Dec 21, 2019 - Politics & Policy

Tulsi Gabbard on impeachment vote: "I did not take the easy vote"

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) said she did not "take the easy vote" when she broke with the majority of her party on Wednesday and voted "present" on two articles of impeachment against President Trump. She felt her vote "was in the best interest of our country," the congresswoman told NBC.

The big picture: Gabbard is the only 2020 presidential candidate who had a chance to vote on impeachment, and she has criticized the process as partisan, the New York Times reports. She favors a measure to censure Trump rather than impeaching him.

What she's saying:

"Congress has the opportunity to send a strong message to this president and all future presidents that Congress will not allow abuses of power to go unchecked, while still respecting the people of this country, who have the power to cast their votes and decide whether or not to remove this president. And I really believe that they will."

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Barak Ravid
Updated 22 mins ago - World

Scoop: Decisive meeting could lead to Israeli-Sudanese normalization

Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan's head of the Sovereign Council, meets with Bahraini aid officials in Khartoum, Sept. 15. Photo: Mazen Mahdi/AFP via Getty Images

U.S., Emirati and Sudanese officials will hold a decisive meeting in Abu Dhabi on Monday on a possible normalization agreement between Sudan and Israel, Sudanese sources told me.

Why it matters: If the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates accommodate Sudan’s requests for economic aid, an announcement on a normalization agreement with Israel similar to the ones struck with the UAE and Bahrain could be made within days, sources briefed on the process tell me.

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Axios
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Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 12:45 p.m. ET: 30,838,610 — Total deaths: 958,090— Total recoveries: 21,088,552 — Map.
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  4. Education: What we overlooked in the switch to remote learning
  5. Health: The dwindling chances of eliminating COVID-19.
  6. World: Guatemalan president tests positive for COVID-19 — The countries painting their pandemic recoveries green.
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Orion Rummler
Updated 2 hours ago - Health

7 states set single-day coronavirus case records last week

Data: Compiled by Axios; Map: Danielle Alberti/Axios

Seven states set new highs last week for coronavirus infections recorded in a single day, according to the COVID Tracking Project and state health departments. Wisconsin and Nebraska surpassed records set the previous week.

Why it matters: Problem spots are sticking in the Midwest, although the U.S. is moving in the right direction overall after massive infection spikes this summer.

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