Republican Devin Nunes to leave Congress and run Trump’s social media venture – as it happened

• The White House will stage a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed. American athletes are still expected to compete in the games, but the Biden administration will not be sending any representatives, in a protest against China’s human rights abuses.
• The justice department is suing Texas over its redistricting plan, arguing that Republican lawmakers violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in their efforts to shore up the party’s electoral advantage. “The complaint that we filed today alleges that Texas violated Section 2 by creating redistricting plans that deny or abridge the rights of Latino and Black voters to vote on account of their race, color or membership in a language or minority group,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a press conference.
• Congress is bracing for another fight over the debt ceiling. Lawmakers approved a short-term debt ceiling suspension in October, delaying a potential default, but they must now take up the issue again. Democratic leaders are considering adding a debt ceiling provision to the National Defense Authorization Act, but it’s unclear whether such a proposal could pass the House.
• Former Republican senator David Perdue officially entered the Georgia gubernatorial race. Perdue is challenging sitting Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who has faced criticism from Donald Trump and his allies for refusing to attempt to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating a deal between Trump’s new social media venture and a special-purpose acquisition company, according to a new filing. Trump’s reported talks with the chief executive of the company Digital World earlier this year may have violated SEC rules.
• The Republican congressman Devin Nunes of California announced his retirement from the House to lead the new Trump social media venture. The congressman has long claimed without evidence that social media companies have been trying to censor Republicans and has sued Twitter over parody accounts that mocked him while pretending to be his mother and his cow.
• The Justice Department has closed an investigation into the abduction and murder of Emmett Till, the Black teenager who was lynched by two white men in 1955. Till’s murder, after the 14-year-old was accused of whistling at a white woman, galvanized the civil rights movement. Three years ago, federal authorities reopened the case after a historian’s book threw doubt on statements the woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, made in prior court proceedings.
  

– Maanvi Singh and Joan E Greve

The Justice Department has closed an investigation into the abduction and murder of Emmett Till, the Black teenager who was lynched by two white men in 1955.

Till’s murder after the 14-year-old was accused of whistling at a white woman, galvanized the civil rights movement. Three years ago, federal authorities reopened the Till case after a historian’s book quoted the white woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham. denying that Till had made advances toward her - potentially throwing doubt into statements she made in prior court proceedings.

The DOJ cited the statute of limitations and the fact that Donham denied the historian’s account that she had lied in dropping the case.

Donham’s former husband and another man confessed to Till’s murder after being acquitted by an all-white jury. Federal officials had also previously revisited the case in 2004, and closed it after prosecutors said that the statute of limitations kept them from pursuing charges.

Devin Nunes was one of Trump’s earliest and strongest supporters in Congress, serving as an adviser to the former president’s transition team after the election.

In 2018, the congressman released a “Nunes memo” questioning the legitimacy of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections by alleging that former Trump adviser Carter Page was improperly surveilled. The memo, which bolstered Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that the Obama administration was spying on him, caused much frenzy when it came out.

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Shortly after Devin Nunes announced his retirement, the Trump Media & Technology Group announced that the congressman would become the venture’s chief executive officer.

In a statement, Nunes said: “The time has come to reopen the Internet and allow for the free flow of ideas and expression without censorship.”

The congressman has long claimed without evidence that social media companies have been trying to censor Republicans. In his lawsuit against Twitter, he claimed he had endured “an orchestrated defamation campaign, one that no human being should ever have to bear and suffer in their whole life”. The suit also accused Twitter of censoring “viewpoints with which it disagrees” by shadow banning conservatives.

The parody accounts pretending to be the congressman’s cow and his mother mocked him over revelations that his family had moved its farm to Iowa from California long before he used his agricultural roots as part of his campaign in central California.

Later, the Trump justice department subpoenaed Twitter for information related to a parody account that criticized Nunes, federal court records revealed – even though a judge ruled that the representative could not sue the social media company.

The Republican congressman Devin Nunes of California announced his retirement from the House. He wrote in a letter to constituents that he is leaving his position as a representative in order to pursue a “new opportunity to fight for the most important issues I believe in”.

“I’m writing to let you know I’ve decided to pursue this opportunity, and therefore I will be leaving the House of Representatives at the end of 2021,” Nunes wrote.

Nunes, 48, has served as a congressman since 2003. He was a member of the Intelligence Committee during Donald Trump’s first impeachment and has been a staunch ally of the former president.

Nunes is also infamous for suing Twitter over mocking tweets from accounts called themselves “Devin Nunes’ Mom” and “Devin Nunes’ Cow”, and then being informed that he cannot sue the parody accounts for defamation.

Andrew Roth in Moscow and Julian Borger in Washington:

The US has said it would send reinforcements to Nato’s eastern flank in the wake of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as imposing severe new economic measures, in a warning to Moscow on the eve of talks between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin.

Biden will also make clear to Putin that the US will not rule out future Ukrainian membership of Nato, as the Russian leader has demanded, a senior US official said.

With an estimated Russian 100,000 troops already gathered within striking distance of the borders, the crisis is the worst since 2015, when Moscow staged a large-scale incursion into Ukraine, clandestinely sending tanks and artillery to encircle Ukrainian troops and compel Kyiv to sign a peace agreement in Minsk that has since come close to collapse.

The official pointed out in a briefing to reporters before the Biden-Putin video summit that the first Russian military intervention in Ukraine led to more US troops and equipment to be deployed in eastern Europe, and there would be similar response this time.

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That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

• The White House will stage a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed. American athletes are still expected to compete in the games, but the Biden administration will not be sending any representatives to protest China’s human rights abuses.
• The Justice Department is suing Texas over its redistricting plan, arguing that Republican lawmakers violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in their efforts to shore up the party’s electoral advantage. “The complaint that we filed today alleges that Texas violated Section 2 by creating redistricting plans that deny or abridge the rights of Latino and Black voters to vote on account of their race, color or membership in a language or minority group,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a press conference.
• Congress is bracing for another fight over the debt ceiling. Lawmakers approved a short-term debt ceiling suspension in October, delaying a potential default, but they must now take up the issue again. Democratic leaders are considering adding a debt ceiling provision to the National Defense Authorization Act, but it’s unclear whether such a proposal could pass the House.
• Former Republican Senator David Perdue officially entered the Georgia gubernatorial race. Perdue is challenging sitting Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who has faced criticism from Donald Trump and his allies for refusing to attempt to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating a deal between Trump’s new social media venture and a special-purpose acquisition company, according to a new filing. Trump’s reported talks with the chief executive of the company Digital World earlier this year may have violated SEC rules.

Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer paid tribute to Bob Dole in a floor speech, after he and House speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the former Republican senator would lie in state in the Capitol on Thursday.

“Throughout his life, Bob Dole redefined and elevated what it has meant to be a public servant,” the Democratic leader said.

Praising Dole’s many bipartisan accomplishments, Schumer added, “I always admired his steadfast advocacy for veterans, for Americans with disabilities and his love for his country.”

6 Dec 202115.47 EST

David Smith

It is a festive family photo with seven broad smiles and a Christmas tree. But one other detail sets it apart: each member of the Massie family is brandishing a machine gun or military-style rifle.

The photo was tweeted last week by Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky, with the caption: “Merry Christmas! PS: Santa, please bring ammo.”

A few days earlier, a school shooting in Michigan left four teenagers dead and seven people injured after a 15-year-old student allegedly went on a rampage.

Massie’s post earned widespread condemnation but was also seen as indicative of a performative, provocative brand of Republican politics, calculated to go viral, “own the libs” – that is, provoke outrage on the left – and contribute to the outsized influence of supporters of Donald Trump.

“Here his family’s got guns under a Christmas tree just after four kids were killed,” said Elaine Kamarck, a former official in the Clinton administration. “The guy’s abominable but that’s what’s happening to the Republican party. They’re flat-out nuts. There’s a piece of the Republican party that now supports violence.”

Joe Biden’s decision to stage a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing is attracting some praise from Republican lawmakers.

“The Administration is right to refuse diplomatic presence at the Beijing Olympics: America will not turn a blind eye to China’s predation, persecution, and genocide,” said Republican Senator Mitt Romney.

Republican congressman Ken Buck, a member of the House foreign affairs committee, added, “I applaud President Biden for refusing to send American diplomats to the Beijing Olympics in February, and I hope every freedom-loving nation joins the US. Genocide must not be rewarded.”