Category: Trump Administration

Lawsuits that tried to disrupt Biden’s wins in four states are withdrawn

Voters in four states who had brought longshot lawsuits to disrupt President-elect Joe Biden’s win and went nowhere in court dropped their cases Monday morning. 

The cases were short-lived in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania federal courts, and fed into a pro-Donald Trump legal strategy to block Biden’s presidential win before the Electoral College formalizes it.

That effort is almost certain to fail — even more so now. Cases seeking to block battleground states’ popular vote wins for Biden are getting fewer by the day, with two from the Trump campaign before federal judges in Michigan and Pennsylvania, one from an elector in Georgia, and one from pollwatchers in Michigan. Continue reading.

Biden: ‘More people may die’ if Trump refuses to coordinate on vaccine plans

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President-elect Joe Biden warned Monday that “more people may die” from COVID-19 if the Trump administration does not begin to engage in a smooth transition of power.

“More people may die if we don’t coordinate,” Biden told reporters following a speech on his economic plan in Wilmington, Del., emphasizing the pressing need for his transition team to gain access to the Trump administration’s plan for distributing a future vaccine for the coronavirus.

“A vaccine is important. It’s of little use until you are vaccinated. So how do we get the vaccine, how do we get over 300 million Americans vaccinated? What is the game plan? It is a huge, huge, huge undertaking to get it done,” Biden said. Continue reading.

Giuliani’s fantasy parade of false voter-fraud claims

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In interviews with sympathetic Fox News hosts, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani has made several wild claims alleging that election fraud and malfeasance was responsible for Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. His claims have been echoed in weekend tweets by President Trump, accusing a software company of somehow manipulating the vote in favor of Biden. These presidential tweets have been flagged by Twitter as misleading.

Moreover, this nonsense has already been debunked by Trump’s own government. In a statement issued Nov. 12, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, and partners such as the National Association of Secretaries of State declared: “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

That sentence was posted in boldface, just to make it clear. The statement added: “While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too. When you have questions, turn to elections officials as trusted voices as they administer elections.” Continue reading.

Trump officials preparing to move forward with major step to lower Medicare drug prices

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The Trump administration is preparing to move forward with a major proposal to lower drug prices and rulemaking could come as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the effort.

The move, fiercely opposed by the pharmaceutical industry, would implement President Trump’s “most favored nation” proposal and lower certain Medicare drug prices to match prices in other wealthy countries.

Trump issued an executive order in September calling for steps to that effect, but it was unclear whether the administration would still go forward with implementing the proposal, especially given the election and a coming change in administration. Continue reading.

Trump officials rush to auction off rights to Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before Biden can block it

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Officials aim to sell drilling rights to the pristine wilderness’s coastal plain before the president-elect takes office

The Trump administration is asking oil and gas firms to pick spots where they want to drill in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as it races to open the pristine wilderness to development and lock in drilling rights before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

The “call for nominations” to be published Tuesday in the Federal Register allows companies to identify tracts on which to bid during an upcoming lease sale on the refuge’s nearly 1.6 million-acre coastal plain, a sale that the Interior Department aims to hold before Biden takes the oath of office in January. The move would be a capstone of President Trump’s efforts to open up public lands to logging, mining and grazing, which Biden strongly opposes.

A GOP-controlled Congress in 2017 authorized drilling in the refuge, a vast wilderness that is home to tens of thousands of migrating caribou and waterfowl, along with polar bears and Arctic foxes. Continue reading.

Trump national security adviser vows ‘professional transition’ of power

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President Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, on Monday said there will be a “professional transition” to President-elect Joe Biden’s administration despite Trump’s refusal to concede that he lost the election.

Speaking to The Hill’s editor-at-large Steve Clemons at the Global Security Forum, O’Brien left open the possibility that Trump could still win a second term if the courts determine there was widespread fraud.

But O’Brien said it appears clear, at the moment, that Biden and running mate Kamala Harris won the election and should be given the time they need to get their people and policies in place. Continue reading.

Trump COVID-19 advisor accused of ‘inciting violence’ after calling for Michigan to ‘rise up’ against Whitmer

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President Donald Trump’s top coronavirus advisor, Dr. Scott Atlas, is being accused of sedition and inciting violence by calling for Michigan to “rise up” after Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued new orders to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

“The only way this stops is if people rise up. You get what you accept,” Atlas, who is a radiologist – not an epidemiologist – tweeted Sunday night. He added the hashtags “#FreedomMatters” and “#StepUp” to his tweet.

Last month 14 people were charged in an alleged domestic terror plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer. Some reportedly also had a plan to “overthrow” the government, and some allegedly had “made plans to kidnap Whitmer and commit violence with the hopes of sparking a ‘civil war,'” MLive.com reports, quoting Attorney General Dana Nessel. Continue reading.

Trump will get portrait, library no matter his future plans

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President Trump is getting a White House portrait and a presidential library — even if he announces another bid for the presidency in the meantime.

Life after the White House for most presidents typically includes writing memoirs, starting foundations and attending events as dignitaries.

But Trump, who remains the most popular figure in his party, might not be headed for a retirement from politics. Continue reading.

Ex-Trump aide pours cold water on claim president is playing 4-D chess: ‘He’s eating the chess pieces’

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President Donald J. Trump began his presidency lying about the crowd size at his inauguration and now appears to be ending his four-year tenure with another lie involving the same issue.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted out two overhead photos of Trump supporters Saturday, writing, “AMAZING! More than one MILLION marchers for President @realDonaldTrump descend on the swamp in support.”

McEnany did not respond to comments asking her where she derived at the crowd number. But falsifying a crowd-size isn’t a genius strategy perfectly crafted to change the stories of history. A former Trump aide explained it’s just another lie. Continue reading.

Most States Are Unprepared To Distribute Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccine

As the first coronavirus vaccine takes a major stride toward approval, state governments’ distribution plans show many are not ready to deliver the shots.

The challenge is especially steep in rural areas, many of which are contending with a surge of infections, meaning that access to the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines may be limited by geography.

Pfizer announced Monday that its vaccine demonstrated more than 90 percent effectiveness and no serious bad reactions in early trial results — an impressive outcome that will pave the way for the company to seek an emergency authorization once it collects more safety data for another week or two. But establishing that the vaccine is safe and effective is just the first step. Continue reading.