Biden Rebukes Trump For Saying Constitution Should Be Terminated
Former president must be universally condemned for comments, says White House
The Biden White House rebuked Donald Trump after the former president said the US constitution should be terminated over his lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
Andrew Bates, a White House spokesperson, said: Attacking the constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation and should be universally condemned.
Bates called the constitution a sacrosanct document, saying: You cannot only love America when you win.
Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020, by more than 7m votes and by 306-232 in the electoral college, a result he called a landslide when it was in his favour in 2016, against Hillary Clinton.
Trump continues to claim that Biden won key states through electoral fraud, a lie that fuelled the deadly attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. Nine deaths have been linked to the riot, including law enforcement suicides. More than 950 people have been charged. This week, two members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia were convicted of seditious conspiracy. Other members of far-right pro-Trump groups face similar charges.
Trump was writing after Musk claimed he would show that Twitter was guilty of free speech suppression by releasing evidence of how the platform responded to requests from campaigns in the 2020 election.
His host, George Stephanopoulos, said: I dont see how you can move forward if your candidate is for suspending the constitution.
Can Trump Stay On The Ballot If He Is Convicted Of A Crime
This question has not been fully settled by the courts, but the general consensus is that neither an indictment nor a conviction would legally prevent Trump from being elected.
Not only have convicted felons run for federal office in the past, but at least one ran for president successfully from prison: Eugene Debs, a perennial socialist candidate for the White House in the early 20th century, won more than 900,000 votes in a 1920 presidential campaign he ran while incarcerated on an espionage conviction.
The reason why it is widely believed a conviction wouldnt preclude Trumps return to the White House is because of a mainstream legal argument that only the Constitution sets the standards candidates must meet to be president.
Its pretty widely accepted that the qualifications to serve as president are enumerated in the Constitution, Muller said. And just being convicted of a felony is not one of them, and states and Congress cannot add to those qualifications.
That is why many legal experts believe that courts would not uphold proposals by states to bar from their ballots presidential candidates who refuse to release their tax returns, as Trump has refused to do.
Yet if Trump is charged with one of the statutes federal investigators are examining in the Mar-a-Lago documents probe, it might pose the most serious test yet to the constitutional question.
Republican Candidates Who Deny 2020 Election Results Win Key Primaries
Victories underscore the continued political potency of the stolen election myth, with most significant win in Arizona
Candidates who question the 2020 election results won a handful of key primaries on Tuesday, underscoring the continued political potency of the myth of a stolen election in US politics.
The most significant victory was in Arizona, where , who was endorsed by Donald Trump, easily won the GOP nomination for secretary of state, placing him one step closer to overseeing elections in a key battleground state.
Finchem, who has self-identified with the far-right Oath Keepers, vigorously fought to block certification of Joe Bidenâs legitimate victory in Arizona and has sought to overturn it ever since.
He told reporters on Tuesday he received a subpoena from the Department of Justice, which is investigating the January 6 attack, about a month ago. He has also been subpoenaed by the congressional committee investigating the attack.
Finchem joins prominent election deniers in Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania who have earned the Republican nomination for positions in which they would wield considerable power over elections.
In the Arizona gubernatorial primary, Kari Lake, a Trump-backed former news anchor who has made election misinformation a centerpiece of her campaign, narrowly led rival Karrin Taylor Robson on Wednesday morning.
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Candidates Who Did Not Qualify For Either Criteria
Whether they threw their name in the ring late or theyve struggled to get the support they need, these candidates are still worth keeping an eye on:
- Tom Steyer Hedge fund manager and billionaire who entered the campaign late. Has long campaigned on impeaching Donald Trump and on climate change
- Deval Patrick A former governor of Massachusetts and civil rights lawyer. Hoping to appeal to the same moderate voters being courted by Joe Biden
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Former President Donald Trump
Strategists and party leaders have said Trump, 76, remains the odds-on favorite for the Republican nomination in 2024.
But the former president had a mixed record with the candidates he endorsed in the midterm elections and some blame him for Republicans’ failure to capture control of both houses of Congress.
Trump’s candidacy comes as lawsuits over his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol and his business dealings continue to swirl around him.
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Pressure On State And Local Officials
As the Trump campaign’s lawsuits were repeatedly rejected in court, Trump personally communicated with Republican local and state officials in at least three states, including state legislators, attorneys general, and governors who had supported him in the general election and continued to support him. He pressured them to overturn the election results in their states by recounting votes, throwing out certain votes, or getting the state legislature to replace the elected Democratic slate of Electoral College members with a Republican slate of electors chosen by the legislature. In late November, he personally phoned Republican members of two county electoral boards in Michigan, trying to get them to reverse their certification of the result in their county. He then invited members of the Michigan state legislature to the White House, where they declined his suggestion that they choose a new slate of electors. He repeatedly spoke to the Republican governor of Georgia and the secretary of state, demanding that they reverse their state’s election results, threatening them with political retaliation when they did not, strongly criticizing them in speeches and tweets, and demanding that the governor resign.
The Election Needle Is Back For The Runoff Heres What To Expect
The needle is an innovative forecasting tool that was created by The New York Times and debuted in 2016. It is intended to help you understand what the votes tallied so far suggest about the most likely winner in key contests.
Tonight, it will return for the Georgia runoff.
The needle projects the final result based on an analysis of the vote thats been counted and an estimate of how many votes are still left to be counted. In states where granular data is available, such as Georgia, it is able to operate especially quickly by analyzing precinct-level returns that are broken out by method of vote.
The needle compares the election results with our pre-election expectations for each county or precinct to determine whether candidates are overperforming or underperforming expectations. It then estimates how the remaining votes will break, based on demographic patterns in the results counted so far.
Much like a weather forecast, the needle cannot be absolutely certain of a result, but the running estimate reflects a range of possibilities that add up to a probability of who will win. For example, if the needle shows that a candidate or a party has a 75 percent chance of succeeding, you should expect that there are scenarios in which the other candidate can win. After all, when the National Weather Service says the chance of rain is 25 percent, you still might bring an umbrella with you when you leave the house.
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Legal Experts’ Opinions On Trumps Court Battles
“Trumps multipronged efforts to keep former advisers from testifying or providing documents to federal and state grand juries, as well as the January 6 committee, has met with repeated failure as judge after judge has rejected his legal arguments,” said ex-justice department prosecutor Michael Zeldin. “Obtaining this testimony is a critical step, perhaps the last step, before state and federal prosecutors determine whether the former president should be indicted. It allows prosecutors for the first time to question these witnesses about their direct conversations with the former president.”
Other former lawyers have also weighed in on Trumps recent court rulings, agreeing that his situation is getting worse with the latest decisions. “Favorable rulings by judges on issues like executive privilege and the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege bode well for agencies investigating Trump,” said Barbara McQuade, a former US attorney for eastern Michigan. “Legal challenges may create delay, but on the merits, with rare exception, judges are consistently ruling against him.”
In A Soaring Victory Speech Warnock Declares Here We Stand Together
ATLANTA Senator Raphael Warnock, basking in cheers of six more years and the glory of a hard-fought re-election victory, evoked the civil rights movement late Tuesday night as he praised Georgians, whether they voted for him or not, for rising above the folks trying to divide our country.
In a contest that pitted Mr. Warnocks calls for the healing of racial inequities against Herschel Walkers view that racism does not exist, the Democratic senators victory speech was unapologetic in its evocation of past wrongs in the Deep South, even as he held out the promise of reconciliation.
I am Georgia, the senator said. I am an example and an iteration of its history, of its peril and promise, of the brutality and the possibilities. But because this is America, because we always have a path to make our country greater against unspeakable odds, here we stand together.
He addressed those who point to the results of the race as proof that there was no voter suppression in Georgia. He said that just because people stood in blocks-long lines in the cold to cast their ballots did not mean voter suppression did not exist.
It simply means that you, the people, have decided that your voices will not be silenced, he said.
Responding to the impromptu comments of the audience around him, as if standing at the pulpit on a Sunday at his Atlanta church, his remarks often blended the personal with the political.
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Whos Next Republicans Who Might Go Up Against Trump In 2024
The former president is running again but the GOP midterm meltdown has changed the primary landscape
Donald Trumps announcement of a third White House run does not only pose serious questions for the country he divided against itself during his defeat of Hillary Clinton, his four chaotic years in power, his rancorous defeat by Joe Biden and his incitement of the January 6 insurrection.
Trumps entrance into the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 poses existential questions for the Republican party itself. Since last weeks midterm elections failed to produce an expected red wave, leaving the Senate in Democratic hands and the House barely under GOP control, the primary landscape has shifted.
Here are seven Republicans who may fancy their chances of beating Trump to set up a White House run and one who might try to stop him winning again.
Former Vice President Mike Pence
Republican former Vice President Mike Pence served as a loyal, prim No. 2 to the flamboyant Trump, only to have his boss turn against him when Trump supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol. A Republican former congressman, Pence defied Trump on that day and certified Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential victory, as required by law.
Pence has walked a fine line ever since, not risking the wrath of Trump’s base.
The 63-year-old former Indiana governor is widely considered to be mulling a White House run. He campaigned for Brian Kemp, a Trump nemesis who was re-elected Georgia governor in the midterm elections.
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Across The Country Republican Primaries Feature Candidates Who Deny Outcome Of 2020 Election
PHOENIX An Arizona lawmaker endorsed by former President Donald Trump who attended the Jan. 6, 2021, rally that preceded the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol and another lawmaker who also believes the 2020 presidential election results should be overturned are among four Republicans vying for the top elections post in the presidential battleground.
Its a trend seen in several Republican primaries this year that has led to mixed results for those who peddle conspiracy theories and promote the falsehood that widespread fraud led to Trumps defeat. Tuesdays primary elections feature similar candidates in Kansas and Washington state.
In Kansas, voters will choose between a challenger who questions the 2020 presidential results and the incumbent Republican who believes the election was secure in his state. Washington states open primary also has a candidate who backs Trumps unsupported claims, although thats not the toughest challenge the Democratic incumbent faces.
So far this year, Republican primary voters have split on whether to put election skeptics on the November ballot.
And Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who rejected Trumps plea to find enough votes for him to win the state, easily survived a primary challenge to advance in that states May primary.
Sen Mitt Romney Of Utah
A Gallup poll last March found Romney, 74, has a higher approval rating among Democrats than Republicans, so you might figure he doesnt have a prayer in taking his partys nomination again. A February Morning Consult poll, though, had Romney polling ahead of Republicans like Pompeo, Cotton and Hawley. So, youre telling me theres a chance? Yes, a one-in-a-million chance.
The 2012 GOP presidential nominee and his wife, Ann, have five sons. He graduated from Brigham Young University and Harvard Law. Romney is a former Massachusetts governor, and the first person to be a governor and senator from two different states since Sam Houston, who was governor of Tennessee and a senator from Texas. Romney is this years JFK Profile in Courage Award recipient.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., asks a question to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing on the State Departments 2021 budget on Capitol Hill on July 30, 2020, in Washington.
Greg Nash, Associated Press
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Biden Team Already Working Toward Transition
Biden will be inaugurated as president on Jan. 20, whether Trump acknowledges his win as legitimate or not. Biden has already begun the process of transitioning to the countrys highest office.
Though Trump has not formally conceded, his administration has granted the new administration access to intelligence briefings, office space, secure computers and other government services, USA TODAY previously reported. Trump tweeted Nov. 23 that the move was made at his recommendation.
The announcement, made by Emily Murphy of the General Services Administration, allocated over $6 million to Bidens transition team for hiring and other transition-related expenses. Since then, Biden has made a number of Cabinet picks, including his chief of staff, Treasury secretary, director of national intelligence, head of the Department of Homeland Security, ambassador to the United Nations, climate change envoy, secretary of State, Defense secretary and Health and Human Services secretary.
The Five Republicans Who Could Challenge Trump In 2024
Former President Trump has hinted repeatedly that hes weighing another bid for the White House in 2024.
And while hes made clear that, if he does so, the nomination should be his for the taking, he could still face some competition. A number of Republicans have begun maneuvering toward presidential campaigns of their own, some more overtly than others.
Of course, theres a political risk that comes with challenging Trump. But that doesnt appear to be deterring some prospective candidates.
Here are the five Republicans who could challenge Trump for the partys 2024 presidential nod.
Ron DeSantis
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has brushed off suggestions that he will mount a presidential campaign in 2024, saying that his No. 1 priority is winning a second term in the governors mansion.
But he also hasnt explicitly ruled out the possibility, and unlike several other prospective GOP presidential contenders, he hasnt committed to forgoing a White House bid if Trump launches a comeback campaign.
And with his clout among Republicans on the rise, its possible that, if DeSantis ultimately decides to run in 2024, he may not be deterred by the former president.
Early polling shows him as the heavy favorite for the Republican presidential nomination if Trump doesnt run again. There are even a few recent surveys that show him topping Trump in a hypothetical primary match-up.
Mike Pence
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Trump’s Refusal To Concede
Early in the morning on November 4, with vote counts still going on in many states, Trump claimed he had won. For weeks after the networks had called the election for Biden, Trump refused to acknowledge that Biden had won. Biden described Trump’s refusal as “an embarrassment”. In the wake of the election, the General Services Administration refused to formally acknowledge Biden’s victory, and the White House ordered government agencies not to cooperate with the Biden transition team in any way. Starting in 1896, when William Jennings Bryan established a precedent of formal concession by sending a congratulatory telegram to President-elect William McKinley, every losing major party presidential candidate has formally conceded.
Trump acknowledged Biden’s victory in a tweet on November 15, although he refused to concede and blamed his loss on fraud, stating: “He won because the Election was Rigged.” Trump then tweeted: “I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go.”
In a June 2021 interview with Sean Hannity, Trump stated that “we didn’t win” and said that he wished President Biden success in international diplomacy, which Forbes declared as Trump ” as close as he’s ever been to conceding his 2020 election loss.”
