TheNewsGuru

Tag: BIDEN

  • Trump declares Biden’s pardons for committee ‘Void’

    Trump declares Biden’s pardons for committee ‘Void’

    U.S. President, Donald Trump on Monday challenged the legality of  Joe Biden’s preemptive pardons for members of the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 unrest.

    Trump claimed the ex-president knew nothing about it and never signed the papers.

    “The ‘pardons’ that Biden gave to the committee , and many others, are hereby declared void, vacant and of no further force or effect, because they were done by Autopen,” Trump said on Truth Social.

    Trump claimed that Biden “knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime.’’

    He further vowed an investigation at the highest level for the people “probably responsible for the Documents that were signed on their behalf without the knowledge or consent of Biden.’’

    On Jan. 6, 2021, pro-Trump demonstrators breached the Capitol complex and delayed the certification of 2020 presidential election results in favour of Biden.

    Hundreds were charged with riot-related crimes. Trump pardoned more than 1,500 defendants when he was reelected.

    On his final day in office on Jan. 20, Biden issued preemptive pardons for members of the select committee to investigate the Jan.  6 attack on the United States Capitol.

    Among other officials, Biden thought the committee might face revenge after he vacated the White House.

  • Biden unveils new export restrictions on U.S-made AI technology

    Biden unveils new export restrictions on U.S-made AI technology

    Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday unveiled new export restrictions on state-of-the-art artificial intelligence technology, including chips and AI models used for software.

    This is in an effort to keep it out of the hands of adversaries.

    A group of 20 partner countries would be exempt from the restrictions, which were announced just a week before Biden leaves office and could still change following input by experts and industry insiders.

    “In the wrong hands, powerful AI systems have the potential to exacerbate significant national security risks, including by enabling the development of weapons of mass destruction.

    “It is supporting powerful offensive cyber operations, and aiding human rights abuses, such as mass surveillance,’’ a White House statement said.

    The “overwhelming majority of chip orders’’ will not be affected as they do not contain cutting-edge technology, meaning the impact on universities, medical institutions and research organisations will be minimal, it said.

    The Biden administration said that it would ensure that the U.S. opponents do not obtain the advanced tech.

    It also created carves outs for entities in allied countries that have been proven to meet high security standards.

    The U.S. government has already restricted exports of AI chips to China, a step felt by U.S. firm Nvidia, a leader in AI chip making.

    Nvidia’s chip systems are used around the world to train applications using artificial intelligence.

    Heavyweights such as Google and the Meta group use them to fill entire data centres but AI start-ups such as the company behind ChatGPT, OpenAI, also rely on them.

  • WAR! US set to negotiate with all Syrian groups — Biden

    WAR! US set to negotiate with all Syrian groups — Biden

    President Joe Biden on Sunday said the United States would engage with “all Syrian groups” over the political transition after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.

    “We will engage with all Syrian groups, including within the process led by the United Nations, to establish a transition away from the Assad regime toward independent, sovereign” Syria “with a new constitution.”

    Biden also said fallen al-Assad should be held responsible for his rule over Syria now that his government has been toppled.

    Asked what should happen to the deposed president, who reportedly has fled to Moscow, Biden told reporters that “Assad should be held accountable.”

    He called al-Assad’s fall from power a “moment of historic opportunity” for Syria.

    “The fall of the regime is a fundamental act of justice,” Biden said, speaking from the White House. “It’s a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria.”

    Assad’s reported departure comes less than two weeks after the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group challenged more than five decades of Assad family rule with a lightning rebel offensive that broke long-frozen frontlines in the country’s civil war.

    Early Sunday, they announced they had entered Damascus and that Assad had fled, prompting celebrations around the country and a ransacking of Assad’s luxurious home.

  • Democrats slam Biden, campaign strategy, others for Harris’ defeat to Trump

    Democrats slam Biden, campaign strategy, others for Harris’ defeat to Trump

    Democrats are facing a painful reckoning over Kamala Harris’s drubbing at the hands of Donald Trump in the US presidential election, as shock gives way to anger and recrimination in the aftermath of a devastating repudiation.

    Lawmakers and strategists looking for someone to blame for Tuesday’s wipeout have so far been more likely to target President Joe Biden than Harris, who is regarded as having done a decent job with the short time she had to campaign.

    The election night disaster — Trump’s triumph was accompanied by a Republican “red wave” in the Senate — has proved to be a Rorschach test, with rival factions each offering reasons for the defeat informed by their particular brand of Democratic politics.

    The circular firing squad began with progressive senator Bernie Sanders arguing in a scathing statement that a party that had forsaken the working class should not be surprised to “find that the working class has abandoned them.”

    That prompted an angry rebuke from Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison, who dismissed Sanders’s thesis as “straight up BS” and posted a long list of Biden’s achievements for low income families.

    New York congressman Ritchie Torres hit out at what he sees as smug political correctness on the left, insisting that Trump had “no greater friend” than activists alienating voters with “absurdities like ‘Defund the Police’… or ‘Latinx.’”

    Harris has escaped the harshest criticism, as she is regarded as having had insufficient time to campaign thanks to Biden’s initial insistence on running again at 81, despite having promised to be a bridge to the next generation.

    The aging president’s sluggishness in bowing out after a disastrous debate performance against Trump deepened the challenge, as Harris had to start her campaign in July as a relative unknown, despite being the vice president.

    Billionaire former Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg, who feels that Biden’s campaign should never have got as far as the June 27 debate, attacked the president’s team in a commentary for Bloomberg for covering up his shortcomings “until they became undeniable on live TV.”

  • Biden directs U.S. forces to aid Israel’s defence against Iran

    Biden directs U.S. forces to aid Israel’s defence against Iran

    The White House in a statement said President Joe Biden has directed U.S. forces to aid Israel’s defence against Iran, which launched missile attacks against the Jewish state.

    Sean Savett, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson said Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris “are monitoring the Iranian attack against Israel from the White House Situation Room & receiving regular updates from their national security team.”

    Accordinnng to the spokesperson, Biden has “directed the U.S. military to aid Israel’s defence against Iranian attacks & shoot down missiles targeting Israel.”

    The statement came as Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said it had targeted Israel with dozens of ballistic missiles.

  • U.S. telecom firm fined $1m for fake Biden AI campaign call

    U.S. telecom firm fined $1m for fake Biden AI campaign call

    A U.S. telecommunications company has been fined one million dollars for sending a campaign call featuring a fake voice of U.S. President, Joe Biden, generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said on Wednesday that Lingo Telecom agreed to pay the fine and had also committed to a unique programme to verify the trustworthiness of customers who use its networks to transmit data.

    The fraudulent call, with a voice that sounded deceptively like Biden’s, was used to call voters in the US state of New Hampshire in January and urge them not to participate in the Democratic Party’s primary election.

    The voice of Biden in the call was generated using AI software and the sender information was also falsified, making it appear to come from a Democratic political committee.

    “Every one of us deserves to know that the voice on the line is exactly who they claim to be.

    “If AI is being used, that should be made clear to any consumer, citizen, and voter who encounters it,’’ FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said.

    In May, the FCC proposed a fine of 6 million dollars for the originator of the call, a political consultant.

    The incident raised concerns in the U.S. about the potential misuse of AI, especially in the run-up to the presidential election in November.

    As a result, the FCC has strengthened the legal framework for taking action against such AI fakes.

  • House Republicans accuse Biden of impeachable offenses, allege corruption, obstruction

    House Republicans accuse Biden of impeachable offenses, allege corruption, obstruction

    House Republicans have released a 291-page report accusing President Joe Biden of committing impeachable offenses, including abuse of power and obstruction of justice, related to his family’s foreign business dealings.

    The report, issued just before Biden’s scheduled speech at the Democratic National Convention, alleges that Biden was involved in a $27 million “influence-peddling racket” during his vice presidency and beyond.

    The investigation, which began in September 2023, compiled evidence from witness testimonies, subpoenas, and millions of pages of documents.

    Biden is accused of aiding his son Hunter and brother James in profiting from foreign entities, including those in China and Russia, while attempting to cover up their activities.

    The report challenges Biden’s public claims of non-involvement and suggests his actions represent one of the most severe abuses of power in U.S. history.

    Despite these allegations, Biden is unlikely to be impeached due to his decision to retire and the slim Republican majority in the House.

    The findings are expected to influence upcoming legal proceedings against Hunter Biden.

  • Joe Biden proposes Supreme Court term limits

    Joe Biden proposes Supreme Court term limits

    U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday will propose sweeping reforms to the Supreme Court .

    Biden will propose the changes, including term limits and a binding code of conduct for its nine justices, but a deeply-divided Congress means the changes have little chance of becoming law.

    “This nation was founded on a simple yet profound principle: No one is above the law. Not the president of the U.S.

    ”Not a justice on the Supreme Court of the U.S. No one,” Biden said in an op-ed published in the Washington Post on Monday.

    The White House said that the Supreme Court justices who are appointed by presidents and confirmed by the Senate, have been overturning “long-established legal precedents protecting fundamental rights.”

    It said, the court’s 6-3 conservative majority “has gutted civil rights protections, taken away a woman’s right to choose, and now granted president’s broad immunity from prosecution for crimes committed in office,”

    The White House said referring to a recent decision impacting former president Donald Trump’s criminal cases.

    Biden’s reforms would strip the justices of their lifetime appointments. The president is proposing an 18-year term.

    In an opinion piece written for the Washington Post, Biden said that term limits would “reduce the chance that any single presidency radically alters the make-up of the court for generations to come.”

    The second major reform is the White House calls “binding, enforceable conduct and ethics rules” for the nine judges.

    It would require them to disclose gifts, refrain from political activity, and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouse have conflicts of interest.

    Biden said the current voluntary ethics code was “weak and self-enforced.”

    “Every other federal judge is bound by an enforceable code of conduct, and there is no reason for the Supreme Court to be exempt,” he wrote in the Washington Post.

    Separate from the functioning of the court, Biden also called on Monday for a constitutional amendment which would declare that former presidents are not immune from crimes committed in office.

    This amendment “will state that the Constitution does not confer any immunity from federal criminal indictment, trial, conviction, or sentencing under previously serving as president.”

    A historic six-three Supreme Court ruling this month handed Trump a major victory by finding that former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts.

    Biden’s proposals would have to be approved by a divided Congress, a highly unlikely prospect and a particularly high threshold of support would be needed for any constitutional amendment regarding former presidents.

    But the reforms are popular among Biden’s Democrats and could help propel supporters to the polls on Nov. 5, when Trump is set to face off against Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris.

  • Biden addresses US, as Trump, Harris trade barbs in reset presidential race

    Biden addresses US, as Trump, Harris trade barbs in reset presidential race

    U.S. President Joe Biden addressed the nation on Wednesday for the first time since dropping his reelection bid, saying he decided to forgo personal ambition to save democracy in a sedate Oval Office speech that contrasted with the rough-and-tumble campaign.

    Shortly before the speech, Republican Donald Trump laid into Democratic rival Kamala Harris in his first rally since she replaced Biden atop the ticket, signaling a bare-knuckled campaign ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

    Trump branded Harris a “radical left lunatic” after she had dominated the campaign the two previous days with withering attacks on him that pointedly raised his felony convictions, his liability for sexual abuse, and fraud judgments against his business, charitable foundation, and private university.

    Momentum grew for the Harris campaign as NBC News said on Thursday that former President Barack Obama planned to endorse Harris as the Democratic presidential candidate soon.

    “Aides to Obama and Harris also have discussed arranging for the two of them to appear together on the campaign trail, though no date has been set,” it said.

    Biden said he believed he deserved to be reelected based on his first-term record, but his love of country led him to step aside.

    “I decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation.

    “That is the best way to unite our nation,” Biden added, after having resisted calls from within the party to quit the race after his poor showing in a June 27 debate with Trump.

    Biden, at 81 the oldest president in U.S. history, was greeted with cheers, applause, and music in the Rose Garden after the address, as his staff had converged on the White House for a viewing party.

    Trump was less kind, saying in a post on his Truth Social platform that Biden’s speech was “barely understandable and so bad!”

    After spending much of the campaign attacking Biden as old and feeble, Trump, 78, now faces a younger candidate in Harris, 59, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president.

    Energising many Democrats as potentially the first woman to take the White House, Harris quickly consolidated the party behind her, as her campaign said it had raised 126 million dollars since Sunday, with 64 per cent of donors making their first contribution of the 2024 campaign.

    With no challengers for the nomination, she won the backing of party delegates on Monday, a day after Biden’s announcement.

    The next highly anticipated development will be Harris’ choice of a vice-presidential candidate to counter Trump’s selection of Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.

    Among those being mentioned are Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

    The Democratic National Committee’s rules committee agreed on a plan on Wednesday to formally nominate Harris as soon as Aug. 1 – before the party’s Aug. 19-22 convention in Chicago – with Harris picking a running mate by Aug. 7.

    Biden praised Harris as a strong leader who would make an effective president.

    “She’s experienced, she’s tough, she’s capable,” he said. “She’s been an incredible partner to me and a leader for our country. Now the choice is up to you, the American people.”

    Trump tried to quash some of her momentum in an aggressive speech at a campaign rally.

    “I’m not gonna be nice!” he told cheering supporters in Charlotte, North Carolina, a battleground state where voting preferences can swing to either side.

    On Tuesday Harris showed her willingness to throw a punch, contrasting her background as a prosecutor to his record as a convicted felon.

    “Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion and rule of law, or a country of chaos, fear and hate?” she asked during a speech in Milwaukee.

    AReuters/Ipsos poll completed on Tuesday showed Harris with a lead of two percentage points over Trump, 44 per cent to 42 per cent.

    A CNN poll by SSRS showed Trump leading Harris, 49 per cent to 46 per cent.

    Both findings were within the polls’ margins of error.

  • Biden’s withdrawal likely to overshadow EU foreign ministers’ talks

    Biden’s withdrawal likely to overshadow EU foreign ministers’ talks

    U.S. President Joe Biden’s announcement that he was withdrawing from the presidential race was expected to dominate a meeting on Monday of the EU foreign ministers.

    The meeting is coming amid concern across much of Europe at the prospect of a second Donald Trump presidency.

    The main topics scheduled for Monday’s regular meeting are the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, however Biden’s historic decision is likely to overshadow the Brussels talks.

    Biden’s announcement on Sunday that he would not run for a second term came on throwing his Democratic Party into upheaval.

    This is so as they scramble to nominate a candidate who can take on Republican rival Donald Trump on Nov. 5.

    Relations between the EU and the U.S. soured under Trump’s first presidency, and fears are rife across much of the bloc that a second Trump term could have far-reaching consequences.

    The rife is that, Trump term could have far-reaching consequences for the war in Ukraine, global trade and European security in general.

    Not all EU capitals share these concerns; however, with the bloc undergoing a political shift to the right exemplified in last month’s European Parliament elections.

    Initial reactions on Sunday evening included Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on the one hand, who praised Biden on X for his “many difficult decisions thanks to which Poland.

    “Also America and the world are safer, and democracy stronger.’’

    At the other end of the spectrum, Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch far-right Party for Freedom, reposted a tweet showing Trump with his fist raised following last week’s assassination attempt.

    This is alongside the words “President Trump’’ and a flexed biceps emoji.

    Attention will likely focus on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who met Trump earlier this month in a flurry of diplomacy that also included visits to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

    Also the Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping has the attention.

    Hungary took over the EU’s rotating presidency in July, but top EU officials and fellow leaders have distanced themselves from Orbán’s self-proclaimed “peace mission.’’

    Separately, Hungary is under pressure to lift its veto on the release of funds to support Ukraine’s war effort.

    The foreign ministers are due to discuss the EU’s support to Ukraine, as well as the damage done to the country’s energy infrastructure, which has come under attack from Russia.

    Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba planned to participate in the meeting by video link.

    The talks are also expected to turn to the humanitarian situation in Gaza amidst the Israel-Hamas war, as well as rising tensions on the border between Israel and Lebanon.