Tag: Wilmington

Biden Says To Push Putin At Summit To Protect Human Rights

In this file combination of pictures created on March 17, 2021 shows US President Joe Biden(L) during remarks on the implementation of the American Rescue Plan in the State Dining room of the White House in Washington, DC on March 15, 2021, and Russian President Vladimir Putin as he and his Turkish counterpart hold a joint press statement following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 5, 2020.
In this file combination of pictures created on March 17, 2021 shows US President Joe Biden(L) during remarks on the implementation of the American Rescue Plan in the State Dining room of the White House in Washington, DC on March 15, 2021, and Russian President Vladimir Putin as he and his Turkish counterpart hold a joint press statement following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 5, 2020.

 

President Joe Biden pledged Sunday to tell Russian leader Vladimir Putin at their June summit that Washington will not let Moscow “abuse” human rights.

The face-to-face meeting with the Kremlin leader comes amid levels of tension not seen for years, with Washington now dialing back its ambitions to little more than establishing a relationship in which both sides understand each other and can work together in specific areas.

“I’ll be meeting with President Putin in a couple of weeks in Geneva, making it clear that we will not — we will not stand by and let him abuse those rights,” Biden said in a speech on the summit, which is set for June 16.

READ ALSO: UK To Build New ‘National Flagship’ To Promote Post-Brexit Trade

Since taking office, Biden has imposed new sanctions against Moscow over what US authorities say was the Russian role in the massive SolarWinds cyber attack and repeated meddling in the 2020 presidential election.

In addition, Washington has harshly criticized Moscow for the near-death poisoning and subsequent imprisonment of one of the last open opponents to Putin, Alexei Navalny.

Tensions are also high over Ukraine, where Russia already controls swaths of territory and recently massed troops on the border in a new show of force.

Yet another focus is on Russian-dominated Belarus, which caused an uproar this week after authorities forced an airliner passing overhead to land, then arrested an opponent to President Alexander Lukashenko who had been aboard.

Trump’s Impeachment Is For Congress To Decide, Says Biden

This combination of file pictures created on October 22, 2020 shows US President Donald Trump (L) and former Democratic Presidential candidate and former US Vice President Joe Biden during the final presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 22, 2020. JIM WATSON, Morry GASH / AFP
This combination of file pictures created on October 22, 2020 shows US President Donald Trump (L) and former Democratic Presidential candidate and former US Vice President Joe Biden during the final presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 22, 2020. JIM WATSON, Morry GASH / AFP

 

 

President-elect Joe Biden on Friday strongly indicated he does not back moves to impeach President Donald Trump, saying the quickest way to get him out of office is through the transition in two weeks.

“The quickest way that will happen is us being sworn in on the 20th,” said Biden, who will take the oath of office on January 20.

“What actually happens before or after, that is a judgment for the Congress to make. But that’s what I am looking forward to: him leaving office.”

Biden was addressing reporters in his hometown of Wilmington two days after Trump encouraged a mob of supporters to march on Congress.

Democratic leaders in Congress have growing momentum for attempting to impeach Trump for the second time in his presidency. There is little support so far among Republicans, although they too have loudly condemned Trump’s behavior.

This was Biden’s first extended reaction to the talk of impeaching Trump or trying to persuade Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th amendment removing the president from office.

Biden’s hesitancy to support his party on impeachment reflects the fact that he already faces a mammoth task in working to heal divisions in US society.

“We’re going to do our job and Congress can decide how to proceed,” Biden said.

“The idea that I think he shouldn’t be out of office yesterday is not an issue. The question is what happens with 14 days to go, 13 days left to go?”

Biden Says Trump Decision To Skip Inauguration A ‘Good Thing’

President-elect Joe Biden introduces key foreign policy and national security nominees and appointments at the Queen Theatre on November 24, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Mark Makela/Getty Images/AFP
President-elect Joe Biden introduces key foreign policy and national security nominees and appointments at the Queen Theatre on November 24, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Mark Makela/Getty Images/AFP

 

US President-elect Joe Biden welcomed Donald Trump’s announcement on Friday that he won’t attend the January 20 inauguration, calling it a “good thing.”

“I was told on the way over here that he indicated he wasn’t going to show up at the inauguration,” Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware.

“One of the few things he and I have ever agreed on,” Biden said. “It’s a good thing, him not showing up.”

“He’s been an embarrassment to the country,” Biden said.

“He’s not fit to serve,” the president-elect added of Trump, who is facing the possibility of being impeached next week for inciting his supporters to storm the US Capitol.

“He exceeded even my worst notions about him,” Biden said. “He’s one of the most incompetent presidents in the history of the United States of America.”

Biden said Vice President Mike Pence would be welcome at his inauguration.

Biden’s remarks came after Trump tweeted earlier Friday that he would not attend the inauguration.

“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” Trump tweeted.

Biden Promises Economic Help Is On The Way

File photo: President-elect Joe Biden Mark Makela/Getty Images/AFP

 

US President-elect Joe Biden on Friday introduced the final members of his “worker power” economic team and pledged to provide more help for struggling families and small businesses.

Speaking just one day after lawmakers finally certified his election victory following the invasion of the US Capitol by supporters of outgoing president Donald Trump, Biden announced he would next week unveil a relief program for the pandemic-ravaged economy.

The far-reaching package including stimulus checks to taxpayers and an increase in the minimum wage will be a top priority for Biden, along with accelerating the Covid-19 vaccine rollout that he called “a travesty.”

“We need more direct relief flowing to families, small businesses, including finishing the job of getting people the $2,000 in relief direct payment,” he said.

The $600 stimulus checks included in an aid package Congress approved in late December “is simply not enough,” Biden said at an event in Wilmington, Delaware.

The Senate blocked an effort to increase the second round of stimulus payments to $2,000, but Biden said families are having “to choose between paying rent, putting food on the table (and) keeping the lights on.”

His team also will give special attention to small businesses, especially those owned by minorities, and provide “support to help them get through the other side of this crisis”

He lamented that under the Trump administration “big, well-connected businesses jumped in front of the line” to get aid, and vowed to tighten controls to prevent fraud.

In an aid package passed in December, Congress approved $284 billion for a second round of loans to small businesses via the Paycheck Protection Program, which are due to roll out starting next week.

Biden said money is needed to reopen schools safely, and also for state and local governments to retain teachers, police officers and firefighters.

With Democrats poised to take control of both houses of Congress following victories in two Senate runoff races in Georgia, Biden said he hopes to win support for increasing the US minimum wage to $15 an hour.

“I’ve long said that we need to reward work, not just wealth, in this country. People in both parties recognize it’s time to raise the minimum wage,” he said.

If confirmed by the Senate, the nominees he introduced Friday will play key roles in implementing his economic programs.

He named Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo as Commerce Secretary, Boston mayor and former union president Martin Walsh as Labor Secretary, and Isabel Guzman, a former official in Barack Obama’s administration, as Small Business Administration chief.

Raimondo would be involved in negotiating the aftermath of trade wars instigated by Trump, as well as in the ongoing debate over how to regulate tech giants.

Capitol Riot: Police Would Have Treated Black Protesters ‘Very Differently’ – Biden

US President-elect Joe Biden answers questions from the press at The Queen in Wilmington, Delaware on November 16, 2020. ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP
File photo: US President-elect Joe Biden ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP

 

President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday accused US authorities of treating pro-Trump protesters more leniently than anti-racism demonstrators who were forcibly dispersed by police in Washington last year.

“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 different than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol,” Biden said.

“We all know that’s true, and it is unacceptable.”

‘Darkest days’ in US history

The President-elect assailed Donald Trump a day after pro-Trump rioters smashed their way into the Capitol, saying the outgoing leader had caused one of the “darkest days” in US history.

“He unleashed an all-out assault on the institutions of our democracy from the outset,” Biden said.

Wednesday’s storming of the Capitol was “one of the darkest days in the history of our nation,” he added.

Overjoyed: Biden’s Family, Supporters Celebrate At Election Headquarters

People dance in street after listening to President-elect Joe Biden address the nation after being declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election on November 07, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. PHOTO: CHRIS MCGRATH / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA.

 

Hundreds of Joe Biden supporters cheered and sounded car horns as they and members of the president-elect’s family gathered at his election headquarters in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware on Saturday ahead of a victory party.

After TV networks declared Biden, 77, the winner of Tuesday’s election shortly before 11:30 am (1530 GMT) scores of Democrats descended on the Chase Center, where the next president of the United States will lead celebrations later.

Inside the adjacent Westin Hotel, Biden’s family and campaign team expressed their delight at Biden rendering Donald Trump a one-term president.

“I’m overjoyed,” Biden’s younger brother Jim Biden told AFP.

Campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said she had been on a run when her mother called to tell her that CNN had called the election for Biden.

“Ecstatic — a great day for this county,” she told reporters, after walking through the hotel’s lobby in a white Biden t-shirt.

Shortly before the long-awaited announcement, Biden’s sister Valerie Biden Owens described the result as “wonderful.”

“It’s a wonderful thing for us but it’s a better thing for America,” she told reporters.

Symone Sanders, a senior advisor to Biden, said his team were “elated and excited.”

“This is a win, frankly, for America,” she told reporters.

Outside the venue’s perimeter fence, Biden fans waved balloons, American flags and held up Biden-Harris placards. They shared food and drink as they waited in hopes of catching a glimpse of Biden later.

The president-elect is due to take to the stage in the center’s parking lot around 8:00 pm (0000 GMT Sunday).

Several hundred cars full of supporters are expected to attend the drive-in rally for an election victory party that will be unlike any other due to social distancing restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Fireworks and music are expected. Biden will be joined by his wife Jill, America’s next vice president Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff.

A little over a mile away, in downtown Wilmington, locals expressed an outpouring of joy at the sleepy city’s favorite son ascending to the highest office in the country.

“I’m happy, I wanted Trump out,” said 31-year-old Kristina Moncada.

“It’s awesome because he knows the area. He’s just more relatable, he’s a genuine guy. He means what he says and he’ll keep his word.”

Aaron Fisher, 31, cut short his gym session when he heard the news to get ready to head to the celebrations.

“It’s about time. They’ve been having us wait for a good while for the results. I felt like we knew it was gonna happen. It’s like delayed gratification,” he told AFP.