2020 US election: Trump blocks defense budget – politics



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Most Americans have chosen Democrat Joe Biden as the next president of the United States. Still, the incumbent Donald Trump is trying to do everything he can to overturn Biden’s victory on the legal path. All news and updates at a glance:

Trump vetoed the defense budget

Wednesday, December 23, 11:00 p.m. As expected, current US President Donald Trump has vetoed the $ 740 billion defense budget approved by Congress. Trump said in a letter to the House of Representatives that he could not support the law because it contravened the foreign policy and national security of his administration. “It is a ‘gift’ to China and Russia,” Trump wrote, without explaining this.

Among other things, he criticized the fact that the law does not more closely regulate online platforms. He also criticized the renaming of several military bases, named after southern military officers, which was prompted by protests against racism. Trump also criticized the attempt to legally limit the withdrawal of soldiers from Afghanistan, South Korea and Germany that he had ordered. This is not only bad policy, but also unconstitutional, he wrote. Under the constitution, the president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The decision on how many soldiers should be deployed where is therefore yours.

Trump had already announced his veto. However, his blockade could be overturned by a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, that is, in both houses of Congress. Both houses had originally approved the package with a majority of more than two-thirds. Parliament could reportedly vote on it again in the week after Christmas. Shortly before the end of his presidency, it would be the first time for Trump that Congress overrides his veto.

Biden appoints Miguel Cardona as Minister of Education

Wednesday, December 23, 2020, 1:49 am: The president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, has elected school official Miguel Cardona as the new Minister of Education. Biden confirmed the change to the AP news agency, stating that Cardona is an “experienced and dedicated public school teacher who will play a pioneering role in the Ministry of Education” and will address injustices in the system.

Cardona, a former teacher, is currently the Connecticut State Education Officer. In the spring, the 45-year-old organized there more than 100,000 laptops for schoolchildren to be taught at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. When the pandemic subsided, he pushed for schools to reopen.

That should also be Cardona’s job, in case the Senate confirms him as minister. Biden has spoken out in favor of reopening most schools in the United States in the first 100 days of his term. To this end, new guidelines for schools will be published.

Cardona, whose parents moved to Connecticut from Puerto Rico, grew up as a child in a social housing development and attended kindergarten, where he learned English, and then public schools. Current education minister Betsy DeVos is critical of public schools.

Birx, coordinator of the United States crown, wants to stop

Tuesday, December 22, 8:50 pm: The coordinator of the Corona task force in the White House, Deborah Birx, would like to retire. But she was ready to help President-elect Joe Biden’s team after he took office in the fight against the pandemic, Birx told the news site. News. “After that I will retire.” Neither she nor the White House responded to questions.

The 64-year-old army physician had made a name for herself as an AIDS researcher and has been in public service since the 1980s. In the Corona crisis, Birx was the expert face of the government alongside chief immunologist Anthony Fauci. The public attention he’s received in his current role has been a bit overwhelming, Birx said now. Critics complained that she did not oppose President Donald Trump strongly enough when he overruled the council of scientists and medical professionals to combat this.

Birx was more popular with Trump than Fauci, who repeatedly contradicted the president. Birx’s facial expression is best known when Trump mused aloud at a press conference with her in April about whether disinfectants that work against the virus could be injected into people. Trump later wanted that to be understood as sarcasm.

In late summer, Trump also pushed Birx to the limit. Based on information from the Biden team and the White House, she has already shown interest in working with Biden on the Corona task force.

Barr faces Trump again

Tuesday, December 22, 2020, 2.44 am: In his last public appearance as a member of the US administration, outgoing Attorney General William Barr took a stand against President Donald Trump several times. Barr said he “sees no reason” for the appointment of a special investigator to investigate the son of future President Joe Biden. He did not plan to hire a special investigator to investigate Hunter Biden, he announced Monday at his last press conference as minister.

The investigation into Hunter Biden’s financial dealings is “handled in a responsible and professional manner.” Barr also opposed naming a special investigator on US President Donald Trump’s election fraud allegations.

Trump has considered asking the Justice Department to appoint a special investigator. Then it would be more difficult for Joe Biden or his future attorney general to stop an investigation. Trump has consulted with White House staff about special investigators, according to the sources. According to sources, Trump was interested in having a special investigator for Hunter Biden and one for the unsubstantiated voter fraud allegations.

Barr had told the AP news agency in an interview that he had seen no evidence of widespread voter fraud. Trump continues to claim that there was fraud even though the Election Panel on December 14 confirmed Joe Biden’s victory in the November presidential election.

Barr also opposed Trump when he said he suspected Russia was behind the hacking attack on US government agencies. Trump had suggested without evidence that China might be behind this. Barr shared the widespread belief in the US government that Russian hackers targeted the US Department of the Treasury and Commerce, among others.

Barr has long been considered one of the most vehement supporters of the Trump agenda. Recently, however, there has been tension over allegations of electoral fraud. Barr submitted his resignation last week. Jeffrey Rosen will take office on Wednesday. Barr’s remarks should make it easier for Rosen to resist pressure from the White House on special investigations.

Trump tries another complaint in Supreme Court

Monday, December 21, 2020, 4.36 am: Despite dozens of defeats in court, the current president of the United States, Donald Trump, continues the legal battle against his defeat in the presidential election. Trump’s campaign team said it had filed a motion with the Supreme Court to overturn three decisions of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Trump’s camp claims the court violated constitutional rights with several vote-by-mail decisions. As a result, invalid votes were tallied in the state. This objection to Pennsylvania is unlikely to be promising: Trump’s camp can no longer shake the overall election result anyway.

The Republican had lost the presidential election in early November by a clear margin to Democrat Joe Biden. So far, Trump has not admitted defeat in the election, but stubbornly claims that he was deprived of victory through massive fraud. Neither Trump nor his attorneys or supporters provided any substantial evidence to back up these claims. So far, more than 50 lawsuits from the Trump camp have been rejected, two of them before the Supreme Court.

Deb Haaland to become indigenous Prime Minister

Friday, December 18, 2020, 6.57 am: For the first time in US history, US President-elect Joe Biden wants to appoint an indigenous woman to the cabinet as minister. Biden’s transition team announced Thursday night (local time) that it was nominating Congresswoman Deb Haaland, 60, from the state of New Mexico, as Secretary of the Interior. Haaland is part of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe. “A voice like mine has never been a member of the cabinet or the head of the Interior Ministry,” he wrote on Twitter. “Growing up in the house of my mother Pueblo made me combative. I will be combative for all of us, our planet and all that for our protected land.”

In the United States, the Department of the Interior is primarily responsible for the administration of federally owned lands. The ministry decides, for example, whether natural reserves are designated or whether power generation such as fracking is allowed. The area of ​​responsibility also includes matters related to around 1.9 million indigenous people. In the past, the Ministry of the Interior played an important role in the relocation and discrimination of indigenous tribes.

Homeland security, which in Europe is the responsibility of the ministries of the interior, is the responsibility of the department of home security in the United States. the Washington Post wrote of Biden’s landmark decision, “which marked a turning point in the relationship of the United States government with the nation’s indigenous peoples.” Haaland was one of the first two women to be elected as indigenous peoples in the United States Congress in 2018. There she sits on the Committee on Natural Resources, which oversees the Home Office. Democrat Biden has promised to appoint a cabinet with ministers from various backgrounds.

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