The Daily 202: Trump gets tied to two forces targeting America: Russia, domestic extremism

Without calling Donald Trump out by name, President Biden’s administration this week has blamed racist language he used about the coronavirus for a surge in violence against Asian Americans, connected his entourage to Russian election meddling and tied some of his supporters to a rise in domestic extremism.

Hours after a 21-year-old man allegedly shot and killed eight people, including six Asian women, in the Atlanta area, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said rhetoric of the sort Trump has frequently used fed a surge in hate crimes.

“There’s no question that some of the damaging rhetoric that we saw during the prior administration … calling covid … ‘the Wuhan Virus’ or other things, led to, you know, perceptions of the Asian American community that are inaccurate, unfair, [and] have … elevated threats against Asian Americans,” Psaki told reporters. She did not say that’s what motivated the suspect. 

Trump, who dubbed the coronavirus “kung flu” during the 2020 campaign to the delight of his rally-goers, referred to the “China virus” as recently as Tuesday night in an interview with Fox News and a week ago in a written statement.

Psaki’s comments came shortly after Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, joined by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, released a report warning of an “elevated threat” in 2021 from domestic violent extremists. 

The report said extremists feed on traditional grievances — racism, hostility to government — but also other causes including “narratives of fraud in the recent general election, the emboldening impact of the violent breach of the US Capitol.”

It did not call out Trump by name, but he waged a months-long campaign to convince his supporters the only way he could lose in November 2020 was through fraud, and he egged on the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. He has yet to accept the legitimacy of Biden’s victory.

My colleague Ellen Nakashima notes: “[T]hat the White House has convened a process to deal with the challenge is significant, officials say privately, and stands in contrast to the previous administration, in which President Donald Trump was reluctant to condemn white-supremacist violence. He notably told the far-right Proud Boys group, which Canada last month declared a terrorist group, to ‘stand back and stand by.’”

On Tuesday, Haines released the intelligence community’s unclassified assessment of foreign threats to the 2020 U.S. election, accusing Russia of spreading disinformation about Biden and his family partly through Trump allies.

“A key element of Moscow’s strategy this election cycle was its use of people linked to Russian intelligence to launder influence narratives — including misleading or unsubstantiated allegations against President Biden — through US media organizations, US officials, and prominent US individuals, some of whom were close to former President Trump and his administration,” the assessment said.

As Nakashima reported: “The report does not identify those individuals by name, but it appears to reference Trump’s onetime personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose repeated meetings with a suspected Russian agent came under scrutiny by U.S. officials.”

It also does not explicitly say whether people around Trump knew they were being used by Russian intelligence to undermine Biden.

The report says “Russian proxies met with and provided materials to Trump administration-linked US persons to advocate for formal investigations” and “helped produce a documentary that aired on a US television network in late January 2020.”

The report did not name the documentary, but fiercely pro-Trump One American News Network ran “One America News Investigates — The Ukraine Hoax: Impeachment, Biden Cash, And Mass Murder With Michael Caputo” in January 2020.

“Throughout the election, Russia’s online influence actors sought to amplify mistrust in the electoral process by denigrating mail-in ballots, highlighting alleged irregularities, and accusing the Democratic Party of voter fraud,” the report said. These activities continued after Nov. 3.

The ODNI election report also had what amounted to a warning to Biden: That Moscow views continuing influence operations against the United States “pose a manageable risk to Russia’s image.”

The number of Americans claiming unemployment grew to 770,000 last week, the AP reports. “The numbers have dropped sharply since the depths of the recession last spring but still show that employers in some industries continue to lay off workers.”  

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the Biden administration is sending Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) to Ethiopia to meet with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Coons, a close Biden ally, has worked extensively on issues in Africa and last November spoke to the prime minister to raise concerns about the escalating conflict, Donna Cassata reports. 

• “Trump faces an onslaught of legal problems, as investigations and dozens of lawsuits trail him from Washington to Florida,” by David Fahrenthold, Amy Gardner, Shayna Jacobs and Spencer Hsu: “The district attorney is sifting through millions of pages of his tax records. The state attorney general has subpoenaed his lawyers, his bankers, his chief financial officer — even one of his sons. And that’s just in New York. Former president Donald Trump is also facing criminal investigations in Georgia and the District of Columbia related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. And Trump must defend himself against a growing raft of lawsuits: 29 are pending at last count, including some seeking damages from Trump’s actions on Jan. 6.”

• The 21-year-old suspect, Robert Aaron Long, confessed to the killings and was scheduled to appear before the court for the first time this morning, Timothy Bella reports. An official with the Cherokee County clerk of court didn’t give a reason for its cancelation.
• An FBI spokesman said that the bureau “stands ready to investigate the shootings at the Atlanta-area spas as a federal case if evidence emerges pointing toward a criminal civil rights violation,” Tim Craig, Sarah Pulliam Bailey, Paulina Firozi and Griff Witte report.

• “The White House said Biden and [Vice President] Harris will speak with state legislators and community advocates from the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community to hear their perspective on the rise of anti-Asian hate incidents,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein reports. “The visit was planned last week to tout the passage of a $1.9 trillion relief package to contain the pandemic and bolster the economic recovery. … But the trip has taken on new resonance in the aftermath of the Tuesday shootings.”

• The House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties “hearing, which will include testimony from an array of lawmakers, scholars and advocates, was scheduled before the shootings in Atlanta,” John Wagner reports. “But the episode, Democratic lawmakers say, underscores the urgency of addressing a sharp rise in the United States of hate crimes and other violence targeting those of Asian descent.”
• It is the first such hearing in more than 30 years, Marianna Sotomayor reports. It began with a moment of silence in honor of the victims.
• As the hearing started, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) “agreed that all Asian Americans deserve protections in the United States, he warned that the committee’s hearing was aiming to police free speech,” Sotomayor writes. “He also said that all victims of race-based violence, including Americans being ‘decimated’ by cartels along the southern border, deserve justice.” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), the subcommittee’s chairman, interjected to point out that while free speech is important, the hearing is focused on those who have been brutally attacked based on discrimination.
• A dozen witnesses will speak at the hearing. “Also set to testify are Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and U.S. Representatives Doris Matsui, D-Calif., Judy Chu, D-Calif., and Grace Meng, D-N.Y,” NPR reports. “Other witnesses will include civil rights advocates like John Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and the actor Daniel Dae Kim.”
• “Yang said that while there are a lot of unknowns about the Atlanta suspect’s motives, the attack emphasizes the importance of Thursday’s hearing. ‘What we do know is that the fear, the anger and the grief in our Asian American community is very real,’ he said. ‘I want to make sure we give voice to that.’”

• “Impromptu memorials were set up Wednesday in Atlanta at the sites of the shootings, and residents of other cities, including New York and Washington, lit candles or observed moments of silence. At Gold Spa, where three women were fatally shot, flowers, cards and signs accumulated at the entrance,” Meryl Kornfield reports.

• Long said he had a “sexual addiction” and that the spas were “a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate,” police said. But researchers who “study human sexuality and addiction say it is far from an established psychiatric diagnosis,” Teo Armus reports.
• “There’s an idea that when people are too turned on, they cannot control their own behaviors,” David Ley, a clinical psychologist and the author of “The Myth of Sex Addiction,” said. “But the research shows that these ‘sex addicts’ don’t demonstrate observable difficulties in self-control.”
• In an interview with “CBS This Morning,” activist and author Helen Zia said Long’s claim that Asian women were a “temptation” for him was a “ridiculous” excuse. “Hypersexualization of Asian American women is part of the racism towards Asian Americans,” said Zia, “and to say that sexual addiction is an excuse or a reason to go on a mass killing rampage is ridiculous.”

• One bill would allow Dreamers to earn lawful permanent residence and, later on, American citizenship, Wagner reports. The other bill would establish a path for undocumented agricultural workers in the U.S. to earn legal status for themselves, their spouses and children.
• These bills already face long odds in the divided Senate, where 60 votes are required to advance most legislation.
• Ahead of the votes, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) quoted former Republican president Ronald Reagan as she sought to make the case for the bills: “If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”

• Democrats favoring an overhaul clung to his words. “We just can’t wait two years to get things done,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), a moderate who recently joined the push for change, Annie Linskey, Seung Min Kim and Mike DeBonis report.
• Not so fast: “Even with his endorsement Tuesday night, rallying all Democrats behind such a move could take time, warned Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.),” our colleagues report. “Some centrists, such as Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), said they continued to oppose ending or significantly weakening the filibuster. … Resistance among Democrats extends beyond the usual suspects of Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) … Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) … [said] she is ‘hesitant.’”

• Biden, during his ABC News interview, was asked whether he thought Putin, who’s accused of poisoning opposition leader Alexei Navalny, is a “killer.” “I do,” said Biden.
• “It takes one to know one,” Putin said in televised remarks, the AFP reports. “We always see in another person our own qualities and think that he is the same as us,” he said, adding that the United States was “the only country in the world that used nuclear weapons.”
• Still, Putin said Biden’s comments won’t sever ties between Moscow and Washington.

• “Becerra (D) has drawn fire from Republicans for his lack of a medical background and for his longtime advocacy of a single-payer health-care system, a position they say puts him out of the mainstream,” Wagner reports. “But Democrats in the evenly divided chamber have held together in their support of Becerra, whose position will be key in the administration fight against the coronavirus.”
• The Senate Judiciary Committee delayed decisions today on whether to advance the nominees for two senior Justice Department officials, Vanita Gupta, Biden’s nominee for associate attorney general, and Lisa Monaco, nominee for deputy attorney general, John Wagner reports. Still, Republicans still managed to take shots at Gupta, with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) saying she “has the potential of being the most dangerous nominee” to the department. He raised concerns about positions the civil rights lawyer advocated for in the wake of last summer’s social justice protests.
• The president’s Cabinet is near completion nearly two months after he took office. The Senate is expected to vote today to limit debate on Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s (D) nomination as labor secretary, setting up a final confirmation vote next week.
• The Senate confirmed Katherine Tai yesterday as the first woman of color to serve as U.S. trade representative. The chamber approved her nomination 98-0, marking a rare bipartisan agreement.
• Rahul Gupta, a Manchin ally, emerged as a front-runner to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which would make him the nation’s top drug policy official, Dan Diamond, Matt Viser and Lenny Bernstein report. The job Biden will not restore to Cabinet rank, despite insisting as a senator that the “drug czar” deserves that status.

“Mr. Bezos, you are worth $182 billion … you’re the wealthiest person in the world. Why are you doing everything in your power to stop your workers in Bessemer, Alabama, from joining a union?” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said during a hearing on income inequality for which Bezos declined an invitation to testify. The unionization push at Amazon’s Bessemer fulfillment center is at the center of a dispute between Amazon and the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union. 

“12 Republicans opposed Congressional Gold Medals for police who protected them on Jan. 6,” Colby Itkowitz and Meagan Flynn report: “The GOP lawmakers, who said they objected to the use of the term ‘insurrectionists’ in the resolution, are: Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Thomas Massie (Ky.), Andy Harris (Md.), Lance Gooden (Tex.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Louie Gohmert (Tex.), Michael Cloud (Tex.), Andrew S. Clyde (Ga.), Greg Steube (Fla.), Bob Good (Va.) and John Rose (Tenn.).”

House Democrats are considering ejecting the Republican winner of a contested Iowa congressional race, brushing back attacks that they are “seeking to subvert the will of voters just months after lambasting Trump for trying to reverse his electoral defeat,” CNN reports. “While Democrats say what’s happening in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District is nothing like Trump’s lies about widespread fraud and a stolen election … they are aware of the optics of potentially booting out a member of Congress from the opposing party who was declared the winner by bipartisan state election officials.” The WSJ, for example, already ran an op-ed warning that Pelosi “might steal” the Iowa seat. At issue is Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ defeat of Democrat Rita Hart – 196,964 to 196,958 – “the closest federal race in 2020.” “Hart’s campaign has argued that if 22 other legally cast ballots are counted, she would win the race by nine votes rather than lose it by six. And since the Constitution makes the House the ultimate ‘judge’ of its own elections, Hart has made an unusual petition to investigate her claims and seat her instead,” per CNN. 

Smoke from wildfires wiped out the U.S. pandemic-related clean air gains in 2020. The country’s average for the deadliest type of air pollution rose nearly 7 percent over 2019. Hannah Dormido, John Muyskens and Bonnie Berkowitz explained it with graphics.

Biden and Harris will receive a coronavirus briefing today at 1:15 p.m., followed by the weekly economic briefing at 2:15 p.m. At 3:15 p.m., the president will deliver remarks on the status of coronavirus vaccinations

Police said the White suspect in the Atlanta shooting said racism wasn’t a factor. Trevor Noah’s response: