Biden news: Trump ‘got vaccine while president’, as New York AG set to probe Cuomo harassment claims

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s rolling coverage of US politics after a weekend that saw Donald Trump return to the spotlight.

From the election to the pandemic to immigration, Donald Trump made unsubstantiated and at times false claims on a wide number of issues.

Here we have fact-checked some of what the former president had to say.

Donald Trump used his CPAC address to appeal to supporters for more cash.

The former president said there was “only one way to contribute to our efforts, to elect America first Republican conservatives. And in turn, to make America great again”.

Mr Trump has reportedly already raised about $250m (£180m) since the November 2020 elections.

Here is the story.

Donald Trump also used the CPAC speech to attack the Supreme Court for not “doing anything about” what he claimed was a “rigged” election last November.

The ex-president devoted a large portion of his address to the “sick and corrupt” electoral process, pointing to the high court’s refusal to hear GOP challenges to state courts that changed voting rules before the election.

“This election was rigged and the Supreme Court and other courts didn’t want to do anything about it,” Mr Trump said.

“They didn’t have the courage, the Supreme Court, they didn’t have the courage to act, but instead used process and lack of standing.”

Here is the story.

Away from CPAC, the fiancée of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has called for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to be punished after a US intelligence report found he had approved the killing.

Joe Biden‘s administration on Friday imposed a visa ban on some Saudis believed to be involved in the killing and placed sanctions on others that would freeze their US assets and generally bar Americans from dealing with them.

However, pressure is mounting for the US to go further.

Asked about criticism of Washington for not sanctioning Prince Mohammed directly, Mr Biden said an announcement would be made on Monday, but did not provide details.

A White House official suggested no new steps were expected.

“Well thank you very much CPAC. Do you miss me yet? Do you miss me?,” began Donald Trump’s 90-minute CPAC speech.

“A lot of things going on to so many wonderful friends, Conservatives and fellow citizens in this room all across our country. I stand before you today to declare that the incredible journey we begun together we went through a journey like nobody else...”

Continue reading the full speech here.

Donald Trump also used his keynote speech at CPAC to exact revenge on the 17 Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach or convict him for the Capitol riots.

Calling seven senators and 10 House members “grandstanders”, Mr Trump name-checked each of them starting with Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse, Richard Burr, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Pat Tomney.

He concluded the list with congresswoman Liz Cheney whom he described as a “warmonger” and a “person that loves seeing our troops fighting”, asking GOP supporters to “get rid” of them. 

Here is the story.

Expectation that Joe Biden‘s stimulus package will be enacted helped push shares on exchanges worldwide to rise on Monday.

The US House of Representatives approved Mr Biden‘s $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill on Friday and it now goes to the Senate for approval.

The bill offers cash for struggling individuals, businesses, schools, states and cities battered by Covid. The US stimulus bill would include another round of payments to most Americans and additional aid to state and local governments to combat the pandemic. 

London’s FTSE climbed 1.6 per cent in early trading, France’s CAC 40 added 1.5 per cent and Germany’s DAX edged up 1.3 per cent.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 finished up 2.4 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.7 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 1.6 per cent and the Shanghai Composite rose 1.2 per cent.

The US wasted billions of dollars in war-torn Afghanistan on buildings and vehicles that were either abandoned or destroyed, according to a report released on Monday by a government watchdog. 

The agency said it reviewed $7.8bn (£5.6bn) spent since 2008 on buildings and vehicles. Only $343m worth of buildings and vehicles “were maintained in good condition”, said the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar), which oversees American taxpayer money spent on the protracted conflict. 

The report said that just $1.2bn of the $7.8bn went to pay for buildings and vehicles that were used as intended. “

The fact that so many capital assets wound up not used, deteriorated or abandoned should have been a major cause of concern for the agencies financing these projects,” John F Sopko, the special inspector general, said in his report. 

Hyatt Hotels was forced to release a statement on Sunday after the design of a stage at CPAC hosted at one of its hotels drew comparisons to a Norse rune used by Nazis during World War Two.

A photo of the CPAC stage went viral on social media on Saturday, with thousands of Twitter users sharing posts comparing its distinctive design to an othala rune, one of many ancient European symbols that Nazis adopted to “reconstruct a mythic ‘Aryan’ past,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The ceiling of the conference room featured a lighting display in the same shape as the stage, according to Reuters photographs.

Hyatt said the stage design was managed by the American Conservative Union, which organised the conference.

The comparisons were “outrageous and slanderous,” Matt Schlapp, American Conservative Union chair, said in a Twitter post on Saturday.

“With CPAC’s denial of any intentional connection to hate symbols and our concerns over the safety of guests and colleagues in what could have been a disruptive situation, we allowed the event to continue”, Hyatt said late on Sunday.