Tag: Pence

New dawn in America: Clinton, Bush, Obama, Pence for Biden’s inauguration; Trump to miss in action

Vice President Mike Pence, former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama are billed to attend Wednesday’s inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th United States (U.S.) President.

They will be accompanied by their first ladies Hillary, Laura and Michelle to the event billed for noon (EST).

But, former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter will not, as they are unable to travel.

Also, the event will not be attended by outgoing President Donald Trump.

According to event line-up, Senator Roy Blunt, chair of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, will serve as the inauguration’s master of ceremonies.

Also, Leo J. O’Donovan, a Catholic priest, member of the Jesuit order, and former president of Georgetown University, will deliver the invocation. Georgia firefighters’ union leader Andrea Hall will lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

On the stars’ list, Lady Gaga will sing the American National Anthem, National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman will recite her poem “The Hill We Climb” and Jennifer Lopez and Garth Brooks will also perform. At 22, Gorman will become the youngest inaugural poet, the event programme indicated.

Rev. Dr. Silvester Beaman, pastor of Bethel AME Church in Wilmington, Delaware, and a friend of Biden, will deliver the benediction.

The inaugural ceremony will take place on the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. and will be the 59th presidential inauguration.

Biden will take the oath of office as president, and Harris will take the oath of office as vice president.

Trump, who will leave the White House before noon today, was reported by The Washington Post to be angry that a roll call of stars are signing up to Biden’s event.

Four years ago, Trump secured country singers Toby Keith and Lee Greenwood, rock groups 3 Doors Down’ and The Piano Guys – DJ RaviDrum and The Frontmen of Country.

Elton John, British singers Rebecca Ferguson and Charlotte Church plus Moby, publicly rejected invitations to perform.

A member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir resigned from the group rather than perform and MSG Entertainment, the organisation that owns the Rockettes, said it was each dancer’s choice to perform after a dancer expressed concern on social media.

Obama, during his inauguration, had no trouble drawing the stars, with Beyonce, U2, Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen all performing.

Trump had made it clear he will not attend Biden’s inauguration, becoming the first president since 1869 to snub his successor.

The National Guard is deploying 25,000 troops the event – at least two and a half times the number for previous inaugurals.

The military routinely reviews service members for extremist connections, the FBI is carrying out additional screening, in addition to any previous monitoring.

Multiple officials said the process began as the first Guard troops began deploying to D.C. more than a week ago. They said it is slated to be complete by today.

The major security concern is an attack by armed groups of individuals as well as planted explosives and other devices.

But, European Union’s (EU) top diplomat said yesterday that the world needs American leadership in the battle against COVID-19, urging Biden to step up after the Trump administration was widely criticised for its slow response to the pandemic.

With rich countries contracting far more doses of various coronavirus vaccines than poorer ones, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said it was up to the United States to retake its place as “an engine of the world” and help.

“The world will face this year one of the biggest challenges to vaccinating humankind. This will require a lot of solidarity, a lot of cooperation and quite a lot of resources,” Borrell told Reuters in an interview.

In a pandemic that has killed almost 400,000 Americans and threatened the U.S. economy, Trump’s handling of the virus has been criticised at home, weakening any broad international response.

January 20, 2021
Mike Pence writes Pelosi: I can’t remove Trump [Full letter]

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said in a letter to House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday that he is opposed to invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office.

“I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution,” Pence wrote, on the eve of the plan by the House to vote on Trump impeachment.

“Last week, I did not yield to pressure to exert beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election, and I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our nation,” he said.

READ ALSO Trump trial: Democrats warn acquittal will lessen US global prestige
He said using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump would “set a terrible precedent.”

According to him, the article should only be used in instances where the president is incapacitated or has a disability that prevents them from carrying out the duties of the office.

“I urge you and every member of Congress to avoid actions that would further divide and inflame passions of the moment,” Pence wrote.

“Work with us to lower the temperature and unite our country as we prepare to inaugurate President-elect Joe Biden as the next President of the United States.

“I pledge to you that I will continue to do my part to work in good faith with the incoming administration to ensure an orderly transition of power. So help me God.”

READ ALSO Michelle Obama to Trump: “This isn’t a game”
Pelosi’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The vice president wrote to Pelosi on the eve of a House vote on an article of impeachment against Trump for his role in last Wednesday’s riots at the Capitol, where multiple people died.

Some Republicans have said they will vote in favour of impeaching Trump just one week before his term ends.

Read Pence’s letter:

January 13, 2021
Defiant Trump to his supporters: I will never concede, it doesn’t happen

President Donald Trump on Wednesday disclosed to a rally of his supporters outside the White House that he would never concede that he lost the election, as Congress prepares to certify Joe Biden’s victory.

“We will never give up,” Trump told thousands of cheering supporters on a grassy expanse near the White House called the Ellipse. “We will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved.”

Trump’s fellow Republicans were poised to lose their majority in the Senate, both chambers of Congress were due to formally certify Biden’s victory in the Nov. 3 election in proceedings that could stretch past midnight.

In a joint session of the Republican-led Senate and Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, Trump’s allies plan to challenge the results from a handful of states won by Biden.

Biden won the election by 306-232 in the state-by-state Electoral College and by more than 7 million ballots in the national popular vote, but Trump continues to falsely claim there was widespread fraud and that he was the victor.

State and federal reviews have debunked Trump’s claims of widespread election fraud even as increasingly desperate legal efforts by his campaign and allies on the right to overturn the election have failed in numerous courts all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Biden is due to take office on Jan. 20.

During his speech, Trump praised the Republican lawmakers seeking to challenge the election as “brave” and called members of his party who oppose the effort “weak” and pathetic.”

Pence is set to preside over the proceedings in the Capitol. Despite pressure from Trump to help overturn his election loss, Pence will stick to his ceremonial duties and not block the congressional certification of Biden’s victory, advisers said. Pence, a loyal lieutenant during the four years of Trump’s tumultuous presidency, has no plans to intervene and has told Trump he lacks the power to do so, they said.

“All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertifiy and we become president,” Trump told his supporters. “Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us. And if he doesn’t, it’ll be sad day for our country,” he added.

January 6, 2021
US Congress set to seal Biden’s electoral win over Trump

President Donald Trump’s extraordinary effort to overturn the presidential election is going before Congress as lawmakers convene for a joint session to confirm the Electoral College vote won by Joe Biden.

The typically routine proceeding Wednesday will be anything but, a political confrontation unseen since the aftermath of the Civil War as Trump mounts a desperate effort to stay in office. The president’s Republican allies in the House and Senate plan to object to the election results, heeding supporters’ plea to “fight for Trump” as he stages a rally outside the White House. It’s tearing the party apart.

The longshot effort is all but certain to fail, defeated by bipartisan majorities in Congress prepared to accept the results. Biden, who won the Electoral College 306-232, is set to be inaugurated Jan. 20.

“The most important part is that, in the end, democracy will prevail here,” Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, among those managing the proceedings, said in an interview.

The joint session of Congress, required by law, will convene at 1 p.m. EST under a watchful, restless nation — months after the the Nov. 3 election, two weeks before the inauguration’s traditional peaceful transfer of power and against the backdrop of a surging COVID-19 pandemic.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who warned his party off this challenge, is expected to deliver early remarks. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, set to gavel proceedings on her side of the Capitol, called it a day of “enormous historic significance.” It is about “guaranteeing trust in our democratic system,” she said in a letter to colleagues.

But it is Vice President Mike Pence who will be closely watched as he presides over the session.

Despite Trump’s repeated claims of voter fraud, election officials and his own former attorney general have said there were no problems on a scale that would change the outcome. All the states have certified their results as fair and accurate, by Republican and Democratic officials alike.

January 6, 2021
Quotes from policy-heavy debate between Kamala Harris, Mike Pence

Republican Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic challenger Kamala Harris squared off on Wednesday evening in Salt Lake City, Utah, ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Here are some of the key quotes from the debate, which was moderated by USA Today journalist Susan Page.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence participate in their 2020 vice presidential campaign debate held on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., October 7, 2020. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Harris: “The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country: 210,000 dead people in our country for just the last several months.”

Pence: “I want the American people to know that from the very first day President Donald Trump has put the health of America first.”

Harris: “On Jan. 28, the vice president and the president were informed about the nature of this pandemic. They were informed that it’s lethal … And they knew what was happening and they didn’t tell you.”

Pence: “The reality is when you look at the Biden plan (to fight the pandemic), it reads an awful lot like what President Trump and I and our task force have been doing every step of the way … it looks a little bit like plagiarism.”

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VACCINE
Harris on a vaccine: “If the public health professionals, if Dr. Fauci, if the doctors tell us that we should take it, I’ll be the first in line to take it, absolutely, but if Donald Trump tells us to take it, I’m not taking it.”

Pence: “The fact that you continue to undermine public confidence in a vaccine – if the vaccine emerges during the Trump administration – I think is unconscionable … stop playing politics with people’s lives.”

ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Harris: “Joe Biden believes you measure the health and the strength of America’s economy based on the health and the strength of the American worker and the American family. On the other hand, you have Donald Trump, who measures the strength of the economy based on how rich people are doing, which is why they passed a tax bill benefiting the top 1 percent … that the American people will now have to pay for.”

Pence: “More taxes, more regulation, banning fracking, abolishing fossil fuel, crushing American energy and economic surrender to China is a prescription for economic decline. President Trump and I will keep America growing. The V-shaped recovery that’s underway right now will continue with four more years of President Donald Trump.”

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HEALTHCARE:
Harris: “If you have a pre-existing condition, heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, they’re coming for you. If you love someone who has a pre-existing condition, they are coming for you.”

Pence: “Obamacare was a disaster. The American people remember well. President Trump and I have a plan to improve healthcare and to protect pre-existing conditions for every American.”

TAXES
Pence: “On Day One, Joe Biden’s going to raise your taxes.”

Harris: “Joe Biden has been very clear: he will not raise taxes on anybody that who makes less than $400,000 a year.”

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THE SUPREME COURT
Pence: “If you haven’t figured it out yet, the straight answer is they (the Democrats) are going to pack the Supreme Court, if they somehow win this election.”

Harris: “Do you know that of the 50 people who President Trump appointed to the court of appeals for lifetime appointments, not one is Black? This is what they’ve been doing. You want to talk about packing a court, let’s have that discussion.”

POLICING
Harris: “Bad cops are bad to good cops. We need reform of our policing in America and our criminal justice system which is why Joe and I will immediately ban chokeholds … we will require a national registry for police officers who break the law. We will … get rid of private prisons and cash bail.”

Pence: “There is no excuse for what happened to George Floyd, justice will be served. But there is also no excuse for the rioting or the looting.”

CLIMATE CHANGE
Pence: “Now with regard to climate change, the climate is changing. But the issue is, what’s the cause? And what do we do about it? President Trump has made it clear that we’re going to continue to listen to the science.”

Harris: “Let’s talk about who is prepared to lead our country over the course of the next four years on what is an existential threat to us as human beings. Joe is about saying we’re going to invest in renewable energy … we will achieve net zero emissions by 2050, (be) carbon neutral by 2035 … We will also re-enter the climate agreement with pride.”

CHINA
Harris: “What ended up happening is because of a so-called trade war with China, America lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs. Farmers have experienced bankruptcy because of it. We are in a manufacturing recession because of it.”

Pence rejoinder: “Look, lost the trade war with China? Joe Biden never fought it. Joe Biden’s been a cheerleader for communist China over the last several decades.”

THE U.S. MILITARY
Harris: “This is about a pattern of Donald Trump’s, where he has referred to our men who are serving in our military as suckers and losers. Donald Trump, who went to Arlington Cemetery, and stood above the graves of our fallen heroes and said, what’s in it for them.”

Pence: “President Donald Trump not only respects but reveres all of those who served in our armed forces, and any suggestion otherwise is ridiculous.”

October 8, 2020
US presidential poll: Republicans officially nominate Trump, Pence for second term

U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were on Monday officially nominated for a second term at the Republican National Convention, during a scaled down roll call vote in Charlotte, North Carolina.

States were limited to six delegates at the Charlotte Convention Center, 336 total for the live roll call, unlike the Democratic National Convention where the roll call was done virtually.

Vice President Mike Pence made brief comments at the convention.

The roll call is usually held on Tuesday but was moved up by the party’s updated schedule.

The event, scheduled to run through Thursday, will be largely virtual. Some small, official business will still take place in Charlotte, N.C.

After some last-minute wrangling to attempt to move the convention to Jacksonville, Fla., the GOP settled on keeping Charlotte as its base, but severely limiting the number of in-person events that take place there.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper warned in June it was likely that safety measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 wouldn’t be lifted in time for Republicans to hold their full program of events with thousands of supporters, delegates and elected officials in attendance.

Originally scheduled to be held at the Spectrum Center, the in-person events, including Monday’s roll call of delegates, took place at the Charlotte Convention Center. Most other events will be virtual, including Trump’s acceptance speech from the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday.–UPI

August 24, 2020
See Why White House says Trump, Pence can’t be tested for Coronavirus now

President Donald Trump does not need testing for coronavirus despite having met with an aide to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro who was found afterward to test positive, the White House said on Thursday.

“The White House is aware of public reports that a member of the Brazilian delegation… tested positive for COVID-19,” Trump spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence “had almost no interactions with the individual” during Bolsonaro’s trip to Trump golf club in Florida last weekend.

They “do not require being tested at this time,” she said.

Grisham said that under government guidelines “there is currently no indication to test patients without symptoms, and only people with prolonged close exposure to confirmed positive cases should self-quarantine”.

March 13, 2020