Nancy Pelosi ramps up partisan attacks against President Trump

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Trump is 'impeached forever'; reaction on 'The Five.

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  • As filibuster clash paralyzes Senate, Democratic frustration over how to proceed grows

    The fate of top Democratic priorities like $1,400 checks and immigration overhaul could hang in the balance.

  • US judge blocks release of Tennessee man in Capitol riot

    A federal judge on Sunday blocked the release of a Tennessee man who authorities say carried flexible plastic handcuffs during the riot at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month. U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell for the District of Columbia set aside an order by a judge in Tennessee concerning the release of Eric Munchel of Nashville. After testimony at a detention hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Frensley for the Middle District of Tennessee determined Friday that Munchel wasn’t a flight risk and didn’t pose harm to the public.

  • Giuliani slams ‘hate-filled left-wing’ as he responds to $1.3bn defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems

    Donald Trump’s personal lawyer claims legal action is intended to ‘frighten people of faint heart’

  • U.S. carrier group enters South China Sea amid Taiwan tensions

    A U.S. aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt has entered the South China Sea to promote "freedom of the seas", the U.S. military said on Sunday, at a time when tensions between China and Taiwan have raised concern in Washington. U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement the strike group entered the South China Sea on Saturday, the same day Taiwan reported a large incursion of Chinese bombers and fighter jets into its air defence identification zone in the vicinity of the Pratas Islands.

  • Israel expands vaccination drive to include 16 to 18-year-olds in bid to save exams

    Israel will ban passenger flights in and out of the country from Monday for a week as it seeks to stop the spread of new coronavirus variants. "Other than rare exceptions, we are closing the sky hermetically to prevent the entry of the virus variants and also to ensure that we progress quickly with our vaccination campaign," said Benjamin Netanuahu, the Israeli prime minister. It came as a study in Israel reported a 60 per cent drop in over-60s being hospitalised with coronavirus three weeks after being vaccinated, in the latest sign that the jabs are effective. According to Maccabi, an Israeli healthcare provider, there was a significant decrease in hospitalisations from day 23 onwards, which was two days after patients received their second jab. Also on Sunday, Israel expanded its rapid vaccination drive to include 16-18 year-olds in an effort to get them back in schools to take their winter examinations. The winter matriculation certificate is a significant part of university and military admissions. At least one dose has been administered to around a quarter of Israel’s 9 million-strong population. The vaccine is generally available to over 40s or, with parental permission, those aged between 16 and 18. Israel struck a deal with Pfizer at the beginning of January that allowed them to expedite delivery of the vaccine, in return for sharing extensive data on their vaccination campaign with the rest of the world. Yuli Edelstein, the Israeli health minister, told The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday that the data from their vaccination programme suggests a first dose offered around 30 per cent protection from coronavirus.

  • Biden's latest executive order will require the federal government to "buy American"

    President Joe Biden will continue his flurry of executive orders on Monday, signing a new directive to require the federal government to “buy American” for products and services. Why it matters: The executive action is yet another attempt by Biden to accomplish goals administratively without waiting for the backing of Congress. The new order echoes Biden's $400 billion campaign pledge to increase government purchases of American goods.Be smart: sign up FREE for the most influential newsletter in America.What they're saying: "President Biden is ensuring that when the federal government spends taxpayer dollars they are spent on American made goods by American workers and with American-made component parts," the White House said in a fact sheet.The big picture: Biden’s action kick offs another week in which the president will seek to undo many Trump policies with executive actions, while signaling the direction that he wants to take the country. * Biden will also reaffirm his support for the Jones Act, which requires maritime shipments between American ports to be carried on U.S. vessels. * Last week, Biden signed an order to attempt to raise the minimum wage for federal contractors and workers to $15 an hour.The bottom line: Former President Trump also attempted to force the federal government to rely on U.S. manufacturers for procurement with "buy American" provisions. * But supply chains — with some parts and components made outside of the U.S. — require long and complicated efforts to boost domestic manufacturing. Support safe, smart, sane journalism. Sign up for Axios Newsletters here.

  • Teen held in Indiana killings of 5, including pregnant woman

    Indianapolis police arrested a 17-year-old boy Monday in the killings of five people, including a pregnant woman, who were shot to death inside a home in what the city's mayor called a “devastating act of violence.” The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that the name of the suspect in Sunday's killings was “not being released at this time since the suspect is a juvenile." As officers were investigating, police received information about 4:40 a.m. that led them to a nearby home, where they found multiple adults dead inside from apparent gunshot wounds, Sgt. Shane Foley said Sunday.

  • Florida police officer fired after Facebook posts supporting Capitol riot, mocking BLM

    A concerned citizen had reported the Kissimmee officer to the department in an email.

  • Police car in Tacoma, Washington, smashes through crowd watching street racers

    Tacoma Police spokeswoman Wendy Haddow said police were alerted to the street racers and a 100-person crowd blocking area streets, according to the News Tribune. When the patrol car responded, the crowd began pounding on the vehicle's windows, she told local media. “He was afraid they would break his glass,” Haddow told the News Tribune, saying the officer sped away from the scene for his own safety.

  • Republican split widens as Donald Trump intervenes in party elections in Arizona

    The acrimonious split within Republican ranks widened over the weekend as Donald Trump made his foray back into politics, backing the re-election of a hard-line supporter as chair of the party in Arizona. His wholehearted support for Kelli Ward was seen by allies as the former president firing a warning shot across the bows of any Republican senators considering backing his impeachment. Underlining Mr Trump’s grip on the Republican grassroots, the Arizona party also voted to censure John McCain’s widow, Cindy, former senator Jeff Flake and governor Doug Ducey, who refused to back the former president’s claims of election fraud. Mr Trump’s intervention came amid reports that he is considering setting up a “Patriot Party” which would spearhead primary challenges to his opponents in the 2022 mid-term elections. The former president has already amassed a massive war chest with his Save America political action committee declaring last month that it had raked in $207.5 million in donations.

  • Biden ramps up vaccine goal to 150 million doses in 1st 100 days

    President Biden has pledged to get 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Americans in his first 100 days in office. And when reporters asked Biden if that plan was ambitious enough last week, he doubled down on the original plan.Even though the U.S. hasn't reached Biden's goal of giving 1 million vaccines each day, Biden still seemed ready to push forward on Monday. "I am quite confident that in the next three weeks or so," the U.S. will get that pace up to 1 million per day, and quickly after could make it to 1.5 million, the president said in a press conference. Every American who wants to get a vaccine will be able to do so by spring, Biden promised, though the COVID-19 pandemic itself could rage through summer and "early fall," he added. Immunologists meanwhile contend distributing only 1 million vaccines per day will drag the pandemic into 2022.Biden is pushing to get Congress to pass a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill after signing a series of coronavirus-related executive orders last week. He declared "time is of the essence" when it comes to passing the bill, but wouldn't pull out specific pieces of the legislation to prioritize on Monday.Biden also gave a confusing interpretation of his calls for unity, suggesting that a bill that doesn't have bipartisan support doesn't necessarily lack unity.> Unity doesn't have to be bipartisan, Biden says. "Trying to get at a minimum if you pass piece of legislation that breaks down along party lines when it gets passed. it doesn't mean there wasn't unity. It just means it wasn't bipartisan. I prefer these things to be bipartisan..."> > — Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) January 25, 2021That comment comes as the Senate tries to work out a power-sharing agreement that's essentially at a standstill.More stories from theweek.com Josh Hawley knows exactly what he's doing Trump must be prosecuted 5 scathingly funny cartoons about Biden's COVID-19 push

  • Israel targets flights, religious scofflaws, as virus rages

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel will be closing its international airport to nearly all flights, while Israeli police clashed with ultra-Orthodox protesters in several major cities and the government raced to bring a raging coronavirus outbreak under control. The entry of highly contagious variants of the virus, coupled with poor enforcement of safety rules in ultra-Orthodox communities, has contributed to one of the world's highest rates of infections. It also has threatened to undercut Israel's highly successful campaign to vaccinate its population against the virus.

  • Black family handcuffed at gunpoint by Aurora police files suit against city

    Brittney Gilliam had taken her family for a “Sunday funday” when officers with guns drawn ordered her and the four underage girls with her to exit the car.

  • Bangladesh to buy Myanmar rice, putting aside Rohingya crisis

    Bangladesh will buy 100,000 tonnes of rice from Myanmar, putting aside a rift over the Rohingya refugee crisis as the government races to overcome a shortage of the staple food for the country's more than 160 million people. High rice prices pose a problem for the Dhaka government, which is ramping up efforts to replenish its depleted reserves after floods last year ravaged crops and sent prices to a record high. Muslim-majority Bangladesh and mostly Buddhist Myanmar have been at odds over the more than 1 million Muslim Rohingya refugees in camps in southern Bangladesh.

  • What the Trump Impeachment Trial Reboot Will Look Like

    The interesting question about the constitutionality vel non of impeaching a president who is no longer in office is obscuring a matter of more practical relevance: What will the impeachment trial look like? Media coverage has centered on the divide in the Senate over the constitutional question, particularly Utah Republican senator Mitt Romney’s assertion in a weekend CNN interview that the impeachment is valid. The New York Times portrays Romney as breaking Republican ranks. He may be, but the Republican position is not black and white. Whether an impeachment trial for a non-incumbent is constitutional is a separate question from whether conducting one is a good idea. The two are melded, though, by what appears to be the majority GOP position in opposition to an impeachment trial for former president Trump. Some Republicans will try to dismiss the case on constitutional grounds after House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) sends the “incitement to insurrection” article of impeachment to the Senate on Monday. Other Republicans, such as Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), argue that an impeachment trial will further divide the country, and are poised to avert it, or shut it down as early as possible, on whatever grounds are available. The constitutional niceties seem beside the point. I say this core constitutional question is less practically significant than it should, perhaps, be because it is a foregone conclusion. The Democrats are in the (narrow) majority, they will unify in favor of conducting the trial, and there will be enough Republicans who conclude that such a trial is constitutional that the full Senate will approve it. Those who think the Supreme Court will ultimately have to resolve the constitutional question are, I believe, mistaken. The Constitution gives the Senate plenary authority over the trial of impeachments. History and precedent are on the side of those who argue that impeachment trials of non-incumbents are constitutional, but that is beside the point. The Supreme Court surely wants no part of this hot political dispute, and the Constitution’s commitment of impeachment trials to Senate control gives the justices a good reason to stay out of it. Although I think a censure would be better, if the Democrats want a trial, then there is going to be a trial. Practically speaking, then, the pertinent issue is what the trial will look like. I do not think it will much resemble the impeachment trial of then-president Trump that took place a year ago. For the reasons I posited on Friday, this is not going to be a presidential impeachment as that scenario is commonly understood. Trump is no longer president. The constitutional mandate that the chief justice of the Supreme Court preside over an impeachment of the president therefore does not obtain. Trump’s impeachment, then, will be akin to the impeachment of other impeached officials who are not the sitting president. For all impeachments other than that of the president, the presiding officer in the Senate is, as usual, the vice president of the United States or, in the vice president’s absence, the president pro tempore of the Senate. For present purposes, that means Vice President Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.). [Author’s note: After this column was written, sources indicated to various media outlets that Senator Leahy “is expected to preside” over the Trump impeachment trial.] Some commentators on the right grouse that this is inherently unfair to former president Trump, but this misses the point. Impeachment is a political process, not a legal one; there is no entitlement to the kind of due process required in judicial proceedings, where a presumptively impartial judge and counsel for the parties select a jury of the defendant’s peers, which has been vetted to ensure its objectivity. To repeat my point from Friday, the reason the Constitution requires the chief justice to preside over presidential impeachments is not to transcend politics — the Senate partisans are still ultimately in charge. The chief justice is installed in this largely ceremonial post to avoid the unseemliness of having the Senate’s usual presiding officer, the vice president, preside over a trial in which he or she has a vital personal interest in the outcome (viz., accession to the presidency if the incumbent is convicted and removed). The Democrats will have a problem in that the impeachment trial they will run, rather than one over which Chief Justice Roberts might preside, will look more blatantly like a partisan show trial. That will rub much of the public the wrong way. But that is a political problem, not a constitutional concern. When an impeachment trial takes place under the supervision of the Senate’s presiding officer, Rule XI of the Senate impeachment rules empowers the Senate and the presiding officer to “appoint a committee of Senators to receive evidence and take testimony at such times and places as the committee may determine.” That is, there need not be a full-blown trial before the entire Senate sitting as an impeachment court. The Senate may refer the matter to an ad hoc impeachment trial committee. Or, to avoid having to assemble such a committee from scratch, it could refer the matter to an existing committee — most likely the Judiciary Committee, which, under the chamber’s new Democratic majority, is now chaired by Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, who remains the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat. While the impeachment committee would be governed by Senate impeachment rules and practices, the Senate and the committee have leeway to vary those as they see fit. The committee would conduct the trial, generating a transcript of all proceedings (including witness testimony, if there is any), which would eventually be certified to the full Senate. The full Senate could conduct additional proceedings to supplement that record. But the full Senate could also base its verdict — and, if the verdict is guilty, its disposition on the issue of disqualification from holding office in the future — on the committee’s work. I continue to think there is scant chance that the former president will be convicted and disqualified. Nevertheless, this Trump impeachment trial is likely to be a lower-key affair than the one in early 2020, when President Trump was in office. The trial will be significant, but its interference in the confirmation of Biden administration officials is likely to be minimal, and its domination of the full Senate’s time greatly diminished.

  • Ex-VA doctor who misdiagnosed patient sentenced to prison

    A former pathologist at an Arkansas veterans hospital has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty last year to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a patient he misdiagnosed. Robert Morris Levy, 54, of Fayetteville was sentenced Friday in federal court. Prosecutors said Levy diagnosed a patient with lymphoma when the patient actually had a small-cell carcinoma.

  • Woman wanted on 74 charges of child sex abuse extradited to Australia

    Israeli authorities on Monday extradited a former teacher accused of sexually abusing her former students in Australia, capping a six-year legal battle that had strained relations between the two governments and antagonized Australia's Jewish community.

  • Indianapolis police arrest juvenile suspect for mass shooting

    The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said they arrested an unnamed juvenile suspect in connection with the shooting death of multiple people.

  • Brazil buying as many vaccines as it can, criticism unwarranted, says economy minister

    Brazil is trying to buy as many COVID-19 vaccines as possible, and accusations it has focused its efforts on only one manufacturer are unjust, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said on Monday. Speaking in an online briefing, Guedes said the government's biggest challenge this year is rolling out a nationwide vaccination program and that he has full confidence this will be accomplished.

  • UAE cabinet approves establishment of embassy in Tel Aviv in further sting to Palestinians

    The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced the establishment of its embassy in Tel Aviv as the US national security advisor announced that America hopes to build “on the success of Israel’s normalisation agreements” under the Biden administration. The UAE cabinet decision to approve establishing the embassy comes after they signed the Abraham Accords in September, becoming the first Gulf state to establish a full diplomatic relationship with Israel. No further details about the embassy were given in UAE media. While Israel’s government recognises Jerusalem as its capital, the international community does not, with Palestinians claiming East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Most countries base their embassies in Tel Aviv. Before the deal, Israel only had peace deals with only two Arab countries, Egypt and Jordan - where it has fortified embassies. Most Arab countries had previously refrained from recognising Israel, believing that recognition should only be granted if serious concessions are made in the Palestinian peace process. Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco later agreed to follow in the UAE’s footsteps and normalise ties with Israel under US-brokered deals.