‘Enormous consequences’ if Ukraine is invaded, Biden says – as it happened

That’s all from me for the night! Here are the latest updates to keep in mind.

• Nancy Pelosi is running for Congress again, but hasn’t said if she plans to remain speaker of the House.
• Biden plans to host auto executives at the White House on Wednesday to advance his plans of increasing environmentally friendly and electric vehicles.
• A New York judge has granted a stay to a ruling against the state’s mask mandate keeping it in place for now.
• A Michigan judge has declined to dismiss charges against five men accused of plotting to kidnap governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Judge refuses to dismiss case against suspects accused of governor’s kidnapping plot

A federal judge has declined to dismiss charges against five men accused of plotting to kidnap and kill Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer.

US district judge Robert Jonker said in a filing that the suspects’ claims of entrapment and government overreaching a “heavy burden to carry”.

The accused would need to prove government agents induced them to commit crimes and that they were not “predisposed” to commit the crimes charged.

“Defendants fail to carry their burden because the evidence on both issues is decidedly disputed as it almost inevitably is at this stage of the case,” he wrote.

The five men are battling charges while a sixth pleaded guilty and is serving a six-year, federal prison sentence.

New York’s mask policy back in effect after judge grants stay

New York’s mask mandate will stay in place - for now- after a judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a lower-court ruling that would overturn the policy.

The judge approved a motion from state attorney Letitia James to keep the rule in effect while a decision made Monday to strike down the mask mandate is appealed.

“Nearly three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, we know that wearing a mask saves lives,” James said in a statement. “This mandate and today’s decision are critical in helping to stop the spread of this virus and protect individuals young and old.”

Monday’s decision sparked confusion across the state, where previously residents were required to wear masks in a number of places - including schools, public transportation, and other indoor locations.

Under Tuesdays reversal, the mandate will stay in effect until the Appellate court takes further action.

“We will continue to do everything in our power to prioritize the health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers,” James said.

National Covid deaths are at their highest in the past year

Even as new cases from the Omciron surge level out, daily Covid deaths in the US are now at highest level in almost a year, according to Johns Hopkins figures published Tuesday.

The number of reported Covid-19 deaths reached a seven-day average of 2,191 per day by Monday, up about 1,000 from pre-Omicron daily death counts two months ago.

A report from the Wall Street Journal puts those numbers into perspective:

The U.S. saw the highest numbers of deaths in the pandemic about a year ago, before vaccines were widely available, when the daily average reached 3,400. More recently, the Delta variant triggered a peak just above 2,100 in late September. Omicron has since muscled Delta aside and now accounts for nearly every known Covid-19 case, the CDC has estimated. The seven-day death average last topped the current level in February 2021, as the U.S. recovered from last winter’s surge.

Fallout from the Omicron surge has continued across the United States. In Los Angeles, for example, the county reported 102 COVID-19 deaths on Thursday - the most fatalities it has seen in one day since 10 March 2021.

Biden to host chief executives of auto and tech companies at White House

As part of his goal for 50% of new US vehicles to be electric or plug-in electric hybrid by 2030, Joe Biden will host auto and tech executives at the White House on Wednesday.

To discuss Biden’s Build Back Better legislation, the following will take part: General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley, Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff, Microsoft President Brad Smith, Etsy CEO Josh Silverman, Siemens Corp CEO Barbara Humpton and Corning CEO Wendell Weeks.

The legislation, pushed by Biden in December, includes billions of dollars to tackle climate change and boost electric vehicles along with money for universal preschool, paid family leave and other social safety net spending.

A White House official said Biden “will meet with CEOs who support passing Build Back Better to discuss the ways his [BBB] agenda will make the US economy more competitive, increase worker productivity and workforce participation, lower inflation over the long-term, and strengthen business growth.”

US House speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Tuesday evening she plans to seek re-election as a representative of California, continuing her 30-year run in Congress.

On her Twitter account, Pelosi said that despite progress being made “much more needs to be done to improve people’s lives”.

Pelosi, 81, was the first woman speaker of the House. She served first from 2007 to 2011, and her current term began in 2019.

She did not indicate in her announcement whether she would again run for speaker, as Democrats brace for the possible loss of its majority in the 8 November midterm elections.

In 2018 she indicated the role would be turned over to new leadership and that this term would be her last.

Hello readers! Kari Paul here, the Guardian’s West Coast tech correspondent, covering the blog for the next few hours. Stay tuned for updates.

A busy day in US politics continues, with a focus on international news as tension continues to rise over Russia’s threatening conduct towards Ukraine. There’s plenty of domestic news, too, and our west coast colleague Kari Paul will take you through all further developments.

Here’s where things stand:

• Joe Biden will welcome Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the ruler of the small Persian Gulf state of Qatar, in Washington, DC, on Monday amid talks among allies on how to ensure energy supplies to Europe if Ukraine is invaded by Russia.
• There will be “enormous consequences” for Russia if Ukraine is invaded, the US president said this afternoon.
• White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed that officials from the state department and the Pentagon will hold two classified briefings with lawmakers today to provide updates on the situation in Ukraine.
• The US has helped prepare for the diversion of natural gas supplies from around the world to Europe in the event that the flow from Russia is cut.
• Biden considers US options on Ukraine as west seeks united front while Vladimir Putin considers an invasion and builds up his troop presence along the border.

Joe Biden will welcome Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the ruler of the small Persian Gulf state of Qatar, in Washington, DC, on Monday amid talks among allies on how to ensure energy supplies to Europe if Ukraine is invaded by Russia, which then cuts of its substantial gas supplies to the west.

The US president and the Qatari emir are also expected to discuss Taliban control and the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and nuclear tensions with Iran.

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Reuters further reports:

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani’s visit, the first since Biden took office a year ago, comes as Washington discusses with energy-producing states and firms a potential diversion of supplies to Europe if Russia invades Ukraine.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the matter with the foreign minister of Qatar, a top liquefied natural gas producer, in a phone call on Monday, a source told the news agency.

Washington is concerned that a possible Russian military assault on Ukraine could trigger U.S. and European sanctions on Moscow, which would then halt the delivery of Russian gas to Europe. Russia denies it plans to attack Ukraine.

Global gas supplies are already tight and Qatar Energy’s shipments are locked into long-term supply contracts which the company cannot easily break.

Sheikh Tamim’s visit aims to build on relations with ally Washington that have strengthened since Doha hosted talks that led to the 2020 deal for U.S. troops to pull out of Afghanistan, and played a pivotal role in evacuation efforts during the U.S. withdrawal. Qatar has also become the U.S. diplomatic representative in Afghanistan, now under Islamist Taliban rule.

Qatar and Turkey are in negotiations with the Taliban administration to manage operations at Kabul’s international airport, the landlocked country’s main international airlink.
Sheikh Tamim and Biden are also expected to discuss efforts by global powers to salvage a 2015 nuclear pact with Iran, with which Doha has ties, as well as efforts to end the Yemen war, the sources said.

Nato solidarity should be maintained and built upon in the approach to Russia’s aggressive build-up of troops on the Ukrainian border amid fears of an invasion, the Guardian writes in an editorial today.

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Loud signaling about solidarity actually gives further clues about division among the allies, our team writes, following Joe Biden’s recent gaffe when he suggested Nato differences over how to respond in the event of a “minor incursion” of Ukraine’s territory.

But now there are signs that the allies are moving closer. Here is the article:

The US president’s need to state on Monday that there is “total unanimity” over how to deal with the Ukraine crisis, like the video call with European leaders which preceded it, was itself evidence of ongoing differences among western allies. There is no dispute about the threat: more than 100,000 Russian troops are now massed near Ukraine’s borders. The US has put 8,500 troops on standby to deploy to Europe to reinforce allies there, while Nato has reinforced its eastern borders with warships and fighter jets. A senior US official briefed on Tuesday that in the event of an invasion, sanctions will “start at the top of the escalation ladder and stay there”.

In addition to the clear deterrent message, talks continue: Dmitry Kozak, the Kremlin’s deputy chief of staff, will meet French, German and Ukrainian officials in Paris on Wednesday, in the “Normandy format”. Set against that, Russia paid little price for the annexation of Crimea and fomenting the separatist uprising in the Donbas region in 2014. There is a credible case that Russia is set on a major military offensive – not merely pursuing coercive diplomacy – and that it is in Moscow’s interests to act before Kyiv receives further arms shipments. Above all, there is at present no visible off-ramp for Vladimir Putin. The very thing he says Russia must counter – Nato’s presence in eastern Europe – is growing because of his own actions. He might take an exit; it’s harder to see him beating a retreat.

So the risks are high and rising. But an attack on Ukraine is not inevitable. French officials have indicated that they regard recent US and UK briefing as alarmist; Kyiv itself is notably more cautious. An analysis by the Centre for Defence Strategies, a Ukrainian thinktank, says a full-scale invasion capturing most of the country in the next few months seems unlikely, given current Russian troop formations. But it also suggests that “hybrid invasion” is already being implemented, citing the recent cyber-attack. Moscow may believe that such methods, along with cross-border missile strikes, sabotage and political meddling, might be enough to effect a change of government. (The EU offer of €1.2bn in emergency financial assistance is designed to reduce pressure on Kyiv.)

What price would Russia pay? Its markets have already tanked; and it appears to have amassed a cash stockpile in preparation for sanctions. It believes its control of gas supplies give it asymmetric leverage, especially given Europe’s cost of living crisis. And it may count on distraction and disunity in the west. The stepping up of US rhetoric is in part an attempt to compensate for Joe Biden’s gaffe suggesting Nato division over how to respond to a “minor incursion”. Excitable UK briefing over the weekend comes as the prime minister hopes for people to look beyond his domestic woes. Germany, from history, principle (established policy against arms sales to war zones) and pragmatism (it gets more than half of its gas from Russia), is strikingly more muted; uncertainty persists over how far it would go, especially over the NordStream 2 gas pipeline.

Nonetheless, there are signs that the allies are moving closer after Monday’s call – US coordination with Qatar and other suppliers to address the energy shortfall is helpful – and are certainly more united than in 2014. The drumbeat of war is concentrating minds and encouraging solidarity. That must now be maintained and built upon.

More on Representative Jim Cooper announcing his retirement today: Cooper previously decried gerrymandering efforts in Tennessee, noting that the attempts of Tennessee Republicans to divide Nashville could cost him his seat.

In an interview with CNN last year about Tennessee GOP wanting to break up the Nashville district, Cooper said: “They couldn’t beat me fairly...So, now they’re trying to beat me by gerrymandering.”

Cooper also noted during that interview: “It’s not about me...It’s about the political future of Nashvillians. And they deserve their own voice, regardless of who is their congressman.”

Read the article and Cooper’s previous comments here.

Tennessee representative Jim Cooper, who has served the House for over 30 years, has announced that he will not seek reelection after saying there is “no way” he would win his seat given new congressional maps created by state Republicans.

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Cooper, a democrat, has represented the 5th congressional district of Nashville since 2003, also serving in the House from 1983 to 1995 as a moderate Democrat.

Cooper’s announcement came only one day after a new congressional map was approved by Tennessee’s General Assembly, which would split Nashville, a Democrat-leaning city, three ways.

The map still needs final approval by Republican governor Bill Lee.

“I cannot thank the people of Nashville enough,” said Cooper in a statement. “You backed me more than almost anyone in Tennessee history, making me the state’s 3rd longest-serving member of Congress.”

Cooper also criticized GOP state lawmakers for creating the map that would divide Nashville despite ongoing appeals to keep the city whole.

“There’s no way, at least for me in this election cycle, but there may be a path for other worthy candidates,” said Cooper.

Cooper is the 29th Democrat to announce they will not be seeking reelection in what could spell disaster for congressional democrats come midterms.

Biden has made additional comments concerning a potential invasion of Ukraine by Russia, clarifying that the US has no plans to send troops to Ukraine, but saying that he would oversee sanctions against Russia.

When reporters asked Biden if he could see himself personally sanctioning Putin over an invasion of Ukraine, Biden said: “Yes, I would see that.”

Biden has also said that he isn’t certain if Putin will actually invade Ukraine, adding that, “I don’t think even his people know for certain,” comparing the status of a potential invasion to “reading tea leaves.”