Category: joe biden

Hillary Clinton: Conservatives Can ‘Begin The Healing’ By Admitting Biden Will Become ‘Duly Elected President’

Posted on by John Hanson

On Tuesday, failed 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said that the GOP and conservatives can “begin the healing and unifying process” by admitting that Joe Biden “was duly elected president in a free and fair election.”

Clinton wrote on Twitter, “Here’s how elected Republicans and conservative media can begin the healing and unifying process: Accurately state that Joe Biden was duly elected president in a free and fair election.”

RELATED: Dem Congressman Thompson Announces Investigation, Wants Cruz And Hawley On No-Fly List

“Urge Trump supporters to refrain from further violence. For a start,” she added.

Clinton’s Tweet Comes As Democrats Push For Impeachment

Clinton’s comments come as Democrats continue to push another attempt to impeachment President Trump.

Accusing the President of inciting the Capitol Hill riots last week, Democrat leaders plan to meet on Wednesday to consider articles of impeachment.
 
The single article of impeachment read, “President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transfer of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government.”

It added, “He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.”

The impeachment article was introduced by Democratic House members Reps. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Ted Lieu of California, and Jamie Raskin of Maryland.

Hillary Clinton Still Hasn’t Admitted Trump Won In 2016

The former Secretary of State wants conservatives to admit Joe Biden won the 2020 election, but as recently as 2019, Clinton essentially claimed that the 2016 election was rigged. 

On CBS This Morning in September of 2019, Clinton claimed that Trump is an “illegitimate president” and that the election was neither fair nor free. 

“I believe he understands that the many varying tactics they used, from voter suppression and voter purging to hacking to the false stories – he knows that – there were just a bunch of different reasons why the election turned out like it did.”

Clinton Published Op-Ed About ‘White Supremacy’

Clinton published an op-ed in the Washington Post on Monday, arguing that pursuing impeachment alone will not “remove white supremacy from America.”

RELATED: Forbes Warns Companies Not To Hire Trump Associates Or They’ll Assume Everything The Company Says Is A Lie

“Trump ran for president on a vision of America where whiteness is valued at the expense of everything else. In the White House, he gave white supremacists, members of the extreme right and conspiracy theorists their most powerful platforms yet, even claiming that there were “very fine people” among the torch-wielding militia members who converged on Charlottesville in 2017,” Clinton wrote.

On January 8, Clinton celebrated President Trump’s personal Twitter account being permanently banned. 

The post Hillary Clinton: Conservatives Can ‘Begin The Healing’ By Admitting Biden Will Become ‘Duly Elected President’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Biden’s Dilemma: Unify The Country Or Impeach President Trump?

Posted on by RealClearWire

By Susan Crabtree for RealClearPolitics

Congressional Democrats’ rush toward impeachment has put Joe Biden in a difficult position before he’s even taken the oath of office.

Does he follow the desires of his fellow Democratic Party leaders to punish Donald Trump for stirring up an angry mob that ran amok at the U.S. Capitol?

Or does Biden heed his own oft-repeated campaign promise to weigh the desires of those Americans who voted against him as well as the historic numbers who voted for him?

The nation is struggling to pick up the pieces and come to terms with last week’s insurrection at the Capitol building by Trump-supporting extremists.

RELATED: Biden Vows To “Defeat” The NRA On Anniversary Of Gabby Giffords Shooting

At least five people, including one police officer, died. Hundreds more were threatened and terrorized. Another Capitol Police officer on duty that day died by suicide over the weekend, his family announced Monday.

Democrats are putting the blame squarely on President Trump’s shoulders – but not only Democrats. White House and administration staffers have resigned in droves, including three members of Trump’s Cabinet.

Many prominent Republicans — including several onetime supporters — have denounced Trump for instigating the Capitol attack.

But the rank-and-file are not yet convinced. A new Frank Luntz poll released Monday found that only 25% of Trump voters agree he is mostly responsible for the assault on the Capitol, while 62% said he was only “somewhat” or “only a little” to blame.

So, the question for the incoming president is pretty basic: In such a hyper-partisan political environment, is compromise even possible?

After the cataclysmic events of Jan. 6, lawmakers and pundits have frequently invoked the words of Ben Franklin — that the Founding Fathers rejected a monarchy in favor of “a republic, if you can keep it” — along with President Lincoln’s prophetic declaration that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Two months after winning the presidency, Biden’s post-election words intended to lower the temperature in Washington and across the country already seem dated as he declines to clearly state whether he backs his party’s pursuit of the 25th Amendment or a second impeachment.

“Let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end here and now,” Biden said Nov. 7 in his first speech after he was declared the victor. “This is the time to heal.”

RELATED: Report: Biden Worried A Second Trump Impeachment Will Slow His First 100 Days Agenda

But Biden didn’t count on a horrific attack on the Capitol, nor on Trump’s steadfast refusal to acknowledge his defeat, which are testing that commitment to unity as he is being pressed by other party leaders bent on revenge.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and new Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are rejecting calls from a bipartisan group of House members to stop the drive to impeach Trump on his way out the door.

They want to put all Republicans on record as to whether they will protect Trump from being removed from office even though he will be out anyway in eight days.

With roughly a week left before Biden is inaugurated, House Democrats are set to impeach Trump for a second time this week.

The only question is whether they will send the impeachment articles over to the Senate right away or wait for Biden to complete his first 100 days and have most, if not all, of his Cabinet confirmed.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn has suggested Democrats wait for that period to allow Biden to assemble his administration and begin work on his agenda, while House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has said he wants to send the articles to the Senate immediately.

“Doing nothing is not an option,” a veteran Democratic operative told RealClearPolitics.

Pelosi has admitted that her interest in impeachment is to prevent Trump from running again in 2024 — so the impeachment push has become a way for Democrats to permanently cancel Trump and any chance for a political resurgence.

Plenty of voices, so far going unheeded, are pressing for a less polarizing beginning to Biden’s presidency.

Members of the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus, along with a several centrist senators, are pushing for a congressional censure of Trump instead, arguing that a last-ditch impeachment effort will backfire on Biden and Democrats by inciting more violence while turning Trump into a martyr.

RELATED: WaPo Reporter Says Trump Voters ‘Need To Be Deprogrammed’

Rep. Tom Reed, a New York Republican, has circulated a letter imploring Biden to reject what he’s calling “snap” impeachment, which would go to a vote without the deliberations of a traditional hearing.

Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley has argued that such a step would only “inflame political divisions in our country,” and he urged that Trump’s future should be left to “history and the voters to decide — not canceled by congressional fiat.”

Turley, who also argued against the first impeachment, denounced Trump’s Jan. 6 speech to his supporters as “reckless and wrong” even before they stormed the capitol.

He also praised Vice President Mike Pence for defying Trump in rejecting his claim that electoral votes could be “sent back” to the states.

“Yet, none of this is license for Congress to rampage through the Constitution with the same abandon as last week’s rioters did in the Capitol,” Turley wrote Monday.

Nonetheless, Pelosi is moving forward with a demand that Pence invoke the 25th Amendment to declare Trump unfit and remove him from office.

Such a move would require Pence to convene the Cabinet, a majority of whose members would then need to declare Trump unable to perform as president.

With the three Cabinet members already gone, it seems a futile ultimatum, especially after Pence and Trump met Monday and agreed to work together for the final week of the presidency.

RELATED: Hillary Clinton Calls Capitol Riots ‘Result Of White-Supremacist Grievances,’ Wants Trump Impeached

Pence’s rejection of this Democratic demand means House Democrats will move forward with a vote on a single article of impeachment as soon as Wednesday.

As his presidency is set to begin, Biden seems torn by these developments. He could try to change the tone in Washington by leaning on his party’s leaders to forgo another divisive impeachment fight against Trump.

But so far he hasn’t. On Monday, he signaled a willingness to entertain a “bifurcated” first 100 days, sharing progress on his initiatives with a Senate impeachment trial.

“Can we go half day on dealing with impeachment and half day getting my people nominated and confirmed?” he pondered Monday when pressed on the matter after receiving his second dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

“I haven’t gotten an answer from the parliamentarian yet,” he said.

Others quickly filled in the leadership vacuum to remind Biden that the Senate operated in the same dual-track way during the early 2020 unsuccessful impeachment trial.

Laurence Tribe, a fiery anti-Trump Harvard law professor, said the Senate, “if halfway responsible,” will hold a short impeachment trial as soon as possible.

RELATED: Forbes Warns Companies Not To Hire Trump Associates Or They’ll Assume Everything The Company Says Is A Lie

Tribe authored a book on the case for impeaching Trump along with Joshua Matz, who served as the counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s impeachment proceedings in late 2019.

“An impeachment trial needn’t get in the way of a forward-looking agenda for the Senate,” Tribe tweeted Monday night. “It’s increasingly looking like that’s the way forward: bifurcated days, half impeachment trial, half other business.”

So much for unity and turning the page on Donald J. Trump.

Syndicated with permission from RealClearWire.

Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics’ White House/national political correspondent.

The post Biden’s Dilemma: Unify The Country Or Impeach President Trump? appeared first on The Political Insider.

Report: Biden Worried Impeachment Will Slow His Agenda

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

President-elect Joe Biden is reportedly concerned that implementation of his agenda will be slowed significantly by the insistence of Democrats to impeach President Trump for a second time.

House Democrats are expected to begin debate on impeachment Wednesday morning, setting up Trump to be the first President to ever be impeached twice.

The earliest the Senate could begin an impeachment trial would be January 20th, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the day of Biden’s inauguration.

Biden, knowing that the Senate process for potential conviction would be time-consuming, is concerned his agenda could get derailed right out of the gate.

“I had a discussion today with some of the folks in the House and Senate,” Biden told reporters.

“The question is whether or not, for example, if the House moves forward – which they obviously are – with the impeachment and sends it over to the Senate, whether or not we can bifurcate this,” he revealed.

RELATED: James Clyburn Admits House Democrats May Not Send Articles Of Impeachment To Senate Until After Biden’s First 100 Days In Office

Will Biden’s Agenda Be Sunk by Democrats Obsession With Impeachment?

Biden’s correct in asserting that the impeachment process could get in the way of his agenda.

Confirmation of Cabinet picks, for example, might have to take a backseat to what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defines as an “imminent threat” to “our Democracy.”

Fox News reports that Senators in such a scenario would, according to Senate rules, meet six days a week, taking only Sunday off.

Biden wants to split time, it would seem.

“Can we go half-day on dealing with the impeachment and half-day getting my people nominated and confirmed in the Senate?” he asked.

Perhaps he’s unsure of what ‘imminent’ means. Or perhaps the Trump impeachment is not quite the threat Pelosi is making it out to be. 

RELATED: Hillary Clinton Calls Capitol Riots ‘Result Of White-Supremacist Grievances,’ Wants Trump Impeached

House May Delay Sending Articles to Senate

Senate Minority – soon to be Majority – Leader Chuck Schumer indicated that his colleagues might have to do as Biden asks and split time on the matters of the day.

“We’re going to have to do several things at once, but we’ve got to move the agenda as well,” Schumer told the Buffalo News. “Yes, we’ve got to do both.”

House Majority Whip James Clyburn might have a plan to help put impeachment on the backburner altogether while Biden starts to get his agenda rolling.

Earlier this week, Clyburn said House Democrats may wait until Biden’s first 100 days in office to send articles of impeachment to the Senate.

“It just so happens that if it didn’t go over there for 100 days, it could – let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running, and maybe we’ll send the articles sometime after that,” Clyburn said.

A report last month indicates Biden was poised to unleash “a flurry” of executive orders aimed at “undoing” the Trump administration’s efforts to reform key government agencies.

His agenda though, might be derailed 

The post Report: Biden Worried Impeachment Will Slow His Agenda appeared first on The Political Insider.

Top GOP Senator Claims Trump Impeachment ‘Clearly Is Not Going To Happen’

Posted on by LifeZette

Democrats are currently rushing to impeach President Donald Trump after the riots in the Capitol last week. However, Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), the chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, has spoken out to say that impeachment is “clearly not going to happen.”

Blunt Says Impeachment Won’t Happen

While appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Blunt was asked, “Are Republican leaders going to hold him accountable in any way for it?”

“I think the country is is the right to hold presidents accountable,” Blunt replied. “The president should be very careful over the next 10 days is that his behavior is what you would expect from the leader of the greatest country in the world. My personal view is that the president touched the hot stove on Wednesday and is unlikely to touch it again.”

“I did, the day Senator Hawley announced he would be contesting those electoral votes, announced that I would not be,” he added. “When Senator Cruz said he had a plan to put back in place a commission like the one formed in 1877, I said that wouldn’t happen. I wasn’t interested then or now in spending a lot of time on things that can’t happen just like the impeachment of the president to remove him from office clearly is not going to happen between now and the last day he is in office.”

“As Nancy Pelosi just said and Jim Clyburn said earlier today, this is more about a long-term punishment of the president than trying to remove him from office,” Blunt continued.

Related: Ilhan Omar Says House ‘Will Impeach This Week’ If Pence Doesn’t Act On Trump

Clyburn Speaks Out

This came after House Majority Whip James Clyburn admitted that House Democrats may wait until Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office to send articles of impeachment for Trump to the Senate.

“We’ll take the vote that we should take in the House, and [Pelosi] will make the determination as to when is the best time to get that vote and get the managers appointed and move that legislation over to the Senate,” Clyburn (D-SC) said. 

“It just so happens that if it didn’t go over there for 100 days, it could – let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running, and maybe we’ll send the articles sometime after that,” he added. 

Related: AOC Calls For Trump To Be Impeached – ‘We Came Close To Half Of The House Nearly Dying’

This piece was written by James Samson on January 12, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
Giuliani Calls For Trump To Declassify Everything – Says He Owes It To MAGA Movement
Jon Voight Defies Hollywood To Praise Trump After Capitol Riots – ‘It’s Not Over’
Where are the “Normal” Democrats? Do They Really Want for America What They Are Seeing from Their Party Leaders?

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WH Official: Trump To Visit Texas To See Border Wall Construction – A ‘Promise Kept’

Posted on by Becky Noble

President Donald Trump will spend part of his last full week in office in Alamo, Texas checking on the progress of the wall on the U.S. southern border. Roughly 450 miles of border wall have been completed thus far.

The border wall was the signature campaign promise issued by Trump and his administration. 

Trump’s Border Wall – “Promises Kept”

The President’s visit to observe the ongoing wall construction comes as Congress considers a vote of impeachment stemming from last week’s violent protests in Washington D.C. 

An unidentified Senior White House official announced the visit, which will happen on Tuesday.

“President Trump is expected to travel to Alamo, Texas, on Tuesday to mark the completion of more than 400 miles of border wall — a promise made, promise kept — and his Administration’s efforts to reform our broken immigration system,” the White House official told Fox News.

Building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border was a mainstay topic during the 2016 presidential election as then candidate Trump traveled the country. “Build the wall!” was a common chant among Trump’s supporters at his rallies.

The idea behind building a border wall was to protect the roughly 1000 miles that does not have any natural barriers. Trump had promised to have 450 miles completed by the end of 2020.

Congress recently passed an omnibus spending bill that included $16 billion in funding.

However Acting Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Mark Morgan said that the $1.375 billion included in that package was enough to complete at least 800 miles of border wall.

In addition to the completed 450 miles, there is another 350 miles ready with funding to go in the ground. The contracts for those parts of the wall have already been awarded.  

Biden May Halt Border Construction

Construction on the wall could halt within the next few weeks, however.

According to an article in the Dallas Morning News, Biden has stated that, while he would not tear down any existing wall, but he would cease construction of any future stretches of wall.

Biden says he favors a, “high-tech virtual wall to ensure border security.” 

In an article in the Washington Post, the Post claims it has reviewed estimates by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and that if Biden were to discontinue construction, it would save the U.S. government $2.6 million. 

However, If Biden were to halt construction, that could leave the the U.S. government, and in turn, taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars in settlement fees should those contracts be abandoned. 

CBP Commissioner Morgan also went on to say that, not only would walking away rom the project cost taxpayers in funds, it would also cost “thousands of jobs.”

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Biden Declares Economic Relief For Businesses Will Be Based Partly On Gender And Race

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

President-elect Joe Biden announced that economic relief for struggling businesses would be based partly on the gender and race of the owners.

In a video posted to the Biden-Harris presidential transition team Twitter account, the soon-to-be President admitted his obsession with identity politics by noting skin color and gender would play a part in deciding who gets economic relief from the federal government.

“Our focus will be on small businesses on Main Street that aren’t wealthy and well-connected, that are facing real economic hardships through no fault of their own,” Biden announced.

He added, “Our priority will be Black, Latino, Asian, and Native American owned small businesses, women-owned businesses, and finally having equal access to resources needed to reopen and rebuild.”

RELATED: Federal Prosecutor Could Bring Criminal Charges Against President Trump For Capitol Violence

Response to Biden’s Decision to Make Economic Relief Partially Contingent on Race and Gender is Negative

As you might imagine, response to the Democrat president-elect segregating economic relief for businesses based on race and gender wasn’t warmly received.

“If you don’t vote for me, you ain’t … receiving these government assistance checks?” political commentator Kyle Becker partially joked, making reference to Biden’s famous comment that African-Americans that don’t vote for him “ain’t black.”

Others were less willing to be in a joking mood about Biden’s economic inequality declaration.

To be fair, it was mostly minority-owned businesses that were affected by the riots that Biden, Harris, and the Democrats encouraged over the summer.

RELATED: James Clyburn Admits House Democrats May Not Send Articles Of Impeachment To Senate Until After Biden’s First 100 Days In Office

Biden’s Choices Always Revolve Around Race and Gender

Who could have possibly imagined that it would be a Democrat President-elect who would drag civil rights back decades by making government decisions based on ethnicity or sex?

Besides everyone, I mean.

Biden is, after all, the man who chose Kamala Harris to be his running mate not based on credentials or resume, but because she is a woman who isn’t white.

The same man who accused Republicans of trying to hold back blacks economically by putting “y’all back in chains” is more than willing to put the chains on white-owned businesses.

“We’re going to make a concerted effort to help small businesses in low-income communities in big cities, small towns, rural communities that have faced systemic barriers to relief,” Biden added.

“Think of the mom and pop owner with a couple of employees who can’t pick up the phone and call a banker, who doesn’t have a lawyer, an accountant, to help them through this complicated process.”

Just as with voter identification, Biden seems to be suggesting it’s the minority and woman-owned businesses without the capability or knowledge to navigate complex applications.

Is there anything more racist than saying certain groups of people aren’t smart enough to figure things out without the government’s assistance?

The post Biden Declares Economic Relief For Businesses Will Be Based Partly On Gender And Race appeared first on The Political Insider.

President Trump Announces He Will Not Attend Biden Inauguration

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

President Trump announced Friday morning that he will not be attending the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” the president wrote.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Trump vowed that there would be an “orderly transition” of power on the day that Biden’s inauguration and swearing-in ceremony will take place.

“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,” the statement read.

Despite promising an orderly transition, the President said he would continue his fight against election fraud.

RELATED: Trump Vows There Will Be An ‘Orderly Transition’ Of Power On January 20th, Promises To Keep Fighting Election Outcome

President Trump Won’t Attend Biden Inauguration

The media spin on this will most likely be that President Trump is not adhering to traditions because he is a disgrace to the office. Or that he is in hiding.

In reality, his avoiding the ceremony as tensions run high throughout the country is a wise decision.

The Capitol protests earlier in the week resulted in an unarmed 14-year Navy veteran being shot dead as three others succumbed to medical issues.

Capitol Police also announced the death of Officer Brian Sicknick, who sustained injuries during the violence.

Reports surfaced in November that officials involved in the planning of Biden’s inauguration were concerned his supporters won’t show and they’ll be “left with a mass gathering of Trump supporters in their place.”

Imagine if something like that happened now.

RELATED: Michelle Obama Demands Big Tech Permanently Ban ‘Infantile and Unpatriotic’ President Trump

Trump Still Praises His Supporters

Historically, President Trump would not be the first sitting commander-in-chief who failed to attend the inauguration of his successor.

In fact, three incumbent presidents have refused to accompany the president-elect at their inauguration.

John Adams did not attend the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson in 1801 as he sought to return to his wife Abigail following the death of their son.

John Quincy Adams did not attend the ceremony for Andrew Jackson, while Andrew Johnson refused to attend for Ulysses S. Grant, who had made it known that he was unwilling to ride in the same carriage with his predecessor.

Prior to his message regarding the inauguration, President Trump sent out a tweet celebrating the “75,000,000 great American Patriots” who cast their ballots for him. 

Those patriots, he said, “will have a giant voice long into the future.”

“They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape, or form!” the President added.

Since the Capitol riots, Democrats have demanded impeachment, removal from office using the 25th Amendment, banishment from social media, and floated the possibility of criminal charges for President Trump.

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