Stephanie Grisham, the former White House communications director and press secretary and current chief of staff for first lady Melania Trump, submitted her resignation Wednesday afternoon, effective immediately, in the wake of the violent protests, a White House official says.
First lady's chief of staff and former WH press secretary resigns over violent protests
White Wisconsin cop who shot Black man Jacob Blake in Kenosha will not face criminal charges
The white police officer who shot Black man Jacob Blake seven times in the back, leaving him paralyzed, will not face criminal charges, Wisconsin prosecutors announced Tuesday.
“It is our decision that no charge will be filed,” Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley said Tuesday, saying the decision followed a “dramatically exhaustive” investigation.
Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey shot Blake at close range Aug. 23 as the 29-year-old dad was attempting to enter an SUV with three of his young children, ages 8, 5 and 3, in the back seat.
Graveley said he believed there was not enough admissible evidence to bring charges.
'That's real:' Fauci rejects Trump claim that U.S. coronavirus deaths overcounted
Two top U.S. health officials on Sunday disputed a claim by President Donald Trump that federal data on COVID-19 cases and deaths in the United States is overblown, and both expressed optimism that the pace of vaccinations is picking up.
“The deaths are real deaths,” Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on ABC News’ This Week, adding that jam-packed hospitals and stressed-out healthcare workers are “not fake. That’s real.”
Fauci and U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who appeared on CNN’s State of the Union, defended the accuracy of coronavirus data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after Trump attacked the agency’s tabulation methods.
Democrats shatter fundraising records ahead of Georgia Senate runoffs
![Democrats shatter fundraising records in Georgia](https://static.politico.com/dims4/default/199eae1/2147483647/resize/971x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2F0c%2F22%2F58cb89f34f599152de05d7df1e84%2Fap20321007487341-c.jpg)
Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock shattered fundraising records by hauling in more than $100 million each in the past two months, significantly outraising GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in the final stretch of the two Georgia Senate races that will decide control of the chamber next month.
The massive fundraising for the two Democrats was driven largely by small-dollar donations, continuing the pattern this year of the party’s Senate candidates tapping into online donors across the country to fund their challenger campaigns, although Democrats underperformed expectations in November despite the fundraising edge.
Ossoff became the best-funded Senate candidate in history, hauling in $106.8 million in two months. The Democrat spent $93.5 million from Oct. 15 through Dec. 16, and ended that period with $17.5 million in the bank for the closing weeks of the runoff.
Employers Will No Longer Be Required To Give Paid Leave To Workers With COVID-19
Starting Jan. 1, employers will no longer have to give workers with COVID-19, or those taking care of someone with the virus, two weeks of paid leave.
Congress is letting the coronavirus paid leave guarantee expire at the end of the month without an extension. The $900 billion relief package Congress passed late Monday does extend tax credits for employers offering paid leave until March. That means the federal government will pay for paid sick leave for another three months, but businesses are no longer required to offer it.
In March, Congress guaranteed workers up to two weeks of fully paid sick leave if they contract COVID-19. The program also mandates two weeks of paid leave for those caring for someone required to quarantine, and 10 weeks of emergency child care leave if schools or child care facilities are shut down, paid out at two-thirds of a worker’s regular salary. Employers were given a refundable tax credit to cover the costs of paying out paid sick leave.
Dr. Fauci Receives COVID Vaccine, Says He Has ‘Extreme Confidence’ in Its Safety
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, received Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccination on Tuesday, noting that he was publicly getting inoculated in part to send a signal that the vaccine was safe and effective.
With President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President Mike Pence having already received their vaccines on camera, Fauci and other top officials from the National Institutes of Health received their doses days after the FDA authorized emergency use of the Moderna vaccine. Rolling up his sleeve, the 79-year-old director of the National Institute of Health and Infectious Diseases expressed confidence in the preventative medication the NIH helped develop.
Trump turns on everyone
![Trump attacking everyone](https://images.axios.com/Qt284_bTpF1ZXE4MBl5UFZMNMdM=/0x464:4500x2995/1920x1080/2020/12/22/1608635825677.jpg)
President Trump, in his final days, is turning bitterly on virtually every person around him, griping about anyone who refuses to indulge conspiracy theories or hopeless bids to overturn the election, several top officials tell Axios.
The latest: Targets of his outrage include Vice President Pence, chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Secretary of State Pompeo and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Why it matters: Trump thinks everyone around him is weak, stupid or disloyal — and increasingly seeks comfort only in people who egg him on to overturn the election results. We cannot stress enough how unnerved Trump officials are by the conversations unfolding inside the White House.
Lara Trump served on the board of a company through which the Trump political operation spent more than $700 million.
![laara trump served on board receiving $700m from Trump organization](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/18/us/politics/18transition-briefing-lara/18transition-briefing-lara-jumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp)
Lara Trump, President Trump’s daughter-in-law and a senior campaign adviser, served on the board of a limited liability company through which the Trump political operation has spent more than $700 million since 2019, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. She was also named on drafts of the company’s incorporation papers.
The arrangement has never been disclosed. One of the other board members and signatories in the draft papers of the L.L.C., American Made Media Consultants, was John Pence, the nephew of Vice President Mike Pence and a senior Trump adviser. The L.L.C. has been criticized for purposefully obscuring the ultimate destination of hundreds of millions of dollars of spending. Ms. Trump is married to Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons.
Trump downplays Russian role in US cyberattacks, claims he won election
![Trump downplays Russia's role in cyber attacks](https://img.theweek.in/content/dam/week/news/world/images/2020/12/8/trump-ap.jpg)
In his first comments since news broke of an ongoing cyber attack on the United States believed to be unprecedented in scale, and which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said is likely the work of Russia, US President Donald Trump has tried to downplay Moscow’s role.
“The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality. I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control. Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!)” Trump tweeted.
“There could also have been a hit on our ridiculous voting machines during the election, which is now obvious that I won big, making it an even more corrupted embarrassment for the USA,” he added.
TVNL Comment: Poor Donald. He has to protect Putin. One day we;ll know what the Russians have on him. And, of course, he cannot face losing the election. Daddy would be angry. Geez.
More Articles...
- As UK fights new coronavirus strain, PM Johnson imposes tighter coronavirus curbs on millions
- GOP Rep. Joe Wilson Tests Positive After Speaking On House Floor
- Sen. Kelly Loeffler condemns white supremacist after posing for picture with him
- Supreme Court rejects Texas’ bid to overturn Joe Biden’s election, handing decisive blow to Trump
Page 95 of 1139