Biden hails US-India ties, fetes Modi

But Modi bristled at a reporter’s question about his country’s commitment to democratic values as the country has seen an erosion of religious, political, and press freedoms under his watch.

“Democracy is our spirit,” Modi, who rarely takes questions from journalists, said through an interpreter. “Democracy runs in our veins. We live democracy and our ancestors have actually put words to this concept.” He said India has “proved that democracies can deliver and when I say deliver, this is regardless of class, creed, religion, gender.”

Yet Modi has faced criticism over legislation amending the country’s citizenship law that fast-tracks naturalization for some migrants but excludes Muslims; a rise in violence against Muslims and other religious minorities by Hindu nationalists; and the recent conviction of India’s top opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, for mocking Modi’s surname.

At least six Democratic representatives — Cori Bush of Missouri, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Greg Casar of Texas, Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York — said they were boycotting Modi’s address to a joint meeting of Congress Thursday afternoon because of concerns about his human rights records.

“When it comes to standing up for human rights, actions speak louder than words,” Bush, Tlaib, Omar, and Bowman said in a joint statement. “By bestowing Prime Minister Modi with the rare honor of a joint address, Congress undermines its ability to be a credible advocate for the rights of religious minorities and journalists around the world.”

At the welcoming ceremony, Modi called the Indian diaspora in America — the millions of immigrants and their children from the subcontinent living in the US — “the real strength” of the US-India relationship. He said the honor of a formal state visit — the first for India since Barack Obama honored Modi’s predecessor, Manmohan Singh, in 2009 — reflected the positive impact Indians are having worldwide.

In 2005, the United States revoked Modi’s visa to the US, citing concerns that, as chief minister of the state of Gujarat, he did not act to stop communal violence during 2002 anti-Muslim riots that left more than 1,000 people dead. An investigation approved by the Indian Supreme Court later absolved Modi, but the stain of the dark moment has lingered.

Biden and Modi have also had differences over Russia’s war in Ukraine. India abstained from voting on UN resolutions condemning Russia and refused to join the global coalition against Russia. Since the start of the war, the Modi government has also dramatically increased its purchase of Russian oil.

Associated Press

Will Hurd, a former Texas congressman who was part of a diminishing bloc of Republican moderates in the House and was the only Black member of his caucus when he left office in 2021, announced his candidacy for president Thursday with a video message that attacked the GOP front-runner, former president Trump.

“If we nominate a lawless, selfish, failed politician like Donald Trump, who lost the House, the Senate and the White House, we all know Joe Biden will win again,” he said, referring to Republican losses in the 2018 and 2022 midterm elections, in addition to Trump’s own defeat in 2020.

Hurd, 45, represented the 23rd District for three terms before deciding not to run for reelection in 2020, when a host of GOP moderates in Congress chose to retire instead of appearing on a ticket led by Trump.

Hurd emphasized in his video that Republicans needed to nominate a forward-looking candidate who could unite the party and country.

“I’ll give us the common-sense leadership America so desperately needs,” he said.

A formidable gantlet awaits Hurd, a long-shot candidate in a crowded GOP presidential field. To qualify for the party’s first debate in August, candidates are required to muster support of at least 1 percent in multiple national polls recognized by the Republican National Committee. There are also fund-raising thresholds, including a minimum of 40,000 unique donors to individual campaigns.

Before entering politics, Hurd was an undercover officer for the CIA and his tenure of nearly a decade with the agency included work in Afghanistan.

In Congress, he developed a reputation for working across the aisle and drew attention in 2017 when he carpooled from Texas to Washington with Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat and House colleague.

New York Times

NEW YORK — The two people who bailed Representative George Santos out of federal custody have been revealed to be his father and his aunt, a detail the Republican fought to keep secret as he faces criminal charges and swirling questions about his finances.

Gercino dos Santos Jr. and Elma Preven were named in a court filing on Thursday as the co-signers of Santos’ $500,000 bond, which enabled his release as he awaits trial on federal charges of fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds.

Santos, Republican of New York, had fought to keep their names secret. They were revealed after media organizations, petitioned the court for the records to be unsealed, citing the right of public access to court proceedings.

Associated Press

DERRY, N.H. — Chris Christie brought his Talking Truth to Donald Trump performance back to New Hampshire on Wednesday evening, aiming a fresh quiver of poison darts at the former president. His talk pleased a small Trump-skeptical crowd, but raised the big question about Christie’s candidacy: Where are all the other Republican voters?

For the most part, Christie was preaching to the choir. Submitting to more than 90 minutes of questions in a town hall format, he heard from an audience member who identified as a member of an extinct species, a “Rockefeller Republican”; from another who said he used to work for a Republican senator but hasn’t voted Republican since 2016; and from a woman who introduced herself by saying, “I’m a Democrat, and you intrigue me.”

At times the linoleum-floored room in a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Derry, with its circle of white folding chairs, took on the feeling of a therapy session for Republicans homeless in their party. “What in your opinion,” asked one man, “happened to the Republican Party? We know that Trump lied about the election, but why did so many of our fellow citizens believe that?”

Since announcing his campaign two weeks ago, Christie has had a modest lift in early public polls of likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, nudging into third place, though still far behind Trump, the front-runner. At the same time, Christie, who has positioned himself as Trump’s most direct critic, tops the list of 2024 candidates that Republicans say they will never consider.

Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, who was an early and eager Trump endorser in 2016 and stuck with him in 2020, presented himself Wednesday as the lone truth-teller in the GOP field — criticizing Trump as unfit for office, while mocking other primary rivals as too cowed to even challenge the former president’s lies about the 2020 election.

He told voters to demand of every candidate, “Why are you defending the big lie that the election was stolen?”

New York Times

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas state Senator Angela Paxton, the wife of Attorney General Ken Paxton, is barred from voting in the impeachment trial that could lead to her husband’s permanent removal from office, the Republican-controlled Senate decided Wednesday night.

The rule settles a question that has loomed over the Texas Capitol since Ken Paxton last month became just the third sitting official to be impeached in Texas’ nearly 200-year history.

Senators scheduled the trial to begin Sept. 5.

Associated Press