Californians under 65 who have disabilities or severe underlying health conditions will be eligible for inoculation against the coronavirus starting on March 15, state officials said Friday, responding to outrage over a recent change intended to expedite the state’s slow rollout of vaccines.

California had been delivering vaccines in tiers, prioritizing people with high-risk medical conditions over healthy adults and certain essential workers above others, but changed course in late January after the complexity of its system appeared to be slowing distribution. Under the new system, the many categories were replaced with age-based tiers.

But as people with chronic illness and disabilities were displaced in line by people 65 and older, the move sparked widespread anger and confusion. Bay Area activists accused the administration of Gov. Gavin Newsom of mistreatment and criticized the governor on Twitter with the hashtag #HighRiskCA. California now joins a handful of states offering eligibility to adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities or people with underlying health conditions.

The adjustment will extend Covid-19 vaccinations to people over 16 who are debilitated or immunocompromised by cancer or an organ transplant. It will also include those who are pregnant or suffering from chronic pulmonary disease, Down syndrome, sickle cell disease, heart conditions, severe obesity, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease that is Stage 4 or higher, and those whose life or ongoing care is otherwise likely to be threatened by Covid-19.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/world/covid-coronavirus-california-vaccines-disabilities.html

DETROIT – Welcome to Saturday, Motown.

Snow returns for the first of this weekend. A bit of sun returns, Sunday. It will be much colder than average, again, all weekend long. More accumulating snow is in our forecast early next week with a big East Coast storm.

Saturday morning will be very cold with snow arriving a few hours before dawn. Flurries and light snow begin around 4 a.m. as morning low temperatures start in the low and middle teens. Wind chills will be in the single digits and near zero.

Read more: Metro Detroit weather: Tracking 3 snow systems in next 7 days

Snow will be scattered as it continues to fall at breakfast time and toward the lunch hour. It will be light to moderate at times. Temperatures remain well below freezing; in the upper teens. Gentle accumulations, up to one inch or more, will be common across the region. Snowflakes will be sticking to sidewalks and streets.

Last minute Valentine’s Day shoppers will need an early start to finish finding cards and gifts early to avoid more accumulation, but do not rush. Ramps, bridges and overpasses will be, especially, tricky but not impossible to navigate. Be careful walking, too, because we do not want any slip-and-falls.

Saturday afternoon will be cold and snowy at times. Falling and blowing snow will make it tough to see. So, watch your speeds and spacing while driving. Stay alert for pedestrians and salt trucks a wide berth, as well. Another inch is possible by the afternoon.

Snow totals from today’s snow will generally be 1 to 2 inches with some areas along I-94 and south of M-59 receiving as much as 3 inches by the end of this evening.

Snow showers wind down Saturday evening. We still need to dress in layers with temperatures returning to the teens.

Saturday night will be mostly to partly cloudy and frigid. Overnight lows will be in the single digits with wind chills near or below zero.

Please, keep practicing your keep-warm habits. Do not use stoves or ovens to keep warm. Move all space heaters away from anything flammable.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Sunday. It’s a great day to snuggle-up with your sweetie or spend time with family. It will be partly sunny and cold. Afternoon temperatures will be in the low 20s; ten to fifteen degrees below average highs.

Brief snow showers return, Sunday night and Presidents’ Day, Monday. An inch of snow is possible, Monday, with snow falling mainly in the morning. Daytime temperatures will be in the middle and upper teens. Another day to dress in layers if you’re going sledding or doing anything else outdoors.

A separate large storms running along the Appalachians will be big enough to bring more snow, Monday night and Tuesday. Well more than 1 inch of snow is possible, but it is too early to tell what exact accumulations will be. That said, do not be surprised to grab your snow shovels, again, by Tuesday evening or Wednesday. Tuesday’s highs will be near 20 degrees.

Wednesday will be partly sunny and cold with highs in the low 20s after morning lows in the single digits.

Remember to download the FREE Local4Casters weather app — it’s easily one of the best in the nation. Just search your app store under WDIV and it’s right there available for both iPhones and Androids! Or click the appropriate link below.

Source Article from https://www.clickondetroit.com/weather/2021/02/13/metro-detroit-weather-snowy-cold-saturday-with-light-accumulations/

Former Gov. George Pataki unloaded on Gov. Andrew Cuomo, calling the COVID-19 nursing home death reporting “cover-up” scandal “one of the worst things I have seen in state government.”

During an interview on AM 570 WMCA radio, Pataki called Cuomo’s nursing home policies and actions “inhumane,” “reprehensible,” “outrageous,” “despicable” and “beyond the pale.”

He called for a criminal probe by the Biden Justice Department, state Attorney General Letitia James and independent investigation conducted by the state Legislature.

“This is one of the worst things I have seen in New York State government, and I’ve been following this for a long time,” Pataki said of the nursing home death cover-up.

“This is one of the worst things I have seen in New York State government, and I’ve been following this for a long time.”

— George Pataki, Republican former governor of New York

He also said the Legislature should curb Cuomo’s emergency powers, which would “speed up” the COVID-19 vaccination rollout and end Albany’s “micro-management.”

CUOMO AVOIDS REPORTERS DURING WHITE HOUSE VISIT AS NEW YORK NURSING HOME SCANDAL GROWS

“You won’t have people worried about getting fined a million dollars or losing your license if you give someone in category 2CW a vaccine as opposed to category 2AB. This is asinine micro-management,” he said.

There’s growing support among fellow Democrats who control the state Assembly and Senate to strip Cuomo of the powers they granted him last year to swiftly respond to the deadly COVID-19 outbreak following. Those powers expire on April 30.

Pataki said team Cuomo and his health department only started coming clean on nursing home deaths after state Attorney General Letitia James issued a stinging report that found that they misled the public by underreporting coronavirus deaths among facility residents by 50 percent — all by excluding people who died after being transported to hospitals.

A state judge also recently ordered Cuomo to release more complete nursing home death data after ruling his administration illegally withheld the information for months from the Empire Center for Public Policy. The watchdog group filed a legal request for the figures.

PELOSI ISSUES ‘RARE REBUKE’ AFTER CUOMO CLAIMS FEDS TRYING TO SHORTCHANGE NY IN CORONAVIRUS BILL: REPORTS

“We know they were hiding the number of deaths. It’s just despicable,” said Pataki.

Last May, Pataki criticized the state Health Department’s directive ordering nursing homes to admit or re-admit recovering coronavirus patients discharged from hospitals during the height of the pandemic.

Critics have noted the policy contributed to the spread of the killer bug in the facilities housing the frail elderly.

“Just a few weeks we were told there were a little over 8,000 deaths. Now we’re told the number is over 13,000,” Pataki said Friday.

Pataki also described as selfish Cuomo’s decision to publish a book about his COVID-19 leadership lessons just months into the pandemic.

TUCKER CARLSON: FROM ANDREW CUOMO TO THE LINCOLN PROJECT, MEDIA PROTECTED THE WORST OF POLITICS

“Writing a book about how great your leadership was when in fact you’re aware you’re covering up thousands of deaths … Then continuing this charade about what a tremendous response there was. It’s incomprehensible,” the former Republican governor said.

“Writing a book about how great your leadership was when in fact you’re aware you’re covering up thousands of deaths … It’s incomprehensible.”

— George Pataki, Republican former governor of New York

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, has drawn some sharp criticism from a Republican predecessor, former Gov. George Pataki.

Pataki, who led the state following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, said, “I wasn’t out there two months after the attack of Sept. 11 waving the flag and saying what a great job I did.

“It wasn’t about me. It was about everyone who responded — the firefighters, the construction workers, the first responders, the people of New York.”

Pataki also ripped Cuomo chief aide Melissa DeRosa’s comments from a private meeting with state lawmakers Wednesday about refusing to release a full count of nursing home deaths because of an ongoing federal inquiry.

The damning numbers would be “used against us” by Trump’s Justice Department, she said. The Post first reported DeRosa’s explanation after obtaining an audiotape of the Zoom chat.

FLASHBACK: NY GOV. CUOMO DISBANDS HIS OWN ETHICS WATCHDOG COMMISSION

Pataki called her comments “a cover-up to avoid a possible criminal investigation. It certainly smells of obstruction of justice.”

He also was slammed DeRosa’s apology to Democrats who complained the stonewalling over the nursing home death left them open to criticism from Republican opponents.

“The fact that the administration apologized to Democrat politicians for their inconvenience but never apologized to the people or the families of those who died — that’s inhumane,” Pataki, who governed from 1995-2006, said.

In a statement Friday morning, DeRosa claimed that in her remarks, “I was explaining that when we received the DOJ inquiry, we needed to temporarily set aside the Legislature’s request to deal with the federal request first.”

In response to Pataki, the governor’s office referred The Post to a statement issued by DeRosa earlier Friday.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

“I was explaining that when we received the DOJ inquiry, we needed to temporarily set aside the Legislature’s request [for nursing home death data] to deal with the federal request first. We informed the houses of this at the time,” DeRosa said.

“We were comprehensive and transparent in our responses to the DOJ, and then had to immediately focus our resources on the second wave and vaccine rollout. As I said on a call with legislators, we could not fulfill their request as quickly as anyone would have liked.

“But we are committed to being better partners going forward as we share the same goal of keeping New Yorkers as healthy as possible during the pandemic.”

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cuomos-nursing-home-death-coverup-one-of-nys-worst-scandals-ex-gov-george-pataki

For example, Robert L. Bauer, who had attended Mr. Trump’s rally on Jan. 6 and entered the Capitol, told law enforcement that when Mr. Trump told the crowd to march to the Capitol (about 16 minutes into his speech), many heeded those words. Mr. Bauer “reiterated that he marched to the U.S. Capitol because President Trump said to do so,” according to a criminal complaint.

Mr. Castor’s reasoning that Mr. Trump could not have incited the crowd to riot because the siege was preplanned also ignores an argument that House managers had made this week: Mr. Trump had spent months trying to invalidate the results of the election and encouraging his supporters to act.

What Was Said

“At no point was the president informed the vice president was in any danger.” — Mr. van der Veen

This is disputed. Comments by Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, suggest otherwise. This week, Mr. Tuberville recounted that he and Mr. Trump had spoken just as the Capitol was breached before the phone call was cut short.

“I said ‘Mr. President, they just took the vice president out, I’ve got to go,’” Mr. Tuberville said.

What Was Said

“One of the first people arrested was the leader of antifa.” — Mr. van der Veen

This is misleading. Mr. van der Veen was most likely referring to John E. Sullivan, a Utah man who was charged on Jan. 14 with violent entry and disorderly conduct. Mr. Sullivan, an activist, said he was there to film the siege. He had previously referred to antifa — a loosely affiliated group of antifascist activists that has no leader — on social media, but he has repeatedly denied being a member of the movement.

The F.B.I. has said there is no evidence that supporters of the antifa movement had participated in the Capitol siege.

What Was Said

“As many will recall, last summer the White House was faced with violent rioters night after night. They repeatedly attacked Secret Service officers, and at one point pierced a security wall, culminating in the clearing of Lafayette Square.” — Mr. van der Veen

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/us/politics/donald-trump-lawyers-fact-check.html

California officials said Friday that people ages 16 to 64 who are disabled or at high risk for morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 will be eligible for vaccination beginning next month.

The move comes after weeks of debate over who will get to the front of the line for precious vaccine doses, which remain in short supply. Officials estimate the move will make 4 million to 6 million more people eligible, bringing the total of eligible Californians to 17 million to 19 million, or about half the state.

But supplies remain very limited. Based on current allocation projections, California won’t come close to meeting demand for some time. It will ultimately be up to local providers to decide who gets the vaccine immediately, with medical workers, first responders, people 65 and over, teachers and essential workers all vying for shots.

The underlying conditions explicitly stated under the latest guidance include cancer, chronic kidney disease of stage four or above, chronic pulmonary disease, Down syndrome, immunocompromised immune system from solid organ transplant, pregnancy, sickle cell disease, heart failure, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathies (excluding hypertension), severe obesity, and Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The state also broadly defined eligible individuals as those who are likely to develop a life-threatening illness or death from a COVID-19 infection or are limited in their ability to receive ongoing care or services vital to their survival.

These groups can begin getting the vaccine March 15.

State Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said implementation and verification details were still being sorted out.

When asked about the state’s announcement, Dr. Paul Simon, chief science officer for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, said he hopes many of the county’s providers “will be vaccinating their own patients, will understand the medical conditions that their patients have” and that “the implementation would be relatively straightforward.”

But he added during a briefing Friday, “it will also require, I think, very clear definitions of who is eligible under this new phase.”

“It certainly means that there’s even more urgency now to getting a greater supply of vaccine,” he said.

That concern has been shared by others as vaccine eligibility continues to expand beyond allocation.

“Reprioritizing who gets doses does not get us more doses, and that’s what we need,” said Kat DeBurgh, executive director of the Health Officers Assn. of California.

The news follows a meeting last week set by a high-level task force with members from the departments of Aging, Disability Services and Health and Human Services that hashed out details of a proposal raised by a vaccine advisory committee. The working group responsible for drafting state vaccine guidance had said it would make its official recommendation to prioritize people with disabilities and underlying health conditions.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s previous announcement last month that the state would shift vaccine priority to an age-based eligibility structure sparked concerns from groups representing the disability community who were facing longer waits to get vaccinated, with hundreds sharing their frustrations on social media.

Friday’s announcement was welcomed by advocates and activists.

“Most disabled people felt like, OK, I guess we’re never going to be prioritized,” said Lasharn Maelee Johnson, 32, of Long Beach, who has severe asthma and other chronic health conditions. “It’s nice that we don’t feel like we’re being left to die.”

“It’s never going to be a perfect system,” said Ntombi Peters, who uses multiple inhalers and daily medications to control her severe asthma and is on immunosuppressant drugs to treat multiple sclerosis. “But I appreciate that the advisory committee and task force members listened to our concerns and revised the priority list. This has been a huge stressor for me and so many others, but knowing there is light at the end of the tunnel helps tremendously.”

The new priority list brought relief to some who hope the update will help those in marginalized communities who may have previously been left out.

“I hope this change will adhere to equity within the disabled community, namely in regards to the Black and brown community and higher risk-populations,” said Reid Davenport, 30, a filmmaker in Oakland who has cerebral palsy. “In the meantime, I feel a sense of relief that I hope will prove warranted.”

“There’s no question that there’s going to be a lot of challenges, but there’s also no question that this new policy is dramatically better,” said Andy Imparato of Disability Rights California, who also serves on the state’s vaccine advisory committee. “This creates a safety valve for people under 65″ who may still face significant risk.

Imparato said he hoped the new rule would ease the disparities that have plagued the vaccine rollout so far. Many of the same factors that have made the pandemic more deadly in Black, Latino and Native American communities also create or intensify disabilities, so extending the current tier to include those with significant comorbidities would mean more doses reaching hard-hit communities than in an age-based system, he said.

Most of L.A. County’s limited vaccine supply is going to giving second doses as local and state officials say they need more shots.

More Coverage

“We can look on a map and say which one has the most COVID cases — these are often the same communities that have higher rates of diabetes and other comorbid conditions,” said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, an epidemiologist and co-founder of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations. “But that type of language is hard to implement, and programs that are hard to implement create problems with efficiency and problems with equity.”

In particular, she and others worried that the documentation requirement could gum up the works of California’s already sluggish vaccination program.

“We need to be careful about not splitting hairs about who’s disabled enough to get vaccinated,” said Dr. Alyssa Burgart, a bioethicist at Stanford. “It’s so easy to show what your age is. But there is immense variety in the type of disability that can place you at higher risk from COVID.”

Alice Wong, a 46-year-old disabled activist in San Francisco who created the hashtag #HighRiskCA in response to the state’s vaccine priority list, agreed.

“There are lots of people who don’t have a primary care provider [to provide documentation],” she said. “We don’t need more hurdles.”

Some believe that while Friday’s announcement was a sign of progress, earlier action needs to be taken to implement prioritization sooner.

“The timing for the directive to go into effect March 15 is still problematic, which we believe will be too late for many people with disabilities who could succumb to COVID in the meantime,” said Judy Mark, president of Disability Voices United. “Dr. Anthony Fauci [recently] said that by April, getting vaccines will be ‘open season.’ We hope to work with the state to move up the timing in order to save more lives.”

Claudia Center, legal director with Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, echoed the sentiment.

“We are pleased to see the explicit inclusion of some people with high-risk disabilities, but the rollout will be too late for many, and the guidance excludes others. The state must immediately collaborate with its disability partners to carefully plan implementation so that people with high-risk disabilities can safely and effectively access the vaccine. We continue to urge the state to prioritize Californians who receive home and community-based services, and low-income people of color with disabilities,” she said.

Times staff writers Luke Money and Melody Guttierez contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-02-12/california-opens-covid-vaccine-disabled-high-risk-people

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo drew calls for his resignation or impeachment this week after damaging new details emerged about the state’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak in nursing homes and subsequent withholding of vital information on the death toll – with even Democratic critics calling for greater transparency from the governor’s office.

It’s not the first ethics scandal to rock Cuomo’s long tenure in office.

Back in April 2014, Cuomo drew criticism after disbanding the so-called Moreland Commission, a public corruption watchdog panel that he had set up just months earlier.

In this Sept. 14, 2018 file photo, Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa, is joined by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as she speaks to reporters during a news conference, in New York. De Rosa, Cuomo’s top aide, told top Democrats frustrated with the administration’s long-delayed release of data about nursing home deaths that the administration “froze” over worries about what information was “going to be used against us,” according to a Democratic lawmaker who attended the Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021 meeting and a partial transcript provided by the governor’s office. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

The 25-member commission, made up of a number of New York prosecutors, was looking primarily into political corruption and campaign finance violations for nine months, from July 2013 until Cuomo shut it down, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time.

The abrupt end was part of a deal with state lawmakers that led to the creation of new ethics rules in Albany, the state capital.

CUOMO AIDE TELLS NY DEMOCRATS ADMINISTRATION HID NURSING HOME DATA TO KEEP IT FROM TRUMP DOJ: REPORT

But the shutdown came before the commission had completed its investigations into numerous lawmakers, and Cuomo was accused of interfering with its work and looking out for his political allies.

The New York Times in July 2014 reported that Cuomo’s office had “hobbled” the commission’s efforts and that Cuomo’s then-secretary to the governor, Lawrence Schwartz, allegedly told members to back off of its probe into an advertising firm that counted the governor among its clients.

CUOMO ADMIN SAYS TOTAL CORONAVIRUS DEATHS IN NURSING HOMES IS EVEN HIGHER

Cuomo’s current secretary to the governor, Melissa DeRosa, was named in a bombshell New York Post report Thursday about a leaked conference call with top state Democrats regarding the administration’s controversial handling of the coronavirus pandemic at nursing homes.

On Friday, DeRosa addressed the call.

“I was explaining that when we received the DOJ inquiry, we needed to temporarily set aside the Legislature’s request [about data on the nursing home crisis] to deal with the federal request first,” she said. “As I said on a call with legislators, we could not fulfill their request as quickly as anyone would have liked. But we are committed to being better partners going forward as we share the same goal of keeping New Yorkers as healthy as possible during the pandemic.”

Back in 2014, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara seized the commission’s paperwork and picked up where it left off after Cuomo shut it down, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Bharara secured convictions of two major state political figures: former state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, and former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Republican.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Bharara had also conducted a nearly two-year investigation into the Cuomo administration’s handling of the commission but gave up after finding “insufficient evidence to prove a federal crime.”

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/flashback-ny-cuomo-disbands-ethics-watchdog-commission

Florida Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy urged President Biden to adjust his plan for distributing vaccines nationwide after finding “obvious flaws” that could prove detrimental to states with higher rates of seniors.

“We share the same goal, which is to manufacture and distribute enough vaccine doses to vaccinate every American as swiftly as possible,” Murphy said in a letter to the president Thursday.

But the Florida Democrat took issue with the plan laid out by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to distribute vaccines to states based on the number of residents they have that are 18-years of age and older.

FLORIDA GOV. DESANTIS CALLS THREATS OF DOMESTIC TRAVEL BAN ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL, UNWISE AND UNJUST’

“This single-factor formula has the benefit of simplicity, but it also has obvious flaws,” she said. “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Americans age 65 and older account for 81 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the United States.” 

Murphy pointed out that one in five residents in Florida are at least the age of 65, which means nearly 21 percent of the state’s population are considered at high risk of the deadly coronavirus and should be prioritized.

The congresswoman has asked the administration to take into consideration states and territories like Maine and Puerto Rico, which share high populations of senior citizens, when distributing vaccines, as the CDC has recommended that people 75 of age and up be prioritized in receiving vaccinations.

The Florida Democrat noted that the crux of the problem is that as the state tries to divert enough vaccines to teachers while schools reopen, along with front line workers, it still has the burden of one of the country’s largest senior populations.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis touted Florida’s response to vaccinating seniors, telling reporters Thursday, “We are number one for shots for seniors.”

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

“We are now reporting about 1.6 million seniors that have received a shot, that’s about 35 percent of our gigantic senior population,” he added.

Fox News could not immediately reach the White House for comment on Murphy’s request.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-rep-murphy-says-obvious-flaws-in-biden-vaccine-distribution-plan-hurting-states-with-high-senior-popula

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday publicly reprimanded her deputy for inappropriate comments made to a female reporter on Inauguration Day. 

Vanity Fair reported on Friday that White House deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo had threatened to “destroy” Politico reporter Tara Palmeri, who had inquired about his relationship with Axios reporter Alexi McCammond. McCammond had been covering Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, and romantic relationships between reporters and their sources can raise ethical concerns. 

In the off-the-record phone call, Ducklo reportedly made misogynistic comments to Palmeri, accusing her of being “jealous” that another man “wanted to f–k” McCammond and not Palmeri, according to Vanity Fair. The magazine also reported that Ducklo told Palmeri, “I will destroy you” if she proceeded with the story. It also took note of the fact that a male Politico reporter had been assigned to ask Ducklo about the relationship, while Palmeri approached McCammond. Instead of contacting the male reporter, Ducklo contacted Palmeri, according to Vanity Fair.

Psaki admitted Friday that this conversation did not meet “the standard of behavior set out by the president.” That standard was articulated by President Biden on his first day in office, apparently right around the time Ducklo threatened Palmeri. 

“I’m not joking when I say this. If you’re ever working with me, and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot,” Mr. Biden said. “On the spot. No ifs, ands, or buts. Everybody, everybody is entitled to be treated with decency and dignity.”

It is unclear why it took more than three weeks for the White House to discipline Ducklo. 

CBS News has not been able to independently verify the phone call, but the conversation three weeks ago prompted a series of moves by the White House communications office, two people familiar with the situation told CBS News. 

The next day, January 21, as Mr. Biden issued a range of executive orders, top White House adviser Anita Dunn, Communications Director Kate Bedingfield, and Psaki spent part of the day on the phone with Palmeri’s bosses at Politico and acknowledged that what Ducklo had said was not acceptable. They promised he would apologize, the two people familiar with the discussion said. 

Afterward, “Ducklo sent Palmeri an email stating that he was sorry he lost his cool, but he did not delve into any specifics or apologize for threatening and sexually harassing the reporter,” Vanity Fair reported. 

White House officials complained to Politico leadership that Palmeri had not honored her off-the-record agreement with Ducklo because she discussed the conversation with her editors, according to a source familiar with the situation. But being “off the record” is an agreement between a reporter and source that information from the conversation is not to be published. Politico held to that agreement.

The day after the tense phone call, Palmeri and her colleagues were supposed to host a livestream featuring an interview with White House senior adviser Cedric Richmond. That event had been announced on January 19. 

According to emails obtained by CBS News that were sent the morning of the event, Politico asked if Palmeri could interview Richmond alongside one of her colleagues, Ryan Lizza.

“Let’s do just Ryan,” White House deputy communications director Kate Berner replied, adding that the White House had previously agreed to only one moderator — Lizza.

The video of the event shows that Politico moved ahead with the livestream without Palmeri as interviewer or on the panel, even though Palmeri was listed as a panelist in the event announcement. 

Palmeri declined to comment, referring the request to Politico, which provided a statement from its top editors, saying in part, “No journalist at POLITICO—or any other publication or network—should ever be subjected to such unfounded personal attacks while doing their job.”

Another person familiar with the circumstances said Palmeri had been dropped from the virtual event because she got caught in traffic unexpectedly, and her absence was unrelated to fallout from the exchange with Ducklo a day earlier. 

The first story published on Ducklo’s relationship was not published by Politico, but instead, by People Magazine earlier this week, on Monday night. Many White House staffers shared the article on social media. 

Less than 12 hours later, Politico Playbook reported the People Magazine story had been published after Politico had notified the White House of its intent to publish a story on Ducklo’s relationship. 

An Axios spokesperson told CBS News that McCammond had disclosed her relationship with Ducklo to her editors in November and asked to be taken off coverage of the Biden campaign. She was then reassigned to cover then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, the progressive movement and progressives in Congress.

“Alexi is a valued member of the Axios team,” the Axios spokesperson said, “and we stand behind her and her coverage.”

Ducklo will serve an unpaid weeklong suspension and will no longer work with Politico reporters, according to Psaki. 

The press secretary described the threatening phone call as a “heated conversation about [Ducklo’s] personal life,” and said that Ducklo has since apologized to Palmeri. CBS News’ Weijia Jiang pressed Psaki at the White House briefing about why this disciplinary measure was meted out weeks after the incident occurred — and after publication of the story about the threats. Psaki simply responded, “You’re right.” 

“There were conversations that occurred with the reporter, as well as editors at Politico immediately after the conversation occurred,” Psaki said. “That was how we engaged in a private manner. And, you know, that was, that was what we felt was appropriate at the time.”

Psaki said Friday that Mr. Biden was not involved in the discussion, and that the one-week suspension was approved by White House chief of staff Ron Klain.

Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-tj-ducklo-threatens-to-destroy-female-reporter/

President Biden warned staffers last month that if they weren’t respectful to others their jobs would be on the line – but a press office aide accused of threatening and making misogynistic remarks to a female reporter still has his.

“If you’re ever working with me, and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot,” Biden told new aides during a swearing-in ceremony on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20. “On the spot.”

“No ifs, ands or buts – everybody, everybody is entitled to be treated with decency and dignity,” the president continued. “That’s been missing in a big way for the last four years.”

BIDEN TO NEW ADMINISTRATION STAFFERS: BE NICE TO OTHERS OR ‘I WILL FIRE YOU ON THE SPOT’

But deputy White House press secretary TJ Ducklo, who is accused of making “derogatory and misogynistic” remarks to Politico reporter Tara Palmeri nearly a month ago, was merely suspended without pay for a week and told to apologize.

(FOX/Getty Images)

“I will destroy you,” Ducklo allegedly told Palmeri in an off-the-record call that also took place on Jan. 20, according to a Vanity Fair report published Friday.

The next day, Politico’s Playbook column, which Palmeri helps write, questioned whether Biden’s promise to fire disrespectful aides applied to “how mid-level press aides treat reporters.”

Both Palmeri and a male colleague separately reached out to Ducklo last month to inquire about his romantic relationship with Axios reporter Alexi McCammond, a potential conflict of interest since she was covering the White House, Vanity Fair revealed.

In the off-the-record call, Ducklo allegedly threatened to attack her reputation if she published the story and hurled profanities and other insults.

Vanity Fair reported that Ducklo accused Palmeri of jealousy and holding a grudge against McCammond.

Palmeri, meanwhile, had been assigned to cover the story as part of her job as a D.C.-based politics reporter and had never interacted with McCammond until she began work on the article.

A Politico editor reached out to the White House following the call between Ducklo and Palmeri, and Ducklo apologized, according to Vanity Fair.

That was roughly three weeks ago.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki, Ducklo’s boss, said President Biden took the allegations “quite seriously” Friday and said Ducklo was being suspended for a week.

Ducklo, who has apologized to Palmeri, was suspended for one week without pay and will no longer work with Politico reporters when he returns – but he remains a deputy press secretary and will continue to have interactions with women as part of his job.

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CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Psaki “whose idea” it was for a suspensions rather than a firing at a White House news briefing Friday.

“He had a heated conversation about a story related to his personal life,” Psaki replied. “I’m not saying that’s acceptable, but I just want to be clear that it was not about an issue related to the White House or White House policy or anything along those lines.”

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-aide-ducklo-palmeri-politico


NEW YORK — Mayor Bill de Blasio called for a “full accounting of what happened” following the revelation that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration stalled the release of data on Covid-19-related deaths in nursing homes.

Key context: Top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa told Democratic state legislators in a meeting Wednesday that the administration “froze” when they were asked to share the data on the number of nursing home residents who died of Covid-19, the New York Post reported.

Critics have blamed the high death rates on orders from the Cuomo administration in March, directing nursing homes to admit patients who tested positive for Covid-19.

De Blasio, a frequent critic of both the governor and the New York Post, called it a “really disturbing report” and added that it’s “very troubling.”

“We’ve gotta know more,” de Blasio said on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer show Friday morning. “We now need a full accounting of what happened. Think about seniors … their lives were in the balance and their families just desperate to get them the help they needed. We need to know exactly what happened here. We need to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”

Impact: DeRosa said the administration refrained from releasing the data due to former President Donald Trump’s efforts to turn the tragedy “into a giant political football,” according to the Post.

In a statement issued early Friday morning, she said when the administration received the inquiry from the Department of Justice, they had to “temporarily set aside the Legislature’s request to deal with the federal request first.” She also said the governor’s office “informed the houses of this at the time” and insisted Cuomo officials were “comprehensive and transparent in our responses to the DOJ.”

What’s next: Top Republicans have called for Cuomo to resign or be impeached. Democratic State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi and 13 other lawmakers said the governor’s emergency powers made sense during the early stages of the pandemic but should be curbed in light of the report.

“It is clear that the expanded emergency powers granted to the Governor are no longer appropriate,” the legislators wrote in a statement.

Democrats have grown increasingly critical of Cuomo, also a Democrat, after a recent report by state Attorney General Tish James saying his administration undercounted the number of deaths. In that report, James said the official tally of roughly 8,500 was off by as much as 50 percent.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2021/02/12/de-blasio-calls-for-full-accounting-after-cuomo-accused-of-covering-up-nursing-home-death-toll-1363130

Harris’ comments come on Lunar New Year, as the Covid pandemic and fears of violence dampened holiday festivities.

Other politicians have taken note of the issue.

“Especially in the days leading up to Lunar New Year, a time of cultural pride and celebration for millions of Asian Americans, the increase in attacks in Chinatowns in particular has had a chilling effect on our community,” Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said in a statement Thursday.

Hate incidents and violence against Asian Americans have increased during the Covid pandemic. Advocates say anti-Asian sentiments have been stoked by the actions of leaders such as former President Donald Trump, who continually referred to the coronavirus in terms such as “Chinese virus” and “Kung flu.”

“Across the country, there were more than 2,500 reports of anti-Asian hate incidents related to COVID-19 between March and September 2020,” a recent study by the Asian American Bar Association of New York and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP found.

“And this number understates the actual number of anti-Asian hate incidents because most incidents are not reported,” the study said.

When asked at a White House briefing Monday about President Joe Biden’s response to the recent violent attacks against Asian Americans, press secretary Jen Psaki said the president condemns discrimination against Asian Americans.

“He has been outspoken and making clear that attacks — verbal attacks, any attacks of any form — are unacceptable and we need to work together to address them,” Psaki said.

Biden signed an executive order on Jan. 26 targeting xenophobia against Asian Americans.

“We appreciate President Biden’s executive order calling for greater protections for the [Asian and Pacific Islander] community as a result of racism and xenophobia linked to the pandemic, and we thank those who stand in solidarity with the API community,” California’s Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus said in a statement Thursday.

“But it is not enough to simply disavow racism, xenophobia, and violence. We must call attention to these injustices and protect one another,” the caucus said.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/12/vp-harris-responds-to-surge-in-violent-attacks-against-asian-americans.html

Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, hailed by many for his heroism during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, participates in a the dress rehearsal for Inauguration Day.

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Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, hailed by many for his heroism during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, participates in a the dress rehearsal for Inauguration Day.

Pool/Getty Images

The Senate has voted unanimously to award Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman with a Congressional Gold Medal, the institution’s highest civilian honor, for his actions to protect the Congress during the deadly Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol.

Goodman was greeted in the Senate chamber on Friday with a standing ovation for his actions, which have been praised on both sides of the aisle as heroic and likely life saving.

Prior to this week’s Senate impeachment hearings, Goodman was already being praised as a hero for steering a mob of pro-Trump extremists away from the Senate chamber on the day of the insurrection. This week, House impeachment managers unveiled previously unseen footage that showed Goodman also redirecting Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, a Republican critic of former President Trump, away from an approaching swarm of rioters.

“By redirecting violent rioters away from the Senate chamber on January 6th, Officer Goodman defended our democracy and saved the lives of senators and staff,” Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said in a statement.

“He is wholly deserving of the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress, and I’m glad the Senate acted quickly on our legislation to recognize the quick thinking and bravery of this great Marylander with a Congressional Gold Medal. I urge my colleagues in the House to quickly follow suit.”

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/sections/trump-impeachment-trial-live-updates/2021/02/12/967520702/senate-unanimously-votes-to-award-officer-eugene-goodman-a-congressional-gold-me

Steve Schmidt, co-founder of the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project, announced Friday that he was resigning from the group’s board.

Schmidt said in a statement posted to Twitter that he would step down “to make room for the appointment of a female board member as the first step to reform and professionalize the Lincoln Project.”

The resignation comes as the anti-Trump GOP group faces growing scrutiny over its operation and handling of accusations against former co-founder John Weaver.

Weaver has been accused over the past month of sending unsolicited sexual messages to numerous young men, including sending messages to a 14-year-old.

“I wish John Weaver was not a cofounder of the Lincoln Project, but as hard as I wish for that to be, I can’t change that he was,” Schmidt said. “I am enormously proud of the Lincoln Project and what we have accomplished to date.”

The group also drew scrutiny on Thursday night after its Twitter account posted screenshots of private messages between former member Jennifer Horn and Amanda Becker, a reporter for The 19th News. The screenshots were later deleted.

“That direct message should never have been made public. It is my job as the senior leader to accept responsibility for the tremendous misjudgment to release it,” Schmidt said in his statement Friday.

“I apologize on behalf of the organization and Amanda Becker,” he added.

Weaver last month acknowledged sending what he called “inappropriate” sexual messages to young men and apologized. The Lincoln Project and other founding members have since sought to distance themselves from him.

The group announced on Thursday that it hired an outside group to review Weaver’s tenure, and said it wouldn’t comment on the allegations until the investigation is complete. 

The announcement came as The New York Times reported that six former staffers sent an open letter to the group demanding to be released from non-disclosure agreements so they can provide information “that would aid the press, public and our donors in answering questions relevant to the public interest.”

In addition, The Associated Press reported that more than $50 million of the $90 million that the group has raised has gone to firms controlled by its leaders. The news service, citing an analysis from ad tracking firm Kantar/CMAG, reported that roughly $27 million paid for advertisements that aired during the 2020 presidential election.

A longtime GOP strategist, Schmidt worked on the presidential campaign of late Sen. John McCainJohn Sidney McCainLincoln Project announces review of co-founder’s tenure following harassment allegations Pentagon sends two carrier groups into South China Sea amid tensions with Beijing ‘Purple America’ will set political direction in 2022 MORE (R-Ariz.) in 2008, and on former President George W. Bush’s campaign in 2004. He’s been a fierce critic of former President TrumpDonald TrumpNRCC finance chair: Republicans who voted for Trump impeachment will not be penalized Blinken, UN head share first call after US rejoins Climate Accords, WHO GOP senators met with Trump’s impeachment team to talk strategy MORE.

Schmidt announced in December that he was registering as a Democrat after spending roughly two years as an independent. 

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/news/538703-lincoln-project-co-founder-resigns

The Lincoln Project is facing intense backlash and potentially major legal trouble after the embattled anti-Trump group tweeted screenshots of private direct messages belonging to one of its co-founders – but Twitter doesn’t seem to mind.

Jennifer Horn, who left the Lincoln Project last week amid the John Weaver scandal, has had a public spat with the anti-Trump group ever since her departure. But the Lincoln Project escalated tensions on Thursday night with tweets that appeared to be an exchange she had with 19th News correspondent Amanda Becker. 

NEW REPORT ALLEGES LINCOLN PROJECT FOUNDERS WERE ‘WARNED’ ABOUT JOHN WEAVER’S PREDATORY BEHAVIOR

Lincoln Project co-founders Steve Schmidt, Rick Wilson, George Conway and John Weaver.

“Earlier this evening, we became aware that @AmandaBecker of @19thnews was preparing to publish a smear job on the Lincoln Project with the help of @NHJennifer,” the Lincoln Project began a lengthy thread. “You hear a lot of talk about hit-jobs in journalism, but rarely do you get to see their origin story. Enjoy.”

The tweets drew immediate condemnation, including by one of its co-founders, conservative attorney George Conway. 

“This looks on its face to be a violation of federal law and should be taken down immediately,” Conway — who left the group last year — warned.

LINCOLN PROJECT RIPS CO-FOUNDER JENNIFER HORN AFTER SHE ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION AMID JOHN WEAVER SCANDAL

Horn herself later reacted to the controversy, alerting Twitter that the Lincoln Project did not have permission to publish her private messages. “Hey @Twitter @jack @TwitterSupport I did not give consent,” Horn wrote. 

It is unclear how the Lincoln Project obtained screenshots of Horn’s private messages or how, if it did, the group gained access to Horn’s Twitter account. The messages were eventually deleted.

The Lincoln Project did not respond to Fox News’ multiple inquiries, including why it chose to delete the Twitter thread and its responses to Horn and Conway’s reactions. 

Twitter declared that the tweets were just fine as far as the social media platform is concerned.

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“The Tweets referenced are currently not in violation of the Twitter Rules,” a spokesperson told Fox News, noting that the tweets are not considered to be a violation of Twitter’s hacked materials policy and they are not in violation of its private information policy.

While Twitter seems to have sided with the anti-Trump group, the decision conjures memories of the social media platform’s controversial decision to censor a damning story about Hunter Biden ahead of the 2020 election, when the company cited the very same “hacked content” policy as the cause of the blackout.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/media/twitter-lincoln-project-publishing-private-messages-horn

The White House has suspended deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo for a short period of time after his sexist threats to a reporter were made public on Friday, but is choosing not to take further steps.

“It’s completely unacceptable. He knows that. We’ve had conversations with him about that,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at Friday’s White House briefing. Asked by a reporter why the punishment was not more severe, Psaki called the decision to suspend Ducklo for one week without pay a “significant step.”

Ducklo told a Politico reporter he would “destroy” her when she and a colleague were reporting on Ducklo’s relationship with a reporter for Axios, Vanity Fair reported Friday. Ducklo reportedly went on to make a series of sexist comments to the reporter, calling her “jealous” because of an alleged past sexual relationship. During a series of follow-up conversations between senior White House press staff and Politico editors, the White House reportedly acknowledged Ducklo’s comments were not appropriate while still impugning the Politico reporter. Ducklo ultimately broadly apologized to the Politico reporter, Vanity Fair reported.

The White House announced Ducklo’s one-week suspension soon after the Vanity Fair story was published. Ducklo additionally will no longer work with Politico reporters. Psaki said the White House has “reached out at every level” at Politico to apologize and say that that kind of behavior would not be tolerated.

Asked on Friday why the White House did not act before the story was made public, Psaki said the White House had felt it “appropriate” to keep the situation private at the time.

Ducklo’s relationship with the Axios reporter was revealed in a flattering story in People earlier this week, before Politico reported on the relationship.

Ducklo worked with President Joe Biden throughout his campaign and has been a main point of contact with the White House for many reporters. During the campaign, in late 2019, Ducklo was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

Biden himself has tried to set a tone for his staff that is in full conflict with Ducklo’s actions. “I’m not joking when I say this,” Biden told new administration appointees on their first day in January. “If you are ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, [or] talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot.”

Asked about those comments from Biden, Psaki said Friday that what Ducklo did “doesn’t meet our standard, it doesn’t meet the president’s standard.” Psaki said Biden was not involved in the decision to suspend Ducklo.

Source Article from https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mattberman/white-house-tj-ducklo-reporter-threats-politico

As a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package comes together on Capitol Hill, millions of additional direct payments to Americans could be in the works.

Legislation under discussion includes $1,400 stimulus checks that could bring the total direct payments sent to Americans in recent months to $2,000.

The $1,400 sums would go to adults, as well as children and adult dependents.

To qualify, individuals and families would have to have income within certain ranges.

Individuals with adjusted gross income of up to $75,000 and married couples with up to $150,000 stand to get full payments. Those with incomes above that level would see their payments reduced and ultimately phase out at $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 per couple.

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The thresholds for qualifying for the money have been hotly contested among both Democrats and Republicans.

Certain lawmakers from both parties have complained the thresholds are too high. One Republican proposal called for capping the payments at $50,000 in annual income for individuals and $100,000 for couples.

Still others, namely Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have objected to bringing the thresholds down that low.

“To say to a worker in Vermont or California or any place else, that if you’re making, you know, $52,000 a year, you are too rich to get this help, the full benefit, I think that that’s absurd,” Sanders recently said.

This week, the House Ways and Means Committee released its draft legislation, which included a phase-out rate of $50 for every $1,000 above the full-payment thresholds. While that rate is similar to previous checks, experts say the proposal will help limit how much higher earners, such as those with multiple children, receive, if anything.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/12/1400-stimulus-checks-heres-how-deciding-who-qualifies-could-change.html