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Joe Biden has overturned Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. military, earning praise from LGBTQ + activists while trying to turn the page on the one who came before him.
But Trump still casts a long shadow over Washington. On Monday the House of Representatives was ready to send an impeachment article to the Senate, setting the stage for an attractive and scathing lawsuit of the former president.
Sworn last Wednesday, Biden has signed a blitz of orders of action aimed at eradicating what he sees as harmful and intolerable aspects of Trump’s legacy. Trump’s transgender ban was a reversal of Barack Obama’s decision in 2016 to allow trans people to attend openly and receive medical care to transgender sex.
When Trump announced the ban in 2017 on Twitter, he said the military needed to focus on “definite and horrific effects” without being burdened with “appalling medical costs and riots”.
Biden has reversed Obama’s policy. Signing an order of action in the Oval Office, he told reporters: “This resets former leaders’ positions and [defense] secretaries have provided support.
“And what I am doing is enabling every qualified American to serve their country in uniform, and essentially restoring the situation as it was before, with trans-workers. sexual, if equipped in every other way, able to serve their government in the United States military. “
Retired Gen Lloyd Austin was joined by Biden, who was introduced by vice president Kamala Harris as defense secretary Monday, who backed the ban. A report last year by the thinktank of the Palm Center, co-authored with veteran surgeons, noted that the ban had caused military injuries.
White House news secretary Jen Psaki told reporters: “President Biden believes that gender identity should not be a barrier to military service, and that America ‘s strength lies in its diversity. . ” America is stronger at home and around the world when it is inclusive. “
Trump’s relatives criticized the order. Tony Perkins, a veteran and president of the reserved Family Research Council, said: “President Biden is redirecting the army’s focus from where it was and where it is – fighting and winning wars . Political justice will not win wars, but the president embodies dangerous and unproven theories that have the potential to undermine national security. “
LGBTQ rights groups welcomed the move. The Human Rights Initiative noted that there are thousands of transgender members in the U.S. military, making the Pentagon the largest employer of transgender people in America. President Alphonso David said: “The largest weapon in the world will once again value its willingness to discriminate, and testimonials about discrimination.”
Sarah Kate Ellis, president and chief executive officer of GLAAD, said: “The American people, military leaders and members of the service themselves are all very supportive of transgender military service. They know that brave patriots have served throughout history and continue to serve with dignity and ability, defending our country. “
But while executive actions offer Biden some benefits, the new president opposes Republicans in his $ 1.9tn coronavirus aid package. And his efforts to move forward from Trump’s polarizing era are also heading into a sustained collapse from the 2020 election.
On Monday, the justice department’s chief inspector released an investigation into whether any officials were “involved in an undue attempt” to overturn the election. This came after a report in the New York Times that a deputy attorney general, Jeffrey Clark, spoke to Trump of a conspiracy to expel the attorney and made a false claim for widespread voting fraud.
In another development, Dominion Voting Systems filed a $ 1.3bn defamation lawsuit against Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, who accused him of ” -virus infection about Dominion ”which consisted of“ manifestly false ”claims.
Trump’s election rejection ended on Jan. 6 in a storm-torn U.S. Capitol movement, which led to him coming in for “terrorism incitement”. House Democrats were scheduled to carry the indictment across the Capitol Monday night, a ceremonial visit to the Senate with the protesters arguing their case. The trial is set to begin on February 9 at the earliest.
A two-thirds majority of the Senate would be needed to condemn Trump. It is now split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, meaning 17 Republicans must vote against the former president. This looks more unlikely as a growing number of Republican senators seem to have cooled about the idea.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio told Fox News on Sunday: “I think the lawsuit is silly, I think it’s infertile … the first chance I get to vote to To end this case, I will do it “.
Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton said he did not think the Trump Senate had constitutional authority to condemn him after he resigned, telling Fox News “the more I talk to other Republican senators, the more they start to come up “behind that argument.
Nevertheless, the January 6 riots and the series of election blows have pushed the Republican party into internecine controversies. Arizona Republicans voted Saturday to convince Cindy McCain, former senator Jeff Flake and Governor Doug Ducey, because they were seen as a disrespect to Trump.
Senator Rob Portman of Ohio announced Monday that he will not seek re-election in 2022.
“We live in an increasingly polarized country where members of both parties are pushed further to the right and further to the left, which means too few people who are active. looking to find common ground, “he said.” This is not something new, of course, but a problem that has worsened over the past few decades. “