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Found 10 results

  1. Paul Ryan excoriates planned GOP effort to challenge Biden's Electoral College win as 'anti-democratic and anti-conservative' Christal Hayes, USA TODAY Mon, May 17, 2021, 10:26 AM WASHINGTON – Former House Speaker Paul Ryan excoriated fellow Republicans Sunday in a rare statement that called planned GOP efforts to challenge President-elect Joe Biden's win "anti-democratic and anti-conservative." Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin who served as House Speaker from 2015 to 2019, has seldom weighed in on events since leaving office, but issued a lengthy statement decrying Republican plans to object to certifying the Electoral College results in a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. Twelve incoming and sitting Republican senators and dozens of GOP House members plan to object to the count over President Donald Trump's baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. "Efforts to reject the votes of the Electoral College and sow doubt about Joe Biden’s victory strike at the foundation of our republic," Ryan said in a statement. "It is difficult to conceive of a more anti-democratic and anti-conservative act than a federal intervention to overturn the results of state-certified elections and disenfranchise millions of Americans. The fact that this effort will fail does not mean it will not do significant damage to American democracy." Ryan asked fellow conservatives to think about the "precedent that it would set" and noted the Trump campaign's failed efforts in the court to challenge election results in a number of states. "The Trump campaign had ample opportunity to challenge election results, and those efforts failed from lack of evidence. The legal process was exhausted, and the results were decisively confirmed," he added. "The Department of Justice, too, found no basis for overturning the result. If states wish to reform their processes for future elections, that is their prerogative. But Joe Biden’s victory is entirely legitimate." Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., was the first senator to announce plans to object to the electoral vote count. Since then, a batch of 11 GOP senators joined in a similar effort, vowing to object to the certification of Biden's win when Congress meets in a joint session on Wednesday if an election commission was not formed to investigate the election and claims of fraud. While the effort to overturn results is doomed to fail, the objections will launch a dramatic and lengthy process that includes two hours of debate and a vote in each chamber for each state that is challenged. The process is likely to stretch into an all-day event that will start the new Congress off with a divisive political battle. Ryan, who ran as the Republican party's nominee for vice president on the ticket with Sen. Mitt Romney in 2012, has rarely spoken out since leaving office. He was often a target of Trump while serving in the House and continued to receive scorn even after leaving the House. In one of his only other notable remarks since departing Washington, Ryan was quoted in "American Carnage," a 2019 book by Politico reporter Tim Alberta, as saying that Trump didn't know "anything about government" and retirement was an "escape hatch" because he couldn't stand another two years with Trump as president. Trump has said that Republicans like Ryan "almost killed" the party, calling him "weak, ineffective & stupid." The president has also called Ryan a "baby" and said he "couldn't get him out of Congress fast enough." Ryan has remained mum on responding to many of Trump's attacks, trying to stay out of the fray even as his friend and former running mate Romney became Trump's No. 1 GOP target. In late November, Ryan reportedly called for Trump to concede and drop his lawsuits, telling virtual banking conference attendees Trump's campaign was offering "baseless conspiracy theories." https://news.yahoo.com/paul-ryan-excoriates-planned-gop-205857350.html GO RV, then BV
  2. Biden names new federal judges, including a Bush nominee, with an emphasis on diversity John Fritze, USA TODAY Wed, May 12, 2021, 7:14 AM WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden announced a new round of judicial nominations Wednesday that underscored the administration's push to expand diversity on the federal bench as the White House moves rapidly to put its own stamp on the judiciary. Among the new federal judge candidates Biden will be sending to the Senate for confirmation: The first Native American federal judge in Washington State; the second judge from Puerto Rico to sit on the Boston-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit and the second Black woman to serve on the New York-based 2nd Circuit. Biden is steadily filling judicial vacancies after his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, exerted an outsized influence on the judiciary during his four years in office. Trump managed to install more than 220 federal judges but critics note the Republican's nominees were far less diverse than those named by past presidents in either party. Biden's third wave of judicial nominees includes three candidates for district courts and three for appellate courts, bringing to 20 the total number of judges he has named since taking office January 20. There are currently 81 vacancies in the federal court system. Jackson: Biden to elevate potential Supreme Court nominee to appeals court Diversity: Biden aims to put a Black woman on the Supreme Court, underscoring lack of lower court diversity Among Biden's latest nominees is Gustavo Gelpí, appointed by President George W. Bush to the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico in 2006. Biden is naming the 55-year-old San Juan native to the Boston-based appeals court, the second appointment of a Puerto Rican to that court in its history. The nomination comes months after the death of Juan Torruella, a groundbreaking judge who in 1984 became the first Puerto Rican named to the court. Gelpí has served as the Puerto Rico district court's chief judge since 2018. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., praised Gelpí's past criticism of the Insular Cases, a series of Supreme Court decisions beginning in 1901 that limited constitutional protections for people living in U.S. territories. In one of those cases, the court referenced "alien races" in U.S. territories, "differing from us in religion, customs, laws, methods of taxation, and modes of thought." "The Biden administration deserves recognition for nominating a judge who has both denounced the racist underpinnings of the Insular Cases and criticized the Supreme Court and Congress for denying U.S. citizens residing in the territories the legal rights the rest of us take for granted," Grijalva said in a statement. "Judge Gelpí has been a leader in correctly interpreting relevant federal law consistent with the Constitution, which has gone a long way toward ending these injustices." Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "Judge Gelpí has led a distinguished legal career, and is widely regarded by several political factions in Puerto Rico as a fair and impartial jurist," said Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the House. When Torruella passed away, she said, "we lost a giant of the legal system," adding that she hopes Gelpí "continues his legacy as he makes history in his own right." Biden will also nominate Lauren King, a Seattle attorney, for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. If confirmed, King, a citizen of the Muscogee Nation, would be the third active Native American federal judge and the first in Washington. Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, nominated to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit, right, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, nominated to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit, are sworn in during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on pending judicial nominations, Wednesday, April 28, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington. More Working with the Republican Senate majority at the time, Trump had a significant influence on federal courts, including with three appointments to the Supreme Court: Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. That gave conservatives on the high court an ostensible 6-3 edge for the first time in decades. Barrett: Amy Coney Barrett steers the Supreme Court to the right, but not to Trump But Trump's appointments were more likely than past presidents to be white. About 16% of Trump's judicial nominees were Black, Hispanic, Asian or otherwise not white, according to the Pew Research Center. That compares with 18% for President George W. Bush and 36% for President Barack Obama. As a candidate, Biden vowed to change course by appointing federal judges "who look like America." Biden, who for years was the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, also promised to name a Black woman to the Supreme Court for the first time in U.S. history, should he get a chance. That promise partly served to highlight a lack of African American women appellate judges, the usual stepping-stone to the Supreme Court. Four Black women serve as appeals judges out of more than 170 judgeships, according to the Federal Judicial Center, the research arm of the court system. In his first round of judicial appointments, Biden named U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in March. Jackson, who has met little resistance from Republicans or centrist Democrats in the Senate, is also considered a top candidate for the Supreme Court if an opening occurs under Biden. President Joe Biden speaks during a rally at Infinite Energy Center, to mark his 100th day in office, Thursday, April 29, 2021, in Duluth, Ga. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) White House officials have stressed the administration is pushing to grow diversity on the federal bench not only in terms of race but also professional experience. Some advocacy groups say the federal courts are stacked with former corporate lawyers and that public defenders and other legal backgrounds are underrepresented. Two of Biden's latest appointments include candidates with deep experience as public defenders. Eunice Lee, who Biden will nominate to the New York-based appeals court, is an assistant federal defender with the Federal Defenders of New York. Veronica Rossman, named to the Denver-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, is senior counsel to the Office of the Federal Public Defender for Colorado and Wyoming. "Most of our nominees are coming from the public sector, or from the defense bar, or other non traditional backgrounds for federal judges," White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service earlier this year. "We're really focused on trying to fill those courts with qualified people and bring more balance to those courts." Other nominees announced Wednesday include: ► Angel Kelley, to be nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, has served as a state judge in Massachusetts since 2009. Kelley, who was previously an assistant U.S. attorney, would be the second African American woman judge and the second Asian American judge to serve on that federal court. ► Karen Williams, to be nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, has served as a magistrate judge since 2009. Williams, who is also a law professor at Rowan University, would be the first African American district court judge to sit in the New Jersey district court's Camden courthouse. https://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-biden-names-federal-judges-090155264.html GO RV, then BV
  3. CNN commentator Rick Santorum receives backlash after saying 'there isn't much Native American culture in American culture' Former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) speaks at the American Conservative Union (CPAC) 2016 annual conference in Maryland March 3, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron Asha C. Gilbert Mon, April 26, 2021, 5:03 PM CNN political commentator Rick Santorum is in hot water after making comments about Native American culture and the lack of it in America. Last week, Santorum gave a speech about “birthing a nation from nothing” at the Standing Up For Faith & Freedom Conference for the Young America's Foundation, a conservative youth organization. A video clip from his address went viral. “We came here and created a blank slate. We birthed a nation from nothing. I mean, there was nothing here. I mean, yes we have Native Americans but candidly there isn't much Native American culture in American culture," the former Pennsylvania senator said. “It was born of the people who came here pursuing religious liberty, to practice their faith, live as they ought to live, and have the freedom to do so.” In a statement to USA TODAY, former Sen. Santorum said, “I had no intention of minimizing or in any way devaluing Native American culture.” Responses to the clip varied from diving deeper into why Native American culture is missing to calls for CNN to terminate him. In the beginning of the video clip, Santorum said he didn’t know of any other country that was “settled by people who were coming to practice their faith.” He said the mostly European settlers came with Judeo-Christian principles and the teachings of Jesus Christ. “That’s what our founding documents are based on,” he said. "It's in our DNA." The 2016 presidential candidate has made waves with his statements before. Santorum made controversial comments to students in 2018, about their efforts to change gun laws after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. "How about kids instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations that when there is a violent shooter that you can actually respond to that," Santorum said as a guest on CNN's "State of the Union." Calls to CNN and Santorum's organization, Patriot Voices, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/cnn-commentator-rick-santorum-receives-175559466.html GO RV, then BV
  4. Supreme Court passes on Second Amendment cases challenging lifetime gun ownership ban John Fritze, USA TODAY Mon, April 19, 2021, 11:01 AM WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up three challenges to a federal ban on gun ownership for people convicted of nonviolent crimes, surprising Second Amendment advocates who hoped the court would chip away at the restriction. By not taking the appeals, the nation's highest court let stand a series of lower court rulings that prohibited people convicted of driving under the influence, making false statements on tax returns and selling counterfeit cassette tapes from owning a gun. The decisions Monday, which were handed down without explanation, are the latest in a series of instances in which the Supreme Court has skirted Second Amendment questions. The high court last issued major guns rights rulings in 2008 and 2010, cases that struck down handgun restrictions in the District of Columbia and Chicago. But the court has signaled in recent years that it is interested in revisiting the issue. Four conservative justices have expressed a desire to address outstanding Second Amendment questions in recent dissents. Four justices are required to take a case, but five are needed to write a majority opinion on any issue. Supporters of gun control and firearm safety measures hold a protest rally outside the US Supreme Court as the Court hears oral arguments in State Rifle and Pistol v. City of New York, NY, in Washington, DC, December 2, 2019. The court was considering the latest gun cases amid a spate of recent mass shootings. Eight people were killed in a series of shootings March 16 at Atlanta-area spas. Ten people were killed days later in a mass shooting at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado. Eight people were killed and several were injured when a gunman opened fire on workers at FedEx facility in Indianapolis last week. In one of the cases before the court, a Pennsylvania man who pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in 2005 challenged the ban on purchasing or owning a gun. In another, a Pennsylvania woman who pleaded guilty to making a false statement on her tax returns sued over the ban. In a third, a man who pleaded guilty to counterfeiting and smuggling cassettes in the 1980s challenged the firearms ban. The decisions Monday don't preclude the court from taking a similar case in the future. Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the newest member of the court, had given Second Amendment groups reason for optimism on the issue. In 2019, as a judge on the federal appeals court in Chicago, Barrett dissented from an opinion upholding the law that bans convicted felons from owning a gun. A protest in Denver, Colorado, on May 18, 2019. The Wisconsin man who challenged the law in that case, Rickey Kanter, had pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud. Barrett wrote in her dissent that the ban went too far when applied to someone who had not been convicted of a violent crime. The Supreme Court took no action Monday on another pending Second Amendment question: whether the Constitution guarantees the right to carry a gun in public places. That challenge involves two New York State residents who sought a license to carry guns outside their home but were denied because they didn't meet the state's requirement of having a "special need for self protection." The court is expected to decide whether to take or reject that case later this year. https://www.yahoo.com/news/supreme-court-passes-second-amendment-150155395.html GO RV, then BV
  5. 'It's a great vaccine': Donald Trump recommends supporters get COVID-19 vaccine as polls show hesitancy David Jackson, USA TODAY Tue, March 16, 2021, 8:27 PM·3 min read WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would urge his supporters to get the COVID-19 vaccine, but acknowledged that some of them may refuse in the name of "freedom." "I would recommend it, and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don't want to get it," Trump told Fox News during a 20-minute telephone interview. Trump noted "a lot of those people" who don't want the vaccine "voted for me, frankly. But ... again, we have our freedoms, and we have to live by that, and I agree with that also." In early January, before leaving the White House, Trump and then-first lady Melania Trump received the vaccine, but did not disclose that fact publicly. "It's a great vaccine, it's a safe vaccine and it's something that works," Trump told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo. Surveys show that some people don't want to take the vaccine because they fear side effects or other medical problems, though repeated trials have proved the vaccines to be safe. Polls show that Republican men and Trump backers are among the top groups against getting a vaccine. Trump was the only ex-president to not participate in a public service ad asking Americans to take the shots. On Monday, Biden said he wouldn't wait on help from Trump in getting people vaccinated. "I discussed it with my team," he said, "and they say the thing that has more impact than anything Trump would say to the MAGA folks is what the local doctor, what the local preacher, what the local people in the community say." In his first speech since leaving office, former President Donald Trump accuses the Supreme Court of a lack of courage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 28. Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top medical expert for both Trump and Biden, had urged the former president to ask supporters to get vaccinated, saying it would make a huge difference. "He's such a strongly popular person. I cannot imagine that if he comes out that they would not get vaccinated," Fauci said on "Fox News Sunday." "It would be very helpful to the effort for that to happen." Trump – who contracted coronavirus in early October, in the heat of the presidential campaign – also expressed support for vaccinations during his Feb. 28 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "So, everybody, go get your shot," he told the crowd of backers. During the Fox News interview, Trump also took credit for production of the vaccines, and criticized Biden for not giving him what he believes is proper credit. He also attacked Biden over immigration and the economy. While again protesting the election and denouncing his critics, Trump said it's too early to say whether he will run again in 2024. Trump also criticized Meghan Markle over her recent criticism of the British royal family, and scoffed at the news reports that she may be thinking of running for president. "If that happened, I think I'd have an even stronger feeling toward running," Trump said, later adding: "I am not a fan of Meghan." https://news.yahoo.com/great-vaccine-donald-trump-recommends-002729559.html GO RV, then BV
  6. Texas Supreme Court: Alex Jones, InfoWars can be sued by Sandy Hook parents after calling massacre a 'hoax' Chuck Lindell, Austin American-Statesman Sat, January 23, 2021, 12:48 PM The Texas Supreme Court on Friday rejected, without comment, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' attempt to toss out four defamation lawsuits by parents of children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. The parents sued in Travis County, where Jones and his InfoWars website are based, arguing that they were defamed and suffered emotional distress after InfoWars broadcasts disputed the authenticity of the school shooting and the news coverage that followed. Twenty young children and six adults died in the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Connecticut. Friday's action by the Supreme Court upheld rulings by two lower courts that had allowed the lawsuits to continue. The state's highest civil court also gave the green light to another defamation lawsuit against InfoWars and reporter Kit Daniels by a man mistakenly identified as a suspect in the 2018 shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. The photo of Marcel Fontaine, who was not the shooter, remained on the InfoWars website for 13 hours, and no correction was issued at the time explaining the mistaken identification, court records show. Parents leave a staging area after being reunited with their children following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of New York City, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. An official with knowledge of Friday's shooting said 27 people were dead, including 18 children. It was the worst school shooting in the country's history. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill) More Friday's Sandy Hook rulings will allow four lawsuits to proceed: • Neil Heslin, father of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, filed two lawsuits taking exception to statements by Jones alleging that the school shooting at Sandy Hook was "a giant hoax" and disputing Heslin's claim that he had held his dead son in his arms afterward. • Scarlett Lewis, mother of Jesse Lewis, noted statements by Jones that the school shooting was "as phony as a three-dollar bill" as well as other statements on InfoWars implying that parents were not genuinely grieving the loss of their children. • Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, parents of 6-year-old Noah Pozner, quoted broadcasts in which Jones cast the school shooting as a "false flag" hoax intended to create a pretext for the government to limit gun rights. Friday's announcement by the Supreme Court noted that two members, Justices Jeff Boyd and John Devine, would have granted Jones' petition for review in the Pozner lawsuit, but the court order provided no reasons for their dissent. In briefs to the Supreme Court, lawyers for Jones argued that the InfoWars host was engaging in protected speech because he was addressing matters of public concern. "The pursuit of so-called 'conspiracy theories' concerning controversial government activities has been a part and parcel of American political discourse since our Founding, and it is protected by the First Amendment," they told the court in a brief for the Pozner and De La Rosa case. Jones also argued that state libel laws required any harmful speech to be directed at specific family members, but the Sandy Hook families were not named in three InfoWars reports in 2017. But a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families argued that Jones didn't merely say the school shooting was staged by the government, he also generally accused family members of being actors to help sell a supposed coverup and exploit the event to attack gun rights. As a result, Jones and InfoWars accused family members of collusion in a hoax "relating to the murder of their son ... for nefarious purposes," lawyer Mark Bankston told the court. Jones also was reckless in publishing information that was so improbable that no reasonable publisher would have done likewise without substantial confirmation, Bankston argued. "Mr. Jones' fantasy about a shadowy government conspiracy to murder first-graders and then exploit the event with the help of the media and actors is the very definition of 'improbable,'" he wrote. Bankston welcomed the court's action Friday. "We are pleased Mr. Jones is learning that his frivolous efforts to delay this case will not spare him from the reckoning to come," he said. Lawyers for Jones did not respond to a request for comment. https://news.yahoo.com/texas-supreme-court-alex-jones-174848255.html GO RV, then BV
  7. An 'angry' Pence navigates the fallout of his rupture with Trump over election, Capitol riots Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY Fri, January 8, 2021, 5:00 AM EST WASHINGTON – Before leaving office, President Barack Obama awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor – the Presidential Medal of Freedom – to his vice president. In President Donald Trump’s final days, he has presented similar honors to California Rep. Devin Nunes, one of his most vocal supporters during impeachment, and to three professional golfers. To his vice president, Trump bestowed the label of coward. The staunchly loyal Mike Pence was excoriated by Trump on Wednesday for his refusal to illegally intervene to prevent Congress from certifying the results for the presidential election that Trump lost. “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution,” Trump tweeted in a post that Twitter removed Wednesday evening. Vice President Mike Pence presides over a joint session of Congress to certify the 2020 Electoral College results on January 6, 2021. Trump has also barred Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, from the White House. “He’s blaming me for advice to VP,” Short told RealClearPolitics. 'Never seen Pence as angry' Pence has not spoken publicly about the rift. But Sen. Jim Inhofe told the Tulsa World on Wednesday that he’s “never seen Pence as angry as he was today.” The Oklahoma Republican told USA TODAY he talked to Pence about Trump's rebuke. Pence, he said, was “very upset” with Trump. Trump’s public denunciation of his vice president is unprecedented in the history of the modern vice presidency, according to scholars. And it comes after more than four years of Pence showing extreme deference to Trump, leading critics to deride him as an obsequious enabler of a volatile president. “(Trump’s) turning on Pence is particularly striking given Vice President Pence's loyalty to the president which some, myself included, would regard as having been excessive in the history of the office,” said vice presidential scholar Joel Goldstein. The break adds to uncertainty about what’s in store for the remainder of Trump’s term, particularly in the aftermath of the violence that engulfed Washington on Wednesday when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. A person close to Pence who was not authorized to speak publicly said that while Pence’s team expected Trump to be upset, his behavior was “a shock to all of us.” The person said it’s “really unclear” how the dynamic between the president and vice president will work going forward. While some speculated Trump might step down at the last minute so Pence could issue a pardon to him, that's even less likely now, said Todd Belt, a presidential expert at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management. The 25th Amendment Calls have increased for Pence to replace Trump through the 25th Amendment, which includes a never-used mechanism for a vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to seize control from a president. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Thursday said Pence should immediately invoke the amendment. Schumer said he and Pelosi tried to call Pence Thursday morning. But after being kept on hold for 25 minutes, an aide told them Pence would not come to the phone, Schumer said. "We have not yet heard back from the Vice President," they said in a joint statement Thursday night. Pence's office did not respond to a request for comment. U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (R) (D-CA) talks with Vice President Mike Pence during the joint session of Congress on January 07, 2021 in Washington, DC. Lawmakers affirmed President-elect Joe Biden's win. Multiple media reports have said conversations about invoking the amendment have taken place among senior officials. An administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity Thursday morning said the prospect of invoking the 25th Amendment had not been brought to the vice president. Trump had spent much of Tuesday afternoon in the Oval Office with Pence, trying to persuade his No. 2 to bend to his will. Trump and his allies also leaned on those close to Pence. Pence had promised to thoroughly study the issue. Over the past two weeks, he put together a legal team, consulted with experts on congressional rules and thought about what the founding fathers intended. Besides being a lawyer by training, Pence is a self-proclaimed student of history who has said he gets "chills" when he visits Independence Hall. In the lengthy letter Pence released shortly before he began presiding over Congress’ counting of the electoral votes Wednesday, he referenced his reverence for the Constitution and said he was bound by his oath of office to uphold it. Trump tweeted his disdain for Pence’s position as the supporters he had addressed at an earlier rally responded to Trump’s call to march to the Capitol. “For Trump, Pence was there to be a loyal servant, as was everyone else,” Belt said. US President Donald Trump arrives to speak, flanked by Karen Pence, US Vice President Mike Pence and US First Lady Melania Trump. during election night in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, early on November 4, 2020. 'Courage,' his daughter tweeted When rioters broke through the perimeter and rampaged the building, Pence, his wife and older daughter were whisked away to a secure location by the Secret Service. Pence’s daughter later issued what could be read as a rebuke of Trump. “Courage,” Charlotte Pence Bond tweeted as she recirculated the end of her father’s letter of explanation, which concluded: “So Help Me God.” After the Capitol was secured and lawmakers finished counting the votes, a stoic Pence announced his and Trump’s election defeat at 3:41 a.m. Pence bowed his head and closed his eyes as the Senate chaplain, in a closing prayer, said the “quagmire of dysfunction that threatened our democracy” and led to a loss of lives and desecration of the Capitol has “reminded us that words matter.” The C-SPAN camera recording the moment for history turned toward Pence, capturing a slight nod of his head, when the chaplain said God has “strengthened our resolve to protect and defend the Constitution.” “Amen,” the devoutly Christian Pence softly said at the conclusion of the prayer. Doing 'his duty' Since signing on as Trump’s running mate in 2016, Pence has tried to strike a balance between remaining loyal to Trump while not parroting his most divisive rhetoric and unfounded claims. Pence deserves credit for standing firm this week, said public affairs professor William Inboden, who worked for President George W. Bush. But merely upholding his oath of office when he did not have the power to act otherwise “should not be mistaken as a profile in courage or principle,” he added. Pence must continue to do his duty, amid “Trump’s madness and demagoguery,” to try to hold the executive office of the president together for the next 13 days. “After January 20,” Inboden said, “Pence will have ample time to reflect on the loyalty he showed to Trump for four years – and what it cost.” Contributing: Ledyard King and Christal Hayes, USA TODAY This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pence's break with Trump comes amid 25th Amendment talk, Capitol riots https://www.yahoo.com/news/angry-pence-navigates-fallout-rupture-100017188.html GO RV, then BV
  8. Mike Pence to receive COVID-19 vaccine Friday; Joe Biden will get vaccinated as soon as next week Joey Garrison and Michael Collins, USA TODAY Wed, December 16, 2020, 7:15 PM EST WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence is set to receive a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus Friday, while President-elect Joe Biden is expected to be vaccinated as soon as next week. Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence will receive the vaccine at the White House. Pence’s office said they will get the shot “publicly” to promote the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and “build confidence among the American people.” The Pences will be joined by Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who will also receive the vaccine, Pence’s office said. A Biden transition official confirmed the former vice president's potential timeline for the vaccine. CNN reported Biden is likely to be vaccinated early next week. Vice-president Mike Pence addresses supporters at a campaign rally Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020, in Tallahassee, Fla. Their plans come after health care workers across the U.S. were the first to receive a shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on Monday as COVID-19 cases are on the rise nationwide. More than 300,000 Americans have died from the virus. President Donald Trump has not announced plans to take the vaccine, which the federal government intends to help distribute through Operation Warp Speed, the $10 billion effort to accelerate the production and distribution of a coronavirus vaccine. Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have said they are willing to get a coronavirus vaccine publicly – perhaps filming it – to prove the treatment is safe and effective. Biden, who has also said he wants to take the vaccine publicly, told reporters Wednesday he doesn't want to cut ahead of higher-priority recipients such as health care workers. President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration will be a scaled-down event. “We’re working on that right now. I don’t want to get to the head of the line," Biden said Wednesday at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del. "But I want to make sure that we want to demonstrate to the American people that it’s safe to take. They’re working on that right now. When I do it, I’ll do it publicly so you all can actually witness my getting it done." Trump, who contracted COVID-19 in October and was hospitalized for four days at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, wants to see all Americans get the vaccine and plans to do so himself “as soon as his medical team determines it’s best,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters on Tuesday. “His priority is front-line workers, those in long-term care facilities, and he wants to make sure that the vulnerable get access first,” McEnany said. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday granted emergency authorization for the vaccine from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, beating early estimates that a vaccine might not be ready for a year or more. Large segments of Americans have expressed mistrust about a coronavirus vaccine. A Gallup poll released Dec. 8 found 63% of Americans would agree to take an FDA-approved vaccine to combat the virus, while 37% would not. Contributing: Bart Jansen Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison. Reach Michael Collins on Twitter @mcollinsNEWS. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mike Pence, Joe Biden to both be vaccinated for COVID-19 in coming days https://www.yahoo.com/news/mike-pence-receive-covid-19-233431358.html GO RV, then BV
  9. Trump allies to Michigan judge: Force Gov. Whitmer to overturn Biden's win, give state to president Dave Boucher, Detroit Free Press Tue, December 1, 2020, 7:33 AM EST Allies of President Donald Trump want a federal court in Michigan to force state leaders to set aside election results and award its 16 electoral votes to the president. A separate conservative group also wants the Michigan Supreme Court to invalidate the results that show President-elect Joe Biden won the state. The latest lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of Michigan and before the state's highest court, rely on unfounded allegations of widespread fraud and misconduct that judges in the state and across the country have previously rejected. Neither has a high likelihood of success. There is no evidence of mass fraud or wrongdoing that affected election operations in Michigan or elsewhere. Biden earned roughly 154,000 more votes than Trump in Michigan. Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, left, listens to Sidney Powell, both lawyers for President Donald Trump, during a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters, Nov. 19, 2020, in Washington. Last week, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers formally certified the results. But the federal lawsuit, filed by Trump-affiliated attorney Sidney Powell and a cadre of other lawyers, wants a judge to force Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to "decertify" those results. They want to act before Dec. 14, when the Electoral College is set to meet and Biden will receive the more than 270 votes needed to formally secure the presidency. "The multifaceted schemes and artifices implemented by defendants and their collaborators to defraud resulted in the unlawful counting, or manufacturing, of hundreds of thousands of illegal, ineligible, duplicate or purely fictitious ballots in the State of Michigan, that constitute a multiple of Biden’s purported lead in the State," the lawsuit reads in part. Although the city of Detroit is not named in the lawsuit, it's seeking to intervene. Lawyers for the city argue the allegations of misconduct focus on Detroit, so the city should be allowed to have a say in the proceedings. “This lawsuit dredges up baseless conspiracy theories that have been debunked and rejected every time they have been reviewed by a court. This particular suit is filed by an attorney whose claims are so detached from reality that even the Trump campaign has disavowed any association with her," said David Fink, lead attorney representing Detroit. On Sunday, those filing the lawsuit reiterated their request for a judge to take immediate action. They also asked the judge to let them file several additional documents under seal, meaning they would not be widely accessible. They argue the people making the documents have such sensitive information that being named publicly and providing these details would risk endangering themselves and their families. The lawsuit relies on a series of debunked or discredited theories. That includes allegations that ballot tabulating software crafted by confederates of deceased Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez helped further a massive international conspiracy against Trump, carried out in Michigan and other swing states in order to secure Biden's victory. While the lawsuit provides hundreds of pages of exhibits with the filing, no judge or impartial authority has found any of the statements or reports to be credible or consider them actual evidence of wrongdoing. Tiffany Brown, communications director for Whitmer, reiterated comments the governor made after the state certified its election results. "We will not comment on pending litigation, other than to say that the people of Michigan have spoken and the votes have been certified for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris," Brown said in a statement Monday. "President-elect Biden won the State of Michigan by more than 154,000 votes — more than 14 times Donald Trump’s 2016 margin. It’s time to put country over party, and time for us to put this election behind us and unite together to defeat our common enemy: COVID-19. Ryan Jarvi, a spokesman for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, said their office is reviewing the lawsuit and determining appropriate action. Powell has asserted similar allegations in lawsuits in several other states. Although she made some of these allegations at joint appearances with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, Giuliani later disavowed her in a national news release. Republicans, including Trump supporter and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, have criticized the president's legal team. The Trump campaign and its supporters have either lost or withdrawn each of their lawsuits. In cases where judges have ruled, they have determined the campaign lacked evidence. Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Kenny determined allegations made by supporters about conduct at TCF Center in Detroit were "incorrect and not credible." Last week, Giuliani announced a series of hearings involving state lawmakers in Michigan and other states related to election results. While the Senate Oversight Committee does plan to met Tuesday to discuss vote counting at TCF, a Senate committee spokeswoman has said the meeting was previously scheduled and "is not at all related to Trump." State lawmakers already issued subpoenas and scheduled hearings in relation to election operations. Also last week, a conservative law firm asked the Michigan Supreme Court to invalidate state election results. The Amistad Project, part of the Thomas More Society, made similar allegations of fraud and misconduct in a news release, focusing on the uptick in absentee ballot requests in the state. Benson and the state have won other lawsuits focused on absentee ballots; earlier this year, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled the state acted legally when Benson's office sent unsolicited absentee ballot applications to registered voters in the state. https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-allies-michigan-judge-force-123316617.html GO RV, then BV
  10. Nevada Supreme Court certifies Biden's presidential win, praises state's top election official James DeHaven, Reno Gazette Journal Tue, November 24, 2020, 1:49 PM EST·2 min read RENO — The state Supreme Court has officially certified Nevada’s election results, cementing Democrat Joe Biden’s roughly 33,600-vote statewide victory over President Donald Trump. Tuesday’s formal canvass of the vote tally came just one day after Michigan certified it’s results, effectively eliminating any path to victory for Trump. The outgoing occupant of the White House has waged a weeks-long legal crusade meant to halt ballot-counting in Nevada and several other key swing states, prompting breathless predictions of a palace coup despite Team Trump’s nearly unbroken string of losses in court. But members of the Silver State’s high court showed little interest in adding to the drama surrounding this year’s vote count, which they said was done “properly, reliably and with integrity.” More: Hours later, Trump campaign files suit to stop Clark County vote count Previously: All eyes on Nevada: Election officials won't rush pivotal vote count in presidential race Justices needed only 20 minutes to finalize Nevada’s results, and spent more time silently signing paperwork than discussing the unprecedented presidential contest. Members of the high court did praise Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske’s “exemplary” work overseeing the state’s sudden, COVID-caused shift to a mostly vote-by-mail election format. Cegavske, the state's lone statewide Republican officeholder, expressed misgivings of her own about Democrat-backed election reforms recently enacted at the state Legislature. She also vigorously defended the state's election system against Trump's baseless claims of a "rigged" result. “I just want to commend the Secretary of State and her office for the extraordinary work they did under very difficult circumstances,” said Justice James Hardesty. “They’re to be congratulated for carrying out an extraordinarily successful election.” The final canvass of statewide results counts as the second-to-last step in completing Nevada’s share of the presidential election process. Electors picked at state party conventions will travel to Carson City on Dec. 14 to formally award Nevada’s six Electoral College votes to Biden. Nevadans have now sided with Democrats in each of the past four presidential elections. Biden carried Washoe County, the state’s lone remaining swing county, by a little more than 11,000 votes, despite a small disadvantage in voter registration. https://news.yahoo.com/nevada-supreme-court-certifies-bidens-181455938.html GO RV, then BV
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