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Found 12 results

  1. Supreme Court likely to uphold Arizona voting restrictions FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2020, file photo Maricopa County elections officials count ballots at the Maricopa County Recorder's Office in Phoenix. Eight years after carving the heart out of a landmark voting rights law, the Supreme Court is looking at putting new limits on efforts to combat racial discrimination in voting. The justices are taking up a case about Arizona restrictions on ballot collection and another policy that penalizes voters who cast ballots in the wrong precinct. (AP Photo/Matt York, File) More MARK SHERMAN Tue, March 2, 2021, 12:42 PM WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court appeared ready Tuesday to uphold voting restrictions in Arizona in a key case that could make it harder to challenge a raft of other voting measures Republicans have proposed following last year's elections. All six conservative justices, appointed by Republican presidents, suggested they would throw out an appellate ruling that struck down the restrictions as racially discriminatory under the landmark Voting Rights Act. The three liberal members of the court, appointed by Democrats, were more sympathetic to the challengers. Less clear is what standard the court might set for how to prove discrimination under the law, first enacted in 1965. The outcome could make it harder, if not impossible, to use the Voting Rights Act to sue over legislation that creates obstacles to voting in the name of election security. Such measures are currently making their way through dozens of Republican-controlled state legislatures. Civil rights group and Democrats argue that the proposed restrictions would disproportionately affect minority voters, important Democratic constituencies. Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, have proposed national legislation that would remove such security-driven obstacles to voting. Many of those proposals are being driven by former President Donald Trump's repeated false claims of a stolen election, although state elections officials and judges in state and federal courts found no evidence of significant problems. The Supreme Court case has strong partisan implications, with Arizona and national Republicans on one side, state and national Democrats on the other. The Arizona provisions under review were in place for last year's voting. They are a 2016 law that limits who can return early ballots for another person and a separate policy of discarding ballots cast in the wrong precinct. Both parties used ballot collection in Arizona to boost turnout during elections by going door to door and asking voters if they had completed their mail-in ballots. Voters who hadn't were urged to do so, and the volunteers offered to take the ballots to election offices. Democrats used the process more effectively. Republicans who control the legislature made a crime of ballot collection, dubbed ballot harvesting by opponents, other than for family members and caregivers. Eighty percent of the state's voters use mail-in ballots or vote early in person. The federal appeals court in San Francisco found that Black, Hispanic and Native Americans voters were most heavily affected by the new law. Both Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh pointed to the 2005 recommendation of a commission chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and the late James Baker to eliminate ballot collection, among other ideas to reduce the chance for election fraud. Kavanaugh said the recommendation seemed to be the sort of “circumstance that puts a thumb on the scale in favor of the legitimacy of the rule.” Jessica Amunson, representing Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in opposition to the restrictions, said the court should not ignore the state's experience with ballot collection. “Arizona had a 25-year history of literally not a single instance of fraud with ballot collection,” Amunson said on behalf of Hobbs, a Democrat. Justice Elena Kagan asked a series of questions that seemed to be aimed at other restrictions that could find their way to the court, including reducing time for early voting and eliminating polling places. Michael Carvin, representing Republicans, said the examples Kagan posited “have never existed in the real world." Kagan replied that they didn't “seem so fanciful to me.” The high court's last major Voting Rights Act decision was in 2013, when a 5-4 conservative majority gutted the part of the law that forced state and local governments with a history of discrimination, including Arizona, to get advance approval from the Justice Department or a federal court before making any changes to elections. Roberts wrote the court's opinion. The current case involves the remaining portion of the law that applies nationwide and still prohibits discrimination in voting on the basis of race. A decision is expected by early summer. https://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-likely-uphold-arizona-174254377.html GO RV, then BV
  2. Capitol officer awarded Congressional Gold Medal Fri, February 12, 2021, 7:33 PM The U.S. Senate broke out in a standing ovation on Friday as it awarded a medal to Eugene Goodman, a US Capitol police officer who helped keep a crowd of attackers out of the Senate chamber during the riots in Washington. (Feb. 12) Video Transcript CHUCK SCHUMER: Mr. President, in a moment I will ask the Senate to pass legislation that would award Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman the Congressional Gold Medal. In the weeks after the attack on January the 6th, the world learned about the incredible, incredible bravery of Officer Goodman on that fateful day. Here in this trial we saw new video, powerful video, showing calmness under pressure, his courage in the line of duty, his foresight in the midst of chaos, and his willingness to make himself a target of the mob's rage so that others might reach safety. Officer Goodman is in the chamber tonight. Officer Goodman, thank you. https://news.yahoo.com/capitol-officer-awarded-congressional-gold-003330981.html GO RV, then BV
  3. Biden to introduce Judge Merrick Garland as attorney general Scroll back up to restore default view. ERIC TUCKER and MICHAEL BALSAMO Thu, January 7, 2021, 6:01 AM EST WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has announced Merrick Garland as his pick for attorney general, saying the federal appeals court judge and three others he has selected for senior Justice Department positions will “restore the independence” of the agency and faith in the rule of law. The four lawyers are to be introduced by Biden at an event Thursday afternoon in Wilmington, Delaware. In picking Garland, Biden is turning to an experienced judge who held senior positions at the Justice Department decades ago, including as a supervisor of the prosecution of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Garland's nomination will force Senate Republicans to contend with someone they spurned four years ago — refusing even to hold hearings when President Barack Obama nominated Garland for the Supreme Court. Biden is banking on Garland's credentials and reputation for moderation to ensure his confirmation. Others being named Thursday to the Justice Department's senior leadership team include Obama administration homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco as deputy attorney general and former Justice Department civil rights chief Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general, the No. 3 official. He will also name an assistant attorney general for civil rights, Kristen Clarke, now the president of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, an advocacy group. “Our first-rate nominees to lead the Justice Department are eminently qualified, embody character and judgment that is beyond reproach, and have devoted their careers to serving the American people with honor and integrity," Biden said in a statement. “They will restore the independence of the department so it serves the interests of the people not a presidency, rebuild public trust in the rule of law, and work tirelessly to ensure a more fair and equitable justice system.” Garland was selected over other finalists including former Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. His confirmation prospects were solidified as Democrats on Wednesday scored control of the Senate majority by winning both Georgia Senate seats. Garland would confront immediate challenges on the job, including an ongoing criminal tax investigation into Biden’s son Hunter as well as calls from many Democrats to pursue inquiries into President Donald Trump after he leaves office. A special counsel investigation into the origins of the Russia probe also remains open, forcing a new attorney general to decide how to handle it and what to make public. Garland would also inherit a Justice Department that has endured a tumultuous four years and abundant criticism from Democrats over what they see as the overpoliticization of law enforcement. The department is expected to dramatically change course under new leadership, including through a different approach to civil rights issues and national policing policies, especially after months of mass protests over the deaths of Black Americans at the hand of law enforcement. Black and Latino advocates had wanted a Black attorney general or someone with a background in civil rights causes and criminal justice reform. Groups including the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund had championed Garland's Supreme Court nomination, but the extent of support from minority groups for the attorney general job was not immediately clear. Though Garland is a white man, the selection of Gupta and Clarke, two women with significant experience in civil rights, appeared designed to blunt any concerns about his selection and served as a signal that progressive causes would be prioritized in the new administration. Garland would return to a Justice Department radically different than the one he left. The Sept. 11 attacks were years in the future and the department’s national security division had not yet been created. A proliferation of aggressive cyber and counterintelligence threats from foreign adversaries have made countries like China, Russia and North Korea top priorities for federal law enforcement. Monaco in particular brings to the department significant national security experience, including in cybersecurity — an especially urgent issue as the U.S. government confronts a devastating hack of federal agencies that officials have linked to Russia. Some of the issues from Garland’s first stint at the department persist. Tensions between police and minorities, an issue that flared following the 1992 beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles, remain a major concern, particularly following a summer of racial unrest that roiled American cities after the May killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. And the FBI has confronted a surge in violence from antigovernment and racially motivated extremists. That is a familiar threat to Garland, who as a senior Justice Department official helped manage the federal government’s response to the 1995 bombing of a government building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people. The bomber, Timothy McVeigh, was later executed. Garland has called the work the “most important thing I have done” and was known for keeping a framed photo of Oklahoma City’s Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in his courthouse office in Washington. At the time of the bombing, Garland was 42 and principal associate deputy attorney general, a top lieutenant to Attorney General Janet Reno. He was chosen to go to Oklahoma City, the highest-ranking Justice Department official there, and led the prosecution for a month until a permanent lead prosecutor was named. It is rare but not unprecedented for attorneys general to have previously served as judges. It happened in 2007 when President George W. Bush picked Michael Mukasey, a former federal judge in Manhattan, for the job. President Barack Obama’s first attorney general, Eric Holder, had also previously been a Superior Court judge in the District of Columbia. Garland was put forward by Obama for a seat on the Supreme Court in 2016 following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, but Republicans refused to hold confirmation hearings in the final year of Obama’s term, arguing that the person elected president that fall should make the selection. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., drew criticism from Democrats this fall when he took the opposite approach toward confirming Trump’s third and final Supreme Court pick, Amy Coney Barrett. He said the difference was that the White House and Senate were controlled by the same political parties. After the firing of FBI Director James Comey in 2017, McConnell said he would support Garland as a replacement for that position, though Garland was said to be not interested. Garland has been on the federal appeals court in Washington since 1997. Before that, he had worked in private practice, as well as a federal prosecutor, a senior official in the Justice Department’s criminal division and as the principal associate deputy attorney general. https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-introduce-judge-merrick-garland-110113202.html GO RV, then BV
  4. Georgia county absentee ballot envelope audit finds no fraud Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger speaks during a presser Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) Wed, December 30, 2020, 9:58 AM EST ATLANTA (AP) — Investigators who audited the signatures on more than 15,000 absentee ballot envelopes in one Georgia county found “no fraudulent absentee ballots,” according to the audit report. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced earlier this month that his office would work with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to do the signature audit in suburban Atlanta's Cobb County. Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs said at the time that President Donald Trump's campaign had alleged that Cobb County didn't properly conduct the signature match for the June primary. "This audit disproves the only credible allegations the Trump campaign had against the strength of Georgia’s signature match processes,” Raffensperger said in a news release Monday. President-elect Joe Biden narrowly won Georgia by about 12,000 votes out of the 5 million cast, but Trump and his allies have made repeated baseless claims of widespread election fraud. The investigators reviewed 15,118 absentee ballot envelopes from randomly selected boxes, about 10% of the total received in Cobb County for the November general election, according to the audit report. That sample size was chose to “reach a 99% confidence level in the results.” The Cobb County elections department had “a 99.99% accuracy rate in performing correct signature verification procedures,” the audit report says. There were two cases where the audit team determined that a voter should have been contacted to fix a problem. In both those cases, investigators interviewed the voters and determined they were the ones who cast the ballots, the report says. Georgians can request absentee ballots either through an online portal that Raffensperger established in September or by submitting an application. For online requests, they provide their driver’s license number and date of birth to verify their identity. If they use an application, they must sign it for verification. When an application is received, county election workers compare the signature on the application to the voter’s signature on file, and if it is consistent, a ballot is mailed, Raffensperger has said. Before submitting an absentee ballot, a voter must sign an oath on an outer envelope. When county election officials receive an absentee ballot, they must compare the signature to the absentee ballot application if one exists and to the signature on file. The signatures must be consistent but don’t have to match exactly, Raffensperger has said. If the signature doesn’t match, the voter is notified and can take other steps to verify identity. If the signature does match, the ballot is separated from the envelope to protect the right to ballot secrecy guaranteed by Georgia law. https://www.yahoo.com/news/georgia-county-absentee-ballot-envelope-145835740.html GO RV, then BV
  5. Biden's team vows action against hack as US threats persist Scroll back up to restore default view. HOPE YEN Sun, December 20, 2020, 12:45 AM EST WASHINGTON (AP) — Once in office, President-elect Joe Biden will punish Russia for its suspected cyberespionage operation against the United States with financial sanctions and measures to hobble the Kremlin's ability to launch future hacks, his chief of staff said Sunday, as a GOP senator criticized President Donald Trump for having a “blind spot” when it comes to Moscow. “Those who are responsible are going to face consequences for it,” said Biden chief of staff Ron Klain. “It's not just sanctions. It’s also steps and things we could do to degrade the capacity of foreign actors to repeat this sort of attack or, worse still, engage in even more dangerous attacks." The head of the cybersecurity firm FireEye, which disclosed that it had been targeted by the spying attempt, said it was clear the foreign intrusions were not “one and done” and suggested there was little time to spare before the next one. “These attacks will continue to escalate, and get worse if we do nothing,” said CEO Kevin Mandia. Cybersecurity experts and U.S. officials such as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have been clear over the past week that they believe Russia was behind the massive hack that infiltrated over 40 federal agencies, including the departments of Treasury, Energy and Commerce, as well as government contractors. But Trump over the weekend cast doubt on that assessment, suggesting without evidence that China may be behind the cyber intrusions and minimizing the impact. “The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality. I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control,” Trump tweeted, contradicting his own cybersecurity agency, which described the hacks as a “grave” threat. On Sunday, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, blasted Trump for putting the U.S. at continuing risk. “Russia acted with impunity,” he said. “They didn’t fear what we would be able to do from a cybercapacity. They didn’t think that our defense systems were particularly adequate. And they apparently didn’t think that we would respond in a very aggressive way.” “I think we’ve come to recognize that the president has a blind spot when it comes to Russia,” Romney added, urging an immediate response and calling cyberspace the “warfare of the future.” While Trump downplayed the impact of the hacks, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has said it compromised federal agencies as well as “critical infrastructure.” Homeland Security, the agency’s parent department, defines such infrastructure as any “vital” assets to the U.S. or its economy, a broad category that could include power plants and financial institutions. It’s not clear exactly what the hackers were seeking, but experts say it could include nuclear secrets, blueprints for advanced weaponry, COVID-19 vaccine-related research and information for dossiers on government and industry leaders. Still, it may take months to kick elite hackers out of the U.S. government networks they have been quietly rifling through since as far back as March. Christopher Krebs, former director of CISA, highlighted the challenges ahead as Trump dismisses the threat and Biden prepares for his Jan. 20 inauguration. “The federal civilian agencies, the 101 civilian agencies, are not really optimized for defense right now,” Krebs said. “And what that means is, there’s a lot of old antiquated, legacy IT systems that are hard to defend. Plus, the authorities are not in place for teams like CISA to really get out there and aggressively root out adversaries.” Throughout his presidency, Trump has refused to blame Russia for well-documented hostilities, including its interference in the 2016 election to help him get elected. He blamed his predecessor, Barack Obama, for Russia’s annexation of Crimea, has endorsed allowing Russia to return to the G-7 group of nations and has never taken the country to task for allegedly putting bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Klain said the incoming administration was still learning information about the purpose, nature and extent of the hacks and faulted the confused messaging from the Trump administration on who’s to blame. Klain and Mandia spoke on CBS' “Face the Nation,” Krebs was on CNN's “State of the Union," and Romney was on CNN and NBC's “Meet the Press.” https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-downplays-russia-first-comments-054555482.html GO RV, then BV
  6. Trump adviser broke law with Biden criticism, watchdog says KEVIN FREKING Mon, December 7, 2020, 4:20 PM EST WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal watchdog agency on Monday reported that one of President Donald Trump’s economic advisers repeatedly violated the law during the campaign season with his criticisms of Joe Biden, now the president-elect. The Hatch Act prevents federal employees from engaging in political work while performing their official duties. The agency charged with enforcing the act said that Peter Navarro, director of the White House Office for Trade and Manufacturing Policy, used his position to influence the 2020 presidential election through his statements in television interviews and on social media. “His comments were directed at undermining Mr. Biden’s presidential candidacy and persuading voters not to support him in the 2020 election,” the Office of Special Counsel report stated. White House lawyers have asserted Navarro did not violate the Hatch Act because factual or policy statements do not constitute advocacy for or against a candidate, the report stated. They argued, for example, that Navarro’s statement about Biden “kowtowing to the Chinese” was acceptable for him to make in his official capacity. But the Office of Special Counsel found that argument lacking. It said federal employees violate the law when they make statements intended to encourage others to vote for or against a candidate for political office or when they promote or disparage a candidate’s campaign. “Dr. Navarro violated the Hatch Act because he engaged in that very activity,” the report said. The report said it’s up to the president to determine the “appropriate disciplinary action,” showing the limits of the law. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a private advocacy group, said that it submitted multiple complaints about Navarro to the Office of Special Counsel and that “the referral for action demonstrate the severity of Navarro’s misconduct.” “In an administration full of people illegally using their government positions to influence an election, Navarro has been one of the worst,” said the group’s executive director, Noah Bookbinder. https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-adviser-broke-law-biden-212023306.html GO RV, then BV
  7. Trump vents about election as agencies aid Biden transition Trump President Donald Trump, followed by Vice President Mike Pence, left, walks into the briefing room at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020, to make a statement. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) ZEKE MILLER Tue, November 24, 2020, 4:14 PM EST WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday that he is not giving up his fight to overturn the election results, but across the federal government, preparations were beginning in earnest to support President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration. Within hours of the General Services Administration’s acknowledgement Monday evening of Biden’s victory in the Nov. 3 election, career federal officials opened the doors of agencies to hundreds of transition aides ready to prepare for his Jan. 20 inauguration. And on Tuesday, Trump signed off on allowing Biden to receive the presidential daily brief, the highly classified briefing prepared by the nation’s intelligence community for the government’s most senior leaders. An administration official said logistics on when and where Biden will first receive the briefing were still being worked out. Biden, in an interview with “NBC Nightly News,” said he was also working out a meeting with the White House's coronavirus task force and vaccine distribution effort. “So I think we’re going to not be so far behind the curve as we thought we might be in the past,” he said. "And there’s a lot of immediate discussion, and I must say, the outreach has been sincere. There has not been begrudging so far. And I don’t expect it to be. So yes it’s already begun.” By Tuesday afternoon, the Biden transition had been in contact with all federal agencies about transition planning, according to a transition official. But Trump, who has not formally conceded to Biden — and may never — continued to sow doubt about the vote, despite his own administration’s assessment that it was conducted without widespread fraud, misconduct or interference. The president has maintained a low profile since his defeat. He made a quick appearance in the briefing room on Tuesday to deliver just over one minute of remarks on the Dow Jones Industrial Average trading at record levels and later delivered the traditional pre-Thanksgiving turkey pardon in the White House Rose Garden. He has not taken questions from journalists in weeks. He did not hold back on Twitter regarding the election results. “Remember, the GSA has been terrific, and (Administrator) Emily Murphy has done a great job, but the GSA does not determine who the next President of the United States will be,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. His legal team continued to mount seemingly futile challenges to the votes in battleground states. Murphy acted after Michigan certified Biden’s victory in the battleground state on Monday, and a federal judge in Pennsylvania tossed a Trump campaign lawsuit on Saturday seeking to prevent certification in that state. Pennsylvania certified its results, and its 20 electors for Biden, on Tuesday morning, followed hours later by Nevada. It also came as an increasing number of Republicans were publicly acknowledging Biden’s victory, after weeks of tolerating Trump’s baseless claims of fraud. The Republican president had grown increasingly frustrated with the flailing tactics of his legal team. In recent days, senior Trump aides including chief of staff Mark Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipollone had also encouraged Trump to allow the transition to begin, telling the president he didn’t need to concede but could no longer justify withholding support to the Biden transition. Late Monday, Meadows sent a memo to White House staffers saying that their work was not yet finished and that the administration would “comply with all actions needed to ensure the smooth transfer of power,” according to a person who received it. At the same time, he warned staffers who are not specifically authorized to interact with the Biden team against contact with the incoming administration. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told reporters Tuesday that within hours of GSA’s ascertainment of Biden’s victory, his agency’s top career official was in contact with the Biden team on coordinating briefings, including on the Trump administration’s planning to distribute vaccines for COVID-19. “We are immediately getting them all of the pre-prepared transition briefing materials,” Azar said. “We will ensure coordinated briefings with them to ensure they’re getting whatever information that they feel they need.” The official managing the Pentagon’s transition work with the Biden landing team said that the first meeting was held virtually on Tuesday morning and that he expected daily meetings to come -- some virtually and some in person. The official, Tom Muir, told reporters that normal accommodations for the Biden team have been made, including provision of briefing materials, video-teleconferencing capabilities and office space inside the Pentagon. “HUD career officials have begun the process of scheduling briefings with the Biden transition team in response to their requests," said a spokesperson for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. GSA’s move frees up millions of dollars in federal support for the Biden transition and gives his team access to additional federal office space and support services, including computers, phones and secure briefing rooms. A day after Trump said his administration should begin working with Biden’s team, Republican allies filed two more lawsuits attempting to stop the certification in two battleground states. One in Minnesota was swiftly rejected by a state court Tuesday before the state certified its results for Biden. Shortly after, another was filed in Wisconsin, which doesn’t certify until Dec. 1. ___ Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Colleen Long and Robert Burns in Washington and Alexandra Jaffe in Wilmington, Del., contributed to this report. https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-vents-election-agencies-aid-211458846.html GO RV, then BV
  8. Pennsylvania Certifies Biden as Winner of Presidential Vote The Pennsylvania governor says Democrat Joe Biden has been certified as the winner of the presidential vote in the state. By Associated Press, Wire Service Content Nov. 24, 2020, at 11:04 a.m. More Pennsylvania Certifies Biden as Winner of Presidential Vote More President-elect Joe Biden speaks during a meeting at The Queen theater Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HARRISBURG, PA. (AP) — Democrat Joe Biden has been certified as the winner of the presidential election in Pennsylvania, the governor said Tuesday. Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, tweeted that the Pennsylvania State Department "certified the results of the November 3 election in Pennsylvania for president and vice president of the United States. “As required by federal law, I’ve signed the Certificate of Ascertainment for the slate of electors for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris." President Donald Trump, who lost the state's 20 electoral votes to Biden, has made Pennsylvania a centerpiece of his unsuccessful legal attempts to invalidate the election results. Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2020-11-24/pennsylvania-certifies-biden-as-winner-of-presidential-vote GO RV, then BV
  9. Biden transition gets govt OK after Trump out of options ZEKE MILLER, DAVID EGGERT and COLLEEN LONG Mon, November 23, 2020, 12:36 PM EST WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government recognized President-elect Joe Biden as the “apparent winner” of the Nov. 3 election on Monday, formally starting the transition of power after President Donald Trump spent weeks testing the boundaries of American democracy. He relented after suffering yet more legal and procedural defeats in his seemingly futile effort to overturn the election with baseless claims of fraud. Trump still refused to concede and vowed to continue to fight in court after General Services Administrator Emily Murphy gave the green light for Biden to coordinate with federal agencies ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration. But Trump did tweet that he was directing his team to cooperate on the transition. Monday’s fast-moving series of events seemed to let much of the air out of Trump’s frantic efforts to undermine the will of the people in what has amounted to a weekslong stress test for American democracy. But Trump’s attempts to foment a crisis of confidence in the political system and the fairness of U.S. elections haven’t ended and are likely to persist well beyond his lame-duck presidency. Murphy, explaining her decision, cited "recent developments involving legal challenges and certifications of election results.” She acted after Michigan on Monday certified Biden’s victory in the battleground state, and a federal judge in Pennsylvania tossed a Trump campaign lawsuit on Saturday seeking to prevent certification in that state. It also comes as an increasing number of Republicans were publicly acknowledging Biden’s victory, after weeks of tolerating Trump’s baseless claims of fraud. The president had grown increasingly frustrated with the flailing tactics of his legal team. In recent days, senior Trump aides including chief of staff Mark Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipollone had also encouraged him to allow the transition to begin, telling the president he didn’t need to concede but could no longer justify withholding support to the Biden transition. Yohannes Abraham, executive director of the Biden transition, said the decision “is a needed step to begin tackling the challenges facing our nation, including getting the pandemic under control and our economy back on track.” Murphy, a Trump appointee, has faced bipartisan criticism for failing to begin the transition process sooner, preventing Biden’s team from working with career agency officials on plans for his administration. The delay denied Biden access to highly classified national security briefings and hindered his team's ability to begin drawing up its own plans to respond to the raging coronavirus pandemic. Murphy insisted she acted on her own. “Please know that I came to my decision independently, based on the law and available facts. I was never directly or indirectly pressured by any Executive Branch official—including those who work at the White House or GSA—with regard to the substance or timing of my decision,” she wrote in a letter to Biden. Trump tweeted moments after Murphy's decision: “We will keep up the good fight and I believe we will prevail! Nevertheless, in the best interest of our Country, I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same.” Max Stier, president and CEO of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, criticized the delay but said Biden’s team would be able to overcome it. “Unfortunately, every day lost to the delayed ascertainment was a missed opportunity for the outgoing administration to help President-elect Joe Biden prepare to meet our country’s greatest challenges," he said. "The good news is that the president-elect and his team are the most prepared and best equipped of any incoming administration in recent memory.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the GSA action “is probably the closest thing to a concession that President Trump could issue.″ Noting that the nation “faces multiple crises that demand an orderly transition,″ Schumer urged Democrats and Republicans to “unite together for a smooth and peaceful transition that will benefit America.″ Murphy’s action came just 90 minutes after Michigan election officials certified Biden’s 154,000-vote victory in the state. The Board of State Canvassers, which has two Republicans and two Democrats, confirmed the results on a 3-0 vote with one GOP abstention. Trump and his allies had hoped to block the vote to allow time for an audit of ballots in Wayne County, where Trump has claimed without evidence that he was the victim of fraud. Biden crushed the president by more than 330,000 votes there. Some Trump allies had expressed hope that state lawmakers could intervene in selecting Republican electors in states that do not certify. That long-shot bid is no longer possible in Michigan. “The people of Michigan have spoken. President-elect Biden won the State of Michigan by more than 154,000 votes, and he will be our next president on January 20th,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said, adding it’s “time to put this election behind us.” Trump was increasingly frustrated by his legal team, led by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose erratic public performances drew bipartisan mockery in recent weeks. Still, the legal challenges were expected to continue, as Trump seeks to keep his supporters on his side and keep his options open for opportuntities post-presidency. In Pennsylvania on Saturday, a conservative Republican judge shot down the Trump campaign’s biggest legal effort in the state with a scathing ruling that questioned why he was supposed to disenfranchise 7 million voters with no evidence to back their claims and an inept legal argument at best. But the lawyers still hope to block the state’s certification, quickly appealing to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, which ordered lawyers to file a brief Monday but did not agree to hear oral arguments. The campaign, in its filings, asked for urgent consideration so it could challenge the state election results before they are certified next month. If not, they will seek to decertify them, the filings said. Biden won Pennsylvania by more than 80,000 votes. Pennsylvania county election boards voted Monday, the state deadline, on whether to certify election results to the Department of State. The boards in two populous counties split along party lines, with majority Democrats in both places voting to certify. After all counties have sent certified results to Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, she must then tabulate, compute and canvass votes for all races. The law requires her to perform that task quickly but does not set a specific deadline. In Wisconsin, a recount in the state’s two largest liberal counties moved into its fourth day, with election officials in Milwaukee County complaining that Trump observers were slowing down the process with frequent challenges. Trump’s hope of reversing Biden’s victory there depends on disqualifying thousands of absentee ballots —- including the in-person absentee ballot cast by one of Trump’s own campaign attorneys in Dane County. ___ Associated Press writers Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia, Jonathan Lemire in New York, Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pa., Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta and John Flesher in Traverse City, Mich., contributed to this report. https://www.yahoo.com/news/despite-trumps-prod-mich-consider-173644849.html GO RV, then BV
  10. Michigan GOP backtracks after blocking vote certification ED WHITE Tue, November 17, 2020, 8:05 PM EST DETROIT (AP) — In an abrupt about-face, Michigan's largest county on Tuesday night unanimously certified election results showing Democrat Joe Biden defeating President Donald Trump, hours after Republicans first blocked formal approval of voters' intentions. The initial move was quickly condemned by Democrats, election experts and spectators at the Wayne County Board of Canvassers online meeting as a dangerous attempt to block the results of a free and fair election. “We depend on democratic norms, including that the losers graciously accept defeat. That seems to be breaking down,” said Joshua Douglas, a law professor at the University of Kentucky. The state vote certification process is usually a routine task, and the ultimate resolution in Wayne County propels Biden toward formal victory in Michigan. Still, Tuesday's chaotic developments are likely to sow more doubt among Trump's supporters in the election results and could galvanize Republicans in other states to try to look for ways to slow down the final steps in making his loss official. Republicans are also trying to stop formal certification of the election results in other swing states, including Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Biden crushed Trump in Wayne County, a Democratic stronghold, by more than a 2-1 margin and won Michigan by 146,000 votes, according to unofficial results. His victory reversed Trump's surprise 2016 gains in the industrial Midwest and put Biden on the path to clearing the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. Still, Trump and his allies have launched an array of baseless attacks on the integrity of the election and numerous lawsuits aimed at slowing down the formal vote certification process. Each state certifies its election results and the Electoral College meets Dec. 14 to codify the results. In Michigan, Trump allies and Republican poll challengers have spent days launching unsuccessful litigation. They claimed fraud during absentee ballot counting at a Detroit convention center, but two judges found no evidence and refused to stop the canvassing process. It's against that backdrop that the Wayne County Board of Canvassers met Tuesday. In a rare and extraordinary move, they did not bless the will of Detroit-area voters. Instead, the panel split in a 2-2 vote, with Republicans voting against certification of the results. Monica Palmer, one of the two Republicans, said poll books in certain precincts in Detroit — a majority-Black city — were out of balance. Jonathan Kinloch, a Democrat on the panel, said the discrepancies were the result of “human error" and called it “reckless and irresponsible” to not certify the results. There has been no evidence of widespread voting fraud in Michigan, or in any other state. Federal and state officials from both parties have declared the 2020 election safe and secure. Still, Trump has spent the two weeks since Election Day raising false claims of voter fraud and refusing to concede to Biden. He relished the initial developments in Michigan, tweeting, “Having courage is a beautiful thing." But the broader condemnation was swift, including from the meeting's online spectators, who blasted Palmer and fellow Republican William Hartmann during a public comment period over Zoom. The Rev. Wendell Anthony, a well-known pastor and head of the Detroit branch of the NAACP, called their actions a “disgrace.” “You have extracted a Black city out of a county and said the only ones that are at fault is the city of Detroit, where 80% of the people who reside here are African Americans. Shame on you!” Anthony said, his voice rising. Ned Staebler, a vice president at Wayne State University in Detroit, said, “The stain of racism that you, William Hartmann and Monica Palmer, have just covered yourself in is going to follow you throughout history.” Law student Joseph Zimmerman, a veteran, told the canvassers “it breaks my heart” to see them undermine the “sacred right” to vote. After the meeting, Hartmann said the intense criticism didn’t cause him to change his vote. Rather, he said he acted because the board had agreed to ask the secretary of state to investigate Detroit’s election results. Certification of the Nov. 3 election results in each of Michigan's 83 counties is a step toward statewide certification by the Michigan Board of State Canvassers and the eventual awarding of 16 electoral votes. "Glad to see common sense prevailed in the end,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said after the Wayne County reversal. “Thank you to all those citizens who spoke up so passionately. You made the difference!” Michigan Democratic Party chair Lavora Barnes called the initial 2-2 vote “blatant racism.” At least six election-related lawsuits have been filed in Michigan, the latest one landing Sunday in federal court. The issues that Trump’s allies have raised are typical in every election: problems with signatures, secrecy envelopes and postal marks on mail-in ballots, as well as the potential for a small number of ballots miscast or lost. On Tuesday, the Arizona Republican Party asked a judge to bar Maricopa County, the state’s most populous, from certifying until the court issues a decision about the party’s lawsuit seeking a new hand-count of a sampling of ballots. In a more rural county, Mohave, election certification was delayed until Nov. 23 in a sign of solidarity with the remaining election challenges in the state. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, stepped into a courtroom for the first time in decades Tuesday to argue in Pennsylvania that the certification there should be delayed over concerns of voter fraud, though there was no widespread fraud reported. https://www.yahoo.com/news/michigan-county-fails-certify-vote-010532050.html GO RV, then BV
  11. Rating of 42% is still low for a president at this stage of tenure Economic issues appear to buoy president’s standing Associated Press Wed 28 Mar 2018 07.36 BST First published on Tue 27 Mar 2018 22.32 BST Donald Trump scored best on his handling of the economy (47%) but North Korea (42%), trade (41%), gun control (39%) and the budget deficit (35%) were not viewed so favourably Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/27/donald-trump-approval-rating-rises-seven-points-from-historic-lows
  12. Isis in Iraq: 25,000 Iraqi and Kurdish troops will launch operation to reclaim Mosul US Central Command says 25,000 troops will be involved in mission Friday 20 February 2015 Iraqi and Kurdish troops will launch an operation to retake Mosul from Isis militants in April or May, a US military official has announced. A US Central Command official outlined the mission to take back Iraq’s second biggest city, which he said will involve 12 Iraqi brigades and up to 25,000 troops, in an unprecedented telegraph on Thursday. Five Iraqi army units are due to start training with US coalition forces in Iraq. These will be supplemented by three smaller brigades serving as reserve forces and three Peshmerga brigades. Separately, a ‘Mosul fighting-force’ comprised of former police officers and tribal forces from the region would enter the Isis stronghold once the army had cleared it of Isis militants. The spring offensive is designed to avoid the swerve both the sweltering summer heat and the start of Ramadan in June. However, the official said the operation could be delayed if forces are not ready by that point. In pictures: Iraq crisis "But by the same token, if they're not ready, if the conditions are not set, if all the equipment they need is not physically there and they (aren't) trained to a degree in which they will be successful, we have not closed the door on continuing to slide that to the right," he told reporters. The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced on Monday that plans were being made to liberate Mosul , which fell to Isis in June last year when militants overran the city. Kurdish Peshmerga fighters on the outskirts of MosulHe told the BBC the offensive would be “the only chance we have” to recapture Mosul and “kick Daesh (another name for Isis) out. The US official also revealed for the first time that Qatar has agreed to host a training site for coalition forces to train moderate Syrian rebels who would return to Syria to fight Isis militants there. In February it emerged that thousands of displaced Christians had formed their own militia in order to reclaim land taken from them by Isis. Thousands of Christians and Yazidis fled their homes in Mosul when militants ordered them to convert, pay a special tax or be put to death, leaving more than 150,000 displaced across the country. Additional reporting by the Associated Press
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