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Biden news: President meets with GOP on Covid bill as Democrats move to oust Marjorie Taylor Greene

Follow our live blog for all the latest from the White House and beyond in US politics

Tom Embury-Dennis,Justin Vallejo
Monday 01 February 2021 19:58 EST
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Elie Honig explains why Trump lost his impeachment legal team

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Marjorie Taylor Greene says she will soon meet with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago after the former president expressed "100 per cent support" of the Georgia congresswoman. She will need his support as Democrats moved to kick the controversial representative out of Congress.

As Trump continues to meet with Republicans to plan his next move, the White House says it still hasn't made a decision in its review on whether to provide him with security briefings as is usually the granted to former presidents.

Joe Biden, meanwhile, met with 10 Republican senators who proposed spending about a third of the $1.9 trillion the president is seeking for coronavirus aid.

The White House invitation came hours after the lawmakers sent Biden a letter on Sunday urging him to negotiate rather than push the relief package though by relying solely on Democratic votes.

Across the pond, Scottish lawmakers are mulling whether its government should investigate Trump over how he purchased his golf resorts in the country.

The opposition-led vote at the Scottish parliament is aimed at pressuring the first minister Nicola Sturgeon to seek an Unexplained Wealth Order - a legal mechanism obtained from the courts that compels those suspected of serious financial corruption to explain the source of their wealth.

Key stories: 

Storm Orlena set to batter New York

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has issued a state of emergency order as Storm Orlena is expected to hit the area with as much as 24 inches of snow between Monday until Tuesday, after starting in California last week and causing problems across the US.

New Yorkers  have been urged to stay at home during the storm, with non-essential travel  restricted in the area from 6am on Monday until 6am on Tuesday. The worst of the snowfall is expected on Monday morning.

Only first responders and essential workers, including pharmacy and supermarket employees, are allowed on the city’s roads on Monday, while covid vaccinations scheduled for the day have been postponed.

Read more here:

New York City and New Jersey issue state of emergency ahead of heavy snow storm

‘Keep the roads clear for emergency vehicles and let our plows work to keep us safe,’ says mayor Bill de Blasio

Gino Spocchia1 February 2021 14:05

Former president Donald Trump’s first phone call after every campaign rally would be Melania Trump, who would routinely tell her husband how “wonderful and great” he was, according to the former first lady’s ex-adviser. 

"I believe their way of showing affection towards one another is her telling him how wonderful and great he is,' Winston Wolkoff told the Hollywood Life podcast.

She added: “She was always his first phone call, always, no matter where she was. And the first thing he’d say was, 'Hey Baby, how'd I do?' Like he wants her approval.”

Ms Trump and Ms Wolkoff have spectacularly fallen out since the former aide left about a year after the Trumps ascended to the White House. 

Ms Wolkoff wrote a scathing editorial about her former boss last month following the Capitol riot, in which she accused Ms Trump of having “blood on her hands” for failing to do more to challenge her husband’s lies and incendiary rhetoric. 

Donald Trump and Melania Trump pause while speaking to supporters at Joint Base Andrews before boarding Air Force One for his last time as President on 20 January 2021
Donald Trump and Melania Trump pause while speaking to supporters at Joint Base Andrews before boarding Air Force One for his last time as President on 20 January 2021 ((Getty Images))
Tom Embury-Dennis1 February 2021 14:24

Biden meets with Republican senators in bid for cross-party unity on Covid relief package

US president Joe Biden will meet with a group of Republican senators on Monday after they proposed their own coronavirus relief package worth about $600 billion (£437,835 billion).  

They wrote a letter to president Biden on Sunday, with the suggestion that cross-party support was still possible on a smaller spending package, that would include more targeted stimulus checks and small business aid, among other items.

Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said afterwards that the White House had invited the 10 Republicans to meet with president Biden on Monday, although he wanted to move ahead with Democrat proposals on the matter.

Read more here:

Biden to meet with Republicans over Covid relief bill

Congressional Democrats are due to push ahead with a stimulus three times larger than the latest GOP proposal

Gino Spocchia1 February 2021 14:46

Scottish parliament to vote on whether Trump’s golf resort financing should be investigated

Scotland’s MSPs are set to vote on whether the Nicola Sturgeon’s government should order an investigation into Donald Trump’s Scottish golf resorts.

The opposition-led vote at the Scottish parliament is aimed at pressuring the first minister to seek an Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO), amid concerns about the financing behind the Trump Organisation’s resorts.

An UWO is a legal mechanism obtained from the courts aimed at compelling those suspected of serious financial corruption – including potential money laundering – to explain the source of their wealth.

Read more here: 

Scottish parliament to vote on whether Trump’s golf resort financing should be investigated

Scottish government under pressure to pursue probe into ‘shadowy’ business dealings

Adam Forrest1 February 2021 15:04

Trump’s impeachment defence ‘the best possible way to make it difficult to vote not guilty’

Elie Honig, CNN’s legal analyst, has said Donald Trump’s apparent “big lie” defence against impeachment is “the best possible way to make it difficult for GOP Senators to vote not guilty”. 

The former president faces his second impeachment trial next week, and it appears likely he is going to falsely claim once more than there was mass fraud committed in the presidential election he lost to Joe Biden. 

The baseless claims helped propel pro-Trump rioters to assault the US Capitol last month, an incident that triggered the latest impeachment of Mr Trump. 

Persisting with such a myth will inevitably make it harder for GOP senators to acquit, a move many have signalled they wish to do, partly out of fear of the president’s base. 

Tom Embury-Dennis1 February 2021 15:25

Jared Kushner nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by Trump impeachment lawyer

Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and his deputy, Avi Berkowitz, have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr Kushner and Mr Berkowitz were nominated for the prize on Sunday for their role in negotiating four normalisation deals between Israel and Arab nations, called the “Abraham Accords.”

The four deals were announced between August and December 2020, and were the most significant diplomatic breakthroughs in the Middle East for 25 years, according to Reuters.

Jared Kushner nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

318 people were put forward for award in 2020

James Crump1 February 2021 15:44

Warren urges Biden to cancel student loan debt by executive order

Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren, a figure who holds much sway in the party, has urged Joe Biden to cancel student debt for millions of Americans amid the raging coronavirus pandemic. 

The US president has already extended a freeze on student loan debt collection through to September, but Ms Warren wants the administration to go much further a forgive the debt altogether. 

“It would help dig our economy out of this crisis. And we don’t have to wait for Congress: the Biden-Harris administration can get it done with their executive authority,” Ms Warren tweeted. 

Tom Embury-Dennis1 February 2021 16:04

American Crisis: Top New York health officials quit amid Cuomo undercutting expert advice

$21.68 on Amzaon.

(Penguin Random House)

Cuomo’s manifesto on solving the Covid crisis, “Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic”, might be going on sale soon.

At least nine top New York health officials have quit their jobs since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, as Governor Andrew Cuomo faces accusations for undercutting expertise advice in managing the novel virus.

It comes after the New York Attorney General’s office said his administration had undercounted deaths in nursing homes by 50 per cent.

Fact check: Yes, there are certainly lessons to be learned from this crisis.

The Independent’s Danielle Zoellner reports on the latest leadership lessons from the Cuomo administration.

Nine top New York health officials quit amid Cuomo undercutting expertise advise

Health officials told The New York Times that morale was at an ‘all-time low’ in the state’s Health Department

Justin Vallejo1 February 2021 16:35

BREAKING: Biden approves $230m for Covid home test kits that take 15 minutes and are 95% accurate

Under the Biden administration, the Department of Defence and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have awarded an Australian-based company $230m to scale up the manufacturing of its at-home Covid test. 

Follow the story as it unfolds.

Biden approves $230m for Covid home test kits that take 15 minutes and are 95% accurate

Under the Biden administration, the Department of Defence and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have awarded an Australian-based company $230m to scale up the manufacturing of its at-home Covid test. 

Justin Vallejo1 February 2021 16:40

Capitol rioters didn’t actually vote in election they claimed was stolen

Rioters who stormed the US Capitol building with claims the presidential race was “stolen”, were discovered to have not actually voted at the election. A CNN analysis covered more than 80 arrests that came in the days after the assault on the Capitol, which sought to “Stop the Steal”, as claimed by ex-US president Mr Trump.

One was Donovan Crowl, an ex-Marine who authorities said had affiliated with the extremist movement the Oath Keepers before the assault, and supported Mr Trump.

Gino Spocchia has more.

Capitol rioters didn’t actually vote in election they claimed was stolen

Ex-Marine with extremist affiliations among Trump mob failed to cast a ballot

Justin Vallejo1 February 2021 17:02

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