2/04/2021

White House News (白宮消息) | Feb. 4, 2021

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FEBRUARY 2, 2021
White House Daily Briefing

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki 
held a briefing to discuss the administration’s policy priorities. She addressed the current situation regarding progress on the next coronavirus pandemic relief package after the president met with Republican senators in the Oval Office and spoke to Democratic senators over lunch. She also responded to a variety of questions regarding the administration’s immigration policies, Russia’s sentencing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, former President Trump’s impeachment trial, President Biden’s interactions with various world leaders including China’s President Xi Jinping, and the future of Space Force.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, in Washington. Even as President Joe Biden gathers with senators and works the phones to push for a giant COVID relief package, his team is increasingly focused on selling the plan directly to voters.

Stuck in DC, Biden team pitches rest of US on big virus aid


Feb. 4 - Even as President Joe Biden gathers with senators and works the phones with Capitol Hill to push for a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, his team is increasingly focused on selling the plan directly to voters.

His administration has done 60-plus interviews with national TV and radio shows. There have been spots on local TV news and briefings last week with more than 50 groups that ranged from General Motors to Meals on Wheels America and Planned Parenthood. One of the main goals is to stop people from getting bogged down in the tangle of partisan deal-making and convince them that every penny of the “go big” package is needed.

“The public is not getting caught up in process — what they want is results,” said Cedric Richmond, the White House director of public engagement. “People these days are not worried about the inside-the-beltway terminology. They’re looking at who’s doing what to help.”     continue to read


FEBRUARY 3, 2021
Rules Committee Debates Rule on Removing Representative Greene from House Committees
The House Rules Committee debated the rule to remove a member of Congress from House Committees. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) came under heavy criticism for her controversial statements, including suggesting violence against members of Congress and claims that school shootings are “false flag” operations. Committee chair Jim McGovern (D-MA) began his opening statement saying, “We have never had a hearing like one this before,” and accused Republican leadership of refusing to hold Rep. Greene accountable. He later added that the purpose of the hearing was not about canceling someone with different beliefs, but about accountability, and that “if this isn’t the bottom line, I don’t know what the hell the bottom line is.” The resolution passed along party lines and will be voted on by the full House of Representatives. 
Republicans In Disarray Over Greene And Trump Impeachment | The 11th Hour | MSNBC
Feb 3, 2021
With one week until Trump faces his second Senate impeachment trial, Republicans are at odds over how to deal with that and the controversies surrounding Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. This as Biden takes action on asylum and child separation saying he’s ‘eliminating bad policy.’
Takeaways from legal filings for Trump’s impeachment trial

Feb. 4 - WASHINGTON (AP) — The legal sparring around Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is underway, with briefs filed this week laying out radically different positions ahead of next week’s Senate trial.


House prosecutors and the former president’s defense team are putting forward their arguments about Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and on the legality of even holding a trial. They’re also debating the First Amendment and a blunt assessment by Democrats that the riot posed a threat to the presidential line of succession.

Here are some of the takeaways from the arguments of both sides     continue to read

2/03/2021

White House News (白宮消息) | Feb. 3, 2021

White House News in Chinese - About (weebly.com) 


US promotes new sanctions against Russia for Navalny's arrest
The bill will be presented this week

Feb. 3 - The U.S. Senate prepares a new law on sanctions against the Russian government, because of the sentence in the case of Alexei Navalny. Mitt Romney, the Senator from the Republican party reported that on his Twitter account.

"Strong leaders don’t have to jail adversaries to maintain power. First, Alexei Navalny was poisoned, and when unsuccessful, the Putin regime has now jailed him following a sham of a trial. We'll be introducing legislation this week to sanction those responsible for these acts", he wrote.

Earlier, we reported that the Moscow court sentenced Alexei Navalny for 3,5 years of imprisonment in the standard-regime penal colony. Thus, the suspended sentence in the "Yves Rocher" case became the jail time for the leading Russian opposition figure, Novaya Gazeta reports.


Russian Federal Penitentiary Service asked the court to change the suspended sentence to the actual prison term. The authority claimed that Navalny allegedly violated the requirements of his probation period; he never showed up when summoned by the inspection twice a month.      source


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FEBRUARY 2, 2021
White House Daily Briefing

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki held a briefing to discuss the administration’s policy priorities. She addressed the current situation regarding progress on the next coronavirus relief package after the president met with Republican Senators in the Oval Office and spoke to Democratic senators over lunch. She also responded to a variety of questions regarding the administration’s immigration policies, Russia’s sentencing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, former President Trump’s impeachment trial, President Biden’s interactions with various world leaders including China’s President Xi Jinping, and the future of Space Force.


PBS NewsHour full episode, Feb. 2, 2021
Feb 3, 2021
Tuesday on the NewsHour, President Biden signs executive orders reversing Trump administration policies on family separation, border security and legal migration. Also, Sen. John Barrasso discusses negotiations over a major COVID relief bill, and debates over the risks and benefits of returning to in-person classes in schools reach a fever pitch.

2/02/2021

White House News (白宮消息) | Feb. 2, 2021

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FEBRUARY 1, 2021
White House Daily Briefing

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki 
held a briefing on the Biden administration’s agenda. The press secretary previewed President Biden’s upcoming meeting with Republican senators on COVID-19 relief package negotiations but gave no timeline on the package being passed. She also discussed the situation in Burma, the stock market and GameStop, and COVID-19 vaccine distribution efforts. 

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Biden doesn’t buy GOP’s Covid pitch
Ten Senate Republicans attempted to sell a compromise to the president.

Jan. 2 - Ten Senate Republicans attempted to sell President Joe Biden Monday night on a coronavirus relief compromise, even as Biden’s own party made plans to leave the GOP in the dust.

In the two-hour meeting, the GOP senators presented their $618 billion counterproposal to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and the president described his own $1.9 trillion plan to the senators. They agreed to keep talking, although senators conceded their discussions were just beginning.

In an interview afterward, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said the senators argued to Biden that by working together they can move much more quickly than Democrats’ party-line approach to stimulus through reconciliation, which would bypass GOP support. Biden gave no explicit indication he’s going to change his approach and recounted how many times he’d been through budget reconciliation as a senator.

“He did not discourage the thought that the Senate was going to move forward with budget reconciliation. He didn’t tell us that that’s not going to happen,” Capito said. Republicans argued that “if we can hit a sweet spot here we can do this very quickly and that budget reconciliation will be messier. It’s very partisan and it could also be much lengthier.”

Biden has spoken frequently of his ability to work with Senate Republicans after his long Senate service, and simply meeting with the group demonstrates his ability to hear his opposition out. But the reality is this: Republicans oppose Biden’s spending plans and are proposing something far smaller.     continue to read

FEBRUARY 1, 2021
Senate Republicans on COVID-19 Relief Talks with President Biden
Following their two-hour meeting with President Biden to discuss a COVID-19 economic relief package, Republican senators spoke with reporters. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) said, “I think it was an excellent meeting and we’re very appreciative that as his first official meeting in the Oval Office the president chose to spend so much time with us in a frank and very useful discussion.”

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As Biden and Republicans meet, Democrats prepare to move covid-19 relief alone

Jan. 1 - EMAIL NEWSLETTERS TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.

WASHINGTON — As President Joe Biden met with 10 Republican senators Monday to test the waters of bipartisanship on coronavirus relief, Democrats on Capitol Hill took the first step toward fast-tracking the administration’s $1.9 trillion proposal through a legislative procedure that wouldn’t require GOP support.

Although the Oval Office meeting, Biden’s first with lawmakers, appeared cordial, it may amount to a token demonstration by both sides — an opportunity to hear each other out rather than a negotiation to bridge the massive gulf between them.
A group of 10 moderate GOP lawmakers put forth its counterproposal Sunday, outlining a $618 billion measure that would include more limited direct relief targeted to the neediest individuals, an extension of unemployment benefits through June (under Biden’s plan, it would be extended through September) and funding for vaccine distribution, school reopenings and small business loans, albeit in smaller amounts.

Emerging from the West Wing on Monday evening after a longer-than-expected two-hour conversation, the group’s leader, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, expressed appreciation that Biden “chose to spend so much time with us” and called the meeting “excellent,” declining to offer details — or criticism — even as she acknowledged the impasse.     more details

2/01/2021

White House News (白宮消息) | Feb. 1, 2021

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Joe Biden will meet 10 Republican senators on Monday afternoon to discuss his $1.9 trillion plan, which many Republicans claim is too high. The counter is less than half that price-tag at $600 billion

Feb. 1 - Joe Biden has invited a group of Republican senators to the White House on Monday afternoon to discuss contentious COVID relief packages, the White House confirmed on Sunday.

The ten senators suggested a more targeted economic relief package, in response to the government's $1.9 trillion proposal.

The group of 10 Republicans, including moderate Senators Mitt Romney, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, sent a letter to Biden on Sunday requesting a meeting to discuss a coronavirus relief package compromise they feel could gain swift support from both parties.     more details


Rep. Devin Nunes.
Scandal-rama: Figures tied to past controversies increasingly land jobs on Team Biden

From Peter Strzok's wife to key figure in Clinton email scandal, the names keep piling up to Republicans dismay.


Feb. 1 - Jake Sullivan was one of the most prolific users of Hillary Clinton's forbidden email server. Now he's Joe Biden's national security adviser.
Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland previously had ties to Christopher Steele in the Russia scandal.

White House domestic adviser Susan Rice once falsely declared the Benghazi terror attack was provoked by an anti-Muslim video and later wrote the famously curious did-it-by-the-books email in the Russia scandal during her last minutes in he Obama administration.

And top Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement official Melissa Hodgman is married to Peter Strzok, the fired FBI agent who supervised the discredited Crossfire Hurricane probe into Russia-Trump collusion.

As Biden fills out his team, the list of people tied to past scandals and controversy keeps getting bigger And the pattern has some prominent Republicans taking note.

"If you look at the larger picture, the Russia hoaxers, the people that were pushing this out from the very beginning and lying about it after the fact, they're all at the top echelons of the Biden administration," former House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said Sunday.     continue to read


The Grimsby spy who ‘tipped off’ papers about JFK assassination 25 minutes before Kennedy was shot
A telephone call 25 minutes before the fatal shooting was made to a newspaper in Britain, according to secret papers released by the American Government in October 2017

Feb. 1 - As Joe Biden begins serving as the 46th president of the United States, people have been comparing him to those who came before.

President Biden assumed office on January 20, preceded by Donald Trump, after serving as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 under Barack Obama.

His work is just beginning but it has already been questioned whether he can live up to the ‘top ranked’ presidents, such as Abraham Lincoln, who claims the number one spot, according to Business Insider.

Other notable presidents included George Washington at number two, John F. Kennedy at number 8 and Barack Obama at number 12.

While all US presidents make the history books, it seems strange for the small town of Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, to be written alongside them.

Back in November 1963, a Grimsby spy reportedly ‘tipped off’ the papers about the impending assassination of US President John F Kennedy.

A telephone call 25 minutes before the fatal shooting was made to a newspaper in Britain, according to secret papers released by the American Government in October 2017.

The documents reveal the Cambridge News received a call shortly after 6pm on November 22, 1963, warning "Call the American Embassy in London for some big news".

And it is thought the call was made by Albert Osborne, a Grimsby-born former soldier turned spy working for the Soviet Union.     more details

MONDAY
February 1, 2021

1/30/2021

White House News (白宮消息) | Jan. 30, 2021

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JANUARY 29, 2021
White House Daily Briefing
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki held a briefing to discuss news of the day and policy topics. She said the White House is encouraged by the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine trial results and looks forward to the FDA’s evaluation of the vaccine. She also reiterated President Biden’s desire to have bipartisan support for his proposed COVID-19 relief package.
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Biden pushing to pass next COVID-19 relief bill, hopes for bipartisanship
President Joe Biden visited Walter Reed Military Medical Center Friday to visit wounded service members. He spoke about the economic rescue package, saying he needs Republican support soon.
Biden signals support for Senate Democrats moving on COVID relief without GOP backing
Democrats could act on "reconciliation" next week over Republican objections.

Jan. 30 - With Republican opposition growing to the size of his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal, President Joe Biden on Friday expressed his clearest support yet for Senate Democrats to use a fast-track budgetary tool that would allow the legislation to pass with a simple majority.

Asked by reporters as he left the White House, "Do you support passing COVID relief through budget reconciliation?," Biden answered, "I support passing COVID relief with support from Republicans if we can get it. But COVID relief has to pass. There’s no ifs, ands or buts."     more details




President Joe Biden signed executive orders on health care on Thursday.
Biden poised to wind down executive actions next week to focus on Covid relief

Biden has been speaking with Republicans about the coronavirus relief package.


Jan. 29 - WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is planning to wind down his initial burst of executive actions by the middle of next week and shift his focus to getting key parts of his legislative agenda passed, with the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package as the top priority, according to three administration officials.

Biden has been quietly reaching out to Republicans about the relief bill, which he wants to pass with bipartisan support, and may soon begin holding in-person meetings at the White House, according to one official. At the same time, the president has been choosing his words carefully when weighing in on the upcoming impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.

Biden has said a Senate trial needs to take place, but he’s held back on disclosing his views on whether Trump should be convicted, despite a willingness to sharply criticize his predecessor without hesitation in the past.     more details

1/28/2021

White House News (白宮消息) | Jan. 28, 2021

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JANUARY 27, 2021
White House Daily Briefing
Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and White House National Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy joined the White House daily briefing to talk about a number of executive actions related to climate policy that President Biden was set to take later that day. Both former Obama administration members spoke in their new capacity as the lead international and domestic officials on climate policy for the Biden administration. They spoke about a whole-of-government approach to tackling climate issues and touted policies they said would lead to economic growth and new high-paying jobs. Following their briefing room appearance, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki took questions from reporters on the news of the day.




Xi Jinping warns Joe Biden not "to build small circles or start a new Cold War." 
Analysis: China tests Biden on Taiwan, with eye on another island


South China Sea's Pratas becomes latest front in the Beijing-Washington battle


Jan. 28 - TOKYO -- On Monday evening, as Chinese people were looking at their smartphones, watching their leader Xi Jinping talk about the importance of global cooperation at an online conference hosted by the World Economic Forum, alerts flashed across many screens.

It was an analysis piece by Chinese media, mocking a U.S. State Department statement that urged China to "cease its military, diplomatic and economic pressure against Taiwan."

The statement, issued by State spokesperson Ned Price on Saturday U.S. time, had taken issue with 13 Chinese military aircraft entering Taiwan's air defense identification zone earlier that day.

"Pressure?" the analysis piece asked. "As everybody knows, the People's Liberation Army's combat-readiness flights in the airspace of the Taiwan Strait have become a norm." China needs nobody's permission to decide what and when to fly, it said. The headline called the U.S. statement a "joke."

The timing was symbolic. While the Chinese president was reaching out to newly installed U.S. President Joe Biden for a handshake, China was kicking the Americans under the table.     more to read

JANUARY 27, 2021 | PART OF ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU DELIVERS REMARKS AT WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Russian President Vladimir Putin's Remarks at World Economic Forum
Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed a virtual summit of the World Economic Forum, a meeting that brings together global leaders and political and business executives to discuss the priorities and challenges of the day. President Putin had not addressed the summit in a decade and his remarks occurred when several Western nations were considering sanctions on Russia over the arrest and detention of opposition leader, Alexei Navalny. In his remarks, he talked about the state of international relations, Russia’s future relationship with Europe, political and social economic division, and tackling the coronavirus pandemic. 


Senators Sworn In For Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial | NBC Nightly News
Jan 27, 2021
All 100 senators signed an oath ahead of the impeachment trial for former President Trump. A group of 45 Republicans voted for a measure declaring that the impeachment trial of a former president is unconstitutional, signaling Democrats might not have the votes for a conviction

1/27/2021

White House News (白宮消息) | Jan. 27, 2021

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JANUARY 26,
Biden Delivers Remarks on Combating the Pandemic
President Joe Biden delivered remarks on combating the coronavirus pandemic. He spoke about his administration’s COVID-19 response strategy and said that the White House will resume daily briefings with scientists and experts on the pandemic. In addition, President Biden announced they have ordered an additional 200 million doses in total from both Pfizer and Moderna, which would be enough to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans by the end of summer. 
Fox News tried to make Biden look bad during his first press conference and it backfired spectacularly

Jan. 27 - ..."At Monday’s press briefing, Biden took a question from Peter Doocy, the son of Fox & Friends co-host and gave the reporter a fair chance by letting him ask the last question of the session. Before Doocy asked the question though, Biden stated, 'I know he always asks me tough questions, and [they] always have an edge to them, but I like him anyway' "...    continue to read


Biden Extends Press Conference to Take Final Question From Fox News Reporter: ‘I Like Him’

​Jan. 25 - President Joe Biden stopped his staff from herding reporters out of a Monday press conference to take a question from Fox News reporter Peter Doocy, who he said he “liked” despite his adversarial questions.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Biden said. “I know he always asks me tough questions, and [they] always have an edge to them, but I like him anyway. So go ahead and ask the question.”

Doocy, the son of long-time Fox News host Steve Doocy, proceeded to ask Biden about the distribution of vaccines for Covid-19 — which Biden said he hoped would be administered at a rate of 1 million daily within three weeks.

Doocy also asked about Biden’s rhetoric related to the virus, noting Biden said there was “nothing” the government could do to “change the trajectory of the pandemic” over the next several months. “What happened to two months ago when you were talking about, declaratively, that [you were] going to shut down the virus?” Doocy asked.

“I am going to shut down the virus,” Biden replied. “I never said I’d do it in two months. I said it took a long time to get here and a long time to beat it. We have millions of people out there who have the virus. We’re just, for the first day, I think, correct me if I’m wrong, I’ve been doing other things this morning, speaking with foreign leaders, but one of the first days that the numbers actually come down, the number of deaths, and the number on a daily basis and the number of hospitalizations. … It’s going to take time, it’s going to take a heck of a lot of time.”

A total of 1.2 million new Covid-19 cases were reported across the United States last week, which included both the last days of President Donald Trump’s term in the White House and the first days of Biden’s term. The figure represented a 21 percent decline compared to the previous week, the largest drop in new cases since the coronavirus pandemic reached American soil.     source


JANUARY 26, 2021
White House Daily Briefing
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki held a briefing on the news of the day, including the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic, vaccine distribution plans, efforts to pass an additional relief bill, and the Senate impeachment trial of former President Trump. White House Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice joined the beginning of the briefing to talk about two executive actions President Biden would be taking later that day to help bolster racial equity in housing and to direct the Justice Department to not renew contracts with private prisons.