In spite of a federal moratorium barring ousters of tenants who attest they have been affected by Covid, eviction filings continue to course through the country. These proceedings harm renters in many ways: Evictions often result in job losses, academic research shows, and generally appear on credit reports, making it difficult for renters to find new residences. Eviction costs can also be added to rent bills, increasing the amounts ultimately owed by renters to their landlords.

Recognizing the ravages of evictions, President-elect Joe Biden has called on Congress to provide another $30 billion in rental assistance, on top of the $25 billion set aside in the December 2020 stimulus package. He has also requested an unspecified amount of money for legal aid and an extension of the moratorium, which was imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, through Sept. 30.

But a moratorium only works if it is well-enforced, tenant advocates say, and actual evictions are still happening, according to legal aid practitioners.

"While the CDC order imposes criminal penalties on landlords who violate the moratorium, no entity or persons are enforcing the order and there is no mechanism for renters to file complaints against landlords who violate the order," said Diane Yentl, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday on the Senate floor that the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 were "fed lies" and were "provoked" by Trump and others.

"The last time the Senate convened we had just reclaimed the Capitol from violent criminals who tried to stop Congress from doing our duty. The mob was fed lies," McConnell said. 

"They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government, which they did not like," he added.

McConnell also acknowledged that the House has impeached Trump and that the Senate is waiting for the lower chamber to transmit the article so that a trial can begin. 

In a presidency marked by polarization, Donald Trump’s term has seen conflict at the border, successful strikes overseas and unusual photo opportunities.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., recounted in an interview with Hillary Clinton the moment she was whisked away from the House floor on Jan. 6, when the Capitol was breached by a pro-Trump mob.

"We were having the debate when the security just pulled me off the podium," Pelosi told Clinton on her "You and Me Both" podcast. "Sometimes the staff takes me off the podium when they think the Republicans are going to do something obnoxious, and I went, 'No, I can handle it. I can handle it.' And they said, 'No, you have to go,' so fast that I even left my phone on the podium," 

"They just pulled me right out. And they said at that point that they were storming the Capitol and the security just whisked [me] away. But it was stunning," she said. "I'm a target, you know? So, when we got in the car, I said, 'Well, where are we going? Like to another room?' ... 'No, we're going to an undisclosed location.'"

Pelosi told Clinton that she has asked House Democrats to write a journal about their experience on Jan. 6 at the Capitol, when Congress was meeting to count the Electoral College votes. The speaker said that she was with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., that day and they all agreed they needed to go back to the Capitol to finish the counting of the electoral votes. She said that decision was "bipartisan" and that McConnell was "very insistent" that they finish it. 

Pelosi said that she was in touch with Vice President Mike Pence, who presided over the count, throughout the day while they were in undisclosed locations, and that "he was a positive factor in the course of the day."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized “multiculturalism” on Tuesday, his last full day as America’s top diplomat, saying in a tweet that it was “not who America is." 

“Woke-ism, multiculturalism, all the -isms — they're not who America is,” Pompeo wrote. “They distort our glorious founding and what this country is all about. Our enemies stoke these divisions because they know they make us weaker.”

The tweet came just a day after Pompeo commemorated the national holiday for Martin Luther King Jr., saying in a starkly contrasting tweet that the civil rights leader "devoted his life to upholding the unalienable rights of all Americans. Today we honor his work in advancing social justice and equality in the United States by serving our communities and country.”

The comments come less than two weeks after pro-Trump rioters, some bearing Confederate flags and other symbols of white supremacist and far-right extremist groups, stormed the U.S. Capitol. Pompeo called the attack “unacceptable” and said the perpetrators needed to be brought to justice, but he has remained one of the strongest defenders of Trump even as the president was impeached for inciting the attack.

Earlier this month, in a speech to an audience of Voice of America employees, Pompeo condemned “censorship, wokeness and political correctness” as “authoritarianism, cloaked as moral righteousness.”

Biden's nominee for director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, told senators at her confirmation hearing Tuesday that she would provide a public assessment of the QAnon threat. 

Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., asked Haines if Haines would provide a "public written assessment of the threat QAnon poses to our country."

"I will," she said.

Haines said she was aware of a letter Heinrich and others sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray last month asking for such an assessment. She said she would work with the Department of Homeland Security and FBI to "get you an answer to that question," adding that the assessment would include looking at "particular foreign influence operations and how those are affecting Qanon" and "exacerbating" misinformation.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was the target last year of a kidnapping plot by members of militia groups scheming to overthrow the government, announced Tuesday that she will attend Biden's inauguration.

Whitmer, who is a co-chair of Biden's inaugural committee, said she is "honored" to attend and ready to work with him and Harris "to fight this virus, save lives, and put the country back on track."

"The country is ready for a leader who listens to medical experts to lead our country's Covid-19 response and works on behalf of hardworking Americans," she said in a statement.

Before the plot against the Democratic governor came to light, political tensions in her state had been rising over restrictions she imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus, resulting in rallies in Lansing in which armed protesters took to the state Capitol.

Whitmer has condemned Trump for refusing to condemn groups like those allegedly involved in the f1oiled scheme, pointing to remarks he made about the "Proud Boys" group during the first presidential debate. The president had also tweeted "LIBERATE MICHIGAN" when the state was under stringent shutdown orders.

Two U.S. Army National Guard members are being removed from the security mission to secure Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration. A U.S. Army official and a senior U.S. intelligence official say the two National Guard members have been found to have ties to fringe right group militias.

No plot against Biden was found.

The Army official and the intelligence official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity due to Defense Department media regulations. They did not say what fringe group the guard members belonged to or what unit they served in.

Contacted by the AP on Tuesday, the National Guard Bureau referred questions to the U.S. Secret Service and said, “Due to operational security, we do not discuss the process nor the outcome of the vetting process for military members supporting the inauguration.”

The Secret Service told the AP on Monday it would not comment on if any National Guard members had been pulled from securing the inauguration for operational security reasons.