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21 Men Accuse anti-Trump Lincoln Project Co-Founder of Sexual Harassment, FBI Investigating

National Review reports:

The FBI is reportedly investigating allegations that Lincoln Project co-founder and veteran Republican consultant John Weaver sexually harassed minors.

Two individuals have been contacted by FBI agents regarding Weaver. The agents asked whether Weaver ever touched them inappropriately or sent or requested sexually explicit material while they were underage, Yashar Ali reported in his Substack newsletter.

At least 21 individuals have accused Weaver, 61, of harassing them online, including one 14-year-old boy who claims Weaver asked about his body in a series of private messages.

Weaver, who has a wife and two children, leveraged his influential position in politics to lure the younger men, at some points explicitly offering professional and personal aid, such as paying bills, in exchange for sex.

Since the allegations have been reported Weaver has apologized in a statement and claimed he was under the impression that the conversations in question were consensual.

“I am so disheartened and sad that I may have brought discomfort to anyone in what I thought at the time were mutually consensual discussions. In living a deeply closeted life, I allowed my pain to cause pain for others. For that I am truly sorry to these men and everyone and for letting so many people down.”

Weaver worked on late Senator John McCain’s presidential campaigns in both 2000 and 2008 as well as former Ohio Governor John Kasich’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The New York Times reports:

John Weaver, a longtime G.O.P. operative who advised John McCain and John Kasich, made sexual overtures to young men, sometimes offering to help them get work in politics.

John Weaver, a longtime Republican strategist and co-founder of the prominent anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project, has for years sent unsolicited and sexually provocative messages online to young men, often while suggesting he could help them get work in politics, according to interviews with 21 men who received them.

His solicitations included sending messages to a 14-year-old, asking questions about his body while he was still in high school and then more pointed ones after he turned 18.

These messages from Mr. Weaver, 61, who helped run John McCain’s presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2008 and John Kasich’s in 2016, did not lead to physical encounters except in one consensual case, and none of the men accused Mr. Weaver of unlawful conduct. Rather, many of them described feeling preyed upon by an influential older man in the field in which they wanted to work, and believing they had to engage with his repeated messaging or lose a professional opportunity.

Mr. Weaver sent overt sexual solicitations to at least 10 of the men and, in the most explicit messages, offered professional and personal assistance in exchange for sex. He told one man he would “spoil you when we see each other,” according to a message reviewed by The New York Times. “Help you other times. Give advice, counsel, help with bills. You help me … sensually.”

Lincoln Project leaders, in their first extended comments about Mr. Weaver, said they had not been aware of such allegations until this month, when articles in The American Conservative and Forensic News, and an open letter on Twitter from a data analyst named Garrett Herrin, accused Mr. Weaver of grooming young men online.

Steve Schmidt, a co-founder of the group, said its leaders had learned last summer from social media posts that Mr. Weaver, who has a wife and two children, might be involved in relationships with men, but emphasized, “There was no awareness or insinuations of any type of inappropriate behavior when we became aware of the chatter at the time.” Mr. Weaver denied the claims, Mr. Schmidt said in an interview.

In mid-January, after the allegations gained public attention, Mr. Weaver issued a statement acknowledging he had sent “inappropriate” messages and apologizing “to the men I made uncomfortable,” while saying he had believed all of his interactions to be consensual. He said he would not return to the Lincoln Project from a medical leave that began in the summer.

Interviews with the 21 young men, as well as a review of screenshots of dozens of messages he sent them over the last five years, show that his online behavior was in many cases aggressive and unwanted.

Cole Trickle Miele was 14 when he followed Mr. Weaver on Twitter in 2015 and quickly received a direct message from him. At first, he did not think anything was amiss.

“I remember being a 14-year-old kid interested in politics and being semi-starstruck by John Weaver engaging in a conversation with me,” said Mr. Trickle Miele, now 19. At the time, he supported the Republican Party and was a fan of Mr. Kasich, the Ohio governor whom Mr. Weaver was helping prepare to join the presidential race.

But as the messages kept coming, he became uncomfortable.

In June 2018, Mr. Weaver asked, “Are you in HS still?” — referring to high school — and Mr. Trickle Miele said that he was, and that he would be 18 the next spring. “You look older,” Mr. Weaver replied. “You’ve gotten taller.”

In March 2020, when Mr. Trickle Miele was 18, Mr. Weaver wrote, “I want to come to Vegas and take you to dinner and drinks and spoil you!!,” and in a follow-up message used a term that in sexual banter refers to one’s body: “Hey my boy! resend me your stats! or I can guess! if that is easier or more fun!”

Mr. Weaver, in response to questions about specific allegations, reiterated his statement from earlier this month and said: “I am so disheartened and sad that I may have brought discomfort to anyone in what I thought at the time were mutually consensual discussions. In living a deeply closeted life, I allowed my pain to cause pain for others. For that I am truly sorry to these men and everyone and for letting so many people down.”

Mr. Weaver was one of a handful of veteran Republican operatives who formed the Lincoln Project because, they said, they considered Mr. Trump a danger to the country. With mocking ads that often went viral, the group became a highly visible opponent to the Trump presidency.

Mr. Schmidt said in the interview that the Lincoln Project did not have an office when Mr. Weaver was involved, so the founders and staff were not together. He said the group was “outraged and horrified” to learn of Mr. Weaver’s behavior. After this article was published on Sunday, the Lincoln Project released a statement condemning Mr. Weaver and calling him “a predator, a liar and an abuser.”

Last year, when Cody Bralts was a recent college graduate looking for a job in politics, he replied to one of Mr. Weaver’s tweets and, to his surprise, received a direct message from him. After Mr. Weaver said he traveled to Chicago sometimes, they discussed meeting to talk politics; at one point Mr. Weaver asked what Mr. Bralts did in his free time.

When Mr. Bralts said he ran marathons, Mr. Weaver replied, “At least I know that whatever we end up doing, you could do it multiple times in a row,” with a winking emoticon.

“It just seemed like he was exploiting his power,” Mr. Bralts said. “He was someone very important and high up in a field I want to go into.”

Kyle Allen, 23, said that from 2016 to 2018, Mr. Weaver asked about his height, weight, what he was wearing and whether he was circumcised. He also pushed repeatedly for an invitation to speak at the University of Ottawa, where Mr. Allen was studying, using sexually explicit language to express his eagerness to visit.

“I would try to veer the conversations toward politics, and he would always find a way to bring it back to sexual stuff,” Mr. Allen said.

In at least two cases, Mr. Weaver offered young men work with the Lincoln Project while sending suggestive messages.

One of those men, Anthony Covell, 22, said Mr. Weaver had begun messaging him in July 2019. That exchange tapered off, but on Dec. 3, 2019 — two weeks before the Lincoln Project was publicly announced — Mr. Weaver invited him to join the new initiative.

“He said he was looking for young people who were creative and invested in this upcoming election,” Mr. Covell said, adding, “I was obviously interested.”

Mr. Weaver suggested that Mr. Covell “post a thirst trap” or “send me a pic,” then asked him to call for more details on the project.

“Something inside me was saying, ‘No, don’t do this, he seems kind of sketchy,’” Mr. Covell said.

He decided not to call.

Kitty Bennett contributed research.

Maria Bartiromo, Judge Jeanine Pirro, and Lou Dobbs Move to Dismiss Smartmatic Lawsuit

© Getty Images Bartiromo, Pirro and Dobbs file to dismiss Smartmatic lawsuits

Business wire reports:

Motion Argues “Smartmatic’s 285-page, $2.7 Billion Complaint is not Just Meritless; it is a Legal Shakedown Designed to Chill Speech and Punish Reporting”

Actions Follow FOX News Media’s Motion to Dismiss Filing on Monday

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–FOX News Media’s Maria Bartiromo, Judge Jeanine Pirro and former host Lou Dobbs filed separate motions to dismiss on Thursday night in response to the lawsuit by electronic voting company Smartmatic. The filings follow FOX News Media’s earlier motion to dismiss, which was filed on Monday, February 8th.

FOX News Media commented, “Smartmatic’s headline-seeking, multi-billion-dollar lawsuit thus should be seen—and rejected—for what it is: an unconstitutional attempt by a money-losing company (Smartmatic reported $17 million in losses on just $144 million in revenue in 2019) to try to refill its coffers at the expense of our constitutional traditions.”

The Bartiromo filing, which joins the motion to dismiss filed by FOX News Media earlier this week, further outlines the constitutional problems at the heart of the Smartmatic lawsuit, noting, “Not only has Smartmatic failed to identify anything that could form the basis of a defamation (or disparagement) claim against Bartiromo; it has failed even to adequately plead actual malice.” Notably, the motion points out that, as a “veteran news anchor,” “Maria Bartiromo did her job: She covered the unquestionably newsworthy story” which is fully protected by the First Amendment as it “entitles journalists like Bartiromo to interview people on both sides of a heated and actively litigated controversy (one or the other of which is shading the truth—if not both), so that objectively newsworthy claims can be tested in the crucible of robust debate.” Furthermore, the motion reveals that Bartiromo “invited her other guests to comment on and criticize the President’s claims – an invitation that Smartmatic was extended but ignored,” proving the fact that Smartmatic’s headline-seeking, multi-billion-dollar lawsuit “is, in short, exactly the kind of lawsuit that both the First Amendment and New York’s anti-SLAPP law are designed to eliminate at the threshold.”

As further demonstrated in the Pirro motion, the Smartmatic lawsuit should be dismissed “for its abject failure to make sufficient allegations concerning Pirro herself.” The motion outlines the fact that Pirro’s coverage of “President Trump’s claims and the efforts made by his legal team to challenge the election results both in court and in the public realm” are “matters of public concern and widespread importance” which “lies at the heart of the First Amendment and the protections New York affords through its recently amended anti-SLAPP law.” Additionally, “The constitutional protection for the free press and related concepts like the fair-report and neutral-report doctrines exist precisely to shield commentary like Pirro’s from the threat of lawsuits seeking massive damages.”

The Dobbs motion again illustrates the constitutional issues stemming from the Smartmatic allegations. Noting “by interviewing members of the President’s legal team and offering opinions on their allegations,” former host Lou Dobbs “was fully exercising his rights as a member of the press to address matters of public interest.” Additionally, the motion points to the fact that the Smartmatic complaint “comes nowhere close to alleging the type of intent required to pierce First Amendment protections and hold a commentator liable for reporting on newsworthy matters of the highest order” and should therefore “be dismissed as antithetical to the First Amendment and inconsistent with our nation’s proud heritage of giving the media broad latitude to offer opinion and commentary on newsworthy matters.” In conclusion, the filing demonstrates the fact that “If a wide-open, robust debate ultimately reveals that one side could back up their allegations, that is a sign that the First Amendment is working. It should be a cause for celebration, not an excuse for an outsized lawsuit.”

The three additional motions to dismiss were filed by Kirkland & Ellis on behalf of Maria Bartiromo, Judge Jeanine Pirro and former host Lou Dobbs, and join FOX News Media’s previous filing from Monday, which stated the Smartmatic complaint sought to “stifle that debate and chill vital First Amendment activities.”

FOX News Media operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Digital, FOX News Audio, FOX News Books, the direct-to-consumer digital streaming services FOX Nation and FOX News International, and the newly announced platform FOX Weather. Currently the number one network in all of cable, FNC has also been the most watched television news channel for 19 consecutive years, while FBN currently ranks among the top business channels on cable. Owned by FOX Corporation, FOX News Media reaches 200 million people each month.

‘Recall Newsom!’: California Governor Repeatedly Heckled During Press Conference

California Governor Gavin Newsom looks on before speaking to members of the media during a press conference at Petco Park, February 8, 2021 in San Diego, California, during a visit to the Petco Park Vaccination Supersite. The Petco Park Vaccination Supersite, which is hosted in a parking lot next to the ballpark, is a partnership between San Diego County, the San Diego Padres baseball team and UC San Diego Health and has capacity to dole out about 5,000 COVID-19 vaccines per day.SANDY HUFFAKER/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Newsweek reports:

Governor Gavin Newsom was heckled by protesters demanding a recall vote during a press conference on California’s latest coronavirus figures.

The embattled politician, who is facing recall efforts that would trigger a fresh gubernatorial election not otherwise scheduled until late 2022, was jeered as he spoke to the press in Fresno and revealed more than 5 million people had received their COVID shot in the state.

Off camera a group of protesters could be heard loudly chanting “Recall Newsom” as he gave an update on efforts to tackle the virus, which has claimed the lives of around 45,000 people in California alone.

He did not respond to the heckles and continued to answer questions on the state’s response to the pandemic.

At the briefing, Newsom revealed the first two cases of the South African variant of the virus had been discovered in the state—one in Alameda County and one in Santa Clara county.

Newsom also said both COVID infections and hospitalizations in California were down significantly on a month ago.

“Real progress is being made,” he said. “We announced new vaccination sites just this week up and down the state of California.”

He said he was now focused on ensuring “underserved and underrepresented communities were getting fair access and distribution of these vaccines,” but added: “We are falling short of our goals of making sure that we truly are being equitable in the distribution and administration of this vaccine.”

It comes as Los Angeles is temporarily closing five COVID vaccination sites after running out of doses this week, with the city’s mayor warning the supply of new vials was “uneven” and “unpredictable.”

L.A. has so far vaccinated nearly 300,000 of its four million residents, but Eric Garcetti said the roll out had hit an “enormous hurdle” which left clinics low on stock and appointments for the weekend canceled.

The “Recall Gavin 2020″ campaign is said to be approaching the 1,495,709 signatures that are needed by March 17.

Newsom’s popularity has waned in recent months. Last spring he was praised for his early response to the COVID-19 pandemic, having issued the nation’s first statewide stay-at-home order.

But he has faced growing opposition to further measures aimed at curbing the deadly toll of the virus, including closing schools and businesses, and his popularity has ebbed according to recent opinion polls.

He is also facing questions over a massive unemployment benefits fraud scandal. In a report released last month, the state auditor said the California Employment Development Department (EDD) had paid around $10 billion in fraudulent claims, blaming failures to boost detection efforts.

Newsweek contacted Newsom’s team for comment.

Deaths Of Elderly Who Recovered From COVID-19, But Died After Vaccine, Raise Questions

From The True Reporter:

Nursing homes in Kentucky and Arkansas have confirmed the deaths of several residents. Four seniors died in Kentucky right after their vaccination. Three of these people had the virus before getting their vaccines.

Four seniors died in Arkansas, too. The deaths were reported a week after they got vaccinated. Each of the seniors tested positive post mortem.

The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System has information of the deaths.

Deaths after vaccination may not be related to the vaccine itself. Most seniors are diagnosed with chronic diseases, so they may have died of any existing condition.

Kentucky Nursing Home Death Cases

According to VAERS, Kentucky seniors received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. One of the seniors, an 88-year-old woman was “14+ days post covid” and received the shot while she was “unresponsive in her room.” The lady died an hour and a half later. The same happened to an 88-year-old man. Another woman vomited four minutes after getting the shot, lost her breath, and died later that night. An 85-year-old died two hours after getting the vaccine.

CDC spokesman said experts noted “no pattern … among the [Kentucky] cases that would indicate a concern for the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine.”

“Vaccination should be offered to persons regardless of history of prior symptomatic or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 [the virus that causes COVID-19] infection,” CDC said.

CDC’s Dr. Sarah Oliver said, “Data from both clinical trials suggests that people with prior infection are still likely to benefit from vaccination.”

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) disagrees with the information, and the agency corrected the statement.

“CDC is aware of reports of increased reactogenicity (such as fever, chills, and muscle aches) in persons who have had COVID-19,” said a spokesman.

Arkansas Nursing Home Deaths

VAERS reports four deaths in Arkansas too. A 65-year-old got the Moderna vaccine and died two days later. Three other seniors died a week after getting their shot on Dec. 22. An 82-year-old died six days after getting his shot.

 “After vaccination, patient tested positive for COVID-19.”

An unnamed person reported the death of the 90-year-old senior. “The vaccine did not have enough time to prevent COVID 19,” they said, adding that “there is no evidence that the vaccination caused patient’s death. It simply didn’t have time to save her life.” The 78-year-old died  “as a result of COVID-19 and her underlying health conditions and not as a result of the vaccine.”

“Surveillance data to date do not indicate excess deaths among elderly patients receiving COVID-19 vaccinations,” the CDC said of the Arkansas deaths.

Frail groups

In Norway, 23 people died right after getting their shots. These side effects are common in patients vaccinated with the Phizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. These shots cause fever, nausea, and diarrhea.  The symptoms “may have contributed to fatal outcomes in some of the frail patients.”

“There is a possibility that these common adverse reactions, that are not dangerous in fitter, younger patients and are not unusual with vaccines, may aggravate underlying disease in the elderly,” said Steinar Madsen, medical director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency.

California’s Unscientific Worship Ban (WSJ)

Masked worshipers attend Mass outside the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in San Francisco, July 14, 2020.
PHOTO: DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG NEWS

The Wall Street Journal reports:

These days “follow the science” has become a cliché especially popular with government leaders. But when it comes to the constitutional right to worship, California began to follow the science only after a recent Supreme Court intervention.

Political elites issuing health orders that they themselves don’t obey—and destroying countless livelihoods without any scientific basis for such action—is infuriating. But it was especially so for us Catholics, who have scientific evidence that positively demonstrates we can celebrate Mass safely indoors. In lifting California’s blanket ban on indoor worship, the high court rightly acknowledged the blatant unfairness of treating religious worship differently from secular activities such as shopping.

It’s been a long fight. Even as the pandemic subsided last summer and secular businesses began to open up, we still had to fight San Francisco City Hall for our right to worship. At the time the local government’s health orders were even more severe than California’s statewide policies. For months, San Francisco banned outdoor gatherings of more than 12 people—even as street protests were conveniently allowed and some city officials even participated.

After numerous attempts at respectful dialogue with the pertinent city officials went nowhere, my patience finally wore out. I began to criticize City Hall publicly and gather groups for multiple simultaneous outdoor Masses. In September, the city raised the numerical limit for outdoor gatherings but issued a ruling that only one person at a time would be allowed in a church for private prayer. That prompted a warning letter from the U.S. Justice Department calling on the city to “immediately equalize its treatment of places of worship to comply with the First Amendment.”

The issue became more intense as Christmas approached. We were already locked out of our churches for Easter, and I could not stomach this happening again. On Dec. 18 I sent my priests a memo giving them permission to bring the congregation indoors if weather or safety required it. The church could be filled only to 20% capacity—then the rule for indoor retail—and strict safety protocols had to be followed: masks, social distancing, sanitation and ventilation. The state health order did not follow the science, and I knew my people had to have access to the Eucharist, rain or shine. Like all the sacraments, it cannot be livestreamed. By mid-January several parishes had begun receiving ominous warnings from government officials, and two were officially cited for violations by the city Department of Public Health.

Read the full story here.

Biden Admin Has ‘No Interest’ in Actually Confronting the CCP: Jack Posobiec

US Vice President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping toast during a State Luncheon for China hosted by US Secretary of State John Kerry on September 25, 2015 at the Department of State in Washington, DC. AFP PHOTO/PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)

The Epoch Times reports:

The Biden administration, despite calling China the “most serious competitor” to the United States, is in fact unwilling to confront Beijing, according to author and former Naval intelligence officer Jack Posobiec, who has substantial experience living and working under communist rule in China.

“What you’re seeing now is an administration in the United States that is little more than a theater,” said Posobiec during an interview on NTD’s Focus Talk. “It is their window dressing for the global neo-liberal agenda. They have no interest in actually confronting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).”

Posobiec, who has seen firsthand the way the Obama-Biden administration dealt with China’s maritime expansion in the South China Sea, told NTD host Jenny Chang that the U.S. government is trying to restore the same type of relations it had with the CCP during Clinton, Bush, and Obama presidencies, which he described as a “failed policy of globalization.”

The U.S. Navy under Obama, in response to China’s militarization of artificial islands in international waters, would practice what Posobiec called “rattling the sabers” by sending its warships and aircraft through the region, a move similar to the dual aircraft carrier drill that took place earlier this month at Taiwan Strait.

“But did the CCP actually respond to any of these? No, not at all,” Posobiec said, noting that the saber-rattling tactic doesn’t matter to Beijing, unless it comes with “economic repercussion” like Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo inflicted upon the communist regime. “The financing is still there, the wealth flow is still there, the money is still there.”Play Video

This unwillingness to continue the Trump-era economic warfare on China, Posobiec argued, is the very reason nearly all the big capital and finance institutions backed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

“All the pro-CCP elements of the U.S. ruling elite backed Joe Biden to go against Trump,” Posobiec said. “Because Trump has been the only person willing to use economic warfare against CCP. This has been the most effective, and the only effective means that we’ve seen used in 30 years of globalization, that has been led by CCP.”

When asked about a potential Chinese invasion and annexation of Taiwan, Posobiec said such a scenario could come about due to the power dynamics within the CCP, and expressed worries that the Biden administration might not intervene.

“Xi Jinping still may be facing some of those threats from other factions of CCP that don’t want him to become this sort of chairman for life,” Posobiec said, suggesting that Xi, who rewrote China’s constitution to give himself indefinite rule, might at one point give up the decadeslong influence campaign on Taiwan to pursue a military takeover as a way to consolidate his power.

“I think that in that situation that Biden would not intervene,” he said. “I don’t think that he would find a meaningful way. What he would do is this: He would claim that he was intervening, but he would then try to seek a compromise. He would say, ‘We need to find something where both sides can come to an agreement.’”

“And the agreement that comes down would absolutely be to the detriment of the people of Taiwan,” he continued. “They would find an agreement that puts Taiwan in the same situation that Hong Kong found itself in 1997. That would be the type of agreement that they would make, and that’s exactly what CCP wants at the end of the day.”

Trump Lawyer Bruce Castor: Impeachment Managers Presented Nothing New

Attorney for former President Donald Trump Bruce Castor speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 10, 2021. (Joshua Roberts/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

The Epoch Times reports:

A lawyer representing former President Donald Trump in the impeachment trial said that House Democrats presented no new information in the nearly eight-hour session on Wednesday.

“Yesterday we said we didn’t dispute that the breach of the capital is a terrible thing, and that mob violence is something that President Trump abhors. So we didn’t learn anything today we didn’t already know, it’s a matter of fact. I wonder why we sat through eight hours of videos that are under dispute,” Bruce Castor told reporters as he walked to his car after the session ended.

The representatives serving as impeachment managers presented no new evidence supporting the charge of inciting insurrection, though they did show video footage that had never been shown before to the public.

Castor said Trump’s team isn’t making adjustments to its approach based on what was presented on Wednesday, adding, “I don’t know what the public has seen and I don’t think the Democrats revealed anything the public hasn’t seen from a different angle; I think it was all angles.”

Castor also reaffirmed that Trump will not be appearing during the trial.

Epoch Times Photo
David Schoen, lawyer for former President Donald Trump, walks on Capitol Hill during a break in the second impeachment trial of Trump, at the Capitol in Washington on Feb. 10, 2021. (Joshua Roberts/Pool via AP)

Asked whether Trump’s lawyers would be presenting videos suggesting Democrats themselves have incited riotous behavior, David Schoen, another member of Trump’s team, said, “You’ll have to stand by and watch, but it’s a pretty good bet.”

“I would say, though, that it’s not only that they wanted plenty of video time today, it seems like they want a lot of screen time for themselves. They’re clearly playing to the cameras, to the public, all of the time,” he added.

Schoen was speaking during a virtual appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.” Host Laura Ingraham noted that some of the House impeachment managers objected to election results in 2017. They’ve equated similar actions in the last election cycle as inciting violence.

Schoen also argued that Democrats showing raw video clips and photographs from Jan. 6, when protesters stormed the Capitol during a joint session of Congress, undermined the message from some in the party that they want to heal the country.

Trump Impeachment
Security video from the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 is shown to senators during the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, in Washington on Feb. 10, 2021. (Senate Television via AP)

“It’s continuing to open wounds for the American public and it is something that President Trump has condemned in no uncertain terms, the terrible violence that went on there. So there’s not an issue about that, they’re just hoping to drum up emotion and get their last shots in at President Trump,” he said.

Impeachment managers had asserted Trump was to blame for the violence on Jan. 6 as they attempt to convince 67 senators to vote to convict him.

“How did we get to a point where rioters desecrated, defiled, and dishonored your senate chamber?” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) said. “I will show you how we got here. President Donald J. Trump ran out of nonviolent options to maintain power.”

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), another impeachment manager, told reporters as he left the Capitol, “I thought it was a strong day.”Follow Zachary on Twitter: @zackstieber

Biden Rescinds Emergency Order Used to Build Trump’s Border Wall

Newsmax reports:

President Joe Biden has terminated the emergency order used by former President Donald Trump to justify construction of the wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.

“I have determined that the declaration of a national emergency at our southern border was unwarranted,” Biden said in a letter sent Thursday to the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Vice President Kamala Harris in her role as president of the Senate

“I have also announced that it shall be the policy of my Administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall, and that I am directing a careful review of all resources appropriated or redirected to that end.”

Axios reported Trump had used the emergency order to divert billions of dollars in funds to build a wall on the southern border. It said the order was used after it became clear Congress was opposed to using additional funding for construction.

USA Today said that under the emergency declaration signed in February 2019, Trump was able to use $600 million from the U.S. Treasury Department and $6.1 billion from the U.S. Department of Defense for border wall construction.

The emergency proclamation was continued in February 2020, allowing Trump to divert an additional $3.8 billion from the Pentagon for the border wall construction.

Biden had announced he was going to rescind the emergency declaration on his first day in office.

The administration has also said that because of the pandemic, migrants coming to the U.S.-Mexico border seeking asylum will still be turned away.

“The vast majority of people will be turned away,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday.

Stand Up For Small Business In California – Allow Them To Reopen NOW Safely (PETITION)

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[emailpetition id=”2″]

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