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Tag: Joe Biden

  • Trump revokes security clearances of Biden and senior aides

    Trump revokes security clearances of Biden and senior aides

    US President Donald Trump made good Friday on a threat to revoke the security clearances of his predecessor Joe Biden and several senior former White House and national security officials.

    The list of names stripped of their authorization to see state secrets included Biden, his family members, and former vice-president and Trump presidential rival Kamala Harris.

    Former secretary of state and defeated presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was on the list, along with Biden’s secretary of state Antony Blinken and national security advisor Jacob Sullivan.

    In a memorandum to agency heads and distributed by the White House communications office, Trump said the named officials should no longer be allowed access to classified material.

    “I hereby direct every executive department and agency head … to revoke any active security clearances held by the aforementioned individuals,” Trump said.

    “I also direct all executive department and agency heads to revoke unescorted access to secure United States Government facilities from these individuals.”

    Former US presidents and national security officials traditionally retain a security clearance as a courtesy, and some find it useful in seeking employment with private contractors.

    But Trump, who continues to falsely claim that Biden schemed to steal the 2020 election, which he lost, has remained furious with his predecessor and lashes out frequently.

    Trump was himself investigated for breaching security rules during the period between his first and second term in office, by storing classified White House documents in his Mar-a-Lago resort.

    The investigation was wound up after Trump returned to office.

    Many of the individuals on Trump’s list were high-profile political appointees of his Democratic predecessor, but former Republican lawmaker and vocal Trump critic Liz Cheney is also named.

    Fiona Hill, a British-born intelligence analyst who served under both Democrat and Republican administrations, including as an advisor in Trump’s White House, is targeted.

    She is joined by former colleague Alexander Vindman, a Kyiv-born retired senior officer in the US Army who fell foul of Trump after expressing concerns about White House contacts with Russia.

  • Biden says ruling on Trump undermines rule of law

    Biden says ruling on Trump undermines rule of law

    Joe Biden has described as a “dangerous precedent” a Supreme Court ruling giving former President Donald Trump partial immunity from criminal prosecution.

    The current US president said the judgement undermined the “rule of law” and was “a terrible disservice” to Americans.

    Earlier, Trump hailed the court’s decision as a “big win” for democracy.

    The justices found on Monday that a president had immunity for “official acts” but was not immune for “unofficial acts”, and referred the matter back to a trial judge.

    The judgement will further delay the criminal case against Trump for allegedly trying to subvert the 2020 election result that gave victory to Mr Biden.

    The trial judge must now determine which actions were carried out in Trump’s capacity as president, which could take months. Any trial is unlikely to start before November’s presidential election.

    In a televised statement late on Monday, President Biden said: “This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America. Each of us is equal before the law. No one, no one is above the law. Not even the president of the United States.

    “Today’s [court] decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits on what a president may do.

    “The man who sent that mob to the US Capitol is facing potential criminal conviction for what happened that day. The American people deserve to have an answer in the courts before the upcoming election.

    Mr Biden was referring to Trump being on trial for his alleged role in spurring the riot.

    “Now, because of today’s [court] decision, that is highly, highly unlikely,” Mr Biden said.

    Following the Supreme Court’s decision, the trial judge must now determine which actions were carried out in Trump’s capacity as president, which could take months. Any trial is unlikely to start before the 5 November election.

    This is a huge boost for Donald Trump – a “big win” as he put it on his social media platform Truth Social.

    The Supreme Court ruled that all former presidents have partial immunity from criminal prosecution – total immunity applies to acts carried out as part of the president’s official duties, but “unofficial acts,” in a private capacity, are not covered.

    A lower court judge will now have to decide which aspects of the president’s behaviour are relevant to the criminal prosecution where he is accused of trying to overthrow the result of the 2020 election.

    The majority opinion by the Supreme Court deemed his interactions with the Department of Justice immune from prosecution.

    The indictment said he pressured officials there to launch investigations into voter fraud despite a lack of evidence.

    The three liberal justices on the Supreme Court strongly dissented from the decision. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said: “The President is now a king above the law.”

    Democratic Congresswomen Judy Chu said the fallout from the court’s decision would be far-reaching.

    “If a president says in any official capacity that they want to do something that we would consider to be improper and criminal, he could be immune from the actions that he takes,” she said.

    The court’s six-three ruling will significantly delay any trial – if it is ever to go ahead – until well after the November election.

    The ruling will also apply to the other outstanding criminal prosecutions facing Donald Trump, relating to the top secret documents found at his home in Florida, and the case in Georgia where he is accused of conspiring to overturn his narrow election defeat in the state.

    According to BBC’s news partner CBS, Trump’s legal team is seeking to overturn his conviction in New York, where he was found guilty in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to concealing an alleged sexual encounter with former adult-film star Stormy Daniels.

    Trump’s legal team have sent the judge in the case a letter related to this effort and cited the Supreme Court’s opinion, CBS reported, citing a source familiar with the matter. The letter in the case has not yet been made public.

  • Biden assures donors he can still win election

    Biden assures donors he can still win election

    US President Joe Biden has assured Democrat donors that he can still win November’s presidential election against Donald Trump, after a poor debate performance fuelled concern about his candidacy.

    The president, 81, attended a series of fundraising events in New York and New Jersey on Saturday, and defended his performance in CNN’s Presidential Debate.

    Speaking at one event, Mr Biden admitted, “I didn’t have a great night, but neither did Trump” on Thursday.

    “I promise you we’re going to win this election,” he said.

    Mr Biden’s debate performance was marked by hard-to-follow and shaky answers – raising fresh fears among some Democrats over whether he is the right candidate to contest this high-stakes election.

    Speaking to the BBC’s Katty Kay, former Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi said Mr Biden’s debate performance “wasn’t great” – while his former communications director, Kate Bedingfield, called it “really disappointing”.

    The president said he understood the concern, but pledged to fight harder.

    New Jersey’s Democratic governor Phil Murphy attended the fundraiser alongside Mr Biden and the First Lady – and told Mr Biden that “we are all with you 1,000%”.

    The Biden campaign accepted that the debate had not gone as they had hoped, but said he would not step aside for another nominee.

    Campaign chairwoman Jennifer O’Malley Dillon said on Saturday that internal post-debate polling showed “voters’ opinions were not changed”.

    “It will not be the first time that overblown media narratives have driven temporary dips in the polls,” she said.

    Former President Barack Obama, a close friend of Mr Biden, said on social media that “bad debate nights happen”.

    “This election is still a choice between someone who fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself,” Mr Obama wrote.

    Hours after the debate, Mr Trump told his supporters that he considered the debate a “big victory” for his campaign.

    “Joe Biden’s problem is not his age,” the 78-year-old Trump said. “It’s his competence. He’s grossly incompetent.”

    Mr Biden’s performance was not only criticised by those in politics.

    A prominent editorial in the New York Times described his determination to run again as a “reckless gamble”, and urged him to do some soul-searching this weekend.

    It said Democrats should “acknowledge that Mr Biden can’t continue his race, and create a process to select someone more capable to stand in his place”.

    Voters across the United States have also expressed concerns over voting for either candidate following Thursday’s debate.

    Long-time Democrat Lori Gregory told the BBC that she “could not handle” watching the debate, and asked, “is this the best our country can do?”

    Republican Crystal Myers-Barber said it was “painful to watch”, but added that she thought “Trump came across very level-headed and presidential and Biden came across very weak.”

    Democrat Shana Ziolko said she was “frustrated” watching the debate, and thought there was no clear winner.

    A post-debate poll by liberal pollster Data for Progress found that 62% of likely voters who watched or read about the debate found Trump won. Only 30% of those polled said Mr Biden won the debate.

    Until further polling is conducted, fundraising could be another indication of continued enthusiasm for Mr Biden’s candidacy.

    In a memo, chairwoman Jennifer O’Malley Dillon said the campaign had raised more than $27m (£21.3m) from the Thursday debate to Friday evening.

    “Following Thursday night’s debate, the beltway class is counting Joe Biden out. The data in the battleground states, though, tells a different story,” she said.

    “This election was incredibly close before Thursday, and by every metric we’ve seen since, it remains just as close,” she added.

  • Biden lauds Morocco’s effort during  earthquake

    Biden lauds Morocco’s effort during  earthquake

    The United States of America President Joseph Biden has lauded the Royal Kingdom of Morocco for its swift measures i to save lives during the earthquake.

    In a telephone conversation between Biden and the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, on Monday, the US head of state also reassured his support for the North African country to ensure all the victims of the earthquake get assistance.

    Biden requested that the King establish areas of need in order for his country to support Morocco.

    The quake that occurred two weeks ago, led to over 3,000 deaths and the same number of people injured,while over 50,000 people were left homeless.