Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday morning pushed back against the way in which Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) had framed the challenge of addressing systemic racism in his rebuttal speech to President Joe Biden’s address to Congress the night before.
An Amazing Moment That Thankfully Didn’t Happen
Thank God it didn’t come to that. But if Derek Chauvin had been acquitted in Minneapolis federal officials were planning to arrest him at the court house on federal civil rights charges. The DOJ still plans to bring those charges against Chauvin and the three other officers involved in George Floyd’s arrest and death.
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Report: Feds Plan To Indict Chauvin And Other Officers On Civil Rights Violation Charges
Justice Department officials were planning to arrest former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin at the courthouse earlier this month after spending months collecting evidence to indict Chauvin on federal police brutality charges if he had not been found guilty of murdering George Floyd, or if the case ended in mistrial, the Star Tribune reported early Thursday.
Pro-Trump Media Tries To Spin Giuliani Search Warrant As Attack On Trump’s Buddies
Federal agents on Wednesday executed a search warrant on Rudy Giuliani’s New York home and office, where they seized electronic devices in their investigation into the lawyer’s business dealings in Ukraine.
Short and Sweet
Tim Scott had a tough job following Biden and it showed. His speech seemed premised on Biden delivering a confrontational and aggressive speech that he didn’t give. Scott seemed to argue that Biden had brought to an end some glorious era of national unity. This is absurd. I don’t think it was effective.
Notes on Biden’s Speech
I didn’t have great expectations for tonight’s speech because political events seldom turn on speeches. Nor is speechifying Biden’s forte. He’s workmanlike, solid. But he’s no great orator. That’s Barak Obama.
But I saw an extraordinarily effective speech. Like so much with Biden he managed to find in the historical moment things that play to his strengths. I’ve been watching State of the Union addresses for forty-plus years and I have never seen one like this. Biden delivered it with a tremendous informality. Biden is no Obama when it comes to oratory. But Obama couldn’t have delivered this speech. It would not play to his skills which are heroic and oratorical rather than empathic and conversational.
Biden To Unveil Sweeping Human Infrastructure Bill In First Major Address To Congress
President Biden will throw the full weight of his presidency behind a sweeping $1.8 trillion “human infrastructure” proposal during an address to a joint session of Congress Wednesday night.
Dubbed the “American Families Plan,” it is an ambitious package that would dramatically strengthen the social safety net. The proposal is a complement to Biden’s “American Jobs Plan,” a package focused broadly on infrastructure that he introduced about a month ago.
With swift mass vaccination success showing signs of easing the COVID pandemic, Biden is expected to stake the rest of his presidency on his twin pillars of a more robust federal presence in American life. He will also, per excerpts released by the White House, address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination campaign to a masked and considerably sized-down crowd.
A Big Effing New Deal
A historic proposal by any standard. Join us here to watch the culmination of the day’s rollout.
Feds Execute Search Warrants On Trump’s Ukraine Dirt-Digging Legal Team
In addition to Rudy Giuliani, the feds also executed a search warrant on Wednesday on Victoria Toensing.
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Judge Lets Arizona Audit Continue For Now But With Some Caveats
A judge is letting the questionable audit of Arizona’s 2020 election continue while he hears a legal challenge brought by Democrats to its procedures. Judge Daniel Martin of Maricopa County’s superior court denied on Wednesday the request by the state Democratic Party that he impose a temporary restraining order halting the audit.
But the judge also ordered that the auditors file in court by noon local time Thursday —absent intervention from a higher court — their documents outlining plans and procedures for the audit.
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