AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EST
Pelosi, Democrats lay plans for swift Trump impeachment
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats laid plans Friday for impeaching President Donald Trump, even as he's headed out of the White House, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she had spoken to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about preventing an “unhinged” Trump from ordering a nuclear strike in his final days.
Pelosi and the Democrats are considering swift impeachment — beginning Monday — after the deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob that shocked the nation and the world.
“We must take action," Pelosi declared on a private conference call with Democrats.
She said she had also spoken with Gen. Mark Milley “to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes" for nuclear war. She said Milley assured her longstanding safeguards are in place.
The president has sole authority to order the launch of a nuclear weapon, but a military commander could refuse the order if it were determined to be illegal. Trump has not publicly made such threats, but some lawmakers are sounding alarms that he could do great damage on military or other issues on his way out.
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Biden calls Trump 'unfit' but doesn't endorse impeachment
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden said Friday that President Donald Trump isn't “fit for the job,” but he repeatedly refused to endorse growing Democratic calls to impeach him a second time.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to members of her chamber that lawmakers could move as early as next week to impeach Trump for inciting a violent mob that overran the U.S. Capitol if the president didn't “immediately" resign. Pelosi and Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer also have called on Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to force Trump from office — a process for stripping the president of his post and installing the vice president to take over.
Addressing reporters in his home state of Delaware after an event introducing some of his Cabinet choices, Biden noted that a key reason he ran for president was because he'd “thought for a long, long time that President Trump wasn’t fit for the job."
“I’ve been saying for now, well, over a year, he’s not fit to serve,” Biden said. “He’s one of the most incompetent presidents in the history of the United States of America.”
But he refused to back efforts to remove Trump from the White House and insisted that impeachment was up to Congress. Instead, Biden said he was focused on the start of his own administration on Jan. 20, and he said his top three priorities are beating back the coronavirus, distributing vaccines fairly and equitably and reviving the struggling economy.
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Trump joins a select few in skipping Biden's inauguration
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s decision to skip President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration is not without precedent, though one must go back to Andrew Johnson in 1869 to find the most recent example.
John Adams and John Quincy Adams also opted not to participate in a tradition that began with George Washington.
The White House Historical Association points out that John Adams was never formally invited by his successor, Thomas Jefferson, to the event and perhaps didn’t want to impose. The association also noted it was the first time the presidency was transferred to an opposing party and “he may have wanted to avoid provoking violence between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.”
Following in his father’s footsteps, John Quincy Adams officially departed the White House on the evening of March 3, the day before the inauguration of President Andrew Jackson. Jackson has been in Washington for about three weeks. He did not call on Adams, nor did Adams invite Jackson to the White House.
Some four decades later, President-elect Ulysses S. Grant refused to ride with President Andrew Johnson from the White House to the Capitol for the ceremony. When it was suggested that two carriages carry them separately, Johnson said he would simply not attend the ceremonies, remaining instead at the White House with friends and colleagues and signing last-minute legislation.
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With virus surging, Biden to speed release of COVID vaccines
WASHINGTON (AP) — With COVID-19 surging and vaccinations off to a slow start, President-elect Joe Biden will rapidly release most available vaccine doses to protect more people, his office said Friday, a reversal of Trump administration policies.
“The president-elect believes we must accelerate distribution of the vaccine while continuing to ensure the Americans who need it most get it as soon as possible," spokesman T.J. Ducklo said in a statement. Biden “supports releasing available doses immediately, and believes the government should stop holding back vaccine supply so we can get more shots in Americans’ arms now.”
Biden’s plan is not about cutting two-dose vaccines in half, a strategy that top government scientists recommend against. Instead, it would accelerate shipment of first doses and use the levers of government power to provide required second doses in a timely manner.
The Trump administration has been holding back millions of doses of vaccine to guarantee that people can get a second shot, which provides maximum protection against COVID-19. It's seen as a prudent approach, since both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require a second shot after the first vaccination.
But a recent scientific analysis in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine estimated that a “flexible” approach roughly analogous to what Biden is talking about could avert an additional 23% to 29% of COVID-19 cases when compared to the “fixed” strategy the Trump administration is following. That’s assuming a steady supply of vaccine.
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Vaccine rollout hits snag as health workers balk at shots
The desperately awaited vaccination drive against the coronavirus in the U.S. is running into resistance from an unlikely quarter: Surprising numbers of health care workers who have seen firsthand the death and misery inflicted by COVID-19 are refusing shots.
It is happening in nursing homes and, to a lesser degree, in hospitals, with employees expressing what experts say are unfounded fears of side effects from vaccines that were developed at record speed. More than three weeks into the campaign, some places are seeing as much as 80% of the staff holding back.
“I don’t think anyone wants to be a guinea pig,” said Dr. Stephen Noble, a 42-year-old cardiothoracic surgeon in Portland, Oregon, who is postponing getting vaccinated. “At the end of the day, as a man of science, I just want to see what the data show. And give me the full data.”
Alarmed by the phenomenon, some administrators have dangled everything from free breakfasts at Waffle House to a raffle for a car to get employees to roll up their sleeves. Some states have threatened to let other people cut ahead of health care workers in the line for shots.
“It’s far too low. It’s alarmingly low,” said Neil Pruitt, CEO of PruittHealth, which runs about 100 long-term care homes in the South, where fewer than 3 in 10 workers offered the vaccine so far have accepted it.
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Police officer's death intensifies Capitol siege questions
WASHINGTON (AP) — A police officer has died from injuries suffered as President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol, a violent siege that is forcing hard questions about the defeated president's remaining days in office and the ability of the Capitol Police to secure the area.
The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement that Officer Brian D. Sicknick was injured “while physically engaging with protesters" during the Wednesday riot. He is the fifth person to die because of the Capitol protest and violence.
During the struggle at the Capitol, Sicknick, 42, was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher, two law enforcement officials said. The officials could not discuss the ongoing investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
His family said in a statement Friday that Sicknick wanted to be a police officer his entire life. He served in the New Jersey Air National Guard before joining the Capitol Police in 2008.
“Many details regarding Wednesday’s events and the direct causes of Brian’s injuries remain unknown, and our family asks the public and the press to respect our wishes in not making Brian’s passing a political issue," the family said.
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State lawmaker charged after entering Capitol with rioters
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A Republican West Virginia state lawmaker has been federally charged for entering a restricted area of the U.S. Capitol after he livestreamed himself rushing into the building with a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters.
Ken Kohl, a top deputy federal prosecutor in Washington, announced the case against state Del. Derrick Evans on a call in which he presented dozens of new charges against members of the crowd that violently stormed the Capitol on Wednesday.
He appeared before a federal judge in Huntington, West Virginia, on Friday afternoon after being arrested, news outlets reported. If convicted, he faces up to a year and a half in federal prison for two misdemeanors: entering a restricted area and disorderly conduct.
Federal Magistrate Judge Cheryl Eifert released him on his own recognizance. Wearing a hoodie and a face mask to protect against the coronavirus, Evans did not answer reporters’ questions as he left the courthouse and quickly got into a vehicle.
His lawyer, John Bryan, said in an email that he hadn't seen the complaint against Evans and couldn't comment.
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Woman who wrongly accused Black teen is arrested, apologizes
NEW YORK (AP) — A woman who wrongly accused a Black teenager of stealing her phone and tackled him while being filmed at a New York City hotel apologized but defended her actions in a television interview conducted before she was arrested in California.
“I consider myself to be super sweet,” Miya Ponsetto, 22, said in a “CBS This Morning" interview that aired Friday.
“I don’t feel that that is who I am as a person. I don’t feel like this one mistake does define me,” she said. “But I do sincerely from the bottom of my heart apologize that if I made the son feel as if I assaulted him or if I hurt his feelings or the father’s feelings.”
The interview was conducted Thursday afternoon, hours before Ponsetto was jailed in Ventura County. A spokesperson for the sheriff's office there said it wasn't immediately clear what charges she faced. The office earlier said she might be charged with resisting arrest.
The New York Police Department flew detectives to California earlier Thursday with a warrant for Ponsetto's arrest. The trip followed days of intense media coverage of the fracas at the hotel and demands by the teen's family and activists that she face criminal charges.
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GOP's David Perdue concedes to Jon Ossoff in Georgia runoff
ATLANTA (AP) — Democratic control of the U.S. Senate came one step closer to fruition Friday after Georgia Republican David Perdue conceded his runoff loss to Democrat Jon Ossoff.
A day earlier, the GOP's Kelly Loeffler conceded to Democrat Raphael Warnock in Georgia's other Senate race.
Perdue thanked supporters in a statement before acknowledging his loss in Tuesday's election, saying “I want to congratulate the Democratic Party and my opponent for this runoff win.”
After their contentious race marked by sharp personal attacks, Perdue's statement did not mention Ossoff by name.
A spokesperson for Ossoff’s campaign said the Democrat had not received a call from Perdue and that they learned about his concession from media reports.
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VIRUS TODAY: Pfizer says vaccine can work against variants
Here’s what’s happening Friday with the pandemic in the U.S.:
THREE THINGS TO KNOW TODAY
— New research suggests the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech can still work against a mutated coronavirus. Two easier-to-spread new variants of the virus have the world on edge. One was discovered in Britain, the other in South Africa, but they share a common mutation. Pfizer researchers say lab tests show that mutation doesn’t block the vaccine. But more tests are needed to see if an additional mutation is cause for concern. The preliminary study was posted on an online research site late Thursday and has not been reviewed by other experts.
— Facing a massive surge in cases, California has been issuing waivers allowing hospitals to temporarily bypass the nation’s only strict nurse-to-patient ratios. Nurses say that being forced to take on more patients is pushing them to the brink of burnout and affecting patient care. At least 250 of about 400 hospitals in California have been granted 60-day waivers. They allow ICU nurses to care for three instead of two people and emergency room nurses to oversee six patients instead of three. Nurses in other states have demanded law-mandated ratios like those in California but so far have failed to get them.
— World Health Organization experts have issued recommendations saying that the interval between administration of two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can be extended to up to six weeks. WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunization formally published its advice, saying an interval of 21 to 28 days between the doses is recommended. But the U.N. health agency also noted some countries face “exceptional circumstances of vaccine supply constraints combined with a high disease burden,” and some have been considering delaying the administration of a second dose as a way to broaden initial coverage.