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Videos reveal violence of assault on US Congress
Washington (AFP) - Five days after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol, new videos are revealing the level of violence that left lawmakers cowering inside and police howling for backup. The footage spilling out on social media shows a policeman dragged out and beaten on the ground; protesters chanting to "hang" Vice President Mike Pence; and a pack of demonstrators appearing to search for high officials inside the building. The videos, which have steadily flowed out onto the internet since the January 6 unrest, show Trump's supporters as much more aggressive and violent...
AFP
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US president has sole power to launch nuclear strike
Washington (AFP) - Concerns on Friday over US President Donald Trump's mental state have drawn focus on his power to unleash a nuclear attack. Two days after Trump supporters, under his encouragement, stormed the US Capitol and shut down Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she had contacted the Pentagon's top general, Mark Milley, to understand how to prevent "an unhinged president" from using the secret nuclear launch codes to order a nuclear strike. As Milley presumably told her, the US constitution gives the president the sole power to launch a nuclear weapon. Congress cannot interfer...
AFP
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Police accused of leniency with Trumpists, severity with anti-racists
Los Angeles (AFP) - Like many Americans, President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday accused US authorities of treating a pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol more leniently than last year's anti-racism demonstrators. "No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday... they wouldn't have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol," Biden said in an address from his hometown in Delaware. "We all know that's true, and it is unacceptable," said Biden, who will take over the White House on January 20, after winning Nove...
AFP
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'We'll fight tooth and nail' - on bus to Washington, Trump supporters defiant
Washington (AFP) - Wearing "Make America Great Again" caps and sharing biscuits and beers, hundreds of Donald Trump supporters insisted they would never accept Joe Biden as president as they traveled by bus from near Boston to Washington to protest Congress's expected certification of his White House victory. "We're not going to roll over and let this go. There's no way," says Sue Ianni, an official with the pro-Trump, pro-straight organization Super Fun Happy America, which chartered six buses carrying about 300 protesters for the demonstration in the US capital. "We will fight tooth and nai...
AFP
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Distrustful Republicans mobilize ahead of crucial Georgia vote
Dalton (United States) (AFP) - Sitting at a workbench in the shop where he repairs leather goods and sells cowboy hats and Confederate flags, Paul Coffey says he doesn't believe official results and remains convinced Donald Trump beat Joe Biden in Georgia in the presidential election. Like many Republicans, the affable retired air traffic controller has little faith in the southern state's electoral system after Trump repeatedly made unfounded and debunked claims of widespread voter fraud there and across the country. Trump "won Georgia -- if it were legal. I think it was a lot of out-of-state...
AFP
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Distrustful Republicans mobilize ahead of crucial Georgia vote
Dalton (United States) (AFP) - Sitting at a workbench in the shop where he repairs leather goods and sells cowboy hats and Confederate flags, Paul Coffey says he doesn't believe official results and remains convinced Donald Trump beat Joe Biden in Georgia in the presidential election. Like many Republicans, the affable retired air traffic controller has little faith in the southern state's electoral system after Trump repeatedly made unfounded and debunked claims of widespread voter fraud there and across the country. Trump "won Georgia -- if it were legal. I think it was a lot of out-of-state...
AFP
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Hope of their parties: 4 candidates in crucial US Senate runoffs
Atlanta (AFP) - A Jewish immigrant's son and a black pastor versus two wealthy businesspeople who openly decry the Washington swamp they work in: four candidates square off Tuesday in twin runoffs that will determine all-important control of the US Senate. Jon Ossoff, Raphael Warnock, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue were little known months ago outside their state of Georgia, but they have become household names as their ferocious duels emerged as the biggest, most expensive Senate runoffs in American history. Media coverage has been overwhelming, and both parties have thrown unprecedented nu...
AFP
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Biden, Trump descend on Georgia for Senate runoff rallies
Atlanta (AFP) - Donald Trump and Joe Biden head to Georgia on Monday to rally their party faithful ahead of twin runoffs that will decide who controls the US Senate, one day after the release of a bombshell recording of the outgoing president that rocked Washington. If Democratic challengers defeat the Republican incumbents in both races Tuesday, the split in the upper chamber of Congress will be 50-50, meaning incoming Vice President Kamala Harris will have the deciding vote. The dueling rallies by the outgoing president and his successor were set to be the final exclamation mark on a two-mon...
AFP
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Black voters key to Democrats' hopes in Georgia Senate runoffs
Hampton (United States) (AFP) - At a small but lively election rally in the town of Hampton, south of Atlanta, the message is plain to see, right in a sign on the stage: "African Americans. Flip the Senate." Voters in traditionally conservative Georgia head to the polls on Tuesday for two crucial Senate runoffs that will decide which party controls the upper chamber of the US Congress. If the Democrats win both races, the balance of power will shift their way -- and a big turnout among Black voters is seen as the key to that success. "It is important that African Americans and minorities show ...
AFP
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Trump campaign stop in Georgia for Senate runoffs could be risky
Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump is hitting the campaign trail for two Republican senators trying to save their seats in crucial Georgia runoffs, but is it a good idea? It certainly is on paper, but given the outgoing president's erratic behavior of late, and his refusal to acknowledge his own election defeat, some party power players are worried. The stakes are high: the special January 5 election will determine who controls the US Senate and, by extension, define the early days of Joe Biden's presidency. If the Republicans lose both seats, the chamber will be at 50-50, meaning Demo...
AFP
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