On the morning after the House of Representatives approved two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, making him the third president to be charged with committing high crimes and misdemeanors, a former secretary of defense said he's worried that if the U.S doesn't stand strong for its principles, foreign adversaries may cross a line.
"I don't know how much terrorists pay attention to [impeachment proceedings] but to the extent, internal turmoil and, obviously, division in our country suggests to others that we will not stand strong with friends, we won't stand strong for our interests our principles… that's dangerous," former Obama administration Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told Cheddar Thursday. That invites leaders like Russia's Vladimir Putin, North Korea's Kim Jong Un, or China's Xi Jinping "to walk across the line," he said.
Carter, who spent 37 years inside the Pentagon, said what keeps him up at night is that "we're not keeping a position in the world where our friends will stick with us and our enemies, or potential enemies, know they better not mess around with us."
When asked if the president was a threat to national security, Carter said "I certainly would not advise him to sit alone with Vladimir Putin," referencing Trump's affinity for meeting with his Russian counterpart privately, which has happened more than 15 times since he assumed the office in 2017. "[Putin] is, first and foremost, a KGB guy. You always have to remember that's the mindset. So, he's very good at manipulation. And I do worry about any president, but especially President Trump does seem susceptible, when he gets in a room with someone, to want to please them."
The Biden administration on Tuesday quietly launched its website for Americans to request free at-home COVID-19 tests, a day before the site was scheduled to officially launch.
Just 27% of voters aged 18-29 approve of the job Biden is doing as president, according to a survey from The Economist and YouGov late last year. Santiago Mayer, executive director of Voters of Tomorrow, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss why President Biden is losing support among young voters.
Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech, joins Cheddar News to discuss it being one year since Trump was exiled from social media and the former President's new platform 'Truth Social.'
Cliff Albright, co-founder of the group Black Voters Matter, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss why he boycotted President Biden's voting rights speech this week, and the push from Senate Democrats to debate and vote on the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) has teamed up with fellow Democratic senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly to introduce the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act, a bill to essentially end stock trading by sitting lawmakers. From the other side of the aisle, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced his own legislation to enact something similar. The dueling bills come at a time when it's popular to constrain members of Congress from owning and trading stocks. Karl Evers-Hillstrom, a business and lobbying reporter at The Hill, spoke to Cheddar about the significance of the bills, and what they could mean for lawmakers, their families, and staffers moving forward.
A second Starbucks location in the U.S. has officially voted to unionize. On Monday, the National Labor Relations Board announced workers at the Starbucks store located in the Buffalo, NY suburb of Cheektowaga voted 15-9 in favor of being represented by Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. The New York Times reports votes were tallied in December but remained inconclusive as the union challenged the ballots of several employees it said did not work at the store. A Starbucks spokesperson has said that it may appeal the labor board's decision, which comes as several other Starbucks stores across the country are also pushing to form a union. Danka Dragic, shift supervisor for the second Starbucks store in the country to unionize, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Earlier today, Minnesota Republican Representative, Tom Emmer, introduced a bill that would prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency directly to American consumers. According to the Congressman from Minnesota, requiring Americans to open a fed account to access a digital currency, would "put the Fed on insidious path akin to China's digital authoritarianism." Rep. Tom Emmer joined Cheddar's None of The Above to discuss more.
Sixteen of the country's most prestigious universities have been hit with a lawsuit claiming those schools illegally conspired to eliminate competitive financial aid offers for students. Just some of the schools mentioned include Yale, Brown, Columbia, UPenn, and Cornell. Author of "Who Gets In and Why" and Professor of practice at Arizona State University, Jeff Selingo, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
