Rising political threats take US into uncharted territory as 2024 election looms
This week’s confrontation that ended with FBI agents fatally shooting a 74-year-old Utah man who threatened to assassinate President Joe Biden was just the latest example of how violent rhetoric has created a more perilous political environment across the U.S. Threats against public officials have been steadily climbing in recent years, creating new challenges for law enforcement, civil rights and the health of American democracy.
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Biden announces huge infrastructure plan to 'win the future'
Biden hopes to pass an infrastructure plan by summer, which could mean relying solely on the slim Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate. “Ninety-one Fortune 500 Companies, including Amazon, pay not a single solitary penny in income tax,” Biden said. “Wall Street didn’t build this country," Biden said. The new construction could keep the economy running hot, coming on the heels of Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. But we have to get it done.”AdDemocratic leaders embraced Biden’s plan Wednesday.
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The Latest: Twitter grilled about blocking a NY Post article
Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON – The latest news from a House committee questioning the CEOs of Facebook, Google and Twitter. ___2:30 p.m.Rep. Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, raised the long-running conservative talking point that Twitter, Facebook and Google are biased against conservative viewpoints and censor material based on political or religious viewpoints. Scalise highlighted Twitter’s blocking of a New York Post article on Hunter Biden, which CEO Jack Dorsey said was a mistake that the company corrected within 24 hours. AdThis would include product vice presidents of integrity, trust and safety and vice presidents of platform policy — at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (rather than Google, which owns YouTube) and perhaps an upstart like TikTok. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai, CEO of YouTube parent Google, are facing questioning at a hearing by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
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House OKs Dems' immigration bills for Dreamers, farm workers
They then voted 247-174 for a second measure creating similar protections for 1 million farm workers who have worked in the U.S. illegally. While Dreamers win wide public support and migrant farm workers are a backbone of the agriculture industry, both House bills face gloomy prospects in the evenly split Senate. Nine House Republicans joined all Democrats in voting for the Dreamers measure but 30 GOP lawmakers backed the farm workers bill, giving it a more bipartisan hue. AdMaine Rep. Jared Golden's vote against the farm workers measure made him the only Democrat to oppose either bill. The other bill would let immigrant farm workers who've worked in the country illegally over the past two years get certified agriculture worker status.
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House set to vote on virus relief, Biden on cusp of triumph
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., pose after signing the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill during an enrollment ceremony on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, March 10, 2021, in Washington. The House gave final congressional approval to the sweeping package by a near party line 220-211 vote precisely seven weeks after Biden entered the White House and four days after the Senate passed the bill. AdThe measure addresses Democrats’ campaign promises and Biden’s top initial priority of easing a one-two punch that first hit the country a year ago. According to a CNN poll released Wednesday, the relief bill is backed by 61% of Americans, including nearly all Democrats, 58% of independents and 26% of Republicans. On the relief bill, progressives had to swallow big concessions to solidify moderate support.
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Impeachment could become defining moment for Liz Cheney
3 House Republican had already broken with the president on everything from mask-wearing during the coronavirus pandemic to pulling back American troops in Afghanistan. Defying Trump also carried the historical weight of coming from the daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, a conservative force in Washington for decades. On a conference call with home-state reporters after Trump's impeachment, Cheney defended her decision saying, “I will continue to talk to and hear from my constituents all over Wyoming. Other top members of her own party have begun clamoring for Cheney to quit — or be voted out of — her post as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference. “I’m not judging anybody on this,” said Utah Republican Rep. John Curtis.
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What to watch as House moves to impeach Trump for 2nd time
What to watch as the Democratic-controlled House moves to impeach Trump for the second time in 13 months — now with just days left in the defeated president's term. “President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government,” reads part of the four-page impeachment bill. Unlike the last time Trump was impeached, when no House Republicans supported charges against Trump over a call he made to Ukraine's new president, the current impeachment effort has drawn support from some Republicans. In a move short of impeachment, McCarthy and other Republicans have floated the idea of a House censure of Trump. While debate on the House is often impassioned, emotions are expected to run unusually high as lawmakers debate impeachment.
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Deadly siege focuses attention on Capitol Police
This undated image provided by the United States Capitol Police shows U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, of injuries sustained during the riot at the Capitol. One Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, died Thursday night from injuries suffered during the riot. Another disturbing video shows a bloodied police officer screaming for help as he’s crushed by protesters inside the Capitol building. Still, the riot — and Sicknick's death — focused renewed attention on Capitol Police, a force of more than 2,300 officers and civilian employees that protects the Capitol, lawmakers, staff and visitors. Capitol Police turned them down both times, according to senior defense officials and two people familiar with the matter.
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Capitol siege by pro-Trump mob forces questions, ousters
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. The tragedy deepened late Thursday as a Capitol police officer injured in the melee died, the fifth death related to the riot. The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement that Officer Brian D. Sicknick died from injuries sustained responding to the riot on Wednesday at the Capitol. The procedure allows for the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare the president unfit for office. Black lawmakers, in particular, noted the way the mostly white Trump supporters were treated.
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Democrats tighten control with House rules changes
The rules changes come as Democrats hold a bare majority in the House of fewer than a half-dozen seats, significantly smaller than over the past two years. Also, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is beginning what promises to be her fourth and final term as leader of the chamber. Understanding the bundle of changes requires a dive into the arcane world of House rules and parliamentary maneuvering. The Democratic-imposed rules continue a years-long trend of eroding the powers of the House minority through revisions enacted every two years. “It is all designed to take away the voice of 48 percent of this House chamber,” said Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La.
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Supreme Court rejects Republican attack on Biden victory
Kathy Kratt of Orlando, Fla., displays her Trump flags as she and other protesters demonstrate their support for President Donald Trump at the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. Trump bemoaned the decision late Friday, tweeting: “The Supreme Court really let us down. Two days after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed his suit, Trump jumped into the high court case. “If the Supreme Court shows great Wisdom and Courage, the American People will win perhaps the most important case in history, and our Electoral Process will be respected again!” he tweeted Friday afternoon. Many Republican voters in several states won by Biden have demanded that their elected officials find a way to invalidate the president-elect's victories.
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Probe: CDC official says she was ordered to delete email
At issue is what happened last summer to an email sent to the CDC from a now-departed HHS adviser, Dr. Paul Alexander. Kent testified that she believed the order to delete the email came from Redfield. Redfield said Thursday in a statement that “regarding the email in question, I instructed CDC staff to ignore Dr. Alexander’s comments. “I considered this to be very unusual,” she said, according to the partial transcript released by Clyburn. Certain “persons in the agency, like center directors and the director, their email, you know, cannot be deleted,” she said.
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U.S. House passes bill that would decriminalize marijuana
This image from House Television shows the final vote, 228-164, in the House on passage of a bill to decriminalize and tax marijuana at the federal level. (House Television via AP)WASHINGTON – The Democratic-controlled House on Friday approved a bill to decriminalize and tax marijuana at the federal level, reversing what supporters call a failed policy of criminalizing pot use and taking steps to address racial disparities in enforcement of federal drug laws. The bill also would use money from a new excise tax on marijuana to address the needs of groups and communities harmed by the so-called drug war and provide for the expungement of federal marijuana convictions and arrests. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., called the House bill an important racial justice measure. Instead of allowing a vote on the GOP bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is “actually focused more on legalizing pot,'' Scalise said.
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Gun-toting congresswoman-elect may carry Glock at Capitol
The agency's officials did not answer directly when Democrats on the House Committee on Administration asked in 2018 how many lawmakers carry firearms in the Capitol. Aides can carry lawmakers’ weapons for them on the Capitol complex, he wrote. He said members and their staffs carry firearms around the Capitol “all the time,” though he mentioned no names. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., chairman of the House Second Amendment Caucus, justified letting lawmakers carry weapons. Its officers routinely arrest people caught trying to carry weapons at the Capitol.
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Trump ally McCarthy is reelected leader of House Republicans
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., talks about House Republicans and the election, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. House Republicans are “the most united and energized” he's ever seen after their “historic political upset." McCarthy and his team are now among the remaining leaders from the tea party era, when House Republicans last controlled Congress. In the Trump era, House Republicans’ role receded as the White House often dominated the discussion and Republicans held the majority in the Senate. The House Republicans had to seek a waiver from the District of Columbia, which has restrictions on large gatherings.
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Trump ally McCarthy is reelected leader of House Republicans
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., talks about House Republicans and the election, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. House Republicans are “the most united and energized” he's ever seen after their “historic political upset." McCarthy and his team are now among the remaining leaders from the tea party era, when House Republicans last controlled Congress. In the Trump era, House Republicans’ role receded as the White House often dominated the discussion and Republicans held the majority in the Senate. The House Republicans had to seek a waiver from the District of Columbia, which has restrictions on large gatherings.
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Biden filling top White House team with campaign veterans
President-elect Joe Biden has announced top White House staff positions, drawing from the senior ranks of his campaign and some of his closest confidants. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)ATLANTA – President-elect Joe Biden announced a raft of top White House staff positions on Tuesday, drawing from the senior ranks of his campaign and some of his closest confidants to fill out an increasingly diverse White House leadership team. Richmond will leave his Louisiana congressional seat to fill the White House job. Late last week, Biden tapped former senior campaign adviser Ron Klain to serve as his chief of staff. She is a veteran political operative who worked on both of Barack Obama’s White House bids.
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Biden filling out top White House team with campaign vets
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)ATLANTA – President-elect Joe Biden is drawing from the senior ranks of his campaign to fill out an increasingly diverse White House leadership team. Richmond will leave his Louisiana congressional seat to fill the White House job. Late last week, Biden tapped former senior campaign adviser Ron Klain to serve as his chief of staff. She is a veteran political operative who worked on both of former President Barack Obama's White House bids. Richmond was a key figure in helping Biden, a former senator and two-term vice president, leverage his own long-standing relationships with CBC members.
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GOP's focus on Trump leaves scant room for Congress hopefuls
This isnt a party convention, its a Trump convention, said Rory Cooper, a Republican strategist and former congressional staffer who opposes Trump. If Republicans lose the Senate in November, we should look back at this week as a lost opportunity to introduce the country to more GOP congressional candidates. Scalise made no direct reference to the GOP's faint hopes of regaining the House majority in November's elections. Sean Parnell, a GOP challenger for a Democratic-held seat in western Pennsylvania, didnt specifically ask listeners to award Republicans House control. The inattention to the GOP's congressional efforts might have changed Wednesday when Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, delivered prime-time remarks.
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Trump 'No Mr. Nice Guy' shows softer side to win voters
In this image from video, House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, R.La., speaks from Washington, during the first night of the Republican National Convention Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. Republicans went all-out to depict a gentler Trump on Night One of their convention. First lady Melania Trump and two of the presidents children were due to speak Tuesday night about Trumps personal side. Campaign surveys showed Trump trailed Biden badly in how voters perceived them relating to and understanding Americans troubles. In one of the taped pieces shown Monday night, Trump talked to a half-dozen former hostages his administration had freed from foreign prisons.
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WHAT TO WATCH: After Bidens moment, its Trumps prime time
The convention runs through Thursday and includes a presidential speech from the White House South Lawn and a vice presidential address from Fort McHenry in Baltimore. Theyll hold a roll-call vote to renominate the president, but unlike the Democrats, it wont be a prime-time affair. While Democrats repeatedly mentioned the impact of the virus and hammered Trumps response to it, expect Republicans to defend the president on the issue but feature it less prominently. WHO WONT BE THEREThe Democratic convention featured every living Democratic president and the partys 2004 presidential nominee, John Kerry. ET on the GOP conventions social media channels and AT&T U-VERSE, Direct TV, Twitch, Youtube and Amazon Prime TV.
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WATCH LIVE: First night of 2020 Republican National Convention
(Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)NOTE: A livestream player will be added to this article before the convention program begins. Monday marks the first day of the 2020 Republican National Convention. The convention program is expected to start at 8:30 p.m. Heres the full list of speakers, according to the Trump campaign:
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Trump dodges question on QAnon conspiracy theory
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump on Friday twice ignored a question about whether he supports QAnon, a convoluted, right-wing, pro-Trump conspiracy theory. A reporter asked the president about the theory at a White House briefing Friday after Trump tweeted his congratulations to a QAnon-supporting candidate. So absolutely, I did congratulate her, Trump said, sidestepping the question and ignoring a follow-up before moving on to another reporter. Trump has retweeted QAnon-promoting accounts, and shirts and hats with QAnon symbols and slogans are not uncommon at his rallies. Green still faces a Democrat in November, but the GOP primary was considered the real contest in a district Trump won handily in 2016.
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Blame game? Cuomo takes heat over NY nursing home study
It also said 80% of the 310 nursing homes that admitted coronavirus patients already had a confirmed or suspected case among its residents or staff before the directive was issued. And it contends the median number of coronavirus patients sent to nursing homes had been hospitalized for nine days, the same period that the study said it likely takes for the virus to no longer be contagious. If you were to place blame, I would blame coronavirus, Dr. Howard Zucker, the state health commissioner, told reporters last week. Cuomo said in a later news conference thatugly politics were behind this political conspiracy that the deaths in nursing homes were preventable. The strongest factor in driving the nursing home infections was through staff infections.The Cuomo administration report will likely not be the last word.
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Grim blame game over COVID deaths in besieged nursing homes
A grim blame game with partisan overtones is breaking out over COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents, a tiny slice of the population that represents a shockingly high proportion of Americans who have perished in the pandemic. Advocates for the elderly say the federal government hasnt provided needed virus testing and sufficient protective gear to allow nursing homes to operate safely. With more coronavirus legislation possible this year, congressional Democrats are pressing for a national testing plan and additional resources for nursing homes. She says states have money from the federal government that they can use to support testing of nursing home staff. Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-ranking House Democrat and chairman of a special panel on the pandemic, says the crisis in nursing homes should not be a partisan issue.