Trump says lawyers were given no indication of looming indictment from DoJ – live | US politics

Donald Trump said his attorneys had a “productive” meeting with the Department of Justice this morning, and that “no indication of notice” was given during the meeting.

Posting on Truth Social, Trump wrote:

My attorneys had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country. No indication of notice was given during the meeting — Do not trust the Fake News on anything!

It was reported earlier today that Trump’s lawyers were seen entering the offices of special counsel Jack Smith, a week after the former president said he had received a target letter from Smith. According to NBC, Trump’s attorneys were told to expect an indictment against him.

Joe Biden announced new steps to protect workers from extreme heat as much of the United States faces yet another day of scorching temperatures. He also singled out for criticism Texas Republicans, who recently acted to override local ordinances mandating water breaks for construction workers, and the wider GOP’s policies on climate change. Elsewhere in Washington DC, Donald Trump’s lawyers met at the office of special counsel Jack Smith and were reportedly told to expect an indictment, the latest sign that the former president could soon face charges related to the January 6 insurrection.

Here’s what else has happened today:

• The supreme court cleared what may be the last obstacle to construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a controversial natural gas conduit in West Virginia and Virginia.

• Two Florida lawmakers invited all of Congress to tour the site of the worst school shooting in US history in Parkland, before the building is torn down.

• We live in the “era of global boiling”, the United Nations chief warned, as he called for more forceful action against climate change.

Joe Biden outlined steps his administration will take to protect workers, while taking time to criticize Republicans.

He announced that the “Hazard Alert” he has asked the labor department to issue “clarifies that workers have … federal heat-related protections. We should be protecting workers from hazardous conditions, and we will, and those states where they do not, I’m going to be calling them out.” Biden added that the department would also step up inspections “in high-risk industries, like construction and agriculture.”

He then accused the GOP of opposing efforts to protect Americans from heat and the broader threat posed by climate change.

“Maga extremists in Congress are trying to undo all this progress,” Biden said. “Not a single one of them, not a single Republican voted … for the Inflation Reduction Act that had all this money for climate, which provides funding … to combat climate change, and now many of them are trying to repeal those provisions. We’re not going to let that happen.”

Joe Biden kicked off his remarks with a veiled swipe at legislation passed by Republican lawmakers in Texas and approved by the governor, Greg Abbott, that overrode local regulations requiring construction workers be offered water breaks.

“The number one weather-related killer is heat. Six-hundred people die annually from its effects, more than from floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes in America combined,” the president said. “And even those places that are used to extreme heat have never seen it hot as it is now, for as long as it is. Even those who deny that we’re in the midst of a climate crisis can’t deny the impact of extreme heat is having on Americans.”

Biden spoke about how the heat has made everything from fighting fires to harvesting crops more perilous, and noted, “construction workers, who literally risked their lives working all day in blazing heat, in some places don’t even have the right to take a water break. That’s outrageous.”

Joe Biden will soon speak on his administration’s efforts to protect workers from extreme heat, including by asking the labor department to issue a “hazard alert” as swaths of the US struggle with scorching temperatures.

“The hazard alert will reaffirm that workers have heat-related protections under federal law. As part of the alert, the Department of Labor will provide information on what employers can and should be doing now to protect their workers, help ensure employees are aware of their rights, including protections against retaliation, and highlight the steps the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is currently taking to protect workers,” the White House announced. “Additionally, the Department of Labor will ramp up enforcement of heat-safety violations, increasing inspections in high-risk industries like construction and agriculture, while OSHA continues to develop a national standard for workplace heat-safety rules.”

Earlier this week, 112 Democratic lawmakers asked Biden to direct OSHA to issue standards for protecting workers from extreme heat, in reaction to Republican Texas governor Greg Abbott’s signature of legislation stopping local ordinances that mandated water breaks for construction workers.

In his address from the White House, Biden will also announce at $7m infusion of funds to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration so it can improve weather forecasting, including of heatwaves, as well as $152m allocation for California, Washington and Colorado to pay for new water infrastructure.

Attorneys from Donald Trump have been told to expect an indictment against him, NBC News says:

Media outlets reported earlier today that the former president’s lawyers were seen entering the offices of special counsel Jack Smith. Last week, Trump said he had received a target letter from Smith, which is typically sent to the subject of law enforcement investigation shortly before an indictment is brought against him.

That letter concerned his involvement in the January 6 insurrection, but Smith has already indicted Trump on charges related to the classified documents discovered at his Mar-a-Lago resort in south Florida.

Two House lawmakers have invited all members of Congress to next month tour Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, in Parkland, Florida, site of the deadliest school shooting in US history.

“The tour on August 4th will include the 1200 building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to see firsthand how a school shooting can affect families and a community. Immediately following the tour, members will have the opportunity to meet with survivors and parents to discuss the challenges children face at school and to help find ways to mitigate these present dangers,” write Republican Mario Diaz-Balart and Democrat Jared Moskowitz. Both represent Florida districts, and Moskowitz’s includes Parkland.

The building where a gunman killed 17 people and wounded 17 others is scheduled to be demolished.

Attorneys for Donald Trump are today meeting at special counsel Jack Smith’s office, ahead of the former president’s possible indictment on charges related to the January 6 insurrection, ABC News reports:

NBC News has also spotted members of the grand jury empaneled by Smith to consider charges heading into a Washington DC courthouse, and reports that Trump’s attorneys are preparing for the possibility they will vote to indict him as soon as today:

If it is unclear when, or if, Smith will hand down an indictment in his investigation. Last week, Trump said he had received a target letter from Smith, which are typically given to people under investigation shortly before charges are brought against them.

The United States is not alone in grappling with extreme heat. United Nations secretary-general António Guterres just announced that July is on track to be the hottest month ever recorded, and warned that we are now in an era of “global boiling”:

He called on the G20 groups of the world’s 20 richest countries – the United States among them – to set “ambitious new national emissions reduction targets”. That’s easier said than done in the US, where much of the Republican party continues to reject the scientific consensus on global warming, and, with their control of one of Congress’s two chambers, have stopped any efforts to lower the country’s carbon emissions.

The Guardian’s Michael Sainato is out with a look at how many Americans will be dealing with high, and often extremely high, temperatures today, and the numbers are staggering:

Over 170 million Americans are under heat alerts this week, according to the National Weather Service, as a heat wave that has affected the southern US for weeks has expanded into parts of the Great Plains, midwest and north-east US.

Between 250 and 275 million people in the US will face heat indexes of at least 90F (32C), as the US braces for the hottest weather of the summer averaged across the country.

The largest electric grid operator in the US, PJM Connection, which oversees electric power supply of 13 states and Washington DC, covering 65 million Americans, issued a level one emergency alert for Thursday in anticipation of increases in demands for electricity during the most recent heatwave.

Good mornings, US politics blog readers. We’re in the middle of a summer in which much of the United States has grappled with extreme heat, and today at 11.45am eastern time, Joe Biden will announce modest new measures intended to address the scorching temperatures. These include a hazard alert from the labor department that will remind employers of the rights workers have to protect themselves on hot days, as well as new funding to improve weather forecasting and water storage capacity in three drought-prone western states.

The moves to be announced at a White House ceremony in Washington DC – which is in the middle of its own heatwave – come a year after Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act, the first legislation ever specifically intended to lower America’s carbon emissions. It also comes amid a summer in which many parts of America have experienced not just unheard-of heat, but also devastating flooding, all effects of the climate crisis.

Here’s what else is happening today:

• America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan will be the subject of a hearing by a House foreign affairs subcommittee. Expect the Republican majority to pin the blame on Biden for the deaths and abandonments that marked the end of America’s longest war.

• Biden will at 3pm host Giorgia Meloni at the White House. She’s the Italian prime minister whose far-right ties have raised eyebrows among many on the left in Washington and elsewhere.

• White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will take reporters’ questions at 1.30pm.