Mike Johnson denies collaborating with Democrats to defeat attempt to remove him – US politics live

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As chair of the House energy and commerce committee, Cathy McMorris Rodgers oversees federal research grants that universities receive, and said she would scrutinize universities hit by anti-Israel protests.

“We will be increasing our oversight of institutions that have received public funding and cracking down on those who are in violation of the Civil Rights Act,” McMorris Rodgers said.

The Washington congresswoman continued:

Imagine being a Jewish American, knowing that part of your hard-earned paycheck is going to fund antisemitic professors’ research while they threaten students and actively indoctrinate and radicalize the next generation.

Virginia Foxx, chair of the House education committee, said she will invite officials from the University of California, Los Angeles, University of Michigan and Yale University to appear for testimony on 23 May.

“As Republican leaders, we have a clear message for mealy mouthed spineless college leaders. Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of duty to your Jewish students. American universities are officially put on notice that we have come to take our universities back,” said Foxx, who represents North Carolina.

Officials from the three colleges will testify “on their handling of the these most recent outrages”, Foxx said, referring to the student protests.

Johnson calls Columbia protesters 'terrorist sympathizers', vows investigations

Mike Johnson kept up his hardline rhetoric against anti-Israel protesters on college campuses, singling out demonstrators at Columbia University as “terrorist sympathizers” and vowing the House will investigate the protests nationwide.

Referring to the New York City-based university’s administrators, Johnson said, “What do they need to see before they stand up to these terrorist sympathizers? And that is exactly what they are.”

He blamed the Columbia demonstrators for inspiring similar protests nationwide:

What’s worse, though, is that Columbia’s choice to ignore the safety of their Jewish students and appease antisemites has inspired even more hateful protests to pop up across the country.

Without getting into specifics, he announced that House committees would open investigations into the protests:

We will not allow antisemitism to thrive on campus, and we will hold these universities accountable for their failure to protect Jewish students on campus. And that’s why today, we’re here to announce a House-wide effort to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses. Nearly every committee here has a role to play in these efforts to stop the madness that has ensued.

Johnson to detail House Republican "crackdown on antisemitism" at universities

Speaker Mike Johnson and other top House Republicans are expected to in a few minutes announce their plans for a “crackdown on antisemitism” at universities nationwide, amid pro-Israel protests that have prompted school administrators to call in the police and suspend students.

Johnson has been aggressive in condemning these disruptions. He visited Columbia University last week – the site of one of the most intense protests – and alleged that Hamas “backed” the demonstrations, a remark that was criticized as baseless.

We’ll let you know what he has to say about the House’s next steps.

The day so far

Democrats may have just saved Republican speaker Mike Johnson from an attempt by rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene to remove him from his post as the chamber’s leader. House Democratic leaders say they will oppose Greene’s motion, should she put it up for a vote, prompting Greene to accuse Johnson of making a “slimy back room deal” with the opposition (though it was unclear if her effort ever had much support). Johnson, for his part, denied any collaboration with Democrats, whose position was an about-face from the one they took last year, when they were more than happy to lend their votes to the GOP insurgents who ousted Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s chair. Johnson is meanwhile busy preparing for a press conference we expect to begin in a few minutes, where he will announce a “crackdown on antisemitism” at college campuses, amid a wave of protests that have drawn condemnation from the White house.

Here’s what else is happening today:

Donald Trump was fined $9,000 for violating a gag order imposed by the judge in his trial in New York on charges related to falsifying business documents.

Trump also gave an interview to Time, where he outlined the extreme rightwing agenda he would pursue if returned to the White House.

Defense secretary Lloyd Austin was not immune to the protest wave, as a sign-wielding demonstrator interrupted his testimony to Congress.

Are you worried about Donald Trump returning to power? Are you counting the days until voters eject Joe Biden from the White House?

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On Thursday 2 May from 8-9.15pm GMT, the Guardian’s Tania Branigan, David Smith, Mehdi Hasan and Tara Setmayer will hold a live event where viewers will get the inside track on the people, the ideas and the events that might shape the US election campaign.

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Donald Trump told Time much about what he would have planned for a second term in the White House, which adds up to a far more extreme agenda than what he promised when elected in 2016.

Here’s a summary of it all, from the interview:

What emerged in two interviews with Trump, and conversations with more than a dozen of his closest advisers and confidants, were the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world. To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 million people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers. He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn’t carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America’s founding. He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn’t paying enough for its own defense. He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen.

Time also managed to break a bit of news about Trump’s intentions beyond 2028. If elected in November, the constitution only allows him to serve one term, and he told the magazine that he has no plans “to overturn or ignore the constitution’s prohibition on a third term”.

Trump expresses support for efforts to monitor pregnant women

Trump also signaled his support for the possibility that states hostile to abortion rights would attempt to monitor pregnant women.

In the interview with Time, Trump was asked if he believes “states should monitor women’s pregnancies so they can know if they’ve gotten an abortion after the ban?”.

Trump replied, in part: “I think they might do that. Again, you’ll have to speak to the individual states.”

Trump was then asked if he was personally comfortable with people being prosecuted for receiving abortions after a state-implemented ban.

He said:

The states are going to say. It’s irrelevant whether I’m comfortable or not. It’s totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions.

And by the way, Texas is going to be different than Ohio. And Ohio is going to be different than Michigan. I see what’s happening.

Read the full interview here.

Donald Trump considering pardons for January 6 insurrectionists, if elected

Donald Trump has said that he is considering pardons for every person accused of attacking the US Capitol on 6 January if elected president in 2024, according to a new interview.

Trump told Time that he refers to those involved in the 2021 insurrection as “J-6 patriots”. When asked if he “would consider pardoning every one of them”, Trump said: “Yes, absolutely.”

Trump characterized those persecuted for their involvement in 6 January as being victims to a two-tier justice system.

Trump said:

It’s a two-tier system. Because when I look at Portland, when I look at Minneapolis, where they took over police precincts and everything else, and went after federal buildings, when I look at other situations that were violent, and where people were killed, nothing happened to them. Nothing happened to them. I think it’s a two-tier system of justice. I think it’s a very, very sad thing. And whether you like it or not, nobody died other than Ashli [Babbitt].

A pro-Palestine protester disrupted a US armed forces committee hearing where defence secretary Lloyd Austin was providing testimony.

As seen in video of the incident, Austin was speaking when a protester carrying a “let Gaza live” sign, stood up and said: “How can you talk about US leadership when you’re supporting genocide in Gaza?”

The protester added: “It is illegal. It is immoral. It is disgusting. The whole world is watching what we are doing in Gaza right now … Secretary general, you are supporting a genocide.”

The protester was removed by security.