The former first lady Melania Trump apparently spurned the conventions of her role by leaving Donald Trump alone in front of the cameras at Palm Beach airport after the couple left the White House for the final time ahead of Joe Biden's inauguration.
Trump himself paused to wave at photographers, but his wife continued walking until she was firmly offscreen, leaving her husband alone and triggering speculation about the state of her marriage to the now former president
Continue reading...Carter campaigned for human rights, Bush painted … but Trump faces several criminal investigations and a mountain of debt
Each US president has charted a unique course after leaving the White House, taking up vocations from philanthropy to human rights to oil painting.
Donald Trump’s post-presidency appears likely to be taken up by meetings with lawyers and creditors, possible sworn depositions about tax practices or sexual assault allegations and, in some long-tail scenarios, fines, criminal charges, bankruptcy or other legal sanction.
Continue reading...The House will transmit the article against the former president on Monday, giving his legal team time to prepare their case
Opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump are set to begin the week of 8 February, with the former president facing charges of inciting an insurrection at the US Capitol.
The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, announced the schedule late Friday after reaching an agreement with Republicans.
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The White House briefing has just concluded. Here’s where the day stands so far:
Jen Psaki would not say whether Dr Deborah Birx, the former White House coronavirus task force coordinator, was still on the pandemic response team.
Psaski tells @stevenportnoy it's "an excellent question" if Dr. Deborah Birx is still on President Biden's COVID response team and she will "have to circle back on that one" https://t.co/skUlRypwqS pic.twitter.com/rA0yoqvSNb
Continue reading...Former president’s account to remain suspended until board returns a ruling, which could take up to 90 days
Facebook’s oversight board, the “supreme court” set up to have a final say on the social network’s moderation decisions, will rule on the decision to suspend Donald Trump’s account, Nick Clegg has said.
The referral will see the board, which is made up of more than 30 luminaries from around the world including former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, decide whether Facebook’s policies were correctly applied, and whether those policies respect international human rights standards more broadly.
Continue reading...The US Senate majority leader said the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, would transmit the article of impeachment on Monday. 'Make no mistake, there will be a trial, Schumer said. 'And when that trial ends, senators will have to decide whether they believe Donald John Trump incited the insurrection'
Continue reading...Following the US Capitol riot, Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone travel to Washington DC for the week of Joe Biden’s inauguration to find a downtown area under what is essentially military occupation and a city coming to terms with the trauma of Donald Trump’s final days in office.
They speak to lifelong residents in the outer suburbs as well the US congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who tells of her harrowing experience of the 6 January riot. Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton rails against criticisms of the Republican administration’s handling of the domestic terrorism threat
Continue reading...Dr Anthony Fauci made not-so-veiled critiques of the Trump administration during a White House press briefing on Thursday. He said the new administration meant he did not need to ‘guess’ when he didn’t know the answer to questions.
The health expert said the new administration felt ‘liberating’ and he did not take pleasure correcting the president and facing consequences for doing so.
But Fauci pushed back against the characterization from some Biden officials that the new administration has to start ‘from scratch’ on coronavirus vaccine distribution
Continue reading...Joe Biden wasted no time as the newly elected president of the United States by signing a flurry of executive orders on issues including Covid-19, immigration and the environment.
Some of the executive actions undo policies from Donald Trump’s administration, including halting the travel ban from Muslim-majority countries, and ending the national emergency declaration used to justify funding construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border
Continue reading...Early in Trump’s presidency, emboldened neo-Nazi and fascist groups came out into the open but were met with widespread revulsion. So the tactics of the far right changed, becoming more insidious – and much more successful
In March 2018, on a cold, grey Monday afternoon in East Lansing, Michigan, about 500 militant antifascists gathered in a car park with the intention of stopping Richard Spencer, the high-profile white nationalist, from speaking at Michigan State University (MSU). Spencer had not been asked to come by any student group on campus, but had instead invited himself. After the university denied his initial request to speak a few months earlier, Spencer sued. As part of the settlement agreement, Spencer agreed to speak in the middle of spring break at the MSU Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education, a venue more than a mile away from the main campus.
There in the parking lot, the antifascists kept one another warm, dancing to hardcore and hip-hop played over a wheeled-in guitar amplifier, sharing cigarettes and news from elsewhere. Some people talked about the leaked chat logs of the fascist gang Patriot Front, members of which were on their way to campus that very moment. Others discussed the arraignment of one of Spencer’s followers the night before on weapons charges after he pulled a gun on protesters. About 40 police officers in riot gear huddled at the far end of the car park. Bike cops on patrol swirled by.
Continue reading...President has vowed to rejoin Paris agreement, cut fossil fuel reliance, and invest in low-carbon growth
Joe Biden’s pledges of strong action on the climate crisis have buoyed international hopes that 2021 can be a breakthrough year, resetting the world on a greener path to net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate experts cheered the inauguration of the new US president, who has vowed to rejoin the Paris agreement, rethink US reliance on fossil fuels, and devote hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus spending to low-carbon economic growth.
Continue reading...Anthony Levandowski’s pardon had the support of billionaire Peter Thiel, who donated to Trump’s 2016 campaign
In his final hours of office, Donald Trump pardoned a former Google engineer who was convicted of stealing trade secrets from the company before taking up a new role with competitor Uber.
Continue reading...After four years in a heightened state of alert, many people the world over now hope that sanity will return
For four years the world had held its breath, but at last came the moment to exhale. Ever since noon on 20 January 2017, when Donald Trump took the oath that made him president of the United States, the people of the planet had found themselves in a state of heightened alert: what new madness might the most powerful man on earth unleash? Within months, he had seemed to threaten nuclear war with North Korea – in a tweet directed at Kim Jong-un, he boasted that “I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!” – and there were days when it seemed rational to wonder if America, and the rest of us, would even survive four years of a Trump presidency.
Eleven minutes before noon local time, it became possible to breathe out once more. Joe Biden recited the magical incantation by which a single US citizen is transformed into the head of government, head of state and symbol of the republic. As he uttered the words “So help me God,” his hand on a thick Bible, a wave of blessed relief rippled through millions of Americans – and all those, anywhere, who had lived through the stress of the Trump era. The TV networks had helpfully shown footage of the military aide who carries the nuclear “football”, the case containing the codes required to launch the mighty US atomic arsenal, and there was comfort in knowing that that aide now answered to Biden, not the man who a few hours earlier had fled to his resort in Florida.
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In the moments following Joe Biden taking his oath of office, Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, published an open letter to Biden congratulating him on his entry into office.
“I extend cordial good wishes and the assurance of my prayers that Almighty God will grant you wisdom and strength in the exercise of your high office.”
Pope Francis sends message to President Biden:
“I likewise ask God...to guide your efforts to foster understanding, reconciliation and peace within the United States and among the nations of the world in order to advance the universal common good” #PopeFrancis #InaugurationDay pic.twitter.com/DgoTNjBCgV
At least two Republican senators praised Joe Biden’s inaugural speech, saying it represented a necessary moment of unity for the nation.
Mitt Romney of Utah said Biden’s speech was “very strong and very much needed”. “We as a nation come together if we are told the truth,” Romney said.
ROMNEY praises Biden address “ I thought it was very strong and very much needed. We as a nation come together if we are told the truth. And if we have leaders who stand for enduring American principles”
“I thought it was very good. Very uplifting,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski tells us of her reaction to Biden’s speech.
“All the other speakers really seemed to complement the president’s words. I thought it was very well done. I thought it was what we needed.”
Internet giants that spread hate speech and conspiracy theories should face ‘democratic limits’, says European commission president
The end of Donald Trump’s tenure in the White House was celebrated by the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday, as she warned that the former US president’s rise highlighted the need to confront the internet giants who helped him spread “conspiracy theories and fake news”.
The European commission president spoke of her relief at Trump’s departure, but warned that the outgoing leader’s movement still existed, and that the digital platforms used to spread hate needed to be tackled.
Continue reading...Donald Trump said it had been his ‘greatest honour and privilege’ to have served as US president in a speech to supporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. ‘Goodbye, we love you, we’ll be back in some form,’ Trump said, before boarding Air Force One to the sound of the Village People’s 'YMCA'. Trump is the first president in more than 150 years not to attend the inauguration ceremony of his successor.
Donald Trump has left the White House for the last time as president, saying it had been ‘the honour of a lifetime’ to serve. He boarded Marine One with the first lady and was flown to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for a ‘sending off’ ceremony. Trump will not be attending Joe Biden’s inauguration
Continue reading...Anthony Scaramucci, a former White House communications director, has called the outgoing US president, Donald Trump, a 'seditious traitor'. He said many Americans would 'breathe a sigh of relief' after Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday.
The new administration faces no shortage of obstacles to progress – but Biden is setting his sights high nonetheless
The last time a Democratic president took control of the White House, the wreckage he inherited was so great, there was little else his incoming team could prioritize.
Twelve years ago, Barack Obama’s blunt-spoken chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, liked to describe the Republican legacy – a financial crisis, deep recession and two wars – as a giant shit sandwich wrapped in a red ribbon.
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The justice department has said it will not pursue insider trading charges against Republican senator Richard Burr.
The New York Times reports:
The Justice Department informed Senator Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina, on Tuesday that it would not pursue insider trading charges against him, according to his lawyer and another person briefed on the decision, quietly ending a monthslong investigation into his dumping of hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock in the turbulent early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
The decision by the department and the Securities and Exchange Commission effectively cleared a cloud of legal jeopardy that has loomed over Mr. Burr since the sales were first disclosed in March. At the crux of the case was whether Mr. Burr, then the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had acted based on nonpublic information about the contagion that he received at senators-only briefings.
California’s attorney general Xavier Becerra launched 9 lawsuits against the Trump administration.
The lawsuits include challenges of:
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