Skip to main content

Joe Biden, GOP leaders will attend church before inauguration


 US President-elect Joe Biden has invited top Republican and Democratic congressional leaders to a bipartisan prayer session at church early Wednesday hours before his inauguration, people familiar with the plans said.


Two weeks after an unprecedented violent assault on the US Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump, and with the nation bitterly divided politically, Biden intends to attend services at St. Matthews Cathedral in Washington with the top four leaders in Congress.

“Yes I can confirm” that top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell will join Biden, who was a longtime colleague in the US Senate, at the church, a person knowledgeable of McConnell’s plans told AFP. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, the top Democrats in Congress, have also been invited along with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, according to a source close to Biden.

McConnell was a firm Trump ally but he broke with the president over his baseless claims of massive election fraud.

Just hours before the Capitol riot, McConnell warned of a “death spiral” for American democracy if Trump loyalists managed to overturn the election results in swing states that voted for Biden.


The Democratic 46th president, a devout Catholic, will be sworn in at noon on Wednesday. Departing Vice President Mike Pence will be on hand at the Biden ceremony outside the Capitol but Trump himself will leave Washington earlier that day and will not attend, officials said.

Biden, 78, has made national unity a key plank of his political platform as he takes office after four turbulent years of the Trump presidency.





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Nigerian Military hands over 23 rescued children to UNICEF through Borno State

The Nigerian military has handed over 23 children who were formerly associated with Boko Haram insurgents, to UNICEF through the Borno State government.  The children were picked up during various military operations around the north-east region. Aged between 17 and 10 years, the boys and girls confessed to the military that they have been assisting the Boko Haram insurgents either as fighters or domestic helps in the camps. The Theatre Commander of a military counterinsurgency force, Abba Dikko, said the 23 children were released in line with Nigeria military’s commitment to the observance of human rights. He observed that the children and other vulnerable persons were victims who faced with the highly unstable circumstances induced by the conflict would have had little option but to fall under the thrall of the insurgents.  “We were able to identify this category of people, especially the women, the aged and children to whom it behooves our sense of duty and res...

FRSC reinforces directive on use of google maps while driving

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has clarified its position on the use of Google Maps, The FCT Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Ayuba Gora was quoted saying that driving with the aid of Google map using mobile phones is a serious traffic offence. Gora said this at the inauguration of the 2019 Ember Months Campaign by Lugbe Unit Command of the FRSC in Abuja yesterday. But, FRSC Spokesman Bisi Kazeem making reference to Gora’s comments said the Sector Commander was quoted out of context and his statement outrightly misrepresented. Kazeem said the FRSC as a technology-driven organisation is not and has never stood against the use of Google Maps by Motorists. The statement read: “To state the obvious, we have always enlightened the public on the position of the law on the use of phone while driving. “The statement he made during the flag off buttresses the position of the Corps, which is that any driver who intends to deploy the use of Google Map...

Hurricane Hits Texas, One Person Reported Dead

Hurricane Harvey hit Texas as a Category 4 storm on Friday, battering the coast with 130-mph winds and torrential rain. It was the strongest hurricane to hit the United States in more than a decade leaving a massive destruction, loss of electricity, wrecked buildings and has so far killed at least one person. Scroll down to see more pictures of the incident: