Author: PolitCens

Former U.S. President Donald Trump is set Sunday to stake his claim as the dominant Republican in the country, trying to win back party control of Congress next year and possibly run again for the presidency in 2024.Trump is speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, a gathering in Orlando, Florida, of hundreds of the most ardent Republicans. While he has made some public comments since leaving Washington January 20, when his victorious Democratic reelection opponent, Joe Biden, took power, Trump’s speech is his first significant post-presidency address.”I stand before you today to declare that the incredible journey we began together four years ago is far from over,” Trump plans to say, according to excerpts released by aides.”We are gathered this afternoon to talk about the future — the future of our movement, the future of our party, and the future of our beloved country,” he says.Republicans Hold Annual Conference With Trump Still at Center Stage Prominent annual gathering for conservatives will feature speech by former president on SundayBut Trump also is likely to mount his claim to dominance of the party, to leave his options open to run again in three years for another four-year term in the White House, at least to stall any momentum for other possible 2024 Republican candidates, including U.S. Senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley and others eyeing the presidency.Early national polls show voters giving wide approval to Biden’s first month-plus as president, including from some Republicans. But Trump, even if widely rejected by Democrats and a majority of independents, remains particularly popular among many Republican voters.Trump’s future as the dominant Republican figure in the U.S. remains an open question, however. He is the only president in U.S. history to be twice impeached and acquitted and the first president in 90 years to lose political control of the White House and both chambers of Congress in a single term in office.Conservatives at the three-day conference have cheered mention of his name, with many of them posing for pictures with a large golden caricature of his face that was sculpted in Mexico and now is being wheeled around the convention hall.The Senate earlier in February voted 57-43, with seven Republicans joining all 50 Democrats in the chamber, to convict Trump of inciting a mob of hundreds of his supporters that rampaged into the U.S. Capitol on January 6 as lawmakers were certifying that he had lost his November re-election to Biden. The Senate vote count fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for a conviction.  The mayhem left five dead, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer. More than 200 rioters have been arrested as the investigation continues.     The CPAC conference is one of the most prominent annual gatherings for conservatives and comes at a time of growing debate within the Republican Party over whether to distance themselves from the former president or continue to tie their future with his.  Trump has signaled he wants to try to defeat or diminish the political standing of the 10 Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to impeach him in January, a week ahead of him leaving office, and the seven who voted to convict him at his Senate trial.Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate minority leader, voted to acquit Trump at the impeachment trial, but then assailed Trump’s role in fomenting the storming of the Capitol, in which rioters smashed windows, ransacked congressional offices and scuffled with police.  McConnell said Trump was “practically and morally responsible for provoking the events” that led to the Capitol siege.Trump, in response, described McConnell as “a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack,” and said if Republican senators are going to stay with him, “they will not win again.”Even so, McConnell said last week he would support Trump for the presidency if Republican voters nominate him again in 2024.Asked whether Trump still controls the Republican Party, Senator Rick Scott of Florida told the “Fox News Sunday” show, “It’s the voters’ party.” But he said he believes Trump is “going to be helpful” in the immediate future.“We’re on the right side of the issues,” Scott said of Republicans. “The Democrats are on the wrong side.”One Republican lawmaker who voted to convict Trump on the impeachment charge, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, told CNN that if Republicans reclaim the White House in four years, “it will be because we speak to the issues, not by putting one person (Trump) on a pedestal. CPAC is not the entirety of the Republican Party.”“You’ve got to speak to voters who didn’t vote for us last time,” Cassidy said. “If we idolize one person, we will lose.”“I don’t think he’ll be our nominee,” Cassidy said. “We need a person who lifts all boats.”
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Republicans are holding their annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) for the first time since former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, with Trump still at the center of the spotlight.Trump is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech Sunday to the conference in Orlando, Florida, making his first major public appearance since leaving office on January 20.A Trump aide told multiple media outlets the topic of Trump’s talk would be “the future of the Republican Party and the conservative movement,” along with President Joe Biden’s “disastrous” immigration policies.The conference is one of the most prominent annual gatherings for conservatives and comes at a time of growing debate within the Republican Party over whether to distance themselves from the former president or whether to continue to tie their future with his.FILE – Former U.S. President Donald Trump.Fissures in the partyRifts in the Republican Party grew wider this month following the impeachment trial of Trump in which he was acquitted by a minority of the Senate in a 57-43 vote.Although Trump’s defense was able to prevent two-thirds of the chamber from finding him guilty of inciting the mob that overran the Capitol on January 6, seven Republicans joined all the Democratic senators in voting to convict the former president.Trump has lashed out at those Republican senators along with 10 Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to approve the articles of impeachment.His ire has recently been focused on Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the nation’s most senior elected Republican. McConnell voted to acquit Trump on a procedural point shared by many in the Republican Party that there was no constitutional ground to convict someone who was no longer in office. Despite his vote to acquit, McConnell said Trump was “practically and morally responsible for provoking the events” that led to the Capitol siege.In a statement, Trump responded that “Mitch is a dour, sullen and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again.”Despite the rift, McConnell indicated Thursday that he would not let the dispute interfere with Republican efforts to win the White House in 2024, including if Trump were to run again. When asked during an interview with Fox News if he would support Trump if he won the party’s nomination in 2024, McConnell replied, “Absolutely.”While some Republican lawmakers have expressed displeasure with Trump, the former president retains the strong backing of many state and local parties who have issued a string of censures to Republicans who did not support Trump in his impeachment trial.Conservative political consultant Roger Stone, center, arrives outside the convention center at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Feb. 27, 2021, in Orlando, Fla.Trump’s futureTrump has hinted that his days in politics are not over but has yet to say what role he wants to have moving forward.“Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun,” Trump said in a statement following the impeachment vote.“In the months ahead, I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people,” he added.Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, a strong ally of Trump in recent years, argued recently that Trump was “the most vibrant member of the Republican Party.”“All I can say is that the most potent force in the Republican Party is President Trump. We need Trump,” he told “Fox News Sunday” this month.Some other Republicans have argued the party should move away from Trump, including Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who was one of the lawmakers to vote against Trump at the impeachment trial.“The Republican Party is more than just one person. The Republican Party is about ideas,” he said this month on ABC’s “This Week.”While Cassidy argued for a new direction for the party at large, his own standing within the party could suffer for going against Trump. Earlier this month, he joined the growing list of Republicans to be censured by their state parties for their votes to convict Trump at the impeachment trial.Representative Liz Cheney, who was one of the 10 Republicans to vote for the article of impeachment and who was censured by her state party for doing so, was criticized again this week when asked if the former president should speak at the conservative conference.She said it was “up to CPAC,” before adding, “I’ve been clear in my views about President Trump and the extent to which, following January 6, I don’t believe he should be playing a role in the party.”Conservative shirts, hats, ties and other items are displayed for sale at the merchandise show at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Feb. 27, 2021, in Orlando, Fla.Conference speakersTrump has a long history with CPAC, founded in 1973, and the speech he gave to the group in 2011 is credited with helping to kick-start his political career.The roster of speakers at this year’s conference, which began Thursday, features a number of former Trump administration officials who have been closely aligned with him, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.Not on the list is Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence. Media reports said Pence was invited to address the conference but declined.Pence and Trump ended their four-year political partnership on tense terms after Pence certified the results of the 2020 presidential election for Biden despite objections from Trump.Also not speaking at this year’s conference is McConnell nor any of the Republican lawmakers who voted for Trump’s impeachment.The chairman of CPAC, Matt Schlapp, is a close ally of Trump, and he has ensured that the conference is a chorus of voices who support the former president. He also has organized conference panels on election integrity to look into Trump’s claims, without evidence, that illegal voting cost Trump the 2020 presidential election.CPAC is usually held near Washington but was moved this year to Orlando because local COVID restrictions there allow indoor events, as long as attendees are socially distanced and wear masks.The conference gives Trump an opportunity to broadcast his message to the Republican Party, a task that has become more difficult to do since his medium of choice, Twitter, suspended his account following the Capitol siege.Trump has kept a relatively low profile since he left the White House on January 20.Despite debate among some in the Republican Party over how much influence Trump should have, the former president’s approval among rank-and-file Republicans remains strong. Gallup reported this month that Trump’s approval among self-described Republicans stood at 94%.  
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U.S. Attorney John Durham said Friday that he will resign from his position as the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut but is remaining as a special counsel to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into the origins of the Russia probe that shadowed Donald Trump’s presidency.Durham will resign from his post as U.S. attorney for Connecticut on Monday. But Durham, who was appointed in October by then-Attorney General William Barr as a special counsel to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, will remain in that capacity.Like Durham, nearly every other U.S. attorney who served in the Trump administration was asked earlier this month to submit their resignations as the Biden administration moves to transition to its own nominees.The FBI in July 2016 began investigating whether the Trump campaign was coordinating with Russia to sway the outcome of the presidential election. That probe was inherited nearly a year later by special counsel Robert Mueller, who ultimately did not find enough evidence to charge Trump or any of his associates with conspiring with Russia.The early months of the investigation, when agents obtained secret surveillance warrants targeting a former Trump campaign aide, have long been scrutinized by Trump and other critics of the probe who say the FBI made significant errors. A Justice Department inspector general report backed up that criticism but did not find evidence that mistakes in the surveillance applications and other problems with the probe were driven by partisan bias.Durham’s investigation, which the Justice Department has described as a criminal probe, had begun very broadly, but Barr said in December that it had “narrowed considerably” and that it was “really is focused on the activities of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation within the FBI.”Durham’s investigation has so far resulted in one prosecution so far. A former FBI lawyer was sentenced to probation last month for altering an email the Justice Department relied on in its surveillance of an aide to President Donald Trump during the Russia investigation.The U.S. attorneys transition process, which happens routinely between administrations, applies to a few dozen U.S. attorneys who were appointed by Trump and confirmed by the Senate, and many of the federal prosecutors who were nominated by Trump have left their positions.A senior Justice Department official told the AP earlier this month that David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware, overseeing the federal tax probe involving Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, will remain in place.The 93 U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president and are responsible for overseeing offices of federal prosecutors and charged with prosecuting federal crimes in their jurisdictions.
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U.S. President Joe Biden called on the Senate Saturday to approve his $1.9 trillion COVID relief package the House of Representatives approved earlier in the day.
 
The spending package, which aims to provide relief to businesses, governments and millions of Americans whose lives have been upended by the coronavirus pandemic, goes to the Senate for a vote after the lower chamber’s approval.
 
“The people of this country have suffered far too much for far too long,” Biden said in brief remarks from the Roosevelt Room in the White House before flying to his home state of Delaware for the weekend.
 
“We need to relieve that suffering,” Biden added. “The American Rescue Plan does just that. It relieves the suffering and it’s time to act.”
 
As expected, the 219-212 House vote was largely along party lines in the Democratic-controlled chamber, giving Biden his first major legislative victory since entering office on January 20.
 
Most Republicans oppose the cost of the measure that would cover the costs of vaccines and other medical supplies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed more than 508,000 lives in the United States and pushed millions out of work.
 
The package would also provide an additional $1,400 direct payments to individuals and emergency financial aid to households, small businesses, and local and state governments.  
 
Emergency unemployment benefits and tax breaks to lower wage earners and families with children would be funded in the relief bill, and business sectors hurt by the pandemic’s economic fallout, such as the restaurant and airline industries, would also receive financial relief.
 
A federal minimum hourly wage increase from $7.25 to $15 proposed by Democrats failed to make it in the final Senate version of the bill. The parliamentarian in the Senate, the chamber’s adviser on the interpretation of its rules and procedures, said Thursday the proposal had to be dropped from the bill, as required by chamber rules.
 
The decision by Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough forces Democrats to seek other pathways for the minimum wage proposal to pass in the face of stiff Republican opposition.
 
Democratic leaders reportedly are trying to reassure progressive lawmakers that they will revive efforts to increase the minimum wage.
 
The relief bill now goes to the evenly divided 100-member Senate, where Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris has the tie-breaking vote.
 
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US intelligence agencies released a report to Congress on Friday concluding that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation in 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey, ‘to capture or kill’ Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and US resident.  VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports on reaction to the long-awaited report.
Producer: Bakhtiyar Zamanov
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The U.S. House of Representatives passed President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that aims to provide relief to businesses, governments and millions of Americans whose lives have been upended by the coronavirus crisis.Lawmakers voted early Saturday along party lines in the Democratic-controlled House, passing the measure by a vote of 219–212. The passage puts Biden on a path to his first major legislative victory since entering office Jan. 20.The COVID-19 relief package now moves to the evenly divided 100-member Senate, where Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris has the tie-breaking vote.Democrats, who narrowly control the chamber, argued the measure was needed to revive the economy and to fight the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed more than 510,000 lives in the United States. Republicans who largely backed previous COVID-19 spending say another $1.9 trillion is simply too expensive.The measure covers the costs of vaccines and other medical supplies and provides $1,400 direct payments to most Americans. It also provides emergency financial relief to local and state governments as well as business sectors hurt by the pandemic’s economic fallout, such as the restaurant and airline industries.The bill extends emergency unemployment benefits through August, increases tax breaks to lower wage earners and families with children, and gives financial aid to small businesses.A federal minimum hourly wage increase from $7.25 to $15 proposed by Democrats is in the final version of the bill, however that provision is not likely to win approval in the Senate. The parliamentarian in the Senate — the chamber’s adviser on the interpretation of its rules and procedures, which also votes on the package — said Thursday the proposal must be dropped from the bill, as required by chamber rules.The decision by Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough forces Democrats to seek other pathways for the minimum wage proposal to pass in the face of stiff Republican opposition.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that Democrats would not give up on the federal minimum wage increase.“If it doesn’t prevail because of Senate rules, we will persist … we will not stop until we very soon pass the $15 minimum wage,” she said at a news conference.Democrats are pushing the measure through the Senate under special rules that bypass the filibuster, meaning they will not need any Republican votes if they stay united.
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U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday warned Iran to tread carefully in Iraq following a U.S. airstrike that destroyed parts of a compound used by Iranian-backed militias as they travel between Syria and Iraq.“You can’t act with impunity,” Biden told reporters in Houston, when asked what message he was trying to send Tehran by ordering the airstrike, carried out late Thursday, that hit a compound in Boukamal, on the Syrian side of the border with Iraq.“Be careful,” he added.The president’s comments — coming nearly 24 hours after two U.S. F-15 Eagles dropped seven precision-guided bombs, destroying nine facilities and severely damaging two others — were his first about the strike, which has become the subject of a political debate in the U.S.Administration officials spent much of the day defending the strike, arguing it was necessary to protect American forces in the region following a series of rocket attacks, including two in the past two weeks in Irbil and Baghdad.US ‘Outraged’ After Rocket Salvo Slams Baghdad Monday’s attack comes one week after a contractor was killed in a rocket attack in Irbil While the Katyusha rocket attack on Baghdad’s Green Zone caused only limited damage, the attack outside Irbil International Airport, in northern Iraq, killed a contractor for the U.S.-led coalition and injured nine others.Some members of Biden’s own political party, however, voiced concern Friday that the president may have gone too far by ordering a retaliatory strike.“The American people deserve to hear the administration’s rationale for these strikes and its legal justification for acting without coming to Congress,” Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, a member of both the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, said in a statement Friday.“Offensive military action without congressional approval is not constitutional absent extraordinary circumstances,” he added.Officials at the White House and the Pentagon quickly pushed back, arguing Biden was well within his rights, citing the attacks in Irbil and Baghdad while hinting more militia attacks were likely.”When threats are posed, he has the right to take an action at the time and in the manner of his choosing,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters accompanying the president on a trip to Houston.“The president is sending an unambiguous message that he’s going to act to protect Americans,” she said, adding, “There was a thorough legal process and review in advance.”The Pentagon on Friday said it had notified congressional leadership before the strike was launched and that a full, classified briefing was slated for the coming days.“This really was a defensive strike meant to help protect, in the future, American forces and coalition partners,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Friday.“We’re confident that these were legitimate targets,” he said. “We know that this compound was used by these groups to help resource and help facilitate their ability to conduct these kinds of attacks inside Iraq.”In a statement late Thursday, the Pentagon said the strike targeted a compound at a checkpoint on the Syrian side of the Iraq-Syria border used by Kataeb Hezbollah (KH) and Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS).Initial U.S. assessments indicated there were also some casualties, though Kirby declined to share any specifics.“These targets were chosen carefully, very deliberately, and struck in exactly the same manner,” Kirby said.According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the U.S. airstrike targeted a weapons shipment destined for the Iranian-backed militias. Citing sources on the ground in Syria, it said 17 militia members were killed.Kataeb Hezbollah confirmed the death of one of its fighters and condemned the U.S. action, insisting it was not involved in the recent attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq.“We stress the legitimate right of our Iraqi people to respond to this cowardly criminal operation,” it said in a statement translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.The group also urged Iraqis to “expel the American occupation forces and prosecute the traitors who conspire with them.”Iraqi officials, meanwhile, denied providing the U.S. with any assistance that led to targeting the Boukamal site, insisting cooperation with Washington was limited to the fight against the Islamic State terror group.بيان من المكتب الاعلامي لوزير الدفاعتعبر وزارة الدفاع العراقية عن استغرابها لما ورد في تصريحات وزير الدفاع الامريكي والمتعلقة بحصول تبادل للمعلومات الاستخباراتية مع العراق سبق استهداف بعض المواقع في الاراضي السورية. pic.twitter.com/Ve35X1RtwW— وزارة الدفاع العراقية (@modmiliq) February 26, 2021Kirby said while Baghdad did not provide any intelligence that helped in targeting the Iran-backed militia facilities, Iraqi intelligence “was able to help us better determine who was responsible” for the rocket attacks on U.S. and coalition troops.For its part, Iran condemned the U.S. airstrike, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh labeling it an “illegal aggression.”Syria’s Foreign Ministry likewise chastised Washington, saying, “It [the Biden administration] is supposed to stick to international legitimacy, not to the law of the jungle as [did] the previous administration.”Whether the U.S. strike will send a message and do much to deter the Iranian-backed militias, however, remains to be seen.“It sent the signal that Biden won’t be a pushover on [Iranian] proxy activities, though the Iranians may not even register that,” said Phillip Smyth, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who studies Shiite militias in the region.“It’s a softer, but still a rather nuanced hit,” Smyth added of the U.S. decision to strike a target in Syria, saying the response from the militias so far had been somewhat muted.“I get the impression it will cool down for a little bit and then possibly heat up,” he said.VOA White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara and Reuters contributed to this report.
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U.S. conservatives praised Donald Trump at an annual gathering Friday, even unveiling a golden statue of the former president, showing he remains a Republican political force despite violent scenes in Washington last month.Prominent congressional conservatives — including Senators Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley and Representatives Steve Scalise and Matt Gaetz — were among the Trump loyalists speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, which Trump will address on Sunday.Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Feb. 26, 2021, in Orlando, Fla.”Let me tell you something: Donald Trump ain’t going anywhere,” Senator Ted Cruz said.Trump’s tumultuous final weeks in office saw his supporters launch a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 to try to block Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election, a win that Trump falsely claimed was tainted by widespread fraud.Golden statueIf there was any doubt that CPAC this year was devoted to Trump, the statue of the former president, dressed in a blue jacket, red tie, and red, white and blue boxing shorts, was on display at the conference site.The statue drew instant derision online.”Idol worship isn’t conservative. #RestoreOurGop,” Representative Adam Kinzinger, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting the January 6 attack, said on Twitter.Gaetz declared himself part of the “pro-Trump, America First” wing of the conservative movement. “We’re not really a wing, we’re the whole body,” he said.He also appeared to forecast a future role for Trump, who is pondering another run for president in 2024: “Trump may not have drained the swamp all the way – yet.”Trump is expected to speak Sunday about the future of the party and lay out policy differences within a group riven by differences in the wake of his four years in office.”The divide right now is between the ‘Beltway elites’ and the conservative grassroots around the country,” said a Trump adviser who helped prepare the speech.Trump will also offer rhetoric critical of Biden.Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Feb. 26, 2021, in Orlando, Fla.Trump supporters at the conference on Friday repeated some of his false claims, arguing that they justified new restrictions on voting.In addition to the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, seven Senate Republicans voted to convict him of inciting insurrection, although the 57-43 vote fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict.Some advisers say they want Trump not to use his speech to relitigate the election at length but instead offer a road map to Republicans’ regaining control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2022 congressional elections.2024 candidacy?The prospect of Trump, 74, running for president again in 2024 complicates life for other Republican presidential hopefuls, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Vice President Mike Pence.Pence, who was in the Capitol with his family when rioters stormed in chanting, “Hang Mike Pence!” was not expected to attend this year’s CPAC.CPAC is an event organized by the American Conservative Union, whose chairman, Matt Schlapp, is close to Trump. It is a prime venue for speakers who want to gauge interest in whether they should run for president based on the enthusiasm they generate.Many Republicans think Trump will flirt with another run to freeze the 2024 field but believe he will ultimately opt out of running. Trump himself has mused privately to advisers that he would like to run.   
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The FBI is keeping close watch on violent domestic extremists who might pose a threat to the U.S. Capitol when President Joe Biden delivers a speech before a joint session of Congress next month, a senior FBI official said Friday.
“We have been worried that domestic violent extremists would react not only to the results of an election that they might not see as favorable, but the transition of a government that they may question,” the senior official told reporters on a press call.
“And so I think for the near future as we continue to go through that process — and I would view the first address [to] the nation part of that process — that we are watching very closely for any reaction from individuals that would show either an intent to commit an attack or somebody that has already committed one,” the official said. The official asked not to be named.
The comments came a day after the acting head of the U.S. Capitol Police warned that militia groups involved in the January 6 attack on the complex by supporters of former President Donald Trump want to “blow up” the building during Biden’s speech.
“We know that members of the militia groups that were present on January 6 have stated their desire that they want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many members as possible, with a direct nexus to the State of the Union,” Yogananda Pittman, the acting police chief, told lawmakers.In response, Pittman said, the Capitol Police force has kept in place security barriers and other enhanced measures implemented after the January 6 attack, steps that she said will likely be removed as the threat dissipates.President Joe Biden delivers a speech on foreign policy, at the State Department, Feb. 4, 2021, in Washington.
A date for Biden’s speech has not been announced yet. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that Biden will deliver his speech after Congress passes the president’s $1.9 trillion pandemic stimulus package. Psaki referred a question about the threat to the Secret Service.The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment,Threats of right-wing violence ahead of Biden’s inauguration on January 20 led to the unprecedented deployment of more than 25,000 National Guard to Washington. While the ceremony passed without incident, security around the Capitol remains tight with fences that are more than 2 meters high still in place.
The attack on the Capitol left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer, and at least 140 other officers injured. It has also triggered a wide-ranging FBI investigation of an estimated 800 Trump supporters who stormed the building and others responsible for the attack.What the FBI knew about the threat of violence to the Capitol and how it conveyed that information to law enforcement agencies have become the subject of controversy in recent week.In the late hours of January 5, the FBI shared with law enforcement agencies a “raw intelligence” report that cited online chatter about impending violence aimed at Congress. “Be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in,” the report quoted from an online thread.But Pittman said that even if it had reached them, it would not have changed their “security posture” as it was consistent with Capitol Police’s own threat assessment. Further, Pittman noted, the report advised law enforcement agencies not to “take action based on this reporting.”Meanwhile, the FBI’s massive manhunt for the perpetrators of the Capitol attack has resulted in more than 300 charges and more than 280 arrests, according to acting deputy attorney general John Carlin.
“The investigation into those responsible is moving at a speed and scale that’s unprecedented and rightly so,” Carlin told reporters during the press call. “Those responsible must be held to account, and they will be.”Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump clash with police at the west entrance of the Capitol during a “Stop the Steal” protest outside of the Capitol building in Washington D.C., Jan. 6, 2021.Of those arrested to date, more than two dozen are alleged members of the Oath Keepers, a loosely organized collection of militiamen and other anti-government activists, and the Proud Boys, a pro-Trump right wing organization. But the vast majority have no known ties to any domestic extremist groups.The attack has renewed attention to the growing threat of domestic terrorism in the United States. In recent years, violent domestic extremists have caused more deaths in the U.S. than terrorists with ties to international groups, the FBI official said, noting that 2019 was the deadliest year for violent domestic extremism since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.Last year the FBI arrested about 180 individuals involved in connection with acts of domestic terrorism, the official said.“We are increasingly arresting more domestic terrorists each year, and … we’ve arrested more this year than previous years,” the official said.The FBI investigates five types of domestic terrorism, two of which it has prioritized in the last two years — anti-government violent extremism and racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism. Between 2015 and 2019, the most lethal threat posed by domestic terrorists came from racially motivated violent extremists such as white supremacists, the official said.While 2020 marked the first year in nearly a decade without a fatal attack by white supremacists, three of the four lethal attacks reported during the year were committed by anti-government individuals, the official said.
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U.S. Senate committees will hear testimony Thursday from three more of President Joe Biden’s nominees, including his picks to be the country’s trade representative, its top public health official and the assistant secretary of health.Katherine Tai, nominee for U.S. trade representative, is set to tell the Finance Committee that she would prioritize rebuilding international alliances and re-engaging with international institutions to address common challenges such as climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic effects.In her written testimony released ahead of the hearing, Tai says she would focus on enforcing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, saying the deal reached during former President Donald Trump’s administration marked “an important step in reforming our approach to trade.”Tai, who for several years was the head of China enforcement at the trade representative’s office, also highlights a need to keep China accountable.“I know firsthand how critically important it is that we have a strategic and coherent plan for holding China accountable to its promises and effectively competing with its model of state-directed economics,” Tai said.In the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, lawmakers will hear testimony from Dr. Vivek Murthy, Biden’s nominee for surgeon general who is seeking to return to the post he held during former President Barack Obama’s administration.In his written statement, obtained by ABC News, Murthy says his top priority will be ending the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 505,000 people in the United States.”I have seen first-hand the importance of providing clear, science-based guidance to Americans on how to protect themselves and others,” Murthy said.The same committee will consider the nomination of Dr. Rachel Levine to serve as assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services.Levine formerly served as health secretary in the state of Pennsylvania, where she was one of the few transgender people serving in elected or appointed positions in the United States.She would be the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the Senate.The full Senate will also meet Thursday to vote on the nomination of former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to serve as energy secretary.The Senate Energy Committee gave its approval to Granholm in a 13-4 vote earlier this month.
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President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday for a government review of global supply chains and potential US vulnerabilities in key industries, including computer chips, electric vehicle batteries, pharmaceuticals and critical minerals used in electronics. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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The first in a series of congressional hearings on the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack has sparked a debate over whether intelligence breakdowns left the building vulnerable to what some officials and lawmakers have termed a “planned and coordinated” insurrection by supporters of former President Donald Trump.Former officials responsible for Capitol security appeared before two Senate panels on Tuesday to defend their actions in the lead-up to and during the bloody riot that left five dead and hundreds injured, saying they did everything they could to prepare for the attack and that the intelligence community failed to see it coming.But some experts say blaming the riot solely on faulty intelligence is misplaced.”It was very much of a collective failure, much like one could argue that September 11, 2001, was a collective failure in response or anticipation,” said Bruce Hoffman, a veteran terrorism expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.FILE – Former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund testifies before the Senate’s Homeland Security and Rules committees on Capitol Hill, Washington, Feb. 23, 2021.Intelligence failure?The claim that the FBI and other agencies failed to predict the attack came from Robert J. Contee III, current chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, and Steven Sund, former chief of the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP), the 2,000-plus-strong force tasked with protecting the Capitol and surrounding government buildings.Sund told lawmakers that while Capitol Police had prepared for a large, potentially violent protest, it received no intelligence from the FBI or other agencies indicating that a planned takeover of the Capitol was in the works — one designed to prevent House and Senate lawmakers from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the November 3 presidential election.“Without the intelligence to properly prepare, the USCP was significantly outnumbered and left to defend the Capitol against an extremely violent mob,” Sund said.Based on its own intelligence assessments, the Capitol Police believed the January 6 event would be “similar” to two previous pro-Trump rallies in Washington in November and December, and police officials took what they considered to be appropriate actions.But Hoffman said there was plenty of open and clandestine social media chatter prior to January 6 to suggest it “would likely be very different from all previous protests as a last and final opportunity to contest and disrupt the 2020 presidential election.”A lack of good intelligence before January 6 was not an issue, Hoffman said. As The Washington Post reported, Hoffman noted, the Capitol Police’s own intelligence unit warned in a 12-page January 3 memo that “Congress itself” could be targeted by pro-Trump protesters as “the last opportunity to overturn the results of the presidential election.””I don’t know how much more explicit one can get,” Hoffman said in an interview.What did agencies know, and when?What the FBI and other intelligence agencies knew in advance of the January 6 attack and whether they took the right steps to warn other law enforcement agencies remain hotly debated.The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security collect intelligence on domestic threats and routinely share their assessments with other law enforcement agencies around the country.FILE – Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., talks to reporters as he walks to attend the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, Jan. 28, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.Democratic Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of a panel in charge of Capitol security, recalled calling FBI Director Christopher Wray on January 4 to express concern about potential violence, and having a number of conversations with other top FBI officials on January 5 and 6.“I felt like the FBI felt that they were in better shape in terms of intel and preparation than what came to be the case,” Warner said.But while FBI officials apparently knew of no looming attack on the Capitol by radical groups and ardent Trump supporters, the bureau, in the late hours of January 5, warned law enforcement agencies around the country about online calls for violence that would begin the next day in Washington.Prepared by the FBI’s Norfolk, Virginia, office, the “raw intelligence” report cited an online thread of extremists that stated, “Be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in. … Get violent. Stop calling this a march, or rally or a protest. Go there ready for war.”In a statement issued late Tuesday, the FBI said, “The language was aspirational in nature with no specific and credible details.”Such “aspirational” threats are often vague in nature and cannot be traced to a specific individual or group, according to security experts.With the rise in recent years of far-right extremism, determining what threat is aspirational and what is more serious has become all the more challenging for law enforcement agencies, said Colin Clarke of the Soufan Group, a nonpartisan global security research consultancy.”We’re dealing with a much, much bigger — in aggregate — mass of people than we would have been even a year or two ago,” Clarke said.Top officials overlookedThe January 5 FBI memo was shared widely with law enforcement but failed to reach the top officials at the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department, raising questions about a breakdown in intelligence-sharing.Sund said the report was sent through a joint terrorism task force to a Capitol Police sergeant but was not pushed up the chain of command.FILE – Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., speaks at the start of a joint hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Rules committees on Capitol Hill, Washington, Feb. 23, 2021.Lawmakers questioned why such vital information was not flagged to top officials. Senator Amy Klobuchar, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, said the fact that the report did not reach top leaders “is very disturbing on both ends.””You can’t just push ‘send’ on an email” without following up on it and raising concerns at the highest levels, she said.In a statement, the FBI defended its handling of the intelligence. It said it shared the memo with its law enforcement partners within 40 minutes of receiving it. In addition, the report “was also posted on the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP), which is available to law enforcement officers nationwide,” the bureau said.   
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Katherine Tai, President Joe Biden’s nominee for U.S. trade representative, will vow to U.S. senators that she will work to strengthen U.S. supply chains, enforce a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico, and hold China to its trade promises.In written testimony prepared for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, Tai underscored the Biden administration’s determination to pursue new, longer-term trade policies to focus on “workers and wage earners,” support U.S. innovation and enhance U.S. competitiveness abroad.As the trade “czar” for the world’s largest economy, biggest importer of goods and second-largest exporter after China, Tai would wield immense clout.If confirmed, as expected, Tai faces a long list of challenges, including a push by allies who want Washington to rescind tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump on steel and aluminum, aircraft and wine.Tai, the top trade lawyer for the House Ways and Means Committee and a fluent Mandarin speaker, said it was critically important that the United States have a strategic, coherent plan to deal with China and help U.S. companies compete with its model of “state-directed economics.”Rebuilding alliancesIn her testimony, Tai said she would prioritize rebuilding U.S. alliances and re-engaging with international institutions, to better address common threats like climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and a global economic downturn, while investing to make the U.S. economy more resilient.”China is simultaneously a rival, a trade partner, and an outsized player whose cooperation we’ll also need to address certain global challenges,” she said in the prepared testimony, which was seen by Reuters.”We must remember how to walk, chew gum and play chess at the same time,” she said.Tai’s testimony has been eagerly awaited for months by industry, U.S. trading partners from Beijing to Brussels, labor groups and lawmakers — all in a long queue to lobby her as soon as she is confirmed.Tai said she would make it a priority to implement and enforce the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that she helped renegotiate in 2019 to include tougher labor and environmental standards. She said that the deal marked an “important step in reforming our approach to trade” and that its success was vital. 
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the United States will seek to rejoin the U.N. Human Rights Council when elections are held later this year.
 
Blinken said in a video address to the council Wednesday, “We humbly ask for the support of all U.N. member states in our bid to return to a seat in this body.”
 
Seats on the 47-member council are held for a three-year term, and Blinken said the United States would seek to occupy one for 2022-24.
 
The United States withdrew from the body under the administration of former President Donald Trump with arguments that the council unfairly targeted Israel and included among its membership a number of countries with poor human rights records.
 
“As the United States re-engages, we urge the Human Rights Council to look at how it conducts its business. That includes its disproportionate focus on Israel,” Blinken said.
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For the first time Tuesday, U.S. lawmakers heard details from top security officials about the failures on January 6 when pro-Trump rioters breached the Capitol. As VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, security officials told lawmakers there were numerous law enforcement missteps that day.Camera: Mike Burke   Produced by: Katherine Gypson
 
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The Senate has confirmed career diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield as the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Thomas-Greenfield is likely to be tested by countries like China at the world body, VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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Former officials responsible for securing the U.S. Capitol testified Tuesday before Congress for the first time since the January 6 attack on the complex, blaming inadequate intelligence for the failure to prevent what they characterized as an unexpected, military-style “insurrection” by supporters of former President Donald Trump.  The officials – former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund; former House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving; and former Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger – testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. The hearing is the first in a series on security and intelligence failures that led to the January 6 attack.  All three former officials resigned immediately after the attack, which left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer, and at least 140 police officers injured.  Former Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper Michael Stenger testifies via teleconference before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs & Senate Rules and Administration joint hearing on Capitol Hill, Feb. 23, 2021.The embattled officials testified that while they had prepared for a large protest at the Capitol and the possibility of violence, they had received no intelligence indicating that the pro-Trump crowd would attempt a breach and violent takeover of the seat of Congress.   “The breach of the United States Capitol was not the result of poor planning or failure to contain a demonstration gone wrong,” Sund said. “Without the intelligence to properly prepare, the USCP was significantly outnumbered and left to defend the Capitol against an extremely violent mob.” Former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund testifies before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs & Senate Rules and Administration joint hearing on Capitol Hill, Washington, Feb. 23, 2021.An intelligence assessment by Capitol Police three days before the attack, Sund said, suggested that the January 6 protest would be “similar” to two previous rallies in November and December that drew tens of thousands of Trump supporters to Washington to protest Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden.   In response, Sund said, he put in place an “all hands on deck” security plan, deploying about 1,200 officers to work on January 6 and expanding the security perimeter around the Capitol. “Contrary to some of the reporting, the USCP had an effective plan in place to handle the First Amendment demonstrations and possible pockets of violence that were anticipated for January 6, based upon the available intelligence,” he said Tuesday. At the same time, Sund also blamed the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms for failing to act swiftly to approve his request for National Guard help before and during the riots. The police chief can ask for National Guard help after a Capitol Police Board made up of the sergeants-at-arms declares an emergency.   But Sund said when he asked for help two days before the attack, Irving, the House Sergeant-at-Arms, expressed concern about the “optics” of having National Guard troops around the Capitol “and didn’t feel that the intelligence supported it,” Sund said.  During his testimony, Irving denied that he was concerned about the visuals. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., left, listens to former Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving testify via teleconference during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs & Senate Rules and Administration joint hearing on Capitol Hill, Feb. 23, 2021.“We did discuss whether the intelligence warranted having troops at the Capitol, and our collective judgment at that time was no — the intelligence did not warrant that,” Irving said. “The intelligence did warrant the plan that had been prepared by Chief Sund.” The three former officials said they did not receive an FBI report distributed on January 5, warning law enforcement agencies about social media calls for violence the next day. The report, prepared by the FBI’s Norfolk field officer, cited an online threat that in part said, “Go there ready for war.” The head of the FBI‘s office in Washington has said that as soon as he received the January 5 warning, the information was quickly shared with other law enforcement agencies through the joint terrorism task force.  The hearing is the first of several planned on what went wrong January 6 and how to prevent similar catastrophes in the future, said Senator Amy Klobuchar, the chair of the Rules and Administration panel. Next week, officials from the FBI and the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security will testify.  The hearing comes as members of Congress quarrel over a recent proposal by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to form an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate the attack. The commission will be modeled on a similar panel that investigated the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.   Lawmakers at Tuesday’s hearing grilled law enforcement officials over the delay in the National Guard’s deployment. Sund, the former Capitol Police chief, blamed it in part on the four-member Capitol Security Board’s failure to immediately declare a state of emergency.  Irving denied that he did not act swiftly.  
 
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