Summary
Here’s a recap, from me, Joan E Greve and Sam Levine:
- Joe Biden called for 100 million Americans to receive coronavirus vaccines during his first 100 days in office. At an event where he formally introduced his team of health care advisers, the president-elect also reiterated his call for Americans to wear masks for 100 days to limit the spread of coronavirus and said a majority of schools should reopen shortly after his inauguration, assuming Congress allocates funds to make that possible.
- Biden confirmed Lloyd Austin would be nominated to lead the defense department. If confirmed, Austin would be the first African American to serve as defense secretary. But the retired four-star general will need to receive a waiver from Congress before being confirmed because of his recent military service.
- Biden is expected to name Marcia Fudge, a representative of Ohio, as his pick to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She was initially campaigning to be agriculture secretary.
- An FDA analysis of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine raised no safety concerns, lifting hopes that the vaccine could soon become available to American adults.
- Donald Trump peddled baseless claims about the election during an event on vaccine distribution. “Hopefully the next administration will be the Trump administration because you can’t steal hundreds of thousands of votes,” the president said. “You can’t have fraud and deception and all of the things that they did and then slightly win a swing state.” Fact-check: Biden has been declared the winner of the presidential election, and there has been no evidence of widespread fraud.
- A federal judge dismissed the criminal case against Michael Flynn, two weeks after Trump issued a pardon for his former national security adviser. In his decision, judge Emmet Sullivan emphasized that the pardon did not mean Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, was innocent.
- The attorney general of Texas is suing four battleground states in the US supreme court over their presidential election results. Attorney general Ken Paxton, a Republican, accused Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to pass last-minute changes to voting laws. Legal experts said there was little to no chance of the supreme court taking up the case.
- The US supreme court on Tuesday turned away a longshot bid by Pennsylvania Republicans to overturn the election results in Pennsylvania, where Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the 2020 race. The suit, filed on behalf of Mike Kelly, a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, took issue with a 2019 state law that adopted no-excuse absentee voting.
Updated
In Arizona, the state’s Supreme Court rejected yet another Republican challenge to the election:
BREAKING:
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) December 9, 2020
The Supreme Court of Arizona REJECTS Republicans' election contest.
"IT IS ORDERED affirming the trial court decision and confirming the election of the Biden Electors." cc: @LawCrimeNews pic.twitter.com/7gCtMLajxI
Today is the “save harbor” day – the deadline for states to resolve election-related disputes. So far, last-ditch Republican efforts to challenge the election have been fruitless.
Read more from the Guardian’s Sam Levine:
Trump officials scramble to justify decision not to buy extra Pfizer vaccine doses
The Trump administration on Tuesday scrambled to justify a decision not to buy millions of backup doses of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer as the vaccine appeared likely to become the first approved for use in the United States.
Joe Biden pledges to distribute 100m vaccine shots in first 100 days of presidency – liveRead more
Government regulators with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced favorable preliminary findings on Tuesday from a review of Pfizer data, following approval for use in the UK and the first post-approval vaccination there.
The Trump administration last spring made a deal for 100m doses of the Pfizer vaccine candidate, but the administration turned down an offer to reserve additional doses, Scott Gottlieb, a current Pfizer board member and former FDA commissioner, confirmed on Tuesday.
“Pfizer did offer an additional allotment coming out of that plan, basically the second-quarter allotment, to the US government multiple times – and as recently as after the interim data came out and we knew this vaccine looked to be effective,” Gottlieb told CNBC.
“I think they were betting that more than one vaccine is going to get authorized and there will be more vaccines on the market, and that perhaps could be why they didn’t take up that additional 100m option agreement.”
With global demand for its vaccine soaring following successful trial results and approval in the United Kingdom, New York-based Pfizer cannot guarantee the United States additional doses before next June, the New York Times reported.
The extent to which the decision not to acquire more of the Pfizer vaccine could impede the vaccination effort in the United States was unclear.
The news came as the US was on the verge of surpassing 15 million coronavirus cases, the highest number in the world.
Read more:
Congress passes National Defense Authorization Act with veto-proof majority
The bill passed 335-78, including a provision to rename Confederate bases.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) secures military spending and has passed every year for nearly the past six decades. But Donald Trump threatened to veto the bill this year due to the inclusion of a provision to rename military bases and monuments honoring Confederate commanders. Trump also wanted the bill to repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which allows social media companies immunity for content published by users.
Congress passed the bill with more than the 2/3 majority needed to avert a presidential veto.
Updated
The US election's 'safe harbor' deadline is here. What does that mean for Biden?
From the Guardian’s Sam Levine:
While Donald Trump continues to falsely insist he won the 2020 race, Tuesday marks an important deadline further cementing that Joe Biden will be inaugurated as America’s 46th president on 20 January.
This year, 8 December is the so-called “safe harbor” deadline, which federal law says must fall six days before electors meet across the country to cast their votes for president. The statute says that as long as states use existing state law to resolve disputes about electors by the deadline, the votes cast by those electors will be “conclusive”. It is meant to act as a safeguard so that Congress, which will count the electoral votes on 6 January, can’t second-guess or overturn the election results.
At least one Republican member of Congress, Mo Brooks of Alabama, has said he will object to electors and Republicans in Pennsylvania have urged lawmakers to do the same. Those challenges are unlikely to be successful because a majority of both houses would have to agree to the challenge. Democrats control a majority of the US House of Representatives.
The Guardian spoke to Edward Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University, about the importance of the safe harbor deadline and what it could mean.
Why is the safe harbor deadline so important?
The key concept of safe harbor is the benefit that states get if they meet it. But it’s optional.
It’s desirable that they get this benefit, but it’s not essential. And what makes it desirable is Congress promises to accept as “conclusive” – that’s the statutory language – any resolution that the state itself meets if it complies with these two requirements, one being timing and the other being the use of existing law.
A state puts itself in as good a position as possible to have its electoral votes accepted by Congress if it’s safe-harbor-compliant. Because if Congress obeys its own promise, then it’s a done deal.
Lacking safe harbor status doesn’t mean a state’s electoral votes are going to be rejected by Congress. It just means that they’re arriving in Congress without the benefit of a super-shield, if you will.
Read more:
The AP has confirmed the news that Biden is expected to choose Fudge for housing secretary...
WASHINGTON (AP) — AP sources: President-elect Joe Biden plans to name Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge his housing and urban development secretary.
— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) December 8, 2020
Updated
Report: Joe Biden to pick representative Marcia Fudge for housing secretary
Biden is expected to name Marcia Fudge, a representative of Ohio, as his pick to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Politico reports.
From Politico:
The offer to lead the roughly $50 billion housing agency comes after weeks in which Fudge launched a bid to become the first Black female Agriculture secretary.
Fudge, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, and her allies in the Congressional Black Caucus had lobbied openly for the USDA job. Biden is now leaning toward choosing former Obama agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack, however.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) — whose endorsement was pivotal in helping Biden secure the nomination — has pushed aggressively for Fudge to be named to the Cabinet and said earlier Tuesday she would land a top job. The Cleveland congresswoman also has the support of Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, which will handle her nomination.
A spokesperson for Fudge did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Biden transition declined to comment.
Fudge lamented just last month in an interview with POLITICO that Black policymakers have traditionally been relegated to just a handful of Cabinet positions — including HUD secretary.
Updated
A $908bn relief plan brought by moderate senators from both parties did not include a second round of direct payments to Americans, drawing objections from some Democrats and Republicans.
It’s unclear whether this new $916bn plan will include direct payments. Donald Trump has reportedly expressed a willingness to send a second round of checks.
Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, said he spoke with House speaker Nancy Pelosi today and made a $916bn coronavirus relief proposal.
Statement on my discussions with @SpeakerPelosi on COVID relief. pic.twitter.com/z3g2geg4sl
— Steven Mnuchin (@stevenmnuchin1) December 8, 2020
Republicans on the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies voted against a resolution that would recognize Joe Biden as president-elect.
Republicans on the committee, which includes members of the Senate and House, voted against a motion affirming that they were planning an inauguration for Biden. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and Senator Roy Blunt voted against, resulting in a tied vote against House Majority leader Steny Hoyer, House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Amy Klobuchar.
The majority of Republicans on Capitol Hill have yet to acknowledge that Biden has won the election, despite the fact that the states that have certified their elections give the Democrats enough electoral votes to be president.
Joe Biden will hold an event tomorrow afternoon in Wilmington, Delaware with Lloyd Austin, his pick for defense secretary.
If confirmed, Austin will be the first Black secretary of defense. But it could be a tough road ahead to confirm. An officer is required to leave at least seven years after leaving service before becoming secretary of defense. Austin, a retired general, left service just four years ago and will need to receive a waiver in order to take the post.
Updated
Supreme court rejects Republican effort to overturn Pennsylvania results
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
The US supreme court on Tuesday turned away a longshot bid by Pennsylvania Republicans to overturn the election results in Pennsylvania, where Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the 2020 race.
The suit, filed on behalf of Mike Kelly, a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, took issue with a 2019 state law that adopted no-excuse absentee voting.
Several courts, including the Pennsylvania supreme court, had already denied the request, noting that Kelly waited until after the 2020 election to file his suit when the law was in place well before the election.
The case is the first piece of 2020 election litigation to reach the US supreme court, but the decision is not a surprise. As is customary with emergency requests, the supreme court did not offer an explanation for its decision. There were no noted dissents.
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:
- Joe Biden called for 100 million Americans to receive coronavirus vaccines during his first 100 days in office. At an event where he formally introduced his team of health care advisers, the president-elect also reiterated his call for Americans to wear masks for 100 days to limit the spread of coronavirus and said a majority of schools should reopen shortly after his inauguration, assuming Congress allocates funds to make that possible.
- Biden confirmed Lloyd Austin would be nominated to lead the defense department. If confirmed, Austin would be the first African American to serve as defense secretary. But the retired four-star general will need to receive a waiver from Congress before being confirmed because of his recent military service.
- An FDA analysis of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine raised no safety concerns, lifting hopes that the vaccine could soon become available to American adults.
- Donald Trump peddled baseless claims about the election during an event on vaccine distribution. “Hopefully the next administration will be the Trump administration because you can’t steal hundreds of thousands of votes,” the president said. “You can’t have fraud and deception and all of the things that they did and then slightly win a swing state.” Fact-check: Biden has been declared the winner of the presidential election, and there has been no evidence of widespread fraud.
- A federal judge dismissed the criminal case against Michael Flynn, two weeks after Trump issued a pardon for his former national security adviser. In his decision, judge Emmet Sullivan emphasized that the pardon did not mean Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, was innocent.
- The attorney general of Texas is suing four battleground states in the US supreme court over their presidential election results. Attorney general Ken Paxton, a Republican, accused Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to pass last-minute changes to voting laws. Legal experts said there was little to no chance of the supreme court taking up the case.
Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Senator Doug Jones would not say whether he has recently had talks with Joe Biden about becoming attorney general.
“I know that the transition team has a really good process that’s working out really well I think so far,” the Alabama Democrat said on Capitol Hill.
Doug Jones, the outgoing Dem senator, wouldn’t say if he’s had talks recently with Biden or his team on AG job. “I know that the transition team has a really good process that's working out really well I think so far,” he said.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 8, 2020
“I’m not going to comment any further.”
NBC News reported earlier today that Jones is now the leading contender to become attorney general, although former deputy attorney general Sally Yates and federal judge Merrick Garland are also under consideration.
Jones has been in the Senate since winning a 2017 special election, but he lost his bid to serve a full term last month. He and Biden have known each other for decades.
As soon as Lloyd Austin’s nomination as defense secretary was officially announced, the Atlantic published an op-ed from Joe Biden defending the choice, and another contender for the job, Michèle Flournoy, released a statement congratulating Austin.
The coordinated publicity campaign seemed to suggest Biden’s team is worried about Austin’s confirmation, as one Daily Beast writer argued.
An oped from Biden around his Lloyd Austin nomination coupled with a statement from Flournoy right as the nomination is made formal suggests that the transition team believes it has work to do to sell this one
— Sam Stein (@samstein) December 8, 2020
Some Democrats have already voiced concerns about granting Austin a waiver to run the department, which the former general will need because of his recent military service.
Depending on how Republicans handle Austin’s nomination, it could be a very close confirmation vote.
Joe Biden has written an op-ed for the Atlantic explaining his nomination of Lloyd Austin to lead the defense department.
The president-elect writes:
Austin’s many strengths and his intimate knowledge of the Department of Defense and our government are uniquely matched to the challenges and crises we face. He is the person we need in this moment. ...
Above all, I chose Lloyd Austin as my nominee for secretary of defense because I know how he reacts under pressure, and I know that he will do whatever it takes to defend the American people. ...
Moreover, we need leaders like Lloyd Austin who understand that our military is only one instrument of our national security. Keeping America strong and secure demands that we draw on all our tools. He and I share a commitment to empowering our diplomats and development experts to lead our foreign policy, using force only as our last resort.
The president-elect also urged Congress to grant Austin a waiver to be confirmed as defense secretary. Because of Austin’s recent military service, he must receive the waiver before assuming the role.
Lloyd Austin retired from military service more than four years ago. The law states that an officer must have left the service at least seven years before becoming secretary of defense. But I hope that Congress will grant a waiver to Secretary-designate Austin, just as Congress did for Secretary Jim Mattis. Given the immense and urgent threats and challenges our nation faces, he should be confirmed swiftly.
But some Democrats have already expressed hesitation about granting the waiver, expressing a desire to honor the tradition of civilian leadership at the Pentagon.
Michèle Flournoy, who was previously considered the leading contender to be nominated as defense secretary, released a statement congratulating Lloyd Austin on his nomination.
And JUST IN: Statement by Michèle Flournoy, who was the other frontrunner for SecDef. "I look forward to helping him and the President-elect succeed in any way that I can." pic.twitter.com/s1JsA5PQHU
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) December 8, 2020
“General Austin is a man of deep integrity who has spent a lifetime in service to our country,” Flournoy said.
“General Austin is a colleague and friend, and I know he will bring his impressive skills to bear to lead all those who volunteer to defend our country, military and civilian, at this critical moment.”
If she had been nominated and confirmed, Flournoy would have been the first woman to lead the Pentagon.
Biden confirms Lloyd Austin to be nominated as defense secretary
Joe Biden confirmed in a new statement that retired four-star general Lloyd Austin would be nominated to lead the defense department.
“General Austin shares my profound belief that our nation is at its strongest when we lead not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example,” the president-elect said.
“He is uniquely qualified to take on the challenges and crises we face in the current moment, and I look forward to once again working closely with him as a trusted partner to lead our military with dignity and resolve, revitalize our alliances in the face of global threats, and ensure the safety and security of the American people.”
If confirmed, Austin would be the first African American to lead the Pentagon. News of his nomination comes as some civil rights leaders have complained about the level of representation of African Americans among Biden’s cabinet members.
However, some Democrats have voiced concern about a recently retired general leading the Pentagon, given the tradition of a civilian leading the department. Austin will have to receive a waiver from Congress to be confirmed.
Judge dismisses Flynn's criminal case after Trump pardon
A federal judge officially dismissed the criminal case against Michael Flynn today, two weeks after Donald Trump issued a pardon for his former national security adviser.
The AP reports:
The order from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan was largely procedural in light of the pardon from President Donald Trump, which wiped away Flynn’s conviction for lying to the FBI during the Russia investigation.
Sullivan made clear in a 43-page order that he was compelled to dismiss the case because of the pardon. But he also stressed that a pardon, by itself, did not mean that Flynn was innocent. Flynn had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts during the presidential transition period with the Russian ambassador.
‘The history of the Constitution, its structure, and the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the pardon power make clear that President Trump’s decision to pardon Mr. Flynn is a political decision, not a legal one,’ Sullivan wrote. ‘Because the law recognizes the President’s political power to pardon, the appropriate course is to dismiss this case as moot.’
Flynn became a cause célèbre among the far right, with many of the president’s supporters pushing claims that Flynn was unfairly targeted by the FBI, even though he pleaded guilty twice.
In recent weeks, Trump has reportedly also weighed potential preemptive pardons for some of his closest advisers, like Rudy Giuliani, and his family members.
The White House is reportedly pushing to include $600 stimulus checks in the next coronavirus relief package.
The Washington Post reports:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) did not include a second round of stimulus payments in the relief proposal he released last week. Senior Republican leadership in Congress are listening to White House officials push for the inclusion of the stimulus checks, the two people said, a provision also broadly supported by congressional Democrats.
President Trump has privately indicated a willingness to send another round of stimulus checks of as much as $2,000, according to one person in direct communication with the president.
Republican senator Josh Hawley has also pushed for another round of stimulus checks, but Republican lawmakers have generally expressed skepticism about the idea.
The first round of stimulus checks was approved as part of the March CARES Act, and the treasury department broke precedent by printing Trump’s name on the checks.
During his vaccine event, Donald Trump was also asked why the White House was holding Christmas parties with hundreds of unmasked guests despite urgent warnings from public health experts to avoid indoor gatherings.
“Well, they’re Christmas parties,” Trump replied. “And frankly we’ve reduced the number very substantially, as you know, and I see a lot of people at the parties wearing masks.”
“They’re Christmas parties, and frankly we’ve reduced the number of them substantially and I see a lot of people at the parties wearing masks,” Trump said after a reporter asked about the White House hosting large gatherings amid the pandemic pic.twitter.com/6IX5MPkzRX
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) December 8, 2020
Trump’s comments came hours after reports emerged that one of his campaign’s legal advisers, Jenna Ellis, had tested positive for coronavirus.
Ellis attended a White House Christmas party on Friday, raising concerns about another coronavirus outbreak among Trump’s senior staffers.
Ellis posted a photo of herself at the party on Instagram. She is not masked in the picture.
Trump peddles false election claims during vaccine event
Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine summit went off the rails when a reporter asked him about coordinating the effort with members of Joe Biden’s transition.
The US president has boasted about the achievement of getting vaccines much quicker than expected and claimed that even his critics were praising “one of the miracles of modern medicine”. He signed an executive order that he said would prioritize the vaccine for Americans before it is shipped abroad.
But once the touchy subject of his election defeat was raised, Trump reverted to ranting about false conspiracy theories that last month’s vote was rigged and stolen from him.
"Well, we're gonna have to see who the next administration is ... hopefully the next administration will be the Trump administration ... we were rewarded with a victory" -- Trump is still lying about his election loss pic.twitter.com/amriO46DW9
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 8, 2020
“Hopefully the next administration will be the Trump administration because you can’t steal hundreds of thousands of votes,” he said in the south court auditorium in the White House grounds. “You can’t have fraud and deception and all of the things that they did and then slightly win a swing state.
“And you just have to look at the numbers, look at what’s been on tape, look at all the corruption and we’ll see you can’t win an election like that. So hopefully the next administration will be the Trump administration, a continuation.”
The homeland security department and state leaders have found no significant evidence of interference or fraud in the election. Back in the real world, as Trump was making his attack on democracy, a sombre Biden was sitting in Wilmington, Delaware, listening intently to Vivek Murthy, his nominee to become surgeon general, assess the challenges ahead.
Speaking at the Wilmington event, vice-president-elect Kamala Harris congratulated Joe Biden on building an impressive team of health care advisers made up of eminently qualified experts.
Harris noted she and Biden spoke to frontline health care workers over the Thanksgiving holiday to express their gratitude for the workers’ service amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The vice-president-elect said one nurse told her it felt like a matter of when, not if, she would contract the virus.
Harris sent this message to those frontline workers: “Help is on the way, and it is long overdue.”
Once Harris’ speech concluded, the event wrapped up. Biden did not take any questions from reporters.
Fauci at Biden event: 'The road ahead will not be easy'
Dr Anthony Fauci, who will serve as Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, filmed a speech that was played during the president-elect’s event in Wilmington, Delaware.
Fauci noted that he was missing the event because the National Institutes of Health is simultaneously holding a ceremony to honor Harvey Alter winning the Nobel Prize in medicine.
The infectious disease expert thanked Biden for allowing him to join his health care advisory team, noting that many of the president-elect’s other advisers are longtime colleagues whom he deeply respects.
Reflecting on past pandemics the US has experienced, Fauci described the coronavirus pandemic as “the toughest one we have ever faced as a nation.”
“The road ahead will not be easy,” Fauci said. “I also know we can get through this pandemic together as a nation.”
Xavier Becerra, Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the department of health and human services, delivered a virtual speech for the Wilmington event.
Speaking from his home state of California, Becerra emphasized the need to get the virus under control in order to help the country recover from the pandemic.
“To build back a prosperous America, we need a healthy America,” Becerra said.
Joe Biden laid out three core goals for his initial response to the coronavirus pandemic after taking office.
President-elect Biden lays out his administration’s goals for the first 100 days:
— The Recount (@therecount) December 8, 2020
1. Masks required “wherever possible”
2. 100 million vaccine shots
3. Opening a majority of schools pic.twitter.com/ltEczL611e
The president-elect once again called on Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days of his administration to limit the spread of the virus, describing mask-wearing as a “patriotic act.”
Biden also called for “100 million shots in the first 100 days” of his presidency, pledging to implement an effective strategy for distributing coronavirus vaccines.
And the president-elect said he wanted to open as many schools as possible during his first 100 days, assuming Congress provides the funding to do so.
Joe Biden mispronounced the name of Xavier Becerra as the president-elect introduced his nominee to lead the department of health and human services.
Biden pronounced Becerra’s last name as “Baqueria” before correcting himself, although the second attempt still did not get it quite right.
The president-elect also incorrectly identified Becerra as his nominee to become “secretary of health and education.”
Biden calls for '100 million shots in first 100 days' of his presidency
During Joe Biden’s event in Wilmington, the president-elect reiterated his call for Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days of his administration to limit the spread of coronavirus.
Biden also pledged to implement an effective vaccine distribution plan, calling for “100 million shots in the first 100 days” of his presidency.
Biden’s event to introduce his health care team comes as the US coronavirus case count surpasses 15 million.
According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, 15,019,092 Americans have now contracted coronavirus, and 284,887 Americans have died of the virus.
The US has reported more cases of coronavirus than any other country in the world. India is a distant second, having confirmed 9,703,770 cases.
Updated
Biden formally introduces team of health care advisers
Joe Biden has taken the podium for his event in Wilmington, Delaware, to formally introduce his team of health care advisers.
Biden announced yesterday that California attorney general Xavier Becerra would be nominated to lead the department of health and human services, a pivotal role amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The president-elect noted today’s event comes near the end of “one of the toughest years we have faced as a nation,” offering condolences to the Americans who have lost loved ones to coronavirus. Nearly 285,000 Americans have now died of coronavirus.
Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is making clear that it will continue to fight to overturn Joe Biden’s victory past today, which is the “safe harbor deadline” for states to certify their results.
“Justice Ginsburg recognized in Bush v. Gore that the date of ‘ultimate significance’ is January 6, when Congress counts and certifies the votes of the Electoral College. The only fixed day in the U.S. Constitution is the inauguration of the President on January 20 at noon,” Rudy Giulaini said in a new statement.
“Despite the media trying desperately to proclaim that the fight is over, we will continue to champion election integrity until legal vote is counted fairly and accurately.”
Giuliani was hospitalized with coronavirus on Sunday, and Jenna Ellis, a legal adviser for the campaign, has reportedly also tested positive for the virus.
Updated
As we await the first collective public appearance of the Biden-Harris health leadership team, Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf has warned that the coronavirus is running rampant throughout his state and could soon force overwhelmed hospitals to begin turning away patients.
Wolf calls it a “dangerous, disturbing scenario” that will become reality if people don’t take steps to slow the spread.
He said additional pandemic restrictions might be on the way but did not elaborate on what his administration might be considering while also acknowledging the ones already in place have not worked, The Associated Press reports.
Wolf said the unchecked spread of the virus in all regions of the state means that resource-sharing agreements among hospitals could soon begin to break down and force them to begin rationing care.
Still, the governor all but ruled out a return to the kinds of statewide restrictions he imposed in the spring, when schools were closed, thousands of businesses deemed non-essential were shut down, and all 12.8 million Pennsylvanians were under a stay-at-home order.
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis has tested positive for coronavirus, according to multiple reports. The news comes days after Ellis attended a White House Christmas party without wearing a mask, raising concerns about another outbreak among senior staffers.
- An FDA analysis of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine raised no safety concerns, lifting hopes that the vaccine could soon become available to American adults.
- The attorney general of Texas is suing four battleground states in the US supreme court over their presidential election results. Attorney general Ken Paxton, a Republican, accused Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to pass last-minute changes to voting laws. Legal experts said there was little to no chance of the supreme court taking up the case.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
A former Trump administration official described it as “absolute insanity” that the White House was still hosting Christmas parties with maskless attendees as coronavirus infections surge across the nation.
Former senior admin official texts me: “it’s absolute insanity the White House continues to host holiday parties, with maskless attendees. No one should be surprised Jenna Ellis tested positive after attending a Christmas party.... https://t.co/PYkMAOP6Pj
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) December 8, 2020
The former official also predicted that there would be additional outbreaks among White House staffers, after Jenna Ellis reportedly tested positive for the virus days after attending a staff party.
Jenna Ellis, the Trump campaign lawyer who has reportedly tested positive for coronavirus, posted an Instagram photo of herself at the White House Christmas party on Friday.
In the photo, Ellis is not wearing a face mask.
Ellis posted a photo on IG at the WH Christmas party on Friday maskless https://t.co/EwBoBGMWfK pic.twitter.com/vY9XtksLop
— Will Steakin (@wsteaks) December 8, 2020
Senator Doug Jones is the leading contender to become Joe Biden’s attorney general, according to NBC News.
Former deputy attorney general Sally Yates and federal judge Merrick Garland, whose supreme court nomination was blocked by Senate Republicans in 2016, are also still being considered for the job.
Biden has also been considering Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland, who was denied a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016 by a Republican-led Senate, and Sally Yates, a former deputy Attorney General, sources say.
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) December 8, 2020
Jones joined the Senate in 2017, after winning a special election in Alabama, but he lost his bid to serve a full term last month.
Biden said yesterday that he intended to announce his pick for attorney general later this week.
White House staffers were reportedly very angry when they learned of Jenna Ellis’ coronavirus diagnosis days after she attended a staff party.
Axios reports:
‘She had the nerve to show up at the senior staff Christmas party knowing everyone was furious with her for constantly stirring Trump up with nonsense,’ said a senior administration official.
Ellis and [Rudy] Giuliani have fanned conspiracy theories about Trump’s loss to Joe Biden as they have sought to keep alive legal challenges or avenues to overturn the election’s results.
The official said the news of her diagnosis after attending the party compounded this anger.
Although it is unclear whether Ellis posed a risk when she attended the White House party, there is concern that her attendance could cause another coronavirus outbreak among Trump’s staff.
A number of Trump’s senior aides, including Hope Hicks and Mark Meadows, have already contracted the virus during past White House outbreaks.
Another Trump campaign official tests positive for coronavirus - report
Jenna Ellis, a legal adviser for Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, has reportedly tested positive for coronavirus, days after attending a senior staff Christmas party.
Axios reports:
There are concerns about the potential for another White House superspreader event, though it was unclear whether Ellis posed a risk when she attended. Ellis declined to confirm the diagnosis to Axios.
‘People brought their families,’ said one senior White House official who attended the party and has since been informed of Ellis’ diagnosis. ...
Ellis showed up to the White House senior staff party in the East Wing on Friday as the guest of Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro and was not seen wearing a mask, according to sources who attended the indoor event.
The news comes two days after Rudy Giuliani, who has worked with Ellis on the Trump campaign’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn the results of the election, was hospitalized with coronavirus.
Senator Pat Toomey, a Republican of Pennsylvania, criticized Donald Trump for trying to reverse Joe Biden’s win in the state.
“It’s completely unacceptable and it’s not going to work and the president should give up trying to get legislatures to overturn the results of the elections in their respective states,” Toomey told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Toomey’s comments come a day after the Washington Post reported that Trump contacted the Republican speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to ask for his help in overturning the results.
Toomey also noted that he spoke with Biden last week to congratulate the president-elect on his victory and discuss possible areas of agreement for future legislation.
“We had a very pleasant conversation,” Toomey said.
Texas attorney general sues battleground states over election results
The attorney general of Texas is suing four battleground states -- Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- in the US supreme court to challenge their presidential election results.
Trust in the integrity of our election processes is sacrosanct & binds our citizenry & the States in this Union together.
— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) December 8, 2020
Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania & Wisconsin destroyed that trust and compromised the security and integrity of the 2020 election.https://t.co/xRB13FMIdU
Attorney general Ken Paxton, a Republican, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit, “Trust in the integrity of our election processes is sacrosanct and binds our citizenry and the States in this Union together. Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin destroyed that trust and compromised the security and integrity of the 2020 election.”
Paxton accuses the states of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to make last-minute changes to voting laws that tainted the legitimacy of their elections.
Donald Trump and his allies have consistently alleged widespread fraud to explain Joe Biden’s victory in the election, but they have presented no evidence to substantiate those claims.
It is also highly unusual for a state official to sue another state over its election laws, given that each state is entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out elections and setting the appropriate laws for them.
The lawsuit was quickly met with mockery from legal experts, who said there was little to no chance of the supreme court taking up the case.
It looks like we have a new leader in the “craziest lawsuit filed to purportedly challenge the election” category:
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) December 8, 2020
The State of Texas is suing Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin *directly* in #SCOTUS.
(Spoiler alert: The Court is *never* going to hear this one.) pic.twitter.com/2L4GmdCB6I
Some Democrats are voicing concerns about Joe Biden’s decision to nominate Lloyd Austin to lead the defense department.
Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and acting assistant defense secretary, said she was concerned about a retired general running the Pentagon.
I have deep respect for Gen. Lloyd Austin. We worked together when he commanded U.S. forces in Iraq, when he was vice chief of the Army, and when he was the CENTCOM commander. But choosing another recently retired general to serve in a role designed for a civilian just feels off.
— Rep. Elissa Slotkin (@RepSlotkin) December 8, 2020
“I have deep respect for Gen. Lloyd Austin. We worked together when he commanded U.S. forces in Iraq, when he was vice chief of the Army, and when he was the CENTCOM commander. But choosing another recently retired general to serve in a role designed for a civilian just feels off,” the Michigan Democrat said in a tweet thread.
As a retired general, Austin would have to receive a waiver from Congress to be confirmed. Such waivers have only been issued twice before, most recently in 2017, when Donald Trump nominated James Mattis as defense secretary.
“The job of secretary of defense is purpose-built to ensure civilian oversight of the military. That is why it requires a waiver from the House and Senate to put a recently retired military officer in the job,” Slotkin said.
“And after the last 4 years, civil-military relations at the Pentagon definitely need to be rebalanced. Gen. Austin has had an incredible career––but I’ll need to understand what he and the Biden Administration plan to do to address these concerns before I can vote for his waiver.”
The House freedom caucus intends to vote against the annual defense authorization act this afternoon, according to CNN.
House Freedom Caucus says they will vote against the NDAA in support of POTUS. They have ~37 members...their no vote could drop total below veto-proof margin.
— Kristin Wilson (@kristin__wilson) December 8, 2020
The news comes after Donald Trump said again this morning that he intends to veto the legislation unless it includes an overhaul of Section 230, which provides liability protections to tech companies in connection to content generated by users.
If all of the House freedom caucus votes against the bill, support for the legislation could drop below the level of a veto-proof majority, raising concerns that Congress would not be able to override Trump’s veto.
Joe Biden attended mass in Wilmington, Delaware, this morning to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
President-elect @JoeBiden, who will be the second Catholic U.S. president when sworn in, attends mass celebrating the Feast of the Immaculate Conception Tuesday morning. He appears to still have a slight limp after fracturing his foot over a week ago. pic.twitter.com/AXrxrzrMJ5
— Marianna Sotomayor (@MariannaNBCNews) December 8, 2020
The Biden transition pool spotted the president-elect entering St Joseph’s on the Brandywine Church while slightly limping, after he fractured his foot last Sunday.
Biden’s presence at the Catholic church is noteworthy, given he will be just the second Catholic to serve as US president, after John F Kennedy.
Later today, Biden is scheduled to formally introduce his team of health care advisers and virtually meet with civil rights leaders.
Donald Trump once again threatened to veto the annual defense authorization act, over lawmakers’ refusal to include an overhaul of Section 230 in the bill.
“I hope House Republicans will vote against the very weak National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which I will VETO,” Trump said in a tweet. “Must include a termination of Section 230 (for National Security purposes), preserve our National Monuments, & allow for 5G & troop reductions in foreign lands!”
I hope House Republicans will vote against the very weak National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which I will VETO. Must include a termination of Section 230 (for National Security purposes), preserve our National Monuments, & allow for 5G & troop reductions in foreign lands!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2020
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides tech companies with legal protection in connection to content generated by users, has been a frequent source of ire for Trump, who has repeatedly clashed with executives at social media companies like Twitter.
Even if Trump were to veto the defense bill, it seems likely to pass anyway, given that both chambers of Congress passed the legislation with veto-proof majorities back in July.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
While Donald Trump continues to falsely insist he won the 2020 race, Tuesday marks an important deadline further cementing that Joe Biden will be inaugurated as America’s 46th president on 20 January.
This year, 8 December is the so-called “safe harbor” deadline, which federal law says must fall six days before electors meet across the country to cast their votes for president.
The statute says that as long as states use existing state law to resolve disputes about electors by the deadline, the votes cast by those electors will be “conclusive”. It is meant to act as a safeguard so that Congress, which will count the electoral votes on 6 January, can’t second-guess or overturn the election results.
At least one Republican member of Congress, Mo Brooks of Alabama, has said he will object to electors and Republicans in Pennsylvania have urged lawmakers to do the same. Those challenges are unlikely to be successful because a majority of both houses would have to agree to the challenge. Democrats control a majority of the US House of Representatives.
The Guardian spoke to Edward Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University, about the importance of the safe harbor deadline and what it could mean:
This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Martin Belam.
Here’s what the blog is keeping an eye on today: Joe Biden is formally introducing his healthcare team in Wilmington, Delaware, this afternoon.
Donald Trump is expected to speak at a White House event on Operation Warp Speed this afternoon, where he will likely tout the development of coronavirus vaccines.
That’s still coming up, so stay tuned.
Updated
Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine offers strong protection against Covid within about ten days – FDA analysis
Noah Weiland and Carl Zimmer at the New York Times bring us this rapid analysis of what is in the FDA’s assessment of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine:
The coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech provides strong protection against Covid-19 within about 10 days of the first dose, according to documents published by the Food and Drug Administration before a meeting of its vaccine advisory group.
The finding is one of several significant new results featured in the briefing materials, which include more than 100 pages of data analyses from the agency and from Pfizer. Last month, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their two-dose vaccine had an efficacy rate of 95 percent after two doses administered three weeks apart. The new analyses show that the protection starts kicking in far earlier.
What’s more, the vaccine worked well regardless of a volunteer’s race, weight or age. While the trial did not find any serious adverse events caused by the vaccine, many participants did experience aches, fevers and other side effects.
New coronavirus cases quickly tapered off in the vaccinated group of volunteers about 10 days after the first dose, according to one graph in the briefing materials. In a placebo group, cases kept steadily increasing.
The vaccine has a high efficacy rate in both men and women, as well as similar rates in white, Black and Latino people. It also worked well in obese people, who carry a greater risk of getting sick with Covid-19.
Read more here: New York Times – Pfizer’s vaccine offers strong protection after first dose according to FDA analysis
A very awkward TV moment for Operation Warp Speed Chief Science Adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui this morning. What wasn’t so difficult was being asked about how and when the US expected to vaccinate the population. Slaoui said:
We are comfortable we will be getting vaccines to the people who need them as soon as possible because there are vaccine doses from Moderna, there are vaccine doses from Pfizer. We will work with Pfizer to try and increase capacity and have those vaccines available. We have two more vaccines, from J&J and AstraZeneca, that would be completing their phase three trials in January and most likely I hope they would be approved for use in February. We have 10s of millions of doses of those vaccines.
He said the US was still on track to immunise the US population by the middle of the year 2021.
However he was then questioned on the executive order which it is reported that Donald Trump will be signing this afternoon, which pledges “to ensure that United States government prioritizes getting the vaccine to American citizens before sending it to other nations.”
Asked what the means, he said:
Frankly, I don’t know. And frankly I’m staying out of this, so I can’t comment.
Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos was somewhat perplexed. It is well worth watching the clip.
BREAKING: Pressed by @GStephanopoulos to explain Pres. Trump's executive order prioritizing Americans’ access to COVID-19 vaccines before the United States helps other countries, "Operation Warp Speed" Chief Science Adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui says, "Frankly I don't know." pic.twitter.com/Wk7ElJKDaw
— Good Morning America (@GMA) December 8, 2020
One person who has added their voice to the condemnation of the US handling of the coronavirus is the late former Republican State Senator from Alabama, Larry Dixon. Wilson Wong reports:
The former senator, Larry Dixon, who died of Covid-19 last week at age 78, was also a former executive director of the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners.
Dr. David Thrasher, a pulmonologist in Montgomery who was a close friend of Dixon’s, said Dixon’s wife, Gaynell Dixon, told him that her husband’s last words to her were a warning to the people of Alabama.
“We messed up. We let our guard down,” Dixon said, according to Thrasher. “Please tell everybody to be careful. This is real, and if you get diagnosed, get help immediately.”
Thrasher said Dixon was exposed to the virus at a social gathering “with a couple of guys” that was hosted outside about two weeks ago.
Thrasher said he was unsure how many people attended, but he said he knew of two other men who attended and had tested positive.
Read more here: Former Alabama state senator dies of Covid at 78, warns in last words, ‘We messed up’
FDA posts first review data into Pfizer/BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine
The UK today has become the first nation to start issuing the Pfizer/BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine to the public. Margaret Keenan, 90, received the first dose at the University Hospital in Coventry.
The US could follow within days. In the last few minutes, the Food and Drug Administration has posted its first review of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine, offering the nation’s first detailed look at the shot’s safety and effectiveness.
I haven’t had a chance to look at the documents yet – but the headlines that are being reported by Reuters so far include:
- safety data from nearly 38,000 participant suggests a favorable safety profile, with no specific concerns identified that would preclude issuance of an emergency use authorisation.
- the vaccine appears to provide some protection after just one dose – with an efficacy of 52% before the second dose.
- individual previously infected with Covid could benefit from the vaccine.
- the FDA says there is currently insufficient data to make conclusions about safety of the Covid-19 vaccine in children less than 16 years of age, pregnant and immunocompromised individuals.
- in the trials, one participant with baseline obesity and pre-exisiting atherosclerosis died three days after receiving the shot.
With the lack of a national strategy for fighting Covid, the vaccine has effectively been the Trump administrations only hope of combating a pandemic whose impact in the US just gets worse and worse.
Updated
China has summoned the acting top US diplomat in Beijing to protest about US sanctions on 14 Chinese officials over Hong Kong, and vowed to take “reciprocal” counter measures, Reuters report.
China’s foreign ministry said on its website on Tuesday that Chinese vice foreign ministry Zheng Zeguang has summoned the acting representative in the U.S. embassy to express “solemn protest and strong condemnation”.
He also said that Beijing will take “reciprocal” counter measures.
The United States on Monday imposed financial sanctions and a travel ban on all 14 vice-chairpersons of China’s National People’s Congress over their role in adopting a national security law for Hong Kong and Beijing’s disqualification last month of elected opposition legislators in Hong Kong.
That’s not the only negative development in US relations with China. Taiwan faces military threats on a daily basis from “authoritarian forces”, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday, as the US announced a new $280 million arms sale package to the Chinese-claimed island, the sixth this year.
China expressed anger at the weapons sale, threatening unspecified retaliation. The outgoing Trump administration has ramped up support for the island democracy, with 11 arms sale packages in total, and on Monday the US government notified Congress of the sale of a new Field Information Communications System.
Such sales - $5 billion worth this year - have riled China, adding to existing tension between Beijing and Washington, with China placing sanctions on US companies involved and stepping up its military activities near Taiwan, including regular air force missions.
Eventually we’ll stop writing about Donald Trump’s failed attempts to overthrow his election defeat to Joe Biden. But not quite yet. Colleen Long and Ed White have looked for Associated Press today at the president’s desperate failure to make any headway in the lawsuits that he has spent millions of dollars on.
Judges have been among the harshest critics of the legal arguments put forth by Trump’s legal team. On Monday, US District Judge Linda Parker threw out a lawsuit challenging Michigan’s election results that had been filed two days after the state certified the results for Biden. Parker said the case embodied the phrase “This ship has sailed.”
The lawsuit sought to reverse the certification and impound all voting machines for inspection — “relief that is stunning in its scope and breathtaking in its reach,” the judge said. “Plaintiffs ask this court to ignore the orderly statutory scheme established to challenge elections and to ignore the will of millions of voters. This, the court cannot, and will not, do,” she said. “The people have spoken.”
Trump is rapidly running out of legal runway for his outrageous and unprecedented attempt by a sitting US president to subvert democracy. Out of roughly 50 lawsuits filed, more than 35 have been dropped or dismissed.
In Georgia, US District Judge Timothy Batten dismissed a lawsuit filed by attorney Sidney Powell. Batten said the lawsuit sought “perhaps the most extraordinary relief ever sought in any federal court in connection with an election.”
“They want this court to substitute its judgment for that of two-and-a-half million Georgia voters who voted for Joe Biden and this I am unwilling to do,” Batten said.
Much like Trump, the president’s lawyers try to blame the political leanings of the judge after their legal arguments are flayed. When a federal appeals panel in Philadelphia rejected Trump’s election challenge just five days after it reached the court, Trump legal advisor Jenna Ellis called their work a product of “the activist judicial machinery in Pennsylvania.”
But Trump appointed the judge who wrote the opinion.
A data scientist in Florida who is embroiled in a dispute with the state’s Republican governor over the handling of coronavirus figures, has had her home raided by armed police and computers confiscated.
Rebekah Jones posted a video of the raid that showed state police carrying handguns escorting her out of her Tallahassee home. She can be heard saying: “He just pointed a gun at my children,” with her husband and two children apparently upstairs at the time. You can watch it here:
Virginia police officers face additional misdemeanor charges over actions during May BLM protest
There’s not a great deal of detail here yet to be honest, but Associated Press are reporting that two Virginia police officers face more misdemeanor charges relating to their actions during May’s Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
Richmond police detectives Mark Janowski and Christopher Brown were each charged with two more misdemeanor counts of assault and battery on Monday, building on a previous count of each charge. Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin confirmed the additional indictments but declined to provide further comment.
Authorities have released no details about what they allegedly did to merit the charges on 31 May, during the second night of protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.
Janowski, 34, has been with the department since 2014 and Brown, 28, joined in 2015.
In Richmond, protesters have raised various concerns over how police have responded to demonstrations. In July, McEachin’s office cleared Richmond police of wrongdoing after reviewing five civil complaints. The office had investigated whether an officer deliberately drove a vehicle through a crowd of protesters in June and whether an officer spat on a protester.
While the police in Fort Worth, Texas, ransacked Nelda Price’s home, an officer directed her to put her hands together – as if she were praying – so he could restrain her with zip ties.
“I told him, ‘I am praying. Because I don’t understand why you’re here, and I don’t know what this is about,’” Nelda told the Guardian.
On 11 March, she and her husband John, both Black and in their late 60s, had been chatting in the dining room, dressed for bed, when a noise interrupted them. Nelda’s first instinct was to get up and investigate, but after John thought he heard gunshots, he pushed her to the floor.
By the time they looked up, Fort Worth police had already broken through their iron gate and were storming the front door, guns drawn. Without any explanation, the officers demanded that John and Nelda put their hands up, then took them outside for questioning.
In a traumatic spectacle that lasted hours, about 20 or 30 policemen loudly tore through the Prices’ belongings as emergency vehicles swarmed the block. The elderly couple waited outdoors in their pajamas and nightgown; after asking several times, Nelda was finally allowed to grab a sweater.
“It was like a nightmare,” she said. “You just don’t expect something like that to happen.”
No one would answer any of the Prices’ questions about what was happening, even as several officers pointed out red flags that their colleagues had targeted the wrong people. Police refused Nelda’s pleas for John’s medication – until his blood pressure spiked so high that they called an ambulance.
Once Nelda and John were allowed back inside, they discovered a search warrant lying on the dining room table, allegedly connecting them to methamphetamines and narcotics trafficking.
Read more of Alexandra Villarreal’s report here: ‘A nightmare’: why were an elderly black couple targeted in a shocking Texas police raid?
Women will hold more than 30% of seats in state legislatures for the first time in US history
Julia Manchester reports for The Hill that after this election cycle, US citizens will be represented in their state legislatures by more women than ever before.
According to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, women will hold more than 30 percent of seats in state legislatures for the first time in American history.
At least 1,684 women will serve as state representatives in 2021. That’s up from the previous record of 1,641. And at the state Senate level, at least 552 women will serve as state senators in 2021, besting the prior record of 521.
These numbers are likely to change as well, as there are 76 female candidates in races that have been deemed too close to call.
The gains women made at the state legislature level this cycle appeared to have reflected the record gains women made at the federal level as well.
“These two stories are the same,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics. “The results of the state legislatures are mirroring the story that we saw at the congressional level.”
Read more here: The Hill – Women make record-breaking gains across state legislatures
Up on Capitol Hill the House is set to pass the annual defense authorization bill today – and with it, laying down a challenge to outgoing President Trump to use his veto. Karoun Demirjian writes:
The legislation is the product of a months-long negotiation between the House and Senate that authorizes everything from new initiatives to counter China to health coverage for members of the National Guard [who are] aiding pandemic response efforts.
At first, Trump vehemently objected to the legislation’s mandate for the Pentagon to rename military installations that commemorate Civil War-era Confederates. In recent days, however, the president has taken existential issue with the fact that the bill does not repeal a law shielding technology companies from liability for what third parties post to their websites – an issue unrelated to defense that Trump has sought to make about national security.
Trump has taken special interest in repealing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act as part of his long-running vendetta against Facebook, Twitter and Google, whom he has accused of anti-conservative bias. While Republicans and Democrats in Congress agree that the law needs retooling, leaders are uniformly opposed to the president’s attempt to hold the bill hostage to its inclusion.
If two-thirds of both the House and the Senate vote to make something law, that countermands any veto by the commander-in-chief.
Read more here: Washington Post – House poised to pass defense bill under threat of Trump’s veto
Updated
California has enacted new stay-at-home guidelines as coronavirus cases in the state have surged, placing 33 million pandemic-fatigued residents under some of the harshest restrictions in the US in a last-resort effort to rein in the pandemic.
The measures are the strictest since those enacted in March, when California’s early, aggressive lockdown helped keep the state’s death rate relatively low. Nine months on, however, a worn-out public seems less willing to comply with shelter-in-place and many workers – devastated by the economic toll of the pandemic – are unable to do so.
In Los Angeles, hospitals are expected to overflow by Christmas. In southern California, only 12.5% of ICU beds remain available. In the San Joaquin Valley, just 8.6% of ICU beds are open.
“We’re seeing the healthcare system become overwhelmed right now,” said Marta Induni, the director of research at the Oakland-based non-profit Public Health Institute.
California’s new shelter-in-place order, which will remain in place until 4 January, requires people in affected regions to stay home and minimize contact with those outside their household. Outdoor dining, playgrounds, campgrounds and other recreation areas are closed. “My message couldn’t be simpler: it’s time to hunker down,” the Los Angeles mayor, Eric Garcetti, said last week.
But the rules aren’t so simple – they come with many exceptions and caveats. Non-essential retail, including malls and shopping centers, will remain open at reduced capacity. Outdoor religious services and protests are permitted, and entertainment production and professional sports can continue without a live audience.
Read more of Maanvi Singh’s report from San Francisco here: Fatigued Californians are back in lockdown. Will it work?
Updated
Federal judge finds Seattle police in contempt of court over use of 'blast balls' and pepper spray during BLM protests
A federal judge has found the Seattle police department in contempt of court for the indiscriminate use of pepper-filled “blast balls” and pepper spray during Black Lives Matter protests.
The Associated Press reports that the US district judge Richard Jones issued a 27-page order in response to a motion by Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County to find the police department in contempt of his earlier injunction barring police from using force against peaceful protesters.
Jones found four “clear violations” of his order: one involving the use of pepper spray and the other three involving blast balls, a grenade-like device that explodes and spews pepper gas.
“Of the less lethal weapons, the court is most concerned about SPD’s use of blast balls, the most indiscriminate of the four” crowd-control weapons he examined. “SPD has often hurled blast balls into crowds of protesters” when no immediate threat to the officers’ safety or public property could be identified, the judge found.
Jones also highlighted four instances where officers’ use of force complied with his order. All the other instances cited in voluminous briefs filed by BLM and the city’s attorneys were too close to call one way or another, he said, which Jones said was not a good thing for the police department.
“Some might say that four clear violations out of four days of protests and countless uses of less-lethal weapons must surely be insufficient to ‘vitiate’ (spoil) the city’s otherwise substantial compliance,” Jones wrote. “But this is misguided.”
In a statement, Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County said police do not have license to attack people demanding accountability and change, adding that “the use of pepper spray and blast balls against our community is proof that our protests are necessary. We will continue to defend our rights until we achieve systemic change and accountability. We will not stop.”
Lisa Nowlin, staff attorney for the ACLU of Washington and among the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement they were pleased the court was acknowledging the city’s “repeated violations of court orders and is holding them accountable”.
“Seattle police’s continued use of less lethal weapons against protesters is disturbing and the city needs to focus on protecting freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, rather than using force to prevent protesters from exercising their constitutionally protected rights,” she said.
Updated
Today is the so-called “safe harbor deadline” in the US election process. Joey Garrison explains it for USA Today:
The safe harbor protection applies to states that have settled “any controversy or contest concerning the appointment of all or any of the electors.” States don’t have to meet the safe harbor deadline to have their electors counted. But for the states that do, their determination “shall be conclusive, and shall govern in the counting of the electoral votes”, the act reads.
“Meaning that Congress will not second-guess or question the state’s own final determination,” said Ned Foley, director of the election law program at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law.
“With each day that passes, particularly once the safe harbor deadline has passed, the possibility of changing the result becomes more and more remote,” said Rebecca Green, the director of William and Mary School of Law’s election law program. “Without credible evidence to support the idea that there’s a problem, it just becomes less and less likely that anyone is going to disrupt the schedule as it unfolds in state statutes and federal law.”
Essentially, if a state has certified its results by the end of today, those are the results that Congress will accept, regardless of anything the Trump administration tries to do to overthrow them.
Most states have already certified their results, and Missouri will join them today. While some, like Hawaii, have experienced delays, no battleground states will be in play.
CNN’s legal analyst Elie Honig says:
The arrival of the safe harbor date should effectively extinguish any dying embers of hope even for the last few remaining election denialists. And what an utter disaster – legally and otherwise – the Trump team’s effort to contest the election in the courts has been.
Updated
Neil Young drops lawsuit against Donald Trump
Neil Young’s lawsuit against Donald Trump, filed in opposition to his music being used in campaign rallies, has been dismissed by a New York court.
The musician voluntarily dismissed the case himself, “with prejudice”, which means it cannot be brought again. It is possible that the case was settled out of court, though neither the president’s team nor Young has made any further statement.
Young filed the lawsuit in August, after his songs Rockin’ in the Free World and Devil’s Sidewalk were used at a Trump rally in Tulsa. He claimed copyright infringement, with the complaint stating that Young “cannot allow his music to be used as a ‘theme song’ for a divisive, un-American campaign of ignorance and hate”. He said Trump had repeatedly played the songs as far back as 2015, and claimed he did not have a licence to play them.
Trump himself said “Rockin’ in the Free World was just one of 10 songs used as background music. Didn’t love it anyway.” But he started to use the song again in his 2020 re-election campaign, by which time Young had become a frequently outspoken opponent of the president.
Read more of Ben Beaumont-Thomas’ report here: Neil Young drops lawsuit against Donald Trump
Updated
Families of those killed and wounded in a rural California shooting rampage three years ago are suing manufacturers and sellers of “ghost gun” kits that provide easy-to-assemble firearm parts that make it difficult to track or regulate owners.
A pair of wrongful death lawsuits filed last month in separate state courts accuse 13 defendants of negligence, public nuisance and violation of business codes. The cases were brought by Brady United, the national nonprofit that advocates against gun violence, which said that the suits are the first of their kind in the nation.
Ghost guns, which are cobbled together with various parts often purchased separately, have long been popular among hobbyists and firearms enthusiasts. The weapons that contain no registration numbers that could be used to trace them and require no background checks increasingly have shown up at crime scenes, gun control advocates say.
“There is an ample and thriving gun market in this country in which law abiding citizens can get guns thru proper channels. This is an industry that appears aimed at supplying people who can’t legally have guns,” Brady’s chief counsel Jonathan Lowy said Monday.
Christopher Weber of the Associated Press reports that Cody Wilson, the director of Ghost Gunner, one of the defendants, called the suits “low effort attempts to confuse the public and frustrate the lawful purpose of making your own firearms in California.”
The plaintiffs include the families of Michelle McFayden, Diana Steele, Daniel Le, and Joseph McHugh, who died in the November 2017 shooting.
“Defendants knew when they entered this business that they would foreseeably be supplying criminals, killers, and others whose possession of firearms pose an unacceptably high threat of injury or death to others,” the California court filings say. Their marketing materials “intentionally targeted prohibited persons and other dangerous individuals like Neal. Such tactics and practices were unfair, immoral, unethical, oppressive, and unscrupulous.”
The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) doesn’t consider the do-it-yourself kits to be firearms, so buyers don’t have to undergo the usual background checks and in most states the guns are not required to have serial numbers.
In September, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra – recently tapped up to be president-elect Joe Biden’s new health secretary – filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to order ATF to change its policy, arguing that it violates the common definition of a firearm under federal law.
Trump personally intervened to try to overturn Pennsylvania election result – reports
We know that Trump and his team have been trying various methods to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory, and the Washington Post have this report of further shenanigans:
Trump called the speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives twice during the past week to make an extraordinary request for help reversing his loss in the state.
The calls, confirmed by House Speaker Bryan Cutler’s office, make Pennsylvania the third state where Trump has directly attempted to overturn a result. He previously reached out to Republicans in Michigan, and on Saturday he pressured Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in a call to try to replace that state’s electors.
The president’s outreach to Pennsylvania’s Republican House leader came after his campaign and its allies decisively lost numerous legal challenges in the state in both state and federal court. Trump has continued to press his baseless claims of widespread voting irregularities both publicly and privately.
“The president said, ‘I’m hearing about all these issues in Philadelphia, and these issues with your law,’ ” said Cutler spokesman Michael Straub, describing the House speaker’s two conversations with Trump. “ ‘What can we do to fix it?’ ”
Cutler told the president that the legislature had no power to overturn the state’s chosen slate of electors, Straub said.
But late last week, the House speaker was among about 60 Republican state lawmakers who sent a letter to Pennsylvania’s congressional representatives urging them to object to the state’s electoral slate on 6 Janunary when Congress is set to formally accept the results.
Although such a move is highly unlikely to gain traction, at least one Pennsylvania Republican, Rep. Scott Perry, said in an interview Monday that he will heed the request and dispute the state’s electors.
Read more here: Washington Post – Trump asks Pennsylvania House speaker for help overturning election results, personally intervening in a third state
Not everyone is terribly happy about the reported pick of Lloyd Austin. The New York Times are leading their opinion section this morning with a piece by Jim Golby, who has been a special adviser to vice presidents Joe Biden and Mike Pence. He writes:
General Austin is a capable and respected former commander of Central Command, but he retired only in 2016. That’s not long enough: A civilian — not a recently retired general — should lead the Pentagon.
It is only the third time a president has requested a waiver since Congress passed the National Security Act in 1947, which requires a prospective secretary to wait seven years after ending active duty as a commissioned officer. President Harry Truman appointed George Marshall in 1950, and Trump chose James Mattis.
When Trump nominated Mattis, a former Marine general, some experts believed a congressional exception was warranted. Trump came to the office with less national security experience than any president in history, and some thought Mattis would provide a steady hand — as one of the “adults in the room” — to resist the president’s worst tendencies. Although his tenure raised some serious civil-military concerns, there is a strong case Mattis did exactly that.
But Mattis remained close to his former colleagues in uniform. When Trump administration infighting left key civilian jobs unfilled, Mattis leaned heavily on the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Joseph Dunford, and other military officers. Civilian political leaders in the Pentagon seemed to be sidelined.
Read more here: New York Times – Sorry, Gen. Lloyd Austin. A recently retired General should not be secretary of defense
If president-elect Joe Biden’s reported pick for defense secretary Lloyd Austin, is confirmed by the Senate, he would be the first Black leader of the Pentagon.
Biden appears to have selected Austin over the longtime frontrunner for the position, Michele Flournoy, a former senior Pentagon official and Biden supporter who would have been the first woman to serve as defense secretary. Biden also had considered Jeh Johnson, a former Pentagon general counsel and former secretary of homeland security.
As a career military officer who served 41 years in uniform, the 67-year-old Austin is likely to face opposition from some in Congress and in the defense establishment who believe in drawing a clear line between civilian and military leadership of the Pentagon. Although many previous defense secretaries have served briefly in the military, only two – George C Marshall and James Mattis – have been career officers. Marshall also served as secretary of state.
Biden has known Austin at least since the general’s years leading US and coalition troops in Iraq while Biden was vice-president. Austin was commander in Baghdad of the multinational corps-Iraq in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected president, and he returned to lead US troops from 2010 through 2011.
Austin also served in 2012 as the first Black vice-chief of staff of the army, the service’s No 2-ranking position. A year later he assumed command of US central command, where he fashioned and began implementing a US military strategy against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
Austin retired from the army in 2016. Like Mattis, he would need to obtain a congressional waiver to serve as defense secretary, exempting him from the legal requirement that a former member of the military be out of uniform at least seven years before serving as secretary of defense. Such laws were meant to preserve the civilian nature of the Department of Defense.
Read more here: Lloyd Austin – Biden to nominate retired army general to be defense secretary
Hi, and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of US politics for Tuesday. Here’s where we are, and what we can expect today:
- Joe Biden will nominate Lloyd Austin, a retired four-star army general, to be secretary of defense, according to people familiar with the decision. If confirmed by the Senate, Austin would be the first Black leader of the Pentagon.
- Biden has won the election in Georgia, again. A third count of the votes refutes Donald Trump’s false claim to have won.
- Former Trump adviser Sidney Powell’s attempt to overthrow the result in Michigan was run out of court. A judge dismissed the case as “nothing but speculation and conjecture”. At the weekend, Michigan’s secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, said dozens of armed protesters gathered in a threatening manner outside her home chanting “bogus” claims about electoral fraud.
- The office of Pennsylvania House Speaker, Bryan Cutler, confirmed that Trump phoned him twice in the last week to put pressure on the state to reverse its election result.
- There were 192,299 new coronavirus cases and 1,404 further deaths in the US yesterday. The country is on course to record its 15 millionth case today.
- Trump was upbeat and said “Rudy’s doing well” after it was confirmed that his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani was taken to hospital with Covid.
- The doctor heading a controversial physician’s advocacy group opposing government involvement in medicine will be a leading witness at a US Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee hearing. Jane Orient has rejected any “anti-vaxxer” label but her criticism of coronavirus vaccines has drawn scathing rebukes.
- Rebekah Jones, the Florida data scientist embroiled in a dispute with the state’s Republican governor over the handling of coronavirus figures, had her home raided on Monday by armed police who confiscated her computers.
- Donald Trump is holding a “vaccine summit” at the White House this afternoon – although it is not thought that the main manufacturers will be appearing alongside him. It has emerged that the administration passed up on the opportunity to buy millions more Pfizer vaccine doses earlier this year.
- Chuck Yeager, the US pilot who was the first to break the sound barrier, has died aged 97.
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