Trump and Biden live: Latest news and updates today

Press secretary Jen Psaki said the president would face the media before the end of the month, but stopped short of committing to more frequent

Joe Biden has come under increasing pressure after going 48 days since entering office without holding a formal press conference.

“He has done about 40 Q&As since he took office, but in terms of a formal press conference, which I understand there is a big focus on, yes we will have one before the end of the month,” Psaki said.

Asked if the public could expect to see the president face the press in a more formal capacity, Psaki said: “I don’t know if you’ll see him more than 40 times a month but I’m happy to ask him that question.”

These “40 times” the press secretary is referencing are mostly ad hoc moments some executive order signing or announcement when media shout questions at the president before his handlers rush them out of the room.

Last week, White House reporters pushed back on Psaki’s characterization that the president has taken “40 Q&As”, saying they get in about two questions that Biden can’t hear before the press corps gets removed.

Of the 15 presidents of the past 100 years, all have held a press conference within 33 days of being sworn into office. Trump did it 27 days in. Obama outdid Trump by a week at 20 days.

Biden is at 48 days, with 23 days left in March. Worst case scenario, the president could be seen at the podium withing 71 days of entering the White House.

Press secretary Jen Psaki revealed the president’s delegation visited the US-Mexico border on the weekend, inspecting a Customs and Border Protection facility as well as the Corrizo Springs shelter in Texas.

Corrizo Springs is a child migrant facility opened under the Biden administration.

The White House has refused to acknowledge a “crisis” on the border, despite the number of migrant children apprehended at the border increasing by 583 per cent under the Biden administration, with an average of 321 migrant children taken into custody per day in March compared to 47 in January, according to internal documents from the Department of Health and Human Services.

“We’ve made a policy decision as an administration that the humane and moral approach is to keep these kids safe and get them into facilities that are safe,” Psaki said.

President Joe Biden will deliver the first primetime address of his presidency on Thursday to mark the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the nation, at a time when more than 500,000 Americans have died as a result of Covid-19.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing on Monday that the president will speak on Thursday night, while discussing the sweeping $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief legislation expected to be signed into law in the coming weeks. The president’s proposed American Rescue Plan included $1,400 direct payments to many Americans, as well as further funding for vaccine production and distribution.

Chris Riotta is covering this angle from today’s press briefing.

The trial of Derek Chauvin over the death of George Floyd has been delayed as the court considers possible reinstatement of a previously dropped third-degree murder charge.

Mr Chauvin appeared in court for the first time on Monday as jury selection was scheduled to begin in the trial of the former Minneapolis police officer, who is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter.

The presiding judge ruled jury selection would be delayed at least 24-hours, until Tuesday, as prosecutors sought to reinstate the third-degree charge that was dropped in favour of murder in the second-degree.

Mr Chauven looked on as the trial got underway to select 12 jurors. and up to four alternates, in a process that is expected to take about three weeks. Opening arguments are scheduled for 29 March.

Speaking at today’s daily press briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the president believes it “takes courage” to speak about personal struggles.

“Meghan Markle is a private citizen, and so is Harry at this point, for anyone to come forward and speak about their own struggles with mental health and tell their own personal story, that takes courage,” she says.

“We aren’t going to provide additional commentary from here on behalf of the president or others given these are private citizens sharing their own story and their own struggles.”

Anthony Fauci has warned state officials against lifting coronavirus restrictions, as experts warn a new surge could impact young people.

The warning from the nation’s top infectious disease expert came as Republican-led states like Texas and Mississippi have decided to ease back on coronavirus restrictions despite new variants leading to a stall in the decline in cases and hospitalisations.

“We’re going in the right direction but we just need to hang on a bit longer,” Dr Fauci said on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday.

Here’s The Independent’s Danielle Zoellner keeps a close eye on coronavirus developments.

Vaccinated people are allowed to gather in small groups with low-risk individuals without wearing a mask, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has ruled in its new guidance.

The CDC has defined someone who is fully vaccinated as those who received the second dose of Moderna or Pfizer’s vaccine at least two weeks ago or those who received a single dose of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine at least two weeks ago.

While vaccinated individuals are protected from experiencing severe disease from Covid-19, according to current data, scientists were still working to determine if they could spread the virus to unvaccinated individuals. This has impacted what the CDC recommends for individuals as more and more Americans receive a vaccine.

The Independent’s Danielle Zoellner has the latest.

Democratic Illinois Sen Tammy Duckworth has shared some words of wisdom on International Women’s Day, calling on women to be “strong” and “brave”.

I’ve spent my entire life in male-dominated fields — first in the military, now in Congress,” Ms Duckworth, a veteran who lost both of her legs in 2004 while serving in Iraq, wrote in a tweet.

“This International Women’s Day, allow me to share what I’ve learned,” she said. “You don’t need to be ‘one of the guys’.”

“You are strong, brave and destined to lead. Own it,” she said.

More than 90% of Americans think the US could see its first woman president within a decade, a new poll has found.

Conducted by Gallup across 74 countries, the new poll found that Americans were most likely to say they thought a woman could hold the top job in their country by 2030, according to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The poll’s findings come as Vice President Kamala Harris has gained growing support as a favourite for the 2024 Democratic Party nomination.

“We all believe (Ms Harris) is going to run for president again very, very soon,” Sara Guillermo, executive director of young women’s political leadership organisation Ignite told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Describing Ms Harris’ political rise as respresenting a “huge cultural shift,” she said: “That is really huge, not just for the little girls of the world but for the little boys, to be able to fully understand that both genders can serve in the highest leadership role.”

The Supreme Court appears to have thrown out the last of former President Donald Trump’s campaign team’s cases seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

In a filing, the Supreme Court made clear it will not hear an appeal by the Trump campaign in its case against the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

The court did not appear to offer any other comment or dissents.

Nearly a third of all Republicans say they are opposed to receiving a coronavirus jab, a growing number of polls suggest.

Those who have said they will “definitely not” be getting vaccinated have suggested that the pandemic has been overblown by the media and Democrats in interviews with The Washington Post.

Our Chris Riotta reports on the role President Donald Trump appears to have had in informing Republican views on the pandemic and the Covid-19 vaccine:

The US and South Korea have reportedly reached a cost-sharing agreement for US troops based in South Korea.

Citing an unnamed US State Department spokesperson, CNN reported a deal had been struck by the Biden administration after a strained alliance between South Korea and the US under former President Donald Trump.

Mr Trump had demanded that Seoul pay up to 400% more for troops to remain in South Korea.

Democratic Massachusetts Sen Ed Markey welcomed the agreement, writing in a tweet that “under President Biden, America’s alliances are back.”

“I’m pleased the US and South Korea reached an agreement on cost sharing measures,” he said. “@POTUS is building back a better foreign policy to advance our values and interests,” he added.

The agreement comes as Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to make his first international trip with a visit to South Korea and Japan next week.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are expected to deliver remarks in honour of International Women’s Day this afternoon.

According to Politico, Mr Biden and Ms Harris are expected to deliver remarks in the State Dining Room at around 4:20pm.

They will be joined by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the outlet said.

Mr Biden is also expected to sign two executive orders today, with one establishing a gender policy council within the White House and the other demanding a review into Trump-era changes to guidance on how colleges should handle sexual assault allegations.

US president Joe Biden has praised both Pope Francis and Iraq for the first-ever Papal visit to the country by a pontiff, after the official visit came to a close on Sunday.

In a statement released by the White House on Monday morning, Mr Biden described the four-day visit as “historic”, and that Pope Francis’s visit to the city of Mosul was “a symbol of hope for the entire world”, after it was seized by Islamic militants in 2014.

“To see Pope Francis visit ancient religious sites, including the biblical birthplace of Abraham, spend time with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, and offer prayers in Mosul — a city that only a few years ago endured the depravity and intolerance of a group like ISIS — is a symbol of hope for the entire world,” said the White House statement.

Mr Biden also praised the Iraqi government for planning the visit, which saw thousands attend Mass with the Pope at a stadium in Irbil on Sunday.

The US government is expected to start sending-out $1,400 stimulus checks almost immediately after the $1.9 trillion relief package is confirmed by Congress, and signed by US president Joe Biden, on Tuesday.

It means that some Americans could see direct payments as soon as this week if the House of Representatives finalises the relief package as expected on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Nearly 160 million households are expected to get payments, the White House estimates. It follows several months without a bill being passed by Congress under former president Donald Trump last year, despite unemployment highs and the continuation of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Before the last Covid relief bill, which was signed by Mr Trump in December, Congress had spent half a year negotiating a package.

A Biden administration spokesperson said the US “Treasury stands ready to implement the direct payment check program as soon as the American Rescue Plan is passed” on Tuesday.

John Kerry, the United State’s presidential envoy for the climate, took part in one-on-one meetings with the UK’s COP26 president, Alok Sharma, among others, on Monday morning.

The meeting, which was believed to be one of the first in-person trips abroad by a member of Joe Biden’s cabinet, comes several months before the UN Climate Summit, COP26, which is scheduled to take place in November in Scotland.

Mr Kerry requested the face-to-face meetings with the UK’s ministers, according to Politico. With similar discussions due to be hand with his EU counterparts in Brussels on Tuesday, where the former US secretary of state will discuss president Biden resigning the Paris climate agreement.

The Biden administration, with the help of Mr Kerry, is expected to take a leading role at COP26.

The US government has reportedly said that all options remain on the table for what the plan might be for the country’s 2,500 troops still in Afghanistan.

A State Department spokesperson told Reuters on Sunday that the US had “not made any decisions about our force posture in Afghanistan” beyond its military commitment to 1 May.

“All options remain on the table,” the spokesperson said.

The comments came after reports that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had made a push for a UN-led peace effort which included a warning that the US military could withdraw its troops by 1 May.

Mr Blinken was reported to have sent a letter to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani asserting that the Biden administration was “considering the full withdrawal of forces by May 1st as we consider other options”.

In addition to Mr Ghani, the letter was reportedly also addressed to Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the peace council, and was outlined to Afghan leaders by US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad during a visit to Kabul last week.

The State Department spokesperson did not confirm the letter.

First lady Jill Biden is expected to help honour 21 women being recognised by the State Department with the International Women of Courage Award today.

Marking International Women’s Day with the award, the honour is given to women for their courage in making the “intentional decision” to pursue and demand justice, despite the risks in doing so.

Among the 21 women being recognised are seven from Afghanistan who will be receiving posthumous honours, according to The Associated Press.

The 14 living recipients “are from Belarus, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Somalia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Venezuela,” AP reported.

In prepared remarks shared with the press agency, the first lady says that the women being honoured might seem like “mythical heroes or angels among us,” but, she stresses that they are ultimately human beings who simply want to be able to enjoy equal rights.

“Some of these women have spent their lives fighting for their cause. Others are just starting out on a journey they didn’t ask for,” Ms Biden says. “Some were called to service, and some couldn’t escape it,” she continues. “They are fighting for their own lives and for their children. They want to right the wrongs of our past, to build a brighter future for everyone. They aren’t immune to fear. No one is.”

“These women made an extraordinary choice, to persist, to demand justice, to believe that, despite the obstacles and fear they faced, there is a future worth fighting for,” Ms Biden says.

The ceremony is expected to be held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.

President Donald Trump reportedly returned to New York for the first time since his presidency ended on Sunday night.

A motorcade arrived at the Trump Tower in Manhattan at around 9pm on Sunday, according to the New York Post, which shared a photo of the former president waving from the backseat of a vehicle.

Former Vice President Mike Pence is set to deliver his first public address since his departure from the White House.

Mr Pence is expected to travel to South Carolina, where he will keynote a dinner hosted by the Palmetto Family Council, a Pence aide has told The Associated Press.

The aide reportedly spoke on the condition of anonymity as they did not have permission to discuss the plans publicly.

The Palmetto Family Council lobbies for what it views as “biblical values”, including heterosexual marriage. The council also recently helped push forward a ban blocking most abortions in the state, which is facing a court challenge.

It is unclear what Mr Pence is expected to say during the address.

Since leaving the White House, he has been working with the Heritage Foundation and Young America’s Foundation.