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Trailblazer Kamala Harris: America's first woman vice president

Washington (AFP) - Kamala Harris smashed through one of America's highest glass ceilings Wednesday, becoming the first woman, first Black American and first person of Asian heritage to be appointed vice president, blazing a trail in the most diverse White House ever. As running mate to now-President Joe Biden, she helped bring Donald Trump's turbulent rule to an end, assailing him for his chaotic bungling of the Covid-19 pandemic, last year's unrest over racial injustices and his crackdown on immigration. Harris, 56, enters the post having already forged a unique path, as California's first Bl...

Key dates of the Trump presidency

Washington (AFP) - From the launch of his campaign in 2015 to his defeat to Joe Biden, Donald Trump's time in the White House was a chaotic roller coaster ride as he shattered norms, shunned allies, bullied anyone who opposed him and governed with laser focus on how his policies would play with his conservative political base. Here are some of the main dates punctuating Trump's political career: First movesJanuary 25, 2017: Trump signs an executive order ordering construction to begin on the wall he promised to build on the southern US border with Mexico, a key campaign promise he said Mexico ...

Trump brand tarnished after bruising presidency and Capitol attack

New York (AFP) - Donald Trump shot to prominence with a business empire that bears his name, but after four years of political tumult capped by his supporters' violent attack on the Capitol, the US president's brand stands tarnished, threatening his businesses, experts say. Companies that stuck with Trump throughout his term are cutting ties in an 11th-hour stampede, including Signature Bank which closed Trump's personal accounts and the PGA of America which scotched a plan to hold its 2022 championship at Trump's New Jersey golf course. Such announcements not only reflect the business communi...

Silence, division between old allies Trump and Pence

Washington (AFP) - Since Vice President Mike Pence led the Congress session that ceremonially confirmed his boss Donald Trump had lost the November election, relations between the two top Republicans have plummeted to an Arctic chill. The men have not spoken after the president's supporters violently stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, according to the US media, which also reports that Pence intends to be at Biden's inauguration despite Trump saying he will skip it. It is a stark rupture between the precedent-shattering Trump and his deputy who has been the president's most devoted foot soldier ...

25th Amendment provides for transfer of power from US president

Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump faced a growing chorus of calls Thursday to be removed from office under the 25th Amendment for inciting the mob violence that swept through the US Capitol one day earlier. Adopted in 1967, the 25th Amendment lays out the provisions for a transfer of power from a US president who dies, resigns, is removed from office or for other reasons is unable to fulfill his or her duties. It has been invoked on several occasions, notably by Richard Nixon when he resigned in 1974 and for presidents undergoing a surgical procedure so that power could be shifted temp...

With historic wins, Democrats seize US Senate control

Atlanta (AFP) - Democrats seized control of the US Senate Wednesday with dramatic election wins in Georgia, slapping Donald Trump's party with a crushing loss two weeks from the president's exit and handing Joe Biden comprehensive power in Washington. The Republican debacle in Georgia -- sealed when Jon Ossoff was proclaimed the winner in the second of two Senate runoff races -- came as Trump supporters furious about his election defeat launched a violent assault on the US Capitol, disrupting Congress's session to affirm Biden's victory and plunging Washington into chaos. A defiant Trump, spea...

Fact Check: Trump's claims of Georgia election fraud

Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump made a series of unsubstantiated claims about US presidential election results from Georgia during an hour-long call with its secretary of state and other officials, rejecting the legitimacy of the vote a little more than two weeks before he is due to leave the White House. The president -- who has repeatedly said without evidence that the 2020 election was plagued by fraud -- urged Republican Brad Raffensperger to "find" enough votes to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Raffensperger, Georgia's secretary of state, and his office's lawyer pointedly reject...

Trump heard on tape urging state official to 'find' votes for him

Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump pressured Georgia's top election official, a fellow Republican, in an extraordinary phone conversation to "find" enough votes to overturn Joe Biden's victory in the southern state, US media reported Sunday. In the conversation with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Saturday, a recording of which was first obtained by The Washington Post, Trump warns Raffensperger that he and his general counsel could face "a big risk" if they failed to pursue his request. "The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry," Trump is heard sayi...

Ex-Pentagon chiefs say military must stay out of US election

Washington (AFP) - All 10 living former US defense secretaries, including two Donald Trump appointees, warned Sunday against involving the military in the US presidential transition. In an essay published in The Washington Post, Ashton Carter, Leon Panetta, William Perry, Dick Cheney, William Cohen, Robert Gates, Chuck Hagel, Donald Rumsfeld, James Mattis and Mark Esper urged the Pentagon to commit to a peaceful transition of power. "Efforts to involve the US armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory," they said, adding th...

Dozen US senators plan to oppose Biden certification

Washington (AFP) - 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 elec...