The Democrat Joe Biden has been the new US President since January 20 – and does away with the legacy of his predecessor Donald Trump. All news and developments at a glance:
Trump is building his own platform after being kicked out of Twitter
Monday, March 22, 6:50 a.m.: According to a consultant, ex-US President Donald Trump is planning his own platform after his suspension on Twitter, Facebook and other Internet services. Trump will return to social media with his own new platform in two to three months, adviser Jason Miller told Fox News. That will “completely redefine the game”.
He assumes that tens of millions of people would then follow Trump again on his new channel. Miller didn’t comment on details. But he said Trump had intensive discussions with various teams about the project in his vacation home Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Twitter had permanently blocked Trump’s private account with 88 million followers in January. A few days earlier, Trump supporters had stormed the seat of the US parliament, the Capitol. Trump had previously urged his supporters via his social media channels to march to the Capitol, where the election of his rival Joe Biden was about to be officially confirmed.
Putin after Biden’s criticism: “I wish him health”
Thursday, March 18, 2 p.m .: Russian President Vladimir Putin wished his US colleague Joe Biden “health” after his serious allegations. “As for the statements made by my American colleague, we are really, as he said, personally acquainted with each other: What would I answer him? I would say: stay healthy! I wish him good health,” Putin said on Thursday. In an interview with the US television broadcaster ABC, Biden had previously answered yes to the question of whether he considered Putin to be a “killer”.
People would often see others as they actually look at themselves, Putin said in his reaction. His wishes for Biden are “without irony and without joke,” he emphasized during a video link with citizens on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.
Ukraine sees Crimea as its territory according to international law. The USA and Germany had repeatedly called for the peninsula to be returned to Ukraine and sanctioned Russia for annexation. The Kremlin chief also said at the online meeting that Russia is ready to cooperate with the US – albeit in accordance with its own interests.
After Biden’s “killer” statement, Russia wants to review Putin’s relations with the United States
Thursday, March 18, 1:05 p.m .: The dispute between Russia and the United States is intensifying. After US President Joe Biden described President Vladimir Putin as a murderer, the Russian government announced a review of relations with the United States.
“I’m just saying that these are very bad statements by the President of the United States,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to the Interfax agency, on Thursday. In an interview with the US television broadcaster ABC, Biden replied in the affirmative to the question of whether he considered Putin a “killer”. He also described Putin as soulless and threatened him with consequences for alleged Russian interference in the US election in November.
“Of course there has never been anything like this in history,” said Peskow. Biden’s remarks are bad and unprecedented and show that the new US president has no interest in improving relations. Russia will take this into account and think about the nature of the relationship with the US.
Calls for a US apology have been voiced in the Russian parliament. The already announced recall of the Russian ambassador to consultations in Moscow is probably not the last step if no explanation or apology from the American side follows, said the deputy chairman of the Federation Council, the upper house, Konstantin Kosachev.
In a new report, the US secret services accuse Russia of meddling in the presidential election in favor of Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump. Russia denies this. The Russian Foreign Ministry ordered its ambassador Anatoly Antonov back from Washington on Wednesday to hold talks in Moscow on the future of relations with the United States, according to a statement. This should prevent “irreversible damage” to the relationship.
Biden threatens Putin: “He will pay a price”
Wednesday, March 17th, 1:30 p.m .: US President Joe Biden has threatened Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin with consequences for alleged interference in the US election last November. “He will pay a price,” said Biden in an interview broadcast on Wednesday morning (local time) by US broadcaster ABC. In a telephone conversation with Putin at the end of January, he said to the Russian President, with a view to possible interference from Moscow: “I know you and you know me. If I find out that this has happened, be prepared.” When asked by ABC presenter George Stephanopoulos whether he thinks Putin was a “killer”, Biden said: “I do.”
According to American intelligence, Russia stood up for then-President Donald Trump in the November US election and tried to harm Biden. Moscow wanted to influence the outcome of the election and sow strife in the country, according to a report published on Tuesday from the office of intelligence coordinator Avril Haines. Putin and his government “approved and implemented” the measures.
Biden did not provide any information about the consequences these findings could have for Putin. At the same time, the US President made it clear that cooperation between Washington and Moscow is still possible if they have common interests.
The Kremlin rejected the report. The report was “wrong, absolutely unfounded and unfounded,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to the Interfax agency in Moscow on Wednesday. Russia did not interfere in either the 2020 or previous US elections. Such an assertion on the part of the USA only harms “the already tarnished Russian-American relations”.
Biden for US Senate reform
Wednesday, March 17th, 2:52 am: US President Joe Biden has spoken out in favor of reforming a procedure that would allow a minority in the US Senate to block many of the majority’s projects. The procedure does not have to be abolished, but made more difficult, Biden told the broadcaster ABC. The so-called filibuster rule has been in effect for more than 100 years. It says that 60 of the 100 senators must approve an end to the debate in the event of a bill in order for a vote to take place at all.
Biden now proposed to make this even more difficult: A vote could then only be held up as long as a senator actually still speaks in plenary. In the past, such marathon speeches were more common, but the rules had recently been changed. “You had to get up and take the plenary, you had to go on,” said former Senator Biden, remembering the old rule. “As soon as you stopped talking, you lost.” The minority’s ability to block so many majority initiatives is damaging the country, Biden said. “Democracy is having a hard time working,” said the president in the interview, excerpts from which were published on Tuesday evening (local time).
The Republicans in the Senate have warned Democrats against reforming the filibuster. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that if such a case were to occur, the Senate would amount to a pile-up of 100 cars. “Nothing works anymore,” he wrote on Twitter. The Republicans would block everything, he threatened.
Biden’s Democrats control exactly 50 votes in the Senate. In the event of a stalemate, however, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is ex officio President of the Senate, can help the Democrats win. Biden’s ambitious plans – from reforming immigration to combating climate change or tax increases to finance infrastructure spending – could fail because of the filibuster. The calls to the Democrats are therefore getting louder to abolish the rule or at least to reform it. In the House of Representatives, the second chamber of the US Congress, a simple majority is sufficient for bills.
US secret services: Putin wanted to influence Trump’s 2020 election
Wednesday, March 17th, 1:25 am: According to several US intelligence agencies, Russia campaigned for then US President Donald Trump in the run-up to the US presidential election last November. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government either carried out or at least approved the attempted manipulation with “misleading or unfounded allegations” against challenger Joe Biden, “said the 15-page report, which was written by several intelligence agencies and released on Tuesday . “Other high-ranking officials” such as security and intelligence officials were also involved, “who, in our opinion, would not act without at least getting Putin’s tacit approval.” One of the strategies of the government in Moscow was to accuse Biden and his family of corruption in connection with Ukraine. Trump stumbled upon the Ukraine affair during his tenure and had to face an impeachment procedure.
The government in Washington will react to the influence with sanctions against the government in Moscow as early as next week, said two people familiar with the matter to the Reuters news agency. The White House initially did not respond to a request for comment on whether sanctions would be imposed on Russia next week, which the broadcaster CNN reported first.
According to the report, other countries are also said to have sought to influence the presidential election, including a “multi-pronged covert influence campaign” aimed at undermining Trump. As President, Trump pulled the United States out of a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran and imposed new sanctions. According to the paper, Cuba, Venezuela and the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah also wanted to influence the outcome of the US election. Although the trials were “smaller in scope than those of Russia and Iran”. China, on the other hand, did not try to influence the election. Trump’s supporters had repeatedly claimed during the election campaign that China was interfering on Biden’s behalf.
– .
