Eric Swalwell officially resigns from House; Los Angeles county sheriff investigating rape allegation against him–as it happened

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Here is a summary of the key developments from today:

• Eric Swalwell officially resigned from Congress amid the threat of an expulsion vote and other misconduct allegations he has denied. A special election to fill his vacant seat will be held 18 August. At a Los Angeles press conference this morning, Lonna Drewes accused Swalwell of drugging and raping her in 2018, telling reporters she “did not consent to any sexual activity.” Later, the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department’s special victims bureau said it had opened an investigation into Swalwell, for a case inovloving an adult female who reported being sexually assaulted by Swalwell in West Hollywood in July 2018.

• The House still needs to pass a bill to fund several Department of Homeland Security (DHS) subagencies, like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Coast Guard, amid a record-breaking partial government shutdown. The Senate advanced measure that remedies this funding lapse, but doesn’t include money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and border patrol, has stalled in the lower chamber. Now, House speaker Mike Johnson has to bring his fractured GOP conference together. Both he and John Thune, the Senate majority leader, are also on the clock to pass a budget bill that would fund ICE and CBP via reconciliation.

• Meanwhile, House Democrats on Tuesday proposed creating a commission that would work with JD Vance to remove Donald Trump from office under the 25th amendment, should they determine he is no longer fit to serve. The measure, introduced by Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, follows a series of statements from Trump, including his recent warning that Iran’s “whole civilization will die” if it did not capitulate to his demands, and a social media post that depicted him as Jesus Christ.

• Donald Trump has said that talks with Iran could resume in Pakistan over next two days, according to an interview with the New York Post. “You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” Trump was quoted as saying.

• The US state department said Tuesday that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed-upon time and place. The state department “expressed hope” that the meeting between Israel and Lebanon would “lead to peace agreement”. This comes after Israel and Lebanon concluded their first direct diplomatic talks in decades, hosted by secretary of state Marco Rubio in Washington.

• The Senate will hold its confirmation hearing for Kevin Warsh, the president’s pick to fill the vacant seat of Federal Reserve chair, next week, on 21 April. Both Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee are expected to probe Warsh about his wealth and ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as well as his views on the Fed’s independence.

• The justice department has asked a federal appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of several leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who were involved in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. In a court filing today, the department asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the convictions – a step further than moves Donald Trump made to commute the leaders’ prison sentences last January when he granted clemency to all defendants charged in the attack.

Speaking at the HSBC Global Investment Summit in Hong Kong, former US treasury secretary Janet Yellen says the Iran war has created supply shocks in the global economy that could put more pressure on inflation.

Yellen said the war has worsened economic instability. “It puts upward pressure on inflation and we’ve already seen that in recent inflation reports, but we’re likely to see more,” she said. “This is really a broad supply shock.”

While taping an interview with Fox Business Network this evening, Donald Trump said he thinks the Iran war is “close to over”.

“I think it’s close to over, yeah. I mean, I view it as very close to over,” the president said in a clip of his interview for the show “Mornings with Maria”.

“If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country. And we’re not finished. We’ll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly,” he added.

In early March, Trump said he expected the US campaign to last four to five weeks but that it could “go far longer than that”.

Federal officials have arrested a California man who was shot by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and charged him with “assault” on a federal officer.

My colleague Sam Levin reports:

Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, 36, was shot by ICE officers on 7 April in Patterson, a rural town in California’s central valley roughly 80 miles south-east of San Francisco. He was hit by more than six bullets, including in the face, according to his attorney.

Hernandez is the latest person to be injured by immigration officers and then criminally prosecuted by the US Department of Justice (DoJ). In the Los Angeles region, the DoJ has consistently failed to win convictions against people accused of assaulting immigration officers, suffering a string of embarrassing dismissals and acquittals in recent months.

The NAACP has filed a lawsuit accusing Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI of illegally spewing toxic pollutants into the Black neighborhoods on the border of Tennessee and Mississippi.

My colleague Dara Kerr reports:

The suit, filed on Tuesday in Mississippi federal court, alleges xAI is violating the Clean Air Act due to emissions from itsmakeshift power plant in Southaven, Mississippi, which powers its data centers in South Memphis. The plaintiff – storied civil rights group the NAACP, represented by environmental groups Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice – says xAI has been polluting the surrounding historically Black communities by using dozens of methane gas generators without permits. The organization is seeking to force the company to stop operating its unpermitted turbines in Southaven.

“All too often, big corporations like xAI treat our communities and families like obstacles to be pushed aside,” said Derrick Johnson, the president and CEO of the NAACP.

Eric Swalwell is under investigation by the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department’s special victims bureau. The investigation involves the case of an adult female who reported being sexually assaulted by Swalwell in West Hollywood in July 2018.

“The investigation remains in its preliminary stages and is ongoing. Investigators are in the process of gathering information, reviewing available evidence, and conducting follow up inquiries as part of a comprehensive investigative process,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement. “Once the investigation is completed the investigators will present the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for filing consideration.”

Eric Trump will accompany his father on the president’s trip to China next month. The president’s son oversees the Trump business empire, including Donald Trump’s real estate, golf and blockchain investments.

“Eric is deeply proud of his father and the accomplishments of this term, and is attending in a personal capacity as a supportive son. He does not have business ventures in China nor plans on doing business in China. He will not be participating in private meetings, but will instead stand alongside the president to mark this historic occasion,” Trump Organization spokeswoman Kimberly Benza told the Reuters.

The announcement is still likely to trigger concerns about Trump family conflicts of interest.

A special election to fill Eric Swalwell’s vacant seat in Congress will be held 18 August, California governor Gavin Newsom announced today.

The special election for the 14th congressional district will fall roughly two months after California’s gubernatorial primary, a race Swalwell had appeared poised to win before he suspended his campaign, amid allegations of sexual assault and misconduct.

Legislators in Maine have passed a bill that would make it the first state to prohibit new data centers. The bill must still cross the governor’s desk.

Maine’s lawmakers voted to freeze approvals for data centers that require more than 20 megawatts of power until October 2027. The moratorium is designed to give a state-appointed council time to analyze the impact of the electricity-hungry facilities on the local grid and other utilities. The state’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills, must still sign the bill into law.

To date, 11 states are evaluating laws that would similarly pause or limit data centers from opening their doors.

The US military has struck another vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing four people.

US Southern Command announced the strike on social media. Yesterday, SouthCom similarly announced three strikes that killed seven people total.

Today’s “lethal kinetic strike” will bring the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the US military to at least 174 since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September.

JD Vance addressed US-Iran negotiations while speaking at a Turning Point USA event in Georgia, saying that despite mistrust, Iranian negotiators want to make a deal.

“There is a lot of, of course, mistrust between Iran and the United States of America. You are not going to solve that problem overnight,” the vice-president said. He added that Iranian negotiators wanted to make a deal. “I feel very good about where we are.”

Vance also addressed the absence of Erika Kirk, the widow of Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk. He said Kirk withdrew from the event due to threats on her life.

“I know that she did get some threats,” Vance said. “I was a little worried that we were going to have to cancel the event because Erika was not going to come, and she was very worried about it.”

The United States has eased sanctions against Venezuela, amid calls from Venezuelan leaders to lift the sanctions entirely.

The treasury department has issued a license allowing US companies to do business with Venezuela’s central bank, Banco Universal, Banco Digital de los Trabajadores and Banco del Tesoro.

Earlier today, Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez called for the United States to lift all sanctions on Venezuela, saying licenses do not provide long-term legal security. She also met with US assistant energy secretary Kyle Haustveit

The justice department has asked a federal appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of several leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who were involved in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

In a court filing today, the department asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the convictions – a step further than moves Donald Trump made to commute the leaders’ prison sentences last January when he granted clemency to all defendants charged in the attack.

The dismissal request names Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and members Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson and Jessica Watkins; and Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola.