US Elections

Donald Trump became the first US president in history to be impeached twice when the House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to charge him with inciting last week’s mob attack on Congress. The Senate will not hold a trial before January 20, when Democrat Joe Biden assumes the presidency, meaning the real estate tycoon will escape the risk of being forced to leave early. He will, however, depart in disgrace — and likely due to face a Senate trial later. The only question in the House had been how many Republicans would join the Democratic majority. In the end, 10 Republicans broke ranks, including the party’s number three in the House, Representative Liz Cheney. Holed up in the White House, Trump had no immediate reaction but he earlier issued a brief statement insistin...

President-elect Joe Biden on Friday strongly indicated he does not back moves to impeach President Donald Trump, saying the quickest way to get him out of office is through the transition in two weeks. “The quickest way that will happen is us being sworn in on the 20th,” said Biden, who will take the oath of office on January 20. “What actually happens before or after, that is a judgment for the Congress to make. But that’s what I am looking forward to: him leaving office.” Biden was addressing reporters in his hometown of Wilmington two days after Trump encouraged a mob of supporters to march on Congress. Democratic leaders in Congress have growing momentum for attempting to impeach Trump for the second time in his presidency. There is little support so far among Republic...

The US Congress on Thursday certified Joe Biden’s win in November’s presidential election, hours after President Trump’s supporters laid siege on the Capitol on Wednesday. Republican Vice President Mike Pence certified the Electoral College count of 306 electors in favor of the Democrat against 232 in favor of outgoing Republican President Donald Trump. Lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives successfully beat back Republican efforts to deny Biden the electoral votes needed to win, prompting loud cheers when the certification was announced. The affirmation of Biden’s 306-232 victory over Trump in November essentially closes the door on the unparalleled and deeply controversial effort by Trump and his loyalists to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The ...

Police ordered the evacuation of several office buildings for the US Congress Wednesday as supporters of President Donald Trump broke down security barrricades on the steps of the Capitol. Capitol Police sent orders for Congressional staff to leave the Cannon building and other large offices after Trump called on his followers to protest the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory inside the legislature. “Just evacuated my office in Cannon due to a nearby threat. Now we’re seeing protesters assaulting Capitol Police,” said Representative Nancy Mace in a tweet. “This is wrong. This is not who we are. I’m heartbroken for our nation today,” she wrote.

Democrat Jon Ossoff clinched victory in the second Georgia Senate runoff, US networks projected Wednesday, guaranteeing his party control of the body. Ossoff defeated incumbent Republican Senator David Perdue with a nearly 25,000-vote margin, or 0.56 percent, with 98 percent of the expected vote counted, NBC and ABC projected. His win, after fellow Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated Republican Kelly Loeffler in a parallel runoff election Tuesday, gave both parties 50 seats in the Senate. With the chamber evenly split, Democratic Vice-president elect Kamala Harris will play the role of the tie-breaker, giving Democrats control of the Senate as well as the House of Representatives.

Joe Biden’s Democratic Party took a giant step Wednesday towards seizing control of the US Senate as they won the first of two Georgia run-offs, hours before Congress was set to certify the president-elect’s victory over Donald Trump. Reverend Raphael Warnock’s victory, projected by multiple US networks overnight, capped a grueling nine-week runoff campaign and puts Georgia’s other knife-edge race in the spotlight for its potential to impact the balance of power in Washington. “I promise you this tonight: I am going to the Senate to work for all of Georgia,” Warnock said in a livestream to supporters. Should Republicans lose the second race it would be a political debacle just hours before Trump is expected to suffer another bitter blow when Congress affirms Biden’s Electoral...

A group of Republican senators led by veteran lawmaker Ted Cruz said Saturday they will challenge Joe Biden’s election win — the latest last-ditch move to support Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine the vote. The initiative, which appears certain to fail, flies in the face of rulings in dozens of courts and the findings by officials in several key states that there were no widespread voting problems. The Republicans’ statement, signed by Cruz and six other current senators along with four senators-elect, asserts that “allegations of fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election exceed any in our lifetimes.” The group said that when Congress convenes in a joint session on Wednesday — for what normally would be a pro-forma certification of Biden’s victory — they will demand the...

President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump will be holding dueling campaign rallies in Georgia on Monday, the eve of a pair of crucial Senate runoff elections in the southern state. Biden, 78, announced on Wednesday that he would travel to the Georgia capital Atlanta to campaign for Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. Trump, 74, had previously announced that he would be in the town of Dalton on Monday night for a rally in support of the Republican candidates, incumbent senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. Tuesday’s runoff election featuring Ossoff against Perdue and Warnock against Loeffler will determine which party has control of the Senate. Both races are tight with polls showing the candidates neck and neck. Republicans currently hol...

A coronavirus vaccine developed by drug firm AstraZeneca and Oxford University has been approved for use in Britain, the government said Wednesday, adding the mass rollout will start on January 4. The vaccine can be stored, transported and handled at normal refrigerated conditions, and is therefore cheaper and easier to administer than the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna jabs that require freezing. Britain will become the first nation to roll out the jab on January 4, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said, amid mounting concerns that another dangerous spike in infections threatens to overwhelm the NHS. “Brilliant to end 2020 with such a moment of hope,” tweeted Hancock. “The #coronavirus vaccine is our way out of the pandemic — now we need to hold our nerve while we get through t...

US President-elect Joe Biden received a Covid-19 vaccine live on television Monday in a campaign to boost Americans’ confidence in the jabs. The 78-year-old incoming president got the Pfizer vaccine at the Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware. His wife Jill received the shot earlier, the presidential transition team said. Biden told Americans “there’s nothing to worry about” when they get vaccinated and that in the meantime they should keep wearing masks and “listen to the experts.” They were the latest high-profile political figures publicly joining the first wave of vaccinations aimed at stopping a pandemic that has killed almost 318,000 Americans. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife got vaccinations last week but President Donald Trump has yet to take part in the ...