Trump news today: Emails show 2020 election fraud efforts as Flynn says army ‘persecuting’ him over Russia

Jen Psaki, whose last day on the job is Friday, has answered reporters’ questions nearly every weekday of the almost 500 days that Joe Biden has been in office.

That makes her a top White House communicator and perhaps the administration’s most public face after only the president and Vice President Kamala Harris. Her departure could complicate how Biden’s message gets out at a critical time for him, at least in the short term.

Former Defence Secretary Mark Esper’s list of shocking revelations about his former boss continued to grow on Tuesday with the official release of his new book detailing his time in the Trump administration.

Mr Esper wrote in the book, and further detailed in an interview with The Washington Post, that he and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley were left trying to talk then-President Donald Trump out of ordering court martials of two retired military officers after they criticised his leadership style.

John Bowden has the story.

More from Vice President Kamala Harris following the vote: “What we are seeing around this country are extremist Republican leaders who want to punish and criminalise women who want to make decisions about their own body.”

A congressional map approved by Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and drawn by his staff is unconstitutional because it breaks up a district where Black voters can choose their representatives, a state judge said on Wednesday.

Leon County Circuit Judge Layne Smith said he would issue a formal order Thursday or Friday to keep the maps from taking effect in November’s election. He made it clear he would rule in favor of voting rights groups challenging the maps.

Mr Smith said the order will likely replace the DeSantis map with one of two that the Legislature included in a bill and sent to Mr DeSantis in March. The governor vetoed the bill and later called the Legislature back into special session. The Republican-dominated House and Senate chose not to draw a new map, and instead passed the DeSantis map.

The challenge focuses on a north Florida district now held by Democratic US Representative Al Lawson. The district runs from Jacksonville west more than 200 miles (322 kilometers) to Gadsden County and nearly half of its population is Black.

Governor DeSantis’ proposal prompted a protest by Black House members as the chamber was preparing to vote on the maps.

Mr Smith said he will issue his order as soon as he can so the state can immediately appeal it. It may be the conservative state Supreme Court that ultimately resolves the dispute.

He said that while the DeSantis map is more compact, the issue of allowing Black voters to choose their representatives is more important.

“The district that has since been enacted and signed into law by the governor does disperse 367,000 African American votes between four different districts,” Mr Smith said in a video call with both sides. “The African American population is no way near a plurality or a majority.”

The governor’s office drew up a map it described as neutral on race and party affiliation, and which it said abided by both the state and federal constitutions.

Mr Smith said his ruling will be based on the state constitution, not the US Constitution.

Qualifying for federal office will run from June 13-17.

As she left the chamber, the vice president spoke briefly with reporters.

“This vote clearly suggests that the Senate is not where the majority of Americans are on this issue,” Ms Harris said. “It also makes clear that a priority for all who care about this issue, the priority should be to elect pro choice Democrats.”

Once again – as fundamental rights are at risk at the Supreme Court – Senate Republicans have blocked passage of the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill that affirmatively protects access to reproductive health care. This failure to act comes at a time when women’s constitutional rights are under unprecedented attack – and it runs counter to the will of the majority of American people. Republicans in Congress – not one of whom voted for this bill – have chosen to stand in the way of Americans’ rights to make the most personal decisions about their own bodies, families and lives. To protect the right to choose, voters need to elect more pro-choice senators this November, and return a pro-choice majority to the House. If they do, Congress can pass this bill in January, and put it on my desk, so I can sign it into law. The protections that the Women’s Health Protection Act would ensure are essential to the health, safety, and progress of our nation. While this legislation did not pass today, my Administration will not stop fighting to protect access to women’s reproductive care. We will continue to defend women’s constitutional rights to make private reproductive choices as recognized in Roe v. Wade nearly half a century ago, and my Administration will continue to explore the measures and tools at our disposal to do just that.

Senate Democrats’ attempt to pass legislation codifying the protections in Roe v Wade ended unceremoniosuly despite the fact that many of them fear that abortion rights are at risk.

Many Senators from both parties filed in and out of the chamber, not staying in their desks during the actual vote, as if to understate the lack of gravity of such a vote.

Eric Garcia reports from the Senate Chamber for The Independent.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who made immigration a cornerstone issue of his administration since assuming office seven years ago, is catching heat from a federal watchdog investigating whether his state misspent Covid aid to offset the costs of his crackdown on the US-Mexico border.

Operation Lone Star, the Republican’s massive security mission that sought to increase arrests along the state’s southern border, was reportedly partially supported by rerouting roughly $1bn in public health and safety funds to the border, while the state continued to accept federal pandemic funds to replace some of that money lost, according to The Washington Post, who analysed the spending records.

Johanna Chisholm has the details.

Powerful legal groups, conservative Christian activists and right-wing figures shaped an anti-abortion agenda in the hands of the US Supreme Court, Alex Woodward reports.