Розділ: Політика
Security Increased as Washington Mayor Discourages People from Attending Inauguration
The Secret Service and National Guard have both pledged an increase of resources in securing President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, as Washington’s mayor is urging people to stay home for the event. Less than a week after a violent mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters breached Capitol security as Congress was certifying Biden’s win, the Secret Service announced Monday it would begin special security operations on January 13, as opposed to January 19. The National Guard confirmed Monday it would send up to 15,000 troops to secure the inauguration — a stark increase from the roughly 8,000 who secured the 2016 inauguration. Responding to VOA’s question, Biden said Monday he is not concerned for his safety on Inauguration Day. “I’m not worried about taking the oath outside,” he said, adding that those who “engage in sedition and threaten people’s lives” must be held accountable. Preparations take place for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 8, 2021.Meanwhile on Monday, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser is discouraging people from coming to the city for the inauguration and is instead urging them to participate virtually, citing coronavirus concerns and the attack on the U.S. Capitol last week. Speaking to reporters at a briefing Monday, Bowser also said she sent a letter to Trump requesting he declare a “pre-emergency disaster” for the District of Columbia ahead of Biden’s inauguration January 20. Bowser said this year’s inauguration poses “several unprecedented challenges that exceed the scope of our traditional planning processes,” including the pandemic and the events of last Wednesday. FILE – District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks during a news conference in Washington, Nov. 4, 2020.Additionally, Bowser said she has written to acting Homeland Security chief Chad Wolf, requesting that his agency adjust its approach to the inauguration in several specific ways.Bowser is calling for the special security period now in effect for the event to be extended from January 20 through 24. Bowser is asking the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate an effort to establish a security force deployment plan to protect all federal property. She has called on that effort to involve the departments of Defense and Justice along with U.S. Congress and Supreme Court. She said doing so will ensure that the Metropolitan Police Department can focus on its local mission in the District’s eight wards.There has been no immediate comment from Wolf’s department, but last Thursday, he issued a statement saying that what happened at the Capitol was “tragic and sickening.”Separately, Bowser is asking the Department of the Interior to cancel public gathering permits through January 24.If you missed today’s situational update, here’s a thread with some key highlights.
You can also view the full presentation by visiting the following link: https://t.co/onF4sbXmShpic.twitter.com/rADVcaR1b4
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) January 11, 2021The mayor ultimately assessed in her request over the weekend that despite the security assets the city has in place, “significant preparedness gaps remain that cannot be remedied without this emergency declaration and direct federal assistance.”Bowser said a similar pre-emergency declaration was issued in 2009 ahead of President Barack Obama’s inauguration.Bowser cited “new threats from insurgent acts of domestic terrorists” in her letter.The District of Columbia does not have jurisdiction over the Capitol and other federal property within its borders.VOA’s Carolyn Presutti contributed to this report.
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By Polityk | 01/12/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US House Moves to Impeach Trump, Again
The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives moved Monday to impeach President Donald Trump in the waning days of his presidency, accusing him of “incitement of insurrection” in last week’s storming of the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters seeking to overturn his reelection defeat. Even though Trump’s four-year term expires at noon January 20, the four-page impeachment resolution said Trump has “demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law.” The House, with a slim Democratic majority, could vote in next day or two on the impeachment resolution. A total of 218 Democrats have signed on to the impeachment resolution, insuring a majority in the 435-member House without any Republican votes against the outgoing Republican president. FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump is seen on TV from a video message released on Twitter addressing rioters at the US Capitol, in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House, Jan. 6, 2020.But it is unclear whether House leaders would immediately send it to the Senate for trial on whether to convict him and remove him from office, given that Trump will soon be out of office. FILE – U.S. President-elect Joe Biden speaks at a news conference at his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, Jan. 6, 2021.President-elect Joe Biden says he wants to focus first on getting the Senate to confirm his Cabinet appointments when he takes office and approve more aid for the flagging U.S. economy wreaked by the soaring coronavirus pandemic. While Democrats pushed for impeachment, House Republicans blocked a tandem Democratic effort calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to try to remove Trump as incapacitated to continue to stay in office. The four-page impeachment resolution cites Trump’s unfounded accusations that he was cheated out of a second four-year term by vote and vote-counting irregularities, his pressure on election officials in the southern state of Georgia to “find” him more than 11,000 votes to overtake Biden’s margin of victory in the state, and his statements at a rally last Wednesday urging thousands of supporters to march to the Capitol to pressure lawmakers to overturn the election outcome. A photo illustration shows the suspended Twitter account of U.S. President Donald Trump on a smartphone at the White House briefing room in Washington, D.C., Jan. 8, 2021.Trump, banned from Twitter for his false, incendiary comments alleging election fraud, has not publicly commented on the effort to impeach him a second time, which would give him a singular distinction among 45 U.S. presidents in the 245-year history of the United States. The House impeached him the first time in late 2019, accusing him of trying to get Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden ahead of last November’s election, but the Senate acquitted Trump in early February. At last Wednesday’s rally near the White House, Trump told several thousand people, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” The largely white mob that walked to the Capitol quickly overwhelmed police there, storming inside in droves, breaking windows, ransacking some congressional offices and scuffling with security officials. Dozens of Trump supporters have been arrested and authorities are scouring security videos and social media accounts the rioters posted of themselves inside the Capitol to identify other wrongdoers. Five people died in the mayhem, including a police officer whose death is being investigated as a homicide. FILE – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California speaks on Capitol Hill, Dec. 30, 2020.In a letter to House Democrats late Sunday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “We will act with urgency, because this president represents an imminent threat. The horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this president is intensified and so is the immediate need for action.” Pence has given no indication that he will play a role in trying to oust his boss before Trump’s term ends.FILE – Vice President Mike Pence speaks in Bloomington, Ind., Dec. 15, 2020.However, to Trump’s anger, Pence refused his entreaties to disavow the certification of the Electoral College outcome last week that showed Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris had defeated Trump and Pence to oust them after a single four-year term in office. Trump has refused to concede his defeat or call Biden with congratulations, but he has acknowledged there will be a “new administration” come January 20. Trump has announced that he will not attend Biden’s inauguration, ignoring a long-standing tradition in the U.S. of an outgoing chief executive witnessing his successor take office as a show of the peaceful transition in power in the U.S. democracy. Pence, however, does plan to attend the ceremony on the steps of the Capitol, which will be down-scaled significantly because of the surging number of coronavirus cases in the U.S.
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By Polityk | 01/12/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Melania Trump: ‘Disappointed and Disheartened’ by Storming of US Capitol
U.S. first lady Melania Trump on Monday said she was “disappointed and disheartened” by the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a mob of supporters of her husband looking to overturn his loss for re-election, but also said it was “shameful” that she was the subject of what she characterized as “salacious gossip” and “unwarranted personal attacks.” In a statement from the White House, the first lady voiced her grief at the deaths of six people linked to last Wednesday’s mayhem at the Capitol, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, and a second officer, Howard Liebengood, who had responded to the chaos at the Capitol but committed suicide over the weekend while off duty. “Our nation must heal in a civil manner,” Melania Trump said. “Make no mistake about it, I absolutely condemn the violence that has occurred on our nation’s Capitol. Violence is never acceptable.” Capitol police officers in riot gear push back demonstrators who try to break a door of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)She added, “I implore people to stop the violence, never make assumptions based on the color of a person’s skin or use differing political ideologies as a basis for aggression and viciousness. We must listen to one another, focus on what unites us, and rise above what divides us.” President Donald Trump urged thousands of his supporters to march to the Capitol during a January 6 rally near the White House where, as he had for weeks, leveled unfounded accusations that he was cheated out of re-election.President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)Hours later as his supporters stormed the Capitol, he urged them to “go home” but also told them, “We love you, you’re very special.” In the early hours of January 7, after police restored order in the Capitol, lawmakers certified the Electoral College victory of Democrat Joe Biden, who is set to be inaugurated as the country’s 46th president in nine days. FILE – Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, former senior advisor to first lady Melania Trump.“I wish I could say I was shocked by President Trump’s actions, but sadly I cannot, or say I don’t comprehend Melania’s silence and inactions, but pathetically, they are both expected,” Wolkoff wrote. “Melania knows how to ‘Be Best’ at standing up and reading from a teleprompter and not from the heart. She and her husband lack character and have no moral compass.” Melania Trump also appeared to be saying farewell to her time in the White House before her husband’s term ends at noon on January 20.“It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your First Lady,” she said.FILE – President Donald Trump walks with first lady Melania Trump at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland, Ohio, Sept. 29, 2020.“I want to thank the millions of Americans who supported my husband and me over the past 4 years and shown the incredible impact of the American spirit. I am grateful to you all for letting me serve you on platforms which are dear to me.” President Trump on Monday ordered American flags to be flown at half-staff through Wednesday at sunset to honor Sicknick and Liebengood.
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By Polityk | 01/12/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden to Tap Veteran Diplomat William Burns as CIA Chief
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden announced Monday he will nominate career diplomat William Burns to be his director of the Central Intelligence Agency.In a statement Monday, Biden’s transition team said Burns is a 33-year U.S. State Department veteran who has served under both Republican and Democratic presidents.Burns rose through the ranks of the diplomatic corps and served as ambassador to Jordan under former U.S President Bill Clinton and ambassador to Russia under former U.S. President George W. Bush. The 64-year old diplomat was named deputy secretary of state in 2011 by U.S. President Barack Obama before retiring in 2014 to run the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace.In a statement, President-elect Biden said Burns’ bipartisan experience ensures he will bring an “apolitical” approach and perspective to intelligence that will keep America safe. “The American people will sleep soundly with him as our next CIA Director,” said Biden of Burns.Ambassador Burns has received three Presidential Distinguished Service Awards and the highest civilian honors from the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community. He attended LaSalle University in Philadelphia where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history and earned a master’s and doctoral degrees in international relations from Oxford University, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar.
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By Polityk | 01/11/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Parler Social Network Service Loses Web Hosting
Parler, a social network service popular with conservatives, went offline Monday after its web hosting service Amazon suspended it for allowing posts that encourage violence.
Before the site went down, Parler CEO John Matze accused Amazon and other tech giants of a “war on free speech.”
Google banned Parler’s smartphone app from its app store on Friday, also citing Parler’s allowance of posts that seek to incite violence in the United States.
Apple instituted its own Parler ban on Saturday.
The two-year-old Parler saw an increase in users in recent months as social media giants Facebook and Twitter stepped up enforcement of posts that violated their policies.
Both Facebook and Twitter suspended President Donald Trump’s accounts last week after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
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By Polityk | 01/11/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Sets Out Plans to Call for Trump’s Removal
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House of Representatives will offer a resolution Monday calling on President Donald Trump’s Cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment, removing him from office.In a letter to her Democratic colleagues, Pelosi said if Vice President Mike Pence does not respond within 24 hours, the House will proceed with impeachment.“In protecting our Constitution and our democracy, we will act with urgency, because this president represents an imminent threat to both. As the days go by, the horror of the ongoing assault on our democracy perpetrated by this President is intensified and so is the immediate need for action,” the letter read.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 8 MB480p | 12 MB540p | 15 MB720p | 31 MB1080p | 63 MBOriginal | 188 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioUS Lawmakers Discuss Next Moves as Nation Grapples to Understand Violence at Capitol BuildingThe push to remove Trump from office in his final days comes amid growing calls to hold him accountable for last Wednesday’s mayhem that left five people dead at the U.S. Capitol as a mob of Trump supporters stormed past police into the building.Neither Trump nor the White House responded to Pelosi’s move on Sunday.President-elect Joe Biden has taken a hands-off stance on the impeachment move against the outgoing president who has yet to concede the election but has acknowledged there will be a “new administration” in Washington come January 20.“In 10 days, we move forward and rebuild — together,” Biden said Sunday on Twitter.In 10 days, we move forward and rebuild — together.— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 10, 2021One of Pelosi’s top congressional lieutenants, Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, told the “Fox News Sunday” show that the House could vote on impeachment within days, even though Trump’s four-year presidency ends next week with the inauguration of Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.Given that Trump will be out of office shortly, there is little likelihood that the Senate would hold an impeachment trial before his term ends, although it could do so after he leaves, and if it convicts him, keep him from ever holding federal office again.But Clyburn said the urgency to impeach Trump for a second time is paramount.“Our business is to impeach, basically an indictment,” Clyburn said. “Our vote is our voice, and our vote is a voice of disapproval.”Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a long-time Trump critic, said she would introduce two articles of impeachment against Trump on Monday for “abuse of power” for pressuring election officials in the southern state of Georgia to overturn Biden’s narrow win there and “incitement of violence for orchestrating an attempted coup against our country” with the storming of the Capitol.In Photos: Electoral College ProtestsProtesters back President Trump’s objection to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the November electionAt least 180 House Democrats have signed on to the impeachment effort, but that number is short of the 218 majority in the 435-member House, and no Republicans have voiced their support for it.About two-thirds of the House Republican caucus voted last week against accepting the election results in the eastern state of Pennsylvania, one of a half dozen states Biden narrowly won to capture the presidency.Trump and the White House have remained silent on the possible impeachment. The White House says Trump is scheduled to visit Texas on Tuesday to highlight his administration’s work on a border wall separating the U.S. from Mexico.Republican Senator Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican and head of the committee planning Biden’s inauguration, told CBS News’s “Face the Nation” show that Trump’s impeachment and removal from office “clearly is not going to happen between now and the last day he is in office.”Two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, have called for Trump to resign, but the president has told advisers he does not plan to do so.“I think at this point, with just a few days left, it’s the best path forward, the best way to get this person in the rear-view mirror for us,” Toomey said Sunday on CNN, in calling for Trump to quit voluntarily. “That could happen immediately. I’m not optimistic it will.”“I don’t think there’s any doubt, none in my mind, that the president’s behavior after the election was wildly different than his behavior before,” Toomey said. “He descended into a level of madness and engaged in activity that was just absolutely unthinkable and unforgivable.”In Extraordinary Rebuke, US Diplomats Blast Trump for Capitol RiotForeign service officers say last week’s events may badly undermine US credibility to promote and defend democratic values abroad, call for Trump’s removal from officeMeanwhile, some U.S. diplomats have condemned Trump’s incitement of the assault on the Capitol and called for use of the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to declare him as incapacitated and remove him from office.The overseas envoys, using what is known as the State Department’s “dissent channel,” said they feared last Wednesday’s siege may badly undermine U.S. credibility abroad to promote democratic values.”Failing to publicly hold the president to account would further damage our democracy and our ability to effectively accomplish our foreign policy goals abroad,” said one of the cables that was sent to State Department leadership.The assault on the Capitol is also having financial repercussions for the president and other Republicans.The PGA of America announced late Sunday it is terminating an agreement to hold the 2022 PGA Championship, one of golf’s four major tournaments, at Trump’s Bedminster course in New Jersey.In a statement, PGA of America President Jim Richerson did not mention Trump or Wednesday’s events, but said holding the tournament at the Bedminister course would be “detrimental to the PGA of America brand.”Marriott International, the world’s largest hotel company, and health insurance giant Blue Cross Blue Shield each said Sunday they would suspend donations to U.S. lawmakers who voted against certifying Biden’s election win.Major banks, including JPMorgan and Citigroup, have announced a pause in all political donations.
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By Polityk | 01/11/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Lawmakers Discuss Next Moves as Nation Grapples to Understand Violence at Capitol Building
With U.S. President-elect Joe Biden set to be inaugurated on Jan. 20, one question being debated is whether Congress will pursue a second impeachment of outgoing President Donald Trump over his alleged role in last Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol building. Michelle Quinn reports.
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By Polityk | 01/11/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Senate’s Top Democrat Warns of Possible Violence at Biden Inauguration
U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned Sunday about the threat of violence at the January 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, especially in the aftermath of last week’s storming of the U.S. Capitol by thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump trying to block Biden’s ascension to power.Schumer, soon to be the Senate majority leader, said he spoke with FBI Director Christopher Wray on Saturday “to urge him to relentlessly pursue the mob of violent insurrectionists, incited by President Trump, who attacked the United States Capitol and killed a police officer, as well as guard against potential additional attacks.”Schumer said, “The threat of violent extremist groups remains high and the next few weeks are critical in our democratic process with the upcoming inauguration.”FILE – Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) speaks to reporters with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi looking on, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 20, 2020.Similarly, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, in a letter dated Saturday, asked acting Homeland Security chief Chad Wolf to extend the three-day period for the national security designation currently surrounding the inauguration to a two-week period starting Monday and extending to January 24.Bowser also asked Wolf for other unspecified “direct federal assistance” to plan for the quadrennial inauguration, federal law enforcement help during the inauguration so the city’s police force can tend to normal patrols throughout the city and daily FBI threat briefings throughout the inauguration period.The mayor said she wants the federal Interior Department to reject requests for public gathering permits throughout that period.She said her requests were “essential to demonstrating our collective resolve in ensuring the constitutional transition of power.”Trump announced Friday that he would not be attending Biden’s inauguration, which would make him the first president in modern history who will not attend his successor’s swearing-in. Vice President Mike Pence is expected to attend, as will former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.FILE – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is sworn in as his wife Jill Biden watches during the inauguration of President Barack Obama in Washington, Jan. 20, 2009.Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt who is overseeing Biden’s inauguration told the Missourinet website that he spent time Thursday reviewing FBI intelligence reports on the attack on the Capitol. He said the smaller inauguration crowd, prompted by COVID-19 restrictions, will be easier to handle than the more typical 200,000 attendees.And the Secret Service, which is leading a team of law enforcement agencies in providing security for the inauguration, issued a statement Friday that it has been working for more than a year “to anticipate and prepare for all possible contingencies at every level to ensure a safe and secure Inauguration Day.”Law enforcement personnel were overwhelmed as thousands of Trump’s supporters stormed into the Capitol last Wednesday trying to block congressional certification of the Electoral College vote showing Biden had defeated Trump. Several lawmakers, including Democratic Senator Chris Murphy have questioned how law enforcement could have missed warnings of the coming attack. He told NPR on Friday that, “you didn’t have to be on the dark web to know that something really terrible might happen on Wednesday.” And calls for similar protests are continuing online, Twitter said in a statement Friday.“Plans for future armed protests have already begun proliferating on and off-Twitter, including a proposed secondary attack on the U.S. Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17, 2021,” it said.Just as numerous Trump adherents had called for the protest on social media accounts, similarly, there are calls for more demonstrations as Biden is inaugurated as the country’s 46th president, in an event organizers are calling a “Million Militia March.”Some organizers, calling themselves “common folk who are tired of being tread upon,” are also calling for an “Armed March on All State Capitals” for January 17, three days ahead of the inauguration.
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By Polityk | 01/11/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
In Extraordinary Rebuke, US Diplomats Blast Trump for Capitol Riot
In a highly unusual move, American diplomats have drafted two cables condemning President Donald Trump’s incitement of the deadly assault on the Capitol and calling for administration officials to support invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. Using what is known as the State Department’s “dissent channel,” the career foreign service officers said they fear last Wednesday’s siege may badly undermine U.S. credibility to promote and defend democratic values abroad. “Failing to publicly hold the president to account would further damage our democracy and our ability to effectively accomplish our foreign policy goals abroad,” according to the second of the two cables, which were circulated among diplomats late last week and then sent to State Department leadership. The cables were an extraordinary protest against a sitting U.S. president by American diplomats, who have long complained that the Trump administration has ignored and diminished their role and expertise. The dissent channel is normally used to oppose specific foreign policy decisions. The two most recent cables appear to be unprecedented in their scope and characterization of the president as a danger to the country. The cables also reflect anger at the response to the riot by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a loyal Trump ally.
Pompeo has condemned the violence at the Capitol but pointedly not addressed the role Trump played in encouraging his supporters who stormed the building. Nor has Pompeo addressed the aftermath or acknowledged that American diplomats overseas may now face new difficulty in promoting democracy. For his part, Trump has railed about what he sees as disloyalty at the State Department. He once referred to it publicly — and in front of Pompeo and reporters — as “the deep State Department,” a reference to what Trump and his supporters believe is a cabal of entrenched bureaucrats intent on subverting his policies.It was not immediately clear how many diplomats signed the cables, both of which were viewed by The Associated Press. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “It is essential that the Department of State explicitly denounce President Trump’s role in this violent attack on the U.S. government,” said the first of the two cables, which added that the president’s own comments should not be used “as he is not a credible voice on this matter.” “Just as we routinely denounce foreign leaders who use violence and intimidation to interfere in peaceful democratic processes and override the will of their voters, the department’s public statements about this episode should also mention President Trump by name. It is critical that we communicate to the world that in our system, no one — not even the president — is above the law or immune from public criticism.””This would be a first step towards repairing the damage to our international credibility,” it said. “It would allow the beacon of democracy to shine on despite this dark episode. It would also send a strong message to our friends and adversaries that the Department of State applies an ethos of integrity and objective standards when it condemns assaults on democracy at home or abroad.”The second cable goes further, demanding that Pompeo explicitly recognize President-elect Joe Biden’s election and condemn Trump’s actions. It also said Pompeo should support any effort by Vice President Mike Pence and other Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
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By Polityk | 01/11/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Arnold Schwarzenegger Invokes Post-Nazi Europe in Video Condemning Capitol Violence
In an emotional video message with intimate references to his childhood in post-Nazi Austria, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger condemned the recent violence on Capitol Hill, and what he called President Donald’s Trump’s lies which incited the revolt.
“President Trump sought to overturn the results of an election, and of a fair election. He sought a coup by misleading people with lies,” Schwarzenegger, the 73-year-old former actor who most notably played the role of the Terminator during his Hollywood career, said in a seven-minute video posted on social media Sunday.
“My father and our neighbors were misled also with lies, and I know where such lies lead,” said Schwarzenegger, a Republican.My message to my fellow Americans and friends around the world following this week’s attack on the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/blOy35LWJ5— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 10, 2021Trump has maintained, without any evidence, that he won the Nov. 3 election. A mob of his supporters breached security on Capitol Hill Wednesday while Congress finalized the certification of rival Joe Biden’s victory. In a video to his supporters in the midst of the violence Wednesday, the president asked them to go home, but maintained that he had won.
Trump later issued a video in which he promised a smooth transition of power. A deputy White House press secretary tweeted Thursday that the White House and president condemned the violence.
Schwarzenegger warned Sunday that while Trump may become “irrelevant as an old tweet” after the inauguration, lawmakers, whom he criticized for their “spinelessness,” would have to be held accountable for their actions, and that laws would have to be passed so that Wednesday’s events could never happen again.
Schwarzenegger recounted stories of his Austrian childhood post-World War II, where his father and neighbors drank to excess in the aftermath of what he called “the most evil regime” in history.
Comparing the Nazis to the Proud Boys, a white supremacist group the Southern Poverty Law Center calls a hate group, Schwarzenegger noted that many men in his childhood community were not “rabid anti-Semites or Nazis.”
“Many just went along, step-by-step, down the road,” he said.
With a nod to his Hollywood career, Schwarzenegger picked up “Conan’s sword” – a prop used in his 1982 film “Conan the Barbarian,” as music swelled in the background.
“Here’s the thing about swords – the more you temper a sword, the stronger it becomes,” he said.
“Our democracy is like the steel of this sword – the more it is tempered, the stronger it becomes. Our democracy has been tempered by wars, injustices, and insurrections,” he said.
“I believe, as shaken as we are by the events of recent days, we will come out stronger because we now understand what can be lost,” the former governor said.
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By Polityk | 01/11/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Lawmakers Likely Exposed to Coronavirus During Riot Lockdown, Official Warns
U.S. lawmakers who were in lockdown when a violent mob breached security at the Capitol last week likely have been exposed to the coronavirus, Congress’ attending physician warned Sunday.
“On Wednesday January 6, many members of the House community were in protective isolation in a room located in a large committee hearing space,” Dr. Brian Monahan wrote in an email to lawmakers.
“The time in this room was several hours for some and briefer for others. During this time, individuals may have been exposed to another occupant with coronavirus infection.”Here’s the letter from Dr. Brian Monahan to all members of Congress and staff. pic.twitter.com/SeqNoPA6B0— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) January 10, 2021Monahan didn’t specify how many members were in the room or who, if anyone, from the room is known to have tested positive.
Many lawmakers and staff have expressed outrage as images surfaced of Republican members of Congress not wearing masks during the lockdown.
On Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump, angry over his loss to Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 election, forced their way into the building that contains the House and Senate while lawmakers were meeting in a joint session to certify Biden’s victory.
Many photos show rioters not wearing masks.
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By Polityk | 01/10/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
House Likely to Offer Articles of Impeachment Against Trump on Monday
Efforts to hold President Donald Trump accountable for his role in inciting the mob that overran the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday gained momentum Saturday, with Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives announcing they will offer articles of impeachment as early as Monday.Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from the state of California, who helped draft the charges against Trump, tweeted Saturday afternoon that the articles had 180 co-sponsors, although no Republicans were among them.UPDATE to the update: We’ve just hit 180 cosponsors of the Article of Impeachment drafted by Rep District of Columbia National Guardsmen stand outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after a day of rioting Trump supporters.“It’s also very difficult in a situation in which the president is not in a coma or not otherwise physically incapacitated that he can’t function or operate because under the 25th Amendment, once it is invoked the president can notify Congress that he is able to discharge the powers of the office and take that power back,” said John Hudak, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution.An overwhelming number of Democratic lawmakers – and some Republicans – have expressed support for removing Trump from power or censuring his actions.Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has called for Trump to resign, making her the first Republican senator to endorse a presidential resignation.“I want him to resign,” she told The Anchorage Daily News. “I want him out. He has caused enough damage.”“He hasn’t been focused on what is going on with COVID,” Murkowski said. “He’s either been golfing, or he’s been inside the Oval Office fuming and throwing every single person who has been loyal and faithful to him under the bus, starting with the vice president. … He needs to get out.”Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey declined Saturday on Fox News to commit to voting in favor of Trumps removal despite saying he had “committed impeachable offenses.” However, Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse told CBS News that he would definitely consider impeachment.But House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy indicated he does not support impeachment.President-elect Joe Biden has said Trump wasn’t fit for office, but he declined to endorse Democratic calls that he be impeached for a second time. Biden said the situation would be different if Trump were not leaving office in less than two weeks.“If we were six months out, we should be doing everything to get him out of office. Impeaching him again, trying to evoke the 25th Amendment, whatever it took,” Biden said. “But I am focused now on us taking control as president and vice president on the 20th and to get our agenda moving as quickly as we can.”Trump was impeached on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in December 2019 but was acquitted in a trial in the U.S. Senate in February 2020. No American president has ever faced two impeachment votes.“There are two reasons to pursue impeachment,” said Paul Berman, a professor of law at the George Washington University School of Law. “One is simply to make it clear that a sitting president inciting an insurrection against the United States government is perhaps the worst thing that a president could ever possibly do. And that statement needs to be made. Second, and more pragmatically, if he were impeached, and convicted, that would prevent him from running for office in the future.”
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By Polityk | 01/10/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
White House Pushed Top Federal Prosecutor in Atlanta to Resign, Paper Says
The White House pushed the top federal prosecutor in Atlanta to resign before Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff because President Donald Trump was unhappy that he wasn’t doing enough to investigate Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.The Justice Department on Tuesday tapped a new federal prosecutor to lead the Atlanta office, a day after the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, Byung J. “BJay” Pak, abruptly resigned.Pak’s resignation drew attention because Trump appeared to refer to him in a recent phone call with Georgia’s secretary of state in which the outgoing Republican president asked state officials to try to “find” enough votes to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.In a recording obtained by numerous media outlets, Trump appeared to complain during the call about Pak without naming him, saying there was a “Never Trumper U.S. attorney” in Georgia.The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said that at the behest of the White House, a senior Justice Department official called and told Pak he needed to step down because he was not pursuing the voter-fraud allegations to Trump’s satisfaction.The White House declined to comment while the Justice Department and Pak did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on Saturday.Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Jon Ossoff unseated Republican David Perdue in Tuesday’s runoffs, giving Democrats control of the U.S. Senate.
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By Polityk | 01/10/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Twitter Bans Trump, Removes Tweet by Iran’s Khamenei on Same Day, Sparking ‘Double Standards’ Backlash
U.S. tech giant Twitter took sharply different actions against the leaders of the U.S. and Iran on Friday, permanently banning President Donald Trump’s personal account while removing one tweet from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s apparent English account and suspending new posts on it.The greater severity of Twitter’s action against the @realdonaldtrump account, compared with the social media company’s treatment of Khamenei, prompted both critics and supporters of the U.S. president to post dozens of Twitter messages accusing the platform of double standards.Many of Twitter’s critics said the @Khamenei_IR account, which is not Twitter-verified but regularly shares his statements, has a history of posting comments against Israel, his regional enemy, that they view as more severe incitement to violence than recent Trump tweets deemed by the platform to violate its glorification of violence policy.The chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pal, tweeted screenshots of some of Khamenei’s most strongly worded anti-Israel posts in May, saying he believed they raise a “serious” question about potential glorification of violence.Serious question for @Twitter: Do these tweets from Supreme Leader of Iran @khamenei_ir violate “Twitter Rules about glorifying violence”? pic.twitter.com/oEkCC8UzFV— Ajit Pai (@AjitPaiFCC) May 29, 2020In a Friday message to VOA Persian, Jason Brodsky, policy director of U.S. advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran, said: “Twitter accounts of Khamenei, other autocrats and their representatives include deeply hateful and dangerous content that incites violence against groups. We’ve seen Khamenei’s call for the elimination of Israel, which is incitement. So if Twitter has a policy against incitement of violence, it needs to be applied uniformly.”A Twitter spokesperson responded to the accusations of double standards in enforcing incitement prohibitions by telling VOA Persian that the platform has taken enforcement action against world leaders prior to Friday.The spokesperson said Twitter focused its Friday actions on what he called the “harm presented by [Trump’s personal] account specifically,” and shared a link to Twitter’s statement explaining why it believes Trump’s last tweets have the potential to incite further violence following Wednesday’s storming of the U.S. Capitol complex by some of his supporters.Asked what Twitter is doing to demonstrate that it is treating world leaders consistently, the spokesperson said the company’s policy of displaying a “government account” label for users affiliated with the five permanent member states of the U.N. Security Council will soon be expanded to include similar labeling for the officials of other nations. No further details were provided.Twitter’s action against the Khamenei account came hours before its banning of Trump.The Khamenei account had posted a Friday tweet in which the Iranian supreme leader called coronavirus vaccines produced by the U.S., Britain and France “completely untrustworthy” and accused the Western powers of trying to “contaminate” other nations by offering to send them the vaccines.I call on @Jack to suspend @khamenei_ir account for spreading dangerous lies about COVID-19. He has banned Iranians from @Twitter but spreads lies on the same platform about vaccines. His posts MUST have a warning label, at least. Please retweet this. pic.twitter.com/XCxDXK7qBw— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 8, 2021The Khamenei tweet prompted Iranian activists such as VOA Persian TV show host Masih Alinejad to urge Twitter to suspend his account for spreading misinformation about the vaccines. Twitter removed the tweet from public view after several hours.Twitter’s spokesperson told VOA the offending tweet violated the platform’s misleading information policy and the @Khamenei_IR owner would have to delete the post before regaining access to the account.It was the first time since February 2019 that Twitter had acted against the Iranian supreme leader’s main English account.That month, the @Khamenei_IR account posted a tweet endorsing a 1989 fatwa by his predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had condemned British author Salman Rushdie to death for writing a book that the ruling cleric deemed insulting to Islam, The Satanic Verses.Just a reminder that not only did Twitter remove this tweet by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei for “threat of violence or physical harm” against Salman Rushdie last year, they also locked him out of his account for 24 hours until his account deleted the tweet. pic.twitter.com/T09y48Zo4S— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) October 28, 2020Twitter said the tweet about Rushdie constituted a threat of violence, removed it from public view and locked the @Khamenei_IR account for a day until the account owner deleted the post.In a Friday tweet, BBC Middle East correspondent Nafiseh Kohnavard said Twitter’s decisions to keep the Khamenei account visible and ban Trump have confounded many Iranians. Many Iranians users are asking Twitter how it closed down Mr. Trump’s account but Iran supreme leader Mr. Khamenei’s account is still active especially when Twitter is banned inside Iran and it’s needed VPN.— Nafiseh Kohnavard (@nafisehkBBC) January 9, 2021She said Twitter’s moves were especially perplexing to Iranians who resent Khamenei for blocking Twitter inside Iran and forcing them to access it via virtual private networks.The Trump administration has denounced Iran’s bans on Western social media platforms as suppression of legitimate forms of communication. Speaking in 2018, a State Department spokeswoman said: “When a nation clamps down on social media, we ask the question, ‘What are you afraid of?’”This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service.
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By Polityk | 01/09/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Riot at the Capitol Opens Cracks in Trump’s Republican Support
This week’s joint session of Congress shaped up as President Donald Trump’s last chance – however far-fetched – to subvert the November election results and claim victory for another term. And he counted on the continued loyalty of Vice President Mike Pence, who formally presided over the proceeding. Steve Redisch has more.Producer: Kim Weeks
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By Polityk | 01/09/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Pro-Trump State Lawmaker Among Rioters Charged with Storming US Capitol
A pro-Trump state lawmaker who filmed himself storming the U.S. Capitol and an Arkansas man who was photographed with his foot on the desk of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are among more than a dozen rioters charged so far by federal prosecutors as part of a far-ranging investigation into Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol, federal officials announced Friday.Derrick Evans, a Republican member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, was charged with entering a restricted area on the Capitol grounds. Evans broadcast a Facebook Live video of himself breaking into the building with a crowd of rioters, at one point saying, “We’re in, we’re in, baby.” In an earlier video posted on Facebook, Evans warned that the rioters would storm the building.This image released by the FBI on Jan. 8, 2021, shows protesters in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, in Washington. The FBI is seeking to identify the protesters.The West Virginia lawmaker’s participation in the riots has prompted calls for his resignation and drew criticism from the state governor.Evans could not be immediately reached. But his lawyer, John Bryan, said in a statement to CNN on Thursday that “it wasn’t apparent to Mr. Evans that he wasn’t allowed to follow the crowd into this public area of the Capitol, inside which members of the public were already located.”Arkansas resident Richard Barnett’s photograph, showing him smirking and seated at Pelosi’s desk, became an iconic image of the rioting, the first mass attack on the U.S. Capitol in more than two centuries.Barnett, 60, was arrested in Little Rock, Arkansas, Friday morning and charged with entering the speaker’s office where he took some of Pelosi’s mail and left behind a note, federal officials said. He faces three counts: knowingly entering and remaining in restricted grounds; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and theft of public money or public property, according to court documents released on Friday.Barnett told a local television outlet in Arkansas that he was looking for a bathroom when he entered the speaker’s office. He claimed that he bled on an envelope on Pelosi’s desk and took it while leaving a quarter as compensation.The two men are among 13 people charged so far in federal court in the District of Columbia in connection with the rioting. The charges were filed on Thursday and unsealed on Friday. In addition, about 40 others were charged in the D.C. superior court, the majority of them for illegal entry and curfew violations.Among those charged in federal court, Lonnie Coffman, a 70-year-old Alabama resident, was charged with possession of an unregistered firearm and carrying a pistol without a license. Inside his pickup truck parked behind the Capitol, police on Wednesday found 11 Molotov cocktails that an official said “would essentially constitute homemade napalm.”FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 24, 2020.FBI Director Christopher Wray stressed that the charges announced so far “are just the beginning of the FBI’s ongoing efforts to hold those responsible” for Wednesday’s riots.“We will continue to aggressively investigate each and every individual who chose to ignore the law and instead incite violence, destroy property and injure others,” Wray said in a statement.Ken Cole, the first assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said that the Justice Department assigned hundreds of prosecutors and agents to what is a fluid, 24/7 operation to identify and arrest the perpetrators.“The department will spare no resources in our efforts to hold all of these people accountable, and it’s going to be something that we’ll be continuing to work on, in the coming hours, days and weeks as we pursue this investigation,” Cole told reporters on a press call.The rioting and looting erupted Wednesday afternoon as hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump, angry over Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the November 3 election, stormed the Capitol that contains the House and Senate while lawmakers were meeting in a joint session to certify Biden’s victory.Trump for weeks has falsely claimed that he won the election in a landslide but was robbed of his victory – a claim believed by many of his followers. During a rally near the White House on Wednesday, Trump urged thousands of his supporters to march to the Capitol to protest the election results.The subsequent violence, which left five dead, including a police officer, temporarily halted the certification process, but lawmakers returned to the chambers later in the evening to certify Biden as the next president of the United States and Kamala Harris as the next vice president.President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington.Trump was widely condemned for inciting the violence by encouraging his supporters to march on the Capitol. In a rare rebuke, former Attorney General William Barr, a staunch Trump ally while in office, said in a statement that the president’s conduct “was a betrayal to his office and supporters.”Asked if federal prosecutors were examining Trump’s role in inciting the violent assault on the Capitol, U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin told reporters Thursday, “We’re looking at all actors here and anyone that had a role and the evidence fits the elements of a crime, they’re going to be charged.”Just how many people will ultimately face charges remains uncertain. Capitol Police has said “thousands of individuals” were involved in “riotous” acts, with hundreds storming the building. With Capitol police letting nearly everyone walk free, federal investigators are now facing the daunting task of tracking them down around the country.Cole said investigators have yet to determine how many people traveled to Washington to take part in the attack on the Capitol and the extent to which it was a coordinated act.“We’re not going to know that until we get to the end of the investigation,” he said.
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By Polityk | 01/09/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Twitter Bans Trump, Citing Risk of Violent Incitement
Twitter banned President Donald Trump’s account Friday, citing “the risk of further incitement of violence.”After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.https://t.co/CBpE1I6j8Y— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 8, 2021The social platform has been under growing pressure to take further action against Trump following Wednesday’s deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Twitter initially suspended Trump’s account for 12 hours after he posted a video that repeated false claims about election fraud and praised the rioters who stormed the Capitol.Twitter’s move deprives Trump of a potent tool he has used to communicate directly with the American people for more than a decade. He has used Twitter to announce policy changes, challenge opponents, insult enemies, praise his allies and himself, and to spread misinformation.Twitter has long given Trump and other world leaders broad exemptions from its rules against personal attacks, hate speech and other behaviors. But in a lengthy explanation posted on its blog Friday, the company said recent Trump tweets amounted to glorification of violence when read in the context of the Capitol riot and plans circulating online for future armed protests around the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.In those tweets, Trump stated that he will not be attending the inauguration and referred to his supporters as “American Patriots,” saying they will have “a GIANT VOICE long into the future.”Twitter said these statements “are likely to inspire others to replicate the violent acts that took place on January 6, 2021, and that there are multiple indicators that they are being received and understood as encouragement to do so.”The company said “plans for future armed protests have already begun proliferating on and off-Twitter, including a proposed secondary attack on the U.S. Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17, 2021. “Twitter said its policy enables world leaders to speak to the public, but that these accounts “are not above our rules entirely” and can’t use Twitter to incite violence. Trump had roughly 89 million followers.
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By Polityk | 01/09/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Law Enforcement Authorities Step Up Investigation of Capitol Hill Riots
U.S. law enforcement authorities are stepping up a criminal investigation into Wednesday’s attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump that could include his role in instigating the mob. Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin said a total of 55 people have been charged with various crimes, including 15 people in connection with rioting at the Capitol. Trump has been widely condemned for inciting the violence by imploring supporters angry over his electoral loss to march on the Capitol. In a rare rebuke, former Attorney General William Barr, a staunch Trump ally while in office, said in a statement that the president’s conduct “was a betrayal to his office and supporters.” FILE – Supporters of President Donald Trump try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Asked if federal prosecutors were examining Trump’s role in inciting the violent assault on the Capitol, Sherwin said, “We’re looking at all actors here and anyone that had a role and the evidence fits the elements of a crime, they’re going to be charged.”Trump told a crowd of supporters gathered near the White House on Wednesday morning to “fight like hell” before urging them to march on the Capitol, where lawmakers were deliberating over the certification of the electoral victory of Democratic President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. The president is facing calls to resign over the incident less than two weeks before his term ends on January 20. FILE – President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.The attack left five people dead, including U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian C. Sicknick. Dozens of people were injured in Wednesday’s violence.Arrests are ‘just the beginning’On Friday, Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen issued a statement saying, “the FBI and Metropolitan Police Department will jointly investigate the case and the Department of Justice will spare no resources in investigating and holding accountable those responsible.” Sherwin said prosecutors are aggressively pursuing the perpetrators and are not ruling out bringing charges of sedition. “Make no mistake about it: This was obviously a very dangerous situation,” Sherwin told reporters. “We’re aggressively trying to address these cases as soon as possible, and make no mistake about it, even though we just teed up 15 cases, I think that’s a good start, but it’s in no regard the end.” FILE – Pro-Trump protesters storm into the U.S. Capitol during clashes with police, to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results, Jan. 6, 2021.The federal charges against those arrested include theft of government property and firearms violations. One man was arrested near the U.S. Capitol on charges of carrying a semi-automatic assault weapon and 11 Molotov cocktails that were “ready to go,” Sherwin said. He added the arrests are “just the beginning” of a potentially monthslong investigation. Because all but a handful of the hundreds of rioters who stormed the Capitol were allowed by Capitol Police to leave, the effort to identify and arrest the perpetrators could take months, perhaps all year. He said hundreds of investigators are combing surveillance videos and social media footage to identify the perpetrators. “We’ll aggressively charge these cases,” Sherwin said. Rosen said the Justice Department “is committed to ensuring that those responsible for this attack on our government and the rule of law face the full consequences of their actions under the law.” “Our criminal prosecutors have been working throughout the night with special agents and investigators from the U.S. Capitol Police, FBI, ATF, Metropolitan Police Department and the public to gather the evidence, identify perpetrators and charge federal crimes where warranted,” Rosen said in a statement Thursday. Incriminating evidence The brazen assault, the first mass violent attack on the Capitol Building in more than two centuries, began with hundreds of supporters of Trump storming the Capitol while members of Congress were meeting to certify Biden’s win in the November 3 election. Capitol Police said “thousands of individuals” were involved “in violent riotous actions,” attacking law enforcement officers with metal pipes, chemical irritants and other weapons. In a video posted late Thursday on Twitter, Trump addressed the “heinous attack on the United States Capitol,” saying he was “outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem.” FILE – Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump sit inside the office of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as they protest inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Sherwin stopped short of second-guessing the Capitol Police’s decision not to arrest the rioters at the scene, but he said the failure has made it more difficult for federal investigators to track down and arrest the perpetrators. Many left behind incriminating evidence in the form of videos and photographs posted on social media. One QAnon supporter was photographed in the Senate chamber. Another Trump supporter had his photograph taken in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. Jordan Strauss, a former federal prosecutor and now a managing director with Kroll, a risk management consultancy, said the videos and photographs offer a “plethora of evidence” that prosecutors can use to bring charges. “A lot of people livestreamed their crimes while they were committing them,” Strauss said. Potential chargesThe rioters could face several federal charges, from destruction of property to threatening members of Congress and sedition, he said. Sherwin said no charges, including sedition, are off the table. Sedition is the act of opposing government authority by force. Barr raised the prospects of bringing sedition charges against anti-police protesters in a memo to federal prosecutors last summer. Strauss said prosecutors will likely opt for “cleaner” charges that don’t “risk infringing on First Amendment issues or allowing for an individual to claim that there’s some sort of political prosecution.” Joel Hirschhorn, a criminal defense attorney, said arresting and charging every rioter is going to be virtually impossible. “I think anyone who was inside the Capitol building is at risk because that was a trespass on government property,” Hirschhorn said. “Will they be able to prosecute all of them? No, that’s an impossibility.”
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By Polityk | 01/09/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Pelosi, Top General Discuss Preventing Trump Military Actions
Amid growing concerns about what U.S. President Donald Trump might do during his last days in office, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that she had asked a top Pentagon general what measures were in place to prevent the president from launching a nuclear weapons attack.The possibility, while seemingly remote, may be a consideration in a drive by Pelosi and some other national leaders to remove Trump from office even before his term in office ends on January 20.FILE – In this Sept. 22, 2020, photo Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley listens during a meeting at the Pentagon in Washington.“This morning, I spoke to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to her Democratic Party colleagues in the House of Representatives.“The situation of this unhinged president could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy.”Asked to confirm the call had taken place, a spokesman for Milley told VOA, “He answered her questions regarding the process of nuclear code authority.”The spokesman did not elaborate on what was said during the call.Illegal orderThe president has sole authority to order the launch of a nuclear weapon and does not require the approval of Congress or his military advisers. But if a military commander were to determine, on advice of his lawyers, that such an order was illegal, then the order could be refused.Past and present Pentagon leaders have also said they would not obey an illegal order from the president.Pelosi and her colleagues are also anxious to see the president held accountable for his role in inciting the mob that overran the U.S. Capitol this week, delaying the certification of the election of President-elect Joe Biden and leading to the deaths of five people, including a Capitol Police officer.A move to impeach Trump for the second time – if he was convicted in the Republican-led Senate — would also have the effect of preventing him from ever again holding federal office.FILE – Vice President Mike Pence speaks during the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit, Dec. 22, 2020, in West Palm Beach, Fla.Democratic congressional leaders have also called on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, which offers an alternative and perhaps quicker way to remove the president from office. Pence has not responded but has reportedly told colleagues he does not favor such action.Passed in the 1960s, the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allows for the temporary transfer of power from the president to the vice president if the president is incapacitated, with the approval of the majority of the Cabinet. But analysts say that option could be difficult to exercise with just days left in Trump’s presidency.Power can be reclaimed“It’s also very difficult in a situation in which the president is not in a coma or not otherwise physically incapacitated so that he can’t function or operate, because under the 25th Amendment, once it is invoked, the president can notify Congress that he is able to discharge the powers of the office and take that power back,” said John Hudak, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Pelosi warned that if Pence did not take action, congressional Democrats would pursue a vote on articles of impeachment.“The president’s dangerous and seditious acts necessitate his immediate removal from office,” Schumer and Pelosi said Thursday.An overwhelming number of Democratic lawmakers – and some Republicans – have expressed support for removing Trump from power or censuring his actions. But following Pelosi’s remarks, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy indicated he did not support impeachment.FILE – House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 12, 2020.“Impeaching the president with just 12 days left in his term will only divide our country more,” he said.McCarthy said he had reached out to Biden to plan to speak with him about how to work together to lower tensions and unite the country.Five people died as a result of the riot Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol. The president’s supporters overwhelmed Capitol Police to try to stop a joint session of Congress from counting the electoral votes and certifying Biden’s win. Earlier in the day, Trump held a rally on the National Mall and encouraged his supporters to protest the results. The massive security breach by the pro-Trump rioters marked the first time the U.S. Capitol had been invaded since the British entered it during the War of 1812. Trump was impeached on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in December 2019 but was acquitted in a trial in the Senate in February 2020. No American president has ever faced two impeachment votes.Two reasons given“There are two reasons to pursue impeachment,” said Paul Berman, a professor at the George Washington University School of Law. “One is simply to make it clear that a sitting president inciting an insurrection against the United States government is perhaps the worst thing that a president could ever possibly do. And that statement needs to be made. Second, and more pragmatically, if he were impeached, and convicted, that would prevent him from running for office in the future.”While it is unlikely U.S. lawmakers have time to return to work to enact the complicated procedures for an impeachment before the end of Trump’s term, analysts say a Senate trial could be held after the president leaves office.“There’s nothing that I can see in the Constitution that would prevent an impeachment trial and conviction from happening in the days after he leaves office,” Berman said. “We need to create accountability that a president cannot do what he did and also because we want to prevent him from holding office ever again.”
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By Polityk | 01/08/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Police Officer’s Death Intensifies US Capitol Siege Questions
A police officer has died from injuries sustained as President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol, a violent siege that is forcing hard questions about the defeated president’s remaining days in office and the ability of the Capitol Police to secure the area.The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement that Officer Brian D. Sicknick was injured “while physically engaging with protesters” during the Wednesday riot. He is the fifth person to die because of the melee.The rampage that has shocked the world and left the country on edge forced the resignations of three top Capitol security officials over the failure to stop the breach. It led lawmakers to demand a review of operations and an FBI briefing over what they called a “terrorist attack.” And it is prompting a broader reckoning over Trump’s tenure in office and what comes next for a torn nation.Protesters were urged by Trump during a rally near the White House earlier Wednesday to head to Capitol Hill, where lawmakers were scheduled to confirm Biden’s presidential victory. The mob swiftly broke through police barriers, smashed windows and paraded through the halls, sending lawmakers into hiding.One protester, a white woman, was shot to death by Capitol Police, and there were dozens of arrests. Three other people died after “medical emergencies” related to the breach.Despite Trump’s repeated claims of voter fraud, election officials and his own former attorney general have said there were no problems on a scale that would change the outcome. All the states have certified their results as fair and accurate, by Republican and Democratic officials alike.Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said news of the police officer’s death was “gut-wrenching.”“None of this should have happened,” Sasse said in a statement. “Lord, have mercy.”Sicknick had returned to his division office after the incident and collapsed, the statement said. He was taken to a local hospital where he died on Thursday.Two House Democrats on committees overseeing the Capitol police budgets said those responsible need to be held to answer for the “senseless” death.”We must ensure that the mob who attacked the People’s House and those who instigated them are held fully accountable,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Ct., and Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio. in a statement.Earlier Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said any remaining day with the president in power could be “a horror show for America.” Likewise, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the attack on the Capitol was “an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president,” and Trump must not stay in office “one day” longer.Pelosi and Schumer called for invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to force Trump from office before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20. Schumer said he and Pelosi tried to call Vice President Mike Pence early Thursday to discuss that option but were unable to connect with him.At least one Republican lawmaker joined the effort. The procedure allows for the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare the president unfit for office. The vice president then becomes acting president.Pelosi said if the president’s Cabinet does not swiftly act, the House may proceed to impeach Trump.Trump, who had repeatedly refused to concede the election, did so in a late Thursday video from the White House vowing a “seamless transition of power.”Two Republicans who led efforts to challenge the election results, Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri, faced angry peers in the Senate. Cruz defended his objection to the election results as “the right thing to do” as he tried unsuccessfully to have Congress launch an investigation. In the House, Republican leaders Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California and Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana joined in the failed effort to overturn Biden’s win by objecting to the Electoral College results.With tensions high, the Capitol shuttered, and lawmakers not scheduled to return until the inauguration, an uneasy feeling of stalemate settled over a main seat of national power as Trump remained holed up at the White House.The social media giant Facebook banned the president from its platform and Instagram for the duration of Trump’s final days in office, if not indefinitely, citing his intent to stoke unrest. Twitter had silenced him the day before.Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said, “the shocking events” make it clear Trump “intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power.”U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, under pressure from Schumer, Pelosi and other congressional leaders, was forced to resign. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asked for and received the resignation of the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate, Michael Stenger, effective immediately. Paul Irving, the longtime Sergeant at Arms of the House, also resigned.Sund had defended his department’s response to the storming of the Capitol, saying officers had “acted valiantly when faced with thousands of individuals involved in violent riotous actions.”Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called the police response “a failure.”Lawmakers from both parties pledged to investigate and questioned whether a lack of preparedness allowed a mob to occupy and vandalize the building. The Pentagon and Justice Department had been rebuffed when they offered assistance.Black lawmakers, in particular, noted the way the mostly white Trump supporters were treated.Newly elected Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., said if “we, as Black people did the same things that happened … the reaction would have been different, we would have been laid out on the ground.”The protesters ransacked the place, taking over the House area and Senate chamber and waving Trump, American and Confederate flags. Outside, they scaled the walls and balconies.
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By Polityk | 01/08/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Black Leaders Cheer Georgia Success, Push for More Progress
What started as a day of celebration for Black organizers, voters and other Georgians who helped deliver two historic Senate runoff victories was overshadowed Wednesday when a violent, mostly white mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.But Black leaders and organizers say the rioters’ insurrection won’t deter the momentum achieved after the hard-fought victories of Georgia Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. Instead, it serves as a harsh reminder of the work that lies ahead for the nation to truly grapple with white supremacy and racism, which Trump’s presidency emboldened.”It’s a little bit bittersweet because on one hand it feels like vindication that if we invest in our communities and our organizations, then amazing things can happen,” said Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, which estimates that it reached 2.8 million individuals in Georgia through text and phone banking campaigns, digital and social media advertising, door knocking and street outreach, and billboards.”But then you come around the next day and people are literally swarming the Capitol in the name of overturning an election and trying to take away the power of Black voters,” Albright said. “So while it’s a victory that’s worth celebrating … it’s still in this wider context of what our larger struggles are and we’ve got a long way to go.”Despite the challenges ahead, there’s hope that the Georgia victories could serve as a blueprint to transform the Southern political landscape, which has been a Republican stronghold for decades.”The beauty of what happened in Georgia is that by knocking on people’s doors, by sitting on people’s front porches, by putting money and energy into really hearing people and giving them a voice in their community, it has awakened a generation of folks who never would have thought that this was possible and that’s empowering and it’s contagious,” said Nadia Brown, a Purdue University political science professor. “And it doesn’t stop at the borders of Georgia. It’s going to spill over.”Britney Whaley, a political strategist for the Working Families Party, said keeping up this level of voter engagement among Black Georgians and Black voters in general requires a commitment to them beyond these nationally important elections.”Sure, Black people saved the day,” Whaley said. “My question then becomes: What next? What have you learned? How do you thank them? It is not in lip service. It’s in policy. It’s in changing material conditions for people who are in need.”The political vision of flipping Georgia blue rested largely with grassroots organizations that knocked on doors and traveled from city cores to more rural areas to directly interface with Black voters who have long felt ignored by both political parties.The Rev. Barrett Berry, who directed a bus tour organized by the Black Church PAC, a national group of prominent Black clergy, said the large Black turnout in the runoff was due to a growing understanding among organizers that winning required being “competitive in places outside of Fulton County,” which is home to Atlanta.Berry’s bus crisscrossed the state with several organizing partners, making stops in Albany, Valdosta and Savannah. He and other pastors distributed hot meals, groceries and toys for hundreds of families struggling to make Christmas cheer happen amid the pandemic. The gifts and food came with voter education, Berry said.The voters needed to know they had a voice and could make the change that they had been told they couldn’t make, he said.”It’s difficult to tell Black folks what they can’t do, because that’s when they go out and show you what they can do!”The New Georgia Project, which played an integral part in both the November and runoff election, said on Jan. 5 alone it knocked on more than 124,000 doors, sent more than 14,000 texts and made over 317,000 phone calls. In total, the organization said it knocked on more than 2 million doors throughout the full election cycle.And that strategy paid off.Black voters made up 32% of the electorate in Georgia’s runoffs, a slight uptick from their share in the November election, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 3,700 voters in the state.Black voters across gender, age and education levels supported the Democratic candidates overwhelmingly, with at least 9 in 10 voting for Ossoff and Warnock. Roughly three-quarters of white voters, at 60% of the electorate, supported the Republicans.”Georgia and other Southern states have been battleground states,” said Nse Ufot, CEO of the New Georgia Project. “So, we’re going to continue to register voters and we’re going to continue to work to build power and a people’s agenda.”The Georgia runoff success was built upon a strong legacy of Black-led organizing work, much of which can be traced back to earlier battles for voting and civil rights. But the unique power and resiliency of Black women organizers took center stage again during the runoffs, including former gubernatorial candidate and voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams and Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown, who were at the center of Georgia’s extraordinary efforts.”I’m so optimistic about the future of Black women organizers and I’m looking forward to continuing to defy conventional wisdom about what a leader looks like and how they get it done,” Ufot said.A majority of Black voters in Georgia’s runoffs, 56%, say the coronavirus pandemic is the top issue facing the country today, according to AP VoteCast. Another 18% say they consider racism the most important issue, and 12% name the economy and jobs. Black voters and activists say attention will now turn toward pushing for President-elect Biden and Congress to actualize real, systemic change.Ebonie Riley, D.C. bureau chief of the National Action Network, said Warnock and Ossoff’s victories mean it was time for the country to “move past the 2020 election and come together to deal with challenges that we all face with COVID relief, expand health care access, and deliver racial justice and police accountability.”Meanwhile, in suburban Atlanta, Bev Jackson was talking to her son on the phone when the images flashed on the screen of people climbing the Capitol.As the chair of the Democratic Party’s Cobb County African American caucus, Jackson had worked hard for years to help flip Georgia blue and she’d been glued to the election returns showing the Democratic candidates for Senate overtaking the Republican incumbents.Jackson said she refused to let Wednesday’s darkness overshadow their success.”Georgia delivered the nation. It is incredible,” she said. “People are saddened by what has happened but it doesn’t take away our joy from the election. This is our time.”
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By Polityk | 01/08/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Facing Threats of Removal, Trump Says He is ‘Outraged’ by Violence
In a video released Thursday night, President Donald Trump said he is outraged by the “violence, lawlessness and mayhem” that transpired when his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol this week. Trump is facing a growing call from Democrats and Republicans who say he must be removed from office. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara reports.
Producer: Bakhtiyar Zamanov
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By Polityk | 01/08/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Beijing Warns US Will Pay ‘Heavy Price’ if UN Ambassador Goes to Taiwan
China on Thursday threatened that the United States would pay a “heavy price” if its United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft kept plans announced by the State Department to travel to Taiwan next week.“The United States will pay a heavy price for its wrong action,” a statement from the Chinese mission to the UN said.“China strongly urges the United States to stop its crazy provocation, stop creating new difficulties for China-U.S. relations and the two countries’ cooperation in the United Nations, and stop going further on the wrong path.”China “firmly opposes” the visit and demands the US cancel its plans, the statement added, reiterating Beijing’s one-China policy that maintains Taiwan is a province of the nation.The American UN mission said Thursday evening that Craft would be in Taipei from January 13 to 15, meeting with Taiwanese officials and other members of the diplomatic community.“During her trip, the Ambassador will reinforce the U.S. government’s strong and ongoing support for Taiwan’s international space,” the American statement said.Craft is scheduled to speak at the Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs on Jan. 14, “on Taiwan’s impressive contributions to the global community and the importance of Taiwan’s meaningful and expanded participation in international organizations,” according to the statement.Chinese state news agency Xinhua had also criticized the trip earlier in the day, saying a U.S. ambassador’s presence in Taiwan would violate Chinese sovereignty.Administration officials under President Donald Trump already visited Taiwan last year, despite opposition from Beijing, amid U.S.-Chinese tensions over trade, security and human rights.
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By Polityk | 01/08/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Expected to Nominate Boston Mayor Walsh for Labor Secretary
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to nominate Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as labor secretary, U.S. news agencies report. Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo is reportedly being nominated for commerce secretary. Walsh, who has been Boston’s mayor for two terms after 17 years as a Massachusetts state representative, has a long history with labor unions. He previously led Boston Building and Construction Trades Council, an umbrella organization for unions. While the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) has shown its support for Walsh, other notable U.S. unions, including the United Auto Workers and the Utility Workers Union of America, indicated their support for another top contender for the job, Michigan U.S. Representative Andy Levin. Biden and Walsh have known each other for years. Biden spoke at Walsh’s second inauguration as Boston’s mayor, calling him a “man of extraordinary character in a moment when we need more character and incredible courage.” Walsh’s appointment must be confirmed by the Senate. FILE – Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo attends a news conference in Providence, R.I., June 22, 2020.Raimondo served as Rhode Island’s treasurer before her two terms as governor and was previously a venture capitalist. Biden has signaled he opposes Chinese tariffs — a significant difference from the Trump administration — in an indication of how the next commerce secretary’s job would differ from the current one’s. If confirmed, Raimondo will likely coordinate with Biden’s pick to lead the U.S. Treasury, Janet Yellen, who would be the first woman to serve in that role. Earlier Wednesday, Biden announced his picks for attorney general and three other top positions at the Department of Justice. Biden Names Garland as His Choice for Attorney General Republicans snubbed appellate judge when Obama nominated him for Supreme Court seat in 2016
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By Polityk | 01/08/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Officials Seek Answers to Why Security Failed at US Capitol Wednesday
Washington, D.C., officials have joined U.S. lawmakers in calling for an investigation of the police force that protects the Capitol, while offering praise for their actions, after Wednesday’s storming of the seat of the country’s legislative branch by a mob of pro-Trump protesters. Video shared on social media and by news organizations shows Capitol Police officers overwhelmed by the vastly larger crowds pushing past waist-high barricades and evading officers who failed to halt their progress. Other participants scaled walls and smashed windows to get inside. Other video posted to social media showed some Capitol Police officers opening barricades for Trump backers and even taking pictures with them inside the building. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut took to Twitter to call for a full investigation of how security was breached so quickly. Murphy is the ranking Democrat on the Senate subcommittee that oversees the Capitol Police and is likely to chair the panel in the new Congress. Members of the Capitol Police look through a smashed window as pro-Trump protesters rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.In a statement Thursday, Capitol Police Chief Steve Sund defended the force’s actions, saying they “responded valiantly” when faced by thousands who stormed the building. He said officers were attacked by elements of the mob wielding metal pipes, chemical irritants, and other weapons. He said several officers were hospitalized with serious injuries. Sund said they had a “robust plan established to address anticipated First Amendment activities.” But, he added, what occurred was “criminal riotous behavior.” At a news conference Thursday, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser described the police effort as a failure. She said, “Obviously it was a failure, or you would not have police lines breached and people entering the building by breaking windows.” She said there needs to be an understanding of why these failures occurred. She called the siege on the capitol “textbook terrorism,” and questioned why the response by federal security officials was not “nearly as strong” as the response to Black Lives Matter protests for racial equality. Bowser said she is issuing an emergency order that will last through January 21, the day after the inauguration of Joe Biden as president. The order allows city officials to “implement orders as they see fit” to protect people and property in the District of Columbia, such as curfews or altering of business hours. At the same news conference, U.S. Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy said a two-meter unscalable fence will be erected around the Capitol and remain for at least 30 days. Washington Police say 68 people had been arrested in relation to the storming of the Capitol.
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By Polityk | 01/08/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
After Mob Storms Capitol, Congress Continues Certification of Biden’s Victory
Rattled members of Congress reconvened Wednesday night to resume counting electoral votes from the November election. Both Democrat and Republican lawmakers said they are determined to continue certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory, hours after thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol building. Patsy Widakuswara has the story.
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By Polityk | 01/07/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
