After more than a week of throwing a temper tantrum filled with baseless claims of widespread voter fraud and refusing to concede his loss to President-elect Joe Biden, President Trump finally threw in the towel in a Sunday morning tweet — well, sort of. Continue reading “Trump Finally Admits Biden Won, But Spews More Unfounded Election Fraud Claims”
Federal Judge Rules That Acting DHS Chief Didn’t Have Authority To Suspend DACA
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge in New York ruled Saturday that Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf assumed his position unlawfully, a determination that invalidated Wolf’s suspension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which shields young people from deportation.
“DHS failed to follow the order of succession as it was lawfully designated,” U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis wrote. “Therefore, the actions taken by purported Acting Secretaries, who were not properly in their roles according to the lawful order of succession, were taken without legal authority.”
Continue reading “Federal Judge Rules That Acting DHS Chief Didn’t Have Authority To Suspend DACA”
Trump Shifts Gears
I don’t know if you watched the President’s comments yesterday at his vaccine event. But one of our number, TPM Reader EB, said after it ended that that was the concession. He was right. I didn’t quite get it as it was happening. But after EB said it I realized he was right.
Of course he didn’t literally concede anything. Trump was petulant, lashing out at perceived enemies. But he was low energy and notably did not take questions. There was one moment even when he had to catch himself because he almost inadvertently admitted that he lost and that his presidency is ending.
Dear Leader Drive-By: Trump Motorcade Parades Past Million Meh-AGA March
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fervent supporters of President Donald Trump rallied in Washington on Saturday behind his spurious claim of a stolen election and swarmed his motorcade when he detoured for a drive-by on his way out of town.
“I just want to keep up his spirits and let him know we support him,” one loyalist, Anthony Whittaker of Winchester, Virginia, said from outside the Supreme Court, where a few thousand assembled after a march along Pennsylvania Avenue from Freedom Plaza, near the White House.
Continue reading “Dear Leader Drive-By: Trump Motorcade Parades Past Million Meh-AGA March”
Biden Likely To Take Historic Step In Choosing Woman To Lead Pentagon
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden is expected to take a historic step and select a woman to head the Pentagon for the first time, shattering one of the few remaining barriers to women in the department and the presidential Cabinet.
Michele Flournoy, a politically moderate Pentagon veteran, is regarded by U.S. officials and political insiders as a top choice for the position.
Continue reading “Biden Likely To Take Historic Step In Choosing Woman To Lead Pentagon”
Bloomberg’s Big Election Spending Was Pretty Much A Bust
WASHINGTON (AP) — After pouring more than $1.2 billion of his personal fortune into presidential politics this election, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has little to show for it.
His only win during a short-lived Democratic bid for the White House was in the territory of American Samoa. And after pledging to spend “whatever it takes” to defeat President Donald Trump, he routed $110 million to Florida, Ohio and Texas — all states that President-elect Joe Biden lost.
Continue reading “Bloomberg’s Big Election Spending Was Pretty Much A Bust”
‘Life-Or-Death Situation’: Governors Order New Restrictions As COVID Rages
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The governors of Oregon and New Mexico ordered near-lockdowns Friday in the most aggressive response yet to the latest wave of coronavirus infections shattering records across the U.S., even as many of their counterparts in other states show little appetite for reimposing the hard-line restrictions of last spring.
“We are in a life-or-death situation, and if we don’t act right now, we cannot preserve the lives, we can’t keep saving lives, and we will absolutely crush our current health care system and infrastructure,” Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico said in imposing a two-week stay-at-home order.
Continue reading “‘Life-Or-Death Situation’: Governors Order New Restrictions As COVID Rages”
Giuliani Time: Trump Taps Rudy To Lead Legal Challenges That Are Going Nowhere
One-term President Donald Trump has tapped his loyal bag man and personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to lead his campaign’s long-shot legal challenges to the election results, the New York Times reported Friday evening.
The Times said Giuliani was brought in as the face of the increasingly desperate effort to overrule the will of the American people, who delivered a decisive win for President-elect Joe Biden in both the Electoral College and popular vote, after the campaign’s efforts in Arizona fizzled.
Continue reading “Giuliani Time: Trump Taps Rudy To Lead Legal Challenges That Are Going Nowhere”
ICYMI: Your TPM Weekend News Roundup
Trump Hampers Biden Transition
- In a sign that the Trump White House isn’t accepting the reality of a Biden victory, General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Emily Murphy has yet to sign a letter needed for the former VP to formally begin the transition process to the White House.
- The White House also reportedly directed officials not to cooperate with the Biden team.
- Nevertheless, Biden is moving ahead in building his staff. On Wednesday night, Biden announced that Ron Klain would serve as his chief of staff. Klain previously served as Biden’s chief of staff when he was vice president, and also coordinated the Obama administration’s response to Ebola.
- The transition team also released a list of agency review teams as it look ahead to building an administration. See if you recognize any of the names on the list here.
- The Biden team, for its part, isn’t too worried about the roadblocks so far.
Womp: Legal Challenges Land With A Thud
- The Trump campaign’s efforts to challenge Biden’s decisive electoral win have not been going well.
- The campaign on Monday sued Pennsylvania officials in an effort to toss out Biden’s win in the key swing state. The suit recycled a bunch of old, debunked claims about the process.
- Late in the week, the law firm representing Trump’s efforts in Pennsylvania withdrew.
- Two legal efforts to whip up a so-called “SharpieGate” conspiracy in Arizona have also fallen flat.
COVID Rages
- President Trump said that after the Nov. 3 election, no one would be talking about the coronavirus anymore. If only.
- Cases are spiking across the country at a level that we have not yet seen since the pandemic first hit the U.S. earlier this year.
- Meanwhile, there appears to be a growing COVID-19 outbreak among aides in Trump’s orbit: HUD Secretary Ben Carson, campaign adviser Corey Lewandowski and a number of Republican National Committee staffers have tested positive in recent days.
- Josh Kovensky has a good rundown of why this latest COVID surge is so bad, and why it’s likely to get even worse.
Is this feature useful? Let us know.
Sad! Disgraced Trump Demands Fealty From Cuomo Before New York Gets COVID Vaccine
A deflated and low energy President Trump sought on Friday to relive the glory days of his presidency, trying to use Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine as a bludgeon to get people to be nice to him.
Continue reading “Sad! Disgraced Trump Demands Fealty From Cuomo Before New York Gets COVID Vaccine”