Archives for February 2021

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A proposal that would likely ban almost all abortions in South Carolina moved closer Tuesday to final approval in a committee vote split along party lines.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 15-8 to pass the “ South Carolina Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act.” The bill has already passed the Senate and the governor promises he will sign it, although the law is likely to be the subject of lengthy court battles before it could take effect.

The proposal would require doctors to use an ultrasound to try to detect a fetal heartbeat if they think pregnant women are at least eight weeks along. If they find a heartbeat, and the pregnancy is not the result of rape or incest, they can’t perform the abortion unless the mother’s life is in danger.

A fetal heartbeat can be detected as soon as six weeks after conception and before many women know they are pregnant.

About a dozen other states have passed similar bills, although they are tied up in court challenges. The main sponsor of the bill, Rep. John McCravy, R-Greenwood, said during his explanation of the bill he expects the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 1973 abortion rights decision because of recent conservative justices added by former President Donald Trump.

“The Constitution in our nation has devolved into whatever nine justices say it means,” McCravy said.

Numerous public hearings have been held about the bill over the past several years, but GOP lawmakers plan no more public testimony on it.

Republicans stayed mostly quiet after explaining the bill, allowing several Democrats to speak.

“This is an issue we should not be legislating,” said Rep. Beth Bernstein, D-Columbia. “It’s a decision that needs to be made between a woman, her family and her doctor.”

Democrats unsuccessfully tried to change the bill. Rep. John King, D-Rock Hill, proposed amendments that the state would “assume full financial responsibility” for a child if the mother is denied an abortion, calling it “truly pro-life.”

Another failed amendment said if the proposal became law it would only be enforced if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds similar laws in other states. Both failed on party-line votes.

A third amendment would have allowed pregnant women and the fathers of their babies to carry guns openly to protect their fetuses. That also did not pass.

Democrats made arguments that Republicans don’t care enough about children after they were born. They also questioned the constitutionality of the bill and components of the proposal, like how the state would handle requiring doctors to show the ultrasound to visually impaired women.

“According to this bill, the doctor shall ask the woman if he wants to hear the heartbeat. So I guess we’ll have to train our doctors in sign language,” said Rep. Justin Bamberg, D-Bamberg.

Democrats said the bill would require an invasive ultrasound to be able to hear a potential heartbeat so early in a pregnancy instead of one on the outside of a woman’s belly. To illustrate the point, Bamberg held up a wand used internally as he spoke, but Republicans questioned that argument.

“I can find that nowhere in the bill whatsoever,” said Rep. Weston Newton, R-Bluffton. “I want to make sure we are factually considering what was offered as opinion.”

Tuesday’s discussion in the committee meeting is likely a preview of the debate that will take place on the House floor later this month.

Some Democratic representatives plan amendments to try to stall passage as long as possible, Republicans will likely try to avoid any changes to the bill which could send it back to the Senate, where it had been tripped up for years prior to 2021.

The full House passed a similar bill 70-31 in 2019.

Republicans were able finally to get the proposal through the South Carolina Senate after flipping three seats from Democrats in the 2020 elections.

Democratic Rep. Cezar McKnight told lawmakers South Carolina had a lot more pressing issues including improving education, finding a way to make life better for poor children and increasing the budget of the Department of Social Services to help families.

“We’ll do everything we can when they are in the womb, but after that it is survival of the fittest,” the Democrat from Kingstree said.

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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — House prosecutors on Tuesday wrenched senators and the nation back to the deadly attack on Congress as they opened Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial with graphic video of the insurrection and Trump’s own calls for a rally crowd to march to the iconic building and “fight like hell” against his reelection defeat.

The detailed and emotional presentation by Democrats was followed by meandering and occasionally confrontational arguments from the Trump defense team, which insisted that his remarks were protected by the First Amendment and asserted that he cannot be convicted as a former president. Even Trump’s backers in the Senate winced, several saying his lawyers were not helpful to his case.

The senators sitting as jurors, many of whom fled for safety themselves the day of the attack, watched and listened, unable to avoid the jarring video of Trump supporters battling past police to storm the halls, Trump flags waving. While many minds are made up, the senators will face their own moment to decide whether to convict or acquit Trump of the sole charge “incitement of insurrection.”

The heavy emotional weight of the trial punctuates Trump’s enduring legacy as the first president to face impeachment trial after leaving office and the first to be twice impeached. The Jan. 6 Capitol siege stunned the world as hundreds of rioters ransacked the building to try to stop the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, a domestic attack on the nation’s seat of government unlike any in its history. Five people died.

“That’s a high crime and misdemeanor,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., declared in opening remarks. “If that’s not an impeachable offense, then there’s no such thing.”

Trump’s lawyers insist he is not guilty, his fiery words just figures of speech.

In a key early test, senators rejected an effort by Trump’s allies to halt the trial, instead affirming the Senate’s authority under the Constitution to decide the case. They voted 56-44 to confirm their jurisdiction, ruling that impeaching a president after he leaves office is constitutionally permissible. Six Republicans joined the Democrats.

Security remained extremely tight at the Capitol on Tuesday, a changed place after the attack, fenced off with razor wire and with armed National Guard troops on patrol. The nine House managers walked across the shuttered building to prosecute the case before the Senate.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden would not be watching the trial of his predecessor.

“Joe Biden is the president, he’s not a pundit, he’s not going to opine on back and forth arguments,” she said.

With senators gathered as the court of impeachment, sworn to deliver impartial justice, the trial started with the Democratic House managers’ gripping recollections, as they described police officers maimed in the chaos and rioters parading in the very chamber where the trial was being held.

Trump’s team countered that the Constitution doesn’t allow impeachment at this late date. Though the trial now proceeds, that’s a legal issue that could resonate with Republicans eager to acquit Trump without being seen as condoning his behavior.

Lead lawyer Bruce Castor said he shifted his planned approach after hearing the prosecutors’ opening and instead spoke conversationally to the senators, saying Trump’s team would do nothing but denounce the “repugnant” attack and “in the strongest possible way denounce the rioters.” He appealed to the senators as “patriots first,” and encouraged them to be “cool headed” as they assess the arguments.

Trump attorney David Schoen turned the trial toward starkly partisan tones, saying the Democrats were fueled by a “base hatred” of the former president.

Republicans made it clear that they were unhappy with Trump’s defense, many of them saying they didn’t understand where it was going — particularly Castor’s opening. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who voted with Democrats to move forward with the trial, said that Trump’s team did a “terrible job.” Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who also voted with Democrats, said she was “perplexed.” Sen. Lisa Murkowki of Alaska said it was a “missed opportunity” for the defense.

The early defense struggles also underscored the uphill battle that Trump’s lawyers face in defending conduct that preceded an insurrection that senators themselves personally experienced. Though they will almost certainly win Trump’s acquittal — by virtue of the composition of the Senate — they nonetheless face a challenge of defanging the emotion from a trial centered on events that remain raw and visceral, even for Republicans.

At one pivotal point, Raskin told his personal story of bringing his family to the Capitol the day of the riot, to witness the certification of the Electoral College vote, only to have his daughter and son-in-law hiding in an office, fearing for their lives.

“Senators, this cannot be our future,” Raskin said through tears. “This cannot be the future of America.”

The House prosecutors had argued there is no “January exception” for a president to avoid impeachment on his way out the door. Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., referred to the corruption case of William Belknap, a war secretary in the Grant administration, who was impeached, tried and ultimately acquitted by the Senate after leaving office.

If Congress stands by, “it would invite future presidents to use their power without any fear of accountability,” he said.

On the vote, six Republicans joined with Democrats pursue the trial, just one more than on a similar vote last week. Cassidy joined Collins, Murkowski, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. But the total of 56 was still far from the two-thirds threshold of 67 votes that would be needed for conviction.

It appears unlikely that the House prosecutors will call witnesses, in part because the senators were witnesses themselves. At his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trump has declined a request to testify.

Presidential impeachment trials have been conducted only three times before, leading to acquittals for Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and then Trump last year.

Because of the COVID-19 crisis, senators were allowed to spread out, including in the “marble room” just off the Senate floor or even in the public galleries, but most were at their desks.

Presiding was not the chief justice of the United States, as in previous presidential impeachment trials, but the chamber’s senior-most member of the majority party, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont.

Under an agreement between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican leader Mitch McConnell, the substantive opening arguments will begin at noon Wednesday. The trial is expected to continue into the weekend.

Trump’s second impeachment trial is expected to diverge from the lengthy, complicated affair of a year ago. In that case, Trump was charged with having privately pressured Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden, then a Democratic rival for the presidency.

This time, Trump’s “stop the steal” rally rhetoric and the storming of the Capitol played out for the world to see.

The Democratic-led House impeached the president swiftly, one week after the attack. Five people died, including a woman shot by police inside the building and a police officer who died the next day of his injuries.

Timothy Naftali, a clinical associate professor at New York University and an expert on impeachment, said in an interview, “This trial is one way of having that difficult national conversation about the difference between dissent and insurrection.”

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FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — GOP gubernatorial candidate Amanda Chase on Tuesday sued the Republican Party of Virginia over its plans for a nominating convention to choose candidates in this year’s election.

In a statement, Chase accused party leadership of trying to sticking with plans for a nominating convention even though large gatherings remain banned under the pandemic.

The Republican Party of Virginia has not finalized its plans; Chase says the party’s central committee is plotting to capitalize on the confusion by simply choosing a nominee itself and bypassing voters.

“I’ve proven I can win in either a convention or a primary; I will run and win in either one. However, to not allow the people to vote, and participate in the process, is something I will not tolerate,” Chase said.

Chase, a state senator from Chesterfield County, has alienated colleagues in both parties with incendiary rhetoric and was censured by the Virginia Senate for a “pattern of unacceptable conduct,” including an allegation that she voiced support for those who participated in storming the U.S. Capitol. At one point she called for the imposition of martial law to overturn the presidential election results.

In Tuesday’s statement, Chase suggested the party should be working on rules for an “unassembled convention” that would let party faithful participate in the selection process without gathering under one roof. But she said the party’s central committee is badly divided and unable to agree on revisions that would enable such a convention.

The lawsuit filed in Richmond Circuit Court asks a judge to impose an injunction that would bar the party from holding a convention. But it makes no mention of choosing a primary or an unassembled convention as an alternative.

Chase advocated for Republicans to hold a primary election and briefly indicated she would run as an independent when the party first chose a nominating convention that she believed was meant to blunt her grassroots support in favor of establishment Republicans. But she remained in the race.

Republicans in Virginia have frequently chosen to hold conventions rather than primaries to choose statewide nominees. Voters in Virginia do not register by party, and Republicans have long been concerned that Democratic voters would infiltrate a primary by casting mischievous votes for unelectable candidates. Critics of the convention process, though, argue that the results are beholden to a small group of insiders who are likely to choose extreme, unelectable candidates.

Democrats are choosing their nominee in a June primary. Virginia law uniquely limits governors to a single four-year term.

The off-year statewide elections in Virginia are often viewed as an early window on voter sentiment in the year after a presidential election.

A spokesman for the Republican Party of Virginia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Associated Press writer Sarah Rankin contributed to this report from Richmond.

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Twitter posted solid results for the last three months of 2020, capping what CEO Jack Dorsey called “an extraordinary year” for the platform. New users signed on in large numbers to follow the world’s events in real time despite the challenges of election misinformation and intensifying calls to ban now former President Donald Trump.

The San Francisco-based company earned $222.1 million, or 27 cents per share, in the October-December period. That’s up 87% from $118.8 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue grew 28% to $1.29 billion from $1 billion. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 29 cents per share and revenue of $1.18 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

Twitter had 192 million daily users, on average, in the third quarter, up 27% year-over-year. By comparison, Facebook had 1.84 billion daily users on average in December 2020, an increase of 11% year-over-year. Twitter does not disclose monthly user figures.

EMarketer analyst Nazmul Islam said Twitter might see some of user growth fall off in the current quarter due to its removal of accounts and defections from people who oppose the account bans. But he added that advertising revenue should remain strong as the company continues to invest in ad infrastructure.

Twitter said it expects 2021 revenue to grow faster than expenses — meaning it would turn a profit — but did not give more specific guidance. And that’s assuming the coronavirus pandemic continues to improve and the company sees a “modest” effect from new privacy changes associated with Apple’s iOS 14.

Apple is preparing to roll out a new privacy control in the early spring to prevent iPhone apps from secretly shadowing people, which could hurt companies that rely on tracking people to show personalized advertisements — like Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter’s shares climbed $1.23, or 2%, to $61.10 in after-hours trading after the results came out. The stock had closed up $1.71, or 2.9%, at $59.87.

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