Donald Trump impeachment latest – President still HUGELY popular with Republican voters as 4 in 5 say they back him
DONALD Trump remains hugely popular with Republican voters with four in five saying they still back him, a new poll has found.
The Ipsos Mori/Axios survey, conducted between Monday and Wednesday this week, also found that 57% of Republicans still want Trump to be the Republican presidential nominee at the 2024 US Election.
Meanwhile 62% of Republicans said they supported Trump's roundly discredited claims that won last year's election, not Joe Biden.
The polling is interesting as many in the Republican establishment hoped to move on from Trump after he lost the presidency, the House and the Senate to the Democrats during his four year term.
And the polling will no doubt play a deciding factor in how many Republican senators dare to turn on the President at his upcoming impeachment trial if he remains a realistic candidate in 2024.
Follow our Donald Trump live blog below for the latest news on the impeachment and transition of a Biden presidency.
- Chris Bradford
TRUMP WILL NOT BE IN SCOTLAND ON INAUGURATION DAY
Donald Trump will not be visiting Scotland ahead of inauguration day, according to reports.
There had been speculation that the US president would visit his Turnberry golf resort in South Ayrshire ahead of Joe Biden taking office at the White House on January 20.
But, it is now being reported that the Republican will not be in Scotland.
As part of the tradition, the outgoing president and president-elect usually travel together to the ceremony at the Capitol from the White House.
But Mr Trump, who was overwhelmingly defeated in November's US election, has previously said he will not attend the ceremony.
The 74-year-old was reportedly considering travelling to Turnberry to avoid seeing Mr Biden being sworn into office.
- Chris Bradford
TRUMP WANTED TO JOIN PARLER BEFORE APP WAS CUT OFF BY TECH TITANS, CEO CLAIMS
Donald Trump wanted to join Parler under the pseudonym “Person X” before it was “shut down”, the app’s CEO has claimed.
John Matze alleged in a court filing on Wednesday that part of the reason Amazon Web Services (AWS) pulled the app was because of a desire to keep a now twice-impeached president Trump off big-name social media.
Matze alleged: “I believe AWS’s Decision to terminate service to Parler was based, not on expressed concerns about Parler’s compliance with the AWS Agreement, but in part on a desire to deny President Trump a platform on any large social-media service.”
It alleged that a “representative assigned to me by AWS” and who was a supporter of Joe Biden knew that since at least October “that Trump was considering moving to Parler under the pseudonym ‘Person X’.”
Amazon and AWS did not immediately respond to The Sun’s request for comment.
- Chris Bradford
OH, BOY
The wife of a so-called 'Proud Boy' arrested over the Capitol riots wants to divorce him insisting he's a “radical idiot”.
Eduard Florea, 40, from Queens, New York, who allegedly made online threats tied to the violence in Washington, was dramatically arrested by the FBI this week.
The 40-year-old software engineer allegedly posted about sending an armed caravan to the Capitol and also allegedly threatened the life of senator-elect Raphael Warnock hours before the January 6 riots began.
He didn’t attend the riots in DC, however his wife Joni said her husband "really wanted to go", and even bought an Army hat for the occasion.
Joni told The New York Post: "Just hearing some of the details… is the reason why I’m divorcing him."
- Chris Bradford
IS THERE AN ELECTION AFTER IMPEACHMENT?
The short answer is no.
The next presidential election is due to take place in November 2024.
If Donald Trump's case had gone through a speedy trial in Senate, and this chamber had voted to convict him prior to Joe Biden being inaugurated as president, then vice-president Pence would immediately have taken the oath of office and become president for the remaining days of the administration.
- Chris Bradford
DOES IMPEACHMENT MEAN TRUMP CAN'T RUN FOR OFFICE AGAIN?
Impeachment would not automatically ban Trump from a 2024 presidential run, according to ABC 7 News.
Despite rumours to the contrary, the Senate would have to hold an additional vote on any such ban from a bid to serve a second term.
Paul Campos, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Colorado, said that even if the Senate does not convict the president, senators could hold a second, separate vote to prevent him from future office.
Two historical precedents, both involving federal judges, make clear that the Senate could also vote to disqualify the president from holding office in the future, with only a simple majority needed.
That would mean Democrats, who will take control of the Senate later in January, could bar Trump from running for president in 2024 even without the support of Republican senators.
Trump could, however, try to challenge such a determination in court, Campos said.
- Chris Bradford
THE IMPEACHMENT PROCESS EXPLAINED
Impeachment begins in the House – the lower chamber of Congress.
The "sole power of impeachment" is held by the House of Representatives.
Lawmakers debate and vote on whether to bring charges against the president via approval of an impeachment resolution, or “articles of impeachment".
A simple majority is required – i.e. more than half of Congress must vote to impeach the president.
Then the case is tried by the US Senate, where a two-thirds majority is needed to basically green-light the impeachment .
Its members decide whether the person accused of impeachment is guilty or not. But, it's a political trial – not a criminal one.
- Chris Bradford
MOVING OUT, DON?
Trump is starting to move out of White House as video shows boxes and photo being taken from West Wing
- Chris Bradford
WHAT IS IMPEACHMENT?
Donald Trump has made history after becoming the first US president to be impeached twice.
Ten of his fellow Republicans joined Democrats in the House of Representatives to charge him with inciting an insurrection in the Capitol's deadly, violent rampage.
Put simply, impeachment is when a sitting president is charged with crimes.
In the case of Donald Trump, he has been accused of inciting insurrection by encouraging his supporters to storm the Capitol, Washington D.C., on January 6, 2021.
The United States' founders feared presidents abusing their powers, so they included in the Constitution a process for removing one from office.
The president, under the Constitution, can be removed from office for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanours”.
- Chris Bradford
ARE SHOPS AND BUSINESSES CLOSED ON MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY?
Martin Luther King – one of the key figures in the American civil rights movement – is remembered with a federal holiday each year.
The holiday is celebrated annually on the third Monday of January.
Most workplaces and federal offices will be closed for the day, however many stores and restaurants will remain open for business.
Banks and the postal service will be shut for the day, but FedEx and UPS will be delivering.
Martin Luther King Day honors the life and work of the civil rights activist.
Martin Luther King Day became a federal holiday in 1983 when President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law.
- Chris Bradford
‘GOING TO BE UGLY’
Tucker Carlson predicts Democrats will turn on each other with “feral ferocity” as soon as Donald Trump is out of the White House.
The Fox News pundit says Dems have been united in opposition to their bogeyman – but that will end when he is no longer president next week.
And he claims the party’s need to keep talking about Trump is the real reason they pushed for impeachment with just days left of the president's term in office.
He told viewers: “The chaos of an impeachment trial is hardly the peaceful and orderly transition of power both parties assure you they want.
“So why are they doing this? The first and most obvious reason is to make Republicans weaker.
"But there’s another thing: Democrats need to keep talking about Donald Trump, next week and for ever, if they’re going to keep their own party together."
- Chris Bradford
SMARTPHONE GIANT XIAOMI REELS AS US RAMPS UP CHINA BLACKLIST
Shares in Xiaomi collapsed after the United States blacklisted the smartphone giant and a host of other Chinese firms as the Trump administration aims to cement its trade war legacy against Beijing.
Beijing hit back at the latest sanctions, accusing the US of "abusing state power" to crack down on Chinese companies "for no reason".
The flurry of last-minute blacklistings is the coda to four years of aggressive diplomatic and trade policies towards rival China under President Trump.
With just six days to go until Biden's inauguration, US officials made a series of announcements targeting Chinese firms including state oil giant CNOOC, Xiaomi and embattled social media favourite TikTok.
Xiaomi — which overtook Apple last year to become the world's third-largest smartphone manufacturer — was one of nine firms classified by the Pentagon as "Communist Chinese military companies".
The Pentagon's action means US investors will be unable to purchase Xiaomi securities and will ultimately have to divest down the line unless the order is overturned by the incoming administration of Joe Biden.
- Chris Bradford
HOUSE DEMOCRATIC WHIP DOESN’T BELIEVE THERE ARE ENOUGH REPUBLICANS TO CONVICT TRUMP
A Democratic congressman does not think there is a two-thirds majority in the Senate needed to convict President Trump
Whip James Clyburn, of South Carolina, made the comments after the House of Representatives voted to impeach the Republican president.
The vote sets up a trial now likely to take place after Trump leaves office.
When asked if there were enough votes to convict, Rep. Clyburn told NPR: “Well I don’t know.
“I know what Mitch McConnell seems to be thinking. I suspect that there is support.
He said: “I don’t think – there’s 17 Republicans that would be needed – I don’t think there’s 17. Not at this point.”
- Chris Bradford
BORAT ACTOR WANTS TRUMP BANNED FROM YOUTUBE 'PERMANENTLY'
Actor Sacha Baron Cohen has called for Donald Trump to be banned from YouTube permanently.
The Borat star is a long-term critic of the Republican and has pressurized Google to keep Trump off YouTube.
Trump gained more than 30,000 subscribers on the platform after he was banned from Facebook and Twitter following the riots on Capitol Hill on January 6.
YouTube suspended the president for one week after his channel earned a "strike" but Baron Cohen fears it means Trump will get more chances to accumulate "strikes" before he's permanently removed, Uproxx reports.
- Chris Bradford
NATIONAL MALL ‘TO SHUT DOWN’ ON INAUGURATION DAY
The entire National Mall will be closed amid extraordinary security measures on Joe Biden’s inauguration day, reports claim.
Sources told the Washington Post that only media and security personnel will be allowed on the lawns where huge crowds traditionally watch the new president taking his oath of office.
More than 20,000 National Guard troops are being deployed in Washington DC to guard against feared extremist attacks following the Capitol riot last week.
The Secret Service has warned of “mass armed protests” leading up to the inauguration on January 20.
And security officials are said to be preparing for the threat of homemade IED bombs targeting the ceremony.
- Chris Bradford
READY TO BE ‘MARTYRS’
Militia mobs, white supremacists, and QAnon obsessives inspired by the Capitol riots pose a greater terror threat in the US than ISIS this year, an intelligence report warns.
A joint intelligence bulletin by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Counterterrorism Center also warns brainwashed extremists are ready to “martyr” themselves for the cause.
The bulletin was issued to law enforcement agencies across the US following the storming of Congress by a mob of Trump supporters last week.
Intelligence experts warned right-wing extremists view the January 6 Capitol riots – which left five dead – as a “success.”
The bulletin came as President Donald Trump said in an address on Wednesday that “mob violence goes against everything I believe in.”
- Chris Bradford
BIDEN TO UNVEIL COVID VACCINE PLAN
President-elect Joe Biden will today outline his plan to ramp up vaccinations against COVID-19 as he prepares to take office amid soaring infection rates and an early rollout by the Trump administration he branded "a dismal failure."
Biden has promised to take more serious action to curb the virus than his predecessor, President Donald Trump, and get 100 million vaccine shots into the arms of Americans during his first 100 days in office.
The Democrat said: "The vaccines offer so much hope … but the vaccine rollout in the United States has been a dismal failure thus far."
Biden, who takes office on Wednesday, is expected to set out in more detail his plan to stem the coronavirus that has killed more than 385,000 people in the United States and infected nearly seven per cent of the population.
In announcing his stimulus proposal, which includes $20 billion for vaccine distribution as well as $50 billion for coronavirus testing, the president-elect pledged to "move heaven and earth" to vaccinate more Americans.
- Chris Bradford
BIDEN POSTPONES INAUGURATION REHEARSAL AMID SECURITY FEARS
President-Elect Joe Biden’s inauguration rehearsal has reportedly been postponed amid security fears – after FBI Director Chris Wray warned of "concerning chatter" online.
Biden's Sunday run-through has been pushed back to Monday and his scheduled train journey from Wilmington, Delaware, to D.C has been axed over threats of violence, sources told Politico.
The Sun has reached out to the Biden transition team for comment.
The postponement reported on Thursday night came hours after Wray warned of possible armed violence nationwide around Biden’s inauguration.
“When we talk about potential threats, we have to say about that we are seeing an extensive amount of concerning online chatter about a number of events surrounding the inauguration,” Mr Wray said in his first briefing since the Jan. 6 riot.
Credit: CNP - Chris Bradford
SILENCE PLAN
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey told his staff that the company's decision to ban Donald Trump is "bigger than one account" and will "go on beyond inauguration" in a leaked video.
Dorsey reportedly discussed the decision to ban the president's account in an internal meeting with employees, and a "whistleblower" leaked the footage.
Project Veritas, a group that aims to expose media bias, said they received the footage from a Twitter insider, and claimed that it proves the social media company is planning "future political censorship."
"We know we are focused on one account right now, but this is going to be much bigger than just one account, and it's going to go on for much longer than just this day, this week, and the next few weeks, and go on beyond the inauguration," Dorsey said in the footage.
"So, the focus is certainly on this account and how it ties to real-world violence. But also, we need to think much longer-term around how these dynamics play out over time. I don't believe this is going away anytime soon."
- Alex Winter
EYES ON PELOSI
The timing of President Donald Trump's impeachment trial could come into clearer focus today.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to take questions about her next steps at a morning news conference from Capitol.
Representative Diana DeGette, one of nine Democratic impeachment managers who will argue the House's case against Trump, said Pelosi is working with Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on when to transmit the article of impeachment to the Senate and trigger the start of the trial.
Image: AP - Alex Winter
PROSECUTORS REVEAL SERIOUS CHARGES
More on that last blog post now.
Those allegations come as prosecutors and federal agents begin bringing more serious charges tied to violence at the Capitol.
They yesterday revealed their charges against retired firefighter Robert Sanford, who is accused of throwing a fire extinguisher at a cop, and Peter Stager, accused of beating a different officer with a pole bearing an American flag.
In Chansley's case, prosecutors said the charges "involve active participation in an insurrection attempting to violently overthrow the United States government," and warned that "the insurrection is still in progress" as law enforcement prepares for more demonstrations in Washington and state capitals.
- Alex Winter
RIOTERS 'WANTED TO ASSASSINATE OFFICIALS'
Federal prosecutors offered an ominous new assessment of last week's siege of the Capitol by President Trump's supporters yesterday.
In a court filing, they said rioters intended "to capture and assassinate elected officials."
The allegation was made in a filing asking a judge to detain Jacob Chansley, the Arizona man and QAnon conspiracy theorist who was famously photographed wearing horns as he stood at the desk of Vice President Mike Pence in the chamber of the Senate.
The detention memo goes into greater detail about the FBI's investigation into Chansley, and alleges he left a note for Pence warning: "It's only a matter of time, justice is coming."
"Strong evidence, including Chansley's own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States government," prosecutors claim.
- Jessica Kwong
BLAME GAME
White House officials are reportedly blaming President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani for Trump’s two impeachments.
Trump’s allies are faulting Giuliani, who adamantly supported Trump’s effort to challenge the election results and pushed claims of fraud, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
The president on Wednesday was charged with “incitement of insurrection” and became the first president in US history to be impeached twice, after 10 House Republicans joined Democrats in the vote following the Capitol riot.
However, Trump’s adviser Jason Miller on Thursday morning painted a different picture.
“Just spoke with President Trump, and he told me that @RudyGiuliani is a great guy and a Patriot who devoted his services to the country!” Miller tweeted.
“We all love America’s Mayor!"
- Jessica Kwong
TRUMP’S PARDON?
The lawyer for “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley, who stormed the Capitol building last week, is calling on President Donald Trump to pardon his client.
Attorney Al Watkins said Chansley, 33, “took seriously the countless messages of President Trump” to fight President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
“The words and invitation of a president are supposed to mean something,” Watkins stated, according to The Kansas City Star.
Chansley, a conspiracy theorist, wore red, white and blue face paint and a furry hat with horns to the riot, and brandished a spear with an American flag.
On Saturday, he turned himself in to authorities and faces charges of violent entry and being on restricted spaces on Capitol grounds illegally, as well as disorderly conduct.
Trump has pardoned dozens of individuals including his allies convicted in the Russia investigation, and was reportedly considering pardons for himself and his family members.
- Jessica Kwong
TRUMP SILENT
Donald Trump appeared to keep a low profile on Thursday – as Vice President Mike Pence instead seemed engaged in ensuring a peaceful transition to the Biden administration.
Pence sat at the head of a table at a briefing with the Department of Homeland Security on Biden’s inauguration, which is in five days.
“Good briefing today at @DHSgov about plans to ensure that we’ll have a safe Inauguration on January 20th,” Pence tweeted.
“Grateful to Law Enforcement, @NationalGuard, and all the Federal Officials who are working around the clock to protect our Nation’s Capitol.”
Trump, who was permanently suspended from Twitter, has been quiet since the House of Representatives impeached him a second time on Wednesday.
Pence on Thursday also tweeted: “We’re grateful for the incredible men and women of the @NationalGuard who are working around the clock to keep our Nation’s Capitol safe.”
- Niamh Cavanagh
‘DEATH IS ONLY REMEDY’
An Arkansas man has been arrested for allegedly beating a cop with an American flag as the FBI booked 100 people on charges stemming from last week's Capitol riots.
Peter Stager, who was arrested on Thursday, was also captured on video saying that "everyone" inside the Capitol building was a "treasonous traitor."
Stager was reportedly part of a mob that grabbed a Washington, DC, police officer who was guarding the entrance to the US Capitol when Donald Trump's supporters stormed the building on January 6.
The rioters reportedly pulled the officer, who has not been identified, down a flight of stairs and began striking him repeatedly.
Stager has been charged with obstructing a law enforcement officer, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The FBI identified Stager from videos of the assault that had been posted to social media.
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