Biden news - live: GOP senator claims ‘fake’ Trump supporters caused riot as distracted Ted Cruz taps on phone

Senators questioned current and former security officials about the massive law enforcement failures on January 6, the day a violent mob overpowered police officers and laid siege to the US Capitol building.

Three of the four who testified before Senate committees resigned under intense pressure immediately after the deadly uprising, including the former head of the Capitol Police.

It comes as Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, said it was time for Mr Trump to “take responsibility for his own dirty deeds” after the Supreme Court ruled the ex-president has to hand over his tax returns to prosecutors in New York.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden, held his first meeting with Canadian president Justin Trudeau and announced he will make his first major trip as president to Houston to visit the winter-devastated state of Texas.

As he used this week to observe the 500,000 deaths of Americans from Covid-19, his administration came under fire for re-opening the migrant camps on the US-Mexico border that he previously called “horrific”, and Kamala Harris called “human rights abuses”, when open under the Trump administration.

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