounding areas prepared a coordinated response in anticipation of protests. Activists are now urging Biden to shut down other projects including Line 3 and the Dakota Access pipeline. “The termination of this zombie pipeline sets precedent for president Biden and polluters to stop Line 3, Dakota Access, and all fossil fuel projects,” said Kendall Mackey, a campaigner with the environmental group 350.org. Keystone XL pipeline cancelled TC Energy, the Calgary-based developer of the Keystone XL pipeline, has said it will plan a “safe termination of and exit from” the project. The pipeline began construction last year, during the Trump administration. But Joe Biden canceled the permit for the $9bn project as one of his first acts as president. Canadian officials tried, and failed to get the US president to reverse his stance on the pipeline, which would have moved tens of millions of gallons of crude oil from Canada down to Nebraska. Texas Republican asks: can we fix the moon’s orbit to fight climate change? Edward Helmore The Texas Republican congressman Louie Gohmert has asked a senior US government official if changing the moon’s orbit around the Earth, or the Earth’s orbit around the sun, might be a solution for climate change. Bizarrely, the question was not posed to anyone from Nasa or even the Pentagon. Instead it was asked of a senior forestry service official during a House natural resources committee hearing on Tuesday. Speaking with Jennifer Eberlien, associate deputy chief of the National Forest Service, Gohmert asked if it was possible to alter the orbits of the moon, or the Earth, as a way of combating climate change. “I understand from what’s been testified to the Forest Service and the BLM [Bureau of Land Management], you want very much to work on the issue of climate change,” Gohmert said, adding that a past director of Nasa had once told him that orbits of the moon and the Earth were indeed changing. “We know there’s been significant solar flare activity, and so … is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM can do to change the course of the moon’s orbit, or the Earth’s orbit around the sun?” Gohmert asked. “Obviously that would have profound effects on our climate.” Eberlien said she would have to “follow up with you on that one, Mr Gohmert.” “Well, if you figure out a way that you in the Forest Service can make that change, I’d like to know,” Gohmert added. Though he seemed to be entirely earnest, some observers have posited that Gohmert was seeking to express a belief that climate change was a phenomenon of natural changes in the orbits of celestial bodies, and so any other efforts to address it would be futile. Gohmert’s question comes three years after a congressional science, space and technology committee hearing, focused on how technology could be deployed for climate change adaptation, heard from the Alabama Republican Mo Brooks on the subject of sea-level rise. Today so far Joe Biden and Jill Biden have officially touched down in the United Kingdom on the first overseas trip of the administration. They spoke to US Air Force personnel and their families stationed at Royal Air Force Mildenhall in Suffolk, with the president previewing the rest of his trip – in particular touching on his meeting with Vladimir Putin. The US will provide 500m doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to about 100 countries over the next two years. House Democrats wrote a letter to attorney general Merrick Garland urging the justice department to reverse its decision to represent Donald Trump in a defamation lawsuit brought by E Jean Carroll. Biden withdrew a series of orders issued by Donald Trump that sought to ban new downloads of WeChat and TikTok. Democratic Florida Representative Val Demings has announced she is running for Senate, challenging Republican Marco Rubio for his seat. “Unlike some in Washington, I never tired of standing up for what I believe is right, because no one is above the law,” said Demings in her announcement video. Demings is a former Orlando police chief. Rubio has already come out on the defensive, responding to Demings’ announcement by calling her “a do-nothing House member.” Demings has already responded in kind. Nadler: McGahn"s testimony could expose both him and Trump to criminal liability House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler released a transcript of the 4 June interview with former White House Counsel Don McGahn. “Mr. McGahn provided the Committee with substantial new information — including firsthand accounts of President Trump’s increasingly out of control behavior, and insight into concerns that the former President’s conduct could expose both Trump and McGahn to criminal liability,” Nadler said in a statement. “Mr. McGahn also confirmed that President Trump lied when he denied the accuracy of the Mueller report, and admitted that he was the source for a Washington Post report that confirmed Trump’s direction to McGahn to remove the Special Counsel. “All told, Mr. McGahn’s testimony gives us a fresh look at how dangerously close President Trump brought us to, in Mr. McGahn’s words, the ‘point of no return.’” Joe Biden called the US’ commitment to the Nato alliance “a sacred obligation,” and said he will spend this trip strengthening that alliance and working with allies to prepare for future threats such as ransomware attacks and the climate crisis. Then he will go on to meet with Vladimir Putin in Geneva. “We’re not seeking conflict with Russia,” Biden said. “We want a stable predictable relationship.” “Our two nations share incredible responsibilities and among that, ensuring strategic stability in upholding arms control agreements. I take that responsibility seriously,” Biden continued. “But I’ve been clear: The United States will respond in a robust and meaningful way when the Russian government engages in harmful activities. We’ve already demonstrated that. We’re going to communicate that there are consequences for violating the sovereignty of democracies in the United States and Europe and elsewhere. We’re going to be clear that the transatlantic alliance will remain vital, a vital source of strength fo the UK, Europe and the United States. And Ill make sure there will be no doubt that the United States will rise up in defense of our most deeply held values and fundamental interests.” Joe Biden took the stage, invoking his son Beau in thanking the service members and their families at Mildenhall. “You’re the best in our country,” Biden said. “You’re the ones who sign up and run toward danger when duty calls. Less than 1% of Americans make the choice that you make, that you made. The other 99% of us, we owe you big.” He briefly previewed the itinerary of his first overseas trip: the G7 summit. The Nato ministerial. And then “to meet with Mr Putin to let him know what I want him to know”. “At every point along the way, we’re going to make it clear that the United States is back, and democracies of the world are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges and the issues that matter most to our future, that we’re committed to leading with strength, defending our values and delivering for our people,” Biden said. First Lady Jill Biden is addressing US Air Force personnel and their families stationed at Royal Air Force Mildenhall in Suffolk right now in the United Kingdom. She spoke of the importance of making sure military families have access to quality childcare and education, as well as mental health services as they provide support for their military loved ones. “You are our ambassadors to the world,” she said. “Thank you for representing us with dignity and pride. Our military families may not wear our uniform, but you are as crucial to our military as radar is to a fighter jet.” Biden lands in UK as his domestic agenda hits a wall Joe Biden just landed in Britain on the first overseas trip of his presidency while, amid high-stakes international talks, his domestic agenda has hit a wall back home with key legislation going nowhere. As Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell declared that bipartisanship is “over” amid the wreckage of talks between the US president and Republican Senators that went nowhere, Biden’s big plans for progressive transformation of voting rights and massive infrastructure spending to provide jobs and tackle the climate crisis have been halted. Biden pledged to keep in touch with Republicans during his trip, before departing, but even while he was in the sky on Air Force One, the political skies over Washington were darkening. Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock railed this morning against Republican intransigence on voting rights legislation, in particular. Now New York Democratic congresswoman and progressive torchbearer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has weighed in. She criticized Democratic leadership in Washington for persevering for bipartisan agreement on key planks of the Biden domestic agenda, noting that the fact that Republicans wouldn’t even support the creation of a special commission to investigate the deadly January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol meant the GOP were not serious about any deals. And Representative Pramila Jayapal also warned about allowing the GOP to call the tunes on Capitol Hill. US pledges hundreds of millions of vaccine doses for rest of world Joe Biden teased on his way to the UK this morning that he would be announcing a plan for the US to help “vaccinate the world”. He’s going to announce details some time after he arrives in Britain shortly, ahead of his attendance at the G7 summit amid the sea, sand and hopefully sunshine of Cornwall. Here’s the New York Times with good info, however: The White House has reached an agreement with Pfizer and BioNTech to provide 500 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to about 100 countries over the next two years, a pact that President Biden plans to announce as early as Thursday, according to multiple people familiar with the plan. Under intense pressure to do more to address the global vaccine shortage and the disparities in vaccination between rich and poor nations, the president hinted at the plan Wednesday morning, when he was asked if he had a vaccination strategy for the world. “I have one, and I’ll be announcing it,” Mr. Biden said, shortly before he boarded Air Force One for his first trip abroad as president He was headed first to Cornwall, England to meet with leaders of the Group of 7 nations. People familiar with the deal said the United States will pay for the doses at a “not-for-profit” price. The first 200 million doses would be distributed this year, and 300 million would be distributed next year. Albert Bourla, chief executive of Pfizer, is expected to appear with the president when Mr. Biden makes his announcement. The United States has already contracted to buy 300 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which takes two shots. The new agreement is separate from those contracts, according to one person familiar with it, bringing to 800 million the total number of doses the United States has agreed to purchase from the companies thus far. The White House coronavirus response coordinator, Jeffrey D. Zients, whom Mr. Biden has put in charge of global vaccination, said in a statement on Wednesday that the president would use the “momentum” of the U.S. inoculation campaign “to rally the world’s democracies around solving this crisis globally, with America leading the way to create the arsenal of vaccines that will be critical in our global fight against Covid-19.” The 500 million doses still fall far short of the 11 billion doses the World Health Organization estimates are needed to vaccinate the world, but it significantly exceeds what the United States has committed so far. Other nations have been pleading with the United States to share some of its abundant vaccine supplies. Last week, Mr. Biden said that the United States would distribute 25 million doses this month to countries in the Caribbean and Latin America; South and Southeast Asia; Africa; and the Palestinian territories, Gaza and the West Bank. Those doses are the first of 80 million that Mr. Biden pledged to send abroad by the end of June. Today so far As Joe Biden and Jill Biden soar across the Atlantic, embarking on the first foreign trip of the administration, the rest of Washington says goodbye to bipartisanship as Democrats and Republicans hit an impasse on a number of issues. Where to begin? First there’s voting rights and the For The People Act, which had Democratic members of Congress rallying in support over on the steps of the Supreme Court this morning. Then there was the second successful filibuster for Senate Republicans, on the Paycheck Fairness Act. While this was all happening, bipartisan negotiations continued to fall apart over an infrastructure plan. House Democrats urge DOJ to not represent Trump in defamation lawsuit House Democrats have written a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging the Justice Department to reverse its decision to represent Donald Trump in a defamation lawsuit brought by E Jean Carroll. Carroll, a writer with the Atlantic and advice columnist, accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. Trump responded by claiming she lied about the incident to sell a book, saying she was “not my type”. Carroll sued for defamation, and Trump loyalist William Barr stunned the legal world by substituting the Justice Department for Trump in the suit, saying that he denied the accusation in his official capacity as US president. The Justice Department announced yesterday that it would continue to reprsent Trump, a move House Democrats called “misguided.” “Although DOJ maintains that its position has nothing to do with the merits of Ms. Carroll’s case, the facts surrounding the lawsuit matter greatly in understanding the deeply problematic implications of the Department’s actions,” the letter reads. “As a policy matter, we are concerned that DOJ has taken the position that federal officials act within the scope of their employment—and, therefore, enjoy immunity from civil liability—whenever they defame someone, so long as there is some connection between the statement and their official responsibilities. Are we to understand that federal employees are free to engage in private tortious conduct for personal gain, so long as they maintain federal employment and can assert some pretextual benefit to the public for their actions? President Trump’s disgusting comments about Ms. Carroll had nothing to do with his official responsibilities as President, and the whole world knows it. Survivors of sexual assault, among other victims, deserve better.” Biden revokes Trump order seeking to ban TikTok, WeChat In a new executive order today, Joe Biden withdrew a series of orders issued by Donald Trump that sought to ban new downloads of WeChat and TikTok. If you’ll recall, Trump issued orders in August blocking these Chinese-owned apps from being downloaded after 45 days, saying it was in the interest of national security due. He later said in another order that TikTok would face a complete ban if it did not sell to a US company by 14 November. The orders were blocked by a US court. TikTok, which has over 100 million users in the US, and WeChat have denied posing national security concerns. With the G7 summit slated to begin this weekend, one of the big topics will be the issue of global tax avoidance - the issue of firms and rich individuals operating across international borders shifting profits around to exploit the most attractive low-tax locations. The proposal that Joe Biden put forth - a global minimum rate of at least 15% and an agreement that countries should be able to tax some of the profits made by big companies based on the revenue they generate in that country, rather than where they are based - has the backing of the G7 group. But at home, Republicans are calling the proposal “crazy” and are threatening to block the passage in the US.