US ‘won’t survive’ a second Trump presidency, says Haley as Iowa caucus looms – US politics live

At her CNN town hall last night, Nikki Haley was asked if she wanted to answer criticisms she received after declining last month to say that slavery caused the Civil War. Haley has already backtracked from her remark after strong criticism, including from Republican presidential campaign rival Chris Christie, who accused the former UN ambassador of being afraid to offend people.

Haley responded by acknowledging she should have mentioned slavery’s role in sparking the worst war in American history, and also pointing out that she had Black friends while growing up. Here’s video of her remarks:

After the release of government data that showed employment grew steadily in the United States throughout last year, Joe Biden released a statement that took both credit for the healthy labor market and a swipe at Donald Trump.

“This morning’s report confirms that 2023 was a great year for American workers. The economy created 2.7 million new jobs in 2023 – a year when the unemployment rate was consistently below 4 percent – more jobs than during any year of the prior Administration,” the president said.

He also went after Trump’s Republican allies in Congress:

I won’t stop fighting for American workers and American families. I know that some prices are still too high for too many Americans, and I am doing everything in my power to lower everyday costs for hard-working Americans – from bringing down the price of insulin, prescription drugs, and energy, to addressing hidden junk fees companies use to rip you off, to calling on large corporations to pass on savings to consumers as their costs moderate. And I will continue opposing efforts by Congressional Republicans to shower massive giveaways on the wealthy and big corporations, cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and block us from lowering costs for American families.

Here’s more from the Guardian’s Callum Jones on what the December employment data reported by the labor department showed about the state of American workers in 2023:

House Republicans will convene hearings next week to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena and appear for a behind-closed-doors deposition.

Joe Biden’s son is facing federal criminal charges over failing to pay taxes and unlawfully obtaining a gun. Republicans claim he is part of a larger corruption plot involving the president, but they have not made public any proof that the older Biden illegally benefited from his son’s overseas business dealings. In November, the House oversight committee issued a subpoena to Hunter Biden ordering him to appear for a deposition, but he insisted he would only testify publicly.

On 13 December, the day the subpoena told him to appear, Biden gave a speech outside the Capitol, and said: “Republicans do not want an open process where Americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless inquiry or hear what I have to say.” He departed without attending the deposition.

In announcing the hearing to hold Biden in contempt, Republican House oversight committee chair James Comer said:

We planned to question Hunter Biden about this record of evidence, but he blatantly defied two lawful subpoenas, choosing to read a prepared statement outside of the Capitol instead of appearing for testimony as required. Hunter Biden’s willful refusal to comply with our subpoenas constitutes contempt of Congress and warrants referral to the appropriate United States attorney’s office for prosecution. We will not provide him with special treatment because of his last name.

Both the House oversight and judiciary committees will hold their hearings beginning at 10am on Wednesday, 10 December.

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor whose once-promising presidential campaign has hit multiple speed bumps in recent months, used his CNN town hall in Iowa last night to cast doubt on Donald Trump’s commitment to banning abortion.

As president, Trump appointed three of the supreme court justices who voted to overturn Roe v Wade and allow states to cut off access to the procedure entirely, but at the event, DeSantis said Trump was insincere about the issue:

DeSantis also cast himself as the candidate that can move the Republican party beyond Trump, and reminded viewers that, if elected, he could serve two four-year terms in office, while Trump is limited to just one more stint:

Nikki Haley is not backing down from attacking Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination whom she served as his United Nations ambassador.

The rivalry picked up on Thursday evening at a CNN town hall, where Haley said:

I personally think President Trump was the right president at the right time. I agree with a lot of his policies. But, the reality is, rightly or wrongly, chaos follows him. And we all know that’s true. Chaos follows him. And we can’t have a country in disarray, and a world on fire and go through four more years of chaos. We won’t survive it. And you don’t defeat Democrat chaos with Republican chaos.

The comments weren’t made in passing. Shortly after the town hall ended, Haley tweeted this:

We are 10 days away from the Iowa Republican caucuses, where we will find out if Donald Trump’s persistent lead in polls will translate into votes. But his main rivals for the GOP presidential nomination aren’t letting his momentum deter them, and dialed up their attacks in two separate town halls hosted by CNN on Thursday evening. Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who served as Trump’s United Nation ambassador, said of her former boss that “chaos follows him” and warned “we won’t survive” another four years of him in office. Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, responded “of course not” when asked if he thought Trump was “pro-life” and said the former president “didn’t deliver” during his administration.

Earlier in the campaign, most of Trump’s Republican rivals hesitated to criticize him, wary of infuriating his substantial group of dedicated supporters. That dam appears to have broken for the two politicians seen as having the best chance, if anyone does, of beating him in Iowa on 15 January, and then in the New Hampshire primary set for 23 January.

Here’s what else is going on today:

• Joe Biden will mark the start of his re-election campaigning with a speech in Pennsylvania that is expected to lean heavily on the anniversary of January 6 to warn voters of the perils of electing Trump again. The event is set for 3.15pm eastern time.

• Democratic House lawmakers will also mark the January 6 attack with a press conference at 11am.

• Employment grew by a greater-than-expected 216,000 jobs last month, defying expectations of a slowdown, according to just-released US government data.