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Trump defiant as White House becomes a ghost town
As he becomes the first president to be impeached twice, Trump lacks a robust response for the first time.
President Donald Trump was impeached again on Wednesday, but this time he lacks the megaphone of Twitter to respond and will be without a robust and aggressive defense from his White House and allies.
Stripped of the ability to fire off real-time responses, Trump must rely on a White House staff that has largely been replaced with moving boxes as aides head for the exits and allies fail to offer a defense of him in public.
The House voted 232 to 197 Wednesday afternoon to impeach Trump for a second time, with 10 Republicans breaking ranks to support impeaching the president for his role in inciting a deadly riot by his supporters at the Capitol.
An administration official told NBC News to expect a White House reaction to the impeachment vote soon. That reaction could come in the form of a video from the president, this official said.
As impeachment proceedings were underway, the president was taking part in a ceremony awarding the National Medal of Arts to country musicians Toby Keith and Ricky Skaggs, an administration official told NBC News. Earlier, Trump issued a press release on Wednesday urging calm amid reports of more violent protests being planned in the next week.
“In light of reports of more demonstrations, I urge that there must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind. That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for. I call on ALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers. Thank You.”
But the relative silence from the president shouldn’t be interpreted as submission, those close to him say. Instead, Trump continues to cling to his false assertion that he won the election and is refusing pleas that he leave office days before his term expires because of his role in the deadly attack.
‘No coordinated strategy’ to defend Trump’s actions as he faces his second impeachment
Trump, who became the first president to be impeached twice, remains both defiant and sullen, said one former White House official who is familiar with his current discussions. Trump monitored the impeachment proceedings Wednesday mostly from the Oval Office, according to an administration official.
Trump has refused calls to resign, including those from a growing number of Republicans, according to people close to the president.
“He is not the resigning type,” said one person familiar with Trump’s thinking. Instead, the person said, “I think he’d rather go out fighting.”
The staff in White House normally thins in the final days of an administration as people secure new jobs, but Trump’s West Wing has become a ghost town after resignations following last week’s riot. Some aides have opted to just avoid the building, which has been a Covid-19 hot spot for months.
Meanwhile, outside allies say they have grown deeply concerned that there are so few people left at the White House to do the critical jobs in the final days when White House staff would typically be focused on handing off operations to the incoming administration.
“As much as we can, we are focusing on the transition, highlighting success of the last four years, and continuing the work of government until the next administration takes over,” said an administration official.
Trump has remained focused on issuing a wave of pardons in the coming days, including to family members, according to sources familiar with his plans. He has continued this week to discuss a pardon for himself, even though he has been advised against it, according to people familiar with the conversations.
Trump aides continue to discuss having him deliver one or two speeches in a final attempt to promote what he sees as his key accomplishments and criticize social media companies for banning him, according to sources. The speech team has started working on draft sections but no final decisions have been made.
Unlike his previous impeachment, Trump has few public defenders and the White House hasn’t been making efforts to marshal them. There have been no White House talking points distributed to surrogates to respond to the Capitol riot.
Trump has also not assembled a defense team for a possible impeachment trial. The team would likely feature Rudy Giuliani, Alan Dershowitz and possibly others, said a person familiar with the matter. Dershowitz said he hasn’t yet been contacted by anyone in the Trump administration.
An administration official said there hasn’t been a clear legal and communications strategy this time around because the proceedings developed much more quickly. When asked if the White House is worried the Senate could actually convict the president, the official said they have “minor concerns,” but still feel that scenario is unlikely.
With less than a week left in the White House, it is still unclear where Trump will be on Inauguration Day. Trump said he will not attend Biden’s swearing-in ceremony and some advisers have said they expect him to leave the White House before Inauguration Day.
Trump’s daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump is not expected to attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration next week, according to a White House official. Ivanka Trump is the first adult child of a president to serve as a White House advisor in modern history. The officials said that while she respects his transition to power, children of outgoing presidents do not traditionally attend.
However, the adult daughters of George W. Bush attended the Inauguration of Barack Obama and Chelsea Clinton attended Bush’s inauguration when her father was leaving office.
There is a growing sense among advisers that Trump has accepted the fact that he will be leaving the White House, said a person familiar with the president’s thinking.
“I think everyone thinks he’s becoming a lot more accepting of that,” the person said.
-NBC News
News
[UPDATED] [Breaking] APC’s Lucky Aiyedatiwa wins Ondo governorship election
[UPDATED] [Breaking] APC’s Lucky Aiyedatiwa wins Ondo governorship election
Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, has emerged victorious in the Ondo governorship election.
Olayemi Akinwumi, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) returning officer, disclosed the results in Akure, Ondo’s capital, on Sunday.
Aiyedatiwa, the incumbent governor, secured 366,781 votes, surpassing Agboola Ajayi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 117,845 votes.
Nejo Adeyemi, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, trailed behind with 4,138 votes.
The APC dominated the election, winning all 18 local government areas, while the PDP failed to secure any victories.
The off-cycle election in Ondo, contested by 17 candidates, took place peacefully, with minimal violence reported.
Prior to the election, Aiyedatiwa expressed confidence in his victory, citing his impressive record in office.
Aiyedatiwa emphasized that he was the sole candidate to have visited all 18 local government areas, adding that he’s willing to concede defeat if the election is free from manipulation.
Ajayi, Aiyedatiwa’s closest rival, expressed concerns regarding INEC’s capability to ensure a fair electoral process.
The PDP candidate also criticized the commission’s sluggish pace, alleging that it constitutes a “deliberate attempt to rig the polls”.
ONDO STATE GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION RESULTS (UPDATED)
1– Akure North
APC 14, 451
PDP 5, 787
2–Okitipupa
- APC 26, 811
- PDP 10, 233
3—Akoko Northeast
APC 25, 657
News
Ondo election: Again, INEC shifts collation of results to noon
Ondo election: Again, INEC shifts collation of results to noon
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has shifted the collation of results for the Ondo State governorship election from 5am to noon.
The Returning Officer, Prof Olayemi Akinwunmi, had earlier announced that collation of the remaining five council areas will resume by 5 a.m. (Sunday), but later said it commences by noon.
Prof Akinwunmi is the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Lokoja.
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Akinwunmi, who announced the recess, said it is to give room for the arrival of results from the remaining council areas.
He said: “We have five more local governments but we are going to take our recess now until 5am to receive some receive from Akure North, Okitipupa and Odigbo, then Ilaje and Eseodo. We resume 5am for these local governments.”
According to results from 13 of the 18 local government areas announced so far by INEC, Aiyedatiwa has polled 259,851 votes ahead of his closest rival and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Agboola Ajayi, who scored 81,031 votes.
Ondo election: Again, INEC shifts collation of results to noon
News
Ondo gov: PDP, APC bought votes, says rights group
Ondo gov: PDP, APC bought votes, says rights group
The Centre for Democracy and Development West Africa (CDD-West Africa), through its Election Analysis Centre (CDD-EAC), has said that the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) bought votes from the electorate for as low as N3,000 and N5,000 respectively during the Saturday’s off-cycle governorship election in Ondo State.
Prof. Victor Adetula, Lead, CDD-EAC Observation Mission Ondo 2024; and Dr. Dauda Garuba, Director, CDD-West Africa, said this in CDD’s EAC preliminary statement on the conduct of the 2024 Ondo State governorship election, presented by Ms Oluseyi Awojulugbe, a member of the CDD-EAC.
The report also said that the election recorded lower incidents of disinformation and information manipulation, also referred to as fake new compared to the recently concluded off-cycle September 21 governorship election in Edo State.
“CDD-EAC notes a lot of instances of vote buying. In Okitipupa LGA, Ward 09, Unit 003 (Irowa, Ilutitun 3), voters were solicited for their votes, with APC allegedly offering ₦10,000 per voter and PDP ₦3,000.
“In Odigbo LGA, Ward 01, Unit 001 (Oja Baale, Agbabu), reports of vote-buying were noted, with APC allegedly offering ₦10,000 and PDP ₦5,000 per voter.
“Our observers also noted that some party agents started transferring money to voters to circumvent having to hold cash. In Ese-Odo, Ward 07, Unit 013 (Tari Ama Zion Ugo Community, Arogbo Ward 2), Vote-buying was observed at this polling unit, with PDP offering ₦3,000 and APC offering ₦5,000 to voters.
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“CDD observers watching the process in Ward 5, PU 001, located at St Johns Primary School, Iba Akoko South East spotted APC leaders writing down the names of those who voted for their candidate.
“Subsequently, a card was given to them and they were instructed to converge at an agreed location where cash would be disbursed to them.
“In Ward 005, PU 001, St Barnabas Primary School, Ifon, CDD-EAC observers saw policemen arguing over money shared by a party stalwart.
“The policemen reportedly frowned that about 10 of them were given N100,000 while only one official from another branch of the armed services allegedly got N15,000,” the report said.
The CDD-EAC said that the vote buying incidents and behaviour of party agents sparked multiple conflicts during the voting process, listing Idanre LGA, Ward 06, PU 004 (Methodist High School), where APC agents were accused of strategically monitoring voters’ choices, a move initially defended by security officials but later curtailed after protests.
The report, however, commended the prompt arrival of electoral officials at polling units (PUs), with 99% of CDD-EAC observers reporting that the INEC officials were at their stations before 8:30am.
Observers also reported cases of rowdiness in the polling environment with some youths disagreeing in some cases about the initiative by poll officials to allow elderly voters to cast their ballots first, leading to the disruption of the process, despite the intervention of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at Post Office Premises, Akungba Akoko, Akoko South West.
On disinformation and information manipulation, the report said that the numbers of false narratives, claims and counter claims in the Ondo State governorship election have been relatively low, compared to other recent polls.
It said, “In the campaign period, and on Election Day, 13 claims have so far been reported and fact checked by CDD War Room.
“This is low, compared to the 61 claims reported during the same period in the Edo election, representing a 79% increase between the two elections. While 12 of these claims have been assessed to be either false or misleading, the sole claim peddled on voting day was adjudged to be true.”
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