Biden OMB pick Tanden called out during confirmation hearing for anti-GOP tweets, says ‘I’m sorry’
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The Week
Trump still hasn’t conceded his election loss. But his impeachment lawyer Bruce Castor did, several times.
Former President Donald Trump was, by all accounts, furious at his impeachment trial defense team, especially lead lawyer Bruce Castor, panned across the board for his odd, rambling opening statement. “Cocooned at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump watched as his defense attorneys responded to an emotional presentation by House impeachment managers with a series of dry, technical, and at times meandering arguments about due process and the constitutionality of the proceedings,” Politico reports. “As they droned on, he grew increasingly frustrated with the sharp contrast between their muted response and the prosecution’s opening salvo.” But Trump, watching the trial on Newsmax, wasn’t just dismayed at Castor’s low-energy performance and the bad reviews from allies and senator-jurors, Politico reports. Castor declined to use “graphics or a video — tools his TV-obsessed client had hoped to deploy.” And the former president was upset Castor “wore an ill-fitting suit and at one point praised the case presented by the Democratic House impeachment managers,” The Washington Post adds, even though Trump himself was reportedly also impressed with the impeachment managers and their video presentation. And Castor notably “did what Trump himself has not: conceded Joe Biden won the presidential election,” The Associated Press notes. He called Trump a “former president,” said he “was removed by the voters,” and argued that Americans are “smart enough to pick a new administration if they don’t like the old one, and they just did.” Trump continues to insist falsely that he actually won the election, and this “big lie” — that the election was “stolen” from him — undergirds his entire impeachment trial. Castor was using Trump’s status as former president to make his case, rejected by the Senate, that it’s unconstitutional to try a president after he leaves office. In fact, “Trump initially pushed his impeachment lawyers to make the baseless case that the election was stolen,” the Post reports, “an approach they ultimately rejected while still arguing that the First Amendment protects their client’s right to share misinformation and false claims.” More stories from theweek.comTrump the phone guy is backRock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees include Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, and Foo Fighters100-year-old accused Nazi camp guard charged with 3,518 counts of accessory to murder
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Reuters
WHO’s Wuhan probe ends, U.S.-China bickering over COVID continues
China called on the United States on Wednesday to invite the World Health Organization to investigate origins of the COVID-19 outbreak there, as sparring over the pandemic continued after the WHO wrapped up its field work in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Hours after the WHO team revealed preliminary findings at a Wuhan news conference on Tuesday, Washington said it wants to scrutinize data used by the team, which concluded that the virus causing COVID-19 did not originate in a laboratory in Wuhan, and that bats remain a likely source. “We wish that the U.S. side can, like China, uphold an open and transparent attitude, and be able to invite WHO experts to the U.S. to conduct origin tracing research and inspection,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular daily briefing, repeating a call it has been making recently.
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The Week
Trump reportedly avoided calling Biden a ‘predator’ in ads because it would ‘open up his own can of worms’
Former President Donald Trump apparently had his limits when it came to attacking his political rivals. Throughout the 2020 campaign season, Trump had the final say over which campaign ads made it onto the air and which were tossed out. He made those decisions at regular White House viewing sessions, where his top White House aides and campaign officials would gather to laugh at and workshop ads, including some too “out there” even for the former president, Axios reports. A few times a month, former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale would bring his laptop to the White House and sit “so close” to Trump that it sometimes “bothered” him, a source tells Axios. Parscale would then play through a reel of campaign ads, including many inspired by “young, pro-Trump fans who sent their ideas” to him, Axios continues. One targeted CNN’s Don Lemon and his coverage of the Black Lives Matter protests, while another showed President Biden coughing to allege he was unwell, a source said. Trump would often “burst out laughing” at some of the wilder spots, but then conclude they were too “brutal” or “weren’t worth the backlash” he’d get, the source told Axios. One subject Trump particularly avoided was Biden’s inappropriate touching of women, Axios reports. At one point, Trump’s campaign drew up an ad featuring clips of women who’d accused Biden of inappropriate contact, and then finished with a clip of Vice President Kamala Harris declaring “I know a predator when I see one.” But as one source close to the campaign said, “He never wanted to run the predator or women’s-style ads against Biden, because he was afraid he was going to open up his own can of worms.” Read more about Trump’s campaign ad critiques at Axios. More stories from theweek.comTrump still hasn’t conceded his election loss. But his impeachment lawyer Bruce Castor did, several times.Trump the phone guy is backRock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees include Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, and Foo Fighters
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Associated Press
Czech PM views Serbia’s mass vaccination campaign
The Czech Republic’s prime minister visited Serbia on Wednesday to find out more about the Balkan nation’s mass inoculation program with Chinese and Russian vaccines that have not yet been approved by the European Union’s drug regulator. Czech leader Andrej Babis has been seeking vaccines outside the EU’s common program after deliveries from EU-approved Western drug companies have been delayed.
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Reuters
‘No, no.’: Mexican president rejects mask-wearing after COVID-19 recovery
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday said he would not wear a face mask after his recovery from COVID-19, in spite of widespread support from top officials and the public for the measure. In his first news conference since testing positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 24, Lopez Obrador brushed aside repeated questions from reporters about whether he would wear a mask to help contain the spread of the coronavirus. Unlike many of his top officials, Lopez Obrador has shunned face masks throughout the pandemic.
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National Review
McConnell Declines to Whip Votes for Trump, Remains Undecided on Conviction: Report
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly suggested to his Republican colleagues that voting whether to convict former President Donald Trump of “inciting an insurrection” is a matter of conscience and need not align with senators’ earlier votes to dispute the constitutionality of the trial. Sources reportedly told Bloomberg that McConnell has not yet decided how he will vote, although he voted that the Senate hearing for the 45th president is unconstitutional on Tuesday. During Trump’s first impeachment trial, the Kentucky Republican said he did not consider himself an impartial juror. However, in the time since, many Republicans have distanced themselves from the former president following months of rhetoric from Trump that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. Trump’s comments, which Democrats claim led to the eventual storming of the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on January 6, led the House to pass a single article of impeachment: “inciting an insurrection.” However, even with the shifting dynamics in Congress and the Republican party, it is still unlikely that the Senate will vote to convict Trump. The chamber is evenly divided 50-50 and a two-thirds majority is required to convict. At least 17 Republicans would need to vote along with every Democratic senator, though just six GOP senators on Tuesday voted to support the constitutionality of the trial. In a leadership meeting Monday night, the Senate minority leader reportedly said the same things he has said publicly, a source told Bloomberg. Last month McConnell blamed Trump and other “powerful people” for provoking the rioters who amassed at the Capitol. “The last time the Senate convened, we had just reclaimed the Capitol from violent criminals, who tried to stop Congress from doing our duty,” he said in a speech on the Senate floor. “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government that they did not like.” Reports last month indicated McConnell was pleased with Democrats’ impeachment effort, though he had not yet determined whether he will vote to convict.
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The Week
Lawyer for man charged in Capitol riot says he worked for the FBI, had top-secret security clearance
An attorney for Thomas Caldwell, a Virginia resident accused of participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, said on Monday that his client is a Navy veteran who has had a top-secret security clearance since 1979, worked as an FBI section chief from 2009 to 2010, and ran a consulting firm that did classified work for the U.S. government. Caldwell’s lawyer, Thomas Plofchan, wrote about his work history in a motion filed on Monday, which stated that because Caldwell has “been vetted and found numerous times as a person worthy of the trust and confidence of the United States government,” he should be released from jail as he waits for his trial to start. Authorities have said Caldwell, 66, is a leader of the right-wing Oath Keepers militia group, and helped plan the attack on the Capitol. On Jan. 19, Caldwell was arrested and charged with conspiracy. He denies being involved with the Oath Keepers, and Plofchan said Caldwell is a “100 percent disabled veteran,” and because of his “physical limitation,” could not have forced his way into a building. The charging documents show that during the attack, Caldwell received messages about lawmakers being “in the tunnels” under the Capitol. After the riot, he also allegedly shared video of the incident on Facebook, saying it was time to “storm the capitol in Ohio.” More stories from theweek.com100-year-old accused Nazi camp guard charged with 3,518 counts of accessory to murderTrump still hasn’t conceded his election loss. But his impeachment lawyer Bruce Castor did, several times.Trump the phone guy is back
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Reuters
Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai denied bail in national security case
Hong Kong’s top court denied bail on Tuesday to media tycoon and Beijing critic Jimmy Lai, the most high-profile person to be charged under the city’s national security law. Lai had been in custody since Dec. 3, except when he was released on bail for about a week late last year. His return to custody was related in part to Article 42 of the security law, which says that “no bail shall be granted to a criminal suspect or defendant unless the judge has sufficient grounds for believing that the criminal suspect or defendant will not continue to commit acts endangering national security”.
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Associated Press
Man who killed 2 in Wisconsin had long criminal history
A man who killed two men in eastern Wisconsin before being fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy had a history of criminal offenses dating back more than a decade, officials said. Nicholas Pingel, 30, had recently been released from prison and had struggled with mental health issues, according to the Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation. Family members and others said Pingel struggled with substantial mental health issues and was disconnected from relatives in the week before the shootings.
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The Telegraph
‘Don’t talk to me about having a baby’: Chinese avoid the bedroom despite looming population crisis
Couples in China weren’t much in the mood to get busy in the bedroom during the country’s various lockdowns last year, dashing the government’s hopes of a post-pandemic baby boom to stave off a looming population crisis. Ten million births were registered in 2020, 15 per cent lower than the previous year, and hitting a new record low since the 1960s, when China was in the middle of a famine. In recent years, Chinese couples have become less willing to have children due to the rising cost of housing, health care and education. Even Beijing’s 2016 decision to scrap a decades-long one-child policy had little impact. “House prices [are] the best contraceptive pill,” one person posted online. Turns out a pandemic – and all its related restrictions and risks – in 2020 didn’t exactly turn up the heat in the bedroom, either. “There are many regulations on pandemic prevention and housing compounds always ask people to quarantine,” scoffed one person online. “That’s upsetting enough, don’t talk to me about having a baby.” “It would be such a headache if one gets pregnant during the pandemic and has to go to the hospital,” said another. Others talked about how 2020 was all about figuring out how to stay alive – not the best backdrop for bringing new life into the world. “Even female animals know not to give birth when the environment is not good, not to mention human beings,” a user posted on social media. Quarantines in China, like elsewhere, have also created friction between couples. “Locking men and women up at home could by no means increase birth rate, but the divorce rate would definitely spike,” said one online post. But fewer babies and a fast-aging population means soon China could feel the economic impact of a shrinking working-age population. Experts estimate that by 2050, about 40 per cent of China’s population will be above retirement age. As such, China has encouraged people to produce more offspring, a message that has largely fallen flat. “The authorities and experts publicise giving birth to more children all the time,” wrote one person. “If they are in such a hurry they should study how to let men give birth to children.”
