Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Saturday that the&nbsp;United States is ending decades-old restrictions governing official contacts with Taiwan,&nbsp;a move likely to anger China and increase tensions between Beijing and Washington in the waning days of President Donald Trump's presidency.

In a statement, Pompeo said that for several decades the State Department had created complex internal restrictions on interactions with Taiwanese counterparts by American diplomats, service members and other officials.

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"The United States government took these actions unilaterally, in an attempt to appease the Communist regime in Beijing," Pompeo said in a statement.

"Today I am announcing that I am lifting all of these self-imposed restrictions," he added.

He said the "complex internal restrictions" on contacts with Taipei by diplomats, service members and others had been imposed "in an attempt to appease the Communist regime in Beijing."

"The United States government maintains relationships with unofficial partners around the world, and Taiwan is no exception. ... Today’s statement recognizes that the US-Taiwan relationship need not, and should not, be shackled by self-imposed restrictions of our permanent bureaucracy," Pompeo said.

Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/taiwan-not-part-of-china-says-mike-pompeo-beijing-fumes-342920">Taiwan not part of China, says Mike Pompeo; Beijing fumes</a>

China claims democratic and separately ruled Taiwan as its own territory, and regularly describe Taiwan as the most sensitive issue in its ties with the United States.

While the United States, like most countries, has no official relations with Taiwan, the Trump administration has ramped up backing for the island country, with arms sales and laws to help Taiwan deal with pressure from China.

The declaration may be more symbolic than substantive in effect, but it nonetheless appears certain to anger China, which sees Taiwan as its own territory.

It comes in the final weeks of the Donald Trump administration, and at a time of already heightened tensions between Beijing and both Washington and Taipei.&nbsp;

It was not clear what the change means in practice, with Pompeo saying executive branch communications with Taiwan will be handled by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which is owned by the US government and serves as the de facto embassy.

The shift comes after a year of mounting US-Chinese tensions.&nbsp;

Pompeo, who has taken an increasingly hard-line stance toward China and identified it as the principal long-term threat faced by the United States, has repeatedly used the red-button Taiwan issue to push back against Beijing.

In November, he appeared to call into question the long-standing US&nbsp;"one-China policy" by stating in a radio interview that Taiwan "has not been a part of China," causing Beijing to warn that behaviour that undermined "China's core interests and interferes with China's domestic affairs will be met with a resolute counterattack."

The United States is Taiwan's strongest international backer and arms supplier and is obliged to help provide it with the means to defend itself under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.

Clash over envoy's visit

Trump has sent multiple senior officials to Taipei over the last year, even as he clashed with China on a host of issues, ranging from its handling of the coronavirus pandemic to disputes over trade, security and human rights.

Pompeo's statement also came just two days after China warned the United States it would pay a "heavy price" if its United Nations ambassador, Kelly Craft, made good on plans to travel to Taiwan on Wednesday.

Beijing opposes any diplomatic recognition of Taiwan.

Craft's scheduled three-day visit will come just a week before Joe Biden's inauguration as US president, adding to a string of diplomatic headaches facing the incoming administration.

"The United States will pay a heavy price for its wrong action," the Chinese mission to the UN said in a statement responding to Craft's planned trip.

"China strongly urges the United States to stop its crazy provocation, stop creating new difficulties for China-US relations... and stop going further on the wrong path."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Saturday that the United States is ending decades-old restrictions governing official contacts with Taiwan, a move likely to anger China and increase tensions between Beijing and Washington in the waning days of President Donald Trump's presidency.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Saturday that the United States is ending decades-old restrictions governing official contacts with Taiwan, a move likely to anger China and increase tensions between Beijing and Washington in the waning days of President Donald Trump's presidency. In a statement, Pompeo said that for several decades the State Department had created complex internal restrictions on interactions with Taiwanese counterparts by American diplomats, service members and other officials. "The United States government took these actions unilaterally, in an attempt to appease the Communist regime in Beijing," Pompeo said in a statement. "Today I am announcing that I am lifting all of these self-imposed restrictions," he added. He said the "complex internal restrictions" on contacts with Taipei by diplomats, service members and others had been imposed "in an attempt to appease the Communist regime in Beijing." "The United States government maintains relationships with unofficial partners around the world, and Taiwan is no exception. ... Today’s statement recognizes that the US-Taiwan relationship need not, and should not, be shackled by self-imposed restrictions of our permanent bureaucracy," Pompeo said. Also read: Taiwan not part of China, says Mike Pompeo; Beijing fumes China claims democratic and separately ruled Taiwan as its own territory, and regularly describe Taiwan as the most sensitive issue in its ties with the United States. While the United States, like most countries, has no official relations with Taiwan, the Trump administration has ramped up backing for the island country, with arms sales and laws to help Taiwan deal with pressure from China. The declaration may be more symbolic than substantive in effect, but it nonetheless appears certain to anger China, which sees Taiwan as its own territory. It comes in the final weeks of the Donald Trump administration, and at a time of already heightened tensions between Beijing and both Washington and Taipei. It was not clear what the change means in practice, with Pompeo saying executive branch communications with Taiwan will be handled by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which is owned by the US government and serves as the de facto embassy. The shift comes after a year of mounting US-Chinese tensions. Pompeo, who has taken an increasingly hard-line stance toward China and identified it as the principal long-term threat faced by the United States, has repeatedly used the red-button Taiwan issue to push back against Beijing. In November, he appeared to call into question the long-standing US "one-China policy" by stating in a radio interview that Taiwan "has not been a part of China," causing Beijing to warn that behaviour that undermined "China's core interests and interferes with China's domestic affairs will be met with a resolute counterattack." The United States is Taiwan's strongest international backer and arms supplier and is obliged to help provide it with the means to defend itself under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. Clash over envoy's visit Trump has sent multiple senior officials to Taipei over the last year, even as he clashed with China on a host of issues, ranging from its handling of the coronavirus pandemic to disputes over trade, security and human rights. Pompeo's statement also came just two days after China warned the United States it would pay a "heavy price" if its United Nations ambassador, Kelly Craft, made good on plans to travel to Taiwan on Wednesday. Beijing opposes any diplomatic recognition of Taiwan. Craft's scheduled three-day visit will come just a week before Joe Biden's inauguration as US president, adding to a string of diplomatic headaches facing the incoming administration. "The United States will pay a heavy price for its wrong action," the Chinese mission to the UN said in a statement responding to Craft's planned trip. "China strongly urges the United States to stop its crazy provocation, stop creating new difficulties for China-US relations... and stop going further on the wrong path."

In a move likely to anger China, Pompeo lifts restrictions on US-Taiwan relationship

Barely 11 months after President Donald Trump was acquitted in a momentous Senate trial, the nation now confronts the possibility of yet another impeachment battle in the twilight of his presidency, a final showdown that will test the boundaries of politics, accountability and the Constitution.

No president has ever been impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors twice. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was weighing bringing a new article of impeachment to the House floor as early as Monday charging Trump with “incitement of insurrection” for encouraging the mob that ransacked the Capitol to disrupt the solemn process finishing his own election defeat.

If Pelosi proceeds, the House could approve the article in days, this time with the support of even some disaffected Republicans, sending it to the Senate for a new trial unlike any of the previous three in American history.

While it seemed unlikely that 17 Senate Republicans would join Democrats for the two-thirds majority necessary for conviction, the anger at Trump was so palpable that party leaders said privately it was not out of the question.

The fresh bid to remove Trump from office and strip him of his power without waiting until his term expires Jan. 20 capped a traumatic week that rattled Washington more than any since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as National Guard troops stood watch over the Capitol and downtown businesses remained boarded up.

Emotions were raw. The White House was in meltdown. The military was on edge. The Cabinet was in revolt. The Republican Party was in civil war. And an unrepentant president was in hiding, stripped of his social media bullhorn, ostracized by many allies and at odds even with his staff and loyal vice president.

The storming of the Capitol by Trump’s supporters that left five people dead, among them a police officer, transformed the politics of the city in ways that were still hard to measure. A new impeachment would be more than a do-over of the drive that failed last year because this time the offense was not a phone call to a foreign leader captured on the dry pages of a transcript but the siege of American democracy played out live on television for all to see.

“Insurrectionists incited by Mr. Trump attacked our nation’s Capitol to stop Congress from accepting the Electoral College results,” said Rep. Ted Lieu of California, who began drafting the article of impeachment with Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island while sheltering during the Capitol takeover and was later joined by Jamie Raskin of Maryland. “People died. We cannot just issue sternly worded press releases as a response. Unless Trump resigns, Congress must impeach to hold him accountable.”

Yet the timing of such an effort, with just 11 days until Trump is to leave office, scrambled the equation. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, indicated that under Senate rules a trial could not begin until Jan. 19, the day before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, meaning the process would not advance quickly enough to avert any feared dangerous moves in Trump’s last days in power.

That raised the prospect of conducting a trial after Trump vacates the White House, overshadowing the opening days of Biden’s administration at a time when he would like to turn the page and confront crises like the coronavirus pandemic, which has grown even deadlier while attention has focused on Washington’s political wars. A nationally televised trial could dominate discussion and would prevent other business in the Senate.

“If the House does send articles of impeachment over, they really get the Biden administration off to a bad start,” Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said in an interview Saturday. “Whether that’s the first 10 days or the first 20 days of the Biden administration, it’s certainly not how you’d want to start your presidency off.”

Some of Trump’s critics argued that it would be important to hold a trial even if he is already out of power in order to bar him from ever seeking office again, a penalty envisioned by the Constitution — and perhaps more important, to render a verdict condemning his actions for the sake of history.

“We’ve never had to consider even the possibility of impeaching a president twice, or in the final days of his presidency,” said Michael J. Gerhardt, a constitutional scholar at the University of North Carolina who testified in Trump’s first impeachment and favors another trial. “But we’ve never had a president before who’s encouraging sedition as Trump has done in his last few days in office.”

Yet even some of the president’s harshest critics worried that a last-minute impeachment and an overtime trial could help him rally supporters by presenting himself as a victim not a villain, allowing him to turn the focus from his own actions to those of his opponents.

“It historically will be important,” said Andrew Weissmann, who was a deputy to special counsel Robert Mueller and recently published a book, “Where Law Ends,” expressing frustration that the president was not held fully accountable for his actions during the Russia investigation. “But the danger is he is acquitted and the momentum of condemnation now is lost. Plus, until we change the mentality of his base, we have not gotten at the underlying issue.”

At the moment, a strong majority of Americans holds Trump responsible for the attack, with 63% saying he has a good amount or even a great deal of blame, according to a PBS Newshour-Marist poll. But when asked whether steps should be taken to remove him from office as a result, Americans retreated to their partisan corners, with 48% saying yes and 49% saying no.

A Reuters-Ipsos survey found that 57% of Americans want Trump to leave office right away. But most of them favored removal by Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet through the disability clause of the 25th Amendment, with just 14% calling for another impeachment.

Trump has few defenders among Republican officeholders for exhorting the crowd before it marched on the Capitol and even some in the conservative news media turned on him, most notably The Wall Street Journal editorial page, which called his actions “impeachable” and urged him to resign.

Sen. Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania, told Fox News on Saturday that “the president committed impeachable offenses,” joining at least three other Senate Republicans who have called on Trump to resign, expressed openness to impeachment or voted for conviction last year.

But in the face of impeachment threats, some Republicans began taking up the fight against his opponents again. They may not like Trump or believe it is politically viable to be seen as excusing his behavior but many are still energized by battling his enemies on the left.

On Sean Hannity’s Fox News program Friday night, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was accosted by Trump supporters at an airport for opposing the president’s efforts to overturn the election, was suddenly back to castigating Trump’s rivals and talking about Hunter Biden.

Graham focused on Trump’s video message Thursday calling for healing and reconciliation, a video the president privately expressed regret for making. “Instead of trying to match what President Trump has done, the radical Democrats are talking about another impeachment that will destroy the country even further,” Graham said.

Still, Trump might have a challenge finding lawyers to defend him in any trial. Jay Sekulow, who was a leader of the defense team in the impeachment trial last year, called the idea of a second impeachment a “gigantic mistake” by Democrats during a radio show, but has not participated in Trump’s legal efforts to overturn Biden’s election and did not respond to a message asking if he would represent the president again. Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel who teamed up with Sekulow, has been so upset about the Capitol attack that he has considered resigning.

One of the few members of his defense team who said he would stick with the president was Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School emeritus professor who had a secondary role last time. In an email Saturday, he said he would defend Trump on free expression grounds.

“Trump’s speech, whatever one may think of it on the merits, is clearly protected by the First Amendment,” he said. “To impeach him for a constitutionally protected speech would violate both the First Amendment and the constitutional criteria for impeachment and would do enduring damage to the Constitution.”

Barely 11 months after President Donald Trump was acquitted in a momentous Senate trial, the nation now confronts the possibility of yet another impeachment battle in the twilight of his presidency, a final showdown that will test the boundaries of politics, accountability and the Constitution.

Barely 11 months after President Donald Trump was acquitted in a momentous Senate trial, the nation now confronts the possibility of yet another impeachment battle in the twilight of his presidency, a final showdown that will test the boundaries of politics, accountability and the Constitution. No president has ever been impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors twice. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was weighing bringing a new article of impeachment to the House floor as early as Monday charging Trump with “incitement of insurrection” for encouraging the mob that ransacked the Capitol to disrupt the solemn process finishing his own election defeat. If Pelosi proceeds, the House could approve the article in days, this time with the support of even some disaffected Republicans, sending it to the Senate for a new trial unlike any of the previous three in American history. While it seemed unlikely that 17 Senate Republicans would join Democrats for the two-thirds majority necessary for conviction, the anger at Trump was so palpable that party leaders said privately it was not out of the question. The fresh bid to remove Trump from office and strip him of his power without waiting until his term expires Jan. 20 capped a traumatic week that rattled Washington more than any since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as National Guard troops stood watch over the Capitol and downtown businesses remained boarded up. Emotions were raw. The White House was in meltdown. The military was on edge. The Cabinet was in revolt. The Republican Party was in civil war. And an unrepentant president was in hiding, stripped of his social media bullhorn, ostracized by many allies and at odds even with his staff and loyal vice president. The storming of the Capitol by Trump’s supporters that left five people dead, among them a police officer, transformed the politics of the city in ways that were still hard to measure. A new impeachment would be more than a do-over of the drive that failed last year because this time the offense was not a phone call to a foreign leader captured on the dry pages of a transcript but the siege of American democracy played out live on television for all to see. “Insurrectionists incited by Mr. Trump attacked our nation’s Capitol to stop Congress from accepting the Electoral College results,” said Rep. Ted Lieu of California, who began drafting the article of impeachment with Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island while sheltering during the Capitol takeover and was later joined by Jamie Raskin of Maryland. “People died. We cannot just issue sternly worded press releases as a response. Unless Trump resigns, Congress must impeach to hold him accountable.” Yet the timing of such an effort, with just 11 days until Trump is to leave office, scrambled the equation. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, indicated that under Senate rules a trial could not begin until Jan. 19, the day before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, meaning the process would not advance quickly enough to avert any feared dangerous moves in Trump’s last days in power. That raised the prospect of conducting a trial after Trump vacates the White House, overshadowing the opening days of Biden’s administration at a time when he would like to turn the page and confront crises like the coronavirus pandemic, which has grown even deadlier while attention has focused on Washington’s political wars. A nationally televised trial could dominate discussion and would prevent other business in the Senate. “If the House does send articles of impeachment over, they really get the Biden administration off to a bad start,” Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said in an interview Saturday. “Whether that’s the first 10 days or the first 20 days of the Biden administration, it’s certainly not how you’d want to start your presidency off.” Some of Trump’s critics argued that it would be important to hold a trial even if he is already out of power in order to bar him from ever seeking office again, a penalty envisioned by the Constitution — and perhaps more important, to render a verdict condemning his actions for the sake of history. “We’ve never had to consider even the possibility of impeaching a president twice, or in the final days of his presidency,” said Michael J. Gerhardt, a constitutional scholar at the University of North Carolina who testified in Trump’s first impeachment and favors another trial. “But we’ve never had a president before who’s encouraging sedition as Trump has done in his last few days in office.” Yet even some of the president’s harshest critics worried that a last-minute impeachment and an overtime trial could help him rally supporters by presenting himself as a victim not a villain, allowing him to turn the focus from his own actions to those of his opponents. “It historically will be important,” said Andrew Weissmann, who was a deputy to special counsel Robert Mueller and recently published a book, “Where Law Ends,” expressing frustration that the president was not held fully accountable for his actions during the Russia investigation. “But the danger is he is acquitted and the momentum of condemnation now is lost. Plus, until we change the mentality of his base, we have not gotten at the underlying issue.” At the moment, a strong majority of Americans holds Trump responsible for the attack, with 63% saying he has a good amount or even a great deal of blame, according to a PBS Newshour-Marist poll. But when asked whether steps should be taken to remove him from office as a result, Americans retreated to their partisan corners, with 48% saying yes and 49% saying no. A Reuters-Ipsos survey found that 57% of Americans want Trump to leave office right away. But most of them favored removal by Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet through the disability clause of the 25th Amendment, with just 14% calling for another impeachment. Trump has few defenders among Republican officeholders for exhorting the crowd before it marched on the Capitol and even some in the conservative news media turned on him, most notably The Wall Street Journal editorial page, which called his actions “impeachable” and urged him to resign. Sen. Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania, told Fox News on Saturday that “the president committed impeachable offenses,” joining at least three other Senate Republicans who have called on Trump to resign, expressed openness to impeachment or voted for conviction last year. But in the face of impeachment threats, some Republicans began taking up the fight against his opponents again. They may not like Trump or believe it is politically viable to be seen as excusing his behavior but many are still energized by battling his enemies on the left. On Sean Hannity’s Fox News program Friday night, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was accosted by Trump supporters at an airport for opposing the president’s efforts to overturn the election, was suddenly back to castigating Trump’s rivals and talking about Hunter Biden. Graham focused on Trump’s video message Thursday calling for healing and reconciliation, a video the president privately expressed regret for making. “Instead of trying to match what President Trump has done, the radical Democrats are talking about another impeachment that will destroy the country even further,” Graham said. Still, Trump might have a challenge finding lawyers to defend him in any trial. Jay Sekulow, who was a leader of the defense team in the impeachment trial last year, called the idea of a second impeachment a “gigantic mistake” by Democrats during a radio show, but has not participated in Trump’s legal efforts to overturn Biden’s election and did not respond to a message asking if he would represent the president again. Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel who teamed up with Sekulow, has been so upset about the Capitol attack that he has considered resigning. One of the few members of his defense team who said he would stick with the president was Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School emeritus professor who had a secondary role last time. In an email Saturday, he said he would defend Trump on free expression grounds. “Trump’s speech, whatever one may think of it on the merits, is clearly protected by the First Amendment,” he said. “To impeach him for a constitutionally protected speech would violate both the First Amendment and the constitutional criteria for impeachment and would do enduring damage to the Constitution.”

For Trump and the nation, a final test of accountability

WASHINGTON — When Simon &amp;amp; Schuster canceled its plans this week to publish Sen. Josh Hawley’s book, he called the action “a direct assault on the First Amendment.”

And when Twitter permanently banned President Donald Trump’s account Friday, his family and his supporters said similar things. “We are living Orwell’s 1984,” Donald Trump Jr. said — on Twitter. “Free-speech no longer exists in America.”

The companies’ decisions may have been unwise, scholars who study the First Amendment said, but they were perfectly lawful. That is because the First Amendment prohibits government censorship and does not apply to decisions made by private businesses.

It is certainly possible to violate the values embodied in the First Amendment without violating the First Amendment itself. But the basic legal question could hardly be more straightforward, said RonNell Andersen Jones, a law professor at the University of Utah. And, she said, it should not have been lost on Hawley, who graduated from Yale Law School and served as a law clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts.

“It’s become popular — even among those who plainly know better — to label all matters restricting anyone’s speech as a ‘First Amendment issue,’” she said. “But the First Amendment limits only government actors, and neither a social media company nor a book publisher is the government. Indeed, they enjoy their own First Amendment rights not to have the government require them to associate with speech when they prefer not to do so.”

But many in the legal community were nonetheless uneasy about the developments, which underscored the enormous power of a handful of social media companies that are largely insulated from accountability and may change positions on what speech is acceptable as executives come and go.

“I want a wide range of ideas, even those I loathe, to be heard, and I think Twitter especially holds a concerning degree of power over public discourse,” said Gregory Magarian, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

But Magarian said the president and Hawley were in particularly poor positions to complain.

“The First Amendment doesn’t require any private forum to publish anyone’s speech,” he said. “Neither Twitter nor Simon &amp;amp; Schuster has any obligations under the First Amendment.” He added: “Any suggestion that people like Trump and Hawley, and the viewpoints they espouse, will ever lack meaningful access to public attention is ludicrous. We should worry about private power over speech, but presidents and senators are the last speakers we need to worry about.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, too, said the free-speech interests involved in suspending Trump’s Twitter account were complicated.

“We understand the desire to permanently suspend him now, but it should concern everyone when companies like Facebook and Twitter wield the unchecked power to remove people from platforms that have become indispensable for the speech of billions,” said Kate Ruane, an ACLU lawyer. “President Trump can turn to his press team or Fox News to communicate with the public, but others — like the many Black, brown and LGBTQ activists who have been censored by social media companies — will not have that luxury.”

Hawley’s book, titled “The Tyranny of Big Tech,” was to have been published in June. In canceling it, Simon &amp;amp; Schuster said that “it will always be our mission to amplify a variety of voices and viewpoints” but that Hawley had crossed a line in light of “the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place on Wednesday in Washington.”

“We take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens,” the company said, “and cannot support Sen. Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.”

The publisher was free to make that decision, legal experts said, but that does not mean it was the right one.

As it happens, the Supreme Court may decide as soon as Monday whether to hear a case about Trump’s Twitter account, one that nicely illustrates some of the distinctions raised by the recent developments. Lower courts have ruled that Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking users from his account.

Since Trump is a government official who used the account to conduct official business, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, in New York, ruled in 2019 that the account was a public forum from which he was powerless to exclude people based on their viewpoints.

“We conclude that the evidence of the official nature of the account is overwhelming,” Judge Barrington Parker wrote for the court. “We also conclude that once the president has chosen a platform and opened up its interactive space to millions of users and participants, he may not selectively exclude those whose views he disagrees with.”

Had the account been private, Parker wrote, Trump could have blocked whomever he wanted — for instance, the user who observed that “the same guy who doesn’t proofread his Twitter handles the nuclear button.”

But since he used the account in his official role as a government official, he was subject to the First Amendment, which prohibits discrimination based on viewpoints.

Jameel Jaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which sued Trump over his handling of his account, explained the distinction.

“We sued the president, not Twitter, and this makes all the difference, legally,” he said. “Government actors have to comply with the First Amendment, but private corporations don’t.”

“As a result,” Jaffer said, “the president can’t block people from his social media accounts based on their political views, but Twitter can ban people from its platform for pretty much whatever reasons it wants to. Reasonable people can disagree about whether Twitter was right to ban Trump, but there’s no question it was legally entitled to do it.”

Internet platforms should voluntarily embrace First Amendment values, he said, and generally allow citizens to assess the statements of politicians for themselves. But there are limits, he said, and incitement to violence is among them.

“To take an account down in these circumstances is not an affront to free speech, as some have suggested,” Jaffer said. “To the contrary, it’s the responsible exercise of a First Amendment right.”

Twitter’s permanent suspension of Trump may make the pending case moot, leaving Supreme Court jurisprudence in this area a work in progress.

In 2017, for instance, the court considered the constitutionality of a North Carolina law that barred registered sex offenders from using Facebook, Twitter and similar services in Packingham v. North Carolina. When the case was argued, the justices discussed just how thoroughly social media had transformed American civic discourse.

Justice Elena Kagan said that Trump, every governor and every member of Congress had Twitter accounts.

“So this has become a crucially important channel of political communication,” she said. “And a person couldn’t go onto those sites and find out what these members of our government are thinking or saying or doing.”

Justice Samuel Alito said, a little incredulously, “I know there are people who think that life is not possible without Twitter and Facebook.”

In the end, the court unanimously struck down the law, though the justices could not agree on a rationale. Writing for the majority in his characteristically cryptic manner, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired in 2018, said the internet was poised to transform First Amendment jurisprudence.

“While we now may be coming to the realization that the cyberage is a revolution of historic proportions, we cannot appreciate yet its full dimensions and vast potential to alter how we think, express ourselves and define who we want to be,” he wrote. “The forces and directions of the internet are so new, so protean and so far-reaching that courts must be conscious that what they say today might be obsolete tomorrow.”

WASHINGTON — When Simon &amp; Schuster canceled its plans this week to publish Sen. Josh Hawley’s book, he called the action “a direct assault on the First Amendment.

WASHINGTON — When Simon &amp; Schuster canceled its plans this week to publish Sen. Josh Hawley’s book, he called the action “a direct assault on the First Amendment.” And when Twitter permanently banned President Donald Trump’s account Friday, his family and his supporters said similar things. “We are living Orwell’s 1984,” Donald Trump Jr. said — on Twitter. “Free-speech no longer exists in America.” The companies’ decisions may have been unwise, scholars who study the First Amendment said, but they were perfectly lawful. That is because the First Amendment prohibits government censorship and does not apply to decisions made by private businesses. It is certainly possible to violate the values embodied in the First Amendment without violating the First Amendment itself. But the basic legal question could hardly be more straightforward, said RonNell Andersen Jones, a law professor at the University of Utah. And, she said, it should not have been lost on Hawley, who graduated from Yale Law School and served as a law clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts. “It’s become popular — even among those who plainly know better — to label all matters restricting anyone’s speech as a ‘First Amendment issue,’” she said. “But the First Amendment limits only government actors, and neither a social media company nor a book publisher is the government. Indeed, they enjoy their own First Amendment rights not to have the government require them to associate with speech when they prefer not to do so.” But many in the legal community were nonetheless uneasy about the developments, which underscored the enormous power of a handful of social media companies that are largely insulated from accountability and may change positions on what speech is acceptable as executives come and go. “I want a wide range of ideas, even those I loathe, to be heard, and I think Twitter especially holds a concerning degree of power over public discourse,” said Gregory Magarian, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. But Magarian said the president and Hawley were in particularly poor positions to complain. “The First Amendment doesn’t require any private forum to publish anyone’s speech,” he said. “Neither Twitter nor Simon &amp; Schuster has any obligations under the First Amendment.” He added: “Any suggestion that people like Trump and Hawley, and the viewpoints they espouse, will ever lack meaningful access to public attention is ludicrous. We should worry about private power over speech, but presidents and senators are the last speakers we need to worry about.” The American Civil Liberties Union, too, said the free-speech interests involved in suspending Trump’s Twitter account were complicated. “We understand the desire to permanently suspend him now, but it should concern everyone when companies like Facebook and Twitter wield the unchecked power to remove people from platforms that have become indispensable for the speech of billions,” said Kate Ruane, an ACLU lawyer. “President Trump can turn to his press team or Fox News to communicate with the public, but others — like the many Black, brown and LGBTQ activists who have been censored by social media companies — will not have that luxury.” Hawley’s book, titled “The Tyranny of Big Tech,” was to have been published in June. In canceling it, Simon &amp; Schuster said that “it will always be our mission to amplify a variety of voices and viewpoints” but that Hawley had crossed a line in light of “the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place on Wednesday in Washington.” “We take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens,” the company said, “and cannot support Sen. Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.” The publisher was free to make that decision, legal experts said, but that does not mean it was the right one. As it happens, the Supreme Court may decide as soon as Monday whether to hear a case about Trump’s Twitter account, one that nicely illustrates some of the distinctions raised by the recent developments. Lower courts have ruled that Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking users from his account. Since Trump is a government official who used the account to conduct official business, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, in New York, ruled in 2019 that the account was a public forum from which he was powerless to exclude people based on their viewpoints. “We conclude that the evidence of the official nature of the account is overwhelming,” Judge Barrington Parker wrote for the court. “We also conclude that once the president has chosen a platform and opened up its interactive space to millions of users and participants, he may not selectively exclude those whose views he disagrees with.” Had the account been private, Parker wrote, Trump could have blocked whomever he wanted — for instance, the user who observed that “the same guy who doesn’t proofread his Twitter handles the nuclear button.” But since he used the account in his official role as a government official, he was subject to the First Amendment, which prohibits discrimination based on viewpoints. Jameel Jaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which sued Trump over his handling of his account, explained the distinction. “We sued the president, not Twitter, and this makes all the difference, legally,” he said. “Government actors have to comply with the First Amendment, but private corporations don’t.” “As a result,” Jaffer said, “the president can’t block people from his social media accounts based on their political views, but Twitter can ban people from its platform for pretty much whatever reasons it wants to. Reasonable people can disagree about whether Twitter was right to ban Trump, but there’s no question it was legally entitled to do it.” Internet platforms should voluntarily embrace First Amendment values, he said, and generally allow citizens to assess the statements of politicians for themselves. But there are limits, he said, and incitement to violence is among them. “To take an account down in these circumstances is not an affront to free speech, as some have suggested,” Jaffer said. “To the contrary, it’s the responsible exercise of a First Amendment right.” Twitter’s permanent suspension of Trump may make the pending case moot, leaving Supreme Court jurisprudence in this area a work in progress. In 2017, for instance, the court considered the constitutionality of a North Carolina law that barred registered sex offenders from using Facebook, Twitter and similar services in Packingham v. North Carolina. When the case was argued, the justices discussed just how thoroughly social media had transformed American civic discourse. Justice Elena Kagan said that Trump, every governor and every member of Congress had Twitter accounts. “So this has become a crucially important channel of political communication,” she said. “And a person couldn’t go onto those sites and find out what these members of our government are thinking or saying or doing.” Justice Samuel Alito said, a little incredulously, “I know there are people who think that life is not possible without Twitter and Facebook.” In the end, the court unanimously struck down the law, though the justices could not agree on a rationale. Writing for the majority in his characteristically cryptic manner, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired in 2018, said the internet was poised to transform First Amendment jurisprudence. “While we now may be coming to the realization that the cyberage is a revolution of historic proportions, we cannot appreciate yet its full dimensions and vast potential to alter how we think, express ourselves and define who we want to be,” he wrote. “The forces and directions of the internet are so new, so protean and so far-reaching that courts must be conscious that what they say today might be obsolete tomorrow.”

Can Twitter legally bar Trump? The first amendment says yes

House Democrats are prepared to impeach President Donald Trump if he doesn’t immediately resign, as the president came under increasing pressure from members of both parties for encouraging a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol.

House Democrats readying for unprecedented second impeachment

The recent siege of the U.S capitol is still fresh on the minds of Americans. A mob of Trump supporters storms into the siege us democracy by force. The rally that started as a protest turns into violence. Recent polls say that the majority of Americans want trump out of office even before his term officially ended.

What do majority of Americans think of Donald Trump after the recent U.S capitol siege ?

Concerns on Friday over US President Donald Trump's mental state have drawn focus on his power to unleash a nuclear attack.

Two days after Trump supporters, under his encouragement, stormed the US Capitol and shut down Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she had contacted the Pentagon's top general, Mark Milley, to understand how to prevent "an unhinged president" from using the secret nuclear launch codes to order a nuclear strike.

As Milley presumably told her, the US constitution gives the president the sole power to launch a nuclear weapon.

Congress cannot interfere, and the leaders of the Pentagon, the generals and civilians, are bound to transmit his order, whether they agree with it or not.

Everywhere he travels, the president is accompanied by an aide carrying the "nuclear football", a bag containing instructions, attack plans and codes for initiating a nuclear strike that only the president can use.&nbsp;

Given the need to consider the justification, what equipment to use and what targets are chosen, such a decision would normally be done in consultation with defense chiefs.

But once the president decides -- whether after much deliberation or in a fit of anger -- "neither the military nor Congress can overrule these orders," said a December report on nuclear command and control from the Congressional Research Service.

- Strike must be 'legal' -

The only restriction on the US leader in this case is the legality of the strike. The laws of war would allow a military official to refuse to execute an order to do something illegal.

"But questions about the legality of the order -- &nbsp;whether it is consistent with the requirements, under the laws of armed conflict for necessity, proportionality, and distinction -- are more likely to lead to consultations and changes in the president’s order than to a refusal by the military to execute the order," according to the Congressional Research Service report.

If the president does decide to order a strike, he would normally consult the military chiefs for his options.

In the "football", he would find options for the attack and communications equipment to formally order it.

He would make use of a card of codes unique to himself, called the "biscuit", to certify his identification as the commander-in-chief empowered to order a launch.

The launch order would then be transmitted to the US Strategic Command, where an officer would confirm it came from the president and execution would take place.

It could be as little as two minutes from order to the launch of a ground-based nuclear-tipped missile, or 15 minutes from a submarine.

"People in the chain of command might technically refuse to obey an order, but a verified order is presumed to be legal," said Derek Johnson of the anti-nuclear organization Global Zero.

"Pressure to obey would be massive."

In all of this, there are no exceptions in the system of nuclear command and control for a scenario in which the president is seen to be mentally unstable and ignores the advice of his generals.

In that case, the only option -- which Pelosi has called for in the case of Trump -- is to invoke the constitution's 25th amendment on removing a president from power.

Concerns on Friday over US President Donald Trump's mental state have drawn focus on his power to unleash a nuclear attack. Two days after Trump supporters, under his encouragement, stormed the US Capitol and shut down Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she had contacted the Pentagon's top general, Mark Milley, to understand how to prevent "an unhinged president" from using the secret nuclear launch codes to order a nuclear strike.

Concerns on Friday over US President Donald Trump's mental state have drawn focus on his power to unleash a nuclear attack. Two days after Trump supporters, under his encouragement, stormed the US Capitol and shut down Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she had contacted the Pentagon's top general, Mark Milley, to understand how to prevent "an unhinged president" from using the secret nuclear launch codes to order a nuclear strike. As Milley presumably told her, the US constitution gives the president the sole power to launch a nuclear weapon. Congress cannot interfere, and the leaders of the Pentagon, the generals and civilians, are bound to transmit his order, whether they agree with it or not. Everywhere he travels, the president is accompanied by an aide carrying the "nuclear football", a bag containing instructions, attack plans and codes for initiating a nuclear strike that only the president can use. Given the need to consider the justification, what equipment to use and what targets are chosen, such a decision would normally be done in consultation with defense chiefs. But once the president decides -- whether after much deliberation or in a fit of anger -- "neither the military nor Congress can overrule these orders," said a December report on nuclear command and control from the Congressional Research Service. - Strike must be 'legal' - The only restriction on the US leader in this case is the legality of the strike. The laws of war would allow a military official to refuse to execute an order to do something illegal. "But questions about the legality of the order -- whether it is consistent with the requirements, under the laws of armed conflict for necessity, proportionality, and distinction -- are more likely to lead to consultations and changes in the president’s order than to a refusal by the military to execute the order," according to the Congressional Research Service report. If the president does decide to order a strike, he would normally consult the military chiefs for his options. In the "football", he would find options for the attack and communications equipment to formally order it. He would make use of a card of codes unique to himself, called the "biscuit", to certify his identification as the commander-in-chief empowered to order a launch. The launch order would then be transmitted to the US Strategic Command, where an officer would confirm it came from the president and execution would take place. It could be as little as two minutes from order to the launch of a ground-based nuclear-tipped missile, or 15 minutes from a submarine. "People in the chain of command might technically refuse to obey an order, but a verified order is presumed to be legal," said Derek Johnson of the anti-nuclear organization Global Zero. "Pressure to obey would be massive." In all of this, there are no exceptions in the system of nuclear command and control for a scenario in which the president is seen to be mentally unstable and ignores the advice of his generals. In that case, the only option -- which Pelosi has called for in the case of Trump -- is to invoke the constitution's 25th amendment on removing a president from power.

In focus: US president has sole power to launch nuclear strike

US federal prosecutors are opening a murder investigation after a Capitol Police officer died Thursday in the aftermath of pro-Trump supporters' invasion of Congress.

According to a report in CNN, representatives for the Washington police department's homicide division is investigating alongside federal law enforcement agencies.

The officer, Brian Sicknick, was the fifth person to die after Trump supporters rioted at the US Capitol on Wednesday. The Republican president had summoned them to Washington for a rally and urged them to fight as lawmakers were meeting to certify his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The deaths also included some rioters.

Sicknick died on Thursday after being taken to a hospital following his collapse after he returned to his divisional office, the police said.

"The perpetrators of Officer Sicknick’s death must be brought to justice," US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in statement offering condolences to his family. She ordered flags at the Capitol to be lowered to half-staff in his honour.&nbsp;

US Capitol Police said "Sicknick was responding to the riots ... and was injured while physically engaging with protesters."&nbsp;

Sicknick suffered a stroke and was on life support before he died, a CBS News affiliate reported. He was a 12-year veteran of the force.

Trump, who initially praised his supporters, later condemned Wednesday's violence, saying rioters must be held accountable. A woman demonstrator was fatally shot by authorities, and three people died from medical emergencies.

Meanwhile, the US Justice Department announced Friday that it has charged 15 people involved in the assault on Congress, including one man accused of possessing bombs made to act like "homemade napalm."

But Ken Kohl, a federal prosecutor with the Washington US attorney's office, said they did not expect to charge anyone with "incitement" or "insurrection" in Wednesday's violence, amid calls for legal action against Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and others for encouraging it.

The department unveiled the cases against 13 people, including Richard Barnett, a Trump supporter who invaded the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Lonnie Coffman of Alabama, who was found carrying two handguns and had 11 Styrofoam-enhanced Molotov cocktails in his truck.

Others whose charges were unsealed include Christopher Albert of Maryland, who allegedly entered the US Capitol with a loaded handgun; and Mark Leffingwell, charged with punching an officer.

Most of the 13 were charged with illegal entry into restricted buildings of Congress, and violent or disorderly conduct.

They were also charged with impeding government functions after forcing the shutdown of a joint meeting of Congress to officially certify that Trump rival Joe Biden had won the November 3 election, which Trump had until Thursday refused to accept.

(with inputs from agencies)

US federal prosecutors are opening a murder investigation after a Capitol Police officer died Thursday in the aftermath of pro-Trump supporters' invasion of Congress.

US federal prosecutors are opening a murder investigation after a Capitol Police officer died Thursday in the aftermath of pro-Trump supporters' invasion of Congress. According to a report in CNN, representatives for the Washington police department's homicide division is investigating alongside federal law enforcement agencies. The officer, Brian Sicknick, was the fifth person to die after Trump supporters rioted at the US Capitol on Wednesday. The Republican president had summoned them to Washington for a rally and urged them to fight as lawmakers were meeting to certify his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The deaths also included some rioters. Sicknick died on Thursday after being taken to a hospital following his collapse after he returned to his divisional office, the police said. "The perpetrators of Officer Sicknick’s death must be brought to justice," US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in statement offering condolences to his family. She ordered flags at the Capitol to be lowered to half-staff in his honour. US Capitol Police said "Sicknick was responding to the riots ... and was injured while physically engaging with protesters." Sicknick suffered a stroke and was on life support before he died, a CBS News affiliate reported. He was a 12-year veteran of the force. Trump, who initially praised his supporters, later condemned Wednesday's violence, saying rioters must be held accountable. A woman demonstrator was fatally shot by authorities, and three people died from medical emergencies. Meanwhile, the US Justice Department announced Friday that it has charged 15 people involved in the assault on Congress, including one man accused of possessing bombs made to act like "homemade napalm." But Ken Kohl, a federal prosecutor with the Washington US attorney's office, said they did not expect to charge anyone with "incitement" or "insurrection" in Wednesday's violence, amid calls for legal action against Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and others for encouraging it. The department unveiled the cases against 13 people, including Richard Barnett, a Trump supporter who invaded the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Lonnie Coffman of Alabama, who was found carrying two handguns and had 11 Styrofoam-enhanced Molotov cocktails in his truck. Others whose charges were unsealed include Christopher Albert of Maryland, who allegedly entered the US Capitol with a loaded handgun; and Mark Leffingwell, charged with punching an officer. Most of the 13 were charged with illegal entry into restricted buildings of Congress, and violent or disorderly conduct. They were also charged with impeding government functions after forcing the shutdown of a joint meeting of Congress to officially certify that Trump rival Joe Biden had won the November 3 election, which Trump had until Thursday refused to accept. (with inputs from agencies)

US officials to open murder probe in Capitol police officer's death

An increasingly isolated President Donald Trump sought on Friday to stave off a new drive to impeach him, two days after his supporters stormed the US Capitol in an assault on American democracy.

Trump quite apparently exhorted thousands of supporters to march on the Capitol as Congress met to certify his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, prompting chaos in which crowds breached the building, forced the evacuation of both chambers and left a police officer and four others dead in their wake.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday that if Trump did not resign, she had instructed the House Rules Committee to move ahead with a motion for impeachment and legislation on the US Constitution's 25th Amendment, which provides for removal of a president who is unable to discharge his official duties.

Democrats, who said a House vote on impeachment could come next week, hope the impeachment threat will intensify pressure on Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment before Trump's term ends in less than two weeks.

"Impeaching President Donald Trump with 12 days remaining in his presidency would only serve to further divide the country," said White House spokesman Judd Deere.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Thursday and Friday found 57 per cent of Americans want Trump to be removed immediately from office following the violence. Nearly 70 per cent also disapproved of Trump's actions in the run-up to the Capitol rampage.

Trump's role in encouraging Wednesday's chaos has opened a growing rift within the Republican Party too.

Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a frequent Trump critic, told CBS News he would "definitely consider" impeachment because the president "disregarded his oath of office." 
'I WANT HIM OUT'

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said Friday Trump should resign immediately and that if the party cannot separate itself from him, she is not certain she has a future with it. 
"I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage," the Alaska Senator told the Anchorage Daily News.

It is unclear whether lawmakers would be able to remove Trump from office, as any impeachment would prompt a trial in the Senate, where his fellow Republicans still hold power and two-thirds of the 100 members must vote to convict for his removal.

Articles of impeachment, which are formal charges of misconduct, have been crafted by Democratic Representatives David Cicilline, Ted Lieu and Jamie Raskin.

A copy circulating among members of Congress charges Trump with "inciting violence against the government of the United States" in a bid to overturn his loss to Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Pelosi said she had spoken with the nation's top general, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, about preventing Trump from initiating military hostilities or launching a nuclear weapon.

Pelosi told members on a Democratic conference call that she had gotten assurances from Milley that there are safeguards in place.

"Sadly the person that's running executive branch is a deranged, unhinged, dangerous president of the United States," she said in an excerpt of an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes" programme.

(with inputs)

An increasingly isolated President Donald Trump sought on Friday to stave off a new drive to impeach him, two days after his supporters stormed the US Capitol in an assault on American democracy.

An increasingly isolated President Donald Trump sought on Friday to stave off a new drive to impeach him, two days after his supporters stormed the US Capitol in an assault on American democracy. Trump quite apparently exhorted thousands of supporters to march on the Capitol as Congress met to certify his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, prompting chaos in which crowds breached the building, forced the evacuation of both chambers and left a police officer and four others dead in their wake. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday that if Trump did not resign, she had instructed the House Rules Committee to move ahead with a motion for impeachment and legislation on the US Constitution's 25th Amendment, which provides for removal of a president who is unable to discharge his official duties. Democrats, who said a House vote on impeachment could come next week, hope the impeachment threat will intensify pressure on Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment before Trump's term ends in less than two weeks. "Impeaching President Donald Trump with 12 days remaining in his presidency would only serve to further divide the country," said White House spokesman Judd Deere. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Thursday and Friday found 57 per cent of Americans want Trump to be removed immediately from office following the violence. Nearly 70 per cent also disapproved of Trump's actions in the run-up to the Capitol rampage. Trump's role in encouraging Wednesday's chaos has opened a growing rift within the Republican Party too. Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a frequent Trump critic, told CBS News he would "definitely consider" impeachment because the president "disregarded his oath of office." 'I WANT HIM OUT' Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said Friday Trump should resign immediately and that if the party cannot separate itself from him, she is not certain she has a future with it. "I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage," the Alaska Senator told the Anchorage Daily News. It is unclear whether lawmakers would be able to remove Trump from office, as any impeachment would prompt a trial in the Senate, where his fellow Republicans still hold power and two-thirds of the 100 members must vote to convict for his removal. Articles of impeachment, which are formal charges of misconduct, have been crafted by Democratic Representatives David Cicilline, Ted Lieu and Jamie Raskin. A copy circulating among members of Congress charges Trump with "inciting violence against the government of the United States" in a bid to overturn his loss to Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Pelosi said she had spoken with the nation's top general, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, about preventing Trump from initiating military hostilities or launching a nuclear weapon. Pelosi told members on a Democratic conference call that she had gotten assurances from Milley that there are safeguards in place. "Sadly the person that's running executive branch is a deranged, unhinged, dangerous president of the United States," she said in an excerpt of an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes" programme. (with inputs)

US Speaker says House can move to impeach Trump if he doesn’t resign

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Morning news brief: Trump's politics with Twitter, N Korea on US, and more

Twitter Inc said on Friday (January 8) that it has permanently suspended U.S. President Donald Trump's account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.

Twitter permanently suspends Donald Trump's account

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday called the United States Pyongyang's ''biggest enemy'' as he threw down the diplomatic gauntlet to the incoming administration of Joe Biden.

Kim Jong-un also threatened&nbsp;to expand his nuclear arsenal and develop more sophisticated atomic weapons systems, saying the fate of relations with the United States depends on whether it abandons its hostile policy, state media reported Saturday.

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The declaration comes less than two weeks ahead of the new US president's inauguration and after a tumultuous relationship between Kim and the outgoing leader Donald Trump.

The Korean Central News Agency said Saturday that Kim says "key to establishing new relations between (North Korea) and the United States is whether the United States withdraws its hostile policy" from North Korea.

Kim says he won't use his nukes unless "hostile forces" intend to use their nuclear weapons against North Korea first. But he says North Korea must further strengthen its military and nuclear capability as the danger of a US invasion of North Korea increases.

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Kim ordered officials to develop missiles with multiple warheads, underwater-launched nuclear missiles, spy satellites and nuclear-powered submarines.

"Nothing would be more foolish and dangerous than not strengthening our might tirelessly and having an easy-going attitude at a time when we clearly see the enemy's state-of-the-art weapons are being increased more than ever," Kim said. "The reality is that we can achieve peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula when we constantly build up our national defence and suppress US military threats."

Kim's high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump has remained stalled for nearly two years because of disputes over US-led sanctions on the North.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-a-rare-admission-from-kim-jong-un-354942/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

When Kim abruptly entered talks with the US, he expressed his intent to negotiate not advancing nuclear arsenals in return for economic and political benefits. But as long as the diplomatic impasse prolongs, he's openly pledged to expand the nuclear program that he calls a "powerful treasured sword" that can cope with US hostility.

Kim and Trump first engaged in a war of words and mutual threats, before an extraordinary diplomatic bromance that featured headline-grabbing summits and declarations of love by the US president.&nbsp;

But little substantive progress was made, with the process deadlocked after their February 2019 meeting in Hanoi broke down over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return.

The change of leadership in Washington presents a challenge for Pyongyang, which has previously called Biden a "rabid dog", while he characterised Kim as a "thug" during the presidential debates.

The US is expected to return to more orthodox diplomatic approaches under Biden, such as insisting on extensive progress at working-level talks before any leaders' summit can be considered.

Kim "sees a stalemate that won't change anytime soon", said Harry Kazianis of the Center for the National Interest.

The process with Trump was brokered by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, but Kim said Seoul was in breach of inter-Korean agreements and "and disregarding our warnings that it should stop joint military drills with the US".

Strategic balance

Pyongyang has poured vast resources into developing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, which it says it needs to defend itself against a possible US invasion.

The programmes have made rapid progress under Kim, including by far its most powerful nuclear blast to date and missiles capable of reaching the entire continental US, at a cost of increasingly stringent international sanctions.

At a military parade in October, it showed off a huge new missile that analysts concurred was the largest road-mobile, liquid-fuelled missile anywhere in the world, and was highly likely to be designed to carry multiple warheads in independent re-entry vehicles (MIRVs).

The North has also completed plans for a nuclear-powered submarine, Kim said something that would change the strategic balance.

Such a weapon, if it was built and went into service, could enable Pyongyang to surreptitiously bring its missiles close to the United States, cutting down warning times ahead of any launch.

Designs for the vessel were "in the stage of final examination", Kim said, adding the North was also researching technology including military reconnaissance satellites, supersonic gliding weapons and various warhead types, and was "making preparations for their test and production".

Work report

Kim's declarations came in his nine-hour work report to the meeting, spread over three days, which KCNA was reporting in detail for the first time.

The congress is the top ruling party gathering, a grand political set-piece that reinforces the regime's authority and can serve as a platform for announcements of policy shifts or elite personnel changes.

For several days, state television has been showing images of the 7,000 delegates and attendees packed into the cavernous April 25 House of Culture venue -- none of them wearing masks, repeatedly applauding Kim wildly during his speech.

The gathering comes with North Korea more isolated than ever after closing its borders last January to protect itself against the coronavirus that first emerged in neighbour and key ally China.

That has added to the pressures on the North, with Pyongyang blockading itself far more effectively than even the most hawkish advocate of sanctions could ever hope to achieve, and trade with China at a fraction of the usual level.

In his work report, Kim admitted mistakes had been made in the last five years and that "almost all sectors fell a long way short of the set objectives" in the country's economic plan.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday called the United States Pyongyang's ''biggest enemy'' as he threw down the diplomatic gauntlet to the incoming administration of Joe Biden.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday called the United States Pyongyang's ''biggest enemy'' as he threw down the diplomatic gauntlet to the incoming administration of Joe Biden. Kim Jong-un also threatened to expand his nuclear arsenal and develop more sophisticated atomic weapons systems, saying the fate of relations with the United States depends on whether it abandons its hostile policy, state media reported Saturday. Also read: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledges to strengthen defence capabilities at rare party congress The declaration comes less than two weeks ahead of the new US president's inauguration and after a tumultuous relationship between Kim and the outgoing leader Donald Trump. The Korean Central News Agency said Saturday that Kim says "key to establishing new relations between (North Korea) and the United States is whether the United States withdraws its hostile policy" from North Korea. Kim says he won't use his nukes unless "hostile forces" intend to use their nuclear weapons against North Korea first. But he says North Korea must further strengthen its military and nuclear capability as the danger of a US invasion of North Korea increases. Also read: How North Korea's military might strengthened during Trump's presidency Kim ordered officials to develop missiles with multiple warheads, underwater-launched nuclear missiles, spy satellites and nuclear-powered submarines. "Nothing would be more foolish and dangerous than not strengthening our might tirelessly and having an easy-going attitude at a time when we clearly see the enemy's state-of-the-art weapons are being increased more than ever," Kim said. "The reality is that we can achieve peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula when we constantly build up our national defence and suppress US military threats." Kim's high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump has remained stalled for nearly two years because of disputes over US-led sanctions on the North. When Kim abruptly entered talks with the US, he expressed his intent to negotiate not advancing nuclear arsenals in return for economic and political benefits. But as long as the diplomatic impasse prolongs, he's openly pledged to expand the nuclear program that he calls a "powerful treasured sword" that can cope with US hostility. Kim and Trump first engaged in a war of words and mutual threats, before an extraordinary diplomatic bromance that featured headline-grabbing summits and declarations of love by the US president. But little substantive progress was made, with the process deadlocked after their February 2019 meeting in Hanoi broke down over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return. The change of leadership in Washington presents a challenge for Pyongyang, which has previously called Biden a "rabid dog", while he characterised Kim as a "thug" during the presidential debates. The US is expected to return to more orthodox diplomatic approaches under Biden, such as insisting on extensive progress at working-level talks before any leaders' summit can be considered. Kim "sees a stalemate that won't change anytime soon", said Harry Kazianis of the Center for the National Interest. The process with Trump was brokered by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, but Kim said Seoul was in breach of inter-Korean agreements and "and disregarding our warnings that it should stop joint military drills with the US". Strategic balance Pyongyang has poured vast resources into developing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, which it says it needs to defend itself against a possible US invasion. The programmes have made rapid progress under Kim, including by far its most powerful nuclear blast to date and missiles capable of reaching the entire continental US, at a cost of increasingly stringent international sanctions. At a military parade in October, it showed off a huge new missile that analysts concurred was the largest road-mobile, liquid-fuelled missile anywhere in the world, and was highly likely to be designed to carry multiple warheads in independent re-entry vehicles (MIRVs). The North has also completed plans for a nuclear-powered submarine, Kim said something that would change the strategic balance. Such a weapon, if it was built and went into service, could enable Pyongyang to surreptitiously bring its missiles close to the United States, cutting down warning times ahead of any launch. Designs for the vessel were "in the stage of final examination", Kim said, adding the North was also researching technology including military reconnaissance satellites, supersonic gliding weapons and various warhead types, and was "making preparations for their test and production". Work report Kim's declarations came in his nine-hour work report to the meeting, spread over three days, which KCNA was reporting in detail for the first time. The congress is the top ruling party gathering, a grand political set-piece that reinforces the regime's authority and can serve as a platform for announcements of policy shifts or elite personnel changes. For several days, state television has been showing images of the 7,000 delegates and attendees packed into the cavernous April 25 House of Culture venue -- none of them wearing masks, repeatedly applauding Kim wildly during his speech. The gathering comes with North Korea more isolated than ever after closing its borders last January to protect itself against the coronavirus that first emerged in neighbour and key ally China. That has added to the pressures on the North, with Pyongyang blockading itself far more effectively than even the most hawkish advocate of sanctions could ever hope to achieve, and trade with China at a fraction of the usual level. In his work report, Kim admitted mistakes had been made in the last five years and that "almost all sectors fell a long way short of the set objectives" in the country's economic plan.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un calls US Pyongyang's 'biggest enemy'

Hours after hundreds of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a harrowing assault on American democracy, a shaken Congress on Thursday formally certified Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

US Congress confirms Biden's victory after harrowing Capitol Hill assault

US President-elect Joe Biden, in the aftermath of President Donald Trump finally conceding defeat, has not held back from expressing disgust at what followed after the November 3 vote.

On Friday, while speaking to reporters in Wilmington, Biden also directed his angst at how Trump had&nbsp;been leading the US for four years, and how his administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been a disappointment.

Biden slammed the Trump administration's distribution of Covid-19 vaccines as a "travesty," and announced a plan to speed up rollout that could delay people's second dose.

"Vaccines give us hope, but the roll-out has been a travesty," Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware.

He said distribution of the vaccine would be "the greatest operational challenge we will ever face as a nation."

More than 365,000 people have died from the coronavirus in America, the world's hardest-hit country, including some 4,000 on Thursday alone.

Biden's comments came shortly after a spokesman said the new administration planned to release every available dose of Covid-19 vaccine produced in the country, rather than holding back half the supply to make sure people receive their booster shots on time.

But it was not clear how this plan would address the problem, since the main bottleneck in the US currently is not scarcity of vaccines, but rather the slow administration of shots by providers.

Around six million Americans have so far received their first shot, even though the target for December alone had been 20 million.

Biden also welcomed Trump's announcement that he wouldn't attend the January 20 inauguration, calling it a "good thing."

"I was told on the way over here that he indicated he wasn't going to show up at the inauguration. One of the few things he and I have ever agreed on," Biden said, adding, "it's a good thing, him not showing up."

"He's been an embarrassment to the country," Biden said.

"He's not fit to serve," the president-elect added of Trump, who is facing the possibility of being impeached next week for inciting his supporters to storm the US Capitol.

"He exceeded even my worst notions about him," Biden said.&nbsp;

"He's one of the most incompetent presidents in the history of the United States of America."

Biden said Vice-President Mike Pence would be welcome at his inauguration.

Meanwhile, Trump -- for the first time ever -- acknowledged Biden won, on Thursday, but said he would not attend the January 20 inauguration.

Trump's bowing down to the results came shortly after his supporters rioted at the US Capitol on Wednesday night, drawing sharp criticism from across the world.

To this end, Biden said those who stormed the US Capitol were a bunch of thugs, white supremacists, domestic terrorists and they should be prosecuted.

Biden said the authorities had to be held accountable for the failures that occurred and it had to be made sure that this could never, ever happen again.

"They should be treated as they're a bunch of thugs, insurrectionist, white supremacists, and anti-Semites, and it's not enough.

"These are bunch of thugs, thugs and their terrorists, domestic terrorists. And that'll be a judgment for the Justice Department to make as to what the charges should be...

"They should be prosecuted," he said in response to a question.

Biden sought an investigation into purported pictures of the Capitol Police personnel taking selfies with the protesters.

(with inputs)

US President-elect Joe Biden, in the aftermath of President Donald Trump finally conceding defeat, has not held back from expressing disgust at what followed after the November 3 vote.

US President-elect Joe Biden, in the aftermath of President Donald Trump finally conceding defeat, has not held back from expressing disgust at what followed after the November 3 vote. On Friday, while speaking to reporters in Wilmington, Biden also directed his angst at how Trump had been leading the US for four years, and how his administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been a disappointment. Biden slammed the Trump administration's distribution of Covid-19 vaccines as a "travesty," and announced a plan to speed up rollout that could delay people's second dose. "Vaccines give us hope, but the roll-out has been a travesty," Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware. He said distribution of the vaccine would be "the greatest operational challenge we will ever face as a nation." More than 365,000 people have died from the coronavirus in America, the world's hardest-hit country, including some 4,000 on Thursday alone. Biden's comments came shortly after a spokesman said the new administration planned to release every available dose of Covid-19 vaccine produced in the country, rather than holding back half the supply to make sure people receive their booster shots on time. But it was not clear how this plan would address the problem, since the main bottleneck in the US currently is not scarcity of vaccines, but rather the slow administration of shots by providers. Around six million Americans have so far received their first shot, even though the target for December alone had been 20 million. Biden also welcomed Trump's announcement that he wouldn't attend the January 20 inauguration, calling it a "good thing." "I was told on the way over here that he indicated he wasn't going to show up at the inauguration. One of the few things he and I have ever agreed on," Biden said, adding, "it's a good thing, him not showing up." "He's been an embarrassment to the country," Biden said. "He's not fit to serve," the president-elect added of Trump, who is facing the possibility of being impeached next week for inciting his supporters to storm the US Capitol. "He exceeded even my worst notions about him," Biden said. "He's one of the most incompetent presidents in the history of the United States of America." Biden said Vice-President Mike Pence would be welcome at his inauguration. Meanwhile, Trump -- for the first time ever -- acknowledged Biden won, on Thursday, but said he would not attend the January 20 inauguration. Trump's bowing down to the results came shortly after his supporters rioted at the US Capitol on Wednesday night, drawing sharp criticism from across the world. To this end, Biden said those who stormed the US Capitol were a bunch of thugs, white supremacists, domestic terrorists and they should be prosecuted. Biden said the authorities had to be held accountable for the failures that occurred and it had to be made sure that this could never, ever happen again. "They should be treated as they're a bunch of thugs, insurrectionist, white supremacists, and anti-Semites, and it's not enough. "These are bunch of thugs, thugs and their terrorists, domestic terrorists. And that'll be a judgment for the Justice Department to make as to what the charges should be... "They should be prosecuted," he said in response to a question. Biden sought an investigation into purported pictures of the Capitol Police personnel taking selfies with the protesters. (with inputs)

Biden likes Trump's decision to skip inauguration, slams vaccine rollout

Federal authorities in the United States of America found a pickup truck packed with 11 homemade bombs, an assault rifle, and a handgun just two blocks away from the Capitol building. CNN reported that the truck was parked there for hours before coming under the radar of the authorities. 
 
Recently, a group of protesters, who were&nbsp;allegedly Trump supporters attacked the Capitol which led to the deaths of five people, including a police officer.

Prosecutors claimed that another man had claimed to have shown up with an assault rifle with hundreds of rounds worth of ammunition. Additionally, he claimed that he wanted to shoot/run over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/us-congress-confirms-bidens-victory-after-harrowing-capitol-hill-assault-355514/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Federal documents that revealed the existence of the weapons were in regard to the charges against Lonnie Leroy Coffman of Alabama. The cache of weapons was found by a bomb squad as they tried to secure the building.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/majority-of-americans-want-immediate-removal-of-president-trump-poll-finds-355599" hreflang="en">Majority of Americans want immediate removal of President Trump, poll finds</a>

Hundreds of rioters, many of them donning Confederate flags pushed into the US Capitol. Soon after, House and Senate floors were evacuated by the police.

As rioters entered the Capitol, US President Donald Trump released a clip urging them to ''go home''. Even then, Trump continued to push his baseless claims of a stolen election. Owing to his tweets, Twitter had permanently disabled Trump's account, with Facebook also announcing an indefinite ban. 
 
According to the 70-year-old Coffman, he had filled mason jars with "melted Styrofoam and gasoline''. He told the police the same, who believe that if exploded it would have produced a reaction like Napalm, a controversial substance used in bombs which stick to the skin of those hit by it.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/theft-of-nancy-pelosis-laptop-in-capitol-riots-raises-security-concern-355602" hreflang="en">Theft of Nancy Pelosi's laptop in Capitol riots raises security concern</a>

13 charges were announced by the Department of Justice in relation to the riots that took place. These included a lawmaker from West Virginia, along with a man who had entered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office and had also sat at her desk.

Many other individuals have been accused of taking ammunition to the Capitol building. As federal agencies undertake further investigation, more details are expected to pop up.

Federal authorities in the United States of America found a pickup truck packed with 11 homemade bombs, an assault rifle, and a handgun just two blocks away from the Capitol building.

Federal authorities in the United States of America found a pickup truck packed with 11 homemade bombs, an assault rifle, and a handgun just two blocks away from the Capitol building. CNN reported that the truck was parked there for hours before coming under the radar of the authorities. Recently, a group of protesters, who were allegedly Trump supporters attacked the Capitol which led to the deaths of five people, including a police officer. Prosecutors claimed that another man had claimed to have shown up with an assault rifle with hundreds of rounds worth of ammunition. Additionally, he claimed that he wanted to shoot/run over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Federal documents that revealed the existence of the weapons were in regard to the charges against Lonnie Leroy Coffman of Alabama. The cache of weapons was found by a bomb squad as they tried to secure the building. Also read: Majority of Americans want immediate removal of President Trump, poll finds Hundreds of rioters, many of them donning Confederate flags pushed into the US Capitol. Soon after, House and Senate floors were evacuated by the police. As rioters entered the Capitol, US President Donald Trump released a clip urging them to ''go home''. Even then, Trump continued to push his baseless claims of a stolen election. Owing to his tweets, Twitter had permanently disabled Trump's account, with Facebook also announcing an indefinite ban. According to the 70-year-old Coffman, he had filled mason jars with "melted Styrofoam and gasoline''. He told the police the same, who believe that if exploded it would have produced a reaction like Napalm, a controversial substance used in bombs which stick to the skin of those hit by it. Also read: Theft of Nancy Pelosi's laptop in Capitol riots raises security concern 13 charges were announced by the Department of Justice in relation to the riots that took place. These included a lawmaker from West Virginia, along with a man who had entered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office and had also sat at her desk. Many other individuals have been accused of taking ammunition to the Capitol building. As federal agencies undertake further investigation, more details are expected to pop up.

Federal authorities found truck loaded with explosives near US Capitol: Report

In a city where people can strive for decades to land a plum government job, resignations on principle do not happen often and, when they do, often reverberate as selfless acts of valor.

But as <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Trump</a> administration officials from Cabinet members to junior White House aides quit this week — less than two weeks before their jobs would have ended anyway — over President Donald Trump’s incitement of a riot Wednesday at the Capitol, the reaction has combined applause for drawing a line on Trump’s behavior with caustic condemnation for what many see as self-serving, cost-free leaps toward public redemption.

“I don’t have any question that some of these are resignations of convenience, and resume resignations,” said Peter Wehner, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center who worked for three previous Republican presidents but has long been a critic of Trump.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/in-focus-us-president-has-sole-power-to-launch-nuclear-strike-355538" hreflang="en">In focus: US president has sole power to launch nuclear strike</a>

The test of how to judge such departures, he said, is complicated, and depends on how hard the exiting officials worked while on the inside to constrain presidential behavior they considered immoral or dangerous. But he said any claims by those officials that they were shocked by Wednesday’s events were dubious. “It was almost inevitable for the Trump presidency to end like this, or something like this,” he said.

The resignations include two Cabinet officials, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. Several White House aides also stepped down, including Matthew Pottinger, the deputy national security adviser; Rickie Niceta, the social secretary; Stephanie Grisham, the chief of staff to the first lady and a former White House press secretary; and Trump’s special envoy to Northern Ireland, Mick Mulvaney, who spent more than a year as Trump’s acting chief of staff.

Some, like Mulvaney and DeVos, who called the president’s language inciting the rioters “unconscionable,” were explicit about their disgust. Others, like Pottinger and Grisham, left quietly but for seemingly obvious reasons.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-speaker-says-house-can-move-to-impeach-trump-if-he-doesnt-resign-355537" hreflang="en">US Speaker says House can move to impeach Trump if he doesn’t resign</a>

To Trump’s die-hard supporters, they may be traitors. But the departed Trump administration officials had stood by the president through countless other episodes that shocked consciences across the country: the separation of migrant children from their parents at the border, Trump’s equivocal words about white supremacist groups, and his many weeks dedicated to undermining the presidential election result with false claims about voter fraud and at least one vague threat to a state election official.

Mulvaney in particular was known as an enabler of the president who did little to constrain Trump’s impulses.

Even some people critical of officials who remained in Trump’s employ through such episodes said the resignations created political pressure that might act as a check on Trump now. The resignations may even have contributed to his belated condemnation Thursday of the violence at the Capitol, and his assurance of a peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 20, they said.

“John Rhodes and Hugh Scott hadn’t been profiles in courage in standing up to Nixon. Still, it mattered when they did,” said William Kristol, a conservative writer and activist who has been critical of Trump, referring to the two senior-most Republicans in Congress who played a crucial role in persuading President Richard Nixon to resign in August 1974.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-likes-trumps-decision-to-skip-inauguration-slams-vaccine-rollout-355511" hreflang="en">Biden likes Trump's decision to skip inauguration, slams vaccine rollout</a>

Yet none of the departing Trump officials appear to be making the kind of self-sacrifice remembered in some famed resignations. Cyrus Vance resigned as secretary of state in 1980 in protest of President Jimmy Carter’s failed secret mission to rescue American hostages in Iran. Two senior Department of Health and Human Services officials quit in anger over President Bill Clinton’s decision to sign a sweeping 1996 welfare reform law. Trump’s first secretary of defense, Jim Mattis, quit after Trump’s sudden decision to remove U.S. troops from northeastern Syria.

At least one Trump administration official appears to have invited his own firing this week: Gabriel Noronha, a State Department press aide, tweeted Wednesday that Trump was “entirely unfit to remain in office, and needs to go.” In what could not have been a surprise to him, Noronha was dismissed the following day.

Others have been publicly rumored to be considering their plans, including the national security adviser, Robert C. O’Brien, who tweeted condemnations of Wednesday’s riot. O’Brien, who has spoken to friends about a future run for office, is said to be staying on for the sake of stability, but may have enjoyed reputational gain among Trump critics after a slew of news leaks cast him in a Hamlet-like role about his future.

But Trump officials confirmed Friday that five National Security Council senior directors, handling issues including Russia and weapons of mass destruction, had quietly resigned from their jobs since Wednesday.

In the cases of DeVos and Chao, some critics complained that by departing, they were forgoing an opportunity to do something far more consequential: join with other disgusted Cabinet officials in a potential effort to invoke the 25th Amendment and relieve Trump of his presidential duties.

“At this late a stage, resignations help little beyond serving as late attempts at self-preservation,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., wrote on Twitter. “If Sec. Chao objects to yesterday’s events this deeply, she should be working the Cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment — not abdicating the seat that allows her to do so.”

Alyssa Farah, who left as White House communications director weeks before the deadly mayhem in the Capitol, said it was clear then that Trump’s post-election behavior was intolerable.

“I made the decision to step down in December because I saw where this was heading,” she told Politico in an interview published Friday.

In a city where people can strive for decades to land a plum government job, resignations on principle do not happen often and, when they do, often reverberate as selfless acts of valor.

In a city where people can strive for decades to land a plum government job, resignations on principle do not happen often and, when they do, often reverberate as selfless acts of valor. But as Trump administration officials from Cabinet members to junior White House aides quit this week — less than two weeks before their jobs would have ended anyway — over President Donald Trump’s incitement of a riot Wednesday at the Capitol, the reaction has combined applause for drawing a line on Trump’s behavior with caustic condemnation for what many see as self-serving, cost-free leaps toward public redemption. “I don’t have any question that some of these are resignations of convenience, and resume resignations,” said Peter Wehner, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center who worked for three previous Republican presidents but has long been a critic of Trump. Also read| In focus: US president has sole power to launch nuclear strike The test of how to judge such departures, he said, is complicated, and depends on how hard the exiting officials worked while on the inside to constrain presidential behavior they considered immoral or dangerous. But he said any claims by those officials that they were shocked by Wednesday’s events were dubious. “It was almost inevitable for the Trump presidency to end like this, or something like this,” he said. The resignations include two Cabinet officials, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. Several White House aides also stepped down, including Matthew Pottinger, the deputy national security adviser; Rickie Niceta, the social secretary; Stephanie Grisham, the chief of staff to the first lady and a former White House press secretary; and Trump’s special envoy to Northern Ireland, Mick Mulvaney, who spent more than a year as Trump’s acting chief of staff. Some, like Mulvaney and DeVos, who called the president’s language inciting the rioters “unconscionable,” were explicit about their disgust. Others, like Pottinger and Grisham, left quietly but for seemingly obvious reasons. Also read| US Speaker says House can move to impeach Trump if he doesn’t resign To Trump’s die-hard supporters, they may be traitors. But the departed Trump administration officials had stood by the president through countless other episodes that shocked consciences across the country: the separation of migrant children from their parents at the border, Trump’s equivocal words about white supremacist groups, and his many weeks dedicated to undermining the presidential election result with false claims about voter fraud and at least one vague threat to a state election official. Mulvaney in particular was known as an enabler of the president who did little to constrain Trump’s impulses. Even some people critical of officials who remained in Trump’s employ through such episodes said the resignations created political pressure that might act as a check on Trump now. The resignations may even have contributed to his belated condemnation Thursday of the violence at the Capitol, and his assurance of a peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 20, they said. “John Rhodes and Hugh Scott hadn’t been profiles in courage in standing up to Nixon. Still, it mattered when they did,” said William Kristol, a conservative writer and activist who has been critical of Trump, referring to the two senior-most Republicans in Congress who played a crucial role in persuading President Richard Nixon to resign in August 1974. Also read| Biden likes Trump's decision to skip inauguration, slams vaccine rollout Yet none of the departing Trump officials appear to be making the kind of self-sacrifice remembered in some famed resignations. Cyrus Vance resigned as secretary of state in 1980 in protest of President Jimmy Carter’s failed secret mission to rescue American hostages in Iran. Two senior Department of Health and Human Services officials quit in anger over President Bill Clinton’s decision to sign a sweeping 1996 welfare reform law. Trump’s first secretary of defense, Jim Mattis, quit after Trump’s sudden decision to remove U.S. troops from northeastern Syria. At least one Trump administration official appears to have invited his own firing this week: Gabriel Noronha, a State Department press aide, tweeted Wednesday that Trump was “entirely unfit to remain in office, and needs to go.” In what could not have been a surprise to him, Noronha was dismissed the following day. Others have been publicly rumored to be considering their plans, including the national security adviser, Robert C. O’Brien, who tweeted condemnations of Wednesday’s riot. O’Brien, who has spoken to friends about a future run for office, is said to be staying on for the sake of stability, but may have enjoyed reputational gain among Trump critics after a slew of news leaks cast him in a Hamlet-like role about his future. But Trump officials confirmed Friday that five National Security Council senior directors, handling issues including Russia and weapons of mass destruction, had quietly resigned from their jobs since Wednesday. In the cases of DeVos and Chao, some critics complained that by departing, they were forgoing an opportunity to do something far more consequential: join with other disgusted Cabinet officials in a potential effort to invoke the 25th Amendment and relieve Trump of his presidential duties. “At this late a stage, resignations help little beyond serving as late attempts at self-preservation,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., wrote on Twitter. “If Sec. Chao objects to yesterday’s events this deeply, she should be working the Cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment — not abdicating the seat that allows her to do so.” Alyssa Farah, who left as White House communications director weeks before the deadly mayhem in the Capitol, said it was clear then that Trump’s post-election behavior was intolerable. “I made the decision to step down in December because I saw where this was heading,” she told Politico in an interview published Friday.

Bravery or self-preservation? Resignations of Trump officials draw skepticism

Twitter has banned President Donald Trump's former national security advisor Michael Flynn and pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell as part of a purge of QAnon accounts.

QAnon is a baseless belief, born on the internet, that Trump has been secretly fighting deep state enemies and a cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibals operating a child sex-trafficking ring.

Social media companies have been under intensified pressure to crack down on hate speech, especially after Wednesday's attack on the US Capitol.

Dozens of QAnon social media accounts were hyping up January 6 in the days leading up to a Washington DC rally for Trump, expressing hope that President-elect Joe Biden's victory would be overturned.

Twitter said in an email statement on Friday: "Given the renewed potential for violence surrounding this type of behaviour in the coming days, we will permanently suspend accounts that are solely dedicated to sharing QAnon content."

The company says that when it determines a group or campaign is engaged in "coordinated harmful activity", it may suspend accounts that it finds primarily encourages that behaviour. 
&nbsp;

Twitter has banned President Donald Trump's former national security advisor Michael Flynn and pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell as part of a purge of QAnon accounts.

Twitter has banned President Donald Trump's former national security advisor Michael Flynn and pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell as part of a purge of QAnon accounts. QAnon is a baseless belief, born on the internet, that Trump has been secretly fighting deep state enemies and a cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibals operating a child sex-trafficking ring. Social media companies have been under intensified pressure to crack down on hate speech, especially after Wednesday's attack on the US Capitol. Dozens of QAnon social media accounts were hyping up January 6 in the days leading up to a Washington DC rally for Trump, expressing hope that President-elect Joe Biden's victory would be overturned. Twitter said in an email statement on Friday: "Given the renewed potential for violence surrounding this type of behaviour in the coming days, we will permanently suspend accounts that are solely dedicated to sharing QAnon content." The company says that when it determines a group or campaign is engaged in "coordinated harmful activity", it may suspend accounts that it finds primarily encourages that behaviour.

Twitter bans Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell as part of purge of QAnon accounts

Social networking giant Twitter quickly deleted new tweets from US&nbsp;President Donald Trump from an official government account after the social media site had banned his personal account.

"After a close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account," Twitter said in a <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/suspension.html">blog post</a> explaining its decision, "we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence."&nbsp;

Also see:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/in-pics-tear-gas-explosives-and-gunfire-trump-supporters-storm-capitol-clash-with-police-354961">In pics-Tear gas, explosives and gunfire: Trump supporters storm Capitol, clash with police</a>

US President Donald Trump on Friday accused Twitter of conspiring with his political enemies "to silence me," after the social media platform permanently suspended his account.

"Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me -- and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me," he said in a series of tweets from the official @POTUS account.

Twitter had&nbsp;temporarily blocked Trump's account on Wednesday,&nbsp;following the siege of Capitol Hill by pro-Trump protesters, and warned that additional violations by the president's accounts would result in a permanent suspension.

The social media platform was&nbsp;Trump's&nbsp;favourite megaphone and he has&nbsp;had more than 88 million followers.

Trump returned to Twitter late Thursday, posting a video message that seemed aimed at calming tensions after the mayhem caused by his supporters.

He acknowledged his presidency was ending and promised a smooth transition to Joe Biden, although he did not go so far as to congratulate or even say the name of his successor.

Twitter said at the time it was continuing to watch Trump's social media activity to determine whether further action was needed.

The decision to suspend Trump's account came after a pair of tweets on Friday, according to the one-to-many messaging platform.

In one of the tweets, Trump vowed that none of his supporters would be "disrespected," and in another, he said he would not be attending Biden's inauguration on January 20, as is customary.

"These two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President's statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behaviour from this account in recent weeks," Twitter said.

The company determined the tweets violated its "Glorification of Violence&nbsp;Policy," and that "user @realDonaldTrump&nbsp;should be immediately permanently suspended from the service."

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="YouTube removes thousands of videos posted from Donald Trump's channel">YouTube removes thousands of videos posted from Donald Trump's channel</a>

Talk of new attack&nbsp;

Twitter said it also factored in that plans for more armed protests have been proliferating on and off the service, including a proposed second attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17.

Trump's tweeted statement about not attending the Inauguration has been received by some supporters as his continued rejection of the election's legitimacy and a sign that the event would be a "safe target" since he won't be there, according to Twitter.

The wording in Trump's Friday tweets was seen by some supporters as praise for those involved in what has been described as a coup attempt, and an indication he does not plan to smoothly yield power to Biden, Twitter said in the post.

Twitter confirmed that several hundred employees signed a letter to chief executive Jack Dorsey saying they were disturbed by the "insurrection" carried out by Trump supporters, who had been rallied by the president.

The employees called for Twitter to assess the role its platform played in Wednesday's events.

"Twitter encourages an open dialogue between our leadership and employees, and we welcome our employees to express their thoughts and concerns in whichever manner feels right to them," a company spokesperson said of the letter.

Social networking giant Twitter quickly deleted new tweets from US President Donald Trump from an official government account after the social media site had banned his personal account.

Social networking giant Twitter quickly deleted new tweets from US President Donald Trump from an official government account after the social media site had banned his personal account. "After a close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account," Twitter said in a blog post explaining its decision, "we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence." Also see: In pics-Tear gas, explosives and gunfire: Trump supporters storm Capitol, clash with police US President Donald Trump on Friday accused Twitter of conspiring with his political enemies "to silence me," after the social media platform permanently suspended his account. "Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me -- and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me," he said in a series of tweets from the official @POTUS account. Twitter had temporarily blocked Trump's account on Wednesday, following the siege of Capitol Hill by pro-Trump protesters, and warned that additional violations by the president's accounts would result in a permanent suspension. The social media platform was Trump's favourite megaphone and he has had more than 88 million followers. Trump returned to Twitter late Thursday, posting a video message that seemed aimed at calming tensions after the mayhem caused by his supporters. He acknowledged his presidency was ending and promised a smooth transition to Joe Biden, although he did not go so far as to congratulate or even say the name of his successor. Twitter said at the time it was continuing to watch Trump's social media activity to determine whether further action was needed. The decision to suspend Trump's account came after a pair of tweets on Friday, according to the one-to-many messaging platform. In one of the tweets, Trump vowed that none of his supporters would be "disrespected," and in another, he said he would not be attending Biden's inauguration on January 20, as is customary. "These two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President's statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behaviour from this account in recent weeks," Twitter said. The company determined the tweets violated its "Glorification of Violence Policy," and that "user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the service." Also read: YouTube removes thousands of videos posted from Donald Trump's channel Talk of new attack Twitter said it also factored in that plans for more armed protests have been proliferating on and off the service, including a proposed second attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17. Trump's tweeted statement about not attending the Inauguration has been received by some supporters as his continued rejection of the election's legitimacy and a sign that the event would be a "safe target" since he won't be there, according to Twitter. The wording in Trump's Friday tweets was seen by some supporters as praise for those involved in what has been described as a coup attempt, and an indication he does not plan to smoothly yield power to Biden, Twitter said in the post. Twitter confirmed that several hundred employees signed a letter to chief executive Jack Dorsey saying they were disturbed by the "insurrection" carried out by Trump supporters, who had been rallied by the president. The employees called for Twitter to assess the role its platform played in Wednesday's events. "Twitter encourages an open dialogue between our leadership and employees, and we welcome our employees to express their thoughts and concerns in whichever manner feels right to them," a company spokesperson said of the letter.

Twitter permanently suspends Trump's account, deletes POTUS' new tweets

A new poll reveals that the majority of Americans want the immediate removal of incumbent President Donald Trump after deadly riots rocked the US Capitol.

The poll, undertaken by Reuters and Ipsos, sheds light on the political mood of the country, with 57 per cent Americans supporting the immediate removal of Trump from office. Most supporting the removal are Democrats. Republicans are more supportive of Donald Trump completing his term, which ends on January 20, after which Joe Biden will take control of presidential duties in the country. 
&nbsp;

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The national survey was conducted on Thursday and Friday, and showed that 7 out of 10 who voted for Trump in the November elections were against the protesters who broke into the Capitol as officials were meeting to certify the victory of Democrat Joe Biden.

In addition, 70 per cent Americans were disapproving of Trump's actions which led to the violence. Earlier during a rally on the same day, Trump had urged thousands of his followers to march to the US Capitol.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/trump-administration-politicized-some-intelligence-on-foreign-election-influence-report-finds-355591" hreflang="en">Trump administration politicized some intelligence on foreign election influence, report finds</a>

In the aftermath of the attack, five people died, including a police officer. Leaders from across the world condemned the act, marking a moment of unison for both Democrats and Republicans.

On Monday, Democrats in the US House of Representatives will introduce misconduct charges, which could lead to another impeachment of Donald Trump, sources told Reuters.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/opinions-blogs/can-donald-trump-survive-without-twitter-355589" hreflang="en">Can Donald Trump survive without Twitter?</a> 
 
"If the President does not leave office imminently and willingly, the Congress will proceed with our action,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.&nbsp;

Party allegiances were clearly visible in the poll, with nine out of every ten Democrats calling for Trump's immediate removal, while just two in ten Republicans demanding the same. 
 
30 per cent claimed that the president should be removed using the provisions part of the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution, which enables the country's vice president and the cabinet to remove a president if deemed incapable of discharging duties.

A new poll reveals that the majority of Americans want the immediate removal of incumbent President Donald Trump after deadly riots rocked the US Capitol. The poll, undertaken by Reuters and Ipsos, sheds light on the political mood of the country, with 57 per cent Americans supporting the immediate removal of Trump from office.

A new poll reveals that the majority of Americans want the immediate removal of incumbent President Donald Trump after deadly riots rocked the US Capitol. The poll, undertaken by Reuters and Ipsos, sheds light on the political mood of the country, with 57 per cent Americans supporting the immediate removal of Trump from office. Most supporting the removal are Democrats. Republicans are more supportive of Donald Trump completing his term, which ends on January 20, after which Joe Biden will take control of presidential duties in the country. The national survey was conducted on Thursday and Friday, and showed that 7 out of 10 who voted for Trump in the November elections were against the protesters who broke into the Capitol as officials were meeting to certify the victory of Democrat Joe Biden. In addition, 70 per cent Americans were disapproving of Trump's actions which led to the violence. Earlier during a rally on the same day, Trump had urged thousands of his followers to march to the US Capitol. Also read: Trump administration politicized some intelligence on foreign election influence, report finds In the aftermath of the attack, five people died, including a police officer. Leaders from across the world condemned the act, marking a moment of unison for both Democrats and Republicans. On Monday, Democrats in the US House of Representatives will introduce misconduct charges, which could lead to another impeachment of Donald Trump, sources told Reuters. Also read: Can Donald Trump survive without Twitter? "If the President does not leave office imminently and willingly, the Congress will proceed with our action,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. Party allegiances were clearly visible in the poll, with nine out of every ten Democrats calling for Trump's immediate removal, while just two in ten Republicans demanding the same. 30 per cent claimed that the president should be removed using the provisions part of the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution, which enables the country's vice president and the cabinet to remove a president if deemed incapable of discharging duties.

Majority of Americans want immediate removal of President Trump, poll finds

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration politicized the intelligence around foreign election interference in 2020, resulting in significant errors in its reports last year to Congress and the public, a report by the intelligence community ombudsman concluded.

Barry A. Zulauf, the analytic ombudsman in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, found there was a “a loss of objectivity” and politicization of intelligence in the election threat reporting last year.

“Analysis on foreign election interference was delayed, distorted or obstructed out of concern over policymaker reactions or for political reasons,” said the report, which was submitted to Congress on Thursday.

The formal validation dovetails with widespread perceptions about the Trump administration’s handling of intelligence and underscores the challenge awaiting the Biden administration as it prepares to take over the nation’s spy agencies. The report will be sent to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Still, because it was completed under an intelligence director viewed skeptically by Democrats, it is unlikely to be seen as the final word on what happened.

The Senate committee plans to review the report and will work with the new administration “to stop any politicization of intelligence and rectify the failures of the Trump administration,” said Rachel Cohen, a spokeswoman for Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who is set to lead the panel after the inauguration.

Some of most damaging material in the report concerns a briefing to Congress in March, soon after Richard Grenell, then the ambassador to Germany, took over as the acting director of national intelligence.

The March talking points, an unclassified version of which was made public, stated that the Kremlin was not aiding “any candidate’s reelection” — a stance at odds with what intelligence officers had told Congress previously: that Russia favored President Donald Trump.

Zulauf said he was not able to determine who wrote the talking points for the briefing, but found they were “shaped by” Grenell and other officials in his office.

“Analysts point out that there were substantive differences between the talking points and what the IC actually thought,” the report said, referring to the intelligence community.

The reluctance of intelligence professionals to deliver the talking points “should have been a red flag,” Zulauf wrote, “but did not stop the statement from being issued.”

The report also said that Grenell held up a memo in May from the National Intelligence Council about election security threats. His office revised a draft that emphasized intelligence gaps over what was known about those threats. Zulauf’s report said the revised version “buried the lead.”

Zulauf said he did not interview Grenell because he was no longer under his purview as ombudsman. Asked for a response, Grenell criticized the ombudsman for not talking to him.

“I never once made an edit to intelligence,” he said. “Any criticism of intel sharing or working during my tenure is a criticism of the amazing career officials in charge of the process.”

The intelligence ombudsman, established as part of a post-Sept. 11 overhaul, is charged with identifying lapses in tradecraft and practices. Unlike an inspector general, ombudsmen do not look for waste, fraud or abuse.

Zulauf also examined how the intelligence agencies analyzed Russia’s and China’s intentions and activities in relation to the 2020 election for an assessment in August of foreign election interference. (The August assessment also raised a warning about Iran, but his letter did not mention that category of intelligence.)

Analysts believed that the final published version of the August assessment — after interventions by John Ratcliffe, the current director of national intelligence, to add the warning about China — was an “outrageous misrepresentation of their analysis,” he reported.

They believed that during a drawn-out review process, senior leaders had “watered down” their conclusions about Russia to make it sound “not too controversial” while diverting attention to China by bolstering the perception of its threat.

Still, some intelligence officials noted on Friday that the August statement — issued in the name of William R. Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center — accurately treated the two countries differently. It said Russia was taking steps to hurt the candidacy of Joe Biden; while it also said China hoped Biden would win, it did not claim that China had similarly taken any steps to intervene.

In his own letter to Zulauf, Evanina asserted that he “accurately conveyed what I believed to be” the intelligence community’s thinking, adding: “I have never politicized intelligence during my career and any suggestion I would is a personal affront to me.”

In another letter, Ratcliffe defended his interventions, and argued that the intelligence assessment about China’s election influence efforts fell “short of the mark.”

Even as Zulauf reported that Russia analysts were upset that the agencies’ political leaders seemed to be delaying and suppressing their conclusions, he also suggested that there was politicization of intelligence not just from above but also “from below.”

China analysts, he wrote, “appeared hesitant to assess Chinese actions as undue influence or interference.”

“These analysts appeared reluctant to have their analysis on China brought forward because they tended to disagree with the administration’s policies, saying in effect, ‘I don’t want our intelligence used to support those policies,’” he continued.

But Zulauf did not cite any evidence to support the striking notion that analysts underplayed China threat analysis for political reasons, and he later wrote that the differences between the two “were not intentional, but a result of different collection and analysis rhythms and interpretations by analysts that do not cross-pollinate between regional issues.”

Some of the findings of the ombudsman, focused on allegations that intelligence about China was not properly examined, were earlier reported by The Washington Examiner.

The ombudsman’s inquiry appeared to be narrowly focused on the handling of information and analysis about Russian and Chinese actions related to the 2020 election, and the letter did not address other instances in which the Trump administration has drawn accusations of politicizing intelligence.

It does not address, for example, a memo produced by Ratcliffe’s office over the summer, days after The New York Times reported that the CIA had assessed that Russia covertly offered reward payments to an Afghan criminal-militant network to incentivize more frequent attacks on American troops but that the White House had not acted on that analysis.

The new memo — a so-called sense of the community memorandum produced by the National Intelligence Council, which reports to Ratcliffe — contained no new information. Instead it reanalyzed the same data the CIA had already examined and instead emphasized uncertainties and gaps in the available evidence, according to officials familiar with it, bolstering the administration’s attempts to justify its inaction on the months-old assessment.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration politicized the intelligence around foreign election interference in 2020, resulting in significant errors in its reports last year to Congress and the public, a report by the intelligence community ombudsman concluded.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration politicized the intelligence around foreign election interference in 2020, resulting in significant errors in its reports last year to Congress and the public, a report by the intelligence community ombudsman concluded. Barry A. Zulauf, the analytic ombudsman in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, found there was a “a loss of objectivity” and politicization of intelligence in the election threat reporting last year. “Analysis on foreign election interference was delayed, distorted or obstructed out of concern over policymaker reactions or for political reasons,” said the report, which was submitted to Congress on Thursday. The formal validation dovetails with widespread perceptions about the Trump administration’s handling of intelligence and underscores the challenge awaiting the Biden administration as it prepares to take over the nation’s spy agencies. The report will be sent to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Still, because it was completed under an intelligence director viewed skeptically by Democrats, it is unlikely to be seen as the final word on what happened. The Senate committee plans to review the report and will work with the new administration “to stop any politicization of intelligence and rectify the failures of the Trump administration,” said Rachel Cohen, a spokeswoman for Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who is set to lead the panel after the inauguration. Some of most damaging material in the report concerns a briefing to Congress in March, soon after Richard Grenell, then the ambassador to Germany, took over as the acting director of national intelligence. The March talking points, an unclassified version of which was made public, stated that the Kremlin was not aiding “any candidate’s reelection” — a stance at odds with what intelligence officers had told Congress previously: that Russia favored President Donald Trump. Zulauf said he was not able to determine who wrote the talking points for the briefing, but found they were “shaped by” Grenell and other officials in his office. “Analysts point out that there were substantive differences between the talking points and what the IC actually thought,” the report said, referring to the intelligence community. The reluctance of intelligence professionals to deliver the talking points “should have been a red flag,” Zulauf wrote, “but did not stop the statement from being issued.” The report also said that Grenell held up a memo in May from the National Intelligence Council about election security threats. His office revised a draft that emphasized intelligence gaps over what was known about those threats. Zulauf’s report said the revised version “buried the lead.” Zulauf said he did not interview Grenell because he was no longer under his purview as ombudsman. Asked for a response, Grenell criticized the ombudsman for not talking to him. “I never once made an edit to intelligence,” he said. “Any criticism of intel sharing or working during my tenure is a criticism of the amazing career officials in charge of the process.” The intelligence ombudsman, established as part of a post-Sept. 11 overhaul, is charged with identifying lapses in tradecraft and practices. Unlike an inspector general, ombudsmen do not look for waste, fraud or abuse. Zulauf also examined how the intelligence agencies analyzed Russia’s and China’s intentions and activities in relation to the 2020 election for an assessment in August of foreign election interference. (The August assessment also raised a warning about Iran, but his letter did not mention that category of intelligence.) Analysts believed that the final published version of the August assessment — after interventions by John Ratcliffe, the current director of national intelligence, to add the warning about China — was an “outrageous misrepresentation of their analysis,” he reported. They believed that during a drawn-out review process, senior leaders had “watered down” their conclusions about Russia to make it sound “not too controversial” while diverting attention to China by bolstering the perception of its threat. Still, some intelligence officials noted on Friday that the August statement — issued in the name of William R. Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center — accurately treated the two countries differently. It said Russia was taking steps to hurt the candidacy of Joe Biden; while it also said China hoped Biden would win, it did not claim that China had similarly taken any steps to intervene. In his own letter to Zulauf, Evanina asserted that he “accurately conveyed what I believed to be” the intelligence community’s thinking, adding: “I have never politicized intelligence during my career and any suggestion I would is a personal affront to me.” In another letter, Ratcliffe defended his interventions, and argued that the intelligence assessment about China’s election influence efforts fell “short of the mark.” Even as Zulauf reported that Russia analysts were upset that the agencies’ political leaders seemed to be delaying and suppressing their conclusions, he also suggested that there was politicization of intelligence not just from above but also “from below.” China analysts, he wrote, “appeared hesitant to assess Chinese actions as undue influence or interference.” “These analysts appeared reluctant to have their analysis on China brought forward because they tended to disagree with the administration’s policies, saying in effect, ‘I don’t want our intelligence used to support those policies,’” he continued. But Zulauf did not cite any evidence to support the striking notion that analysts underplayed China threat analysis for political reasons, and he later wrote that the differences between the two “were not intentional, but a result of different collection and analysis rhythms and interpretations by analysts that do not cross-pollinate between regional issues.” Some of the findings of the ombudsman, focused on allegations that intelligence about China was not properly examined, were earlier reported by The Washington Examiner. The ombudsman’s inquiry appeared to be narrowly focused on the handling of information and analysis about Russian and Chinese actions related to the 2020 election, and the letter did not address other instances in which the Trump administration has drawn accusations of politicizing intelligence. It does not address, for example, a memo produced by Ratcliffe’s office over the summer, days after The New York Times reported that the CIA had assessed that Russia covertly offered reward payments to an Afghan criminal-militant network to incentivize more frequent attacks on American troops but that the White House had not acted on that analysis. The new memo — a so-called sense of the community memorandum produced by the National Intelligence Council, which reports to Ratcliffe — contained no new information. Instead it reanalyzed the same data the CIA had already examined and instead emphasized uncertainties and gaps in the available evidence, according to officials familiar with it, bolstering the administration’s attempts to justify its inaction on the months-old assessment.

Trump administration politicized some intelligence on foreign election influence, report finds

On Friday, Twitter permanently suspended President Donald Trump’s account. According to the company, one of the tweets that sealed the deal was “President Trump’s statement that he will not be attending the inauguration” and its implication that the results of the 2020 election were not legitimate. After years of using the platform to spread lies and conspiracies, after countless tweets amplifying white supremacists and QAnon believers, and after attempting to provoke both North Korea and Iran, the justification feels a bit like getting Al Capone on tax evasion. And yet the damage is irrefutable.

Reflexively, it feels a bit odd to care so much about a 74-year-old man losing access to the app he uses to complain about cable news. But the Trump presidency, and indeed almost all of his political career, is inextricable from the platform. He tweeted and tweeted, and the rest of us rejoiced or grimaced in equal measure. Either way, his tweets made news. His account, for better or worse (spoiler: worse), acted as the national media’s assignment editor for a half decade. And here we are.

Now it’s gone.

The obvious question now is: What does this mean for Trump’s future? Can a disgraced president addicted to outrage and innately governed by the same forces as the attention economy survive without his primary outlet?

I think it all depends on whether Trump is, himself, a platform as formidable as some of the platforms he uses. I’ve spent the last four years thinking about this guy — almost subconsciously — as the ultimate social media influencer. But, occasionally, I wonder if maybe I’ve had it backward. Yes, Trump is at times the influencer. But does he also behave like the platform?

To think of Trump as an influencer is to suggest that his message can be contained. That his ideas live and die with him and his ability to broadcast them. To suggest that Trumpism is something bigger — that it is a platform itself — is to argue that Trump and his followers have constructed a powerful, parallel information ecosystem that is as strong and powerful (one could argue even more powerful) than any system built to oppose it. But anyone plugged into the pro-Trump universe realizes that Trumpism is bigger than the figurehead.

So which is Trump: the influencer or the platform?

Like a good platform, Trump has found a way to bring communities with relevant interests together while not thinking too much about the long-term costs.

Like all platforms, Trump is a natural engine of radicalization — for those who support him and those who oppose him. Consuming more of him leads only to a hardening of one’s ideology. Each rally and every successive tweet is more extreme than the last, propelling most of Trump’s followers deeper down the rabbit hole and intensifying their enthusiasm or disgust for the president. For this reason, like any good platform, Trump is a time suck. Evenings, weekends, holidays, you name it — are all derailed by his demand for your time and attention. Both are the ultimate currency to the Trump platform, allowing him to remain the central figure in American life.

And then there’s our relationship to the Trump platform, which should feel familiar to tech observers. It arrives unexpectedly and is nothing quite like what came before it. The shiny object becomes a media darling. Since it’s a novel experience, the new platform is not taken seriously as a world-changing force. The new platform announces itself with a catchy motto explicitly stating its intentions: “Make the world more open and connected,” as Facebook declared in its early days; “Make America Great Again,” as the president declares today. But still we avoid asking the hard question: What would happen if the nascent platform achieves those goals? We don’t think too hard about any of it. Even those who don’t like it partake in the platform, feeding it our attention. What’s the harm? After all, it’s free.

In time, we learn that’s not the case. The platform, we find, demands a great deal. Slowly and sneakily it takes and takes little pieces of us. Our data, our attention. It’s not until it’s too late that we learn the platform isn’t free — it only appears so. We learn, to our dismay, that in fact we’ve paid a great price.

Traditionally, a platform is a software framework for others to build on top of. In the case of the social media platforms, their fundamental role is to amass a base of users, connect them and provide people with ways to reach those audiences at scale. Influencers and creators provide the content but live at the whims of the platforms and their rules. They rely on the platforms for audience, and even a subtle tweak of an algorithm can mean fading to obscurity.

It is a precarious existence. When you serve at the pleasure of the platforms, you can be de-platformed. We’re about to see if Trump can truly be de-platformed.

On Friday, Twitter permanently suspended President Donald Trump’s account. According to the company, one of the tweets that sealed the deal was “President Trump’s statement that he will not be attending the inauguration” and its implication that the results of the 2020 election were not legitimate.

On Friday, Twitter permanently suspended President Donald Trump’s account. According to the company, one of the tweets that sealed the deal was “President Trump’s statement that he will not be attending the inauguration” and its implication that the results of the 2020 election were not legitimate. After years of using the platform to spread lies and conspiracies, after countless tweets amplifying white supremacists and QAnon believers, and after attempting to provoke both North Korea and Iran, the justification feels a bit like getting Al Capone on tax evasion. And yet the damage is irrefutable. Reflexively, it feels a bit odd to care so much about a 74-year-old man losing access to the app he uses to complain about cable news. But the Trump presidency, and indeed almost all of his political career, is inextricable from the platform. He tweeted and tweeted, and the rest of us rejoiced or grimaced in equal measure. Either way, his tweets made news. His account, for better or worse (spoiler: worse), acted as the national media’s assignment editor for a half decade. And here we are. Now it’s gone. The obvious question now is: What does this mean for Trump’s future? Can a disgraced president addicted to outrage and innately governed by the same forces as the attention economy survive without his primary outlet? I think it all depends on whether Trump is, himself, a platform as formidable as some of the platforms he uses. I’ve spent the last four years thinking about this guy — almost subconsciously — as the ultimate social media influencer. But, occasionally, I wonder if maybe I’ve had it backward. Yes, Trump is at times the influencer. But does he also behave like the platform? To think of Trump as an influencer is to suggest that his message can be contained. That his ideas live and die with him and his ability to broadcast them. To suggest that Trumpism is something bigger — that it is a platform itself — is to argue that Trump and his followers have constructed a powerful, parallel information ecosystem that is as strong and powerful (one could argue even more powerful) than any system built to oppose it. But anyone plugged into the pro-Trump universe realizes that Trumpism is bigger than the figurehead. So which is Trump: the influencer or the platform? Like a good platform, Trump has found a way to bring communities with relevant interests together while not thinking too much about the long-term costs. Like all platforms, Trump is a natural engine of radicalization — for those who support him and those who oppose him. Consuming more of him leads only to a hardening of one’s ideology. Each rally and every successive tweet is more extreme than the last, propelling most of Trump’s followers deeper down the rabbit hole and intensifying their enthusiasm or disgust for the president. For this reason, like any good platform, Trump is a time suck. Evenings, weekends, holidays, you name it — are all derailed by his demand for your time and attention. Both are the ultimate currency to the Trump platform, allowing him to remain the central figure in American life. And then there’s our relationship to the Trump platform, which should feel familiar to tech observers. It arrives unexpectedly and is nothing quite like what came before it. The shiny object becomes a media darling. Since it’s a novel experience, the new platform is not taken seriously as a world-changing force. The new platform announces itself with a catchy motto explicitly stating its intentions: “Make the world more open and connected,” as Facebook declared in its early days; “Make America Great Again,” as the president declares today. But still we avoid asking the hard question: What would happen if the nascent platform achieves those goals? We don’t think too hard about any of it. Even those who don’t like it partake in the platform, feeding it our attention. What’s the harm? After all, it’s free. In time, we learn that’s not the case. The platform, we find, demands a great deal. Slowly and sneakily it takes and takes little pieces of us. Our data, our attention. It’s not until it’s too late that we learn the platform isn’t free — it only appears so. We learn, to our dismay, that in fact we’ve paid a great price. Traditionally, a platform is a software framework for others to build on top of. In the case of the social media platforms, their fundamental role is to amass a base of users, connect them and provide people with ways to reach those audiences at scale. Influencers and creators provide the content but live at the whims of the platforms and their rules. They rely on the platforms for audience, and even a subtle tweak of an algorithm can mean fading to obscurity. It is a precarious existence. When you serve at the pleasure of the platforms, you can be de-platformed. We’re about to see if Trump can truly be de-platformed.

Can Donald Trump survive without Twitter?

Outgoing US President Donald Trump has offered the clearest signal yet that he would voluntarily leave office on January 20, pledging there would be an "orderly transition" to Joe Biden's presidency.

Trump's remarks came minutes after a joint session of the US Congress formally certified the electoral college victory of Biden as the next US president and Kamala Harris as the vice-president in the November 3 election.

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The formal certification&nbsp;came in the wee hours of Thursday. The Joint Session which resumed its meeting late Wednesday night after it was disrupted by hundreds of supporters of Trump who violently stormed the Capitol Hill.

"Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th," Trump said in a statement minutes after the US Congress formally certified Biden's victory.

"While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it's only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again," he added, hinting at a potential 2024 run.

The counting of Electoral College votes and its subsequent certification came after an ugly episode of violence inside the US Capitol, resulting in four deaths, wherein Capitol Hill was brought under a lockdown, with lawmakers being taken to safe places, shots were fired inside the Congress and tear gas was used.

Biden described the riots in the US Capitol as an "unprecedented assault" on American democracy, and has his task cut out to spend the next four years on his administration to heal and unite a deeply polarised country after the fiercely-fought election.

Presidential election was held on November 3. Biden and Harris won a record number of popular votes, more than 80 millions and earned as many as 306 Electoral College votes.

Biden and Harris are now scheduled to be sworn in as the president and vice-president of the country on January 20. The inauguration is going to be a low-key affair given the COVID-19 pandemic.

Outgoing US President Donald Trump has offered the clearest signal yet that he would voluntarily leave office on January 20, pledging there would be an "orderly transition" to Joe Biden's presidency.

Outgoing US President Donald Trump has offered the clearest signal yet that he would voluntarily leave office on January 20, pledging there would be an "orderly transition" to Joe Biden's presidency. Trump's remarks came minutes after a joint session of the US Congress formally certified the electoral college victory of Biden as the next US president and Kamala Harris as the vice-president in the November 3 election. The formal certification came in the wee hours of Thursday. The Joint Session which resumed its meeting late Wednesday night after it was disrupted by hundreds of supporters of Trump who violently stormed the Capitol Hill. "Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th," Trump said in a statement minutes after the US Congress formally certified Biden's victory. "While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it's only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again," he added, hinting at a potential 2024 run. The counting of Electoral College votes and its subsequent certification came after an ugly episode of violence inside the US Capitol, resulting in four deaths, wherein Capitol Hill was brought under a lockdown, with lawmakers being taken to safe places, shots were fired inside the Congress and tear gas was used. Biden described the riots in the US Capitol as an "unprecedented assault" on American democracy, and has his task cut out to spend the next four years on his administration to heal and unite a deeply polarised country after the fiercely-fought election. Presidential election was held on November 3. Biden and Harris won a record number of popular votes, more than 80 millions and earned as many as 306 Electoral College votes. Biden and Harris are now scheduled to be sworn in as the president and vice-president of the country on January 20. The inauguration is going to be a low-key affair given the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump finally concedes defeat, pledges 'orderly transition' after Congress affirms Biden win

US President-elect Joe Biden has assured more economic relief for the coronavirus pandemic now, adding he would deliver a plan costing "trillions" of dollars next week.

Biden, introducing several members of his economic team, spoke on Friday after data showed the US economy lost jobs for the first time in eight months in December as a resurgent Covid pandemic shuttered restaurants and other businesses.

Speaking to reporters as he announced his nominees to head the Commerce and Labour departments, the president-elect said action was needed to help Americans get to the other side of the health and economic crisis, and to "avoid a broader economic cost that exists out there, that will happen due to long term unemployment, hunger, homelessness and business failings."

He also called for raising the minimum wage to $15, a campaign promise, and for sending out $2,000 in direct cash payments. Democrats sought those cash payouts in the last relief bill, passed in December, but only were able to get Republicans to agree to $600.

Biden said the proposal includes relief for state and local governments grappling with the pandemic, as well as new support for people who lost their jobs or cannot afford rent.

"We need more direct relief flowing to families, small businesses, including finishing the job of getting people that $2,000 relief direct payment. $600 is simply not enough," he said. 
Biden said he would unveil the plan on Thursday.

The Democrat, who takes office on January 20, emerged emboldened from a pair of Senate elections this week in Georgia that handed Democrats a majority in that chamber to complement control of the House of Representatives. The majorities could allow Biden to pass larger spending bills.

Biden's initial plan was for a bill under $1 trillion but he said on Friday that "economic research confirms that with conditions like the crisis today, especially with such low interest rates, taking immediate action - even with deficit financing - is going to help the economy."

(with inputs)

US President-elect Joe Biden has assured more economic relief for the coronavirus pandemic now, adding he would deliver a plan costing "trillions" of dollars next week.

US President-elect Joe Biden has assured more economic relief for the coronavirus pandemic now, adding he would deliver a plan costing "trillions" of dollars next week. Biden, introducing several members of his economic team, spoke on Friday after data showed the US economy lost jobs for the first time in eight months in December as a resurgent Covid pandemic shuttered restaurants and other businesses. Speaking to reporters as he announced his nominees to head the Commerce and Labour departments, the president-elect said action was needed to help Americans get to the other side of the health and economic crisis, and to "avoid a broader economic cost that exists out there, that will happen due to long term unemployment, hunger, homelessness and business failings." He also called for raising the minimum wage to $15, a campaign promise, and for sending out $2,000 in direct cash payments. Democrats sought those cash payouts in the last relief bill, passed in December, but only were able to get Republicans to agree to $600. Biden said the proposal includes relief for state and local governments grappling with the pandemic, as well as new support for people who lost their jobs or cannot afford rent. "We need more direct relief flowing to families, small businesses, including finishing the job of getting people that $2,000 relief direct payment. $600 is simply not enough," he said. Biden said he would unveil the plan on Thursday. The Democrat, who takes office on January 20, emerged emboldened from a pair of Senate elections this week in Georgia that handed Democrats a majority in that chamber to complement control of the House of Representatives. The majorities could allow Biden to pass larger spending bills. Biden's initial plan was for a bill under $1 trillion but he said on Friday that "economic research confirms that with conditions like the crisis today, especially with such low interest rates, taking immediate action - even with deficit financing - is going to help the economy." (with inputs)

Biden to unveil trillions in pandemic economic relief spending next week

The seat of power in the United States came under siege. A violent mob, instigated by US President Donald Trump stormed the US Congress.

Your Story: National Guardsmen pour into D.C to respond to Capitol Hill rioters

A lot is at stake after Donald Trump conceded defeat and accepted that Joe Biden has won the US election to become the next president. Among other things, there are people in line for pardon from Trump.

Rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black are among the celebrities in line for President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>’s pardons.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Trump is considering pardoning Lil Wayne, with whom he posed for a photo during the presidential campaign. Lil Wayne pled guilty in federal district court in December for illegally possessing a loaded, gold-plated handgun, while traveling to Florida on a private plane in 2019. He could serve up to 10 years in jail. He’s previously served eight months in jail in New York after being convicted of criminal possession of a weapon.

Another celebrity on his list is rapper Kodak Black who was sentenced to 46 months in prison on federal weapons charges. Kodak Black had admitted to lying on background-check forms while buying multiple firearms. Two of the weapons were later found by police at crime scenes, including one with Kodak Black’s fingerprints and a live round in the chamber that had been used to fire at a rap artist.&nbsp;

Trump plans on announcing the pardons on what is expected to be his final day in office, January 19.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/singer-jay-kay-denies-being-at-the-capitol-hill-as-fans-mistake-him-for-one-of-the-rioters-355264" hreflang="en">Singer Jay Kay denies being at the Capitol Hill as fans mistake him for one of the rioters</a>

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-unimaginable-and-disgraceful-hollywood-reacts-to-capitol-attack-355175" hreflang="en">'Unimaginable and Disgraceful', Hollywood reacts to Capitol attack</a>

&nbsp;

A lot is at stake after Donald Trump conceded defeat and accepted that Joe Biden has won the US election to become the next president. Among other things, there are people in line for pardon from Trump.

A lot is at stake after Donald Trump conceded defeat and accepted that Joe Biden has won the US election to become the next president. Among other things, there are people in line for pardon from Trump. Rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black are among the celebrities in line for President Donald Trump’s pardons. According to a report from Bloomberg, Trump is considering pardoning Lil Wayne, with whom he posed for a photo during the presidential campaign. Lil Wayne pled guilty in federal district court in December for illegally possessing a loaded, gold-plated handgun, while traveling to Florida on a private plane in 2019. He could serve up to 10 years in jail. He’s previously served eight months in jail in New York after being convicted of criminal possession of a weapon. Another celebrity on his list is rapper Kodak Black who was sentenced to 46 months in prison on federal weapons charges. Kodak Black had admitted to lying on background-check forms while buying multiple firearms. Two of the weapons were later found by police at crime scenes, including one with Kodak Black’s fingerprints and a live round in the chamber that had been used to fire at a rap artist. Trump plans on announcing the pardons on what is expected to be his final day in office, January 19. Singer Jay Kay denies being at the Capitol Hill as fans mistake him for one of the rioters 'Unimaginable and Disgraceful', Hollywood reacts to Capitol attack

Rappers Lil Wayne, Kodak Black in line for Donald Trump's pardons for these crimes

The storming of # Capitol Hill was no Hollywood thriller. It was genuine American carnage. How did it unfold? How did a rally turn into a strike on US Democracy?

Decoding the sequence of events of Capitol Hill seige

In 1814, the British set fire to the American democracy. Their troops burnt the Capitol, the White House, which was then called the presidential mansion and other government buildings.&nbsp;

More than 200 years later, US President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump </a>entered the White House.&nbsp;

Watch |&nbsp;

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-donald-trump-attempts-a-coup-355232/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

In the four years that followed, he systematically shredded American democracy and tore the country apart.&nbsp;

Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/as-capitol-siege-sends-shockwaves-across-the-world-heres-a-timeline-of-how-it-unfolded-355224">As Capitol siege sends shockwaves across the world, here's a timeline of how it unfolded</a>

There are four pillars of every democracy, the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and the press.&nbsp;

Trump attacked all of them and then waged a war on the election.&nbsp;

He called the election process fraud and demanded that the counting be stopped.&nbsp;

Trump also tried to delegitimise the result.&nbsp;

There was no way Trump was going to leave office without insulting the system too.&nbsp;

What Washington witnessed on January 6 was shocking, but not surprising.&nbsp;

Trump filed lawsuits against the election results, sent late-night champagne to official election canvassers and hosted them at Trump hotels.&nbsp;

He terrorised election workers with threats and even tried bullying state governors.&nbsp;

When all his antics flopped, Trump incited thugs into attacking the US Capitol, attempting a coup.&nbsp;

In October 2020, there were articles being written about how Trump may orchestrate to overthrow an elected government and three months later, he did exactly that.&nbsp;

Trump violated his oath of office, committed sedition and attempted a coup d'état.&nbsp;

He made US Capitol looked like Egypt in 2018 when the then army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi forcefully removed elected president Mohamed Morsi from office.&nbsp;

The scenes were similar to the ones that were seen in Sudan in 2019 when President Omar al-Bashir was overthrown.&nbsp;

The US Capitol looked like 2017's Zimbabwe, 2012's Mali and 2010's Niger, all our nations that are not textbook examples of democracy. &nbsp;

The coup d'état was happening in a country that is the world's oldest and most celebrated democracy.&nbsp;

The siege in US Capitol's only parallel was Wilmington insurrection in 1898 when White supremacists overthrew a multicultural government in North Carolina.&nbsp;

A century separates the two events, but never ever such an event happened on the orders of a sitting president.&nbsp;

In 1814, British forces burnt the Capitol; in 1915, the Senate Reception Room was bombed; the Capitol Room was attacked by four Puerto Rican nationalists in 1954 and there were bombings in 1971 and 1983 too.&nbsp;

The airlines that crashed into the World Trade Centre in September 2011 also attempted US Capitol.&nbsp;

About two decades later, the US president himself had the building attacked.&nbsp;

America's democracy was badly hurt today and what face it will show to the countries it invaded.&nbsp;

The breakdown of law and order in the US has raised eyebrows globally and after the mayhem ended, the democracy has been insulted.&nbsp;

After the US became a laughing stock among its adversaries, Trump says he will ensure a peaceful transfer of power.&nbsp;

The words were coming out from the mouth of a man who insulted the democracy.&nbsp;

The man who does not deserve to sit in the White House even for the remaining two weeks.&nbsp;

In 1814, the British set fire to the American democracy. Their troops burnt the Capitol, the White House, which was then called the presidential mansion and other government buildings.

In 1814, the British set fire to the American democracy. Their troops burnt the Capitol, the White House, which was then called the presidential mansion and other government buildings. More than 200 years later, US President Donald Trump entered the White House. Watch | In the four years that followed, he systematically shredded American democracy and tore the country apart. Also read | As Capitol siege sends shockwaves across the world, here's a timeline of how it unfolded There are four pillars of every democracy, the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and the press. Trump attacked all of them and then waged a war on the election. He called the election process fraud and demanded that the counting be stopped. Trump also tried to delegitimise the result. There was no way Trump was going to leave office without insulting the system too. What Washington witnessed on January 6 was shocking, but not surprising. Trump filed lawsuits against the election results, sent late-night champagne to official election canvassers and hosted them at Trump hotels. He terrorised election workers with threats and even tried bullying state governors. When all his antics flopped, Trump incited thugs into attacking the US Capitol, attempting a coup. In October 2020, there were articles being written about how Trump may orchestrate to overthrow an elected government and three months later, he did exactly that. Trump violated his oath of office, committed sedition and attempted a coup d'état. He made US Capitol looked like Egypt in 2018 when the then army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi forcefully removed elected president Mohamed Morsi from office. The scenes were similar to the ones that were seen in Sudan in 2019 when President Omar al-Bashir was overthrown. The US Capitol looked like 2017's Zimbabwe, 2012's Mali and 2010's Niger, all our nations that are not textbook examples of democracy. The coup d'état was happening in a country that is the world's oldest and most celebrated democracy. The siege in US Capitol's only parallel was Wilmington insurrection in 1898 when White supremacists overthrew a multicultural government in North Carolina. A century separates the two events, but never ever such an event happened on the orders of a sitting president. In 1814, British forces burnt the Capitol; in 1915, the Senate Reception Room was bombed; the Capitol Room was attacked by four Puerto Rican nationalists in 1954 and there were bombings in 1971 and 1983 too. The airlines that crashed into the World Trade Centre in September 2011 also attempted US Capitol. About two decades later, the US president himself had the building attacked. America's democracy was badly hurt today and what face it will show to the countries it invaded. The breakdown of law and order in the US has raised eyebrows globally and after the mayhem ended, the democracy has been insulted. After the US became a laughing stock among its adversaries, Trump says he will ensure a peaceful transfer of power. The words were coming out from the mouth of a man who insulted the democracy. The man who does not deserve to sit in the White House even for the remaining two weeks.

After an assault on all democratic institutions, Donald Trump attempts coup d'etat

At&nbsp;least&nbsp;six people died, including a little girl, and almost 50 others were&nbsp;rescued&nbsp;after&nbsp;an overloaded&nbsp;migrant&nbsp;boat capsized off&nbsp;north&nbsp;Lebanon&nbsp;during a chase by naval forces, Lebanese officials said.

The boat carrying nearly 60 people capsized on Saturday night near the port city of Tripoli, the departure point for a growing number of people attempting a potentially lethal sea escape.

The deadly accident, weeks ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for May 15, is not the first of its kind for the crisis-hit country grappling with its worst-ever financial crash.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/lebanon-hands-over-337-ancient-artifacts-to-iraq-451135">Lebanon hands over 337 ancient artifacts to Iraq</a>

But it marks a grim reminder of the suffering behind a growing number of people, including Lebanese nationals and Syrian refugees, risking their lives at sea in search of a future abroad.

"The army's naval forces managed to rescue&nbsp;48&nbsp;people and retrieve the body of a&nbsp;dead&nbsp;girl... from a boat that sank while trying to illegally smuggle them out," the army said in a statement.

"Most people on board were&nbsp;rescued," the army said, without specifying their nationalities.

The army retrieved five corpses&nbsp;off&nbsp;Tripoli's coast on Sunday, the state-run National News Agency reported, hours&nbsp;after&nbsp;the body of a little girl was returned to shore.

Wails of relatives rang out from a Tripoli morgue where the corpses were being kept, according to an AFP correspondent.

Dozens looked on as a group of men stormed into the morgue and pulled out the corpse of a victim for burial, the correspondent said.&nbsp;

Watch |&nbsp;Migrant boat capsizes of Lebanon, Lebanese officials rescue 50 migrants

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/migrant-boat-capsizes-of-lebanon-lebanese-officials-rescue-50-migrants-473438/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Nearby dozens of young men lobbed stones at two army tanks, to vent their anger at the sea tragedy.

At Tripoli's port, relatives of the missing impatiently waited for news of their loved ones.

"My nephew, he has five children and his wife is pregnant with twins. He was trying to escape hunger and poverty," one man told AFP at the dockside harbour.&nbsp;

&nbsp;Sunk in seconds&nbsp;

Haissam Dannaoui, the head of&nbsp;Lebanon's naval forces, said the 10-meter (33-foot) boat built in 1974 was designed to only accomodate six passengers.

But it was crammed with nearly 60 would-be migrants and took to sea without any safety precautions, he told a news conference.

Dannaoui said the army tried to thwart the smuggling operation before the&nbsp;ship&nbsp;sailed out of the Qalamoun region, south of Tripoli, but could not reach the departure point in time.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/i-love-you-in-your-madness-lebanon-changes-slogan-to-attract-tourists-427041">‘I love you in your madness’: Lebanon changes slogan to attract tourists</a>

An ensuing sea chase saw two naval patrols trying to force the&nbsp;migrant&nbsp;boat to turn back.

"Unfortunately, the captain (of the&nbsp;migrant&nbsp;boat) decided to carry out manoeuvres to escape," leading to the vessel crashing into the patrol ships, Dannaoui said.

The impact cracked the hull of the&nbsp;migrant&nbsp;boat, which quickly submerged, he said.

"In less than five seconds, the boat was under water," Dannaoui said, adding that passengers were quickly handed life jackets.

But one of the survivors said a naval&nbsp;ship&nbsp;had deliberately crashed into the&nbsp;migrant&nbsp;boat to force it back.

"Tho patrol boat crashed into us twice... to drown us," the man told AFP at the port, before he was silenced and carried&nbsp;off&nbsp;by a crowd of survivors' relatives.

The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for&nbsp;Lebanon&nbsp;Najat Rochdi called for an end to these repeated tragedies.&nbsp;

"It's horrific to see deprivation still pushing people to take a perilous journey across the seas," she said on Twitter.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/lebanon-says-government-cant-afford-to-resign-as-saudi-rift-widens-425326">Lebanon says government can't afford to resign as Saudi rift widens</a>

Death catches up

The latest incident stoked public anger in Tripoli,&nbsp;Lebanon's second city and one of its poorest.

Growing poverty and unemployment rates have turned Tripoli into a launchpad for illegal migrants.

Calls circulated on social media networks for protests outside the Tripoli home of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who declared Monday a day of national mourning to grieve the victims.

The relatives of the victims and the missing lashed out at the country's leaders.

"Even when we are trying to run away from the filth of politicians and their corruption... death catches up with us," said Nissrine Merheb who hasn't heard from her two cousins and their three children since they embarked on the deadly voyage.&nbsp;

Lebanon&nbsp;is in the grips of an unprecedented financial crisis, with the currency losing more than 90 percent of its value and the majority of the population living below the poverty line.

The economic crash has spurred an uptick in illegal sea crossings, with Lebanese nationals increasingly featuring among the Syrian and Palestinian refugees attempting sea escapes.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/lebanon-loses-electricity-as-2-power-stations-face-shut-down-amid-fuel-crisis-419481">Lebanon loses electricity as 2 power stations face shut down amid fuel crisis</a>

The UN refugee agency says at&nbsp;least&nbsp;1,570 people, 186 of them Lebanese, left or tried to leave illegally by sea from&nbsp;Lebanon&nbsp;between January and November 2021.

Most were hoping to reach European Union member Cyprus, an island 175 kilometres (110 miles) away.

In the second half of 2021,&nbsp;Lebanon&nbsp;stopped around 500 would-be migrants from crossing out of the country, the country's naval chief said Saturday.

At least six people died, including a little girl, and almost 50 others were rescued after an overloaded migrant boat capsized off north Lebanon during a chase by naval forces, Lebanese officials said.

At least six people died, including a little girl, and almost 50 others were rescued after an overloaded migrant boat capsized off north Lebanon during a chase by naval forces, Lebanese officials said. The boat carrying nearly 60 people capsized on Saturday night near the port city of Tripoli, the departure point for a growing number of people attempting a potentially lethal sea escape. The deadly accident, weeks ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for May 15, is not the first of its kind for the crisis-hit country grappling with its worst-ever financial crash. Also read | Lebanon hands over 337 ancient artifacts to Iraq But it marks a grim reminder of the suffering behind a growing number of people, including Lebanese nationals and Syrian refugees, risking their lives at sea in search of a future abroad. "The army's naval forces managed to rescue 48 people and retrieve the body of a dead girl... from a boat that sank while trying to illegally smuggle them out," the army said in a statement. "Most people on board were rescued," the army said, without specifying their nationalities. The army retrieved five corpses off Tripoli's coast on Sunday, the state-run National News Agency reported, hours after the body of a little girl was returned to shore. Wails of relatives rang out from a Tripoli morgue where the corpses were being kept, according to an AFP correspondent. Dozens looked on as a group of men stormed into the morgue and pulled out the corpse of a victim for burial, the correspondent said. Watch | Migrant boat capsizes of Lebanon, Lebanese officials rescue 50 migrants Nearby dozens of young men lobbed stones at two army tanks, to vent their anger at the sea tragedy. At Tripoli's port, relatives of the missing impatiently waited for news of their loved ones. "My nephew, he has five children and his wife is pregnant with twins. He was trying to escape hunger and poverty," one man told AFP at the dockside harbour. Sunk in seconds Haissam Dannaoui, the head of Lebanon's naval forces, said the 10-meter (33-foot) boat built in 1974 was designed to only accomodate six passengers. But it was crammed with nearly 60 would-be migrants and took to sea without any safety precautions, he told a news conference. Dannaoui said the army tried to thwart the smuggling operation before the ship sailed out of the Qalamoun region, south of Tripoli, but could not reach the departure point in time. Also read | ‘I love you in your madness’: Lebanon changes slogan to attract tourists An ensuing sea chase saw two naval patrols trying to force the migrant boat to turn back. "Unfortunately, the captain (of the migrant boat) decided to carry out manoeuvres to escape," leading to the vessel crashing into the patrol ships, Dannaoui said. The impact cracked the hull of the migrant boat, which quickly submerged, he said. "In less than five seconds, the boat was under water," Dannaoui said, adding that passengers were quickly handed life jackets. But one of the survivors said a naval ship had deliberately crashed into the migrant boat to force it back. "Tho patrol boat crashed into us twice... to drown us," the man told AFP at the port, before he was silenced and carried off by a crowd of survivors' relatives. The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon Najat Rochdi called for an end to these repeated tragedies. "It's horrific to see deprivation still pushing people to take a perilous journey across the seas," she said on Twitter. Also read | Lebanon says government can't afford to resign as Saudi rift widens Death catches up The latest incident stoked public anger in Tripoli, Lebanon's second city and one of its poorest. Growing poverty and unemployment rates have turned Tripoli into a launchpad for illegal migrants. Calls circulated on social media networks for protests outside the Tripoli home of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who declared Monday a day of national mourning to grieve the victims. The relatives of the victims and the missing lashed out at the country's leaders. "Even when we are trying to run away from the filth of politicians and their corruption... death catches up with us," said Nissrine Merheb who hasn't heard from her two cousins and their three children since they embarked on the deadly voyage. Lebanon is in the grips of an unprecedented financial crisis, with the currency losing more than 90 percent of its value and the majority of the population living below the poverty line. The economic crash has spurred an uptick in illegal sea crossings, with Lebanese nationals increasingly featuring among the Syrian and Palestinian refugees attempting sea escapes. Also read | Lebanon loses electricity as 2 power stations face shut down amid fuel crisis The UN refugee agency says at least 1,570 people, 186 of them Lebanese, left or tried to leave illegally by sea from Lebanon between January and November 2021. Most were hoping to reach European Union member Cyprus, an island 175 kilometres (110 miles) away. In the second half of 2021, Lebanon stopped around 500 would-be migrants from crossing out of the country, the country's naval chief said Saturday.

Facebook has banned Donald Trump indefinitely, says Mark Zuckerberg

The storming of Capitol Hill was no Hollywood thriller. It was genuine American carnage. How did it unfold? How did a rally turn into a strike on US Democracy?

Gravitas: The storming of Capitol Hill

US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned on Thursday, joining a list of officials quitting President Donald Trump's administration in protest at the storming of the Capitol by his supporters.

Chao, the wife of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, said in an email to staff that the mob attack "has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside." She said her resignation will take effect on Monday.

In a letter to Trump, DeVos said the attack on the Capitol was unconscionable. "There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me," she wrote, adding her resignation would be effective Friday.

With less than two weeks left of Trump's presidency, many aides were already heading for the door, but the sudden exodus suggested revulsion among some over his encouragement of supporters who brought chaos to the Capitol on Wednesday in an ultimately futile bid to prevent formal certification of Democrat Joe Biden's election victory.

Deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger, a leading aide on Trump's China policy, quit abruptly on Wednesday, said a senior administration official.

He was followed by Ryan Tully, senior director for European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council, said a second senior official.

US Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund also announced he would resign this month after he faced criticism for failing to prevent supporters of Trump from storming the building.

Sund's resignation came hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Senator Chuck Schumer on Thursday demanded his resignation and said that he would be fired if he did not resign.

"It has been a pleasure and a true honour to serve the United States Capitol Police Board and the Congressional community alongside the men and women of the United States Capitol Police," Sund said in a letter to Capitol Police Board. Other members of the Board are also resigning from their positions.

"As discussed, I will transition into a sick leave status effective January 17, 2021, until I exhaust my available sick leave balance of approximately 440 hours," he said.

Mick Mulvaney, a former White House chief of staff, resigned as special envoy to Northern Ireland, telling CNBC: "I wouldn't be surprised to see more of my friends resign over the course of the next 24 to 48 hours."

John Costello, deputy assistant secretary at the Commerce Department, announced his departure in a blistering tweet, writing, "yesterday's events were an unprecedented attack on the very core of our democracy - incited by a sitting president."

Further departures were likely at the NSC, one of the officials said. It coordinates foreign policy and maintains contacts with other governments, so loss of key staff could raise questions about national security as the new administration takes over.

Sources told Reuters that the officials who stepped down on Thursday, in a growing exodus of Trump aides, were: Erin Walsh, senior director for African affairs; Mark Vandroff, senior director for defense policy; Anthony Rugierro, senior director for weapons of mass destruction; and Rob Greenway, senior director for Middle Eastern and North African affairs.

In an unprecedented assault on democracy in the US, thousands of supporters of outgoing President Trump stormed the Capitol building on Wednesday and clashed with police, interrupting a constitutional process by Congress to affirm the victory of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in the election.

Meanwhile,&nbsp;Trump -- for the first time -- openly acknowledged&nbsp;that Joe Biden will be the next president.

Trump, who as recently as Thursday morning had continued to claim falsely that the election had been stolen from him, said his focus would now turn to ensuring a smooth transition to a Biden administration in a video released in the evening.&nbsp;

His exhortation on Wednesday to thousands of supporters that they march to the Capitol to protest the election results whipped up a mob that overran police officers and invaded the Capitol building, forcing members of Congress into hiding for their own safety.

To this end, the threat of a second impeachment loomed over Trump.

The 25th Amendment allows a majority of the Cabinet to remove a president from power if he is unable to discharge the duties of the office.

(with inputs from agencies)

US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned on Thursday, joining a list of officials quitting President Donald Trump's administration in protest at the storming of the Capitol by his supporters.

US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned on Thursday, joining a list of officials quitting President Donald Trump's administration in protest at the storming of the Capitol by his supporters. Chao, the wife of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, said in an email to staff that the mob attack "has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside." She said her resignation will take effect on Monday. In a letter to Trump, DeVos said the attack on the Capitol was unconscionable. "There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me," she wrote, adding her resignation would be effective Friday. With less than two weeks left of Trump's presidency, many aides were already heading for the door, but the sudden exodus suggested revulsion among some over his encouragement of supporters who brought chaos to the Capitol on Wednesday in an ultimately futile bid to prevent formal certification of Democrat Joe Biden's election victory. Deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger, a leading aide on Trump's China policy, quit abruptly on Wednesday, said a senior administration official. He was followed by Ryan Tully, senior director for European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council, said a second senior official. US Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund also announced he would resign this month after he faced criticism for failing to prevent supporters of Trump from storming the building. Sund's resignation came hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Senator Chuck Schumer on Thursday demanded his resignation and said that he would be fired if he did not resign. "It has been a pleasure and a true honour to serve the United States Capitol Police Board and the Congressional community alongside the men and women of the United States Capitol Police," Sund said in a letter to Capitol Police Board. Other members of the Board are also resigning from their positions. "As discussed, I will transition into a sick leave status effective January 17, 2021, until I exhaust my available sick leave balance of approximately 440 hours," he said. Mick Mulvaney, a former White House chief of staff, resigned as special envoy to Northern Ireland, telling CNBC: "I wouldn't be surprised to see more of my friends resign over the course of the next 24 to 48 hours." John Costello, deputy assistant secretary at the Commerce Department, announced his departure in a blistering tweet, writing, "yesterday's events were an unprecedented attack on the very core of our democracy - incited by a sitting president." Further departures were likely at the NSC, one of the officials said. It coordinates foreign policy and maintains contacts with other governments, so loss of key staff could raise questions about national security as the new administration takes over. Sources told Reuters that the officials who stepped down on Thursday, in a growing exodus of Trump aides, were: Erin Walsh, senior director for African affairs; Mark Vandroff, senior director for defense policy; Anthony Rugierro, senior director for weapons of mass destruction; and Rob Greenway, senior director for Middle Eastern and North African affairs. In an unprecedented assault on democracy in the US, thousands of supporters of outgoing President Trump stormed the Capitol building on Wednesday and clashed with police, interrupting a constitutional process by Congress to affirm the victory of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in the election. Meanwhile, Trump -- for the first time -- openly acknowledged that Joe Biden will be the next president. Trump, who as recently as Thursday morning had continued to claim falsely that the election had been stolen from him, said his focus would now turn to ensuring a smooth transition to a Biden administration in a video released in the evening. His exhortation on Wednesday to thousands of supporters that they march to the Capitol to protest the election results whipped up a mob that overran police officers and invaded the Capitol building, forcing members of Congress into hiding for their own safety. To this end, the threat of a second impeachment loomed over Trump. The 25th Amendment allows a majority of the Cabinet to remove a president from power if he is unable to discharge the duties of the office. (with inputs from agencies)

US transport, education secretaries, Capitol Police chief resign over violence

US President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;on Friday said that he will not be present for the inauguration ceremony of President-elect <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>.&nbsp;

"To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th," Trump wrote on Twitter.&nbsp;

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To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1347569870578266115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
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US President Donald Trump on Friday said that he will not be present for the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Joe Biden.&nbsp;

Watch |&nbsp;

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/joe-biden-has-a-daunting-task-ahead-of-him-says-eu-chief-ursula-von-der-leyen-over-capitol-riots-355425/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

"To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th," Trump wrote on Twitter.&nbsp;

Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/youtube-removes-thousands-of-videos-posted-from-donald-trumps-channel-355435">YouTube removes thousands of videos posted from Donald Trump's channel</a>

This was the third tweet Trump posted following the 12-hour suspension of his account over false claims on US presidential election and inciting violent protesters.&nbsp;

Twitter also warned the US president that his account will be permanently taken down if the platform's rules were violated again.&nbsp;

Trump has repeatedly rejected the victory of Biden in the presidential election in November and called for election rigging despite not providing any evidence to substantiate his claims.&nbsp;

On Wednesday, several pro-Trump protesters attacked the US Capitol causing violence and chaos that left five people dead.&nbsp;

Trump on Thursday finally vowed a smooth transition to Biden after facing backlash over the incident at US Capitol when the session on certification of US election results was ongoing.&nbsp;

Biden called the protesters "domestic terrorists" and said that the event as "one of the darkest days" in the history of the US.&nbsp;

There were also widespread calls to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from the office.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

US President Donald Trump on Friday said that he will not be present for the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Joe Biden. "To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th," Trump wrote on Twitter.

US President Donald Trump on Friday said that he will not be present for the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Joe Biden. "To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th," Trump wrote on Twitter. To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021 × US President Donald Trump on Friday said that he will not be present for the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Joe Biden. Watch | "To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th," Trump wrote on Twitter. Also read | YouTube removes thousands of videos posted from Donald Trump's channel This was the third tweet Trump posted following the 12-hour suspension of his account over false claims on US presidential election and inciting violent protesters. Twitter also warned the US president that his account will be permanently taken down if the platform's rules were violated again. Trump has repeatedly rejected the victory of Biden in the presidential election in November and called for election rigging despite not providing any evidence to substantiate his claims. On Wednesday, several pro-Trump protesters attacked the US Capitol causing violence and chaos that left five people dead. Trump on Thursday finally vowed a smooth transition to Biden after facing backlash over the incident at US Capitol when the session on certification of US election results was ongoing. Biden called the protesters "domestic terrorists" and said that the event as "one of the darkest days" in the history of the US. There were also widespread calls to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from the office.

Donald Trump says will not attend Joe Biden inauguration ceremony

He has also asked for legal opinions on whether he has the authority to issue a self-pardon and has been advised on the potential political fallout.

WION Fineprint: Donald Trump seeks advice on Self-pardon power

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