Protesters storm Capitol, Pelosi asks National Guard to clear building amid reports of shots fired - live updates

Ledyard King, Maureen Groppe and Nicholas Wu, USA TODAY 17 mins ago

---

Protesters storm Capitol, Pelosi asks National Guard to clear building amid reports of shots fired - live updates

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., asked for the National Guard to clear and secure the Capitol, according to a person familiar with the situation not authorized to speak on the record.

© Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP Protesters gesture to U.S. Capitol Police in the hallway outside of the Senate chamber at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, near the Ohio Clock.

The decision to ask for the National Guard to intervene comes as protesters breached the Capitol during Wednesday's counting of electoral votes. Police barricaded the doors of the House chamber and had their guns drawn, and there were reports of shots fired inside the buliding.

Requests for additional assistance from the Washington, D.C. National Guard are being considered, according to a Defense official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The DC National Guard is under control of the Army Secretary. Defense officials are monitoring the security situation at the Capitol but do not expect to receive requests for active-duty troops, the official said. Police are better able than Guard soldiers to deal with the protesters who have stormed inside the Capitol building and have gathered on the steps outside, the official said.

—Christal Hayes, Nicholas Wu and Tom Vanden Brook

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
  
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Ad Microsoft
• 
• 
• 

Slide 1 of 12: A protester is seen hanging from the balcony in the Senate Chamber on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Congress held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Biden's 306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump. Pro-Trump protesters have entered the U.S. Capitol building after mass demonstrations in the nation's capital.

Full screen

1/12 SLIDES © Win McNamee, Getty Images

A protester is seen hanging from the balcony in the Senate Chamber on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Congress held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Biden's 306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump. Pro-Trump protesters have entered the U.S. Capitol building after mass demonstrations in the nation's capital.

Pence taken to secure location

The House and Senate recessed from their session to count state-certified Electoral College votes as protesters breached the Capitol and the building locked down. Vice President Mike Pence has been taken to an undisclosed, secure location, according to a source familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly.

A notice from Capitol Police sent to all Capitol staff warned them of an "internal security threat" and told them to shelter in their offices and stay away from windows. Lawmakers posted messages urging protesters to be peaceful, and reporters inside the Capitol shared videos of protesters wandering the halls of the Capitol looking for lawmakers to confront about the electoral votes.

In the House chamber, Capitol Police told lawmakers from the rostrum the chamber was in lockdown because the building was breached. Members were been urged not to leave, and top leaders were escorted out.

The Senate recessed as Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., was about to speak on an objection to Arizona's electoral votes. Before he could begin, an aide walked up to the senator and told him "protesters are in the building."

—Nicholas Wu and Kevin Johnson

McConnell blasts electoral vote objections, warns of 'death spiral' for democracy

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., delivered a stern warning to his congressional colleagues against attempting to overturn the 2020 election, saying democracy would enter a "death spiral" if Congress were to reject the counting of electoral votes.

“Nothing before us proves illegality anywhere near the massive scale that would have tipped the entire election," he said, referring to President Donald Trump's unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud. McConnell said Trump had spread "sweeping conspiracy theories" about the election.

Referring to some Republicans' stated support for objections as an act of protest, McConnell said he would not "pretend such a vote will be a harmless protest gesture while relying on others to do the right thing."

"I will vote to respect the people's decision and defend our system of government as we know it," he said.

Trump Says He'll 'Fight Like Hell' to Hold on to Presidency

Donald Trump. (photo: Andrew Harrer/Getty Images)

By Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jolonick and Kevin Freking, Associated Press

05 January 21

readersupportednews.org

ith mounting desperation, Donald Trump declared Monday night he would “fight like hell” to hold on to the presidency and appealed to Republican lawmakers to reverse his election loss to Joe Biden when they convene this week to confirm the Electoral College vote.

Electoral voters won by President-elect Biden are “not gonna take this White House!” he shouted as supporters cheered at an outdoor rally in Georgia. Trump’s announced purpose for the trip was to boost Republican Senate candidates in Tuesday’s runoff election, but he spent much of his speech complaining bitterly about his election loss — which he insists he won “by a lot.”

Earlier, in Washington, he pressed Republican lawmakers to formally object Wednesday at a joint session of Congress that is to confirm Biden’s victory in the Electoral College, itself a confirmation of Biden’s nationwide victory Nov. 3.

Though he got nothing but cheers Monday night, Trump’s attempt to overturn the presidential election i s splitting the Republican Party. Some GOP lawmakers backing him are rushing ahead, despite an outpouring of condemnation from current and former party officials warning the effort is undermining Americans’ faith in democracy. All 10 living former defense secretaries wrote in an op-ed that “the time for questioning the results has passed.”

It’s unclear the extent to which GOP leaders in Congress will be able to control Wednesday’s joint session, which could drag into the night, though the challenges to the election are all but certain to fail. Trump himself is whipping up crowds for a Wednesday rally near the White House.

Vice President Mike Pence, who is under pressure to tip the results for Trump, will be closely watched as he presides in a ceremonial role over Wednesday’s joint session.

“I promise you this: On Wednesday, we’ll have our day in Congress,” Pence said while himself campaigning in Georgia ahead of Tuesday’s runoff elections that will determine control of the Senate.

Trump said in Georgia: “I hope that our great vice president comes through for us. He’s a great guy. Of course, if he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much.” He added, “No, Mike is a great guy.”

One of the Georgia Republicans in Tuesday’s runoff — Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who faces Democrat Raphael Warnock — told the crowd she will join senators formally objecting to Biden’s win. The other Republican seeking reelection, David Perdue, who is running against Democrat Jon Ossoff, will not be eligible to vote.

Trump repeated numerous times his claims of election fraud, which have been rejected by election officials — Republican as well as Democratic in state after state — and courts up to the U.S. Supreme Court. His former attorney general, William Barr, also has said there is no evidence of fraud that could change the election outcome.

The congressional effort to keep Trump in office is being led by Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas, along with rank-and-file House members, some on the party’s fringe.

“Just got off the phone with @realDonaldTrump,” tweeted newly elected Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who is aligned with a conspiracy group backing Trump.

“He wants you to call your Rep & Senators TODAY, ALL DAY!” she tweeted Monday. “Don’t let Republicans be the Surrender Caucus!” She later joined the president on Air Force One as he traveled to Georgia.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has tried to prevent his party from engaging in this battle, which could help define the GOP in the post-Trump era. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Trump ally, has declined to say much publicly on it.

Both Hawley and Cruz are potential 2024 presidential contenders, vying for Trump’s base of supporters.

Biden, speaking at a drive-in rally in Atlanta, said Trump “spends more time whining and complaining” than he does working on solving the coronavirus pandemic. He added dismissively, “I don’t know why he still wants the job — he doesn’t want to do the work.”

During the day Monday, more current and former GOP officials rebuked the effort to upend the election.

Former three-term Sen. John Danforth of Missouri said in a stinging statement, “Lending credence to Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen is a highly destructive attack.” He said, “It is the opposite of conservative; it is radical.”

Two current Republican senators, Rob Portman of Ohio and Mike Lee of Utah, joined the growing number who now oppose the legislators’ challenge.

Portman said in a statement, “I cannot support allowing Congress to thwart the will of the voters.”

At the Dalton rally, Trump noted he was a “little angry” at Lee, but expressed hope that the senator would change his mind. “We need his vote,” Trump said.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the giant lobbying organization and virtual embodiment of the business establishment, said the electoral vote challenge “undermines our democracy and the rule of law and will only result in further division across our nation.”

So far, Trump has enlisted support from a dozen Republican senators and up to 100 House Republicans to challenge Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College win.

With Biden set to be inaugurated Jan. 20, Trump is intensifying efforts to prevent the traditional transfer of power. On a call disclosed Sunday, he can be heard pressuring Georgia officials to “find” him more votes from the Nov. 3 election he lost in that state.

The challenge to the presidential election is on a scale unseen since the aftermath of the Civil War, though the typically routine process of confirming Electoral College votes has been hit with brief objections before. In 2017, several House Democrats challenged Trump’s win, but Biden, who presided at the time as the vice president, swiftly dismissed them to assert Trump’s victory.

States run their own elections, and Congress has been loath to interfere.

“The 2020 election is over,” said a statement Sunday from a bipartisan group of 10 senators, including Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Mitt Romney of Utah.

A range of Republican officials — including Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland; Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking House GOP leader; and former House Speaker Paul Ryan — have criticized the GOP efforts to overturn the election.

Hawley defended his actions in a lengthy email over the weekend to colleagues, saying his Missouri constituents have been “loud and clear” in insisting Biden’s defeat of Trump was unfair.

Cruz’s coalition of 11 Republican senators vows to reject the Electoral College tallies unless Congress launches a commission to immediately conduct an audit of the election results. Congress is unlikely to agree to that.

The group, which presented no new evidence of election problems, includes Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Mike Braun of Indiana, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.

 

The time has come for every Republican to choose: Trump or democracy

 

"So what's the big deal.  All I'm asking for is 12,000 votes."

Ian Reifowitz

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday January 04, 2021 · 7:38 AM MST

RSS

PUBLISHED TO

• Ian Reifowitz
• Bye Don AKA Biden 2020
• Rim Country Gazette Blog
  
• trending

By now, every single elected official knows about The Man Who Lost The Popular Vote's call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger. There can be no excuses, no pretending, no bullshit. Not even Kelly Loeffler—who absurdly claimed she was “not familiar” with the Access Hollywood “pussy grabbing” tape—would be shameless enough to try and pull something similar today. Or at least if she did, she’d be unable to get away with it.

There is no escaping the question that Loeffler, her fellow Georgia Republican Senate candidate David Perdue, and every member of their party who has not yet spoken on the matter must be asked today: Do you support what Trump did on that call, or will you condemn him and stand up for democracy?

To those Republicans who have spoken out against the despicable effort in Congress to challenge the Electoral College’s votes, I commend them. It is vitally important and necessary that they do so as part of the fight for the soul of the Republican Party I’ve written about recently.

But Trump’s Georgia call—which included a clear solicitation of election theft— goes far beyond even that profoundly anti-democratic political ploy. It is itself a criminal act, according to Ryan C. Locke, an attorney interviewed by The New York Times. “He’s telling the secretary of state to ‘find votes so that I can win — votes that are not due to me,’” Mr. Locke said. “The recording alone is certainly enough to launch an investigation. It’s likely probable cause to issue an indictment.”

According to Michael Bromwich, a former inspector general at the Department of Justice and a former assistant U.S. attorney, the criminality of what Trump did is so obvious that he has but one plausible defense - insanity.

Of course, according to Hayley Mason, the chair of the Georgia Republican Party, the president’s actions weren’t criminal, but instead—wait for it—the decision to release the evidence of his lawlessness was the real act of lawlessness.

This is par for the course for a conservative movement that typically pretends racism doesn’t exist, and then blames racial divisions on activists who provide receipts proving it does.

Look, this isn’t complicated. When the leader of the Republican Party openly commits a crime in furtherance of overturning an election defeat—the very definition of an attempted coup d’etat—every member of that party must go on record. Do you support Donald Trump or do you support democracy in our country?

One cannot do both.

"As long as I'm  da president, not rigging an election is a felony and you could end up in the slammer.  Capiche?"

Ian Reifowitz is the author of  The Tribalization of Politics: How Rush Limbaugh's Race-Baiting Rhetoric on the Obama Presidency Paved the Way for Trump (Foreword by Markos Moulitsas)

Loeffler and Perdue, Profiting Off Pandemic Pain, Are the Ugly Faces of GOP Corruption

 
Senators Kelly (what pandimic?) Loeffler and David (cat's-got-my-tongue) Perdue at a campaign event in Milton, Georgia. (photo: Al Drago/Reuters)

By Margaret Carlson, The Daily Beast

03 January 21

readersupportednews.org

Washington’s turned a blind eye to their self-dealing and alleged insider trading, but Georgians have not.

ould you vote for a senator who sold a stock likely to tank after getting a senators-only briefing on a coming pandemic? How about one who told you the pandemic was no big deal while buying shares in a company that sells body bags?

Both Republican incumbents in Georgia’s crucial runoffs, that will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate, were investigated this year for allegedly engaging in pandemic-related insider trading.

The two are the Senate’s wealthiest member, Kelly Loeffler, appointed in 2019 and running for a full term of her own, and its seventh wealthiest member, David Perdue, a businessman sued for wage theft and discrimination while losing $150 million in two years as CEO of Dollar General.

After the notorious briefing, Loeffler, who joined Trump in dismissing the pandemic, and her husband, who almost never trades to avoid conflict with his job as chair of the Intercontinental Stock Exchange, made 27 trades worth between $1.2 and $3.1 million that helped them weather the virus-triggered crash. 

On the same day, Perdue began accumulating $825,000 worth of stock in DuPont, a company that makes personal protective equipment and body bags, and sold an equal amount of other stocks in over a hundred other transactions. He’d already raised eyebrows when as a member of the Senate’s cybersecurity subcommittee, he promoted FireEye, a cybersecurity firm in which he held $250,000 worth of stock, a fraction of his 2,596 trades since joining the Senate. It makes you wonder when he has time to legislate and why Martha Stewart, who prepared the country to bake sourdough bread as a hedge against insanity, will be remembered for going to jail over one trade.

Bill Barr’s Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee, so-called, both ended their investigations into the suspiciously timed trades. The only investigation for insider trading that remains open just happens to be against a senator who’s retired.

But while Washington has turned a blind eye, Georgians have not. During the Republican primary, the candidate Trump backed, former Rep. Doug Collins, said he was “sickened” by Loeffler “profiting off the pain” of COVID victims. Whenever it comes up, Loeffler talks about her humble beginnings growing soybeans. In the general election, Perdue’s opponent, Democrat Jon Ossoff, got off the ground when he ripped through the accusations at their first debate and Perdue just stared ahead, speechless. Rather than endure that again, there’s been an empty podium at subsequent debates where Perdue would be if he could muster a defense.

On Monday, the final day of campaigning, President-elect Biden will try to help get Democrats Ossoff and Raphael Warnock over the top while President Trump, taking time from his exhausting schedule of golfing, pardoning his friends and pushing through the most federal executions since 1896, will try to un-depress turnout after two months of bitter complaints about how Georgia’s Republican officials supposedly allowed Biden to steal the election from him. 

The charge was supported by little more than a purported eyewitness found by Rudy Giuliani who was actually a temp who wiped down computer screens for one day at one polling place. Weeks of Trump telling voters the “system is rigged,” GOP strategist Frank Luntz told Fox, is having “a debilitating impact on whether his people will vote.” He’s right. Why bother if a gremlin named Roy Raffensberger—the Republican Secretary of State’s imaginary brother in Trump’s warped mind—is going to eat your ballot?

On New Year’s Eve in the pouring rain, early voters in Cobb County were standing in a line two football fields long telling reporters they would be staying for a long as it took to vote. It’s a race that will decide whether Mitch McConnell remains majority leader or lives out what’s likely his last term under the thumb of Chuck Schumer, and if the pandemic some profited from will finally be treated like the threat to the country it is.

Perdue and Leoffler got off for now. Of course they did. The legislation supposed to stop insider trading largely sets up disclosure rules that do little to stop inside trading since members of Congress are by definition insiders. That’s so obvious that uber-capitalist Republican Sen. John Cornyn said that the only way to deal with the problem is to prohibit members from trading stocks altogether.

Or to send those that game the system packing. Nothing gets a senator’s attention like a colleague paying a price for forgetting why he’s there.

The strength of the Republican Party seems to be a combination of the ultra mega-rich and the uneducated white supremacists in rural pockets of the U.S.  The former could give a damn about the latter, but the latter are too stupid to realize they are being used.

Trump makes a surprise return to Washington, and there's no way that's a good thing

It's hard to stay on the fairway when you're trying to plot that coup.

Mark Sumner

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday December 31, 2020 · 7:44 AM MST

RSS

PUBLISHED TO

• Devil's Tower
• Daily Kos
• Rim Country Gazette Blog
  

When Donald Trump heaved off to Mar-a-Lago for his latest “golf vacation,” there seemed a fair chance that he’d not bother returning to Washington. After all, Trump has already made it clear he’s going to defy every single tradition that has marked a peaceful transition over the last century. He’s not going to call Joe Biden and offer his congratulations. He’s not going to invite Biden and his family for a White House tour. He’s not going to share a car with Biden for that last awkward drive to the inauguration. So it seemed like Trump might as well stay in Florida and carry on exploring the depths of the 12th hole bunkers. It’s not like he was going to do any work back at the White House. After all, why start now?

But after selling hundreds of tickets to the New Year’s Eve warm shrimp and all the pardons you want buffet at his we-are-never-calling-it-the-southern-White-House, Trump made an abrupt change of plans. He’s flying back to Washington, D.C. unexpectedly on Thursday morning, leaving everyone back at Mar-a-Lago to worry about how they’re going to explain that little tax problem if they don’t get a chance to join Trump in the luxury ketchup line. And it leaves everyone there, and elsewhere, wondering just what Trump is doing now.

Donald Trump may be the best delegator to ever occupy the White House. Though, admittedly, that task is made much easier if you simply don’t care about the outcome. There are few situations that seem to require Trump’s physical presence. (At least, few that don’t involve getting a chance to stand in front of a camera.) So what’s worth a fast trip back to Washington, leaving his dues-paying fans in Florida disappointed? Coup plotting.

According to CNN, Trump has been “single minded” during his stay in the south. Even though the nation is experiencing record levels of COVID-19 and hospitals are overflowing as deaths pass 350,000, Trump is completely focused on one thing: How can he disrupt the Jan. 6 congressional count of the vote from the Electoral College?

Trump’s record in court is now 1 to … it doesn’t matter. All the krakens are slain. The level of ridiculous has been reached where Trump’s team filed a fresh lawsuit in Wisconsin asking that the state send a slate of alternate electors when the electors have already voted. That time is past. It’s not electors waiting in the box that Mike Pence is set to open on Jan. 6, it’s just their votes—306 of which are for Joe Biden.

But, says CNN, Trump has been in “a mood during most of the trip.” And Trump seems confused over why Pence doesn’t just crack open the vote box, peek inside, and declare Trump the victor. Not only has Trump retweeted calls for Pence to refuse to ratify the electoral vote, he’s backed a lawsuit by Rep. Louie Gohmert calling on Pence to set aside votes from enough states to make Trump’s 232 votes a “win.”

Not only would that mean putting tens of millions of votes from seven states in the dumpster—Pence simply doesn’t have that authority. His role next Wednesday is to open the box, and … that’s pretty much it. Clerks will tally the vote. If, as seems almost certain at this point, Republican members of the House and Senate combine to mount an objection to the announced totals, it will be Congress that votes on those objections.

During his time in Florida, Trump has apparently made a lot of calls from the fairway back to senators and congresspeople soliciting their participation in this last-ditch scheme to overturn democracy. Not only has he continuously brought up the Jan. 6 date with anyone who would listen, Trump has also been tweeting for his most reprehensible followers to gather in the capital that day for a “wild” time.

Still, even for a coup to overturn a centuries-old Republic, six whole days in Washington seems like a lot of effort for Trump. Is he really scrambling back to Washington on Thursday just to plan which balcony is best for naming himself dictator-for-life? Maybe. It could also be that Trump feels like he needs a couple of extra days to brow-beat the wholly brow-beatable Pence into forgetting that he can’t actually just ignore the results of the election in declaring the winner.

But honestly, that’s the good outcome. Considering that Trump sent B-52 bombers to raise hackles in Iran on Wednesday, everyone should just hope that he’s devoting so much of his attention to his plans for wild rumpusing that he doesn’t get around to a last-minute war.

If anybody wants to follow this lard-ass into infamy, you better get on board because this train is about to leave the station.

Cartoon: Mitchadamus' 2021 predictions

 

Happy New Year to everyone except Mitch McConnell.

• 

  BrianMcFadden for Comics

  Community

  Friday January 01, 2021 · 3:50 PM MST
  RSS
  PUBLISHED TO

   
  
• BrianMcFadden
• Comics
• Daily Kos
• Rim Country Gazette Blog
  

At best, Operation Warp Speed made huge mistakes. At worst, it was hugely corrupt

Donald Trump listens as Moncef Slaoui, former head of GlaxoSmithKline vaccine division, speaks about the coronavirus vaccine.

Mark Sumner

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday December 31, 2020 · 8:11 AM MST

RSS

PUBLISHED TO

• Devil's Tower
• Daily Kos
• Rim Country Gazette Blog
  

Operation Warp Speed was designed to promote the rapid development of vaccines to fight COVID-19, to secure enough of that vaccine to treat Americans in danger, and to distribute the vaccine rapidly. If the pandemic itself had been met by a coordinated national strategy—one with unified, appropriate restrictions and a network of testing and case tracing—the goals of Operation Warp Speed might have been achievable. But since Donald Trump deliberately allowed the pandemic to run rampant, it was likely impossible from the outset for any response to be adequate.

Still, Operation Warp Speed has fumbled badly on every point. When it comes to the logistics that Trump bragged about for months, the general in charge has already admitted failure. But it’s those two other goals—promoting vaccine development and securing an adequate supply for the nation—where Operation Warp Speed really stumbled. And that failure goes back to a pair of decisions that were made early on, which are translating into hundreds of millions of missing doses now.

The biggest investment that Operation Warp Speed made was for a COVID-19 vaccine with one real distinction: It doesn’t work.

Trump introduced former GlaxoSmithKline executive Moncef Slaoui as the head scientist for Operation Warp Speed. On the surface, it didn’t seem a bad choice. After all, GlaxoSmithKline had been involved in the development of 14 vaccines over the previous decade. Slaoui certainly had experience with both the science and the scientists involved in many of the efforts. And many of those involved were also familiar with Slaoui. 

Some organizations, like Pfizer, did not approach Operation Warp Speed for funding. It wasn’t until July that the government made a deal with Pfizer. That deal was an advance purchase order to secure 100 million doses (enough for 50 million people) of the vaccine developed by German firm BioNTech and manufactured by Pfizer when it became available. If Pfizer didn’t deliver, they didn’t get paid.

On the other hand, Operation Warp Speed provided $456 million in advance funding for Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, up to $483 million for Moderna, $1.2 billion for AstraZeneca’s vaccine, $1.6 billion for Novavax, and $2.1 billion for a vaccine to be developed by Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline. Most of these development deals came with advance arrangements to secure doses from the manufacturers, including 300 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, 100 million doses of Novavax, and 100 million doses from Sanofi/GlaxoSmithKline. 

In essence, Slaoui developed a strategy that was “don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” which may seem wise except that the way in which it was implemented actually required that every single egg remain intact for the program to work adequately. None of the manufacturers could deliver their full number of doses until well into 2021. What Operation Warp Speed had created was a situation where unless every vaccine was a winner, there were guaranteed to be vaccine shortages lasting for months.

This could have been remedied. Early on it was clear that some vaccines were moving through the pipeline more quickly than others and demonstrating better results in phase 1 and 2 trials. But Operation Warp Speed failed to adjust its targets to obtain more doses of those vaccines. Most notably, when given a chance to purchase another 100 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, Slaoui passed. He justified this decision by saying that other vaccines on the way, such as the one from AstraZeneca, were going to be much easier to distribute than the Pfizer/BioNTech offering, which requires deep cold storage. 

That might be fine if the AstraZeneca vaccine was available. But it’s not. AstraZeneca’s phase 3 testing was marred by manufacturing issues that meant not every participant got the same amount of vaccine in an initial dose. This was further complicated by results suggesting that volunteers who got less vaccine actually had a better resistance to COVID-19. Sorting out the AstraZeneca data is expected to take some time, and though the company has moved for approval in the U.K., any approval from the FDA is likely weeks away at best. Additionally, AstraZeneca’s vaccine results indicate that it’s considerably less effective than the offerings from either Pfizer or Moderna. A 70% effective vaccine would be good in most cases—but not when a 95% effective vaccine is also out there.

The U.S. has now announced that it has secured 100 million more doses of the Pfizer vaccine. However, these will be delivered in late spring after Pfizer has delivered the 200 million doses already ordered by nations that purchased earlier. 

The bet on AstraZeneca and pass on Pfizer was one of two huge decisions that make everything done by Operation Warp Speed seem more suspect. The other was the huge investment in the Sanofi/GlaxoSmithKline vaccine candidate. There are very good reasons to be suspicious of this action. Slaoui is not just a former GlaxoSmithKline executive, he is still sitting on $10 million in GlaxoSmithKline stock—which he has refused to sell. “I won’t leave those shares,” said Slaoui, “because that’s my retirement.” Of course, no one was asking him to surrender it for free. Slaoui recently sold $12 million in other stock, but apparently feels that $22 million is inadequate to fund his retirement.

Slaoui’s relationship with GlaxoSmithKline is looming especially large after results that were reported back on Dec. 11. As Stat News reported, the vaccine that got the largest up-front payment from Operation Warp Speed has the singular distinction of flunking out in phase 2 testing. The Sanofi/GlaxoSmithKline vaccine failed to produce the level of immune response thought to be necessary for protection of older patients. This means the manufacturers are going back to square one. Any vaccine that results from this effort will not be available before the second half of 2021—at the earliest. 

The biggest order Operation Warp Speed placed was for the AstraZeneca vaccine. The biggest investment it made was in the GlaxoSmithKline vaccine. Both of those have turned out to be very bad bets, and the way that these deals were structured guarantee that Americans will not have adequate vaccine for months.

Was there a clear alternative? Of course: Put in an advance order to all of the manufacturers that was enough to secure vaccine for the entire nation if delivered by early 2021. The worst thing that could have happened in that case was that the nation spent a few billion on extra vaccine—vaccine that could still be sold or given to others around the world. The worst thing that could happen without such a deal … is what’s happening.

 

It's a bird.  It's a plane.  It's Operation Warp Speed, thoroughly corrupted by your president.