Politics

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Source/Author: THE EPOCH TIMES

Published: 09 February 2021

Trump Offered 10K Nat'l Guard Troops in DC Ahead of Jan. 6.

Former President Donald Trump offered to deploy 10,000 National Guard troops in Washington D.C. prior to Jan. 6, the day of the Capitol building breach, according to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Meadows told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that although Trump had been vocal about offering Capitol Police and National Guard presence at the Capitol on multiple occasions last month, his offer was rebuked “every time.”

“We also know that in January, but also throughout the summer, that the president was very vocal in making sure that we had plenty of National Guard, plenty of additional support because he supports our rule of law and supports our law enforcement and offered additional help,” Meadows told host Maria Bartiromo.

“Even in January, that was a given, as many as 10,000 National Guard troops were told to be on the ready by the Secretary of Defense” Meadows said. “That was a direct order from President Trump and yet here is what we see … all kinds of blame going around but yet not a whole lot of accountability.”

“That accountability needs to rest where it ultimately should be and that’s on Capitol Hill” Meadows added.

The Pentagon and the office of Washington D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment by The Epoch Times.

Democrats allege that the president incited the violence at the Capitol in a speech he delivered near the White House on Jan 6. In his address, Trump used the words “fight like hell” in reference to his team’s legal efforts around election integrity. The Democrats allege that Trump used the words to incite his followers to commit violence.

House Democrats, joined by 10 Republicans, voted on Jan. 13 to approve a single article of impeachment against Trump for “incitement of insurrection,” making him the first president to be impeached twice. When the Senate trial opens on Feb. 9, he will become the first former president to stand trial.

Meadows described the impeachment effort against the former president as “political theater.”

“It’s really about Democrats trying to once again make a political point,” he said. “This whole impeachment is designed to remove someone from office. President Trump is a private citizen at this point. And yet they can’t stand it. They have to continue to go ahead and try to put forth some kind of narrative that scores political points.”

He added, “But we have seen it before. The American people are not going to have it. We have already had 45 senators say that this is unconstitutional. But it’s more than that. It’s a violation of due process. It’s not what our founding fathers set up. And it sets a very bad precedent of future officeholders.”

Attorneys for Trump on Monday set out their defense for his Senate impeachment trial, arguing that the Senate has no jurisdiction to try a former official, that the House’s charge against the 45th president is deficient, that their client was deprived of due process and had his right to free speech violated by the article of impeachment.

In the 78-page trial memorandum, the attorneys posit that the Senate taking up the impeachment amounts to a bill of attainder, an act that the Constitution prohibits the legislature from taking because it would amount to inflicting punishment without a jury trial. The defense also contends that the “incitement” accusation is contradicted by the plain text of the transcript of the president’s Jan. 6 speech.

“The Article of Impeachment presented by the House is unconstitutional for a variety of reasons, any of which alone would be grounds for immediate dismissal. Taken together, they demonstrate conclusively that indulging House Democrats’ hunger for this political theater is a danger to our Republic democracy and the rights that we hold dear,” the trial memo, authored by Bruce Castor, David Schoen, and Michael van der Veen, states.

Author: Isabel van Brugen is an award-winning journalist, currently working as a news reporter at the Epoch Times. She is a Distinction MA Newspaper Journalism graduate at City, University of London and a language graduate from Queen Mary, University of London. She has worked with a variety of publications such as The Times, London Evening Standard, Grazia UK, Daily Express and Bang Showbiz.

@isabelvanbrugen

Ivan Pentchoukov contributed to this report.

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Source/Author: Disrn

Published: 08 February 2021

Trump Defense Team Will Show Videos of Dems Violence Speeches.

Former President Donald Trump's defense team will show videos of Democrats encouraging violence and destruction in 2020 at his Senate impeachment trial on Tuesday, one of his lawyers said.

The video clips are intended to rebut claims that Trump incited violence at his January 6 rally near the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

When asked by Fox News' Laura Ingraham about using a video montage of Democrats encouraging chaos and violence, Trump lawyer Bruce Castor said, "you can count on that."

Read more: Trump Defense Team Will Show Videos of Dems Violence Speeches

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Source/Author: THE FEDERALIST

Published: 02 February 2021

Biden's corruption in appointees to DOJ. New Top Official Comes From Firm Defending Hunter Biden Amid Federal Probes. It pays to have friends in high places.

On day one in office, President Joe Biden appointed New York attorney Nicholas McQuaid to lead the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, the same one that is reportedly operating not one, but three investigations into the Biden family. Just one month prior to the appointment, McQuaid worked alongside his partner Chris Clark at the firm Latham & Watkins as Clark took on a high-profile client under federal investigation: Hunter Biden.

Read more: Biden's corruption in appointees to DOJ

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Source/Author: The National Pulse

Published: 31 January 2021

The number of executive orders issued by President Biden in the first week – who once decried the legislative move as undemocratic and used by “dictators” – is more double the amount of the past seven presidents combined.

In just seven days, President Biden issued 42 executive actions.

That’s ten times as many as Donald Trump and over eight times as many as Barack Obama. It is a whopping 22 times greater than Bill Clinton, and 42 more than Presidents Reagan and Bush.

As the left liked to say of Donald Trump: this is not normal.

Joe Biden even recognized this on the run up to the Presidential election, calling the unilateral use of executive actions the hallmark of a “dictator.” Watch Video ►

Speaking at an October 15th, 2020 town hall with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, then-candidate Biden insisted that presidents who rule by executive order are undemocratic:

I have this strange notion. We are a democracy. Some of my Republican friends and some of my Democratic friends even say: well if you can’t get the votes, by executive order you’re going to do something, things you can’t do by executive order unless you’re a dictator.

“We’re a democracy. We need consensus,” the President who’s relied on executive orders to pass his agenda added.

As American University History Professor Allan Lichtman noted: “He’s on a record pace, and not by a nose. But by several lengths.”

And President Biden’s pace on issuing executive orders hasn’t dipped since the first week; by the ninth day of his administration, the total has skyrocketed to 40.

The topics of the executive orders range from race to immigration to climate change but share a common goals: to completely erase the legacy of President Trump.

Even if it means sacrificing the country’s national security.

• ‘Executive Order on Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.’ Promotes socialized healthcare.
• ‘Memorandum on Protecting Women’s Health at Home and Abroad.’ Forces U.S. taxpayers to fund foreign abortions.
• ‘Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.’ Destroys jobs in oil and gas.
• ‘Executive Order on Establishing President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.’ Empowers bureaucrats.
• ‘Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking.’ Emboldens scientists who lied during coronavirus crisis in 2020.
• ‘Paris Climate Agreement.’ Hands authority over U.S. emissions to foreign bureaucrats.
• ‘Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.’ More job destruction.
• ‘Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.” Supports the false, Black Lives Matter premise that America was founded in 1619 by slaves.
• ‘Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation.’ Promotes transgenderism.
• ‘Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.’ Pays lip service to racial equality.
• ‘Executive Order on Reforming Our Incarceration System to Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities.’ Forces prisons to be run by government, not private enterprise.
• ‘Memorandum on Redressing Our Nation’s and the Federal Government’s History of Discriminatory Housing Practices and Policies.’ 
• ‘Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships.’ Commits federal agencies to “engage in regular, robust and meaningful consultation with Tribal governments.”
• ‘Executive Order on Enabling All Qualified Americans to Serve Their Country in Uniform.’ Pushes transgenderism in the military.
• ‘Executive Order on Ensuring the Future Is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers.’ Continues Trump-era policies on buying American for the federal government.
• ‘Executive Order on Protecting the Federal Workforce.’ Attempts to enforce a $15 minimum wage.
• ‘Executive Order on Economic Relief Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic.’ Calls for relief but provides $0.00 for it.
• ‘Pausing Federal Student Loan Payments.’ Pauses student loan payments while working people still have to pay theirs.
• ‘Extend Eviction and Foreclosure Moratoriums.’ Extends the existing nationwide moratorium on evictions and foreclosures until at least March 31.
• ‘Proclamation on the Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Non-Immigrants of Certain Additional Persons Who Pose a Risk of Transmitting Coronavirus Disease.’ A “xenophobic” travel ban (in Biden’s own words).
• ‘Memorandum to Extend Federal Support to Governors’ Use of the National Guard to Respond to COVID-19 and to Increase Reimbursement and Other Assistance Provided to States.’ Spends government money on Biden’s use of the National Guard.
• ‘Executive Order on a Sustainable Public Health Supply Chain.’ Unclear.
• ‘Executive Order on Establishing the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board and Ensuring a Sustainable Public Health Workforce for COVID-19 and Other Biological Threats.’ Adds a layer of bureaucracy to coronavirus testing.
• ‘Executive Order on Improving and Expanding Access to Care and Treatments for COVID-19.’ Promotes the same “therapeutics” the media once called Trump crazy for supporting.
• ‘Executive Order on Ensuring a Data-Driven Response to COVID-19 and Future High-Consequence Public Health Threats.‘ Adds more bureaucracy to the government’s pandemic response.
• ‘Create more vaccination sites.’ 
• ‘Executive Order on Supporting the Reopening and Continuing Operation of Schools and Early Childhood Education Providers.’ Directs schools to be reopened, which the left resisted under Trump.
• ‘Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety.’ Adds bureaucracy for workplace standards.
• ‘Executive Order on Promoting COVID-19 Safety in Domestic and International Travel.’ Requires mask-wearing in airports, on planes, trains and other spaces. Also demands paperwork to prove foreign travelers have tested negative.
• ‘Executive Order on Ensuring an Equitable Pandemic Response and Recovery.’ Prioritizes minorities and puts white Americans to the back of the line for pandemic response.
• ‘National Security Directive on United States Global Leadership to Strengthen the International COVID-19 Response and to Advance Global Health Security and Biological Preparedness.’ Meaningless bluster.
• ‘Executive Order on Protecting the Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask-Wearing.’ Demands mask wearing everywhere for 100 days.
• ‘Letter to His Excellency António Guterres.’ Stops the United States’ withdrawal from the corrupt World Health Organization, and appoints the lying Dr. Fauci as head of the delegation to the WHO.
• ‘Executive Order on Organizing and Mobilizing the United States Government to Provide a Unified and Effective Response to Combat COVID-19 and to Provide United States Leadership on Global Health and Security.’ Creates the position of Covid-19 response coordinator, another bureaucratic post.
• ‘Executive Order on Ensuring a Lawful and Accurate Enumeration and Apportionment Pursuant to the Decennial Census.’ Attempts to hand areas with high levels of non-citizens more political representation in Congress.
• ‘Preserving and Fortifying Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.’ Hands more money to illegal immigrants.
• ‘Proclamation on Ending Discriminatory Bans on Entry to the United States.’ Enables radical jihadists to enter America.
• ‘Executive Order on the Revision of Civil Immigration Enforcement Policies and Priorities.’ Undoes Trump’s expansion of immigration enforcement.
• ‘Proclamation on the Termination of Emergency With Respect to the Southern Border of the United States and Redirection of Funds Diverted to Border Wall Construction.’ Seeks to create open borders.
• ‘Reinstating Deferred Enforced Departure for Liberians.’ Extends deferrals of deportation and work authorizations for Liberians with a haven in the United States until June 30, 2022.
• ‘Executive Order on Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel.’ Requires executive branch appointees to sign an ethics pledge barring them from acting in personal interest and requiring them to uphold the independence of the Department of Justice, however Janet Yellen has already breached this with no comeuppance.
• ‘Modernizing Regulatory Review.’ Replaces one bureaucracy with another.
Authors: Raheem Kassam is the Editor in Chief of the National Pulse. Natalie Winters is a Senior Writing Fellow.