Former GOP congressman: I'm concerned about Democratic turnout in Georgia runoffs

Former Republican congressman Jack Kingston discusses the looming Georgia Senate runoffs and Democrats' get-out-the-vote operation.

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  • 'I just want to find 11,780 votes': Trump attacks Georgia officials as crucial runoffs approach

    Just two days before the Georgia runoffs that will determine the leadership of the Senate and one day before a rally on behalf of the Republican candidates, President Trump has continued to unload on the GOP officials leading the state.

  • GOP congressman who eked out victory in Biden district will join Electoral College objectors

    Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) became the latest congressional Republican to announce he'll object to the Electoral College certification on Wednesday. Garcia said that while he's a "federalist, I do believe there is enough evidence of compromised processes and break downs in election integrity by certain state legislatures that do in fact warrant a closer examination."At first glance, Garcia's decision to join his colleagues in challenging President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory isn't particularly noteworthy. There are more than 140 House Republicans who are on board, as well as a dozen known senators who plan on supporting them. But Garcia doesn't appear to fit the mold of a lawmaker attempting to satisfy a voter base "in deep red districts" calling for their representatives to do something about unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud. Instead, Garcia narrowly eked out a narrow November victory in a district that Biden won by around 10 percent.> This is notable because Garcia won by 0.2 percentage points in November. The Kraken stuff is not just from members in deep-red districts. https://t.co/nVeapjxDGB> > — Jeff Dufour (@dcdufour) January 4, 2021Theoretically, embracing this movement could mean Garcia is risking certain swing voters down the line, and his 2020 returns suggest he doesn't have a huge safety net.More stories from theweek.com Hawley and Cruz: How to lie without quite lying Why Trump may have Lindsey Graham to blame for Raffensperger call recording Why Kelly Loeffler's attack ads on Raphael Warnock may backfire

  • Texas pastor killed, others injured in church shooting; suspect arrested

    The 62-year-old pastor reportedly confronted Mytrez Deunte Woolen with a gun, but he was overpowered. A pastor was killed and two parishioners were injured in a church shooting in East Texas on Sunday. Authorities had been searching for 21-year-old Mytrez Deunte Woolen on Saturday, using dogs and drones, when the pastor of Starrville Methodist Church in Winona reportedly discovered him hiding in a church bathroom Sunday.

  • IS gunmen kill 11 minority Shiite coal miners in SW Pakistan

    Gunmen opened fire on a group of minority Shiite Hazara coal miners after abducting them, killing 11 in southwestern Baluchistan province early Sunday, a Pakistani official said. The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its website. The Sunni militant group has repeatedly targeted Pakistan’s minority Shiites in recent years.

  • Georgia Lieutenant Governor Condemns Trump’s ‘Innappropriate’ Call with Secretary of State

    Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan has criticized President Trump's Saturday phone call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump asked the state election chief to "find" additional votes to overturn election results in the state.Trump has repeatedly alleged that Democrats "stole" the election by means of widespread voter fraud, including in Georgia where Joe Biden won by 11,779 votes. The president had attempted to speak directly with Raffensperger 18 times before the Saturday call, NBC reported."I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state," Trump told Raffensperger. A recording of the call was leaked to the Washington Post."I am 100 percent certified to tell you that it was inappropriate. And it certainly did not help the situation," Duncan told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on Monday. "It was based on misinformation, it was based on, you know, all types of theories that have been debunked and disproved over the course of the last ten weeks."Raffensperger suggested on Monday that Trump could face prosecution for the call."I understand that the Fulton County [Georgia] District Attorney wants to look at it," Raffensperger said on ABC's Good Morning America. "Maybe that’s the appropriate venue for it to go." The Secretary of State said his own office would likely not attempt a prosecution, citing an unspecified conflict of interest.

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    Here’s looking at you, kidOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest

  • Stricter lockdown restrictions probably on the way, says UK PM Johnson

    LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday tougher lockdown restrictions were probably on the way as COVID-19 cases keep rising, but that schools were safe and children should continue to attend where permitted. The government has cancelled the planned reopening of schools in and around London but teaching unions want wider closures. Much of England is already living under the toughest level of restriction under a four-tier system of regional regulations designed to stop the spread of the virus and protect the national healthcare system.

  • Pittsburgh police investigate 2 explosions less than 2 hours apart

    No injuries were reported, but a parked vehicle was damaged, Pittsburgh police said.

  • Fire strikes fuel warehouse on Syria-Lebanon border, 7 hurt

    A massive fire broke out Sunday in a warehouse where fuel and gas canisters were stored along the border between Lebanon and Syria, injuring seven people and causing loud explosions, the Lebanese Red Cross and army said. The Lebanese army said the explosions occurred away from one of its checkpoints and that none of its members were injured. Smuggling of fuel and diesel is rampant between Lebanon and Syria — many suspect the warehouse was used to store contraband, and Lebanon's LBC TV said the warehouse was used by smugglers.

  • Trump's official schedule says he will 'make many calls and have many meetings' Monday

    With just over two weeks left in President Trump's presidency, the White House is still putting out his daily schedule, but the schedules keep "sounding weirder and weirder," CNN's Kevin Liptak observed Sunday night. He was specifically pointing to the guidance for how Trump will spend Monday, before he heads to Georgia to campaign for the Republican incumbents in twin Senate special elections on Tuesday. "President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening," the White House said late Sunday. "He will make many calls and have many meetings."> This is a new addition to the President's daily schedule> > "President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings. " pic.twitter.com/mv2XihwKIN> > -- Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) January 4, 2021There's a clear didn't-read-the-book-report vibe to Trump's official schedule, but we also know, thanks to Georgia's secretary of state and Trump's Twitter feed, that what Trump is working on and calling people about these days is his doomed effort to overturn his loss in the Nov. 3 election. The man who defeated him, President-elect Joe Biden, is also traveling to Georgia to campaign, his office said Sunday. Biden may have meetings and phone calls planned for Monday as well, but that didn't make his schedule. > Here's Biden's schedule guidance for tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/ldJ7SJznyP> > -- Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 4, 2021More stories from theweek.com Hawley and Cruz: How to lie without quite lying Why Trump may have Lindsey Graham to blame for Raffensperger call recording Why Kelly Loeffler's attack ads on Raphael Warnock may backfire

  • New York, Florida tell hospitals to dispense COVID-19 vaccines quicker or lose supply

    The U.S. federal government has distributed more than 13 million vaccine doses to states and territories around the country, but only around 4 million have actually been administered, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last updated on Saturday. New York Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker notified hospitals of the potential actions in a letter on Sunday, Cuomo told reporters. "I don't want the vaccine in a fridge or a freezer, I want it in somebody's arm," he said.

  • Claims filed alleging Kenosha local governments were negligent in protest response

    Two men were shot by 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse on Aug. 25 during violent protests that followed the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

  • Israel says Palestinian arrested in killing of settler

    Israel's internal security agency on Monday released details about a detained Palestinian suspected of killing an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank last month. The Shin Bet identified the suspect as Muhammad Cabha, 40, from a village near Jenin in the northern West Bank. Cabha is suspected of killing Esther Horgan, a 53-year-old mother of six, while she was out jogging in a forest near her home in the West Bank settlement of Tel Manashe on Dec. 20.

  • Paul Ryan, Dick Cheney, 9 ex-defense secretaries slam 'anti-conservative' GOP effort to overturn Biden's win

    "As the new Congress was sworn in Sunday, the Republican Party splintered badly as at least 12 senators planned to join about 140 House members to contest Joe Biden's election win," Politico reports. "The tensions are so high that individual GOP senators are now directly battling" in "open warfare against each other." While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is asking his caucus to accept President Trump's loss, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is reportedly giving his GOP colleagues the green light to object to the Electoral College results on Wednesday.McCarthy's predecessor, former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), urged Republicans to knock it off in a rare public statement Sunday. "Efforts to reject the votes of the Electoral College and sow doubt about Joe Biden's victory strike at the foundation of our republic," Ryan said. "It is difficult to conceive of a more anti-democratic and anti-conservative act," and "the fact that this effort will fail does not mean it will not do significant damage to American democracy." Trump has "had ample opportunity to challenge election results, and those efforts failed from lack of evidence," he added. "Joe Biden's victory is entirely legitimate."Also on Sunday evening, all 10 living former defense secretaries signed an op-ed in The Washington Post affirming Biden's victory and warning that the military should not be dragged into Trump's effort to contest his loss. The signatories include James Mattis and Mark Esper, who served under Trump, as well as conservative stalwarts like Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. Cheney, who was also vice president for eight years, came up with the idea for the joint statement, said William Perry, former President Bill Clinton's defense secretary."American elections and the peaceful transfers of power that result are hallmarks of our democracy," the defense secretaries said. "Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the Electoral College votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived."Chuck Hagel, a Republican who served as defense secretary under President Barack Obama, told the Post he considered whether warning about military intervention was an overreaction, but decided it was better to nip the idea, raised by some close Trump allies, in the bud.More stories from theweek.com Hawley and Cruz: How to lie without quite lying Why Trump may have Lindsey Graham to blame for Raffensperger call recording Why Kelly Loeffler's attack ads on Raphael Warnock may backfire

  • Malaysia coroner: No foul play in death of French-Irish teen

    A Malaysian coroner ruled Monday that the death of a French-Irish teenager whose body was found near a Malaysian jungle resort where she vanished while on vacation was most likely a misadventure that didn't involve other people. Coroner Maimoonah Aid ruled out homicide, natural death and suicide and said Nora Anne Quoirin likely got lost after leaving her family's cottage on her own.

  • Why Trump may have Lindsey Graham to blame for Raffensperger call recording

    Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his advisers were prepared for President Trump to press him on overturning the state's presidential election results during a Saturday phone call, so they decided to record the conversation, which they eventually leaked after Trump mischaracterized the exchange. But the decision was also inspired by a previous phone call Raffensperger had with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in November, Politico reports.Raffensperger accused Graham of asking him whether he had the power to toss out all mail ballots in Georgia counties found to have higher rates of non-matching signatures, a claim the senator denied. Either way, the call apparently prompted Raffensperger to remain on high alert if he found himself in similar situations. "Lindsey Graham asked us to throw out legally cast ballots," one of Raffensperger's advisers told Politico. "So yeah, after that call, we decided maybe we should do this."As it turns out, Graham's attempt to help Trump win the election wound up backfiring on the president down the line. Read more at Politico.More stories from theweek.com Hawley and Cruz: How to lie without quite lying Why Kelly Loeffler's attack ads on Raphael Warnock may backfire Fears rise over Indonesia's Jurassic Park

  • Plane hits Michigan house, businessman and family die

    A small plane flying from Georgia crashed into a house in southeastern Michigan, killing the pilot and two family members.

  • Israel dismisses "nonsense" Iran charge it seeks to trick U.S. into war

    JERUSALEM (Reuters) -An Israeli official on Sunday dismissed as "nonsense" an allegation by the Iranian foreign minister that Israel was trying to trick the United States into waging war on Iran. It was Israel that needed to be on alert for possible Iranian strikes on the one-year anniversary on Sunday of the assassination of Tehran's top general, Qassem Soleimani, in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Kan public radio.

  • US may cut Covid vaccine doses by half to speed up rollout

    The US has just inoculated 4.2 million of its people out its 20 million target by 2020

  • Zimbabwe returns to restrictions amid rise in virus cases

    In response to rising COVID-19 numbers, Zimbabwe has reintroduced a night curfew, banned public gatherings, and indefinitely suspended the opening of schools. “We are being overwhelmed and overrun,” Information Minister Nick Mangwana warned, saying the country's hospitals are rapidly reaching capacity with COVID-19 patients. Zimbabwe recorded 1,342 cases and 29 deaths in the past week, “the highest number recorded so far,” Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said, announcing the strict measures.