Biden news - Trump blames Cuomo for ‘witch hunt’ after Scotus tax ruling as US hits 500,000 Covid deaths
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump lashed out at the Supreme Court after they ruled the ex-president must hand over his tax records to the Manhattan district attorney, paving the way for a New York grand jury to review his financial records.
The move served as a post-presidency defeat to Trump, who has for years battled to keep his tax records private, and paves the way for a New York grand jury to review his long-sought financial records.
In a long-form response posted to Gab, Trump said it was a continuation of his "political persecution" that wasn't justice, but was "fascism".
It came as Joe Biden announced he would lower flags at half-mast for five days to mark the US Crossing half a million Covid deaths, almost 90,000 of which have occurred in the month since he took office. Biden held a moment of silence and candle lighting ceremony at the White House on Monday night to mark the grim milestone.
Key stories:
Will Trump start his own party? How his ongoing popularity threatens Republican unity
“This isn’t their Republican Party anymore, this is Donald Trump’s Republican Party!” the ex-president’s son, Donald Trump Jr, declared at the Save America Rally that preceded last month’s riot at the US Capitol.
The event held on the Ellipse near the National Mall in Washington, DC, on 6 January was staged not just to protest the reality TV star’s election defeat to Joe Biden, its attendees taken in by Mr Trump’s false claims that he was the victim of a massive voter fraud conspiracy at the polls, but to exert pressure on Republican senators meeting to formally ratify the Electoral College results in Congress.
“They need to fight for Trump, because if not, I’m gonna be in your backyard in a couple of months,” Don Jr added, threatening to subject disloyal Republicans to primary challenges from MAGA insurgent candidates if they did not support the cause. “If you’re gonna be the zero and not the hero, we’re coming for you.”
Read more here:
Will Donald Trump start his own political party?
Survey finds 46 per cent of GOP voters would defect if ex-president formed new venture
Biden attorney general nominee tells Congress he will prosecute white supremacists who stormed the US Capitol
Joe Biden’s pick for attorney general has said during his Senate confirmation process that as America’s top law enforcement officer he would prosecute the “white supremacists” who had stormed the Capitol last month.
“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,” Merrick Garland told the Senate judiciary committee.
Judge Garland is expected to receive broad bipartisan support to head up the Justice Department, which will face a number of politically charged issues in the wake of Donald Trump’s turbulent presidency.
Oath Keeper charged in Capitol insurrection claims she was given VIP pass at Trump rally
An alleged member of the Oath Keepers militia who has been charged in the 6 January insurrection has claimed she attended Donald Trump’s rally as VIP security to protect legislators and protestors and had met with Secret Service agents.
Attorneys for Jessica Watkins from Ohio shared new details surrounding her alleged involvement in the riots in a court filing requesting her release from custody on bail under home confinement while awaiting trial.
The filing claims that “on 5 and 6 of January Ms Watkins was present not as an insurrectionist, but to provide security to the speakers at the rally.”
Read more here:
Oath Keeper charged in Capitol insurrection claims she was given VIP pass at Trump rally
‘Any assertion that the Secret Service employed private citizens to perform those functions is false,’ US Secret Service says
Fake snow? Conspiracy theory claims Texas weather ‘government-generated’
One of the stranger responses to the Texas winter disaster was the spread of viral conspiracy theory videos on TikTok, Facebook and Twitter claiming that the severe snow was actually “fake” and “government-generated” as part of a sinister plot instigated by shadowy “elites”, presumably intentionally plunging Texas into its present state of chaos.
“This goes out to our government and Bill Gates. Thank you Bill Gates for trying to f***ing trick us that this is real snow,” a woman says in one video as she holds a cigarette lighter to a snowball over her bathroom basin.
“You’ll see it’s not melting and it’s going to burn. Snow don’t burn. Snow f***ing melts. No water, no dripping, no nothing. If I put this s*** in the microwave, it’s going to start sparking because there’s metal mixed in it.”
Joe Sommerlad reports.
Conspiracy theory claims Texas snow is ‘government-generated’
TikTok users attempt to prove recent snowfall ‘synthetic’ and part of sinister state plot
Supreme Court formally pulls the plug on election-related cases
The Supreme Court on Monday brought a formal end to eight lingering disputes pursued by former President Donald Trump and his allies related to the 3 November presidential election including a Republican challenge to the extension of Pennsylvania’s deadline to receive mail-in ballots.
The justices turned away appeals by the Republican Party of Pennsylvania and Republican members of the state legislature of a ruling by Pennsylvania’s top court ordering officials to count mail-in ballots that were postmarked by Election Day and received up to three days later.
Three of the nine-member court’s six conservative justices - Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch - dissented from the decision not to hear the Pennsylvania case.
In his dissent, Thomas said the Supreme Court should resolve whether non-legislators, including elections officials and courts, have any power to set election rules. Thomas said it was fortunate that the state high court’s ruling did not involve enough ballots to affect the election’s outcome.
“But we may not be so lucky in the future,” Thomas wrote.
- Reuters
Joe Biden to begin remarks on small business
The president is scheduled to make an announcement related to small businesses. His remarks are expected to begin shortly.
Five Trump election challenge appeals denied in Supreme Court double-blow
The Supreme Court has denied former President Donald Trump and his allies' challenges to the election results in five states. Appeals were filed in December in an attempt to overturn the results in the states to sway the election in favour of Mr Trump. The ruling ends the election challenges pushed in court by Mr Trump and his associates.
Appeals were turned away by the Supreme Court for challenges to the results in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Two of the filings came from Mr Trump personally, Bloomberg News reported.
The Pennsylvania case that the court declined to take up was focused on mail-in ballots. Republicans say the state's Supreme Court overstepped its authority by extending the deadline by which time ballots could arrive by three days because of the pandemic and mail delivery delays.
Gustaf Kilander has more from Scotus’ decisions today.
Five Trump election challenge appeals denied in Supreme Court double-blow
Appeals turned down in efforts to overturn results in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin
‘Pockets of misery’: Janet Yellen defends $1,400 Covid relief checks
The Treasury Secretary told The New York Times that Joe Biden’s $1,400 stimulus payments would reach the “pockets of misery” across the United States that don’t receive other forms of welfare.
"That really helps to make sure that pockets of misery that we know exist out there that aren't touched by more targeted things, that help is provided there as well," she said.
"I believe we're going to be better off for it, and that it's the right thing to do," she added.
Individuals earning up to $75,000 will receive $1,400 under Biden’s $1.9trn package expected to be voted by the House this week. Those earning more than $100,000 would not be eligible.
US Capitol riot first priority of attorney general nominee
Merrick Garland said on Monday that investigating the riot at the Capitol would be his first priority if confirmed.
Speaking before the Senate, Garland said the country was facing a more dangerous period than after the Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McVeigh in 2995, a case he supervised while at the Justice Department.
“We begin with the people on the ground and we work our way up to those who are involved and further involved,” Garland said of the Capitol investigation. “And we will pursue these leads wherever they take us.”
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