WTF Just Happened Today

Monday, January 29, 2024

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1/ House Republicans released two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, accusing him of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust.” Republicans have repeatedly accused Mayorkas of failing to enforce immigration laws as a record number of migrants arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as obstructing congressional oversight, and rolling back Trump-era policies, including the construction on the U.S.-Mexico border wall. The articles of impeachment will be reviewed in committee on Tuesday. If they pass the committee, they then go to the full House for an impeachment vote. It would then be up to the Democratic-led Senate on whether to convict and potentially remove Mayorkas. (ABC News / CBS News / Axios / Politico / NPR / NBC News / Associated Press)

2/ Biden promised to “shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed” if Congress passes a border security package. In the Senate, a bipartisan group reached a deal that would force the federal government to shut down the border for migrants crossing illegally during surges and expedite the asylum process. Biden said the deal would “be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country […] I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.” Trump, who has made immigration reform and the border a central part of his election campaign, has pressured House Republicans to kill the deal, called “it is the WORST BORDER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, an open wound in our once great Country.” At the same time, Trump demanded “CLOSE THE BORDER!” Speaker Mike Johnson, meanwhile, said the bipartisan Senate deal would be “dead on arrival” in the House. (Associated Press / Politico / CNN / Axios / Washington Post)

3/ Trump must pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in damages for repeatedly defaming her. The jury awarded Carroll $18.3 million in compensatory damages – $11 million for repairing her reputation and $7.3 million for emotional harm – and $65 million in punitive damages. The verdict came after Trump stormed out of the courtroom during Carroll’s closing argument. He later posted on his personal social media site that he would be appealing, because “They have taken away all First Amendment Rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!” A different jury in May 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the 1990s, and for defaming her by mocking her claims after he left the White House. They awarded her $5 million in damages, which Trump is appealing. Car...

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