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Covid 19 Hospitalizations are on the decline in the U.S at 93.5k

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COVID-19 live updates: Hospitalizations on the decline in US

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A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 103 million people worldwide and killed over 2.2 million of them.

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Donald Trumps lawyers have called the impeachment trial undemocratic and unconstitutional and his lawyers says that Democrats are using the impeachment trial as a weapon so he can't run again.

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WASHINGTON -- Democrats are using the upcoming Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump as a political 'œweapon' to bar the former president from seeking office again and are pursuing a case that is 'œundemocratic' and unconstitutional, one of his lawyers said Monday night.

Trump faces trial next week on accusations that he incited a harrowing and deadly siege at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, when a mob of loyalists in town for a rally supporting the president overran the police and stormed the building. The House passed a single article of impeachment against Trump one week before he left office, A trial would allow Democrats to present evidence against Trump and hold him publicly accountable for the attack.

However, whether a Senate trial is constitutional is a point of contention because Trump is no longer in office and, if convicted, cannot be removed from an office he doesn't occupy. Democrats point to an 1876 impeachment of a secretary of war who had already resigned and to opinions by many legal scholars. The Senate could vote to bar Trump from holding federal office if he were convicted, which is a goal Democrats support.

On the eve of expected legal briefs from lawyers for both sides, Trump attorney David Schoen's appearance on Fox News forecast some of the arguments he plans to make at the trial, calling the case needlessly divisive as well as unconstitutional and undemocratic.

'œIt's also the most ill-advised legislative action that I've seen in my lifetime,' Schoen said.

Trump is the first president in American history to be impeached twice. He was acquitted at a Senate trial last year over his contacts with his Ukrainian counterpart. Impeachment, Schoen said, 'œis the weapon they've tried to use against him.'

The new case was an effort to bar Trump from ever running for office again, Schoen said, 'œand that's about as undemocratic as you can get.'

Schoen, a criminal defense and civil rights lawyer, and Bruce Castor, a former county prosecutor in Pennsylvania, were announced as Trump's legal team on Sunday evening, one day after it was revealed that the former president had parted ways with another set of attorneys in what one person described as a mutual decision.

In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Schoen said he did not plan to argue that Trump lost the election because of fraud, as Trump has repeatedly insisted, and would instead argue that the trial itself is unconstitutional since Trump has already left office and that his words were protected by the First Amendment and did not incite a riot.

House Democrats plan to lay out what happened on Jan. 6 in graphic detail - an effort to get through to Senate Republicans who have largely avoided talking about the attack itself and Trump's role in it, instead focusing on the process of the impeachment trial. They are expected to play videos and verbally recount the violence of the day in hopes of stirring the Republicans, most of whom fled the Senate that day as the rioters broke in.

The nine House impeachment managers who will argue the case also are expected to lay out how they believe Trump's actions over the previous several months led up to it and eventually incited the insurrectionists to act.

Their arguments will include a look at Trump's 'œprolonged effort' to persuade his supporters to believe his false claims that the election was stolen - and describe how his pleas for them to come to Washington and his words immediately before the attack directly caused it.

The mob that broke into the Capitol as the House and the Senate tallied electoral votes not only ransacked the building but repeatedly called out for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and for Vice President Mike Pence, who was in the building to preside over the count.

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Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report.

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Trump lawyer: Impeachment case 'undemocratic,' ill-advised

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WASHINGTON -- Democrats are using the upcoming Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump as a political 'œweapon' to bar the former president from seeking office again and are pursuing a case that is 'œundemocratic' and unconstitutional, one of his lawyers said Monday night.

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During the storming of the capitol, hundreds of videos and pictures were taken. News crews were also there getting pictures and taking videos. When they aired that night, several thousand people called in to report people they saw.

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when they spotted a familiar face at the capitol riots

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they reported it to authorities - cnnpolitics

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When they spotted a familiar face at the Capitol riots, they reported it to authorities

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When crowds of former President Donald Trump's supporters stormed into the US Capitol weeks ago, hundreds of photos and videos emerged: clips of crowds chanting violent threats, selfies inside the building, photos of ransacked offices and broken windows.

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SpaceX announces it will launch the first mission to space with an all civilian crew.

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The public is invited to enter a drawing to win a seat on the spacecraft.

SpaceX announced Monday it will launch the first mission to space with an all-civilian crew, and members of the public have been invited to enter a drawing for one of the seats on the spacecraft.

The four-person mission will be commanded by Jared Isaacman, a tech entrepreneur and pilot on the side. Isaacman is the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, a payment processing firm, and will be bankrolling the mission that has been named "Inspiration4."

Isaacman donated two seats to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, one of which will be taken up by a worker from the nonprofit hospital. The other seat will be given to a member of the public who enters a raffle online. While no donation is necessary to enter the drawing, people are encouraged to donate to St. Jude's and can earn more entries by doing so.

To kick off the donations, Isaacman committed an initial gift of $100 million.

The fourth seat will go to an entrepreneur who uses Isaacman's Shift4Shop eCommerce platform and submits a video showcasing their business and how they used the technology. This winner will be selected by an independent panel of judges.

"Inspiration4 is the realization of a lifelong dream and a step towards a future in which anyone can venture out and explore the stars," Isaacman said in a statement. "I appreciate the tremendous responsibility that comes with commanding this mission, and I want to use this historic moment to inspire humanity while helping to tackle childhood cancer here on Earth."

The crew will undergo astronaut training conducted by SpaceX, and the launch is currently scheduled for "no earlier than the fourth quarter of this year," according to a statement on SpaceX's website.

The mission will use a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and its Dragon spacecraft and will launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will be a "multi-day journey," SpaceX stated, "orbiting Earth every 90 minutes along a customized flight path" and "will be carefully monitored at every step by SpaceX mission control."

At its conclusion, the Dragon spacecraft will splash down in a soft water landing off the coast of Florida.

An 30-second ad for the mission is slated to run during the Super Bowl this year to introduce it to the public.

"Today's announcement is the first step of a very exciting journey," Isaacman said. "In the lead-up to launch, we'll share new ways to support and follow our mission preparation and execution with a focus on inspiring and helping others."

While it once took the backing of entire nations to get to space, the landscape has notably evolved in recent years to become the arena of billionaires with the rise of private firms such as Elon Musk's SpaceX, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.

Last year, SpaceX made history by becoming the first private firm to launch NASA astronauts into space -- a feat it completed twice in 2020.

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SpaceX to launch all-civilian crew to space, and 1 seat is up for grabs

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The public is invited to enter a drawing to win a seat on the spacecraft. SpaceX announced Monday it will launch the first mission to space with an all-civilian crew, and members of the public have been invited to enter a drawing for one of the seats on the spacecraft.

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The Minnesota Governor is attempting to "Jump Start" the COVID vaccines for seniors due to many refusing to take it.

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Minnesota is ranked 21st by the CDC for vaccine distribution.

The governor of Minnesota rolled out a plan on Monday intended to "jumpstart" the state's COVID-19 vaccination program with an emphasis on getting people over the age of 65 inoculated.

Gov. Tim Walz said his state will ramp up vaccinations through an "all-of-the-above" approach that will enable vulnerable seniors to get the shot from their local health care providers or by going to 100 clinics and several permanent large-scale vaccination distribution sites.

"We have long planned for most Minnesotans to get vaccinated in the places they are used to getting their health care -- places like smaller clinics, local hospitals, and community pharmacies," Walz said in a statement released Monday. "But not everyone has a doctor or pharmacy they're familiar with. That's why we've built up a reliable network of different ways Minnesotans will be able to access the vaccine. After careful planning, we're now activating that network to give Minnesotans options close to home."

Following a slow start on getting the vaccine into arms, Minnesota is now 21st in the nation for total COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Walz said 35,000 doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines the state expects to receive on Monday will be earmarked to people 65 and older.

"We still need more supply, but we have to work quickly with what we do have and be ready when the federal government ramps up to meet the demand," Walz said. "Today we're expanding locations offering the vaccine and helping connect our seniors to shots where they live, so we can get to work crushing COVID-19 across Minnesota."

As of Sunday, more than 418,000 Minnesotans, including health care workers and first responders, had received at least their first dose. Among those, more than 111,000 had completed the two-dose schedule, according to the state health department. The vaccines are considered 95% effective in preventing the virus that has killed more than 441,000 people in the United States and infected more than 26 million.

The most recent data from Minnesota indicates that new infections and deaths in the state have dramatically declined over the past two weeks. New cases have dropped 34%, deaths are down 45% and new hospitalizations have fallen 26%, according to the health department.

Walz attributed the declines to the 10 pilot mass vaccination sites opened across the state two weeks ago, increased testing and citizens adhering to mask wearing and social distancing.

Starting this week, the pop-up mass vaccination sites will be scaled back and only take people scheduled for their second shot, officials said. But two permanent large-scale vaccination sites in Minneapolis and Duluth are scheduled to open this week and a yet-to-be-determined location in southern Minnesota will be opened next week.

The large-scale vaccination sites will cater to Minnesotans 65 and older as well as educators and staff at schools and childcare professionals, officials said.

Officials said in a statement Monday that the pilot program was "intended to test the concept of community vaccination clinics and to identify best practices for registering patients, administering shots, and distributing vaccine around the state."

"These permanent sites will build on the lessons learned and expand access to the vaccine on a more sustainable basis," the statement said.

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said the state is also launching an online vaccine locator map on Monday to connect residents to vaccination opportunities in their areas.

"Our seniors have seen the worst of COVID, and it's absolutely vital we get them the shots they need to stay healthy and safe," Flanagan said in a statement. "Today we're putting vaccines directly in their communities and helping them find where they can get their shot. We need to ensure we're protecting those most vulnerable to severe illness, and we're directing healthcare providers to make that happen."

What to know about the coronavirus:

How it started and how to protect yourself: Coronavirus explained

What to do if you have symptoms: Coronavirus symptoms

Tracking the spread in the U.S. and worldwide: Coronavirus map

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After slow start, Minnesota governor rolls out plan to 'jumpstart' COVID vaccinations for seniors

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Minnesota is ranked 21st by the CDC for vaccine distribution. The governor of Minnesota rolled out a plan on Monday intended to "jumpstart" the state's COVID-19 vaccination program with an emphasis on getting people over the age of 65 inoculated. Gov.