Розділ: Політика
US to Revoke Terrorist Designation of Yemen’s Houthis Due to Famine
The United States said Friday it intends to revoke the terrorist designation for Yemen’s Houthi movement in response to the country’s humanitarian crisis, reversing one of the most criticized last-minute decisions of the Trump administration.The reversal, confirmed by a State Department official, comes a day after President Joe Biden declared a halt to U.S. support for the Saudi Arabia-led military campaign in Yemen, widely seen as a proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran.”Our action is due entirely to the humanitarian consequences of this last-minute designation from the prior administration, which the United Nations and humanitarian organizations have since made clear would accelerate the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” the official said.The United Nations describes Yemen as the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, with 80% of its people in need.Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blacklisted the Houthis on Jan. 19, a day before Biden took office.The Trump administration exempted aid groups, the United Nations, the Red Cross and the export of agricultural commodities, medicine and medical devices from its designation. But U.N. officials and relief groups said the carve-outs were not enough and called for the decision to be revoked.The State Department official stressed that the action did not reflect the U.S. view of the Houthis and their “reprehensible conduct.”The Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015, backing government forces fighting the Iran-aligned Houthis. U.N. officials are trying to revive peace talks as the country also faces an economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy welcomed the decision.”The designation … stopped food and other critical aid from being delivered inside Yemen and would have prevented effective political negotiation,” he said in a statement.
…
By Polityk | 02/06/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Virginia House Votes to Abolish Death Penalty
The U.S. mid-Atlantic state of Virginia has taken another step toward abolishing the death penalty with the House voting Friday to end the practice, making it all but certain the action will become law.The House passage followed a Senate vote earlier in the week and came after Democratic Governor Ralph Northam said he would sign the measure.The bill passed in the House 47-41, mostly along party lines. All but one Democrat voted for passage while three Republicans joined the Democrats.Over the centuries, Virginia has executed more prisoners than any other U.S. state. The Death Penalty Information Center says the state has executed 1,389 people since its days as a colony.”The repeal of capital punishment in Virginia takes our commonwealth out of the business of determining life and death and ends a practice that a majority of Virginians oppose,” House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn said after the vote.Democrats argued that capital punishment is disproportionately used against Black people, while Republicans said that the punishment is necessary for justice and made arguments on behalf of the victims of violent crime.Marijuana billAlso Friday, Virginia’s House voted 55-42 to legalize marijuana. The Senate is considering a similar bill for legalization. Both bills propose beginning the sale of marijuana in the state in 2024 and overseeing the sales with a new state agency.If enacted, the move would make Virginia the first Southern state to legalize marijuana.Both the marijuana and the death penalty changes would be significant developments in Virginia, a longtime conservative state. Virginia reliably voted to send Republicans to the White House from 1968 to 2004, but that trend began shifting in recent years. Since the 2008 election of Barack Obama, the state has been electing Democrats for president.In recent years, Virginia has carried out fewer executions. The last one was in 2017 and only two men remain on the state’s death row.Federally, executions have also been trending downward. But former President Donald Trump, a Republican, resumed federal executions after a 17-year hiatus. During his term, 13 people were executed, the most since Franklin D. Roosevelt was president.President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has said he will seek to end the federal death penalty.
…
By Polityk | 02/06/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Russia Rejects Navalny ‘Ultimatum’ From Biden
President Joe Biden challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to release opposition leader Alexey Navalny immediately and without condition, in a stark break from his predecessor. The Kremlin has rejected what it described as an “ultimatum” from Biden, as VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
…
By Polityk | 02/06/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump, Facing Expulsion, Resigns from Screen Actors Guild
Donald Trump has resigned from the Screen Actors Guild after the union threatened to expel him for his role in the Capitol riot in January.In a letter dated Thursday and addressed to SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris, Trump said he was resigning from the union that he had been a member of since 1989. “I no longer wish to be associated with your union,” wrote Trump in a letter shared by the actors guild. “As such, this letter is to inform you of my immediate resignation from SAG-AFTRA. You have done nothing for me.” The guild responded with a short statement: “Thank you.” Last month, the SAG-AFTRA board voted that there was probable cause that Trump violated its guidelines for membership by his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol siege. Trump, the guild said, had sustained “a reckless campaign of misinformation aimed at discrediting and ultimately threatening the safety of journalists, many of whom are SAG-AFTRA members.” Trump’s case was to be weighed by a disciplinary committee. In his letter, the former president said he had no interest in such a hearing. “Who cares?” he wrote.”While I’m not familiar with your work, I’m very proud of my work on movies such as ‘Home Alone 2,’ ‘Zoolander’ and ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’; and television shows including ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,’ ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and of course, one of the most successful shows in television history, ‘The Apprentice’ — to name just a few!” wrote Trump. “I’ve also greatly helped the cable news television business (said to be a dying platform with not much time left until I got involved in politics), and created thousands of jobs at networks such as MSDNC and Fake News CNN, among many others,” Trump continued. On Thursday, the Screen Actors Guild announced nominees to its annual awards. Losing guild membership doesn’t disqualify anyone from performing. But most major productions abide by union contracts and hire only union actors.
…
By Polityk | 02/05/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Senate Narrowly Approves Biden Budget Blueprint
President Joe Biden’s drive to enact a $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill gained momentum early on Friday as the U.S. Senate narrowly approved a budget blueprint allowing Democrats to push the legislation through Congress in coming weeks with or without Republican support.
At the end of approximately 15 hours of debate and back-to-back votes on dozens of amendments, the Senate found itself in a 50-50 partisan deadlock over passage of the budget plan. That deadlock was broken by Vice President Kamala Harris, whose “yes” vote provided the win for Democrats.
Shortly before the final vote, Democrats flexed their muscle by offering an amendment reversing some earlier votes regarding the future of the Keystone XL pipeline and coronavirus aid to immigrants living in the United States illegally.
With Harris presiding, she broke a 50-50 tie to win this amendment for her fellow Democrats.
It marked the first time Harris, in her role as president of the Senate, cast a tie-breaking vote after being sworn in as Biden’s vice president on Jan. 20.
…
By Polityk | 02/05/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Announces Diplomacy Shift in Yemen
President Joe Biden visited the State Department Thursday and outlined his vision for U.S. foreign policy, ordering an end to U.S. support for offensive military operations in Yemen and an overall shift toward diplomacy. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
Producer: Kim Weeks
…
By Polityk | 02/05/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Domestic Terror Threat Remains High One Month After US Capitol Riot
U.S. lawmakers say the threat of domestic extremism remains high almost one month after pro-Trump protesters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol, resulting in the deaths of five people. As VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, those threats are expected to continue well past the Senate impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump.
Camera: Adam Greenbaum Produced by: Katherine Gypson
…
By Polityk | 02/05/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Promises US Reengagement with the World
President Joe Biden promised Thursday that the United States would sharply increase its engagement around the world during his White House tenure, ending what he contended was the “past few years of neglect and abuse” of foreign relations by former President Donald Trump.“America is back,” Biden declared at the State Department in his first major foreign policy address as president. “America cannot afford to be absent on the world stage. Diplomacy is at the center of our foreign policy.”He said that “American alliances are our greatest assets,” while warning both Russia and China of American resolve. Trump, employing an “America First” credo, had often quarreled with traditional U.S. allies while taking a softer tone with authoritarian states.Biden said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call last week that “the days of the U.S. rolling over” to Moscow “are over.”The U.S. leader called on Putin to immediately release opposition leader Alexey Navalny “without condition.” Navalny was sentenced to 2½ years in prison this week after returning from Germany, where he had been recovering from being poisoned with a nerve agent last year by suspected Russian agents.As for China, Biden said, “We’ll work with Beijing when it’s in our interest to do so.”FILE – Houthi supporters chant slogans during a rally outside the closed U.S. Embassy over the decision of the Trump administration to designate the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization, in Sanaa, Yemen, Jan. 18, 2021.War in Yemen ‘has to end’Biden said he was ending U.S. support for the Saudi-led military offensive in Yemen, calling it a “humanitarian and strategic catastrophe. This war has to end.”Instead, he said, the U.S. hopes to end the five-year conflict in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country through diplomacy, with Biden naming a career diplomat, Timothy Lenderking, as a special envoy to Yemen.Saudi Arabia began the offensive in 2015 against a Houthi faction that had seized territory in Yemen and had begun launching cross-border missiles at Saudi Arabia. Riyadh responded with an air campaign that has killed large numbers of civilians, with survivors displaying parts of weapons that showed they were made in the United States.The conflict has added to the hunger and poverty in Yemen. Biden’s ending of U.S. support for the Saudi military offensive would fulfill a promise he made during his presidential campaign.The new president said he would keep U.S. troops in Germany, which Trump had suggested pulling out, and increase the number of refugees the U.S. would accept from the world’s trouble spots to 125,000 annually, a figure Trump had cut to 18,000.“Over the past two weeks, I’ve spoken with the leaders of many of our closest friends — Canada, Mexico, the U.K., Germany, France, NATO, Japan, South Korea and Australia — to begin reforming the habits of cooperation and rebuilding the muscles of democratic alliances” that Trump weakened, Biden said.Biden also spoke to State Department employees, telling them, “This administration is going to empower you to do your jobs, not target or politicize you. We want a rigorous debate that brings in all perspectives, and makes room for dissent. That’s how we’ll get the best possible policy outcomes.”FILE – A copy of the Global Times newspaper featuring an image of U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on its front page is seen at a newsstand in Beijing, China, Jan. 21, 2021.China policyNew Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters last week that the relationship between the U.S. and China was “arguably the most important relationship that we have in the world going forward.”Biden’s Thursday speech came as the U.S. ponders a new approach to China, which officials have said includes a policy of “strategic patience.”How to handle supply chain and intelligence threats from China is among the top priorities of the Biden administration. It has been reported that Biden is soon expected to sign an executive order to review U.S. supply chains, with a focus on coronavirus relief suppliers from foreign competitors.”We know that China is engaged in a range of conduct that hurts American workers,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said this week. “It blunts our technological edge, it threatens our alliances and influence in international organizations, and China is engaged in gross human rights violations that shock the conscience.”“So, we will counter China’s aggressive and coercive actions, sustain our key military advantages, defend democratic values, invest in advanced technologies and restore our vital security partnerships,” he added.FILE – An image from video shows Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who is accused of flouting terms of a suspended sentence for embezzlement, during the announcement of a court verdict in Moscow, Feb. 2, 2021.Calls to counterpartsBiden has spoken by phone with several foreign leaders since taking office, including the leaders of traditional U.S. allies and Russia’s Putin.During that call, the White House said, Biden raised contentious issues such as the arrest of opposition figure Navalny, as well as Moscow’s cyber-espionage campaign, while seeking common ground by agreeing to extend a landmark nuclear arms deal with Russia that was about to expire.On Wednesday, the U.S. and Russia announced they had extended the New START arms control treaty for five years, pursuing arms control between the world’s two largest strategic nuclear arsenals.“We remain clear-eyed about the challenges that Russia poses to the United States and the world,” Blinken said in a statement.He added that the U.S. would “work to hold Russia to account for adversarial actions as well as its human rights abuses, in close coordination with our allies and partners.”
…
By Polityk | 02/05/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Lawmakers Vote to Remove Controversial Colleague From Committees
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Democratic-supported resolution Thursday to reprimand a Republican lawmaker who encouraged violence against her Democratic colleagues.Eleven Republicans joined Democrats in taking a public stand, 230-199, against Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene after House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy declined to reprimand her Wednesday.FILE – House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of CaliforniaPassage of the resolution allows lawmakers to strip the first-term legislator from the southeastern state of Georgia of two coveted committee assignments.Greene came under fire for expressing support for various baseless conspiracy theories, including the far-right QAnon theory that maintains elite Democrats are members of a sect of Satan-worshipping pedophiles and cannibals. A CNN search of Greene’s Facebook page showed she “liked” in recent years calls for executing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats. The posts were dated 2018 and 2019, before Greene launched her campaign, and have since been deleted. McCarthy has met privately with Greene to discuss the revelation of her social media posts advancing numerous conspiracy theories. Greene has also promoted the false claims that Donald Trump won the November 3 presidential election and that mass school shootings that claimed the lives of dozens of children were staged events; has questioned whether the 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon actually occurred; and has suggested a space laser was deliberately used to ignite a California wildfire. Greene has said her social media posts are managed by several people and that she does not see all of them. Earlier this week, Greene said she had spoken with Trump and had his continuing support. Greene deviated from her incendiary remarks and actions on Thursday, telling colleagues in remarks from the House floor that “school shootings are absolutely real,” that “9/11 absolutely happened” and that “I do not believe it is fake.” House Democrats, who control the chamber, have taken the unusual step of filing a resolution that would strip Greene of her committee assignments, denying her one of the most important responsibilities a lawmaker can fulfill. Most important legislation is debated in committees before being submitted for a vote by the full House. FILE – U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of MarylandHouse Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland told reporters Wednesday that the action was necessary because Greene “has placed many members in fear for their welfare and she has attacked and made incendiary remarks prior to but also during her term as a member of Congress with respect to the safety and welfare of the speaker of the House.” The political atmosphere in Congress has been especially acrimonious since the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which Trump is accused of inspiring. Some Trump supporters who broke into the building as lawmakers were certifying Joe Biden’s presidential win threatened to kill Pelosi and other Democratic lawmakers, as well as Mike Pence, Trump’s vice president. As the House Republican caucus reached an uneasy agreement Wednesday to spare Greene of punishment, it also turned back an effort to remove Liz Cheney from her position as the third-highest-ranking Republican in the House over her January 13 vote to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting insurrection. VOA’s Katherine Gypson contributed to this report.
…
By Polityk | 02/05/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
House Democrats Ask Trump to Testify for Impeachment Trial
U.S. House Democrats have requested that former President Donald Trump testify under oath for his upcoming impeachment trial in the Senate.Lead impeachment manager Jamie Raskin requested in a letter sent via email Thursday that the former president testify “either before or during” the trial that begins in earnest on February 9.There was no immediate comment from Trump or his advisers, but Raskin requested that he respond by Friday at 5 p.m. EST.“If you decline this invitation, we reserve any and all rights, including the right to establish at trial that your refusal to testify supports a strong adverse inference regarding your actions (and inaction) on January 6, 2021,” Raskin said.Trump is charged with inciting a mob of supporters that broke into the U.S. Capitol on January 6.Minutes before the attack on the building that resulted in the deaths of five people, Trump told thousands of his supporters at rally near the White House to “fight like hell” as Congress was in the process of formally certifying Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election.Thousands of supporters marched to the Capitol, many of whom broke into the building, interrupting the certification of the results. A Capitol Police officer was among those who died in the rioting, and the House impeached Trump one week later, with the help of 10 Republicans who joined Democrats in support.
…
By Polityk | 02/05/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Calls Out ‘Political Extremism’ at Prayer Breakfast
President Joe Biden on Thursday called for a confrontation of the “political extremism” that inspired the U.S. Capitol riot and appealed for collective strength during such turbulent times in remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, a Washington tradition that asks political combatants to set aside their differences for one morning.
The breakfast has sparked controversy in the past, particularly when President Donald Trump used last year’s installment to slam his political opponents and question their faith. Some liberals have viewed the event warily because of the conservative faith-based group that is behind it.
Still, Biden campaigned for the White House as someone who could unify Americans, and the breakfast gave the nation’s second Catholic president a chance to talk about his vision of faith as a force for good. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said the event is “an inclusive and positive” one that “recognizes the teachings of Jesus but is not limited to Christianity.”
The breakfast is moving forward at a time when the nation’s capital is facing a series of historic crises. Biden is struggling to win significant support from congressional Republicans for a coronavirus response package, raising the likelihood that he will rely only on Democrats to pass the legislation.
Many in Washington are still navigating the aftermath of the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last month, which Biden alluded to in his remarks Thursday, referencing the “political extremism” that propelled the siege. Trump faces an unprecedented second impeachment trial in the Senate next week over his role in inciting the riot.
“For so many in our nation, this is a dark, dark time,” Biden told those watching the event. “So where do we turn? Faith.”
Biden’s message on Thursday marked his latest call to return Washington to more traditional footing after four years of Trump’s aggressive style. During the 2020 breakfast, Trump singled out Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who had voted to convict the president during his first impeachment trial. Trump even held up a newspaper with a headline reading “ACQUITTED” over his own picture.
Every president has attended the breakfast since Dwight D. Eisenhower made his first appearance in 1953. The event went entirely virtual this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, with Biden and all other speakers appearing via taped remarks. Four living former presidents sent messages to the breakfast, with three speaking on tape while Coons read a message from former President Jimmy Carter — making Trump’s absence conspicuous.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a GOP co-chair of this year’s breakfast, pointed to regular faith-based gatherings on Capitol Hill that draw senators from both ends of the ideological spectrum as a model for the event. “We don’t see eye to eye philosophically, politically, but we do embrace each other as brothers of faith,” Scott, who also offered virtual remarks at the breakfast, said in an interview.
The breakfast has drawn pushback from gay and civil rights activists since President Barack Obama’s administration, with much of the opposition focused on the Fellowship Foundation, the conservative faith-based organization that has long supported the event. Religious liberals mounted a protest outside Trump’s first appearance in 2017, criticizing his limits on refugee admissions to the U.S., and a Russian gun rights activist convicted of acting as an unregistered foreign agent attended the breakfast twice during his administration.
Norman Solomon, co-founder and national director of the progressive activist group RootsAction, warned Biden not to “reach across any aisle to bigotry.”
“We don’t need any unity with bigotry,” Solomon said. “I fear a subtext of this engagement is, ‘Can’t we all get along.’ But that’s not appropriate in this case given the well-known right-wing and anti-gay background of the event’s sponsors.”
Solomon said Democratic presidents have continued a tradition of attending an event where their Republican counterparts often felt more comfortable because they feared being labeled as “anti-religious or nonreligious.” He said that Biden, a devout Catholic who attends Mass every week, could better send a unifying message by skipping the event and instead attending one that is truly bipartisan.
“God knows there are many religious leaders and gatherings that are devout and affirm human equality,” he said. “This isn’t one of them.”
Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, agreed that “there are far better ways” than the breakfast for Biden to connect with people on the basis of shared spiritual beliefs.
“We would love to work with the administration to figure out a way to change the sponsorship of an event like this and to make it a place for Americans of all different religious beliefs,” Laser said.
Yet Democratic leaders, aware of Biden’s devout Catholic faith and calls for healing, have largely refrained from public comment on the event this year. Pelosi, D-Calif., taped her own message to the event on Thursday morning.
Both Laser and Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, a fellow in the faith initiative at the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, pointed to the Christian symbolism seen during last month’s Capitol riot as an opening for Biden to offer pluralistic, open language about faith going forward.
“I hope President Biden recognizes we’re in a new moment,” Graves-Fitzsimmons said, “and that the Christian nationalism threat is a threat to both the sacred religious pluralism of the U.S. and to Christianity.”
…
By Polityk | 02/04/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Some Lawmakers, Experts Eye 14th Amendment to Bar Trump from Future Office
With the odds seemingly in favor of former President Donald Trump prevailing in his impeachment trial, a debate is brewing among legal scholars and some members of Congress over whether a once-forgotten provision of the U.S. Constitution can be used to bar the former president from holding federal office ever again. The provision is part of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. Ratified in 1868, the amendment is best known for expanding the civil rights of American citizens and guaranteeing “equal protection” under the law. Its little known but hotly debated Section Three bars anyone who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States or who has given “aid and comfort” to its enemies from holding office. Trump faces a single charge of “incitement of insurrection” for his alleged role in instigating his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6 to prevent the congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump. With 45 Republican senators challenging the legality of trying a former president, the chances that the Senate will convict and disqualify Trump from office remain slim. That will potentially leave Democrats with one untested constitutional tool for disqualifying a former president: the 14th Amendment. Section Three of the amendment gives Congress the power to enforce its provisions by “appropriate legislation.” This has led some legal scholars to argue that the Democratic-controlled Congress can pass a law by simple majority to bar Trump from holding office in the future. “Congress can immediately pass a law declaring that any person who has ever sworn to defend the Constitution — from Mr. Trump to others — and who incited, directed, or participated in the January 6 assault ‘engaged in insurrection or rebellion’ and is therefore constitutionally disqualified from holding office in the future,” Deepak Gupta, a constitutional law expert, and Brian Beutler, editor-in-chief of Crooked Media, wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times last month. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat and the Democratic vice-presidential candidate in 2016, is among a handful of lawmakers proposing to use the 14th Amendment to prevent Trump from ever seeking federal office again. Kaine contends that Republicans would be more inclined to support invoking the 14th Amendment than convicting Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors.Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., speaks during a hearing with the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee to examine the nomination of Miguel A. Cardona, of Connecticut, to be Secretary of Education on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 3, 2021.“What I want to do is offer my colleagues an option to impeachment,” Kaine said at a news conference late last month. There are some complications, however. For instance, under the 14th Amendment, it is unclear who gets to decide whether a government official has engaged in an insurrectionist activity and merits disqualification. Some scholars argue that it is up to the courts, not Congress, to make the determination. “Section Three does not identify any mechanisms for determining whether an official has actually engaged in insurrectionist activities that would trigger the disqualification, and as a consequence it has not been used very much and it is not even clear what kind of mechanism would be constitutional,” said Keith Whittington, a Princeton University professor of politics. What is more, Whittington warned, allowing a simple majority of Congress to impose a lifetime ban on a former president could open a Pandora’s box. Once in control, Republicans could return the favor by voting to disqualify Democrats for expressing views on protests that turned into riots. “There is a great deal of obvious political risk in having the Congress just make such determinations by majority vote and potentially disqualifying from office members of the minority party with little evidence and through an entirely partisan political process,” Whittington said via email. Some top Democrats are not persuaded the 14th Amendment is the route to go.Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the majority whip, joined at right by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., takes a question at a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 2, 2021.Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said January 22: “I haven’t been convinced yet, because the 14th Amendment is not explicit on how you determine whether someone participated in an insurrection.” History Were it not for the January 6 Capitol riots, few outside legal circles would know about Section Three of the 14th Amendment. The provision was designed to bar former members of the Confederacy from holding high office, according to Gerard Magliocca, a professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. “After the 14th Amendment was ratified, Section Three was enforced for a period of about four years against various officials who were either in office or people who were elected to office and then were denied the right to take that office because they were seen as ineligible,” Magliocca said in an interview. Since the end of Reconstruction, the provision has been used only once, according to Magliocca. In 1919, Victor Berger, a socialist member of Congress from Wisconsin was disqualified and denied his seat after being convicted for his anti-war activities under the Espionage Act, a conviction that was later overturned by the Supreme Court. “The House of Representatives decided that [Berger’s antiwar stance] constituted giving aid and comfort to Germany and therefore that member was ineligible to serve,” Magliocca said. Post-January 6 debate For the next century and a half, the provision largely fell into oblivion. All that changed after January 6 when a mob of Trump supporters breached and vandalized the U.S. Capitol — leaving five people including a police officer dead and prompting the House of Representatives to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection.” In calling for Trump’s disqualification from office, the article of impeachment filed against him references Section Three of the 14th Amendment. However, the House Democratic prosecutors barely mention it in their pre-trial brief submitted to the Senate on Tuesday. That could mean House Democrats are keeping it as an option that they could use down the road, Magliocca said, adding that members of Congress are working on legislation related to the provision. If Congressional Democrats decide to invoke the 14th amendment in order to disqualify Trump, they could do two things, according to Magliocca. First, pass legislation establishing an enforcement mechanism for Section Three. This could be similar to the first Ku Klux Klan Act of 1870 that created a process for removing former Confederate officials from public office, Magliocca said. Second, pass a non-binding resolution finding Trump ineligible to hold office again and urging the courts to accept their verdict. “The former president would have every right to challenge any determination that he’s ineligible in court and pursue all his legal remedies all the way up to the Supreme Court,” Magliocca said.
…
By Polityk | 02/04/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden’s Executive Orders on Immigration Hint at Future Action
U.S. President Joe Biden’s executive orders this week reversing Trump administration immigration policies change little on the ground now but set the stage for future action, experts told VOA.It is a message Biden himself reinforced when he signed three orders Tuesday.“I want to make it clear — there’s a lot of talk, with good reason, about the number of executive orders that I have signed. I’m not making new law. I’m eliminating bad policy,” he told reporters.For now, immigrant rights advocates are signaling a wait-and-see approach as the new administration launches a process to review restrictive immigration policies implemented by Trump.“If there’s an existing regulation, and then there’s a process to go through to get rid of the regulation, some things are just going to take longer than others as a procedural matter,” Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Immigrants’ Rights Project, told VOA.Backers of the Trump administration’s immigration initiatives are warning of chaos at the U.S. southern border if policies return to what they were before Trump was in the White House.Task force to reunite separated familiesBiden’s first action ordered a task force to identify all migrant children who were separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border under the previous administration’s “Zero Tolerance” policy for undocumented arrivals. It also instructed the task force to facilitate family reunification and examine whether those families are eligible for immigration relief under current immigration law.In 2018, the Trump administration directed U.S. attorneys to detain anyone who crossed the border illegally, breaking with long-standing U.S. policies to release most asylum-seekers pending their immigration court dates.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 7 MB480p | 11 MB540p | 14 MB720p | 30 MB1080p | 57 MBOriginal | 168 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioAt least 5,500 children were separated from their families in overcrowded detention facilities. While most have been reunited, several hundred children remain in U.S. custody while attempts continue to locate their parents or other family members, many of whom were deported to their countries of origin.ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said he is “pleased” with the creation of the task force but notes that the executive action does not address whether parents removed from the U.S. will be given humanitarian protections and allowed to come back to the United States to reunite with their children.Biden’s order asks for an initial report in 120 days — a time frame that does not satisfy Gelernt, who was the lead attorney in a 2018 class-action lawsuit the ACLU filed against the U.S. government over family separations.“Separated families need immediate action. They cannot wait 120 days for a task force to make recommendations,” he said. “These families deserve citizenship, care and resources. We hope the task force acts with urgency and look forward to working with it to reunite families and ensure that this never happens again.”Immigration attorneys said it should not take long before actual changes begin to happen under the new administration. But University of San Francisco law and migration studies professor Bill Hing said when it comes to family reunification, Biden needs to “offer more.”“Part of the remedy is that you let the people come (back) because it’s not just to get a visa, it’s to get services,” Hing said, adding, “They all need mental health services.”US border policiesBiden’s second order sets in motion a series of reviews, including the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, also known as Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which have forced tens of thousands of asylum-seekers to await U.S. immigration court dates on the Mexican side of the border.Though MPP has been suspended going forward, it remains unclear what will happen to people who have been placed in the program and are waiting in Mexico for their immigration court date.The Biden administration is also reviewing a possible relaunching of the Central American Minors Program.Before the Trump administration, foreign minors could be lawfully reunited with family members already living in the United States if they met certain requirements. Trump ended the program in 2017.“One of the things (in the executive order) is to try to expedite the reunification of family members rather than having a young person wait abroad for maybe one or two years while the normal paperwork is in process,” said New York-based Legal Aid Society immigration attorney Hasan Shafiqullah.Review of legal immigration restrictionsThe third executive action directs the State Department, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to reevaluate existing regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies and other agency actions taken in the last four years pertaining to immigration.Chief among them is the former administration’s expansion and enforcement of the public charge rule, which sets forth an immigrant’s likelihood to rely on public assistance programs as a criterion in assessing a permanent residency application.Biden’s order also calls for improving the U.S. naturalization process by reducing barriers and streamlining procedures.Immigration attorney L. Patricia Ice with the Mississippi Immigration Rights Alliance said the order is aimed at eliminating barriers and streamlining the existing naturalization process.“I think this is one of the important parts of this executive order, because it will make the naturalization process easier,” she said. “It will make it shorter, so that people who apply for naturalization won’t have to wait a year or more. I have had clients who have been waiting for a long time to get an interview.”Conservative reactionLora Ries, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, said in a statement that the executive orders are harmful and will undermine America’s immigration system.“America’s immigration policy should protect our borders, uphold our laws, and safeguard our values, but these immigration executive orders are just more evidence that the Biden administration is intent on implementing a radical immigration agenda that does none of those things,” she said.Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the orders “undercut bipartisan immigration solutions.”“The refusal to continue building the border wall and changing Trump asylum policies requiring migrants to wait in Mexico for their court date are formulas for disaster and will create massive future runs on the border,” he said.Immigrant advocates, by contrast, call Biden’s executive actions a much-needed starting point.“Things require additional agency action for process to take place. … It kind of sets out a broad framework and provides some guideposts but really leaves it to the (U.S.) agencies to fill it out right and figure out,” the ACLU’s Jadwat said.
…
By Polityk | 02/04/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Renews Commitment for $1,400 COVID Stimulus Checks
U.S. President Joe Biden renewed his commitment Wednesday to send $1,400 checks to millions of adult Americans to boost the country’s coronavirus-ravaged economy. But he said he was open to Republican demands to tighten restrictions on who would get the money. In a call to Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives and later at a White House meeting with a group of Democratic senators, Biden called for quick passage of his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that includes the stimulus checks, pushing aside a call by some Republican senators for a more limited $618 billion deal. Biden told the House lawmakers he was willing to set lower income limits on who would get the $1,400 checks, but not cut the size of the stipends. Coupled with $600 payments approved by former President Donald Trump in December, the combined $2,000 in assistance would equal Biden’s promise during his winning campaign last year for the White House. U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Democratic senators to discuss efforts to pass coronavirus relief legislation, in the Oval Office, Feb. 3, 2021.”I am not going to start by breaking a promise to the American people,” he said about the direct payments that under his plan as it stands now would go to individuals earning up to $75,000 or couples with an annual combined income of up to $150,000. Republicans and some Democrats have called for only sending the payments to people with much lower incomes. “We can better target the number, I’m OK with that,” Biden said. Senate Republicans have called for issuing $1,000 payments for individuals earning up to $40,000 or couples making twice that, while completely phasing out the payments at $50,000 for singles or $100,000 for married couples. But Biden told reporters, “I think we’ll get some Republicans” to vote for his relief measure. According to several people listening to the call, Biden told the House Democrats, “Let’s stick together. I have your back, and I hope you’ll have mine.” The president made an emotional case for quick approval of the virus relief aid, saying suicides in the U.S. were increasing at an alarming rate, and drug addiction was worsening during the pandemic. Biden told the Democrats the Republicans’ $618 billion package “was not even in the cards.” Later, Biden met with a group of Senate Democratic leaders at the White House. On Monday, he met with 10 Republican senators who pushed for their smaller relief package. FILE – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) looks on during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, Feb. 2, 2021.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats agreed to a “big and bold” approach. “We want to do it bipartisan, but we must be strong,” Schumer told reporters after the meeting. “We cannot dawdle, we cannot delay, we cannot dilute, because the troubles that this nation has and the opportunities that we can bring them are so large.” Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii said, “I think we’re leaving open the possibility of Republicans working with us, but I think the bottom line is we have to deliver.” Biden also told lawmakers he was more concerned that they would spend too little on a recovery package rather than too much, although some lawmakers, particularly Republicans, are balking at the overall size of the package, especially since the government approved nearly $4 trillion in relief aid last year. The Biden measure includes billions for vaccine distribution and other medical equipment to fight the pandemic. His proposal also would hike the national minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15, which most Republicans oppose. Senate Democrats on Tuesday put Biden’s $1.9 trillion package on a track for fast passage, likely with little or no Republican support. With a 50-49 vote starting discussions on government spending, the Senate cleared the way for eventual approval of Biden’s relief plan with a simple majority rather than the 60-vote threshold required for most legislation.
…
By Polityk | 02/04/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Will Republicans Remain the Party of Trump?
Donald Trump is no longer in the White House, but the former U.S. president’s influence is still keenly felt on Capitol Hill, where the January 6 rioting by his supporters has created deep divisions within the Republican Party.House Republicans planned to meet Wednesday to decide the futures of two members of their caucus on opposite sides of the debate over Trump: Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking Republican leader in the House, and freshman Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who has expressed support for far-right conspiracy views, including those of QAnon.At issue is whether to strip the pro-Trump Greene of her committee assignments and whether to remove Cheney from the Republican leadership team for her vote to impeach Trump. Those decisions will force a reckoning on whether Republicans remain loyal to Trump and his supporters or move away from his influence.Ten House Republicans voted with Democrats January 13 to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last month. Cheney, the only woman on her party’s leadership team, was the highest-ranking Republican to vote for impeachment. She released a statement so strongly condemning Trump that it was cited by Democratic House impeachment managers in their trial brief.FILE – Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 17, 2019.’Never been a greater betrayal’“None of this would have happened without the President,” Cheney wrote in a January 12 statement assigning blame for the riot at the Capitol that left five people dead, including a police officer, and temporarily stopped the counting of Electoral College votes that showed Democrat Joe Biden the winner of the November election.“The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” she said.House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy — who voted along with 146 other Republicans in favor of overturning the Electoral College results on January 6 — has been careful to not call for Cheney’s removal nor to support what she called a “vote of conscience.” Instead, he told cable network CNN last month that she “has a lot of questions she has to answer.”McCarthy has also been meeting privately with Greene to discuss Democrats’ outrage following the revelation of her social media posts advancing numerous conspiracy theories about the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and mass school shootings, as well as her liking a Facebook post calling for the execution of Democratic leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.Greene has said her social media posts are managed by several people and that she does not see all of them. In a Tweet Wednesday, Greene responded to these allegations, writing that Democrats “are only set out to destroy Republicans, your jobs, our economy, your children’s education and lives, steal our freedoms, and erase God’s creation.” Earlier this week, Greene said she had spoken with Trump and had his continuing support.FILE – Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, wears a “Trump Won” face mask as she arrives to take her oath of office as a newly elected member of the U.S. House, in Washington, Jan. 3, 2021.Democrats’ moveHouse Democrats, who control the chamber, have taken the unusual step of filing a resolution that would strip Greene of her committee assignments, denying her one of the most important responsibilities a lawmaker can fulfill.House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland announced Wednesday that the full House would vote Thursday on removing Greene from those assignments. “I spoke to Leader McCarthy this morning and it is clear there is no alternative to holding a floor vote on the resolution to remove Rep. Greene from her committee assignments,” Hoyer said in a statement.The freshman Georgia lawmaker cannot be ousted from her congressional seat, but the Democrats could unite to deny her committee assignments.This push by the Democrats to punish Greene has put McCarthy in a tough position. He has to decide whether to stand by Greene, whom Trump has praised as a “rising star” in the party, or punish her in response to demands from Democrats and some in his own party.Similarly, McCarthy appears to be struggling to determine whether to back Cheney in the face of growing Republican criticism of her impeachment vote or support removing her from her party leadership position while she remains a House member.FILE – House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 12, 2020.Trump impeachment trialThe controversies over Greene and Cheney come as the Senate is poised to begin an impeachment trial of Trump, who has been accused of inciting the insurrection at the Capitol. Trump is the only president in U.S. history to be impeached twice and will be the first to undergo an impeachment trial after leaving office.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, took the unusual step of commenting on House matters earlier this week, not naming Greene in a statement but saying “loony lies and conspiracy theories are cancer for the Republican Party and our country.”Describing the Capitol riot last month, McConnell said, “The mob had been fed lies by the president and other powerful people.” A conviction of Trump in the Senate trial is unlikely since 17 Republicans in the chamber would need to vote along with all 50 Democrats to reach the two-thirds majority needed. Last week, 45 of the 50 Senate Republicans voted in favor of a resolution calling the impeachment trial of a former president unconstitutional.
…
By Polityk | 02/04/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Congressional Leaders Pay Tribute to Officer Who Died Following Capitol Riot
Congressional leaders gathered Wednesday in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda to pay tribute to Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after being injured during the siege of the Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump on January 6. Sicknick’s remains arrived Tuesday at the Capitol in a solemn ceremony featuring dozens of Capitol Police officers, who stood at attention as his urn was carried up the steps to the Rotunda. In remarks during a ceremony Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Sicknick a patriot and said he will never be forgotten. “Each day, when members (of Congress) enter the Capitol, this temple of democracy, we will remember his sacrifice,” she said. Mourners pay their respects during a ceremony memorializing U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, as an urn with his cremated remains lies in honor on a black-draped table at the center of the Capitol Rotunda, Feb. 3, 2021.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also spoke, calling Sicknick “a good, kind man.” Members of the officer’s family attended the ceremony. After their remarks, representatives and senators filed past Sicknick’s remains and paid their respects. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden pay their respects to late Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.Late Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, also paid their respects to the fallen officer, and Capitol Police were given an opportunity to participate in a viewing period overnight. Later Wednesday, Sicknick’s remains will be taken to Arlington National Cemetery for burial. Pelosi and Schumer announced in a joint statement last week that Sicknick would lie in honor in the Rotunda. They said his heroism on January 6 “helped save lives, defend the temple of our democracy and ensure that the Congress was not diverted from our duty to the Constitution.” Thousands of supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol that afternoon as Congress met to confirm Biden’s victory in the November election. Sicnick is only the fifth person to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. Others given that honor were civil rights leader Rosa Parks, televangelist Billy Graham, and Capitol Police officers Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson, who died defending the Capitol building in a shooting attack in 1998.
…
By Polityk | 02/04/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Pentagon Chief Purges Defense Boards; Trump Loyalists Out
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered hundreds of Pentagon advisory board members to resign this month as part of a broad review of the panels, essentially purging several dozen who were appointed last-minute under the Trump administration.
During the last two months of his tenure, former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller removed a number of longtime members from several defense policy, health, science and business boards and replaced many with loyalists of former President Donald Trump. More than 30 of those replacements will now be forced to resign, including former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich, retired Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.
“I am directing the immediate suspension of all advisory committee operations until the review is completed unless otherwise directed by myself or the deputy secretary of defense,” Austin said in a memo released Tuesday. And he ordered all committee members who were appointed by the defense secretary to resign no later than Feb. 16.
Austin said the review will assess whether each board provides value and make sure its focus aligns with “our most pressing strategic priorities and the National Defense Strategy.”
Tata, a former Fox News commentator, failed to get through Senate confirmation for the top Pentagon policy job early last year because of offensive remarks he had made, including about Islam. In November, however, Trump appointed him to that same post, just days after firing then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper and putting Miller in the job.
Miller appointed Tata to the Defense Policy Board on Jan. 19, his last full day on the job. Gingrich was appointed to that same board. Lewandowski was appointed to the Defense Business Board.
A senior defense official said Austin’s decision was driven by the frenetic activity of Miller to remove dozens of board members and replace them in such a short amount of time between Trump’s election loss and the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
Of the 42 advisory panels listed in Austin’s memo, 31 will have their members removed, six will be part of the review but their members will be retained, and five others have either no members at this time or have concluded their business. Among the 31 are some of the department’s most well known boards, including those with purview over defense policy, science, health, innovation, Arlington National Cemetery and women in the military.
All together there are more than 600 members on the 42 boards. Defense officials said they don’t know exactly how many are being asked to resign, but it will be hundreds.
The boards of visitors for the Army, Navy and Air Force academies will keep their members, because those are presidential appointments that Austin does not have the authority to overturn. Among the Trump appointees who will remain on those boards are his former press secretary Sean Spicer and longtime adviser Kellyanne Conway. Those boards, however, will be subject to the review.
One new congressionally mandated commission is also being purged of the four members that Miller appointed in early January. The panel hasn’t started its work yet, but will be responsible for figuring out how to go about renaming military bases and property that honor Confederate leaders. The panel is not subject to Austin’s broader review, but he intends to appoint four new members.
In a letter to Austin this week, U.S. Reps. Anthony Brown, D-Md., and Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, called for the removal of the four Miller appointees on the renaming board. Trump had opposed the renaming of bases, and cited that as a reason for vetoing the defense bill, which included a provision setting up the panel to handle the process.
“Those who are called to serve their nation in this matter must have a deep understanding of and expertise in the history of Confederate monuments and their role in the white supremacist movement,” Brown and Beatty wrote to Austin.
The defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said Austin believed that stopping the activity of all the boards and doing a more intensive review was the fairest and most consistent process.
Officials said the review will look at whether the boards have overlapping jurisdictions and whether they should be realigned or if money could be saved by trimming some of them. It also will make recommendations on the membership balance, size and mission of all the boards.
…
By Polityk | 02/03/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Bidens Pay Respects to Late Capitol Police Officer
U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, paid their respects late Tuesday to Brian Sicknick, the U.S. Capitol Police officer who died defending the Capitol from a pro-Trump mob that stormed the building last month.
Sicknick’s remains arrived at the Capitol a short time earlier and dozens of Capitol Police officers stood at attention as his urn was carried up the steps to the Rotunda where he is lying in honor.
Capitol Police were given an opportunity to participate in a viewing period overnight.
Congressional leaders took part in the solemn arrival ceremony, and lawmakers will pay tribute to Sicknick at a Wednesday morning ceremony before his remains are taken to Arlington National Cemetery.
U.S. Capitol Police officers pay their respects to U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick as an urn with his cremated remains lies in honor on a black-draped table at the center of the Capitol Rotunda, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, in Washington. …House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement last week announcing that Sicknick would lie in honor that his heroism on January 6 “helped save lives, defend the temple of our democracy and ensure that the Congress was not diverted from our duty to the Constitution.”
The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement after the attack that Sicknick, who died the next day, was injured “while physically engaging with protesters.”
Sicknick had worked in the department since 2008.
He is only the fifth person to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. Others given that honor are Civil Rights leader Rosa Parks, renowned televangalist the Reverend Billy Graham, and Capitol Police officers Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson, who died defending the Capitol building in a shooting attack in 1998.
…
By Polityk | 02/03/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
House Democrats, Trump Lawyers Lay Out Clashing Views Ahead of Impeachment Trial
House Democratic impeachment managers and lawyers for Donald Trump on Tuesday laid out their arguments in separate briefs ahead of the former president’s Senate trial next week on charges of inciting a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The House Democratic prosecutors charged that Trump’s incendiary words and actions in the run-up to the attack led his followers to descend on the Capitol “like a loaded cannon” to try to prevent the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump. The riots left five people, including a Capitol Police officer, dead and dozens of others injured. “President Trump’s conduct must be declared unacceptable in the clearest and most unequivocal terms,” they wrote. Trump’s defense lawyers rejected the charges and questioned the constitutionality of the trial, saying there is no precedent for trying a president after he has left office. They also said the former president stands by his claim that the election results were “suspect” and in any event his statements about the election were protected under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. The filings foreshadow the legal arguments both sides will present as the Senate meets beginning next Tuesday to decide whether to convict the 74-year-old former president for fomenting violence at the Capitol and bar him from returning to office. The trial is expected to last about one week. FILE – Democratic House impeachment managers stand before entering the Senate Chamber as they deliver to the Senate the article of impeachment alleging incitement of insurrection against former President Donald Trump, in Washington, Jan. 25, 2021.Trump is the only American president to be impeached twice. In December 2019, he was impeached by the House in connection with his pressing Ukraine’s president to find dirt on Biden, his political rival, but the Republican-controlled Senate later acquitted him. Trump was impeached for the second time on January 13, one week before Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. The single article of impeachment passed by the House accuses Trump of “incitement of insurrection.” Whether Trump will be convicted remains uncertain — although the prospects are slim. At least two thirds of the 100-member Senate must vote in order to convict him. But last week, 45 Republican senators signaled that they found the trial unconstitutional. Here’s a look at what the two sides say about Trump’s impeachment. House managers’ case In their 77-page brief, the House prosecutors allege that Trump’s effort to subvert the election results that led to the January 6 insurrection started well before a single vote was cast in the election. FILE – With the White House in the background, former President Donald Trump speaks his supporters during a rally in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2021.And even as his supporters stormed the Capitol, smashing windows and doors, attacking police and seeking out lawmakers and their staffs with violent intent, the former president did nothing to stop the rampage, the memo says. The House managers also make the case for why Trump can’t claim First Amendment protection for his inflammatory statements about the election results and why he remains subject to impeachment even though he is no longer in office. The First Amendment, they write, does not apply to an impeachment proceeding. “Indeed, the notion that a President can attack our democracy, provoke violence, and interfere with the Electoral College so long as he does so through statements advocating such lawlessness would have astonished the Framers,” they say. FILE – People shelter in the House gallery as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington.Additionally, they point to the “text and structure” of the Constitution as well as precedent to argue that the Senate can try a former president. “The Constitution governs the first day of the President’s term, the last day, and every moment in between,” they say in the memo. “Presidents do not get a free pass to commit high crimes and misdemeanors near the end of their term. ” While no president has ever been tried after leaving the White House, the Democrats cite a precedent — the 1876 impeachment trial of a secretary of war during the Grant administration who resigned his office to avoid an impeachment trial. The Senate held the trial nonetheless. Trump’s defense The Trump defense team’s filing is more of a point-by-point response to the article of impeachment rather than a detailed legal analysis. In the 14-page document, the lawyers question the Senate’s jurisdiction to try Trump, deny that he incited the Capitol riots, and assert that his statements about the election were protected by the First Amendment. “The Constitutional provision requires that a person actually hold office to be impeached,” Trump lawyers David Schoen and Bruce Castor write. “Since the 45th president is no longer president, the clause ‘shall be removed from office on impeachment for’ … is impossible for the Senate to accomplish.” FILE – Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump fight with members of law enforcement at a door they broke open as they storm the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.While they acknowledge that Trump questioned the election results, they argue that his statements that allegedly incited violence were constitutionally protected speech. “Like all Americans, the 45th President is protected by the First Amendment,” the Trump lawyers write. The lawyers push back against the Democrats’ assertion that Trump’s statements at the January 6 rally encouraged the Capitol riots. Trump was merely urging his supporters to “fight for election security” rather than “engage in destructive behavior,” the lawyers write. Trump’s lawyers also reject the Democratic claim that Trump’s conduct was part of his efforts to subvert the election results. These efforts, according to the article of impeachment, included a January 2 phone call to the secretary of state of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s win in that state. “It is denied President Trump made any effort to subvert the certification of the results of the 2020 Presidential election,” the lawyers write.
…
By Polityk | 02/03/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Senate Confirms Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary
The U.S. Senate confirmed Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday as transportation secretary in President Joe Biden’s administration.The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, tweeted he was “honored and humbled” by the Senate’s 86-13 confirmation vote and that he was “ready to get to work.”Buttigieg, an opponent of Biden during the Democratic presidential primaries, is the first openly gay person to fill a U.S. Cabinet position.The 39-year-old will play a leading role in advancing Biden’s infrastructure rebuilding and climate change agendas.He assumes control of an agency with 55,000 employees and a multibillion-dollar budget.He has vowed to begin quickly promoting safety and restoring trust in the country’s transportation systems as airlines, city subway and bus systems, and Amtrak struggle to regain customers lost during the coronavirus pandemic.Buttigieg is also expected to play a leading role in implementing Biden’s $2 trillion climate and infrastructure plan that will focus on rebuilding roads and bridges, expanding zero-emission mass transit, and building 500,000 charging stations over the next decade.During the confirmation hearing, some Republican senators signaled probable fights over the cost and scope of Biden’s plans to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, specifically questioning the administration’s interest in redirecting federal funds for climate initiatives.
…
By Polityk | 02/03/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden to Sign Executive Orders Reversing Trump Immigration Policies
U.S. President Joe Biden is signing executive orders Tuesday to start to dismantle former President Donald Trump’s restrictive immigration policies, including an attempt to reunite families that had been separated at the U.S.-Mexican border.In the first hours of his presidency two weeks ago, Biden acted to halt construction of Trump’s $16 billion wall along the border and sent a far-reaching immigration bill to Congress, where lawmakers have long been stalemated between liberals looking to ease the path to U.S. citizenship and conservatives seeking to stem unauthorized immigration.Biden’s immediate focus is on the 3,100-kilometer southern border with Mexico, where Trump tried to keep thousands of migrants from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala from entering the U.S. Trump led repair and expansion of a border wall and imposed tough detention and deportation policies for those who made it across the desolate border terrain and into the United States.One of the orders Biden is signing would establish a task force designed to reunite more than 600 migrant children with their parents after federal authorities had split them up at the border in 2017 and 2018. Officials say first lady Jill Biden is expected to play an active role in the effort.FILE – Detained migrant children from Central America line up to enter a tent at the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Florida, Feb. 19, 2019.”The Biden administration is committed to remedying this awful harm the Trump administration inflicted on families,” a senior Biden official said, calling the policy a “moral failure” and “national shame.”“President Biden’s strategy is centered on the basic premise that our country is safe and stronger and more prosperous with a safe, orderly and humane immigration system that welcomes immigrants, keeps families together and allows people — both newly arrived immigrants and people who have lived here for generations — to more fully contribute to our country,” the senior official told reporters.The official said that Trump “was so focused on the wall that he did nothing to address the root cause of why people are coming to our southern border. It was a limited, wasteful and naive strategy, and it failed.”By contrast, backers of the previous administration’s border initiatives said Biden’s orders will lead to chaos and lawlessness.“By resuming the pre-pandemic pace of visas, abandoning common-sense asylum policies, and increasing the burden on our strained social safety net, these orders will advance a dangerous open-borders policy, take away jobs from Americans struggling to find employment, and kneecap America’s economic recovery from lockdowns,” Jessica Anderson, director of the political advocacy arm of Washington-based Heritage Foundation, said in a statement.Biden plans to offer new aid to Central American countries to combat corruption and reinstate a program for certain at-risk children to live in the U.S.
The president also is directing the U.S. Homeland Security agency to review a Trump policy that requires non-Mexican migrants to stay in Mexico until their immigration court date in the U.S. but not immediately dismantle the program.FILE – Asylum seekers in Tijuana, Mexico, listen to names being called from a waiting list to allow them an opportunity to make their case, at a border crossing in San Diego, California, Sept. 26, 2019.The policy has left 60,000 asylum seekers waiting in dangerous border towns. Biden has already stopped new enrollments in the program but not disclosed how he intends to deal with those still waiting in Mexico.The president also plans to restore a program from the last Democratic administration under President Barack Obama allowing children under the age of 18 to apply to legally reunite with their parents already living in the United States.“The situation at the border will not transform overnight,” the senior Biden official said. “This is in large part due to the damage done over the last four years, but we are committed to addressing it in full.”More than 70,000 migrants have been detained or arrested at the border in each of the past four months, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.Biden’s directives will also call for restoring the U.S. asylum system, which Trump had overhauled, making it exceedingly difficult for migrants to be granted asylum in the U.S.However, Biden’s immigration changes could face various court challenges. In his first week in office, he already sustained one legal setback when a federal judge temporarily blocked his 100-day pause in deportations while the case proceeds.
…
By Polityk | 02/03/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump Aimed ‘Loaded Cannon’ of Supporters at Capitol, Democrats Allege
Donald Trump endangered the lives of all members of Congress when he aimed a mob of supporters “like a loaded cannon” at the U.S. Capitol, House Democrats said Tuesday in making their most detailed case yet for why the former president should be convicted and permanently barred from office.
The legal brief forcefully links Trump’s baseless efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election to the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, saying he bears “unmistakable” blame for actions that directly threatened the underpinnings of American democracy. It argues that he must be found guilty when his impeachment trial opens before the Senate next week on a charge of inciting the siege.
“His conduct endangered the life of every single Member of Congress, jeopardized the peaceful transition of power and line of succession, and compromised our national security,” the Democratic managers of the impeachment case wrote. “This is precisely the sort of constitutional offense that warrants disqualification from federal office.”
The legal brief lays out for the first time the arguments House lawmakers expect to present at the impeachment trial. It not only explicitly faults him for his role in the riot but also aims to preemptively rebut defense claims that Trump’s words were somehow protected by the First Amendment or that an impeachment trial is unconstitutional, or even unnecessary, now that Trump has left office. It says Trump’s behavior was so egregious as to require permanent disqualification from office. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 11 MB480p | 16 MB540p | 21 MB720p | 45 MB1080p | 84 MBOriginal | 264 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioThe Constitution specifies that disqualification from office can be a punishment for an impeachment conviction.
“This is not a case where elections alone are a sufficient safeguard against future abuse; it is the electoral process itself that President Trump attacked and that must be protected from him and anyone else who would seek to mimic his behavior,” the legal brief states.
Lawyers for Trump are expected to file their own brief Tuesday. In a Fox News appearance Monday night, one of the attorneys, David Schoen, said he would argue that the trial was unconstitutional, that efforts to bar Trump from office were undemocratic. and that his words were protected by the First Amendment.Who Will Represent Trump at His Impeachment Trial ? Less than two weeks before the Trump’s second impeachment trial, the former president introduces new defense team Democrats made clear that they disagree with all points.
“The only honorable path at that point was for President Trump to accept the results and concede his electoral defeat. Instead, he summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue,” they wrote in their 77-page brief.
The Democrats draw heavily on the words of prominent Republicans who have criticized the former president, including Wyoming. Rep. Liz Cheney, who voted for his impeachment and said there has never been a “greater betrayal” by a president, and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who said Trump “provoked” the rioters.
Still, Republicans have signaled that acquittal is likely, with many saying they think Congress should move on and questioning the constitutionality of an impeachment trial — Trump’s second — now that he has left office. In a test vote in the Senate last week, 45 Republicans voted in favor of an effort to dismiss the trial over those constitutional concerns.
Though no president has been tried after departing the White House, Democrats say there is precedent, pointing to an 1876 impeachment of a secretary of war who resigned his office in a last-ditch attempt to avoid an impeachment trial. The Senate held it anyway.Who Are the Impeachment Managers Prosecuting Trump’s Trial? The former president is facing a charge of “incitement of insurrection” in connection with the mob that invaded the Capitol as US lawmakers met to certify the election results that put President Joe Biden in office The Democrats write that the framers of the Constitution would not have wanted to leave the country defenseless against “a president’s treachery in his final days, allowing him to misuse power, violate his Oath, and incite insurrection against Congress and our electoral institutions” simply because he is leaving office. Setting that precedent now would “horrify the Framers,” the brief says.
“There is no ‘January Exception’ to impeachment or any other provision of the Constitution,” the Democrats wrote. “A president must answer comprehensively for his conduct in office from his first day in office through his last.”
Trump was impeached by the House while still in office, they note, forcing a Senate trial. And there are precedents for trying former officials.
“Trump is personally responsible for a violent attack on the Capitol,” they wrote. “He was impeached while still in office. The case for trying him after he has left office is stronger than any of the precedents.”
…
By Polityk | 02/03/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Who Will Represent Trump at His Impeachment Trial ?
Former President Donald Trump hired two new lawyers Sunday (Jan. 31) ahead of his February 9 impeachment trial in the Senate after five members of his legal team quit over the weekend.
Trump hired David Schoen of Alabama and Bruce Castor of Pennsylvania to defend him from the charge of incitement of insurrection regarding the January 6 pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol.
They replaced Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, Trump’s former leading lawyers. The two prominent South Carolina attorneys left after they and the former president failed to reach agreement on the best impeachment strategy, according to media reports.
Trump wanted to argue there was mass election fraud, but his legal team wanted to focus on the constitutionality of the process, CNN reported.
Who are the lawyers on Trump’s legal team?
Schoen: The 67-year-old attended Boston College Law School and then began his legal career in the Deep South. Schoen was allegedly preparing to represent financier Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender who faced charges of sex trafficking, at the time of his death in jail.
Castor: He is a former Republican district attorney in Pennsylvania who made headlines after refusing to prosecute comedian Bill Cosby in a sex crime case. Cosby was later prosecuted by a different district attorney. Castor, 59, who reportedly considered running for Pennsylvania governor in 2014, holds a law degree from Washington and Lee University.
…
By Polityk | 02/02/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
New York Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez Gives Her Account of Capitol Siege
New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Monday gave a live, roughly 90-minute, sometimes emotional account of the January 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former U.S. president Donald Trump, saying at one point she feared for her life.On her Instagram social media account, Ocasio-Cortez gave a detailed account of the time leading up to the day. She also revealed, without elaborating, that she was a victim of sexual assault. She brought it up in the context of members of Congress arguing that it is best for the country to move on from the insurrection and put it behind us. “These folks who tell us to move on, that it’s not a big deal, that we should forget what’s happened or even telling us to apologize — these are the same tactics of abusers,” she said. Ocasio-Cortez said these people also have the same motives, in that they want to move on so they can do it again. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 7 MB480p | 11 MB540p | 15 MB720p | 37 MB1080p | 62 MBOriginal | 68 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioCapitol Siege: Americans See Images They Can’t BelieveIn her account, Ocasio-Cortez talked about being in her office with one other staff member on Jan. 6 when they heard a vigorous pounding at her office doors. Alarmed, she hid in her office bathroom and soon she heard a loud male voice walking through her office repeatedly shouting, “Where is she?” She said in that moment she thought she was about to die.The man turned out to be a Capitol police officer, though he never identified himself and, she said, he looked at her “with a tremendous amount of anger and hostility.” She said she and her staff member were instructed to go to another congressional office building, where she eventually ended up in the office of California Representative Katie Porter, and, later, Massachusetts Representative Ayanna Pressley, both fellow Democrats.Ocasio-Cortez also sought to dispel the statements that the insurrection at the Capitol was not planned ahead of time but was spontaneous. She said she began getting text messages on her phone the week prior to the siege, warning her to be careful on January 6.She said, “Those text messages came from other members of Congress. They were not threats, but they were other members, saying that they knew, and that they were hearing — even from Trump people and Republicans that they knew in their life — that there was violence expected on Wednesday.”
…
By Polityk | 02/02/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden, Senate Republicans Far Apart on New Virus Relief Bill
U.S. President Joe Biden is hosting 10 Republican senators for talks Monday about a new round of coronavirus economic relief, but the U.S. leader and the lawmakers are far apart on how much should be spent. The Democratic president, in the second week of his four-year term, has proposed a $1.9 trillion package but the opposition lawmakers on Monday called for a $618 billion deal. The White House meeting comes after the Republicans sent a letter to Biden, urging him Sunday to negotiate on a new relief deal rather than trying to get his approved solely with the votes of congressional Democrats. Ahead of the meeting, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that while the president is willing to negotiate, “Clearly, he thinks the package size needs to be closer to what he proposed than smaller.” Biden said on Twitter, “Hardworking Americans need help, and they need it now. That’s why I’m calling on Congress to immediately pass my American Rescue Plan that will deliver direct relief, extend unemployment insurance, help folks put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads, and more.” Both Biden and the Republicans are calling for $160 billion for testing, vaccines and personal protective equipment on top of hundreds of billions that were approved last year as the virus swept into the United States. But the president and the lawmakers diverge on other aid proposals. Biden wants to increase $300 weekly unemployment insurance payments from the federal government to $400 and extend them through September, while the Republicans want to keep the payments at the current $300 and only through July. Biden has proposed sending most Americans, all but the biggest wage earners, $1,400 checks on top of the $600 checks that were approved by former President Donald Trump in late December. The Republicans are supporting $1,000 checks for lower-income Americans. Biden agreed to meet with the Republicans as Democratic congressional leaders mapped plans to move quickly this week to adopt Biden’s plan with only the votes of Democrats that control both chambers of Congress. FILE – Senator Susan Collins talks to reporters before attending the impeachment trial of then-President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Jan. 28, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.The Republican senators, led by Senator Susan Collins of Maine, told Biden in a letter on Sunday that they “recognize your calls for unity and want to work in good faith with your administration to meet the health, economic, and societal challenges of the COVID crisis.” Whether Biden and the lawmakers agree to a deal is uncertain. FILE – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., heads to an interview on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 25, 2021.Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer complained that the Republicans are not starting near Biden’s spending proposal. “We cannot do the mistake of 2009 (during the Great Recession) where they whittled down the program so that the amount of relief was so small that the recession lasted four or five years,” Schumer told the New York Daily News on Sunday. But Republicans say Biden will get his administration off to a bad start if he doesn’t compromise with them on coronavirus legislation. “In the spirit of bipartisanship and unity, we have developed a COVID-19 relief framework that builds on prior COVID assistance laws, all of which passed with bipartisan support,” the Republican senators wrote in their letter to Biden. “Our proposal reflects many of your stated priorities, and with your support, we believe that this plan could be approved quickly by Congress with bipartisan support.” Biden press secretary Psaki said in a statement, “With the virus posing a grave threat to the country, and economic conditions grim for so many, the need for action is urgent, and the scale of what must be done is large. As leading economists have said, the danger now is not in doing too much: it is in doing too little. Americans of both parties are looking to their leaders to meet the moment.” FILE – White House press secretary Jen Psaki listens as National Economic Council Director Brian Deese speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Jan. 22, 2021, in Washington.Brian Deese, the director of Biden’s National Economic Council, told CNN on Sunday that the president’s proposal is “calibrated to the economic crisis that we face,” but that Biden would look at the Republican proposal. Deese said Biden is “uncompromising when it comes to the speed we need to act at to address this crisis,” including a reeling economy, a sluggish rollout of coronavirus vaccinations across the country and a steadily increasing U.S. coronavirus death toll. It now stands at more than 441,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. Biden has said Democrats will push through their version of the relief package on a party line vote in Congress if they need to rather than engage in protracted negotiations. Deese declined to say what overall amount Biden would be willing to agree to. But he said the president was willing to target the cash stipends so that money does not go to bigger wage earners. “We want to get cash into the pockets of people who need it the most,” Deese said. “The immediate focus,” he said, “is putting a floor under the economic crisis.” Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, one of the 10 Republicans calling for a compromise with Biden, said, “Let’s focus on those who are struggling.” He said it was “not in the interest of the Democratic Party to ram through” its version of the relief bill. “If you can’t find bipartisanship on COVID-19, I don’t know where you can,” Portman said. COVID-19 is the illness caused by the coronavirus.
…
By Polityk | 02/02/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Blinken Slams Putin for Crackdown on Navalny Supporters
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the Biden administration is considering possible action against Russia, a day after police used batons and tasers against protesters demanding the release of jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny. In an TV interview that aired on Monday, Blinken said he was “deeply disturbed by the violent crackdown.” He also said in the wide-ranging interview that China acted “egregiously” to undermine Hong Kong and warned Iran was months away from the ability to produce the fissile material needed for a nuclear weapon. Russia’s Foreign Ministry claimed that Washington was behind the protests, alleging a “gross intervention in Russia’s affairs.” Riot police detain a man during a rally in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Russia, Jan. 31, 2021.”The Russian government makes a big mistake if it believes that this is about us,” he said in the interview with NBC News. “It’s about them. It’s about the government. It’s about the frustration that the Russian people have with corruption, with autocracy, and I think they need to look inward, not outward.” In the interview, taped on January 31, Blinken did not commit to specific sanctions against Moscow. He said he was reviewing a response to the actions against Navalny, as well as Russian election interference in 2020, the Solar Wind hack, and alleged bounties for U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. “The president could not have been clearer in his conversation with President [Vladimir] Putin,” Blinken said of Joe Biden’s telephone call last week with the Russian leader. IranOn Iran, Blinken warned that Tehran was months away from being able to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon, saying it could be only “a matter of weeks” if Iran continued to lift restraints in the nuclear deal. He said the United States was willing to return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal if Iran does and then work with U.S. allies and partners on a “longer and stronger” agreement including other issues.Pressed about whether the release of detained Americans, which was not part of previous negotiations, would be an absolute condition for an expanded nuclear treaty, he did not commit. “Irrespective of… any deal, those Americans need to be released. Period,” he said. “We’re going to focus on making sure that they come home one way or another.” China
Regarding China, Blinken said that despite World Health Organization inspectors on the ground in Wuhan, Beijing is “falling far short of the mark” when it comes to allowing experts access to the sites where the coronavirus was discovered. He called China’s lack of transparency a “profound problem” that must be addressed. Blinken said the Biden administration would be looking to see whether the U.S. tariffs imposed on Chinese imports by the previous Trump administration were doing more harm to the United States than to their target. He also criticized Chinese actions in Hong Kong, where he said China had acted “egregiously” to undermine its commitments to the semiautonomous island. Under a sweeping national security law criminalizing secession and subversion, pro-democracy demonstrators have been swept up in waves of arrests.
…
By Polityk | 02/02/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
