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Essential Politics: Biden's first 10 days – Los Angeles Times

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In the 10 days since he lost the election, President Trump has dominated the media’s attention, generating a slew of stories about his whereabouts, golf game, Twitter meltdowns and lawsuits seeking to reverse the results.

Meanwhile, 120 miles up I-95 in Wilmington, Del., President-elect Joe Biden has quietly begun the work of preparing to take over the government. Though Trump has so far blocked the executive branch from cooperating with the incoming Biden team, the president-elect has been methodically announcing key staff picks, establishing a game plan to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and receiving briefings on national security from outside experts.

“We don’t see anything that’s slowing us down,” Biden told reporters in Wilmington last week.

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As we reach the 10-day mark of his tenure as president-elect, here’s what Biden has accomplished so far.

What has Joe Biden been up to?

Appointing a COVID-19 task force.

In his victory speech Nov. 7, Biden said getting the pandemic under control would be his top priority. Two days later, he formed a panel of expert advisors, Evan Halper and Noam N. Levey reported. The group is led by three experts who had roles in the last two Democratic administrations: former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler, former Surgeon Gen. Vivek Murthy and Marcella Nunez-Smith, an associate professor of internal medicine, public health and management at Yale University.

Biden’s team said the panel would consult with state and local officials, focus on racial and ethnic disparities and help guide him as he develops a plan of attack.

Separately, Biden has become more focused on how he talks about tackling the virus. In speeches, he has called for Americans to wear masks and tempered news of potential vaccines with caution. As economy reporter Don Lee writes, Biden hopes that by boldly confronting the virus — as opposed to Trump’s strategy of downplaying its risk — he can more quickly revive the economy.

Pressing Congress for aid.

Biden faces a serious challenge in stalled Congressional talks over coronavirus stimulus plans. Senate Republicans, emboldened by trimming Democrats’ margin in the House and so far holding the Senate, are resisting new spending measures. Trump has also stopped pursuing talks for new aid, Jennifer Haberkorn writes. The result: The chances of an aid package emerging from Congress before January are dim.

Though Biden has yet to offer a path that could break the gridlock, Janet Hook writes, he has been trying to apply public pressure to Trump and Congressional Republicans and has met with labor and business leaders desperate for federal assistance.

Selecting staff.

Biden made his first hire in appointing longtime advisor Ron Klain to be his chief of staff, tapping a trusted confidant with a lengthy resume of government service, writes Halper and Janet Hook. Klain served as a top advisor for Biden in his presidential campaign and when he was vice president and senator.

Halper and Hook write that Klain helped manage the Obama administration’s response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak.

Chiefs of staff, who do not need to be confirmed by the Senate, serve as the gatekeeper to the president, control the flow of paper in and out of the Oval Office and have a major say over staffing the entire executive branch.

Biden also announced some lower-level appointments to his transition team, including tapping Linda Darling-Hammond, a leading figure in California education policy, to lead his education transition team, write Howard Blume, Paloma Esquivel and Nina Agrawal. Phil Washington, the chief executive of Los Angeles County’s transit agency, will lead the transportation transition team, Laura J. Nelson reports.

What’s next?

A flurry of appointments are expected to follow as Biden fills out a roster of key staff positions and his cabinet — choices he said he would begin to unveil by Thanksgiving. Among those anticipated: Michele Flournoy, a politically moderate Pentagon veteran, is said to be his pick for Defense secretary. She would be the first woman to fill the role.

While some of those positions may require congressional approval, Biden has plenty of options even if partisan gridlock and legal disputes hold up the process. Climate action, for example, can be achieved quickly by reinstating emissions standards and leveraging foreign allies, Anna M. Phillips writes. A climate plan was a key part of Biden’s platform, though he has not announced any specific actions since his election.

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The latest from Washington

— President Trump on Tuesday fired Christopher Krebs, the director of the federal agency that vouched for the reliability of the 2020 election.

— As Trump’s election lawsuits fizzle, Rudolph W. Giuliani appeared in federal court in Pennsylvania on Tuesday to argue his case. Chris Megerian writes that he argued without evidence that there was a massive conspiracy behind Biden’s victory. But when questioned by the judge, Giuliani admitted, “This is not a fraud case.”

— Sarah Wire reports that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to breeze through her reelection bid — likely her last — in Wednesday’s House leadership vote. Meanwhile, Trump ally and fellow Californian Rep. Kevin McCarthy won reelection as House Republican leader.

— At President Trump’s direction, the Pentagon on Tuesday ordered U.S. troop levels reduced to 2,500 in both Iraq and Afghanistan, accelerating a planned drawdown but stopping short of the departing president’s promise to end America’s involvement, write David S. Cloud and Stefanie Glinski. Cloud spoke with young Afghans about what a withdrawal would mean for them.

— From Sammy Roth: The climate crisis will once again take center stage under Biden. Though energy politics of the last dozen years were defined by coal, the fiercest battles of the Biden era are likely to revolve around natural gas.

— The first volume of President Obama’s memoirs has been released. In his review, White House reporter Eli Stokols writes that the book is a masterful lament over the fragility of hope.

What’s happening in California

— California officials have hung their hopes on Biden for coronavirus relief and more, including help from a famously train-loving president in saving the state’s beleaguered high-speed rail project. Insiders, however, are dubious about a bailout, writes Ralph Vartabedian.

— Gov. Gavin Newsom has apologized for visiting a Napa Valley restaurant with friends as his administration called for California residents to avoid similar behavior, write Taryn Luna and Phil Willon. (If you’re interested, Julia Wick, writer of The Times’ Essential California newsletter, has the story of how he got busted.)

— Even as the state has pulled the “emergency brake” on reopening amid a new spike in coronavirus cases, legislators from California and other states maintained plans to attend an annual policy conference in Maui. The pandemic has brought heightened scrutiny of lawmakers, John Myers writes.

Stay in touch

Keep up with breaking news on our Politics page. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics?

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Until next time, send your comments, suggestions and news tips to politics@latimes.com.

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Larry David shares how he feels about Trump – CNN

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Larry David shares how he feels about Trump

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Larry David shares how he feels about former President Donald Trump and the 2020 election. Watch the full episode of “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” streaming March 29 on Max.


03:21

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Trump's claims on crime rates clash with police data – NBC News

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Surging crime levels, out-of-control Democratic cities and “migrant crime.”

Former President Donald Trump regularly cites all three at his campaign rallies, in news releases and on Truth Social, often saying President Joe Biden and Democrats are to blame.

But the crime picture Trump paints contrasts sharply with years of police and government data at both the local and national levels.

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FBI statistics released this year suggested a steep drop in crime across the country last year. It’s a similar story across major cities, with violent crime down year over year in Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.

NBC News analyzed crime data to evaluate Trump’s assertions about the topic.

U.S. and big city crime rates

Trump’s campaign often refers to crime levels, regularly pointing the finger at Biden.

“On Joe Biden’s watch, violent crime has skyrocketed in virtually every American city,” the campaign said in a news release published this month on its site.

Trump himself has made similar remarks.

“Four years ago, I told you that if crooked Joe Biden got to the White House, our borders would be abolished, our middle class would be decimated and our communities would be plagued by bloodshed, chaos and violent crime,” Trump said in a speech last month at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “We were right about everything.”

Government figures don’t support that characterization.

Reported violent crime dropped 6% across the board when comparing the last three months of 2022 to the same period in 2023, the FBI reported.

The reported drops were especially pronounced in the big cities that Trump often assails, many of which have Democratic mayors. Violent crime dropped by 11% in cities with populations of 1 million or more, according to FBI data, while murders dropped by 20%, rape was down 16%, and aggravated assault fell by 11%.

Reached for comment, the Trump campaign pointed to other reports indicating that certain types of crimes increased in specific cities.

At the national level, the reported rate of violent crime in 2022, the most recent full year with comprehensive FBI data, was 380.7 offenses per 100,000 people. That’s lower than the overall reported violent crime rate from 2020 — the last full year Trump was in office — when the figure was at 398.5.

The lowest reported violent crime rate of Trump’s presidency was in 2019, when the metric was at 380.8 — in line with the 2022 rate.

The FBI said it will release more comprehensive 2023 crime data in October, just before the election.

The Trump campaign, reached for comment, cited certain categories of violent crime, such as motor vehicle theft, as having increased during the Biden administration, according to FBI figures.

“Joe Biden is trying to convince Americans not to believe their own eyes,” campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, adding that “Democrats have turned great American cities into cesspools of bloodshed and crime.”

New York City crime

Trump, who was born and raised in New York but now lives in Florida, often rails against what he portrays as an increasing crime rate in his former hometown.

Those references to soaring violence have only increased as he faces criminal charges in New York accusing him of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump, who has pleaded not guilty in that case, must also post a $175 million bond to prevent state Attorney General Letitia James from collecting the judgment from a New York civil fraud case.

“I did nothing wrong, and New York should never be put in a position like this again,” Trump posted on Truth Social about the civil judgment in all capital letters. “Businesses are fleeing, violent crime is flourishing, and it is very important that this be resolved in its totality as soon as possible.”

In a separate post, he claimed that “murders & violent crime hit unimaginable records” in the city.

However, major crimes in New York City are down this year by 2.3%, according to police department data comparing year-to-date figures to the same period in 2023.

Those figures for last year were also far below the highs from recent decades. In 1990, more than 527,000 major crimes were reported, compared to more than 126,000 last year, according to New York police data — a drop of more than 75%.

In 2001, more than 162,000 major crimes were reported in New York. The figure dropped by more than 20% over the next two decades.

At the same time, New York City data indicates that the number of major crimes increased in the past few years, though reported violent crimes like murder and rape were down last year from previous years.

‘Migrant crime’

Trump’s dehumanizing language about migrants has become a mainstay of his political speeches since he first sought office in 2015.

In a news release this month, his campaign said the “border Crisis has created a tragic surge in violent crime against innocent American citizens at the hands of some of the world’s most violent criminals.”

Trump has also focused his energy on high-profile cases such as the death of Laken Riley, who was killed in Georgia while jogging. The suspect is a Venezuelan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally in 2022.

“Every day, innocent citizens are being killed, stabbed, shot, raped and murdered because of Biden migrant crime,” Trump said in a video posted to his campaign’s X account last week.

However, there is no evidence of a migrant-driven crime wave in the U.S., according to local police department data.

Crime reports have decreased in several major cities targeted by Texas’ Operation Lone Star, a program backed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that flies or buses migrants from the state to Democratic-run cities across the U.S.

Several of those cities — New York, Chicago, Washington and Philadelphia — have had decreases in year-to-date reported crime totals compared to the same period last year.


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Federal government promising a 'renters' bill of rights' in upcoming budget – CBC.ca

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government will introduce new measures — including a new “bill of rights” — that he says will help protect those who rent their homes as part of the upcoming budget.

Trudeau said the new measures are specifically geared toward younger people, who are renting more than previous generations.

“It’s about changing the rules of the game in a way that meets young people where they are,” he said on Wednesday.

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Ottawa will work with provinces and territories to develop a “renters’ bill of rights” that would introduce a national standard lease agreement and implement requirements for landlords to disclose an apartment’s pricing history to allow tenants to negotiate their rent.

The new measures will also include a $15-million fund for provincial legal aid organizations that help tenants fight against “renovictions” and landlord abuse.

The Liberals are also proposing to change federal rules so that making rental payments on time will count toward someone’s credit scores, something Trudeau said is meant to help renters looking to one day buy a house.

“If you look at someone who pays a $2,000 [per month] mortgage, they’re getting recognition and credit for that from their bank as part of their credit score,” the prime minister said.

“But if you’re paying $2,000 a month on rent, you get no kudos.”

Typically the government doesn’t discuss what is in an annual budget until it is introduced in the House of Commons. But the announcement was made weeks prior to the release of the Liberals’ next budget, which is slated to drop on April 16.

Releasing tidbits from the budget ahead of time is part of a new communications strategy for the Liberals, sources told CBC News. Trudeau and his ministers are expected to make a number of similar announcements in the run-up to the budget, the sources said.

WATCH | Trudeau says new measures aim to help tenants: 

Liberals promise ‘renters’ bill of rights’ to fight housing crisis

5 hours ago

Duration 2:07

The Liberals are looking to create a ‘renters’ bill of rights’ to help deal with Canada’s housing crisis. Justin Trudeau says the plan is geared toward younger people suffering from a rising cost of living. The Conservatives call the measures meaningless.

Before revealing the planned rental measures on Wednesday, Trudeau took a moment to plug the April 16 fiscal plan, saying that the budget will be about “fairness.”

“For Canada to succeed, we need everyone to succeed,” he said.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland joined Trudeau for his announcement and hinted about further announcements ahead of budget day.

“Over the coming days and in the April budget, we are going to launch a no-holds-barred plan to wrestle down the cost of owning and renting a home,” she said.

Wednesday’s announcements came on the same day that the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation released a report that found a surge in new apartment construction drove housing start increases in several major Canadian cities last year.

But the report also cautions that demand continues to outweigh supply.

The opposition Conservatives, who have enjoyed a healthy lead in recent polls, have made housing — and other cost-of-living issues — a key point of attack against the governing Liberals.

Following his announcement, Trudeau was asked whether he thinks he bears any responsibility for people feeling left behind in the current economy and whether the new measures would be enough to convince younger people to support him in the next election.

In response, Trudeau suggested that a recent rise in the cost of living is not unique to Canada.

“Young people who are key to our present, and obviously key to our future, are seeing a system that is stacked against them. That’s true in Canada but also true elsewhere around the world,” he said. “What we’re focused on now is making sure that young people can see their success in the economy.”

Opposition parties criticize Liberal announcement

Scott Aitchison, the Conservative housing critic, said Wednesday’s announcement was Liberal posturing that won’t get results.

“Today’s photo op is just another set of meaningless measures that won’t result in building the homes Canadians need,” he said in a statement.

NDP housing critic Jenny Kwan criticized the announcement for not going far enough.

“The Liberals are so out of touch with what Canadian renters are experiencing that they keep offering half-measures instead of a real action,” Kwan said in a statement.

The NDP is calling on the government to invest more in affordable housing while temporarily preventing for-profit firms from buying designated affordable-housing spaces.

WATCH | Liberal government promises better protections for renters in upcoming budget: 

Liberal government promises better protections for renters in upcoming budget

9 hours ago

Duration 11:39

The Liberal government unveiled three new proposals Wednesday to better protect renters in Canada. Power & Politics speaks to Marci Ien, minister of women, gender equality and youth, about the proposed protections.

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