Democrats celebrate Gavin Newsom’s victory in California recall vote – live

Simone Biles was the first gymnast to deliver her opening statement at the Senate judiciary committee hearing on the FBI’s failures in investigating sexual abuse allegations against Larry Nassar.

The Olympic gymnast accused the FBI of having “turned a blind eye to us” as Nassar abused hundreds of girls in his role as the doctor for the national USA women’s gymnastics team.

“To be clear, I blame Larry Nassar and I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse,” Biles said.

“USA Gymnastics and the United States, Olympic and Paralympic Committee knew that I was abused by their official team doctor long before I was ever made aware of their knowledge.”

Biles concluded, “I am a strong individual and I will persevere, but I never should have been left alone to suffer the abuse of Larry Nassar. And the only reason I did was because of the failures that lie at the heart of the abuse that you are now asked to investigate.”

For more updates on the hearing, follow the Guardian’s separate live blog:

White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed that she met with actress Angelina Jolie this morning to discuss the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

“Met briefly this morning with the tireless and committed #AngelinaJolie this morning to talk about the importance of reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act and the importance of continuing to fight for women, children and families around the world,” Psaki said on Twitter.

Jolie also met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill yesterday to discuss reauthorizing the VAWA.

Celebrity sighting: actor Angelina Jolie stopped by the White House briefing room this morning, a day after meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Jolie is in Washington to participate in discussions about reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.

As reporters threw questions at Jolie in the briefing room, she joked, “I like that I’ve walked into a press conference.”

Joe Biden will meet with Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema today to discuss the $3.5tn spending package, according to the Washington Post.

The meeting comes as Manchin and Sinema have both indicated they will not support a bill with a price tag of $3.5tn, enraging progressives who view the current cost as a compromise.

Given the 50-50 split in the Senate, all Senate Democrats must support the reconciliation bill in order to get it passed through the upper chamber.

The bill includes much of Biden’s economic agenda, so his administration is heavily invested in ensuring the legislation makes it to the president’s desk.

The blog will have more details on the meeting once they become available. Stay tuned.

Celebrated gymnasts Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman have arrived on Capitol Hill to testify before the Senate judiciary committee.

The group will be testifying about the failings in the FBI’s investigation into numerous sexual assault allegations against Larry Nassar, the former team doctor for the US women’s gymnastics team.

The gymnasts will be testifying alongside Michael Horowitz, the inspector general of the justice department, and FBI director Christopher Wray.

The hearing comes after Horowitz’s office released a report on the FBI investigation in July, which concluded that the bureau “failed to respond to the Nassar allegations with the utmost seriousness and urgency that they deserved and required, made numerous and fundamental errors when they did respond to them, and violated multiple FBI policies”.

The blog will have more updates on the hearing coming up, so stay tuned.

The Guardian’s Dani Anguiano and agencies report:

California’s governor Gavin Newsom may have resoundingly defeated a recall attempt, but that didn’t stop a Republican challenger from attempting to sow doubt about the outcome even before polls closed.

Larry Elder, the rightwing radio host who lead the pack in the effort to defeat Newsom, had been spreading conspiracy theories to falsely imply that the election was rigged against him.

Elder told reporters there might be “shenanigans” in the election and has a link on his website to a website encouraging users to “fight California election fraud” by submitting reports of “irregularities, interference, or intimidation”. There’s no proof of widespread election fraud.

Elder’s conspiracy theories echo efforts by Donald Trump to falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen and rigged against him. The language on the website the Elder site linked to appears lifted from a petition circulated to help Trump’s effort to overturn the results of last year’s presidential election.

Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.

California governor Gavin Newsom has easily defeated an effort to remove him from office, after voters overwhelmingly opposed the proposal in yesterday’s recall election.

“We rejected cynicism and bigotry and chose hope and progress,” Newsom said once the AP called the race, about 45 minutes after polls closed last night.

As of now, with approximately 68% of votes reported, 64% of California voters opposed removing Newsom, while 36% supported the idea. Newsom’s opponents needed to attract at least 50% of the vote to remove him from office.

The victory will provide a boost for Democrats in California and across the nation, as the party looks ahead to the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey this November.

And the results may also spark more questions about reforming California’s recall system, which has already attracted intense criticism over the months leading up to the election.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.