Category Archives: Biden administration

McConnell proposes delaying Trump’s trial as Biden details Covid strategy – live

Posted on by

The American Medical Association has welcomed the Biden administration’s moves to boost the production of PPE and vaccines.

“Since March, the AMA has called on the federal government to implement a coordinated national strategy and pull every lever to ramp up PPE production for N95 masks, gowns, gloves, as well as testing supplies - and coordinate distribution,” said the organization’s president, Susan R. Bailey.

Thank goodness pic.twitter.com/mDZdR9FVIR

McConnell said in a statement that he has sent a timeline for the impeachment trial to Schumer, implying that rushing a trial would be unfair.

“Senate Republicans are strongly united behind the principle that the institution of the Senate, the office of the presidency, and former President Trump himself all deserve a full and fair process that respects his rights and the serious factual, legal, and constitutional questions at stake,” he said.

Continue reading...

China announces sanctions against ‘lying and cheating’ outgoing Trump officials

Posted on by

Chinese foreign ministry announced sanctions against Mike Pompeo and 27 others as Biden was taking presidential oath

China has said it wants to cooperate with Joe Biden’s new US administration, while announcing sanctions against the “lying and cheating” outgoing secretary of state Mike Pompeo and 27 other top officials under Donald Trump.

The move was a sign of China’s anger, especially at an accusation Pompeo made on his final full day in office that China had committed genocide against its Uighur Muslims, an assessment that Biden’s choice to succeed Pompeo, Anthony Blinken, said he shared.

Continue reading...

Kamala Harris sworn in as first female US vice-president – video

Posted on by

Kamala Harris made history as she was sworn in as the US’s first female, black and south Asian vice-president. The former California senator was sworn in by Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina on the supreme court. Harris chose to be sworn in using two Bibles, one from the late Thurgood Marshall, the first black supreme court justice, and one from Regina Shelton, a close family friend

Continue reading...

Joe Biden sworn in as 46th US president – video

Posted on by

Joe Biden has been sworn in as the 46th US president at the US Capitol in Washington. He declared 'democracy has prevailed', during a ceremony at the US Capitol, where two weeks ago a swarm of supporters loyal to his predecessor stormed the building in a violent but futile last stand to overturn the results of the election

Continue reading...

‘This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge’: Joe Biden calls for unity in first speech as president – live

Posted on by

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.”

Continue reading...

European leaders hail ‘new dawn’ for ties with US under Biden

Posted on by

Leaders say Europe again has a friend in the White House but differences with US will not disappear

European leaders have voiced relief at Joe Biden’s inauguration, hailing a “new dawn” for Europe and the US, but warned that the world has changed after four years of Donald Trump’s presidency and that transatlantic ties will be different in future.

“This new dawn in America is the moment we’ve been awaiting for so long,” Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president, told MEPs. “Once again, after four long years, Europe has a friend in the White House.”

Continue reading...

‘It gives us hope’: migrants stranded in Mexico buoyed by prospect of Biden reform

Posted on by

The president-elect has promised to do away with ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy, raising hopes that asylum seekers claims will be treated seriously

Selma López, 31, has spent nearly a year holed up in a two-room house not far from Mexico’s border with the US, along with her 11-year-old son Darikson and another woman who also made the long journey from Honduras in search of a new life.

Related: Remain in Mexico policy needlessly exposed migrants to harm, report says

Continue reading...

Biden prepares ambitious agenda even as he cleans up Trump’s mess | Analysis

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Trump to hold early morning sendoff ceremony on Biden inauguration day

Posted on by

Outgoing president has issued invites for event taking place in Maryland at 8am on Wednesday

Donald Trump is planning an early morning sendoff event for himself at a military airfield in Maryland on Wednesday several hours before his successor, Joe Biden, is inaugurated as the 46th US president at the Capitol in Washington DC.

For his last presidential ceremony, Trump reportedly wants an ostentatious military parade and an official armed forces farewell as the commander-in-chief, as well as a large crowd of supporters, selected backers and current and former officials in his administration and their guests at a huge red-carpet affair.

Continue reading...

Tense calm in Washington as small pro-Trump groups gather at state capitols across US – live

Posted on by

The FBI announced that authorities had arrested the guitarist of heavy metal band Iced Earth in connection to the Capitol riot.

Jon Schaffer was allegedly among those who sprayed Capitol police with bear spray.

Jon Schaffer, Columbus, IN, has been arrested in connection to Jan 6 incident at the U.S. Capitol. Schaffer faces 6 charges including engaging in an act of physical violence in a Capitol building. Schaffer was allegedly among rioters who sprayed Capitol police with "bear spray."

Jason Kenney, the premier of Alberta, Canada, has responded to the report that President-elect Joe Biden will cancel the Keystone XL pipeline permit via executive action on his first day in office.

“The Keystone XL pipeline represents tens of thousands of good paying jobs that the American economy needs right now,” he writes.

I am deeply concerned by reports that the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden may repeal the Presidential permit for the Keystone XL border crossing next week.

My full statement: pic.twitter.com/vZjun1IdMH

Continue reading...

Biden will appeal for unity as US braces for violence by Trump supporters

Posted on by

Joe Biden will deliver a message of national unity when he assumes the presidency on Wednesday, seeking to begin healing a country fractured by the acrimony of Donald Trump’s administration and ongoing threats of violence by his supporters.

Related: America is broken – can Biden and Harris put it back together?

Continue reading...

America is broken – can Biden and Harris put it back together?

Posted on by

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...

Joe Biden names scientific advisers and seeks to bring Eric Lander into cabinet

Posted on by

Joe Biden has named the geneticist Eric Lander as his top scientific adviser and will elevate the position to the cabinet for the first time, a move meant to indicate a decisive break from Donald Trump’s treatment of science.

Related: History-maker Kamala Harris will wield real power as vice-president

Continue reading...

‘My neighbourhood is being destroyed to pacify his supporters’: the race to complete Trump’s wall

Posted on by

In his final months in office, Donald Trump has ramped up construction on his promised physical border between the US and Mexico – devastating wildlife habitats and increasing the migrant death toll

At Sierra Vista Ranch in Arizona near the Mexican border, Troy McDaniel is warming up his helicopter. McDaniel, tall and slim in a tan jumpsuit, began taking flying lessons in the 80s, and has since logged 2,000 miles in the air. The helicopter, a cosy, two-seater Robinson R22 Alpha is considered a work vehicle and used to monitor the 640-acre ranch, but it’s clear he relishes any opportunity to fly. “We will have no fun at all,” he deadpans.

McDaniel and his wife, Melissa Owen, bought their ranch and the 100-year-old adobe house that came with it in 2003. Years before, Owen began volunteering at the nearby Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, and fell in love with the beauty and natural diversity of the area, as well as the quiet of their tiny town. That all changed last July when construction vehicles and large machinery started “barrelling down the two-lane state road”, says Owen.

Continue reading...

Nuclear stand-off: can Joe Biden avert a new arms race?

Posted on by

Analysis: new president will face threats on multiple fronts, including from Russia and Iran, and must decide future of US arsenal

Joe Biden will have to make critical decisions on arms control in his first days in the White House that could determine whether a new nuclear arms race can be averted, and possibly reversed.

When the new president takes the oath of office on 20 January, there will be 16 days left before the 2010 New Start treaty with Russia expires, and with it the last binding limit on the world’s two biggest nuclear arsenals left standing in the wake of the Trump era.

Continue reading...

James Comey: Donald Trump should not be prosecuted after leaving office

Posted on by
  • Fired FBI director: next attorney general must ‘foster trust’
  • President has insulted Comey and threatened him with jail

Donald Trump should not be prosecuted once he leaves the White House no matter how much evidence has been amassed against him, the former FBI director James Comey writes in a new book.

Related: Trump call to Georgia secretary of state electrifies voters in Senate runoffs

Continue reading...

Biden seeks term-defining wins in Georgia runoffs Trump called ‘illegal’

Posted on by

Contests will decide control of Senate and how far Biden can reach on issues such as pandemic, healthcare, taxation and environment

Campaigning continued in Georgia on Saturday in two Senate runoff elections which will define much of Joe Biden’s first term in office.

Related: Biden wants to fill federal court seats – but he needs to win the Senate first

Continue reading...

2021 – the story of a year in 12 leaders

Posted on by

In 2021, the world will slowly begin to fight back against Covid. But what else will change as the vaccines are administered? Here are the figures who will shape a vital year

Joe Biden United States

Continue reading...

How Joe Biden’s cold war experience will shape his approach to Russia

Posted on by

President-elect’s formative years of going toe-to-toe with the USSR on arms control hint at how he may deal with Putin

It was 1988, near the end of the cold war, when then-senator Joe Biden made yet another visit to the Soviet Union for talks on arms control. By that time, he felt comfortable enough in Moscow to bring a guest into the room: his teenage son.

“Would you mind my son, Hunter Biden, sitting in and listening? The gentleman is interested in international affairs and diplomacy,” he said, according to Victor Prokofiev, the Soviet foreign ministry interpreter at the meeting.

Continue reading...