Acting US homeland security secretary Chad Wolf resigns – as it happened | Latest unbiased news snippets about US Politics

1.17am GMT

1.11am GMT

Donald Trump has suffered yet another rebuke from a former ally, with the New England Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick, saying he will not accept the presidential medal of freedom.

Belichick, widely considered the greatest coach in NFL history, said he had made the decision after a Trump-inspired mob invaded the US Capitol last week. Trump was set to announce Belichick’s award later this week.

12.54am GMT

The executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) resigned as the organization faced backlash over its decision to send out a robocall urging Trump supporters to join the 6 January march that resulted in a deadly breaching of the US Capitol.

“At [1pm’] we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal,” a robocall from the fundraising arm of RAGA messaged. “We are hoping patriots like you will join us to continue the fight to protect the integrity of our election.”

12.43am GMT

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a news conference today that she’s worried about more attacks in the run-up to the inauguration.

“If I’m scared of anything, it’s for our democracy, because we have very extreme factions in our country that are armed and dangerous,” she said. “Our goals right now are to encourage Americans to participate virtually and to protect the District of Columbia from a repeat of the violent insurrection experienced at the Capitol and its grounds on January 6.”

12.40am GMT

Donald Trump “ordered federal assistance to supplement the district’s response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from the 59th Presidential Inauguration from January 11 to January 24, 2021”, according to the White House.

The authorization means that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) can coordinate response and relief in DC, which has been shaken by the violent attack on the US Capitol and is anticipating riots and armed protests during the inauguration.

12.30am GMT

Facebook is cracking down on all use of the phrase “stop the steal”, the rallying cry of supporters of Donald Trump who claim, without basis, that there was voter fraud in the 2020 elections, ahead of the inauguration of Joe Biden this month.

The policy change is the latest to target misinformation and the incitement of violence on Facebook after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building on Wednesday. Social media platforms like Facebook traditionally have a light touch to policing speech posted by politicians, maintaining that people have a right to see statements from their leaders.

12.10am GMT

The president and vice-president have spoken to each other for the first time since the attack on the US Capitol last week.

A senior administration official shared with the Guardian that the duo “reiterated that those who broke the law and stormed the Capitol last week do not represent the America first movement backed by 75 million Americans, and pledged to continue the work on behalf of the country for the remainder of their term” – quashing any speculation over whether Trump would resign, or Pence would invoke the 25th amendment to remove the president from office.

11.44pm GMT

The motives that drove a pro-Donald Trump mob to attack Congress last Wednesday ranged from hazy to proudly hateful. But the actions of certain ambitious Republican officeholders in the days leading up to the tragedy were not clouded by confusion.

Trump may have lost the election, but his movement was on the march, and for politicians hoping someday to succeed Trump as president, that meant an opportunity was afoot.

11.39pm GMT

Two police officers have been suspended over their behavior during last week’s violent breach of the US Capitol last week, according to representative Tim Ryan.

One took a selfie with a rioter, and another was wearing a MAGA hat and “directing people around,” said Ryan, a Democrat of Ohio, told reporters. Ryan is leading an investigation into the Capitol police’s actions during last week’s insurrection. He said 15 other officers are being investigated over their actions during the events.

NEW: Rep. Tim Ryan, who is leading investigation into Capitol Police’s actions during the insurrection of the Capitol said that 2 Capitol Police officers have been suspended for their actions: 1 for wearing a MAGA hat/directing rioters hat & 1 for taking a selfie with rioters.

11.06pm GMT

With Chad Wolf departing, Pete Gaynor, Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, will become acting secretary of Homeland Security.

It will fall to Gaynor to oversee inauguration security coordination with police, the national guard, and other departments. The Department of Homeland Security oversees the Secret Service, which is leading inauguration day security efforts. Following last week’s deadly storming of the US Capitol by militant Trump supporters, concerns over inauguration security have grown. On social media platforms, users shared plans for armed marches in DC and in state capitols.

10.54pm GMT

Leaders from the Republican Attorneys General Association face mounting criticism after sending out a robocall that urged supporters of Donald Trump to join the 6 January march on the US Capitol that resulted in a deadly insurrection.

“At [1pm’’] we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal,” a robocall from the Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF), a fundraising arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association, said.

10.34pm GMT

In an email to staff, Chad Wolf said: “Effective at 11.59pm today, I am stepping down as your acting secretary. I am saddened to take this step, as it was my intention to serve the Department until the end of this administration. Unfortunately, this action is warranted by recent events, including the ongoing and meritless court rulings regarding the validity of my authority as acting secretary.”

A federal judge in November found that Trump’s appointment of Wolf was unlawful. In August, the Government Accountability Office said Wolf was illegally appointed to his role. Wolf took the role of his former acting deputy Ken Cuccinelli, who also served in the position without congressional approval.

10.25pm GMT

Wolf had earlier said he would stay in his role until 20 January, when Joe Biden will be inaugurated president, in order to ensure an “orderly transition” to the new administration.

He will be leaving as the DHS is meant to be coordinating security for inauguration day with the DC police, National Guard and other departments. Security is being amped up following last week’s violent breach of the capitol.

10.19pm GMT

Chad Wolf is stepping down just before midnight Washington time tonight.

He’s the latest Trump administration official to step down following last week’s deadly storming of the capitol, egged on by Trump and other Republican lawmakers.

10.10pm GMT

Washington DC’s attorney general, Karl Racine, said he may bring charges against Donald Trump and others for inciting the storming of the US Capitol.

“Clearly the crowd was hyped up, juiced up, focused on the Capitol and rather than calm them down or at least emphasize the peaceful nature of what protests need to be, they really did encourage these folks and riled them up,” said Racine, of Republican lawmakers, Trump, and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

D.C. AG Karl Racine says he’s looking at potentially charging Trump and others for inciting violence in speeches to the crowd that later breached the Capitol on January 6th. pic.twitter.com/MrvWj8W7mU

9.53pm GMT

After the president incited militant supporters to breach the US Capitol building, leading to five deaths, and persistently tried to undermine the integrity of an election he lost, 73% of Republican voters who participated in the latest Quinnipiac poll still said that Donald Trump was protecting rather than undermining democracy.

In a poll of 1,239 self-identified registered voters, 70% of the Republicans also said that lawmakers. who voted to block electors were protecting rather than undermining democracy. Seventy-three percent of Republican voters said voter fraud was widespread, and 71% approved of Trump.

9.33pm GMT

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

9.23pm GMT

A mysterious post appeared on the State Department website today notifying the world that Donald Trump’s term would end or, in a time warp, had indeed “ended” at 19.49pm this evening.

It may be true that leading Democrats and even two Republican Senators have said Trump should resign now and a resolution was put forth today saying he should be ejected from his job via the 25th Amendment, followed by the introduction of an article of impeachment, but right now the president’s term is not up until January 20.

On the State Dept.’s website right now.

“Donald J. Trump’s term ended on 2021-01-11 19:40:41.” pic.twitter.com/kCLZQqdBjW

9.12pm GMT

The Trump administration has re-designated Cuba as a “state sponsor of terrorism,” just nine days Joe Biden is set to take office.

The AP reports:

The secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, announced the step, citing in particular Cuba’s continued harboring of US fugitives as well as its support for the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro. …

Removing Cuba from the blacklist had been one of President Barack Obama’s main foreign policy achievements as he sought better relations with the communist island, an effort endorsed by Biden as his vice-president. Ties had been essentially frozen after Fidel Castro took power in 1959.

8.57pm GMT

Pulitzer prize winners Ron Chernow, Garry Wills, Stacy Schiff and Jon Meacham are among hundreds of historians and constitutional scholars who have signed an open letter calling for the impeachment and removal of Donald Trump.

“Throughout his presidency,” states the letter organised by Lincoln biographer (and former Clinton aide) Sidney Blumenthal, Sean Wilentz and David Greenberg, “Trump has defied the constitution and broken laws, norms, practices, and precedents, for which he must be held accountable now and after he leaves office. No future president should be tempted by the example of his defiance going unpunished.”

8.42pm GMT

A handful of House Republicans are considering supporting the the articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, according to Politico.

Update: I’m hearing as many as 10 House Republicans are very seriously considering supporting impeachment — and GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney is said to be one of them, per multiples sources.

Dems also working them hard. BUT no final decisions have been made & things fluid.

8.21pm GMT

Up to 15,000 National Guard members could be deployed to Washington for Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, in the hope of avoiding another violent event after the riot at the US Capitol last week.

The Washington Post reports:

Army Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, said in a call with reporters that about 6,000 guardsmen from six states already are in the nation’s capital, and that the military response will expand to about 10,000 by the weekend.

Hokanson said the numbers will be determined by the requirements that federal agencies have for support. The National Guard will bring their weapons to Washington and carry them based on discussions with the FBI, police and other agencies.

8.01pm GMT

Bonnie Watson Coleman, a Democratic congresswoman from New Jersey, has tested positive for coronavirus after sheltering in place with other lawmakers amid the violent siege of the Capitol.

Following the events of Wednesday, including sheltering with several colleagues who refused to wear masks, I decided to take a Covid test.

I have tested positive.https://t.co/wivlbwrmV0

7.40pm GMT

House majority leader Steny Hoyer confirmed that the House will convene on Wednesday morning to debate the article of impeachment against Donald Trump.

The majority leader said the chamber would vote tomorrow evening on Jamie Raskin’s resolution calling on Mike Pence to invoke the 25th amendment and remove Trump from office.

7.24pm GMT

Joe Biden said it is his “hope and expectation” that the Senate will “bifurcate” its workday if the House moves forward with impeachment.

In Biden’s vision, the Senate would spend the morning confirming his nominees and advancing a coronavirus relief bill, while the afternoons would be used to conduct an impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

7.08pm GMT

Joe Biden received his second dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine moments ago, and the president-elect spoke to reporters about his upcoming inauguration.

President-elect Biden receives second dose of coronavirus vaccine. pic.twitter.com/rjVl0kedDQ

6.58pm GMT

President-elect Joe Biden has commented that Donald Trump should not be in office.

“I think President Trump should not be in office. Period,” @JoeBiden tells us. pic.twitter.com/ciMaliz0vd

6.55pm GMT

Trump should be impeached. But that alone won’t remove white supremacy from America – Hillary Clinton.

Last week’s attack is cause for grief and outrage. But it should not be cause for shock.

My essay in the @WashingtonPost. https://t.co/6lsNrXH3YD

Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol was the tragically predictable result of white-supremacist grievances fueled by President Trump. But his departure from office, whether immediately or on Jan. 20, will not solve the deeper problems exposed by this episode. What happened is cause for grief and outrage. It should not be cause for shock. What were too often passed off as the rantings of an unfortunate but temporary figure in public life are, in reality, part of something much bigger. That is the challenge that confronts us all.

6.19pm GMT

Long-time Capitol Police officer Yogananda Pittman has been named as the new acting chief of the force which was plunged into crisis by the security breach and attack on the US Capitol last week as Congress was sitting officially to certify Joe Biden’s election win.

U.S. Capitol Police name Yogananda Pittman as Acting Chief. https://t.co/sbv9Jp6MVh

She assumed the role a day after now-former USCP Chief Steven Sund announced his resignation following a mob laying siege to the Capitol, ransacking lawmakers’ offices, breaking windows and defacing walls and statues inside the complex. Sund said he was stepping down just hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed for his removal.

Sund, who has since refuted claims that he did not request National Guard and other security forces ahead of Wednesday’s attack, originally said in his resignation letter that his last day on the job would be January 16.

6.02pm GMT

Here’s where the day stands so far:

5.52pm GMT

Nancy Pelosi condemned House Republicans for blocking a resolution calling on Mike Pence to invoke the 25th amendment to remove Donald Trump from office.

“The House Republicans rejected this legislation to protect America, enabling the President’s unhinged, unstable and deranged acts of sedition to continue,” the Democratic speaker said in a statement. “Their complicity endangers America, erodes our Democracy, and it must end.”

Today, five days after the President incited a deadly insurrection against American democracy, the @HouseGOP blocked @RepRaskin’s legislation calling on @VP Pence to activate the 25th Amendment.

5.36pm GMT

The US Treasury Department has unveiled new sanctions against seven Ukrainians, several of whom allegedly provided information to Rudy Giuliani and other allies of Donald Trump as part of an operation to influence the outcome of the 2020 US presidential election.

Today @USTreasury took further action against Russian-linked actors. https://t.co/BMChe0AVgd

5.21pm GMT

The FBI has reportedly warned that it has received information about an armed group traveling to Washington later this week.

The FBI has “received information about an identified armed group intending to travel to Washington, DC on 16 January. They have warned that if Congress attempts to remove POTUS via the 25th Amendment a huge uprising will occur,” according to a bulletin obtained by @ABC

5.03pm GMT

Alex Mooney said he objected to Democrats’ resolution about invoking the 25th amendment because he wanted a floor debate on the measure.

Mooney, a Republican of West Virginia, blocked a proposal from Steny Hoyer, the House majority leader, to adopt the resolution by unanimous consent.

Today I objected to Speaker Pelosi’s attempt to adopt via unanimous consent a resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump. pic.twitter.com/FdDdAm6b4y

4.45pm GMT

House majority leader Steny Hoyer confirmed that Democratic leadership is currently planning to hold a vote on the article of impeachment against Donald Trump in two days.

“There may well be a vote on impeachment on Wednesday,” Hoyer told reporters on Capitol Hill.

4.39pm GMT

David Cicilline, one of the Democratic congressmen who helped draft the article of impeachment, told a CNN reporter that he was confident the article would attract majority support in the House.

Cicilline added that he believed some Republican members would support impeachment, which could come up for a vote as soon as Wednesday.

Rep. David Cicilline, a leader of the impeachment effort, expresses confidence there will be majority support to pass the impeachment resolution and thinks vote could be Wednesday. Says some GOP members will support. “We have the numbers to pass it,” he told me

4.32pm GMT

The article of impeachment charges Donald Trump with having incited an insurrection in connection to the violent riot at the US Capitol last week.

“Resolved, That Donald John Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors,” the article says.

4.25pm GMT

A group of House Democrats has formally introduced an article of impeachment against Donald Trump, charging him with “incitement to insurrection” in connection to the violent riot at the Capitol last week.

The Article of Impeachment: Incitement to Insurrection, drafted by Rep @davidcicilline, @RepRaskin, me & @HouseJudiciary staff, has now been formally introduced at the House pro forma session today. https://t.co/Y6ntbSXF9G pic.twitter.com/MfB4CpqC6C

4.18pm GMT

Moments ago, House majority leader Steny Hoyer introduced a resolution from congressman Jamie Raskin calling on the vice-president to invoke the 25th amendment and remove Donald Trump from office.

The resolution urged Mike Pence to “declare what is obvious to a horrified Nation: That the President is unable to successfully discharge the duties and powers of his office.”

.@LeaderHoyer asks for Unanimous Consent on H.R. 21 calling on @VP Pence to convene and mobilize the cabinet to invoke Section 4 of the 25th amendment. @RepAlexMooney objects. pic.twitter.com/IoEoOfuUxj

4.10pm GMT

The House is now in session, and Democrats are expected to soon introduce an article of impeachment against Donald Trump.

Presiding over the session, Democrat Debbie Dingell began the day by reading the resignation of the House sergeant at arms, Paul Irving.

3.59pm GMT

The New York State Bar Association has launched an investigation to determine whether to expel Rudy Giuliani from its membership.

The legal group announced the inquiry in a statement, noting it has received “hundreds of complaints in recent months” about Giuliani’s work for Donald Trump.

3.46pm GMT

David Cicilline said he will be introducing an article of impeachment against Donald Trump in about 15 minutes.

“Just landed in Washington where I will be introducing an article of impeachment against the President for Incitement of Insurrection at 11am,” the Rhode Island congressman said in a new tweet.

Just landed in Washington where I will be introducing an article of impeachment against the President for Incitement of Insurrection at 11am.

3.43pm GMT

The mayor of DC is asking the interior department to cancel any public gathering permits in the city from today until January 24, which would cover Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20.

NEW: Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser requests Interior secretary “cancel any and all public gathering permits in the District of Columbia, and deny any applications for a public gathering during the period January 11 – January 24.” https://t.co/rfwVxIHGt0 pic.twitter.com/3hpNXZYzC7

3.23pm GMT

Richard Luscombe reports for the Guardian:

A black woman whose sister was shot and killed by US Capitol police in Washington eight years ago has said the “restraint” shown by the same agency to Donald Trump’s insurrectionist mob, compared with actions in Black Lives Matter protests last summer, is “hurtful”.

3.08pm GMT

Joe Biden is reportedly getting frustrated with his pandemic advisory team amid concerns that his administration will fall short of its goal to distribute 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office.

Politico reports:

Biden has expressed criticism on multiple occasions to groups of transition officials — including one confrontation where Biden conveyed to Covid coordinator Jeff Zients and his deputy, Natalie Quillian, that their team was underperforming.

The tensions have surfaced as Biden’s advisers plan a dramatic scale-up of vaccinations starting Jan. 20, when the incoming team inherits a troubled Trump administration vaccine rollout that has fallen well short of its initial targets.

2.46pm GMT

House majority leader Steny Hoyer plans to introduce a resolution calling on the vice-president to invoke the 25th amendment and remove Donald Trump from office.

The resolution argues that Trump is “incapable of executing the duties of his office” after the “massive violent invasion of the United States Capitol”.

2.18pm GMT

German chancellor Angela Merkel sees Twitter’s ban on US president Donald Trump as “problematic”, her spokesperson said on Monday.

Freedom of speech was “a fundamental right of elementary significance”, Merkel’s spokesperson Steffen Seibert told journalists.

“This fundamental right can be intervened in, but according to the law and within the framework defined by legislators — not according to a decision by the management of social media platforms,” Seibert added.

“Seen from this angle, the chancellor considers it problematic that the accounts of the US president have now been permanently blocked.”

The kind of law and frameworks regulating social media use referred to by Merkel are considerably stricter in Germany than the US, however.

Under the German “network enforcement act” online platforms face fines of up to €50m (£44m) if they do not remove “obviously illegal” hate speech and other postings within 24 hours of receiving a notification.

After the law was introduced in 2018, Facebook and Twitter fitted their German websites with additional features for flagging up controversial content, and trained moderators to cope with its requirements.

1.51pm GMT

This from CNBC’s Washington correspondent suggests we could see an upping of the ante from the administration over Trump’s social media bans today.

I’m told the White House is discussing the idea of President Trump making remarks on camera today about big tech, but no decisions have been made.

1.45pm GMT

I did suggest earlier that Melania Trump’s farewell statement to the role of first lady [see 7:10am] was not going to be universally well-received. NBC’s Kevin Collier has described it as “jaw-dropping”.

Jaw-dropping statement from @FLOTUS on the official White House site.https://t.co/UaAgUWAVDd pic.twitter.com/SULaa0UCzF

In a deeply weird and jarring farewell statement posted by the White House early Monday morning, Melania first paid tribute to those who lost their lives in last week’s violence carried out in support of her husband, before going on to settle some scores against unspecified people who she claims have “attacked” her over the past few days since the riots.

It’s not exactly clear what she’s referring to—it’s hard to believe that Melania has really been at the forefront of anyone’s mind since last week’s unprecedented assault on American democracy. It could be a reference to a CNN report that she was doing a photoshoot at the White House when rioters were laying siege to the Capitol on behalf of her husband.

1.39pm GMT

I regret to inform you that Mike Pompeo appears to have embarked on another glossy Twitter marathon about his legacy as secretary of state. Anyone would think he might be planning a post-Trump run for president at some point in the future…

pic.twitter.com/fqoTKPgd1y

America is a generous country, but prior Administrations let the UN treat us like a piggybank. @UN was inefficient, wasteful, and manipulated by malign actors. It needed to shape up. Fast. pic.twitter.com/zNbircKmmx

1.34pm GMT

An interesting report from Andrea Salcedo at the Washington Post here, that Republican officials now insist they didn’t know anything about a robocall campaign urging supporters to march on Washington DC last Wednesday.

The day before a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, an arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association sent out robocalls urging supporters to come to D.C. to “fight” Congress over President Trump’s baseless election fraud claims.

“At 1 pm we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal,” said the message first reported by the watchdog group Documented. “We’re hoping patriots like you will join us to continue to fight to protect the integrity of our elections.”

1.23pm GMT

One of the arguments for pressing ahead with an impeachment against Donald Trump even in the dying embers of his presidency is that if there are no consequences to Wednesday’s assault on the Capitol, it will embolden future similar actions.

Along those lines, Sergio Olmos and Conrad Wilson report for Oregon Public Broadcasting that at least 3 men from a prior Oregon protest that attempted to storm the state capitol appear to have gone on to join the insurrection in Washington. They write:

Three men who participated in efforts to storm the Oregon Capitol building Dec. 21 also appear to have traveled to Washington DC to take part in last week’s failed insurrection at the US Capitol.

Images captured on social media and national television show what appear to be two of the men inside the U.S. Capitol as part of the mob attack that left five people dead and temporarily stopped Congress from certifying electoral college votes for President-elect Joe Biden. The third man was part of the mob but evidence has not shown he entered the building.

1.06pm GMT

One group, aside from the “Boomerwaffen” who have been extremely loyal to president Donald Trump have been conservative evangelical Christians. At the weekend the Associated Press sent reporters to listen to the messages being preached around the country.

In Owensboro, Kentucky, Brian Gibson, pastor and founder of HIS Church, pointed the finger at “Antifa” and questioned how easily the Capitol was breached.

So now I know some, some bad actors went in and I believe potentially there were antifa up there. I think more and more I know there were antifa up there, insiders up there that started that action. And I also know that some Trump supporters followed their lead without a shadow of a doubt because you don’t get 2 million people together without having some radicals in the crowd or some simple people in the crowd that you could lead anywhere, right?

12.59pm GMT

Joan Donovan, Brian Friedberg and Emily Dreyfuss are researchers at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. They’ve written for us this morning on how the Capitol siege was the biggest media spectacle of the Trump era:

“The storm” on the Capitol is the result of a new kind of networked conspiracy – a potent brew of disinformation and rumor enabled by platforms, emboldened by politicians and influencers, and defined by a total lack of trust in the news.

While those who stormed the Capitol seem to come from all walks of life, one faction of older white people stood out, aided by a viral image of Richard Barnett, 60, of Gravette, Arkansas, sitting at Nancy Pelosi’s desk. Online they are called the “boomerwaffen”, a pejorative name for the boomers and normies radicalized by cable news and AM radio, likening their potential for rightwing violence to that of Atomwaffen terrorists.

12.46pm GMT

The chair of the US House rules committee has told CNN he expects articles of impeachment against president Donald Trump to get to the House floor for a vote on Wednesday, and predicted it will pass.

“It is important that we act, and it is important that we act in a very serious and deliberative manner,” Representative Jim McGovern said in an interview this morning. “We expect this up on the floor on Wednesday. And I expect that it will pass.”

12.35pm GMT

Donald Trump will today award the highest US civilian honour to a close ally who has supported his attempts to remain in power, objecting to the electoral college results even after the president incited the deadly Capitol riot: Ohio Republican representative Jim Jordan.

According to the White House, the presidential medal of freedom is awarded to “individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the security or national interests of America, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors”.

12.32pm GMT

A few things in the diary today. According to the White House, president Donald Trump “will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings.”

Vice president Mike Pence will lead a White House coronavirus task force meeting at 2pm.

12.22pm GMT

Joe Biden will have to make critical decisions on arms control in his first days in the White House that could determine whether a new nuclear arms race can be averted, and possibly reversed.

When the new president takes the oath of office on 20 January, there will be 16 days left before the 2010 New Start treaty with Russia expires, and with it the last binding limit on the world’s two biggest nuclear arsenals left standing in the wake of the Trump era.

12.10pm GMT

First Lady Melania Trump has been very quiet since last week’s events but she has published today an article on the White House website entitled: “Our path forward”. In it she addresses for the first time in public the events of last week, writing:

I am disappointed and disheartened with what happened last week. I find it shameful that surrounding these tragic events there has been salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and false misleading accusations on me – from people who are looking to be relevant and have an agenda. This time is solely about healing our country and its citizens. It should not be used for personal gain.

Our Nation must heal in a civil manner. Make no mistake about it, I absolutely condemn the violence that has occurred on our Nation’s Capitol. Violence is never acceptable.

It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your First Lady. I want to thank the millions of Americans who supported my husband and me over the past 4 years and shown the incredible impact of the American spirit. I am grateful to you all for letting me serve you on platforms which are dear to me.

12.00pm GMT

Also in the realms of foreign policy, if a day ends in ‘y’ then China and the Trump administration will be bickering about something. Today it is the change that Mike Pompeo announced on Saturday – scrapping curbs on US interactions with Taiwan officials.

China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian has responded today by telling reporters that: “The Chinese people’s resolve to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity is unshakable and we will not permit any person or force to stop the process of China’s re-unification. Any actions which harm China’s core interests will be met with a firm counterattack and will not succeed.”

11.46am GMT

While former deputy secretary of state William Burns gets the nod from Biden to head up the CIA, the current secretary of state Mike Pompeo is still busy doing the Trump administration’s work, as Bethan McKernan, our Middle East correspondent, reports:

The Trump administration has made an 11th-hour decision to designate Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a foreign terrorist organisation in a move that is likely to severely worsen the war-torn country’s humanitarian crisis.

Terrorist designations of Ansarallah in Yemen confront its terrorist activity and seeks to deter further malign activity by the Iranian regime in the region.

11.39am GMT

David Ignatius at the Washington Post has some early reaction to that decision by president-elect Joe Biden to nominate former ambassador William J. Burns for CIA director. Ignatius writes:

The choice of Burns is the incoming administration’s last major personnel decision, and it highlights the qualities that characterize Biden’s foreign policy team. Burns is an inside player — brainy, reserved, collegial — and loyal to his superiors.

The choice of Burns will disappoint those who wanted a career intelligence officer to succeed Gina Haspel, the current director. Michael Morell, a career CIA analyst and former acting director, was popular among many CIA alumni, who argued that he knew the agency’s shortcomings well enough to oversee the overhaul that CIA needs for the 21st century.

11.26am GMT

President-elect Joe Biden has announced that the former deputy secretary of state William Burns will be his nominee for director of the CIA.

Biden’s transition team have issued a statement where Biden says of his pick:

Bill Burns is an exemplary diplomat with decades of experience on the world stage keeping our people and our country safe and secure. He shares my profound belief that intelligence must be apolitical and that the dedicated intelligence professionals serving our nation deserve our gratitude and respect. Ambassador Burns will bring the knowledge, judgment, and perspective we need to prevent and confront threats before they can reach our shores. The American people will sleep soundly with him as our next CIA Director.

11.24am GMT

Worth noting as well, that despite the shouts of some people that it must have somehow secretly been the “Antifa” hordes who were storming the US Capitol in disguise last week, an Associated Press analysis has shown this was very much not the case. They published this report overnight:

The insurrectionist mob that showed up at the president’s behest and stormed the US Capitol was overwhelmingly made up of longtime Trump supporters, including Republican Party officials, GOP political donors, far-right militants, white supremacists, and adherents of the QAnon myth.

The Associated Press reviewed social media posts, voter registrations, court files and other public records for more than 120 people either facing criminal charges related to the 6 January or who, going maskless amid the pandemic, were later identified through photographs and videos taken during the melee.

11.18am GMT

This might cheer Donald Trump up a little about his Twitter exile. Reuters report that Twitter’s German-listed shares slumped as much as 8% on Monday, the first trading day after it permanently suspended the president late on Friday.

The company said suspension of Trump’s account, which had more than 88 million followers, was due to the risk of further violence. It was the first time Twitter banned a head of state.

11.10am GMT

While Parler goes offline, according to Julie Gerstein’s report at Business Insider it seems that the Trumps have abandoned Twitter en masse. She writes:

Eric hasn’t tweeted since Wednesday, January 6 and Ivanka last tweeted on January 7 (the tweet was a quote tweet of a since-removed tweet from her father’s @RealDonaldTrump account.)

Only Donald Trump Jr. has been a steady presence on Twitter over the last several days, using his account to retweet former “Saturday Night Live” comedian Rob Schneider, tweet about transgender women, and tweet and retweet concerns of censorship from conservative circles.

11.00am GMT

The “free speech” social network Parler, popular with Donald Trump supporters, has been forced off the internet after Amazon pulled its hosting services.

The Twitter clone, which gained notoriety as a communication hub for the rioters who stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday, had already suffered a major hit to its reach over the weekend, as first Google and then Apple suspended its app from their stores.

10.53am GMT

Alexandra Villarreal reports for us on how, amid vast income inequality, California Latino community makes up 39% of the state’s people, but accounts for the majority of positive Covid cases:

When William Sanchez and eleven of his family members contracted Covid-19 around Thanksgiving, his toddler’s temperature spiked, his nephew vomited for days, and his diabetic mom’s blood sugar moved like a rollercoaster.

10.42am GMT

Coronavirus numbers always show a dip at the weekend as not every authority in the US counts them at the weekend, but nevertheless according to the Johns Hopkins university figures, yesterday there were 213,905 new cases, and 1,814 further deaths. The total death toll is now 374,020.

Madeline Holcombe reports for CNN that, according to the Covid tracking project, the US has now seen more than 100,000 coronavirus hospitalizations 40 days in a row.

On Sunday, 129,229 people were in US hospitals with coronavirus. “We really need to get this vaccine out more quickly, because this is really our only tool,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, said on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday.

“We need to acknowledge that it’s not working,” Gottlieb said of the vaccination plan. “We need to hit the reset and adopt a new strategy in trying to get that out to patients.”

In hard-hit Arizona, the crisis will get worse, said Joe K. Gerald, associate professor at the University of Arizona’s Zuckerman College of Public Health. “We should expect to set new records for cases, hospitalizations, and deaths over the coming weeks. Policy action is urgently needed to mitigate the worst possible outcome,”

He also expressed concern about “the inevitable arrival of the more highly transmissible” strain of coronavirus that was first detected in the United Kingdom and has spread to at least eight US states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.

10.33am GMT

Associated Press report that a Tennessee police officer has been charged with kidnapping a man in a squad car while on duty and fatally shooting him.

Authorities said Patric Ferguson, a Memphis police officer since 2018, was charged in the death of Robert Howard, 30, of Memphis. Howard was reported missing Wednesday, Memphis police said in a statement Sunday on Twitter.

10.29am GMT

With Trump now finally accepting he will leave office, the future leadership of his movement is increasingly up for grabs, with a ragtag band of senators, congressman, Trump family members – and Trump himself – already jostling for the position.

Whether anyone apart from the president is able to successfully ride the tiger of racism, nihilism and grievance politics that carried Trump to near-re-election after four years of American chaos and hundreds of thousands of preventable pandemic deaths is an open question. It also might be an irrelevant question, if Trump decides to stage a 2023-24 stadium tour doubling as a new presidential campaign.

10.21am GMT

In more fall-out from the pro-Trump assault on the Capitol, Associated Press report that the US army is investigating a psychological operations officer who led a group of people from North Carolina to the rally in Washington.

Commanders at Fort Bragg are reviewing captain Emily Rainey’s involvement in last week’s events in the nation’s capital, but she said she acted within military regulations and that no one in her group broke the law.

10.13am GMT

Reuters has this today, reporting that Washington’s mayor has asked for increased security around the inauguration of president-elect Joe Biden after last week’s storming of the Capitol by supporters of president Donald Trump.

Describing last week’s assault as an “unprecedented terrorist attack”, Mayor Muriel Bowser said that Biden’s inauguration on 20 January will require a “different approach” compared to past inaugurations.

10.06am GMT

The House is prepared to launch impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump as early as this week if Vice President Mike Pence and the cabinet refuse to remove him from office for his role in inciting a mob that carried out a deadly assault on the seat of American government.

The House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, delivered the ultimatum in a letter to colleagues on Sunday night that described the president as an urgent threat to the nation.

10.00am GMT

Welcome to our live coverage of US politics for Monday, in a week where we may see the unprecedented second impeachment of a sitting US president. Here’s where we are, and what we might expect to see…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden

Acting US homeland security secretary Chad Wolf resigns – as it happened

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