Author: PolitCens

Two U.S. Senate committees are holding a hearing Tuesday examining the January 6 attack on the U.S. capitol with a focus on security and the response of law enforcement. Scheduled to testify before the Homeland Security Committee and Governmental Affairs Committee are the former Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger and former House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving, as well as former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund and Metropolitan Police Department acting Chief Robert Contee. For Stenger and Irving, their testimony will be their first public comments since they resigned just after the attack by a pro-Trump mob.In this image from video, Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger reads the proclamation during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 29, 2020.Senator Amy Klobuchar told the Associated Press that lawmakers would be focused on how security agencies shared information ahead of the attack, the timing of the deployment of National Guard troops to assist overwhelmed Capitol Police officers and whether the command structure of the entities responsible for Capitol security contributed to security failures. Klobuchar also said the panels would hold at least one more hearing as part of their investigation that would examine the responses of the Defense Department, Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Capitol attack came as lawmakers inside were meeting to certify President Joe Biden’s electoral win over former President Donald Trump in the November election.  Rioters smashed windows and doors and clashed with officers, leaving dozens of police injured. Members of Congress fled their chambers and had to return hours later to finish the vote certification. The violence left five people dead, including one Capital Police officer. In the weeks after the attack, the House of Representatives impeached Trump on charges he incited insurrection. The Senate later acquitted Trump. 
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Two U.S. Senate committees are holding a hearing Tuesday examining the January 6 attack on the U.S. capitol with a focus on security and the response of law enforcement. Scheduled to testify before the Homeland Security Committee and Governmental Affairs Committee are the former Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger and former House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving, as well as former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund and Metropolitan Police Department acting Chief Robert Contee. For Stenger and Irving, their testimony will be their first public comments since they resigned just after the attack by a pro-Trump mob.In this image from video, Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger reads the proclamation during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 29, 2020.Senator Amy Klobuchar told the Associated Press that lawmakers would be focused on how security agencies shared information ahead of the attack, the timing of the deployment of National Guard troops to assist overwhelmed Capitol Police officers and whether the command structure of the entities responsible for Capitol security contributed to security failures. Klobuchar also said the panels would hold at least one more hearing as part of their investigation that would examine the responses of the Defense Department, Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Capitol attack came as lawmakers inside were meeting to certify President Joe Biden’s electoral win over former President Donald Trump in the November election.  Rioters smashed windows and doors and clashed with officers, leaving dozens of police injured. Members of Congress fled their chambers and had to return hours later to finish the vote certification. The violence left five people dead, including one Capital Police officer. In the weeks after the attack, the House of Representatives impeached Trump on charges he incited insurrection. The Senate later acquitted Trump. 
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Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general, sat Monday for his first of two days of questioning by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.   If confirmed, the 68-year-old federal appellate judge and former nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, will serve as the nation’s top law enforcement officer. Here are five takeaways from Monday’s confirmation hearing.  Capitol riot  Garland vowed to make an ongoing federal investigation into the January 6 U.S. Capitol siege his “first priority,” calling the riot “the most heinous attack on the democratic processes.”  The attack by supporters of former President Donald Trump, which left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer, has led to one of the largest and most complex investigations in the Justice Department’s history.   Judge Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s pick to be attorney general, answers questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill, Feb. 22, 2021.Garland told lawmakers that one of the first things he will do as attorney general is get a briefing on the FBI investigation and ensure prosecutors have the resources they need to do their job. At the same time, he added, “I intend to make sure that we look more broadly, to look at where this is coming from, what other groups there might be that could raise the same problem in the future, and that we protect the American people.” The FBI has charged more than 250 people in connection with the attack and is investigating several hundred more. So far, roughly 30 are known to have ties to extremist groups. A judge on the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia for the past 24 years, Garland has extensive domestic terrorism investigation experience. In the mid-1990s, he led the federal investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people. Civil rights  Garland said another top priority will be enforcing civil rights laws.  Noting that the Justice Department was founded in the aftermath of the Civil War to protect the civil rights guaranteed under three constitutional amendments, Garland said “we do not yet have equal justice.”   “Communities of color and other minorities still face discrimination in housing, education, employment and the criminal justice system,” he said in his opening statement. Among other things, he said the Justice Department will hold police departments accountable by investigating misconduct and civil rights violations.  Under Trump, the Justice Department all but stopped carrying out such investigations.  Garland also said he “strongly supports” new legislation strengthening voting rights.  Death penalty Asked whether he supports reinstating a 2003 moratorium on capital punishment, Garland said he was “very concerned” about the large number of people who were sentenced to death and later exonerated, and the disproportionate impact of the death penalty on people of color. In a report released Thursday, the Death Penalty Information Center said 185 death row inmates were wrongfully convicted and later exonerated since the 1970s. Biden is the first U.S. president to oppose the death penalty. Garland said that given Biden’s opposition, it is “not at all unlikely that we will return to the previous” moratorium.  The Trump administration resumed capital punishment last year, executing an unprecedented 13 people during Trump’s final six months in office. People’s lawyer FILE – Then-Attorney General William Barr, Dec. 21, 2020.If confirmed, Garland will take the helm of the Justice Department at a time when morale has ebbed following the controversial tenure of Trump’s second attorney general, William Barr. Democrats accused Barr of politicizing the department and serving as Trump’s personal lawyer, an accusation Barr’s defenders reject.  In his testimony, Garland stressed the importance of preserving the independence of the attorney general, saying he will “be the lawyer not for any individual but for the people of the United States.” Several Republicans sought Garland’s reassurance that he would not allow politically motivated investigations of the administration’s political enemies.  “Absolutely,” Garland said in response to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s question. Hunter Biden, Mueller probe FILE – Hunter Biden, Jan. 30, 2010.Garland will inherit a pair of politically sensitive investigations: a tax fraud investigation of Biden’s son Hunter, and a separate special counsel probe of the origins of the Robert Mueller investigation of Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election on behalf of Trump. The Biden administration recently said that two Trump-appointed prosecutors leading those two investigations will stay on to complete their probes.  Garland said he had “no reason to think that was not the correct decision,” but he declined to commit to not firing them without cause. 
 
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In a significant defeat for former President Donald Trump, the Supreme Court on Monday declined to step in to halt the turnover of his tax records to a New York prosecutor.The court’s action is the apparent culmination of a lengthy legal battle that had already reached the high court once before.  Trump’s tax records are not supposed to become public as part of prosecutor’s criminal investigation, but the high court’s action is a blow to Trump because he has for so long fought on so many fronts to keep his tax records shielded from view. The ongoing investigation the records are part of could also become an issue for Trump in his life after the presidency. Trump has called it “a fishing expedition” and “a continuation of the witch hunt — the greatest witch hunt in history.”The Supreme Court waited months to act in the case. The last of the written briefs in the case was filed Oct. 19. But a court that includes three Trump appointees waited through the election, Trump’s challenge to his defeat and a month after Trump left office before issuing its order.The court offered no explanation for the delay, and the legal issue before the justices did not involve whether Trump was due any special deference because he was president.The court’s order is a win for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who has been seeking Trump’s tax records since 2019 as part of an investigation. Vance, a Democrat, had subpoenaed the records from the Mazars accounting firm that has long done work for Trump and his businesses. Mazars has said it would comply with the subpoena, but Trump, a Republican, sued to block the records’ release.Vance’s office had said it would be free to enforce the subpoena and obtain the records in the event the Supreme Court declined to step in and halt the records’ turnover, but it was unclear when that might happen.The case the high court ruled in involves a grand jury subpoena for more than eight years of Trump’s personal and corporate tax records. Vance has disclosed little about what prompted him to request the records. In one court filing last year, however, prosecutors said they were justified in demanding the records because of public reports of “possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization.”Part of the probe involves payments to two women — porn actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal — to keep them quiet during the 2016 presidential campaign about alleged extramarital affairs with Trump. Trump has denied the affairs.In July, the justices in a 7-2 ruling rejected Trump’s argument that the president is immune from investigation while he holds office or that a prosecutor must show a greater need than normal to obtain the tax records.  Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, whom Trump nominated to the high court, joined that decision. It was issued before Trump’s third nominee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, replaced the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the court.As part of its July decision, the high court returned the Vance case and a similar case involving records sought by Congress to lower courts. And the court prevented the records from being turned over while the cases proceeded.Since the high court’s ruling, in the Vance case, Trump’s attorneys made additional arguments that his tax records should not be turned over, but they lost again in federal court in New York and on appeal. It was those rulings that Trump had sought to put on hold.
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U.S. President Joe Biden’s pick for attorney general, Merrick Garland, is no stranger to Washington politics.  He rose to national prominence in late 2016 when Republicans in Congress blocked his nomination by then-President Barack Obama to a seat on the Supreme Court.    Garland, a federal appellate judge, is once again in the limelight and on the verge of taking on a high-profile position, this time as attorney general – essentially the nation’s top law enforcement officer. Garland said he agreed to take the job of attorney general after being assured by both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris that the Justice Department would retain its independence from political interference.    Biden said of his nominee in January, “Your loyalty is not to me,” and apparent dig at former President Donald Trump who demanded loyalty of his Cabinet members.    “It’s to the law, to the Constitution, to the people of this nation,” Biden said.   Judicial background Garland, 68, is the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, sometimes called the “second highest court in the land” in part because of the frequency with which its judges ascend to the Supreme Court just a few blocks away.   After graduating from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Garland clerked for two appointees of Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower: the liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan Jr. and Judge Henry J. Friendly, for whom Chief Justice John Roberts also clerked. Before becoming a judge himself, he was a prosecutor and supervised Justice Department investigations into the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.Attorney General nominee Judge Merrick Garland speaks during an event with President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del, Jan. 7, 2021.His background made him popular even with Republicans when he was nominated to the D.C. Circuit by President Bill Clinton. Garland was confirmed to the post in 1997 by a vote of 76-23 with 32 Republicans voting in favor of his nomination.    However, in 2016, when then-President Barack Obama nominated Garland to a vacant seat on the Supreme Court, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to even hold hearings on the nomination. McConnell argued that the winner of the 2016 election, which turned out to be Donald Trump, should be able to nominate the next Supreme Court member, a move that infuriated Democratic senators.    Garland’s nomination lasted 293 days, the longest to date, and the seat for which he was nominated was eventually filled by Neil Gorsuch, appointed by Trump.   Challenges ahead Garland’s selection forces Senate Republicans to deal with the nomination of someone they once snubbed. After his two-day confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, members will vote on his nomination March 1.   If confirmed, Garland will face huge challenges leading the Justice Department, including overseeing the prosecution of Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6 over Trump’s baseless claims that he won the November 3 presidential election.  He will also make decisions on controversial Trump-era policies on immigration and civil rights and will likely face calls to investigate Trump himself.   Other politically sensitive cases facing Garland include an ongoing investigating into the taxes of Biden’s son, Hunter, and the origins of the federal probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Garland also will be tasked with restoring confidence in the Justice Department’s independence and improving the agency’s morale. Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, intervened directly in criminal cases that benefited the former president’s political allies, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn, to the dismay of many career prosecutors. Garland has earned a reputation as a moderate jurist whose nomination has been well received by some Republicans. His path to confirmation in the full Senate is very narrow, though, given that Democrats – and the independents who typically vote along with them – control 50 of its 100 seats.  
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U.S. Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland, nominated by President Joe Biden as the country’s top law enforcement official, plans to tell senators at his confirmation hearing Monday that he is committed to fighting discrimination and extremist attacks against the government.The 68-year-old Garland, currently a federal appellate court judge in Washington and in 2016 a Supreme Court nominee whom Senate Republicans refused to consider in a presidential election year, is one of Biden’s most important Cabinet nominees.If confirmed by the Senate, he would head the Department of Justice amid its ongoing investigation of hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump, many of them with anti-government views, who stormed into the U.S. Capitol last month to confront lawmakers as they were certifying that Biden defeated Trump in last November’s election.In addition, Garland could oversee contentious racial disputes involving law enforcement abuses of minorities in criminal cases that led to massive street demonstrations in recent months.  Senate Schedules Confirmation Hearing for Merrick Garland The two-day hearing will include Garland’s testimony and a second day for outside witnesses to testifyIn written remarks released ahead of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Garland says that the United States “does not yet have equal justice.”“Communities of color and other minorities still face discrimination in housing, education, employment, and the criminal justice system; and bear the brunt of the harm caused by pandemic, pollution, and climate change,” Garland says.Garland says that if he becomes attorney general, it would be “the culmination of a career I have dedicated to ensuring that the laws of our country are fairly and faithfully enforced, and that the rights of all Americans are protected.”Former Democratic President Barack Obama nominated Garland to the Supreme Court five years ago, but Republicans, who then controlled the Senate, refused to consider the nomination in the months ahead of the 2016 election won by Trump. The Republican-controlled chamber, reversing course, quickly approved one of Trump’s appointments to the high court, Amy Coney Barrett, just days ahead of the 2020 election.The Biden administration has touted Garland, who is viewed as a judicial moderate, as a welcome change to the frequent turmoil that erupted in Trump’s Justice Department.Garland’s nomination has been praised by civil rights groups as well as by police organizations, more than 150 former Justice Department officials of both the Democratic and Republicans parties, and 61 former federal judges.Two Republican senators have expressed their support for Garland.  Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and a member of the Judiciary Committee tweeted support on January 6.“He is a man of great character, integrity, and tremendous competency in the law,” Graham wrote.He will be asked many questions regarding existing investigations that, in my view, need to continue. I look forward to the confirmation process and will closely follow his answers.— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 6, 2021And John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas issued a statement January 25 saying he expected to support Garland’s nomination.“Judge Garland’s extensive legal experience makes him well-suited to lead the Department of Justice, and I appreciated his commitment to keep politics out of the Justice Department,” Cornyn’s statement added.Garland has been a federal appeals court judge in Washington for the past two decades. Early in his career, Garland was best known for overseeing the investigation and prosecution of Timothy McVeigh, the man who detonated a bomb outside a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people. McVeigh was convicted, sentenced to death and executed in 2001.Now, Garland says that experience will put him in good stead in the investigation of the attack on the Capitol.“If confirmed, I will supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on January 6 — a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government,” he says in his prepared remarks.
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President Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general says the Justice Department must ensure laws are “fairly and faithfully enforced” and the rights of all Americans are protected, while reaffirming an adherence to policies to protect the department’s political independence.Judge Merrick Garland, who is set to appear Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, plans to tell senators that the attorney general must act as a lawyer for the people of the United States, not for the president. The Justice Department released a copy of Garland’s opening statement late Saturday.If confirmed, Garland would inherit a Justice Department that endured a tumultuous time under President Donald Trump — rife with political drama and controversial decisions — and abundant criticism from Democrats over what they saw as the politicizing of the nation’s top law enforcement agencies.“It is a fitting time to reaffirm that the role of the attorney general is to serve the Rule of Law and to ensure equal justice under the law,” Garland says in his prepared statement.The previous attorney general, William Barr, had also sought to paint himself as an independent leader who would not bow to political pressure. But Democrats repeatedly accused Barr of acting more like Trump’s personal attorney than the attorney general. They pointed to several controversial decisions, including overruling career prosecutors to recommend a lower sentence for Trump ally Roger Stone and moving to dismiss the criminal case against former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn after he had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.Barr resigned in late December, weeks after he told The Associated Press that the Justice Department had found no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, countering Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud.In his prepared remarks Garland, a federal appeals court judge who was snubbed by Republicans in 2016 for a seat on the Supreme Court, lays out his plan to prioritize the department’s civil rights work after the nationwide protests last year over the deaths of Black Americans by police. He highlights a key mission for the division: to protect the rights of all Americans and particularly the most vulnerable.“That mission remains urgent because we do not yet have equal justice. Communities of color and other minorities still face discrimination in housing, education, employment and the criminal justice system; and bear the brunt of the harm caused by pandemic, pollution and climate change,” Garland says.Garland also addresses domestic terrorism and rising extremist threats, pointing to his prior work in the Justice Department supervising the prosecution following the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City.And as federal prosecutors continue to bring cases following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Garland calls the insurrection a “heinous attack that sought to distrust a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government.”So far, the Justice Department has charged more than 200 people with federal crimes in connection with the riot, including members of extremist groups accused of conspiracy and other offenses.
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As U.S. President Joe Biden begins a diplomatic push to revive a 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, supporters of the deal say he will need a long-term effort to succeed, while opponents say he should focus instead on pressuring Tehran into a new and tougher deal.The 2015 agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, was reached between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany, known as the P5+1. It requires Iran to undertake eight- to 15-year-long curbs in nuclear activities with potential for weaponization in exchange for international sanctions relief. Former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 saying it was not tough enough on Iran, which has retaliated by exceeding the deal’s nuclear limits since 2019.“We’re prepared to reengage in negotiations with the P5+1 on Iran’s nuclear program,” Biden said Friday at the White House, in a speech to a virtual version of the Munich Security Conference, an annual forum on international security policy.Biden, who has pledged to return to the JCPOA if Iran first resumes full compliance, responded positively to an EU proposal made Thursday for the six world powers and Iran to attend an informal meeting to discuss how to revive the agreement. A State Department spokesman said the U.S. would accept such an invitation, which has yet to be publicly offered.The Biden administration also made two gestures toward Iran, withdrawing a Trump administration request for the U.N. Security Council to trigger a “snapback” of Iran sanctions, a request that other council members rejected, and easing some travel restrictions on Iranian diplomats working at the U.N. in New York.Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded on Twitter by reiterating a demand for the U.S. to “unconditionally & effectively lift all [U.S.] sanctions imposed, re-imposed or re-labeled by Trump” since 2018 as part of what Trump called a “maximum pressure” campaign for Iran to end objectionable behaviors including alleged nuclear weapons development that Tehran denies. Zarif said Tehran “will immediately reverse” all of its JCPOA violations if the U.S. complies.US acknowledged Pompeo’s claims re Res. 2231 had no legal validity.We agree.In compliance w/ 2231:US unconditionally & effectively lift all sanctions imposed, re-imposed or re-labeled by Trump.We will then immediately reverse all remedial measures.Simple: #CommitActMeet— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) February 19, 2021In one of several VOA Persian TV interviews on Friday, JCPOA supporter Ali Vaez, an Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, said it will not be possible for Biden to lift U.S. sanctions in the short term because of resistance to such a move from minority Republicans in Congress. He also said the U.S. gestures are unlikely to persuade Iran to abandon a threat to stop unannounced inspections by the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency at Iranian nuclear sites starting Tuesday, a move that would further escalate Iran’s recent series of JCPOA violations.“At the same time, [for Biden] to express a willingness to have a dialogue with Iran is an important step forward for both sides to find a common ground for reviving the JCPOA and to show that the ‘maximum pressure’ era is over,” Vaez said.Behrooz Bayat, a Vienna-based Iranian former IAEA consultant and JCPOA supporter, said the U.S., other world powers and Iran have no alternative but to save the JCPOA in the long run.“Pursuit of other policies such as the U.S. maintaining crippling ’maximum pressure’ Iran sanctions, or Iran advancing its nuclear program will not solve anything and could end in war,” Bayat said.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 10 MB480p | 14 MB540p | 17 MB720p | 34 MB1080p | 66 MBOriginal | 221 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioRelated video by VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara: Challenges Are Steep as Biden Reengages With IranBiden has said his proposed conditional return to the JCPOA upon Iran’s resumption of full compliance would be a first step toward strengthening and broadening the deal to address what the U.S. sees as Iran’s destabilizing activities in the Middle East, including its support for Islamist militias that have fought the U.S. and its regional allies.Brookings Institution research director Michael O’Hanlon, a JCPOA critic, said Biden should use the financial leverage that Trump built with tightened U.S. sanctions to try to get a new deal that indefinitely restricts Iran’s uranium enrichment and other nuclear activities that it could weaponize.“Iran is not going to like that idea. But there is a chance that at least some Republicans in the United States would [like that], creating a stronger foundation for this to be a durable deal and more importantly, shoring up the nuclear nonproliferation system in the Middle East,” O’Hanlon said.Another JCPOA opponent, Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Biden should pressure Iran to make the first move toward reviving diplomacy by changing its behavior at home as well as that of its proxy militias that have staged attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and on U.S. allies Israel and Saudi Arabia in recent years.“Washington should be working with its regional partners as diverse as Israel to Saudi Arabia to see what they favor as an acceptable end-state [to their conflicts with Iran and its proxies], so that the inputs of those U.S. allies are included in a bigger, broader and better deal with Iran,” Taleblu said.This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service.
 
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Private security contractor and ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump Erik Prince violated a United Nations arms embargo on Libya, U.N. investigators have found in a report detailed by U.S. media on Friday.The confidential report to the Security Council, obtained by The New York Times and The Washington Post, said that Prince deployed a force of foreign mercenaries and weapons to strongman Khalifa Haftar, who has fought to overthrow the U.N.-backed Libyan government, in 2019.The $80 million operation included plans to form a hit squad to track and kill Libyan commanders opposed to Haftar — including some who were also European Union citizens, The New York Times said.Prince, a former Navy SEAL and the brother of Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, drew infamy as the head of the Blackwater private security firm, whose contractors were accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007.Four who were convicted were pardoned by Trump last year.The accusation exposes Prince to possible U.N. sanctions, including a travel ban, the Times said.Prince did not cooperate with the U.N. inquiry and his lawyer declined to comment to The New York Times, it added.An AFP request for comment to the Hong Kong-based Frontier Services Group, for which Prince is a board member and deputy chairman, went unanswered.Oil-rich Libya has been torn by civil war since a NATO-backed uprising led to the toppling and killing of dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.The country has in recent years been split between a Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, and an eastern-based administration, backed by Haftar, who has faced charges of war crimes.Then-President Trump in 2019 praised the strongman for his role in “fighting terrorism” in Libya.A new interim executive for the country was chosen Feb. 5 by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in Switzerland, comprising 75 participants selected by the U.N. to represent a broad cross-section of society.Haftar has pledged his support for the initiative.     
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President Joe Biden has announced steps to reengage with Tehran and return to the Iran nuclear deal that the Trump administration withdrew from in 2018. The move has been criticized by Israel, which says it will pave Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report on the challenges ahead for Biden’s policy on Iran. 
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Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Manchin announced Friday that he would oppose President Joe Biden’s nomination of Neera Tanden to head the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which could end her chances of confirmation despite continued support from the president.Biden told reporters he did not intend to pull the nomination. “I think we’re gonna find the votes to get her confirmed,” he said.Tanden has been criticized by Republicans — and some Democrats — over past harsh comments on social media, such as calling Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell “Moscow Mitch” and saying “vampires have more heart than [Senator] Ted Cruz.”Many Democrats scoffed at such concerns, noting near-unanimous Republican support for former President Donald Trump, who was accused of inciting a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol partly via inflammatory comments on Twitter and was known for blasting opponents — particularly women — as “nasty” or criminals who should be locked up.FILE – Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. is interviewed by The Associated Press in his office in Washington, Feb. 1, 2017.Manchin cited Tanden’s “public statements and tweets” in his statement.”I believe her overtly partisan statements will have a toxic and detrimental impact on the important working relationship between members of Congress and the next director of the Office of Management and Budget,” he said.His statement drew immediate condemnation, with some critics noting that the moderate Democrat, who represents the strongly Republican state of West Virginia, had backed some of Trump’s controversial nominees, including Richard Grenell to be ambassador to Germany.Democrats had questioned Grenell’s appointment because of his past statements insulting to female politicians on the internet and during cable television appearances.One Republican vote neededIf every Senate Democrat supports Tanden, she could be confirmed without Republican votes, since Democrats control 50 seats in the chamber and Vice President Kamala Harris can break a tie.However, Manchin’s opposition means Tanden must be supported by a least one Republican.Tanden, who is Indian American, would be the first woman of color to serve as director of the OMB.Questioned at her confirmation hearings about her tweets, Tanden apologized and said she regretted their tone.White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki praised Tanden as “an accomplished policy expert who would be an excellent budget director.” She said the administration would keep working toward her confirmation by engaging with both parties.If Tanden is not confirmed, it would be a setback in a presidential transition that was already delayed by Trump’s refusal, backed by many of his fellow Republicans, to recognize Biden’s victory in the November election, even after repeated court decisions showed there had been no widespread fraud. 
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The United States says it is ready to talk to Iran about the possibility of reviving a 2015 agreement intended to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. Former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the deal nearly three years ago. VOA’s Penny Dixon has more.
Producer: Rod James
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The American radio host and commentator Rush Limbaugh died this week at age 70 after a career that transformed American media and politics. Mike O’Sullivan looks back at the conservative icon.
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Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. Congress introduced an immigration bill Thursday that would create an eight-year path to citizenship for millions of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. while also providing a fast track to citizenship for those brought to the country illegally as children.What does a path to U.S. citizenship look like under the This undated image from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shows the front of a sample “green card,” formally known as a permanent resident card.After three years of green card status, an immigrant would be eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship.Someone with LPI status could legally work and travel outside the U.S. and be lawfully admitted back into the country. Those going through the LPI process would be protected from deportation while the government is deciding their applications.Does the bill cover people with valid nonimmigrant visas?No. Those living temporarily in the United States or visiting the country would not be covered under the bill.Are there any visa holders who could apply for LPI status?Yes. LPI status could be granted to temporary agricultural workers (H-2A visa holders) and a “noncitizen who has engaged in essential critical infrastructure labor or services” in the United States, according to the text of the bill.Which groups do not have to apply for LPI?Those who qualify for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or who are already enrolled in the program, Temporary Protected Status holders and those who have been agricultural workers for at least five years will be able to apply directly for a green card, then wait five years to be eligible for U.S. citizenship.What about criminal convictions?Currently, dismissed or vacated convictions can still be considered by U.S. immigration courts.“[The proposed bill] takes that out … so charges that were dismissed, immigration courts can’t consider it anymore,” Ahmad said.But the proposal excludes those who have committed three misdemeanors or were convicted of a felony. However, there are waivers available that would allow some immigrants to apply for LPI status if the crime had happened at least 10 years ago, or five years for misdemeanors, if the person does not have any new convictions.A woman poses her daughters at the wall fencing off the White House under a sign they made that says “daughter of immigrants” after Joe Biden was declared winner of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, at BLM Plaza in Washington, Nov. 7, 2020.What happens to family sponsorship?The bill extends the V visa category — designed to keep families together during the immigration process — to families sponsored by a legal permanent resident, allowing them to come to the U.S. rather than waiting in their country of origin.Currently, the V visa is available only to spouses and minor children of green card holders.What about the three-year and 10-year bars? Under current immigration law, those who stay in the country illegally for more than 180 days but less than one year are barred for three years from returning to the U.S. Those who are unlawfully present for more than one year are barred for 10 years.The bill calls for eliminating the three- and 10-year bars on people who lived in the United States illegally and then left.Does the bill help secure the U.S.-Mexico border?The bill calls for “smart border controls” — deploying technology and additional law enforcement to secure America’s borders.  
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U.S. Democratic lawmakers introduced President Joe Biden’s immigration bill Thursday that would provide one of the quickest routes to citizenship of any proposed legislation in recent years.The measure, which would allow some 11 million current U.S. residents to become citizens within eight years, includes an increase in visas and funding for processing asylum applications.The bill also would enhance technology at the U.S.-Mexico border, expand international drug interdiction task forces in Central America, and attempt to ease backlogs at the border by establishing refugee processing in the region.  The measure would immediately provide green cards to farm workers, people with temporary protected status and young people who entered the U.S. illegally as children, allowing them to live and work permanently in the U.S.The bill reflects the priorities Biden presented on his first day in office and was sponsored by 12 Democratic lawmakers, including lead sponsors Senator Bob Menendez and Congresswoman Linda Sanchez. “It will modernize our system, offer a path to citizenship for hardworking people in our communities, reunite families, increase our opportunities for legal immigration and ensure America remains a powerhouse for innovation and a beacon of hope to refugees around the world,” Menendez said, as he unveiled details of the bill at a virtual news conference.Comprehensive immigration reform has failed to gain meaningful support in Congress for decades. It last passed a significant citizenship measure in 1986, when Republican President Ronald Reagan signed an amnesty bill legalizing nearly 3 million illegal immigrants.Some Republican senators already have voiced opposition to major proposals in the bill, as has the political arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation.“This latest move would only further harm American workers already struggling from our health and economic national crises caused by the ongoing pandemic and our government’s response,” said Heritage Action Executive Director Jessica Anderson.
 
While Democrats have a majority in the House, the 100-member Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. Vice President Kamala Harris would cast the tie-breaking vote if necessary. 
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A Los Angeles college student and self-described fascist was arrested after he sat in former Vice President Mike Pence’s chair in the Senate chambers during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, authorities said.
Officials say Christian Secor — a 22-year-old student at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has openly espoused white supremacy views online — was ordered held without bail Tuesday during his first appearance in federal court.  
He broadcast a livestream from the Capitol, authorities said, with a username that appears to be a reference to a man who killed six people in Isla Vista, California, in 2014. Secor previously bragged that he would not be caught, officials said.  
Secor was taken into custody Tuesday at his home in Costa Mesa, California, by FBI agents. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Secor is charged with five federal offenses and is among more than 200 defendants accused of participating in the siege of the U.S. Capitol, where dozens of people were hurt and one Capitol police officer later died of his injuries.
Court documents show images of a man purported to be Secor wearing a red Make America Great Again hat and sitting in a chair on the dais where Pence had sat and presided over the Senate as lawmakers certified Electoral College votes.  
At least 11 tipsters identified Secor to the FBI as the person seen in the images and videos, sometimes carrying a large blue “America First” flag, authorities said.
Last year at UCLA, according to court documents, Secor was repeatedly accused of inciting racism through comments and tweets about immigrants and Jews. He also founded a student group called America First Bruins at the university.
UCLA said information on Secor was not available to the public.
“As an institution, UCLA is committed to mutual respect, making decisions based on evidence and using rational debate and not physical violence,” Bill Kisliuk, director of media relations, said in an email.
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Former U.S. Republican Senator Bob Dole, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 1996, said on Thursday that he has been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer and will undergo treatment beginning next week.
“Recently, I was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer….while I certainly have some hurdles ahead, I also know that I join millions of Americans who face significant health challenges of their own,” Dole, 97, said in a Twitter posting.STATEMENT BY SENATOR BOB DOLE ON HEALTH CHALLENGES pic.twitter.com/ndRxqNWb30— Senator Bob Dole (@SenatorDole) February 18, 2021Known for his quick, searing wit and legislative skills, Dole had a long career in the U.S. Congress that included serving as Senate majority leader. In the early 1980s he chaired the Senate Finance Committee, which helps guide U.S. tax, trade and health policy.
He was soundly defeated by President Bill Clinton in the 1996 presidential election with Dole winning 40.7% of the vote to Clinton’s 49.2%.
Dole suffered serious wounds in Italy during World War II that resulted in a long hospitalization.
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