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OL 1 PLAY Please stay on track. I know Trump thrives on the dumb but just try.

Jobless claims preview: Another 789,000 Americans likely filed new unemployment claims last week
Emily McCormick
Emily McCormick·Reporter
Wed, January 13, 2021, 2:16 PM EST
States likely saw roughly the same number of individuals file for first-time unemployment benefits last week as during the prior week, with the weekly pace of new jobless claims easing slightly from December’s elevated levels.

The U.S. Department of Labor is set to release its weekly report on new jobless claims Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET. Here were the main results expected in the report, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

Initial jobless claims, week ended Jan. 9: 789,000 expected vs. 787,000 during the prior week

Continuing claims, week ended Jan. 2: 5.000 million expected vs. 5.072 million during the prior week

New initial unemployment claims are expected to dip below 800,000 for a third straight week, showing signs of a tentative return to a downtrend after claims spiked throughout much of December. Initial jobless claims have stayed below the 1 million mark in every week since late August, after peaking at a record nearly 7 million in March.

“Recent jobless claims data suggest December may mark the trough in recent labor market weakness, particularly with additional fiscal support in the pipeline,” Nomura Chief Economist Lewis Alexander said in a note. “However, significant downside risks for the labor market will persist until the pandemic comes more under control in the U.S.”


While both new and continuing jobless claims have eased significantly from their pandemic-era highs, both remain well above levels from before the pandemic, when new jobless claims were averaging at just over 200,000 per week and continuing claims were coming in well below 2 million. And last week’s December jobs report showed that the U.S. economy was still about 9.8 million payrolls short of its February levels, with a still-elevated unemployment rate and depressed labor force participation rate. Though the vaccine rollout and additional fiscal stimulus may have alleviated some of the pressure, some economists are bracing for a multi-year recovery in the labor market.

“Weekly jobless claims were 787,000 to start the new year for the January 2 week which indicates the recession in the labor market isn’t over yet and hardship remains for millions of Americans without paychecks,” Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist for MUFG Union Bank, said in a note.

Based on last week’s data, more than 19 million Americans were still claiming unemployment benefits of some form, including 12.9 million individuals on pandemic-era federal unemployment programs.

This post will be updated with the results of the Labor Department’s weekly jobless claims report Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Check back for updates.

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House impeaches Trump again
David Knowles
David Knowles·Editor
Wed, January 13, 2021, 4:36 PM EST
The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to impeach President Trump on charges of “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol building by his supporters that left five people dead.

Before Wednesday, no U.S. president had ever been impeached twice. Trump did accomplish it and deservingly so.

The impeachment article was passed by a vote of 232-197, with 10 Republicans joining the Democrats in the chamber.

Under the Constitution, the next step would be a trial in the Senate, which could result in Trump’s removal from office. But with just a week left in his term, the issue appeared to be moot — although nothing is certain in the head-spinning developments that have engulfed Washington, D.C., since Trump was defeated in the presidential election on Nov. 3.

The article of impeachment charged that Trump “gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government” by promoting false election fraud claims, seeking to illegally manufacture a different election outcome and inviting his supporters to attend the Jan. 6 rally in Washington that turned violent.

“He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government,” the impeachment article stated. “He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a speech on the House floor that the aim of the pro-Trump mob was to “overturn the duly reported will of the American people,” and laid blame at the feet of the president.

“We know that the president of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion against our common country. He must go,” Pelosi said.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, surrounded by a security detail, walks to her office from the House floor at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 13. (Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images)
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, surrounded by a security detail, walks to her office from the House floor on Wednesday. (Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images)
Unlike the almost entirely party-line vote on Trump’s first impeachment in the House on Dec. 18, 2019, on charges of obstruction of justice and abuse of power, this one could not be portrayed by the president as simply a partisan exercise. Republican Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Peter Meijer and Fred Upton of Michigan, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, David Valadao of California, John Katko of New York, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Tom Rice of South Carolina, and Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse of Washington all voted in favor of impeachment.

“A vote against this impeachment is a vote to validate the unacceptable violence we witnessed in our nation’s capital. It is also a vote to condone President Trump’s inaction,” Newhouse said in a statement released as Congress debated the matter. “He did not strongly condemn the attack nor did he call in reinforcements when our officers were overwhelmed. Our country needed a leader, and President Trump failed to fulfill his oath of office.”

Even some of the Republicans who voted against impeachment acknowledged that Trump shouldered at least some blame for the unrest last week.

“The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said. After McCarthy had challenged the Electoral College certification at the center of the insurrection at the Capitol, he also signaled for the first time that Trump had lost.

“Joe Biden will be president,” McCarthy said, “because he won the election.”

As the impeachment vote was taking place, Trump released a statement about reports of further protests that the FBI and the Justice Department warned Tuesday could involve further violence.

“In light of reports of more demonstrations, I urge that there must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind,” his statement said. “That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for. I call on ALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers. Thank you.”

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, read the statement on the House floor moments after it had been released.

Hours after the vote, President-elect Biden issued a statement reflecting on Trump’s impeachment.

“This criminal attack was planned and coordinated. It was carried out by political extremists and domestic terrorists, who were incited to this violence by President Trump,” Biden said in his statement. “It was an armed insurrection against the United States of America. And those responsible must be held accountable and will be.

Another striking difference between the two impeachment votes was apparent just outside the House chamber, where thousands of U.S. National Guard troops were posted to protect the Capitol from threats by Trump supporters aimed at Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

Such a buildup of troops at the Capitol had not been witnessed in Washington since 1861, when seven Southern states seceded from the Union, precipitating the Civil War.

President Trump. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: AP, Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images)
President Trump. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: AP, Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images)
Before Wednesday’s vote, Cheney, the third most powerful Republican in the House, issued a forceful declaration in favor of impeaching Trump.

“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” Cheney wrote in a statement. “Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”

With news reports swirling Tuesday night that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell favored convicting Trump on the incitement of insurrection charge and removing him from office, more House Republicans stepped forth to announce that they would also vote to impeach the president.

But on Wednesday, Trump’s Republican supporters moved to punish Cheney for what they saw as her betrayal of the president. Jordan said he would seek a vote to remove Cheney from her position as House Republican Conference chair.

With just seven days remaining before Biden is set to be inaugurated, the Senate has little time to debate Trump’s removal. Since the U.S. Constitution mandates that a two-thirds majority in the Senate is required to remove a president, at least 17 Republicans and every sitting Democrat would need to vote in unison to do so.

Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Ben Sasse of Nebraska have all stated that they would vote to convict Trump and remove him from office. Reports circulated on Wednesday that as many as 20 Republican senators might vote in favor of conviction.

McConnell holds the key to what happens next, and minutes after the House voted to impeach the president he released a statement signaling that the Senate would not take up the impeachment article until after Trump has left office.

“Given the rules, procedures, and Senate precedents that govern presidential impeachment trials, there is simply no chance that a fair or serious trial could conclude before President-elect Biden is sworn in next week,” McConnell said in the statement. “The Senate has held three presidential impeachment trials. They have lasted 83 days, 37 days, and 21 days respectively. Even if the Senate process were to begin this week and move promptly, no final verdict would be reached until after President Trump had left office. This is not a decision I am making; it is a fact. The President-elect himself stated last week that his inauguration on January 20 is the ‘quickest’ path for any change in the occupant of the presidency.”

McConnell and Trump, who worked closely for Trump’s entire term, have fallen out over the president’s disruptive antics since the Nov. 3 election, which McConnell reportedly believes cost the Republicans two Senate seats in Georgia, reducing him to minority leader for at least the next two years. At one point, reports circulated that McConnell was open to allowing a vote to convict Trump.

Senator Mitch McConnell hugs President Trump at a campaign rally in 2019. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)
Sen. Mitch McConnell hugs President Trump at a campaign rally in 2019. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)
As the House debated whether to impeach Trump, McConnell sent a letter to his Senate colleagues indicating he had not decided on the matter of convicting the president.

“While the press has been full of speculation, I have not made a final decision on how I will vote and I intend to listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate,” McConnell said in his letter.

But convening a trial before Jan. 19, when the Senate is scheduled to return to session, would require a declaration of a national emergency by the two Senate leaders, McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Before the House even voted on Wednesday, McConnell had rebuffed Schumer’s call for an emergency session.

In a statement following the House vote, Schumer, who will not become Senate majority leader until after Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is sworn in on Jan. 20, seemed to accept McConnell’s rationale.

“A Senate trial can begin immediately, with agreement from the current Senate Majority Leader to reconvene the Senate for an emergency session, or it will begin after January 19th,” Schumer said in the statement. “But make no mistake, there will be an impeachment trial in the United States Senate; there will be a vote on convicting the president for high crimes and misdemeanors; and if the president is convicted, there will be a vote on barring him from running again.“

A lifetime ban on running for office would effectively end whatever hopes Trump might have of running for president again in 2024.

Schumer added that Trump’s conduct demanded punishment. “The president of the United States incited a violent mob against the duly elected government of the United States in a vicious, depraved and desperate attempt to remain in power,” Schumer said. “For the sake of our democracy, it cannot and must not be tolerated, excused, or go unpunished.”

While Biden did not signal whether he thought the Senate should vote to convict Trump, he said he remained hopeful that the upper chamber could continue to function on other matters as the trial played out.

“I hope that the Senate leadership will find a way to deal with their Constitutional responsibilities on impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of this nation,” Biden said in his statement. “From confirmations to key posts such as Secretaries for Homeland Security, State, Defense, Treasury, and Director of National Intelligence, to getting our vaccine program on track, and to getting our economy going again.”

Wednesday’s vote to impeach Trump came the day after the House passed a resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment in concert with the president’s Cabinet to oust Trump from office.

In a Tuesday night letter to Pelosi, Pence declined to do so.

“I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution,” Pence said in the letter, adding that invoking the 25th Amendment “would set a terrible precedent.”

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Trump Virus Outbreak-Florida-Trump
FILE - President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate is shown in a Wednesday, July 10, 2019 file photo, in Palm Beach, Fla. A Florida legislator wants President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club punished for hosting a New Year’s Eve party where few of the 500 guests wore masks in possible violation of local coronavirus ordinances. Democratic state Rep. Omari Hardy said Monday, Jan. 4, 2021 that Palm Beach County must take action against Mar-a-Lago out of fairness both to local businesses that have obeyed the ordinance and those punished for violating it. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
TERRY SPENCER
Thu, January 14, 2021, 10:15 AM
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club's failure to enforce Palm Beach County's mask ordinance at its New Year's Eve bash has resulted in a warning but no fine or other punishment.

The county sent a letter to the club's manager, Bernd Lembcke, on Wednesday telling him that future violations of the county's coronavirus ordinance could result in fines of up to $15,000 per violation. Video of the party shows that few of the 500 guests wore masks as they crowded the dance floor while rapper Vanilla Ice, Beach Boys co-founder Mike Love and singer Taylor Dayne performed.

Related video: State official calls for Mar-a-Lago shutdown after maskless-NYE party
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Todd Bonlarron, the county’s assistant administrator, said in the letter that while the club may have passed out masks to its guests, “there was a breakdown in enforcement of the mask orders that led to almost the entire room of guests being without masks.” He wrote that he is encouraged that Lembcke promised to enforce the ordinance going forward.

“Your acknowledgement and commitment to enforce these laws was evident in our visit,” he wrote. Palm Beach County has been hard hit by the virus, with more than 90,000 cases reported and nearly 2,000 deaths. It has a population of 1.5 million.

Lembcke and the Trump Organization did not respond to calls Thursday seeking comment.

Democratic State Rep. Omari Hardy, who filed the complaint with the county, did not immediately return a call Thursday seeking comment. Hardy, who represents a district near Mar-a-Lago, said last week that he finds it “offensive and disrespectful” that “these out-of-towners for one night couldn’t wear a mask.” He said they endangered the club’s staff and the community.

Trump had been scheduled to attend the $1,000 per ticket party, but he left Mar-a-Lago a few hours before it began as he spent that weekend trying to overturn his election defeat to President-elect Joe Biden. His sons Don Jr. and Eric attended, along with his attorney Rudy Giuliani, Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro and U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican who is one of the president’s staunchest supporters.

“This is amazing. Vanilla Ice is playing the Mar-a-Lago New Years Eve party. As a child of the 90s you can’t fathom how awesome that is,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote on a Facebook post that included a video of the party. The video showed tightly packed attendees bouncing and singing along as the rapper performed his decades-old hit, “Ice Ice Baby.”

Last month, a Mar-a-Lago neighbor filed a complaint with the Town of Palm Beach challenging Trump’s possible move to the resort after he leaves office on Wednesday. When the town agreed in 1993 to convert the private residence into a club, his attorney said he would no longer live there. The town has said it will consider the complaint if Trump moves to the resort, which he made his official residence in 2019.

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Welcome to Trumps World!

National Guard troops defending the Capitol have reportedly been told to be prepared for IED threats
Ryan Pickrell
Wed, January 13, 2021, 5:28 PM
Members of the U.S. National Guard arrive at the U.S. Capitol on January 12, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Members of the U.S. National Guard arrive at the U.S. Capitol on January 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
National Guard troops defending the Capitol have been briefed on the potential for additional IED threats, Politico reported Wednesday, citing Guard members.

The briefings follow the discovery of explosives not only at the Capitol but a few blocks away at the offices of the Republican and Democratic National Committees last week.

Improvised explosive devices have been among the greatest threats to US troops fighting terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan. A 2005 Pentagon report on the war in Iraq revealed that 70 percent of American casualties were caused by IEDs.

As many as 20,000 National Guard troops may be deployed to DC in the coming days.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Video: What it was like inside the Capitol mob riot
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National Guard troops defending the Capitol in the wake of last week's assault by Trump supporters have been briefed on the possibility that improvised explosive devices may be used in follow-on attacks, Politico reported Wednesday, citing two National Guard members.

Last Wednesday, federal law enforcement officers not only had to deal with a pro-Trump mob storming the Capitol, but they also had to respond to two explosive devices discovered a few blocks away outside the offices of the Republican and Democratic National Committees.

Authorities are still looking for the person responsible.

The Associated Press reported on Monday that investigators remain concerned about the potential explosive threat to targets in Washington, DC.

During the violent riots at the Capitol, police responding to a suspicious package also discovered a truck with firearms and nearly a dozen Molotov cocktails that prosecutors characterized as "homemade napalm bombs" near the building, the AP reported. The truck's owner was arrested.

Improvised explosive devices have been among the greatest threats to US troops fighting terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan. A 2005 Pentagon report on the war in Iraq revealed that 70 percent of American casualties were caused by IEDs.

Politico reported that it is unclear whether Guard troops are expected to respond to IED threats. The briefings have reportedly made some uncomfortable.

Preparing for the possibility of more protests and violence in the days surrounding the inauguration, the Army has authorized Guard personnel to carry firearms, including M-9 handguns and M-4 rifles. Photos from Wednesday showed Guard troops receiving weapons at the Capitol.

Members of the National Guard walk through the Visitor Center of the U.S. Capitol on January 13, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Members of the National Guard walk through the Visitor Center of the U.S. Capitol on January 13, 2021 in Washington, DC. Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images
The Guard is also strengthening its presence in DC. Earlier this week, it was reported that as many as 15,000 Guard troops had been authorized to deploy to the nation's capital. That number has since risen to 20,000.

AÂ new FBI bulletin reported Monday warned of possible "armed protests" at the US Capitol and all 50 state capitols ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration.

In a statement put out Wednesday on the possibility of future protests, President Donald Trump, who was impeached Wednesday for his part in last week's Capitol siege, said that "there must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind."

Trump, "That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for. I call on ALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers," the president said. Trumps statements is the reason for the uprising and he will be held accountable in the end. Leaving the office is not where this ends. Jan.21,2021 is where Trumps real challenges begin!

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Trump Jr wanted for questioning by DC attorney general over alleged inaugural funds abuse, charges pending.
Tom Embury-Dennis
Fri, January 15, 2021, 4:39 AM
(BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
(BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Donald Trump Jr is wanted for questioning as part of an investigation into the alleged misuse of his father’s 2017 presidential inauguration funds.

Washington DC attorney general Karl Racine said Mr Trump Jr had been notified of the request, which was sent after new evidence emerged in court filings earlier this week.

They allege that the Presidential Inaugural Committee “improperly wasted its fund” when it paid almost $50,000 (£37,000) to the Loews Madison for a block of hotel rooms on behalf of the Trump Organization.

The reservation was arranged by Mr Trump Jr’s personal assistant, the court filings claim, and the rooms appeared to have been given to a personal friend of the president’s eldest son.

The incident emerged as part of the DC attorney general’s wider probe into the alleged misuse of more than $1 million (£733,000) by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, which is accused of “grossly overpaying” for event space at the Trump International Hotel in DC during the inauguration.

In January the attorney general’s office announced it was suing the committee and the Trump Organization over the payments.

Mr Racine told CNN on Thursday he was “extremely confident” Mr Trump Jr and the wider Trump family had broken the law.

“We’re before a court and at the end of the day the court will decide, but the evidence is clear. The Trump business and the Trump family used the not-for-profit to profit themselves,” Mr Racine said.

“That’s why the presidential inauguration commission paid so much money for rooms and event space that were far above market rate during the inauguration, and that’s why we just amended our complaint to include that Donald Trump Jr’s good friend essentially had a free set of rooms for a period of time during the inauguration for no good not-for-profit purpose.

“That’s not consistent with the law, that’s why we’re going to pursue that.”

The Trump Organisation has been contacted for comment.

Read More

Capitol rioters ‘sought to capture and assassinate’ elected officials

Trump in contact with Steve Bannon and asks ‘how to overturn election’

Trump impeachment trial to focus on his attacks on election

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Marriott, Blue Cross, and Hallmark are just a few of the companies cutting off Trump and GOP
Ben Werschkul
Ben Werschkul·Senior Producer and Writer
Tue, January 12, 2021, 9:06 AM
Marriott was one of the first companies to announce it would be halting donations to the GOP lawmakers who objected to certifying Joe Biden as president.

And dozens have followed suit. At least 150 of America’s most prominent companies have been publicly rethinking their political giving strategy in recent days.

“This is a reaction of the moment,” said Bruce Freed, president of the Center for Political Accountability. “The question is what staying power does it have. Does this really lead to a fundamental change in the way companies approach their political spending?”

Freed argued that companies are just beginning to recognize that "political spending today poses a really broad risk and a deep risk that they need to manage."

[Read more: Big donors are letting extremist Republicans off the hook]

Here’s a running list of the businesses that have made moves to cut off specific Republican lawmakers or cease all political giving for the time being.

A ban on giving to ‘those who voted against certification of the election’
One-hundred and forty-seven Republicans — including 8 senators — voted to overturn the election results despite the violence that engulfed the Capitol on Jan. 6. Many of these lawmakers have received donations from corporations in recents years but that money appears to be drying up quickly.

SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES - 2020/01/23: American multinational hospitality company Marriott hotel logo seen at one of their hotels. (Photo by Alex Tai/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A Marriott hotel sign in California. (Alex Tai/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Marriott International (MAR) “will be pausing political giving from our Political Action Committee to those who voted against certification of the election,” according to a statement from a company spokesperson released Monday. During the last election cycle, the hotel chain’s PAC had given almost $200,000 to both Republicans and Democrats, including Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), both of whom voted against certification even after violence had engulfed the U.S. Capitol.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the health care insurance group that provides coverage for one in three Americans, also announced a pause on giving from its PAC to Republicans who had voted against certification. The association’s president and CEO, Kim Keck, announced in a statement that Blue Cross “will suspend contributions to those lawmakers who voted to undermine our democracy.” The group gave $370,950 to both parties during the last election cycle, including candidates who voted against certification, like Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Hawley, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Dow Chemical (DOW) announced Monday it was “immediately suspending all corporate and employee political action committee (PAC) contributions to any member of Congress who voted to object to the certification of the presidential election.” The move is more aggressive than most in that the company laid out in a statement that the ban “will remain in place for a period of one election cycle (two years for House members; up to six years for Senators), which specifically includes contributions to the candidate’s reelection committee and their affiliated PACs.”

Members of the U.S. Secret Service Counter Assault Team walk through the Rotunda as they and other federal police forces responded as violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol today, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Members of the U.S. Secret Service Counter Assault Team walk through the Rotunda as they and other federal police forces responded as violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol today, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Hallmark, the company that makes greeting cards, even has an in-house PAC. In a statement, the company said “the recent actions of Senators Josh Hawley and Roger Marshall [of Kansas] do not reflect our company’s values,” and “requested Sens. Hawley and Marshall to return all HALLPAC campaign contributions.” HALLPAC contributed $95,500 in total during the last campaign cycle, including $5,000 to Marshall and $3,000 to Hawley.

Verizon Communications (VZ), parent company of Yahoo Finance, said it will “be suspending contributions to any member of Congress who voted in favor of objecting to the election results," said Rich Young, a spokesman.

Other companies have taken similar actions this week to cut off this group of 147 lawmakers. The list includes Airbnb, Amazon, American Express, AT&T, Best Buy, Cisco Systems, Commerce Bank, Comcast, General Electric, Intel, MasterCard, and Morgan Stanley.

Ban on ‘all candidate giving’
Other companies have announced steps to back away from giving money to all lawmakers – both Democrats and Republicans – at least for now.

A range of the nation’s biggest banks have announced plans along these lines. Bank of America (BAC) told Yahoo Finance in a statement it will “halt all PAC funding decisions for the immediate future.” Goldman Sachs (GS), Citigroup (C), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) have also reportedly made similar moves. The pause, impacting both Democrats and Republicans, appears to be temporary and could expire before fundraising for the 2022 midterm elections begins in earnest.

Jamie Dimon, Chairman & CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co, speaks during the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York on September 25, 2019. (Photo by Kena Betancur / AFP) (Photo credit should read KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)
Jamie Dimon, Chairman & CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co, said in a statement on Jan. 6 that America's leaders needed to "accept the results" (KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)
Three big tech companies — Facebook (FB), Microsoft (MSFT), and Alphabet (GOOG) — have announced plans to freeze their own political spending. Facebook also took action by locking Trump’s account until at least after his term is over and Google pulled Parler – the social media network with a a significant base of right-wing extremists – from Google Play.

Ford (F) also announced Monday that the company’s PAC would temporarily suspend donations to consider “the need for a broader, ongoing discussion about other relevant considerations when it comes to our employee PAC," the company told the Detroit Free Press.

The list of companies announcing similar measures has grown by the hour this week. The list, based on news reports and company announcements, also reportedly includes 3M, American Airlines, The American Investment Council, Archer-Daniels-Midland, Boston Scientific, BlackRock, BP, Coca-Cola, ConocoPhillips, Duke Energy, Edison International, FirstEnergy, Freeport-McMorRan, Hilton, Investment Company Institute, Marathon Petroleum, Smithfield Foods, United Parcel Service, Valero Energy, the Vanguard Group, and Visa.

Companies have long had in-house PACs that have been used to contribute money to a wide range of politicians and political causes to curry favor. The big question, according to Freed, is whether the downside of these contributions now outweighs the benefits.

"Is this such a shock that it really changes the DNA or the brain structure on this, or do they go back to business as usual?" he said. "We'll have to see."

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Lets check this out!

Trumps tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations will cost $2.3 trillion over ten years.

For the same cost we could afford to give every American $1875.00 checks for the next at months.

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With partial blame for the Capitol attack, majority favors barring Trump from office
GARY LANGER
Fri, January 15, 2021, 6:00 AM
Nine in 10 Americans oppose the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, seven in 10 say Donald Trump bears at least some responsibility for it and a majority in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll – 66% – favors efforts in Congress to bar him from holding elected office again.

Fifty-four percent in the national survey also say Trump should be charged criminally with inciting a riot for having encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol. More, 66%, say he has behaved irresponsibly, more broadly, in his statements and actions since the election.


PHOTO: Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they push barricades to storm theCapitol in Washington D.C on Jan. 6, 2021. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
PHOTO: Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they push barricades to storm theCapitol in Washington D.C on Jan. 6, 2021. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
Half the public, 51%, say the events of the past week in Washington, D.C., left them less confident in the stability of democracy in the United States. That said, just 20% are pessimistic about the future of the U.S. system of government, about the average in polling back to the 1970s.

See PDF for full results, charts and tables.

Further, while Trump’s claims of widespread fraud have raised fears he would undermine confidence in U.S. elections, Americans by 2-1, 62-31%, see no solid evidence for these claims. And the public by 63-36% expresses confidence in the electoral system overall. At the same time, confidence in the electoral system dives to 35% among Republicans, and, following their leader’s line, 65% of Republicans say they think there’s solid evidence of fraud.

MORE: Trump has longstanding history of calling elections 'rigged' if he doesn’t like the results


The poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, finds Trump leaving office with a 38% job approval rating; 60% disapprove, matching (but not exceeding) his peak disapproval in August 2018. His career average approval rating is the lowest for any president in modern polling, back to 1939, and he is the first president in that time never to achieve majority approval at any point.

Fifty-nine percent expect him to be seen in history as a below-average president, including nearly half, 48%, who rate his tenure as “poor,” the most in polling dating to Gerald Ford in 1976. As noted, 56% favor Congress removing him from the presidency and barring him from holding elected office again – exceeding the 47% who supported his removal from office in his first impeachment last year.

Looking ahead, Americans by a wide margin say Republican officials should lead the party in a different direction rather than follow Trump’s leadership, 69-26%. But just among Republicans, a majority, 60%, wants to continue to follow Trump -- sharply fewer than in in the past (83% in a similar question in 2018), but still marking the risk of a Trump/no Trump schism within the party.

PHOTO: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks during debate ahead of the House vote on impeachment against President Donald Trump, while wearing a mask that reads, 'censored,' in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 13, 2021. (House TV via Reuters)
PHOTO: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks during debate ahead of the House vote on impeachment against President Donald Trump, while wearing a mask that reads, 'censored,' in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 13, 2021. (House TV via Reuters)
Indeed, while 52% of all Americans say Republican leaders who supported Trump’s effort to overturn the election “went too far,” just 16% of Republicans say so, compared with 81% of Democrats and 54% of independents. And Trump maintains a 79% job approval rating in his own party, with 64% approving strongly.


MORE: Trump entertains desperate schemes to overturn election

The challenge for the Republicans, in what may or not be their post-Trump era, is how to straddle that continued in-party approval for the president with views outside the base. Among the predominant political group, independents -- often swing voters -- approval of Trump plummets to 35%, with 62% disapproving.


The riot
Given the sharp differences on most political issues between partisan groups, one result in the survey stands out for its level of agreement: Eighty-nine percent of Americans oppose the actions of the people who stormed the Capitol, including 80% who are strongly opposed. Eight percent are in support, with strong support at 5%.

Support for those who stormed the Capitol reaches 15% among conservatives and Republicans alike, and 19% among people who approve of Trump’s job performance. Still, even among Trump approvers, 76% are opposed, including 60% strongly opposed.


Partisan and ideological gaps widen on other issues. Sixty-six percent of Republicans think Trump has acted responsibly since the election; 26% of independents and 5% of Democrats agree. Similarly, 65% of Republicans think there is solid evidence for Trump’s claims of voter fraud, falling to three in 10 independents and 4% of Democrats.

MORE: Armed protests being planned at all 50 state capitols, FBI bulletin says

When it comes to the events of the past week, 42% of Republicans think Trump bears at least some responsibility for the attack on the U.S. Capitol; that rises sharply to 72% of independents and 93% of Democrats. Many fewer Republicans, 12%, think Congress should remove Trump from office and disqualify him from holding elected office in the future, vs. nearly six in 10 independents and nine in 10 Democrats.

PHOTO: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi drops the gavel after the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump for a second time, in the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 13, 2021. (House Television)
PHOTO: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi drops the gavel after the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump for a second time, in the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 13, 2021. (House Television)
In terms of Trump’s legacy, three in 10 conservatives and a quarter of Republicans think he’ll go down in history as a below average president. That compares with 60% of independents, 71% of moderates, 86% of liberals and 89% of Democrats.

Even with his comparatively higher support among Republicans, fewer respondents report having voted for Trump than actually did in November, suggesting that some one-time supporters are shying away from him -- further evidenced by 19% disapproval in his own party, near his career high. Indeed, in recalled vote, Trump’s support is comparatively low among non-conservative Republicans, who also are more critical than their conservative counterparts of his post-election actions. (Note, though, that the sample size of non-conservative Republicans is a small one; 72% of Republicans identify themselves as conservatives.)

Those who report having voted for Trump two and a half months ago, by contrast, by and large are not expressing buyer’s remorse: Ninety-one percent in this group say if the election were rerun today, they’d vote for him again.

Approval
Trump’s approval rating is down 6 points from the last national ABC/Post poll in October. In contrast, most recent outgoing presidents have seen a bump in approval in their final days -- +5 points for Barack Obama in the last ABC/Post survey of his presidency, +5 for Bill Clinton and +7 for George Bush. Approval of George W. Bush, struggling with economic crisis and the unpopular war in Iraq, was just +3 points from December 2008, but +10 from the previous October.



Several elements of Trump’s closing approval rating stand out:

Disapproval among whites, 52%, matches the high in this group (from August 2017), and 49% of whites disapprove strongly, a record high. Disapproval grows to 75% among Hispanics and 89% among Black people.

Sixty-eight percent of women disapprove of Trump’s job performance, matching the high (also in August 2017), compared with 52% of men. This includes 56% disapproval among non-college educated white women, an important part of Trump’s coalition; in the ABC News exit poll, 63% of them supported him for reelection just in November.

Approval of Trump’s work in office is at record lows among seniors (37% approve) and higher-income Americans (33%). Approval among suburban residents, a sharply contested political group, is down 11 points from October, to 38%.

Whatever Trump’s role in the nation’s political future, the results make clear that his presidency -- and especially the events of last week -- have left deep divisions, not only in political attitudes, but also in views of American democracy. While, as noted, just 20% are outright pessimistic about the U.S. system of government, only 30% are optimistic -- near the low, and well off the average in polls back 46 years, 43%. The plurality, 48%, is uncertain.

PHOTO: President Donald Trump sits in the presidential limo as he departs the White House for Capitol Hill, where he will deliver his second State of the Union speech, on Feb. 5, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Pool/Getty Images)
PHOTO: President Donald Trump sits in the presidential limo as he departs the White House for Capitol Hill, where he will deliver his second State of the Union speech, on Feb. 5, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Pool/Getty Images)
Methodology
This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and cellular telephone Jan. 10-13, 2021, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 1,002 adults. Results have a margins of sampling error of 3.5 percentage points, including design effects. Partisan divisions are 31-25-36%, Democrats-Republicans-independents.

The survey was produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates of New York, N.Y., with sampling and data collection by Abt Associates of Rockville, Md. See details on the survey’s methodology here.

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Walmart Just Made This Bold Move After Trumps call for riot!

Amanda McDonald
Thu, January 14, 2021, 3:49 PM
Walmart is suspending political donations to members of Congress who contested the certification of President-elect Joe Biden, according to a spokesperson. The news comes as McDonald's and several other corporations pause political contributions in the wake of the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol last week.

Company spokesperson Randy Hargove told the New York Times in a statement that Walmart reviews its political spending after each election, and this year it "is indefinitely suspending contributions to those members of Congress who voted against the lawful certification of state Electoral College votes." In total, 147 Republican senators and representatives voted to overturn the election results earlier this month. (Related: 8 Grocery Items That May Soon Be in Short Supply.)

Walmart donated more than $4.5 million to politicians in 2020, including $2.35 million to Democrats and $2.2 million to Republicans. That's a $2 million increase over the 2018 election year, according to Open Secrets. Of that amount, more than $1 million was donated by the company's political action committee (PAC). The other $2.93 million was donated by "individuals," or employees, members, or owners of the organization, as well as their immediate family members.

Other companies pulling back on their political giving following the violence in Washington include AT&T, Marriott International, and Morgan Stanley. McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski condemned the riots by endorsing a statement from leaders of large corporations that denounced President Donald Trump and other politicians who "incited this insurrection."

To get all the latest Walmart news—and there's a lot—delivered right to your email inbox, sign up for our newsletter!

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Trump with 4 days until he is removed tried to pull 27 billion from distributing the vaccine. Congress done said Trump is irrelevant and it will not happen. Proud Repukes!

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ABC news just posted that Trump ended with a 36% approval rating. Obama we 60 and Clinton was 66. Even the Bushes came in better than Trump. What a failure to the World!

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Inside Trump’s final days: Aides struggle to contain an angry, isolated president. Trumps failure has spilled over to the point of denial and a very sick individuale.

By Steve Holland, Jeff Mason, Matt Spetalnick, Andrea Shalal


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - “We are going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue,” President Donald Trump exhorted his screaming supporters before they marched on the U.S. Capitol last week, saying he’d go with them. He did not – and what unfolded was a deadly breach of the citadel of American democracy that has left Trump’s world crumbling in the final days of his presidency.

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Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden in the popular vote and Electoral College. But President Trump still could win, not re-election, but a place ahead of James Buchanan in history.

Historians long have listed Buchanan as the worst of our presidents, a little worse than Andrew Johnson.

A Fox News poll in December found 62 percent of voters saying history will remember Trump as one of the worst presidents ever.

Just one of the worst? A bit behind Millard Fillmore? Tied with Warren G. Harding? Slipping in slightly head of Andrew Johnson?

Or the worst, the worst ever, enabling Buchanan finally to win a higher ranking, second to last?

We don’t know how historians and presidential scholars, with information unknown to us now and with time to evaluate the impact of Trump decisions on the nation and world, will rate this president.

Sometimes presidents held in low popular esteem as they leave office are later rated high on the list by historians. Harry Truman is an example.

Sometimes presidents who leave highly popular slip down the list as their actual accomplishments are evaluated. John Kennedy is an example.

Trump hurt his approval rating — down to just 32 percent in a Gallup Poll before Christmas — by his actions as he heads to the door and throws tantrums over whether he has to open it.

Historians 10, 20, 30 years from now won’t look at Fox News and Gallup polls but at the actual impact of Trump’s presidency. They will evaluate his decisions on everything from the pandemic to Putin. They will analyze the effect on everything from climate change to the election process. They will have disclosures by Trump administration figures and documents now secret. They will have court revelations after Trump loses presidential immunity. Exoneration? Or not?

For decades, experts and amateurs will seek to psychoanalyze Trump — just as happened with some other past presidents. Were his crazy tweets a definition of his mental state or proof of brilliance at attracting or distracting attention?

It’s too early to tell whether Buchanan faces a real battle.

And that Fox poll showed that Trump still has a solid base, something he might build on to win a second term, one that’s just delayed for four years.

Although 62 percent of voters said history will remember Trump as one of the worst presidents ever, 12 percent said he would be regarded as one of the greatest.

Trump often has likened himself to Abraham Lincoln, consistently ranked as the greatest. Trump sees himself in a race with Honest Abe for the top, not with Buchanan, who was president just before Lincoln, for the bottom.

Buchanan rates last because, as one evaluator concluded, he “basically rolled out the red carpet for the Civil War.” He was a pro-slavery politician who failed to reach any agreement to tone down the growing hostility on issues of slavery and free states. He didn’t really try. Was he too busy tweeting? That couldn’t have been it.

Fortunately for the nation, the best president came right after the worst, saving the Union and ending slavery. Unfortunately, the second worst, Andrew Johnson, came right after Lincoln, scuttling the healing and actual freedom for freed slaves that Lincoln would have pursued.

What a president inherits from the immediate predecessor is important in evaluating a presidency. Historians do place Barack Obama among the greatest, and rank him high because he inherited a nation on the brink of a second Great Depression and brought it back slowly but surely to a sound economy.

Donald Trump inherited that economy. He kept it going, a plus, until the pandemic and how he handled it — and some unusual personal characteristics — brought a loss to Biden and perhaps put him in a race with James Buchanan.

Jack Colwell is a columnist for The Tribune.

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quote:

---

Originally posted by BEST EVER
Inside Trump’s final days: Aides struggle to contain an angry, isolated president. Trumps failure has spilled over to the point of denial and a very sick individuale.

By Steve Holland, Jeff Mason, Matt Spetalnick, Andrea Shalal


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - “We are going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue,” President Donald Trump exhorted his screaming supporters before they marched on the U.S. Capitol last week, saying he’d go with them. He did not – and what unfolded was a deadly breach of the citadel of American democracy that has left Trump’s world crumbling in the final days of his presidency.

---

Oh my goodness, you cut it off after the walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. You left out the..."and peacefully protest".... How typical....

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Moscow Mitch thought holding off the impeachment would stop it but guess what. It will continue and the Senate is not under Republicans now to protect Trump. Then Georgia is going to take him to court for state crimes, no pardons for Ding Dong Donnie and his Cult. The Repukes involved in riot, well we know how that is going to go don't we!

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The Pentagon will not host a traditional Armed Forces ceremony to farewell outgoing President Donald Trump, according to several reports, following his second impeachment on charges of inciting an insurrection. Trumps actions are the reason for the change. First president to be snubbed by the Pentagon.

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Lindsey Graham asked Chuck Schumer, the next Senate majority leader, to dismiss a Trump impeachment trial in the name of 'national healing'

Sun, January 17, 2021, 11:05 PM
lindsey graham

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham asked Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer in a letter Sunday to hold a vote in the Senate to dismiss the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. No this is not a joke!

Graham, a close ally of Trump, briefly broke with the president after the January 6 insurrection but has since returned to defending him. This wil cost Lindsay Graham and the Republican party.

In the letter to Schumer, Graham argued that if the trial were not dismissed, "we will be delaying indefinitely, if not forever, the healing of this great nation."

Sen. Lindsey Graham asked Sen. Chuck Schumer in a letter Sunday to hold a Senate vote rejecting the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. Yes he really did this, no it will not happen.

"The Senate should vote to dismiss the article of impeachment once it is received in the Senate," Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said in the letter. "We will be delaying indefinitely, if not forever, the healing of this great nation if we do otherwise." Republican Senate refused to do their job the last time but not this time.

Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives last week on a charge of "incitement of insurrection" over his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, where his supporters tried to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. The attack left five people dead.

The Senate is set to hold a trial in which it will vote on whether to convict the president. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, has indicated the trial will not start until after Inauguration Day, by which time Schumer, a Democrat from New York, will be the new majority leader.

Read more: Mitch McConnell is telling GOP senators their decision on a Trump impeachment trial conviction is a 'vote of conscience', Trump caused this with the help of the Republicans and they will pay the price.

Graham, a frequent ally of the president, briefly broke from Trump after the Capitol siege and acknowledged President-elect Joe Biden had won the 2020 US election.

In the letter to Schumer, however, he argued that it would be "unconstitutional" to hold an impeachment trial for Trump after he's left office. Though such a trial has never been attempted for a former US president, several legal scholars have argued it would be allowed under the Constitution. Trump will pay the price as he is guilty and must be held accountable.

Graham also praised Vice President Mike Pence for refusing to heed calls, including from the president, to break from the Constitution by attempting to overturn the election results. Graham compared that decision to Schumer's.

"But now, in your first act as Majority Leader, rather than begin the national healing that the country so desperately yearns for, you seek vengeance and political retaliation instead," he wrote. Lindsay is not relevant to anything!

Graham said Senate Republicans "rejected unconstitutional actions" regarding the election certification.

"Virtually all of us rejected further challenges to the 2020 election," he said.

In the days before the certification, about a dozen GOP senators said they would object to certifying some Electoral College votes. Of those, several reversed course after the violence at the Capitol, but eight of them ended up supporting at least one of the objections.

Graham himself pressured Georgia's top elections official to throw out largely Democratic mail-in ballots.

Days before sending the letter to Schumer, Graham spoke out against the impeachment and implied McConnell, who has said he will wait to hear the evidence presented at the trial, is "making the problem worse."


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President Donald Trump’s approval rating has plummeted to an all-time low as the US leader prepares to exit the White House.

In the wake of the deadly Capitol riots on 6 January, the president has seen his approval rating dive, with the change in perception being largely among Republicans.

The worst polling came from Pew Research Center, which found Mr Trump’s disapproval rating to be at 68 per cent, with his approval rating falling to 29 per cent, the lowest yet, in a poll of 5,360 adults conducted between 8-12 January in battle ground states.

The findings come as states across the US brace for the possibility of inauguration week violence as President-Elect Joe Biden prepares to take office on Wednesday. Small armed groups appeared at statehouses on Sunday, but the size of the gatherings appeared dwarfed by the security presence.

On Sunday, former FBI director James Comey warned of the “very serious” risk of violence breaking out around the inauguration following deadly riots at the US Capitol last week. And yes all of this due to Trumps hatred and continued lies.

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RUSSIA ARRESTS OPPOSITION LEADER ALEXEY NAVALNY AND SUPPORTERS IN BIGGEST CRACKDOWN IN YEARS
by Kevin Ryan
Russian police have detained opposition leader Alexey Navalny and several of his key supporters shortly after he landed back in the country. He had been recovering in Germany from a nerve-agent attack five months ago that Western governments say was ordered by Putin.
Navalny had boarded the flight knowing that he could face a lengthy prison term if he returned to Russia.
“This is my home,” he told reporters who’d traveled with him. “I’m not scared of anything,” he said. He kissed his wife, Yuliya, goodbye before walking off with police.
His detention is the most significant political arrest by Putin in years. It comes, perhaps not coincidentally, as power in the U.S. is set to shift hands. While Trump’s opponents have framed him as a friend of the Kremlin, the reality has been much different.
Earlier this month, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria said “the dirty little secret” in the media is that the Trump administration has been “tough on the Russians. They armed Ukraine. They armed the Poles. They extended NATO operations and exercises in ways that even the Obama administration had not done [and] maintained the sanctions.”
Whether the Biden administration will increase the U.S. pressure on Russia in unclear, but today’s arrest will not help relations between the two countries.
Putin’s two decades in power have made him the longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. And last year he engineered constitutional changes that will allow him to stay in power until 2036.
However, Navalny’s anti-corruption campaign against him has bolstered opposition to the Kremlin. The Wall Street Journal had described Navalny as "the man Vladimir Putin fears most". In December 2016, Navalny started his campaign for President of Russia, but was barred from running by Russia's Central Electoral Commission.
Last August, Navalny became ill on a flight in Russia, and fell into a coma. He was hospitalized in Germany, where tests carried out at a military laboratory determined that he’s been poisoned by a Soviet-era chemical weapon that was previously used to attack Sergei Skripal in England and others who opposed Putin.

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Ignorance: the lack of knowledge, education, etc.
Stupidity: lacking normal intelligence.
Intelligence: the ability to learn or understand.
You can't fix STUPID!

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Trump has allowed for people to access the white house, no security and out of control. But then again what would you expect out if a Russian plant! This President disgraces America each and every day. This bunch will be remembered for disgracing America!

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Oh my goodness, isn't the White House "our house"? President Trump will be remembered for putting America first and Making America Great Again.

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HOT OFF THE PRESS

A Trump Capitol rioter plotted to sell stolen Pelosi laptop to Russian intelligence
Tom Winter and Corky Siemaszko
Mon, January 18, 2021, 10:56 AM
A Pennsylvania woman accused of being one of the Capitol rioters told a former "romantic partner" she planned to steal a laptop computer from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office and sell it to Russian intelligence, court documents revealed Monday.

Riley June Williams was charged with disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds with the intent to disturb a session of Congress and other charges after her former flame turned her in.

William's ex, who was described in Special Agent Jonathan Lund's charging document as W 1 (witness one), called the FBI and told them she "intended to send the computer device to a friend in Russia, who then planned to sell the device to SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence service.”

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Oh my goodness, another Russia/Trump collusion. I sure hope Schumer doesn't hear about this. This is front page news. A woman's ex says that she told her that she was going to steal Pelosi's laptop and sell it to the Russians. Sounds like a great skit for Saturday Night Live. Where in the world do you find this stuff. Can y'all just imagine what judges are going to hear in the nxt year as these cases come to trial? Can you imagine when a federal prosecuter tells a judge that the guy should get 10 years in jail because he sat in Nancy Pelosi's chair and had the nerve to put his foot up on her desk? This trial should come up right after someone gets 10 years for murder.

Last edited by Richard Lambert on 01-18-2021 at 05:32 PM

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Never mind impeachment, there is a good chance Donald Trump will end up in court
How likely is it that the outgoing president will go to jail? 79% chance


John Rentoul
@JohnRentoul
2 days ago


It would be ironic if the candidate who led the chant of “Lock her up” about his opponent ended up in jail himself. One of the worst features of modern politics is what might be called the criminalisation of disagreement: the idea that your opponents are so malign that they deserve not just to be defeated in debate or to lose an election but to go to jail.

So say all of us, including many people whose reflex when Tony Blair offers an acute opinion on coronavirus or Brexit is to say he should be in the Hague. Yet the case against Donald Trump might be different. He might go to jail not because a lot of people disagree with him but because he might have broken the law.

I am not referring, therefore, to his trial by the Senate, which is a mainly political procedure and which in any case is unlikely to succeed. It requires a two-thirds vote and therefore needs substantial support among Republican senators; even if it did succeed, the usual punishment would be to remove the president from office, which is irrelevant as the trial will be held after he has already left. Hence the talk of barring Trump from federal office, which is also irrelevant, as the only office in which he is interested is the Oval one and his chances of running for that in 2024 are now negligible.

If Trump does end up in jail it will be because the US courts will have put him there. The convention in the US is that former presidents are immune from prosecution, which is rather wonderful, because the country has a constitution that is supposed to do away with the muddled nonsense of the British way of doing things. As it happens, the American convention is a sensible one, precisely because it guards against the criminalisation of politics. It means that disagreements about a president’s policy while in office should not be relitigated in the courts afterwards.


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Trump vanishes as McConnell says trial is ‘vote of conscience’ – live
Trump vanishes as McConnell says trial is ‘vote of conscience’ – live
That is partly why Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, and why the office of the independent counsel decided not to prosecute Bill Clinton after he left office. However, the point about a convention is that it is flexible. Paul Rosenzweig, a lawyer who advised the Clinton investigation, argued that “a reluctance to prosecute does not mean there should be a prohibition against doing so”, and that “it would be too great an affront to law for a president to have perpetual immunity”.

He quoted Theodore Roosevelt: “No man is above the law and no man is below it: nor do we ask any man's permission when we ask him to obey it.” Thus Rosenzweig suggested that Trump should be prosecuted if there was evidence that he broke the criminal law as a private citizen, such as in his tangled financial dealings and allegations of sexual assault.

He argued that Trump’s actions as president should still be excluded, but he was writing before the storming of the Capitol, and the president’s role in inciting a rebellion against democracy. If the case against Trump is strong enough for a court of law, this would be an extreme enough case to make another exception to the assumption of post-presidential immunity. No wonder Trump is reported to be considering pardoning himself, and other unconvincing devices to protect himself from prosecution.



Many people watching Trump’s speech to the protesters on 6 January were convinced that he was inciting them to violence, despite his telling the crowd they “will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard”.

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But it is striking that two former leader-writers for The Independent disagree about this. David Aaronovitch, writing in The Times, said the president’s words amounted to: “Wouldn’t it be terrible if something happened to the lying, cheating, treacherous fraudsters who are sitting in that building over there that I’ve asked you to march to?”


Whereas Mary Dejevsky wrote in our pages: “It is now taken as read that he ‘incited’ a mob, fomented an ‘insurrection’, conducted, as some say, a ‘self-coup’. I have scoured Trump’s utterances and can find no evidence for any of this.”

It may be, therefore, that the burden of proof required in a court of law, and especially one dominated by conservative judges, assuming that any case would go to the US Supreme Court, would be too great to put Trump’s intentions beyond reasonable doubt.

However, it seems that there are so many ways in which Trump could end up in court, whether it is for alleged incitement, fraud or sexual assault, that at least one prosecution is likely. Remember that is what Paul Rosenzweig thought before Trump’s “Henry II” speech urging supporters to rid him of a turbulent Congress.

On the other hand, I think it is unlikely, even if Trump is found guilty, that any US court would send him to jail.

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How many presidents have boycotted successors’ inauguration and who are they? OLD
Gino Spocchia
Mon, January 18, 2021, 11:15 AM EST
<p>US Capitol </p> (Getty)
US Capitol

(Getty)
Donald Trump will become the fourth president in United States history to boycott their successor’s inauguration, and break 150 years worth of precedent in the process. Loosers will be loosers!

There had been speculation he would stay away as Joe Biden was sworn-in on 20 January, with weeks spent wrongly alleging that November's election was “stolen”.

Only after the US president’s supporters stormed the Capitol last Wednesday, did he concede the election, commit to an "orderly transition,” and announce his decision to stay away on Mr Biden’s inauguration day.

He wrote on Twitter: "To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.” Trump was humiliated and got beat by the most votes every, both times was beat by the popular vote!

The tweet would turn-out to be among his last, after Twitter banned him for election disinformation and inciting the mob who stormed Congress, some hours later on Friday.

Mr Trump will be the first US president since Andrew Johnson in 1869 to boycott a successor’s inauguration, and only the fourth to do so.

Johnson, who became president after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, was so unpopular with his own party that he was impeached by the House of Represenatives, and went on to lose the 1864 election to Ulysses S. Grant.

The 1868 election loser remained in the White House to sign legislation even as his arch rival was sworn-in to replace him, some meters away.

Historians say Johnson refused to participate because Grant declined to ride in the same carriage on the way to the inauguration.

As Thomas Balcerski, an associate professor of history at Eastern Connecticut State University told CNN, the situation at that time was “highly polarised” and inaugural boycotts were “poor form even then”.

John Adams (in 1801) and his son John Quincy Adams (in 1829) also stayed away as their successors were sworn-in, after election contests that were widely considered to be low points - even by today’s standards.

Adams, the second US president and first to lose an election, simply refused to attend the inauguration ceremony of Thomas Jefferson in 1801, whose supporters had referred to Adams as “hideous [and] hermaphroditical.”

But as Mr Balcerski told CNN, “By avoiding Jefferson's inauguration, Adams was perhaps motivated by a desire to cool the political temperature in the capital.”

Adam’s son, John Qunicy Adams, would become the second president to boycott their successors’ inauguration, after an election rematch Andrew Jackson in 1828.

Two other presidents, Martin Van Buren (in 1841) and Woodrow Wilson (in 1924), were also not seen at their successors’ inaugurations, but those absences are not considered boycotts in the same way.

Historians argue that there was no animosity between Van Buren and William Henry Harrison, and Wilson and Warren G. Harding, with poor health among the reasons.

Van Buren’s son was believed to be ill at the time of his successor’s inauguration, while Wilson rode with his successor to the ceremony, but did not stay, having suffered the effects of a stroke.

Richard Nixon did not attend Gerald Ford's inauguration after Nixon resigned in the middle of his second term in August 1974.

According to the White House Historical Association, “While the sitting president was not there, this occasion was considered a presidential succession and not a traditional inauguration.”


Pelosi: Pentagon says there are tools to stop Trump from using nukes, they too know Trump is very unstable.

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