Today"s politics recap The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection voted hold Steve Bannon in contempt for refusing to comply with the panel’s subpoenas. The expected committee vote comes one day after Donald Trump filed a lawsuit seeking to block certain White House documents from the subpoenas by claiming executive privilege, which is considered a dubious legal argument given that he is no longer president. The White House said Trump’s response to the insurrection cannot be “swept under the rug”. “Our view, and I think the view of the vast majority of Americans, is that former President Trump abused the office of the presidency and attempted to subvert a peaceful transfer of power,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said when asked about Trump’s lawsuit. “The former president’s actions represented a unique and existential threat to our democracy that we don’t feel can be swept under the rug.” FBI agents raided a Washington home linked to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch with ties to Vladimir Putin who was sanctioned by the treasury department in 2018. Progressive lawmakers voiced optimism about reaching a deal on the reconciliation package after meeting with Joe Biden at the White House this afternoon. The president is now meeting with a group of centrist Democratic lawmakers to continue the negotiations over the reconciliation package and the infrastructure bill. Democrats are still working to reach an agreement on the top-line cost of the reconciliation package, and House progressives are holding up the passage of the infrastructure bill until a deal is struck. In her remarks ahead of the vote, Liz Cheney had a message for Republican colleagues and suggested that Trump was directly involved in the 6 January attack. “Mr. Bannon’s and Mr. Trump’s privilege arguments do appear to reveal one thing,” she said. “They suggest that President Trump was personally involved in the planning and execution of 6 January. And we will get to the bottom of that.” To Republican lawmakers, she said: “You know that there is no evidence of widespread election fraud sufficient to overturn the election; you know that the Dominion voting machines were not corrupted by a foreign power. You know those claims are false.” Lawmakers vote to hold Trump adviser Bannon in contempt Hugo Lowell The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack unanimously voted on Tuesday to recommend the criminal prosecution of Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon, after he defied a subpoena relating to their inquiry into the 6 January insurrection. The select committee approved the contempt of Congress citation unanimously, sending the report to the Democratic-controlled House, which is expected on Thursday to authorize the panel to go to court to punish Bannon for his non-compliance. Members on the select committee took the aggressive step against Bannon to sound a warning to Trump White House officials and others connected to the Capitol attack that defying subpoenas would carry grave consequences, according to a source on the panel. The House select committee is now going to vote on whether to hold Steve Bannon in contempt. “I expect that the House will quickly adopt this referral to the justice department and that the US attorney will do his duty and prosecute Mr Bannon for criminal contempt of Congress,” said Bennie Thompson, the committee chair. “It’s a shame that Mr Bannon has put us in this position. But we won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.” “There isn’t a different set of rules” for Bannon, Thompson added noting that the majority of Americans would not be able to evade subpoenas the way Bannon has tried to do. “Mr Bannon stands alone in his complete defiance of our subpoena. That’s not acceptable. No one in this country, no matter how wealthy or how powerful, is above the law. Left unaddressed, this defiance may encourage others to follow Mr Bannon down the same path,” he said. The House select committee investigating the 6 January insurrection is expected to vote on whether to hold former Trump aide Steve Bannon in contempt shortly. Yesterday, the White House reportedly sent a letter to Bannon’s lawyer saying that he had no basis for his refusal to appear for a deposition. The letter, which was obtained by the Washington Post, was sent by Jonathan C Su, a deputy counsel to the president. It reads: “As you are aware, Mr. Bannon’s tenure as a White House employee ended in 2017,” the Post reports. “To the extent any privileges could apply to Mr. Bannon’s conversations with the former President or White House staff after the conclusion of his tenure, President Biden has already determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the public interest, and therefore is not justified, with respect to certain subjects within the purview of the Select Committee.” Indeed, legal experts say that Bannon’s claim that his deposition is protected by executive privilege is dubious. Executive privilege is broadly defined and can protect presidents’ communications with close advisers. But it’s unclear whether the privilege covers ex-presidents. And it’s unclear whether it would apply to Bannon, who left his White House position in 2017, long before the 6 January attack that lawmakers are investigating. More than three-quarters of Republicans want Trump back While the majority of Americans say they don’t want Donald Trump running for president in 2024, among Republicans, 78% say they want him back, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. The pool found a country divided on the former president’s legacy. While just over half of Americans (51%) said Trump has had a mainly negative impact on American politics, 41% say he has had a mainly positive impact. While 51 % said Trump has been undermining democracy, 39% said he has been protecting it. “While a majority of Americans say, ‘been there, done that’ about Trump and half feel he has damaged the underpinnings of democracy, support for the former president within the GOP has grown,” said Tim Malloy, a Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst One hundred and five US representatives signed a letter urging Joe Biden to defend provisions for paid family leave in the Build Back Better Act. “We write to express our support for maintaining robust paid family and medical leave in the final reconciliation package,” they wrote. “Paid leave is a top priority for us and the workers we represent. The appeal was led by Democrats Don Beyer of Virginia, Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, Judy Chu and Jimmy Gomez of California, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania. As my colleague Erum Salam explains: The US is the only industrialized country to not offer paid family leave, or paid time off after adopting, fostering or giving birth to a new child. While some private companies offer this as a perk to their employees, Build Back Better would ensure all new working parents and caregivers job security and almost three months of at least partial paid time off after these major life events. It would also guarantee all workers at least three days of bereavement leave in the event of a death in the family. Negotiations over a plan that would appease moderates and retain the support of progressives are stalled – with fraught discussions about which programs to cut to reduce the bill’s overall spending underway. The US may soon recommend Covid-19 vaccine boosters for people 40 and older, CNN reports. CNN’S Elizabeth Cohen and John Bonifield report: The US government likely will soon recommend booster shots to people as young as 40 who received either Moderna or Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, according to a source familiar with the plan. “I believe it will happen,” the source said. The source said there is “growing concern within the FDA” that US data is beginning to show hospitalizations among people under age 65 who have been fully vaccinated. Pfizer boosters are currently recommended for those over 65 and with certain medical conditions, and a Moderna booster is expected to be authorized for the same groups. Texas Republicans pass voting maps that entrench power of whites Sam Levine Texas Republicans are on the verge of enacting new voting maps that would entrench the state’s Republican and white majority even as its non-white population grows rapidly. Texas Republicans approved the congressional plan on Monday evening, sending it to Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, who is expected to sign the measure. The Texas maps offer perhaps the most brazen effort in the US so far this year to draw new district lines to benefit one political party, a practice called gerrymandering. The proposed congressional map would blunt growing Democratic strength in the Texas suburbs. Texas Republicans already have a 23-13 seat advantage in the state’s congressional delegation and the new maps would double the number of safe GOP congressional seats in the state from 11 to 22, according to the Washington Post. Democrats would have 12 safe seats, up from eight. There would be just one competitive congressional district in the state, down from 12. The supreme court has declined to stop a vaccine requirement for health workers in Maine. Justice Stephen Breyer declined to hear an emergency appeal to block a vaccine requirement announced by the Maine governor Janet Mills. The policy requires health workers to get vaccinated against Covid-19 by 29 October or risk losing their jobs. According to the state’s dashboard tracking vaccinations among health workers, between 84% and 92% of workers are vaccinated in various settings so far. This is the first time the supreme court has dealt with a statewide vaccine mandate. Today so far That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours. Here’s where the day stands so far: The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection is expected to hold Steve Bannon in contempt for refusing to comply with the panel’s subpoenas. The expected committee vote comes one day after Donald Trump filed a lawsuit seeking to block certain White House documents from the subpoenas by claiming executive privilege, which is considered a dubious legal argument given that he is no longer president. The White House said Trump’s response to the insurrection cannot be “swept under the rug”. “Our view, and I think the view of the vast majority of Americans, is that former President Trump abused the office of the presidency and attempted to subvert a peaceful transfer of power,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said when asked about Trump’s lawsuit. “The former president’s actions represented a unique and existential threat to our democracy that we don’t feel can be swept under the rug.” FBI agents raided a Washington home linked to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch with ties to Vladimir Putin who was sanctioned by the treasury department in 2018. Progressive lawmakers voiced optimism about reaching a deal on the reconciliation package after meeting with Joe Biden at the White House this afternoon. The president is now meeting with a group of centrist Democratic lawmakers to continue the negotiations over the reconciliation package and the infrastructure bill. Democrats are still working to reach an agreement on the top-line cost of the reconciliation package, and House progressives are holding up the passage of the infrastructure bill until a deal is struck. Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned. Progressives voice optimism about reaching deal after meeting with Biden Progressive lawmakers expressed optimism about reaching a deal on the reconciliation package after meeting with Joe Biden at the White House this afternoon. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said the group had a “really good, productive meeting” with Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris and treasury secretary Janet Yellen. “And I think we all feel still even more optimistic about getting to an agreement on a really transformational bill,” Jayapal told reporters after the meeting. Jayapal said she was confident that “a majority” of progressive priorities would be included in the final bill, and she thanked Biden for his engagement in the negotiations. When asked if they agreed to a top-line cost of the bill, Jayapal said that Biden has consistently pushed for a price tag between $1.9tn and $2.2tn, after moderates like Joe Manchin indicated they would not support a $3.5tn package. “It’s not the number that we want,” Jayapal said. “But at the end of the day, the idea that we can do these programs, a multitude of programs and actually get them going so that they deliver immediate transformational benefits to people is what we’re focused on.” Joe Biden’s first meeting with congressional Democrats has now ended after about two hours, according to the White House. The president’s first meeting was with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Vice-president Kamala Harris and Treasury secretary Janet Yellen attended as well. Biden will now meet with some of the centrist Democrats in Congress to continue discussions about the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package. Gloria Oladipo In an attempt to recruit more officers, US Capitol police chief Thomas Manger is using the 6 January insurrection as a reason for why more people should join the force. As seen in a promotional video titled The US Capitol Police: A Call to Service, Manger describes how the attack, which many have cited as a failure on the part of Capitol law enforcement, made him want to once again join the force. “I wanted to be a police officer again. I wanted to be there to help. We are looking for really good men and women who have that spirit for public service, who want to serve their country,” said Manger in the video. Following the insurrection, officers testified during a House committee about the events of 6 January, describing being swarmed and attacked by rioters as well as the trauma they dealt with. Mayorkas tests positive for coronavirus Gloria Oladipo US Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has tested positive for Covid-19, according to DHS spokesperson Marsha Espinosa. “Secretary Mayorkas tested positive this morning for the Covid-19 virus after taking a test as part of routine pre-travel protocols. Secretary Mayorkas is experiencing only mild congestion; he is fully vaccinated and will isolate and work at home per CDC protocols and medical advice. Contact tracing is underway,” Mayorkas will no longer be participating in a planned trip to Colombia with secretary of state Antony Blinken and will be working from home, reports CNN. Gloria Oladipo An FBI spokesperson has said that the agency is conducting law enforcement activity in a New York City building in connection with an investigation into Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch whose Washington, DC home was raided today, according to ABC news. Stay tuned as more information emerges.