Fauci says regional vaccine disparities could create ‘two types of America’ – as it happened

We’re wrapping up our live US politics coverage for the evening, ahead of an Independence Day weekend that has the wildfire-prone west coast of the US on edge, as celebratory fireworks are set off across a parched landscape that is all-too-ready to burn.

Meanwhile, Americans plan to gather in large numbers for the holiday, some still leery of the pandemic, and most, hopefully, outside.

Key news updates from today, from myself and Joan Greve. Meanwhile, keep safe, and enjoy the holiday weekend.

• Dr Anthony Fauci warned that regional disparities in coronavirus vaccination rates could create “two types of America”. Asked about whether he is concerned the delta variant of coronavirus could cause outbreaks in the US, Fauci said, “I don’t think you’re going to be seeing anything nationwide. Because fortunately, we have a substantial proportion of the population vaccinated. So it’s going to be regional. … We’re going to see, and I’ve said, almost two types of America.”
• The US jobs report showed the economy added 850,000 jobs last month. In remarks celebrating the jobs report this morning, Joe Biden said the latest numbers represented “historic progress”. “Put simply: our economy is on the move, and we have Covid-19 on the run,” Biden said.
• Biden and the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, announced support for a bill to remove the review of military sexual assault cases from the chain of command. The Democratic senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been pushing the legislation for several years. Biden said in a statement, “We need concrete actions that fundamentally change the way we handle military sexual assault and that make it clear that these crimes will not be minimized or dismissed.”
• The US military will complete the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan by the end of next month, the White House press secretary told reporters. Biden said earlier today that the operation was “on track” with his plans to withdraw all troops by 11 September, denying reports that the withdrawal would wrap up in the next few days.
• The death toll from the Surfside condo building collapse increased to 22. The seven-year-old daughter of a Miami firefighter was among the victims whose bodies were recovered from the Florida site. As of now, 128 people remain unaccounted for.
• The Trump Organization may face even more legal troubles in the months to come, as New York prosecutors have indicated their investigation is continuing. Prosecutors filed tax crime charges against the company and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, yesterday.
• Nonpartisan voter registration groups in Kansas have filed a lawsuit against the state’s new Republican-backed voting restrictions, saying they will have to suspend all voter registration drives for fear of violating the law. Meanwhile, the Arizona Republic had new details about attempted White House interference in the 2020 election, with Republican officials in Arizona describing multiple inappropriate contacts from the White House and Trump’s allies over the vote counting, similar to Trump’s attempted interference in Georgia.
• Two-thirds of Americans say they feel democracy is under threat, according to a new poll.

New law prompts League of Women Voters to suspend voter registration in Kansas

A new Republican-backed Kansas voting law has prompted the nonpartisan League of Women Voters and other get-out-the-vote groups in Kansas to say they are going to suspend voter registration drives for fear of criminal prosecution, two local media outlets report.

“We are legitimately concerned that our staff and volunteers might face criminal charges if someone at the farmers market subjectively thinks they might be impersonating an election official and reports them,” said Caleb Smith, a voter engagement campaign director for Kansas Appleseed, told the Kansas Reflector.

“Because [the law] is so broad it can be applied arbitrarily and discriminatory,” Davis Hammet, the director of Loud Light, a youth voter registration group, told the Kansas City Star. “These are people who would be registering voters and they’d have to take a very real risk that they’d lose their right to vote.”

The groups have filed a lawsuit against the new law and have asked a judge for a temporary injunction to block implementation of the law until the case is resolved.

Is Breyer retiring? Legal experts watched law clerk ranks for clues

In mid-June, my colleague David Smith reported, a group of 18 legal academics issued an extraordinary joint letter urging the US supreme court justice Stephen Breyer to retire so that Joe Biden can name his successor.

The pressure on Breyer to retire was the result of a blunt warning from Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader in the Senate, that Biden would not get a supreme court nominee confirmed in 2024 if Republicans regain control of the chamber.

One proxy for what might be on Breyer’s mind—his staffing choices—suggests he’s not going anywhere immediately.

Relief and anxiety as crowds of people plan to gather to celebrate Independence Day

Americans enjoying newfound liberty are expected to travel and gather for cookouts, fireworks, concerts and beach outings over the Fourth of July weekend in numbers not seen since pre-pandemic days, the Associated Press reports.

There are fears that the mixing of large numbers of vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans at a time when the highly contagious delta variant is spreading rapidly could undo some of the progress made against the scourge.

But experts said outdoor events did not pose a lot of risk: “Outdoor stuff remains, I think, pretty safe for unvaccinated or vaccinated people,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health. “Probably a packed outdoor concert is not ideal, but short of that, outdoor activity is safe for people. Watching fireworks is fine.”

‘We need you to stop the counting’: new details on White House interference in Arizona

During the 2020 election, Clint Hickman, a 56-year-old lifelong Republican, was the chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which oversees elections in the most populous county in Arizona.

In the wake of the election, the Arizona Republic reports, he twice let calls from the White House trying to connect him with the president go to his voicemail, as Donald Trump and his allies tried a range of tactics to try to influence the local elections process in Arizona and other swing states.

One of the voicemails to the Arizona Republican official came the very same night that news broke about Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump asked the Georgia elections official to “find” enough votes there to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state. The call was recorded, and the Washington Post published the full audio.

Hickman, the Arizona official, said he was appalled by Trump’s attempt to interfere in Georgia, and that he did not want to be the target of similar interference or record his own conversation with Trump, so he did not return the White House voicemail.

“I’m not going to tape a president, so I’m not going to talk to a president,” he said.

The local Republican official’s defense of the legitimate election process came at a cost: Hickman received death threats, there were protesters outside of his house, and his wife received a phone call threatening sexual violence, the Arizona Republic reported, noting the threats were serious enough that sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to his home to protect him and his family.

Biden praises teachers’ sacrifices in address to the National Education Association

Addressing the nation’s largest union of teachers and other school staff, Joe Biden praised teachers’ dedication during the coronavirus pandemic and told them that they deserved a raise. He quipped that American parents who had to educate their kids at home this past year now truly understand why teachers should be paid more, and also made an awkward sex joke about the Lincoln Bedroom.

On the latest episode of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly Extra podcast, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Yasmeen Abutaleb, author of a new book that details just how serious Donald Trump’s condition was when he contracted Covid-19 last October:

Two-thirds of Americans believe democracy is under threat, polls finds

This is Lois Beckett, picking up our live US politics coverage from Los Angeles.

At the start of this holiday weekend, it’s worth remembering that this country’s national anthem is less a celebration than a question: is the star-spangled banner still waving? Can this embattled democracy endure?

This Fourth of July, a lot of Americans are worried about that question: a new poll found that two-thirds of them believe that democracy in the United States is under threat.

The new poll results make an interesting contrast with a previous poll of 50,000 people from 53 countries around the world, which found that nearly half of respondents believed the United States itself threatened democracy in their home countries. The poll found that the US was seen as a greater threat to democracy than Russia or China.

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

Here’s where the day stands so far:

• Dr Anthony Fauci warned that regional disparities in coronavirus vaccination rates could create “two types of America”. Asked about whether he is concerned the delta variant of coronavirus could cause outbreaks in the US, Fauci said, “I don’t think you’re going to be seeing anything nationwide. Because fortunately, we have a substantial proportion of the population vaccinated. So it’s going to be regional. … We’re going to see, and I’ve said, almost two types of America.”
• The US jobs report showed the economy added 850,000 jobs last month. In remarks celebrating the jobs report this morning, Joe Biden said the latest numbers represented “historic progress”. “Put simply: our economy is on the move, and we have Covid-19 on the run,” Biden said.
• Biden and defense secretary Lloyd Austin announced support for a bill to remove the review of military sexual assault cases from the chain of command. Democratic senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been pushing the legislation for several years. Biden said in a statement, “We need concrete actions that fundamentally change the way we handle military sexual assault and that make it clear that these crimes will not be minimized or dismissed.”
• The US military will complete the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan by the end of next month, the White House press secretary told reporters. Biden said earlier today that the operation was “on track” with his plans to withdraw all troops by September 11, denying reports that the withdrawal would wrap up in the next few days.
• The death toll from the Surfside condo building collapse increased to 20. The seven-year-old daughter of a Miami firefighter was among the victims whose bodies were recovered from the Florida site. As of now, 128 people remain unaccounted for.
• The Trump Organization may face even more legal troubles in the months to come, as New York prosecutors have indicated their investigation is continuing. Prosecutors filed tax crime charges against the company and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, yesterday.

Lois will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

The Guardian’s Maanvi Singh reports on how the delta variant is affecting Americans who lack the protection of a vaccine:

Just as the troubling Delta variant was spreading through the US, Charis Hill got a worrying call from their doctor.

The medications Hill takes to treat their spondylitis affect their immune system, and they knew the Covid-19 vaccine might not work as well for them as it does for others. So weeks after their second shot, they got a test.

The results were shocking: “No antibodies were detected in my system,” said Hill, who lives in California. As the rest of their state celebrated a grand reopening, a jubilant lifting of social distancing rules and mask mandates, Hill went back into isolation.

Across the country, coronavirus death rates have plummeted as more and more Americans who are eligible for the vaccine get inoculated. And research from the UK indicates that the current vaccines are effective against new variants.

But even in states like California, which has one of the highest rates of per capita vaccination in the world, those who don’t want to get vaccinated, those who can’t, and those like Hill – for whom the vaccines don’t provide adequate protection – remain unprotected against Delta, which researchers believe to be the most infectious variant yet.

Scientists are also studying whether the variant is deadlier than others, and causes more severe infections. Epidemiologists and other public health experts worry that state and federal policies are leaving the most vulnerable behind.

Joe Biden voiced similar concerns about the delta variant of coronavirus earlier today, while taking reporters’ questions after delivering prepared remarks on the June jobs report.

Asked about the possibility of additional outbreaks in the US because of the delta variant, Biden said, “I am concerned that people who have not gotten vaccinated have the capacity to catch the variant and spread the variant to other people who have not been vaccinated.”

He added, “I am not concerned there is going to be a major outbreak — in other words, that we’re going to have another epidemic nationwide, but I am concerned lives will be lost.”

Senior health officials have been going on television this week to spread the message that the delta variant does not pose a threat to vaccinated individuals. They have also encouraged all eligible unvaccinated people to get their shot as quickly as possible.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the president’s chief medical adviser, warned that regional disparities in coronavirus vaccination rates could create “two types of America”.

In an interview airing fully this Sunday, NBC News anchor Chuck Todd asked Fauci whether he believed the delta variant of coronavirus could cause another surge in cases in the US.

“I don’t think you’re going to be seeing anything nationwide. Because fortunately, we have a substantial proportion of the population vaccinated. So it’s going to be regional,” the infectious disease expert told Todd.

Fauci added, “We’re going to see, and I’ve said, almost two types of America. You know, those regions of America which are highly vaccinated and we have a low level of dynamics of infection. And in some places, some states, some cities, some areas, where the level of vaccination is low and the level of virus dissemination is high. That’s where you’re going to see the spikes.”

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Rochelle Walensky, issued a similar warning yesterday, noting that the delta variant now accounts for about a quarter of new coronavirus cases in the US.

According to Walensky, there are about 1,000 US counties where less than 30% of the community is vaccinated. In those regions, the risk of the delta variant spreading is particularly high.

Richard Luscombe and Amanda Holpuch report:

The seven-year-old daughter of a Miami firefighter was found dead in the rubble of a collapsed condominium, officials said on Friday as they announced the official death toll in Miami had risen to 20 people.

The Miami-Dade county mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, said the rescue mission overnight was difficult as operations stretched into their ninth day.

“It goes without saying that every night has been immensely difficult for everybody and particularly the families who have been impacted,” Levine Cava said. “But last night was uniquely different. It was truly different and more difficult for our first responders.

“These men and women are paying an enormous human toll each and every day, and I ask that all of you please keep all of them in your thoughts and prayers,” she said.

Two bodies were recovered overnight, including the young girl. Levine Cava said that the number of unaccounted for stood at 128, down from the previous figure of 145.

“When the detectives were able to reach and verify the safety of a person in question, we discovered that there were several family members who could have been potentially in the building and now we can mark them as safe,” she said.

“This is very, very good news. That’s 188 people accounted for,” Levine Cava said.

Before concluding the naturalization ceremony, Joe Biden recognized Sandra Lindsay with an “Outstanding American by Choice” award, which celebrates noteworthy contributions from naturalized US citizens.

Biden recounted how Lindsay, who was the first person in America to get fully vaccinated against coronavirus outside of the clinical trials, immigrated to Queens, New York, from Jamaica when she was 18 years old.

She later got multiple advanced degrees in nursing and now serves as the director of nursing for critical care at a Long Island hospital, where she dedicated herself to helping coronavirus victims during the pandemic.

Biden noted that Lindsay lost an aunt and an uncle to coronavirus. “In her pain, she didn’t lose hope,” Biden said.

The scrubs and badge that Lindsay wore when she received her coronavirus vaccination will be included in the Smithsonian’s national exhibit on Covid-19, Biden added.

Joe Biden noted that six of the 21 immigrants who became citizens at the White House today have served in the US military.

The president asked those six new citizens to stand up and be recognized for their military service.

Biden then led the room in applauding the six service members.

After homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued the oath of citizenship, Joe Biden delivered remarks to congratulate the 21 immigrants present at the White House.

Biden noted the new citizens represented many different backgrounds and nationalities. “There is one trait you all share in common: courage,” Biden said.

The president praised the new citizens, saying they reflected what was best about America. Biden recounted how he once told Chinese President Xi Jinping that America is defined by one word: “possibilities”.

“That’s what America’s built on,” Biden said. “Anything is possible in America.”

The president then expressed gratitude to the group for choosing to become citizens, saying, “Thank you for choosing the United States of America, believing that America is worthy of your aspirations, worthy of your dreams.”

Joe Biden is now participating in a naturalization ceremony at the White House to welcome new citizens to the US ahead of Independence Day on July 4.

Homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who is the first immigrant to hold his post, issued the oath of citizenship.

“Today, our nation is better than it was yesterday. It is better today in part because we have in you new citizens of it,” Mayorkas said.

The ceremony comes as the Biden administration launches a new effort to encourage eligible immigrant to apply for US citizenship.

During the White House press briefing, Jen Psaki was asked about a Politico report that some staffers in Kamala Harris’ office are complaining of an “abusive” work environment there.

“I try not to speak to or engage on anonymous reports or anonymous sources,” Psaki said. “I will say that the vice-president is an incredibly important partner to the president of the United States.”

Some White House reporters criticized Psaki’s response, noting that the administration often makes senior officials available “on background” (meaning they cannot be quoted by name) to explain new policies being enacted.

Psaki bristled against that criticism, saying on Twitter, “I think everyone knows the difference between attacking someone as an anonymous source and providing details on a policy announcement to reporters in an effort to provide information and answer media questions.”