US Democrats' efforts to convict Donald Trump at his impeachment trial suffered a fresh blow Tuesday when almost all Republican senators backed dismissing the case, underlining the former president's continuing hold over the party.

The motion failed after all 50 Democrats and only five Republicans in the Senate did not support the push to throw out the case before the trial has begun.

The result confirmed Democrats will struggle to persuade 17 Republican senators -- the number needed for the required two-thirds majority -- to vote to convict Trump.

Rand Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky, raised a point of order to hold a vote on the constitutionality of the impeachment trial as Trump has left office.

Democrats then called for a vote to kill the point of order, winning 55-45.

Paul said afterwards "that 45 Senators agreed that this sham of a 'trial' is unconstitutional... This 'trial' is dead on arrival in the Senate."

Patrick Leahy, the 80-year-old senator presiding over the trial, was hospitalized after Tuesday's proceedings during which he sounded hoarse and unwell as lawmakers were sworn in as jurors.

"The Attending Physician recommended that he be taken to a local hospital for observation, where he is now, and where he is being evaluated," his spokesman said.

Leahy, who was elected in 1974, is presiding as he is the senior senator of the party with the majority in the Senate, currently the Democrats.

The House of Representatives on Monday presented a single article of impeachment to the upper chamber accusing Trump of inciting the storming of the Capitol earlier this month, setting in motion the first-ever impeachment trial of a former president.

The trial of Trump, who was impeached by the Democratic-majority House for an unprecedented second time, is to begin the week of February 8.

Trump -- winner of 74 million votes in his loss to Biden on November 3 and reportedly sitting on some $70 million in campaign funds -- wants Republican senators to consider their own futures before they dare cross him.

Trump's main way of applying pressure while out of office is to threaten disloyal legislators with support for their challengers in party primary votes ahead of the 2022 midterms.

Trump's endorsement on Monday of his former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in her bid to become governor of Arkansas was the first flexing of political muscle.

US Democrats' efforts to convict Donald Trump at his impeachment trial suffered a fresh blow Tuesday when almost all Republican senators backed dismissing the case, underlining the former president's continuing hold over the party.

US Democrats' efforts to convict Donald Trump at his impeachment trial suffered a fresh blow Tuesday when almost all Republican senators backed dismissing the case, underlining the former president's continuing hold over the party. The motion failed after all 50 Democrats and only five Republicans in the Senate did not support the push to throw out the case before the trial has begun. The result confirmed Democrats will struggle to persuade 17 Republican senators -- the number needed for the required two-thirds majority -- to vote to convict Trump. Rand Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky, raised a point of order to hold a vote on the constitutionality of the impeachment trial as Trump has left office. Democrats then called for a vote to kill the point of order, winning 55-45. Paul said afterwards "that 45 Senators agreed that this sham of a 'trial' is unconstitutional... This 'trial' is dead on arrival in the Senate." Patrick Leahy, the 80-year-old senator presiding over the trial, was hospitalized after Tuesday's proceedings during which he sounded hoarse and unwell as lawmakers were sworn in as jurors. "The Attending Physician recommended that he be taken to a local hospital for observation, where he is now, and where he is being evaluated," his spokesman said. Leahy, who was elected in 1974, is presiding as he is the senior senator of the party with the majority in the Senate, currently the Democrats. The House of Representatives on Monday presented a single article of impeachment to the upper chamber accusing Trump of inciting the storming of the Capitol earlier this month, setting in motion the first-ever impeachment trial of a former president. The trial of Trump, who was impeached by the Democratic-majority House for an unprecedented second time, is to begin the week of February 8. Trump -- winner of 74 million votes in his loss to Biden on November 3 and reportedly sitting on some $70 million in campaign funds -- wants Republican senators to consider their own futures before they dare cross him. Trump's main way of applying pressure while out of office is to threaten disloyal legislators with support for their challengers in party primary votes ahead of the 2022 midterms. Trump's endorsement on Monday of his former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in her bid to become governor of Arkansas was the first flexing of political muscle.

Republican senators signal opposition to Donald Trump impeachment

The U.S. senate has put Donald Trump on trial over charges of inciting an insurrection. The trial will begin in 2 weeks. Will Trump be convicted? WION's Molly Gambhir gets you a report.

Gravitas: Will U.S. Senate convict Donald Trump?

Donald Trump was the first U.S. President in 156 years to not have a pet in the White House. The long-standing tradition is now back with Joe Biden's dogs- Champ and Major. WION's Molly Gambhir introduces you to America's first pets.

Gravitas: Meet America's first pets

United States' Ex-President Donald Trump is likely to be acquitted in the Senate impeachment trial as Democrats struggle to gain enough support from Republicans.

Democrats need 17 Republican votes to convict Donald Trump

The Biden administration is set to announce a new batch of executive actions aimed at combating climate change that will pause new oil and gas leases on federal land and strengthen measures to protect poor and minority neighbourhoods from pollution.

The orders will set the direction for newly sworn-in President Joe Biden's climate change and environmental agenda.

This essentially marks a drastic reversal from his predecessor Donald Trump, who sought to maximise the country’s oil, gas and coal output by removing regulations and easing environmental reviews.

In the orders, Biden Wednesday will call for a pause on new federal oil and gas leases and direct the Interior Department to review the programme's climate impacts and taxpayer benefits. He will also set a goal to conserve 30% of federal land and waters to protect wildlife.

The orders will impact large swathes of acreage onshore in mostly Western states, as well as offshore drilling acreage located mainly in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Word of the measure has drawn criticism from some states that depend on drilling revenue and the oil industry, which has warned the move will costs jobs and economic growth.

Biden will also assemble a national climate change task force, to be led by White House domestic climate policy advisor Gina McCarthy. It will enlist federal agencies to devise climate change strategies.

According to Reuters, he will also form an interagency council aimed at addressing environmental justice, placing an official to oversee the issue within each federal agency, and direct 40% of benefits from clean energy investments to low-income and minority communities.

Biden is also expected to create a special environmental justice enforcement unit at the Justice Department.

The orders aim to make good on several of Biden's campaign promises to tackle climate change while also addressing racial and economic inequality.

The Biden administration is set to announce a new batch of executive actions aimed at combating climate change that will pause new oil and gas leases on federal land and strengthen measures to protect poor and minority neighbourhoods from pollution.

The Biden administration is set to announce a new batch of executive actions aimed at combating climate change that will pause new oil and gas leases on federal land and strengthen measures to protect poor and minority neighbourhoods from pollution. The orders will set the direction for newly sworn-in President Joe Biden's climate change and environmental agenda. This essentially marks a drastic reversal from his predecessor Donald Trump, who sought to maximise the country’s oil, gas and coal output by removing regulations and easing environmental reviews. In the orders, Biden Wednesday will call for a pause on new federal oil and gas leases and direct the Interior Department to review the programme's climate impacts and taxpayer benefits. He will also set a goal to conserve 30% of federal land and waters to protect wildlife. The orders will impact large swathes of acreage onshore in mostly Western states, as well as offshore drilling acreage located mainly in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Word of the measure has drawn criticism from some states that depend on drilling revenue and the oil industry, which has warned the move will costs jobs and economic growth. Biden will also assemble a national climate change task force, to be led by White House domestic climate policy advisor Gina McCarthy. It will enlist federal agencies to devise climate change strategies. According to Reuters, he will also form an interagency council aimed at addressing environmental justice, placing an official to oversee the issue within each federal agency, and direct 40% of benefits from clean energy investments to low-income and minority communities. Biden is also expected to create a special environmental justice enforcement unit at the Justice Department. The orders aim to make good on several of Biden's campaign promises to tackle climate change while also addressing racial and economic inequality.

Biden to strengthen environmental justice in new climate orders

Youtube on Wednesday said that it was banning former US President Donald Trump from the video-sharing platform indefinitely. This is another blow to the former Commander-in-Chief after numerous social media platforms banished him. Youtube's decision has come a week after it confirmed that it would extend ban on Trump's channel.

"In light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, the Donald J Trump channel will remain suspended," a YouTube spokesperson told Politico.

The Google-owned firm has faced some criticism over its slow response following the violence in Washington, as well as the proliferation of conspiracy theories on the platform.

Youtube also said that it will stop Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani from monetizing his content on the platform. Giuliani's account would be barred from the Partner Program -- &nbsp;which allows creators to make money off their videos

The 76-year-old has posted videos titled "The Biden Crime Family's Payoff Scheme" and "Election Theft of the Century" to his channel, which has around 600,000 subscribers.

Number of social media platforms including Twitter have taken action against Trump after the January 6 Capitol Hill violence. Donald Trump was under fire for his tweets throughout his presidency but the criticism and condemnation grew louder after Capitol Hill attack. On January 6, Trump addressed his supporters and asked them to 'march' on the Capitol Building in which the legislature was gathered to certify the President-elect Joe Biden' victory in US Presidential election 2020.

The violence at the Capitol Hill kickstarted an impeachment process that ended with Donald Trump being the only US President ever to be impeached twice.

(With AFP inputs)

Youtube on Wednesday said that it was banning former US President Donald Trump from the video-sharing platform indefinitely. This is another blow to the former Commander-in-Chief after numerous social media platforms banished him.

Youtube on Wednesday said that it was banning former US President Donald Trump from the video-sharing platform indefinitely. This is another blow to the former Commander-in-Chief after numerous social media platforms banished him. Youtube's decision has come a week after it confirmed that it would extend ban on Trump's channel. "In light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, the Donald J Trump channel will remain suspended," a YouTube spokesperson told Politico. The Google-owned firm has faced some criticism over its slow response following the violence in Washington, as well as the proliferation of conspiracy theories on the platform. Youtube also said that it will stop Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani from monetizing his content on the platform. Giuliani's account would be barred from the Partner Program -- which allows creators to make money off their videos The 76-year-old has posted videos titled "The Biden Crime Family's Payoff Scheme" and "Election Theft of the Century" to his channel, which has around 600,000 subscribers. Number of social media platforms including Twitter have taken action against Trump after the January 6 Capitol Hill violence. Donald Trump was under fire for his tweets throughout his presidency but the criticism and condemnation grew louder after Capitol Hill attack. On January 6, Trump addressed his supporters and asked them to 'march' on the Capitol Building in which the legislature was gathered to certify the President-elect Joe Biden' victory in US Presidential election 2020. The violence at the Capitol Hill kickstarted an impeachment process that ended with Donald Trump being the only US President ever to be impeached twice. (With AFP inputs)

Youtube suspends Donald Trump from platform indefinitely

The Biden administration will restore diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority, more than two years after President Donald Trump effectively ended them. The action signals a return to a more traditional and evenhanded approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after a Trump administration policy that was heavily slanted toward Israel.

The shift, which will include a resumption of American aid to the Palestinians, was announced Tuesday in a speech by Richard Mills, the acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Mills also reaffirmed support for a “mutually agreed, two-state solution” between Israel and the Palestinians, “in which Israel lives in peace and security, alongside a viable Palestinian state.” And he called on the parties to refrain from unilateral actions, such as the annexation of territory and settlement activity by Israel, or incitements to violence by the Palestinians, that could make such an outcome more difficult.

Analysts and regional leaders say the prospects of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement are dimmer than they have been in decades. The parties have all but ceased communications, Palestinian leaders summarily rejected a peace plan offered by the Trump White House last year, and the issue is not among President Joe Biden’s top foreign policy priorities.

But the announcement is part of a broader return to previous U.S. foreign policy practices under Biden, and an end to the open hostility between Washington and the Palestinians fomented by the Trump administration. Guided by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Trump took an openly punitive approach toward the Palestinians with the goal of forcing them to make concessions to Israel, to little avail.

The policy shift was quickly cheered by Palestinian leaders and supporters of a negotiated solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

“This is exactly the type of swift action the administration needs to take to restore American credibility as a diplomatic mediator between Israelis and Palestinians,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a liberal advocacy group that supports an Israeli settlement with the Palestinians. “Undoing the terrible damage done by the Trump administration starts with reestablishing a working relationship with the Palestinian leadership and people.”

Mills said the Biden administration would “take steps to reopen diplomatic missions that were closed by the last U.S. administration,” without offering specifics. In addition to closing the Palestinian Mission in Washington in September 2018, the Trump administration also closed the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem.

Biden has no straightforward way of reopening a Palestinian Mission in Washington. A law passed by Congress in 1987 blocked the Palestinians’ right to open an office in America. Successive presidents were able to bypass the legislation with a waiver, but subsequent laws passed in 2015 and 2018 limit the president’s ability to circumvent the earlier restriction.

The announcement was nevertheless greeted warmly by Palestinian officials, who see the tone of the Biden administration as a welcome respite from the cold shoulder offered by Trump.

“For the first time, President Biden’s administration has officially expressed its position toward the peace process and the two-state solution,” Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee and minister of social development at the Palestinian Authority, said in response to the announcement. “We believe that this position constitutes an important positive step on the road to restoring U.S.-Palestinian bilateral relations and opens the door wide to restore the peace process within the framework of multilateral international sponsorship.”

Mills also said that Biden intended “to restore U.S. assistance programs that support economic development and humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people.”

In 2018 the Trump administration cut off $200 million in economic assistance to the Palestinians and halted roughly $350 million in annual funding for a U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees.

“We do not view these steps as a favor to the Palestinian leadership,” he added. “U.S. assistance benefits millions of ordinary Palestinians and helps to preserve a stable environment that benefits both Palestinians and Israelis.”

At the same time, Trump ended Washington’s opposition to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, although he did not support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s talk of territorial annexation.

As an alternative, the Trump administration brokered diplomatic agreements between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors, in return for assurance from Netanyahu that he would not pursue annexation for now, although he has not abandoned the idea. The Israeli leader is facing a national election for the fourth time in two years after Israel’s coalition government failed to hold together.

In his remarks to the U.N. Security Council, Mills said that the Biden administration “welcomes the recent normalization agreements” between Israel and Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. But he added that “Arab-Israeli normalization is not a substitute for Israeli-Palestinian peace.”

He added that “the U.S. will maintain its steadfast support for Israel” and “will continue its long-standing policy of opposing one-sided resolutions and other actions in international bodies that unfairly single out Israel.” While the Democratic Party has grown more critical of Israeli policies in recent years, Biden’s positions are more centrist and he is less quick to criticize the country than other Democrats.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

This month, the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, announced a schedule for what would be the first Palestinian elections in at least 15 years, in a move that was perceived in part as an attempt to curry favor with Biden.

Mills is the U.S. chargé d’affaires to the United Nations. Biden has nominated Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a career State Department official, to serve as his permanent ambassador to the body.

The Biden administration will restore diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority, more than two years after President Donald Trump effectively ended them.

The Biden administration will restore diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority, more than two years after President Donald Trump effectively ended them. The action signals a return to a more traditional and evenhanded approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after a Trump administration policy that was heavily slanted toward Israel. The shift, which will include a resumption of American aid to the Palestinians, was announced Tuesday in a speech by Richard Mills, the acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Mills also reaffirmed support for a “mutually agreed, two-state solution” between Israel and the Palestinians, “in which Israel lives in peace and security, alongside a viable Palestinian state.” And he called on the parties to refrain from unilateral actions, such as the annexation of territory and settlement activity by Israel, or incitements to violence by the Palestinians, that could make such an outcome more difficult. Analysts and regional leaders say the prospects of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement are dimmer than they have been in decades. The parties have all but ceased communications, Palestinian leaders summarily rejected a peace plan offered by the Trump White House last year, and the issue is not among President Joe Biden’s top foreign policy priorities. But the announcement is part of a broader return to previous U.S. foreign policy practices under Biden, and an end to the open hostility between Washington and the Palestinians fomented by the Trump administration. Guided by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Trump took an openly punitive approach toward the Palestinians with the goal of forcing them to make concessions to Israel, to little avail. The policy shift was quickly cheered by Palestinian leaders and supporters of a negotiated solution between Israel and the Palestinians. “This is exactly the type of swift action the administration needs to take to restore American credibility as a diplomatic mediator between Israelis and Palestinians,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a liberal advocacy group that supports an Israeli settlement with the Palestinians. “Undoing the terrible damage done by the Trump administration starts with reestablishing a working relationship with the Palestinian leadership and people.” Mills said the Biden administration would “take steps to reopen diplomatic missions that were closed by the last U.S. administration,” without offering specifics. In addition to closing the Palestinian Mission in Washington in September 2018, the Trump administration also closed the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem. Biden has no straightforward way of reopening a Palestinian Mission in Washington. A law passed by Congress in 1987 blocked the Palestinians’ right to open an office in America. Successive presidents were able to bypass the legislation with a waiver, but subsequent laws passed in 2015 and 2018 limit the president’s ability to circumvent the earlier restriction. The announcement was nevertheless greeted warmly by Palestinian officials, who see the tone of the Biden administration as a welcome respite from the cold shoulder offered by Trump. “For the first time, President Biden’s administration has officially expressed its position toward the peace process and the two-state solution,” Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee and minister of social development at the Palestinian Authority, said in response to the announcement. “We believe that this position constitutes an important positive step on the road to restoring U.S.-Palestinian bilateral relations and opens the door wide to restore the peace process within the framework of multilateral international sponsorship.” Mills also said that Biden intended “to restore U.S. assistance programs that support economic development and humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people.” In 2018 the Trump administration cut off $200 million in economic assistance to the Palestinians and halted roughly $350 million in annual funding for a U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees. “We do not view these steps as a favor to the Palestinian leadership,” he added. “U.S. assistance benefits millions of ordinary Palestinians and helps to preserve a stable environment that benefits both Palestinians and Israelis.” At the same time, Trump ended Washington’s opposition to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, although he did not support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s talk of territorial annexation. As an alternative, the Trump administration brokered diplomatic agreements between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors, in return for assurance from Netanyahu that he would not pursue annexation for now, although he has not abandoned the idea. The Israeli leader is facing a national election for the fourth time in two years after Israel’s coalition government failed to hold together. In his remarks to the U.N. Security Council, Mills said that the Biden administration “welcomes the recent normalization agreements” between Israel and Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. But he added that “Arab-Israeli normalization is not a substitute for Israeli-Palestinian peace.” He added that “the U.S. will maintain its steadfast support for Israel” and “will continue its long-standing policy of opposing one-sided resolutions and other actions in international bodies that unfairly single out Israel.” While the Democratic Party has grown more critical of Israeli policies in recent years, Biden’s positions are more centrist and he is less quick to criticize the country than other Democrats. The Israeli Foreign Ministry declined to comment. This month, the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, announced a schedule for what would be the first Palestinian elections in at least 15 years, in a move that was perceived in part as an attempt to curry favor with Biden. Mills is the U.S. chargé d’affaires to the United Nations. Biden has nominated Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a career State Department official, to serve as his permanent ambassador to the body.

Biden will restore US relations with Palestinians, reversing Trump cutoff

The US Senate is putting the&nbsp;former president <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> on trial for impeachment charges for inciting an insurrection at the US Capitol.

On January 25, the impeachment case against Trump was delivered to the Senate after Democratic prosecutors made the ceremonial walk across the Capitol, leading all the way into the Senate.

This was followed by a reading of the impeachment article on the Senate floor. Reading the charges, representative Jamie Raskin, the lead house impeachment manager, said that Trump betrayed his trust as a president by threatening the integrity of the democratic system and&nbsp;interfering with the peaceful transition of power.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/so-much-else-to-do-chuck-schumer-promises-a-fair-but-quick-impeachment-trial-for-trump-359246" hreflang="en">'So much else to do': Chuck Schumer promises a fair but quick impeachment trial for Trump</a>

"President trump gravely endangered the security of the united states and its institutions of government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power and imperilled a coequal branch of government. He thereby betrayed his trust as president to the manifest injury of the people of the United States, wherefore Donald John Trump, by such conduct has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy and the constitution, if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law," Raskin said.

The charges have been read out and the trial will begin in two weeks — hopefully by January 08, 2021.

In the house of representatives at least 10 republicans voted to impeach Trump. However, it is not necessary the same situation will take place in the Senate too.

A growing number of Republican senators say they oppose holding an impeachment trial. Their denunciations of Trump after the January 6th insurrection seem to have cooled down.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trumps-virus-task-force-adviser-describes-misinformation-and-denial-359174" hreflang="en">Trump’s virus task force adviser describes misinformation and denial</a>

Currently, there are a total of 50 republican senators, 48 Democratic senators and two independents who are&nbsp;leaning towards the Democrats.

The magic number is 67 as at least&nbsp;67 votes are needed in total to convict Donald Trump, meaning at least 17 Republicans will have to break ranks and join the Democrats to impeach the former president.

Currently, no Republican senator openly supports the conviction. The republican party is still overwhelmingly supportive of Donald Trump and reports have emerged that Trump is making backdoor efforts to ensure it stays like that.

Republican senator Kevin Cramer recently made a statement saying,&nbsp;"The president wanted me to know as well as a handful of others that the President is a republican. He is not starting a third party and that anything he would do politically in the future would be as a Republican."

Trump is currently in&nbsp;the state of Florida where he has announced the opening of 'the office of the former president' in Palm Beach county. His office will&nbsp;look after Trump's official activities in his post-presidency life such as his&nbsp;correspondence, public statements,&nbsp;official activities, political agenda,&nbsp;public activism and advocacy.

The US Senate is putting the former president Donald Trump on trial for impeachment charges for inciting an insurrection at the US Capitol. On January 25, the impeachment case against Trump was delivered to the Senate after Democratic prosecutors made the ceremonial walk across the Capitol, leading all the way into the Senate.

The US Senate is putting the former president Donald Trump on trial for impeachment charges for inciting an insurrection at the US Capitol. On January 25, the impeachment case against Trump was delivered to the Senate after Democratic prosecutors made the ceremonial walk across the Capitol, leading all the way into the Senate. This was followed by a reading of the impeachment article on the Senate floor. Reading the charges, representative Jamie Raskin, the lead house impeachment manager, said that Trump betrayed his trust as a president by threatening the integrity of the democratic system and interfering with the peaceful transition of power. Also read| 'So much else to do': Chuck Schumer promises a fair but quick impeachment trial for Trump "President trump gravely endangered the security of the united states and its institutions of government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power and imperilled a coequal branch of government. He thereby betrayed his trust as president to the manifest injury of the people of the United States, wherefore Donald John Trump, by such conduct has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy and the constitution, if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law," Raskin said. The charges have been read out and the trial will begin in two weeks — hopefully by January 08, 2021. In the house of representatives at least 10 republicans voted to impeach Trump. However, it is not necessary the same situation will take place in the Senate too. A growing number of Republican senators say they oppose holding an impeachment trial. Their denunciations of Trump after the January 6th insurrection seem to have cooled down. Also read| Trump’s virus task force adviser describes misinformation and denial Currently, there are a total of 50 republican senators, 48 Democratic senators and two independents who are leaning towards the Democrats. The magic number is 67 as at least 67 votes are needed in total to convict Donald Trump, meaning at least 17 Republicans will have to break ranks and join the Democrats to impeach the former president. Currently, no Republican senator openly supports the conviction. The republican party is still overwhelmingly supportive of Donald Trump and reports have emerged that Trump is making backdoor efforts to ensure it stays like that. Republican senator Kevin Cramer recently made a statement saying, "The president wanted me to know as well as a handful of others that the President is a republican. He is not starting a third party and that anything he would do politically in the future would be as a Republican." Trump is currently in the state of Florida where he has announced the opening of 'the office of the former president' in Palm Beach county. His office will look after Trump's official activities in his post-presidency life such as his correspondence, public statements, official activities, political agenda, public activism and advocacy.

As Trump's impeachment trial is delivered to Senate, he starts post-presidency life

The U.S. House of Representatives delivered to the Senate on Monday a charge that former President Donald Trump incited insurrection in a speech to supporters before the deadly attack on the Capitol, setting in motion his second impeachment trial.

House Democrats deliver Trump impeachment charge to Senate

Morning news brief: Here are the biggest stories of the morning - from Joe Biden's reversal of Trump's ban on transgender people serving in the military, to his vow to revive manufacturing in the country. This and more below - click on the headline to read the full story.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/joe-biden-reverses-donald-trumps-ban-on-transgender-people-in-military-359317" hreflang="en">Joe Biden reverses Donald Trump's ban on transgender people in military</a>

<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2021/01/23/179774-biden-signing-docs.jpg?itok=je1Vcatq" />

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/in-a-bid-to-revive-us-manufacturing-president-biden-signs-buy-american-order-359342" hreflang="en">In a bid to revive US manufacturing, President Biden signs 'Buy American' order</a>

<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2021/01/21/179491-joe-biden.jpg?itok=ViyxbZLi" />

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/google-to-turn-company-spaces-into-vaccination-centres-sundar-pichai-359290" hreflang="en">Google to turn company spaces into vaccination centres: Sundar Pichai</a>

<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2020/08/10/153840-sundar-pichai.jpg?itok=VhBN_Lu6" />

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/astrazeneca-denounces-me-first-approach-to-covid-jabs-359278" hreflang="en">AstraZeneca denounces 'me first' approach to Covid jabs</a>

<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2020/10/26/166716-untitled-design-1.jpg?itok=TOoTexS1" />

<a href="http://13.235.153.162/videos/european-union-calls-on-russia-to-release-opposition-leader-alexei-navalny-359338" hreflang="en">European Union calls on Russia to release opposition leader Alexei Navalny</a>

<iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/european-union-calls-on-russia-to-release-opposition-leader-alexei-navalny-359338/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe>

House Democrats deliver Trump impeachment charge to Senate

<iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/house-democrats-deliver-trump-impeachment-charge-to-senate-359334/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe>

Morning news brief: Here are the biggest stories of the morning - from Joe Biden's reversal of Trump's ban on transgender people serving in the military, to his vow to revive manufacturing in the country.

Morning news brief: Here are the biggest stories of the morning - from Joe Biden's reversal of Trump's ban on transgender people serving in the military, to his vow to revive manufacturing in the country. This and more below - click on the headline to read the full story. Joe Biden reverses Donald Trump's ban on transgender people in military In a bid to revive US manufacturing, President Biden signs 'Buy American' order Google to turn company spaces into vaccination centres: Sundar Pichai AstraZeneca denounces 'me first' approach to Covid jabs European Union calls on Russia to release opposition leader Alexei Navalny House Democrats deliver Trump impeachment charge to Senate

Morning news brief: Biden reverses Trump's transgender military ban, and more

It's not just Donald Trump who is facing impeachment. In Brazil, the clamour for the impeachment of Jair Bolsonaro is getting louder by the day. WION's Palki Sharma tells you more.

Gravitas: Trump and Bolsonaro face calls for impeachment

United States President Joe Biden on Monday vowed to capitalise on the country's purchasing power in a bid to improve domestic manufacturing and to create new markets for technologies.

The US is the world's biggest buyer of goods and services. On Monday, Biden signed an executive order to strengthen provisions for "Buy American", which will be applicable on a third of the service bought by the federal government every year.

Now, waivers will be more transparent, and a senior White House official will overlook the process.

"I don't buy for one second that the vitality of American manufacturing is a thing of the past," Biden told reporters.

&nbsp;"American manufacturing was the arsenal of democracy in World War Two and it must be part of the engine of American prosperity now", he said.&nbsp;

In addition, Biden again reiterated plans to replace the fleet of federal cars with electric vehicles made in the US.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/joe-biden-reverses-donald-trumps-ban-on-transgender-people-in-military-359317" hreflang="en">Joe Biden reverses Donald Trump's ban on transgender people in military</a> 
 
Biden's plans to increase wages and to create more jobs requires the revitalisation of the manufacturing sector, which is responsible for 12 per cent of the country's economy. 
 
"America can't sit on the sidelines in the race to the future. Our competitors aren't waiting... To ensure the future is made in America, we need to win not just the jobs of today, but the jobs and industries of tomorrow", Biden said.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/biden-to-reinstate-coronavirus-travel-ban-for-most-non-us-citizens-report-359098" hreflang="en">Biden to reinstate coronavirus travel ban for most non-US citizens: Report</a>

In 2010, China overtook the United States to become the world's largest manufacturer. In 2018, the country accounted for 28 per cent of the global output, as stated by United Nations data.

Manufactures have flocked to China owing to&nbsp;lower wages and weaker environmental provisions in the country.

United States President Joe Biden on Monday vowed to capitalise on the country's purchasing power in a bid to improve domestic manufacturing and to create new markets for technologies.

United States President Joe Biden on Monday vowed to capitalise on the country's purchasing power in a bid to improve domestic manufacturing and to create new markets for technologies. The US is the world's biggest buyer of goods and services. On Monday, Biden signed an executive order to strengthen provisions for "Buy American", which will be applicable on a third of the service bought by the federal government every year. Now, waivers will be more transparent, and a senior White House official will overlook the process. "I don't buy for one second that the vitality of American manufacturing is a thing of the past," Biden told reporters. "American manufacturing was the arsenal of democracy in World War Two and it must be part of the engine of American prosperity now", he said. In addition, Biden again reiterated plans to replace the fleet of federal cars with electric vehicles made in the US. Also read: Joe Biden reverses Donald Trump's ban on transgender people in military Biden's plans to increase wages and to create more jobs requires the revitalisation of the manufacturing sector, which is responsible for 12 per cent of the country's economy. "America can't sit on the sidelines in the race to the future. Our competitors aren't waiting... To ensure the future is made in America, we need to win not just the jobs of today, but the jobs and industries of tomorrow", Biden said. Also read: Biden to reinstate coronavirus travel ban for most non-US citizens: Report In 2010, China overtook the United States to become the world's largest manufacturer. In 2018, the country accounted for 28 per cent of the global output, as stated by United Nations data. Manufactures have flocked to China owing to lower wages and weaker environmental provisions in the country.

In a bid to revive US manufacturing, President Biden signs 'Buy American' order

Former President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>, determined to remain a force in GOP politics, is gaining new opportunities with a crucial Senate seat unexpectedly coming open in Ohio, an ally announcing for governor of Arkansas, and rising pressure on Republicans in Congress who did not stand with him during this month’s impeachment vote.

The surprise announcement on Monday by Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio that he would not seek a third term sparked a political land rush, with top strategists in the state receiving a flood of phone calls from potential candidates testing their viability. One consultant said he had received calls from five would-be candidates by midday.

That opening, along with another statewide contest next year in which Gov. Mike DeWine is expected to face at least one Trump-aligned primary challenger, is likely to make Ohio a central battleground for control of the Republican Party, and an inviting one for Trump, who held on to Ohio in the election while losing three other northern battleground states.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/so-much-else-to-do-chuck-schumer-promises-a-fair-but-quick-impeachment-trial-for-trump-359246" hreflang="en">'So much else to do': Chuck Schumer promises a fair but quick impeachment trial for Trump</a>

Portman’s announcement came hours after Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s former White House press secretary, began her campaign for Arkansas governor. The Republican primary there already includes the state’s lieutenant governor and attorney general, but private polling indicates that Sanders is beginning well ahead, and Trump endorsed her candidacy on Monday night.

Trump has only been out of the presidential office five days and has little in the way of political infrastructure. He has told aides he would like to take a break for several months.

But the former president has remained the party’s strongest fundraiser, with tens of millions in PAC money at his disposal, and he retains an enduring base of Republican support across the country. Perhaps most importantly, he harbors a deep-seated desire to punish those he believes have crossed him and reward those who remain loyal.

So far he has focused primarily on Georgia, where he believes the Republican governor and secretary of state betrayed him by certifying his loss there. Both are up for reelection in 2022. And he took something of a test run over the weekend by getting involved in the leadership fight in Arizona’s Republican Party, after Kelli Ward, the firebrand chairwoman, asked for his help in gaining reelection, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trumps-virus-task-force-adviser-describes-misinformation-and-denial-359174" hreflang="en">Trump’s virus task force adviser describes misinformation and denial</a>

Already there is a movement at the state and local levels to challenge incumbent members of Congress seen as breaking with the former president, starting with the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach him earlier this month.

The overwhelming consensus among Ohio Republicans is that a Trump-aligned candidate would be best positioned to win a competitive Senate primary, and no potential candidate has a better claim to Trump’s voters in the state than Rep. Jim Jordan, who was Trump’s chief defender during his first impeachment trial and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom during the former president’s final days in office.

“Jim is well positioned if in fact he’s ready to take that leap; I’m not sure there’s anybody that would beat him,” said Ken Blackwell, a former Ohio secretary of state and longtime Portman ally who last month served as an Electoral College voter for Trump. Referring to Trump’s legion of supporters, Blackwell added: “In Ohio, it’s going to be who has the track record to show that their agenda respects the newly realigned party base.”

Trump is now ensconced at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where aides are building something that can serve as an office. He’s been golfing several times, and was spotted by people at his club in Florida playing with the brother of former tennis star Anna Kournikova on Sunday.

His advisers have had discussions about whether to get him back on some form of social media platform, although they insist he does not need to be on Twitter or Facebook to raise money, and that his email solicitations continue to work well. On Monday he formally opened the Office of the Former President, to manage his “correspondence, public statements, appearances, and official activities.’’

As President Joe Biden’s inauguration approached, Trump began telling some allies that he was considering forming a third party if Republicans moved to convict him in the Senate trial. But by Saturday, after his own advisers said it was a mistake, Trump started sending out word that he was moving on from his threat.

“He understands that the best thing for his movement and conservatism is to move forward together, that third parties will lead to dominance by Democrats,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is a close ally of Trump.

Advisers to the president say he has just over $70 million in his PAC, Save America, with few restrictions on what he can do with it. For now, most of his staff is on a government payroll afforded to former presidents for a period of time after they leave office.

Officials are working to mend Trump’s relationship with Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the House minority leader, whom Trump called a vulgarity for his House floor speech denouncing the former president’s rally address before the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6. A senior Republican said that aides to the two men were trying to arrange a meeting or a call in the coming days. And Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., spoke with McCarthy recently and the two are on good terms, a person briefed on the call said.

Trump would like to seek retribution against House members who voted against him, and he’s been particularly angry with Reps. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio and Fred Upton of Michigan, advisers said. He will also at some point focus on the governor’s race in Arizona, where Doug Ducey cannot seek reelection; Gov. Greg Abbott’s reelection bid in Texas; and the Senate race in North Carolina, as places where he can show strength, the advisers said. (One adviser disputed that Trump would have an interest in the Texas race.)

In Ohio, Gonzalez faces a potential primary challenge from Christina Hagan, a former state legislator whom he defeated in a 2018 primary. Hagan lost in the general election last year to Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat, in a neighboring district. She said in an interview Monday that she will decide which, if any, race to enter in 2022 after Ohio redraws its congressional districts; the state is likely to lose one seat and Republicans control all levers of redistricting.

“A lot of people elected what they thought was conservative leadership and now are witnessing somebody cutting against their values,” Hagan said, alluding to Gonzalez’s vote to impeach.

Gonzalez’s office did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Trump’s deepest hostility is reserved for Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, advisers said, and they expect he will expend the most energy trying to damage Kemp’s reelection bid. The governor’s original sin was in choosing Kelly Loeffler over Trump’s favored candidate, Doug Collins, to fill a vacant Senate seat in 2019, but it evolved into something more consuming as Trump repeated his debunked claims of widespread fraud in the state and held Kemp responsible for not doing enough to challenge the election results.

Collins, a hard-line Trump backer, hasn’t decided whether to challenge Kemp or seek the Republican nomination against Sen. Raphael Warnock, the Democrat who defeated Loeffler in a special election and will face voters again in 2022, or if he will choose not to run for anything, a Collins aide said Monday.

Next on Trump’s personal hit list is Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., people close to him said. Cheney was the only member of the House GOP leadership to vote to impeach. It’s unclear whether Trump will target her seat, or simply her leadership post in the House, but advisers said they anticipate he will take opportunities to damage her.

Sarah Longwell, the executive director of the Republican Accountability Project, an anti-Trump group, said she and her colleagues plan to raise and spend $50 million to defend the 10 pro-impeachment House Republicans in primary contests and attack those who voted to object to the Electoral College results after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. She said the group would aim to defeat Jordan in an Ohio Senate primary if he runs against an establishment-minded Republican.

Jordan’s spokesman did not respond to messages on Monday.

The 2022 map will be the first real test of Trump’s durability in the party. While Sanders is running for governor in Arkansas, rumors that his daughter Ivanka would run for Senate in Florida are unlikely to develop further. And though his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, was said to be considering a Senate run in North Carolina, people close to the family say it is less clear what she will do now that Donald Trump lost.

Trump’s advisers are more focused on the looming impeachment trial. He is working closely with Graham, who has argued to his colleagues that Trump’s Senate trial sets a bad precedent.

Graham helped him retain a South Carolina-based lawyer, Butch Bowers, who is also working to fill out a legal team with colleagues from the state, Graham and others said. Bowers is expected to work with a Trump adviser, Jason Miller, on some kind of response operation.

Unlike his first impeachment trial, when the Republican National Committee engaged in a constant defense of the president, including paying for his lawyers, this time it is expected to focus only on rapid response, including calling the Senate trial unconstitutional and a procedural overreach, two people familiar with the committee’s plans said.

Former President Donald Trump, determined to remain a force in GOP politics, is gaining new opportunities with a crucial Senate seat unexpectedly coming open in Ohio, an ally announcing for governor of Arkansas, and rising pressure on Republicans in Congress who did not stand with him during this month’s impeachment vote.

Former President Donald Trump, determined to remain a force in GOP politics, is gaining new opportunities with a crucial Senate seat unexpectedly coming open in Ohio, an ally announcing for governor of Arkansas, and rising pressure on Republicans in Congress who did not stand with him during this month’s impeachment vote. The surprise announcement on Monday by Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio that he would not seek a third term sparked a political land rush, with top strategists in the state receiving a flood of phone calls from potential candidates testing their viability. One consultant said he had received calls from five would-be candidates by midday. That opening, along with another statewide contest next year in which Gov. Mike DeWine is expected to face at least one Trump-aligned primary challenger, is likely to make Ohio a central battleground for control of the Republican Party, and an inviting one for Trump, who held on to Ohio in the election while losing three other northern battleground states. Also read| 'So much else to do': Chuck Schumer promises a fair but quick impeachment trial for Trump Portman’s announcement came hours after Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s former White House press secretary, began her campaign for Arkansas governor. The Republican primary there already includes the state’s lieutenant governor and attorney general, but private polling indicates that Sanders is beginning well ahead, and Trump endorsed her candidacy on Monday night. Trump has only been out of the presidential office five days and has little in the way of political infrastructure. He has told aides he would like to take a break for several months. But the former president has remained the party’s strongest fundraiser, with tens of millions in PAC money at his disposal, and he retains an enduring base of Republican support across the country. Perhaps most importantly, he harbors a deep-seated desire to punish those he believes have crossed him and reward those who remain loyal. So far he has focused primarily on Georgia, where he believes the Republican governor and secretary of state betrayed him by certifying his loss there. Both are up for reelection in 2022. And he took something of a test run over the weekend by getting involved in the leadership fight in Arizona’s Republican Party, after Kelli Ward, the firebrand chairwoman, asked for his help in gaining reelection, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Also read| Trump’s virus task force adviser describes misinformation and denial Already there is a movement at the state and local levels to challenge incumbent members of Congress seen as breaking with the former president, starting with the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach him earlier this month. The overwhelming consensus among Ohio Republicans is that a Trump-aligned candidate would be best positioned to win a competitive Senate primary, and no potential candidate has a better claim to Trump’s voters in the state than Rep. Jim Jordan, who was Trump’s chief defender during his first impeachment trial and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom during the former president’s final days in office. “Jim is well positioned if in fact he’s ready to take that leap; I’m not sure there’s anybody that would beat him,” said Ken Blackwell, a former Ohio secretary of state and longtime Portman ally who last month served as an Electoral College voter for Trump. Referring to Trump’s legion of supporters, Blackwell added: “In Ohio, it’s going to be who has the track record to show that their agenda respects the newly realigned party base.” Trump is now ensconced at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where aides are building something that can serve as an office. He’s been golfing several times, and was spotted by people at his club in Florida playing with the brother of former tennis star Anna Kournikova on Sunday. His advisers have had discussions about whether to get him back on some form of social media platform, although they insist he does not need to be on Twitter or Facebook to raise money, and that his email solicitations continue to work well. On Monday he formally opened the Office of the Former President, to manage his “correspondence, public statements, appearances, and official activities.’’ As President Joe Biden’s inauguration approached, Trump began telling some allies that he was considering forming a third party if Republicans moved to convict him in the Senate trial. But by Saturday, after his own advisers said it was a mistake, Trump started sending out word that he was moving on from his threat. “He understands that the best thing for his movement and conservatism is to move forward together, that third parties will lead to dominance by Democrats,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is a close ally of Trump. Advisers to the president say he has just over $70 million in his PAC, Save America, with few restrictions on what he can do with it. For now, most of his staff is on a government payroll afforded to former presidents for a period of time after they leave office. Officials are working to mend Trump’s relationship with Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the House minority leader, whom Trump called a vulgarity for his House floor speech denouncing the former president’s rally address before the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6. A senior Republican said that aides to the two men were trying to arrange a meeting or a call in the coming days. And Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., spoke with McCarthy recently and the two are on good terms, a person briefed on the call said. Trump would like to seek retribution against House members who voted against him, and he’s been particularly angry with Reps. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio and Fred Upton of Michigan, advisers said. He will also at some point focus on the governor’s race in Arizona, where Doug Ducey cannot seek reelection; Gov. Greg Abbott’s reelection bid in Texas; and the Senate race in North Carolina, as places where he can show strength, the advisers said. (One adviser disputed that Trump would have an interest in the Texas race.) In Ohio, Gonzalez faces a potential primary challenge from Christina Hagan, a former state legislator whom he defeated in a 2018 primary. Hagan lost in the general election last year to Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat, in a neighboring district. She said in an interview Monday that she will decide which, if any, race to enter in 2022 after Ohio redraws its congressional districts; the state is likely to lose one seat and Republicans control all levers of redistricting. “A lot of people elected what they thought was conservative leadership and now are witnessing somebody cutting against their values,” Hagan said, alluding to Gonzalez’s vote to impeach. Gonzalez’s office did not respond to emails seeking comment. Trump’s deepest hostility is reserved for Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, advisers said, and they expect he will expend the most energy trying to damage Kemp’s reelection bid. The governor’s original sin was in choosing Kelly Loeffler over Trump’s favored candidate, Doug Collins, to fill a vacant Senate seat in 2019, but it evolved into something more consuming as Trump repeated his debunked claims of widespread fraud in the state and held Kemp responsible for not doing enough to challenge the election results. Collins, a hard-line Trump backer, hasn’t decided whether to challenge Kemp or seek the Republican nomination against Sen. Raphael Warnock, the Democrat who defeated Loeffler in a special election and will face voters again in 2022, or if he will choose not to run for anything, a Collins aide said Monday. Next on Trump’s personal hit list is Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., people close to him said. Cheney was the only member of the House GOP leadership to vote to impeach. It’s unclear whether Trump will target her seat, or simply her leadership post in the House, but advisers said they anticipate he will take opportunities to damage her. Sarah Longwell, the executive director of the Republican Accountability Project, an anti-Trump group, said she and her colleagues plan to raise and spend $50 million to defend the 10 pro-impeachment House Republicans in primary contests and attack those who voted to object to the Electoral College results after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. She said the group would aim to defeat Jordan in an Ohio Senate primary if he runs against an establishment-minded Republican. Jordan’s spokesman did not respond to messages on Monday. The 2022 map will be the first real test of Trump’s durability in the party. While Sanders is running for governor in Arkansas, rumors that his daughter Ivanka would run for Senate in Florida are unlikely to develop further. And though his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, was said to be considering a Senate run in North Carolina, people close to the family say it is less clear what she will do now that Donald Trump lost. Trump’s advisers are more focused on the looming impeachment trial. He is working closely with Graham, who has argued to his colleagues that Trump’s Senate trial sets a bad precedent. Graham helped him retain a South Carolina-based lawyer, Butch Bowers, who is also working to fill out a legal team with colleagues from the state, Graham and others said. Bowers is expected to work with a Trump adviser, Jason Miller, on some kind of response operation. Unlike his first impeachment trial, when the Republican National Committee engaged in a constant defense of the president, including paying for his lawyers, this time it is expected to focus only on rapid response, including calling the Senate trial unconstitutional and a procedural overreach, two people familiar with the committee’s plans said.

As Trump seeks to remain a political force, new targets emerge

Spike Lee has sharply criticised former US President Donald Trump and his&nbsp;legacy at the 86th annual New York Film Critics Circle Awards.

Lee, 63, gave a somber&nbsp;acceptance speech for the honorary award presented by Martin Scorsese at the virtual awards show. The 'Da 5 Bloods'&nbsp;director filmed the acceptance speech on Jan. 6, "a very sad day in the history of America," when pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol building.

"You know what, we are living in a very serious time in America. All of us as true Americans have to really think about what’s important," said Lee in his speech. "There’s no way possible to go before the iPhone and thank you without telling you what’s in my heart and soul as a descendent of slaves who helped build this country."

The whole world is laughing at the United States, the so-called cradle of democracy," he added.

"We’re at the crossroads now. And everyone please be safe, this is not a game. These people have guns with ammunition," said Lee. "This president, President Agent Orange, will go down in history with the likes of Hitler. These guys, all his boys, they are going down on the wrong side of history."

Lee who has been a vocal critic of Trump and his presidency then gave thanks for the award given for his pandemic-era short film 'New York, New York.' 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/spike-lee-receives-american-cinematheque-award-thank-you-for-the-support-lets-keep-it-going-356953">Also read: Spike Lee receives American Cinematheque Award: ‘Thank you for the support, let’s keep it going’</a> 
&nbsp;

The late actor Chadwick Boseman was honored with the best supporting actor award for Lee's drama 'Da 5 Bloods.'&nbsp;Simone Ledward Boseman accepted the award on her late husband's behalf.

"He would have thanked God, first and foremost, his mother, and his father," she said. "Chad was a New York actor. He knew the New York hustle. So he unfazed by much when he got to Hollywood because in New York he was at war."

'Da 5 Bloods'&nbsp;star Norm Lewis presented the award to Boseman, who died in August 2020, saying, "He'll forever be remembered for his versatility and his immense talent."

In the list of winners, Delroy Lindo took the best actor for his role as conflicted Vietnam veteran Paul in 'Da 5 Bloods'. Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova, of 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm'&nbsp;received the best actress award, saying the award was an inspiration for Bulgarian actors that "things like this can happen." 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/oscars-2019-trump-accuses-spike-lee-of-taking-racist-hit-at-him-199676">When Trump accused Spike Lee of taking 'racist hit' at him</a>

Frances McDormand presented the best director award to her 'Nomadland'&nbsp;director Chloe Zhao, saying "it was one she most deeply deserves." Zhao said it was at New York University where she "learned how to take my first steps as a filmmaker."

Best film went to 'First Cow,' presented by "Parasite" director Bong Joon Ho, who said he is "often awed" by director Kelly Reichardt, calling the film "a unique story" and "a story only Kelly could make."

Spike Lee has sharply criticised former US President Donald Trump and his legacy at the 86th annual New York Film Critics Circle Awards. Lee, 63, gave a somber acceptance speech for the honorary award presented by Martin Scorsese at the virtual awards show.

Spike Lee has sharply criticised former US President Donald Trump and his legacy at the 86th annual New York Film Critics Circle Awards. Lee, 63, gave a somber acceptance speech for the honorary award presented by Martin Scorsese at the virtual awards show. The 'Da 5 Bloods' director filmed the acceptance speech on Jan. 6, "a very sad day in the history of America," when pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol building. "You know what, we are living in a very serious time in America. All of us as true Americans have to really think about what’s important," said Lee in his speech. "There’s no way possible to go before the iPhone and thank you without telling you what’s in my heart and soul as a descendent of slaves who helped build this country." The whole world is laughing at the United States, the so-called cradle of democracy," he added. "We’re at the crossroads now. And everyone please be safe, this is not a game. These people have guns with ammunition," said Lee. "This president, President Agent Orange, will go down in history with the likes of Hitler. These guys, all his boys, they are going down on the wrong side of history." Lee who has been a vocal critic of Trump and his presidency then gave thanks for the award given for his pandemic-era short film 'New York, New York.' Also read: Spike Lee receives American Cinematheque Award: ‘Thank you for the support, let’s keep it going’ The late actor Chadwick Boseman was honored with the best supporting actor award for Lee's drama 'Da 5 Bloods.' Simone Ledward Boseman accepted the award on her late husband's behalf. "He would have thanked God, first and foremost, his mother, and his father," she said. "Chad was a New York actor. He knew the New York hustle. So he unfazed by much when he got to Hollywood because in New York he was at war." 'Da 5 Bloods' star Norm Lewis presented the award to Boseman, who died in August 2020, saying, "He'll forever be remembered for his versatility and his immense talent." In the list of winners, Delroy Lindo took the best actor for his role as conflicted Vietnam veteran Paul in 'Da 5 Bloods'. Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova, of 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm' received the best actress award, saying the award was an inspiration for Bulgarian actors that "things like this can happen." When Trump accused Spike Lee of taking 'racist hit' at him Frances McDormand presented the best director award to her 'Nomadland' director Chloe Zhao, saying "it was one she most deeply deserves." Zhao said it was at New York University where she "learned how to take my first steps as a filmmaker." Best film went to 'First Cow,' presented by "Parasite" director Bong Joon Ho, who said he is "often awed" by director Kelly Reichardt, calling the film "a unique story" and "a story only Kelly could make."

Spike Lee compares Donald Trump to Hitler in New York Film Critics Circle Awards acceptance speech

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Sunday (January 24) that former President Donald Trump's approaching second impeachment trial in the Senate will be fair but move at a relatively fast pace.

US Senate's Schumer says Trump impeachment trial will be fair but move quickly

After Joe Biden took over the White House as the US President, the US rejoiced. The happiness was also because the former President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> will now be facing the brunt of the atrocities performed in the four years of his presidency.

As the reality TV star is set to face the consequences of his actions, the Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer has promised a fair but quick trial.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trumps-virus-task-force-adviser-describes-misinformation-and-denial-359174" hreflang="en">Trump’s virus task force adviser describes misinformation and denial</a>

"It will be a fair trial but it will move relatively quickly," Schumer said.

Trump will be facing his second impeachment trial — making him the first US President to have this proceeding — in the first few weeks of February. This time he is being charged for inciting and promoting riots in the US Capitol building.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-administration-had-no-coronavirus-vaccine-distribution-plan-white-house-says-359070" hreflang="en">Trump administration had no coronavirus vaccine distribution plan, White House says</a>

Schumer said the trial will be completely fair but will also be quick simply because "we have so much else to do".

On Monday, the single article of impeachment against Trump will be delivered to the Senate.&nbsp;

Pelosi will mark the formal and official start of the impeachment trial at 7 pm (ET) as she will take the article from the House to the Senate — through the Capitol.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/jim-carrey-bids-farewell-to-worst-first-lady-melania-trump-with-a-cartoon-thx-for-nothing-358980" hreflang="en">Jim Carrey bids farewell to 'Worst First Lady’ Melania Trump with a cartoon: ‘Thx For Nothing’</a>

While the official start will be marked on Monday evening, the whole process might take nearly two weeks.

"During that period, the Senate will continue to do other business for the American people, such as cabinet nominations and the Covid relief bill, which would provide relief for millions of Americans who are suffering during this pandemic," Schumer explained.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-impeachment-trial-put-off-until-early-february-358797" hreflang="en">Trump impeachment trial put off until early February</a>

His impeachment article also accuses him of asking the Georgia secretary Brad Raffensperger to "find" votes and help him overturn the US election results — which has been recorded in a phone call.

Now, in the recent weeks, it has also been advised that a new accusation should be added in the article. This new addition accuses Trump of working with a Justice Department lawyer to replace the then-acting attorney general to help him change the US election result. This report was first published in The New York Times.

After Joe Biden took over the White House as the US President, the US rejoiced. The happiness was also because the former President Donald Trump will now be facing the brunt of the atrocities performed in the four years of his presidency.

After Joe Biden took over the White House as the US President, the US rejoiced. The happiness was also because the former President Donald Trump will now be facing the brunt of the atrocities performed in the four years of his presidency. As the reality TV star is set to face the consequences of his actions, the Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer has promised a fair but quick trial. Also read| Trump’s virus task force adviser describes misinformation and denial "It will be a fair trial but it will move relatively quickly," Schumer said. Trump will be facing his second impeachment trial — making him the first US President to have this proceeding — in the first few weeks of February. This time he is being charged for inciting and promoting riots in the US Capitol building. Also read| Trump administration had no coronavirus vaccine distribution plan, White House says Schumer said the trial will be completely fair but will also be quick simply because "we have so much else to do". On Monday, the single article of impeachment against Trump will be delivered to the Senate. Pelosi will mark the formal and official start of the impeachment trial at 7 pm (ET) as she will take the article from the House to the Senate — through the Capitol. Also read| Jim Carrey bids farewell to 'Worst First Lady’ Melania Trump with a cartoon: ‘Thx For Nothing’ While the official start will be marked on Monday evening, the whole process might take nearly two weeks. "During that period, the Senate will continue to do other business for the American people, such as cabinet nominations and the Covid relief bill, which would provide relief for millions of Americans who are suffering during this pandemic," Schumer explained. Also read| Trump impeachment trial put off until early February His impeachment article also accuses him of asking the Georgia secretary Brad Raffensperger to "find" votes and help him overturn the US election results — which has been recorded in a phone call. Now, in the recent weeks, it has also been advised that a new accusation should be added in the article. This new addition accuses Trump of working with a Justice Department lawyer to replace the then-acting attorney general to help him change the US election result. This report was first published in The New York Times.

'So much else to do': Chuck Schumer promises a fair but quick impeachment trial for Trump

White House officials promise a sea change from how the Trump White House interacted with the press. U.S President Joe Biden vows to undo Trump's assault over media.

How press freedom took a hit under Trump administration

Top US public health expert Dr Anthony Fauci on Sunday revealed the experience of being at the helm of former US President Donald Trump's White House coronavirus taskforce.

In conversation with The New York times, Fauci claimed that he was the "skunk at the picnic" in the task force, while adding how many people thought he was "complicit in the distortions emanating from the stage" in a reference to Trump's briefings about COVID-19.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/fauci-us-should-vaccinate-the-way-clinical-trials-have-instructed-354273/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Fauci added that he had been at odds with Trump on multiple occasions, but he had never considered resigning, saying that had he left, it would have left a "void".

He also added how the White House would discount the severity of the pandemic and how they had a "little happy talk about how things are OK".

In response to such chatter among the ranks during Trump's presidency, Fauci would respond with "Wait a minute, hold it, folks, this is serious business". It was owing to this that became part of a joke whereby he was referred to as the "skunk of the picnic".

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/trump-administrations-lack-of-honesty-in-handling-covid-19-very-likely-cost-lives-fauci-358761" hreflang="en">Trump administration's lack of honesty in handling COVID-19 'very likely' cost lives: Fauci</a> 
 
Trump used to criticise Fauci openly, and also suggested the idea of firing him, which never materialised. Fauci is highly revered in the American medical community and has helped presidents since 1984. 
 
Trump and his supporters were notorious for spreading unproven cures like bleach, UV light, hydroxychloroquine, among many.

“I felt it would be better for the country and better for the cause for me to stay, as opposed to walk away”, Fauci further told NYT while referring to how he toyed with leaving the post.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/anthony-fauci-describes-joe-bidens-leadership-as-liberating-compared-to-trump-358426" hreflang="en">Anthony Fauci describes Joe Biden's leadership as 'liberating', compared to Trump</a> 
 
The US has recorded over 25 million cases of coronavirus so far. At least 420,000 people have died owing to this. Many have criticised the vaccine rollout in the US, calling it slow. 
 
Moving on to Biden's administration, Fauci claimed that it felt like a "liberating feeling".

Top US public health expert Dr Anthony Fauci on Sunday revealed the experience of being at the helm of former US President Donald Trump's White House coronavirus taskforce.

Top US public health expert Dr Anthony Fauci on Sunday revealed the experience of being at the helm of former US President Donald Trump's White House coronavirus taskforce. In conversation with The New York times, Fauci claimed that he was the "skunk at the picnic" in the task force, while adding how many people thought he was "complicit in the distortions emanating from the stage" in a reference to Trump's briefings about COVID-19. Fauci added that he had been at odds with Trump on multiple occasions, but he had never considered resigning, saying that had he left, it would have left a "void". He also added how the White House would discount the severity of the pandemic and how they had a "little happy talk about how things are OK". In response to such chatter among the ranks during Trump's presidency, Fauci would respond with "Wait a minute, hold it, folks, this is serious business". It was owing to this that became part of a joke whereby he was referred to as the "skunk of the picnic". Also read: Trump administration's lack of honesty in handling COVID-19 'very likely' cost lives: Fauci Trump used to criticise Fauci openly, and also suggested the idea of firing him, which never materialised. Fauci is highly revered in the American medical community and has helped presidents since 1984. Trump and his supporters were notorious for spreading unproven cures like bleach, UV light, hydroxychloroquine, among many. “I felt it would be better for the country and better for the cause for me to stay, as opposed to walk away”, Fauci further told NYT while referring to how he toyed with leaving the post. Also read: Anthony Fauci describes Joe Biden's leadership as 'liberating', compared to Trump The US has recorded over 25 million cases of coronavirus so far. At least 420,000 people have died owing to this. Many have criticised the vaccine rollout in the US, calling it slow. Moving on to Biden's administration, Fauci claimed that it felt like a "liberating feeling".

'Skunk of the picnic': Dr Fauci opens up about his experience serving Trump's COVID taskforce

Dr. Deborah Birx, the Trump administration’s coronavirus response coordinator, said Sunday that crucial statements from the White House about the coronavirus pandemic were shaped by misinformation, denial about the severity of COVID-19 and the shadow of an upcoming election.

In an interview on the CBS program “Face the Nation,” Birx said that from the outset, progress against the virus was impeded by inconsistent and inept public messaging that played down the gravity of the pandemic and the immediate need for safety precautions. In the White House, she said, “there were people who definitely believed that this was a hoax.”

That disbelief in turn was echoed in many pockets across the United States, she said, because at the beginning of the pandemic, public officials did not fully describe the spectrum of disease that the virus could cause.

“And so they saw people get COVID and be fine,” and that bred skepticism, she explained.

Incomplete messaging had devastating consequences, Birx said. While not specifically naming former President Donald Trump, who had initially labeled the pandemic a “hoax,” Birx noted: “Every time a statement was made by a political leader that wasn’t consistent with public health needs, that derailed our response. It is also why I went out on the road, because I wasn’t censored on the road.”

She traveled to several states in the summer and fall, speaking to governors and local officials.

Describing the flow of information to Trump about the virus as chaotic and uncoordinated, Birx said that to this day, she did not know the source of some of the data he was receiving.

“I saw the president presenting graphs that I never made,” she said.

Last spring, the White House was very focused on the pandemic. But as months passed and the economy continued to sag, she said, the administration routinely ignored her recommendations for “gating criteria” for activities like indoor restaurant dining. As a workaround, she said, she would speak regularly to state governors, repeating her advice.

Former Vice President Mike Pence was aware she was doing so, she said.

Birx came under intense criticism from public health experts for being a part of the Trump apparatus that was promoting misleading, and sometime completely erroneous, information and guidance. She was faulted for not countering Trump’s misinformation on the severity of the pandemic, or his promotion of certain bogus treatments, and for not adequately addressing the conflicting messages and approaches coming from the White House as the virus raged out of control.

“I was not able to do national press,” she said. “The other thing that was very important to me is, I was not going to go outside of the chain of command.”

Birx said that whenever she had a significant disagreement with coronavirus policy and practice announced by the White House, a negative report about that dispute would appear in the media within days.

But over the course of last year, Birx repeatedly declined repeated interview requests made by The New York Times as tensions developed between White House officials and Trump with the nation’s public health officials.

As the pandemic raged in the summer and the election approached, both Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke less frequently in public and were no longer appearing at White House briefings. Trump’s chief adviser in the fall instead became Dr. Scott Atlas, a Stanford radiologist who supported the benefits of pursuing herd immunity over imposing lockdowns, and who spoke disparagingly about the widespread use of masks.

Birx said that the only two people in the White House who regularly wore masks were herself and a person on her support staff, and she expressed frustration that the White House believed that the best way to protect the commander in chief from getting sick was to be tested regularly.

Birx, a career civil servant and an immunologist who worked extensively on international AIDS relief, is now a special adviser to the Center for Global Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She said she planned to announce her retirement in four to six weeks.

Dr. Deborah Birx, the Trump administration’s coronavirus response coordinator, said Sunday that crucial statements from the White House about the coronavirus pandemic were shaped by misinformation, denial about the severity of COVID-19 and the shadow of an upcoming election.

Dr. Deborah Birx, the Trump administration’s coronavirus response coordinator, said Sunday that crucial statements from the White House about the coronavirus pandemic were shaped by misinformation, denial about the severity of COVID-19 and the shadow of an upcoming election. In an interview on the CBS program “Face the Nation,” Birx said that from the outset, progress against the virus was impeded by inconsistent and inept public messaging that played down the gravity of the pandemic and the immediate need for safety precautions. In the White House, she said, “there were people who definitely believed that this was a hoax.” That disbelief in turn was echoed in many pockets across the United States, she said, because at the beginning of the pandemic, public officials did not fully describe the spectrum of disease that the virus could cause. “And so they saw people get COVID and be fine,” and that bred skepticism, she explained. Incomplete messaging had devastating consequences, Birx said. While not specifically naming former President Donald Trump, who had initially labeled the pandemic a “hoax,” Birx noted: “Every time a statement was made by a political leader that wasn’t consistent with public health needs, that derailed our response. It is also why I went out on the road, because I wasn’t censored on the road.” She traveled to several states in the summer and fall, speaking to governors and local officials. Describing the flow of information to Trump about the virus as chaotic and uncoordinated, Birx said that to this day, she did not know the source of some of the data he was receiving. “I saw the president presenting graphs that I never made,” she said. Last spring, the White House was very focused on the pandemic. But as months passed and the economy continued to sag, she said, the administration routinely ignored her recommendations for “gating criteria” for activities like indoor restaurant dining. As a workaround, she said, she would speak regularly to state governors, repeating her advice. Former Vice President Mike Pence was aware she was doing so, she said. Birx came under intense criticism from public health experts for being a part of the Trump apparatus that was promoting misleading, and sometime completely erroneous, information and guidance. She was faulted for not countering Trump’s misinformation on the severity of the pandemic, or his promotion of certain bogus treatments, and for not adequately addressing the conflicting messages and approaches coming from the White House as the virus raged out of control. “I was not able to do national press,” she said. “The other thing that was very important to me is, I was not going to go outside of the chain of command.” Birx said that whenever she had a significant disagreement with coronavirus policy and practice announced by the White House, a negative report about that dispute would appear in the media within days. But over the course of last year, Birx repeatedly declined repeated interview requests made by The New York Times as tensions developed between White House officials and Trump with the nation’s public health officials. As the pandemic raged in the summer and the election approached, both Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke less frequently in public and were no longer appearing at White House briefings. Trump’s chief adviser in the fall instead became Dr. Scott Atlas, a Stanford radiologist who supported the benefits of pursuing herd immunity over imposing lockdowns, and who spoke disparagingly about the widespread use of masks. Birx said that the only two people in the White House who regularly wore masks were herself and a person on her support staff, and she expressed frustration that the White House believed that the best way to protect the commander in chief from getting sick was to be tested regularly. Birx, a career civil servant and an immunologist who worked extensively on international AIDS relief, is now a special adviser to the Center for Global Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She said she planned to announce her retirement in four to six weeks.

Trump’s virus task force adviser describes misinformation and denial

Republicans indicated on Monday that they intended to put up a fight in the Senate trial of former US President Donald Trump after his impeachment. Senate Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected on Monday to send senators a single article of impeachment passed in House of Representatives. This will be the first-ever impeachment trial of a former president.

As both sides prepared for what is expected to be a relatively quick trial, senior Republicans pushed back with both political and constitutional arguments, raising doubts that Democrats, who control 50 seats in the 100-seat chamber, can secure the 17 Republican votes needed to convict.

"I think the trial is stupid. I think it's counterproductive. We already have a flaming fire in this country and it's like taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire," Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told&nbsp; "Fox News Sunday."

He acknowledged that Trump -- who had urged thousands of his supporters to flock to Washington and protest the congressional certification of Biden's victory -- "bears some responsibility for what happened."

But to "stir it up again" would be bad for the country, said Rubio, a presidential candidate beaten by Trump in the 2016 primary.

Constitutional question

Other Republicans argued that the Senate has no authority to put a private citizen -- as Trump now is -- on trial.

Senator Mike Rounds told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the constitution does not allow for the impeachment of a former president.&nbsp;

"There are other things we'd rather be working on," including confirming more of Biden's cabinet nominees, he said.

But Senator Mitt Romney, the Republicans' 2012 presidential candidate and a frequent Trump critic, told CNN that "the preponderance of legal opinion is that an impeachment trial after a president has left office is constitutional. I believe that's the case."

The Utah Republican -- the only member of his party to vote to convict Trump in his first impeachment trial -- hinted that he may be leaning the same way now.

He said he believed "that what is being alleged and what we saw, which is incitement to insurrection, is an impeachable offense. If not, what is?"

Hands-off approach

Biden himself has publicly taken a hands-off approach, eager to put Trump in the rear-view mirror and seek quick progress on fighting the coronavirus pandemic and reviving a devastated economy.

Biden spokeswoman Jen Psaki has said the president "believes that it's up to the Senate and Congress to determine how they will hold the former president accountable."

As Democrats worked to prepare the case against Trump, one of those who will present it in the Senate -- Representative Madeleine Dean -- said she hoped it would move quickly.

"I would expect it would go faster" than the 2020 impeachment trial, which lasted 21 days, she told CNN.

Dean said she was in the House chamber during the "terrifying moment" when the invading mob began pounding on its doors, chanting: "Hang Vice President Pence." 
She said Democrats would demand accountability for Trump's role.

"It is an extraordinarily heinous presidential crime," she said.

Republicans indicated on Monday that they intended to put up a fight in the Senate trial of former US President Donald Trump after his impeachment. Senate Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected on Monday to send senators a single article of impeachment passed in House of Representatives.

Republicans indicated on Monday that they intended to put up a fight in the Senate trial of former US President Donald Trump after his impeachment. Senate Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected on Monday to send senators a single article of impeachment passed in House of Representatives. This will be the first-ever impeachment trial of a former president. As both sides prepared for what is expected to be a relatively quick trial, senior Republicans pushed back with both political and constitutional arguments, raising doubts that Democrats, who control 50 seats in the 100-seat chamber, can secure the 17 Republican votes needed to convict. "I think the trial is stupid. I think it's counterproductive. We already have a flaming fire in this country and it's like taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire," Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told "Fox News Sunday." He acknowledged that Trump -- who had urged thousands of his supporters to flock to Washington and protest the congressional certification of Biden's victory -- "bears some responsibility for what happened." But to "stir it up again" would be bad for the country, said Rubio, a presidential candidate beaten by Trump in the 2016 primary. Constitutional question Other Republicans argued that the Senate has no authority to put a private citizen -- as Trump now is -- on trial. Senator Mike Rounds told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the constitution does not allow for the impeachment of a former president. "There are other things we'd rather be working on," including confirming more of Biden's cabinet nominees, he said. But Senator Mitt Romney, the Republicans' 2012 presidential candidate and a frequent Trump critic, told CNN that "the preponderance of legal opinion is that an impeachment trial after a president has left office is constitutional. I believe that's the case." The Utah Republican -- the only member of his party to vote to convict Trump in his first impeachment trial -- hinted that he may be leaning the same way now. He said he believed "that what is being alleged and what we saw, which is incitement to insurrection, is an impeachable offense. If not, what is?" Hands-off approach Biden himself has publicly taken a hands-off approach, eager to put Trump in the rear-view mirror and seek quick progress on fighting the coronavirus pandemic and reviving a devastated economy. Biden spokeswoman Jen Psaki has said the president "believes that it's up to the Senate and Congress to determine how they will hold the former president accountable." As Democrats worked to prepare the case against Trump, one of those who will present it in the Senate -- Representative Madeleine Dean -- said she hoped it would move quickly. "I would expect it would go faster" than the 2020 impeachment trial, which lasted 21 days, she told CNN. Dean said she was in the House chamber during the "terrifying moment" when the invading mob began pounding on its doors, chanting: "Hang Vice President Pence." She said Democrats would demand accountability for Trump's role. "It is an extraordinarily heinous presidential crime," she said.

Republicans to put up resistance to Trump Senate trial

Hours before President Joe Biden took the oath of office, he entered the front pew of the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, the seat of Catholic Washington, and beheld the mosaics behind the altar.

An intimate group of family, friends and congressional leaders had gathered for Mass, in the place where Pope Francis spoke in 2015 and where the funeral for John F. Kennedy, the nation’s first Roman Catholic president, was held.

When it was time for the homily, the Rev. Kevin O’Brien, president of Santa Clara University and friend of the Biden family, compared Biden’s upcoming inaugural message to the words of Jesus.

“Your public service is animated by the same conviction,” he said, “to help and protect people and to advance justice and reconciliation, especially for those who are too often looked over and left behind. This is your noble commission. This is the divine summons for all of us.”

There are myriad changes with the incoming Biden administration. One of the most significant: a president who has spent a lifetime steeped in Christian rituals and practices.

Biden, perhaps the most religiously observant commander in chief in a half-century, regularly attends Mass and speaks of how his Catholic faith grounds his life and his policies.

And with Biden, a different, more liberal Christianity is ascendant, less focused on sexual politics and more on combating poverty, climate change and racial inequality.

His arrival comes after four years in which conservative Christianity has reigned in America’s highest halls of power, embodied in white evangelicals laser-focused on ending abortion and guarding against what they saw as encroachments on their freedoms. Their devotion to former President Donald Trump was so fervent that many showed up in Washington on Jan. 6 to protest the election results.

Biden’s leadership is a repudiation of the claim by many conservative leaders that Democrats are inherently anti-Christian.

His rise comes as fewer registered Democrats identify as Christian. Nearly half are religiously unaffiliated or believers of other faiths, a share that has grown significantly in recent years, according to the Pew Research Center; about 80% of registered Republicans are Christian.

Yet the current influence of liberal Christianity in the Democratic Party goes beyond Biden. Sen. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, won election with a campaign rooted in Black liberation theology. The Sunday after his election, Warnock preached about John the Baptist, the “truth-telling troublemaker,” he said, who was beheaded by King Herod for his prophetic witness.

Rep. Cori Bush, a pastor who led Kingdom Embassy International in St. Louis, has started her tenure in Congress advocating universal basic income. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez connects her Catholic faith with her push for reforming health care and environmental policy. She has said her favorite Bible story is one where Jesus, in anger, threw money changers out of the temple.

In his inaugural address, Biden rooted himself and the country in a Christian moral vision that makes room for a pluralistic society, unlike his predecessor who promised to make America a certain kind of Christian nation. Biden quoted Augustine, “a saint in my church,” he said, who wrote that “a people was a multitude defined by the common objects of their love.”

Augustine, the fourth-century North African bishop, recognized that no political community was going to be the city of God on earth, explained Eric Gregory, professor of religion at Princeton University. This passage, from the saint’s “City of God,” has been used in the 20th century “to open up the space for a nontheocratic way for Christians to understand what it means to be citizens in a plural society,” he said.

For Biden, “it was a subtle and explicit effort to show a different vision of a way in which a Christian could imagine themselves as part of a diverse America, one that is defined by these common objects of love, rather than by hate and fear or exclusion,” he said.

While conservative Catholics have doubled down on abortion policy and religious freedom for the past four years, Biden’s policy priorities reflect those of Pope Francis, who has sought to turn the church’s attention from sexual politics to issues like environmental protection, poverty and migration.

On his first day in office, Biden recommitted the United States to the Paris climate agreement, the international accord designed to avert global warming; ended the ban on travel from predominantly Muslim and African countries; and stopped construction on the border wall.

Biden’s support for abortion rights is already causing tension in the Catholic church. Even before the inaugural ceremony had finished, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued an extensive statement criticizing Biden for policies “that would advance moral evils,” especially “in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender.” Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, who is known for his alignment with Francis’ social and economic priorities, pushed back on Twitter, calling the statement unprecedented and “ill-considered.”

Biden’s priorities reflect values that progressive faith leaders have pushed for and that motivated many to speak out for him during the campaign, said Derrick Harkins, who led interfaith outreach for the Democratic National Committee this past cycle. There is a sense of moral synergy on the left among not only progressive Christians but also humanists, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs and the spectrum of faith traditions, he said.

The work now “has a chance of really having traction,” he said. “I’m very optimistic about what can unfold.”

The grassroots progressive Christian movement is center stage in Biden’s Washington.

Unlike four years ago, when many of the participants in the post-inaugural prayer service were conservative evangelicals or prosperity gospel preachers, this year’s Thursday service included a broad array of religious progressives, including two transgender faith leaders. Rabbi Sharon Brous of IKAR, a Jewish community in Los Angeles, prayed for the coming of a new America, one “built on love, rooted in justice and propelled by our moral imagination.”

The Rev. William Barber II, a chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, preached and directly challenged Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to pursue a Third Reconstruction, decades after the civil rights era. He urged them to address “interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation/denial of health care, the war economy, and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism.”

Jesus taught that a nation is judged by how it treats the least of these, the poor, the hungry, the sick, the immigrant, he explained in an interview.

“Birth pangs require one thing: pushing,” he said. “That is what the movement has to do.”

For many believers, the shift in the Christianity of the presidency is already personal. On the eve of his inauguration, Biden led the nation in a memorial service on the mall for victims of the coronavirus pandemic.

He adopted the posture of a chaplain, noted Michelle Ami Reyes, vice president of the Asian American Christian Collaborative, a group that started last year to combat anti-Asian racism rising from the pandemic.

“That is a deeply biblical posture,” she said, “mourning with those who mourn.”

Hours before President Joe Biden took the oath of office, he entered the front pew of the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, the seat of Catholic Washington, and beheld the mosaics behind the altar.

Hours before President Joe Biden took the oath of office, he entered the front pew of the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, the seat of Catholic Washington, and beheld the mosaics behind the altar. An intimate group of family, friends and congressional leaders had gathered for Mass, in the place where Pope Francis spoke in 2015 and where the funeral for John F. Kennedy, the nation’s first Roman Catholic president, was held. When it was time for the homily, the Rev. Kevin O’Brien, president of Santa Clara University and friend of the Biden family, compared Biden’s upcoming inaugural message to the words of Jesus. “Your public service is animated by the same conviction,” he said, “to help and protect people and to advance justice and reconciliation, especially for those who are too often looked over and left behind. This is your noble commission. This is the divine summons for all of us.” There are myriad changes with the incoming Biden administration. One of the most significant: a president who has spent a lifetime steeped in Christian rituals and practices. Biden, perhaps the most religiously observant commander in chief in a half-century, regularly attends Mass and speaks of how his Catholic faith grounds his life and his policies. And with Biden, a different, more liberal Christianity is ascendant, less focused on sexual politics and more on combating poverty, climate change and racial inequality. His arrival comes after four years in which conservative Christianity has reigned in America’s highest halls of power, embodied in white evangelicals laser-focused on ending abortion and guarding against what they saw as encroachments on their freedoms. Their devotion to former President Donald Trump was so fervent that many showed up in Washington on Jan. 6 to protest the election results. Biden’s leadership is a repudiation of the claim by many conservative leaders that Democrats are inherently anti-Christian. His rise comes as fewer registered Democrats identify as Christian. Nearly half are religiously unaffiliated or believers of other faiths, a share that has grown significantly in recent years, according to the Pew Research Center; about 80% of registered Republicans are Christian. Yet the current influence of liberal Christianity in the Democratic Party goes beyond Biden. Sen. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, won election with a campaign rooted in Black liberation theology. The Sunday after his election, Warnock preached about John the Baptist, the “truth-telling troublemaker,” he said, who was beheaded by King Herod for his prophetic witness. Rep. Cori Bush, a pastor who led Kingdom Embassy International in St. Louis, has started her tenure in Congress advocating universal basic income. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez connects her Catholic faith with her push for reforming health care and environmental policy. She has said her favorite Bible story is one where Jesus, in anger, threw money changers out of the temple. In his inaugural address, Biden rooted himself and the country in a Christian moral vision that makes room for a pluralistic society, unlike his predecessor who promised to make America a certain kind of Christian nation. Biden quoted Augustine, “a saint in my church,” he said, who wrote that “a people was a multitude defined by the common objects of their love.” Augustine, the fourth-century North African bishop, recognized that no political community was going to be the city of God on earth, explained Eric Gregory, professor of religion at Princeton University. This passage, from the saint’s “City of God,” has been used in the 20th century “to open up the space for a nontheocratic way for Christians to understand what it means to be citizens in a plural society,” he said. For Biden, “it was a subtle and explicit effort to show a different vision of a way in which a Christian could imagine themselves as part of a diverse America, one that is defined by these common objects of love, rather than by hate and fear or exclusion,” he said. While conservative Catholics have doubled down on abortion policy and religious freedom for the past four years, Biden’s policy priorities reflect those of Pope Francis, who has sought to turn the church’s attention from sexual politics to issues like environmental protection, poverty and migration. On his first day in office, Biden recommitted the United States to the Paris climate agreement, the international accord designed to avert global warming; ended the ban on travel from predominantly Muslim and African countries; and stopped construction on the border wall. Biden’s support for abortion rights is already causing tension in the Catholic church. Even before the inaugural ceremony had finished, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued an extensive statement criticizing Biden for policies “that would advance moral evils,” especially “in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender.” Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, who is known for his alignment with Francis’ social and economic priorities, pushed back on Twitter, calling the statement unprecedented and “ill-considered.” Biden’s priorities reflect values that progressive faith leaders have pushed for and that motivated many to speak out for him during the campaign, said Derrick Harkins, who led interfaith outreach for the Democratic National Committee this past cycle. There is a sense of moral synergy on the left among not only progressive Christians but also humanists, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs and the spectrum of faith traditions, he said. The work now “has a chance of really having traction,” he said. “I’m very optimistic about what can unfold.” The grassroots progressive Christian movement is center stage in Biden’s Washington. Unlike four years ago, when many of the participants in the post-inaugural prayer service were conservative evangelicals or prosperity gospel preachers, this year’s Thursday service included a broad array of religious progressives, including two transgender faith leaders. Rabbi Sharon Brous of IKAR, a Jewish community in Los Angeles, prayed for the coming of a new America, one “built on love, rooted in justice and propelled by our moral imagination.” The Rev. William Barber II, a chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, preached and directly challenged Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to pursue a Third Reconstruction, decades after the civil rights era. He urged them to address “interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation/denial of health care, the war economy, and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism.” Jesus taught that a nation is judged by how it treats the least of these, the poor, the hungry, the sick, the immigrant, he explained in an interview. “Birth pangs require one thing: pushing,” he said. “That is what the movement has to do.” For many believers, the shift in the Christianity of the presidency is already personal. On the eve of his inauguration, Biden led the nation in a memorial service on the mall for victims of the coronavirus pandemic. He adopted the posture of a chaplain, noted Michelle Ami Reyes, vice president of the Asian American Christian Collaborative, a group that started last year to combat anti-Asian racism rising from the pandemic. “That is a deeply biblical posture,” she said, “mourning with those who mourn.”

In Biden’s Catholic faith, an Ascendant liberal Christianity

TikTok is about to outlast President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>. Now, the company could become an early test of President-elect <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/joe-biden">Joe Biden’s</a> stance toward Chinese tech companies.

Trump demanded last year that TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, sell the viral video app. He said TikTok raised urgent national security concerns, on the grounds that the Chinese government could get access to users’ data. The dispute disrupted the app’s stratospheric rise.

ByteDance and the Trump administration are still talking, people familiar with the matter said. But it looks increasingly likely that the fate of the app will not be decided by Trump, who announced his demands with great fanfare over the summer, backed away from a deal he approved a month later and then turned his attention elsewhere.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/germany-orders-coronavirus-drugs-that-cured-donald-trump-358977" hreflang="en">Germany orders coronavirus drugs that cured Donald Trump</a>

Instead, TikTok’s future will fall into the hands of Biden, who has said little about the company or the broader, bipartisan concerns about the growing influence of Chinese technology companies.

On Tuesday, the U.S. government agreed to extend a deadline in a court battle over restrictions targeting TikTok. The new deadline is Feb. 18 — almost a month after Biden takes office.

“My gut is that they’re hoping to ride this out and hope that this is on the back burner, and they can kind of skirt by under the radar,” Samm Sacks, a fellow at think tank New America, said about ByteDance’s approach to the final days of the Trump administration.

Biden has said America must be tougher toward Beijing, calling China’s president, Xi Jinping, a “thug.” But he has offered few details about how that approach would play out. He has said only that he will try to have a more consistent policy toward the country — in contrast to Trump’s patchwork aggression — while pressuring it on issues like its theft of American intellectual property.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/jim-carrey-bids-farewell-to-worst-first-lady-melania-trump-with-a-cartoon-thx-for-nothing-358980" hreflang="en">Jim Carrey bids farewell to 'Worst First Lady’ Melania Trump with a cartoon: ‘Thx For Nothing’</a>

A spokesman for Biden’s transition team declined to comment on the president-elect’s plans. TikTok declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for the Treasury Department said in a statement that the risks associated with the app “have not changed, and the order requiring the divestiture stands.”

The government has been working with ByteDance and others to resolve the concerns, the spokeswoman said, adding, “That work continues, and the attorney general is authorized to take any steps necessary to enforce the order.”

TikTok is far from the only company with a stake in Biden’s approach to Chinese technology giants, which have increasingly tried to reach customers around the world. Trump’s administration spent years pressing U.S. carriers and its allies abroad to drop Chinese telecom equipment from 5G wireless networks. It tried to keep crucial equipment from Chinese semiconductor makers. Then it turned its gaze to consumer apps, trying to ban TikTok and WeChat and forcing the sale of dating app Grindr.

This month, Trump banned Alipay, owned by a branch of Chinese giant Alibaba, and a collection of other apps. The bans don’t take effect for 45 days, meaning designing and putting them in place will fall to Biden’s administration.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/jim-carrey-bids-farewell-to-worst-first-lady-melania-trump-with-a-cartoon-thx-for-nothing-358980" hreflang="en">Jim Carrey bids farewell to 'Worst First Lady’ Melania Trump with a cartoon: ‘Thx For Nothing’</a>

TikTok has soared in popularity in the last year, particularly among younger users, who record lip-sync videos, comedy bits and riffs on other videos. TikTok says the national security concerns are unfounded, noting that its data is stored in the United States, with a backup in Singapore.

Trump’s efforts to pry the service from its Chinese parent company began this summer when he issued two executive orders targeting the app. One barred American firms from working with the app, effectively banning it. A second order demanded that ByteDance sell the app. The approach gave the government leverage: If the company made the sale, the administration would nix the other restrictions.

In September, ByteDance announced that it had reached a deal it hoped would satisfy the U.S. government. Software giant Oracle and Walmart would take their own stakes in TikTok, Oracle would manage the data that flows over the app, and leaders at the service would be American citizens.

Trump said Sept. 19 that he approved of the deal. But then he backtracked, expressing concerns that it would not put enough of the app’s ownership in American hands. The talks to complete the deal have continued ever since.

TikTok received multiple extensions from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a group of federal officials who vet deals involving international companies. The Trump administration decided it would not extend the deadline beyond Dec. 4 but has declined to act on the time limit. Under Trump’s executive order, the Justice Department has the authority to enforce his demands.

Federal judges have also put the administration’s ban on hold, eliminating some of its leverage over the app. The government has appealed the rulings.

Walmart declined to comment. Oracle did not respond to a request for comment.

Some people on ByteDance’s side of the negotiating table believe there are advantages to getting a deal done before Trump leaves. It would give the company more certainty about the app’s future, rather than waiting to see what Biden would do.

At the moment, if ByteDance wants to delay a deal beyond the Trump administration, “they don’t have to do anything, and they can outlast him,” said James Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He said that if the administration launched a legal effort to force the sale of the app, ByteDance would “just stall it in court.”

But TikTok’s fate under Biden is far from certain.

If he wanted to offer TikTok some immediate relief from the pressure, Biden could rescind the executive order that was designed to cut it off from U.S. companies. He could also rescind the order commanding ByteDance to sell the app.

Biden’s administration could also consider a wider range of measures, short of an outright sale, to mitigate the federal panel’s concerns about TikTok, experts said.

That may take time. The new administration is still staffing important positions that would tackle the issue, meaning it could be months before ByteDance is able to resolve the government’s divestiture order. And without rescinding the policies aimed at TikTok, the Biden administration might find it hard to back down from the government’s defense of those policies in court.

Biden could also decide to pursue a harder line against the app as he looks to balance a desire for a coherent China policy with pressure from lawmakers from both parties who worry about the risks associated with Chinese tech companies.

While the talks between ByteDance and the government continue in private, TikTok has maintained its lobbying effort to convince government officials they have nothing to fear from the app, which uses the cheery slogan “Make Your Day.”

On Dec. 18, the company sent an edition of its email newsletter for policymakers in Washington. It reported that small businesses in Austin, Texas, were using the app to reach customers, that the company was donating $10 million to academic institutions that have public health programs, and that the service had updated its terms of service to better police bullying.

The footer of the newsletter ended with the same message it always does: “We hope this made your day.”

TikTok is about to outlast President Donald Trump. Now, the company could become an early test of President-elect Joe Biden’s stance toward Chinese tech companies.

TikTok is about to outlast President Donald Trump. Now, the company could become an early test of President-elect Joe Biden’s stance toward Chinese tech companies. Trump demanded last year that TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, sell the viral video app. He said TikTok raised urgent national security concerns, on the grounds that the Chinese government could get access to users’ data. The dispute disrupted the app’s stratospheric rise. ByteDance and the Trump administration are still talking, people familiar with the matter said. But it looks increasingly likely that the fate of the app will not be decided by Trump, who announced his demands with great fanfare over the summer, backed away from a deal he approved a month later and then turned his attention elsewhere. Also read| Germany orders coronavirus drugs that cured Donald Trump Instead, TikTok’s future will fall into the hands of Biden, who has said little about the company or the broader, bipartisan concerns about the growing influence of Chinese technology companies. On Tuesday, the U.S. government agreed to extend a deadline in a court battle over restrictions targeting TikTok. The new deadline is Feb. 18 — almost a month after Biden takes office. “My gut is that they’re hoping to ride this out and hope that this is on the back burner, and they can kind of skirt by under the radar,” Samm Sacks, a fellow at think tank New America, said about ByteDance’s approach to the final days of the Trump administration. Biden has said America must be tougher toward Beijing, calling China’s president, Xi Jinping, a “thug.” But he has offered few details about how that approach would play out. He has said only that he will try to have a more consistent policy toward the country — in contrast to Trump’s patchwork aggression — while pressuring it on issues like its theft of American intellectual property. Also read| Jim Carrey bids farewell to 'Worst First Lady’ Melania Trump with a cartoon: ‘Thx For Nothing’ A spokesman for Biden’s transition team declined to comment on the president-elect’s plans. TikTok declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the Treasury Department said in a statement that the risks associated with the app “have not changed, and the order requiring the divestiture stands.” The government has been working with ByteDance and others to resolve the concerns, the spokeswoman said, adding, “That work continues, and the attorney general is authorized to take any steps necessary to enforce the order.” TikTok is far from the only company with a stake in Biden’s approach to Chinese technology giants, which have increasingly tried to reach customers around the world. Trump’s administration spent years pressing U.S. carriers and its allies abroad to drop Chinese telecom equipment from 5G wireless networks. It tried to keep crucial equipment from Chinese semiconductor makers. Then it turned its gaze to consumer apps, trying to ban TikTok and WeChat and forcing the sale of dating app Grindr. This month, Trump banned Alipay, owned by a branch of Chinese giant Alibaba, and a collection of other apps. The bans don’t take effect for 45 days, meaning designing and putting them in place will fall to Biden’s administration. Also read| Jim Carrey bids farewell to 'Worst First Lady’ Melania Trump with a cartoon: ‘Thx For Nothing’ TikTok has soared in popularity in the last year, particularly among younger users, who record lip-sync videos, comedy bits and riffs on other videos. TikTok says the national security concerns are unfounded, noting that its data is stored in the United States, with a backup in Singapore. Trump’s efforts to pry the service from its Chinese parent company began this summer when he issued two executive orders targeting the app. One barred American firms from working with the app, effectively banning it. A second order demanded that ByteDance sell the app. The approach gave the government leverage: If the company made the sale, the administration would nix the other restrictions. In September, ByteDance announced that it had reached a deal it hoped would satisfy the U.S. government. Software giant Oracle and Walmart would take their own stakes in TikTok, Oracle would manage the data that flows over the app, and leaders at the service would be American citizens. Trump said Sept. 19 that he approved of the deal. But then he backtracked, expressing concerns that it would not put enough of the app’s ownership in American hands. The talks to complete the deal have continued ever since. TikTok received multiple extensions from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a group of federal officials who vet deals involving international companies. The Trump administration decided it would not extend the deadline beyond Dec. 4 but has declined to act on the time limit. Under Trump’s executive order, the Justice Department has the authority to enforce his demands. Federal judges have also put the administration’s ban on hold, eliminating some of its leverage over the app. The government has appealed the rulings. Walmart declined to comment. Oracle did not respond to a request for comment. Some people on ByteDance’s side of the negotiating table believe there are advantages to getting a deal done before Trump leaves. It would give the company more certainty about the app’s future, rather than waiting to see what Biden would do. At the moment, if ByteDance wants to delay a deal beyond the Trump administration, “they don’t have to do anything, and they can outlast him,” said James Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He said that if the administration launched a legal effort to force the sale of the app, ByteDance would “just stall it in court.” But TikTok’s fate under Biden is far from certain. If he wanted to offer TikTok some immediate relief from the pressure, Biden could rescind the executive order that was designed to cut it off from U.S. companies. He could also rescind the order commanding ByteDance to sell the app. Biden’s administration could also consider a wider range of measures, short of an outright sale, to mitigate the federal panel’s concerns about TikTok, experts said. That may take time. The new administration is still staffing important positions that would tackle the issue, meaning it could be months before ByteDance is able to resolve the government’s divestiture order. And without rescinding the policies aimed at TikTok, the Biden administration might find it hard to back down from the government’s defense of those policies in court. Biden could also decide to pursue a harder line against the app as he looks to balance a desire for a coherent China policy with pressure from lawmakers from both parties who worry about the risks associated with Chinese tech companies. While the talks between ByteDance and the government continue in private, TikTok has maintained its lobbying effort to convince government officials they have nothing to fear from the app, which uses the cheery slogan “Make Your Day.” On Dec. 18, the company sent an edition of its email newsletter for policymakers in Washington. It reported that small businesses in Austin, Texas, were using the app to reach customers, that the company was donating $10 million to academic institutions that have public health programs, and that the service had updated its terms of service to better police bullying. The footer of the newsletter ended with the same message it always does: “We hope this made your day.”

Tiktok is poised to outlast Trump and to test Biden

There was no distribution plan for the coronavirus vaccine set up by the Trump administration as the virus raged in the their last months in office, new President Joe Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain, has said.

"The process to distribute the vaccine, particularly outside of nursing homes and hospitals out into the community as a whole, did not really exist when we came into the White House," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning.

Joe Biden, a Democrat who took over from Republican President Donald Trump on Wednesday, has promised a fierce fight against the pandemic that killed 400,000 people in the United States under Trump’s watch.&nbsp;

Biden launched a comprehensive federal plan to rein in the raging pandemic, and signed ten wide-ranging executive orders, ordering federal agencies, private industry, and US residents to act to slow the spread of the disease.

According to his detailed plans, Biden will partner with state and local governments to establish vaccination spots in conference centres, stadiums and gymnasiums. The new administration will also deploy thousands of clinical staff from federal agencies, military medical personnel and pharmacy chains to increase vaccinations, and make teachers and grocery clerks eligible.

Vaccination programmes lagged far behind the Trump administration's target of 20 million Americans inoculated by the end of 2020.

"We've seen this factor all over the country where millions of doses have been distributed, but only about half have been given out," Klain said.

"So the process of getting that vaccine into arms - that's the hard process. That's where we're behind as a country. That's where we're focussed in the Biden administration - on getting that ramped up."

The United States will also back a global plan to combat COVID-19 and get vaccines to poorer countries as part of a national strategy.

Under the said strategy, Biden has directed his secretary of state and secretary of health and human services to notify the WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance of Washington’s intent to support the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator and join its COVAX facility.

(with inputs from agencies)

There was no distribution plan for the coronavirus vaccine set up by the Trump administration as the virus raged in the their last months in office, new President Joe Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain, has said.

There was no distribution plan for the coronavirus vaccine set up by the Trump administration as the virus raged in the their last months in office, new President Joe Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain, has said. "The process to distribute the vaccine, particularly outside of nursing homes and hospitals out into the community as a whole, did not really exist when we came into the White House," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning. Joe Biden, a Democrat who took over from Republican President Donald Trump on Wednesday, has promised a fierce fight against the pandemic that killed 400,000 people in the United States under Trump’s watch. Biden launched a comprehensive federal plan to rein in the raging pandemic, and signed ten wide-ranging executive orders, ordering federal agencies, private industry, and US residents to act to slow the spread of the disease. According to his detailed plans, Biden will partner with state and local governments to establish vaccination spots in conference centres, stadiums and gymnasiums. The new administration will also deploy thousands of clinical staff from federal agencies, military medical personnel and pharmacy chains to increase vaccinations, and make teachers and grocery clerks eligible. Vaccination programmes lagged far behind the Trump administration's target of 20 million Americans inoculated by the end of 2020. "We've seen this factor all over the country where millions of doses have been distributed, but only about half have been given out," Klain said. "So the process of getting that vaccine into arms - that's the hard process. That's where we're behind as a country. That's where we're focussed in the Biden administration - on getting that ramped up." The United States will also back a global plan to combat COVID-19 and get vaccines to poorer countries as part of a national strategy. Under the said strategy, Biden has directed his secretary of state and secretary of health and human services to notify the WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance of Washington’s intent to support the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator and join its COVAX facility. (with inputs from agencies)

Trump administration had no coronavirus vaccine distribution plan, White House says

When Rep. Scott Perry joined his colleagues in a monthslong campaign to undermine the results of the presidential election, promoting “Stop the Steal” events and supporting an attempt to overturn millions of legally cast votes, he often took a back seat to higher-profile loyalists in President Donald Trump’s orbit.

But Perry, R-Pa., played a significant role in the crisis that played out at the top of the Justice Department this month, when Trump considered firing the acting attorney general and backed down only after top department officials threatened to resign en masse.

It was Perry, an outspoken member of the hard-line Freedom Caucus, who first made Trump aware that a relatively obscure Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, acting chief of the civil division, was sympathetic to Trump’s view that the election had been stolen, according to former administration officials who spoke with Clark and Trump.

Perry introduced the president to Clark, whose openness to conspiracy theories about election fraud presented Trump with a welcome change from the acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, who stood by the results of the election and had repeatedly resisted the president’s efforts to undo them.

Perry’s previously unreported role, and the quiet discussions between Trump and Clark that followed, underlined how much the former president was willing to use the government to subvert the election, turning to more junior and relatively unknown figures for help as ranking Republicans and Cabinet members rebuffed him.

Perry’s involvement is also likely to heighten scrutiny of House Republicans who continue to advance Trump’s false and thoroughly debunked claims of election fraud, even after President Joe Biden’s inauguration this past week and as Congress prepares for an impeachment trial that will examine whether such talk incited the Capitol riot.

It is unclear when Perry, who represents the Harrisburg area, met Clark, a Philadelphia native, or how well they knew each another before the introduction to Trump. Former Trump administration officials said it was only in late December that Clark told Rosen about the introduction brokered by Perry, who was among the scores of people feeding Trump false hope that he had won the election.

But it is highly unlikely that Trump would have known Clark otherwise. Department officials were startled to learn that the president had called Clark directly on multiple occasions and that the two had met in person without alerting Rosen, those officials said. Justice Department policy stipulates that the president initially communicates with the attorney general or the deputy attorney general on all matters, and then a lower-level official if authorized.

As the date for Congress to affirm Biden’s victory neared, Perry and Clark discussed a plan to have the Justice Department send a letter to Georgia state lawmakers informing them of an investigation into voter fraud that could invalidate the state’s Electoral College results. Former officials who were briefed on the plan said that the department’s dozens of voter fraud investigations nationwide had not turned up enough instances of fraud to alter the outcome of the election.

Perry and Clark also discussed the plan with Trump, setting off a chain of events that nearly led to the ouster of Rosen, who had refused to send the letter.

After The New York Times disclosed the details of the scheme Friday, the political fallout was swift. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., incoming chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told the Justice Department in a letter Saturday that he would investigate efforts by Trump and Clark to use the agency “to further Trump’s efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader, said that it was “unconscionable that a Trump Justice Department leader would conspire to subvert the people’s will.” He called on the department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, to investigate “this attempted sedition.”

Horowitz has already opened an investigation into whether Trump administration officials improperly pressured Byung J. Pak, who abruptly resigned this month as the U.S. attorney in Atlanta after being pressed to take actions related to the election, according to a person briefed on the inquiry. Durbin is investigating that matter as well.

Trump also tried to force Justice Department officials, including Rosen and the acting solicitor general, Jeffrey Wall, to file a lawsuit before the Supreme Court that would challenge Biden’s victory, according to a person briefed on the request.

One of Trump’s outside lawyers even drafted a brief for the department to file to the court. Department officials and the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, told Trump that the plan would fail for several reasons, including the fact that the department did not have the grounds to challenge the outcome, the person said.

The fight between Trump and Justice Department officials over the Supreme Court filing was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The episode with Clark and Perry is yet another example at impeachment managers’ disposal as they put together their case that Trump should be disqualified from holding office again.

Clark declined to comment on his relationship with Perry, and he categorically denied devising any plan to oust Rosen. He said there had been “a candid discussion of options and pros and cons with the president” that had been inaccurately described by The Times, but he declined to provide details. He declined to say anything more about his conversations with Trump or Justice Department lawyers because of “the strictures of legal privilege.”

Asked whether his conversations with the president had violated the department policy governing contact with the president, he said that senior lawyers at the agency provided legal advice to the White House as part of their duties. “All my official communications were consistent with law,” he said.

Clark, a member of the conservative Federalist Society, had been appointed acting head of the civil division in September. He also oversaw the department’s environmental and natural resources division, where he had worked under President George W. Bush.

Neither Perry nor his top aides responded to repeated requests for comment.

Some Senate Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, have grown increasingly worried that if they do not intervene and distance themselves from Trump, the havoc wreaked by the former president could hurt Republicans’ political fortunes for years to come. The episode amounts to an unwelcome reminder that damaging information around his presidency could continue to emerge even though Trump is no longer in office.

And Perry’s role in the discussions could further escalate tensions in the House, where Democratic lawmakers were already livid at Republicans for fanning the flames before the Capitol riot, with some rank-and-file members calling for the expulsion of lawmakers who led efforts to overturn the election.

The pressure that Trump placed on the Justice Department, including any plan that he may have considered to remove Rosen, also raises legal questions for him. Trump’s duty as president was to ensure that “laws be faithfully executed for the benefit of the country,” and efforts to interfere in the election could be considered a violation of his constitutional duty, said Neil Eggleston, a partner at Kirkland &amp;amp; Ellis and a White House counsel under President Barack Obama.

There is little chance that a Justice Department letter sent to Georgia lawmakers would have prompted the state to invalidate its Electoral College votes. But the plan was consistent with the posture Perry had taken since November, when he began to falsely claim that there had been rampant fraud in the election, and throughout it all, Perry has remained defiant. Facing calls to resign over his role in the efforts to overturn the election, Perry issued a one-word response: “No.”

Perry, a retired brigadier general in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and an Iraq War veteran, has been scrutinized for his openness to the conspiratorial. He baselessly suggested that the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas by a lone gunman could have been influenced by “terrorist infiltration through the southern border” and refused to support a resolution that condemned QAnon, a pro-Trump conspiracy movement. ( Perry said he believed that the resolution infringed on individuals’ right to free speech and that he did not personally subscribe to the movement.)

An early supporter of the “Stop the Steal” campaign, Perry was one of 126 House Republicans who joined a legal brief in December supporting an extraordinary lawsuit seeking to overturn Biden’s victory. And he joined over two dozen of his colleagues who urged Trump to direct William Barr, the attorney general, to “investigate irregularities in the 2020 election.”

He objected on behalf of 79 other House Republicans to certifying Pennsylvania’s electoral results, and was among 139 House Republicans who voted to reject Biden’s electoral victory, even though he later acknowledged Biden as president-elect.

The plan that Perry devised with Clark set off a crisis at the Justice Department. When Clark approached Rosen with the Georgia letter at the end of December, Rosen refused to send it, according to four former administration officials. On Jan. 3, Clark notified Rosen that he would be taking his job at Trump’s behest.

As Rosen prepared to meet Trump later that day and fight for his job, his top deputies, including the acting deputy attorney general, Richard Donoghue, and his outgoing chief of staff, Patrick Hovakimian, convened the department’s senior leaders on a conference call, according to five former officials with knowledge of the call.

They told the department leaders that Rosen’s job was in jeopardy because of Clark’s machinations and said they would resign if Rosen was removed. They ended the call by asking their colleagues to privately consider what they would do if that happened. Over the next 15 minutes, all of them emailed or texted Hovakimian, saying that they would quit.

While Rosen, Donoghue and other top department and White House lawyers spent nearly three hours with Trump and Clark, debating the merits of sending the letter to Georgia lawmakers, Hovakimian drafted an email to the department’s senior leaders, including those who were not aware of what was transpiring at the White House, in anticipation of Rosen’s removal, according to two people briefed on the letter.

In it, he explained that Rosen had resisted Trump’s repeated calls to use the department’s law enforcement powers for improper ends and that the president had removed him, according to a person who reviewed the email. He wrote that he and Donoghue were resigning immediately and encouraged his colleagues to think hard about what they would do and to always act in the interests of the United States.

When Hovakimian received word that Rosen had been allowed to stay, he drafted a new email that he sent to the anxiously awaiting officials: Rosen and the cause of justice had won.

When Rep. Scott Perry joined his colleagues in a monthslong campaign to undermine the results of the presidential election, promoting “Stop the Steal” events and supporting an attempt to overturn millions of legally cast votes, he often took a back seat to higher-profile loyalists in President Donald Trump’s orbit.

When Rep. Scott Perry joined his colleagues in a monthslong campaign to undermine the results of the presidential election, promoting “Stop the Steal” events and supporting an attempt to overturn millions of legally cast votes, he often took a back seat to higher-profile loyalists in President Donald Trump’s orbit. But Perry, R-Pa., played a significant role in the crisis that played out at the top of the Justice Department this month, when Trump considered firing the acting attorney general and backed down only after top department officials threatened to resign en masse. It was Perry, an outspoken member of the hard-line Freedom Caucus, who first made Trump aware that a relatively obscure Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, acting chief of the civil division, was sympathetic to Trump’s view that the election had been stolen, according to former administration officials who spoke with Clark and Trump. Perry introduced the president to Clark, whose openness to conspiracy theories about election fraud presented Trump with a welcome change from the acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, who stood by the results of the election and had repeatedly resisted the president’s efforts to undo them. Perry’s previously unreported role, and the quiet discussions between Trump and Clark that followed, underlined how much the former president was willing to use the government to subvert the election, turning to more junior and relatively unknown figures for help as ranking Republicans and Cabinet members rebuffed him. Perry’s involvement is also likely to heighten scrutiny of House Republicans who continue to advance Trump’s false and thoroughly debunked claims of election fraud, even after President Joe Biden’s inauguration this past week and as Congress prepares for an impeachment trial that will examine whether such talk incited the Capitol riot. It is unclear when Perry, who represents the Harrisburg area, met Clark, a Philadelphia native, or how well they knew each another before the introduction to Trump. Former Trump administration officials said it was only in late December that Clark told Rosen about the introduction brokered by Perry, who was among the scores of people feeding Trump false hope that he had won the election. But it is highly unlikely that Trump would have known Clark otherwise. Department officials were startled to learn that the president had called Clark directly on multiple occasions and that the two had met in person without alerting Rosen, those officials said. Justice Department policy stipulates that the president initially communicates with the attorney general or the deputy attorney general on all matters, and then a lower-level official if authorized. As the date for Congress to affirm Biden’s victory neared, Perry and Clark discussed a plan to have the Justice Department send a letter to Georgia state lawmakers informing them of an investigation into voter fraud that could invalidate the state’s Electoral College results. Former officials who were briefed on the plan said that the department’s dozens of voter fraud investigations nationwide had not turned up enough instances of fraud to alter the outcome of the election. Perry and Clark also discussed the plan with Trump, setting off a chain of events that nearly led to the ouster of Rosen, who had refused to send the letter. After The New York Times disclosed the details of the scheme Friday, the political fallout was swift. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., incoming chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told the Justice Department in a letter Saturday that he would investigate efforts by Trump and Clark to use the agency “to further Trump’s efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election.” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader, said that it was “unconscionable that a Trump Justice Department leader would conspire to subvert the people’s will.” He called on the department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, to investigate “this attempted sedition.” Horowitz has already opened an investigation into whether Trump administration officials improperly pressured Byung J. Pak, who abruptly resigned this month as the U.S. attorney in Atlanta after being pressed to take actions related to the election, according to a person briefed on the inquiry. Durbin is investigating that matter as well. Trump also tried to force Justice Department officials, including Rosen and the acting solicitor general, Jeffrey Wall, to file a lawsuit before the Supreme Court that would challenge Biden’s victory, according to a person briefed on the request. One of Trump’s outside lawyers even drafted a brief for the department to file to the court. Department officials and the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, told Trump that the plan would fail for several reasons, including the fact that the department did not have the grounds to challenge the outcome, the person said. The fight between Trump and Justice Department officials over the Supreme Court filing was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The episode with Clark and Perry is yet another example at impeachment managers’ disposal as they put together their case that Trump should be disqualified from holding office again. Clark declined to comment on his relationship with Perry, and he categorically denied devising any plan to oust Rosen. He said there had been “a candid discussion of options and pros and cons with the president” that had been inaccurately described by The Times, but he declined to provide details. He declined to say anything more about his conversations with Trump or Justice Department lawyers because of “the strictures of legal privilege.” Asked whether his conversations with the president had violated the department policy governing contact with the president, he said that senior lawyers at the agency provided legal advice to the White House as part of their duties. “All my official communications were consistent with law,” he said. Clark, a member of the conservative Federalist Society, had been appointed acting head of the civil division in September. He also oversaw the department’s environmental and natural resources division, where he had worked under President George W. Bush. Neither Perry nor his top aides responded to repeated requests for comment. Some Senate Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, have grown increasingly worried that if they do not intervene and distance themselves from Trump, the havoc wreaked by the former president could hurt Republicans’ political fortunes for years to come. The episode amounts to an unwelcome reminder that damaging information around his presidency could continue to emerge even though Trump is no longer in office. And Perry’s role in the discussions could further escalate tensions in the House, where Democratic lawmakers were already livid at Republicans for fanning the flames before the Capitol riot, with some rank-and-file members calling for the expulsion of lawmakers who led efforts to overturn the election. The pressure that Trump placed on the Justice Department, including any plan that he may have considered to remove Rosen, also raises legal questions for him. Trump’s duty as president was to ensure that “laws be faithfully executed for the benefit of the country,” and efforts to interfere in the election could be considered a violation of his constitutional duty, said Neil Eggleston, a partner at Kirkland &amp; Ellis and a White House counsel under President Barack Obama. There is little chance that a Justice Department letter sent to Georgia lawmakers would have prompted the state to invalidate its Electoral College votes. But the plan was consistent with the posture Perry had taken since November, when he began to falsely claim that there had been rampant fraud in the election, and throughout it all, Perry has remained defiant. Facing calls to resign over his role in the efforts to overturn the election, Perry issued a one-word response: “No.” Perry, a retired brigadier general in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and an Iraq War veteran, has been scrutinized for his openness to the conspiratorial. He baselessly suggested that the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas by a lone gunman could have been influenced by “terrorist infiltration through the southern border” and refused to support a resolution that condemned QAnon, a pro-Trump conspiracy movement. ( Perry said he believed that the resolution infringed on individuals’ right to free speech and that he did not personally subscribe to the movement.) An early supporter of the “Stop the Steal” campaign, Perry was one of 126 House Republicans who joined a legal brief in December supporting an extraordinary lawsuit seeking to overturn Biden’s victory. And he joined over two dozen of his colleagues who urged Trump to direct William Barr, the attorney general, to “investigate irregularities in the 2020 election.” He objected on behalf of 79 other House Republicans to certifying Pennsylvania’s electoral results, and was among 139 House Republicans who voted to reject Biden’s electoral victory, even though he later acknowledged Biden as president-elect. The plan that Perry devised with Clark set off a crisis at the Justice Department. When Clark approached Rosen with the Georgia letter at the end of December, Rosen refused to send it, according to four former administration officials. On Jan. 3, Clark notified Rosen that he would be taking his job at Trump’s behest. As Rosen prepared to meet Trump later that day and fight for his job, his top deputies, including the acting deputy attorney general, Richard Donoghue, and his outgoing chief of staff, Patrick Hovakimian, convened the department’s senior leaders on a conference call, according to five former officials with knowledge of the call. They told the department leaders that Rosen’s job was in jeopardy because of Clark’s machinations and said they would resign if Rosen was removed. They ended the call by asking their colleagues to privately consider what they would do if that happened. Over the next 15 minutes, all of them emailed or texted Hovakimian, saying that they would quit. While Rosen, Donoghue and other top department and White House lawyers spent nearly three hours with Trump and Clark, debating the merits of sending the letter to Georgia lawmakers, Hovakimian drafted an email to the department’s senior leaders, including those who were not aware of what was transpiring at the White House, in anticipation of Rosen’s removal, according to two people briefed on the letter. In it, he explained that Rosen had resisted Trump’s repeated calls to use the department’s law enforcement powers for improper ends and that the president had removed him, according to a person who reviewed the email. He wrote that he and Donoghue were resigning immediately and encouraged his colleagues to think hard about what they would do and to always act in the interests of the United States. When Hovakimian received word that Rosen had been allowed to stay, he drafted a new email that he sent to the anxiously awaiting officials: Rosen and the cause of justice had won.

Pennsylvania lawmaker was key to Justice Dept scheme

As Joe Biden took office as the 46th President of the United States, all eyes are now on West Asia. On this week's West Asia Post, Ghadi Francis tells you what a Biden White House could mean for the region. For more such stories, keep watching the West Asia post with Ghadi Francis every Friday at 8:30 PM IST, only on WION.

The West Asia Post | What will a Biden White House mean for West Asia?

The United States is planning to reverse former President Donald Trump's immigration policies that have time and again been described as 'Draconian'. According to the White House, the US President Joe Biden told his Mexican counterpart that his administration is undoing the 'Draconian' approach.

US to reverse Trump's 'Draconian' immigration approach

When the former US President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> got infected by the deadly coronavirus, he claimed to have tried experimental antibodies, which reportedly worked as a magical cure against the virus.

While the world made fun of his claims, some thought it might be possible. Now, Germany has become the first European Union country to order the same drugs.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/watch-melania-trump-refuses-to-pose-with-donald-trump-after-he-leaves-white-house-twitter-laughs-358514">Watch: Melania Trump refuses to pose with Donald Trump after he leaves White House; Twitter laughs</a>

"The government has bought 200,000 doses for 400 million euros ($486 million)," German health minister Jens Spahn told a local newspaper.

As of now, it is not known who is the manufacturer of these drugs, but it has been confirmed by the German health ministry that these drugs are the same ones which were given to Trump during his ill period in October.

Spahn has claimed these drugs can help avoid any serious progression of the virus in highly-vulnerable or high-risk patients.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions-blogs/the-end-of-trump-can-be-the-beginning-of-america-358889" hreflang="en">The end of Trump can be the beginning of America</a>

"They work like a passive vaccination. Administering these antibodies in the early stages can help high-risk patients avoid a more serious progression," he said.

Trump was given the experimental-antibody treatment which was then developed by a US firm Regeneron, known as REGN-COV2. He had chosen to take this treatment even before it had been approved by the regulators.

However, Trump was massively pleased with the medicine and had claimed it to be a magic cure against coronavirus which had done "a fantastic job".

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-impeachment-trial-put-off-until-early-february-358797" hreflang="en">Trump impeachment trial put off until early February</a>

This treatment is considered to be a cocktail of two antibodies which are prepared in laboratories and contain infection-fighting proteins that were developed to bind to the part of the new coronavirus that it uses to invade human cells.

The antibodies attach themselves to different parts of the virus's spike protein, distorting its structure -- similar in a way to knocking a key out of shape so it no longer fits its lock.

Order of these antibodies by Germany has come after the country has already started a mass vaccination drive for the Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca.&nbsp;

However, after Pfizer-BioNTech declared a possible delay in delivery of vials of vaccine, several European governments have been looking at other alternates of the vaccine for the meantime.

When the former US President Donald Trump got infected by the deadly coronavirus, he claimed to have tried experimental antibodies, which reportedly worked as a magical cure against the virus.

When the former US President Donald Trump got infected by the deadly coronavirus, he claimed to have tried experimental antibodies, which reportedly worked as a magical cure against the virus. While the world made fun of his claims, some thought it might be possible. Now, Germany has become the first European Union country to order the same drugs. Also read| Watch: Melania Trump refuses to pose with Donald Trump after he leaves White House; Twitter laughs "The government has bought 200,000 doses for 400 million euros ($486 million)," German health minister Jens Spahn told a local newspaper. As of now, it is not known who is the manufacturer of these drugs, but it has been confirmed by the German health ministry that these drugs are the same ones which were given to Trump during his ill period in October. Spahn has claimed these drugs can help avoid any serious progression of the virus in highly-vulnerable or high-risk patients. Also read| The end of Trump can be the beginning of America "They work like a passive vaccination. Administering these antibodies in the early stages can help high-risk patients avoid a more serious progression," he said. Trump was given the experimental-antibody treatment which was then developed by a US firm Regeneron, known as REGN-COV2. He had chosen to take this treatment even before it had been approved by the regulators. However, Trump was massively pleased with the medicine and had claimed it to be a magic cure against coronavirus which had done "a fantastic job". Also read| Trump impeachment trial put off until early February This treatment is considered to be a cocktail of two antibodies which are prepared in laboratories and contain infection-fighting proteins that were developed to bind to the part of the new coronavirus that it uses to invade human cells. The antibodies attach themselves to different parts of the virus's spike protein, distorting its structure -- similar in a way to knocking a key out of shape so it no longer fits its lock. Order of these antibodies by Germany has come after the country has already started a mass vaccination drive for the Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca. However, after Pfizer-BioNTech declared a possible delay in delivery of vials of vaccine, several European governments have been looking at other alternates of the vaccine for the meantime.

Germany orders coronavirus drugs that cured Donald Trump

In the race to the bottom for the title of worst American president, the same few sorry names appear at the end of almost every list, jockeying for last place. There’s Andrew Johnson, whose abysmal behavior during Reconstruction led to the first presidential impeachment. There’s Warren G. Harding, responsible for the Teapot Dome scandal. There’s hapless, hated Franklin Pierce; doomed, dead-after-32-days William Henry Harrison; and inevitably, James Buchanan, often considered worst of all because of how badly he bungled the lead-up to the Civil War.

But as historians consider the legacy of <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>, it appears that even the woefully inadequate Buchanan has some serious competition for the spot at the bottom.

“Trump was the first president to be impeached twice and the first to stir up a mob to try to attack the Capitol and disrupt his successor from becoming president,” said Eric Rauchway, professor of history at the University of California, Davis. “These will definitely go down in history books, and they are not good.”

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/watch-melania-trump-refuses-to-pose-with-donald-trump-after-he-leaves-white-house-twitter-laughs-358514">Watch: Melania Trump refuses to pose with Donald Trump after he leaves White House; Twitter laughs</a>

“I already feel that he is the worst,” said Ted Widmer, professor of history at the City University of New York, noting that as bad as Buchanan was — and he was very bad indeed — he was “not as aggressively bad as Trump.”

“Andrew Johnson and Nixon would be the two others in the worst category, and I think Trump has them beat pretty handily, too,” he added. “He has invented a whole new category, a subbasement that no one knew existed.”

Presidential ranking may be a water cooler exercise for historians, but it is also an official institutional pursuit. The Siena College Research Institute regularly compiles ranked lists of all the American presidents, based on the composite views of scholars. So does C-SPAN.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-impeachment-trial-put-off-until-early-february-358797" hreflang="en">Trump impeachment trial put off until early February</a>

Various polls periodically ask regular citizens to weigh in. And on Twitter last week, Chris Hayes of MSNBC took the presidential-ranking parlor game to his followers, asking them to list the “five worst presidents of all time.” (He put Trump as the second worst, just after Johnson.)

Trump was a highly divisive president, of course, and one of the confounding things about him was how two people could look at his behavior and make completely different assessments.

But not so much anymore.

“I would say that before the election it depended on one’s political outlook,” with conservatives applauding his tax cuts, deregulation policies and judicial appointments, said William Cooper Jr., professor emeritus of history at Louisiana State University. “But from the election forward, I don’t see how anyone could feel that Trump’s behavior was anything but reprehensible or that he hasn’t completely destroyed any legacy he would have left.”

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/donald-trump-tried-replacing-attorney-general-for-personal-needs-reports-358769" hreflang="en">Donald Trump tried replacing attorney general for personal needs: Reports</a>

He cited Trump’s refusal to concede the election; his promotion of baseless conspiracy theories attacking voting integrity; his intemperate, self-promoting behavior during the Georgia Senate runoffs, which helped ensure victory for the two Democratic candidates; and his encouragement of the crowd that rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Even conservatives from Atlanta, where Cooper lives, have had it with Trump, he said. “He has tarred and feathered himself, and I think it will blemish him for a long, long, long time.”

Douglas Brinkley, professor of history at Rice University and a member of the advisory panel for C-SPAN’s Presidential Historians Survey, said that Trump “was a bad president in just about every regard.”

“I find him to be the worst president in U.S. history, personally,” Brinkley said, “even worse than William Henry Harrison, who was president for only one month. You don’t want to be ranked below him.”

Brinkley brought up Richard Nixon, the only president to resign in disgrace.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions-blogs/the-end-of-trump-can-be-the-beginning-of-america-358889" hreflang="en">The end of Trump can be the beginning of America</a>

“At least when Nixon left, he put the country ahead of himself at the last minute,” Brinkley said. “Now he looks like a statesman compared to Trump.”

These are all hot takes, of course — the sound of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” the song playing Wednesday as Trump flew out of Washington, has barely faded from our ears — and it is too soon to know how history will judge him. But things do not augur well, said Don Levy, director of Siena’s research institute.

In the most recent Siena survey, a year into the Trump administration, Trump was rated 42nd out of 44 presidents, less terrible than only Buchanan and Johnson. In almost every category — integrity, intelligence and relationship with Congress, for instance — he was rated at or nearly rock bottom. (The exceptions: He was 25th in “willing to take risks” and 10th in “luck.”)

“Speaking in terms of this survey, it would be surprising if Trump was meaningfully rehabilitated,” Levy said. “If the opening paragraph of any discussion starts about being impeached twice, and the second sentence is about the coronavirus, and the third is about partisanship, that’s going to be very hard to overcome.”

Sean Wilentz, a professor of American history at Princeton University, said that Trump was the worst president in history, hands down.

“He’s in a whole other category in terms of the damage he’s done to the Republic,” said Wilentz, citing the radicalization of the Republican Party, the inept response to the pandemic and what he called “the brazen, almost psychedelic mendacity of the man.”

Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose most recent book, “Leadership: In Turbulent Times,” looks at how four presidents confronted tough moments in history, said that it normally takes a generation to evaluate a leader. But to the extent that a president’s legacy is determined by his ability to rise to a crisis, Trump will be remembered for his failures: how poorly he handled COVID-19 and how disgracefully he behaved after the election.

“History will look with grave disfavor on President Trump for the crisis he created,” she said.

For his part, Rauchway said he believed that Trump would “crash the bottom five” on the presidential rankings but that the bottom spot itself was uncertain. “I think he has some stiff competition” in Johnson, whom Rauchway personally regards as the worst president of all.

“If I had to predict where historiography would go, I think people would have to recognize that Trumpism — nativism and white supremacy — has deep roots in American history,” Rauchway said. “But Trump himself put it to new and malignant purpose.”

Robert Strauss, a journalist and the author of “Worst. President. Ever.,” a popular history of Buchanan, seemed reluctant to allow the subject of his book to relinquish his title.

“I can go through a litany of things that Buchanan did,” he said. “In the time period between Lincoln’s election and the inauguration” — that is, during the lame-duck period of Buchanan’s presidency — “he let seven states secede and said, ‘I can’t do anything about it.’ He also influenced the Dred Scott decision, the worst decision in Supreme Court history.”

Of course, “the difference was that Buchanan was a nice guy,” Strauss said. “He was the greatest party-giver of the 19th century. He was kind to his nieces and nephews. What he was, was not a very good president.”

As they considered Trump’s record in comparison to that of other presidents, some historians said that he could have done things to salvage his reputation.

“If he had presided over a competent response to COVID, he would have won reelection easily,” Widmer of the City University of New York said. “And if he had responded with grace to his loss, a lot of people would have given him some grudging respect.”

And yes, he added, Trump was worse than Buchanan.

“Trump is a worse failure because he really wanted to be reelected, and he was rejected,” Widmer said. “Buchanan colossally failed, but at least he had the dignity not to run again.”

In the race to the bottom for the title of worst American president, the same few sorry names appear at the end of almost every list, jockeying for last place. There’s Andrew Johnson, whose abysmal behavior during Reconstruction led to the first presidential impeachment.

In the race to the bottom for the title of worst American president, the same few sorry names appear at the end of almost every list, jockeying for last place. There’s Andrew Johnson, whose abysmal behavior during Reconstruction led to the first presidential impeachment. There’s Warren G. Harding, responsible for the Teapot Dome scandal. There’s hapless, hated Franklin Pierce; doomed, dead-after-32-days William Henry Harrison; and inevitably, James Buchanan, often considered worst of all because of how badly he bungled the lead-up to the Civil War. But as historians consider the legacy of Donald Trump, it appears that even the woefully inadequate Buchanan has some serious competition for the spot at the bottom. “Trump was the first president to be impeached twice and the first to stir up a mob to try to attack the Capitol and disrupt his successor from becoming president,” said Eric Rauchway, professor of history at the University of California, Davis. “These will definitely go down in history books, and they are not good.” Also read| Watch: Melania Trump refuses to pose with Donald Trump after he leaves White House; Twitter laughs “I already feel that he is the worst,” said Ted Widmer, professor of history at the City University of New York, noting that as bad as Buchanan was — and he was very bad indeed — he was “not as aggressively bad as Trump.” “Andrew Johnson and Nixon would be the two others in the worst category, and I think Trump has them beat pretty handily, too,” he added. “He has invented a whole new category, a subbasement that no one knew existed.” Presidential ranking may be a water cooler exercise for historians, but it is also an official institutional pursuit. The Siena College Research Institute regularly compiles ranked lists of all the American presidents, based on the composite views of scholars. So does C-SPAN. Also read| Trump impeachment trial put off until early February Various polls periodically ask regular citizens to weigh in. And on Twitter last week, Chris Hayes of MSNBC took the presidential-ranking parlor game to his followers, asking them to list the “five worst presidents of all time.” (He put Trump as the second worst, just after Johnson.) Trump was a highly divisive president, of course, and one of the confounding things about him was how two people could look at his behavior and make completely different assessments. But not so much anymore. “I would say that before the election it depended on one’s political outlook,” with conservatives applauding his tax cuts, deregulation policies and judicial appointments, said William Cooper Jr., professor emeritus of history at Louisiana State University. “But from the election forward, I don’t see how anyone could feel that Trump’s behavior was anything but reprehensible or that he hasn’t completely destroyed any legacy he would have left.” Also read| Donald Trump tried replacing attorney general for personal needs: Reports He cited Trump’s refusal to concede the election; his promotion of baseless conspiracy theories attacking voting integrity; his intemperate, self-promoting behavior during the Georgia Senate runoffs, which helped ensure victory for the two Democratic candidates; and his encouragement of the crowd that rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Even conservatives from Atlanta, where Cooper lives, have had it with Trump, he said. “He has tarred and feathered himself, and I think it will blemish him for a long, long, long time.” Douglas Brinkley, professor of history at Rice University and a member of the advisory panel for C-SPAN’s Presidential Historians Survey, said that Trump “was a bad president in just about every regard.” “I find him to be the worst president in U.S. history, personally,” Brinkley said, “even worse than William Henry Harrison, who was president for only one month. You don’t want to be ranked below him.” Brinkley brought up Richard Nixon, the only president to resign in disgrace. Also read| The end of Trump can be the beginning of America “At least when Nixon left, he put the country ahead of himself at the last minute,” Brinkley said. “Now he looks like a statesman compared to Trump.” These are all hot takes, of course — the sound of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” the song playing Wednesday as Trump flew out of Washington, has barely faded from our ears — and it is too soon to know how history will judge him. But things do not augur well, said Don Levy, director of Siena’s research institute. In the most recent Siena survey, a year into the Trump administration, Trump was rated 42nd out of 44 presidents, less terrible than only Buchanan and Johnson. In almost every category — integrity, intelligence and relationship with Congress, for instance — he was rated at or nearly rock bottom. (The exceptions: He was 25th in “willing to take risks” and 10th in “luck.”) “Speaking in terms of this survey, it would be surprising if Trump was meaningfully rehabilitated,” Levy said. “If the opening paragraph of any discussion starts about being impeached twice, and the second sentence is about the coronavirus, and the third is about partisanship, that’s going to be very hard to overcome.” Sean Wilentz, a professor of American history at Princeton University, said that Trump was the worst president in history, hands down. “He’s in a whole other category in terms of the damage he’s done to the Republic,” said Wilentz, citing the radicalization of the Republican Party, the inept response to the pandemic and what he called “the brazen, almost psychedelic mendacity of the man.” Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose most recent book, “Leadership: In Turbulent Times,” looks at how four presidents confronted tough moments in history, said that it normally takes a generation to evaluate a leader. But to the extent that a president’s legacy is determined by his ability to rise to a crisis, Trump will be remembered for his failures: how poorly he handled COVID-19 and how disgracefully he behaved after the election. “History will look with grave disfavor on President Trump for the crisis he created,” she said. For his part, Rauchway said he believed that Trump would “crash the bottom five” on the presidential rankings but that the bottom spot itself was uncertain. “I think he has some stiff competition” in Johnson, whom Rauchway personally regards as the worst president of all. “If I had to predict where historiography would go, I think people would have to recognize that Trumpism — nativism and white supremacy — has deep roots in American history,” Rauchway said. “But Trump himself put it to new and malignant purpose.” Robert Strauss, a journalist and the author of “Worst. President. Ever.,” a popular history of Buchanan, seemed reluctant to allow the subject of his book to relinquish his title. “I can go through a litany of things that Buchanan did,” he said. “In the time period between Lincoln’s election and the inauguration” — that is, during the lame-duck period of Buchanan’s presidency — “he let seven states secede and said, ‘I can’t do anything about it.’ He also influenced the Dred Scott decision, the worst decision in Supreme Court history.” Of course, “the difference was that Buchanan was a nice guy,” Strauss said. “He was the greatest party-giver of the 19th century. He was kind to his nieces and nephews. What he was, was not a very good president.” As they considered Trump’s record in comparison to that of other presidents, some historians said that he could have done things to salvage his reputation. “If he had presided over a competent response to COVID, he would have won reelection easily,” Widmer of the City University of New York said. “And if he had responded with grace to his loss, a lot of people would have given him some grudging respect.” And yes, he added, Trump was worse than Buchanan. “Trump is a worse failure because he really wanted to be reelected, and he was rejected,” Widmer said. “Buchanan colossally failed, but at least he had the dignity not to run again.”

The Trump presidency is now history. So how will it rank?

Iran on Friday called on the new US administration to "unconditionally" lift sanctions imposed by Donald Trump on the Islamic republic to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, warning against any concessions.

Under Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, Washington withdrew from the deal, designed to stop Iran developing a nuclear weapon - and bolstered sanctions in a bid to force Tehran into talks on a broader agreement that also addressed its ballistic missile program and support for proxies around the Middle East.

Biden, who took office on Wednesday, “can begin by removing all sanctions imposed since Trump assumed office and seek to re-enter and abide by the 2015 nuclear deal without altering its painstakingly negotiated terms,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote in&nbsp;an op-ed in the US foreign policy magazine Foreign Affairs on Tehran's view towards saving the deal.

“In turn, Iran would reverse all the remedial measures it has taken in the wake of Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal,” he said on Friday, adding that the “initiative squarely rests with Washington”.

Since Trump abandoned the deal in 2018, Iran has breached its key limits one after the other, building up its stockpile of low-enriched uranium, refining uranium to a higher level of purity and using advanced centrifuges for enrichment.

Biden has said that if Tehran resumed strict compliance with the 2015 agreement Washington would rejoin it.

“But we would use that, as a platform with our allies and partners ..., to seek a longer and stronger agreement and also...to capture these other issues, particularly with regard to missiles and Iran’s destabilizing activities,” Antony Blinken, Biden’s choice for secretary of state, said on Tuesday.

Known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal was agreed between Iran, the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany.

It offered sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Tehran's nuclear ambitions and guarantees it would not seek an atomic bomb. Iran has maintained it has only pursued a civilian nuclear energy programme.

"The new administration in Washington has a fundamental choice to make," Zarif, who is considered one of the architects of the 2015 nuclear deal, wrote in the op-ed.

"It can embrace the failed policies of the Trump administration," or Biden "can choose a better path by ending Trump's failed policy of 'maximum pressure' and returning to the deal his predecessor abandoned," he added.

"But if Washington instead insists on extracting concessions, then this opportunity will be lost."

'Collective efforts'&nbsp;

The sanctions targeted Iran's vital oil sales and international banking ties, plunging its economy into a deep recession.

Since 2019, Iran has suspended its compliance with most of the limits set by the deal in response to Washington's abandonment of sanctions relief and what Tehran deemed as Europe's inaction to provide it with the JCPOA's economic benefits.

The Iranian government has signalled a readiness to engage with Biden, who took office on January 20 and who has expressed willingness to return to diplomacy with Tehran.

Biden's pick for secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, said at a Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday that Trump's policies had made Iran "more dangerous".

Blinken confirmed Biden's desire for Washington to return to the nuclear agreement but said that was conditional on Tehran's return to strict compliance with its commitments.

But Tehran has insisted that Washington must first lift all sanctions and return to its own JCPOA obligations.

"The incoming Biden administration can still salvage the nuclear agreement, but only if it can muster the genuine political will in Washington to demonstrate that the United States is ready to be a real partner in collective efforts," Zarif wrote.

"The administration should begin by unconditionally removing, with full effect, all sanctions imposed, reimposed, or relabeled since Trump took office," he added.

"In turn, Iran would reverse all the remedial measures it has taken in the wake of Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal."

'Revenge' tweet&nbsp;

Iran has maintained it would return to full compliance with the deal if sanctions were lifted and it could benefit from the economic relief it expected under the JCPOA.

Biden, along with Paris and Berlin, have expressed a desire to negotiate more broadly with Iran, notably on its missile programme and regional influence.&nbsp;

In his op-ed, Zarif indicated Iran was not open to further negotiations, made clear in the title of the op-ed: "Iran wants the nuclear deal it made. Don't ask Tehran to meet new demands."

"Iranians are running out of patience," Zarif wrote, as evidenced by legislation the country's parliament passed in December requiring Tehran "to boost uranium enrichment and limit UN (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspections if sanctions are not removed by February".

In a sign that tensions between Iran and the US remain high, a Twitter account linked to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei posted on Thursday a tweet vowing vengeance for the death of storied foreign operations chief General Qasem Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who were killed in a 2020 drone strike in Iraq ordered by Trump.

"Revenge is inevitable. Soleimani's killer and the man who gave the orders must face vengeance," it said, accompanied by a photomontage of Trump playing golf under the shadow of a warplane.

"Revenge can take place at any moment."

Twitter later suspended the account, saying it had violated its rules.

Iran on Friday called on the new US administration to "unconditionally" lift sanctions imposed by Donald Trump on the Islamic republic to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, warning against any concessions.

Iran on Friday called on the new US administration to "unconditionally" lift sanctions imposed by Donald Trump on the Islamic republic to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, warning against any concessions. Under Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, Washington withdrew from the deal, designed to stop Iran developing a nuclear weapon - and bolstered sanctions in a bid to force Tehran into talks on a broader agreement that also addressed its ballistic missile program and support for proxies around the Middle East. Biden, who took office on Wednesday, “can begin by removing all sanctions imposed since Trump assumed office and seek to re-enter and abide by the 2015 nuclear deal without altering its painstakingly negotiated terms,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote in an op-ed in the US foreign policy magazine Foreign Affairs on Tehran's view towards saving the deal. “In turn, Iran would reverse all the remedial measures it has taken in the wake of Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal,” he said on Friday, adding that the “initiative squarely rests with Washington”. Since Trump abandoned the deal in 2018, Iran has breached its key limits one after the other, building up its stockpile of low-enriched uranium, refining uranium to a higher level of purity and using advanced centrifuges for enrichment. Biden has said that if Tehran resumed strict compliance with the 2015 agreement Washington would rejoin it. “But we would use that, as a platform with our allies and partners ..., to seek a longer and stronger agreement and also...to capture these other issues, particularly with regard to missiles and Iran’s destabilizing activities,” Antony Blinken, Biden’s choice for secretary of state, said on Tuesday. Known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal was agreed between Iran, the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany. It offered sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Tehran's nuclear ambitions and guarantees it would not seek an atomic bomb. Iran has maintained it has only pursued a civilian nuclear energy programme. "The new administration in Washington has a fundamental choice to make," Zarif, who is considered one of the architects of the 2015 nuclear deal, wrote in the op-ed. "It can embrace the failed policies of the Trump administration," or Biden "can choose a better path by ending Trump's failed policy of 'maximum pressure' and returning to the deal his predecessor abandoned," he added. "But if Washington instead insists on extracting concessions, then this opportunity will be lost." 'Collective efforts' The sanctions targeted Iran's vital oil sales and international banking ties, plunging its economy into a deep recession. Since 2019, Iran has suspended its compliance with most of the limits set by the deal in response to Washington's abandonment of sanctions relief and what Tehran deemed as Europe's inaction to provide it with the JCPOA's economic benefits. The Iranian government has signalled a readiness to engage with Biden, who took office on January 20 and who has expressed willingness to return to diplomacy with Tehran. Biden's pick for secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, said at a Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday that Trump's policies had made Iran "more dangerous". Blinken confirmed Biden's desire for Washington to return to the nuclear agreement but said that was conditional on Tehran's return to strict compliance with its commitments. But Tehran has insisted that Washington must first lift all sanctions and return to its own JCPOA obligations. "The incoming Biden administration can still salvage the nuclear agreement, but only if it can muster the genuine political will in Washington to demonstrate that the United States is ready to be a real partner in collective efforts," Zarif wrote. "The administration should begin by unconditionally removing, with full effect, all sanctions imposed, reimposed, or relabeled since Trump took office," he added. "In turn, Iran would reverse all the remedial measures it has taken in the wake of Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal." 'Revenge' tweet Iran has maintained it would return to full compliance with the deal if sanctions were lifted and it could benefit from the economic relief it expected under the JCPOA. Biden, along with Paris and Berlin, have expressed a desire to negotiate more broadly with Iran, notably on its missile programme and regional influence. In his op-ed, Zarif indicated Iran was not open to further negotiations, made clear in the title of the op-ed: "Iran wants the nuclear deal it made. Don't ask Tehran to meet new demands." "Iranians are running out of patience," Zarif wrote, as evidenced by legislation the country's parliament passed in December requiring Tehran "to boost uranium enrichment and limit UN (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspections if sanctions are not removed by February". In a sign that tensions between Iran and the US remain high, a Twitter account linked to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei posted on Thursday a tweet vowing vengeance for the death of storied foreign operations chief General Qasem Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who were killed in a 2020 drone strike in Iraq ordered by Trump. "Revenge is inevitable. Soleimani's killer and the man who gave the orders must face vengeance," it said, accompanied by a photomontage of Trump playing golf under the shadow of a warplane. "Revenge can take place at any moment." Twitter later suspended the account, saying it had violated its rules.

Iran calls on Biden to 'unconditionally' lift US sanctions imposed by Donald Trump

This is a text I received from a prominent conservative Christian minutes after President Biden’s Inaugural Address: “I broke down sobbing. It’s been a long five-and-a-half years.”

Shortly after that, Scott Dudley, senior pastor at Bellevue Presbyterian Church in Bellevue, Wash., emailed me a note that said, “I never thought I would be moved to tears watching a Democratic president get sworn in, but I was. It just felt so good to hear someone who understands and loves this country and constitution, and is an honorable person, take the oath. I’m praying for healing.”

I’ve had conversations with others who tell similar stories.

Joe Biden is an admirable human being, empathetic and generous in spirit, and his speech was elegant and uplifting. But the tears had to do with something else: We had just emerged from a national trauma. It was only two weeks earlier that the Capitol, on whose steps Mr. Biden took the oath of office, was under assault from a mob that had been incited by his predecessor, Donald Trump, in order to undo an election Mr. Trump lost.

Several people died, including a police officer beaten with a fire extinguisher, and many more easily could have, including the former vice president, Mike Pence. And President Biden’s inauguration came only one day after we crossed an almost unimaginably gruesome milestone: 400,000 deaths from Covid-19, a significant number of which would have been prevented had any of Mr. Trump’s most immediate predecessors, Republican or Democratic, been president instead.

But Mr. Trump’s wounding of America doesn’t end there.

Our economy is crippled, with Mr. Trump ending his presidency with the worst jobs record in modern U.S. history. Americans are angrier, more fearful, less trusting of one another and more polarized than at any time in generations and perhaps since the 1850s. Families, friendships, churches and communities are being ripped apart by the savagery of our politics.

The United States is in the grips of an epistemic crisis, with much of the nation having detached itself from reality. In the eyes of the world, among allies and adversaries, America under Mr. Trump became a joke. So it made sense that once Mr. Trump left the White House, powerful emotions would be unleashed.

I wasn’t immune. In the aftermath of the siege of the Capitol, I found myself angry, which is a rare state of mind for me — angry, not just at Mr. Trump but at his Republican enablers, weak and complicit, some of whom broke with Mr. Trump only when his power was rapidly slipping away. Some had to have seen what was coming; others should have seen what was coming and yet they went along for the ride. So the moment Mr. Biden became president I felt like one door shut and another opened. I wanted to be done with Mr. Trump. But I was convinced that before doing so, I needed to struggle one last time with understanding how things went so terribly wrong.

It’s a complicated story, one we don’t fully understand yet and probably won’t for years. But several factors converged to create this American carnage. The first and most obvious is the radicalized base of the Republican Party. The party has long been a mix of conservatism and populism, but over the years it has became less traditionally conservative, at least in the way Edmund Burke, James Madison and Michael Oakeshott have understood conservatism. The base became increasingly reactionary and populist, anti-elite and anti-establishment, disdainful of science and reason, consumed by grievances and fear.

Among the things that characterized Republican primary voters — not all of them, but large swaths of them — was rage at politicians. This was combined with the belief that the system was rigged against them and that America, to become great again, needed someone in office who would operate outside the usual boundaries. The prevailing attitude was that you had to destroy the village in order to save it. Governing experience was viewed with suspicion, evidence that one had been enlisted in the “deep state.” Civility and compromise were seen as weakness; “owning the libs” was the name of the game. These feelings were amplified in a right-wing ecosystem that thrived off creating conflict and creating enemies. Politics had become too boring; things needed to be livened up.

Enter Donald J. Trump — demagogue, con man, reality television star. A man without any governing experience, Mr. Trump was almost proudly ignorant on policy matters. But what he did know how to do, with frightening success, was inflame the passions of the Republican base, to play to their fears and resentments, especially their racial and ethnic resentments, to turn them against our institutions and constitutional order, and to feed them lies and conspiracy theories.

It began in 2011, when Mr. Trump peddled the racist lie that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya and therefore an illegitimate president, and he just kept going. To his supporters, Mr. Trump was able to turn his vices into virtues, his corruptions into selling points, his cruelty into a synonym for strength. He was willing to bring a gun to a political and cultural knife fight. And while Mr. Trump did many things poorly, he did one thing superbly: conduct an “information-warfare campaign” that spread misinformation and disinformation on a mass scale, which not only promulgated lies but disoriented the public.

All of this is well-known and yet as Mr. Trump retreats in defeat to Florida, a lawless president who was impeached for a second time, it bears repeating: A party that once stood for order, tradition and morality embraced as its leader a man who was transgressive, who embodied disorder, indecency and a “might makes right” ethic. But the most dangerous and unsettling thing about President Donald Trump was his sociopathic tendencies. It should have been obvious to everyone that Mr. Trump was unstable, impulsive, compulsively dishonest and staggeringly narcissistic. The idea that such a person could be controlled and contained, tamed and calmed, was always a pipe dream. No one was going to change Mr. Trump; if anything, it was he who would change them — and that’s exactly what happened.

Add to all that a third, decisive factor that created this American carnage: Republican lawmakers and the political machinery of the Republican Party that empowered Mr. Trump from the opening minutes to the final hours of his presidency. It’s notable that a lot of Republicans in Congress, particularly the Senate, were never comfortable with Mr. Trump. They hoped he would lose the primary in 2016. The attitude was ABT — Anyone But Trump. Republican primary voters had a different opinion, however, and their will prevailed. The size and ease of Mr. Trump’s victory — by the fall of 2015 he was leading the other candidates in the polls and he never looked back — should have been a bigger warning sign than it was at the time.

This led to a growing accommodation between the Republican political establishment and Mr. Trump. It went through various phases, starting with wishful thinking, the hope that Mr. Trump would become more responsible once he won the nomination (nope) — or that once he won the presidency, he would “grow in office.”

When that didn’t happen either, Plan B (or was it Plan C?) was to surround Mr. Trump with responsible people within his administration and in Congress to act as a check on his worst impulses. In some cases, that undoubtedly worked, but not nearly as well as those who hoped to keep Mr. Trump in line had hoped. One prominent Republican who has served in Congress told me recently, “Trump sunk much lower than I thought he would.”

But Mr. Trump, psychologically damaged and morally corrupt, was always going to lead Republicans down darker and darker alleyways. It would only get worse. Yet those who instinctively recoiled at what Mr. Trump was doing decided to go along. For some, it was fear of being criticized by Mr. Trump and his army. They were afraid that speaking out against Mr. Trump would lead to a primary challenge. (The concern was a valid one; they saw what happened to Jeff Flake, Bob Corker and Mark Sanford.)

Some Republicans rationalized their accommodation on the totally unreasonable hope that Mr. Trump — in his 70s, surrounded by sycophants and in possession of unmatched power — would change the habits of a lifetime. Still others convinced themselves they would tolerate what Mr. Trump did just one more time but never again. And yet as Mr. Trump transgressed one ethical line and then another and then another, Republicans continued to justify their silence, their support, or both.

Others believed that since Mr. Trump was president they might as well work with him to get things done in what they perceived as the public interest: judicial appointments, tax cuts, deregulation and the like. In pushing for this, a few individuals, to their credit, never defended Mr. Trump’s indefensible behavior. But far too many did. White evangelicals like Robert Jeffress, Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Eric Metaxas were among the worst offenders.

For other Republicans, vaulting political ambition and cynical calculation were at play. Lawmakers like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, whose wife and father were viciously targeted by Mr. Trump during the 2016 primary campaign, became lap dogs, hoping to receive Mr. Trump’s blessing and win the loyalty of his supporters. Senator Josh Hawley acted so disgracefully in objecting to approval of the Electoral College votes and feeding baseless conspiracy theories that his mentor, John Danforth, said that “trying so hard” to get Mr. Hawley elected to the Senate “was the worst mistake I ever made in my life.” Lindsey Graham proved to be one of T.S. Eliot’s “hollow men,” empty of heart, a person without a moral compass. House Republicans like Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Louie Gohmert, Paul Gosar and Mo Brooks showed themselves to be both carnival barkers and cultlike in their devotion to Mr. Trump.

President Donald Trump leaves office with a crimson-stained legacy; a similar stain attaches to those in the party who supported and sustained him, many of them still in positions of power. Both will move on — Mr. Trump to Mar-a-Lago, disgraced, isolated and politically radioactive, more likely to split his party than ever to lead it again; and the Republican Party facing deep internal division, a massive rebuilding and rebranding effort and a very uncertain future.

President Biden inherits a nation sicker, weaker, angrier, more divided and more violent than it has been in living memory. But if we’re fortunate and wise, we will allow the traumatizing effects of the Trump years to catalyze a rededication to ideals we once cherished in public life but cast aside during the Trump era: honor and integrity, compassion and decency, and old-fashioned competence. America is fragmented but also chastened, perhaps ready to rise again. If it does, when it does, it will be after too many tears have been shed and too many hearts have been broken.

(Peter Wehner, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center who served in the Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush administrations, is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and the author of “The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump.”)

This is a text I received from a prominent conservative Christian minutes after President Biden’s Inaugural Address: “I broke down sobbing. It’s been a long five-and-a-half years.

This is a text I received from a prominent conservative Christian minutes after President Biden’s Inaugural Address: “I broke down sobbing. It’s been a long five-and-a-half years.” Shortly after that, Scott Dudley, senior pastor at Bellevue Presbyterian Church in Bellevue, Wash., emailed me a note that said, “I never thought I would be moved to tears watching a Democratic president get sworn in, but I was. It just felt so good to hear someone who understands and loves this country and constitution, and is an honorable person, take the oath. I’m praying for healing.” I’ve had conversations with others who tell similar stories. Joe Biden is an admirable human being, empathetic and generous in spirit, and his speech was elegant and uplifting. But the tears had to do with something else: We had just emerged from a national trauma. It was only two weeks earlier that the Capitol, on whose steps Mr. Biden took the oath of office, was under assault from a mob that had been incited by his predecessor, Donald Trump, in order to undo an election Mr. Trump lost. Several people died, including a police officer beaten with a fire extinguisher, and many more easily could have, including the former vice president, Mike Pence. And President Biden’s inauguration came only one day after we crossed an almost unimaginably gruesome milestone: 400,000 deaths from Covid-19, a significant number of which would have been prevented had any of Mr. Trump’s most immediate predecessors, Republican or Democratic, been president instead. But Mr. Trump’s wounding of America doesn’t end there. Our economy is crippled, with Mr. Trump ending his presidency with the worst jobs record in modern U.S. history. Americans are angrier, more fearful, less trusting of one another and more polarized than at any time in generations and perhaps since the 1850s. Families, friendships, churches and communities are being ripped apart by the savagery of our politics. The United States is in the grips of an epistemic crisis, with much of the nation having detached itself from reality. In the eyes of the world, among allies and adversaries, America under Mr. Trump became a joke. So it made sense that once Mr. Trump left the White House, powerful emotions would be unleashed. I wasn’t immune. In the aftermath of the siege of the Capitol, I found myself angry, which is a rare state of mind for me — angry, not just at Mr. Trump but at his Republican enablers, weak and complicit, some of whom broke with Mr. Trump only when his power was rapidly slipping away. Some had to have seen what was coming; others should have seen what was coming and yet they went along for the ride. So the moment Mr. Biden became president I felt like one door shut and another opened. I wanted to be done with Mr. Trump. But I was convinced that before doing so, I needed to struggle one last time with understanding how things went so terribly wrong. It’s a complicated story, one we don’t fully understand yet and probably won’t for years. But several factors converged to create this American carnage. The first and most obvious is the radicalized base of the Republican Party. The party has long been a mix of conservatism and populism, but over the years it has became less traditionally conservative, at least in the way Edmund Burke, James Madison and Michael Oakeshott have understood conservatism. The base became increasingly reactionary and populist, anti-elite and anti-establishment, disdainful of science and reason, consumed by grievances and fear. Among the things that characterized Republican primary voters — not all of them, but large swaths of them — was rage at politicians. This was combined with the belief that the system was rigged against them and that America, to become great again, needed someone in office who would operate outside the usual boundaries. The prevailing attitude was that you had to destroy the village in order to save it. Governing experience was viewed with suspicion, evidence that one had been enlisted in the “deep state.” Civility and compromise were seen as weakness; “owning the libs” was the name of the game. These feelings were amplified in a right-wing ecosystem that thrived off creating conflict and creating enemies. Politics had become too boring; things needed to be livened up. Enter Donald J. Trump — demagogue, con man, reality television star. A man without any governing experience, Mr. Trump was almost proudly ignorant on policy matters. But what he did know how to do, with frightening success, was inflame the passions of the Republican base, to play to their fears and resentments, especially their racial and ethnic resentments, to turn them against our institutions and constitutional order, and to feed them lies and conspiracy theories. It began in 2011, when Mr. Trump peddled the racist lie that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya and therefore an illegitimate president, and he just kept going. To his supporters, Mr. Trump was able to turn his vices into virtues, his corruptions into selling points, his cruelty into a synonym for strength. He was willing to bring a gun to a political and cultural knife fight. And while Mr. Trump did many things poorly, he did one thing superbly: conduct an “information-warfare campaign” that spread misinformation and disinformation on a mass scale, which not only promulgated lies but disoriented the public. All of this is well-known and yet as Mr. Trump retreats in defeat to Florida, a lawless president who was impeached for a second time, it bears repeating: A party that once stood for order, tradition and morality embraced as its leader a man who was transgressive, who embodied disorder, indecency and a “might makes right” ethic. But the most dangerous and unsettling thing about President Donald Trump was his sociopathic tendencies. It should have been obvious to everyone that Mr. Trump was unstable, impulsive, compulsively dishonest and staggeringly narcissistic. The idea that such a person could be controlled and contained, tamed and calmed, was always a pipe dream. No one was going to change Mr. Trump; if anything, it was he who would change them — and that’s exactly what happened. Add to all that a third, decisive factor that created this American carnage: Republican lawmakers and the political machinery of the Republican Party that empowered Mr. Trump from the opening minutes to the final hours of his presidency. It’s notable that a lot of Republicans in Congress, particularly the Senate, were never comfortable with Mr. Trump. They hoped he would lose the primary in 2016. The attitude was ABT — Anyone But Trump. Republican primary voters had a different opinion, however, and their will prevailed. The size and ease of Mr. Trump’s victory — by the fall of 2015 he was leading the other candidates in the polls and he never looked back — should have been a bigger warning sign than it was at the time. This led to a growing accommodation between the Republican political establishment and Mr. Trump. It went through various phases, starting with wishful thinking, the hope that Mr. Trump would become more responsible once he won the nomination (nope) — or that once he won the presidency, he would “grow in office.” When that didn’t happen either, Plan B (or was it Plan C?) was to surround Mr. Trump with responsible people within his administration and in Congress to act as a check on his worst impulses. In some cases, that undoubtedly worked, but not nearly as well as those who hoped to keep Mr. Trump in line had hoped. One prominent Republican who has served in Congress told me recently, “Trump sunk much lower than I thought he would.” But Mr. Trump, psychologically damaged and morally corrupt, was always going to lead Republicans down darker and darker alleyways. It would only get worse. Yet those who instinctively recoiled at what Mr. Trump was doing decided to go along. For some, it was fear of being criticized by Mr. Trump and his army. They were afraid that speaking out against Mr. Trump would lead to a primary challenge. (The concern was a valid one; they saw what happened to Jeff Flake, Bob Corker and Mark Sanford.) Some Republicans rationalized their accommodation on the totally unreasonable hope that Mr. Trump — in his 70s, surrounded by sycophants and in possession of unmatched power — would change the habits of a lifetime. Still others convinced themselves they would tolerate what Mr. Trump did just one more time but never again. And yet as Mr. Trump transgressed one ethical line and then another and then another, Republicans continued to justify their silence, their support, or both. Others believed that since Mr. Trump was president they might as well work with him to get things done in what they perceived as the public interest: judicial appointments, tax cuts, deregulation and the like. In pushing for this, a few individuals, to their credit, never defended Mr. Trump’s indefensible behavior. But far too many did. White evangelicals like Robert Jeffress, Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Eric Metaxas were among the worst offenders. For other Republicans, vaulting political ambition and cynical calculation were at play. Lawmakers like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, whose wife and father were viciously targeted by Mr. Trump during the 2016 primary campaign, became lap dogs, hoping to receive Mr. Trump’s blessing and win the loyalty of his supporters. Senator Josh Hawley acted so disgracefully in objecting to approval of the Electoral College votes and feeding baseless conspiracy theories that his mentor, John Danforth, said that “trying so hard” to get Mr. Hawley elected to the Senate “was the worst mistake I ever made in my life.” Lindsey Graham proved to be one of T.S. Eliot’s “hollow men,” empty of heart, a person without a moral compass. House Republicans like Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Louie Gohmert, Paul Gosar and Mo Brooks showed themselves to be both carnival barkers and cultlike in their devotion to Mr. Trump. President Donald Trump leaves office with a crimson-stained legacy; a similar stain attaches to those in the party who supported and sustained him, many of them still in positions of power. Both will move on — Mr. Trump to Mar-a-Lago, disgraced, isolated and politically radioactive, more likely to split his party than ever to lead it again; and the Republican Party facing deep internal division, a massive rebuilding and rebranding effort and a very uncertain future. President Biden inherits a nation sicker, weaker, angrier, more divided and more violent than it has been in living memory. But if we’re fortunate and wise, we will allow the traumatizing effects of the Trump years to catalyze a rededication to ideals we once cherished in public life but cast aside during the Trump era: honor and integrity, compassion and decency, and old-fashioned competence. America is fragmented but also chastened, perhaps ready to rise again. If it does, when it does, it will be after too many tears have been shed and too many hearts have been broken. (Peter Wehner, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center who served in the Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush administrations, is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and the author of “The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump.”)

The end of Trump can be the beginning of America

WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump boarded the plane to Florida on Wednesday, he cast his achievements as sweeping, ambitious and, above all, enduring — a few hours before his successor began demolishing that legacy at breakneck speed.

“We’ve accomplished so much together,” Trump told a crowd of his supporters, ticking off what he believed to be his top policy successes on immigration, deregulation, veterans affairs and taxes — adding, “We were not a regular administration.”

The passage of Trump’s 2017 tax bill and his appointment of three justices to the Supreme Court are clearly his most enduring accomplishments. But many of Trump’s other signature actions were enacted via executive fiat, making them especially vulnerable to rapid reversal the same way — by an executive order.

President Joe Biden, a more experienced Washington operator, is not using the process to build his legacy, as Trump tried to do, but as a means of erasing Trump’s.

In his first 48 hours in office, Biden cranked out about 30 executive orders, of which 14 target a broad range of Trump executive mandates, with the remainder aimed at implementing emergency measures intended to deal with the pandemic and the economic crisis.

“I don’t think it’s fair to say that most of what Trump did can be undone in an afternoon. It’s going to take at least 10 days,” said John Podesta, a former adviser to President Barack Obama who lobbied for the targeted use of executive action in Obama’s second term when congressional Republicans blocked his environmental and immigration proposals.

“I think Trump sort of views Article II of the Constitution” — which details the powers of the presidency — “as making him omnipotent, and now he’s going to find out that except for cutting taxes, and maybe some of the foreign policy stuff, very little will actually last,” he added.

One former senior Trump aide, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, agreed. “Very little of what Trump did was done to ensure permanence. At the pace Biden is moving, everything Trump did will be gone by the time the sun rises on Monday — except his judicial appointments.”

The list of Biden executive orders aimed at rolling back Trump initiatives includes: restoring the country’s commitment to funding the World Health Organization; rejoining the Paris climate accords; reversing Trump’s ban on immigration from several predominantly Muslim nations and halting immigration enforcement in the country’s interior; stopping construction of the border wall; ensuring protections for LGBTQ workers undermined by Trump appointees; killing the Keystone XL pipeline permit; reimposing the ban on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; imposing new ethics rules and tossing out Trump’s “1776 Commission” report.

The effort has its roots in a less focused campaign at the start of the Trump administration. Four years ago, during the transition, a Trump aide printed out the detailed checklist of Obama’s campaign promises from the official White House website with the goal, never quite achieved, of reversing every single one.

Trump’s allies said his stewardship of the economy, even after the pandemic, was his greatest legacy, an opinion shared by his aides who put together a list of about 1,000 accomplishments that has subsequently been scrubbed from the White House website.

“Before the China Virus invaded our shores, we built the world’s most prosperous economy,” it begins. “America gained 7 million new jobs — more than three times government experts’ projections. Middle-Class family income increased nearly $6,000 — more than five times the gains during the entire previous administration.”

The list is light on legislative achievements. Trump, who did not take the time to learn the levers of power, did not consistently engage with congressional leaders, beyond basking in their support or making last-minute demands to increase funding for his wall by threatening to scuttle big budget deals.

While Trump lorded over Twitter, important lessons for him lurked, unwatched, on YouTube.

In a remarkable interview 10 days before his death in 1973, Lyndon B. Johnson, the most skilled legislator-president in the country’s recent history, explained why he had resisted the temptation to ram through landmark civil rights reforms by using executive orders.

Pursuing a legislative path was tougher and led to an uncertain outcome, but he wanted his reforms to endure, Johnson explained, and to do so they required the stubborn force of law.

Black leaders “wanted me to issue an executive order and proclaim this by presidential edict,” said Johnson, speaking of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 — an approach that, he concluded, “would not be very effective if the Congress had not legislated.”

If Trump needed a more contemporary lesson than Johnson’s, he only had to look back to his predecessor, Obama, who endured a protracted and messy process to pass the Affordable Care Act — a law that has endured, albeit weakened, despite Trump’s repeated efforts to destroy it.

For the first two years of his administration, Trump enjoyed majorities in both houses of Congress, affording him the opportunity to legislate on the issues he campaigned on: tightening immigration restrictions and building a border wall, repealing Obamacare, and restoring vitality to the economically ravaged Midwestern heartland.

But he never seriously tried to build consensus on immigration reform and opted instead for acting unilaterally on the issue, drafting a poorly executed ban on visitors from several Muslim and African countries during his first days in office, to the chagrin of seasoned counselors, like his first White House counsel, Donald McGahn, former aides said.

Instead, Trump became enthralled with the pageantry of issuing the executive orders, turning quotidian signing sessions into televised demonstrations of his power.

At the same time, Trump was frittering away opportunities to create a durable legislative legacy, walking away, without explanation, from initiatives like an ambitious infrastructure package that might have drawn broad bipartisan consensus and altered the trajectory of his presidency.

Two bills broke that mold — the tax cuts and the 2018 criminal justice reform bill, a measure that enjoyed strong support in both parties and became a main theme of the Republican National Convention when he was seeking to win the support of Black voters.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader — who has soured on Trump since the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol — was responsible for a more enduring element of his presidency: the clever use of congressional riders to repeal some agency regulations, making them harder to repeal than the thousands of quickly reversible rule changes implemented by the president’s appointees.

Whether Biden will also become overly reliant on executive action remains an open question. But as a guide, some on Biden’s team are using a 140-page law review article from 2001 by Justice Elena Kagan of the Supreme Court, then a professor at Harvard Law School, which charts a middle course, supporting the use of executive power as a tool for regulatory efforts but not as a license to unilaterally dictate every action taken by presidential subordinates.

Two officials involved in the rollout of Biden’s orders said that his use of executive decrees was not a reflection of an expansive view of executive authority but rather a response to the pandemic and the damage done by Trump’s policies.

They said his use of executive actions would diminish when congressional action picked up.

On Friday, Brian Deese, a Biden economic adviser, said the administration’s top priority was passing a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, but stopgaps included in the orders, like a potential minimum wage hike for federal employees and increased food assistance, were needed to keep the country from falling into “a very serious economic hole.”

But Biden seems to know that the path to completing his agenda runs through Congress, particularly the Senate, where he served for nearly four decades.

WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump boarded the plane to Florida on Wednesday, he cast his achievements as sweeping, ambitious and, above all, enduring — a few hours before his successor began demolishing that legacy at breakneck speed.

WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump boarded the plane to Florida on Wednesday, he cast his achievements as sweeping, ambitious and, above all, enduring — a few hours before his successor began demolishing that legacy at breakneck speed. “We’ve accomplished so much together,” Trump told a crowd of his supporters, ticking off what he believed to be his top policy successes on immigration, deregulation, veterans affairs and taxes — adding, “We were not a regular administration.” The passage of Trump’s 2017 tax bill and his appointment of three justices to the Supreme Court are clearly his most enduring accomplishments. But many of Trump’s other signature actions were enacted via executive fiat, making them especially vulnerable to rapid reversal the same way — by an executive order. President Joe Biden, a more experienced Washington operator, is not using the process to build his legacy, as Trump tried to do, but as a means of erasing Trump’s. In his first 48 hours in office, Biden cranked out about 30 executive orders, of which 14 target a broad range of Trump executive mandates, with the remainder aimed at implementing emergency measures intended to deal with the pandemic and the economic crisis. “I don’t think it’s fair to say that most of what Trump did can be undone in an afternoon. It’s going to take at least 10 days,” said John Podesta, a former adviser to President Barack Obama who lobbied for the targeted use of executive action in Obama’s second term when congressional Republicans blocked his environmental and immigration proposals. “I think Trump sort of views Article II of the Constitution” — which details the powers of the presidency — “as making him omnipotent, and now he’s going to find out that except for cutting taxes, and maybe some of the foreign policy stuff, very little will actually last,” he added. One former senior Trump aide, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, agreed. “Very little of what Trump did was done to ensure permanence. At the pace Biden is moving, everything Trump did will be gone by the time the sun rises on Monday — except his judicial appointments.” The list of Biden executive orders aimed at rolling back Trump initiatives includes: restoring the country’s commitment to funding the World Health Organization; rejoining the Paris climate accords; reversing Trump’s ban on immigration from several predominantly Muslim nations and halting immigration enforcement in the country’s interior; stopping construction of the border wall; ensuring protections for LGBTQ workers undermined by Trump appointees; killing the Keystone XL pipeline permit; reimposing the ban on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; imposing new ethics rules and tossing out Trump’s “1776 Commission” report. The effort has its roots in a less focused campaign at the start of the Trump administration. Four years ago, during the transition, a Trump aide printed out the detailed checklist of Obama’s campaign promises from the official White House website with the goal, never quite achieved, of reversing every single one. Trump’s allies said his stewardship of the economy, even after the pandemic, was his greatest legacy, an opinion shared by his aides who put together a list of about 1,000 accomplishments that has subsequently been scrubbed from the White House website. “Before the China Virus invaded our shores, we built the world’s most prosperous economy,” it begins. “America gained 7 million new jobs — more than three times government experts’ projections. Middle-Class family income increased nearly $6,000 — more than five times the gains during the entire previous administration.” The list is light on legislative achievements. Trump, who did not take the time to learn the levers of power, did not consistently engage with congressional leaders, beyond basking in their support or making last-minute demands to increase funding for his wall by threatening to scuttle big budget deals. While Trump lorded over Twitter, important lessons for him lurked, unwatched, on YouTube. In a remarkable interview 10 days before his death in 1973, Lyndon B. Johnson, the most skilled legislator-president in the country’s recent history, explained why he had resisted the temptation to ram through landmark civil rights reforms by using executive orders. Pursuing a legislative path was tougher and led to an uncertain outcome, but he wanted his reforms to endure, Johnson explained, and to do so they required the stubborn force of law. Black leaders “wanted me to issue an executive order and proclaim this by presidential edict,” said Johnson, speaking of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 — an approach that, he concluded, “would not be very effective if the Congress had not legislated.” If Trump needed a more contemporary lesson than Johnson’s, he only had to look back to his predecessor, Obama, who endured a protracted and messy process to pass the Affordable Care Act — a law that has endured, albeit weakened, despite Trump’s repeated efforts to destroy it. For the first two years of his administration, Trump enjoyed majorities in both houses of Congress, affording him the opportunity to legislate on the issues he campaigned on: tightening immigration restrictions and building a border wall, repealing Obamacare, and restoring vitality to the economically ravaged Midwestern heartland. But he never seriously tried to build consensus on immigration reform and opted instead for acting unilaterally on the issue, drafting a poorly executed ban on visitors from several Muslim and African countries during his first days in office, to the chagrin of seasoned counselors, like his first White House counsel, Donald McGahn, former aides said. Instead, Trump became enthralled with the pageantry of issuing the executive orders, turning quotidian signing sessions into televised demonstrations of his power. At the same time, Trump was frittering away opportunities to create a durable legislative legacy, walking away, without explanation, from initiatives like an ambitious infrastructure package that might have drawn broad bipartisan consensus and altered the trajectory of his presidency. Two bills broke that mold — the tax cuts and the 2018 criminal justice reform bill, a measure that enjoyed strong support in both parties and became a main theme of the Republican National Convention when he was seeking to win the support of Black voters. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader — who has soured on Trump since the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol — was responsible for a more enduring element of his presidency: the clever use of congressional riders to repeal some agency regulations, making them harder to repeal than the thousands of quickly reversible rule changes implemented by the president’s appointees. Whether Biden will also become overly reliant on executive action remains an open question. But as a guide, some on Biden’s team are using a 140-page law review article from 2001 by Justice Elena Kagan of the Supreme Court, then a professor at Harvard Law School, which charts a middle course, supporting the use of executive power as a tool for regulatory efforts but not as a license to unilaterally dictate every action taken by presidential subordinates. Two officials involved in the rollout of Biden’s orders said that his use of executive decrees was not a reflection of an expansive view of executive authority but rather a response to the pandemic and the damage done by Trump’s policies. They said his use of executive actions would diminish when congressional action picked up. On Friday, Brian Deese, a Biden economic adviser, said the administration’s top priority was passing a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, but stopgaps included in the orders, like a potential minimum wage hike for federal employees and increased food assistance, were needed to keep the country from falling into “a very serious economic hole.” But Biden seems to know that the path to completing his agenda runs through Congress, particularly the Senate, where he served for nearly four decades.

The lure of executive orders: Easy to implement, but just as easy to cancel

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