House ethics committee opens Matt Gaetz misconduct investigation – as it happened

• Committee to investigate if Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct
• Also cites potential bribes, drugs and campaign finance violations
• Biden announces commission to study supreme court expansion
• Revealed: Republican-led states spending big on execution drugs

1.12am BST

That's it for me this evening. Here's the rundown of what we covered this afternoon:

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12.56am BST

The state department released new rules on how the US government will engage with Taiwan in an attempt to liberalize" a deepening unofficial relationship" while reimposing some restrictions revised by the Trump administration, the Associated Press reports.

With just days left in the Trump presidency, the former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lifted nearly all the restrictions on contacts with Taiwan, saying in a statement that the US-Taiwan relationship should not be shackled by self-imposed restrictions of our permanent bureaucracy" and the US would no longer seek to appease the Communist regime in Beijing".

These new guidelines will continue the U.S. government's longstanding practice of providing clarity throughout the U.S. executive branch of how to implement our one China' policy,' the department said. This new guidance is a step forward from earlier versions, including the contact guidance that was in place for virtually all of the previous administration, by encouraging engagement with Taiwan counterparts and removing unneeded restrictions'.

Yet the statement contained no details about the new contact guidance" and congressional aides briefed on the matter said the changes were actually more restrictive than those Pompeo had rolled out just 11 days before the end of the Trump administration".