ВИБОРЧА ГАЗЕТА

Reports: Liberal US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to Retire

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, for 27 years a staunch liberal voice on the country’s highest court, has decided to retire, according to news accounts in Washington. 

The retirement of the 83-year-old Breyer will hand President Joe Biden his first chance at filling an open seat since former President Donald Trump appointed three conservatives that tipped the court’s ideological balance sharply to the right with a 6-3 majority. 

Breyer, according to the news accounts, plans to remain on the court through the end of its current term in June, or until a replacement is named by Biden and confirmed by the politically divided Senate. 

Breyer’s formal retirement announcement is expected on Thursday. 

“There have been no announcements from Justice Breyer,” Biden said. “Let him make whatever statement he’s going to make, and I’ll be happy to talk about it later.” 

Biden, unlike Trump when he ran for the presidency in 2016 and for reelection in 2020, has not released a list of judges he might consider for appointment to the nine-member Supreme Court. 

But during his run for the presidency, following his selection of then-Senator Kamala Harris, of Jamaican and South Asian descent, as his vice president, Biden said he would name the court’s first Black woman. 

Among the names being floated as potential nominees are California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, U.S. Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, prominent civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill and U.S. District Judge Michelle Childs, whom Biden has nominated to be an appeals court judge. 

Breyer’s departure won’t change the court’s ideological balance. Biden, a Democrat, will be making the appointment, and Democrats have the slimmest of majorities in the Senate, relying on Harris for her tiebreaking votes in a chamber split evenly between 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats. 

Republican Senator Lindsay Graham quickly acknowledged that Republicans have no chance of blocking a Biden nominee if all Democrats remain united in support of the president’s nominee. 

“If all Democrats hang together — which I expect they will — they have the power to replace Justice Breyer in 2022 without one Republican vote in support,” Graham said. “Elections have consequences, and that is most evident when it comes to fulfilling vacancies on the Supreme Court.” 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Breyer “is, and always has been, a model jurist. He embodies the best qualities and highest ideals of American justice: knowledge, wisdom, fairness, humility, restraint.” 

“His work and his decisions as an associate justice on the biggest issues of our time — including voting rights, the environment, women’s reproductive freedom, and most recently, health care and the Affordable Care Act — were hugely consequential,” Schumer said. 

Schumer promised quick action on Biden’s nominee, saying his choice “will receive a prompt hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee and will be considered and confirmed by the full United States Senate with all deliberate speed.” 

While a liberal voice on the court, Breyer has in recent years tried to forge majorities on key rulings with more moderate justices right and left of center. 

He has written two major opinions in support of abortion rights on a court closely divided over the issue and has laid out his growing discomfort with the death penalty in a series of dissenting opinions in recent years. Before he retires, the court, with its conservative majority, could sharply curtail abortion rights in the U.S. in rulings that are expected to be handed down by June. 

Breyer’s views on displaying the Ten Commandments on government property illustrate his search for a middle ground. He was the only member of the court in the majority in both cases in 2005 that barred Ten Commandments displays in two Kentucky courthouses but allowed one to remain on the grounds of the state Capitol in Austin, Texas. 

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press. 

 
…

Biden Calls Fox News Reporter at White House a Stupid SOB

President Joe Biden responded to a question about inflation by calling a Fox News reporter a vulgarity. 

The president was in the East Room of the White House on Monday for a meeting of his Competition Council, which is focused on changing regulations and enforcing laws to help consumers deal with high prices. Reporters in the room shouted questions after Biden’s remarks. 

Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Biden about inflation, which is at a nearly 40-year high and has hurt the president’s public approval. Doocy’s network has been relentlessly critical of Biden. 

Doocy called out, “Do you think inflation is a political liability ahead of the midterms?”

Biden responded with deadpan sarcasm, “It’s a great asset — more inflation.” Then he shook his head and added, “What a stupid son of a bitch.”

The president’s comments were captured on video and by the microphone in front of him. Doocy laughed it off in a subsequent appearance on his network, joking, “Nobody has fact-checked him yet and said it’s not true.” 

Doocy told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Biden called him later to the clear the air. Doocy said Biden told him, “It’s nothing personal, pal.” 

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The White House has insisted repeatedly that it is focused on curbing inflation, with Biden reorienting his entire economic agenda around the issue. But the president has also shown a willingness to challenge a media that he deems to be too critical, especially Fox News and Doocy. 

At his news conference last week, Biden said to Doocy with sarcasm, “You always ask me the nicest questions.” 

“I have a whole binder full,” the reporter answered. 

“I know you do,” Biden said. “None of them make a lot of sense to me. Fire away.” 

 
…

US Bank Freezes Accounts of Afghanistan’s US Embassy

Diplomats of the former Afghan government who have held on to their jobs in the U.S. are grappling with a new problem: their official bank accounts have been suspended. 

Two senior Afghan diplomats, who did not want to be named because the issue is under discussion with U.S. officials, confirmed to VOA that the Citibank accounts of the embassy in Washington and two Afghan consulates in the U.S. have been suspended for more than a month. 

The Afghan mission in Washington does not receive funds from Kabul, because the Afghan capital now under the control of the Taliban, and it has survived thus far through dwindling consular service fees. 

The consulates have run out of new passports but continue to renew expired passports. Because checks issued to cover passport renewal can no longer be made out to the Afghanistan Embassy, the remaining staff members deposit blank money orders into personal bank accounts, then meet at the end of each month to tally embassy revenue. 

“We’ve held talks with the Department of State, but so far there has been no breakthrough,” one Afghan diplomat said, adding that U.S. officials had advised the diplomats against discussing the matter publicly. 

While the government they represented collapsed more than five months ago, about 90 Afghan diplomats remain in four diplomatic posts in the U.S., including the Afghanistan Permanent Representative at the United Nations in New York. 

Suspension of their official bank accounts has adversely impacted the embassy’s financial transactions, including salaries, rent and health care insurance payments, the diplomats said. 

When asked about the status of the mission’s accounts, a State Department spokesperson told VOA, “There has been no change in the accreditation status of Afghan mission members,” but declined to comment on the account suspensions. 

A spokesman for Citibank also declined to comment. 

Policy confusion? 

The United States does not recognize the Taliban’s self-declared Islamic Emirate as the official government of Afghanistan, but U.S. officials have met with Taliban officials in Qatar, Norway and elsewhere. 

“As we seek to address humanitarian crisis together with allies, partners, and relief [organizations],” U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan Thomas West said before holding talks with the Taliban foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, in Oslo on Sunday. “We will continue clear-eyed diplomacy with the Taliban regarding our concerns and our abiding interest in a stable, rights-respecting and inclusive Afghanistan.” 

Analysts say the U.S. approach has led to confusion among Afghans who are trying to sort out visa and logistical issues, leaving them in legal limbo. 

“Not thinking through the ramifications and implications of having these two parallel governance structures going at the same time is a completely flawed approach,” said Candace Rondeaux, an expert at the Washington-based New America think tank. 

“I think the U.S. has been confused on Afghanistan for a long time,” said Jennifer Murtazashvili, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, adding that the U.S. will need a functioning Afghan mission to handle consular services for the tens of thousands of Afghans who are being brought to the U.S. since the collapse of the former Afghan government. 

The loss of the bank accounts is the latest blow to the Afghan diplomatic mission, which has already been laboring under severe financial restrictions. 

Calls to the embassy are directed to a voice message system as all local staff have been laid off, and diplomats say they have been working on-and-off on a voluntary basis and without pay for two months. 

The embassy in Washington, like many other Afghanistan diplomatic missions around the world, has refused to work with the Taliban foreign ministry, and diplomats say they represent the former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. 

Despite repeated Taliban pleas for recognition of the Islamic Emirate as the de facto government of Afghanistan, no country has yet officially taken steps to recognize the regime. 

Diplomats seeking asylum 

At least three Afghan diplomats who worked at the embassy in Washington have sought asylum in Canada and the rest are exploring long-term options, the two diplomats said. 

“Obviously, we cannot return to Afghanistan,” one of the diplomats said, adding that his diplomatic visa is set to expire in December. “We are seeking a solution for the future of all our diplomats here.” 

Anticipating their move, the U.S. Citizenship, Immigration and Customs agency has announced specific steps for the Afghan diplomats to change their status in the U.S. 

“If you are an Afghan national who entered the United States as an A-1, A-2, G-1, or G-2 nonimmigrant; were performing duties that were diplomatic or semi-diplomatic on July 14, 2021; and are seeking a Green Card under Section 13, you may file Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, without a fee,” reads a public notice at the USCIS website. 

State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching contributed to this story. 

 
…

Judges Approve Special Grand Jury in Georgia Election Probe

Judges have approved a request for a special grand jury by the Georgia prosecutor who’s investigating whether former President Donald Trump and others broke the law by trying to pressure Georgia officials to throw out Joe Biden’s presidential election victory. 

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last week sent a letter to county superior court Chief Judge Christopher Brasher asking him to impanel a special grand jury. Brasher issued an order Monday saying the request was considered and approved by a majority of the superior court judges. 

The special grand jury is to be seated May 2 for a period of up to a year, Brasher’s order says. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney is assigned to supervise and assist the special grand jury. 

Willis wrote in her letter to Brasher that her office “has received information indicating a reasonable probability that the State of Georgia’s administration of elections in 2020, including the State’s election of the President of the United States, was subject to possible criminal disruptions.” She said her office has “opened an investigation into any coordinated attempts to unlawfully alter the outcome of the 2020 elections in this state.” 

The special grand jury “shall be authorized to investigate any and all facts and circumstances relating directly or indirectly to alleged violations of the laws of the State of Georgia, as set forth in the request of the District Attorney,” the order says. 

Willis has declined to speak about the specifics of her investigation, but in an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month, she confirmed that its scope includes — but is not limited to — a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger; a November 2020 phone call between U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and Raffensperger; the abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta on Jan. 4, 2021; and comments made during December 2020 Georgia legislative committee hearings on the election. 

In a statement last week, Trump called his call to Raffensperger “perfect” and said he did not say anything wrong. Graham has also denied any wrongdoing. 

Special grand juries, which are not used often in Georgia, can help in the investigation of complex matters. They do not have the power to return an indictment but can make recommendations to prosecutors on criminal prosecutions. 

Willis wrote in her letter that the special grand jury is needed because it can serve for longer than a normal grand jury term, which is two months in Fulton County. It also would be able to focus on this investigation alone, allowing it to focus on the complex facts and circumstances. And having a special grand jury would mean the regular seated grand jury would not have to deal with this investigation in addition to their regular duties, Willis wrote. 

Willis’ investigation became public last February when she sent letters to top elected officials in Georgia instructing them to preserve any records related to the general election, particularly any evidence of attempts to influence election officials. The probe includes “potential violations of Georgia law prohibiting the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local government bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration,” the letters said. 

 
…

Reports: FBI Searches Home of Prominent Texas Democratic Congressman Cuellar

FBI agents on Wednesday searched the home in Texas of prominent Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar, media reported, with the bureau confirming it had conducted “court-authorized law enforcement activity” in the area. 

Cuellar said in a statement he “will fully cooperate in any investigation. He is committed to ensuring that justice and the law are upheld.” 

His office did not answer questions about the reason for the search. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was present in the “vicinity of Windridge Drive and Estate Drive in Laredo conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity. The FBI cannot provide further comment on an ongoing investigation.”

Texas news site myrgv.com reported that more than a dozen agents visited Cuellar’s home in Laredo, near the Mexican border, and were seen taking “cases and other items” from his home. 

Reporter Valerie Gonzalez posted a photo on Twitter of two men in FBI T-shirts approaching a salmon-colored house on a tree-lined street. Gonzalez said agents had also visited Cuellar’s campaign office Wednesday afternoon. 

Cuellar, one of the most conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives, represents a Texas district that hugs the banks of the Rio Grande River, just opposite Mexico. He is facing a primary challenge from Jessica Cisneros, an immigration attorney. 
…

Senate Panel Moves Forward With Bill Targeting Big Tech

Legislation that would bar technology companies from favoring their own products in a way that undermines competitiveness moved forward Thursday after a Senate panel voted to move the bill to the Senate floor. 

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act received bipartisan support in a 16-6 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

The bill targets Amazon; Alphabet, the parent company of Google; Apple; and Meta, which was formerly called Facebook. 

The companies had worked strenuously to sink the bill, arguing it could disrupt their services. 

Smaller tech companies that supported the bill argued it will benefit consumers through adding competition. 

“This bill is not meant to break up Big Tech or destroy the products and services they offer,” said Senator Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the judiciary panel. “The goal of the bill is to prevent conduct that stifles competition.” 

Matt Schruers, president of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, was critical of the bill and said he thought it would not pass the full Senate. 

“Antitrust policy should aim to promote consumer welfare — not punish specific companies,” he said in a statement. 

Another bill aimed at Big Tech, which has bipartisan sponsorship, is also working its way through Congress. The Open App Markets Act would prevent the Apple and Google app stores from requiring app makers to use their payment systems. 

The House of Representatives is also considering versions of both bills. 

Some information for this report came from Reuters. 
…

US Capitol Riot Probe Seeks Ivanka Trump’s Cooperation

The congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday asked former President Donald Trump’s daughter to voluntarily cooperate with its probe. 

In a letter to Ivanka Trump, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said the panel wants her to tell them what she knows about her father’s efforts to thwart congressional certification that he lost the November 2020 election. They also want to know what he was doing as his supporters rampaged through the Capitol while lawmakers were in the initial stages of certifying Democrat Joe Biden as the new president.

It was not immediately known whether the former first daughter would cooperate with the investigation.

Thompson said the committee wants to meet with Ivanka Trump, a White House adviser to her father, because she was in direct contact with him at key moments on January 6, 2021, two weeks before Biden was inaugurated and Donald Trump left Washington. 

Thompson said the committee wants to know about the former president’s efforts to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to block congressional certification of election results in key states where Biden outpolled Trump.

“One of the president’s discussions with the vice president occurred by phone on the morning of January 6th,” Thompson wrote in the letter to Ivanka Trump. “You were present in the Oval Office and observed at least one side of that telephone conversation.” 

The committee also said it wanted to learn about Ivanka Trump’s efforts to get her father to call off rioters after they had stormed into the Capitol. At an earlier rally near the White House that day, then-President Trump urged supporters to go the Capitol and “fight like hell” to stop Biden from being declared the winner of the 2020 election. 

“Testimony obtained by the committee indicates that members of the White House staff requested your assistance on multiple occasions to intervene in an attempt to persuade President Trump to address the ongoing lawlessness and violence on Capitol Hill,” Thompson wrote. 

Then-President Trump remained publicly silent for more than three hours about the rampage of hundreds of his supporters at the Capitol but late in the afternoon he released a short video urging them to leave. 

As he does to this day, Donald Trump mentioned in the video the false conspiracy theory that he won the election, saying, “I know your pain; I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it. Especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace.” 

After the Capitol was cleared of protesters, Congress certified Biden’s election victory in the early hours of January 7. More than 700 rioters have been charged with an array of criminal offenses, some as minor as trespassing and others with felonies, such as attacking police and vandalizing the Capitol. 

At a political rally last Saturday, Donald Trump called the arrests “an appalling persecution of political prisoners.” 

The investigative committee has interviewed more than 300 witnesses and issued subpoenas to dozens more. This week, they included Rudy Giuliani and other members of Trump’s legal team who filed bogus legal challenges to the 2020 election supporting the former president’s false claim that he had been cheated out of a second term.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the former president’s bid to keep the National Archives from sending hundreds of his White House documents related to the election and day of the riot to the investigative panel.
…

Republican Filibuster Blocks US Voting Bill

Voting legislation that Democrats and civil rights groups argued is vital for protecting democracy was blocked Wednesday by a Republican filibuster, a setback for President Joe Biden and his party after a raw, emotional debate.

Democrats were poised to immediately pivot to voting on a Senate rules change as a way to overcome the filibuster and approve the bill with a simple majority. But the rules change was also headed toward defeat, as Biden has been unable to persuade two holdout senators in his own party, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, to change the Senate procedures for this one bill.

“This is not just another routine day in the Senate, this is a moral moment,” said Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.

The initial vote was 49-51, short of the 60 votes needed to advance over the filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., voted no for procedural reasons so Democrats can revisit the legislation.

The nighttime voting capped a day of piercing debate that carried echoes of an earlier era when the Senate filibuster was deployed in lengthy speeches by opponents of civil rights legislation.

Voting rights advocates are warning that Republican-led states nationwide are passing laws to make it more difficult for Black Americans and others to vote by consolidating polling locations, requiring certain types of identification and ordering other changes.

Vice President Kamala Harris presided, able to cast a potentially tie-breaking vote in the 50-50 Senate.

Democrats decided to press ahead despite the potential for defeat at a tumultuous time for Biden and his party. Biden is marking his first year in office with his priorities stalling in the face of solid Republican opposition and the Democrats’ inability to unite around their own goals. But the Democrats wanted to force senators on the record — even their own party’s holdouts — to show voters where they stand.

“I haven’t given up,” Biden said earlier at a White House news conference.

Sinema and Manchin have withstood an onslaught of criticism from Black leaders and civil rights organizations, and they risk further political fallout as other groups and even their own colleagues threaten to withdraw campaign support.

Schumer contended the fight is not over and he ridiculed Republican claims that the new election laws in the states will not end up hurting voter access and turnout, comparing it to Donald Trump’s “big lie” about the 2020 presidential election.

The Democrats’ bill, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, would make Election Day a national holiday, ensure access to early voting and mail-in ballots — which have become especially popular during the COVID-19 pandemic — and enable the Justice Department to intervene in states with a history of voter interference, among other changes. It has passed the House.

Both Manchin and Sinema say they support the legislation but are unwilling to change Senate rules. With a 50-50 split, Democrats have a narrow Senate majority — Harris can break a tie — but they lack the 60 votes needed to overcome the GOP filibuster.

Instead, Schumer put forward a more specific rules change for a “talking filibuster” on this one bill. It would require senators to stand at their desks and exhaust the debate before holding a simple majority vote, rather than the current practice that simply allows senators to privately signal their objections.

But even that is expected to fail because Manchin and Sinema have said they are unwilling to change the rules on a party-line vote by Democrats alone. 
…

Biden Draws Lines With Russian Leader Over Ukraine Moves

President Joe Biden ends his first year in office as tensions with Russia hit a fever pitch. He warned his Russian counterpart to choose a diplomatic resolution and to not invade neighboring Ukraine — a message his secretary of state also is pushing in Kyiv this week. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.
Producer: Kimberlyn Weeks
…

Biden Confirms Harris Would Be Running Mate in 2024 

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris would be his running mate in the 2024 presidential election if he stood for office again.

“She’s going to be my running mate,” Biden said of Harris during a press conference held to mark the first year of his presidency.

In mid-December, Harris said she and Biden had not yet discussed the 2024 election, amid speculation she might not be in the running for the White House if Biden chose not to stand again.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, when asked about the possibility of Biden, 79, running again, Harris said: “I don’t think about it, nor have we talked about it.”

Harris, the first woman and first Black and Asian American person ever sworn in as vice president, initially seemed to be the heir apparent.

But her halo has slipped amid negative press alleging dysfunction among her staff, doubt on her standing within the administration and her frustrations over thorny assignments, such as minority voting access and the migration crisis at the southern border.

Biden defended Harris’ record on tackling voting rights, saying, “I did put her in charge. I think she’s doing a good job.” 

Biden is pressing Congress to pass two major bills broadening access to the ballot box, placing more onerous conditions on states attempting to change voting laws and protecting election officials from undue influence.

Democrats and voting rights activists have championed the measures as a necessary response to Republican efforts to restrict voting, especially among Black and Latino Americans.
…

Biden: Federal Reserve Should ‘Recalibrate’ Policy as Prices Rise 

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday said it was appropriate for the Federal Reserve to recalibrate the support it provides to the U.S. economy, in light of fast-rising prices and the strength of recovery. 

“Given the strength of our economy and recent price increases, it’s appropriate, as … Fed Chairman [Jerome] Powell has indicated, to recalibrate the support that is now necessary,” Biden told a news conference. 

“The critical job of making sure that the elevated prices don’t become entrenched rests with the Federal Reserve, which has a dual mandate: full employment and stable prices,” the president said. 

At the same time, he said, the White House and Congress could help contain inflation by moving to fix supply chain failures, encourage competition, and pass his Build Back Better spending bill that he says would cut child care and other costs for families. 

Fed policymakers have signaled they will raise interest rates several times this year, likely starting in March, to try to rein in inflation that’s rising at its fastest pace in nearly 40 years. A reduction in the Fed’s $8 trillion balance sheet could soon follow. 

At his renomination hearing earlier this month, Powell told lawmakers that he would not allow inflation to become entrenched and said a tighter policy stance was necessary to keep the economy growing. 

Biden also called on the U.S. Senate to confirm his recent nominations for key roles on the Federal Reserve Board “without any further delay.” 

Biden earlier this month nominated former Fed Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin for the Fed’s top regulatory post and two Black economists, Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson, to round out the Fed’s seven-member board. 

Late last year Biden renominated Powell to lead the Fed for another four years and nominated Fed Governor Lael Brainard to serve as Fed vice chair. The picks would remake the Fed Board to be the most diverse in the central bank’s 108-year history.
…

Bills Target Insider Trading by Members of US Congress

An effort to bar members of Congress from buying and selling stock in public companies is gaining momentum in Washington after a series of revelations that dozens of lawmakers violated financial disclosure requirements, often in ways that suggested they were profiting from advance knowledge of issues related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Last week, Georgia Senator John Ossoff and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, both Democrats, introduced the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act, a proposal that would require members of Congress and their immediate families to place any stock they own into a blind trust, making it impossible for them to trade on knowledge gained through their work on Capitol Hill. 

The Senate proposal largely mirrors a House bill that has been working its way through the legislative process for a year. Sponsored by Virginia Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Texas Republican Chip Roy — two members who agree on little else in politics — it is called the Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust (TRUST) in Congress Act. 

Both Democrats and Republicans appear to agree on the need for reform. In addition to the bipartisan team of Spanberger and Roy in the House, conservative Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri has introduced legislation similar in intent to the Ossoff-Kelly bill. 

Questionable trades 

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, news reports have surfaced about members of Congress buying or selling shares of public companies before information, of which they had advance knowledge, was released to the public. 

One of the most striking examples is that of Senator Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, who served as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in early 2020, just as the seriousness of the pandemic was becoming clear. Burr, who had access to sensitive intelligence briefings, sold stocks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in mid-February 2020, before the seriousness of the pandemic was widely understood in the United States. 

Burr has claimed that he was acting on publicly available information, but his trades remain under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which seeks to root out manipulation of financial markets. He stepped down as Intelligence Committee chairman in May 2020. 

Burr was far from the only lawmaker whose trades attracted attention in the early days of the pandemic. A number of senators from both parties, including California Democrat Dianne Feinstein and Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe, also were criticized for stock sales as the coronavirus was first taking hold in the United States, although the Justice Department closed brief investigations into both cases and chose to take no legal action. 

Such sales by lawmakers were well timed. From mid-February through mid-March of 2020, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a key indicator of U.S. market performance, plummeted by roughly one-third. Millions of Americans’ net worth eroded severely, although the stock market has since recovered, and the Dow currently sits well above its pre-pandemic high. 

Failure to disclose 

Dozens of other lawmakers came under scrutiny early this year after a report by the publication Insider revealed that in 2021, 54 members of the House and Senate had failed to live up to reporting requirements set out in the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which became law in 2012 after a similar series of revelations about members of Congress trading on privileged information. 

The Insider account found that members of both parties had violated the law, some to a greater degree than others, by failing to report stock transactions or by reporting them far later than they were supposed to. 

In a statement this week, Spanberger said that she had been moved to act, in part, because Americans seemed to treat the news that members of Congress might be enriching themselves by trading on nonpublic information with resignation rather than outrage. 

“In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw the public react to accusations of insider trading by lawmakers — not with shock, but with a shrug,” Spanberger said. “The perception of insider trading itself, let alone the practice of it, by members of Congress is damaging to our democracy.”

Appearance of impropriety 

Good governance organizations argue that even the appearance of impropriety in lawmakers’ personal investments is corrosive to the already low level of trust that many Americans say they have in Congress.

“Most members of Congress go into government service for the right reasons and don’t look to line their pockets,” said Donald Sherman, vice president and chief legal counsel for Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Current practices on Capitol Hill, however, raise obvious concerns, he told VOA. “It is totally reasonable for any constituent to question whether their member is making choices based on their stock portfolio as opposed to their constituents’ interests when they see that members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, for example, are invested in energy companies. You don’t have to be a cynic to raise questions about that.” 

Pandemic clarified differences 

Some groups calling for reform argue that the universal impact of the pandemic may have helped underscore the impropriety of members of Congress trading on insider knowledge for everyday Americans who might not normally pay much attention to such things.

“The pandemic has clarified the way that this problem can really manifest itself in an especially glaring and corrupt-looking kind of way,” said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, government affairs manager for the Project on Government Oversight.

“This is a huge event that is causing pain and disruption in everyone’s lives,” he told VOA. “And it looked like there were some members of Congress who had advance knowledge of how bad it was going to be, and tried to use that knowledge to make sure that they didn’t feel as much pain as the rest of us.” 

Progress unclear 

Whether the bills before Congress will become law is far from clear at this point. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, appeared to be dismissive of the effort in remarks last month. She said that rules were already in place to restrict conflicts of interest among lawmakers, and that she believes lawmakers ought to be allowed to “participate” in the United States’ free-market economy. 

Last week, a spokesperson for Pelosi told The Washington Post that the speaker had requested that the Committee on House Administration, which oversees House members’ compliance with the stock trading rules, consider whether stricter enforcement and higher penalties are needed. 

Also last week, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, said that if Republicans take over the House following the 2022 elections, he will consider banning members from owning stocks. As minority leader, McCarthy is seen as the most likely person to become House Speaker in the event of a Republican takeover. 
…

US Senators to Discuss Russia-Ukraine Tensions

A group of Republican U.S. senators is due to speak to reporters Wednesday in Washington about U.S. concerns of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

The group includes Republicans from the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees. 

Three of those members — Senators Kevin Cramer, Roger Wicker and Rob Portman — were part of a bipartisan congressional delegation that met with Ukrainian officials this week to reinforce U.S. support for Ukraine and its defensive needs. 

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who was also on the trip, told reporters Monday after the lawmakers met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that the United States was ready to both impose economic sanctions on Russia and to provide additional arms to Ukraine. 

Senate Democrats and Republicans have each introduced legislation to carry out such support for Ukraine. 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 
…

Harris Still Struggling to Define Herself 1 Year Into Vice President’s Job

President Joe Biden put the full weight of his presidency behind voting rights action last week, heading to Capitol Hill to push Democrats to change Senate rules to pass legislation. 

Vice President Kamala Harris — whom Biden tapped to take the lead on passing voting rights legislation in June — wasn’t there. 

Both White House press secretary Jen Psaki and Harris aides had no clear answer when asked why the vice president hadn’t joined Biden in the meeting. 

It was yet another example of the difficulty Harris has faced throughout her first year in office, as she’s struggled to define herself and her role.  

Harris has grappled with an expansive portfolio of difficult assignments, fielded questions about her relationship with the president, and faced what allies say is unprecedented scrutiny for a vice president — without, some worry, adequate support from the White House. 

And she’s navigated all that within the constraints of a global pandemic and a duty to act as the tiebreaking vote in an evenly divided Senate, both of which have restricted her ability to travel beyond Washington. 

“It’s tough for any vice president to shine — even in the best of times. And these aren’t the best of times,” said Roy Neel, who served as chief of staff for former Vice President Al Gore. “You not only serve at the pleasure of the president, for any public activities, but there’s a limit to how much you can do to take the lead role on the major issue of the day, whatever that is, and to go out and look like you’re killing it.” 

Supporters frustrated 

Indeed, Harris’ aides say privately that the vice president is careful not to get ahead of the president, never wanting to take credit for the administration’s successes. She will also often say that while she offers her frank opinions to the president privately, her public role is to ensure he is successful. 

But that’s left some Harris supporters, who warmed to her as an outspoken progressive voice in the Senate on issues ranging from police reform to voting rights, frustrated at what they see as her absence on key issues. During a recent interview with media personality Charlamagne Tha God, when Harris dropped her typically pleasant demeanor and sharply defended Biden, Charlamagne took note. 

“That Kamala Harris? That’s the one I like,” he said. “That’s the one I’d like to see out here more often in these streets.” 

Many of the issues on Harris’ plate have no clear solution or immediate payoff. She’s been tasked with pushing broadband access, leading the Space Council, driving for passage of the voting rights bill and addressing the root causes of migration to the U.S. southern border. Republicans in particular have targeted Harris for her work on immigration, charging she hasn’t done enough as a significant increase in migrants at the border has bedeviled the administration.  

She has also drawn criticism from the left for her work on immigration. “Do not come” to the U.S., she told migrants during her trip to Guatemala and Mexico last year. In response, progressive Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York tweeted that Harris’ comments were “disappointing to see.” 

Domingo Garcia, the national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said he wanted to see more from the former progressive senator during that trip, calling it “a day late and a dollar short.” 

“She went to Central America; she took no meetings with community groups or civic groups involved in the issue. And so it’s almost like they don’t have a sounding board, and they’re groping around in the dark for a solution,” he said. 

Harris, who declined to be interviewed for this story, has dismissed questions about the difficulty of her portfolio, insisting she relishes taking on difficult assignments. But privately, some of her allies have complained that not only does the vice president have some of the administration’s most thankless tasks, but that she also has not been given enough support or resources from the White House to deliver on them. 

And the grind of the office has clearly taken its toll. Harris has drawn negative headlines in recent weeks for an exodus of top aides, including her former communications director and former chief spokesperson, with anonymous aides complaining of a difficult work environment and an overly tough boss. 

Factors limit activities  

Still, some of Harris’ biggest constraints are out of her control: the pandemic, and the demands on her time as a tiebreaking vote in the Senate. Harris has not been able to do as many in-person public events as she and her aides would like because of the pandemic, and she has done only a fraction of the international travel typical of a vice president, which has reduced her diplomatic engagements to virtual meetings or phone calls. 

She is also tethered to Washington because of the unpredictability of the Senate schedule. Harris has cast 15 tiebreaking votes so far, the most of any modern vice president, and must stay in Washington most weeks in case a nomination comes up for a vote. 

“It really isn’t a source of power or influence, because really, all she’s doing is voting the administration line,” said vice presidential historian Joel Goldstein. “It’s really a constraint, because it restricts her ability to do other things.” 

Early in the year, it seemed like Harris was a bigger target for Republicans than Biden. Now that’s less so. A Gallup poll in December showed that 44% of Americans said they approve of how Harris is handing her job as vice president, and 54% disapprove. That was similar to Biden’s rating in the survey. 

Harris’ aides say that she has played an active role in some of the president’s toughest policy choices, including his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. 

They also argue that some of her diplomatic work hasn’t gotten the credit it deserves, pointing to early investments she secured from companies in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador as part of her work there, as well as a gaffe-free trip to France aimed at smoothing over relations with the nation earlier this year. 

They tout the ways in which her perspective as the first woman and first Black and Indian American person in the role has helped elevate issues they say wouldn’t typically draw the attention of the White House, such as maternal mortality. And they say she also was helpful in keeping key Congressional Black Caucus members on board during the infrastructure negotiations. 

But allies say her historic position has also brought her outsized scrutiny and at times distorted the coverage of her accomplishments. 

“There has been an unprecedented level of interest in her and excitement about her as a historic first. She’s the first vice president to have such a large press corps,” said Democratic strategist Karen Finney, a Harris ally. 

Finney, who is Black, said there is a level of “sexism and racism” to coverage of Harris, pointing in particular to stories focused on times Harris has laughed when asked questions in interviews. 

“The coverage focuses on style over substance,” she said. 
…

Rudy Giuliani Among Trump Allies Subpoenaed By Jan. 6 Panel

The House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection issued subpoenas Tuesday to Rudy Giuliani and other members of Donald Trump’s post-election legal team who filed multiple lawsuits claiming election fraud that were roundly rejected by the courts but gave rise to the lie that Trump did not really lose the 2020 presidential contest. 

The committee is continuing to widen its scope into Trump’s orbit, this time demanding information and testimony from Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Boris Epshteyn. All four publicly defended the president and his baseless voter fraud claims in the months after the election.  

“The four individuals we’ve subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results, or were in direct contact with the former President about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes,” Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democratic chairman of the panel, said in a statement.  

The committee said it is seeking records and deposition testimony from Giuliani, the 76-year-old former New York City mayor once celebrated for his leadership after 9/11, in connection to his promotion of election fraud claims on behalf of Trump. The panel is also seeking information about Giuliani’s reported efforts to persuade state legislators to take steps to overturn the election results. 

A lawyer for Giuliani did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment. 

Giuliani took on a leading role in disputing the election results on Trump’s behalf after the 2020 presidential election, even visiting states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, where he claimed ballots “looked suspicious” and Biden’s electoral win was a fraud.  

To this day, not a single court has found merit in the core legal claims made by Trump, Giuliani and the other three subpoenaed Tuesday.  

The nine-member panel is also demanding information from Trump legal adviser Ellis, who the lawmakers say reportedly prepared and circulated two memos that analyzed the constitutional authority for then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject or delay counting the electoral votes from states that had submitted alternate slates of electors.  

Besides Giuliani, Sidney Powell was the most public face of Trump’s attempts to contest the election, routinely making appearances on behalf of the president.  

In numerous interviews and appearances post-election, Powell continued to make misleading statements about the voting process, unfurled unsupported and complex conspiracy theories involving communist regimes and vowed to “blow up” Georgia with a “biblical” court filing. 

Ellis and Powell appeared with Giuliani at press conferences, pushing false claims of election fraud. Powell was eventually removed from the team after she said in an interview she was going to release “the kraken” of lawsuits that would prove the election had been stolen. 

Powell did not immediately return an email seeking comment. 

The last person subpoenaed Tuesday by the committee is Boris Epshteyn, a former Trump campaign strategic adviser, who reportedly attended meetings at the Willard Hotel in the days leading up to the insurrection. The committee said Epshteyn had a call with Trump on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, to discuss options to delay the certification of election results in the event of Pence’s unwillingness to deny or delay the process. 
…

Biden Faces Tepid Approval at Start of Year 2, Pandemic Year 3

U.S. President Joe Biden began his term under the long shadow of the January 6 Capitol riot, a grinding pandemic and an increasingly divided America.

As he now rounds the one-year mark, he faces many of those same challenges – all as he tries to push through a sweeping and expensive legislative agenda.

The difficulty of governing through the triple threat of a seemingly never-ending pandemic, increasing consumer prices and political polarization from Congress to city halls across America is neatly reflected in Biden’s approval ratings, which hover around 45%. Since he took office on January 20, his approval ratings have weakened, with 50% of Americans now disapproving of his performance, according to the most recent Ipsos poll.

That, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki, comes with the territory.

“You have every challenge at your feet — laid at your feet, whether it’s global or domestically,” she said this month, as Biden’s proposed voting rights legislation stalled in Congress.

“And we could certainly propose legislation to see if people support bunny rabbits and ice cream, but that wouldn’t be very rewarding to the American people. So, the president’s view is we’re going to keep pushing for hard things, and we’re going to keep pushing the boulders up the hill to get it done,” she said.

It’s the economy – and the pandemic

There are two main drivers of this discontent, said Mallory Newall, vice president of public polling at Ipsos: the economy and the pandemic.

Biden campaigned on a platform of addressing the pandemic and healing the wounded economy. As inflation recently hit a 39-year high, the economy has taken the lead, Newall said.

“The economy – and certainly inflation as part of that, has started to surge as a main issue,” she said. ”We see that in our Ipsos core political data. We see that as the top issue for the American public right now. And the president’s approval rating on the economy is underwater, meaning more disapprove of the job he’s doing than approve.”

And then there’s the pandemic, which has long overstayed its welcome with humanity.

“The longer the pandemic goes on, the more uncertainty and the more frustration the American public has in general, but they are starting to look at the top,” she said. “Especially considering that President Biden campaigned so strongly on COVID-19 and tackling the coronavirus once he was in office.”

Amid those challenges, Biden has tried – so far, without success – to leverage his party’s slim Congressional majority to back trillions of dollars’ worth of legislation that he says is necessary for the U.S. to keep pace with the rest of the world. That includes a stalled spending plan worth about $2 billion that aims to address everything from child and elder care to environmental justice, affordable housing and paid family leave.

WATCH: Biden has low approval ratings 

Do this, not that

Biden’s critics say he should focus more on healing the ailing economy.

“The Biden administration is acting as though it can ignore fundamental economic problems forever,” Andrew Puzder, a visiting fellow in business and economic freedom at the conservative Heritage Foundation, wrote on the organization’s website. “News flash — it can’t. The longer we wait to seriously address inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain problems, the worse the threat of an inevitable and deep recession becomes.” 

Critics also dislike Biden’s handling of the pandemic, with conservative columnist Jarrett Stepman describing Biden’s vaccination mandates as “draconian COVID-19 policies of increasingly dubious effectiveness,” on the website the Daily Signal.

Think of the puppies

Kevin Kosar, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said the White House’s own messaging is also to blame. He noted that the Biden administration has missed opportunities to tout successful legislation, such as a new bill – passed within five months, with little fanfare – that gives wounded veterans access to emotional support puppies.

“A lot of the conversation coming out of the White House and done in coordination with Democratic leadership in both chambers has been focused on the things that they haven’t been able to get done,” Kosar said.

“And a lot of it has been kind of a circular firing squad, where they’re pointing at, you know, their own senators, and complaining that these people will not get on board, and why are they holding things up? And then trashing Republicans in the process. And for the most part, Americans don’t well respond to that. They don’t like hearing toxic partisan talking points, or like hearing excuses,” he said.

New year reset?

As Biden begins his second year in office, and the pandemic begins its third year, “the mood in the country is tough,” Newall said.

“There’s this collective pause, and with that pause, comes frustration. And with it comes questions and uncertainty. And particularly when this was the number one issue that the president campaigned on, you know, for him to be losing ground on COVID, it doesn’t necessarily bode well for other issues either, because the collective mood is one of questioning and frustration,” she said.

She added: “And I think that does spill over into issues related to the economy, getting back to work, curbing inflation, dealing with other domestic policies. As we enter this collective pause, that’s going to spill over and have a ripple effect.”

Both Biden’s critics and supporters have suggested a reset, but Psaki said the White House is committed to its current path.

“We are still continuing to work with members to determine the path forward on Build Back Better; that we have the vast majority of Democrats in the Senate supporting voting rights,” she said. “That’s a path forward for us. And our effort is to do hard things, try hard things, and keep at it.” 

Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
…

Big Voting Bill Faces Defeat as 2 Democrats Won’t Stop Filibuster

Voting legislation that Democrats and civil rights leaders say is vital for protecting democracy appeared headed for defeat as the Senate opened debate Tuesday, a devastating setback enabled by President Joe Biden’s own party as two holdout senators refuse to support rule changes to overcome a Republican filibuster. 

The Democratic senators, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, faced strong criticism from Black leaders and civil rights organizations for failing to take on what critics call the ” Jim Crow filibuster.”

The debate carries echoes of an earlier era when the Senate filibuster was deployed in lengthy speeches by opponents of civil rights legislation. It comes as Democrats and other voting advocates nationwide warn that Republican-led states are passing laws making it more difficult for Black Americans and others to vote by consolidating polling locations, requiring certain types of identification and ordering other changes. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer acknowledged the current bill’s likely defeat this week. But he said the fight is not over as he heeds advocates’ call to force all senators to go on record with their positions. 

“The eyes of the nation will be watching what happens this week,” Schumer said as he opened the session Tuesday.

This is the fifth time the Senate will try to pass voting legislation this Congress. 

The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act combines earlier bills into one package that would make Election Day a national holiday, ensure access to early voting and mail-in ballots — which have become especially popular during the COVID-19 pandemic — and enable the Justice Department to intervene in states with a history of voter interference, among other changes. 

Both Manchin and Sinema say they support the package, which has passed the House, but they are unwilling to change the Senate rules to muscle it through that chamber over Republican objections. With a 50-50 split, Democrats have a narrow Senate majority — Vice President Kamala Harris can break a tie — but they lack the 60 votes needed to overcome the GOP filibuster. 

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who led his party in doing away with the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees during Donald Trump’s presidency, warned off changing the rules again. He said Tuesday it would “break the Senate.” 

Democratic senators countered in speeches from the Senate floor that with Republicans objecting to the voting legislation, they have no choice. 

Just as Manchin and Sinema blocked Biden’s broad “Build Back Better” domestic spending package, the two senators are now dashing hopes for the second major part of Biden’s presidential agenda. They are infuriating many of their colleagues and faced a barrage of criticism during Martin Luther King Jr. Day events. 

Martin Luther King III, the son of the late civil rights leader, compared Sinema and Manchin to the white moderates his father wrote about during the civil rights battles of the 1950s and 1960s — who declared support for the goals of Black voting rights but not the direct actions or demonstrations that ultimately led to passage of landmark legislation. 

“History will not remember them kindly,” the younger King said, referring to Sinema and Manchin by name. 

Once reluctant himself to change Senate rules, Biden used the King holiday to press senators to do just that. But the push from the White House, including Biden’s blistering speech last week in Atlanta comparing opponents to segregationists, is seen as too late, coming as the president ends his first year in office with his popularity sagging.

“The president’s view is that the American people deserve to see where their leaders stand on protecting their fundamental rights,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. 

The Senate launched what could become a days-long debate, but the outcome is expected to be no different from past failed votes on the legislation. Biden has been unable to persuade Sinema and Manchin to join other Democrats to change the rules to lower the 60-vote threshold. In fact, Sinema upstaged the president last week, reiterating her opposition to the rules changes just before Biden arrived on Capitol Hill to court senators’ votes. 

Senators have been working nonstop for weeks on rule changes that could win support from Sinema and Manchin. The two, both moderates, have expressed openness to discussing the ideas but have not given their backing. 

Both Manchin and Sinema have argued that preserving the filibuster rules, requiring the 60-vote majority to pass most legislation, is important for fostering bipartisanship. They also warn of what would happen if Republicans win back majority control, as is distinctly possible this election year. 

McConnell has argued the legislation is a federal overreach into state-run elections, and he harshly criticized Biden’s speech last week as “unpresidential.” 

NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson wrote in an open letter to the Senate, “We cannot think of a time more defining to the American story than the chapter you are presently writing.” 

“What country will your children and grandchildren be left with, given the relentless assaults on American freedom and democracy?” 

Leading sports figures from Manchin’s home state of West Virginia also have weighed in. In a letter last week, University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban, NBA Hall of Famer Jerry West and others urged him to support the legislation. 

Manchin spokeswoman Sam Runyon said in a statement late Monday that the senator believes the right to vote “must be protected by law. He continues to work on legislation to protect this right.” 

Sinema’s office did not respond to a request for comment. 

Before Republicans lowered the vote threshold for Trump’s Supreme Court nominees, Democrats had similarly dropped it to a simple majority for confirmation of administrative positions and lower court nominees. 

The voting bill was the Democrats’ top priority this Congress, and the House swiftly approved H.R. 1, only to see it languish in the Senate. 

 
…

Republicans Mull Trump’s Continuing Grip on Their Party 

Former U.S. President Donald Trump recently addressed 15,000 ardent supporters in Arizona, making his first major public appearance since the one-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that sought to keep him in office despite having lost the 2020 presidential election. 

In 93 minutes of remarks late Saturday, Trump repeated the false claim that the election had been stolen from him and predicted a Republican victory in the 2024 presidential contest, hinting at what political observers already assume: that he is planning a bid to return to the White House. 

Trump is expected to hold more rallies in the months leading up to midterm elections in November that will determine control of Congress for the final two years of President Joe Biden’s term in office. In state after state, Trump aims to boost the fortunes of Republicans seeking office who are loyal to him and repeat his claims. 

Voters are taking notice. 

“He’s going to remain a factor in American politics for the next several presidential terms,” Robert Ellis, a New Orleans-based lawyer who voted for Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections, told VOA. “And he should remain a factor. He got results while president, and the more we see Biden’s failures, the more we see Donald Trump was correct.” 

By contrast, many moderate Republicans and independent voters – who are often pivotal in close elections – aren’t sure the former president’s continued politicking is good for the country or the Republican Party. 

Chelsea Jaramillo, an entrepreneur in Denver, is one such independent voter. 

“Honestly, I believe his presence hurts the Republican party,” she said. “Even many Republicans seem tired of his bull—- all the hate and blame that don’t benefit anyone but him.” 

Trump’s supporters 

In his remarks Saturday, the former president attacked his Democratic successor’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. economy and international affairs. He also took gleeful aim at the handful of Republican lawmakers who voted with Democrats to impeach him after the Capitol riot and have either announced they will not seek reelection or face a bumpy road to remain in office. 

“They’re falling fast and furious. The ones that voted to impeach, we’re getting rid of them fast,” Trump said.

Robert Collins, professor of Urban Studies and Public Policy at Dillard University in New Orleans, said there wasn’t much in the speech he found surprising. 

“It was a lot of the same stuff from him,” he said. “But where it got interesting to me, is you could hear the crowd get excited when they perceived Trump was talking about running for president again in 2024.” 

A recent Marquette Law School Poll found that 60% of Republican voters believe he should run for president again in 2024.

“That’s more than enough voters to win the Republican nomination,” Collins said, “so it’s a real possibility should he decide to run.” 

Brandon Legnion, a New Orleans-based nurse, is open to the idea. His priorities, he said, include the issue of abortion and how America handles the pandemic. 

 “I don’t believe vaccines and masking are ‘anti-freedom’ like a lot of other conservatives seem to believe,” he told VOA, “but I do think Republican voters are more likely to listen to Trump instead of Biden when it comes to unifying around fighting COVID-19. I’d probably vote for him if he ran in 2024.” 

Turning the page 

While the large majority of Republican voters say they would vote for Donald Trump if he secured the party’s presidential nomination, some say they hope a different candidate emerges to lead the party. 

“Trump’s independent, patriotic attitude, and his work on border control, jobs and our economy, have all earned him a leading voice in our party,” said Republican voter Jerry Bell of Indiana, “but I do feel there should be a new presidential torchbearer in 2024. New blood to repatriate our conservative vision of governance so we can ‘Make America Great!’” 

A University of Massachusetts at Amherst poll conducted December 14-20 showed that 71% of Republicans falsely believe Joe Biden’s election was illegitimate – a contention Trump’s critics often refer to as “The Big Lie.” 

Trump addressed the label head-on in Arizona on Saturday, opening the rally by declaring, “The Big Lie is a lot of bull—-,” to wild applause from raucous crowd.

Legnion sees the focus on the past as counterproductive. 

“It’s time to move on,” he said. “To continue to beat past elections to death is not at all unifying for America.” 

Helping or hurting? 

Whether the former president and his obsession with the 2020 election helps the Republican Party in the midterms and in the next presidential election is a matter of ongoing debate among experts, politicians and voters. 

“The sitting president’s political party almost always loses the House of Representatives in the midterm elections during their first term,” explained Robert Collins of Dillard University. “So regardless of Trump’s involvement, you can pretty much bet everything you’ve got that that will happen this year.” 

The Senate is less of a certainty, he said.

“While every seat in the House is up for election every two years, only one third of the Senate is,” Collins said. “And among those, probably only five to eight of those seats will be competitive elections. Trump’s impact is more likely to be felt there.” 

The prevailing thought among experts such as Collins is that while Trump can generate excitement and voter turnout for Republican candidates who are loyal to him, some of those candidates – including several he lauded at the rally in Arizona – could struggle to win in swing states and districts with a more moderate electorate. 

“I’m not opposed to Donald Trump supporting midterm candidates,” said Ronald Robichaux of Tampa, Florida, who said he voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, “but I am fearful he’ll bring up voting irregularities that have thus far been unfounded and that that might turn some voters off. He can’t seem to bury the hatchet.” 

Collins suggested less bombast from Trump would be helpful for his political fortunes and those of Republicans more broadly. 

“People seem to forget that when Trump’s involved, elections tend to be an up or down vote on Trump,” he explained. “If I was working on his campaign, I’d spend time trying to rehabilitate his image and reign him in. But based on Saturday’s speech, that doesn’t seem to be their strategy,” he said. 

Collins added, “So if you’re a candidate running for office in the midterms, all that can be done now is decide if you want to keep your distance from Trump, or if you want to embrace him.”
…

US Civil Rights Leaders Push for Voting Rights Overhaul

Descendants of slain U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and their supporters marched on Washington Monday to urge Senate Democrats to overcome Republican opposition and obstruction within their own ranks to push through a national overhaul of voting rights.

They rallied on the national holiday honoring King on the 93rd anniversary of his birth. The march occurred just days after two centrist Senate Democrats, Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, said they would oppose attempts to change legislative rules in the politically divided 100-member chamber to allow Democrats to set uniform national election rules over the objections of all 50 Republican senators.  

King’s son, Martin Luther King, III, his wife Arndrea Waters King, and their teenage daughter, Yolanda Renee King, joined several hundred activists as they walked in chilly weather across the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, symbolizing recent congressional support for a $1.2 trillion infrastructure measure.

“You were successful with infrastructure, which was a great thing,” King told the crowd. “But we need you to use that same energy to ensure that all Americans have the unencumbered right to vote.”

Watch related video by Laurel Bowman:

U.S. President Joe Biden said in a video address that Americans must commit to the unfinished work of Martin Luther King, Jr., delivering jobs, justice and protecting “the sacred right to vote, a right from which all other rights flow.”

“It’s time for every elected official in America to make it clear where they stand,” Biden said. “It’s time for every American to stand up. Speak out, be heard. Where do you stand?”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is calling for a vote as early as Tuesday on the legislation that would expand access to mail-in voting and early voting before the official election days in early November, strengthen federal oversight of elections in states with a history of racial discrimination and tighten campaign finance rules.

Democratic supporters say the legislation is needed to counter new restrictions on voting passed in 19 Republican-led states that some critics say would make it harder for minority and low-income voters to cast ballots. Republicans say the legislation is a partisan power grab by Democrats and would be a federal takeover of elections that the 50 states have typically managed with state-by-state rules.

But the legislation is almost certainly to be killed unless Sinema and Manchin suddenly reverse their opposition to ending use of the Senate filibuster rule that allows opponents of contentious legislation, either Republicans or Democrats, to demand that a 60-vote supermajority be amassed for passage.   

Marches supporting voting rights and other civil rights measures were planned in several U.S. cities on the King holiday.
…

Somber MLK Remembrances Expected as Voting Rights Effort Dies in US Senate

As the U.S. approaches the federal holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., modern-day civil rights advocates are facing the reality that despite years of increasing public focus on racial injustice, they appear likely to fall short of their goal of improving minorities’ access to the vote.

Last week King’s family requested that celebrations of civil rights leader’s legacy be suspended this year, unless Congress passes legislation to expand voting rights in America.

Democrats have championed legislation that would give Washington a stronger say in how federal elections are administered in each of the 50 U.S. states. While the federal government does not control state-level elections, new federal requirements could affect them, because they are often conducted in tandem. Among other provisions, the two Democratic-sponsored bills, the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, aim to undo laws passed by Republican-led states that limit methods and opportunities to cast ballots.

Democrats and many civil rights activists say the state laws will disadvantage minority voters, and they accuse Republicans of thinly veiled voter suppression. Republicans reject the charge, insisting their goal is to protect the integrity of elections and prevent voter fraud.

Stalled in the U.S. Senate for months, hopes for passing the Freedom to Vote Act appeared to be extinguished last week. Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, both Democrats, said that even though they support reforming election laws, they will not vote to change Senate rules in order to pass those reforms with Democrat-only backing.

A change in Senate rules would be necessary because no Republicans support the voting law bill. Under the chamber’s rules, Republicans can block most legislation even if a Democratic majority supports it.

On Friday, during a livestreamed interview with The Washington Post, Martin Luther King III bitterly criticized Sinema’s and Manchin’s position.

“History is not going to be judging … them in the way that perhaps they would want to be remembered. History is looking [them] dead in the face to say, ‘When it was time to make sure the democracy was preserved, what did you do?’” he said.

How did we get here?

Voting rights did not return to the top of the Democratic priority list overnight. The journey of civil rights issues to the forefront of public discourse in the U.S. has been years in the making.

The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement after multiple highly publicized police killings of unarmed Black men between 2014 and 2019 galvanized many Americans behind the idea that the U.S. still had a long way to go to reach racial equality.

At the same time, the release of The New York Times’ 1619 Project, an effort to retell the history of the U.S. with more of a focus on the role of slavery, highlighted centuries-old racial inequalities in the U.S. So did a movement to tear down many monuments to the Confederacy, which fought to preserve slavery during the U.S. Civil War of 1861-65.

Pushback, sometimes violent

The increasing focus on racial justice in the U.S. has not come without a virulent reaction. White supremacist groups have become more active and vocal across the country. In 2017, a group of white supremacists marched through Charlottesville, Virginia. During related protests, one white supremacist activist drove a car into a group of counter-protesters, killing a young woman.

It was also difficult for many to disentangle the presidency of Donald Trump from the battle over racial inequality. Trump came to political power by pushing the falsehood that President Barack Obama, the first Black president, was not an American by birth, and that his presidency was therefore illegitimate. (By law, the president must be a natural-born U.S. citizen.)

Watch related video by Laurel Bowman:

Trump also called for the violent suppression of the Black Lives Matter movement, at one point sending in federal agents to break up a peaceful but boisterous protest near the White House. He also reportedly demeaned African and Black-led countries, asserting that the U.S. should not accept immigrants from them.

At the same time, a movement arose on the political right to restrict the teaching of racially sensitive topics in public schools. The themes protesters object to were short-handed as “critical race theory,” even though that subject is a relatively obscure area of legal scholarship that is never taught in elementary or high schools.

2020 election

The focus on voting rights has always been a major element of the Civil Rights movement in the United States, but it became especially acute in 2021, after minority voters played a major role in electing Joe Biden as president in the 2020 election and helped give Democrats control of the House and Senate.

Across the country, minority voters turned out in record numbers. This was especially true in states like Georgia, a Republican stronghold, where a campaign to register new minority voters and get them to the polls resulted in the state voting for a Democrat for president for the first time since 1992, and sent two Democrats to the Senate for the first time in a generation, giving the party control of that chamber.

After the election, the defeated President Trump insisted the election had been “rigged,” a falsehood that he has continued to repeat, and which many of his supporters, including many state legislators, have echoed.

In the months that followed, many Republican-controlled states passed restrictive new voting legislation that will make it more difficult for minority groups, including the non-English speakers and individuals with disabilities, to vote in future elections than it was in 2020, when measures to ease voting during the coronavirus pandemic helped drive record turnout.

In some cases, states did more than roll back pandemic-related voting accommodations. Some created new provisions allowing state legislatures to intervene in the certification of vote counts, established new rules allowing poll watchers to challenge individual voters, and put volunteer poll workers in danger of criminal prosecution for providing what, in years past, would have been routine voter assistance.

A common reaction

According to Carol Anderson, a historian and professor of African American Studies at Emory University, there is a long history in the United States of laws being changed after Black Americans exercise their freedom in a way that challenges power structures.

“What is happening is what always happens in America,” Anderson, the author of the New York Times bestselling White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, told VOA. “When we look at the 2020 election, where you had black folk coming out and voting, willing to stand in line for 11 hours to vote to fight for this democracy, the result of that was that Trump got removed from the White House and the Senate flipped. The response to that was a white rage policy of a series of voter suppression laws, and a series of laws that were about how to handle certification of elections.”

Not so, according to Republicans, who say they are fighting against federal overreach and accuse Democrats of attempting to tip the electoral scales in their favor.

“This effort by liberal Democrats to take power away from states to run elections is not about enfranchising voters – it’s about shifting power to the advantage of the liberal Democratic agenda,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina recently tweeted.

Amid the acrimony and on the eve of what seems sure to be a more somber Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, Anderson said she is sure the fight for voting rights — and civil rights more broadly — will continue.

“We have an incredibly engaged civil society that is fighting for this democracy,” she said. “We have folks who are litigating against these voter suppression laws. We have folks who are registering folks to vote jumping through all of the hurdles. We have folks who are providing citizenship training school. … It is that civil society that has been just absolutely instrumental in fighting for American democracy.” 
…

Ohio Supreme Court Rejects Second GOP-drawn Election Map

Ohio’s Republican-drawn congressional map was rejected by the state’s high court Friday, giving hope to national Democrats who had argued it unfairly delivered several potentially competitive seats in this year’s critical midterm elections to Republicans. 

In the 4-3 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court returned the map to the Ohio General Assembly, where Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers, and then to the powerful Ohio Redistricting Commission. The two bodies have a combined 60 days to draw new lines that comply with a 2018 constitutional amendment against gerrymandering. 

The commission was in the process of reconstituting so it can redraw GOP-drawn legislative maps that the court also rejected this week as gerrymandered. That decision gave the panel 10 days to comply. 

With February 2 and March 4 looming as the filing dates for legislative and congressional candidates, respectively, the decisions have raised questions of whether the state’s May 3 primary may have to be extended. 

Ohio Republican Party Chair Bob Paduchik called the situation a mess, criticizing the Ohio Supreme Court for giving the commission less than two weeks to come up with new legislative maps. 

“That’s a lot to dump on a commission with a very short period of time,” he said during a forum at the City Club of Cleveland on Friday. “It’s hard to say what’s going to happen.” 

Opinions

Justices chastised Republicans in both decisions for flouting the voters’ wishes and the Constitution and directed them to move with haste. 

Writing for the majority, Justice Michael Donnelly wrote, “(T)he evidence in these cases makes clear beyond all doubt that the General Assembly did not heed the clarion call sent by Ohio voters to stop political gerrymandering.” 

Donnelly and the court’s other two Democrats were joined by Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a moderate Republican set to depart the court because of age limits at the end of the year. 

The court’s three other Republicans — including Justice Pat DeWine, son of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, a named plaintiff in the cases — dissented. 

They said it was unclear how it should be determined that a map “unduly favors” one party over another. 

“When the majority says that the plan unduly favors the Republican Party, what it means is that the plan unduly favors the Republican Party as compared to the results that would be obtained if we followed a system of proportional representation,” the dissent said. 

They explained that the U.S. has never adopted a system that requires congressional seats to be proportionally distributed to match the popular vote, nor does Ohio’s Constitution require it. 

In her separate opinion, O’Connor said voting-rights and Democratic groups that challenge the maps never argued strict proportionality was required. 

“The dissenting opinion’s dismissive characterization of all the metrics used by petitioners’ experts as simply being measures of ‘proportional representation’ is sleight of hand,” she wrote. “No magician’s trick can hide what the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates: the map statistically presents such a partisan advantage that it unduly favors the Republican Party.” 

Lawsuits

Friday’s decision affects separate lawsuits brought by the National Democratic Redistricting Commission’s legal arm, as well as the Ohio offices of the League of Women Voters and the A. Philip Randolph Institute. The groups calculated that either 12 or 13 of the map’s 15 districts favor Republicans, despite the GOP garnering only about 54% of votes in statewide races over the past decade. 

Republicans had defended the map — which was pushed through the approval process in a flurry — as fair, constitutional and “highly competitive.” 

Voting rights advocates and Democrats praised the court’s ruling, their second victory this week. 

Ohio and other states were required to redraw their congressional maps to reflect results of the 2020 census, under which Ohio lost one of its current 16 districts because of lagging population. 

 
…

US House Panel Subpoenas Social Media Firms in January 6 Attack Probe

The U.S. House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol subpoenaed Meta, Alphabet, Twitter and Reddit on Thursday, seeking information about how their social media platforms were used to help fuel misinformation in a failed bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election. 

“Two key questions for the Select Committee are how the spread of misinformation and violent extremism contributed to the violent attack on our democracy, and what steps – if any – social media companies took to prevent their platforms from being breeding grounds for radicalizing people to violence,” the House Select Committee’s chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson, said in a statement. 

“It’s disappointing that after months of engagement, we still do not have the documents and information necessary to answer those basic questions.” 

The subpoenas are the latest development in the panel’s investigation into the causes of the attack on the Capitol by then-President Donald Trump’s supporters, and the role played by Trump, who has pushed false claims that he lost a rigged election to Joe Biden. 

The committee has issued more than 50 subpoenas and heard from more than 300 witnesses. It is expected to release an interim report in the summer and a final report in the fall. 

Spokespeople for the four social media companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Social media platforms were widely blamed for amplifying calls to violence and spreading misinformation that contributed to the January 6 attempt to violently overturn the election results. 

Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey were grilled by lawmakers last March in a hearing on misinformation about the role of their companies in the Capitol riot. 

In a letter sent this week to Zuckerberg, Representative Thompson said that “despite repeated and specific requests for documents” related to Facebook’s practices on election misinformation and violent content, the committee had still not received these materials. Letters to the other three CEOs contained similar criticisms. 
…

Democrats Eye Major Rules Change for Debate on Voting Rights

U.S. President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers are maneuvering this week to alter Senate rules to allow for debate on key voting rights legislation that has been blocked for months by Republicans. The showdown is the culmination of a fierce debate over the democratic process. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.
…

Democrats Consider Changes to US Senate Filibuster Rule

U.S. President Joe Biden was a longtime supporter of the Senate supermajority rule known as the filibuster, but with the chamber’s Republican minority blocking parts of his agenda, the former senator said this week he is open to altering the rule in order to try to enact voting rights legislation.

The 100-member Senate is currently divided evenly between members who caucus with Biden’s Democratic Party and members of the Republican Party.

Democrats can pass bills using the tiebreaker vote Vice President Kamala Harris can cast when necessary. But before a bill can be put to a simple majority vote, there must first be a move to end debate on the measure, which under Senate rules requires the support of 60 senators.

The procedural hurdle has its critics who argue it is anti-democratic and prevents the federal government from addressing problems facing the nation. But supporters say it forces the members of the Senate to find consensus on those matters and prevents the party in power from enacting sweeping changes.

Democratic Party leaders say they want to make voting rights legislation a category that needs only a simple majority support in order to move to a final vote and that they plan to pursue that change in the coming days.

Left uncertain is whether they have enough support among their caucus to achieve that goal. Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have expressed opposition, citing concerns that doing so would give Republicans an open path to do whatever they want should they reclaim a majority in the next round of elections in November.

Senator Mitch McConnell, the body’s top Republican, has also warned that if Democrats do away with the filibuster, his side would find other ways to slow action in the Senate.

Some information for this report came from Reuters. 
…

January 6 Panel Requests Interview With Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy

The House panel investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection requested an interview and records from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday, shifting their investigation to a top ally of former President Donald Trump in Congress. 

Representative Bennie Thompson, Democratic chairman of the panel, requested that McCarthy provide information to the nine-member panel regarding the violence that took place last January and his communications with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in the days prior to the attack.

“We also must learn about how the President’s plans for January 6th came together, and all the other ways he attempted to alter the results of the election,” Thompson said in the letter. “For example, in advance of January 6th, you reportedly explained to Mark Meadows and the former President that objections to the certification of the electoral votes on January 6th ‘was doomed to fail.'” 

The request seeks information about McCarthy’s conversations with Trump “before, during and after” the riot, with lawmakers seeking a window into Trump’s state of mind from an ally who has acknowledged repeated interactions with the then-president.

The committee also wants to question McCarthy about communications with Trump and White House staff in the week after the violence, including a conversation with Trump that was reportedly heated. 

The committee acknowledged the sensitive and unusual nature of its request as it proposed a meeting with McCarthy on either February 3 or 4.

“The Select Committee has tremendous respect for the prerogatives of Congress and the privacy of its Members,” Thompson wrote. “At the same time, we have a solemn responsibility to investigate fully the facts and circumstances of these events. 

A request for comment from McCarthy’s office was not immediately returned.

McCarthy attracted the committee’s attention through his public characterizations after the riot of his private discussions with Trump. Thompson’s letter cites multiple statements and interviews in which McCarthy described his interactions with the president, including a CBS interview in which McCarthy said, “I was very clear with the president when I called him. This has to stop, and he has to go to the American public and tell them to stop this.” 

One of his Republican colleagues, Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler, has said McCarthy told her that Trump told him, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.” 

The Republican leader is the third member of Congress the committee has reached out to for voluntary information. In the past few weeks, Republican Representatives Jim Jordan and Scott Perry were also contacted by the panel but have denied the requests to sit down with lawmakers or provide documents.

The panel, comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans, has already interviewed more than 300 people and issued subpoenas to more than 40 as it seeks to create a comprehensive record of the January 6 attack and the events leading up to it.

The committee says the extraordinary trove of material it has collected — 35,000 pages of records so far, including texts, emails and phone records from people close to Trump — is fleshing out critical details of the worst attack on the Capitol in two centuries, which played out on live television.

Thompson told The Associated Press in an interview last month that about 90% of the witnesses subpoenaed by the committee have cooperated, despite the defiance of high-profile Trump allies like Meadows and Steve Bannon.

Lawmakers say they have been effective at gathering information from other sources in part because they share a unity of purpose rarely seen in a congressional investigation. 

 
…

White House Urges Continued Mitigation Efforts Amid Omicron Surge

The White House COVID-19 response team on Wednesday reminded Americans of the continued need to slow the omicron variant’s spread despite its decreased severity and announced new efforts to help keep schools open.

As the omicron variant sweeps across the U.S., Dr. Rochelle Walensky emphasized that wearing masks, getting vaccinated and undergoing COVID-19 testing when necessary are the best strategies to help lower cases of the virus.

Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the omicron variant accounted for 98% of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. Earlier this week, the U.S. set a record for the number of daily infections at nearly 1.5 million, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

“All of us must do our part to protect our hospitals and our neighbors and reduce the further spread of this virus,” Walensky said.

The White House team also announced that the Biden administration would distribute 10 million tests to schools across the country each month to ensure they remain open, more than doubling the testing volume from last year.

Although the omicron variant is highly transmissible, it remains less severe than the delta variant, with a decreased risk of hospitalization and death.

Walensky, citing a recent study comparing the two variants, said omicron infections were associated with a 91% reduction in the risk of death and a 74% reduction in the risk of ICU admission.

She also said that infections with the variant had a 53% reduced risk of symptomatic hospitalization.

More hospitalizations

While the risk of hospitalization remains low, the “staggering rise in cases” has increased the country’s number of hospitalizations, according to Walensky.

Nonetheless, she said, patients infected with omicron are experiencing 71% shorter hospital stays than those infected with the delta variant.

On average, omicron patients are hospitalized for about 1.5 days and 90% are expected to be discharged in three days or less.

As the surge continues, Walensky reiterated that cases of the variant are expected to peak in the coming weeks. She also said deaths have increased, with more than 2,600 reported by John Hopkins on Wednesday.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious-disease expert, said the country would not be able to eliminate or eradicate COVID-19, but would “ultimately control it.” As the virus becomes endemic, it is likely that “virtually everybody is going to wind up getting exposed and likely get infected,” he said.

However, he added, this does not mean that vaccinations or preventative measures are ineffective or pointless. Fauci clarified that getting vaccinated and staying up to date with booster shots will prevent serious illness from the disease.

“If you’re vaccinated and if you’re boosted, the chances of your getting sick are very, very low,” Fauci said.

To help battle the current surge, the White House team stressed that mitigation efforts remain critical, including wearing a mask. While N95 masks have been shown to be the most effective in resisting airborne transmission of the virus, the CDC still recommends that, for the time being, people choose the mask that is right for them, and that wearing any well-fitting mask is better than no mask.

“We want to highlight that the best mask for you is the one that you can wear comfortably,” Walensky said.

Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator, was asked about finding masks and said the administration is “strongly considering options to make more high-quality masks available to all Americans.”

As for schools, the team said that, along with increased testing, vaccination and other mitigation efforts are the keys to keeping students in the classroom.

Walensky stated that with pediatric vaccines now available, schools should be able to continue operating as planned. She also reminded reporters that 99% of schools remained open in the fall during a surge in the delta variant.

“One of the best things we can do is get our children and our teenagers vaccinated,” she said.
…