Top Democratic Leaders Call For Removal Of Pres. Trump
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are calling on the Cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment.
With their upset victories in this week’s Georgia runoffs, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff will give Democrats the edge in the U.S. Senate for the first time since 2015.
President Trump supporters at a Monday rally held onto his every word, repeatedly chanting, “Stop the steal” and “U-S-A.” In interviews with Yahoo News, they explained why, despite the lack of evidence to support the president’s claims, they continue to repeat them.
Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has sued the federal government for $250,000 over his treatment at the Colorado prison where he is serving a life sentence. Tsarnaev, 26, calls his treatment in the handwritten suit filed Monday “unlawful, unreasonable and discriminatory.”
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee weighs in on GOP senators demanding an audit of the 2020 election results saying he wishes that 'all the elected officials would demand a full accounting for how the ballots were tabulated.'
"Count me out" of the plan to object to the Electoral College certification, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told his colleagues on the Senate floor Wednesday night. Graham was never really on board, but had previously suggested he was at least willing to listen to his fellow Republicans, like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who wanted to challenge President-elect Joe Biden's victory because of unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud. By the time he spoke, though, Graham had reached the conclusion that "enough is enough."Graham provided the chamber with a brief history lesson, arguing that the objectors were making a mistake by citing the 1876 election between Samuel Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes as precedent for their actions. That year, there were disputed results in four states -- Oregon, Louisiana, Florida, and Graham's home state of South Carolina. So, a 15-member Electoral Commission, similar to what Cruz and others want to see now, was formed. Hayes, the Republican, eventually received the votes he needed to become president.But, Graham noted, the commission wasn't the real reason the matter was settled. Behind the scenes, Republicans met with Democrats, who agreed not to accept a Hayes victory as long as federal troops were pulled from the South, bringing an end to the Reconstruction era. The deal, which became known as the Compromise of 1877, paved the way for Jim Crow. "If you're looking for historical guidance," Graham said, "this is not the one to pick." > Graham: "It didn't work. Nobody accepted it. The way it ended is when Hayes did a deal with these 3 states- you give me the electors, I'll kick the Union Army out. The rest is history. It led to Jim Crow. If you're looking for historical guidance, this is not the one to pick."> > -- Michael McAuliff (@mmcauliff) January 7, 2021More stories from theweek.com The decline and fall of Donald Trump Trump aides reportedly conclude he is 'mentally unreachable' Biden reportedly nominating Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as labor secretary, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo for commerce
A group of Republican senators who objected to the election results have been called the "Sedition Caucus" and accused by Democrats of "standing with the mob". Eight Republican senators and over 130 of the party's members of Congress voted against certifying election results even after the debate was shut down by rioters. The Senate contingent led by Texas senator Ted Cruz, and Missouri senator Josh Hawley, faced demands from Democrats to resign or be expelled from the Senate. Mr Cruz and the others condemned the violence but still objected to the certification of the results. They argued that large numbers of voters, including many Democrats, did not have faith in the results, and therefore a commission should be established to audit them. Initially, more than a dozen Republican senators had objected, but some withdrew their protest after the siege of the Capitol. Those included Oklahoma senator James Lankford, who was speaking on the Senate floor when it was shut down. On his return hours later a stunned-looking Mr Lankford said: "I was literally interrupted mid-sentence speaking here...peaceful people in my state want their questions [about the election result] answered, but they don't want this, what happened today. We must set a peaceful example." An editorial by the Kansa City Star newspaper in Missouri said Mr Hawley had "blood on his hands".
The group says it intentionally dressed in black on the day of the riot
The Hudson Yards aerie, which Atwood shares with his physician husband Jake Deutsch, is literally “a glass box in the sky.”Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
Many of the Trump supporters in Wednesday's Capitol mob were not wearing masks — a sign not just of their cavalier attitude concerning the raging pandemic, but also, perhaps, their lack of concern about being potentially identified as insurrectionists.One notable example, cited by Facebook's Tom Gara, is Richard "Bigo" Barnett, who apparently posed in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office with his feet up on her desk and admitted to the press that he took one of her envelopes as a sort of souvenir. "It's all so surreal," Gara explained. "This guy didn't just loot Pelosi's office, he spoke on record to [The New York Times] about it and gave them his full name and age." The Washington Post's Jon Swaine added that Barnett had also reportedly "prepared for a violent death," having written on Facebook that "I came into this world kicking and screaming, covered in someone else's blood. I'm not afraid to go out the same way."Slate's Sam Adams echoed Gara's unease about the lack of concern by the mob in protecting their identities. "These people believe they will face no consequences, and thus far they are sickeningly correct," he tweeted in apparent reference to the numerous easily-identifiable right-wing personalities in attendance, and the shockingly low number of arrests made on Wednesday.The investigative journalism website Bellingcat has launched an effort to compile photographs and videos from the Capitol storming, not to identify people who were there but to "enable future research" as websites and owners begin to delete the images. The FBI, meanwhile, tweeted Thursday that it is "seeking to identify individuals instigating violence in Washington, D.C.," and that it's "now accepting tips and digital media depicting rioting or violence in and around the U.S. Capitol on January 6."More stories from theweek.com The decline and fall of Donald Trump Trump aides reportedly conclude he is 'mentally unreachable' Biden reportedly nominating Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as labor secretary, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo for commerce
Hundreds of minority Shiites continued a sit-in for a fourth straight day Wednesday in southwestern Pakistan to protest the killing of 11 Shiite Hazara coal miners by the Islamic State group. Despite Prime Minister Imran Khan's request that the miners be buried, family members insisted they would do so only when Prime Minister Imran Khan personally visits them to assure their protection.
"Sometimes when you don't have enough personnel, you can't stand and fight a large crowd like that," Gainer said.
Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton chastised several of their fellow GOP senators on Thursday for their behavior ahead of Congress's certification of the electoral vote count, which a group of senators said they opposed."You have some senators who, for political advantage, were giving false hope to their supporters, misleading them into thinking that somehow yesterday's actions in Congress could reverse the results of the election," Cotton said on Fox News."These senators, as insurrectionists literally stormed the capitol, were sending out fundraising emails. That shouldn't have happened, and it's got to stop now," he continued.The Arkansas Republican appears to be referring to fundraising messages from Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri that were sent just as pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol building Wednesday afternoon.Shortly before the rioting began, Hawley’s campaign sent a fundraising email promoting his decision to object to Pennsylvania’s electoral votes being counted."I'm leading the fight to reject electors from key states unless there is an emergency audit of the election results. Will you stand with me?" read Cruz's fundraising text, which was blasted out after evacuation procedures began in the Capitol.Cotton emphasized that he was never planning to object to the electoral certification but said he still supports an independent commission to study the November election and propose reforms.Rubio tweeted Thursday morning that "some misled you" regarding whether the vice president "could reject ballots" and whether "objections could pass or used as leverage to force an audit.""They knew the truth but thought it was a great way to get attention & raise money," the Florida Republican wrote.Hawley was the first GOP senator to say he would object to the certification of electoral votes, promising to oppose Pennsylvania's results.Asked whether he believes Trump is responsible in part for the rioting, Hawley acknowledged, "I don't think urging people to come to the Capitol was a good idea" but added that "the responsibility of violent criminal acts is with violent criminals."Earlier this week, a group of eleven Republican senators led by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas announced they would object to the certification of one or more states' electoral votes.That group included Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Mike Braun of Indiana, Steve Daines of Montana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and John Kennedy of Louisiana, as well as senators-elect Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, and Roger Marshall of Kansas.
China played down on Wednesday World Health Organization (WHO) concern about a delay in authorisation for a visit by team of experts looking into the origins of the novel coronavirus, saying arrangements were being worked out. The head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Tuesday he was "very disappointed" that China had not authorised the entry of the team for the investigation, which he said was a WHO priority. The novel coronavirus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 and has since spread around the world.
Qataris awoke to a surprise blockade and boycott by Gulf Arab neighbors 3 1/2 years ago, and this week were jolted again by the sudden announcement that it was all over. Criticism of the boycott was a criminal offense in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt as the four sought to punish Qatar. Qatar’s resolve in the face of the assault showed how little the campaign achieved as the small, but influential U.S. ally holds firm with its ties to Turkey, Iran and Islamists.
Wolf criticises president but did not resign unlike many of his colleagues
President Trump cannot fire Vice President Mike Pence. But Pence could play a big part in immediately ending Trump's term.Removing Trump via the 25th Amendment, "a move, long dismissed as a liberal fantasy," is one of a handful of options being considered by shaken Trump allies, Axios said Wednesday night, confirming earlier reports. Republicans are furious with Trump for "fomenting an attack on American democracy" by sending a mob to sack the U.S. Capitol, as well as his leading role in ending GOP control of the Senate, and "there's concern about whether the country can withstand another two weeks with Trump at the helm."Republicans are also discussing censuring Trump, which would do little, and removing him via impeachment, Axios says. "The 25th Amendment route would require buy-in from Pence and a majority of Trump's Cabinet. But many of those Cabinet members also have been loyalists to the president and serve in acting capacities, so it's not clear that support or will exists." On the other hand, "Trump has been ranting about Pence" and his ceremonial role in finalizing President-elect Joe Biden's win, sources tell Axios.If removed under the never-used Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, "Trump can't just take his powers back immediately and fire all the Cabinet officers who sought to sideline him," George Conway explained.> ... to sustain the VP's and cabinet's judgment. Congress has 21 days to act. > > Since Trump now has less than 14 days left in his term, Congress can just run out the clock with Pence in place until Biden is sworn in.> > -- George Conway (@gtconway3d) January 7, 2021The idea of removing Trump with 13 days left in his term is not yet being embraced by House or Senate GOP leaders, Axios says,"and it's too soon to know whether those talking about them are just letting off steam after a shock to the democracy, or whether a critical mass exists to proceed." But Pence looked pretty irritated and maybe even a little presidential when he reconvened the congressional count of Biden's electoral victory after police removed the pro-Trump mob from the Capitol."I've known Mike Pence forever," Sen James Inhofe (R-Okla.) told the Tulsa World on Tuesday night, after a day of public abuse by Trump. "I've never seen Pence as angry as he was today. I had a long conversation with him," he added. "He said, 'After all the things I've done for (Trump).'"More stories from theweek.com The decline and fall of Donald Trump Trump aides reportedly conclude he is 'mentally unreachable' Biden reportedly nominating Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as labor secretary, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo for commerce
A Capitol protester pictured with his feet up in the offices of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been identified as Richard Barnett, a self-described 'white nationalist' Trump supporter from Arkansas. Mr Barnett, 60, who was one of several protesters who stormed into Ms Pelosi's office, wrote her a "nasty note" and took a letter from her office addressed to a Republican Congressman. After then fleeing outside, he waved the letter around and gave a foul-mouthed interview to a waiting reporters, where he complained of having been squirted with mace spray by police trying to protect the building. He mockingly denied stealing the envelope, saying he had left some loose change on Ms Pelosi's desk by way of payment. “I didn’t steal it. I bled on it because they were macing me and I couldn’t f—ing see,” Mr Barnett said, according to video posted on Twitter by a New York Times reporter. “So I figure ‘well, I’m in her office, I got blood in her office, I’ll put a quarter on her desk even though she ain’t f—ing worth it." He added: "When the police came in with pepper spray, “I said, ‘I paid for this, it’s mine,’ and I left."
From sandbagged Indian army bunkers dug deep into the Pir Panjal mountains in the Himalayas, villages on the Pakistan-controlled side of Kashmir appear precariously close, on the other side of the Line of Control that for the past 73 years has divided the region between the two nuclear-armed rivals. Tens of thousands of soldiers from India and Pakistan are positioned along the two sides. AP journalists were recently allowed to cover Indian army counterinsurgency drills in Poonch and Rajouri districts along the Line of Control.
There appears to have been a major shift in Washington, with the breach at the Capitol marking a turning point that even President Trump's most loyal aides can't ignore.A mob, incited by Trump, stormed the Capitol as part of the doomed attempt to overturn the election results. This caused near universal outrage, with Democrats and Republican decrying the violence. Trump, meanwhile, reportedly raged against Vice President Mike Pence for not blocking the Electoral College certification and publicly told his supporters they were "very special" and he loved them.Some staffers contemplated leaving the White House, while several others, including first lady Melania Trump's chief of staff Stephanie Grisham, sprang into action, quickly submitting their resignation letters. Vanity Fair's Gabriel Sherman reports that even senior adviser Stephen Miller, the immigration hardliner who crafted Trump's travel ban and pushed to separate migrant families at the border, "told one Republican that it was a terrible day."It's going to be hard for Trump to find sympathy anywhere, Sherman reports. Many Republican officials blame him for the GOP losing both of Georgia's Senate seats, due to Trump repeatedly saying the state rigged the presidential election. "When Trump took office, we had the White House and both branches of Congress," one Republican strategist told Sherman. "Now we have nothing. He inherited a Lamborghini and treated it like a lawn mower."More stories from theweek.com The decline and fall of Donald Trump Trump aides reportedly conclude he is 'mentally unreachable' Biden reportedly nominating Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as labor secretary, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo for commerce
Hungary is proposing extending remote learning for secondary schools beyond next Monday due to high coronavirus infections and uncertainties over a new variant of the virus that first emerged in the United Kingdom, a state secretary said. Zoltan Maruzsa told an online briefing on Thursday that Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government would make a decision about the extension on Friday, adding however that classroom teaching in secondary schools was unlikely to resume next week. "The government will decide tomorrow, but I am asking schools to prepare for in-person teaching not to start again on Jan. 11."