Good morning.
Ten Republican senators have agreed to continue talks with the White House over a coronavirus relief package, after a two-hour meeting yesterday failed to end in a solution. Both the president and vice-president were present in the meeting, which lasted far longer than expected, and the leading Republican in the talk said it was “excellent” and “very useful”. But there is still a gulf between the $1.9tn package proposed by Biden, and the alternative proposal from the senators – which is less than a third of the size.
Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell launched a searing criticism of the Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying the “loony lies and conspiracy theories” that she peddles are a “cancer for the Republican party”. McConnell, the most senior Republican in the Senate, didn’t name Greene, but he didn’t need to: Greene is a staunch Trump supporter who has embraced QAnon, suggested that the Parkland school shooting was faked, and expressed support for executing prominent Democrats including Nancy Pelosi.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) will continue deporting asylum seekers after Biden’s 100-day suspension order was overruled by a Texas judge who was appointed by Trump. The issue raises questions about Republicans’ ability to push back against Biden reform, and whether Ice agents themselves will resist efforts to reform the agency.
How is Biden tackling the climate crisis? Oliver Milman and Alvin Chang examine seven steps Biden is taking to act against environmental breakdown, from protecting waterways to regulating chemicals, and how they differ from Trump’s policies.
Trump is scrambling to build his impeachment case
With just hours left until the deadline, Donald Trump and his legal team have still not responded to an impeachment charge of incitement of insurrection, over his role encouraging the assault on the Capitol last month. They must submit a memo outlining the former president’s defense by noon today.
But the former president has been scrambling to assemble his case before the deadline, bringing in new lawyers at the last minute after all five members of his previous legal team resigned. Multiple reports suggested they quit because Trump insisted they base their case around unfounded claims of election fraud. If the new legal team bend to his will and build Trump’s case around these lies, legal scholars have warned the trial could be dangerous: if Republicans vote to acquit him, they are in effect endorsing the baseless claims.
A Wall Street billionaire backed Republicans who later tried to overturn the election including Kelly Loeffler. The Blackstone Group founder, Stephen Schwarzman, also supported the campaign group Georgians for Kelly Loeffler which allegedly darkened the skin of her Black Democratic opponent in a Facebook ad. Previously, Schwarzman has been praised for his philanthropy and donations to universities.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez revealed she is a survivor of sexual assault yesterday, in an emotional video detailing how the assault affected her experience of the insurrection at the Capitol. She described the moment one of the mob broke into her office as she hid in the bathroom, peeking through the door hinges to see if it was safe.
The military have maintained control in Myanmar
Myanmar is still firmly under military control this morning, one day after it launched a coup and detained the de factor leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Her whereabouts are unclear. The actions of the military attracted criticism around the world, with Biden threatening action. The UN security council will meet to discuss the situation later today. The threat of the coup has always lingered, writes our South Asia correspondent Hannah Ellis-Petersen, with Aung San Suu Kyi unable to reign in military power. She analyses the origins and enablers of the coup, and why the US and EU have some responsibility.
In Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, rumours of a military coup had been circulating for days, before phone lines were taken down, mobile internet services cut off, and some TV stations taken off-air yesterday morning. Our reporters spoke to locals about their experiences of the coup.
An exercise instructor unwittingly filmed the start of the coup, continuing her dance routine unaware that behind her, a convoy of SUVs are approaching the parliament complex to seize power. The footage is extraordinary.
In other news …
Rochester police officers have been suspended after pepper-spraying a nine-year-old girl after handcuffing her. She was detained when officers were summoned to a family disturbance on Friday, and videos show her crying: “I want my dad.” The videos have caused outrage in New York.
The world is at “extreme risk” from economics’ failure to consider the environment, a report commissioned by the UK government has found. The review found that economic prosperity was causing the depletion of the natural world, and called for new measures of success to be considered to avoid a climate breakdown. You can read more about the report’s recommendations here.
A snow storm shut down vaccine sites and schools in eastern US yesterday, with the heaviest snow still to come in many locations. In New York, 44 counties had declared emergencies.
Stat of the day: only 5.4% of vaccine recipients in the US are black
Black Americans make up just 5.4% of coronavirus vaccine recipients, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found. The figure is disproportionately lower than the number of black people who live in long-term care homes (14%) or work in health care (16%), both groups being in the highest priority group for vaccination. However, the CDC warned the data was incomplete, with only half of state records including data about race and ethnicity.
Don’t miss this: how a wealthy couple lied their way to vaccines
A casino executive and his actor wife broke quarantine to charter a private jet and travel to a remote, partly indigenous community, which had been prioritised for coronavirus vaccines because of its older population. There, they posed as local motel employees to deceive authorities into giving them a dose. It was a story that shocked the world and in many ways seemed to illustrate the inequality of the coronavirus pandemic. Here, Leyland Cecco uncovers the full story.
Last thing: a T-shirt caused a diplomatic incident between Canada and China
Canada has been forced to apologise after one of its diplomats ordered a custom T-shirt that triggered a formal complaint from China. The T-shirt showed the word “Wuhan” over the W symbol of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, and images of the design were circulated on Chinese social media, with the W symbol described as resembling a bat. Beijing has been deeply sensitive about the origins of the virus, attempting to cast doubt on the notion that it originated in China at all. Many scientists suspect bats to have been a reservoir for Covid-19 before it jumped to humans. A spokesperson for Canada’s foreign service said the T-shirt “was created for the team of embassy staff working on repatriation of Canadians from Wuhan in early 2020”.
Sign up
First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.
