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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Maanvi Singh (now), Joan E Greve and Martin Belam (earlier)

'To heal, we must remember': Biden holds memorial for 400,000 US Covid victims – as it happened

Summary

From me and Joan E Greve:

  • The US coronavirus death toll surpassed 400,000, representing the highest death toll of any country in the world.
  • Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and their spouses held a service at the Lincoln Memorial to honor the lives lost in the pandemic. The Washington National Cathedral bell tolled 400 times for the 400,000 dead, and 400 lights were lit around the reflecting pool at the US Capitol, in a somber remembrance. It was the first national event of remembrance held by the national leaders since the pandemic first hit.
  • Donald Trump shared his farewell address to the nation. The president, who is leaving Washington before Biden’s inauguration tomorrow, wished the new administration success but did not utter the name of his successor.
  • Mike Pence confirmed he will not attend the president’s farewell event tomorrow. The vice-president’s office released his schedule for tomorrow, and it includes only one event: the inauguration of Biden and Harris.
  • Mitch McConnell acknowledged the violent mob that attacked the Capitol earlier this month was “provoked by the president”. The Senate Republican leader said in a floor speech this afternoon, “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people.”
  • Two national guard troops were removed from inauguration duty due to ties to far-right militia groups, according to the AP. The FBI has been vetting the thousands of national guard troops sent to provide security for Biden’s inauguration.
  • Biden and Harris will be inaugurated tomorrow. Here’s a night-time view from the Washington Monument, courtesy of the National Park Service:

Updated

US presidential pardons: a potted history of a shabby convention

In his final hours in office, Trump is expected to pardon more than 100 people, including political allies, friends and cronies. He has already granted clemency to principal figures from his 2016 campaign.

In seeking to promote his self-interest, Trump is merely following in the footsteps of White House predecessors. Under article two of the US constitution, presidents enjoy broad and unchallengeable powers to pardon individuals for federal crimes. This right is “without limit”, the supreme court has ruled.

The exercise of this prerogative has long been a source of argument. In 1795, George Washington amnestied two men who had masterminded the Whiskey Rebellion against a federal tax on alcohol. In the 20th century, Gerald Ford pardoned a disgraced Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal.

Ford’s successor, Jimmy Carter, pardoned Vietnam war draft resisters. And in 1992, George HW Bush extended an amnesty to six defendants in the Reagan-era Iran-Contra scandal, including the former defence secretary Caspar Weinberger, a move that in effect shut down the investigation.

Meanwhile, Bill Clinton was responsible for a particularly egregious pardon. On 20 January 2001 he exonerated the billionaire fugitive Marc Rich, one of 140 pardons issued on his last day in the White House, including one given by Clinton to his brother Roger.

Read more:

Updated

What will Trump do after leaving office? The Wall Street Journal reports he’s considering starting a political party:

President Trump has talked in recent days with associates about forming a new political party, according to people familiar with the matter, an effort to exert continued influence after he leaves the White House.

Mr. Trump discussed the matter with several aides and other people close to him last week, the people said. The president said he would want to call the new party the “Patriot Party,” the people said.

Mr. Trump has feuded in recent days with several Republican leaders including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), who on Tuesday said Mr. Trump deserved blame for provoking the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Polls show Mr. Trump retains strong support among rank-and-file GOP voters.

The White House declined to comment.

It’s unclear how serious Mr. Trump is about starting a new party, which would require a significant investment of time and resources. The president has a large base of supporters, some of whom were not deeply involved in Republican politics prior to Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Donald Trump has deferred the deportation of some Venezuelan nationals from the US, after issuing sanctions aimed at Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

“The deteriorative condition within Venezuela, which presents an ongoing national security threat to the safety and well-being of the American people, warrants the deferral of the removal of Venezuelan nationals who are present in the United States,” said Trump in a memorandum.

Venezuelan nationals would not be removed from the US for 18 months, Trump said in the memo to the secretaries of state and homeland security.

Updated

The justice department has said it will not pursue insider trading charges against Republican senator Richard Burr.

The New York Times reports:

The Justice Department informed Senator Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina, on Tuesday that it would not pursue insider trading charges against him, according to his lawyer and another person briefed on the decision, quietly ending a monthslong investigation into his dumping of hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock in the turbulent early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision by the department and the Securities and Exchange Commission effectively cleared a cloud of legal jeopardy that has loomed over Mr. Burr since the sales were first disclosed in March. At the crux of the case was whether Mr. Burr, then the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had acted based on nonpublic information about the contagion that he received at senators-only briefings.

A handful of other senators drew similar scrutiny for their trades over the same period and were cleared in the spring and summer. Mr. Burr’s case proved far more complicated and included grand jury subpoenas and a search of his electronic storage accounts. At one point, the F.B.I. seized his cellphone — a highly invasive tactic for a sitting member of Congress that required signoff by Attorney General William P. Barr.

Mr. Burr, 65, insisted throughout that he had acted within the law, but preemptively stepped down from his Intelligence Committee post to avoid distractions and adopted a low profile in the Senate. He had already planned to retire when his term ends in 2022.

Updated

California’s attorney general Xavier Becerra launched 9 lawsuits against the Trump administration.

The lawsuits include challenges of:

  • The administration’s issuing of two rules that will reduce the habitat protected by the Endangered Species Act.
  • A rule that refuses regulation of petroleum refineries and chemical plants.
  • The administration’s rule blocking future regulation of the oil and gas industries, by saying that if the industry emits less than 3% of total US greenhouse gas emissions, it cannot be regulated under a section of the Clean Air Act.
  • A rule requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct more in-depth analyses weighing the cost to industry against the environmental benefits.
  • A rule limiting the scope of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and removing protections for birds from facilities like wind farms and oil pits.
  • What California and other states have deemed are weak ozone standards.
  • A rule allowing manufacturers to sell products that don’t comply with energy efficiency standards by making it easier to obtain waivers.
  • A rule that would allow some washers and dryers to escape energy efficiency standards.
  • A rule that restricts EPA’s use of scientific studies that use on health data that excludes names or other identifying information to protect privacy.

“The Trump admin is working until the very last second to finalize a number of devastating environmental policies,” Becerra said. “While we look forward to a future where we can work with the Federal govt, it will take time to unwind the havoc the Trump admin wrought.”

Updated

Joe Biden has called it a night – he’s staying across from the White House – as Trump continues to check off a bucket list during his last few hours in office.

On Tuesday night, the Washington National Cathedral funeral bell was tolled 400 times– once for every 1,000 people who have died of Covid-19. The bells rang for 40 minutes straight.

“May we find peace and comfort. Strength and hope. Unity and perseverance,” said DC mayor Muriel Bowser.

The heaviness of the pandemic is sure to hang over Biden’s inauguration tomorrow, which has been diminished in size to prevent the spread of coronavirus and for security reasons, following the deadly attack on the US Capitol.

Updated

The Trump administration has authorized the declassification of a set of documents from the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

It remains unclear what exactly has been declassified. Trump has long called the investigation a “hoax” and promised in an October tweet to “fully authorize the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax”.

As one of his last acts as president, he seems to be doing some version of just that. The president has long been preoccupied by the investigation and vowed that documents would vindicate his assertions that he was wrongly targeted.

Here’s an AP fact check of Trump’s frequent claim that he was being investigated even before he took office:

Trump was not under investigation before he took office.

In fact, Trump says he was told that directly and repeatedly by then-FBI Director James Comey. Comey has said the same publicly.

The FBI counterintelligence investigation dubbed Crossfire Hurricane was underway when Trump took office, but that was into whether his campaign more generally coordinated with Russia to tip the election. Agents were also looking criminally at several Trump aides, but that’s different from Trump being under investigation.

The situation did change after a matter of months, when Trump fired Comey in May 2017. After that happened, the FBI began looking into whether Trump had criminally obstructed justice. Former FBI acting Director Andrew McCabe has said the FBI also began investigating whether Trump might have been acting on behalf of Russia.

There is no evidence that the FBI acted illegally in investigating suspicions of ties between the campaign and Russia.

Updated

While Joe Biden and Kamala Harris memorialized those who died of Covid-19 at the Lincoln Memorial, Nancy Pelosi and House Democratic leaders held lights in remembrance at the Capitol.

Immediately after Biden takes office, the House will have to work to pass major coronavirus relief legislation and consider the plan proposed by Biden. With control of the House, Senate and the White House, Democrats are going to have an easier time than they have thus far in the pandemic overcoming deadlock to get a relief package passed.

But with 60 votes in the Senate required to pass major legislation, lawmakers will still have to seek bipartisan agreement or find tricky ways of working without it.

Members of the Democratci House Leadership (L-R) Representative Pete Aguilar of California, Representative Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland participate in a COVID-19 Memorial and lighting ceremony in front of the House at the US Capitol.
Representative Pete Aguilar of California, Representative Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland participate in a Covid-19 Memorial and lighting ceremony in front of the House at the US Capitol. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA

Updated

The pandemic is now killing one American every 30 seconds – and the Biden/Harris administration has made it a top priority to rein it in as soon as they take office tomorrow.

The incoming administration has presented its plans to ramp up vaccine distribution and support families reeling from both the health and economic impacts of the pandemic.

Biden encouraged Americans today to light candles in their windows in remembrance of those who have died.

Updated

National coronavirus remembrance event

The evocative and poignant event the incoming Biden-Harris leadership just held in Washington to commemorate the 400,000 US deaths from coronavirus is the first national event of remembrance that has been organized by national leadership and held in the US since the pandemic began a year ago.

With the Washington Monument in the background, President-elect Joe Biden stands with his wife Jill Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris stands with her husband Doug Emhoff as they look at lights placed around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool during a Covid-19 memorial Tuesday, January 19, 2021, in Washington.
The president- and vice-president-elect and their spouses. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

It’s worth remembering that Donald Trump spent 2020 lying and blustering about Covid-19, predicting it would disappear or could be cured by ingesting bleach or unproven drugs, and failing to lead a comprehensive national plan for managing the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak has not been under control in the US over the entire pandemic and is going from bad to worse in terms of infections and deaths right now, while the public awaits the administration of the miraculous vaccines. The federal government has fallen behind its own goals for administering shots so far.

In all that time, Trump did not hold any kind of national memorial, as the death toll rose, or visit hospitals or vaccination sites to talk to overwhelmed frontline health workers, who themselves have died in shocking numbers from Covid-19.

Some weeks ago, the incoming president and vice-president Joe Biden and Kamala Harris announced that on the eve of their inaugurations there would be a national remembrance ceremony to commemorate those killed by the virus.

The main event was at the National Mall, while cities coast to coast were encouraged to illuminate public buildings and ring church bells, to mark the crisis, the dead, the bereaved, the sick and those in hospital either trying to recover from Covid or trying to treat those suffering.

Updated

The memorial service, held as the US weathers the most challenging stretch of pandemic thus far, and counts more than 400,000 deaths, has been welcomed by journalists, politicians, and viewers mourning the loss of loved ones who have died of Covid-19.

On MSNBC, Eddie S Glaude Jr, a Princeton professor of African American studies was emotional as he discussed the event:

Updated

“To heal, we must remember,” Joe Biden said at the memorial event.

Lights surround the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, placed as a memorial to COVID-19 victims .
Lights surround the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, placed as a memorial to COVID-19 victims . Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

“It’s hard sometimes, to remember, but that’s how we heal. It’s important to do that as a nation, that’s why we’re here today, between sundown and dusk, to shine lights in the darkness, along the sacred pool of reflection, to remember all whom we lost,” he said.

Biden, his wife Jill Biden, vice-president-elect Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial, looking down the National Mall to the illuminated Washington Monument, beyond which lay the heavily-guarded US Capitol, where the incoming president and vice-president will be inaugurated tomorrow.

More than a dozen civil rights groups are calling for a Republican election official in Georgia to resign after she called on state lawmakers to change voting rules so that Republicans “at least have a shot at winning.”

The official, Alice O’Lenick, is one of two Republicans on the 5-member board of election and registration in Gwinnett County, which is just outside of Atlanta. O’Lenick, who is currently serving as the board’s chair, said she backs getting rid of no-excuse absentee voting in Georgia, a process Republicans put in place in 2005, and getting rid of ballot drop boxes. Her comments come after Georgia saw record turnout both in the November election and two US senate runoffs, all of which Democrats won in an upset.

“I was on a Zoom call the other day and I said, ‘I’m like a dog with a bone. I will not let them end this session without changing some of these laws,’ “ O’Lenick said, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post. “They don’t have to change all of them, but they’ve got to change the major parts of them so that we at least have a shot at winning.”

The coalition of civil rights groups said it was clear O’Lenick was pushing partisan interests and that she needed to resign.

“Alice O’Lenick isn’t even trying to hide her bias against Democratic voters and voters of color in Gwinnett County,” the coalition said in a statement.

“She has made clear that her only motivation in her position is pure partisanship, engaging openly in rhetoric that is more suited for a political party hack than an elections official. County election board members and chairs should celebrate high voter turnout, regardless of outcome, not advocate laws that will benefit one party over the other.

Republicans in the Georgia legislature have pledged to reexamine the state’s voting laws this year. In addition to weighing whether to get rid of no-excuse absentee voting, they are also reportedly weighing implementing a new requirement to have voters provide a copy of their ID when they submit an absentee ballot. Voting rights groups say this would be an unnecessary hurdle - there was no evidence of fraud in 2020, and voters may not be easily able to submit a copy of their ID.

O’Lenick also said she wants to examine the voter rolls in Gwinnett county to make sure only eligible voters are on them. Georgia has faced criticism in recent years for moving aggressively to remove voters from the rolls.

The memorial included a rendition of “Amazing Grace” by Lori Marie Key, a nurse who works at the Saint Joseph Mercy Health System in Michigan.

A video of Key, 29, singing at the hospital where she works became an online sensation last year. “When I’m at work, I sing – it gives me strength during difficult times and. I believe it helps heal,” she said at the memorial event.

Biden, Harris hold memorial for those who died of Covid-19

Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and their spouses Jill Biden and Douglas Emhoff have gathered at the reflecting pool of the Lincoln Memorial. “To honor the nearly 400,000 lives lost in the United States to this pandemic”, the memorial will “include illuminating 400 lights around the reflection pool”, the inauguration team said.

Updated

In an email to Republican colleagues, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell indicated that he will fight to keep the legislative filibuster in the Senate. Under Senate rules, at least 60 votes are needed in order to bring a bill to a vote, giving the minority party power in indefinitely delaying bills it opposes.

Senate Holds Hearings For Key Biden Cabinet NomineesWASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 19: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell leaves the Senate chamber on January 19, 2021 in Washington, DC. The U.S. Senate has reconvened and is holding hearings for key Biden administration cabinet nominees. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Mitch McConnell leaves the Senate chamber on January 19. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Democrats have a very slim advantage over Republicans in the Senate with 50 Senate seats and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris to be the tie-breaking vote as Senate president, so it’s no surprise that McConnell wants to preserve the filibuster as a check on Democrats.

“Having an equally divided Senate means that we have to work together to get anything done and the spirit of true bipartisan compromise is possible only when each side realizes they must come to the table together,” McConnell wrote in his email, which was obtained by the National Review.

Of course McConnell happily did away with the filibuster to get Donald Trump’s supreme court nominee confirmed without a supermajority, but it’s clear McConnell is hoping to maintain as much influence in the Senate as possible.

While some Democrats like Elizabeth Warren have been vocal advocates of eliminating the filibuster, some Democrats, including Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who is considered the most conservative Democrat, oppose the move.

McConnell and incoming Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer met this afternoon to discuss, among other things, how they plan to divide power in the Senate. After the meeting, Schumer declined to comment on how the meeting went, telling reporters “we discussed a whole lot of issues”.

Updated

Today so far

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • The US coronavirus death toll surpassed 400,000, representing the highest death toll of any country in the world. Joe Biden will soon participate in a service at the Lincoln Memorial to honor the 400,000 Americans lost in the pandemic.
  • Donald Trump shared his farewell address to the nation. The president, who is leaving Washington before Biden’s inauguration tomorrow, wished the new administration success but did not utter the name of his successor.
  • Mike Pence confirmed he will not attend the president’s farewell event tomorrow. The vice-president’s office released his schedule for tomorrow, and it includes only one event: the inauguration of Biden and Kamala Harris.
  • Mitch McConnell acknowledged the violent mob that attacked the Capitol earlier this month was “provoked by the president”. The Senate Republican leader said in a floor speech this afternoon, “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people.”
  • Two National Guard troops were removed from inauguration duty due to ties to far-right militia groups, according to the AP. The FBI has been vetting the thousands of National Guard troops sent to provide security for Biden’s inauguration.

Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Updated

Biden arrives at Joint Base Andrews

Joe Biden and his family arrived at Joint Base Andrews, just outside of Washington, moments ago after a short flight from Delaware.

Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden step off their airplane after arriving at Joint Base Andrews the day before he will be inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States January 19, 2021 at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.
Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden step off their airplane after arriving at Joint Base Andrews the day before he will be inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The president-elect, who will be sworn in tomorrow, will soon participate in a service at the Lincoln Memorial to honor the Americans who have died of coronavirus.

The US coronavirus death toll surpassed 400,000 earlier today, representing the highest death toll of any country in the world.

Updated

Donald Trump concluded his farewell address by nodding at his possible political future, even as he awaits the start of his second Senate impeachment trial.

“Now, as I prepare to hand power over to a new administration at noon on Wednesday, I want you to know that the movement we started is only just beginning,” Trump said, again avoiding saying Joe Biden’s name. “There’s never been anything like it.”

If the Senate votes to convict Trump, the chamber can block him from seeking federal office again. However, it’s unclear whether two-thirds of the Senate, which will soon be split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, would support conviction.

Trump ended his address by saying, “I go from this majestic place with a loyal and joyful heart, an optimistic spirit, and a supreme confidence that for our country and for our children, the best is yet to come. Thank you, and farewell. God bless you. God bless the United States of America.”

Trump is set to leave Washington tomorrow morning, before Biden takes the oath of office. He has less than a day left in his presidency.

Donald Trump celebrated his controversy-laden presidency in his farewell address to the American people.

“I did not seek the path that would get the least criticism,” Trump said of his lone term as president.

“I took on the tough battles, the hardest fights, the most difficult choices – because that’s what you elected me to do.”

The result of that leadership style is that Trump is leaving office with his lowest approval rating since becoming president.

Updated

Donald Trump used his farewell address to tout the success of his administration, saying, “We did what we came here to do – and so much more.”

According to PolitiFact, the president has broken more than half of the promises that he made to the American people.

The president also celebrated his administration for overseeing the production of coronavirus vaccines, even as the US coronavirus death toll surpassed 400,000 earlier today.

Updated

In his farewell address, Donald Trump thanked the American people for the “extraordinary privilege” of having been elected president.

The outgoing president also offered a message of encouragement to his successor, but Trump avoided saying Joe Biden’s name.

“This week, we inaugurate a new administration and pray for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous,” Trump said.

“We extend our best wishes, and we also want them to have luck – a very important word.”

Updated

White House releases Trump's farewell address

The White House has released Donald Trump’s farewell address, a 20-minute pre-recorded video of the president touting his accomplishments in office.

The release of the video comes one day before the inauguration of Joe Biden, which Trump does not plan to attend.

“My fellow Americans, four years ago, we launched a great national effort to rebuild our country, to renew its spirit and to restore the allegiance of this government to its citizens,” Trump said in the video.

“In short, we embarked on a mission to make America great again for all Americans.”

Pence will attend inauguration but skip Trump's farewell event

Mike Pence will not attend Donald Trump’s farewell event tomorrow, the vice-president’s office just confirmed.

Pence’s office released his schedule for tomorrow, and it includes only one event: the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. (Trump intends to leave Washington before the inauguration.)

Pence also offered a farewell message to the country, sending a tweet that thanked Americans for “the privilege of serving as your Vice President these past four years”.

The tweet included several photos from Pence’s time as vice-president. Trump appeared in none of them.

Updated

Senator Josh Hawley is blocking Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the department of homeland security from quick consideration, over concerns about the incoming administration’s immigration agenda.

Hawley released a statement about his plans after the homeland security secretary nominee, Alejandro Mayorkas, testified at a Senate confirmation hearing.

“Mr. Mayorkas has not adequately explained how he will enforce federal law and secure the southern border given President-elect Biden’s promise to roll back major enforcement and security measures,” Hawley said in a statement.

Biden’s team has indicated he plans to release an immigration bill tomorrow, shortly after taking the oath of office.

Hawley said, “Given this, I cannot consent to skip the standard vetting process and fast-track this nomination when so many questions remain unanswered.”

Democrats have called on the Senate to rapidly confirm some of Biden’s cabinet nominees, and while Hawley’s maneuver will slightly delay Mayorkas’ confirmation, Democrats will still be able to confirm him after tomorrow, when they take control of the chamber.

Since the violent riot at the Capitol, Hawley has come under intense criticism for objecting to the certification of Biden’s victory in the presidential election, and some of his Democratic colleagues have called for his resignation.

Georgia certifies Democrats' victories in Senate races

The Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, announced his office has certified the results of the Senate runoff races that occurred earlier this month.

The final results showed that Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated Kelly Loeffler by 2 points and Democrat Jon Ossoff beat Republican David Perdue by 1 point.

Warnock and Ossoff are expected to be sworn in by vice-president-elect Kamala Harris tomorrow, after she takes her own oath of office at noon.

Harris will also swear in Alex Padilla, the California secretary of state who has been appointed to serve out the remainder of her Senate term.

After the three new senators are sworn in, the Senate will be evenly split, 50-50, between Democrats and Republicans. With Harris serving as a tie-breaking 51st vote, Democrats will take control of the chamber.

White House soon to release Trump's 'farewell address'

The White House said it would release a “farewell address” from Donald Trump in less than an hour, at 4pm ET.

In excerpts released by the White House, the outgoing president says he is praying for Joe Biden, even though Trump has repeatedly claimed (with zero evidence) that Biden won the election because of widespread fraud.

“This week, we inaugurate a new Administration and pray for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous,” Trump will say.

The president also addressed the Capitol riot, but he again declined to accept responsibility for inciting the attack.

“All Americans were horrified by the assault on our Capitol,” Trump will say. “Political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as Americans. It can never be tolerated.”

In typical Trump fashion, he also hinted at his political future. “Now, as I prepare to hand power over to a new administration at Noon on Wednesday, I want you to know that the movement we started is only just beginning,” Trump will say.

However, if the Senate votes to convict Trump in his impeachment trial, the chamber can block him from seeking federal office again.

Updated

Around a dozen members of the national guard have been relieved of duty before Joe Biden’s inauguration as the defense department and FBI vet the 25,000 members who were deployed to DC in anticipation of Wednesday’s events, according to NBC News.

The federal government has taken the possibility of insider threats seriously after multiple rioters who breached the US Capitol were revealed to have ties to law enforcement and the military.

Earlier today, officials said that two members of the national guard had been removed from inauguration security after they were found to have ties to far-right militia groups.

The national guard has not specified what the background checks involve, though reports indicate that the process includes a review of criminal history and comments made to fellow service members.

Updated

More than 400,000 Americans have now been killed by the coronavirus, a horrific marker of the misery the virus has spread across the country, as the rate of deaths from Covid-19 increases.

The latest death toll comes as thousands more deaths are expected in a bleak American winter with widespread Covid transmission, as a more transmissible strain spreads across the country and a mass vaccination campaign gets off to a slow start.

The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center reported 400,022 Americans have died. The burden is disproportionately borne by people of color.

Months of death are still ahead for the US, as people recently infected by the virus become ill and perish. A forecast assembled by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicts that the death toll could be 477,000 by 6 February.

That prediction also represents the clear acceleration of deaths in the US. It took more than 16 weeks for the US to reach 100,000 deaths, but less than five for the toll to leap from 300,000 to 400,000. Many experts expect the US will reach 500,000 deaths in February.

US surpasses 400,000 coronavirus deaths

The US has now lost more than 400,000 people to coronavirus, about ten months after the pandemic started.

According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, 400,022 Americans have died of coronavirus, and the US has confirmed 24,163,707 cases of the virus.

The US has the highest death toll of any country in the world, with Brazil a distant second at 210,299 deaths.

The rate of coronavirus deaths in the US has accelerated in recent weeks, after the Christmas holiday. It took about five months after the first confirmed US case of coronavirus for the country to hit 100,000 deaths, but it has been just a little over a month since the country confirmed 300,000 deaths.

Follow the Guardian’s coronavirus live blog for the latest updates and reporting on the pandemic:

Joe Biden is now en route to Washington, where he will be sworn in as president tomorrow at noon.

The president-elect and his wife, Dr Jill Biden, departed Delaware via a private aircraft, another break with tradition as incoming presidents usually fly to Washington on a government plane.

A US Congresswoman from Georgia voiced support for a baseless conspiracy theory that the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was a “false flag planned shooting” in Facebook comments from 2018.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia who was elected in November, has been known to tout nearly every conspiracy theory against Democrats, including QAnon and “Pizzagate”, a conspiracy theory that Democratic leaders were running a human-trafficking and pedophilia ring.

Greene was temporarily suspended from Twitter on Sunday after she posted a thread of conspiracies about the Georgia Senate election.

In her 2018 Facebook posts, which were discovered by Media Matters, Greene posted a story about the county sheriff deputy who failed to go after the Parkland gunman, opting to stay outside the high school while the shooting took place, receiving a retirement pension.

“It’s called a pay off to keep his mouth shut since it was a false flag planned shooting,” one commenter said. “Exactly” Greene commented.

“Kick back for going along with the evil plan. You know it’s not for doing a good job,” another commenter said. “My thoughts exactly!! Paid to do what he did and keep his mouth shut!” Green said.

Biden: 'I know these are dark times, but there is always light'

Joe Biden was emotional as he took the stage to deliver a farewell address to a Delaware crowd before leaving for Washington, wiping a tear from his eye.

The president-elect said it was important to him that his trip to Washington for the inauguration begin in Delaware because it has been so important to his family.

“It’s deeply personal that our next journey to Washington starts here — the place that defines the very best of who we are as Americans,” Biden said.

Echoing his campaign messaging, the president-elect offered a message of hope a day before he is sworn in as president.

“I know these are dark times, but there is always light,” Biden said. “That’s what makes this state so special.”

Paraphrasing the writer James Joyce, Biden said, “When I die, Delaware will be written on my heart.”

Biden said he only had one regret: that his late son, Beau, was not here “because we should be introducing him as president”.

Updated

Biden holds sendoff event in Delaware

Joe Biden is now holding a sendoff event in Delaware, before he leaves for Washington to be sworn in as president tomorrow.

The president-elect is speaking at the Major Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III National Guard/Reserve Center at the New Castle airport near Wilmington, Delaware. The center is named for Biden’s late son, who died of brain cancer in 2015.

Biden had hoped to travel to Washington on Amtrak, an homage to his commute to the Capitol during his 36 years as a US senator of Delaware, but security concerns forced him to fly to DC.

Biden was introduced by John Carney, the Democratic governor of Delaware. “Joe Biden was born for this moment,” Carney said. “He believes in all of us more, I think, than we believe in ourselves.”

He added, “Today I could not be more proud to be the governor of this state that gave the country Joe Biden.”

Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, in anticipation of the switching of their roles, will be meeting this afternoon to discuss how they plan to formally divide their power.

With incoming Georgia Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock and Alex Padilla, who will take Kamala Harris’ vacant Senate seat, swearing into their roles tomorrow, Democrats and Republicans will have an even 50-50 split of the Senate. Harris, as vice-president and president of the Senate, will offer Democrats a tie-breaking vote and give them a slight edge in the chamber.

While a 50-50 split is unusual, this is not the first time the Senate has seen such a divide. Schumer and McConnell will likely agree to following the same rules that were set in early 2001, the last time the two parties had an equal number of Senate seats.

Democrats will still head the chamber’s committees, allowing them to set their committees’ agenda, but will have the same number of members as Republicans in each committee. Upon agreement between Senate leaders, a bill that receives a tie in votes in its committee would be allowed to advance to the Senate floor.

The Senate will need to confirm these procedures before they go into effect. Speaking to reporters today, Schumer said “we hope we can come to an agreement” and cited the urgency of conducting an impeachment trial, confirming Joe Biden’s cabinet nominees and passing Covid-19 relief.

Today so far

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Mitch McConnell acknowledged the violent mob that attacked the Capitol earlier this month was “provoked by the president.” The Senate Republican leader said in a floor speech this afternoon, “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people.”
  • Two National Guard troops were removed from inauguration duty due to ties to far-right militia groups, according to the AP. The FBI has been vetting the thousands of National Guard troops sent to provide security for Joe Biden’s inauguration.
  • Today is Donald Trump’s final full day in office, and the president is expected to release a flurry of pardons before leaving the White House tomorrow.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Chuck Schumer, the incoming Senate majority leader, outlined the chamber’s early agenda in his floor speech moments ago.

The Democratic leader said the chamber would have to tackle three tasks simultaneously: Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, confirmation of Joe Biden’s nominees and the passage of another coronavirus relief package.

Biden has discussed the possibility of the Senate splitting up its workday, with the mornings focused on the impeachment trial and the afternoons focused on confirming his nominees.

Once the Senate receives the article of impeachment from the House, the chamber is required to start a trial to determine whether Trump should be convicted.

Schumer says Trump 'should not be eligible to run for office ever again'

Chuck Schumer, the incoming Senate majority leader, condemned Donald Trump and outlined the chamber’s early agenda in a floor speech this afternoon.

The Democratic leader lamented how the Capitol is being guarded by troops today, one day before Joe Biden’s nomination, because of the violent attack on the building by a pro-Trump mob earlier this month.

“As we speak, there are more troops in and around the Capitol than there are in Afghanistan,” Schumer said.

Looking ahead to Trump’s impeachment trial, Schumer made an impassioned case for the president’s conviction. Schumer argued Trump would continue to “poison the public arena” if he was able to launch another presidential campaign.

“Donald Trump should not be eligible to run for office ever again,” Schumer said. “All of us want to put this awful chapter in our nation’s history behind us. Healing and unity will only come if there is truth and accountability.”

Schumer went on to say, “Let me be clear. There will be an impeachment trial in the US Senate.” He added, “If the president is convicted, there will be a vote on barring him from running again.”

It would take 17 Republicans, along with every Democrat in the Senate, to convict Trump.

McConnell: Capitol mob was 'provoked by the president'

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, acknowledged the violent mob that attacked the Capitol earlier this month was “provoked” by Donald Trump.

Speaking on the Senate floor, McConnell said, “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people.”

McConnell applauded the Senate for reconvening to certify Joe Biden’s victory after the attack, even though several Republican senators supported objections to the electoral votes from Arizona and Georgia, which Biden won.

One of those Republican objectors was Ted Cruz, who was presiding over the Senate as McConnell delivered his floor speech.

“We stood together and said an angry mob would not get veto power over the rule of law in our nation, not even for one night,” McConnell said.

McConnell has signaled he is open to voting to convict Trump when the Senate takes up the article of impeachment passed by the House last week.

It would take 17 Republican senators, along with every Senate Democrat, to convict Trump and block him from seeking federal office again.

Updated

It is noon in Washington, which means there are exactly 24 hours left in Donald Trump’s presidency.

Joe Biden will take the oath of office at noon tomorrow, marking the official start of his four-year term as president.

Trump is expected to have already left Washington by the time that Biden is sworn in, breaking with the tradition of outgoing presidents attending the inaugurations of their successors.

The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports on the first bill Senate Democrats are introducing after flipping the chamber:

The first bill Senate Democrats will push with their new majority will include sweeping changes to America’s voting and campaign finance laws, Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, announced Tuesday.

The legislation echoes a bill House Democrats passed in 2019 that would, among other measures, require states to automatically register voters who interact with certain state agencies, offer same day voter registration, online voter registration, and early voting.

It would also place stricter limits on how states can go about removing voters from the rolls, require states to set up independent redistricting commissions to draw congressional lines, and prohibit states from disenfranchising anyone who is on parole or probation.

The bill would amount to one of the most significant overhauls of America’s voting laws in the nation’s history. It comes weeks after Republicans attempted to throw out the results of an election in which a record number of people voted.

It would also set voting rules for federal elections, which Congress has the power to regulate. And like all legislation in the Senate, it needs the approval of 60 senators to survive a filibuster. There is a growing chorus of Democrats who say the party should eliminate the filibuster to allow Democrats to pass legislation with a simple majority threshold.

On the campaign finance side, the bill would require the disclosure of donors who contribute more than $10,000 to super PACs and 501c(4) groups and require more transparency in political advertisement purchases, among other measures.

Avril Haines also told the Senate intelligence committee that she would work to complete a public threat assessment of the conspiracy movement QAnon if she is confirmed as the director of national intelligence.

Martin Heinrich, a Democratic senator from New Mexico, noted he requested such an assessment from the intelligence community last month but has not yet received a response.

Asked if she would commit to working with the FBI and the department of homeland security to provide that assessment, Haines said she “absolutely” would.

Social media companies have worked to remove accounts spreading QAnon content since the violent attack on the Capitol earlier this month.

Avril Haines pledged to keep politics out of her leadership of the intelligence community, if she is confirmed as the next director of national intelligence.

“To be effective, the DNI must never shy away from speaking truth to power — even, especially, when doing so may be inconvenient or difficult,” Haines said at her confirmation hearing before the Senate intelligence committee.

“To safeguard the integrity of our intelligence community, the DNI must insist that, when it comes to intelligence, there is simply no place for politics ever.”

If she is confirmed, Haines will be the first woman to lead the intelligence community. At her confirmation hearing, Haines was introduced by Dan Coats, who served as the first director of national intelligence under Donald Trump.

Coats said of Haines, “There’s no doubt in my mind President-Elect Biden has chosen someone who has all the capabilities, qualities, experience, and leadership to be the next director of national intelligence.”

Two troops removed from inauguration duty over far-right militia ties - report

Two National Guard members have reportedly been removed from duty protecting Joe Biden’s inauguration because of their connections to far-right militia groups.

The AP reports:

Two U.S. Army National Guard members are being removed from the security mission to secure Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration. A U.S. Army official and a senior U.S. intelligence official say the two National Guard members have been found to have ties to fringe right group militias.

No plot against Biden was found.

The Army official and the intelligence official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity due to Defense Department media regulations. They did not say what fringe group the Guard members belonged to or what unit they served in.

The FBI has been vetting the thousands of National Guard troops sent to cover the inauguration due to security concerns after the violent riot at the Capitol earlier this month.

The mayor of New York said the city is on track to run out of coronavirus vaccine doses by Friday.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city will start running out of vaccine doses on Thursday and will “have literally nothing left to give as of Friday”.

“It means if we don’t get more vaccine quickly, a new supply of vaccine, we will have to cancel appointments and no longer give shots after Thursday for the remainder of the week at a lot of our sites,” de Blasio said.

The mayor noted the city distributed more than 220,000 doses last week, meaning a New Yorker was vaccinated every three seconds.

State and local leaders have been warning recently that vaccine supply is not meeting expectations. Joe Biden has promised that 100 million Americans will be vaccinated over his first 100 days in office.

As we keep an eye on the White House during Donald Trump’s final full day in office, there also important hearings happening on Capitol Hill today.

Five of Joe Biden’s cabinet nominees will receive confirmation hearings today, before the Senate votes on whether or not to confirm them.

Alejandro Mayorkas, who would lead the department of homeland security if confirmed, is already testifying before a Senate committee, and hearings for Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary nominee, and Avril Haines, who was nominated to serve as director of national intelligence, are also underway.

Hearings for Anthony Blinken, Biden’s nominee to lead the state department, and Lloyd Austin, who would become defense secretary if confirmed, will also take place later today.

The president-elect will host a virtual memorial service this evening to honor Americans who have died of coronavirus.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will participate in a lighting around the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool to honor coronavirus victims. The reflecting pool will be surrounded by 400 lights, representing the nearly 400,000 Americans who have lost their lives to the virus.

Biden and Harris are expected to speak at the event. They will be joined by Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington; Yolanda Adams, a well-known gospel singer; and Lori Marie Key, from the Saint Joseph Mercy Health System in Michigan.

Some of America’s most iconic buildings, like the Empire State Building and the Seattle Space Needle, will also be lit up tonight as a tribute to coronavirus victims.

“The inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris represents the beginning of a new national journey — one that renews its commitment to honor its fallen and rise toward greater heights in their honor,” Tony Allen, the CEO of the presidential inaugural committee, said in a statement yesterday.

“In that spirit, it is important that we pay tribute to those we have lost — and their families — and come together to unite our country, contain this virus, and rebuild our nation.”

Donald Trump is hardly unique in his controversial use of presidential pardons, which have been a sometimes sordid feature of US politics for well over two centuries.

In his final hours in office, Trump is expected to pardon more than 100 people, including political allies, friends and cronies. He has already granted clemency to principal figures from his 2016 campaign.

In seeking to promote his self-interest, Trump is merely following in the footsteps of White House predecessors. Under article two of the US constitution, presidents enjoy broad and unchallengeable powers to pardon individuals for federal crimes. This right is “without limit”, the supreme court has ruled.

This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Martin Belam.

Today is Donald Trump’s final full day in office, and Washington is waiting in nervous anticipation to see what he will do before leaving the White House tomorrow.

There have been reports that the president will issue a flurry of pardons and commutations before leaving office tomorrow. Trump has also reportedly considered preemptively pardoning himself to avoid prosecution after exiting the White House, but it’s unclear whether such a move would hold up in court.

The blog will be keeping an eye on that today, so stay tuned.

Chris Kenning at the Louisville Courier Journal has been interviewing Republican supporters in three rural Kentucky counties where nearly 90% voted for Trump, and has been hearing that the president’s election fraud claims have sunk lasting roots, and that Joe Biden’s appeals for national unity may face an uphill struggle. He writes:

“Anybody who would stop and use the common sense that God gave them would realize the election was stolen. There’s no doubt about it. Too many irregularities. Too many things that just don’t happen by chance. And mathematically impossible,” Kentucky pastor John Isaacs said.

While few said they felt driven to join far-right groups such as militias or to march on state capitols in protests, many cited uncertainty about the future. Some vowed to stop participating in elections, while others promised primary payback against disloyal conservatives, reflecting the challenges ahead for establishment Republicans in a brewing internecine party battle with Trump’s more far-right followers.

“I don’t trust my government after all this crap. I was blind, but my eyes have been opened,” said Dotti Johnson, who wore a cap reading “Armed Infidel” in her McKee S&T general store.

Outside of Inez, in the unincorporated community of Tomahawk, hairdresser Gina Patrick, 60, said she grew up with a father who was a local reporter.

“They’re a communist party. They have radicalized to where they make no sense,” she said of Democrats.

“If somebody told you that if you didn’t see eye to eye with them they were going to take your kids away from you and put you in a concentration camp, and your children, have you reprogrammed, would you want to join with them?” she said. “That’s what the talk is. So, does that sound like unity to you?”

Read more here: Louisville Courier Journal – In deepest-red corners of Kentucky, Trump’s election fraud claims sink lasting roots

Updated

Secretary of state Mike Pompeo appears to be signing off from his role on social media with typical understatement.

When Joe Biden is sworn in as president on Wednesday, he plans to trigger a range of executive orders aimed at solving two of the biggest crises facing the country: the economic downturn and the coronavirus pandemic.

The president-elect’s team has been floating its ideal scenario for how Biden’s first hundred days in office will go. That includes almost a dozen executive orders and pushing for a massive $1.9tn coronavirus and economic stimulus plan. The Biden team is also planning another proposal aimed at reinforcing the economy.

The executive orders concern fighting climate change, battling Covid, pausing payments on student loans, rejoining the Paris climate agreement, and ending the travel ban from Muslim-majority countries. He also plans to quickly take steps to change the country’s criminal justice system and expanding healthcare to low-income Americans.

“President-elect Biden is assuming the presidency in a moment of profound crisis for our nation. We face four overlapping and compounding crises: the Covid-19 crisis, the resulting economic crisis, the climate crisis, and a racial equity crisis,” Biden’s incoming chief of staff, Ron Klain, circulated in a memo the campaign released to the public over the weekend.

Klain added: “All of these crises demand urgent action. In his first 10 days in office, President-elect Biden will take decisive action to address these four crises, prevent other urgent and irreversible harms, and restore America’s place in the world.”

On immigration, Biden is aiming to end some of the hardline immigration policies of the Trump administration. He plans to unveil proposals that will offer a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and foreign aid to countries in Central America. At the same time, however, a Biden official cautioned to NBC that did not mean the next administration would grant entry to all asylum seekers coming to the country.

In laying out his agenda, Biden has worked to frame it as more of a moment for the nation to rally and forget partisan divides. “It’s not hard to see that we’re in the middle of a once-in-several-generations economic crisis with a once-in-several-generations public health crisis,” Biden said during a press conference over the weekend.

“Unity is not some pie-in-the-sky dream, it’s a practical step to getting the things we have to get done as a country get done together.”

Read more of Daniel Strauss’ analysis here: Biden to target Covid and the economy amid stack of orders in first 100 days

Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder attempting to evade Flint water case on location technicality

Attorneys for former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder have told prosecutors that the Flint water case should be dismissed because he was charged in the wrong county.

Snyder was charged last week with two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty. He was indicted by a Genesee County judge who sat as a grand juror and considered evidence presented by prosecutors.

“Neither of these allegations of non-feasance, or failure to act, occurred while the former Governor was in the City of Flint. At all times set forth in the Indictment, our client was the presiding governor of the State of Michigan with the Executive Office of the Governor located at the Romney Building in downtown Lansing,” attorney Brian Lennon said in a letter to prosecutors.

Associated Press report that the letter was attached to a request for documents and other evidence possessed by prosecutors, a typical step by the defense in a criminal case. Lennon indicated in the letter that he soon would formally ask Judge William Crawford to dismiss the case against the former Republican governor.

Snyder was one of nine people charged in a new investigation of the Flint water crisis. The catastrophe in the impoverished, majority-Black city has been described as an example of environmental injustice and racism.

The city, under Snyder-appointed emergency managers, used the Flint River for drinking water in 2014-15 without properly treating it to reduce corrosion. Lead from old pipes contaminated the system. Separately, the water was blamed by some experts for an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, which killed at least 12 people in the area and sickened dozens more.

By the way, aside from the expected issuing of a list of pardons – including to rapper Lil Wayne – the total extent of Donald Trump’s official diary engagements for his last full day in office reads: “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings.”

It is the same precise wording that has been used for pretty much every single day in January so far.

Uganda accuses US ambassador of seeking to subvert African nation's presidential election

One problem that will immediately land in Antony Blinken’s in-tray is the US-Uganda relationship, which has been tested this week in the aftermath of last week’s Uganda’s disputed election.

Reuters report this morning that Uganda accused the US ambassador in the country of seeking to subvert the presidential election by trying to visit the main opposition candidate at his home, which has been surrounded by security forces since the vote.

Troops prevented pop star-turned-legislator Bobi Wine from leaving his house shortly after he returned from voting in Thursday’s presidential election, in which he ran against incumbent Yoweri Museveni. On Tuesday Wine said he and his wife had run out of food, and milk for her 18-month-old niece.

The US embassy said late on Monday that Ambassador Natalie Brown had been stopped from visiting Wine, who it referred to by his real name, Robert Kyagulanyi, at his residence in a suburb in the northern outskirts of the capital. The mission said Brown wanted to check on his health and safety given that he was effectively unable to leave his home.

Government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said Brown had no business visiting Wine, who the army says is being held to prevent potential unrest breaking out in the wake of the result. “What she has been trying to do blatantly is to meddle in Uganda’s internal politics, particularly elections, to subvert our elections and the will of the people,” he said. “She shouldn’t do anything outside the diplomatic norms.”

Opondo said, without providing any evidence, that Brown had a track record of causing trouble in countries where she has worked in the past. The government was watching her, he said.

The US embassy has said last week’s vote was tainted by harassment of opposition candidates, suppression of media and rights advocates and a nationwide internet shutdown. “These unlawful actions and the effective house arrest of a presidential candidate continue a worrying trend on the course of Uganda’s democracy,” it said in the statement.

The public rebuke to the United States from the Ugandan government is relatively unusual as the two nations are allies. Washington supports Ugandan soldiers serving in an African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia and has donated about $1.5 billion to Uganda’s health sector in the past three years.

The man whose responsibility it will be to try and re-build some of those bridges with Europe is Antony Blinken, Joe Biden’s pick for secretary of state, who will be up before a Senate committee today as part of his confirmation process. Humeyra Pamuk writes for Reuters this morning that Blinken will use the opportunity to vow to revitalize those alliances and US leadership:

Blinken, 58, a veteran foreign policy hand who is a close confidant of Biden, will explain why US leadership is vital for the world, while promising a foreign policy that will deliver for the American people.

“When we’re not engaged, when we don’t lead, then one of two things happen: either some other country tries to take our place, but probably not in a way that advances our interests or values. Or no one does, and then you get chaos,” Blinken will say, according to his prepared remarks to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Either way, that does not serve the American people.”

Blinken’s remarks show that the incoming administration is aware of the changed nature of the world from four years ago when Biden was vice president to Barack Obama.

“We’ll engage the world not as it was, but as it is. A world of rising nationalism, receding democracy, growing rivalry with China, Russia, and other authoritarian states, mounting threats to a stable and open international system, and a technological revolution that is reshaping every aspect of our lives, especially in cyberspace,” Blinken will say.

Read more here: Reuters – Biden’s top diplomat, Blinken, vows to revitalize alliances, US leadership

A majority of Europeans believe America’s political system is broken, that China will be the world’s leading power within a decade, and that Joe Biden will be unable to halt his country’s decline on the world stage, according to a report.

While many welcomed Biden’s victory in November’s US election, more Europeans than not feel that after four years of Donald Trump the US cannot be trusted, according to the study by the European Council on Foreign Relations.

“Europeans like Biden, but they don’t think America will come back as a global leader,” said the thinktank’s director, Mark Leonard. “When George W Bush was president, they were divided about how America should use its power. With Biden entering the White House, they are divided about whether America has power at all.”

The survey of 15,000 people in 11 European countries, conducted at the end of last year, found that the shift in European sentiment towards the US in the wake of the Trump presidency had led to a corresponding unwillingness to support Washington in potential international disputes.

At least half of respondents in all 11 countries surveyed felt, for example, that their government should remain neutral in any conflict between the US and China, while no more than 40% in any country said they would back Washington against Russia.

Just over 32% of all respondents – and a startling 53% of respondents in Germany – felt that after voting for Trump, Americans could not be trusted.

“It’s clear that the tumultuous Trump presidency has left an indelible imprint on Europe’s attitude towards the US,” said Ivan Krastev, chair of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, an NGO in Sofia, and an ECFR board member. “The majority of Europeans are now sceptical about the capacity of the US to shape the world. It makes many, rightly or wrongly, want to opt for a more independent role for the EU in the world.”

Read more of Jon Henley’s report here: Majority of Europeans fear Biden unable to fix ‘broken’ US

One feature of the ceremonies leading up to Joe Biden taking his oath tomorrow has been the ‘Field of flags”. Intended to represent the American people who were unable to travel to Washington, nearly 200,000 flags are on display at the National Mall.

Thousands of flags creating a “field of flags” are seen on the National Mall ahead of Joe Biden’s swearing-in.
Thousands of flags creating a “field of flags” are seen on the National Mall ahead of Joe Biden’s swearing-in. Photograph: Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images
As well as the national flag, individual states are represented in the display.
As well as the national flag, individual states are represented in the display. Photograph: Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images

Last night, the Presidential Inaugural Committee lit up the “Field of Flags” with 56 pillars of light that represent the 50 states and US territories.

The “Field of Flags” installation lit up in Washington last night.
The “Field of Flags” installation lit up in Washington last night. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA
The “Field of Flags” is illuminated on the National Mall.
The “Field of Flags” is illuminated on the National Mall. Photograph: Joe Raedle/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Let’s not forget that hot on the heels of the Biden inauguration on Wednesday we are likely to see the spectacle of Donald Trump’s unprecedented second impeachment trial. Andrew Desiderio and Kyle Cheney at Politico have pulled out five things to look out for, including:

Can the Senate even hold a trial for an ex-president? Opinion is of course divided.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, says no: “The Founders designed the impeachment process as a way to remove officeholders from public office — not an inquest against private citizens.”

Steve Vladeck, a University of Texas law professor, disagrees, saying the Constitution doesn’t just provide for removal but also for the Senate to bar that former president from ever holding federal office again.

How likely is a conviction? Desiderio and Cheney point out one element that is very different from Trump’s previous impeachment trial:

Convicting Trump and barring him from holding federal office could clear a pathway for the countless Republicans considering seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, many of whom serve in the Senate. If Trump decided to run for president again in 2024, he could be the favorite to secure the party’s nomination. Mitch McConnell will be the most important person to watch in determining whether the Senate has the votes to convict Trump. If he votes “yes,” it’s easy to see at least 16 other Republicans joining him.

They also point out the disarray on the president’s legal team. Desiderio and Cheney write:

In previous years, a chance to represent presidents would be a lawyer’s dream, a crowning career achievement that could also mean lucrative professional opportunities in the future. But Trump has proven to be a difficult client and, in this case, a toxic one. Few appear to be lining up to eagerly combat charges that the president — through a monthslong campaign of false and pernicious claims of election fraud — motivated the frothing 6 Jan January mob to attack the Capitol and hunt down Pelosi and vice president Mike Pence.

Read more here: Politico – 5 things to watch at Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial

Poppy Noor reports for us this morning on Rep. Cori Bush’s first two weeks in the House. She tells of what it was like to be in the Capitol during the attack, getting booed for denouncing white supremacy, and the Republicans who mistook her for Breonna Taylor:

Being mistaken for Breonna Taylor was … Disappointing. We had just arrived to the auditorium, people were getting settled, walking around and introducing themselves. I was wearing a Breonna Taylor mask. Someone walked up to me and said “Hello Breonna,” and it stunned me. I paused, thinking, did I hear them correctly? I turned my head to make sure no one else was standing there. And then it happened again, and again, and again.

That told me a lot. [The Republican party] dismissed the Black Lives Matter protests publicly, and yet [these representatives] didn’t even understand why we were protesting. Shouldn’t they be paying attention to what’s happening around the country?

Rep. Cori Bush speaks outside of the Democratic National Committee headquarters on November.
Rep. Cori Bush speaks outside of the Democratic National Committee headquarters on November. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Being in the Capitol when white supremacists stormed it was … What I was trained for. I come from the movement – we’ve faced tanks, police dogs, teargas, rubber bullets, you name it. We came here to fight for the people of St Louis, and we were not going to be intimidated by these insurrectionists. We locked ourselves in the office and got to work.

Calling to expel the Republicans who tried to overturn the election was … something I never thought would be my first piece of legislation. This is a sad moment in our nation’s history, but it calls for us to act urgently in defense of democracy. Section 3 of the 14th amendment is clear: no person who works in rebellion against the United States government can hold the office of representative, senator or president. I’m proud to lead my colleagues in holding them accountable.

Read more here: ‘We weren’t intimidated’: A diary of Cori Bush’s first two weeks in the House

Senate to belatedly begin key confirmation hearings for Biden cabinet

Five of president-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet nominees will be up before Senate panels today, in the first step of the confirmation process. Biden will take office tomorrow without key members of the cabinet in place, after the Republican controlled Senate has dragged its heels over scheduling confirmation hearings.

One hearing planned for last week for the appointment of Avril Haines as National Intelligence director was cancelled after one Senator refused to hold the process remotely.

Today’s plan sees nominees for secretary of state, secretary of the treasury, director of national intelligence, defense secretary and secretary of Homeland Security.

At 10am ET (that’s 3pm GMT if, like me, you are in London), Janet Yellen will appear before the Senate Finance Committee, Avril Haines will appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee and Alejandro Mayorkas will appear before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Then at 2pm, Antony Blinken, Biden’s proposed replacement for Mike Pompeo as secretary of state will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Finally, at 3m, retired Gen. Lloyd Austin will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee to be considered for secretary of defense.

That may be the testiest of sessions, as Austin has not been retired long enough to count as a civilian – and it is quite rare for a non-civilian to be placed at the head of the Pentagon. Having said that, Republican Senators recently granted Donald Trump dispensation to appoint Gen. James Mattis into the same role, so it would be seen as hypocritical to now object to Austin on these grounds.

It is possible, though not guaranteed, that some of these could be confirmed in their roles by the Senate tomorrow.

Music stars including Alicia Keys, Mary J Blige and TI have called for the establishment of a US government commission on racial justice within 100 days of the start of the Biden administration.

In 2016, Keys led a video entitled 23 Ways You Could Be Killed By Being Black in America, in which celebrities such as Beyoncé and Bono recited the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Black Americans including Sandra Bland and Philando Castile.

A new video entitled 17 Ways Black People Are Killed in America follows the same format, with musicians including Khalid, Summer Walker and Migos rappers Quavo and Offset describing the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and more.

The video asks for the establishment of a commission first proposed in the US House of Representatives in June 2020 by northern California representative Barbara Lee, entitled the United States Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation. Lee’s proposal was that the commission would “properly acknowledge, memorialise, and be a catalyst for progress, including toward permanently eliminating persistent racial inequities”.

Keys and others call for the commission to be established within 100 days of Biden taking office on Wednesday, to bring about “restorative and reparative action in order to achieve racial justice”.

Keys campaigned with incoming vice-president Kamala Harris at a rally in Arizona in October, telling the crowd: “We’re the bosses of these candidates, which is a 100% true. We hire them! We are allowed to feel the joy in all the rights that have been fought for for so many years.”

Read more of Ben Beaumont-Thomas’ report here: Music stars led by Alicia Keys call for Biden commission on racial justice

Some delicious gossip in Politico’s Playbook this morning which may raise a smile. It appears that Sean Spicer, who was press secretary and White House communications director at the start of Trump’s reign, has applied to join the White House Correspondents’ Association:

Trump’s first press secretary and host of Newsmax’s “Spicer & Co.” Sean Spicer has applied to be a member of the White House Correspondents’ Association. Spicer tells us that he already has congressional credentials and a White House hard pass — a coveted access badge for reporters that allows them to come and go as they please — and has been at the White House multiple times in recent months interviewing officials.

“I thought, why not?” said Spicer. “I cover the White House every day on the show, and I have obviously had a lot to say about the coverage of the White House and the Correspondents’ Association over the last few years. You’re never gonna effect change if you stay on the sidelines.”

It’s a bold step from a man who opened his time as White House mouthpiece by arguing with reality about the size of the crowd that came to Donald Trump’s inauguration. We are not anticipating the first Joe Biden administration press call with Jen Psaki to go the same way.

California is first state to pass 3m Covid cases

California has become the first US state to record more than 3 million known coronavirus infections, as the embattled state grapples with an unprecedented surge of cases that has left hospitals overwhelmed. If California was a country, it would have the sixth highest total caseload in the world, behind only the US, India, Brazil, Russia and the UK.

That remarkable figure, which comes from Johns Hopkins university, was not entirely unexpected for the nation’s most populous state – but the speed at which it arrived has been stunning.

The first coronavirus case in California, home to 40 million people, was confirmed on 25 January 2020. It took 292 days to get to 1 million infections, on 11 November, and then just 44 days to hit 2 million, a milestone reached on 24 December. The state hit 3 million just weeks later.

The count is also far ahead of other large states, such as Texas, with more than 2 million, and Florida, which has topped 1.5 million.

So far more than 33,600 Californians have died due to Covid-19.

Southern and central California have been the hardest hit. In Los Angeles county, the nation’s most populous and the current center of the state’s pandemic, scientists estimate that one in three residents have been infected with Covid-19 at some point since the beginning of the pandemic.

Air quality regulators have recently lifted the limits on the number of cremations that can be performed in Los Angeles county, citing a death rate that is more than double the pre-pandemic norm and an unmanageable backlog of dead bodies.

On average, California has seen about 500 deaths and 40,000 new cases daily for the past two weeks. Although hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions remained on a slight downward trend, officials have warned that could reverse when the full impact from transmissions during Christmas and New Year’s Eve gatherings is felt.

Read more here: California is first state to pass 3m Covid cases

A quick Covid snap from Reuters here, that grocery retailer Aldi has said today it would give US employees up to four hours of pay if they get a Covid-19 vaccination, nearly a week after retailer Dollar General provided a similar incentive.

The German supermarket chain, which has more than 2,000 stores in 37 states, said it would cover costs associated with vaccine administration and implement on-site vaccination clinics at its warehouse and office locations.

Dollar General Corp said last week it would offer frontline employees four hours worth of pay after they get the vaccine. Walmart has agreements with states to administer the vaccine to its employees should they choose to receive it once they are eligible.

Experts concerned over spread of new Covid variant in US as death toll nears 400,000

Coronavirus deaths are rising in nearly two-thirds of American states as a winter surge pushes the overall death toll toward 400,000 amid warnings that a new, highly contagious variant is taking hold.

David Crary writes for Associated Press that as Americans observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pleaded with federal authorities to curtail travel from countries where new variants are spreading.

Referring to new versions detected in Britain, South Africa and Brazil, Cuomo said: “Stop those people from coming here.... Why are you allowing people to fly into this country and then it’s too late?”

The new variant seen in Britain is already spreading in the US, and the Centers for Disease Control and Protection has warned that it will probably become the dominant version in the country by March. The CDC said the variant is about 50% more contagious than the virus that is causing the bulk of cases in the US. While the variant does not cause more severe illness, it can cause more hospitalizations and deaths simply because it spreads more easily.

As things stand, many US states are already under tremendous strain. The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths is rising in 30 states and the District of Columbia, and this morning the US death toll reached 398,686 according to data collected by Johns Hopkins university. It is by far the highest recorded death toll of any country in the world. The US has now seen over 24 million cases.

Ellie Murray, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health, said cases have proliferated in part because of gatherings for Christmas and New Year and compounded previous surges from Thanksgiving and the return of students to schools and universities in the fall.

One of the states hardest hit during the recent surge is Arizona, where the rolling average has risen over the past two weeks from about 90 deaths per day to about 160 per day on 17 January.

“It’s kind of hard to imagine it getting a lot faster than it is right now, because it is transmitting really fast right now,” Dr. Joshua LaBaer, director of the Biodesign Institute research center at Arizona State University told Associated Press. “But there is some evidence that Thanksgiving didn’t help things.”

In other areas of the country, officials are working to ensure that people take the vaccine once they’re offered it amid concerns that many people are hesitant. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, in a livestreamed event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, received a shot, and urged other Marylanders to do likewise.

“We’re all looking forward to the day we can take off and throw away our masks,” Hogan said. “The only way we are going to return to a sense of normalcy is by these Covid-19 vaccines.”

Updated

Arwa Mahdawi writes for us this morning about the legacy of the other Trump woman in the White House – Ivanka:

Ivanka Trump has wound up her time in the White House in the most fitting way possible: with a scandal about a $3,000-a-month toilet. Members of the Secret Service, it was recently reported, were banned from using any of the bathrooms in Jared Kushner and Ivanka’s Washington DC mansion and, instead, had to rent an apartment to relieve themselves in (although Jared and Ivanka have denied this). Talk about flushing taxpayers’ money down the drain.

One imagines Ivanka did not plan to spend her final days in DC dealing with the fallout from a violent insurrection and battling embarrassing leaks about her loos. When she appointed herself special adviser to the president, Ivanka was a handbag and shoe saleswoman bursting with ambition. She was going to empower women everywhere! Little girls around the world would read about Saint Ivanka for decades to come. She would be a role mogul: her branded bags would fly off the shelves.

Four years later, Ivanka’s clothing line has shut down and her personal brand has been damaged enough for a university to cancel her as a speaker. It seems she is persona non grata in New York and her dad has been banned from parts of the internet for inciting violence. By rights, Ivanka should be sobbing into her sheets wondering how everything has gone so wrong.

But Ivanka is a Trump: narcissism and self-delusion are in her DNA. As DC braces for pre-inauguration chaos Ivanka has been blithely tweeting her “achievements” and retweeting praise in an attempt to convince us she has left an important legacy.

According to her Twitter feed, one thing Americans should all be thanking Ivanka for is paid family leave, which has been one of her marquee issues. And, to be fair, if Ivanka is to be praised for anything, it’s for pushing Donald Trump to pass a bill giving federal employees 12 weeks of paid parental time off. Would that have happened without Ivanka? I don’t know. But she facilitated it. Does it make up for the many odious things Ivanka also facilitated? No.

Another of Ivanka’s big projects was the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) initiative, which aims to reach 50 million women in the developing world by 2025 and … well, I’m not sure exactly what’s supposed to happen then. The initiative is so buzzword-laden that it’s somewhat hard to understand. You get the impression Ivanka launched it via vague instructions to “empower women in powerful ways via strategic pillars of empowerment”.

Read more of Arwa Mahdawi’s column here: What is Ivanka Trump’s legacy? Enabling her father’s odious actions

The US first lady said farewell to her role yesterday as she thanked Americans for the ‘greatest honour of my life’ in a recorded video she posted on Twitter.

Melania Trump said: “The past four years have been unforgettable, as Donald and I conclude our time in the White House. I think of all of the people I have taken home in my heart and their incredible stories of love, patriotism and determination.”

Melania Trump was criticised for a statement she released in the wake of the Capitol riots which complained about treatment of her before condemning violence. It also mentioned the name of the police officer killed by the pro-Trump mob in the same sentence as the protestors who had been killed while trying to storm the seat of the US government.

Domenico Monanaro reports for NPR this morning that most Americans think Trump will be remembered as a subpar president. And the comparison with former president Barack Obama is liable to sting:

Most Americans say Donald Trump will go down as either below average or one of the worst presidents in US history, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey.

Almost half think Trump will be remembered as one of the worst presidents in history. Only about a quarter think he was an above-average president or one of the best. By comparison, when President Barack Obama left office, more Americans thought he would be remembered as above average or one of the best presidents, as opposed to a subpar one.

Americans also think Trump has changed the country for the worse, by a 46%-to-38% margin. Usual partisan divides appear here, however, as 8 in 10 Democrats said he changed it for the worse, while 8 in 10 Republicans said he changed it for the better.

The poll also found Americans are the most pessimistic they have been in decades about the direction of the country. But they have more positive views of President-elect Joe Biden, how he’s handled the transition and whether he will do more to unite than divide the country.

Read more here: NPR – Most Americans think Trump will be remembered as a subpar president

Biden to 'hit ground running' and rejoin Paris climate accords on first day in office

Joe Biden is set for a flurry of action to combat the climate crisis on his first day as US president by immediately rejoining the Paris climate agreement and blocking the Keystone XL pipeline, although experts have warned lengthier, and harder, environmental battles lie ahead in his presidency.

In a series of plans drawn up by Biden’s incoming administration for his first day in office, the new president will take the resonant step of bringing the US back into the Paris climate accords, an international agreement to curb dangerous global heating that Donald Trump exited.

The Democrat, who will be sworn in on Wednesday, is also set to revoke a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, a controversial cross-border project that would bring 830,000 barrels of crude oil each day from Alberta, Canada, to a pipeline that runs to oil refineries on the US’ Gulf of Mexico coast. The president-elect is also expected to reverse Trump’s undoing of rules that limited the emission of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from oil and gas drilling operations.

“Day one, Biden will rejoin Paris, regulate methane emissions and continue taking many other aggressive executive climate actions in the opening days and weeks of his presidency,” said Paul Bledsoe, who was a climate advisor to Bill Clinton’s White House, now with the Progressive Policy Institute.

Bledsoe said Biden’s nominees to tackle the climate crisis, spearheaded by the former secretary of state John Kerry, who will act as a climate “envoy” to the world, is “by far the most experienced, high-level climate team US history. They intend to hit the ground running.”

The aggressive opening salvo to help address the climate crisis, which Biden has called “the existential threat of our time”, is set to include various executive orders to resurrect a host of pollution rules either knocked down or weakened by the Trump administration.

The US will convene an international climate summit in Biden’s first few months in the White House and is set to join a global effort to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, which are used in refrigeration and air conditioning and contribute to the heating of the planet.

Read more of Oliver Milman’s report here: Biden to ‘hit ground running’ as he rejoins Paris climate accords

Trump expected to mark final full day in office by issuing around 100 pardons

Donald Trump is widely expected to mark his final full day in office as US president by issuing around 100 pardons. The recipients of the presidential pardon are expected to include high profile names like that of rapper Lil Wayne.

However, sources familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters have suggested that neither the president himself, nor Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani or ex-aide Steve Bannon will be on the list. Neither will members of Trump’s family get pre-emptive pardons.

While the constitutional legality of a presidential self-pardon remains untested, aides have cautioned Trump that pardoning himself and members of his family may imply guilt that becomes a liability in future state or civil lawsuits against the Trump family and businesses.

It has also been suggested that a self-pardon could antagonise some Republican Senators who will be voting during the second Trump impeachment trial, expected later this month.

Lil Wayne pleaded guilty last month to possessing a loaded, gold-plated handgun when his chartered jet landed in Miami in December 2019. He faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison at a 28 January hearing in Miami.

The rap star appeared to support Trump during last year’s presidential campaign when he tweeted a photo of himself with the president and said he backed Trump’s criminal justice reform program and economic plan for African Americans.

Lil Wayne performs during the 2015 iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Lil Wayne performs during the 2015 iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Photograph: Steve Marcus/Reuters

The New York Times reports that the list of pardons and commutations is expected to include former New York Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, 76, who was convicted of corruption charges in 2015. After a lengthy legal process, Silver was sentenced in July 2020 to 6-and-a-half years in prison and a $1 million fine. He is currently held in the federal prison at Otisville, New York.

Also said to be under consideration for a pardon is Sholam Weiss. Weiss was sentenced to 835 years in prison in 2000 for crimes including racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering. It is frequently described as the longest ever sentence imposed in the US for a “white collar” crime.

Steve Bannon, 66, who has pleaded not guilty to charges that he defrauded donors to “We Build the Wall,” an online fundraising campaign that raised $25 million, is not expected to be on the list. Neither is Rudy Giuliani.

It is reported that Giuliani has fallen out with the president over unpaid legal fees, and the lawyer has already recused himself from defending Donald Trump in his upcoming Senate impeachment trial, since Giuliani was also involved in the rally on 6 January that preceded a pro-Trump mob ransacking the US Capitol.

Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder, another name frequently mentioned in connection to a possible Trump pardon, was also not expected to be on the list.

The list of pardons has been prepared over the weekend in a series of meetings involving White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

It is traditional for US presidents to issue pardons and clemency at the end of their term in office. Barack Obama commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning in 2017, George W. Bush commuted the sentence former staffer Lewis “Scooter” Libby who had been found guilty of perjury, and Bill Clinton controversially pardoned Marc Rich in a move widely criticised as being corrupt after Rich’s ex-wife had made substantial donations to Clinton-related causes.

Amid the heightened security, though, there will still be plenty of traditional show. Here are some of the pictures to come out of yesterday’s rehearsal for Joe Biden’s inauguration.

US military members participate in a rehearsal for the inauguration of Joe Biden.
US military members participate in a rehearsal for the inauguration of Joe Biden. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA
Preparations are made prior to a dress rehearsal for the 59th inaugural ceremony for president-elect Joe Biden and vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Preparations are made prior to a dress rehearsal for the 59th inaugural ceremony for president-elect Joe Biden and vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AFP/Getty Images
Members of the military stand around prior to a dress rehearsal for the inauguration.
Members of the military stand around prior to a dress rehearsal for the inauguration. Photograph: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
US military members participate in a rehearsal for the inauguration.
US military members participate in a rehearsal for the inauguration. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

Biden inauguration tomorrow will see tightest Washington security measures in recent memory

There’s one very obvious and immediate legacy of Trump’s presidency and the 6 January storming of the US Capitol that it inspired. Joe Biden’s inauguration tomorrow will take place amid the tightest security measures in Washington in recent memory.

25,000 National Guard soldiers from across the east coast are stationed in the city. The streets around the Capitol remain eerily empty as all but the most determined protesters have stayed away.

The FBI has even been forced to vet all troops who are guarding the event because of fears of an insider attack on the president-elect.

In a cold, sombre, damp Washington four years ago this Wednesday, Donald Trump took the oath of office as the 45th president of the United States and delivered an inaugural address now remembered for two words: American carnage.

He delivered, but not as he promised. Trump pledged to end the carnage of inner-city poverty, rusting factories, broken schools and the scourge of criminal gangs and drugs. Instead his presidency visited upon the nation the carnage of about 400,000 coronavirus deaths, the worst year for jobs since the second world war and the biggest stress test for American democracy since the civil war.

“It’s not just physical carnage,” said Moe Vela, a former White House official. “There’s also mental carnage and there’s spiritual carnage and there’s emotional carnage. He has left a very wide swath of American carnage and that is the last way I would want to be remembered by history, but that is how he will be remembered.”

Trump campaigned for president as a change agent but millions came to regard him as an agent of chaos. His line-crossing, envelope-pushing, wrecking-ball reign at the White House crashed in a fireball of lies about his election defeat and deadly insurrection at the US Capitol. Future generations of schoolchildren will read about him in textbooks as a twice-impeached one-term president.

It all began in earnest in June 2015 when the property tycoon trundled down an escalator at Trump Tower in New York and announced a presidential run based on “America first” nationalism and building a border wall. Exploiting white grievance, economic dislocation and celebrity culture, he clinched the Republican nomination and promised: “I alone can fix it.” He lost the national popular vote to Hillary Clinton but lucked his way to victory in the electoral college.

The first person elected to the White House with no previous political or military experience, he represented a shock to the system and rebuke to the establishment.

Read more of David Smith’s analysis of Donald Trump’s reign: Lights go out on Trump’s reality TV presidency but dark legacy remains

Welcome to our live coverage of US politics on the day before Joe Biden becomes president.

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