The inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States concluded with a spectacular fireworks display over Washington DC, with Biden and the first lady watching from the White House.
The newly-elected president took the opportunity to underline the importance of ‘unity’ in a democracy while the vice-president, Kamala Harris, said Biden was calling on people to have the ‘courage to see beyond crisis’
Continue reading...The White House has released Donald Trump’s farewell address, a 20-minute pre-recorded video of the president touting his accomplishments in office. ‘I did not seek the path that would get the least criticism,' Trump said celebrating his controversy-laden presidency. ‘I took on the tough battles, the hardest fights, the most difficult choices’. The outgoing president also offered a message of encouragement to his successor, but avoided saying Joe Biden's name. He ended by hinting at a possible political future, even as he awaits the start of his second Senate impeachment trial. 'Now, as I prepare to hand power over to a new administration, I want you to know that the movement we started is only just beginning’
Joe Biden shed a tear as he took to the stage to deliver a farewell address to a Delaware crowd ahead of his inauguration on Wednesday, saying: 'I know these are dark times, but there is always light.'
Speaking at the Major Joseph R 'Beau' Biden III National Guard/Reserve Center, named for Biden’s late son, who died of brain cancer in 2015, the president elect said things 'can change, they can and they do'.
Continue reading...The US is riven with stark inequalities, rising white supremacist terror and large numbers who believe the election was stolen. The new administration faces a truly daunting challenge
In another age, Joe Biden’s promise to heal the nation might have been regarded as the kind of blandishment expected from any new leader taking power after the divisive cut and thrust of an American election.
Related: Biden must find words for a wounded nation in inauguration like no other
Continue reading...Guardian analysis shows Club for Growth has spent $20m supporting 42 rightwing lawmakers who voted to invalidate Biden victory
An anti-tax group funded primarily by billionaires has emerged as one of the biggest backers of the Republican lawmakers who sought to overturn the US election results, according to an analysis by the Guardian.
Related: Trump official admits family separation policy 'should never have been implemented'
Continue reading...The Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives has opened the debate on the article of impeachment against Donald Trump, arguing the president must be removed from office. Describing the storming of the Capitol as a 'day of fire', Nancy Pelosi said Trump had incited insurrection
The acting US attorney for the District of Columbia, Michael Sherwin, has indicated that many amid the hundreds of pro-Trump rioters who violently invaded the US Capitol last Wednesday are suspected of a range of crimes including felony murder, sedition and conspiracy.
At a press conference in Washington, prosecutors said there are at least 160 federal criminal cases open and they are ready to track down individuals across the country and apprehend them wherever possible – potentially arresting hundreds if not thousands of people.
'The range of criminal conduct was unmatched,' Sherwin said. He warned rioters: 'You will be charged and you will be found'
Continue reading...Donald Trump is facing a historic second impeachment after Democrats in the House of Representatives formally charged him with one count of “incitement of insurrection” over the Capitol Hill riot.
Related: Melania Trump pays tribute to dead of Capitol attack but casts herself as victim
Continue reading...The chances of seeing the outgoing president in an orange jumpsuit are low – even as the potential charges mount up fast
Lock him up! Echoing Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign chant against Hillary Clinton, many Americans appear keen on jailing their president after his criminally reckless incitement of last week’s mob-driven, amateur-hour insurrection in Washington.
His harshest critics would despatch him forthwith to a federal penitentiary or mental institution. Yet despite fears that an unstable Trump poses a security threat in his final 10 days in office, he is unlikely to be forced out. It’s just not that easy, politically or legally.
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McConnell says impeachment action unlikely until after Trump is out of office
Senator Mitch McConnnell said in a memo to fellow Senators on Friday that if impeachment articles against Trump are filed this week, the earliest the Senate will address them would be Jauary 19 - the day before Biden’s inauguration.
Congress members pen inquiry to FBI and DHS over how it handled online warnings of this week’s insurrection
Today 35 Congress members have signed a letter addressed to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security requesting more information on how extremist threats leading up to Wednesday’s riot at the Capitol were handled.
NEW: We are demanding to know whether @FBI and @DHSgov considered online extremist threats credible leading up to this week's insurrection.
Law enforcement was woefully unprepared despite ample posts spread online—it can’t happen again. pic.twitter.com/ZQdcshshZY
John Kelly, Donald Trump’s former chief of staff who previously served as the secretary of homeland security, said he would vote to remove the president from office if he were still in the cabinet.
“The cabinet should meet and have a discussion,” Kelly told CNN, “The one thing we have going for us here ... is it’s only 13 more days.”
Q: @jaketapper "If you were in the cabinet right now, would you vote to remove him from office?
A: Former Chief of Staff John Kelly: "I -- yes, I would." pic.twitter.com/GA2Pf23qAV
Michelle Obama has released a statement in response to yesterday’s violence at the Capitol, blaming the events on Donald Trump’s actions since the presidential election.
“The day was the fulfillment of the wishes of an infantile and unpatriotic president who can’t handle the truth of his own failures,” the former first lady said.
Like all of you, I’ve been feeling so many emotions since yesterday. I tried to put my thoughts down here: pic.twitter.com/9xzRvrpk7y
Continue reading...A journalist captured the moment a lone Black police officer was confronted by pro-Trump supporters who had stormed into the US Capitol in what some lawmakers condemned as an attempted insurrection aimed at overturning the results of the presidential election.
A politics reporter at HuffPost, Igor Bobic, filmed the officer as he was chased up the stairs of the building by Trump loyalists who objected to the certification of Joe Biden as the next president, which was taking place in Congress during a joint session. Four people died during the violent occupation
Senators from both sides of US politics have condemned the violence unleashed on the Capitol building on Wednesday. The vice-president, Mike Pence, described it as 'a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol'. The Democratic Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, labelled the Trump supporters as 'goons', 'thugs' and 'domestic terrorists', while Republican Mitt Romney labelled the events 'an insurrection, incited by the president of the United States'
After a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, there are calls for the president to be relieved of office by impeachment or using the 25th amendment. But how would it work?
The storming of the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump on Wednesday has prompted calls by some lawmakers to remove him from office before Joe Biden is sworn in on 20 January.
The chaotic scenes unfolded after Trump – who has been condemned for inciting violence by spreading falsehoods about the election and refusing to admit defeat – addressed thousands of protesters in Washington, using his speech to repeat lies that the election was stolen from him.
Continue reading...Pro-Donald Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building in Washington DC on Wednesday, breaking into the debating chambers and clashing with armed police. Four people died during the unrest, three from medical emergencies and one woman was shot dead in circumstances that are unclear. The siege came on the day the electoral college votes confirming Joe Biden's victory were to be affirmed by members of the House and Senate. The chaos erupted after Trump addressed thousands of protesters near the White House, repeating false claims the election had been stolen.
While the electoral vote certification continues on the senate floor, there appears to be a number of resignations happening at the White House in the wake of the Capitol riot:
One source also said Chris Liddell, the deputy chief of staff, will resign tomorrow. 2/2
The White House social secretary Rickie Niceta has submitted her resignation tonight in reaction to today's protest, a source with direct knowledge tells @ABC
Per multiple sources familiar, NatSec Adviser @robertcobrien and DepNatSec Adviser Matthew Pottinger are considering resigning after today’s events and Trump’s actions. O’Brien still mulling, Pottinger more sure.
As with all things, it’s possible they stay in the admin. 1/2
.@WhiteHouse Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews resigns from the Trump Administration in response to today’s events. I have always known her to be a good person who has the best interests of the nation at heart. pic.twitter.com/4ZMfmM2Zl3
Former president Barack Obama has issued a statement on today’s events, calling the storming of the Capitol “a moment of great dishonor and shame for the nation”.
Read his full remarks below:
Here’s my statement on today’s violence at the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/jLCKo2D1Ya
Continue reading...President-elect Joe Biden denounces the violence at the Capitol, after a mob of Trump supporters storm the building. 'This is not dissent, it's disorder, it's chaos, it borders on sedition, and it must end now,' Biden said. He then called on outgoing US president Trump to publicly 'demand an end to this siege'
Victory unseats Republican David Perdue, who held the seat for the past six years, and follows fellow Democrat Raphael Warnock’s win
The Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff has won his Senate runoff election, giving Democrats control of the Senate for the opening of Joe Biden’s presidency.
Continue reading...The president reiterated baseless claims of widespread electoral fraud during a rally hours before a pro-Trump mob breached the Capitol walls during protests
Continue reading...Protesters swarmed the Capitol on Wednesday, putting it on lockdown, as Mike Pence rebuffed Donald Trump's demand to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden and the Senate's Republican leader denounced a bid in Congress to undo the election outcome.
Trump supporters overturned barriers and clashed with police on the US Capitol grounds and streamed inside the building. The demonstrations flared as lawmakers met inside to formally certify Biden's victory over Trump in November's election. Law enforcement authorities struggled to maintain order.
Biden won the election by 306-232 in the electoral college and by more than 7m ballots in the national popular vote, but Trump continues to falsely claim there was widespread fraud and that he was the victor
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