House passes budget resolution, paving way for Covid relief – US politics live

• House votes 219-209 along mostly party lines to approve resolution
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• US records more than 5,000 Covid deaths in single day
• US economy adds 49,000 jobs as Biden aims for further relief

10.49pm GMT

When Trump was booted from Twitter and Facebook for spreading disinformation about election fraud that never occurred, many people expected him to join his supporters on Parler, a platform with less moderation that’s catered to the far-right, hate groups, and conspiracy theorists. A new report from BuzzFeed News details why the former president may never have showed up:

Donald Trump was looking to join Parler. Before he joined, however, the Trump Organization wanted a stake in the company. In negotiations after the election, representatives for Parler discussed giving the Trump Org a 40{81fee095584567f29e41df59d482e70712cfc555e382220efc71af2368c27a36} stake. From @RosieGray and me: https://t.co/fEN1lzNFaB

Kathleen Clark, a law professor at the Washington University in St. Louis, said that, had the deal gone through while Trump was still in office, both Parler and the president could have been in violation of anti-bribery laws. Because the former president often used his Twitter and Facebook accounts to make official communications — for example, announcing the firings of government officials — seeking to gain something in exchange for making posts exclusive to another platform could be illegal.

“I think it would have actually violated the bribery statute in that he would have been offered something of value — a stake in this company — in exchange for influencing an official act — the act of where to publish his official comments,” Clark said.

10.31pm GMT

Hello! Gabrielle Canon checking in here on the west coast to take you through the news this Friday evening.

First up:

Americans are divided over the impeachment of former president Donald Trump, the Associated Press reports, with less than half surveyed in a newly released poll responding that Trump should be convicted by the Senate in next week’s impeachment trail, for his role in the 6 January Capitol insurrection.

It’s the latest sign that Trump’s months-long disinformation campaign could have long-lasting ramifications for Biden as he tries to govern a fractured country and underscores the deep partisan divides that will outlast Trump’s presidency. But it also shows some degree of consensus, with even many Republicans saying that Trump was at least partially responsible for his supporters’ deadly storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6 in a bid to overturn the results of the November election.

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