Trump impeachment trial overshadows hot topics, controversies in early weeks of Biden admin

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Democrats wrap up impeachment case against Trump

House managers spent 3 days trying to link former president’s words to rioters’ actions. Former Assistant Secretary of State Robert Charles with insight.

As the Senate considers for the second time in barely over a year whether to convict former President Donald Trump of an impeachment charge, he continues to dominate the political world even as he's remained mum through the process. 

Meanwhile, President Biden's administration is off to a rapid start with dozens of executive orders in its first few weeks, as controversies rage among both Republicans and Democrats and efforts to recover from the coronavirus pandemic are at times floundering. 

Here are some of the issues that continue to brew in the background as the political world is focused on impeachment. 

Keystone XL

The fallout from the Biden administration's decision to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline project has continued in recent days, even if it's been under the radar. 

In this image from video, Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-Virgin Islands, speaks during the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. (Senate Television via AP)

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"It’s a pretty good gut punch, you know, kind of like a slap in the face," Lynn Allen, who has been a welder for 34 years, and was laid off as a result of Biden's decision, told "Fox & Friends First" on Wednesday. "That’s all you work for, what you work towards all your life, and that’s your calling in life, and they’re telling you go get another job and try to go get green jobs."

South Dakota small business owner Tricia Burns said her gym "lost 45 memberships. That's over $3,000 in monthly revenue that was gone literally within 48 hours." Burns' business largely served workers brought to South Dakota who were working on the Keystone XL Pipeline. 

Meanwhile, a group of Republican attorneys general wrote a letter slamming Biden for his "unilateral and rushed decision" on the pipeline, and Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush said opposition to the Biden administration's oil and gas policies "is a bipartisan issue."

$1,400 check controversy

Democrats generally but Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock more specifically have been hammered in recent weeks by progressives for allegedly breaking their campaign promise of $2,000 stimulus checks. 

President-elect Joe Biden stands on stage with Georgia Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate Raphael Warnock, right, and Jon Ossoff, left, in Atlanta, Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. Ossoff and Warnock promised voters $2,000 stimulus checks. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The line was a common refrain for the Senate runoff process there, in which the senators beat Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, respectively. But Biden's stimulus proposal -- which is backed by Ossoff, Warnock and other Democrats -- includes $1,400 stimulus checks. 

Democrats had been saying that combined with the $600 stimulus checks passed under Trump, the $1,400 checks add up to $2,000. Critics said that was not made clear to voters on the campaign trail and represented a betrayal. 

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Ossoff, Warnock and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., set about attempting to change that narrative in a press conference Thursday, arguing the Democrats' plan would give the average family of four much more than $2,000. 

"Senator Warnock and I are here to deliver for Georgia families who are counting on us for aid during this pandemic," said Senator Ossoff. "This bill will send $8,200 in new federal financial support to an average working family of four in Georgia while we invest massively in vaccines and the health response to end this pandemic."

They come to that tally by adding four $1,400 stimulus checks -- one for each adult and one for each dependent -- with a $2,600 childcare tax credit. 

Georgia criminal investigation into Trump

While Trump's post-election actions have been under a microscope in the Senate, the trial has overshadowed the fact there is now a criminal investigation pending into Trump in Georgia over his call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. On that call Trump famously asked Raffensperger to "find" enough vote to win the election as Raffensperger emphasized that there was no widespread election fraud in Georgia. 

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger speaks during a news conference on Monday, Nov. 30, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

"This investigation includes, but is not limited to, potential violations of Georgia law prohibiting the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration," a letter from Georgia prosecutors obtained by Fox News read.

Even if Trump does not face a ban from future office from an impeachment trial, he could face criminal sanctions in Georgia depending on the result of this investigation. 

Slow school reopenings

The White House and press secretary Jen Psaki have for days been avoiding directly answering questions on whether it is safe for children to go back to school without teachers being vaccinated. 

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Psaki has sought to distance the White House from repeated comments by the CDC director that vaccines for teachers are not a prerequisite for opening schools, saying that the CDC has not issued official guidance documents to states yet. 

The White House has doubled down on a goal for half of schools to be open at least one day per week as its measure for success at the end of Biden's first 100 days in office. 

But data from Burbio, a digital platform that tracks school data from across the country, shows the U.S. has already met that benchmark. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a briefing at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

The official CDC guidance will be released Friday afternoon just as Trump's lawyers are going through their opening statements in the impeachment trial. 

House GOP discord

Some GOP controversies have been overshadowed too, likely to the delight of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. He's still dealing with deep breaks among his ranks even after his deft handling of the failed GOP conference vote to remove House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., from her post. McCarthy also preserved relative unity in his caucus for a whole-House vote to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, R-Ga., from her committees. 

But the internal war is still raging. 

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., launched a political action committee to aid anti-Trump Republicans and oppose folks like Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Greene. 

"I mean, look, all you have to do is see people like, of course, Marjorie Taylor Greene. You look at people like Matt Gaetz, who know better. I think neither of them believes the stuff they ascribe to, they just want fame," Kinzinger told the Washington Post. 

Gaetz, one of Trump's most vocal supporters, shot back on Fox News: "Donald Trump was a threat to the establishment in both parties... In the Republican Party the establishment want their power back and they found their front man in Adam Kinzinger."

On a potential Kinzinger-backed political challenge, Gaetz said, "F------ bring it." 

In this image from video, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., speaks as the House debates the objection to confirm the Electoral College vote from Pennsylvania, at the U.S. Capitol early Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. (House Television via AP)

Dems continue to push $15 min wage

House Democrats have widely committed to supporting a $15 minimum wage provision in the upcoming stimulus package, but Biden had said it likely wouldn't pass muster on the "Byrd Rule," which bars non-budget related items from budget reconciliation proceedings. 

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Budget reconciliation is the process through which the House and Senate are planning to pass Biden's coronavirus relief plan to avoid a GOP filibuster. 

But the Congressional Budget Office this week issued a report that increasing the minimum wage to $15 would increase the federal deficit by $54 billion. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., took that as good news. 

"[F]rom a Byrd Rule perspective, the CBO has demonstrated that increasing the minimum wage would have a direct and substantial impact on the federal budget," he said. "What that means is that we can clearly raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour under the rules of reconciliation."

Sanders, however, acknowledged that Republicans won't support that much of a minimum wage hike and re-upped his support for eliminating the legislative filibuster, despite the fact multiple moderate Democrats have opposed it. 

"We are never going to get 10 Republicans to increase the minimum wage through ‘regular order,'" he, said. "The only way to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour now is to pass it with 51 votes through budget reconciliation."

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks to the crowd at a car rally campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday, Oct. 5, 2020, in Warren, Mich. (Nicole Hester/Ann Arbor News via AP)

Meanwhile, Punchbowl News reported Friday morning that Democrats in the Senate my try to bypass committees altogether ‒ avoiding any hearings or markups ‒ to shove through the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan. 

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Lincoln Project

The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group of former Republicans who now run attack ads against Trump in social media videos and has come under scrutiny for its lack of financial transparency, has also been under fire for other reasons. 

Co-founder Jonn Weaver allegedly sexually harassed a slew of young men, which the leaders of the controversial group were reportedly warned about well before the allegations became public. 

This was followed by the resignation of one of the project's founding members, who is now involved in a spat with the group after the group published private direct messages between that founder and a journalist. Some speculated that publication could get the group in legal trouble. 

Fox News'  Griff Jenkins, Joseph A. Wulfsohn, Caitlin McFall, Joshua Q. Nelson, Roman Chiarello and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.