AP PHOTO/ALEX BRANDON
“With much of America and the world watching, Joe Biden swears the oath of office at noon today to become the 46th president of the United States in one of its most troubled eras over nearly 245 years.
The president-elect will take the helm of a deeply divided nation and inherit a confluence of crises arguably greater than any faced by his predecessors, Jonathan Lemire reports.
The very inaugural ceremony in which presidential power is transferred will be a jarring reminder of the challenges Biden faces. It will unfold at a U.S. Capitol battered by an insurrectionist siege just two weeks ago, encircled by security forces evocative of those where armed conflict is prevalent and devoid of crowds because of the pandemic.
Hours away from his inauguration, Biden paused on what might have been his triumphal entrance to Washington to mark instead the national coronavirus tragedy. At the Lincoln Memorial last night, he declared that ‘to heal, we must remember,’ and he called the nation to mourn in collective grief for all the Americans lost, Bill Barrow and Amer Madhani report. Hours earlier, the nation reached the bleak milestone of 400,000 COVID-19 victims.” Read more at AP
“President Donald Trump handed out dozens of pardons and commutations late Tuesday, wielding his presidential authority one last time on his final full day in office.
The move comes after Trump was impeached by the House for the second time and as he faces a Senate trial in the coming weeks. It also comes after an intense internal debate over who merited relief, and a clamorous lobbying campaign by Trump allies and lawyers for prospective recipients of pardons.
The wave of clemency grants includes Steve Bannon, the right-wing firebrand and former Trump White House strategist, who faced trial on charges of swindling donors to a private group raising money for border wall construction, as well as the GOP donor and Trump inaugural organizer Elliott Broidy, who was awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in October to conspiring to violate foreign lobbying laws on behalf of Chinese and Malaysian interests.
Those whose sentences were commuted included former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit, a Democrat serving a 28-year term for corruption, and the rapper Kodak Black. Another rapper, Lil Wayne received a full pardon.
Wayne is facing sentencing on a gun charge, while Black is serving a nearly four-year prison term on weapons charges.” Read more at Politico
Inauguration Security: “The ceremony will take place in a Washington on edge, after the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol unleashed a wave of fear and unmatched security concerns. And law enforcement officials are contending not only with the potential for outside threats but also with rising concerns about an insider attack by troops. There have been no specific threats made against Biden, but the nation’s capital is essentially on lockdown. More than 25,000 troops and police have been called to duty. The U.S. Secret Service is in charge of the event and says it is prepared,” James LaPorta, Lolita C. Baldor and Michael Balsamo report. Read more at AP
“More than 400,000 people in the US have now died of Covid-19. That's more than the number of Americans who died in World War I, the Vietnam War and the Korean War combined and nearly as many Americans as died in World War II. The death tolls in other countries are barely comparable. US officials say they need more vaccine doses to do what they can to slow down the deaths and illnesses, especially with new variants complicating the situation. Sixty countries have now reported imported cases or community transmission of the UK coronavirus strain. Limited vaccine supply isn’t just a big headache in the US, either. Pfizer told Canada it would not receive any vaccine doses next week because of manufacturing disruptions, leading to frustration and anger among officials there.” Read more at CNN
AP FACT CHECK: Trump’s farewell falsehoods. “In his farewell remarks, Trump claimed credit for things he didn’t do and twisted his record on jobs, taxes, the pandemic and much more.” Hope Yen, Christopher Rugaber and Calvin Woodward report. Read more at AP
“Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made his most definitive break yet with President Trump on Tuesday while the leader of the incoming Democratic majority laid out an ambitious agenda for the opening weeks of the Biden administration, signaling a dizzying changing of the guard in Washington.
McConnell (R-Ky.) for the first time directly blamed Trump for the lethal Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. ‘The mob was fed lies,’ he said in his final floor speech closing out six years as majority leader. ‘They were provoked by the president and other powerful people.’”
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) outlined a rapid-fire agenda for the coming weeks that includes confirming Biden’s Cabinet nominees, approving trillions in additional pandemic aid and barring Trump from holding office — despite an uncertain road map in the 50-50 Senate, which is struggling even to adopt its basic rules.” Read more at Washington Post
“A federal appeals court on Tuesday vacated the Trump administration’s rules that eased restrictions on greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants, potentially making it easier for the incoming Biden administration to reset rules targeting climate emissions.
A 2-1 majority on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decided to send the Affordable Clean Energy rule back to the Environmental Protection Agency, ruling the Trump administration adopted an unlawfully narrow view of federal clean-air law.
If upheld or unchallenged, the ruling would undo a major Trump administration environmental initiative that intended to give states and electric utilities more flexibility in how they reduced their emissions of heat-trapping gasses.
The decision could make it easier for President-elect Joe Biden to fulfill a campaign promise to put more stringent limits on the power industry’s emissions. Mr. Biden has called for eliminating carbon-dioxide emissions from the power sector by 2035, and Tuesday’s ruling would allow him to push toward doing so without first trying to repeal or overhaul a set of rules put in place by conservatives.
Power plant emissions have long been one of the top two U.S. sources of greenhouse-gas emissions, putting them in the crosshairs of attempts by government to address global warming. The rules vacated Tuesday were an attempt by the Trump administration to overhaul the first-ever U.S. rules on these emissions, the Clean Power Plan, put in place by the Obama administration.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Janet Yellen made the case for another sweeping economic aid package at her hearing to be the next U.S. Treasury secretary Tuesday, pushing back against Republican skepticism of the need for more deficit spending to bolster the recovery.
Ms. Yellen, a former Federal Reserve chairwoman, said the incoming Biden administration’s top priority is to relieve suffering caused by the coronavirus pandemic, including providing aid for families, businesses and communities hardest hit by the downturn as well as spending to bring the virus under control.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Kamala Harris will swear in three new Democratic senators — Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Alex Padilla of California — after she becomes vice president, giving Democrats narrow control of the Senate.” Read more at New York Times
“The National Guard removed two troops from inauguration service because of possible links to right-wing extremist movements.” Read more at New York Times
“The Justice Department won’t pursue charges against GOP Sen. Richard Burr after ending its investigation of stock trades he made in advance of the coronavirus market turmoil last year, the North Carolina lawmaker said.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The Justice Department has issued a memo that aims to limit the impact of a landmark Supreme Court ruling protecting gay and transgender people in the workplace, a last-ditch attempt from the Trump administration to hinder policy shifts expected as President-elect Joe Biden begins assembling new leadership at the agency.
The Supreme Court’s June ruling, Bostock v. Clayton County, said a bedrock federal civil-rights law prohibits employers from discriminating against workers on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The 6-3 opinion, by Trump-appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch, rejected administration arguments that federal civil rights law provides no protection to LGBT employees.
The new memo, dated Sunday and sent by the acting head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, John Daukas, acknowledges the court’s ruling was sweeping, but says the department should not extend it further to areas such as housing and education, where longstanding gender-based policies on bathrooms and sports teams could come into play. The 23-page memo, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, also suggests that some employers could cite religious beliefs that would allow them to discriminate against LGBT employees.
‘Unlike racial discrimination, the Supreme Court has never held that a religious employer’s decision not to hire homosexual or transgender persons ‘violates deeply and widely accepted views of elementary justice’ or that the government has a ‘compelling’ interest in the eradication of such conduct,’ the memo says.
The Trump administration ‘lost the case, so they are looking for every possible way to narrow its implications rather than acknowledge that the days of discriminating against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity are behind us,’ said David Cole, national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, who argued a companion case to Bostock.
The memo likely will be rescinded by incoming Biden administration officials but could serve as what Mr. Cole called a ‘road map for the right’ in developing arguments against extending LGBT rights.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the memo.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The State Department declared on Tuesday that the Chinese government is committing genocide and crimes against humanity through its wide-scale repression of Uighurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in its northwestern region of Xinjiang, including in its use of internment camps and forced sterilization, US officials said.
The move is expected to be the Trump administration’s final action on China, made on its last full day, and is the culmination of a yearslong debate over how to punish what many consider Beijing’s worst human rights abuses in decades. Relations between the countries have deteriorated over the past four years, and the new finding adds to a long list of tension points. Foreign policy officials and experts across the political spectrum in the United States say China will be the greatest challenge for any administration for years or decades to come.” Read more at Boston Globe.
“Homeland security nominee Alejandro Mayorkas told senators he would carry out President-elect Joe Biden’s immigration overhaul while intensifying efforts to combat domestic extremism, during a hearing Tuesday that highlighted Republican opposition to his confirmation.
Testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Mayorkas wore a blue mask and listened impassively to questions about his management style and involvement in a visa program for wealthy investors.
Mayorkas, 61, is expected to win confirmation since the Democrats picked up two additional Senate seats this month in Georgia. But legislative aides from both parties said it is unclear how quickly that will occur.
Democrats are pushing for Mayorkas’s rapid confirmation, saying it is crucial to have top national security officials in place given the recent siege on the U.S. Capitol, cyberattacks on federal agencies, and the coronaviruspandemic.
Biden to propose overhaul of immigration laws on first day in office
But Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), the focus of deep resentment for challenging Biden’s election and, critics say, helping to incite the violent mob who attacked the Capitol, moved later Tuesday to block the fast-track confirmation process, saying he was dissatisfied with Mayorkas’s responses to questions about the Biden immigration agenda. Hawley is a member of the homeland security committee.” Read more at Washington Post
“President Trump rescinded an executive order early Wednesday morning that had limited federal administration officials from lobbying the government or working for foreign countries after they leave their posts, undoing one of the few measures he had instituted to fulfill his 2016 campaign promise to “drain the swamp.”
Trump had signed the now-reversed executive order with much fanfare in an Oval Office ceremony in January 2017.
‘Most of the people standing behind me will not be able to go to work’ after they leave government, Trump said at the time, flanked by senior aides.
The order required executive branch appointees to sign a pledge that they would never work as registered foreign lobbyists, and it banned them from lobbying the federal agencies where they worked for five years after leaving the government.
How Trump abandoned his pledge to ‘drain the swamp’
Ethics experts at the time noted the order had loopholes — but still offered cautious praise for Trump’s attempt at halting the revolving door that allows government employees to use their positions to land lucrative jobs in the private sector.” Read more at Washington Post
“The head of Voice of America’s parent agency hired a law firm at a rate of about $500 an hour and spent $2 million in taxpayer funds to compile personnel dossiers on managers he had targeted for removal, according to a complaint filed Tuesday.
The accusation, contained in a whistleblower complaint, is the latest claim of impropriety against Michael Pack, a conservative Trump appointee who has sought to reshape VOA and four other government-funded international news networks since becoming their overseer in June.
During his short tenure, Pack has generated controversy by removing veteran managers, accusing VOA of harboring foreign spies and seeking to influence VOA’s news coverage, despite regulations barring political appointees from doing so. A federal judge in November prohibited him from violating the editorial ‘firewall’ and interfering in editorial decisions.” Read more at Washington Post
“New polling data from Europe shows that large majorities among key US allies hold a positive view of President-elect Joe Biden, suggesting a significant shift in European perceptions of the US presidency as Donald Trump’s term comes to a close.
But polling data also suggests some potentially troubling trends for transatlantic relations after four years of strained partnership, with indications that European publics believe Chinese power has grown over that of the United States under Trump.” Read more at Boston Globe
100,000 — “The number of petition signatures required in Switzerland to force a popular vote on changing the constitution. In an effort to ban burqas and other full-face coverings nationwide, the right-wing Swiss People’s Party surpassed the threshold, triggering a referendum set for March 7. The Swiss government, pointing to the country's small Muslim population and increasing number of tourists from Gulf states, has urged citizens to reject the proposal.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“A US Army soldier has been arrested on terrorism charges after he allegedly tried to assist ISIS' efforts to plan attacks on targets in New York City and on US soldiers in the Middle East. Prosecutors allege 20-year-old private Cole Bridges, of Ohio, communicated with an FBI employee posing as an ISIS supporter who claimed to have contact with ISIS fighters. Bridges allegedly gave training and guidance to these purported fighters, including handing over portions of a US Army training manual and diagramming specific military maneuvers. Bridges also allegedly gave advice about possible targets in New York, such as the 9/11 Memorial. He's due in court tomorrow, and CNN is trying to reach his attorney.” Read more at CNN
“The Fox News executive who oversaw its election night ‘decision desk’ is retiring at the end of the month, a move due in part to what Rupert Murdoch and other top network leaders viewed as a mishandling of the network’s early and controversial Arizona projection for Joe Biden.
Bill Sammon, 62, Fox News Channel’s senior vice president and managing editor in Washington, told staffers Monday morning about his planned retirement. His role will be absorbed by existing editorial staff members. A spokesperson declined to comment on the reason for his retirement.
Sammon previously worked as a White House correspondent for the Washington Times before joining Fox in 2009.
His announcement came as Fox laid off nearly 20 staffers Tuesday, including Fox News political editor Chris Stirewalt, who worked on the decision desk with Sammon. Fox declined to comment specifically on Stirewalt, citing employee confidentiality. His departure shocked many inside the building who bemoaned the loss of a respected Washington voice at a time when the conservative-leaning network is navigating its future without President Trump in office.” Read more at Washington Post
“The SAT is dropping its optional essay section and subject matter tests to streamline during the pandemic. The College Board said the change was meant to ‘reduce demands on students.’” Read more at New York Times
“The Mets fired Jared Porter, their recently hired general manager, after a report that he sexually harassed a journalist in 2016.” Read more at New York Times
“Lives Lived: As the only child of the anthropologist Margaret Mead, Mary Catherine Bateson was once one of the most famous babies in America. She grew up to become a polymathic scholar, and her 1989 book about the stop-and-start nature of women’s lives became a classic. Bateson died at 81.” Read more at New York Times
“Netflix tops 200 million subscribers. The streaming giant's milestone was powered by homebound consumers and rising demand in international markets where it has a head start over many rivals. It said it can now generate more cash than it needs and won't have to borrow money to grow.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Ma reemerges. Jack Ma, the founder of retail giant Alibaba and financial firm Ant, has resurfaced after months away from the spotlight, as rumors have swirled surrounding the reasons for his disappearance. Ma, one of China’s richest people, participated in an annual livestream highlighting the work of rural educators, excerpts of which were posted on the nationalist Global Times social media channels. Ma had disappeared from view in November after Chinese authorities cancelled the initial public offering of Ant—set to be one of the world’s largest—after Ma made comments critical of Chinese regulators.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“U.S.-Saudi relations. Under questioning during her Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday Avril Haines, Joe Biden’s incoming director of national intelligence, indicated that she would release a classified CIA intelligence report to Congress outlining the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 by a Saudi death squad—a document that Michael Eisner and Jack Steele urged the Biden administration to release publicly in Foreign Policy earlier this week. The report is expected to include a CIA assessment that the killing was ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, marking an immediate break with the more pro-Saudi policies of Donald Trump.” Read more at Foreign Policy
Lives Lived: As the only child of the anthropologist Margaret Mead, Mary Catherine Bateson was once one of the most famous babies in America. She grew up to become a polymathic scholar, and her 1989 book about the stop-and-start nature of women’s lives became a classic. Bateson died at 81.
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