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Tag: Donald Trump

  • Biden returns billions Trump approved for US-Mexico border wall

    Biden returns billions Trump approved for US-Mexico border wall

    President of the United States (US) Joe Biden has decided to hold back funds of Pentagon that were directed by former President Donald Trump to build a wall on the US-Mexico border.

    The funds will be now used to fix the damages that were caused while the wall was under construction.

    According to reports, an official from the US government said that the Pentagon will begin cancelling all wall projects using the diverted funds, and the administration will take steps to return remaining unobligated military construction forms their appropriated purpose.

    The decision came when Joe Biden took over the office and signed a “proclamation” that directed the Pentagon to halt the flow of money to build the border wall, which was already ruled illegal by the federal court of US in June 2020.

    The Department of Homeland Security also announced plans to repair holes in flood levees at the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and fix soil erosion in San Diego created by border wall construction, neither of which will involve creating more barriers.

    The amount of money that the Trump administration allocated to build the wall was as high as $14 billion, says the official.

    According to the background details, the lawmakers of bipartisan put pressure on the government to make repairments against the damage caused due to the holes that drilled for wall construction.

    On this occasion, an influential American politician and attorney Ted Cruz commented that “I am pleased President Biden and the Department of Homeland Security are listening and now moving to shore up the levee wall system that had been unthoughtful. The repairs are necessary, crucial, and urgently needed.”

    In response, the chief critic senator Rick Scott uttered that “How can Biden possibly justify stopping wall construction?”, calling on Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to “immediately explain President Biden’s ridiculous order, how it is compliant with federal law and the awful consequences it will have on the current crisis.”

  • Donald Trump bashes Oscars for being ‘boring and politically correct’

    Donald Trump bashes Oscars for being ‘boring and politically correct’

    Former president of the United States, Donald Trump has bashed the Oscars, calling the ceremony boring and offered advice on how to revive the plummeting ratings.

    In a statement emailed to reporters from his office, Trump said: “What used to be called The Academy Awards, and now is called the ‘Oscars’ —a far less important and elegant name—had the lowest Television Ratings in recorded history, even much lower than last year, which set another record low.”

    “If they keep with the current ridiculous formula, it will only get worse—if that’s possible,” added the former president.

    “Go back 15 years, look at the formula they then used, change the name back to THE ACADEMY AWARDS, don’t be so politically correct and boring, and do it right. ALSO, BRING BACK A GREAT HOST,” continued Trump.

    Remarking that the broadcast has become too political, Trump said: “These television people spend all their time thinking about how to promote the Democrat Party, which is destroying our country, and cancel Conservatives and Republicans. That formula certainly hasn’t worked very well for The Academy!”

    Last year, when Trump was still president, he had live-tweeted his criticism on the Oscars and bashed voters for giving the best picture to Parasite. At a rally, Trump while talking about the South Korean film had said: “What the hell was that all about? We’ve got enough problems with South Korea with trade. On top of that, they give them best movie of the year. Was it good? I don’t know.”

    Meanwhile, this year’s ceremony drew only 10.4 million viewers, a record low, according to final Nielsen numbers released on Tuesday — a staggering if widely expected drop for a ceremony that many viewers found short on humour and star power.

    With movie theaters shut for most of the year, many viewers had not seen or even heard of nominees such as Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland, which was the night’s big winner with three prizes but which has taken just over $2 million at the domestic box office.

    Several blockbuster films whose stars could have drawn interest at this year’s Oscars saw their release dates shunted to next year due to the pandemic, from Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and the mega-budget sci-fi Dune to an array of popular superhero titles.

    This year’s unorthodox Oscars ceremony was moved from a Hollywood theater to a glammed-up Los Angeles train station to abide by strict Covid-19 protocols and reunited Hollywood filmmakers and actors en masse for the first time in more than a year.

    Reviews of the show were mixed, with several critics complaining about the show’s lack of humor and musical performances.

    While many Oscars begin with gag-heavy monologues, producers turned this year to Regina King, who was one of many stars who referred to racism and police violence — specifically last week’s conviction of Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. Other political statements made during the Oscars did not focus on Trump, but on topics like gun violence and policing.

    “I know that a lot of you people at home want to reach for your remote when you feel like Hollywood is preaching to you,” she predicted.

    Regina King

    Variety slammed the decision to go without a host for a third straight year, calling the ceremony “lost and guide-less.”

    But the decision to strip out musical performances and most clips of nominated movies — and allow winners to speak at length without being “played off” the stage by an orchestra — drew some praise.

    The Oscars drew more than 43 million viewers as recently as 2014, but audiences have become increasingly fragmented in the streaming era.

  • Pakistani-American lobbyist, who donated for Trump and Kamala Harris, jailed for 12 years

    The American Federal Court in California has convicted a Pakistani-American political donor for violation of the Foreign Act, awarding him twelve years in prison along with a hefty penalty of $15.705 million in restitution and $1.75 million in criminal fine.

    According to The News, 50-year-old Imaad Shah Zuberi of Arcadia was sentenced by US District Judge Virginia A Phillips for forging records to conceal his work as a foreign agent while lobbying high-level US officials, evading the payment of millions of dollars in taxes, making illegal campaign contributions, and obstructing a federal investigation into the source of donations to a presidential inauguration committee.

    Zuberi was born in Pakistan and migrated to the US with his parents when he was just three-years-old. Eventually, he secured US citizenship.

    In 1996, Zuberi served in the US Army for about six months and was honourably discharged after sustaining a knee injury. He received a BSc in 1997 from the University of Southern California and an MBA in 2006 from Stanford University.

    The Pakistani-origin man was facing charges of donating $900,000 to the Trump inaugural committee. He was also a top fundraiser for former president Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012, Dawn reported.

    He donated at least $100,000 for Hilary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and also raised funds for Republican Senator Lindsey Graham in 2014, and then-California attorney general Kamala Harris, now vice president, in 2015.

    In November 2019, Zuberi pleaded guilty to a three-count information charging him with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by making false statements on a FARA filing, tax evasion, and making illegal campaign contributions.

    In June 2020, Zuberi pleaded guilty in a separate case to one count of obstruction of justice. His sentence today pertains to both cases.

    “The violations were part of a larger surreptitious effort to route foreign money into US elections and to use it to corrupt the US policy-making processes,” prosecutors said in a court filing.

    They also pleaded the court to reject Zuberi’s claim that funnelling money to influence US policy-making and elections was the “way America works”.

    “Zuberi turned acting as an unregistered foreign agent into a business enterprise,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C Demers, adding, “He used foreign money to fund illegal campaign contributions that bought him political influence, and used that influence to lobby US officials for policy changes on behalf of numerous foreign principals.”

    “Zuberi flouted federal laws that restrict foreign influences upon our government and prohibit injecting foreign money into our political campaigns. He enriched himself by defrauding his clients and evading the payment of taxes,” said Acting US Attorney Tracy L Wilkison for the Central District of California.

    “Today’s sentence, which also accounts for Zuberi’s attempt to obstruct an investigation into his felonious conduct, underscores the importance of our ongoing efforts to maintain transparency in U.S. elections and policy-making processes.”

  • Biden rolls back Trump policies on Muslims, climate, health

    Biden rolls back Trump policies on Muslims, climate, health

     US President Joe Biden signed 15 executive actions shortly after being sworn on Wednesday, undoing policies put in place by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, and making his first moves on the pandemic and climate change.

    Signing several actions in front of reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon, Biden said there was “no time to waste” in issuing the executive orders, memorandums and directives.

    “Some of the executive actions I’m going to be signing today are going to help change the course of the COVID crisis, we’re going to combat climate change in a way that we haven’t done so far and advance racial equity and support other underserved communities” said Biden. “These are just all starting points”

    Aides said the actions the Democratic president signed included a mask mandate on federal property and for federal employees, an order to establish a new White House office coordinating the response to the coronavirus, and halting the process of withdrawing from the World Health Organization.

    Biden signed a document to begin the process of re-entering the Paris climate accord and issued a sweeping order tackling climate change, including revoking the presidential permit granted to the contentious Keystone XL oil pipeline.

    Among a raft of orders addressing immigration, Biden revoked Trump’s emergency declaration that helped fund the construction of a border wall and ended a travel ban on some majority-Muslim countries.

    The Day One plans were just the start of a flurry of executive actions Biden would take soon after entering office, said his press secretary, Jen Psaki.

    “In the coming days and weeks, we will be announcing additional executive actions that confront these challenges and deliver on the president-elect’s promises to the American people,” Psaki said.

    Further actions would include revoking the ban on military service by transgender Americans, and reversing a policy that blocks U.S. funding for programs overseas linked to abortion.

    On the economic front, Biden asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to extend a moratorium on evictions until the end of March, and the Department of Education to suspend student loan payments until the end of September.

  • A new President

    Today, all eyes were on Joe Biden being sworn in as the 46th US President. #InaugurationDay was trending at No. 1 on Twitter in Pakistan.

    Vice President Kamala Harris made history as the first female, first Black and first South Asian VP.

    Prime Minister Imran Khan congratulated President Biden in a tweet:

    “I congratulate President @JoeBiden on his inauguration. Look forward to working with @POTUS in building a stronger Pak-US partnership through trade & economic engagement, countering climate change, improving public health, combating corruption & promoting peace in region & beyond.”

    Biden took the oath of office from US Chief Justice John Roberts. He said that “democracy has prevailed” and it was a day of “history and hope”. Biden said his whole soul is in “putting America back together again”.

    It was interesting to see that former US President Donald Trump did not attend the inauguration ceremony.

    Here are some tweets that sum up the inauguration.

    https://twitter.com/thejessiewoo/status/1351939282076901376?s=21

  • Facing crush of crises, Biden to take helm as president today

    Democrat Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, assuming the helm of a country beset by deep political divides and battered by a raging coronavirus pandemic.

    Biden, 78, will become the oldest US president in history at a scaled-back ceremony in Washington that has been largely stripped of its usual pomp and circumstance, due to both the coronavirus pandemic as well as security concerns following the Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump.

    With only a small number of attendees present, the Democrat will take the oath of office before US Chief Justice John Roberts just after noon (1700 GMT), placing his hand on an heirloom Bible that has been in the Biden family for more than a century.

    His running mate, Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, will become the first Black person, first woman and first South Asian to serve as vice president after she is sworn in by US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s first Latina member.

    The ceremony will unfold in front of a heavily fortified Capitol, where a mob of Trump supporters stormed the building two weeks ago, enraged by his false claims that November’s election was stolen with millions of fraudulent votes. The violence prompted the Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives to impeach Trump last week for an unprecedented second time.

    Thousands of National Guard troops were called into the city after the siege, which left five people dead and briefly forced lawmakers into hiding. Instead of a throng of supporters, the National Mall will be covered by nearly 200,000 flags and 56 pillars of light meant to represent people from US states and territories.

    Biden, who has vowed to “restore the soul of America,” will call for American unity at a time of crisis in his inaugural address, according to advisers.

    In an early sign of his plan to reach across the political aisle, Biden has invited top congressional leaders, including House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, to join him at church on Wednesday morning.

    In a break with more than a century and a half of political tradition, Trump plans to depart the White House ahead of the inauguration, declining to meet with his successor and affirm the peaceful transfer of power.

    Vice President Mike Pence, former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and both McCarthy and McConnell are all expected to attend Biden’s inauguration ceremony.

    Trump, who has grown increasingly isolated in the waning days of his tenure, has still not formally conceded the Nov. 3 election. He will hold a sendoff event at Joint Air Force Base Andrews in the morning, although top Republicans, including Pence, are not expected to attend.

    TRUMP PARDONS 140 PEOPLE ON LAST DAY:

    President Donald Trump pardoned former chief strategist Steve Bannon as part of a flurry of clemency action in the final hours of his White House term that benefited more than 140 people, including rap performers, ex-members of Congress and other allies of him and his family.

    The last-minute clemency, announced Wednesday morning, follows separate waves of pardons over the past month for Trump associates convicted in the FBI’s Russia investigation as well as for the father of his son-in-law.

    Besides Bannon, other pardon recipients included Elliott Broidy, a Republican fundraiser who pleaded guilty last fall in a scheme to lobby the Trump administration to drop an investigation into the looting of a Malaysian wealth fund, and Ken Kurson, a friend of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner who was charged last October with cyberstalking during a heated divorce.

    Among them were rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, both convicted in Florida on weapons charges.

    Other pardon recipients include former Rep. Rick Renzi, an Arizona Republican who served three years for corruption, money laundering and other charges, and former Rep. Duke Cunningham of California, who was convicted of accepting $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors. Cunningham, who was released from prison in 2013, received a conditional pardon.

    Trump also commuted the prison sentence of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who has served about seven years behind bars for a racketeering and bribery scheme.

  • Facebook bans Donald Trump indefinitely

    Facebook bans Donald Trump indefinitely

    A day after various social media platforms, including Twitter, temporarily suspended US President Donald Trump’s accounts, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Trump’s account has been banned indefinitely.

    “The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden,” Zuckerberg said in a statement posted on Facebook. “His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world.”

    “We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”

    On Wednesday, Twitter suspended Trump’s account. In a series of tweets, Twitter Safety tweeted:

    As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, D.C., we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump Tweets that were posted earlier today for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy.

    This means that the account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked

    Future violations of the Twitter Rules, including our Civic Integrity or Violent Threats policies, will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account.

    https://twitter.com/twittersafety/status/1346970431039934464?s=21

    This happened in the wake of the siege of Capitol Hill by pro-Trump mob. Trump released a video on Wednesday night in which he continued to claim he won the election and told supporters who stormed the Capitol: “We love you.” According to the BBC, Snapchat also stopped Trump from creating new posts, but did not say if or when it would end the ban. YouTube also removed the video.

    While his social media accounts remain suspended, Trump released a statement through White House Social Media Director Dan Scavino. It said:

    “Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”

  • ‘US would invade US’: Jokes break internet after Capitol Hill breach

    ‘US would invade US’: Jokes break internet after Capitol Hill breach

    The breach of the US Capitol by the supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump to stop the final electoral count resulted in the death of four people and scores of arrests last night. The situation turned so bad that it prompted a curfew in Washington DC.

    The lawmakers were counting votes to certify the victory of President-elect Joe Biden when the chaos ensued as a direct result of a speech made by Trump. It took hours to get the far-right Trump supporters out of the Capitol.

    The visuals coming out of the US capital sent waves throughout the world and images of the protesters taking over the house floor and flooded social media. And Twitter didn’t miss the chance to roast the US over its interventionist policies and a history of hijacking third-world elections. But not all memes were political, like this one.

    https://twitter.com/GhassenSwayah/status/1347008230225039360

    What would the US do if this was a third world country?

    https://twitter.com/mhdksafa/status/1346905706105081858

    Venezuela has a score to settle.

    https://twitter.com/Riogringa/status/1346944360345186313

    “Always in favour of law and democracy,” a Turkish lawmaker mocks the US over its habit of meddling in other countries’ affairs.

    Chickens coming home to roost?

    Is he Trump’s ‘Proud Boy’ or what?

  • ‘Coup attempt’: Four dead after Trump supporters storm US Capitol

    ‘Coup attempt’: Four dead after Trump supporters storm US Capitol

    At least four people were killed and scores were arrested after supporters of outgoing US President Donald Trump breached the Capitol last night to stop the electoral vote count that would certify the victory of President-elect Joe Biden.

    The protestors pushed through barriers and occupied the building for hours, where lawmakers had gathered to certify that Joe Biden had won the election. Lawmakers were evacuated from the building by the police following the chaos that, reports say, was a result of a speech by Trump calling the election stolen.

    In hours-long episode of violence, there were clashes between the protesters and the police officers and the police were called “traitors” as well. A BBC report described the scene at the Capitol as Trump loyalists waving placards with “show us the ballots” inscribed on them. “All we want is for the Capitol police to stand down, and surrender the building to us,” it quoted a Trump supporter.

    Rioters were seen marching through the building chanting “We want Trump” and one was photographed in the Senate president’s chair, as per a BBC report. Reports said there was an armed confrontation at the doors of the House of Representatives.

    CBS News reported that one woman was shot and killed by police after breaching the Capitol and attempting to enter the House chamber. “Three others died as a result of medical emergencies,” it quoted the Metropolitan Police Department.

    In order to quell the unrest, the US authorities had called in troops from neighbouring states, Maryland and Virginia in addition to the National Guard. However, it took them hours to secure the Capitol. The US media reported 52 arrests: four related to weapons charges after the recovery of six firearms.

    “Two pipe bombs, one near the Republican National Committee and one near the Democratic National Committee, were also recovered, along with a cooler filled with Molotov cocktails,” the media outlet reported.

    TRUMP BLOCKED ON TWITTER:

    Meanwhile, Trump has been blocked on Twitter and Facebook for 12 and 24 hours for instigating violence as he called upon his supporters to go home while still calling the election “stolen”. “I know your pain, I know you’re hurt,” he said. “You have to go home now, we have to have peace… we don’t want anybody hurt.”

    Visuals from inside the Chamber show that the protesters and the police are engaged in a standoff.


    President-elect Joe Biden, however, said the demonstration “borders on sedition and it must end now”. “At this hour our democracy is under unprecedented assault,” he reacted to the news of the assault on the Capitol. While another lawmaker said it was a ‘coup’ attempt.

  • Twitterati want US embassy to apologise for ‘calling Imran a dictator’

    Twitterati want US embassy to apologise for ‘calling Imran a dictator’

    Pakistani Twitter users are asking the US embassy in Pakistan to extend an apology for retweeting Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ahsan Iqbal’s remarks wherein he called Prime Minister Imran Khan a “dictator”.

    Iqbal had shared an article titled ‘Trump’s defeat is a blow for the world’s demagogues and dictators’, saying like Trump, Imran will be gone soon.

    The tweet was subsequently shared by the US embassy on its official account, attracting flak by social media users who asked the embassy to issue an apology for endorsing Iqbal’s opinion.

    Imran Ghazali, who was recently appointed as digital media head by PM Imran, called out the embassy for “disrespectful” tweet.

    Punjab CM’s spokesperson Azhar Mashwani asked outgoing US President Donald Trump to intervene on the issue. “Is this how US Embassies under you will behave for next 2 and half months?”

    PTI Deputy Information Secretary said that US embassy should “explain and apologize publicly’ over its “unethical act”.

    The backlash prompted the US embassy to issue an apology in the afternoon. It said: “The US Embassy does not endorse the posting or retweeting of political messages. We apologize for any confusion that may have resulted from the unauthorized post.”

    https://twitter.com/usembislamabad/status/1326446279287824385