Biden to sign executive orders on Day 1, amid high alert for inauguration
WASHINGTON, United States — Joe Biden's top aide said Saturday the incoming president would sign about a dozen executive orders on his first day in office, as police fearing violence from Trump supporters staged a nationwide security operation ahead of the inauguration.
Authorities in Washington, where Wednesday's inauguration will take place, said they arrested a man with a loaded handgun and more than 500 rounds of ammunition at a security checkpoint, underscoring the tension in the US capital which is resembling a war zone.
However, the man's family told US media he was a security guard, rejecting the idea he was intent on causing harm.
Incoming Biden chief of staff Ron Klain said in a memo to new White House senior staff that the executive orders would address the pandemic, the ailing US economy, climate change and racial injustice in America.
"All of these crises demand urgent action," Klain said in the memo.
"In his first ten days in office, President-elect Biden will take decisive action to address these four crises, prevent other urgent and irreversible harms, and restore America's place in the world," Klain added.
As he inherits the White House from Donald Trump, Biden's plate is overflowing with acute challenges.
The US is fast approaching 400,000 dead from the Covid-19 crisis and logging well over a million new cases a week as the coronavirus spreads out of control.
The economy is ailing, with 10 million fewer jobs available compared to the start of the pandemic.
Biden this week unveiled plans to seek $1.9 trillion to revive the economy through new stimulus payments and other aid, and plans a blitz to accelerate America's stumbling Covid vaccine rollout effort.
On Inauguration Day Biden, as previously promised, will sign orders including ones for the US to rejoin the Paris climate accord and reverse Trump's ban on entry of people from certain Muslim majority countries, Klain said.
"President-elect Biden will take action — not just to reverse the gravest damages of the Trump administration — but also to start moving our country forward," Klain said.
500 rounds of ammunition
Meanwhile, Washington was under a state of high alert after a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6. The assault left five people dead, including a police officer.
Security officials have warned that armed pro-Trump extremists, possibly carrying explosives, pose a threat to Washington as well as state capitals over the coming week.
Thousands of National Guard troops have been deployed in Washington and streets have been blocked off downtown with concrete barriers.
On Friday night, police arrested a Virginia man at a security checkpoint where he tried to use an "unauthorized" credential to access the restricted area where Biden will be inaugurated.
As officers checked the credential against the authorized access list, one noticed decals on the back of Wesley Beeler's pick-up truck that said "Assault Life," with an image of a rifle, and another with the message: "If they come for your guns, give 'em your bullets first," according to a document filed in Washington, DC Superior Court.
Under questioning, Beeler told officers he had a Glock handgun in the vehicle. A search uncovered a loaded handgun, more than 500 rounds of ammunition, shotgun shells and a magazine for the gun, the court document said.
Beeler was arrested on charges including possession of an unregistered firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition.
But Beeler's father Paul told The New York Times his son had been working as a security guard on the Capitol grounds.
Asked if the younger Beeler supported a peaceful transition of power, Paul Beeler told the newspaper, "That's the reason he's there."
In addition to the heavy security presence in Washington, law enforcement was out in force in state capitals around the country to ward off potential political violence.
Mass protests that had been planned for the weekend did not materialize on Saturday, with security far outnumbering Trump supporters at several fortified statehouses, US media reported.
In St Paul, Minnesota, for example, hundreds of law enforcement officers, some armed with long guns, ringed the Capitol with National Guard troops providing backup.
The number of protesters totaled about 50.
US President-elect Joe Biden unveiled plans Thursday for fighting COVID and injecting $1.9 trillion into a battered US economy, but already his ambitious first 100 days agenda is overshadowed by the looming Senate trial of his soon-to-be predecessor Donald Trump.
Biden promised "a new chapter" for the nation on the day after Trump became the first US president to ever be impeached twice, as the incoming Democrat sought to seize the narrative in a primetime address and get Americans looking forward again. — AFP
Photo: Angela Weiss/ AFP
Former US president Donald Trump says he expected to be charged over the January 6 attack on the US Capitol -- an indictment that would ramp up his legal woes as he makes another White House run.
Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is already facing criminal charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith for mishandling top secret government documents after leaving office.
Trump said he received a letter from Smith on Sunday stating that he's a target of the probe into January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed Congress in a bid to prevent certification of Democrat Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.
"Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden's DOJ, sent a letter... stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6 Grand Jury investigation," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
The 77-year-old Trump said he was given four days to report to a grand jury, "which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment." — AFP
New York police tightened security Monday ahead of a possible historic indictment of Donald Trump over hush money paid to a porn actress, with the ex-president calling for mass demonstrations if he is charged.
Only a couple of dozen Trump supporters attended a protest in America's financial capital on Monday evening though, as a grand jury weighs an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg over the 2016 payment to Stormy Daniels.
Trump would become the first former or sitting president to be charged with a crime if an indictment is filed -- a move that would send shockwaves through the 2024 White House race, in which the 76-year-old is running to regain office. -- AFP
Senior Republicans Sunday echoed Donald Trump's claim that a looming indictment in a hush-money case would amount to political "persecution," while Democrats warned his call for protests could trigger a repeat of chaos his supporters unleashed at the US Capitol.
In an explosive announcement Saturday, the former president said he expected to be arrested Tuesday in connection with a grand jury inquiry into a 2016 payment to a porn star, allegedly to keep her from revealing a past affair with Trump.
On Sunday, he blasted the possible move as a "witch hunt" on his Truth Social platform, lashing out at the Manhattan prosecutor for "using the power of his office to persecute, indict, and prosecute a former president of the United States of America -- for no crime!" -- AFP
Former US vice president Mike Pence on Saturday said history would hold former president Donald Trump "accountable" for his role in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol, US media report.
The remarks are likely to widen the rift between the former running mates, who have been at loggerheads ever since Pence refused to go along with Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and remain in power.
"President Trump was wrong," Pence says in a speech at the annual Gridiron Dinner in Washington, a white-tie gala put on by journalists that draws top politicians.
"I had no right to overturn the election. And his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day. And I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable," Pence was quoted as saying by multiple media. — AFP
Former US president Donald Trump can be sued by police and others injured in the January 6, 2021 attack by his supporters on the US Capitol, the Justice Department says in a court filing.
In an official legal opinion submitted to federal court in Washington, the department says although a president has absolute immunity for his official acts in office, he can be sued for acts judged clearly outside of his official duties.
The opinion was submitted at the request of the court, which is hearing a suit by two police officers and 11 lawmakers claiming injury during the January 6 attack. — AFP
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