AP PHOTO/ANDREW HARNIK
Trump’s 2nd impeachment trial starting: ‘Grievous constitutional crime’ or just ‘political theater?’; AP-NORC poll: Few in US say democracy is working very well
“Accountability and conviction for the 'most grievous constitutional crime’ or a trial staged for '‘political theater?’
The prosecution and defense will set forth their arguments this week in Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial in the Senate, an undertaking like no other in U.S. history, report Lisa Mascaro, Eric Tucker, Mary Clare Jalonick and Jill Colvin.
The defeated one-term president is charged by the House with inciting the violent mob attack on the U.S. Capitol to overturn the election.
Trump's lawyers insist as the trial opens today that he is not guilty on the sole charge of ‘incitement of insurrection,’ that his fiery words were just a figure of speech, even as he encouraged a rally crowd to ‘fight like hell’ for his presidency.
The Capitol siege on Jan. 6 stunned the world as rioters stormed the building to try to stop the certification of then-President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
With senators gathered as the court of impeachment, the trial begins today with a debate and vote on whether it's constitutionally permissible to prosecute the former president, an argument that could resonate with Republicans keen on voting to acquit Trump without being seen as condoning his behavior.
Under an agreement between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican leader Mitch McConnell, the opening arguments start at noon Wednesday, with up to 16 hours per side.” Read more at AP
“Democracy Poll: Only a fragment of Americans believe democracy is thriving in the U.S., even as broad majorities agree that representative government is one of the country’s bedrock principles. That's according to a new poll from The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just 16% of Americans say democracy is working well or extremely well, a pessimism that spans the political spectrum. Nearly half of Americans, 45%, think democracy isn’t functioning properly, while another 38% say it’s working only somewhat well. Steven Sloan and Thomas Beaumont report.” Read more at AP
“Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would significantly reduce poverty and increase earnings for millions of low-wage workers, while adding to the federal deficit and cutting overall employment, according to a new study from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The report is sure to animate the already heated debate over whether to include raising the federal minimum wage in legislation to help the sputtering economic recovery and aid vaccine distribution.
The White House’s proposal would raise the minimum wage from its current level, $7.25, to $15 with increases of approximately $1.50 every year for five years.
On one hand, the CBO estimated that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 would cost 1.4 million jobs and increase the deficit by $54 billion over 10 years.
But it also estimated the policy would lift 900,000 people out of poverty and raise income for 17 million people — about one in 10 workers. Another 10 million who have wages just above that amount could potentially see increases as well, the CBO reported.
The net pay going to the country’s workers would grow substantially, by $333 billion, as the increase in pay for workers would more than double the amount subtracted by the workers who lose their jobs, according to the estimate.
The minimum wage proposal has split the more liberal wing of the Democratic Party from moderates such as Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), who has said that he does not support the proposal.
Republicans have pushed back heavily against the $15 minimum wage proposal, arguing it would kill jobs and hurt small businesses.
The $7.25 federal minimum wage has not been changed since 2009 and remains below historic levels when adjusted for inflation, despite gains in worker productivity. It works out to just $15,080 a year before taxes on a 40-hour a week schedule.
Minimum-wage debates for years have been tempered by warnings that companies would lay off many people to pay higher wages to some.” Read more at Washington Post
“Senior House Democrats on Monday night proposed sending full $1,400 stimulus payments to Americans with up to $75,000 in annual income, rejecting an early plan to sharply curtail the benefits.
House Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) released legislation that would send the full benefit to singles earning $75,000 pear year and couples earning $150,000 per year. Congressional Democrats had explored curtailing that benefit to $50,000 for individuals and $100,000 for married couples, a position embraced by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the most conservative Democrat.
Compared to prior plans, Democrats are accelerating the rate at which the benefit declines for higher-earners, a move intended to prevent wealthy Americans from receiving stimulus payments. The phase-out diminishes at the point at which singles earning $100,000 and couples earning $200,000 would receive no stimulus payments.
The proposal comes amid days of internal disagreements among Democrats over how to structure the next round of stimulus payments, a core component of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan currently moving through Congress. The legislation still must be passed through the House and Senate, and it is unclear whether Manchin or other conservative Senate Democrats will object to the proposal.” Read more at Washington Post
“ATLANTA — The office of Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, on Monday started an investigation into former President Donald J. Trump’s attempts to overturn the state’s election results, including a phone call he made to Mr. Raffensperger in which Mr. Trump pressured him to ‘find’ enough votes to reverse his loss.
Such inquiries are ‘fact-finding and administrative in nature,’ the secretary’s office said, and are a routine step when complaints are received about electoral matters. Findings are typically brought before the Republican-controlled state board of elections, which decides whether to refer them for prosecution to the state attorney general or another agency.
The move comes as Fani Willis, the Democratic district attorney of Fulton County, which encompasses much of Atlanta, is weighing whether to begin a criminal inquiry of her own. A spokesman for Ms. Willis declined to comment on Monday.
The January call was one of several attempts Mr. Trump made to try to persuade top Republican officials in the state to uncover instances of voting fraud that might change the outcome, despite the insistence of voting officials that there was no widespread fraud to be found. He also called Gov. Brian Kemp in early December and pressured him to call a special legislative session to overturn his election loss. Later that month, Mr. Trump called a state investigator and pressed the official to ‘find the fraud,’ according to those with knowledge of the call. Read more at New York Times
“Facebook is about to use its election disinformation playbook against vaccine misinformation, Axios' Margaret Harding McGill and Sara Fischer report.
Why it matters: It's a partial reversal for Mark Zuckerberg, who said in September that the company wouldn't target anti-vaccination posts the same way it has aggressively cracked down on COVID misinformation.
Now the company is doing four things to crack down on COVID/vaccine posts:
Removing misleading posts and pages: Posts of debunked claims about the vaccines face removal, as do groups, pages and accounts on Facebook and Instagram that repeatedly share debunked claims.
Returning validated vaccine info when users search on debunked claims.
Adding resources on how to get vaccinated.
Giving $120 million in ad credits to help health agencies, nonprofits and UN agencies reach billions of people.
Between the lines: Facebook provided a lengthy list of false claims that can get posts or pages removed, including:
‘[T]he COVID vaccine will kill you’ ... ‘the COVID vaccine contains a microchip’ ... ‘the COVID vaccine provides no immunity’ ... ‘the COVID vaccine causes autism!’” Read at Axios
“Evidence is mounting that having COVID-19 may not protect a person against getting infected again with some of the new variants emerging around the world.
New research also suggests that people can get second infections with earlier versions of the coronavirus if they mounted a weak defense the first time, Marilynn Marchione reports.
How long immunity lasts from natural infection is a major question. Scientists still think reinfections are fairly rare and usually less serious.
But recent cases in Brazil and South Africa have caused concern. Health officials are urging vaccination as a longer-term solution and encouraging people to wear masks, keep their physical distance and wash their hands frequently.
‘It’s an incentive to do what we have been saying all along: to vaccinate as many people as we can and to do so as quickly as we can,’ said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert.” Read more at AP
“U.S. Surge: The drive to vaccinate Americans is gaining speed and newly recorded cases have fallen to their lowest level in three months, but authorities worry that raucous Super Bowl celebrations could have fueled new outbreaks. More than 4 million more vaccinations were reported over the weekend, a significantly faster rate than in previous days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But health authorities say Americans may have to pay the price for Super Bowl Sunday, when many flouted safety guidelines, Adam Geller and Matthew Perrone report.” Read more at AP
“Iran Vaccination:The Islamic Republic has launched an inoculation campaign among healthcare professionals with Russian Sputnik V vaccines as the country struggles to stem the worst outbreak in the Middle East. The death toll in Iran is nearing 59,000. The health minister said the vaccinations would be simultaneously carried out in more than 600 medical centers across the country. The coronavirus has so far claimed the lives of more that 300 healthcare professionals in Iran.” Read more at AP
“Portugal's Surge: Hopes are rising in the Iberian nation that the worst of a devastating surge might be over, as the number of deaths reported was the lowest in three weeks. The country’s COVId-19 picture is mixed, however. Hospital admissions rose for the first time in a week, but the advance of the virus has by some metrics been slowing since the end of January, Barry Hatton reports from Lisbon.
Portugal, blaming the sudden fast spread on a variant first identified in England, went into lockdown on Jan. 15. Portugal became the world’s worst-hit country last month compared to its population, with a deluge of daily deaths and new infections.” Read more at AP
“Distance Learning: After seeing two academic years thrown off course by the pandemic, school leaders around the U.S. are planning for the possibility of more distance learning next fall. President Biden has made reopening schools a top priority, but administrators say there's much to consider with new strains of the virus and teachers waiting their turn for vaccinations. And while many parents are demanding that schools fully reopen, others say they won’t feel safe sending children back to classrooms until vaccines are available to even young students, Carolyn Thompson reports.” Read more at AP
Masked fans paid tribute to front line workers and displayed messages of racial unity during the second quarter of the Super Bowl.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
“The N.F.L. likes to project power and precision. Sideline catches are scrutinized with zoom lenses, first downs are measured in inches and Air Force jets fly over stadiums just as ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ reaches its peak.
But when it comes to topics like race, health and safety, the league’s certainty dissolves into a series of mixed messages.
That was the case on Sunday at the Super Bowl, the N.F.L.’s crowning game, which is typically watched by about 100 million viewers in the United States. The championship game provides the league a massive platform each year to promote itself as America’s corporate do-gooder, with the best interests of its enormous fan base at heart. That was harder to do this year as the country remained roiled by the deadly coronavirus pandemic, which has exacerbated festering political division and racial unrest, issues the N.FL. had to plow past to complete its season. Read more at New York Times
“Sen. Richard Shelby (R., Ala.), the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, said he wouldn’t run for re-election next year.
Mr. Shelby, 86 years old, is currently serving his sixth term in the Senate. He is the latest in a string of Senate Republicans to announce that they don’t plan to run for re-election in 2022, joining Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio.
The senior Republicans have played leadership roles in the major tax and spending legislation produced by Congress.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson plans to ask holdover U.S. attorneys appointed by former President Donald Trump to resign, officials familiar with the matter said, as the Biden administration moves to put its stamp on the Justice Department.
Exempt from the decision, however, are two top prosecutors overseeing politically sensitive inquiries, including Delaware U.S. attorney David Weiss, whose office is conducting a criminal tax investigation into President Biden’s son, Hunter, a senior Justice Department official said.
Another prosecutor, John Durham, is expected to remain as a special counsel overseeing a wide-ranging inquiry into the origins of the FBI’s 2016 Russia investigation, while relinquishing his position as Connecticut’s U.S. attorney, the official said. Former Attorney General William Barr named him special counsel in October. He announced the decision in December.
The Justice Department official said the resignation request applies to 56 U.S. attorneys, but their departures aren’t expected to be immediate. Justice Department officials have scheduled a Tuesday conference call with U.S. attorneys to discuss the transition, two officials said.
It is not clear whether the request also applies to Michael Sherwin, the acting U.S. attorney in Washington, who has been overseeing the sprawling prosecutions stemming from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The move also comes as Mr. Biden’s nominee for attorney general, federal circuit Judge Merrick Garland, awaits his yet-to-be-set confirmation hearing.
The planned action was earlier reported by CNN.
It is fairly customary for new administrations to ask for holdover officials to step down so that a new president can install his own selections. The president appoints, and the Senate confirms, 93 U.S. attorneys to serve as the top prosecutor in each judicial district in the U.S. The offices operate somewhat autonomously but take direction from Justice Department headquarters on priorities.
Many of the top prosecutors nominated by Mr. Trump have already left their positions.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The Manhattan district attorney’s attempt to prosecute former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman was dealt a final blow when New York’s highest court said quietly last week it would not review lower court rulings on the case.
The court’s decision brings to an end the district attorney’s quest to ensure that the campaign chairman, Paul J. Manafort, will face state charges for mortgage fraud and other state felonies, crimes similar to those for which he was convicted in federal court and then pardoned by Mr. Trump.
When the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., a Democrat, first brought charges against Mr. Manafort in March 2019, it was widely understood that he was doing so to make sure that Mr. Manafort would face prosecution even if Mr. Trump decided to pardon him.
At the time, Mr. Manafort was serving a sentence of seven and a half years in a Pennsylvania federal prison after being convicted at a 2018 financial fraud trial by prosecutors working for the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.” Read more at New York Times
“Texas Republican Rep. Ron Wright became the first sitting member of Congress to die of Covid-19.” Read more at Vox / Gabby Birenbaum
“The Senate on Monday confirmed Denis McDonough as President Biden’s Veterans Affairs secretary, choosing a non-veteran but a manager with years of government service to lead the sprawling health and benefits agency.
McDonough, 51, was chief of staff during Barack Obama’s second term and held senior roles on the National Security Council and on Capitol Hill before that. He told senators at his confirmation hearing that although he is not a veteran, his long career as a behind-the-scenes troubleshooter and policymaker would serve him well at the Department of Veterans Affairs, a massive bureaucracy beset by multiple challenges.” Read more at Washington Post
“Enrollment in Roman Catholic schools in the United States dropped 6.4 percent from the previous academic year amid the pandemic and economic stresses — the largest single-year decline in at least five decades, Catholic education officials reported Monday.
Among the factors were the closure or consolidation of more than 200 schools and the difficulty for many parents of paying tuition fees that average more than $5,000 for grades K-8 and more than $10,000 for secondary schools, according to the National Catholic Educational Association.” Read more at Boston Globe
MBRSC VIA AP/ALEXANDER MCNABB
“UAE spacecraft to enter orbit around Mars in Arab world interplanetary first
A United Arab Emirates spacecraft is preparing to swing into orbit around Mars later today.
The step, if successful, would begin the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission and mark a victory for the oil-rich country seeking a future in space.
Having traveled some 300 million miles and seven months to Mars, the unmanned robot craft called Amal, Arabic for Hope, is poised for a its critical moment, Isabel DeBre reports from Dubai.
Landmarks across the UAE, including Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower on Earth, have been glowing red for days to mark the occasion.
The probe will provide a complete glimpse for the first time of the Martian atmosphere during different seasons. The sheikhdom is hoping to join the elite club of nations exploring the red planet and accelerate its fledgling, ambitious space program.
Six spacecraft are orbiting Mars now: three American, two European and one from India. The red planet is receiving plenty more traffic this month — China’s Tianwen-1 mission is due to slip into Mars’ orbit in less than 24 hours and attempt a landing in May. And a rover from the U.S. named Perseverance is aiming for a landing on Feb. 18.
About 60% of all Mars missions have ended in failure, crashing, burning up or otherwise falling short in a testament to the complexity of interplanetary travel and the difficulty of making a descent through Mars' thin atmosphere.” Read more at AP
“Myanmar protesters march again, defying ban on gatherings
Police were cracking down on the demonstrators against Myanmar’s military takeover who took to the streets in defiance of new protest bans. Water cannons were used against a crowd in Mandalay, where witnesses said at least two warning shots were fired. Unconfirmed reports said more than two dozen people were arrested. Police also used water cannons in the capital Natpyitaw for a second day running. The growing defiance is striking in a country where past movements against juntas have been met with deadly force. But in a small sign of restraint by the military government, police rather than soldiers were enforcing the new bans on large gatherings.” Read more at AP
“Rescuers look for survivors of Indian glacier flood disaster
Hundreds of rescue workers were scouring muck-filled ravines and valleys in northern India for survivors after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off, sending a devastating flood downriver that has left at least 31 people dead and 165 missing. One of the rescue efforts is focused on a tunnel at a power plant where more than three dozen workers are trapped. Rescuers used excavators and shovels to clear sludge from the tunnel. Scientists have gone to the site to investigate what happened. Experts say climate change may be to blame since warming temperatures are shrinking glaciers and making them unstable worldwide.” Read more at AP
“Tokyo Olympics have yet another problem: It's President Mori
The postponed Tokyo Olympics have another problem besides the pandemic. This time it's the president of the local organizing committee. Almost a week ago Yoshiro Mori made derogatory comments about women in a meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee. He was forced to apologize but calls for his resignation have continued. The Japanese news agency Kyodo reported that its poll showed almost 60% believe he is not qualified for the job. Mori, an 83-year-old former prime minister, has headed the organizing committee since 2014. The Summer Olympics are to open on July 23.” Read more at AP
“Relations between the European Union and Russia reached a new low on Monday as three EU countries expelled one Russian diplomat each in a tit-for-tat move.
On Friday, Russia barred three EU diplomats—one each from Germany, Sweden, and Poland—for alleged involvement in protests supporting Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. The EU states maintain their staff were merely observing the protests, in line with internationally-recognized diplomatic convention.
Europe’s retaliation comes after EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell completed a three-day visit to the country that went from bad to worse.
Declaring before the trip that the EU ‘cannot say: ‘I don’t like you, I will stay in my corner’, to rival countries, Borrell was pushed to the point of humiliation by his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. At a joint press conference, Lavrov accused the EU of being an ‘unreliable partner,’ and cited the detention of Catalan leaders by Borrell’s native Spain as an example of the EU double standard on human rights.
The trip truly went sour once Borrell found out Friday, via social media, of the expulsion of the three EU diplomats while still in talks with Lavrov.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Venezuela’s exodus. Colombia is to grant temporary legal status to the more than 1.7 million Venezuelans who have taken refuge in the country. Under the terms announced by Colombian President Iván Duque on Monday, Venezuelans who entered Colombia without permission before Jan. 31 will be eligible for legal protections, making it easier for them to live and work in the country. Roughly 5.4 million people have left Venezuela in recent years, according to U.N. estimates.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Netanyahu on trial. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pleaded not guilty at the beginning of his corruption trial in Jerusalem on Monday. Netanyahu stands accused of fraud, breach of public trust, and accepting bribes—charges the Israeli leader has dismissed as a ‘witch-hunt.’ Speaking to reporters on Monday, Netanyahu said he expected the trial to extend past the date of Israel’s general election on March 23, adding that beginning the evidentiary process before then would be seen as ‘clear interference.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Haiti’s power struggle. Haiti’s opposition has named Joseph Mecene Jean Louis, a senior judge, to fill the role of interim president in a transitional government as a struggle to depose President Jovenel Moise intensifies. Moise’s detractors say that his five-year term in office is over since he was elected in 2016.
Moise—and, importantly, the U.S. government—argue his term ends a year from now, as he was not sworn in until 2017. Moise has vowed to complete his term, which is likely to include a referendum on a new Haitian constitution.” Read more at Foreign Policy