October 9, 2020

Rush Limbaugh tried to make up for the fact that President Trump shouldn't be out in public right now by holding him a "radio rally" on Friday. Guided in with sounds of a make-believe crowd, Trump spent two hours answering softball questions and receiving heaps of praise from the right-wing radio host, all while levying threats against other countries and changing his mind about a COVID-19 stimulus bill.

Just on Tuesday, Trump called off talks on another round of COVID-19 relief funding until after the election. But he pulled a total 180 on Friday, announcing talks with Democrats were back on. "I am going on the exact opposite now," Trump insisted on Limbaugh's show. "I would like to see a bigger stimulus package than either Democrats or Republicans are offering."

Trump also attacked Black Lives Matter, claiming it's "a racist term" and "a very bad term for Blacks." And in reference to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, Trump asserted "The Black community gets it. They don't dig him."

Trump went on to drop an explicit threat against Iran, insisting "if you f--k around with us ... we are gonna do things to you that have never been done before." Kathryn Krawczyk

11:20 a.m.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called the United States his biggest enemy and vowed to subdue Washington while enhancing Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal, the state's North Korean Central News Agency reported Saturday, per Bloomberg.

Kim's aggressive remarks, especially those related to nuclear weapons, are viewed by experts as a message to the incoming Biden administration. "It lights a fire under the Biden administration," Ankit Panda, a Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Bloomberg. "Kim is making clear that if Biden decides not to prioritize North Korea policy, Pyongyang will resume testing and qualitatively advancing its nuclear capabilities in ways that would be seriously detrimental for Washington and Seoul."

Cheon Seong-whun, a former president of the government-funded Korea Institute for National Unification think tank in Seoul, added that Kim is trying to pressure Biden into accepting North Korea as a nuclear state, and he expects Pyongyang to move forward with a series of provocations when after the White House transition.

It's not a new strategy for Pyongyang, which has a history of trying to rattle new American presidents, Bloomberg notes. Former President Barack Obama and President Trump both saw North Korea test a series of weapons upon taking office. Read more at Bloomberg. Tim O'Donnell

10:42 a.m.

Following his role in Wednesday's deadly Capitol riot, House Democrats plan to introduce an article of impeachment against President Trump on Monday, two Democratic aides told The Wall Street Journal. Per the Journal, more than 150 House Democrats have already signed on to the article, which was written by Reps. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and accuses Trump of "willfully inciting violence against the government of the United States."

The process would need to be swift, considering Trump's term ends in less than two weeks, either way. Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) told CNN the House may initiate an impeachment vote "as early as mid-next week." If the article passes, Trump would be the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) hasn't specifically backed the article drafted by the congressmen, but she said Friday that the lower chamber would move toward impeachment if Trump doesn't leave office immediately and her calls for Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment appear to have gone unanswered.

Republican Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said he would consider articles of impeachment if the House moved forward, while Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she wants Trump "out." The New York Times' Maggie Haberman reports more Senate Republicans "favor impeachment than people would expect," though others are seemingly wary. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

8:25 a.m.

A passenger plane carrying 56 passengers and six crew members lost contact shortly after taking off from Indonesia's capital Jakarta on Saturday.

The Sriwijaya Air flight went missing over the Java Sea while en route to Pontianak, the capital of the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan. The plane "lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, about four minutes after departure," tracking service Flightradar24 said on its Twitter feed. Indonesia's transport ministry said search and rescue efforts are underway.

The plane is reportedly a 26-year-old Boeing 737-500, which should not be confused with the 737 MAX model that was involved in two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019, respectively, before being grounded worldwide. Per BBC, airlines generally prefer to fly newer aircraft, but it's not uncommon for a plane that old to still be in service. The model reportedly has a strong safety record, though Indonesia's aviation safety record has been questioned over the years, BBC notes. Read more at The Associated Press and BBC. Tim O'Donnell

January 8, 2021

Twitter "permanently suspended" President Trump's personal account on Friday, citing "the risk of further incitement of violence."

The decision follows Twitter's temporary, 12-hour ban on the president's account on Wednesday, resulting from the president's "severe" violations of the company's civil integrity policy. Twitter warned at the time that if Trump violated the company's civic integrity or violent threats policies again, it would "result in permanent suspension." Facebook took similar steps this week, blocking Trump from using his account until "the peaceful transfer of power is complete."

On Friday, Trump sent two tweets: One read, "The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!" The next stated that "to all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th."

Here's the explanation from Twitter:

Due to the ongoing tensions in the United States, and an uptick in the global conversation in regards to the people who violently stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, these two tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President's statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behavior from this account in recent weeks. After assessing the language in these Tweets against our Glorification of Violence policy, we have determined that these Tweets are in violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy and the user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the service. [Twitter]

Twitter said his tweets violated policy by providing "further indication that President Trump does not plan to facilitate an 'orderly transition' and instead that he plans to continue to support, empower, and shield those who believe he won the election."

His account has already vanished from the website. Jeva Lange

January 8, 2021

As calls continue to rise for President Trump to resign, be impeached, or be removed from office via the 25th Amendment, one Republican senator is publicly on board.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said on Friday that Trump should step down following his role in Wednesday's Capitol siege. "I want him to resign. I want him out," she told Anchorage Daily News. She also said if Republicans don't all vocally split from Trump, she's not sure she can continue to be a member of the party.

"I think he should leave," Murkowski said. "He said he's not going to show up. He's not going to appear at the at the inauguration. He hasn't been focused on what is going on with COVID. He's either been golfing or he's been inside the Oval Office fuming and throwing every single person who has been loyal and faithful to him under the bus, starting with the vice president. He doesn't want to stay there. He only wants to stay there for the title. He only wants to stay there for his ego. He needs to get out. He needs to do the good thing, but I don't think he's capable of doing a good thing."

Murkowski, who last year voted against convicting Trump in his impeachment trial, blamed him for inciting his supporters to riot and break into the Capitol building, which led to five deaths. She believed "there may have been many, many, many, many good Americans who came to Washington, D.C., because they felt strongly in support of this president," but said Trump ordered them to fight. "How are they supposed to take that? It's an order from the president," she said.

The Alaska senator joins top Democratic leadership in calling for Trump's exit, along with fellow Republican Sen. Ben Sasse (Neb.) who said he would consider impeachment. Summer Meza

January 8, 2021

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was seen in several viral videos on Friday being harassed by supporters of President Trump, who accused him of being a "traitor" following the certification of the 2020 election results.

At Reagan National Airport, Graham was shouted at by Trump supporters calling him a "liar" and a "traitor" while telling him he "will not be able to walk down the street," as reported by Politico. Another video posted by conservative activist Mindy Robinson showed Trump supporters yelling obscenities at Graham and saying "it's gonna be like this forever wherever you go for the rest of your life."

The South Carolina senator was not one of the Republicans who objected to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden's win in Congress this week, and he has urged Trump supporters to accept the president's loss.

"Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are lawfully elected and will become the president and the vice president of the United States on January the 20th," Graham said.

Graham also criticized Trump this week after a mob of the president's supporters stormed the Capitol building, saying all of his accomplishments have now been "tarnished." The videos on Friday emerged days after similar videos showed Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who also didn't object to the certification of the election results and acknowledged Biden's win in November, being harassed by Trump supporters at an airport.

"We have a Constitution," Romney can be heard telling a Trump supporter in one of the videos. "The constitutional process is clear and I'll follow the Constitution." Brendan Morrow

January 8, 2021

President-elect Joe Biden announced some economic priorities on Friday, but Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) promptly poked some holes in his plans.

Biden began laying out his framework for the next round of COVID-19 relief, reports The Washington Post, and said his plans include a multi-trillion-dollar package that would provide "more direct relief flowing to families, small businesses," in part via $2,000 stimulus checks.

But Manchin, who Axios notes will become an increasingly important player as a moderate in the Democrats' razor-thin Senate majority, seemed taken aback by Biden's promise. "I don't know where in the hell $2,000 came from. I swear to God I don't," he said. "That's another $400 billion dollars." Since Republicans are united in opposing larger checks, resistance from a single Democrat could throw a wrench in Biden's plans.

He told the Post he would "absolutely not" support larger stimulus checks for Americans, but a spokesperson later seemed to walk back his resistance, insisting Manchin "isn't drawing a red line against" $2,000 checks, but simply "believes vaccine distribution should be a higher priority," as NBC News' Sahil Kapur put it. Perhaps realizing how consequential his hardline opposition to the plan may be, Manchin later tweeted to note he was open to discussion. "If the next round of stimulus checks goes out they should be targeted to those who need it," he wrote. Conspicuously, between Manchin's initial comments and his clarification, markets seemed to notice the potential roadblock.

Aside from Manchin's role in the announcement, Biden's remarks on his economic plans were noteworthy in that he prioritized extending unemployment insurance, as well as sending billions of dollars in aid to state and local governments, which could help speed up COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Read more at The Washington Post. Summer Meza

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