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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Sam Levin, Joan E Greve and Martin Belam

Trump impeachment: Schumer says agreement reached on rules for trial – as it happened

Donald Trump in Washington in July last year.
Donald Trump in Washington in July last year. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Summary

That’s all for today - thanks for following along, and tune in tomorrow, where we will have live coverage of the impeachment proceedings. Some key events and links from the day:

Another federal judge has allowed a Capitol insurrection defendant to stay out of jail prior to trial, BuzzFeed reports:

US magistrate judge Robin Meriweather in Washington ruled on Monday that John Earle Sullivan had violated his pretrial release conditions when he bought a smartphone he wasn’t authorized to have and when he promoted his organization on Infowars, a website known for far-right conspiracy theories, the news site reported. The judge said she had “serious concerns” about the violations, but declined to send him back to jail, saying the evidence did not suggest he posed a danger.

Sullivan is facing a range of charges, including disorderly conduct, obstructing an official proceeding, and aiding and abetting interference with police. Earlier today, a different federal judge approved the release of another insurrection defendant who was a Proud Boys organizer.

Criminal justice activists have pointed out that defendants accused of significantly less serious offenses are often stuck in jail before trial while some of the federal defendants accused of insurrection and rioting at the US Capitol have been able to go home and travel.

Black Lives Matter activists and other leftists engaged in non-violent demonstrations have faced a significant prosecutorial crackdown over the last year, and in some cases, they have been forced to remain behind bars while awaiting trial, as the Guardian reported in October:

Facebook announces ban on vaccine misinformation

Facebook has banned misinformation about all vaccines following years of harmful, unfounded health claims proliferating on its platform.

As part of its policy on Covid-19-related misinformation, Facebook will now remove posts with false claims about all vaccines, the company announced in a blogpost on Monday.

These new community guidelines apply to user-generated posts as well as paid advertisements, which were already banned from including such misinformation. Instagram users will face the same restrictions.

“We will begin enforcing this policy immediately, with a particular focus on Pages, groups and accounts that violate these rules,” said Guy Rosen, who oversees content decisions. “We’ll continue to expand our enforcement over the coming weeks.”

Groups on Facebook have been known to create echo chambers of misinformation and have fueled the rise of anti-vaccine communities and rhetoric. Under the new policy, groups where users repeatedly share banned content will be shut down.

More:

Justice department drops challenge to California's net neutrality law

The US justice department has withdrawn its challenge to a California net neutrality law aimed at protecting the open internet, Reuters reports.

The DoJ, as was expected, is dropping a challenge that was launched during the Trump era. The move opens the door to the return of net neutrality laws, which are meant to prohibit internet service providers from blocking or throttling traffic or offering paid fast lanes.

Reuters explains:

Under then-President Donald Trump, the Justice Department in 2018 argued that federal law preempted the state statute prohibiting internet service providers from blocking or throttling traffic, or offering paid fast lanes.

California’s legislature voted to adopt its own statute after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2017 repealed net neutrality rules put in place by the administration of former President Barack Obama.

California’s law, which was put on hold pending the legal challenges, reinstates prohibitions from the 2015 federal net neutrality rules. A separate challenge to the California law from industry groups is pending and a 23 February hearing is set.

The loss of net neutrality rules has had serious consequences in California and elsewhere, and advocates are hoping the US will restore federal protections under president Joe Biden. Biden has not yet nominated a replacement for FCC chair.

New details on impeachment schedule and structure

Senate officials have released more details on the structure of impeachment proceedings, which will begin tomorrow. From the office of majority leader Chuck Schumer:

  • On Tuesday, there will be up to four hours equally divided between the impeachment managers and Donald Trump’s counsel to present arguments on the constitutionality of the trial. The Senate will then vote on whether it has jurisdiction to try the former president, and if a simple majority votes in favor (as expected), the trial will proceed.
  • Starting Wednesday at noon EST, there will be up to 16 hours per side for impeachment managers and Trump’s team to present their case. Each side must use their time over no more than two days, and each day’s presentation cannot exceed eight hours.
  • After both presentations, senators will have a total of four hours to question both parties.
  • There will then be two hours for arguments on whether to consider motions to subpoena witnesses and documents.
  • If the Senate votes in favor of subpoenas, both parties will then be allowed to depose witnesses and conduct discovery.
  • There will then be four hours of closing arguments before deliberations and a vote on the article of impeachment.
  • No trial proceedings will occur Friday after 5pm or on Saturday, but will continue on the afternoon of Sunday 14 February.

More on the Georgia investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results: David Worley, the only Democrat on the Georgia elections board, told the New York Times that the secretary of state’s administrative inquiries could lead to criminal charges:

Any investigation of a statutory violation is a potential criminal investigation depending on the statute involved. The complaint that was received [against Trump] involved a criminal violation.”

Worley had originally planned to introduce a motion this week referring the case to local prosecutors in Fulton county, but he told the Times that he would hold off now that the state inquiry was ongoing.

One formal complaint came from John F Banzhaf III, a George Washington University law professor. He and other experts have argued the phone call could violate multiple state laws, including solicitation to commit election fraud, conspiracy and “international interference” with an official’s “performance of election duties”.

Georgia secretary of state investigating Donald Trump

Georgia’s secretary of state has opened a formal investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state, Reuters is reporting:

The investigation comes after Trump was recorded in a 2 January phone call pressuring Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the state’s election results based on false voter fraud claims.

“The Secretary of State’s office investigates complaints it receives,” said Walter Jones, a spokesman for the office, describing the investigation as “fact finding and administrative”.

Jones told Reuters that any further legal efforts would be left to the state attorney general.

In the hour-long phone call in January, Trump repeatedly attempted to get Raffensperger to corroborate baseless claims of election manipulation. “The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry,” the former president said. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated.” More on Raffensperger:

Paul Manafort can't face New York prosecution, court rules

Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman, cannot be prosecuted in New York following the former president’s pardon, a state court of appeals has ruled.

New York’s highest court has declined to review a lower court ruling on a case brought by the Manhattan district attorney against Manafort, the New York Times reports:

The state was pursuing charges of mortgage fraud and other felonies. Manafort was convicted in federal court of related offenses, but then was pardoned by Trump in December. The lower court had ruled that the Manhattan prosecution violated the state’s double jeopardy law – a ruling that will now stick after the higher court declined to take on the case.

Before his pardon, Manafort had been serving a seven year sentence. For more on the pardon:

Judge approves release of Proud Boys organizer

Hi all - Sam Levin in Los Angeles taking over our live coverage for the rest of the day.

A judge in Seattle has approved the release of Ethan Nordean, an organizer with the Proud Boys, who was arrested over his role in the 6 January insurrection, Politico reports.

Nordean is facing charges of destruction of government property and trespassing on Capitol grounds, and US prosecutors argued that he was a flight risk and should remain detained pending his trial. But a federal magistrate judge, Brian Tsuchida, agreed to release him with a number of conditions, including restricting his travel to the Seattle region.

Prosecutors are appealing the ruling, and it’s unclear if he will actually be released.

The Proud Boys are a far-right, pro-Donald Trump group that the FBI has designated as an “extremist” threat, and which Canada recently designated a terrorist threat.

In court filings, Nordean’s lawyers said he was “egged on by Donald Trump” – the kind of testimony that could be referenced in impeachment proceedings.

Here is more from the Guardian on the links between the Proud Boys and the Republican party:

Today so far

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

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • The rules have been set for Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, which begins tomorrow. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said that the House impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team would each have 16 hours to present their arguments. “The structure we have agreed to is eminently fair,” Schumer said. “It will allow for the trial to achieve its purpose: truth and accountability.”
  • Trump’s legal team filed a legal brief previewing their defense for the trial. In the brief, the former president’s lawyers once again argued that the trial was unconstitutional because Trump had already left office, describing impeachment as a “brazen political act”. The impeachment managers dismissed that argument, saying in their response brief that Trump had “violated his oath of office and betrayed the American people”.
  • The first sitting member of Congress died after testing positive for coronavirus. Congressman Ron Wright, a Republican of Texas who had previously struggled with lung cancer, died last night after two weeks in the hospital.
  • A fourth Senate Republican has announced his retirement. Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama said he would not seek reelection in 2022. Republican Senators Richard Burr of North Carolina, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio have already announced they will not be running next year.
  • Former Democratic congressman Anthony Brindisi conceded, three months after his House race was held. The concession came hours after the New York supreme court ruled that the state could declare Republican Claudia Tenney the winner by 109 votes, despite lingering questions over the vote count.

Sam will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Agreement reached on rules for impeachment trial, Schumer says

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer announced that an agreement has been reached on rules for Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, which begins tomorrow.

“The structure we have agreed to is eminently fair,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “It will allow for the trial to achieve its purpose: truth and accountability.”

Schumer said that the House impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team will each have 16 hours to present their arguments.

If the managers want to call witnesses in the trial, there will be a vote on whether to allow them to do so. Each side will also present a closing argument.

Senators will have time for questions and deliberations. The trial will go dark on Friday night to honor a request from Trump lawyer David Schoen that he be able to observe the Sabbath.

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell agreed that the rules would ensure a fair trial.

“It will give senators as jurors ample time to review the case and the arguments that each side will present,” the Republican leader said.

House impeachment managers will open their prosecution of Donald Trump for “incitement of insurrection” by recounting the deadly assault on the US Capitol in harrowing and cinematic detail, rekindling for senators the chaos and trauma they experienced on 6 January.

The historic second impeachment trial will open on Tuesday, on the Senate floor that was invaded by rioters, with a debate over the constitutionality of the proceedings. In a brief filed on Monday, Trump’s lawyers assailed the case as “political theater” and argued that the Senate “lacks the constitutional jurisdiction” to try a former president after he has left office – an argument Democrats promptly rejected.

Exactly one week after the Capitol assault, Trump became the first president to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives. This week, he will become the first former president to stand trial. It would take 17 Republicans joining all Democrats in the Senate to find Trump guilty, making conviction highly unlikely.

Nevertheless, when opening arguments begin later this week, House Democrats will try to force senators to see the assault on the Capitol as the culmination of Trump’s long campaign to overturn the result of the election he lost to Joe Biden.

New York Democrat concedes House race three months after election

Former Democratic congressman Anthony Brindisi has conceded to Republican Claudia Tennedy, three months after the House race was held.

“Today I congratulated Claudia Tenney and offered to make the transition process as smooth as possible on behalf of our community,” the New York Democrat said in a statement.

Brindisi’s statement came hours after the New York supreme court ruled that the state could declare Tenney as the winner by 109 votes.

“Unfortunately, this election and counting process was riddled with errors, inconsistencies and systematic violations of state and federal election laws,” Brindisi said.

“My one disappointment is that the court did not see fit to grant us a recount. Sadly, we may never know how many legal voters were turned away at the polls or ballots not counted due to the ineptitude of the boards of election, especially in Oneida County.”

The House currently has 431 members, following the death of Texas Republican Ron Wright yesterday. Three seats will remain open once Tenney is sworn in.

Joe Biden spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, the White House announced.

“The leaders agreed to continuing close cooperation to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific, including support for freedom of navigation, territorial integrity, and a stronger regional architecture through the Quad,” the White House statement said in a readout of the leaders’ call.

“The President underscored his desire to defend democratic institutions and norms around the world and noted that a shared commitment to democratic values is the bedrock for the U.S.-India relationship. They further resolved that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld in Burma.”

The call comes amid ongoing protests in India, as farmers in the country demand that a series of new agricultural laws be repealed.

Joe Biden asked the Arizona doctor who works at the vaccination site how crucial federal assistance has been in getting the site up and running.

The doctor said establishing the vaccination site would have been a “huge logistical lift” without federal funding and support.

Asked why they chose to establish the site at State Farm Stadium, the doctor noted that the Arizona Cardinals have been “strong partners throughout the Covid response”.

Biden said that he has spoken to the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, about using 30 major stadiums to distribute vaccines, so the State Farm Stadium could be a model for other sites in the near future.

Biden and Harris virtually tour Arizona vaccination site

President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris are now virtually touring a coronavirus vaccination site at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Jeff Zients, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus response team, said the site could serve as a model for other communities on how to effectively distribute vaccines.

A doctor at the stadium walked Biden and Harris through the site’s operations. She noted that the site distributes 350 to 400 vaccine doses per hour. Almost 170,000 doses have been distributed at State Farm Stadium since the vaccination site opened.

The House held a moment of silence for congressman Ron Wright, the Republican lawmaker who died last night after testing positive for coronavirus.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi led the moment of silence. After it concluded, Pelosi noted that the total number of House members now stands at 431.

A special election will be held for Wright’s seat. Although it is likely to stay in Republican hands, the seat has been shifting to the left in recent years. In November, Donald Trump carried the district by just 3 points.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement mourning the passing of Republican congressman Ron Wright, who died last night after testing positive for coronavirus.

“Today, the United States House of Representatives sadly mourns the passing of Congressman Ron Wright. Representative Wright was a proud sixth-generation son of Tarrant County, who dedicated a life of public service to the people of Texas. While his tenure in the House was brief, his service will be missed,” the Democratic speaker said.

Pelosi noted that Wright, who is the first sitting member of Congress to die after testing positive for the virus, is one of more than 463,000 Americans who have now died of coronavirus.

“May it be a comfort to Congressman Wright’s wife Susan, their children Rachel, Derek and Justin, and their nine grandchildren, and the entire Wright family that so many mourn their loss and are praying for them at this sad time,” Pelosi said.

Bernie Sanders called on Democrats to use reconciliation to raise the minimum wage, after the Congressional Budget Office concluded that a $15 minimum wage would increase the deficit by $54 billion over ten years.

The former presidential candidate took issue with the CBO’s assessment, but the silver lining, Sanders said, is that the agency’s report could make it easier to argue that the $15 minimum wage proposal meets the requirements for reconciliation because it would clearly have a budgetary impact.

That means the minimum wage measure could potentially be included in the coronavirus relief bill.

“Let’s be clear. We are never going to get 10 Republicans to increase the minimum wage through ‘regular order,’” Sanders said in a statement. “The only way to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour now is to pass it with 51 votes through budget reconciliation.”

Joe Biden has indicated he does not believe the minimum wage proposal will meet the requirements for reconciliation, but the White House press secretary said today that the president is awaiting the review by the Senate parliamentarian, who will issue a ruling on the matter.

Some moderate Democrats, including Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, have also signaled that they would not support including the minimum wage proposal in the relief package.

The communications director for congressman Ron Wright mourned the passing of his boss, who died after testing positive for coronavirus.

“Ron was not only my boss but a man I looked up to each and every single day,” Michael Howard said in a tweet. “A true public servant who wanted nothing more than to be a voice for Texans in Washington. I will miss him very much.”

Wright passed away last night, after spending two weeks in the hospital. The congressman, who had previously struggled with lung cancer, tested positive for the virus late last month.

Wright is the first sitting member of Congress to die after contracting coronavirus.

House managers reject Trump impeachment brief

The nine Democrats who will present the case against Donald Trump in the Senate impeachment trial which will start this week have dismissed the brief filed by the ex-president’s legal team.

“The evidence of President Trump’s conduct is overwhelming,” the House Democrats wrote, in a document signed by lead impeachment manager Jamie Raskin, a professor of constitutional law as well as a representative from Maryland.

“He has no valid excuse or defense for his actions. And his efforts to escape accountability are entirely unavailing. As charged in the article of impeachment, President Trump violated his oath of office and betrayed the American people.”

The managers say Trump’s incitement of the insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January, which left five people dead, is “the most grievous constitutional crime ever committed by a president”.

In a paragraph for history lovers everywhere, meanwhile, the managers reject Republican claims that an impeachment trial after Trump has left office is unconstitutional. And in doing so, they cite a president – who died as a member of the House – who tends to be a little eclipsed in popular memory by Andrew Jackson, a president briefly fetishised by Trump:

The framers’ intent, the text of the constitution, and prior congressional practice all confirm that President Trump must stand trial for his constitutional crimes committed in office. Presidents swear a sacred oath that binds them from their first day in office through their very last. There is no ‘January Exception’ to the constitution that allows presidents to abuse power in their final days without accountability. As former president John Quincy Adams declared, “I hold myself, so long as I have the breath of life in my body, amenable to impeachment by [the] House for everything I did during the time I held any public office.”

Some diversionary reading:

Today so far

The White House press briefing has now concluded. Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Donald Trump’s defense team filed a legal brief ahead of this week’s impeachment trial. In the brief, the former president’s lawyers once again argued that the trial was unconstitutional because Trump had already left argument, describing impeachment as a “brazen political act”. Impeachment managers have previously dismissed that argument, saying there is “no ‘January Exception’ to impeachment”.
  • The first sitting member of Congress died after testing positive for coronavirus. Congressman Ron Wright, a Republican of Texas who had previously struggled with lung cancer, died last night after two weeks in the hospital.
  • A fourth Senate Republican has announced his retirement. Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama said he would not seek reelection in 2022. Republican Senators Richard Burr of North Carolina, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio have already announced they will not be running next year.

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

Jen Psaki said Joe Biden intends to invite the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the White House once it is safe to do so.

“But I don’t know when that will take place yet,” the White House press secretary said.

The Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-9, in last night’s Super Bowl game.

Jen Psaki said Joe Biden was focused on delivering financial relief to the American people, even if his proposed package did not win any Republican support.

The White House press secretary argued that Americans were not concerned about the technicalities of reconciliation as long as they received aid.

Psaki said that reporters should turn the question back around to Republicans and ask them why they oppose legislation that has the support of a majority of Americans.

Jen Psaki was asked about discussions among Democrats to include a $15 minimum wage hike in the coronavirus relief package.

The White House press secretary said she believed journalists were “getting a little ahead” of the process, as Democrats are still waiting to hear from the Senate parliamentarian about whether the minimum wage proposal would meet the requirements of reconciliation.

However, Joe Biden himself has signaled that he does not believe the minimum wage increase will make it into the final bill, even as some senators, including Bernie Sanders, continue to push for it.

Jen Psaki acknowledged that reconciliation is “obviously the most likely path at this point” for getting Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief bill passed.

The president has met with Republican senators to discuss their wishes for a relief package, but it currently seems unlikely that the final bill will attract bipartisan support.

Biden signaled last week that he was willing to move forward without Republican support in order to get the package approved.

Biden won't spend 'much time' watching impeachment trial, White House says

Joe Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, is now holding her daily briefing at the White House.

Asked about this week’s impeachment trial, Psaki said she did not expect Biden to spend much, if any, time watching the proceedings.

“We keep him pretty busy. He has a full schedule this week,” Psaki said, noting that Biden will be visiting the Pentagon and the National Institutes of Health this week.

“I think it’s clear from his schedule and from his intention he will not spend too much time watching the proceedings, if any time, over the course of this week.”

Fourth Republican senator announces retirement

Senator Richard Shelby, a Republican of Alabama, has announced that he is retiring from Congress.

“Today I announce that I will not seek a seventh term in the United State Senate in 2022,” Shelby said in a statement. “For everything, there is a season.”

Shelby’s news makes him the four Senate Republican to announce he will retire rather than seeking reelection next year.

Senators Richard Burr of North Carolina, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio have already announced they will not be running in 2022.

House minority leader Kevin McCarthy mourned the passing of congressman Ron Wright, who died yesterday after testing positive for coronavirus.

“Our hearts are heavy with the news of @RepRonWright’s passing. He was a fighter who passionately served the people of Texas and America,” the Republican leader said. “May God grant Susan and his entire family solace during this very difficult time.”

The House Republican caucus lost an incoming member to coronavirus in late December, when Luke Letlow died days before he was set to take the oath of office.

Wright is the first sitting member of Congress to die after testing positive for coronavirus.

Dr Anthony Fauci said it is possible that the UK variant of coronavirus will become the “dominant” strain of the virus in the US by March.

Hundreds of cases of the UK variant have already been confirmed in the US, and there are likely far more that have not been officially confirmed.

The good news, Fauci said, is that the coronavirus vaccines appear to be “quite effective” against the UK variant.

Fauci acknowledged that the vaccines are “less so” effective against the South Africa variant, but that fact underscores the need to broadly limit the spread of coronavirus in the US.

“We have yet to control this pandemic,” Dr Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said. “Please keep your guard up -- the continued proliferation of variants remains a great concern.”

The White House coronavirus response team’s briefing has now concluded.

Dr Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, once again urged Americans not to travel in order to limit their risk of contracting coronavirus.

“I would really encourage people to not travel,” Walensky said. “There’s more gathering that happens in airports.”

Reporters also asked about the coronavirus variants that are wreaking havoc in countries like the UK and South Africa.

Dr Anthony Fauci emphasized that, as of now, most coronavirus cases in the US are still cases of the original form of the virus, which the vaccines are very effective against.

White House coronavirus response team holds briefing

The White House coronavirus response team is now holding a briefing to provide an update on the country’s case numbers and vaccine distribution.

The health experts acknowledged that case numbers are trending down across the country, but they emphasized Americans must continue to take precautions to limit the risk of spreading the virus.

“Despite trends moving in the right direction, we remain in a very serious situation,” Dr Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said. “We must continue to drive these cases down.”

First sitting member of Congress dies after contracting coronavirus

Congressman Ron Wright, a Republican of Texas, has died after testing positive for coronavirus, making him the first sitting member of Congress to die after contracting the virus.

Wright’s office said he passed away last night, after spending two weeks at Baylor Hospital in Dallas.

Wright announced late last month that he had tested positive for coronavirus after coming into contact with someone who had contracted the virus.

Wright was 67 years old and had previously struggled with lung cancer. He was first elected to the House in 2018, succeeding retiring congressman Joe Barton.

Although dozens of members of Congress have contracted the virus, Wright is the first sitting member to die after testing positive.

Luke Letlow, a Republican congressman-elect from Louisiana, died of the virus days before he was scheduled to take the oath of office.

Updated

Trump's legal team dismisses impeachment as 'brazen political act'

Donald Trump’s legal team has filed a brief outlining its argument for acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial.

In the brief, the former president’s lawyers argue that the trial is unconstitutional because Trump cannot be impeached, given that he has already left office.

“In this Country, the Constitution – not a political party and not politicians – reigns supreme,” Trump’s lawyers say in the brief.

“But through this latest Article of Impeachment now before the Senate, Democrat politicians seek to carve out a mechanism by which they can silence a political opponent and a minority party. The Senate must summarily reject this brazen political act.”

The House impeachment managers have already pushed back against this argument in their own trial brief, filed last week.

“It is unthinkable that those same Framers left us virtually defenseless against a president’s treachery in his final days, allowing him to misuse power, violate his Oath, and incite insurrection against Congress and our electoral institutions simply because he is a lame duck,” the managers wrote in the brief.

“There is no ‘January Exception’ to impeachment or any other provision of the Constitution. A president must answer comprehensively for his conduct in office from his first day in office through his last.”

The Democratic senators of Arizona sent a letter to the Biden administration requesting an increase in their state’s weekly vaccine doses.

Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly have asked the White House for “an immediate emergency infusion of 300,000 vaccine doses and an additional 300,000 doses a week”.

“Arizona suffers from one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the country,” Sinema said in a statement. “Our hospitals and vaccination sites are overwhelmed, and we need additional vaccine doses to save lives and provide immediate help to Arizona seniors, people with pre-existing conditions, frontline workers, and tribal communities.”
“Arizona needs more vaccines to ramp up state vaccination sites while also ensuring that rural and border areas get enough to meet the capacity they have to vaccinate their communities,” Kelly added.

“Getting Arizonans vaccinated is how we’re going to beat this virus and get our economy back on track, and our state needs a larger allotment especially as we work to vaccinate those who are vulnerable and essential workers including farmworkers and Department of Homeland Security employees.”

As of today, Arizona has confirmed 782,887 cases of coronavirus, and 14,055 state residents have died of the virus.

Biden addresses Trump not testifying in impeachment trial

Joe Biden took one question from reporters as he returned to Washington after a weekend in his home state of Delaware.

Asked about Donald Trump not testifying in his impeachment trial, the president said, “He got an offer to come and testify. He decided not to. We’ll let the Senate work that out.”

The House impeachment managers sent a letter to Trump’s legal team last week, asking the former president to testify in this week’s trial.

“You denied many factual allegations set forth in the article of impeachment. You have thus attempted to put critical facts at issue,” Jamie Raskin, the lead impeachment manager, wrote in the letter.

But Trump’s lawyers quickly rejected the request, dismissing the managers’ effort as a “public relations stunt”.

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and minority leader Mitch McConnell are closing in on rules for Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, which is set to begin tomorrow.

According to the New York Times, the chamber expects to hold four hours of debate and a vote on the constitutionality of the trial tomorrow. There will then be 16 hours of debate for each side, the impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team, starting Wednesday.

The leaders are also discussing the possibility of holding a session on Sunday, after the chamber agreed not to hold a Saturday session to respect Trump lawyer David Schoen’s request that he be allowed to observe the Sabbath.

If this schedule is agreed to, the trial could wrap up by early next week.

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

Here’s what the blog is keeping an eye on today: Joe Biden will virtually tour the vaccination site at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Meanwhile, the Senate is preparing for Donald Trump’s second impeachment trail, which is set to begin tomorrow. The chamber is expected to rule on whether the former president should be convicted for incitement of insurrection.

The blog will have more on both those topics coming up, so stay tuned.

President Joe Biden rushed to send the most ambitious overhaul of the nation’s immigration system in a generation to Congress and signed nine executive actions to wipe out some of his predecessor’s toughest measures over the US-Mexico border. But a federal court in Texas suspended Biden’s 100-day moratorium on deportations, and the immigration bill is likely to be scaled back as lawmakers grapple with major coronavirus pandemic relief legislation as well a second impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump.

Even if Biden gets most of what he wants on immigration, fully implementing the kind of sweeping changes he’s promised will take weeks, months — perhaps even years. Will Weissert and Nomaan Merchant report for Associated Press that means, at least for now, there is likely to be more overlap between the Biden and Trump immigration policies than many of the activists who backed the Democrat’s successful presidential campaign had hoped.

“It’s important that we pass policies that are not only transformative, inclusive and permanent but also that they are policies that do not increase the growth of deportation,” said Genesis Renteria, programs director for membership services and engagement at Living United for Change in Arizona, which helped mobilized Democratic voters in the critical battleground state. “Our organizations will continue to hold the administration accountable.”

Federal law allows immigrants facing credible threats of persecution or violence in their home country to seek US asylum. Biden has ordered a review of Trump policies that sent people from Central America, Cuba and other countries to Mexico while their cases were processed — often forcing them into makeshift tent camps mere steps from American soil. He also has formed a task force to reunite immigrant children separated from their parents and halted federal funding to expand walls along the southern US border.

On Saturday, the Biden administration said it was withdrawing from agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras that restricted the ability of people to seek US asylum.

Politico’s Playbook today has majored on the dilemma facing Democrats in Congress. As they put it:

Do they go all out to convict Trump by calling a parade of witnesses to testify to his misdeeds? Or do they concede it’s a lost cause, finish the trial ASAP — and get on with Biden’s agenda?

It’s been a source of frustration for some Democrats privately. Trump, these people have noticed, is already on the rebound politically, at least among Republicans. The GOP base has rallied to his defense, and many Republican lawmakers who witnessed the terror of the Capitol invasion are back in Trump’s corner.

That’s why there had been talk among the managers about calling individuals who could change minds — if not the minds of 17 GOP senators needed to convict, then perhaps a slice of the GOP electorate that still supports Trump. Some of the ideas floated: having Capitol Police officers tell their stories about fighting the mob, or inviting Republican officials in Georgia who were pressured by Trump to overturn the state’s election tally. There’s also been chatter about bringing in former White House officials who observed Trump on the day of the riots.

Schumer and other Senate Democrats argue, however, that they don’t necessarily need witnesses since Trump’s crimes were in plain sight and documented in videos and tweets. Privately, senior Democrats also note that 45 Senate Republicans have already decided they think the trial is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer president, so why bother dragging this out?

I mentioned earlier that the US state department was planning to reengage with the United Nations Human Rights Council. Secretary of state Antony Blinken has now put out the official statement to that effect. He says:

We recognize that the Human Rights Council is a flawed body, in need of reform to its agenda, membership, and focus, including its disproportionate focus on Israel. However, our withdrawal in June 2018 did nothing to encourage meaningful change, but instead created a vacuum of US leadership, which countries with authoritarian agendas have used to their advantage.

When it works well, the Human Rights Council shines a spotlight on countries with the worst human rights records and can serve as an important forum for those fighting injustice and tyranny. The Council can help to promote fundamental freedoms around the globe, including freedoms of expression, association and assembly, and religion or belief as well as the fundamental rights of women, girls, LGBTQI+ persons, and other marginalized communities. To address the Council’s deficiencies and ensure it lives up to its mandate, the United States must be at the table using the full weight of our diplomatic leadership.

In the immediate term, the United States will engage with the Council as an observer, and in that capacity will have the opportunity to speak in the Council, participate in negotiations, and partner with others to introduce resolutions.

A few things in the diary for today. President Joe Biden will return to the White House at 9.30am EST (that’s 2.30pm if, like me, you are in London). Later he will receive the president’s daily brief with vice president Kamala Harris, and then he will be taking a virtual tour of a Glendale, Arizona vaccination site in the afternoon.

His White House Covid-19 response team and public health officials have a briefing shceduled at 11am, and an hour after that there will be a briefing from White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

In the Senate, they will consider the nomination of Denis McDonough to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs at 3pm.

Disease experts warn of surge in deaths from Covid variants as US lags in tracking

Experts who have spent the last year forecasting Covid-19 transmission across the US are considering scenarios for the spread of new, more infectious strains of the coronavirus.

At the same time, the US continues to lag in surveillance for coronavirus variants, despite having among the most well developed genomic sequencing infrastructure in the world.

The warnings come as the US appears to have crested a devastating winter wave of infections, which at one time saw more than 300,000 new infections and 4,000 deaths a day. Even though daily infections have more than halved from the peak, with death rates expected to drop soon also, the threat of the more infectious variants now has some considering the possibility of a fresh surge.

“It’s a grim projection, unfortunately,” said Ali Mokdad, professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, one of the leading academic forecasters of Covid-19. “I’m concerned about a spike due to the new variant and the relaxation of social distancing,” he said. “People are tired. People are very tired.”

Forecasters still do not consider this the most likely scenario, though also not the worst-case scenario, but the addition of the model is a recognition of how dangerous new variants can be, even in an environment where hospitalisation and death rates are expected to decline.

IHME’s “rapid variant spread” model predicts total deaths could increase by 26,000 over the most likely scenario by May. Such a forecast would result in a total of more than 620,000 Covid-19 deaths by that time.

Notably, the most accurate are often “ensemble” forecasts, which draw in many individual projections. The ensemble forecast published by the CDC makes a prediction only through 27 February, when it estimates up to 534,000 deaths could occur. IHME also estimates universal masking could save 31,000 lives.

Read more of Jessica Glenza’s report here: Disease experts warn of surge in deaths from Covid variants as US lags in tracking

Updated

One of the questions about Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial is whether it is constitutional to hold a hearing into a former president. Forty-five Republican senators have already voted to say they believe it is not. Leading conservative attorney Chuck Cooper has written for the Wall Street Journal looking at the issue, and he disagrees.

The strongest argument against the Senate’s authority to try a former officer relies on Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution, which provides: “The president, vice president and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” The trial’s opponents argue that because this provision requires removal, and because only incumbent officers can be removed, it follows that only incumbent officers can be impeached and tried.

But the provision cuts against their interpretation. It simply establishes what is known in criminal law as a “mandatory minimum” punishment: If an incumbent officeholder is convicted by a two-thirds vote of the Senate, he is removed from office as a matter of law.

If removal were the only punishment that could be imposed, the argument against trying former officers would be compelling. But it isn’t. Article I, Section 3 authorizes the Senate to impose an optional punishment on conviction: “disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.”

Thus a vote by the Senate to disqualify can be taken only after the officer has been removed and is by definition a former officer. Given that the Constitution permits the Senate to impose the penalty of permanent disqualification only on former officeholders, it defies logic to suggest that the Senate is prohibited from trying and convicting former officeholders.

Read more here: Wall Street Journal – The constitution doesn’t bar Trump’s impeachment trial

Updated

The American Civil Liberties Union will announce today it’s embarking on an aggressive racial justice agenda that includes support for a reparations bill, expanding resources into southern states, and pushing for rural post offices to adopt basic banking services, reports Axios. Russell Contreras writes:

The 101-year-old ACLU is shifting its emphasis from defending free speech to forcefully tackling systemic racism amid a racial awakening in the U.S. and could provide a jolt to traditionally underfunded minority-led organizations.

The group’s “Systemic Equality agenda” includes a demand to pass legislation sponsored by Rep Sheila Jackson Lee that would fund a commission to study proposals on reparations for African Americans.

The group also wants post offices in rural Black, Native American, and Latino areas with no banks to offer check cashing, money transfers, and bill payments services.

The agenda seeks more voting rights protections, increase broadband access, student loan forgiveness, and new housing policies to fight racial segregation. The ACLU is vowing to invest up to $40 million to expand staffing in its Southern affiliates to aggressively fight systemic racism in the former Confederacy.

Read more here: Axios – ACLU to push reparations bill, Southern expansion

US reaches 27 million coronavirus cases since pandemic began

Weekend coronavirus numbers are often lower due to data collection methodology, but yesterday the US recorded its lowest number of new daily cases since 2 November. It is potentially a sign things are moving in the right direction, but as Sara Murray reports for CNN, there is still a long way for the US to go:

For the new administration, plenty has gone right. They’ve inked new deals with existing vaccine suppliers, with promising new vaccine candidates still on the horizon. They’ve managed in weeks what the Trump administration didn’t for months: giving states a clear estimate of how many vaccine doses they’ll receive. And they’ve thrown federal resources behind setting up large-scale vaccination sites.

But officials are aware they’re in a critical period.

“It is a daunting challenge. I think it feels like we’re making progress every day,” Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the White House Covid-19 response team told CNN. “In terms of what we inherited, you play the hand you have, not the hand you wish you had,” Slavitt said.

Some of the success thus far owes to timing, as vaccine makers hit their stride and states smoothed out problems in distribution – a reminder that Biden has only so much control over what happens next.

“I don’t think you see a lot of people dancing in the hallways,” said a Biden administration official involved in the discussions. “It’s not that kind of moment.”

Yesterday the US recorded its 27 millionth Covid case, according to the numbers from the Johns Hopkins University, and there were 1,276 deaths. Hospitalization levels were down to 81,439 people across the country – the lowest since 19 November.

We are expecting a team of senior Democrats today to unveil their plans for a vastly increased child benefit provision. Here’s how the Washington Post was teeing it up yesterday, having been given a sneak peek:

Under the proposal, the Internal Revenue Service would provide $3,600 over the course of the year per child under the age of 6, as well as $3,000 per child of ages 6 to 17. The size of the benefit would diminish for Americans earning more than $75,000 per year, as well as for couples jointly earning more than $150,000 per year. The payments would be sent monthly beginning in July, a delay intended to give the IRS time to prepare for the massive new initiative.

Biden’s plan has been estimated to cost upward of $120 billion per year, which would add to the national deficit as part of the Democrats’ broader package. Republican lawmakers and conservative scholars have started criticizing similar measures because they would give government aid both to working and nonworking Americans alike. That has set the stage for a major political clash over the new benefits.

America has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the developed world, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in part because it spends less on child benefits than almost any other. The plan would only create the new benefit for one year, but congressional Democrats and White House officials have said they would push for the policy to be made permanent later in the year.

Read more here: Washington Post – Senior Democrats to unveil $3,000-per-child benefit as Biden stimulus gains steam

Over at the Hill this morning, in an opinion piece, columnist and author Juan Williams has not minced his words about Sen Josh Hawley and Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene. He writes:

There is no way to say this politely. Josh Hawley is making money by telling lies. So is Marjorie Taylor Greene. Both are playing the grievance game by complaining that they are victims of “cancel culture,” and a “radical mob” seeking their “silence.”

Their lies work.

Last week, the senator announced he fooled enough people to get donations of $969,000 in January. That is more money than he has raised in any single month since coming to the Senate. The total included about $300,000 pulled in for Hawley by the Senate Conservatives Fund, according to Axios, after the deadly attack on the Capitol. Greene claims to have raised $325,000 in just two days last week, even as the House voted to take away her committee assignments.

So even as former President Trump is impeached for telling lies about a stolen election, Hawley and Greene are stuffing their campaign pockets by pushing more lies.

Williams goes on to conclude that:

Outrageous fake news attracts eyeballs. So, do calls for violence, mocking the weak and hate speech. Three weeks into the Biden presidency, it is becoming clear that the biggest impediment to unifying the country is the presence of “lies told for power and profit.”

Read more here: The Hill – Juan Williams – Lies for profit hurt us all

Stormy Daniels has said she could not remember key details of the sexual liaison she claims to have had with Donald Trump, until seeing a film about Roger Ailes’ sexual harassment of women at Fox News prompted her to remember.

“I went to see that movie Bombshell,” she said, “and suddenly it just came back”.

Daniels, an adult film star and director whose birth name is Stephanie Clifford, was speaking to Michael Cohen on the former Trump lawyer’s podcast, Mea Culpa, made by Audio Up Media. Excerpts were shared with the Guardian.

Daniels claims to have had a sexual liaison with Trump in Nevada in 2006. He denies it, but a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels made by Cohen and reimbursed by Trump contributed to Cohen’s downfall in 2018.

Trump’s longtime fixer was jailed for tax fraud, lying to Congress and violations of campaign finance law. He cooperated with investigators while the 45th president was still in office and published a book, Disloyal, while completing a three-year sentence at home in New York.

The payment to Daniels, and Cohen’s role in a payment to another woman who claimed an affair with Trump, Playboy model Karen McDougal, during the 2016 election, are at the centre of ongoing investigations. Stripped of the protections of office after his 2020 election defeat, Trump is now vulnerable to prosecution.

Daniels’ appearance on Cohen’s podcast marks a dramatic rapprochement between the two. After Cohen orchestrated Trump’s attempts to keep Daniels quiet about their alleged liaison, Daniels had harsh words for Cohen in her own book, Full Disclosure. Daniels called Cohen a “dim bulb” and “a complete fucking moron”.

Read more of Martin Pengelly’s report here: Stormy Daniels – Fox News Bombshell movie brought back memory of sex with Trump

Our Daniel Strauss has interviewed the former Arizona Republican senator Jeff Flake, who says that Trumpism will, in time, fade from the party - “This fever will break”:

“I didn’t want to leave the Senate. I wanted to do another term at least,” Flake said. “But the thought of standing on a campaign stage with Donald Trump and laughing at his jokes and staring at my feet while he ridiculed my colleagues – I just could not do it. There’s nothing worth that. But I look and think going off and leaving the party or starting a third party that just doesn’t – we need two strong parties in this country. I think that we’ll be back, I hope that we will. I want to be part of that.”

“You’re having some defining moments here soon with Marjorie Taylor Greene and what they’re going to have to do with her and that will – maybe expedite this departure, I guess,” Flake said. “I wouldn’t count Liz Cheney out here. She has some benefits and ties that’s just so high profile now that she might be able to survive it. Maybe Adam Kinzinger too. I’m sure hoping and praying so.”

Asked if he’s been in touch with either Cheney or Kinzinger, Flake said he hadn’t but he said he’s talking with some similarly minded Republicans.

“Trumpism requires a certain amount of swagger that you lose when you lose. And he lost,” Flake said. “In Georgia he couldn’t pull those two senators across the finish line. So yeah, I very much believe that would be the case and that would come a lot faster if more elected officials would say ‘yeah, we gotta move on.’ I think they’ll get to that point but boy it’s been slow.”

Read more of Daniel Strauss’ interview here: ‘This fever will break’: Republican Jeff Flake on the slow fade of Trumpism

Biden administration set to reengage with UN Human Rights Council as an 'observer'

US president Joe Biden’s administration will reengage with the United Nations Human Rights Council, three years after former president Donald Trump withdrew over what his administration called bias against Israel and a lack of reform.

Reuters report that secretary of state Antony Blinken will announce today that the United States will return to the Geneva-based council as an observer. A senior state department official said yesterday “We intend to do so knowing that the most effective way to reform and improve the Council is to engage with it in a principled fashion.”

“We know that the Council has the potential to be an important forum for those fighting tyranny and injustice around the world. By being present at the table, we seek to reform it and ensure it can live up to that potential,” the official said.

Trump quit the Human Rights Council in 2018 - halfway through its three year term. The 193-member UN General Assembly is due to elect new members to the council later this year. Members are elected for three years and cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. The next session of the 47-member Geneva-based council is due to start later this month.

If you’ve got questions about how Trump’s Senate trial will play out this week, then hopefully we have them covered off here: Donald Trump impeachment trial – what you need to know. Here are the key points:

What is Trump charged with?

On 13 January, the US House of Representatives voted by 232 to 197 to impeach Trump over “incitement of insurrection” after his supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn November’s election result.

Prosecutors place the blame for the violence squarely on the former president. Five died, hundreds were injured, members of Congress and staff were terrorized and the seat of US government building was left with “bullet marks in the walls, looted art, smeared faeces in hallways” – all in a bid to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.

What is Donald Trump claiming in his defense?

Trump’s team issued a thinly argued 14-page document last week that said his speech did not amount to a call to storm the Capitol and that his trial was unconstitutional anyway, because he has left office. Trump will not testify personally.

How long will the trial last?

How long the trial will take is not known, but most people believe it will be much shorter than the three-week trial the last time Trump was impeached over his actions over Ukraine, when he was accused of abusing his power and obstructing Congress.

Will Trump be found guilty?

On the face of it, it seems unlikely. An impeachment trial requires a two-thirds majority for a conviction. If every senator votes, then at least 17 Republicans would need to vote against their former president to reach the required 67-vote threshold. Already, 45 Republican senators have supported a motion presented by Kentucky Sen Rand Paul that the process itself is unconstitutional and against holding the trial at all, suggesting the numbers aren’t there for a conviction.

Will a second impeachment bar Trump running from office in 2024?

Not necessarily. If he was found guilty, there’s no immediate punishment, since he is no longer in office. The Senate could, with a simple majority vote, bar him from holding federal elective office in the future.

There is a constitutional argument to be had that the Democrat-controlled Senate might try to do this anyway even if Trump is found not guilty, by invoking section three of the post-civil war 14th amendment to the US constitution, but that is likely to be the subject of a significant legal dispute should it arise.

With Donald Trump almost certainly to be acquitted by the bloc vote of the Republican party in the Senate, part of the Democrat focus on this week’s proceedings is to set out a permanent record in Congress of the events of 6 January. As Jeremy Herb and Daniella Diaz put it for CNN:

The House impeachment managers haven’t made a final decision on whether they will call witnesses for the trial. They’re preparing for the possibility they won’t have any witnesses – but they may decide to use them if they find a witness willing to voluntarily step forward, according to sources.

The managers want to avoid any kind of court fight over witnesses like the House had to deal with during the first impeachment of Trump, which would delay the trial further.

Even without witnesses, Democrats are preparing to use evidence from video and social media to help illustrate how Trump’s words, actions and tweets incited the rioters to attack the Capitol.

The trial is sure to be compelling. While Republicans are relying on a procedural argument as reason to dismiss the impeachment charge against Trump – avoiding a judgment on his conduct – the House’s presentation will catapult senators – and the public – back to the harrowing events of 6 January when senators were forced to flee the chamber.

For Democrats, the trial is likely to be as much about holding Trump and the Republican lawmakers who pushed his false claims of election fraud accountable in the public eye than it is the all-but-impossible task of flipping 17 Republican votes.

Welcome to our live coverage of US politics for Monday, as the Senate braces itself to hold Donald Trump’s unprecedented second impeachment trial tomorrow

  • It’s the final day of preparations for Trump’s trial. The House prosecutors are expected to present eyewitness and video testimony in the Senate to show the extent of the violence they claim the former president incited. Enough Republican senators are expected to vote for acquittal anyway, so it won’t matter.
  • Republican Liz Cheney has raised the possibility of Donald Trump being criminally investigated for provoking violence during the 6 January US Capitol insurrection, on top of those impeachment proceedings.
  • A new ABC News/Ipsos poll shows a narrow majority of Americans want the Senate to convict Trump and bar him from holding office again.
  • Sunday’s coronavirus numbers in the US showed 88,044 new cases and 1,276 further deaths. Weekend numbers are often lower due to data collection methodology, but it is worth noting it is the first day there has been fewer than 100,000 new cases since 2 November.
  • Nevertheless, the US hit a milestone as the total US caseload now exceeds 27 million. Nearly 32 million people have now received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine in the US.
  • Senior Democrats are expected to unveil today a legislative push for a $3,000 annual child benefit package. America currently has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the developed world.
  • Ronald Reagan’s longtime secretary of state, George Shultz, who spent most of the 1980s trying to improve relations with the Soviet Union and forging a course for peace in the Middle East, has died. He was 100.
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