President-elect Joe Biden introduced a $1.9 trillion spending package Thursday, aiming to speed distribution of the coronavirus vaccines and provide economic relief caused by the pandemic. The package proposal includes investing $20 billion in a national vaccination program, $1,400 stimulus checks and expanding unemployment insurance supplements to $400 per week.... [Read Full Story]
Citing the attack on the U.S. Capitol last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday the city will cut ties with the Trump Organization and will ending its contracts to operate several public venues. The Trump Organization had agreements with the city to operate the Central Park Carousel, Wollman and Lasker skating rinks and Ferry Point Golf Course. De Blasio blamed Trump for provoking the U.S. Capitol attack by radical Trump supporters on Jan. 6, and said the violence made it impossible for the city to continue its relationship with the organization.... [Read Full Story]
The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to impeach President Donald Trump on charges he incited an “insurrection” at the U.S. Capitol a week ago. The chamber voted 232-197 in favor of impeachment, making Trump the first U.S. president in history to be impeached twice.... [Read Full Story]
On Tuesday, officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services expanded COVID-19 vaccine availability during the initial phase of distribution to include people age 65 years and older. The changes also give priority to those with underlying health conditions that place them at higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19 infection. For instance, people with conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and respiratory illnesses such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, are believed to be at increased risk for severe COVID-19.... [Read Full Story]
State capitols across the nation are stepping up security, and deploying National Guard units, SWAT teams and extra police officers as several legislatures convened amid heightened safety concerns following last week’s violence at the U.S. Capitol.... [Read Full Story]
The U.S. State Department announced Monday that it was re-designating Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, reversing a 2015 Obama-era campaign to improve relations in between the two countries. Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called the move “political opportunism” in a tweet.... [Read Full Story]
A Capitol Police Officer who responded to the siege on the Capitol building on Wednesday died while off duty, the U.S. Capitol Police said. 51-year-old Officer Howard Liebengood, who had been with the department since April 2005, died while off duty three days after the riot that saw supporters of President Trump make their way inside the Capitol building as Congress was certifying the results of November’s presidential election. ... [Read Full Story]
On Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the House will vote on a resolution Monday, calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove President Donald Trump from office. In a letter to her Democratic House colleagues, Pelosi said that the House will on Monday seek to pass the resolution that would call on Pence to convene and mobilize the Cabinet to declare Trump incapable of executing the duties of his office, following his role in an insurrection at the Capitol building on Wednesday by Unanimous Consent. If the measure does not pass by Unanimous Consent, the legislation will be brought up on the House floor the next day, followed by bringing impeachment legislation against Trump.... [Read Full Story]
Amid calls for his Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove him from office, President Donald Trump finally spoke out on Thursday, acknowledging that a new administration will take the White House this month. In a video posted to Twitter on Thursday night, Trump said he was “outraged” by the violence in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday as his supporters stormed the Capitol building. In addition, he recognized Congress’ decision to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, saying, “A new administration will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power.”... [Read Full Story]
On Thursday, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for President Donald Trump to be immediately removed from office as pressure mounted on Republicans to support invoking the 25th Amendment.... [Read Full Story]
Democrats took control of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday after Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock were projected to win their runoff races in Georgia. CNN, NBC, ABC and The New York Times said both Democratic challengers will win the Tuesday election.... [Read Full Story]
As of Wednesday night, the U.S. Capitol building was finally secured, hours after Trump supporters forced their way inside. Thousands had gathered on and around the National Mall earlier to hear remarks by Trump, who falsely claimed he won November’s presidential election “in a landslide.” After his speech, some protesters clashed with police, breaking through a police line, forcing their way to the Capitol, where members of Congress debated certification of the Electoral College win by President-elect Joe Biden.... [Read Full Story]
Georgia’s two Senate runoff elections were held on Tuesday, and Democrats are a step closer to take control of the U.S. Senate as Raphael Warnock became the projected winner over Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler. Democrat Jon Ossoff is also currently in the lead against Republican Sen. David Perdue, though the race is still too close to call. ... [Read Full Story]
On Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order banning transactions with the companies behind eight Chinese apps. The order prohibits certain future transactions with the companies associated with the apps Alipay, CamScanner, QQ Wallet, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate, WeChat Pay and WPS Office.... [Read Full Story]
Iran announced on Monday it would boost uranium enrichment, moving it to a target goal of 20%, well above the 3.67% cap placed under the multinational agreement during the Obama administration. President Donald Trump walked away from the agreement in 2018.... [Read Full Story]
On the final day of campaigning for two U.S. Senate runoffs in Georgia. President-elect Joe Biden appeared in Atlanta to support Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate, Jon Ossoff and David Warnock. Biden said electing Democrats would guarantee that the Senate under a new Democratic majority would revisit the $2,000 stimulus payments opposed by Senate Republicans.... [Read Full Story]
A suspect was taken into custody after a shooting at a church in East Texas on Sunday morning. Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith said Sunday that the person killed in the shooting was the pastor of Starville Methodist Church. Another person was undergoing surgery for a gunshot injury and a female victim was injured in a fall. ... [Read Full Story]
The 117th Congress convened on Sunday to swear in new lawmakers and re-elect Nancy Pelosi as House speaker. Democrats are set to enter the session with the narrowest majority in the House for either party in 20 years with a 222-211 lead over Republicans and two new Democrats and four Republicans were sworn into the Senate while a pair of runoff elections to determine the balance of the chamber will be held Tuesday.... [Read Full Story]
California has reported its first case of a more contagious COVID-19 variant first identified in the United Kingdom, and the second confirmed case in the U.S. ... [Read Full Story]
On Wednesday, the U.S. federal government began mailing out COVID-19 stimulus checks worth $600 for most Americans, amid ongoing efforts to raise the amount to $2,000. The $600 amount was part of the $900 billion coronavirus relief package negotiated in Congress for months and signed by President Donald Trump on Sunday.... [Read Full Story]
The U.S. Justice Department have declined to charge the Cleveland officers involved in the fatal 2014 shooting of Tamir Rice, and have closed its investigation. An independent federal investigation into the Nov. 22, 2014, shooting of the 12-year-old Black boy seen playing with a toy gun at a park “found insufficient evidence to support federal criminal charges against Cleveland Division of Police officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback,” accordimg to a statement from the DOJ. The statement added that Rice’s family attorneys were notified of the decision and were also sent a letter “explaining the findings of the investigation and reasons for the decision.”... [Read Full Story]
After Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell blocked an effort by President Donald Trump and Democrats to increase stimulus payments to Americans, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said $600 payments would begin to be delivered Tuesday night. Mnuchin announced that the Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service would begin delivering the $600 payments included in the $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill signed into law by President Donald Trump over the weekend as early as Tuesday night through direct deposit, with paper checks being mailed out Wednesday.... [Read Full Story]
On Monday, the House approved giving Americans $2,000 stimulus checks, increasing payments from the $600 checks that were set to be given out as part of a COVID-19 relief package that President Donald Trump signed into law Sunday evening.... [Read Full Story]
On Monday, a federal judge denied bail to Ghislaine Maxwell for a second time. Maxwell is the British socialite facing charges of acting as an accomplice of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Judge Alison Nathan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York again ruled that Maxwell, 59, poses a flight risk, citing the severity of the charges she faces. In July, Nathan first denied her bail, siding with prosecutors who said that her wealth and dozens of overseas bank accounts make her an “extreme” flight risk.... [Read Full Story]
With unemployment benefits expiring and a pending government shutdown, President Trump signed the $900 billion coronavirus relief package, the White House announced Sunday night. The pandemic bill extends billions of dollars in coronavirus relief to millions of Americans. “Good news on Covid Relief Bill,” the president tweeted late Sunday before the signing of the bill was announced. “More information to follow!”... [Read Full Story]
Officials said on Sunday that a 37-year-old male Army sergeant has been charged after three people were killed and three others wounded in a shooting Saturday night described as a random act at a bowling alley in northern Illinois.... [Read Full Story]
On Sunday, authorities in Nashville identified the bomber, Anthony Quinn Warner, as responsible for an explosion on Christmas morning damaging dozens of businesses in the city’s downtown area.... [Read Full Story]
House Democrats aligned themselves with President Donald Trump and plan to vote Monday on legislation increasing the direct payments in the coronavirus stimulus bill to $2,000 per person, if Republicans block their efforts to pass it Thursday. The checks would be more than three times the $600 approved by Congress in the stimulus package approved earlier this week.... [Read Full Story]
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump granted 26 new pardons and commutations. Trump granted full pardons to his former campaign adviser Roger Stone and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort who were both convicted of multiple crimes related to Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and potential collusion by Trump’s campaign. Trump has pardoned five people connected with Mueller’s investigation including his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos, and Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan... [Read Full Story]
