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Battleground states urge Supreme Courtroom to reject Texas’ bid to overturn Biden wins

Battleground states urge Supreme Court to reject Texas' bid to overturn Biden wins

The battlefield states, whose results of the Texas presidential election are being challenged in the Supreme Court, urged judges Thursday not to take up the case.

The four states to which the lawsuit pertained warned in unusually harsh briefs that granting Texas’s unprecedented demand for “violence against the constitution” and “disenfranchises millions of voters”.

These states – Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia – all confirmed their election results, with Democrat Joe Biden defeating President Donald Trump.

Almost simultaneously, Washington, DC Attorney General Karl Racine filed a brief in the court on behalf of the District of Columbia and 22 states and territories in defense of the four states targeted by Texas.

This court friend was joined by California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Guam, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon. Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, US Virgin Islands, and Washington.

The flood of important briefings related to the case – including Trump’s own request to intervene – recalled the dramatic and ongoing polarization in the US just weeks after one of the most controversial elections.

Pennsylvania called Ken Paxton’s long-term attempt to overturn elections in other states “legally unreasonable” and “a violation of the principles of constitutional democracy” in his letter.

“Texas is trying to invalidate elections in four states to get results it disagrees with,” says Pennsylvania.

Dana Nessel, the Michigan attorney general, in her state’s statement, urged the court to immediately dismiss the Texas case.

“Otherwise this court would become the arbiter of all future national elections,” wrote Nessel.

“The basis of Texas’ claims rests on the allegation that Michigan violated its own electoral laws. Not true,” added Nessel. “That claim has been dismissed in Michigan federal and state courts, and just yesterday the Michigan Supreme Court denied a final attempt to move for review.”

Christopher Carr, the Georgia attorney general, told the court that Texas was “transferring Georgia’s electoral powers to the federal judiciary.”

“Respect for federalism and constitutionalism prohibits this transfer of power, but this court should never reach that issue,” he wrote.

The answers came a day after Trump asked the Supreme Court to let him intervene on the case. The president, who refuses to admit Biden, has hyped the Texas case as “the big one” – but electoral law experts say there’s little chance the court will allow it.

So far, the judges have not taken any action in this case. Despite Trump’s frequent appeals, the court has shown unwillingness to enter into any litigation related to the presidential election.

For example, the judges have not yet said whether they will hear a GOP challenge to postal ballot papers received in Pennsylvania after election day. On Tuesday, they rejected an appeal from a Trump ally who attempted to reverse the findings on that state in a one-line order with no disagreement noted.

Even so, Paxton’s case has raised hopes among Trump’s supporters, desperate for a full court order to cancel Biden’s planned victory. Large sections of the electorate are convinced by the President’s repeated, unproven, and often debunked claims that widespread electoral fraud influenced the election of Biden.

Seventeen states where Trump won the referendum fueled those views on Wednesday when they filed a pleading with the Supreme Court in support of the Texas case.

On Thursday afternoon, 106 Republican members of Congress, led by Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., Signed their own letter in support of Paxton’s lawsuit.

This mandate was written by Phillip Jauregui, an attorney for the Judicial Action Group, who states on his website that he is working for the “renewal of justice” and is calling for “a third great awakening”.

Trump and his electoral team have filed dozens of lawsuits in court to invalidate election results, and state lawmakers have appointed pro-Trump voters.

Many of these cases have already been dismissed – but Trump is still pursuing legal challenges in key states, even with less than a week left before voters meet to cast their votes.

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Pentagon Weighs Sharp Disadvantage in Assist for C.I.A.

Pentagon Weighs Sharp Drawback in Support for C.I.A.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is considering withdrawing military support to the CIA, including the potential withdrawal of much of the CIA-operated drone fleet, according to current and former officials. The postponement could severely limit the agency’s counter-terrorism efforts, which expanded significantly after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The government is considering several options that could go into effect as early as January 5th. One would reduce the number of Pentagon personnel posted to the agency – many of them special forces forces who work in the CIA’s paramilitary division. However, other changes that are being considered would be far broader and more consistent, making it difficult for the agency to operate from military bases, use the Department of Defense’s medical evacuation capabilities, or conduct covert drone strikes against terrorists at hot spots around the world.

Former officials warned President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. can reverse changes immediately as soon as he takes office next month. However, depending on how quickly the Pentagon makes such decisions, it might be more difficult for the new administration to reverse them quickly.

It wasn’t clear why the Trump administration was pushing its review as Mr Biden could easily turn it back. Some former agency officials viewed the move as a final attempt by President Trump, who has long berated intelligence services for their assessment that Russia intervened to support its 2016 presidential campaign and downsize the CIA

The Pentagon is currently reviewing a 15-year-old memorandum of understanding with the CIA to move some staff from supporting the agency to other posts, a senior administration official said. Some in the Pentagon believe the CIA has received too many military assets, and the Department of Defense wants a greater say in their allocation.

Ezra Cohen-Watnick, who was appointed assistant secretary of defense for intelligence last month and seen among some career officials as a highly ideological Trump loyalist, pushed the effort forward, current and former officials said. Christopher C. Miller, the acting Secretary of Defense and longtime Army Green Beret, supports it as long overdue and part of the business as usual for the Pentagon, which, according to a senior American official, has to constantly review how it is using its assets.

“The Pentagon has tried to better use its resources to focus more on the so-called great power competition with China,” Air Force Lt. Col. Uriah L. Orland replied to a request for comment when asked for comment.

“Much has changed in the first two decades of this century, and DOD is only working with the CIA to ensure that both DOD and CIA are able to work together to address United States national security challenges,” he said.

While the CIA refused to discuss the deliberations, Nicole de Haay, a spokeswoman for the agency, said she was confident that close cooperation with the Department of Defense would continue “for years to come.”

“There is no stronger relationship and no better partnership,” she said. “This partnership has resulted in achievements that have greatly improved US national security.”

The review includes the assignment of counter-terrorism military experts, which the Pentagon referred to the CIA, but the changes could be more extensive, according to those briefed on the effort.

One version of the plan could reduce the number of military bases the Pentagon makes available to the CIA and even reduce the number of places in the world where the Department of Defense provides medical evacuation and treatment to officials and contractors.

“That would be a setback for US national security,” said Michael P. Mulroy, former Pentagon chief Middle East policy officer and former CIA paramilitary officer, in an email about the proposed changes. “As a team, this relationship resulted in some of the greatest successes in Afghanistan, Iraq and the global war on terrorism.”

Defense One covered the Pentagon Review earlier.

Since the 9/11 attacks, the CIA has replenished its small number of unmanned armed drones with assets and pilots on loan from the Pentagon. According to former officials, around two-thirds to three-quarters of the CIA’s drone fleet is now owned and loaned to the agency by the Air Force.

The CIA’s strikes are undercover and are not recognized by the agency. During the Bush and Obama administrations, the CIA used military drones to carry out increasingly deadly air strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere. The CIA, not the military, has carried out some of the government’s airstrikes in recent decades because some host countries prevented the American military from operating on their territory. The CIA can also act faster, argued former officials.

“The CIA’s process of authorizing lethal strikes against individuals is faster than the military’s more bureaucratic procedures,” said Kevin Carroll, a former CIA officer. “In this way, decaying, time-critical counter-terrorism goals could be missed.”

CIA drone strikes have decreased in recent years, and the agency has pulled back from strikes in some countries, such as Pakistan, that were once the focus of its operations, according to former officials.

Last year, the Trump administration began curtailing the nation’s counter-terrorism efforts to shift the focus of intelligence agencies to China. That year, Richard Grenell, then acting director of the National Intelligence Service, ordered a review of the National Counter-Terrorism Center, which resulted in its size being reduced.

Human rights groups are likely to welcome a further reduction in CIA air strikes. You have long spoken out against the targeted murder of terrorist suspects by the government, but you were particularly frustrated with the secret nature of the CIA program.

“The CIA shouldn’t be responsible for targeted murders because it can’t naturally meet international transparency standards,” said Andrea J. Prasow, Washington deputy director at Human Rights Watch.

The Pentagon has told Biden interim officials that it is reviewing its agreement to assist the CIA in the effort to shift resources from the counter-terrorism mission to the Chinese threat.

Most administrations withhold important decisions in the final days of a president’s term with profound consequences. Former officials say the revision of the operating agreement between the CIA and the Pentagon is exactly that kind of change with global implications that should be left to the Biden administration.

However, the deal could make it difficult for the CIA to conduct some of its operations in Afghanistan next month as the Pentagon tries to reduce the number of soldiers there. However, people who have been briefed on the matter say the military continues to support the CIA despite the drawdown orders.

The close ties between the CIA and special military operations personnel were underscored last month when a CIA paramilitary officer was killed in Somalia. General Mark A Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, publicly announced the official’s death in a comment last week to a think tank. General Milley noted that the officer had previously served in the military as a member of the Navy SEALs.

The Pentagon announced last week that virtually all of Somalia’s 700 or so troops – most of the special forces that have conducted training and counter-terrorism missions – will leave by January 15, five days before Mr Biden’s inauguration.

Military officials said the Pentagon will continue to conduct counter-terrorism operations from neighboring Djibouti and Kenya, but the withdrawal of American forces is likely to complicate the role of CIA paramilitary officers remaining in Somalia.

Over the past two decades, the military-CIA partnership has halted “numerous terrorist attacks,” said Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA officer who has spent much of his career fighting terrorism.

“The fight against terrorism is not over yet, even if we turn to competition from China and Russia,” he said. “This reported move also puts CIA staff at considerable risk. At a time when a CIA officer was recently killed in Somalia, it is hard to imagine why the Department of Defense would pull the necessary Medevac platforms for our officers at the tip of the spear. “

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Biden picks China critic Katherine Tai for U.S. Commerce Consultant

Biden picks China critic Katherine Tai for U.S. Trade Representative

Katherine Tai speaks during a House Ways and Means Committee meeting on the US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) in 2019.

CSPAN

President-elect Joe Biden named Katherine Tai, a trade attorney with a history of taking over China, to be his new administration for the United States’ chief trade agent on Thursday.

If this were approved by the Senate, Tai would inherit a critical position at the cabinet level, tasked with enforcing American import regulations and negotiating terms of trade with China and other nations.

Tai, who is Asian-American, would also be the first black woman to act as a USTR. She is fluent in Mandarin.

With the election of Tai, the senior trade attorney on the House Ways and Means Committee, the Biden team is likely signaling an intention to revert to a multilateral trade approach to advance U.S. trade interests and face growing economic competition from China.

The president-elect announced Tai’s experience in a press release on Thursday as key to key insights as the new administration reviews outgoing President Donald Trump’s Beijing-brokered trade deal.

“Your in-depth experience will enable the Biden-Harris administration to get a foothold in trade and harness the power of our trade relations to help the US emerge from the COVID-induced economic crisis and get the president-elect’s vision from a professional pursue – American Labor Trade Strategy, “wrote the Biden transition team.

Tai would succeed current Trade Tsar Robert Lighthizer, whose achievements during the Trump administration include stepping up negotiations with Beijing and introducing hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs on goods imported from China.

China’s Deputy Prime Minister Liu Er speaks to U.S. Sales Representative Robert Lighthizer during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on February 22, 2019.

Carlos Barria | Reuters

Though Tai prefers multilateral enforcement mechanisms more than Lighthizer, its leadership as a USTR would not necessarily signal a change in tougher stance on China. She said China should be approached vigorously and strategically.

“Both also have long histories of dealing with China’s unfair practices, the most pressing trade problem of our time,” said Clete Willems, former White House top trade negotiator. “Katherine’s approach is most likely different in how she uses the WTO system and alliances to pressure China to change its behavior.”

From 2007 to 2014, Tai successfully negotiated Washington’s disputes against Beijing at the WTO, the global trade organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Lighthizer and his team, frustrated with what they saw as slow bureaucracy and China’s influence on the WTO and the World Bank, often chose to bypass the WTO and take a more direct approach through tariffs. The US still has import tariffs on Chinese imports of $ 370 billion.

“As a former head of the USTR China Trade Enforcement, Katherine has experience leading and winning joint WTO disputes against China while working with countries like the EU and Japan and is likely to take a similar approach,” Willems said now Partner at Akin Gump. added in an email.

Willems also noted that Tai’s fluent mandarin would command respect at the negotiating table with China.

US President-elect Joe Biden will announce his health team members on December 8, 2020 at the Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware.

Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

In August, Tai called for a different approach to China than Lighthizer’s year-long tariff war, saying the use of import taxes was actually a defensive maneuver.

Rep Don Beyer, D-Va., Said in a press release on Wednesday night that Tai would be a smart choice for USTR as they work together on the Ways and Means Committee.

“She is smart, knows her way around and is committed to ensuring that trade policy is right for our employees, companies and the environment,” said Beyer.

“Katherine is widely recognized and loved, but she will also be a tough and principled negotiator,” he added. “She’s just the right kind of cooperative leader to bring our trade policies back to a rational level and restore the respect of our allies around the world.”

This should please Biden, who has proposed a return to a multilateral, allied approach and a departure from President Donald Trump’s nationalist “America First” approach.

Still, in a recent interview with the New York Times, Biden said that he will not immediately lift tariffs on China and instead will weigh up a variety of tactics when considering how best to compete with Beijing.

“I’m not going to take any immediate steps, and neither will the tariffs. I will not affect my options,” Biden told columnist Thomas Friedman in an interview earlier this month.

The President-elect has refused to say whether he would support joining certain trade deals. One of President Donald Trump’s first acts of office was the removal of the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the Obama administration had negotiated with eleven other nations.

The TPP excluded China and was a cornerstone of Obama’s efforts to cement US influence in Asia. China has since signed the regional comprehensive economic partnership with 14 other countries, a trade agreement that excludes the US and covers about 30% of the world economy.

Biden has promised to go into more detail about what agreements he would support after his inauguration, but has repeatedly stressed the importance of working with allies to establish the “rules of the road” of world trade.

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Biden Picks Katherine Tai as Commerce Consultant

Biden Picks Katherine Tai as Trade Representative

WASHINGTON – President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is expected to select Katherine Tai, chief trade attorney for the House Ways and Means Committee, as the United States trade agent, a key role who will be responsible for enforcing American trade rules in negotiations with China and other countries on new trade terms, according to those familiar with the plans.

Ms. Tai has received strong support from colleagues in Congress, who credit her for helping a recalcitrant gathering of politicians and stakeholders to fight for the adoption of the revised North American Free Trade Agreement. From 2007 to 2014, Ms. Tai worked for the United States Trade Representative’s Office, where she successfully prosecuted several cases of Chinese trade practices at the World Trade Organization.

If this were confirmed, Ms. Tai, an Asian American woman, would become the first black woman to serve as a U.S. trade representative, a cabinet-level official with the rank of ambassador.

Ms. Tai’s selection was previously reported by Politico and the Wall Street Journal.

Although Mr Biden has stated that he has no intention of negotiating any new free trade agreements until he has made “major investments here at home and in our workers”, his sales agent will have a lot to do. These responsibilities likely include ensuring that American trade rules are properly enforced and that they promote, rather than hamper, other parts of Mr Biden’s agenda, including fighting climate change and encouraging domestic investment, for example through the expansion of Buy American Programs.

Congressional Democrats have campaigned for Ms. Tai to be appointed in part because they believe she would play an important role in ensuring that the provisions of the United States-Mexico-Canada accord, which replaced NAFTA this year, are enforced will. This includes initiating new trade proceedings against Mexican factories that violate labor rules and ensuring that Mexico carries out ambitious reforms to its labor system.

As chief counsel for the Ways and Means Committee, Ms. Tai played a key role in drafting the democratic demands for final changes to the USMCA negotiated by the Trump administration. In this role, she balanced the competing demands of trade unions, environmental groups, corporate lobbyists, and the administration, and helped craft a deal that overtook both Houses of Congress by a wide margin.

In a November letter to Mr. Biden, 10 House Democrats wrote that Ms. Tai’s central role in these negotiations “uniquely qualifies her to lead the implementation and enforcement efforts” as the next sales representative.

“Ms. Tai knows every tool available to hold Mexico and Canada accountable,” the legislature wrote.

Although this is sometimes a minor position, the office of commercial agent has grown in importance under President Trump, who has used the office to levy substantial tariffs on overseas and negotiate a number of trade deals, small and large.

Mr Biden’s chief trade negotiator will be responsible for managing much of this legacy, including assisting in deciding whether to continue to impose tariffs on Chinese goods and whether to keep certain companies excluded from those tariffs. Many of these bans will expire on December 31, and it remains unclear whether Mr Trump plans to extend them.

The new commercial agent will also be responsible for adapting the office to democratic priorities, e.g. B. to increase the protection of workers, curb climate change and raise standards for consumer protection. The election of Mr Biden will also be responsible for rebuilding trade ties that have been weighed down by Mr Trump’s aggressive approach, including with Europe, Canada, Japan and Mexico.

Supporters say Ms. Tai is also uniquely positioned to address the economic challenges facing China, which is believed to be America’s greatest source of competition in the trade sector.

During her tenure in the House of Representatives, Ms. Tai dealt not only with trade disputes against China at the World Trade Organization on issues such as subsidies and export restrictions, but also with issues related to China, including strategies to restore American supply chains and legislation to ban imports Forced labor by Uyghurs and other minorities in China.

Ms. Tai has a background in China, where she taught in the late 1990s and was fluent in Mandarin.

In the House of Representatives, she also sought to examine the legacy of racial injustice in US trade policy and how trade profits could be made more inclusive.

Thomas Kaplan and Emily Cochrane contributed to the coverage.

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States inform Supreme Court docket they assist Texas bid to reverse Biden win

States tell Supreme Court they support Texas bid to reverse Biden win

United States President Donald Trump arrives to make remarks on the stock exchange during an unscheduled appearance on November 24, 2020 in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC.

Almond Ngan | AFP | Getty Images

Seventeen states whose elections were won by President Donald Trump told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that they support Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s offer to file a lawsuit that could effectively undo President-elect Joe Biden’s proposed election victory.

The filing of Paxton by these states came the day after he asked the Supreme Court for permission to sue Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, all of which Biden won, over their voting procedures.

Later on Wednesday, Trump filed a motion to intervene in the case “in his personal capacity” as a presidential candidate. The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on Paxton’s motion.

The states that support the lawsuit and that all have Republican attorneys general are Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah. and West Virginia.

Trump defeated Biden in the referendum in all of these states despite Biden receiving one of Nebraska’s electoral votes.

Representatives of the four battlefield states targeted in the lawsuit did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.

After Trump asked to intervene in the case, 17 former officials and lawmakers filed their own filings in support of the four swing states. They argued that Paxton’s case was not part of the Supreme Court, which suggests his claims could be made elsewhere.

“The constitution does not make this court a multi-district litigation panel for judicial proceedings in presidential election disputes,” the letter said.

The court record was signed by former officials who had worked in Republican administrations and several former members of the House and Senate.

Paxton’s case makes “a mockery of federalism and the separation of powers,” said her letter.

“It would be against the most basic constitutional principles for this court to act as the trial court for disputes in presidential elections.”

Paxton, a Republican who remains indicted on charges of securities fraud, is seeking permission from the Supreme Court to sue the four states for blocking their certification of Biden’s victories in them.

Paxton argues that a blockade is warranted because of allegedly inappropriate changes in voting procedures over the past year, alleged differences in the treatment of voters in democratic areas, and voting on “irregularities”.

The four swing state defendants will submit their responses to Paxton’s summons to the court on Thursday at 3 p.m.

The effort comes from the fact that all states confirmed their individual results of the presidential election, which shows that Biden easily won the national referendum.

Biden is expected to win the electoral college if it convenes on Monday by 36 votes, more than the minimum of 270 votes required to win the White House.

Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel said Tuesday Paxton’s filing was “a publicity stunt, not a serious appeal.”

“The erosion of trust in our democratic system is not due to the good people in Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia or Pennsylvania, but to partisan officials like Mr. Paxton who impose loyalty to a person loyalty to their country,” Nessel said in one Explanation.

“The Michigan issues raised in this complaint have been thoroughly tried and flatly denied in state and state courts by judges appointed by both political parties. Mr. Paxton’s actions are beneath the dignity of the attorney general and the great people State of Texas. “

Trump has refused to allow Biden to vote, claiming without evidence that he was the victim of widespread electoral fraud.

Trump and his election campaign, as well as their political allies, have repeatedly failed in their legal attempts to invalidate votes for Biden.

The Supreme Court declined Tuesday to hear a separate offer from Trump allied Republicans questioning Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania.

Suffrage experts saw this seemingly unanimous rejection as a signal that remaining efforts to undo Biden’s victory were all but doomed at the Supreme Court.

But the GOP plaintiffs in this case plan to file a formal appeal with the Supreme Court, The Hill reported Wednesday.

President and attorney Rudy Giuliani recently pushed for legislation in battlefield states whose popular elections were won by Biden to outvote their citizens and nominate a electoral roll for Trump to the electoral college.

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We’ve Reached ‘Secure Harbor’ – The New York Occasions

We’ve Reached ‘Safe Harbor’ - The New York Times

  • With a flick of the wrist the Supreme Court reduce a Republican attempt to reverse the loss of President Trump in Pennsylvania. In a one-sentence ruling yesterday, the court declined to hear a challenge to the use of postal ballot papers in Pennsylvania without public opposition from the judges.

  • It was a clear rejection of Trump’s attempts to contest the election by a court that includes three judges he appointed and which he had hoped for after the election.

  • The country yesterday hit what electoral officials call the “safe harbor,” which is widely viewed as the date by which all state-level electoral challenges, such as recounts and audits, must be completed. State courts will likely commence a new lawsuit against the election after this period. Whether he openly admits it or not, Trump’s attempt to overturn the election seems nearing the inevitable end.

  • The White House submerged again Stimulus negotiations with Congressional Democrats yesterday with a $ 916 billion proposal that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin shared with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The deal would include one-time cash payments to Americans and aid to state, local, and tribal governments.

  • The proposal also includes a provision that gives employers who have employed workers during the pandemic full immunity. This is an important Republican request, but Democratic leaders have said they are unwilling to cross that line.

  • McConnell announced early yesterday that if the Democrats gave up seeking billions of dollars for state and local governments, he would be dropping his demand for full liability coverage. But democratic leaders were quick to reject the idea.

  • Now that it’s in a lame duck sessionCongress seems unusually busy. The House yesterday passed a military spending bill that includes the removal of Confederate names from American military bases, which President Trump has vetoed.

  • This creates the potential for the first veto suspension of Trump’s presidency. The law was passed with a veto-proof bipartisan majority of 335 to 78 and is now going to the Senate, where overwhelming support is expected.

  • Congress has passed a successful law on military spending for the past 60 years. But the president remains against it. “I hope the Republicans of the House will vote against the very weak National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that I will VETO,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

  • Joe Biden will elect Marcia Fudge to represent herThe Ohio Democrat is slated to serve as secretary for housing and urban development, bringing Tom Vilsack back to his old job as secretary of agriculture, according to people familiar with the president’s transition process.

  • Meanwhile, retired General Lloyd Austin, whom Biden wants to appoint as Secretary of Defense, encounters bipartisan opposition over concerns about choosing another former commander to run the Pentagon. The recent trend has defied the longstanding tradition of civilian control over the military.

  • Austin, who would become the country’s first black Secretary of Defense, would face a waiver from Congress because he left the service less than seven years ago. Congress granted Jim Mattis a waiver four years ago to serve as Trump’s first secretary of defense.

  • Adding to concerns about Austin, however, are its ties to Raytheon, a defense company that makes billions of dollars selling weapons and military equipment to the US and other countries, creates what critics have termed a conflict of interest.

  • Biden officially introduced the core team of health officials This will guide his response to the Wilmington, Delaware pandemic to announce an ambitious plan to “get at least 100 million Covid vaccine shots into the arms of the American people” in his first 100 days as president.

  • The promise poses at least some risk to Biden, as fulfilling the promise does not require any problems in making or distributing the vaccine and the willingness of Americans to be vaccinated.

  • As he spoke, Biden was flanked by members of his team, some of whom joined by video. These included Dr. Anthony Fauci, who will serve as Biden’s premier medical advisor while continuing to serve as the country’s foremost infectious disease expert, and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who will be director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  • Both made speeches, as did Xavier Becerra, Biden’s candidate for the Ministry of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith from Yale University Medical School, who will lead a new Covid-19 Equity Task Force. The virus’s impact has been disproportionately focused on color communities, and Nunez-Smith spoke of “centering equity in our response to this pandemic rather than a secondary concern, not a checkbox, but a shared value.”

  • Britain became the first yesterday Land to begin administering the Pfizer BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to civilians, the start of a mass vaccination campaign unlike anything seen in recent times. (And trust the UK was very British indeed: the second person to receive the vaccine was none other than William Shakespeare, 81), a Warwickshire man who had been hospitalized for several weeks after having had a stroke was.)

  • The FDA is expected to approve the vaccine this week, and Trump celebrated the milestone at a “vaccine summit” near the White House. He spoke to a fully occupied, mostly masked crowd of industry representatives and members of his administration and declared the development of the vaccine a “monumental national achievement”.

  • When asked why he hadn’t invited Biden’s transition team to the summit, Trump reiterated his baseless claims that the election had been stolen and said he was still expecting another term.

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    Biden defends nomination of not too long ago retired Gen. Austin for Protection secretary

    Biden defends nomination of recently retired Gen. Austin for Defense secretary

    WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday defended his decision to appoint retired four-star Army General Lloyd Austin as his Secretary of Defense, a personnel election that could become one of the future president’s most controversial.

    Under the National Security Act of 1947, Congress prohibited anyone from serving as secretary of defense for seven years after active service. But Austin only left the army four years ago, and he would require a special waiver from Congress to circumvent the seven-year rule.

    Biden wrote in The Atlantic, tacitly admitting that Austin’s nomination was against civilian requirements, but argued that the strength of Austin’s qualifications outweighed the potential damage caused by blurring the civil-military divide.

    “I respect and believe in the importance of civilian control of our military and the importance of a strong civil-military working relationship at DoD – as does Austin,” Biden wrote.

    “Austin also knows that the Secretary of Defense has different responsibilities from an officer-general and that the civil-military dynamic has been under great pressure over the past four years,” Biden wrote.

    If this were confirmed by the Senate, the 1975 graduate of West Point would be the first black Pentagon leader to break through one of the more permanent glass ceilings of the US government.

    U.S. Central Command Commander General Lloyd Austin III holds a press conference on Operation Inherent Resolve, the international military effort against the Islamic State Group (IS), on October 17, 2014 at the Pentagon in Washingon, DC.

    Paul J. Richards | AFP | Getty Images

    Austin also has a personal relationship with Biden after gaining the President-elect’s trust and confidence in leading the global coalition against ISIS, which began in 2014, while Biden was Vice President and Austin led US Central Command.

    Biden also emphasized in his Atlantic essay that despite Austin’s recent active service, he understands “that our military is only an instrument of our national security”.

    “To keep America strong and secure, we must use all of our tools,” wrote Biden. “He and I share an obligation to empower our diplomats and development experts to guide our foreign policy, using violence only as a last resort.”

    Still, news of Austin’s likely nomination this week on Capitol Hill was met with skepticism, and several key Senators said they were not sure they would vote to give Austin the waiver necessary to take the position of Secretary of Defense .

    “That’s the exception, not the rule,” Majority Whip John Thune, RS.D., told reporters Tuesday. “I’m not including or excluding it. But I think it’s something we need to consider when the time comes.”

    Montana Democratic Senator Jon Tester also said he was unwilling to give Austin a waiver, even though the retired commanding officer would be “a great secretary”.

    “I think this guy is going to be a great secretary,” Tester told reporters. “I just think we should look at the rules.”

    Congress put aside its concerns about a military officer’s leadership of the Pentagon in 2016 when President Donald Trump addressed retired four-star general of the U.S. Marine Corps, Jim Mattis, who at the time had only been out of uniform for three years .

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    Biden’s Alternative for Pentagon Faces Questions on Ties to Contractors

    Biden’s Choice for Pentagon Faces Questions on Ties to Contractors

    WASHINGTON – Three weeks ago a naval ship launched a military contractor’s experimental missile off Hawaii to intercept and destroy a decoy pretending to be an incoming nuclear weapon for the first time in space.

    The same company, Raytheon Technologies, that accomplished the feat was selected for another contract this year in a program that could cost up to $ 20 billion to build a new generation of nuclear-armed cruise missiles for the United States .

    And Raytheon, whose 195,000 employees make warplanes, weapons, high-tech sensors, and dozens of other military products, has sold billions of dollars in weapons and radar systems to allies in the Middle East in recent years, some of which have been used to help To wage war in Yemen.

    Now, Raytheon could soon have another differentiator: one board member, retired Army General Lloyd J. Austin III, has been named the next Secretary of Defense by President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.

    Raytheon isn’t General Austin’s only connection with military contractors. He was also a partner in an investment firm that bought small defense firms. And his move from the arms business to a leadership role in the Pentagon continues a pattern that President Trump has begun in recent years.

    Mr Trump elected James N. Mattis, also a retired four-star general, who then served on the board of General Dynamics, another major military entrepreneur, as its first secretary of defense. Mark T. Esper, a former Raytheon chief lobbyist, succeeded Mr. Mattis.

    This is a departure from the norm. Defense ministers who had served prior to Mr Trump’s tenure – at least three decades until President George Bush’s tenure – did not come directly from boards or executive suites of contractors, although some, like Ashton Carter, President Barack Obama’s last Secretary of Defense, did served as an industry advisor.

    Mr. Biden’s decision to appoint General Austin has raised a new wave of questions about the corporate relationships of people Mr. Biden selects to serve in his administration.

    These links are especially relevant when it comes to the Pentagon, which spends hundreds of billions of dollars each year on weapons and other supplies. During Mr. Trump’s tenure, the military budget increased by about 15 percent, reaching $ 705 billion in the last fiscal year. This is one of the highest values ​​in constant US dollars since World War II.

    “It is important for the defense minister to bring independence of thought into this role, and it is deeply worrying when a candidate comes straight from one of the major military contractors,” said Daryl G. Kimball, the executive director of the arms control association, who pointed out urges reducing nuclear weapons and military spending.

    He added, “I would note that Raytheon has a tremendous financial stake in upcoming decisions by the Biden administration, Congress and the Secretary of Defense.”

    At Raytheon, officials are said to be excited about the prospect of a board member becoming secretary of defense, according to a person who works with the company. However, that person and another person working with Raytheon warned that the appointment could result in an undesirable audit of the company.

    Even members of Mr. Biden’s own party had urged Mr. Biden to refrain from nominating anyone for the job of Secretary of Defense who came directly from the military business world.

    “US national security should not be defined by the bottom line of Boeing, General Dynamics and Raytheon,” Democrat Representative Mark Pocan of Wisconsin said in a statement last month.

    As Secretary of Defense, General Austin would have to sell any stock he holds in Raytheon or other defense companies, or companies that do business in the industry, and would most likely be prohibited from directing contract decisions or other “special matter” directly affecting companies with whom he has had financial relationships for the past two years if Mr. Biden follows the ethical guidelines first adopted by Mr. Obama.

    General Austin joined Raytheon Technologies in April as part of a merger between Raytheon Company, known as a manufacturer of Patriot and Tomahawk missiles, and United Technologies, a manufacturer of commercial and military jet engines and avionics. General Austin joined the board in June In 2016 after leaving the military.

    According to Raytheon records, General Austin owned more than $ 500,000 in Raytheon stock as of October. As a member of the United Technologies board of directors, General Austin received a total of $ 1.4 million in stock and other compensation over a four year period.

    Raytheon is now one of the largest military contractors in the world. Raytheon boasts in an earnings report to Wall Street that it has a record federal government order book totaling $ 73 billion.

    His aggressive drive over the past five years to sell billions of dollars in precision-guided bombs and bomb parts to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which weaponized civilians in a catastrophic war in Yemen, sparked an outcry from human rights groups and some members of Congress who repeatedly tried to block sales.

    But Raytheon, who pays an army of well-connected lobbyists, overcame the opposition and sold the weapons – thanks in part to his close relationship with the Trump administration.

    General Austin was also a partner in an investment firm called Pine Island Capital, which he joined on the board of directors in July. The company was recently on a buying spree from small military contractors including Precinmac Precision Machining, which sells specialty parts for missile launch systems and machine guns.

    By the time General Austin joined Pine Island, Pine Island said he was “already fully committed, working with us on new investments and bringing his experience and judgment to our portfolio companies,” including InVeris Training Solutions, the virtual gun firing training service offers.

    General Austin, Anthony J. Blinken, the election of Mr. Biden as Secretary of State, and Michèle A. Flournoy, who had been Mr. Biden’s other nominee for Secretary of Defense, were made clear because of their connections with the Pine Island team competed in the past few months prior to the sale of $ 218 million worth of stock in preparation for buying other defense industry targets.

    Pine Island has a partnership with WestExec Advisors, a consulting firm founded in part by Mr. Blinken and Ms. Flournoy. Another Raytheon board member, former Pentagon official Robert O. Work, was also involved with WestExec and advised Mr Biden’s transition to national security planning.

    While WestExec advised at least one defense contractor, a WestExec spokeswoman did not respond to questions about whether Raytheon was a customer, stating that the company has nondisclosure agreements with many customers and “does not comment on potential customers.”

    When asked about General Austin’s relationships with defense companies, Andrew Bates, a spokesman for Mr. Biden’s transition, said, “Every cabinet member will comply with all disclosure requirements and strict ethical rules, including withdrawals as appropriate.”

    He added that General Austin and Mr. Blinken, if confirmed, would sell all of Pine Island’s shares.

    It’s not clear how much equity they have in Pine Island.

    Mandy Smithberger, a director of the Project on Government Oversight, which tracks federal contract decisions, said the problem with hiring former industry executives as senior Pentagon officials is broader because they often bring with them an industry-friendly mindset.

    As a result, Mr Biden’s administration may find it more difficult to make the tough decisions that will be necessary as the United States faces large budget deficits and growing demands for public health programs to increase to better prepare for the next global world to be pandemic.

    “The defense industry is already way too close to the Pentagon, and if the Biden administration is to reform the department the way we know, that must change,” Ms. Smithberger said. “What is in the best interests of our national security may not be the same as what is in the best interests of the defense industry.”

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    Politics

    Checks, legal responsibility amongst aid disagreements

    Checks, liability among relief disagreements

    U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) arrives for the press conference after the weekly Senate Republican Caucus Politics lunch on Capitol Hill in Washington.

    Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

    Congress attempted an elusive coronavirus relief deal Tuesday as known barriers stood in the way of aid to Americans struggling to cover food and housing costs.

    Washington leaders hope to pass a bailout before the end of the year after months of inactivity. If no further aid is sent by then, unemployment benefits for around 12 million people can be cut and millions of people threatened with eviction.

    To reach an agreement in time, Republicans and Democrats must resolve even bigger disputes over corporate liability protection, state and local government relief, and direct payments to Americans. Legislators plan to buy more time to reach both pandemic relief and spending agreements by passing a week-long rolling resolution to keep government funding going through December 18.

    A non-partisan group worked for days to produce a $ 908 billion compromise bill. Legislators intend to release more details on the proposal on Tuesday afternoon.

    While the Democrats have adopted the plan as a basis for talks with Republican leaders, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Has continued to call for a “targeted” bill of around $ 500 billion. According to Bloomberg, he plans to meet with Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to discuss the development of stimulus plans.

    A daily average Covid-19 infection rate of more than 200,000 has overwhelmed hospitals across the country. States and cities have put new economic restrictions in place to slow cases in an already sluggish economy where around 20 million people are receiving unemployment benefits.

    Where the plans are

    Congress leaders have signaled that they want to incorporate coronavirus control measures into spending legislation. The move would allow Congress to approve both must-pass invoices in one fell swoop.

    Getting an agreement on both fronts is the hard part.

    The bipartisan plan, as first outlined last week, would invest nearly $ 300 billion in paycheck protection program small business loans and $ 160 billion in support from state and local governments who may have to lay off workers. It would reintroduce the federal unemployment insurance surcharge at $ 300 per week and provide funding for the distribution, education, and transportation of Covid-19 vaccines, among other things.

    The proposal originally presented would also give companies temporary federal liability for coronavirus-related lawsuits until states enact their own laws. However, negotiators have not yet decided how to produce the final text on legal protection and state and local aid, West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said Tuesday.

    McConnell has insisted on including liability coverage in an aid package. His narrower approach includes this provision along with PPP loans and vaccine distribution and education funds. He has spoken out against new state and local easements.

    Chuck Schumer, Chairman of the Senate Minority, DN.Y., spoke in the Senate on Tuesday calling on the GOP to abandon the demand for legal immunity.

    “The situation is really quite simple,” he said. “There are blatant needs across the country and we have to work across party lines to pass laws that meet those needs.”

    Stimulus checks have turned out to be a problem in an aid agreement. Two senators – Vermont independent Bernie Sanders and Missouri Republican Josh Hawley – have signaled they oppose a package that doesn’t include direct payments to families.

    House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Told Bloomberg Tuesday that she would like to continue to want stimulus checks in an agreement. She said the question of including her was “really a matter for the president,” the news agency said.

    On Tuesday, Politico reported that the Trump administration would push for direct payments in aid legislation. At the same time, McConnell’s opposition to the provision is “softening,” according to the report.

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    What We Know In regards to the Voting in Georgia So Far

    What We Know About the Voting in Georgia So Far

    The deadline for registering to vote in the runoff elections in Georgia expired Monday, bringing the state closer to personal voting in two crucial Senate races.

    The January 5 contests will determine whether two Republican incumbents, Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, will keep their seats. If their Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock both win, the Democrats will claim control of the Senate.

    Now it’s all up to the Georgia voters. Here’s a look at the next steps.

    Some voters are already casting ballots in the runoff elections – the state started sending postal ballots last month. The personal early voting begins on December 14th. It happens to be the same day that members of the electoral college will officially vote for Joseph R. Biden Jr.

    Georgians are increasingly choosing to cast their ballots early and by post. Almost a million voters have already requested postal ballot papers for the run-off elections, according to state election officials, including more than 600,000 people who were entitled to receive the ballot automatically.

    According to the Georgian Secretary of State, more than 1.3 million voters cast postal votes in November’s parliamentary elections. But more than 71,000 people who did not vote in the general election have requested ballot papers for the runoff ballot, according to state data compiled by Ryan Anderson, a data analyst in Atlanta.

    So far, according to the State Secretary, around 43,000 Georgians have returned their postal votes for the runoff election. About 1,000 of these voters did not cast ballots in the general election. Postal ballot papers must be requested by January 1st and received by January 5th to count. However, voters should act earlier to avoid delays in the mail.

    Both parties encourage their voters to cast their ballots early. Democrats hope to retain an advantage that helped their party beat President Trump in the November election when Mr Biden won nearly 400,000 more postal ballots in the state.

    Republicans are trying to fill that void because they fear January weather and the worsening coronavirus pandemic could keep some of their constituents at home on election day. After months of Mr Trump’s disinformation campaign against postal voting, his own party has begun targeting its constituents in Georgia with leaflets and digital ads asking them to request postal voting.

    Not all Republicans in Georgia are convinced: when Vice President Mike Pence encouraged voters to vote by post while the state was on a campaign freeze, he encountered a few boos, according to the Atlanta Journal constitution.

    Runoff elections have traditionally been relatively sleepy competitions with a lower turnout that favored Republicans due to a drop in Democrats after the general election. (The runoff election itself was developed by white Georgians in the 1960s to dilute the power of black voters.)

    Not this year. A flotilla of high-performing political stars has already entered the race, including former President Barack Obama and Mr. Trump. Mr Biden is expected to fight for the Democrats just before election day.

    Television advertising prices are rising amid an astonishing influx of political spending. Hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent on the two races before January 5th.

    The stakes couldn’t be higher: Senate control will effectively set the parameters of Mr Biden’s first term. A Republican-led Senate would make it difficult for him to fill his cabinet, pass laws, and advance his political priorities.

    Both parties expect a significantly higher turnout than in the last Senate runoff in 2008, although few analysts expect numbers close to the five million voters who voted in last month’s general election.

    Modeling the electorate is not easy: never before has a runoff election in Georgia determined the balance of power in the Senate – or has it been held in the middle of a pandemic.

    In November, Mr Perdue received 49.7 percent of the vote, just below the majority he would have needed to avoid a runoff, while Mr Ossoff had 47.9 percent, a difference of about 88,000 votes. The field was overcrowded in the other Senate competition: Mr. Warnock finished with 32.9 percent of the vote and Ms. Loeffler with 25.9 percent.

    Democrats see opportunities in the changing demographics of the state. The drive to reach new voters, led by Stacey Abrams, drew an estimated 800,000 residents to vote – a wave that helped propel Mr. Biden’s victory in Georgia.

    Republicans believe that some voters who supported Mr Biden will want a review of democratic power in Washington. However, their efforts were hampered by Mr. Trump’s refusal to end the previous competition.

    Some Republican strategists fear that Mr Trump’s attacks on the presidential election results will hamper their efforts to win back some of the suburban moderate voters who fled their party in November.

    A fringe group of conservative voters is also encouraging Republicans to boycott the election in support of Mr Trump’s baseless claims of fraudulent vote counting that could undermine Republican margins.

    The Georgia State Election Board extended some emergency provisions from the November election, such as the retention of dropboxes for postal ballot papers. Some of the rules have been adjusted to encourage faster counting as the new Congress is expected to be sworn in on January 3rd.

    Districts must now start scanning and processing ballot papers at least a week before the election, but cannot start counting or tabulating until election day. These new rules should result in faster results starting on election night, though a close race will almost certainly end in recounts and litigation.

    Some Democrats and voting rights groups have raised concerns about access to voting and possible repression.

    Electoral officials in Cobb County, Georgia’s third largest county, plan to open fewer than half of the general election polling stations, reducing the number from 11 to five.

    Some of the locations that are being closed, like the Smyrna Community Center in Smyrna, are in neighborhoods with large black populations. Voting and civil rights groups sent a letter to the district election officer on Monday asking her to keep all eleven locations open.