Latest Trump and Biden News: Live US Updates From the White House

A leading group of victim advocates has urged Santa Clara University in California to release details about unspecified allegations against its president, a Jesuit priest who presided over an inaugural mass for Joe Biden and is now under investigation.

The university said the Rev. Kevin O’Brien allegedly “exhibited behaviors in adult settings, consisting primarily of conversations, that may be inconsistent with the protocols and limits set by the Jesuits.” He is currently on leave from the Catholic University.

The Network of Survivors of Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, issued a statement Friday asking university officials to be more transparent about the allegations “to encourage others who may have experienced similar misconduct to come forward.”

Senior defense officials from India and the United States have pledged to expand their military engagement amid concerns about China’s growing influence in the region.

Lloyd Austin, US Defense Secretary and Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh met in New Delhi on Saturday and agreed to deepen defense cooperation, intelligence sharing and logistics.

“India is an increasingly important partner in rapidly changing international dynamics. I reaffirm our commitment to a forward-looking comprehensive advocacy partnership with India as the central pillar of our focus on the Indo-Pacific region, ”Austin said.

The defense secretary is making the first visit to India by a senior member of Joe Biden’s administration.

His visit follows a meeting last week between the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States, which together make up the four Indo-Pacific nations known as the Quad.

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, has revealed that he was still experiencing persistent Covid-19 symptoms a year after contracting the virus.

This revelation about the 63-year-old senator’s health came during a Senate Health, Education, Work and Pensions Committee hearing, which was also attended by Dr. Anthony Fauci and CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. , Thursday.

“I have these strange neurological symptoms a year later,” Kaine said during the hearing. “They are not debilitating, they are not painful, but they are rare and they work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been accused of sexual harassment by another woman, this time an aide who currently works in his office. The New York Times reports.

Alyssa McGrath, 33, claimed Cuomo previously ogle her body, commented on her appearance and made suggestive comments about her and another female assistant at the office, according to the newspaper.

This made Ms. McGrath the first woman to speak out against the governor as a current employee, as she currently works in Cuomo’s office.

Four men described as leaders of the far-right group Proud Boys have been charged for their alleged involvement in the Capitol riots.

An indictment made public Friday provided new evidence of how officials believe members of the Proud Boys planned and carried out a coordinated attack to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory.

So far, at least 19 leaders, members or associates of the neo-fascist Proud Boys have been charged in federal court with crimes related to the January 6 riots.

The latest indictment suggests that the Proud Boys deployed a much larger contingent in Washington, with more than 60 users “participating in” an encrypted message channel for members of the group that was created the day before the riots.

Joe Biden “will be good for the relationship” between China and the United States, even though both sides may have “started a bit on the icy side,” former US Defense Secretary William Cohen said at a forum on Beijing.

Speaking via video link to the China Development Forum, Cohen, who has known Biden since 1972, said that the United States’ engagement with China will be more professional, diplomatic and civil with Biden, compared to the insults during the era of Donald Trump.

American and Chinese officials ended two days of contentious talks in Alaska on Friday after exchanging insults for widely different points of view with each other during their first face-to-face meeting since Joe Biden took office.

The United States accused the Chinese delegation of “bombast”, while Beijing said there was a “strong smell of gunpowder and drama” that was the fault of the Americans.

“We received a defensive response,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after the meetings concluded.

“We wanted to share with them the important concerns we have about a number of actions that China has taken, and behaviors that display concerns, shared by our allies and partners,” he said. And we did. We also wanted to make our own policies, priorities and worldview very clear. And we did it too. ”

In separate comments, the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi said dialogue was the only way to resolve differences. But he also made it clear that Beijing had no intention of backing down.

“China will safeguard our national sovereignty, security and our interests to develop China,” he said. “It is an irreversible trend.

“We hope the United States does not underestimate China’s determination to defend its territory, safeguard its people and defend its just interests.”

The atmosphere is so bad in the United States Capitol that a Democratic congressman recently let an elevator pass instead of traveling with fellow Republicans who voted against certifying the election of Joe Biden.

Less than 100 days before the new Congress, the legislature has become an increasingly toxic and unstable place, with lawmakers frustrated by virus-imposed work-from-home limits and distrustful of one another after riots over the Trump’s presidency.

Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club has been partially closed due to a Covid outbreak. That’s according to several people familiar with the situation, including a club member who received a phone call about the shutdown on Friday.

A receptionist at the Palm Beach estate confirmed the news and said it was closed until further notice, but declined to comment further.

Donald Trump Jr, son of the former president, posted a simulated video on his Twitter account mocking the crash of Joe Biden’s Air Force One.

The clip interspersed images of Donald Trump playing golf with fake golf balls knocking Biden down as he climbed the steps of the presidential plane.

Trump Jr. captioned the post: “It wasn’t the wind people,” in reference to comments by White House Chief Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who said it was “quite windy outside.”

When he boarded Air Force One on Friday morning, Biden, wearing a mask, climbed the stairs to the plane several times before greeting the military officer who met him on the tarmac. Jean-Pierre said that Biden was “100% fine.”