Category Archives: Mike Pence

Pro-Trump mob storm Capitol as lawmakers meet to certify Biden’s win – video

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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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What’s expected to happen when Congress meets to certify the 2020 election result?

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Normally, Congress simply receives results from states and announces them to the US – but this year may include some twists

A joint session of Congress is scheduled to begin meeting on Wednesday at 1pm to finally certify Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

Never in the modern political history of the United States have these proceedings been notable. For 150 years, Congress has acted in accordance with the constitution and the 1887 Electoral Count Act to simply receive election results from the states and announce them to the nation. It usually takes a couple hours on a weekday, and does not make many headlines.

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‘Traitors and patriots’: Republican push to keep Trump in power seems doomed

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All 12 Republican senators who have pledged not to ratify the electoral college results on Wednesday, and thereby refuse to confirm Joe Biden’s resounding victory over Donald Trump in the presidential election, declined to defend their move on television, a CNN host said on Sunday.

Related: Ted Cruz and other Republican senators oppose certifying election results

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Guardians of the galaxy: Mike Pence names members of new US space force

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Vice-president’s announcement marks first birthday of signature Trump program but social media mockery follows

Members of the new US space force will be known as “guardians”, Vice-President Mike Pence announced on Friday, at a ceremony to mark the first birthday of the newest branch of the US armed forces, one of Donald Trump’s signature policy initiatives.

Related: Trump unveils logo for Starfleet ... er, Space Force ... and Trekkers take to Twitter

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‘Important and symbolic’: US vice-president Mike Pence vaccinated for Covid – video

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The US vice-president, Mike Pence, received his Covid-19 vaccine on Friday morning. Dr Anthony Fauci, who was present for the 'symbolic' inoculation, said it should serve as an example for all Americans called to do so to get vaccinated. 

US deaths from coronavirus topped 3,000 for a third straight day and the country reported a record number of new infections

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More than a second gentleman: why Doug Emhoff is Kamala Harris’ secret weapon | Hadley Freeman

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I’m not obsessed with Doug, but he could probably be my pub quiz subject

There is much to say about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s historic win, but I’d like to focus on a man called Doug. Doug Emhoff is a lawyer and – more relevantly to your interests and mine – Harris’s husband, and unless you are part of the #DougHive, Doug’s devoted (and, one suspects, mainly female) fans, it’s likely you don’t know much about him.

This in itself is astonishing, given that women are generally discussed through the prism of their personal lives. I didn’t realise until last month that the young adults with whom Harris is occasionally photographed are not, as I’d assumed, her children, but rather Doug’s children and her stepchildren. Having children, or not, once defined a woman’s public image, as Theresa May could tell you, but I don’t recall a single discussion of Harris’s parental status during this campaign. Before we all celebrate this too ecstatically, Harris remains an anomaly; just try to find a single article about Amy Coney Barrett that doesn’t mention how many kids she has, and then imply that this has some bearing on her fitness for the supreme court. That Harris has largely swerved this is mainly down to her, but also down to Doug. (I know newspaper style dictates I should refer to him as Emhoff, but, really, he is such a Doug.)

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What will Mike Pence do next after Trump’s election loss?

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Pence may return to his roots in conservative talk radio as a way to remain relevant – and possibly plan a 2024 run for president

Across the street from the British embassy, with its red telephone box and Winston Churchill statue, in Washington DC is the residence of the US-vice president. It has its own basketball court, on which Mike Pence reportedly installed a logo from the 1986 film Hoosiers starring Gene Hackman about small town Indiana sports.

Fortunately, the Washington Post noted a couple of years ago, the logo is removable.

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US election 2020: Joe Biden holds lead over Donald Trump in tense wait for results – live

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The Guardian’s Nina Lakhani reports from Northampton county:

Allegany county, home to Pennsylvania’s second biggest city of Pittsburgh, has paused all counting until tomorrow morning due to a legal challenge over 29,000 ballots.

We are also getting some more numbers from Nevada’s rural counties, and Joe Biden’s lead has shrunk slightly to about 11,500 votes.

Lyon, too, not moving dial much.

Shows you disproportionate impact of Clark.

Lyon and Elko are two of larger rural counties.

Biden by 11.5K

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Trump repeats claim ‘Covid, Covid, Covid’ dominates news to undermine his campaign – live

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Several polls of battleground states were just released, so the blog is going to sum them up.

First up is Georgia, where Biden has pulled slightly ahead of Trump, according to Monmouth University.

GEORGIA VOTER POLL: President - @JoeBiden overtakes @realDonaldTrump

Registered voters:
45% Trump (47% in Sept.)
50% Biden (46%)

Likely voters, high turnout:
46% Trump (48%)
50% Biden (46%)

Likely voters, low turnout:
48% Trump (50%)
50% Biden (45%) https://t.co/aUyYrRGfMt pic.twitter.com/pygB8gmNML

Trump predicted he would “over-perform” on election day, as polls show him trailing nationally and in key battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

At a press event in Las Vegas, Trump says: “On Tuesday, we’re going to over-perform” #Elections2020 pic.twitter.com/UGf7ZHRbuJ

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US Senate to hold final vote on Amy Coney Barrett confirmation – live

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Here again is a link to the interview with Donald Trump published on Sunday by 60 Minutes, an institution in US television news known for editorial balance and seriousness of purpose. Significantly, the program also reaches millions of older voters, who overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2016 but who appear to be splitting their vote this year between the candidates.

In this clip, via Vox’s Aaron Rupar, Trump whines about the difficulty level of the questions he is being confronted with, after interviewer Lesley Stahl refuses to endorse one of his conspiracy theories about the Russia investigation.

I don’t understand how anyone can watch this and draw any conclusion other than Trump is completely unfit for his job pic.twitter.com/DA87zGehXI

Hello and welcome to our round-the-clock coverage as the 2020 US election enters its final lap. Only eight days to go.

On Sunday, the number of early voters in the election surpassed 58m, the number who voted early in 2016. That means the 2020 election will mark the first time in history that more than half of the overall US vote was cast early.

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Senate votes on Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to supreme court – live

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Voting has begun...

As McConnell continues his cynical, revisionist version of how we’ve ended up at this moment – awaiting the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett – the supreme court, one member short, is still working.

Just now, the court upheld a federal appeals court ruling that blocks a deadline extension for mail-in-ballots, awarding a victory for Republicans in a crusade against expanding voting rights and access.

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White House chief of staff says ‘we’re not going to control pandemic’, after Pence staffers test positive – live

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Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York state, is having a field day over the comments of the White House chief of staff Mark Meadows this morning. In a rare moment of transparency, Meadows admitted to a Sunday political talk show that the Trump administration had no intention of containing coronavirus, saying: “We’re not going to control the pandemic”.

Cuomo said that thinking was tantamount to giving in to the virus. “They surrendered without firing a shot. It was the great American surrender,” he said on Sunday, as reported by the Daily News.

After the Senate voted to move forward with the final vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, Mitch McConnell spoke on the Senate floor, celebrating the lasting influence of the vote for posterity.

“By tomorrow night, we’ll have a new member of the United States Supreme Court,” he told the chamber.

McConnell, just after the Senate votes to limit debate on Amy Coney Barrett: "A lot of what we’ve done over the last four years will be undone sooner or later by the next election. They won’t be able to do much about this for a long time to come."

Also, McConnell's right hand, which was deeply bruised earlier this week and prompted several Qs about his health, appears much better. Most of the bruising is gone https://t.co/WPFJcqsog2

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Trump says he won’t participate in virtual presidential debate with Biden – live

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It took maybe an hour for people close to Trump, as well as his opponents, to speculate that the president’s decision not to participate in the next presidential debate could change.

Trump economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, said in an interview with Fox News that Trump’s position could be a “negotiation point,” and that he would like to see the president participate.

In a wide ranging interview with Fox Business, Donald Trump provided an update on his coronavirus infection.

The president confirmed he is still taking the strong steroid dexamethasone. It’s widely available in hospitals and doctors have highlighted it can make the patient feel better than they actually are, which could help explain some of the president’s unusually upbeat descriptions of how he is feeling over the past several days.

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Mike Pence and Kamala Harris spar on Covid, race and climate in VP debate – video highlights

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Mike Pence and Kamala Harris met in Utah for the only vice-presidential debate of the election, separated by Plexiglass barriers as a protection against coronavirus.

From the pandemic to healthcare and race to the supreme court, via a fly, here are some of the key moments

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‘They’re coming for you’: Harris slams Trump and Pence on healthcare – video

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One of the most memorable moments of the vice-presidential debate was on healthcare, when Harris issued a stark warning about the Trump administration’s intentions.

Trump is seeking to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, which prevents health companies turning away patients with pre-existing conditions.

'If you have a pre-existing condition, heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, they’re coming for you. If you love someone who has a pre-existing condition, they’re coming for you.'

Pence responded by claiming the Trump administration has a plan to protect people with pre-existing conditions. Trump has spent years claiming he will release a comprehensive healthcare plan. We’re yet to see it

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‘I’m speaking’: Kamala Harris reins in Mike Pence during VP debate – video

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The vice-presidential debate was more courteous than last week’s horror show, during which Donald Trump interrupted Joe Biden 71 times during the first presidential debate, but the events in Salt Lake City still showed two contrasting faces of the US.

'Mr Vice-President, I’m speaking. I’m speaking,' Kamala Harris told Mike Pence, as he again tried to interject as she discussed Trump’s tax plans

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Fly that landed on Mike Pence head becomes VP debate star – video

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A fly that landed on Mike Pence's head has become the star of the vice presidential debate after the Republican went head-to-head with Kamala Harris. The fly was on Pence's head for over one minute, which proved more than enough time to grow its notoriety online. Democratic candidate Joe Biden used the opportunity to raise money for his campaign, while multiple Twitter account where setup on the fly's behalf

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Looks speak louder than words as Harris makes quotable case against Pence

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The vice-presidential debate was more courteous than last week’s horror show but still showed two contrasting faces of America

It was always going to be about the two faces of America.

One: white, male, midwestern, evangelical Christian. The other: Black, female, coastal, progressive.

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Pence-Harris vice-presidential debate: six key takeaways

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Coronavirus was the key theme, but Harris also warned of the threat to Obamacare as both candidates dodged questions

The vice-presidential debate on Wednesday was less openly hostile than the Donald Trump-Joe Biden debacle last week – but provided a further insight into the state of both campaigns ahead of November.

Related: Kamala Harris and Mike Pence clash over coronavirus response in vice-presidential debate

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Harris calls Trump’s Covid response ‘greatest failure’ of any administration – video

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Separated from vice-president Mike Pence by plexiglass barriers, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris called the Trump administration's response to the growing coronavirus pandemic 'the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country'. 

Speaking directly to the camera, Harris said, 'They knew what was happening, and they didn't tell you.'

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