Sen Amy Klobuchar Kicks Off Inaugural Ceremony
Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota kicked off the ceremony around 11:20 a.m. ET, welcoming Vice President Mike Pence, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
The Democratic senator noted the historic nature of Harris’ election as the country’s first Black, female and South Asian vice president.
She also reflected on the Capitol Hill riots of Jan. 6 and called upon the country to see the “torch of democracy not as a weapon of political arson, but as an instrument for good.”
Thomas Franck
Trumps Time Everywhere Else
Trumps spent about 16 hours traveling on Air Force One and Marine One, the presidential helicopter. Thats mostly to and from Palm Beach, where Mar-a-Lago is. But it includes trips to Philadelphia Dover, Del., and South Carolina . Trump spent about 10 hours everywhere except D.C. and Palm Beach.
As someone on Twitter noted, Trumps a month into his four-year term the equivalent of one minute having expired in an NBA game. Still plenty of time for these stats to shift.
White House Lobbying Ban Scrapped
Another act taken in his final hours at the White House was to revoke the so-called “Drain the Swamp” ethics order he signed when he first took office.
That prevented officials who have recently left the government from immediately joining lobbying firms for a five year period.
The 2017 executive order’s goal was to prevent his aides from using their influence for personal gain. Ethics experts at the time said the move was a step in the right direction.
Shortly after his own inauguration, Mr Trump said he would “cherish” the letter former president Barack Obama left for him.
We do know what was in some past notes because they have been preserved in presidential libraries.
Ronald Reagan’s letter to George Bush was on stationery with the motto: “Don’t let the turkeys get you down”.
“You’ll have moments when you want to use this particular stationery. Well, go to it,” Reagan wrote.
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President Trump Will Work From Early In The Morning
In one of his final policy acts, Trump sent Congress a sweeping package of proposed spending cuts, including billions of dollars for a global health and vaccine distribution program involved in the Covid fight. There was no chance lawmakers would ever push through his plan, but it was perhaps the closest thing to official work Trump had attempted lately. Despite the daily boilerplate scheduling guidance from the communications staff President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings everyone at the White House knew he was fixated on the election and now impeachment.
There was a feeling of a traffic jam and more and more initiatives that were piling up and thats frustrating for everybody, a former senior administration official said. You still need the presidents signature for things requiring executive authority.
Trump had expected to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Bill Belichick, but it was canceled after the New England Patriots head coach, a longtime friend of Trumps, said he would not accept it. That left nothing official on Trumps schedule for the day.
The governments continuing to operate and run, and the president would weigh in on substantive policy decisions, but luckily a large majority of those have already been done, a senior administration official said.
White House staffers move their belongings out of the building in the days before Biden’s inauguration.
Trumps Future: Nine Possibilities
As former President Donald Trumps second impeachment trial begins, it shines a light on a new reality: although its been nearly 100 days since Trump lost his re-election he is not going away, at least in the short term. What will become of Trump? Here are nine possible outcomes for Trumps futurethe first four possibilities keep him in the middle of national politics in the latter five, he would more likely fade away.
1. Leading the Trumpublican faction of the GOP
Over the course of four years as president, Trump masterfully consolidated Republican voters into a cult of personality. His hardcore supporters were willing to believe anything that left his lips, regardless of evidence to the contrary. They were willing to put their own lives at risk as he huddled them together at rallies and mocked those taking precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. They were willing to commit insurrection against their own government, all in his name and to support his lies about election malfeasance.
That non-trivial group of Republican and Republican-leaning voters is not going away, and they remain loyal not to the party but to Donald Trump. It remains to be seen exactly how large this group is, how much power they will wield in Republican primaries and whether a non-Trumpublican candidate can consolidate the remainder of the party.
2. Uniting MAGA to form a third party
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Biden And Harris Attend Wreath Ceremony At Arlington With Obama Bush And Clinton
WASHINGTON President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris along with former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and their spouses participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
The cemetery, which is located across the Potomac River from Washington, is the final resting place to more than 400,000 service members, veterans and their families.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier includes the remains of unknown service members from World War I, World War II and the Korean War. Soldiers from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as The Old Guard, keep vigil 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at the Tomb.
Amanda Macias
Im Not Sure A Lot Of People Are Calling Him
Trump spent the day watching TV. He had Fox News on even though he hadnt forgiven the network for its role in calling the battleground state of Arizona for Biden. And still unable to vent on Twitter, he made more calls than usual not, as one former Trump aide said, to more people but rather, the same people over and over again.
Part of it, to be honest, is Im not sure a lot of people are calling him, said a Republican close to the president. I think he has more availability and hes more anxious and wants to talk to people who are loyal and support him still.
After the riot, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany considered whether to hold a briefing but didnt.
The people who bore the brunt of Trumps calls were former senior campaign aides, Jason Miller and Steve Cortes former campaign press secretary Hogan Gidley Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy and Bernie Marcus, a billionaire who co-founded the home improvement retail giant Home Depot.
They tried to cheer him up by talking about his legacy, including a record number of judges, the speedy coronavirus vaccine and an increase in U.S. manufacturing. And they strategized a possible path forward appointing a special counsel to investigate Bidens son Hunter campaigning for the 2022 midterms granting pardons before he leaves office taking a victory tour around the country.
Hes getting on the phone, hes calling people and you know hes not doing the work of the presidency, a Trump friend said.
Monday, January 11
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Trump Asks Backers To Remain Peaceful When Joe Biden Is Sworn In
As the House debated whether to impeach him a second time, President Donald Trump called on his supporters to remain peaceful when Joe Biden is sworn in as president next week just one week after a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, an attack designed to intimidate lawmakers into reversing his election loss.
“In light of reports of more demonstrations, I urge that there must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind,” Trump said in a statement. “That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for. I call on ALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers. Thank You.”
Trump issued the statement just a few hours before House members, including some Republicans, are expected to vote to impeach him for inciting an insurrection.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, read Trump’s statement during the floor debate, but it did not to appear to change any minds.
It’s the kind of statement Trump would normally tweet out. But Twitter banned him last week.
David Jackson
Biden Attends Mass At Cathedral Of St Matthew The Apostle
WASHINGTON Ahead of his inauguration, President-elect Joe Biden and incoming first lady Jill Biden attended Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, along with bipartisan leaders of the House and Senate also attended the service.
Also in attendance were Senate leaders Republican Mitch McConnell and Democrat Chuck Schumer, as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Biden will become the second Roman Catholic president, 60 years after Democrat John F. Kennedy became the first member of the faith to hold the office.
Throughout his political career, Biden has been proud of his Catholicism.
In September, during a campaign address, Biden told Americans to “be not afraid,” evoking a passage of Scripture frequently quoted by Pope John Paul II.
In his victory speech, Biden offered a Catholic hymn that he reflected on after the death of his son Beau Biden. The hymn “On Eagle’s Wings” is based on Psalm 91 and for Catholics is often said at funerals.
“In the last days of the campaign, I began thinking about a hymn that means a lot to me and my family, particularly my deceased son, Beau. It captures the faith that sustains me and which I believe sustains America,” Biden said at the time.
Amanda Macias
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The Untold Story About Former President Donald Trump
Donald Trump has been the most controversial President in recent memory. His opponents were absolutely convinced that he did not have a chance. He was laughed off by nearly every politician, every pundit, and certainly by nearly every comedian in Hollywood. He proved them all wrong and beat Hillary Clinton in the surprise election of the last 50 years. Even many Republicans dismissed him as not being electable.
Donald Trump came to shake up things in Washington. He didnt change anything about his personality after he was elected. Even within his own staff, he shook things up more frequently than nearly any other occupant of the Oval Office. He did not shy away from controversy, and never seemed to take the easy path. His America First philosophy found many detractors, on the right and the left. But it also awakened an electorate that was barely involved until the 2016 election. The Republican Party after the Trump Presidency is significantly expanded in a way that may change the way the middle class vote for many years to come.
But perhaps the most lasting achievement of the Trump Presidency will be the beginning of the re-calibration of the relationship between the United States and China. Russia and Putin make a lot of noise. But the threat from China may continue to grow and grow in the coming decades. Nobody focused on this issue until Donald Trump brought it to the fore.
Capitol Police Watchdog Opens Investigation Into Jan 6 Capitol Riot
The United States Capitol Police’s watchdog opened an investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to a source familiar with the matter not authorized to speak on the record.
The investigation, first reported by Capitol Hill publication Roll Call, might not ever enter the public record. The Capitol Police are not subject to the same public records laws as other federal agencies and are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.
Some lawmakers have faulted the Capitol Police for a series of security lapses and intelligence failures leading up to the storming of the Capitol by the pro-Trump mob. At least five people have died in the aftermath of the riot.
Nicholas Wu
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Supreme Court Examined After Bomb Threat
The Supreme Court building was examined on Inauguration Day after a bomb threat was made, a spokeswoman said.
The was not being evacuated, the spokeswoman, Kathleen Arberg, said in a statement.
The court plays a symbolic role in the presidential transfer of power. Chief Justice John Roberts will swear in Joe Biden as president and Justice Sonia Sotomayor will swear in Kamala Harris as vice president. Other justices are expected to attend the ceremony.
Much of the court’s work has been done outside of its historic building since shortly after the Covid pandemic hit the U.S. last year.
Tucker Higgins
Rep David Cicilline Impeachment Article Author: ‘do You Stand For The Republic Or For This President’
Rep. David Cicilline, a lead author of the impeachment article the House is considering, told his GOP colleagues they should think about what they will tell their children and grandchildren about this moment.
Do you stand for the republic or for this president? Cicilline asked.
The Rhode Island Democrat said rioters had stormed the Capitol with the intent to hang the vice president, kill the House speaker and topple the government.
They took down the American flag and replaced it with a Trump flag, he said. I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who are not planning to vote for this article, ‘Is this the kind of country, you want to live in?
Maureen Groppe
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Trump Impeachment Imminent As Debate Ends In The House
Voting has begun on the second impeachment of President Donald Trump on a charge he incited the mob last week that attacked the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers were formally acknowledging President-elect Joe Bidens Nov. 3 victory.
The vote to impeach Trump a second time within the past 13 months is expected to pass on a largely party-line vote by Wednesday evening, though at least several Republicans say they’ll vote to impeach. Voting has started now that two hours of often tense debate has ended.
In the same building where a pro-Trump mob staged a deadly riot a week earlier, congressional Democrats said its necessary to punish Trump for the assault while Republicans said such a move on a departing president would only divide the nation further.
Our nation still mourns the unacceptable violence and anarchy that took place in this Capitol last week. As we speak, arrests are still being made and the anarchists that stormed our Capitol are being brought to justice as should be the case, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said. Emotions are still high. But, in this moment, we need to be focused on toning down the rhetoric and helping heal this nation as we move towards a peaceful transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden next week.
But Democrats said what happened last week could not be ignored without an adequate response.
After it passes, the article will be sent to the Senate where conviction requires at least two thirds of the chamber to approve.
