Michigan Governor issues new emergency orders after legislature refuses extensions

SANJANA KARANTH

May 1st 2020 4:33AM

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued new emergency and disaster declarations on Thursday after the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature refused to extend the existing ones set to expire at midnight.

The Democratic governor signed three new executive orders extending the state’s restrictions meant to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Under the orders, Whitmer stated that an emergency still exists under one law and declared a new 28-day state of emergency under another law.

“COVID-19 is an enemy that has taken the lives of more Michiganders than we lost during the Vietnam War,” Whitmer said in a statement. “While some members of the legislature might believe this crisis is over, common sense and all of the scientific data tells us we’re not out of the woods yet. 

“By refusing to extend the emergency and disaster declaration, Republican lawmakers are putting their heads in the sand and putting more lives and livelihoods at risk,” she added. “I’m not going to let that happen.”

The orders come amid protests within the state to reopen the economy. Earlier this month, an estimated 4,000 protesters drove their cars to Lansing, the state capital, to demand that Whitmer ease Michigan’s coronavirus restrictions. 

On Thursday, hundreds of anti-lockdown demonstrators arrived at the state Capitol to protest Whitmer’s plan to extend Michigan’s state of emergency. Many who attended were not wearing masks or social distancing, and at one point a group of men armed with rifles stormed the building (It is legal to openly carry guns in the statehouse). Whitmer was not in the building during Thursday’s protest.

 

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That same day, the Republican-led state House and Senate voted along party lines for a bill that would temporarily codify many of her directives but not her stay-at-home order. The Michigan Legislature also voted to authorize a lawsuit challenging Whitmer’s authority and actions to combat the outbreak, according to The Associated Press.

Whitmer has already been sued for her coronavirus restrictions. Business owner Steven Martinko and four other Michigan residents filed a lawsuit demanding businesses reopen, arguing that Whitmer’s orders infringe on their constitutional rights. A Michigan judge disagreed with the plaintiffs, saying that the difficulties of living under restrictive orders are temporary, “while to those who contract the virus and cannot recover … it is all too permanent.”

Whitmer said Thursday that the GOP bill passed on Thursday “does not comply with constitutional requirements,” according to a news release from her office.

“Moreover, the governor will not sign any bills that constrain her ability to protect the people of Michigan from this deadly virus in a timely manner,” the release stated. “The governor intends to veto this bill when presented to her.”

More than 41,000 Michigan residents have been infected with the coronavirus and nearly 3,800 have died, many in the Detroit area, according to Whitmer.

The protests in Michigan have been echoed in other states in a broader pushback, mostly organized by conservatives and exploited by extremists and grifters, against strict social distancing orders. Many health experts and mostly Democratic governors have warned against immediately lifting stay-at-home orders out of fear that it could cause a spike in coronavirus cases.

According to a recent HuffPost/YouGov poll, an overwhelming majority of Americans on both sides of the political aisle support stay-at-home directives as the pandemic’s toll climbs.

• This article originally appeared on HuffPost.

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Joe Biden denies Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegation

HAYLEY MILLER

May 1st 2020 7:48AM

Joe Biden has publicly responded for the first time to a sexual assault allegation against him made by Tara Reade, a former Senate staffer.

“I want to address allegations by a former staffer that I engaged in misconduct 27 years ago,” he said in a lengthy statement released Friday ahead of an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “They aren’t true. This never happened.”

The statement goes on:

She has said she raised some of these issues with her supervisor and senior staffers from my office at the time. They – both men and a woman – have said, unequivocally, that she never came to them and complained or raised issues. News organizations that have talked with literally dozens of former staffers have not found one – not one – who corroborated her allegations in any way. Indeed, many of them spoke to the culture of an office that would not have tolerated harassment in any way – as indeed I would not have.

There is a clear, critical part of this story that can be verified. The former staffer has said she filed a complaint back in 1993. But she does not have a record of this alleged complaint. The papers from my Senate years that I donated to the University of Delaware do not contain personnel files. It is the practice of Senators to establish a library of personal papers that document their public record: speeches, policy proposals, positions taken, and the writing of bills. 

There is only one place a complaint of this kind could be – the National Archives. The National Archives is where the records are kept at what was then called the Office of Fair Employment Practices. I am requesting that the Secretary of the Senate ask the Archives to identify any record of the complaint she alleges she filed and make available to the press any such document. If there was ever any such complaint, the record will be there.

Biden’s presidential campaign has also vehemently denied Reade’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 1993 when she worked as a staff assistant in his Senate office. Reade said the then-senator pushed her against a wall, reached up her skirt and penetrated her with his fingers while she was delivering a duffel bag to him at her manager’s request.

But until now, Biden himself has not addressed the claim.

“Vice President Biden has dedicated his public life to changing the culture and the laws around violence against women,” Kate Bedingfield, communications director for Biden’s campaign, said in a statement April 13.

 

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“He authored and fought for the passage and reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act,” Bedingfield continued. “He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard ― and heard respectfully. Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press. What is clear about this claim: it is untrue. This absolutely did not happen.”

Reade was one of at least eight women last year to publicly accuse Biden of inappropriate touching. She said at the time that she worked in his Senate office when she was in her mid-20s and that he would make her uncomfortable by running his fingers up her neck or putting his hand on her shoulder.

Biden, in response to the allegations of inappropriate touching, acknowledged last year that “social norms are changing.” He said he would be “more mindful about respecting personal space in the future.”

Reade expanded on her allegation in March in separate interviews with The Intercept and with podcast host Katie Halper, detailing her assault claim.

She said Biden became annoyed when she resisted his advances during the incident, and told her that he had heard she “liked” him.

“You’re nothing to me,” she said Biden told her. She said he then shook her shoulders, told her she was “OK” and walked away.

Reade said she complained about Biden’s behavior to several senior aides, including his then-chief of staff Ted Kaufman. When Biden’s office took no action, she said she filed a formal complaint to the Senate.

After raising her concerns, Reade said she was stripped of most of her duties. She said she was later told by Kaufman that she wasn’t a good fit for the job and to find a new one.

Kaufman told The New York Times in April that he “did not know” Reade and that she had not complained to him about Biden’s behavior. The Biden campaign told the newspaper it does not have the complaint that Reade said she filed.

Marianne Baker, who served as Biden’s executive assistant from 1982 to 2000, said in a March statement that she “never once” witnessed or received any reports of inappropriate conduct.

The Times confirmed Reade worked in Biden’s office from December 1992 to August 1993. The newspaper said no other person accused Biden of sexual assault during its investigation into Reade’s allegation.

Several people have corroborated parts of Reade’s story. Former neighbor Lynda LaCasse was quoted in Business Insider saying that Reade told her in 1995 or 1996 that Biden assaulted her.

“This happened, and I know it did because I remember talking about it,” LaCasse told the outlet. 

“I remember her saying, here was this person that she was working for and she idolized him,” she added. “She felt like she was assaulted, and she really didn’t feel there was anything she could do.”

Another woman told the Insider that Reade had confided about being the victim of sexual misconduct in the mid-1990s.

Lorraine Sanchez, who worked alongside Reade in California state Sen. Jack O’Connell’s office from 1994 to 1996, said Reade told her at the time that she’d had a boss in Washington who sexually harassed her. Reade said she was fired after speaking up about the harassment, according to Sanchez.

Sanchez said she does not remember if Reade offered details about the harassment or if she named Biden as the perpetrator. 

Reade’s brother told the Insider that he recalled his sister telling him that Biden “had his hand under her clothes at some point.” 

Reade said she also told her mother about the alleged assault at the time. She told The Intercept that her mother, who has since died, called into “Larry King Live” on CNN and made reference to the incident, mortifying Reade.

Video surfaced of a 1993 episode of “Larry King Live” that featured a segment titled “Washington: The Cruelest City on Earth?” The program included a phone call from a woman, who Reade said was her mother.

“I’m wondering what a staffer would do besides go to the press in Washington,” the caller said. “My daughter has just left there, after working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him.”  

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