However, Biden’s policy ending support for offensive operations will not extend to military actions taken by the U.S. against al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the region, known as AQAP.
“It does not extend to actions against AQAP, which are actions we undertake in service of protecting the homeland and protecting American interests in the region and allies and partners,” national security advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters at a White House press briefing earlier Thursday.
“It extends to the types of offensive operations that have perpetuated a civil war in Yemen that has led to a humanitarian crisis,” Sullivan said.
The U.S. has informed Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of its decision, Sullivan said.
The Yemen civil war escalated in 2014 when Houthi forces, who are in alliance with former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, took over the nation’s capital.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have carried out attacks in Yemen against the Houthis. The Saudi-led intervention in Yemen had previously enjoyed the backing of former President Donald Trump’s administration.
Trump vetoed a measure in 2019 aimed at ending U.S. military assistance and involvement in Yemen. At the time Trump said that the congressional resolution was “unnecessary” and that it endangered “the lives of American citizens and brave service members, both today and in the future.”
Lawmakers who backed the measure criticized Saudi Arabia for a slew of bombing campaigns that contributed to civilian deaths in Yemen.
The United Nations has previously said that the ongoing armed conflict in Yemen has produced the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. The U.S. has provided more than $630 million in humanitarian assistance to Yemen in fiscal year 2020, according to figures provided by the State department.
— CNBC’s Christian Nunley contributed to this report from Virginia.
WASHINGTON – Faith will help the nation survive this “dark, dark time,” President Joe Biden said in a recorded message Thursday for the National Prayer Breakfast that was as notable for who wasn’t featured as who was.
Presidents have addressed for nearly seven decades the breakfast held virtually this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The five living former presidents sent written or filmed messages for Thursday’s event – with one notable exception.
There were no contemporary remarks from former President Donald Trump, who has been impeached for inciting the deadly riot on the Capitol last month.
“We know now we must confront and defeat political extremism, white supremacy, and domestic terrorism,” Biden said in his remarks. “For so many in our nation, this is a dark, dark time. So where do we turn? Faith.”
Biden, the second Catholic president, said his faith provides hope and solace, clarity and purpose.
“It shows the way forward, as one nation in a common purpose, to respect one another, to care for one another, to leave no one behind,” he said. Biden said that common purpose must be applied to addressing the health, economic and climate crises facing the nation and to no longer deferring the dream of “justice for all.”
“We just have to open our eyes,” Biden said, when talking about the “violent assault on the U.S. Capitol, an assault on our democracy…that threatened lives and took lives.”
The Senate begins next week a trial to determine whether to convict Trump of the latest impeachment charge against him.
Trump used last year’s National Prayer Breakfast to take a victory lap over the Senate’s dismissal of the 2019 impeachment charges that he abused power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate a political rival, then obstructed Congress in an effort to cover it up.
As Trump entered the 2020 breakfast, he waved a copy of USA TODAY, which ran the headline “ACQUITTED,” and a copy of The Washington Post headlined “Trump Acquitted.”
Thursday’s virtual breakfast did not include that appearance in clips from past presidential remarks aired at the beginning of the event.
Instead, Trump was shown offering in 2017 his vision for a “more just and peaceful world where every child can grow up without violence, worship without fear and reach their God-given potential.”
“Let us resolve,” Trump said, “to find the best within ourselves.”
MLive Meteorologist Mark Torregrossa and the National Weather Service expect near white-out conditions and frigid temperatures will arrive by Friday with deteriorating conditions continuing into the weekend, particularly west of U.S. 131.
The storm is expected to impact most of the state, so we decided to check in with other forecasters around Michigan to see what they are predicting for their areas.
Here’s a handful of those localized forecasts:
WOOD-TV 8 in Grand Rapids – “Winter Weather Advisory for Snow, Blowing and Drifting Snow – Howling Winds and Slippery Roads”
“It’ll be dry this Thursday through about 4 p.m. It’ll be cloudy and wind will slowly increase to 15-20 mph from the SSE. Either snow or a mix of precipitation (rain and snow) will develop from west to east across the area between 4 and 7 pm. If it starts as rain, it will quickly go over to snow. A couple-three inches are likely in most areas by Friday daybreak.”
“By Friday, we not only expect windy and sharply colder conditions, but accumulating snow. Some of this will be lake-effect and lake-enhancement from lake Michigan. Total accumulations from Thursday through Friday may be on the order of 3” to 6″ inland, with 6″ to 10″ expected or possible along/west of U.S. 131. Friday will not be a good day to be traveling.”
“Friday: Frigid, and windy with lake effect snow showers. Traveling will be treacherous. Steady near 20 degrees with wind chills near or below zero. WSW 20-30 mph.”
WJRT in Flint – “Snow moves in this afternoon & evening, cold & windy conditions follow”
“Snow arrives later this afternoon into the evening – by dinnertime we look to see snow across the entire viewing area. Snow will be coming down at 1/2″ / hr at times, so expect a reduction in visibility and roads to become quickly snow-covered/slick. Snow continues overnight into early Friday morning before moving out, then transitioning to lake effect. Scattered snow stay in the forecast for Friday and Saturday as those bands work across the state. Snowfall totals for most will be between 3-4″, but locally higher amounts, 5+”, are possible, particularly near the 127 corridor.”
“The heaviest and most consistent snow is expected between 7 PM and 12 AM Thursday and it’s during that time that snowfall rates may approach 1″ per hour at their peak. Road conditions are expected to deteriorate pretty quickly and with winds picking up too, reduced visibility is expected at times, too. Snow should start tapering off after midnight, with most of it gone by the morning commute on Friday. While the snow ending sounds great on the surface for the morning commute, our temperatures will be falling rapidly into the teens and low 20s, keeping slick roads on the table long after the snow is gone.”
WILX in Lansing– “Winter Weather Advisory 4 P.M. Today Through 7 P.M. Friday”
“Snow will start to build in by mid to late afternoon, so the evening commute will be impacted by slick and snowy roads. Snow will continue to fall throughout the evening and into the overnight hours. Most areas will pick up 2-3″ of accumulation as this system swings through, and then we’ll add another inch or two to these totals with some lake effect on Friday. Most of Mid-Michigan will see between 2-5″ of snow by Friday evening. Another aspect of this storm system will be gusty winds.”
“Shower showers are expected for all areas of Metro Detroit this evening through early Friday morning. In total, we should pick up between 1 to 3 inches of a heavy, wet snow. This could lead to big slow downs during Friday morning’s commute into work, so plan accordingly. Friday afternoon will be much colder and more windy with wind gusts between 30 to 40 mph.”
“Thursday evening into Friday morning will feature the most widespread snow as low pressure treks across the Great Lakes. As of now, looking at a broad 3-6″ across the N. Lower with 4-8″ over the E. Upper. These numbers are still subject to change slightly, but hazardous travel is likely in this timeframe. Snow will be of the wet, greasy variety.”
“Heavy bursts of snow and slick roads can be expected into Friday morning. Winds pick up with blowing and drifting snow problems. Accumulations range from 3-6″ with a little less East of I-75. Overnight lows will be in the mid teens to mid 20s. Winds pick up Friday morning with reduced visibilities, slick roads. Friday will continue to be blustery with falling temps and lake effect snow taking over as the storm moves out. West winds will be gusting near 50 mph. Temps will fall into the teens and 20s by the evening. This means whiteouts are likely where the snow is falling or just in open areas.”
“Friday, snow showers and wind. Temperatures by the afternoon will range from the single digits west of Marquette to the teens in the Eastern U.P. Wind chills will be at or below 0. West to northwest wind 20 to 30 MPH with higher gusts. Friday night, lake effect snow showers. Otherwise, partly cloudy to mostly cloudy. Gusty winds. Low temperatures will be around 0 or the single dights, 0 to -10 for inland areas west of Marquette. Very low to dangerous wind chills. West to northwest wind 15 to 25 MPH with higher gusts. Saturday, lake effect snow showers (mainly in the Keweenaw Peninsula and east of Marquette along/north of M-28).”
The Biden administration said Thursday it will end U.S. support of Saudi-led military operations in Yemen, marking a sharp departure from former President Trump, who resisted efforts to halt the U.S. military’s role in Yemen’s horrific civil war.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced the move at a press briefing Thursday, previewing a speech Biden will give Thursday afternoon at the State Department. Sullivan said the decision reflects Biden’s priority of “reasserting our values” through foreign policy.
Sullivan said Biden plans to play a “more active and engaged role in the diplomacy to bring an end to the conflict in Yemen.” That includes naming a new special envoy in Yemen, who Biden will name later Thursday.
American support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen began under the Obama administration, but Trump doubled down on it.
In 2019, Trump vetoed a measure that would have forced his administration to end U.S. military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. He also sought to bypass Congress to continue selling weapons to the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates, despite concerns in both parties about the sales.
Sullivan said the U.S. will halt the sale of arms and munitions in Yemen and other actions that “perpetuated a civil war Yemen that has led to a humanitarian crisis.” He said the new policy does not extend to U.S. efforts aimed at the AQAP, the region’s brutal Al Qaeda affiliate.
– Joey Garrison
Pelosi says minimum wage increase could be addressed outside COVID-19 relief bill
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she’d accept leaving the $15 minimum wage out of the COVID-19 stimulus bill as the provision faces opposition in the Senate.
Pelosi told reporters the boost to the federal minimum wage could be addressed in another bill, saying “we have other places to do it.”
Democrats are poised to pass President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package under a process known as “reconciliation” that allows legislation to pass with just a simple majority but places certain constraints on bills going through the process. Raising the federal minimum hourly wage from $7.25 to $15, a top Democratic priority, could be among the provisions to fall victim to the process.
Despite the opposition, Pelosi called it a “very high priority for us.”
Some Democrats in the Senate have expressed opposition to the $15 minimum wage too. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., a key moderate, has said he did not support the $15 wage, citing issues like inflation that would make a lower wage like $11 more appropriate in some states like his own.
But Pelosi said she would not pare down the price tag of the package, saying Democrats wanted to save lives and livelihoods, and “it’s going to cost some money to do so”
– Nicholas Wu
House Democrats to vote to remove GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of committee assignments
House Democrats are set to push ahead with stripping Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments after Republicans opted not to punish the Georgia congresswoman for past comments she’s made in support of harmful conspiracy theories.
Greene has claimed that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and high-profile school shootings like the Sandy Hook Elementary attack are hoaxes and has called for the execution of prominent Democrats.
The Rules Committee Wednesday voted to bring the matter to the full House for a vote Thursday that will decide whether Greene can stay on her committees for the rest of her term.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the Democrats Greene had said should be killed, denounced Republicans for not expelling Greene from the caucus. “McCarthy has chosen to make House Republicans ‘the party of conspiracy theories and QAnon’ and Rep. Greene is in the driver’s seat,” Pelosi said in a statement Wednesday that identified McCarthy’s party identification as “Q.”
“We had hoped that the Republican leadership would have dealt with this. For whatever reason, they don’t want to deal with it. And that’s unfortunate. So we are taking this step,” said Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass, who chairs the Rules Committee. “The question we all have to ask ourselves is what is the consequence of doing nothing.”
The House GOP vote on Greene came in tandem with a decision to keep Rep. Liz Cheney, the only women in Republican leadership and one of the few to support the impeachment of President Donald Trump, in her post as the third highest ranking member of the caucus.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said he told Greene as a member of Congress, they have a “responsibility to hold ourselves to a higher standard than how she presented herself as a private citizen,” which Greene reportedly acknowledged to her Republican colleagues behind closed doors. She has not expressed public remorse for her comments.
– Matthew Brown
Pelosi throws down gauntlet in Senate impeachment trial: ‘Courage or cowardice’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered a fiery justification Thursday for pursuing the Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump after he left office by saying it will reveal whether the Senate has “courage or cowardice.”
The California Democrat was asked at her weekly news conference why House members would bother with the trial after a Senate procedural vote suggested Trump would be acquitted. The Senate rejected a motion to find the case unconstitutional, but the 45 Republicans who supported the motion suggested that Trump will have support from more than 34 needed for acquittal.
Pelosi forcefully rejected that reasoning, saying senators haven’t yet heard the case. A two-thirds majority of the 100 members would be required to convict Trump of inciting insurrection in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Pelosi said House prosecutors are carefully preparing their case for the court of the Senate, the court of public opinion and for history.
“We’ll see if it’s going to be a Senate of courage or cowardice,” Pelosi said.
Republicans have argued that the trial is divisive. But Pelosi quoted Pope Paul VI and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in saying that justice is required for peace. She said the founders who wrote the Constitution included impeachment as a penalty for wrongdoing.
“If we were not to follow up with this, we might as well remove any penalty from the Constitution of impeachment. Just take it out,” Pelosi said. “They were fearful of a demagogue and they were fearful of a demagogue and a mob. That’s exactly what descended.”
– Bart Jansen
Kevin McCarthy flubs QAnon pronunciation, claims he doesn’t know what it is
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., claimed Wednesday evening he did not know what the QAnon conspiracy theory is despite past comments indicating clear knowledge of the wide-ranging harmful ideology.
“I think it would be helpful if you could hear exactly what she told all of us. Denouncing Q-on, I don’t know if I say it right, I don’t even know what it is – any from the shootings, she said she knew nothing about lasers, all of the different things that have been brought up about her,” McCarthy told reporters after exiting a private Republican conference meeting Wednesday evening.
The minority leader’s comments come despite his condemnation of QAnon during an August interview with Fox News, when McCarthy expressly connected QAnon in the context of Greene’s run for Congress, saying “no place for QAnon in the Republican Party.”
McCarthy also inaccurately stated in his August interview that Greene had denounced QAnon when she ran for Congress; Greene did not reject the conspiracy theory while campaigning, nor did she do so publicly when asked by reporters Wednesday evening.
In a statement Wednesday, McCarthy condemned comments Greene made on social media in 2018 and 2019 where she expressed support for violence and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, including QAnon, but declined to take away Greene’s committee assignments.
“Past comments from and endorsed by Marjorie Taylor Greene on school shootings, political violence, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories do not represent the values or beliefs of the House Republican Conference,” McCarthy said. “I condemn those comments unequivocally. I condemned them in the past. I continue to condemn them today.”
House Democrats are now set to vote to strip Greene of her committee assignments, calling her a threat to their personal safety and too unbalanced to sit in Congress.
QAnon is a wide-ranging conspiracy theory which contends many high-profile liberals participate in a global cannibalistic cabal of pedophiles who eat children for life support. The movement’s mythology idolizes former President Donald Trump and has the various characteristics of a moral panic, political movement and age-old anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
– Matthew Brown
AP Poll: Most Americans confident in Biden’s ability to manage ongoing crises
A majority of Americans have at least some confidence that President Joe Biden’s administration will be able to address the multiple crises stressing the nation, according to a new poll from the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs.
The poll found that Americans broadly endorse Biden’s competence at governance, including in his ability to appoint well-qualified leaders and serve as commander-in-chief of the military.
Overall, 61% Americans approve of Biden’s early moves as president. 70% of Americans say they believe Biden respects American institutions. That finding stands slightly above the average approval rating of 55% past presidents normally enjoy in their first 100 days, and significantly higher than former President Donald Trump’s approval rating, who never polled above 50%.
Americans were most confident in Biden’s ability to incorporate advice from his advisors into decision making, with 47% expressing a great deal of confidence and 32% expressing some confidence. Similarly, 44% of Americans also expressed great confidence and 29% expressed some confidence in the president’s ability to effectively manage the White House.
Respondents were most pessimistic, though, about Biden’s ability to reduce corruption in Washington, with only 18% expressing a great deal of confidence and 37% expressing some confidence.
20% of Americans have a great deal of confidence that Biden and Congressional Republicans will be able to work together; 45% have some confidence the White House and Republicans in Congress will be able to find some consensus.
– Matthew Brown
House Republicans vote to keep Cheney as conference leader
House Republicans voted 145-61 to keep Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., as the third-most powerful member of the party on Wednesday evening, with one member voting “present.”
The vote came after a tumultuous closed-door meeting among House Republicans tat lasted for hours.
With the vote, Cheney keeps her spot amid backlash she has faced in the weeks since she voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump on a charge of inciting the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Some of her GOP colleagues, such as Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, had been vocal about stripping her of her role.
But Cheney got the backing of some major players in the party, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who said she “is a leader with deep convictions and the courage to act on them.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters that he defended Cheney during the meeting.
“People can have differences of opinion,” he said. “Liz has a right to vote her conscience and at the end of the day, we get united.”
Republicans also decide not to punish Greene
At the same meeting, House Republicans also decided not to take any punitive action against freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., whose comments implying support for QAnon and other conspiracy theories has drawn scorn from Democrats and some Republicans.
However, the Democratic-led House will vote today to remove Greene from her committee posts. The Rules Committee voted Wednesday to bring the matter to the full House for a vote that will decide whether the congresswoman can stay on her committees for the rest of her term, which expires in January 2023.
A series of incendiary, conspiratorial and racist posts on social media Greene made before she was elected resurfaced in recent days, prompting Democrats to call for her to be stripped of her House committee assignments and even be expelled from the chamber.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., told reporters that Greene apologized for her past remarks and disavowed QAnon, conspiracies of which she has shared.
McConnell said previously that the Georgia congresswoman’s embrace of conspiracy theories and “loony lies” is a “cancer for the Republican Party.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Erase student loan debt. That is the proposal a group of Democrats will introduce today, urging President Joe Biden to take action.
Top Democrats – including Elizabeth Warren, Mass., and Chuck Schumer, N.Y. – want President Joe Biden to forgive $50,000 dollars in federal student loans per person – with no strings attached.
The average cost at a public university like the University of Missouri – Kansas City is $25,000 a year. It’s $50,000 for a private school.
Many students seeking higher education have to take out loans for school – otherwise, they can’t afford it. That burden many times prevents them from buying a house after graduation and causes financial struggle for years and years.
Congressional Democrats plan to introduce a resolution today to forgive $50,000 in federal student loans. They have said it will free up money for those struggling financially during this pandemic.
President Biden has already suspended federal student loan payments through September. He could use an executive order to forgive $50,000 in federal student loan debt. However, Biden has mentioned he prefers a smaller amount, like $10,000 per borrower.
Republicans are against this. They say it’s too expensive, it would not be fair to those who have already paid off their student loans, it would encourage colleges to boost tuition, and it would set a bad precedent for future generations to over borrow, thinking the government would forgive it later.
Others argue it would take money away from anti-poverty programs to benefit those who are college educated and have good-paying jobs.
But those who support this argue forgiving this student loan debt would boost the economy by freeing up money for consumers to spend on other things, such as buying a home.
More than 300 different organizations are urging the President to use an executive order to forgive the 50 grand. The President also said during the campaign that forgiving some student loans is at the top of his agenda.
FOX4 will follow this story closely. We will report any decision he makes in the coming days.
New Delhi — Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg said Thursday that “hate” and “threats” wouldn’t stop her speaking out in support of thousands of Indian farmers locked in a standoff with their government. Thunberg fired back online as police in India launched an investigation mentioning her tweets, which have drawn a vitriolic reaction online.
“I still #StandWithFarmers and support their peaceful protest. No amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that. #FarmersProtest,” the young Swedish campaigner wrote on Twitter.
Indian police have begun the process of investigating what the government labels “propaganda” by “vested interest groups” trying to “mobilize international support against India.”
The investigation may encompass a number of social media posts, including some shared by Thunberg, in support of the farmers’ months-long protest.
The Delhi police cited her tweets in a First Information Report (FIR), the first step in the investigatory process under Indian law, which alleges a “criminal conspiracy” and an attempt to “promote enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language… and acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony,” according to Indian news outlet NDTV.
Earlier on Thursday, Thunberg shared a “toolkit” in a Twitter post that advises people on how to show support for the protesters.
Delhi police said Thursday that their investigation into an “overseas conspiracy” was not against Thunberg, but the “toolkit” she tweeted out, which they say originated with a Sikh separatist group.
Thunberg first voiced solidarity with the farmers after popstar Rihanna drew global attention to their protest against three controversial new farm laws. The demonstrations have simmered since November, with occasional violent clashes in Delhi.
Protesting farmers are seen amid tear gas smoke fired by police in an attempt to stop them from marching to the capital during India’s Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi, India, January 26, 2021.
Altaf Qadri/AP
The Indian government took on the celebrities Wednesday after their tweets attracted global attention, dismissing the social media messages as “sensationalist” and “neither accurate nor responsible.”
“The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible,” India’s external affairs ministry said in a statement.
Several other public figures, including activists, and American politicians, also tweeted in support of the farmers.
“It’s no coincidence that the world’s oldest democracy was attacked not even a month ago, and as we speak, the most populous democracy is under assault. This is related. We ALL should be outraged by India’s internet shutdowns and paramilitary violence against farmer protesters,” wrote U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ niece Meena Harris.
“The unfolding events in India are troubling. As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I am closely monitoring the situation. The right to peaceful protest must always be respected,” wrote U.S. Representative Jim Costa, a Democrat from California who serves on both the Foreign Affairs and Agriculture Committees.
Hundreds of thousands of farmers in India have been locked in a defiant standoff with the government since late last year over three agriculture reform laws approved in September.
The government insists the reforms will give expanded market access and greater flexibility to farmers. But farmers say the measures will help big business and destroy the livelihoods of small-time farmers. They’re demanding a complete repeal of all three laws.
Eleven rounds of talks between the leaders of the farm protests and Modi’s government have failed to resolve the standoff.
India’s agriculture sector contributes almost 15% to India’s $2.9 trillion economy, and employs nearly half of the country’s 1.3 billion people.
The Indian government on Wednesday reiterated its justification for the reforms and claimed it was only a “very small section of farmers in parts of India” who “have some reservations about these reforms.”
The government insisted the laws were approved after a “full debate and discussion” in parliament.
Standoff around the capital
Indian police have stepped up their efforts to prevent the protesting farmers from entering the capital again, ahead of a call for a second nationwide shutdown this weekend in support of the protest.
The farmers have threatened to block roads across the country on Saturday in protest against what they call harassment by government authorities, including the severing of water, power and internet services to the protest camps.
Security officers, in the foreground, push back people shouting slogans during a demonstration held in support to farmers who have been on a months-long protest, in New Delhi, India, February 3, 2021.
Manish Swarup/AP
Internet services were shut down earlier this week at three key highway entry points into Delhi where the farmers have been camped out for more than two months.
Several Indian news outlets reported that the police had put up iron spikes, barbed wire and concrete walls at various entry points to the capital.
Human Rights Watch has called on the Indian government to drop legal cases against eight journalists who were arrested after their reporting on the January 26 protests and clashes.
Security personnel stand guard at an entry point into New Delhi, ahead of a march in support of farmers protesting against the central government’s recent agricultural reforms in New Delhi, February 3, 2021.
MONEY SHARMA/AFP/Getty
“The Indian authorities’ response to protests has focused on discrediting peaceful protesters, harassing critics of the government, and prosecuting those reporting on the events,” said HRW South Asia director Meenakshi Ganguly.
Warning to Twitter
The Indian government warned Twitter on Wednesday that it could take some unspecified action against the social media platform for its move to “unilaterally” un-block more than 250 accounts that it suspended on Monday, at the government’s request, over the use of a controversial hashtag related to the farmer protests.
The government had labelled the tweets using the hashtag, which accuses officials of planning a “genocide” of farmers, part of a, “motivated campaign to abuse, inflame and create tension in society on unsubstantiated grounds.”
“Incitement to genocide is not freedom of speech; It is a threat to law and order,” the government has insisted in its warnings to the social media company to comply.
The U.S. House on Wednesday approved a budget resolution that would pave the way for President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill to pass by majority vote.
While the budget resolution would trigger a procedure known as reconciliation and allow congressional Democrats to pass the stimulus without Republican votes, Biden and Democrats who met with the president on Wednesday said they still wanted to get GOP buy-in.
“While he supports bipartisanship, he also understands there is a fierce urgency of getting this done,” U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez told NJ Advance Media after a 90-minute meeting with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Senate Democratic committee chairs like himself. “Yes, we would love to have Republicans but not at the cost of doing something that is big and bold.”
One area of compromise could be scaling back the $1,400 stimulus payments. Under the current proposal, some families earning more than $400,000 could get a check.
“Further targeting means not the size of the check, it means the income level of people who receive the check, and that’s something that has been under discussion,:” said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki. “There hasn’t been a conclusion, but certainly he’s open to having that discussion.”
U.S. Sen. Chris Coons said the topic was broached during an hour-long meeting with fellow Delaware Democratic Sen. Tom Carper and Biden, who used to represent the state in the Senate.
“We did have a conversation about the direct payments and how those might be modified in a way to ensure they’re targeted but President Biden was clear with us and with our caucus that he’s not going to forget the middle class,” Coons said.
“He’s not going to walk back from a real commitment he made, not just in Georgia but nationally, to deliver targeted relief to those Americans most in need.”
Psaki said she expected changes to the bill before Biden signed it into law.
“The president, having served in the Senate for 36 years, fully recognizes that the bill he proposed, that he did a primetime address on two weeks ago, that may not look exactly like the bill that comes out,” she said Wednesday at her daily press briefing.
One possible compromise would be to provide the full $1,400 only to individuals making no more than $50,000 and married couples making no more than $100,000, the Washington Post reported. The current proposal set the thresholds at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found 78% of Americans supported the $1,400 stimulus payments, with only 18% in opposition. Republicans backed the direct payments, 64% to 32%.
“Struggling to pay the bills, American households need an infusion of cash and need it now,” Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy said. “So give it to them, is the resounding judgment of the public.”
The poll of 1,075 U.S. adults was conducted from Jan. 28-Feb. 1 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
Biden already rejected a proposal by 10 Senate Republicans to shave the package by more than two-thirds, to $618 billion.
Democrats still bear the scars from 2009, when their stimulus bill in response to the Great Recession was scaled back in order to attract Republican support. Biden was vice president at the time, and the limited spending resulted in a more tepid recovery.
“History teaches us that the failure to do more created more economic pain,” Menendez said.
The GOP package also stripped out Biden’s proposal for $350 billion federal aid to help state and local governments pay the salaries of health care workers, teachers and other public employees. Menendez called the money an “absolute necessity” and Coons called any effort to pass a bill without state and local aid a “nonstarter.”
The House vote, largely along party lines, was 218-212. The Senate plans to debate the bill beginning Thursday.
Congressional Republicans complained that the stimulus would increase the deficit, even though they used the same process in 2017 to pass a tax law that the Congressional Budget Office said would increase the deficit by the same $1.9 trillion as Biden’s proposal.
Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, the top Republican on the House Budget Committee, used the debate to lash into Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey in response to Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-6th Dist., who said the Biden plan “delivers bold relief to the American people” and “deserves strong bipartisan support here in the House.”
Smith said New Jersey had received $9.5 billion in “taxpayer bailouts” snd would get another $9.5 billion under the stimulus plan.
“That very same government has enacted lockdown policies directly leading to the closure of more than 3,000 small businesses and that state, very sadly, actually has the highest per capita death rate of all states,” he said.
“New Jersey is the densest state in the nation and was one of the earliest states to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Murphy spokeswoman Alyana Alfaro said. “Since the pandemic began, Governor Murphy has taken decisive action to protect the lives of as many New Jerseyans as possible while also responsibly easing restrictions and ensure economic health for our state.”
In addition, New Jersey received just $2.4 billion under the CARES Act and would have received $8 billion under the stimulus bill proposed in December until the state and local assistance was stripped from the final bill.
Smith did not respond to a request for comment on how he came up with the figures.
In 2019, his state of Missouri received $23.6 billion more from Washington than it paid in federal taxes, 14th highest of the 50 states, while New Jersey received $10.3 billion less, ranking 49th, according to the State University of New York’s Rockefeller Institute of Government.
The Proud Boys, a white nationalist, chauvinist group, has engaged in several violent clashes, including the 2017 Charlottesville, Va., “Unite the Right” rally.
Andrew Selsky/AP
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Andrew Selsky/AP
The Proud Boys, a white nationalist, chauvinist group, has engaged in several violent clashes, including the 2017 Charlottesville, Va., “Unite the Right” rally.
Andrew Selsky/AP
Federal agents on Wednesday arrested a prominent member of the Seattle chapter of the Proud Boys, a nationalist, chauvinist organization, for his role in storming the U.S. Capitol with other pro-Trump rioters on Jan. 6.
Ethan Nordean, a self-described “sergeant of arms” for the Seattle Proud Boys, faces charges of impeding an official government proceeding, aiding and abetting, knowingly entering restricted grounds, and violent entry.
Separately, a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday indicted Nicholas DeCarlo and Nicholas R. Ochs for conspiracy to obstruct Congress, and other charges related to the insurrection. The indictment says Ochs purports to have founded of the Honolulu Proud Boys.
The U.S. Justice Department says all three men planned to overrun the Capitol in order to stop Congress’ certification of the 2020 electoral votes.
More than 100 people have been charged so far for breaching the Capitol last month. Investigators have focused on members of far-right organizations and other extremist groups, who they believe conspired to storm the Capitol building and disrupt the proceedings that day. Of those already arrested and charged have been members of the paramilitary group the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters and other self-described Nazi and white supremacy groups.
Nordean’s arrest came the same day Canada categorized the Proud Boys, whose founder is Canadian, as a terrorist group. The group is now on the same list as the Islamic State and al-Qaida.
Incriminating posts
The Justice Department says that several days before the Capitol insurrection, 30-year-old Nordean, who is from Washington and associated with the Seattle Proud Boys, posted about his plans to organize a group to travel to Washington, D.C., to start conflict.
According to Nordean’s criminal complaint, two weeks before the riot, he asked for donations of “protective gear” and “communications equipment.”
Then, on Jan. 4, Nordean, who also goes by Rufio Panman, posted a video on social media with the caption: “Let them remember the day they decided to make war with us.”
Also in a video shared around the same time, Nordean interviewed an unnamed person who planned to travel to D.C. For more than an hour, Nordean spoke of “blatant, rampant voter fraud” in the presidential election, repeating false claims made by President Donald Trump. He said in the video, “Democracy is dead? Well, then no peace for you. No democracy, no peace.”
Alleged conspiracy
Federal prosecutors say DeCarlo, 30, and Ochs, 34, agreed before Jan. 6 to travel to Washington, D.C., to “stop, delay and hinder” the election certification by Congress. DeCarlo is from Burleson, Texas, and Ochs is from Honolulu.
The indictment, unsealed Wednesday, says the two men raised money online to fund their trips to D.C.
The complaint says once the initial wave of protesters stormed the Capitol, DeCarlo and Ochs followed and shared what they were doing inside of the building with real-time posts on social media.
Prosecutors say Ochs and DeCarlo are responsible for writing the words “MURDER THE MEDIA” on the Capitol’s Memorial Door. The two men posted a picture online, with their thumbs up, standing next to the door.
DeCarlo and Ochs, while in the Capitol, also stole a pair of flexible handcuffs belonging to a Capitol Police officer.
“I want to safely reopen schools,” Newsom said. “I don’t want to do it episodically. I want to do it in a sustainable way. I believe you can safely reopen schools in this environment.”
Newsom pointed to the Safe Schools for All framework launched Jan. 14 to streamline the reopening process. It includes $6.6 billion in funding for everything from personal protective equipment and building ventilation to learning loss. He offered several examples of how districts could make decisions at the local level to help students who fell behind during the pandemic, including extending the school day or the school year into the summer or increasing support by hiring additional counselors.
California’s reopening effort is focused on bringing the youngest children and those with special needs into the classrooms, Newsom said.
“I’m very concerned about the equity lens in terms of this conversation, because so many private schools are open,” he said. “I believe we can safely reopen public schools to in-person instruction with the appropriate level of safety and support and accountability in terms of enforcing the rules … and we are committed to doing that in partnership with the Legislature.”
In response to a question about some teachers’ unions calling for vaccines as a prerequisite to returning to classrooms, Newsom said the state is prioritizing teachers in its vaccine process, with education staff falling in Phase 1B, the category of essential workers.
“What we believe is exactly what the CDC, Dr. Fauci, the Biden administration believes … that we can safely reopen schools as we process a prioritization to our teachers of vaccinations and still keep our teachers, our paraprofessionals, bus drivers, janitors, cafeteria workers, safe. And keep our students safe at the same time,” said Newsom, referring to increasing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that schools can safely reopen without vaccinating all teachers.
The governor shared recent COVID-19 case numbers from California schools that he said prove reopening is safe.
“Let me be specific: In January, we had 87 reported positive cases in our schools,” he said. “That’s down from where we were in November-December despite January being a record month in terms of community spread and positivity.”
While the state posts the number of daily positive cases across the state online, it doesn’t break down school data. The California Board of Education didn’t immediately respond to a request for additional information on the winter COVID cases, including whether they included both students and teachers.
Newsom also provided an overview of the pandemic in the state and shared promising numbers. There were 10,501 new cases reported Feb. 2. The seven-day test positivity rate is 6.1%, down from 14.3% in early January. Hospitalizations dropped 30% over the past two weeks.
But as California’s most deadly pandemic surge eases, the state struggles with vaccine shortages in a race to vaccinate its residents.
The state of nearly 40 million residents has administered more than 3.5 million doses, significantly boosting the daily number of shots it was giving out just weeks ago, Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s health and human services secretary, said Tuesday at his weekly briefing.
But it still lags behind other U.S. states in vaccinations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and desperate residents report ongoing problems trying to schedule an appointment as state officials attempt to craft a system that protects the most vulnerable.
California’s rollout has been bumpy and chaotic, marked by differing county rules and a shortage of doses. The Biden administration has pledged to ramp up delivery, and on Tuesday, CVS pharmacies announced it would start inoculating people in some California stores next week.
Newsom also announced new mass vaccine sites at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and California State University, Los Angeles, slated to open Feb. 16.
WASHINGTON – Donald Trump and his allies lost the first battle for post-election control of the Republican Party Wednesday night – but not without a fight, making clear that the political war within the GOP is nowhere near over.
House Republicans voted Wednesday to keep Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., in her leadership position despite her January impeachment vote against the now-former president. The secret-ballot vote was overwhelmingly in Cheney’s favor, 145-61.
Nevertheless, Trump’s backers have vowed to defeat Cheney and other Republicans who voted for his impeachment in their future political races.
Others said the contentious House Republican meeting showed how much the party remains in thrall to Trump, despite his election defeat and his impeachment for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by extremist supporters.
Republican strategist Liz Mair said Cheney’s survival as House leader is “a defeat for the Trumpers,” but the former president and his supporters will continue to put pressure on GOP lawmakers and candidates.
“A lot of these people are very scared of Trump and his backers and fear can often wind up dominating,” she said.
While voting on the demotion of Cheney, the party’s highest-ranking female member, House Republicans did not even consider punishment for far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a pro-Trump conspiracy theorist whose social media posts have expressed support for violence against political opponents.
The furious intra-party feud will only continue as the Senate opens the second impeachment trial of Trump next week and politicians in both parties gear up for 2022 congressional elections.
Cheney’s victory, Mair said, “should be seen as a sign that the GOP is already moving on from Trump, and that’s a journey that electoral results suggest Republicans would be smart to continue.”
Trump-supporting Republicans had hoped to make an example of Cheney, who will instead remain chair of the House Republican Conference, the third highest position in the House GOP hierarchy.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a fervent Trump supporter, traveled to Wyoming to give a speech against Cheney, the state’s sole U.S. House member. Speaking to a crowd of Trump supporters, Gaetz said “we are in a battle for the soul of the Republican Party and I intend to win it.”
A number of establishment Republicans rallied behind Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who made a point of telling people he has not spoken with Trump since Dec. 15, put out a statement calling Cheney “an important leader in our party.” McConnell also spoke out against Greene, saying that “loony lies and conspiracy theories are cancer for the Republican Party and our country.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., while a prominent ally of Trump, also lent his support to Cheney, calling her “one of the strongest and most reliable conservative voices in the Republican Party.”
Charlie Sykes, a conservative critic of Trump and an editor-at-large for The Bulwark news website, called the effort to depose Cheney “the first shot in the post-Trump GOP civil war.”
Even after the leadership challenge, he added, “she’ll face a primary challenge and will probably remain a pariah in right wing circles for years to come.”
House Republicans take no action on Greene; Dems to vote Thursday
The decision on Cheney came amid another test of Trump’s hold on the party: Greene’s political fate.
In the same meeting that saw Cheney retain her leadership role, House Republicans did nothing to reprimand Greene over past comments and social media postings espousing conspiracy theories and questioning whether the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the Parkland school shooting were real events.
In a fundraising email, Greene told supporters she is being targeted because she “stood up for President Trump.”
Establishment Republicans, including several who defended Cheney, had urged their House brethren to repudiate Greene. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, the lone Senate Republican who voted to convict Trump on his first impeachment charges a year ago, said “our big tent is not large enough to both accommodate conservatives and kooks.”
Instead, Democrats who hold the majority in the House, will vote Thursday to remove Greene from her House committee assignments.
Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman and now a fierce Trump critic, said the party’s decision to avoid punishing Greene is more telling than the vote to keep Cheney in leadership.
“The most important vote will be the Wyoming 2022 primary,” Walsh said. “If she has a decent challenger, she’ll have a hugely uphill fight. It’s Trump’s party.”
An eye on taking back the House – but no consensus on how
Republicans have high hopes of regaining control of the House and Senate in next year’s congressional elections, but have very different views on how to do that.
Some Republican members say too close an association with Trump and his most extreme supporters will turn off suburban voters who could make the difference in close contests. Other Republicans say the party needs to rally the base of Trump-supporting voters to put enough GOP candidates over the top.
Democrats are planning to raise the same issues in future elections, seeking to tie Republican candidates to Trump, the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection, and Trump’s most extremist supporters.
That includes supporters of QAnon, a complex series of conspiracy theories alleging that the world is run by a cabal of devil-worshiping pedophiles who opposed Trump when he was in the White House.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, seeking to protect their slim House majority, is already putting out an ad on these topics.
“Trump and Republicans in Congress sided with the violent QAnon mob,” says the ad running in the districts of seven House Republicans who are considered vulnerable in 2022.
Trump has made clear he plans to get involved in 2022, including in potentially divisive Republican primaries.
A week ago, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. Afterward, Trump’s office issued a written statement indicating that his endorsements will be a major factor in 2022.
“President Trump’s popularity has never been stronger than it is today, and his endorsement means more than perhaps any endorsement at any time,” said a readout from his office.
The Wall Street Journal editorial page, a conservative barometer, said this week that the way Republicans handle Cheney and Greene will make impressions on many voters.
“If bowing before all things Trump is the litmus test for being a loyal Republican,” the Journal said, “the party should get used to continued losses in the suburbs.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is expected to address the National Prayer Breakfast, a Washington tradition that calls on political combatants to set aside their differences for one morning.
The breakfast, set for Thursday, has sparked controversy in the past, particularly when President Donald Trump used last year’s installment to slam his political opponents and question their faith. Some liberals have viewed the event warily because of the conservative faith-based group that is behind it.
Still, Biden campaigned for the White House as someone who could unify Americans, and the breakfast will give the nation’s second Catholic president a chance to talk about his vision of faith. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said the event will be “an inclusive and positive event” that “recognizes the teachings of Jesus but is not limited to Christianity.”
Coons also told reporters that Biden’s remarks would take a different tack than those of Trump.
“There have been significant changes in tone and focus from President Obama to President Trump to what I hope and expect will be a different tone and focus under President Biden,” said Coons, an honorary co-chair of this year’s gathering.
Every president has attended the breakfast since Dwight D. Eisenhower made his first appearance in 1953. The event is set to be virtual this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Coons suggested that Biden would appear via taped remarks.
The breakfast is moving forward at a time when the nation’s capital is facing a series of historic crises. Biden is struggling to win significant support from congressional Republicans for a coronavirus response package, raising the likelihood that he will rely only on Democrats to pass the legislation.
Biden’s message on Thursday is likely to represent his latest call to return Washington to more traditional footing after four years of Trump’s aggressive style. During the 2020 breakfast, Trump singled out Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who had voted to convict the president during the first impeachment trial. Trump even held up a newspaper with a headline reading “ACQUITTED” over his own picture.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a GOP co-chair of this year’s breakfast, said he hopes to see Biden emphasize the nation’s status as “a place for diversity and tolerance” that at the same time allows for respectful disagreement.
Scott, like Coons, pointed to regular faith-based gatherings that draw senators from both ends of the ideological spectrum as a model. “We don’t see eye to eye philosophically, politically, but we do embrace each other as brothers of faith,” Scott, who is also expected to offer virtual remarks at the breakfast, said in an interview.
The breakfast has drawn pushback from gay and civil rights activists since President Barack Obama’s administration, with much of the opposition focused on the Fellowship Foundation, the conservative faith-based organization that has long supported the event. Religious liberals mounted a protest outside Trump’s first appearance in 2017, criticizing his limits on refugee admissions to the U.S., and a Russian gun rights activist convicted of acting as an unregistered foreign agent attended the breakfast twice during his administration.
Norman Solomon, co-founder and national director of the progressive activist group RootsAction, warned Biden not to “reach across any aisle to bigotry.”
“We don’t need any unity with bigotry,” Solomon said. “I fear a subtext of this engagement is, ‘Can’t we all get along.’ But that’s not appropriate in this case given the well-known right-wing and anti-gay background of the event’s sponsors.”
Solomon said Democratic presidents have continued a tradition of attending an event where their Republican counterparts often felt more comfortable because they feared being labeled as “anti-religious or nonreligious.” He said that Biden, a devout Catholic who attends Mass every week, could better send a unifying message by skipping the event and instead attending one that is truly bipartisan.
“God knows there are many religious leaders and gatherings that are devout and affirm human equality,” he said. “This isn’t one of them.”
Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, agreed that “there are far better ways” than the breakfast for Biden to connect with people on the basis of shared spiritual beliefs.
“We would love to work with the administration to figure out a way to change the sponsorship of an event like this and to make it a place for Americans of all different religious beliefs,” Laser said.
Yet Democratic leaders, aware of Biden’s devout Catholic faith and calls for healing, have largely refrained from public comment on the event this year. Florida Rep. Val Demings, once on the short list to be Biden’s running mate, has delivered the closing prayer at the event in the past and is one of several Democratic members of Congress planning to attend.
Both Laser and Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, a fellow in the faith initiative at the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, pointed to the Christian symbolism seen during last month’s Capitol riot as an opening for Biden to offer pluralistic, open language about faith.
“I hope President Biden recognizes we’re in a new moment,” Graves-Fitzsimmons said, “and that the Christian nationalism threat is a threat to both the sacred religious pluralism of the U.S. and to Christianity.”
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through The Conversation U.S. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — While states across the country work to protect their older populations from COVID-19, a recent study suggests that mass vaccinations of a different age group could help slow the virus.
People ages 20 to 49 are most responsible for the 2020 COVID-19 resurgences, according to a study published Tuesday in Science
After schools re-opened in October, 2020, the study says that age group – particularly adults 35-49 years old – accounted for 72.2% of infections across the U.S. locations they studied. The study found that just 2.7% of infections came from children ages 0-9, and 7.1% from teens ages 10-19. Meanwhile, the 20-34 age group contributed to 34% of infections and the 35-49 group contributed to 38.2% of infections.
Thus, the researchers believe focusing mass vaccination efforts for the 20-49 age group will help control COVID-19 infections.
“This study indicates that in locations where novel highly-transmissible SARS-CoV-2 lineages have not yet established, additional interventions among adults aged 20-49, such as mass vaccination with transmission-blocking vaccines, could bring resurgent COVID-19 epidemics under control and avert deaths,” according to the paper.
The study maintains that controlling the spread in the 20s to middle-aged demographic would also help with safely reopening schools.
(CNN)FBI Special Agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger, who died in a Sunrise, Florida shootout Tuesday, devoted their careers to investigating crimes against children.
CNN’s Rosa Flores, Sara Weisfeldt, Jason Hanna, Amanda Watts, Shawn Nottingham, Jamiel Lynch and Christina Carrega contributed to this report.
The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that schools can safely reopen even if teachers are not vaccinated against COVID-19.
“Vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a briefing by the White House COVID-19 response team.
Walensky cited CDC data showing that social distancing and wearing a mask significantly reduce the spread of the virus in school settings.
Some teachers’ unions, including United Teachers Los Angeles, have balked at resuming in-person instruction before teachers are inoculated. L.A. Unified Supt. Austin Beutner has said it is critical that health officials specifically target school employees for vaccination while campuses are closed so that this impediment to reopening is removed.
“Vaccinating school staff will help get school classrooms opened sooner,” Beutner said this week.
The harms of ongoing closures outweigh the safety risks of carefully managed classrooms, according to a regional pediatrics association. Some experts take a different view.
Teachers are prioritized as “essential workers” under the CDC’s vaccination guidance, though many have yet to receive doses as the nation continues to face a shortage of the vaccine.
President Biden has pledged to ensure nearly all K-8 schools will reopen for in-person instruction in the first 100 days of his administration.
White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients called on Congress to pass additional funding to ensure schools have the resources necessary to support reopening.
“These disturbing issues were not known to me or my staff, but should have been at the forefront,” said Walsh, who was in Washington, D.C., for his Thursday nomination hearing to become President Biden’s labor secretary. “Upon learning of these serious allegations, I immediately acted.”
The Globe first pressed the Police Department last week about White’s work history, including three internal affairs cases, just hours after Walsh announced he would name him commissioner. White had served as Gross’s chief of staff. The department provided some basic information, but declined to provide internal affairs cases.
The Walsh administration responded Wednesday after a Globe reporter presented the city with the domestic violence allegations that were outlined in court documents.
A judge issued a restraining order on May 5, 1999, that forced White to vacate his home, stay away from his wife and children, and surrender his service weapon. The Globe could not find evidence that White was charged with a crime. At the time, he denied the allegations in court filings.
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White’s wife accused him of pushing her and hitting her once, according to court records. A friend of the couple also told police that White — after a confrontation with his wife and another acquaintance — said he “wanted to shoot her and him,” according to a summary of an interview by a Boston police detectivethat was included in a probate and family court file.
White’s daughter, who was then 17, recounted to the detective that her father had told her not to startle him when he was sleeping because “I sleep with a gun under my pillow.”
White’s abrupt suspension raises a number of questions about what vetting, if any, was done before Walsh last Thursday appointed White to one of the city’s most prominent positions. One of those internal affairs cases requested by the Globe coincided with the time frame of the domestic violence accusation, though it could not be confirmed that they were connected.
In his statement, Walsh said he asked White “to quickly step into the role of Police Commissioner” last Friday so Gross could spend more time with his family.Walsh made the move in what will likely be the waning days of his administration, shortly before he is set to undergo questioning in the Senate confirmation hearing.
Though Boston mayors possess the sole authority to appoint the police commissioner, the city has often taken its time, conducting national searches, naming finalists, and making efforts to involve the public, which some criminal justice experts say has become increasingly vital at a moment when trust between police and the people they serve has frayed.
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City Council President Kim Janey, who will become acting mayor when Walsh leaves office, said in a statement she took “any allegation of this nature very seriously.”
“I have had the opportunity to work with Commissioner White while on the Council, but this is the first I am hearing of this issue, and I am deeply concerned,” Janey said in a statement issued before Walsh said he was suspending White. “The public deserves transparency.”
A Globe investigation published in December found Boston police officers accused of crimes over the last decade have often encountered a more forgiving justice system than the one faced by civilians. Allegations were sometimes investigated in-house and not shared with prosecutors.
The department’s current domestic violence policy notes that “arrest is the preferred response.”
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement that her office was not aware of the allegations against White and could not comment on them.
At White’s swearing-in ceremony this week, Walsh spoke of the department’s commitment to “accountability and transparency.” But the process of appointing White commissioner was strikingly opaque.
Under state law, Boston police commissioners serve five-year terms, though it was not immediately clear whether White would have served for a full five years or filled the remaining tenure of Gross, who was appointed in 2018.
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White has a long history of public service, working first as a firefighter before joining the police force. The department once described him as a “respected street cop who has spent his career policing the neighborhoods where he grew up — Roxbury and Dorchester.” He graduated from Jeremiah E. Burke High School and as a police officer earned a 2005 bachelor’s degree in legal studies with a concentration in criminal justice from Newbury College.
In 1999, White was a sergeant and had been married to a fellow Boston police officer for nearly 20 years. In May of that year, White’s wife at the time wrote in the application for the restraining order that, “we argue a lot and he is always trying to push me down and I am afraid that he may come inside and kill me because he is angry.” The Globe is not identifying the womanbecause she was the potential victim of domestic violence. Reached by phone, she declined to comment.
In a subsequent divorce filing in September 2000, an attorney representing White’s wife wrote: “The Husband has admitted to hitting the Wife (once) and sleeping with a gun under his pillow.” An attorney for the future commissioner wrote that his client “adamantly denies ever striking the Wife [or] threatening to cause her harm.”
However, White’s attorney also wrote that, “the Husband concedes that there were incidents of fighting between the Parties and that on some occasions, they escalated to some physical contact by both Parties, including the Wife.” But White’s attorney argued that the restraining order and abuse allegations were an attempt to alienate White from his home and children and “humiliate him personally and professionally.”
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White noted in his legal filings that his wife’s claims were contradictory. She alleged in a divorce filing that he hit her once, but a police report dated May 4, 1999, about the threat to shoot her noted that she told police they “had arguments in the past, but no physical abuse.”
The same day, a separate police report was filed against his wife for harassment because she allegedly called the Roxbury police station looking for White and yelled at the officer who answered the phone, according to records included in their divorce file.
Boston has often been content to hire its police commissioner from within its own ranks, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, an organization that aids cities in their search for new leadership.
Both of its previous commissioners — Gross and William Evans — had spent their entire careers in the Police Department. And despite the natural attractiveness of the job to national candidates, city officials have rarely plucked from outside city limits.
“For the most part, Boston is the kind of place where the mayor knows who he or she wants, picks them, and that’s it,” said Wexler, who once served as operations assistant to the commissioner in the Boston Police Department. “Some cities, that’s just what they do.”
But even in those cases, attempts have often been made to gather a wide swath of candidates.
In 1985, then-Mayor Raymond Flynn traveled to Philadelphia and New York to interview candidates for the commissioner job before ultimately deciding on his friend, Francis Roache, a longtime Boston cop.
And in 2006, then-Mayor Thomas M. Menino hired Edward F. Davis from the Lowell Police Department only after a nationwide search that included interviews with a half-dozen candidates.
Last week after his appointment, White pledged in a brief interview that he would work “to make sure we are very transparent so the public has confidence in us.”
“There won’t be any major changes at this moment,” he said. “The main thing is to just get in the door and make sure the ship is running straight. I think the department is moving in a great direction going forward.”
House Republicans voted on Wednesday to keep Rep. Liz Cheney in GOP leadership despite her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump last month, with a strong majority of the conference rejecting the challenge from Trump allies to punish the Wyoming Republican.
The conference voted 145-61 in a secret ballot, after members spent hours venting frustrations about Cheney’s vote, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s past support for conspiracy theories and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s leadership of the conference following Trump’s defeat.
“We really did have a terrific vote tonight and terrific time this evening laying out what we’re going to do going forward, as well as making clear that we’re not going to be divided and that we’re not going to be in a situation where people can pick off any member of leadership,” Cheney told reporters after the meeting. “It was a very resounding acknowledgment that we need to go forward together and that we need to go forward in a way that helps us be back.”
In remarks to her colleagues, the House Republican Conference chair did not apologize for her vote to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and welcomed the referendum on her position, following a weekslong campaign from Trump’s most fervent supporters to drive her out of the conference and recruit a primary challenge to defeat her next year.
McCarthy, who has been criticized by colleagues for shifting statements about Trump’s responsibility for the storming of the Capitol, endorsed Cheney and encouraged Republicans to keep her on the leadership team.
Cheney was also supported by other Republicans in the conference, including Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., one of nine other Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, according to a source familiar with the conference meeting.
She was criticized by others in the conference, including Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., who likened Cheney’s support for impeachment to seeing a girlfriend cheer for the other team at a football game, a remark that wasn’t well received by women in the conference, according to a source familiar with the comments.
Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., a conservative who surprised Republicans by voting to impeach Trump, questioned McCarthy’s decision to travel to Mar-a-Lago to meet with the former president last week.
GOP leaders emerged from the meeting depicting a united front, even as fault lines remain over how to position the party with Trump out of office, but potentially eying a 2024 White House run.
“The No. 1 thing that happened this conference was unity. People were able to air their differences, people were able to focus,” McCarthy told reporters.
Greene, who has faced intense criticism for past comments promoting conspiracy theories about school shootings and QAnon, apologized to members for the remarks and expressed contrition for some of the past comments, a move that was appreciated by some members in the room.
The embattled congresswoman received a standing ovation from approximately half of the conference, according to a source in the room.
McCarthy rejected Democrats’ calls for Greene to be stripped from the House Education and Budget committees over the controversy, but faulted Democrats for rejecting his proposal to instead place her on the Small Business Committee. The House will move forward with a resolution from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., to remove Greene from those committees.
Following the meeting, the California Republican leader repeatedly denounced the conspiracy theories Greene allegedly promoted. The Georgia Republican has yet to repudiate her past remarks in public, and instead doubled down on Twitter, accusing Democrats of targeting her over her race and religious beliefs. She also boasted of raising over $100,000 on Wednesday amid the backlash.
“I want to see her do it on Twitter and in public, though. I think that would be a good idea,” said Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, of Greene’s apology.
Separately on Wednesday, U.S. authorities announced an indictment with new accusations against two previously charged men, self-described Hawaii Proud Boys founder Nicholas R. Ochs, 34, and Nicholas DeCarlo, 30, of Burleson, Tex. A seven-count indictment accuses the men of conspiring to plan, raise money and travel to Washington to disrupt Congress, posting images and video of the incursion in real-time, and defacing the U.S. Capitol’s Memorial Door with the words “MURDER THE MEDIA,” the name of their social media video collective.
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