Ahead of second day of the president's impeachment defense presentation, Republican and Democratic senators offered very different reactions to a bombshell New York Times report that ex-National Security Advisor John Bolton has written in a manuscript that President Donald Trump told him that he froze aid to Ukraine over demands for investigations into Democrats, including former Vice President and 2020 presidential hopeful Joe Biden.
At separate press conferences on Monday, Republicans said nothing has changed, but Democrats called the new information "stunning."
Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana said the weekend reporting, "really doesn't change anything." Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming said, "the facts of the case remain the same."
Before the GOP members spoke, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York alleged that if the Senate Republicans are "not going to vote to call Mr. Bolton and Mr. [Mick] Mulvaney, they would be part of a coverup."
"We're all staring a White House coverup in the face," Schumer said, flanked by Democratic SenatorsTammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Ben Cardin of Maryland. "This is stunning."
Schumer said Bolton's allegation "essentially confirms" the first impeachment article of abuse of power against the president.
Asked if he would support a subpoena to get John Bolton's manuscript, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham reportedly told reporters Monday, "I want to know what's in the manuscript, yeah, I think that's important." Senators Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) also indicated they would consider voting to hear from witnesses.
Peter Zalzal, associate vice president for clean air strategies at the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, joined Cheddar to discuss the Biden Administration's unveiling of stricter fuel-efficiency standards for new automobiles. "The administration estimated that these rules will reduce about 2.5 billion tons of climate pollution by 2050, and using less fuel also means that we have to go to the gas pump less often. And so it means we save money, thousands of dollars in avoided fuel costs each year for consumers," he noted.
The relatively robust March jobs report showed that despite the low unemployment rate, Black, Hispanic, and women job seekers are still having difficulty finding work. William M. Rodgers III, the vice president and director of the Institute for Economic Equity at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis noted that participation rates in the labor force ticked up for minorities, adding to other positive signs of growth. He also spoke to Cheddar News to discuss further the jobs figures, the state of the labor market, and rising inflation.
U.S. markets opened higher to kick off the second quarter, despite a miss on the March Jobs Report. The economy added $431,000 in the month, slightly lower than the $490,000 analysts had expected. The unemployment rate also ticked down to 3.6% from 3.8%. Kevin Simpson, Founder & Chief Investment Officer, Capital Wealth Planning joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
President Biden is going after billionaires in his 2023 budget request to congress. The proposal would establish a 20% minimum tax rate on all households worth more than $100 million, as well as raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. Rhett Buttle, Small Business for America's Future Senior Advisor, Business Policy Expert & Biden Campaign Business Advisor, breaks down the proposal, what it aims to accomplish, and how small businesses might feel about it.
The Biden administration has announced the U.S. will accept up to 100,000 refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine and provide more than 1 billion dollars in new funding for the growing humanitarian crisis. The move comes as President Biden meets with his western counterparts in Europe to demonstrate a united front against Russia and show support for Ukraine. Altagracia Pierre-Outerbridge, Immigration Attorney for Outerbridge Law, explains how this is going to work.
The DOJ has endorsed an antitrust bill targeting tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Meta, and Google. The legislation would ban the companies from favoring their own products and services over their competitor's, making it more difficult them to dominate the marketplace. Greg Day, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies at the University of Georgia, breaks down the bill and its potential impact on anti-competition in the tech sector.
Catching you up with what you need to know on Apr 1, 2022, with Ukrainians hoping to flee the besieged city of Mariupol with a ceasefire is in place, President Biden orders the release of oil from U.S.reserves, LGBT activists suing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over the "Don't Say Gay" Law, U.S. passports offering an "x" option for gender, and more.
America’s employers extended a streak of robust hiring in March, adding 431,000 jobs in a sign of the economy’s resilience in the face of a still-destructive pandemic and the highest inflation in 40 years.
