Biden: 'My intention' is to visit the southern border

President Joe Biden intends to visit the southern U.S. border, he said Wednesday, following months of insistence from his political opponents that he make the trip.

“That’s my intention,” Biden said, responding to a question from reporters about whether he’d go to the border. “We’re working out the details now.”

The president is scheduled to visit Mexico City next week for a summit with other North American leaders. The news of Biden’s border visit was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Republicans have long insisted that Biden see the border with Mexico firsthand — one of many criticisms they’ve maintained over the administration’s border policy. GOP leaders, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), have held press conferences criticizing Biden from the border itself, highlighting what they’ve labeled as an immigration crisis.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in November called McCarthy’s border visit a “political stunt.”

The Biden administration faced additional scrutiny for its immigration policies last month under the expected expiration of Title 42, a mechanism used by the Biden and Trump administrations to prevent the entry of millions of migrants under Covid-era rules. Critics have argued the federal government is not prepared for the influx of migrants expected when Title 42 is lifted, as authorities will no longer be able to turn migrants away without an asylum hearing.

The Supreme Court ruled in December that Title 42 can stay in place for now, with oral arguments in the case expected in February or March.

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McCarthy’s political operation spent millions on lawmakers now opposing his speaker dreams

Money can buy a lot of things. The speakership of the House may not be one of them.

In the 2022 election cycle alone, political groups affiliated with Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) spent over $1 million supporting Republican representatives who have now voted against him for speaker, according to a review of federal campaign finance records.

Of the 20 Republicans who voted for someone other than McCarthy — leaving the House in deadlock — 14 received a total of $120,000 in contributions from McCarthy’s leadership PAC, the Majority Committee, the filings show. That includes Reps. Dan Bishop (N.C.), Michael Cloud (Texas), Andrew Clyde (Ga.), Byron Donalds (Fla.), Bob Good (Va.), Andy Harris (Md.), Ralph Norman (S.C.), Scott Perry (Pa.) and Matt Rosendale (Mont.), along with incoming freshmen Anna Paulina Luna (Fla.), Josh Brecheen (Okla.), Andy Ogles (Tenn.), Eli Crane (Ariz.) and Keith Self (Texas).

The donations were among hundreds McCarthy spread around to the Republican conference and GOP challengers as he sought to help Republicans win the House majority in 2021 and 2022. Most candidates received the maximum $10,000 — $5,000 each for the primary and the general election — although a few only got support for the general election.

Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Mary Miller (Ill.) and Chip Roy (Texas) did not receive any contributions from McCarthy’s PAC in the last election cycle, although some have benefited from the political operation in the past. Most of the incumbents — with the exception of Boebert, whose contest went to an automatic recount due to its surprisingly close margin — faced easy paths to reelection in the midterms.

“This is not personal,” Roy said on the House floor on Tuesday.

In addition to McCarthy’s leadership PAC, the McCarthy-aligned House GOP super PAC, Congressional Leadership Fund, also threw its support behind some of the lawmakers who are now spoiling his speaker bid. Crane received $10,000 in contributions from CLF during both the primary and general election. Harris and Self each received $5,000 during their primary and general elections, respectively.

CLF didn’t just donate to Crane, however. The super PAC also spent over $900,000 on ads in support of him as he challenged incumbent Democratic Rep. Tom O’Halleran in Arizona’s 2nd District. Crane, a political newcomer backed by former President Donald Trump, went on to beat O’Halleran, who was one of the most vulnerable House Democrats in 2022 due to redistricting, by about 8 points.

One TV spot touted that Crane would “stand up to [President Joe] Biden and stop the spending.”

First, though, Crane is standing up to McCarthy.

As the main House Republican super PAC, CLF has spent heavily in previous elections bolstering other Republicans who are now playing the role of anti-McCarthy rebels. In 2020, the super PAC poured over $1.5 million into Perry’s race in Pennsylvania, targeting Democratic opponent Eugene DePasquale. It also spent $1.8 million opposing Democrat Cameron Webb, who was Good’s opponent in central Virginia. Perry won his election by 12 points, but it was a closer race for Good, who won by 5 points.

“Our job is not to coronate the biggest fundraiser or rubber stamp, the status quo, or keep on going along to get along,” Boebert said on the floor Wednesday, as she nominated Donalds during the fifth round of voting.

It’s unclear how many rounds of votes it will take to elect a speaker, given Republicans’ small majority and the relative lack of movement among those GOP lawmakers opposing McCarthy. During the first two rounds of voting on Tuesday, 19 lawmakers refused to back the GOP leader. That number grew to 20 by the third vote. The House then adjourned.

The fourth round of voting Wednesday saw all of the same lawmakers voting against McCarthy — plus Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), who previously voted for McCarthy, voting present. She received $10,000 from the Majority Committee during the 2022 primary and general elections. And in 2020, when she held a key battleground district, CLF spent over $1 million on the race.

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New Covid strain is the most transmissible yet, WHO says

The coronavirus Omicron strain XBB.1.5, which has become the dominant strain in the U.S. in just a matter of weeks, could drive a new wave of cases, a World Health Organization official told reporters Wednesday.

“We are concerned about its growth advantage, in particular in some countries in Europe and the Northeast part of the United States, where XBB.1.5 has rapidly replaced other circulating sub-variants,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead.

Still, health officials are not sure whether that means more people will go to the hospital or die, because of immunity built up by vaccination and prior infection.

What we know: Public health officials have detected the strain in 29 countries, but it could be circulating in many more, Van Kerkhove said.

In the U.S., the sub-variant went from being present in 4 percent of sequenced cases to 40 percent in just a few weeks, White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha tweeted Wednesday.

But the WHO doesn’t yet know whether XBB.1.5 is more severe than other circulating sub-variants.

The United States is suffering far less from Covid than it did a year ago. Death rates were about seven times higher at this time last year, and hospitalizations were almost three times as high. Both categories have been lower at various points in the pandemic, however, and hospitalizations in New England, where XBB.1.5 is spreading fast, are rising and are at about 40 percent of last year’s levels.

Van Kerkhove said the increase in hospitalizations in the Northeast cannot be attributed yet to XBB.1.5 because other respiratory illnesses, including flu, could be partially responsible.

What’s next: Jha warned that Americans’ immunity against XBB.1.5 “is probably not great” if a prior infection was before July or if they have not received the bivalent shot that became available in September.

He advised people to get their bivalent booster, to test before attending large gatherings or before meeting with elderly or immunocompromised people and to wear a high-quality mask in crowded indoor spaces.

Covid tests and antiviral pills Paxlovid and Molnupiravir “should work just fine based on what we know,” Jha tweeted.

The WHO is working on an analysis of the new strain’s severity that it will publish in the coming days, Van Kerkhove said.

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Musk's Twitter to lift ban on political ads 'in coming weeks'

Twitter plans to lift its restrictions on political ads, saying it would immediately allow issue-based paid content on the platform while political advertisements will return "in the coming weeks."

The announcement comes as advertisers have fled the platform in droves after Elon Musk's takeover last October, which was followed by a spike in hate speech and the reinstatement of several previously-banned right-wing accounts.

Lifting bans on advertisements from politicians and issue-based groups — which have been in place since 2019 — could potentially lead to more revenue for the platform.

Reversal of course: Twitter Safety's account announced the changes in a tweet Tuesday evening, saying, "We believe that cause-based advertising can facilitate public conversation around important topics. Today, we're relaxing our ads policy for cause-based ads in the US."

The company also announced plans to expand political advertising, but didn't set a specific time frame beyond "weeks."

It's the latest in a series of Musk moves that have reversed policies that were put in place under former CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey. Dorsey banned all political ads in November 2019, saying in an October 2019 Twitter thread that paying for political reach "has significant ramifications that today’s democratic infrastructure may not be prepared to handle."

Additionally, Twitter's former Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal tweeted that political advertising accounted for less than $3 million in the 2018 midterm cycle. Twitter's total revenue was $3 billion in 2018.

Twitter didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on why it reversed the policies.

Issue-based ads are OK: Twitter reversed Dorsey's restrictions on issue-based (or cause-based) ads — set in November 2019 — that banned the promotion of such ads and required advertiser certification for ads that "educate, raise awareness, and/or call for people to take action in connection with civic engagement, economic growth, environmental stewardship, or social equity causes."

Musk has radically reshaped the platform since he bought it for $44 billion, laying off thousands of employees, overseeing a mass exodus of top executives and earning a sharp warning from the FTC.

Prior to Musk's takeover, 90 percent of Twitter's revenue came from advertising, but major advertisers have backed away following Musk's free-wheeling approach to content moderation. Musk launched a revamped version of a $8 monthly Twitter Blue subscription service late last year, and lifting political and issue-based ad bans could be another source of revenue for the company.

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Ukraine-EU summit to be held in Kyiv on Feb. 3

The Ukrainian capital will host the next round of EU-Ukraine talks next month.

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European Union countries near deal on response to China's Covid surge

They will continue talks on Wednesday.

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Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to criminal charges in New York

NEW YORK — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday to criminal charges alleging wire fraud, money laundering and campaign finance violations.

The 30-year-old Bankman-Fried is accused of stealing billions of dollars in customer and investor assets through the FTX exchange and his affiliated hedge fund, Alameda Research.

Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York granted a motion submitted by Bankman-Fried’s attorney, Mark Cohen, to redact any identifying information for two co-signers on a $250 million bond, which is partially secured by his parent's home in California. Kaplan noted that media organizations and members of the public might challenge that order.

The judge also set a new condition to the former billionaire’s bail, directing him to refrain from accessing or transferring any assets belonging to the failed crypto exchange and Alameda.

The new requirements were set after a little more than $1 million in crypto assets were moved from digital wallets belonging to Alameda late last week. Cohen said the defense had notified the government that the FTX founder had not made the transfers.

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