TheNewsGuru

Tag: Joe Biden

  • U.S. had no vaccine when I came into office – Biden

    U.S. had no vaccine when I came into office – Biden

    U.S. President, Joe Biden on Tuesday claimed that the country had no coronavirus vaccine before he moved into the White House in January.

    The U.S. vaccination campaign kicked off in December under the Donald Trump administration.

    “We talked about its one thing to have the vaccine, which we didn’t have when we came into office, but a vaccinator.

    “ How do you get the vaccine into someone’s arm’’ Biden told a CNN presidential town hall on Tuesday.

    Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany called Biden’s statement’’ abjectly false,’’ saying that it was Trump who “brought about the fastest vaccine for a novel pathogen in history.’’

  • What Biden said about Trump’s acquittal

    What Biden said about Trump’s acquittal

    President Joe Biden has reacted over the acquittal of former president Donald Trump in the US Capitol insurrection trial at the Senate.

    In a statement after Senate voted 57-43 to acquit Trump in his second impeachment trial, Biden described democracy as fragile and that it must always be defended.

    Trump was charged of inciting the mob that overran Congress on January 6 but was acquitted by Senators who voted 57 that he was guilty.

    “While the final vote did not lead to a conviction, the substance of the charge is not in dispute.

    “This sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile. That it must always be defended. That we must be ever vigilant,” Biden said in a statement after the trial.

    TNG reports 67 guilty votes was needed to convict Trump but most Republicans argued that the trial itself was unconstitutional because Trump was no longer president.

    Meanwhile, Trump has said his acquittal is only the beginning of the movement to Make America Great Again.

  • Biden anxious over Trump’s impeachment

    Biden anxious over Trump’s impeachment

    U.S. President, Joe Biden told reporters on Friday that he is anxious to see how Republicans will vote in the impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump.

    “I’m just anxious to see whether what my Republican friends do if they stand up,’’ Biden said.

    Biden added that he was not going to speak with any of Republican Senators about how they should vote.

    On Thursday, impeachment managers wrapped up a two-day-long presentation of the case against Donald Trump and called on the U.S. Senate to convict the former president over the Capitol attack and disqualify him from any future public office.

    House managers, who act as prosecutors in the Senate trial, passed the floor to Trump’s lawyers, who will take the stage on Friday with up to 16 hours for opening arguments.

    The defense team, according to CNN, is expected within a single day to present the case for Trump’s acquittal, paving the way for the senators to debate and vote on the case

    The verdict may be passed as early as this weekend and is likely to be in favor of the former president, given a lack of a two-thirds majority in the chamber needed for conviction.

  • Man charged with plotting to kill Joe Biden

    Man charged with plotting to kill Joe Biden

    A man from North Carolina, USA, David Kyle Reeves, 27 has been charged with making threats to kill US leader Joe Biden.

    According to a federal criminal complaint unsealed in court Thursday, February 11, David Kyle Reeves, was detained February 5 for knowingly and willfully making threats to take the life of and inflict bodily harm upon the U.S. President.

    The Prosecutors allege that between January 28 and February 1, Reeves contacted the White House switchboard multiple times by phone and made threats against Biden and others.

    In one call, Reeves allegedly said he was going to kill everyone and “chop your heads off,” according to the criminal complaint.

    The complaint also alleges that after the threat was made, a Secret Service agent contacted Reeves to discuss the threats.

     

    Then Reeves called the agent several times throughout the day and continued making threats against the President, the agent and others.

     

    Reeves told the Secret Service agent “that he had free speech and did nothing wrong,” according to an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint

    “Mr. Reeves has plead not guilty and receiving appropriate mental health evaluations,” his attorney, Kevin Tate, senior litigation counsel for the office of the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of North Carolina, said.

    He is now in the Mecklenburg County jail, according to jail records.

    Threatening the president of the United States carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

     

  • Joe Biden to give first foreign policy address as U.S. president

    Joe Biden to give first foreign policy address as U.S. president

    U.S. President Joe Biden will visit the State Department on Thursday and deliver his first foreign policy speech as president.

    Biden has had an intense interest in U.S. foreign policy since he became a ranking member on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee in the late 1990s.

    He is expected to discuss how his administration will reclaim the U.S. role in the world and cooperate with allies following four tumultuous years under former U.S. President Donald Trump, who espoused a more isolationist ideology.

    White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday said that foreign policy is Biden’s “first love.”

    However, his speech “will not be a laydown of his vision for every issue in every foreign policy issue,” she added.

    Ongoing tensions with Russia, the imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, competition with China, and the recent military coup in Myanmar are all expected to be high on the Biden administration’s foreign policy agenda.

  • VIDEO: Joe Biden gets first impeachment threat in less than 24 hours as U.S. President

    VIDEO: Joe Biden gets first impeachment threat in less than 24 hours as U.S. President

    The new 46th United States President, Joe Biden took the oath of office on Wednesday and quickly got to work after his predecessor Donald Trump left the White House.

    The Democrat has already put the pandemic at the top of his list of challenges he faces in his administration’s early days, including rebuilding a devastated economy and addressing racial injustice.

    But Mr Biden may be facing a bigger threat from his opposition in just hours of starting his new role.

    Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said she has filed articles of impeachment against the new President.

    Posting a video on social media, she told her followers: “I’ve just filed articles of impeachment on President Joe Biden.

    “We’ll see how this goes.”

    Ms Greene has made no secret of her support for Mr Trump during his term as President.

    The congresswoman claimed that he lost the US election to Mr Biden due to voter fraud.

    She was also recently blocked from using Twitter after the Capitol attack on January 6 for violating the rules of use by minimising Mr Trump’s role in the violence, while also attacking Black Lives Matter protests last year.

    She said: “He has held over 600 rallies in the last four years and none of them included assaulting police, destroying businesses or burning down cities.”

    Ms Greene previously claimed that Mr Biden should be impeached for an alleged abuse of power.

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that some Republican senators also on Friday said the new U.S. president was making serious errors from his first day in office.

    Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell accused Joe Biden of taking “several big steps in the wrong direction” on his first day in office, suggesting the new administration should focus on “creating good-paying American jobs, not sacrificing our people’s livelihoods to liberal symbolism.”

    Speaking from the Senate floor, the minority leader said the new president should “remember that he does not owe his election to the far left.”

    Among the first actions of the Biden administration were executive orders aimed at tackling the COVID-19 crisis, rejoining the Paris Climate Accord and protecting gay and transgender people from discrimination in workplaces, schools and other areas.

  • Assuming U.S. presidency, Biden tells divided nation ‘democracy has prevailed’

    Assuming U.S. presidency, Biden tells divided nation ‘democracy has prevailed’

    Democrat Joe Biden was sworn in as president of the United States on Wednesday, assuming the helm of a country reeling from deep political divides, a battered economy and a raging coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 Americans.

    With his hand on a five-inch thick heirloom Bible that has been in his family for more than a century, Biden took the presidential oath of office administered by U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts just after noon (1700 GMT), vowing to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

    “Through a crucible for the ages, America has been tested anew, and America has risen to the challenge,” Biden said as he began his inaugural address. “Today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but of a cause: the cause of democracy…At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.”

    Biden, 78, became the oldest U.S. president in history at a scaled-back ceremony in Washington that was largely stripped of its usual pomp and circumstance, due both to the coronavirus and security concerns following the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump.

    The norm-defying Trump flouted one last convention on his way out of the White House when he refused to meet with Biden or attend his successor’s inauguration, breaking with a political tradition seen as affirming the peaceful transfer of power.

    Trump, who never conceded the Nov. 3 election, did not mention Biden by name in his final remarks as president on Wednesday morning, when he touted his administration’s record and promised to be back “in some form.” He boarded Air Force One for the last time and headed to his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida.

    Top Republicans, including Vice President Mike Pence and the party’s congressional leaders, attended Biden’s inauguration, along with former U.S. Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

    Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, became the first Black person, first woman and first Asian American to serve as vice president after she was sworn in by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s first Latina member.

    Harris used two Bibles, including one owned by Thurgood Marshall, the first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

  • Burna Boy’s song to be played at Biden’s inauguration ceremony

    Burna Boy’s song to be played at Biden’s inauguration ceremony

    Afro-pop singer Burna Boy has once again gained international recognition for his works and being rewarded as one of his songs made the list of songs to be played on January 20, 2020 at U.S President-elect Joe Biden and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris inauguration ceremony.

    This was confirmed after the president-elect, and vice president-elect released a 46-song playlist in honour of their upcoming administration.

    The song, ‘Destiny,’ was one of his hit songs off his grammy-nominated album ‘African Giant.

    The 46 tracks playlist was selected by American music producer and rapper DJ D-Nice and actress, Issa Rae’s Radio in partnership with the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

    The chief executive of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, Tony Allen, said the songs and artists on the playlist reflect the relentless spirit and rich diversity of America.

    “They are the score to a new chapter and will help bring people together as the Biden-Harris administration begins its important work to unite our country,” Allen added.

    Asides from Burna Boy, other international stars on the playlist including Bill Withers, (‘Lovely Day’), Marvin Gaye (‘Got to Give It Up – Pt. 1’), Bruce Springsteen (‘We Take Care of Our Own’), Kendrick Lamar (‘Now or Never’), Bob Marley & The Wailers (‘Could You Be Loved’), Jill Scott (‘Golden’) and Dua Lipa (‘Levitating’), among others

  • Impeachment: Biden reminds Senate of ‘other urgent business’ of state

    Impeachment: Biden reminds Senate of ‘other urgent business’ of state

    U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday evening said he hoped the Senate would find a way to balance its “constitutional responsibilities on impeachment” with ‘other urgent business’ of state.

    Biden’s remarks came in a statement shortly after the House of Representatives led by Nancy Pelosi impeached outgoing President Donald Trump for allegedly inciting the Jan. 6 breach of Congress by his supporters.

    Trump denies the allegation, and in a video message on Wednesday, “unequivocally condemned” the incident, saying no true supporter of his would engage in such acts of violence.

    Biden said: “Today, the members of the House of Representatives exercised the power granted to them under our Constitution and voted to impeach and hold the president accountable.

    “It was a bipartisan vote cast by members who followed the constitution and their conscience.

    “The process continues to the Senate. This nation also remains in the grip of a deadly virus and a reeling economy.

    “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.”

    He emphasised that there was too much “urgent work,” to be done, including confirmation of his appointees and revival of the struggling economy.

    The next step is for the House to send the article of impeachment to the Senate, which is currently on break until Jan. 19, a day before Biden’s inauguration.

    Two-thirds majority votes are needed for the Senate to convict Trump, but Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said that was unlikely before he leaves office.

    In a statement on Wednesday evening, McConnell pointed out that even if the Senate reconvened on the matter this week, it would not be able to reach a final decision before Jan. 20

    He said: “Remember, Inauguration Day is 20 January. The Senate can still convict Trump after his departure, though.

    “In light of this reality, I believe it will best serve our nation if Congress and the executive branch spend the next seven days completely focused on facilitating a safe inauguration and an orderly transfer of power to the incoming Biden administration.”

  • Biden’s inauguration: Police bar public access to Capitol grounds

    Biden’s inauguration: Police bar public access to Capitol grounds

    There will be no public access to the Capitol grounds during Joe Biden’s inauguration as U.S. president on Jan. 20, acting Capitol Police chief Yogananda Pittman said.

    Pittman took over the leadership from Steven Sund after he stepped down amid criticism of the force’s handling of rioters who breached the Capitol building last week.

    She said law enforcement from the federal, state and local levels were working together and comprehensive, coordinated plans were in place to ensure safety.

    Several police officers have been suspended as investigations into the January 6 riot continue, she said.