Summary White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the Biden administration is in “no rush” to acknowledge officially the Taliban as the governing authority in Afghanistan. The defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, spoke of a “proud” and a “solemn” time for the department in the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Joe Biden released a statement criticizing the Texas abortion law that went into effect today and affirming the White House’s support of Roe v Wade. Senior Democrats in Congress slammed the US supreme court for not taking up an appeal to consider the Texas abortion ban, letting the law go into effect though it virtually bans all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The Capitol Police Department is “closely monitoring” a rally planned in support of the 6 January insurrectionists, chief Tom Manger said in a statement. Lawmakers continue the process of investigating the deadly 6 January storming of the capitol. Congressman Bennie Thompson, chair of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack, is seeking to expand an inquiry into Trump’s role in the insurrection New York governor Kathy Hochul, in one of her first major moves as the state’s new governor, called for lawmakers to return to Albany for a special session to extend the state’s eviction moratorium. State lawmakers are expected to start a special session at noon today with the goal of extending the moratorium, currently set to expire at midnight, through mid-January. The Caldor Fire is closing in on Lake Tahoe, threatening over 34,000 structures in the popular resort town. Meanwhile, people in Louisiana are still reeling from the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, dealing with stifling heat as blackouts continue in New Orleans. – Joanna Walters, Lauren Aratani and Maanvi Singh Gabrielle Canon Firefighters battling a ferocious wildfire in the Lake Tahoe Basin are facing critical hours as they work to prevent the flames from reaching a resort city at the southern tip of the lake. Crews gained ground on the behemoth blaze raging on the California-Nevada border, officials said Wednesday, despite dry gusty conditions and difficult terrain. The Caldor fire did not make as strong a push toward Tahoe as it did the previous day, said the operations section chief, Tim Ernst, as winds came up less strong than expected and bulldozers made progress creating fire lines. But with forecasters warning that there will be swirling, gusty winds all Wednesdaycrews face a hard fight to keep the fire from reaching homes in the town of South Lake Tahoe in California and expanding into Nevada. The Caldor fire was 3 miles (5km) outside South Lake Tahoe by Tuesday afternoon, Cal Fire battalion chief Henry Herrera told KGO-TV. A day earlier, roughly 22,000 residents jammed the city’s main artery for hours after they were ordered to leave as the fire advanced. Pushed by strong winds, the Caldor fire has expanded in recent days. Stephen Vollmer, a fire behavior analyst for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), said embers were being cast up to a mile out in front of the fire, creating new ignition points, including in some parts of the dense forest that have not burned since 1940 or before. ‘Open season on media’: journalists increasingly targeted at Los Angeles protests Los Angeles has seen volatile protests almost every weekend this summer over trans rights, political opposition to masks and vaccines, and the recall of the Democratic governor. At least seven journalists have been physically assaulted while covering these rallies, six of them by rightwing demonstrators. Attacks on the press are just one part of escalating rightwing street violence in the city, which has included multiple stabbings, people being sprayed in the face with bear Mace, an assault on a breast cancer patient outside a clinic, and repeated physical brawls with leftwing protesters in the streets. In another sign of growing tensions, protesters rallying against vaccine mandates showed up at the homes of two Los Angeles city council members on Sunday. Several Los Angeles journalists said the violence was like nothing they had seen before, and that some of the attacks had taken place with police officers standing nearby. The Los Angeles police department and the Los Angeles county sheriff’s department did not respond to requests for comment about whether there had been any arrests so far in any of the incidents, even as some of the journalists have publicly identified the people they believe attacked them and at least three have made official police reports. The documentary film-maker Rocky Romano said he was hit over the head with a lead-filled baton at an anti-trans protest on 3 July while wearing a vest clearly marked “press”. Capitol police are monitoring 18 September rally at US Capitol The Capitol Police Department is “closely monitoring” a rally planned in support of the 6 January insurrectionists, chief Tom Manger said in a statement. The AP reports on what officials are expecting at the 18 September rally: Far right extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are planning to attend a rally later this month at the U.S. Capitol that is designed to demand “justice” for the hundreds of people who have been charged in connection with January’s insurrection, according to three people familiar with intelligence gathered by federal officials. As a result, U.S. Capitol Police have been discussing in recent weeks whether the large perimeter fence that was erected outside the Capitol after January’s riot will need to be put back up, the people said. The officials have been discussing security plans that involve reconstructing the fence as well as another plan that does not involve a fence, the people said. They were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The decision on whether or not to erect the fence again will likely be considered by the Capitol Police Board, according to a House aide familiar with the matter and granted anonymity to discuss it. No decisions have been made. The board consists of the Sergeant at Arms of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the U.S. Senate, and the Architect of the Capitol. This rally comes at the heels of two bomb threats near the capitol, and as lawmakers continue the process of investigating the deadly 6 January storming of the capitol. Congressman Bennie Thompson, chair of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack, is seeking to expand an inquiry into Donald Trump’s role in the insurrection. Planned Parenthood slams "vigilante" effect of new Texas abortion ban law Erica Sackin, political communications director of women’s health services and abortion provider Planned Parenthood, said that the new law in Texas risks promoting vigilantism from the public. Critics argue that it sets a dangerous precedent beyond just abortion - imagine if anyone could sue anyone over a constitutional right they simply didn’t agree with. Sackin told CNN a little earlier: “We gave never seen a law like this one before. This ‘sue thy neighbor’ provision means that it’s not just going to be impossible for people to get an abortion but it really creates, almost, this vigilante, where they can go after anyone they suspect of having helped someone to get an abortion.” CNN’s Alisyn Camerota asked Sackin what she thought, given that Texas Republican governor Greg Abbott is fond of banning mask mandates and isn’t in favor of vaccination mandates and argues that Texans and not state government should decide their own best practices, yet has egged on the state abortion ban. Sackin said: It’s really hard to hear something like that coming out of his mouth, especially when we’re looking at what this law means for people across Texas. Right now patients are scared, parents are worried, patients can’t make the most personal decision about if and when they want to become a parent. “If they even are going to be able to get an abortion at all it’s going to mean driving hundreds of miles out of state, if they an afford it, and that includes not just the drive, that includes accommodation, funding an appointment, taking time off of work, finding childcare, so really the layers and layers of restrictions on getting an abortion in Texas are unbelievable.” Sackin said Planned Parenthood would continue to fight and were waiting for the Supreme Court “to hopefully weigh in” adding “we are deeply disappointed that they didn’t take any action overnight...but it’s still possible they will take action and allow some emergency relief, because of how much harm this law will cause.” Sackin warned, however, that the move in Texas by anti-abortion forces was “just one piece of an agenda we are seeing across the country” to make abortion inaccessible. Afternoon summary It’s been a lively afternoon and my colleague on the US west coast, Maanvi Singh, will now take over the blog and bring you any remaining developments in US political news for the next few hours, so do stay tuned. So far: White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the Biden administration is in “no rush” to acknowledge officially the Taliban as the governing authority in Afghanistan. The defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, spoke of a “proud” and a “solemn” time for the department in the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Joe Biden released a statement criticizing the Texas abortion law that went into effect today and affirming the White House’s support of Roe v Wade. Senior Democrats in Congress slammed the US supreme court for not taking up an appeal to consider the Texas abortion ban, letting the law go into effect though it virtually bans all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Paxton Smith, who stealthily used her valedictorian address at her Dallas high school in June to rail against Texas’s near-total abortion ban legislation, spoke out today to call the passing of the law and the failure by the US supreme court to intervene “heart-wrenching”. “It’s very sad to see, and it is so heart-wrenching that so many people in Texas have had a fundamental human right taken away from them today,” said Smith, who is studying at the University of Texas. She told CNN: “I’m very upset that this law has been able to go into effect, and I know a lot of people share that sentiment and the idea that if we do face ourselves with an unplanned pregnancy then that life-changing decision ... is no longer up to us.” “I think a lot of times some of the most important voices in the issue are not listened to,” Smith said. “It deeply affects every person differently and very personally ... and I think that’s something that needed to be talked about.” Smith said that the new law “definitely” made her question whether she wanted to live in Texas. “I worry about my rights in a state where the value of my voice and the value of what happens with my life and with my body if I get pregnant are not taken into account. Smith’s valedictorian speech garnered millions of views on social media and won praise from politicians such as Hillary Clinton and Beto O’Rourke. You can read an interview she did with the Guardian at the time, here. White House says "no rush" to recognize Taliban as leaders of Afghanistan White House press secretary Jen Psaki mentioned once again this afternoon that the Biden administration is not in a hurry to acknowledge officially the Taliban as the governing authority in Afghanistan. But that very obviously is not ruling out a future formal recognition. “There is no rush to recognize, from the US or any country around the world,” Psaki said at the media briefing earlier today. Asked if and how that might change, Psaki said: “It will depend very much on their behavior.” The US brought many Afghan allies out of the country in its huge airlift, but the majority of those who applied for visas and expected to be evacuated because they had worked alongside Americans in the last 20 years ended up being left behind when the last US military plane left shortly after midnight local time on 31 August, the deadline the Biden administration had agreed with the Taliban for the US to leave Afghanistan. Psaki said the handful of American citizens left behind who want to leave will be evacuated, echoing what Joe Biden said yesterday. Jen Psaki just responded to another question from the press at the media briefing about the new Texas law banning almost all abortion. “It’s an extreme threat,” the White House press sec said, noting that the law allows for “the offering of $10,000 to someone who reports someone who is going to get an abortion, so of course it’s of great concern [but] it’s not the first time there have been efforts by some in the country to prevent a woman having a right to choose”. Psaki said that Joe Biden and Vice-president Kamala Harris are strongly in support of the legal right to have an abortion in the US, afforded by the 1973 Roe supreme court ruling, being codified via federal legislation. They’ve called on Congress to do that, she said, adding that “codifying Roe v Wade as the law of the land is something Congress can do”. When then asked if the Biden administration had any intention of taking specific action, Psaki said: “I cannot speak to anything to do with the department of justice, they are independent.” Biden and Harris put out a statement about this on their first full day in office, on 22 January, on the 48th anniversary of the landmark 1973 supreme court ruling. They said at the time: In the past four years, reproductive health, including the right to choose, has been under relentless and extreme attack. We are deeply committed to making sure everyone has access to care – including reproductive health care – regardless of income, race, zip code, health insurance status, or immigration status. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to codifying Roe v. Wade and appointing judges that respect foundational precedents like Roe. White House press secretary Jen Psaki is holding a press conference right now, starting off with the White House’s rebuke of the Texas abortion law. “The president’s focus is to reiterate our deep commitment to the constitutional right established by Roe v Wide… and to continue to call for the codification of Roe,” Psaki said. Psaki also responded to a question on concerns that the White House prematurely decided that American adults should be eligible for booster Covid-19 vaccines. Psaki said that health officials such as Dr Anthony Fauci and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) head Rochelle Walensky have “reviewed mountains and mountains of available data on vaccine effectiveness and made a clinical judgment that boosters would be needed”. “There will still be a final piece of this process that will be seen through,” Psaki said regarding further plans the White House will release on how booster shots will be rolled out by 20 September. A summer camp and men’s conference hosted by an Illinois church has been linked to 180 confirmed and probable Covid-19 cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday. The agency noted that the events did not require vaccinations or testing. The camp was a five-day overnight church camp for high-school-aged teenagers and a two-day men’s conference. The events took place in mid-June. Among the 122 confirmed cases, 85% of the people were not vaccinated while 15% were fully vaccinated. “This investigation underscores the impact of secondary SARS-CoV-2 transmission during large events such as camps and conferences when Covid-19 prevention strategies, including vaccination, masking, physical distancing and screening testing, are not implemented,” the CDC said in its report. There was a remarkable moment at the end of the Pentagon briefing. Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen Mark Milley were asked about the pain and anger of veterans seeing 20 years of fighting end in defeat and retreat. Austin talked about everyone understanding and accepting the emotions of others. Milley was more direct, and talked about his own feelings. “So you asked me where my pain and anger comes from?” he replied to the CNN journalist who asked the question. “I have all those same emotions and I’m sure the secretary does and anyone who’s served. And I commanded troops. I wasn’t born a four-star general. I have walked the patrols and been blown up and shot and RPG-ed and everything else.” ”And my pain and anger comes from the same as grieving families, the same as those soldiers that are on the ground,” Milley said, adding that he had visited wounded service members at Walter Reed hospital last night. “This is tough stuff. War is hard. It’s vicious, it’s brutal, it’s unforgiving. And yes, we all have pain and anger, and when we see what has unfolded over the last 20 years and over the last 20 days, that creates pain and anger. Mine comes from 242 of my soldiers killed in action over 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan. So yeah, I have that. But I’m a professional soldier. I’m going to contain my pain and anger and continue to execute my mission.” At the Pentagon, Gen Mark Milley addressed Sunday’s drone strike, which is believed to have killed at least 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children under the age of 11. Milley insisted that the intelligence continued to show that the target was an Islamic State car bomb. “At the time, and I think this is still valid, we had very good intelligence that Isis-K was preparing a specific type of vehicle at a specific type location. We monitored that through various means, and all of the different criteria were being met. We went through the same level of rigor that we’ve done for years, and we took a strike,” Milley said.” “Secondly, we know that there were secondary explosions,” the general went on. “Because there were secondary explosions, there’s a reasonable conclusion to be made that there were explosives in that vehicle. The third thing is we know from a variety of other means that at least one of those people that were killed was an Isis facilitator.” But Milley took a step towards acknowledging the civilian casualties. “So were there others killed? Yes, there are others killed,” he said. But added: “Who they are they? We don’t know. We’ll try to sort through all that.” In a telling exchange, Gen Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, was asked what it was like having to coordinate with the Taliban during the evacuation after fighting with them for long. “In war, you do what you must, in order to reduce risk to the mission and the force, not what you necessarily want to do,” Milley said. Asked if it was possible that the US might cooperate with the Taliban in operations against the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), he replied: “It’s possible.” At that point, defense secretary Lloyd Austin, interjected quickly: “I want to tell you that we’re going to do everything that we can to make sure we remain focused on ISIS-K [Pentagon-speak for ISKP]. We understand that network and at the time of our choosing, in the future, we’ll hold them accountable for what they’ve done.” Addressing reporters in the Pentagon, defense secretary Lloyd Austin also made it clear he was well aware of the bitter criticism coming from war veterans for the chaos surrounding the evacuation of Afghan interpreters and other employees. The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that most of those eligible for special immigration visas were left behind. “I will always be proud of the part that we played in this war,” Austin said. “But we shouldn’t expect Afghan war veterans to agree any more than any other group of Americans. I’ve heard strong views from many sides in recent days. And that’s vital.” “That’s democracy. That’s America.” Top defense officials speak on Afghanistan: "Proud" and "solemn" time for defense department The defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, is making his first major appearance since the evacuation of Kabul, Afghanistan alongside the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Mark Milley. “It’s been a busy time for all of us in this department. A proud one and a solemn one too,” Austin said. “We have concluded our historic evacuation operation, and ended the last mission of the US war in Afghanistan. America’s longest war has come to a close.” “As both a secretary and as a veteran..my thoughts have been with the brave Americans who stood up to serve after al-Qaida attacked us on September 11 2001.”