December 2 political news briefs

Here are today’s political news briefs.

Axios reported that President Trump is likely to announce that he will run again in 2024 and will try to stay relevant and freeze out Republican rivals. A CNN reporter said Trump told people at a White House Christmas party last night that it “has been an amazing four years. We are trying to do another four years. Otherwise I’ll see you in four years.”

President-elect Joe Biden said in an interview that he feels that he has done something good for the country “by making sure that Donald Trump is not going to be president for four more years.”

There is a federal investigation on a possible scheme to bribe the White House for a presidential pardon of an unnamed federal convict. A court document was unsealed last night, but there is no information on who the suspects are because the court document was heavily redacted. D.C. Chief Judge Beryl Howell signed an order that allowed federal prosecutors to use information derived from emails. President Donald Trump tweeted that the investigation is “fake news.”

In separate news, the New York Times reported that President Trump has discussed with advisers on whether to do preemptive pardons to his children, his son-in-law, and to Rudy Giuliani. The Times said Trump is concerned that the Biden administration might target them. A preemptive pardon would apply to future investigations. Giuliani tweeted that the report was fake news.

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President Trump tweeted a threat last night to veto a $740 billion defense (military) spending bill because it did not include an elimination of laws that protected large internet companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google from being sued for the content that their users post. This law is called “Section 230.” Trump has said many times that there is a bias against conservative voices. However a top Republican senator said he would move ahead with the bill without removing Section 230, and Axios explained that it means there seems to be enough Republican support to override a Trump veto if it comes to that.

Former President Barack Obama, in an interview aired this morning, criticized the slogan “defund the police” because it causes one to lose a big audience and make it harder to reach agreements for meaningful police reforms. Obama said it was important to try and get people to listen to you and meet people where they are. He was criticized by progressive Democrats who said there have been many deaths by police and that it is not a slogan but a policy demand.

In Ohio, four Republican state lawmakers filed 12 articles of impeachment against Gov. Mike DeWine (R), accusing him of abuse of power during the coronavirus pandemic because he issued stay-at-home orders and required people to wear masks.

That’s all the political news for today.

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/01/940960089/justice-department-investigating-possible-bribery-for-pardon-scheme

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/us/politics/rudy-giuliani-pardon.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/12/02/trump-says-veto-defense-bill-over-section-230-social-media/3791708001/

https://www.axios.com/trump-defense-spending-social-media-inhofe-7db847bb-76fc-41a7-afc8-b87e84c9faa2.html

https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1333960528163713025

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/02/joe-biden-trump-transition-live-updates/

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/progressives-fire-back-at-obama-after-he-criticizes-defund-the-police-movement

https://www.cleveland19.com/2020/11/30/articles-impeachment-officially-filed-against-ohio-gov-mike-dewine-claiming-abuse-power-during-pandemic/