Biden news: Trump ‘got vaccine while president’, as New York AG set to probe Cuomo harassment claims
Latest updates from Washington DC and beyond
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump’s administration “dismantled” the US immigration system according to Joe Biden’s head of homeland security Alejandro Mayorkas in comments during the White House press briefing on Monday. He said that his team is working around the clock to “replace the cruelty of the past administration with an orderly, humane and safe immigration process”.
Joe Biden is currently meeting with his Mexican counterpart President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, “AMLO”, for an initial virtual meeting at which immigration and fighting the Covid-19 pandemic are expected to be top of the agenda. Mr Biden told AMLO that he sees Mexico as an equal.
It was announced in the White House Covid briefing that the CDC is “deeply concerned” at the plateauing of the decline in Covid cases in the US as new variants spread and states begin to relax restrictions.
As the first Johnson & Johnson vaccines are sent out for delivery across the US, it emerged that former president Trump and first lady Melania Trump received their vaccinations before leaving the White House in January.
In his speech at CPAC on Sunday, Mr Trump urged all Americans to take the vaccine.
Jim Jordan calls for hearings into ‘the scourge of cancel culture'
Ohio representative Jim Jordan has written to the Judiciary Committee chair Jerry Nadler asking for hearings into the “scourge of cancel culture in the United States”.
Biden meeting with Mexican President Obrador underway
The virtual meeting between Joe Biden and Mexico’s president “AMLO” is underway. Press were briefly allowed into the room.
Asked if the US will send Covid vaccines to Mexico, Mr Biden said they would discuss it. Earlier press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration would not until all Americans are vaccinated.
Biden-AMLO meeting attendees
Per the White House:
In-Person Participants:
- Tony Blinken, Secretary of State
- Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security
- Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor
- Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security
- Roberta Jacobson, Coordinator for US Southern Border
- Juan Gonzalez, Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere
Virtual Participants:
- Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of Mexico
- John Creamer, Chargé d’Affaires, US Embassy Mexico City (via video teleconference)
- Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, Secretary of Foreign Affairs
- Tatiana Clouthier Carrilo, Secretary of Economy
- Rosa Icela Rodríguez, Secretary of Public Security and Citizen Protection
- General André Georges Foullon Van Lissum, Under Secretary of National Defense
- Admiral Eduardo Redondo Arámburo, Under Secretary of the Navy
- Dr. Francisco Garduño Yáñez, National Commissioner of the National Institute of Immigration
- Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, Ambassador-designate of Mexico to the United States
Big change in tone from Trump administration
President Biden tells President Obrador: “We look at Mexico as an equal. Not as somebody who is south of our border. You are equal and what you do in Mexico and how you succeed impacts dramatically what the rest of the hemisphere will look like.”
Ex-Cuomo aide says he is refusing to face up to ‘predatory behaviour’
The former aide who accused New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment says he is refusing to face up to his “predatory behaviour”.
Graeme Massie reports.
Ex-aide who accused Cuomo of harassment says he is refusing to face up to ‘predatory behaviour’
The former aide who accused New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment says he is refusing to face up to his “predatory behaviour.”
Teachers’ union head branded ‘hypocrite’ for taking daughter to private pre-school despite insisting it’s unsafe
The president of a teacher's union who fought for schools to remain closed was captured on video dropping his daughter off at an in-person private pre-school.
Matt Meyer, head of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers in California, was filmed with his 2-year-old by a group calling itself "Guerilla Momz".
The video, which the group says was filmed on 18 February, was cut with extracts of a speech from Mr Meyer during a school board meeting on 20 January.
Watch the full video:
Teachers’ union head branded ‘hypocrite’ for taking daughter to private pre-school despite insisting it’s unsafe
Matt Meyer says there are differences between running a small private school and a public school district
Miguel Cardona confirmed by US Senate to be secretary of education
His confirmation passed with a vote of 64 to 33.
Mitt Romney has a black eye after being knocked unconscious… not from attending CPAC
The one-time presidential candidate is walking around with a black eye, and not it’s not from attending CPAC, he jokes.
According to Hill reporters, Romney says he got the black eye after “taking a fall” over the weekend in Boston with his grandkids.
“I asked the doctor how many stitches and she said, I don't know, but it's all through my eyebrow and my lip,” he said, according to reports via Politico reporter Andrew Desiderio.
Send pics.
FBI investigating if Capitol officer Brian Sicknick was sprayed with chemical irritant as fire extinguisher story falls apart
Investigators are scrutinising new video evidence that appears to show chemical irritants sprayed at officer Brian Sicknick during the US Capitol riot as they work to determine his cause of death.
Quoting law enforcement sources and people familiar with the matter, multiple outlets report that investigators are looking at whether there are any connections between a possible chemical assault on Officer Sicknick during the riot and the medical distress that led to his death.
It comes as anonymous sources told The Washington Post that Officer Sicknick’s death was not believed to be from blunt force trauma, despite early reports he was struck in the head by a fire extinguisher.
While the fire extinguisher explanation was used in the article of impeachment against Donald Trump, there was no official confirmation of the claims beyond anonymous sources first cited by The New York Times soon after his death.
Whether investigators can determine how Mr Sicknick died, and connect the cause to a specific event such as a pepper or bear spray attack, will determine if anyone is criminally charged over the death.
FBI investigating if Capitol officer Brian Sicknick was sprayed with chemical irritant
Medical examiner is ‘awaiting toxicology results’ before releasing a report on the death
Donald and Melania Trump ‘both got Covid shot before leaving the White House’
Donald and Melania Trump both received the Covid vaccine before leaving the White House in January, said an adviser.
The news emerged the day after the ex-president encouraged “everybody” to get vaccinated during his speech to a conservative conference.
“We took care of a lot of people — including, I guess, on 21 December, we took care of Joe Biden, because he got his shot, he got his vaccine,” said Mr Trump at CPAC.
“So everybody, go get your shot.”
Graeme Massie reports.
Donald and Melania Trump ‘both got Covid shot before leaving the White House’
Ex-president tried to claim full credit for vaccine success in CPAC speech
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