Political Glance
Azar said his resignation would become effective on Jan. 20th — the same date he would have been leaving office once President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in. The letter was dated Jan. 12, almost a week after the riot.
He said that the attack — which left five people dead and many injured — and the president's slow response to condemn it, threaten to "tarnish" the achievements the administration has made over the past four years. In particular, Operation Warp Speed, which led to the creation of two vaccines to combat the raging coronavirus pandemic.Alex Azar resigns as Health and Human Services Secretary, citing Capitol mob
Trump in new legal jeopardy after Capitol riots
“The president needs to be investigated and does have real potential criminal liability for incitement for essentially spurring people on, motivating people to go in there and commit these crimes,” said CNN legal analyst and former prosecutor Elie Honig.
“It's not an easy case to make,” he added. “But if you look at his words, if you look at the language he used, the way he not only urged people to do it, but applauded them after they did it, while they were doing it, that suggests to me he knew exactly what it was leading them into.”
An early test for the Biden administration will be whether DOJ chooses to pursue any of the various investigative threads leading to Trump, or if it will opt to turn the page on the Trump era and sidestep the political baggage that might come with prosecuting a former president.
Democrats shatter fundraising records ahead of Georgia Senate runoffs
Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock shattered fundraising records by hauling in more than $100 million each in the past two months, significantly outraising GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in the final stretch of the two Georgia Senate races that will decide control of the chamber next month.
The massive fundraising for the two Democrats was driven largely by small-dollar donations, continuing the pattern this year of the party’s Senate candidates tapping into online donors across the country to fund their challenger campaigns, although Democrats underperformed expectations in November despite the fundraising edge.
Ossoff became the best-funded Senate candidate in history, hauling in $106.8 million in two months. The Democrat spent $93.5 million from Oct. 15 through Dec. 16, and ended that period with $17.5 million in the bank for the closing weeks of the runoff.
Trump turns on everyone
President Trump, in his final days, is turning bitterly on virtually every person around him, griping about anyone who refuses to indulge conspiracy theories or hopeless bids to overturn the election, several top officials tell Axios.
The latest: Targets of his outrage include Vice President Pence, chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Secretary of State Pompeo and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Why it matters: Trump thinks everyone around him is weak, stupid or disloyal — and increasingly seeks comfort only in people who egg him on to overturn the election results. We cannot stress enough how unnerved Trump officials are by the conversations unfolding inside the White House.
Lara Trump served on the board of a company through which the Trump political operation spent more than $700 million.
Lara Trump, President Trump’s daughter-in-law and a senior campaign adviser, served on the board of a limited liability company through which the Trump political operation has spent more than $700 million since 2019, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. She was also named on drafts of the company’s incorporation papers.
The arrangement has never been disclosed. One of the other board members and signatories in the draft papers of the L.L.C., American Made Media Consultants, was John Pence, the nephew of Vice President Mike Pence and a senior Trump adviser. The L.L.C. has been criticized for purposefully obscuring the ultimate destination of hundreds of millions of dollars of spending. Ms. Trump is married to Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons.
Sen. Kelly Loeffler condemns white supremacist after posing for picture with him
Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s campaign is responding to backlash sparked by a social media photo of her posing with a longtime white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan member.
Loeffler was pictured smiling alongside Chester Doles after a campaign event Friday in Dawsonville, about 60 miles north of Atlanta, the Associated Press reported. Criticism was swift as the photo began circulating online.
The senator’s campaign has since condemned Doles, saying Loeffler didn’t know the man in the picture.
Supreme Court rejects Texas’ bid to overturn Joe Biden’s election, handing decisive blow to Trump
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that sought to invalidate 10 million votes in four battleground states — Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin — that President Trump lost.
Why it matters: It's the latest and most significant legal defeat for Trump and his allies in their floundering attempt to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump tweeted Wednesday, "We will be INTERVENING in the Texas (plus many other states) case. This is the big one. Our Country needs a victory!"
What they're saying: "The State of Texas’s motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied for lack of standing under Article III of the Constitution. Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections. All other pending motions are dismissed as moot," the Supreme Court wrote.
Background: Paxton's suit asked justices to extend the deadline for election certification to Dec. 14, buying time for officials to investigate alleged voting irregularities in the four states.
More Articles...
- FBI Subpoenas Texas AG Ken Paxton After Alleged Bribery Reports
- Hunter Biden Says He Is Under Federal Investigation For Tax Matter
- The G.S.A. administrator has formally designated Biden the apparent winner of the presidential election.
- Joe Biden defeats President Donald Trump to become 46th president of the United States
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