Biden news: President visits Walter Reed hospital, as ex-KGB agent says Russia ‘wooed’ Trump for years

Joe Biden is “in close contact” with Nancy Pelosi over the safety of lawmakers after the speaker warned the "enemy is within House of Representatives".

While confirming the rampant fear among Congress following the riots at the US Capitol, the White House has refused comment on specific lawmakers, including Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said they "don't want to elevate conspiracy theories further in the briefing room, so I'm going to leave it at that". It followed a brush off questions about Greene earlier in the week when Psaki refused to comment on her social media posts that appeared to endorse the "hanging" of Democrats.

It comes as former president Donald Trump faces up to fresh claims he was cultivated by Moscow over a period of decades in a bid to damage US interests.

Yuri Shvets, an ex-KGB spy posted to Washington DC in the 1980s, told The Guardian that Mr Trump was the subject of a “charm offensive” by the spy agency.

"They had collected a lot of information on his personality so they knew who he was personally. The feeling was that he was extremely vulnerable intellectually, and psychologically, and he was prone to flattery," Mr Shvets said.

Joe Biden, meanwhile, is facing growing scrutiny of his reliance on ruling by fiat with an unprecedent number of uniliteral executive orders despite promising to promote unity through bi-partisan legislation.

Bristling at the criticisms, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield tweeted: “Of course we are also pursuing our agenda through legislation. It’s why we are working so hard to get the American Rescue Plan passed, for starters.”

Before calling a lid on the day, Biden visited wounded troops at Walter Reed Medical Centre.

Key stories:

• Trump and McCarthy discuss ‘taking back the House’ in 2022 elections

• Rioters who stormed the US Capitol are being turned in by their family and friends

• Why Trump’s Senate impeachment creates a headache for everyone

• Jill Biden spent her first week as First Lady reshaping role. Melania spent hers isolated

• Trump’s ‘radioactive’ properties in New York ‘plummeting in value’