USA TODAY Future Will Meet in a Superstar the NATION's NEWS | $2 | TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2021 Showdown, Writes Nancy Armour
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Stimulus checks: What Yes, it’s freezing, but more Super Bowl: to know before tax filing of us are heading outdoors A matchup Do you have to pay income taxes on the checks? Weary of the pandemic, people are trying winter of greats What will it mean for your refund? In Money sports, hiking and other escapes. In Money like no other With Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, the past and the USA TODAY future will meet in a superstar THE NATION'S NEWS | $2 | TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2021 showdown, writes Nancy Armour. In Sports USA TODAY SPORTS E3 SENATE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL Trump defense strategy murky As trial begins, he lacks star lawyers, full GOP backing Christal Hayes USA TODAY WASHINGTON – When President Donald Trump faced an impeachment trial a year ago over his actions on Uk- raine, he lined up a star-studded team of attorneys led by White House counsel Pat Cipollone. Ken Starr, who headed the investiga- tion into President Bill Clinton that led to his impeachment, and Alan Dersho- witz, a constitutional law expert who defended O.J. Simpson, were among the lawyers on Trump’s team. The case cen- tered on whether Trump abused the power of his office to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Bi- den. For Trump’s second impeachment trial, over accusations that he incited the Capitol Hill riot Jan. 6, he hired Butch Bowers of South Carolina, a U.S. House officials deliver the article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump to the Senate floor Monday prominent attorney in conservative cir- at the Capitol. The trial, during which Trump will face accusations he incited the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, is expected to start the cles who made his name defending Re- week of Feb. 8. Trump’s strategy isn’t clear but could focus on the fact that he is no longer in office. JACK GRUBER/USA TODAY publican governors in the state but who is untested on such a high-profile politi- cal case. Trump’s first impeachment trial unit- Dominion sues Giuliani for ed Republicans on Capitol Hill. Some lawmakers acted as an informal defense team, arguing Trump’s innocence on ca- $1.3B, alleging defamation ble news and in front of TV cameras. Trump was acquitted. Bart Jansen “Giuliani’s statements are defamato- This trial will look dramatically dif- USA TODAY ry,” the lawsuit said. “They have ex- ferent. Trump is no longer president and posed Dominion to the most extreme thus may have less sway over a heavily WASHINGTON – Dominion Voting hatred and contempt.” divided Republican conference. He Systems filed a $1.3 billion defamation Other legal challenges facing Giuliani lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani, adding to include federal prosecutors investigat- See TRUMP, Page 4A mounting legal challenges facing Presi- ing him for dealings in Ukraine. The dent Donald Trump’s personal lawyer New York State Bar Association may who led the failed effort to overturn the boot Giuliani from its membership over More inside Rudy Giuliani, seen here with lawyer 2020 election results. his speech at a Trump rally the day of Sidney Powell, said Dominion’s The 107-page Dominion lawsuit al- the Capitol riot this month. And Middle- h DOJ investigates whether staffers defamation lawsuit against him will leges that Giuliani made more than 50 bury College in Vermont even revoked tried to alter vote result for Trump. 4A allow him to investigate the company’s statements disparaging the company’s an honorary degree. h Why did so many Capitol rioters post history, finances and practices. equipment in speeches, on Twitter and incriminating photos of themselves? 3A JACQUELYN MARTIN/AP on podcasts. See DOMINION, Page 5A Ban on transgender CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC troops overturned President Joe Biden has directed his Teachers unions resist reopening new defense secretary to reverse the Trump administration policy from 2017 Parents frustrated, kids and ensure that transgender American troops are not discharged or denied struggle outside school reenlistment. 2A Erin Richards USA TODAY This was supposed to be the semes- ter when America’s largest school dis- QIJFAF-02005y(a)e ©COPYRIGHT 2021 tricts reopened. USA TODAY, A division of COVID-19 vaccinations are rolling Gannett Co., Inc. out. Studies have shown in-school HOME DELIVERY transmission of the virus is low. Thou- 1-800-872-0001, USATODAYSERVICE.COM sands of schools have successfully brought kids back in person, while kids who stayed home have struggled. Yet many parents are realizing their Vaccine rollout children may never see their teachers rated too slow in person this year. A growing number blame their local teachers union, even Asked about the speed of vaccine distribution Moving as President Joe Biden and his admini- nationally, Americans too fast stration make in-person instruction a say it’s … 8% priority. Brayson Lockwood, a student at E.D. Nixon Elementary School in Montgomery, “It’s so frustrating,” said Adam Ala., logs onto the internet signal from a Montgomery Public School bus parked Moving Grandi, a father of two elementary stu- at a YMCA last spring. The internet buses help students access remote classes too slow even if they don't have reliable internet at home. MICKEY WELSH/USA TODAY NETWORK 52% The right dents in San Francisco, where the dis- speed trict scrapped a Jan. 25 reopening date 19% because the school board couldn’t reach an agreement with the union. Reinventing Education at the University “Of course, we all feel for the teachers, of Washington. Some districts that got and we appreciate the work they’re do- kids back to schools face major push- “All this rhetoric about the ing, but it feels like the union is looking back from unions, predominantly Don’t out for themselves, which is their job, around safety measures and the spike in union stopping this or that – know but it’s at the expense of a whole lot of COVID-19 infection rates. we’re not stopping 21% kids and families.” In Chicago Public Schools, the na- Almost three out of four urban dis- tion’s third-largest district, the teachers anything.” SOURCE YouGov poll, Jan. 4-5 tricts offer only online instruction, ac- Diamonté Brown AMY BARNETTE, DAVID ANESTA/USA TODAY cording to a report from the Center on See SCHOOLS, Page 6A Baltimore Teachers Union president 2A ❚ TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2021 ❚ USA TODAY NEWS POLITICS Biden overturns transgender troop ban ‘America is safer’ with by, among other things, repelling poten- tial recruits. repeal of Trump policy Retired Army Col. Sheri Swokowski, a transgender veteran whose doctoral Tom Vanden Brook dissertation focused on barriers to care USA TODAY for transgender troops, said the Penta- gon has failed to provide adequate care, WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden noting that some troops wait years for on Monday overturned President Don- required surgery or choose to pay for it ald Trump’s policy that aimed to ban on their own. transgender troops from service. “The process is so sluggish, an in- Biden directed Defense Secretary creasing number of service members Lloyd Austin to implement a policy that have chosen to avoid the DoD process prohibits discrimination against troops entirely, despite incurring five-figure based on their gender identity and re- costs, to best support unit mission quires the Pentagon to report within 60 timelines and meet individual health days its progress in unraveling the ban. needs,” Swokowski said. Biden said the move makes the na- Her research found that the Penta- tion safer. gon spends about $3 million per year on “Today, I repealed the discriminatory treatment for transgender troops. The ban on transgender people serving in Pentagon annually spends about $50 the military,” Biden said in a tweet. “It’s billion annually on health care. simple: America is safer when everyone Demonstrators protest the transgender military service ban in Washington on Resistance from commanders and qualified to serve can do so openly and April 10, 2019. ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES red tape led one soldier to pay more than with pride.” $24,000 for her own treatment. The directive is one of Biden’s first The soldier, who said she knew she moves to unravel Trump’s legacy in the gender troops from serving openly, and ma-era policy were grandfathered in. was trans at age 13 or 14, joined the Army military and elsewhere in government. it allowed them to receive counseling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D- at 17. Now 30, she’s a senior enlisted sol- During his congressional confirma- and medical treatment, including sur- Calif., derided the policy as “bigoted.” dier and served a one-year deployment tion hearing Jan. 19, Austin vowed to re- gery. A study commissioned by the Pen- The Pentagon estimated that there to Afghanistan. She talked about her ex- scind the ban and “to create a climate tagon found that overturning the ban were about 9,000 transgender troops perience on condition that she not be where everyone fit and willing has the would have minimal costs and effects serving in 2016, and about 1,000 of them identified over concerns of retaliation. opportunity to serve this country with on the readiness of troops to fight. had a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. She thought about leaving the Army dignity.” Trump announced by tweet in July The Palm Center, a think tank that fo- to complete transition treatment but re- On Monday, Austin called repeal of 2017 his intent to ban transgender cuses on issues involving LGBT troops, enlisted in 2015 when she heard that the the ban “the right thing to do. It is also troops, a move that surprised Pentagon estimated that there are about 14,000 Pentagon was considering repeal of the the smart thing to do.” brass.