Biden's incoming deputy chief of staff calls GOP 'bunch of fu----s'
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Rep.-elect Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., join 'The Story' with reaction
President-elect Joe Biden told reporters Wednesday that his team is working to get him the coronavirus vaccine and that he plans to receive his doses on camera.
More than a decade into a life sentence for assisting in the sale of $20 worth of marijuana to an undercover cop in Louisiana, Fate Winslow is set to be released on Wednesday. "Today redemption has come," he told Yahoo News in an email.
Gaza has recorded just over 29,000 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, but it is now averaging about 1,000 new cases a day, driving that total figure up rapidly. While many countries have been hit hard by COVID-19, Gaza’s problems are made worse by blockade, which has devastated the economy.
Discover the top tomes for every interest—from fashion to design to travel–that our editors loved this yearOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest
President Trump was privately coming to terms with his loss to President-elect Joe Biden, but he "has now reversed and dug in deeper -- not only spreading misinformation about the election, but ingesting it himself," CNN reports, "egged on by advisers like Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis who are misleading Trump about the extent of voting irregularities and the prospects of a reversal." One adviser told CNN, "He's been fed so much misinformation that I think he actually thinks this thing was stolen from him."Even the Electoral College formalizing Biden's win "did not appear enough to shake Trump from his delusions of victory," CNN says, "but it is adding urgency to a push by several of his advisers to gently steer Trump toward reality." Discussions of Trump's post-presidency future tend to go nowhere because Trump "all but shuts down," CNN reports. "In his moments of deepest denial, Trump has told some advisers that he will refuse to leave the White House on Inauguration Day, only to be walked down from that ledge. The possibility has alarmed some aides, but few believe Trump will actually follow through.""To be perfectly clear about this, Trump 100 percent will leave the White House on Inauguration Day, if not well before," Jonathan Chait writes at New York. "Even the scholars who expressed the deepest fears of Trump's intentions to undermine the system did not put credence in the possibility he could defy the outcome by simply refusing to leave. Squatting is not one of the tools in his authoritarian tool kit." But the fact that Trump thinks that's even a viable option suggests he's "engaged in more than a scheme to grift his supporters," Chait says. He's "drinking his own poisoned Kool-Aid."If Trump does have to be forcibly removed from the White House, you can credit Bill Maher with the prediction. More stories from theweek.com 5 insanely funny cartoons about Trump's election-fraud failure Ian McKellen says he feels 'euphoric' after getting his COVID-19 vaccine Another 885,000 Americans filed new jobless claims last week, again more than expected
Jen O’Malley Dillon became first woman to manage successful Democratic presidential campaign this year
Pakistan's military said Tuesday that two soldiers were killed by Indian fire in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. In a statement, the military blamed India for violating a cease-fire in the village of Bagsar along the borderline that separates Kashmir between Pakistan and India. It said Pakistan returned fire and claimed there were troop casualties on the Indian side.
President Vladimir Putin said media reports that Russian state security agents had poisoned opposition politician Alexei Navalny were part of a U.S.-backed plot to try to discredit him, saying Navalny was not important enough to be a target. Navalny, one of Putin's leading critics, was airlifted to Germany in August after collapsing on a domestic flight. Laboratory tests in three European countries, confirmed by the global chemical weapons watchdog, established he was poisoned with a Soviet-style Novichok nerve agent but Russia denies this and says it has yet to be shown any evidence.
Over the last six weeks, so many people have been calling and emailing the West Wing seeking pardons that White House staffers have had to create a spreadsheet to keep track of the requests, CNN reports."It's turned crazy," one person familiar with the matter said. "There's a lot of activity." The queries have been coming in from business associates close to Trump as well as high-profile criminals, CNN reports, and when people can't reach the president, they contact his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, or White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. After Trump goes over their case summaries, he often asks his friends for their opinions on whether a person deserves a pardon.As of now, Trump is contemplating pardons for more than two dozen people within his circle, CNN reports. One person he is considering for clemency is Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization. Weisselberg has been investigated for his involvement in arranging hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who said she had an affair with Trump.Trump aides told CNN that the president is spiraling and devolving further into denial about the election, which he lost. Trump has told aides he won't leave the White House on Inauguration Day, but is then talked out of it. "He's throwing a f---ing temper tantrum," one adviser told CNN. "He's going to leave. He's just lashing out."More stories from theweek.com Trump has reportedly been convinced he actually won, tells advisers he may not vacate the White House 5 insanely funny cartoons about Trump's election-fraud failure Ian McKellen says he feels 'euphoric' after getting his COVID-19 vaccine
Up to a foot is expected in Boston and other parts of Massachusetts before snow showers move on.
It was late Friday night when Usama Aminu heard gunshots, at first thinking they had come from the nearby town. As soon as he and the other students at the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara realized there was a raid on the school, they scrambled out of their dormitory and scaled the school's fence in the pandemonium. The 17-year-old told The Associated Press about the attack on the school in Nigeria’s northern Katsina State in which men armed with AK-47 rifles abducted more than 300 students from the boys’ school.
Prominent French modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, a former close associate of disgraced American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, has been detained in France on accusations of sex crimes, prosecutors said on Thursday. Brunel was detained on Wednesday on accusations of rape, sexual assault of minors, human trafficking and being part of a criminal conspiracy, Paris prosecutors told AFP. He was detained at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport as he was about to take a plane to Senegal, a source close to the case added. Epstein, who was arrested in New York in July on charges of trafficking underage girls for sex, was found hanged in his New York jail cell on August 10, 2019 while awaiting trial over abuses involving girls at his Palm Beach home and on his private island in the Caribbean. His ownership of an apartment in an upmarket Paris district and allegations from women who say they were abused in France prompted French prosecutors to open their own criminal probe in August. The investigation opened by France into Epstein's activities has focused on Brunel, who was accused in American court documents of rape and of procuring young girls for his friend. "The victims have long awaited the arrest of Jean-Luc Brunel. They welcome his detention with relief and with confidence in the legal process," said lawyer Anne-Claire Lejeune, who represents several victims. "This is huge news. I am crying with joy," said Thysia Huisman, a former Dutch model who alleges she was "drugged and raped" by Brunel at the age of 18. The detention at the airport of Brunel ends over a year of uncertainty and mystery over his whereabouts. Brunel's lawyer in October 2019 said he vehemently rejected allegations made in the press but denied his client was on the run, insisting he was available for questioning. French police last year raided the offices of Karin Models, an agency founded by Brunel, and searched Epstein's luxury Paris home not far from the Arc de Triomphe.
Australia on Wednesday welcomed an Israeli Supreme Court decision to approve the extradition of a former school principal accused of sexually assaulting students at a Jewish school in Melbourne. Malka Leifer, who lost her appeal against extradition on Tuesday, is wanted by Australian police on 74 sexual assault charges, including rape, involving girls at her former school. "The decision of the Israel Supreme Court, dismissing Leifer's appeal is welcome news, particularly for alleged victims in Australia," Australia's Attorney-General Christian Porter said in a statement.
‘I suspect the timing is anything but coincidental,’ said one ally of the vice president
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told reporters Wednesday that U.S. officials "are engaged in active negotiations" with Pfizer to purchase more of the company's COVID-19 vaccines, per Politico. The comment seemingly backs up an earlier report from The New York Times, in which anonymous sources familiar with the matter said the same thing.The Trump administration this summer reportedly turned down an offer to expand on the initial order to buy more than 100 million vaccine doses, and Pfizer went on to strike agreements with other governments, including the European Union. That raised some questions stateside, though it seems the administration was hedging its bets since several other vaccine candidates have appeared promising, as well.The shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech was the first rolled out in the U.S., however, and there is widespread confidence in its efficacy and safety, so it seems the White House is working to enhance its supply after all. Read more at Politico.More stories from theweek.com Trump has reportedly been convinced he actually won, tells advisers he may not vacate the White House 5 insanely funny cartoons about Trump's election-fraud failure Ian McKellen says he feels 'euphoric' after getting his COVID-19 vaccine
The incoming White House deputy chief of staff, Jen O'Malley Dillon, called for unity and compromise in politics while labeling Republicans "a bunch of f***ers" in a Wednesday interview with Glamour magazine.O'Malley Dillon was campaign manager for Texas progressive Beto O'Rourke in the Democratic primaries, before joining the Biden team as campaign manager in March. In the Glamour interview, O'Malley Dillon said Biden was "able to connect" with voters over a "sense of unity.""In the primary, people would mock him, like, 'You think you can work with Republicans?' I’m not saying they’re not a bunch of f***ers. Mitch McConnell is terrible. But this sense that you couldn’t wish for that, you couldn’t wish for this bipartisan ideal? He rejected that," O'Malley Dillon said. "From start to finish, he set out with this idea that unity was possible, that together we are stronger, that we, as a country, need healing, and our politics needs that too."O'Malley Dillon also stated that in politics "compromise is a good thing," and that compromise "feels to me like the heart of relationships and love and success across the board."The comments come amid negotiations in Congress over a new coronavirus relief package. Negotiations have been deadlocked since the summer, and Majority Leader McConnell said on Tuesday that the Senate would not recess for Christmas until a deal is reached.
Indonesian authorities transferred 23 suspected militants arrested in recent weeks to the capital on Wednesday, including a man suspected of helping make the bombs for the deadly 2002 attacks on the island of Bali. Among those transferred was Aris Sumarsono, better known as Zulkarnaen, who is accused of involvement in making a number of bombs, including those for the Bali attack, which killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, and a 2003 attack on the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12. The suspects were flown under the tight guard of Indonesia’s elite counterterrorism squad from Lampung province on Sumatra island to a police detention center in the Jakarta for further questioning.
Police began arriving almost immediately after Ahmaud Arbery was shot in a Georgia subdivision, finding the unarmed Black man lying facedown while the man who shot him paced with hands on his head.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday he hoped for good news soon about two citizens who have been held in China for the last two years in what Ottawa has described as a case of hostage diplomacy. China arrested businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig in December 2018, shortly after Canadian police picked up Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant. Asked by Global News whether he thought there would be good news for the men's families before the New Year, Trudeau replied: "I certainly hope so."
Trump is reportedly determined to launch a special counsel probe into Hunter Biden's tax affairs, with only weeks before Joe Biden takes office.