George Santos blasts New York Republicans for losing his House seat in scathing group text: Live updates

Donald Trump sent a gushing Valentine’s Day message to his wife, Melania, as part of a campaign email asking supporters for donations.

The former president thanked his FLOTUS for standing by her husband despite the litany of charges – both civil and criminal – against him.

Let’s hope he got her flowers...

Mike Bedigan reports:

US House Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn released the following statement, that he will run for re-election but will also step down from House Democratic leadership:

“I have informed Leader Hakeem Jeffries of my intention to step down as Assistant Democratic Leader of the House Democratic Caucus. I am deeply grateful for the confidence my colleagues have placed in me throughout my career, especially as Co-President of my Freshman Class, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Vice Chair and Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, and twice as Majority Whip and Assistant Democratic Leader. I am confident that Leader Jeffries, Whip Catherine Clark, Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, and the entire leadership team will continue the important work of putting people over politics.

“I will run for re-election for the Sixth Congressional District. Events of the last several years have made it clear that the greatness of America is at peril, and the threats to our continued pursuit of ‘a more perfect Union’ are real.

“Yesterday’s results in New York and Pennsylvania, however, undergird my devotion to Alexis de Tocqueville’s admonition that ‘America’s greatness is not that she is more enlightened than any other nation, but that she has always been able to repair her faults.’ I am convinced that a significant majority of Americans are committed to de Tocqueville’s notion, and I feel compelled to expand my efforts to maintain America’s greatness and make that greatness accessible and affordable for all Americans. That has always been my life’s mission and I am proud of my efforts in that regard.

“I’ve had the privilege of serving under consequential Democratic presidents, balancing budgets in the Clinton Administration, expanding healthcare access under President Obama, and rescuing a pandemic plagued country and economy with President Biden.

“South Carolina, and our already-great nation, have made tremendous progress under the Biden-Harris Administration. I look forward to continuing to work alongside my Democratic colleagues in the 118th Congress, and beyond, to regain a Democratic Majority, retain our Senate Majority, and rally Americans to reelect President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.”

The ousted speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, was back on Capitol Hill on Tuesday where he gave his first press conference since leaving the House of Representatives in December.

And he had one target in mind: Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, the Republican who led a group of rebels to oust him from his speakership last year with the support of the chamber’s Democrats.

John Bowden and Eric Garcia have this.

During the final hours of debate on the security supplemental package, Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland excoriated the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza.

In doing so, he all but directly accused Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration of committing international war crimes.

“Kids in Gaza are now dying from the deliberate withholding of food,” he said on the floor of the Senate.

“In addition to the horror of that news, one other thing is true. That is a war crime.”

Van Hollen is one of only a handful of Democratic senators who supports a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

And hearing any US senator say Israel has effectively committed war crimes is unprecedented, given widespread support for the country across both parties.

Eric Garcia has more.

Here’s our reporting on Lord Cameron’s comments from earlier today:

UK foreign secretary says not supporting Ukraine akin to ‘weakness displayed against Hitler in 1930s’

David Cameron, the secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and former prime minister of the United Kingdom, has written an op-ed for The Hill, calling for unified support for Ukraine in the face of continued Russian aggression, urging the US Congress to pass the funding bill agreed in the Senate for the sake of global security.

In the article, Lord Cameron says lawmakers who do not support backing Ukraine against Vladimir Putin display the same “weakness” as politicians in the 1930s who believed they could hold back Hitler’s ambitions by appeasing him before Nazi forces rolled across Western Europe.

As Congress debates and votes on this funding package for Ukraine, I am going to drop all diplomatic niceties. I urge Congress to pass it.

I want us all — U.S., U.K., European and other allies — to support Ukraine in fighting against completely unjustified aggression. It is hard to think of a clearer case of one country being invaded by another without the slightest justification.

I believe our joint history shows the folly of giving in to tyrants in Europe who believe in redrawing boundaries by force.

I do not want us to show the weakness displayed against Hitler in the 1930s. He came back for more, costing us far more lives to stop his aggression.

I do not want us to show the weakness displayed against Putin in 2008, when he invaded Georgia, or the uncertainty of the response in 2014, when he took Crimea and much of the Donbas — before coming back to cost us far more with his aggression in 2022.

Marjorie Taylor Greene — who has presumably run out of people to fight in Washington — has now come after legendary comedian Larry David, reaching out across the nation to Hollywood to complain that the latest episode of his long-running HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm “lied” by portraying conservatives as “racists and rednecks”.

Joe Sommerlad has the story:

President Joe Biden’s top national security aide will brief members of Congressional leadership on an emerging threat to US national security which the House Intelligence Committee chair has described as “serious”.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday that he is scheduled to host a briefing with the chair and ranking member of the House panel, plus House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, on Thursday.

The House Intelligence panel chairman, Ohio Representative Mike Turner, drew attention to the unspecified threat earlier on Wednesday when he issued an unusually cryptic statement on the “serious national security threat” and calling on Mr Biden to “declassify all information relating to this threat so that Congress, the Administration, and our allies can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to this threat”.

Andrew Feinberg reports for The Independent from the White House: