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Rep. Val Demings (D) to run against Sen. Marco Rubio (R) in Florida, Biden will meet with baby formula manufacturers, US to send advanced rockets to Ukraine, Clinton lawyer acquitted and more top stories in Democrat politics.
Florida Democrat representative Val Demings has officially filed to run against Republican Senator Marco Rubio who is seeking a third term in November, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
Demings, who has served in Congress since 2016, said: “Time and time again, we have seen (Rubio) play political games.”
“If there is legislation on the table that is good for Florida…I’m going to support that legislation,” she said. “If it’s bad for Florida or bad for Floridians, I’m not going to support it.”
President Joe Biden will host a roundtable discussion with baby formula manufacturers on Wednesday and efforts to ramp up both production and imports as a lingering shortage plagues the United States, NBC reported.
Biden is anticipated to discuss steps his administration is taking through the Defense production act and is expected to receive updates from formula manufacturing executives.
after previously stating on May 30 that the US would not send Ukraine long-range rockets capable of reaching Russia, the Biden administration announced that it will be sending longer-ranged rockets to help the embattled nation.
“We’re not going to send to Ukraine rocket systems that can strike into Russia,” Biden told reporters on May 30 as he returned to Washington from his home in Delaware, Rferl reported.
But on Tuesday, Biden said Tuesday in a New York Times opinion piece that he would “provide the Ukrainians with more advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine.”
On the same day, the White House National Security Council said that the “more advanced rocket systems” were longer-range Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, or MLRS. While the rockets are capable of reaching Russia, according to officials, the weapons are not intended to be fired into Russia or be used outside of Ukraine, NBC reported.
Special counsel John Durham, who is probing the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, failed in his attempt to prosecute Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann on a charge of lying to the FBI.
The two-week trial was the first arising from Durham’s three-year investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, NBC reported.
“Despite being falsely accused, I’m relieved that justice ultimately prevailed in my case,” Sussmann said.
In a related case, last year, former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith pleaded guilty to altering an email related to secret FBI surveillance of ex-Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
In a forthcoming case, analyst Igor Danchenko is scheduled to go to trial in October on a charge that he lied to the FBI in 2017 and has pleaded not guilty.
