32 2GM Wednesday December 2 2020 | the times
Wo r l d
Republicans in the US Senate are
threatening to block a prominent
nominee to Joe Biden’s cabinet over her
“offensive” tweets, a trial of strength
that highlights the importance of con-
trol of the upper chamber.
Neera Tanden, chosen to lead the
White House budget office, has been
condemned by politicians on the right
over her social media comments but
she also faces flak from the left for
factional in-fighting on behalf of Hillary
Clinton, her mentor.
Ms Tanden, 50, has deleted more
than a thousand tweets in the past
month, many of them targeting Repub-
licans. They are already proclaiming
her the “sacrificial lamb” of the Biden
team, suggesting that there was always
going to be a lightning rod for partisan
opposition during the process of con-
firming his cabinet.
Mr Biden, 78, introduced her warmly
yesterday as he presented his six-strong
economics team — led by Janet Yellen,
74, former head of the Federal Reserve
and his nominee for Treasury secretary
— knowing that she may not survive
Senate hearings unless the Democrats
win two run-off votes in Georgia next
month.
At the event in his home city of
Wilmington, Delaware, he showed off
Neera Tanden has
deleted 1,000
Twitter messagesBiden’s ‘offensive’
budget chief could
be blocked from job
the medical boot that he is being forced
to wear temporarily after he fractured
his right foot while playing with his dog,
Major. “We can build a new economy
that works for all Americans,” he said.
“Our message to everybody struggling
right now is this: help is on its way.”
He appealed for “unity” and “heal-
ing” from the Senate after the intense
partisanship of recent years.
“To the United States Senate, I hope
these outstanding nominees will re-
ceive a prompt hearing and we will
be able to work across the aisle in
good faith and move forward as one
country,” Mr Biden said.
Ms Yellen vowed to end the
“convergence of tragedies”
depriving lower-income
Americans of well-paid
jobs, from the coronavirus
to racial inequity. “Out of
our collective pain as a
nation we will find col-
lective purpose to con-
trol the pandemic and re-
build the economy better
than before... to make sure
our recovery works for every-
one,” she said.
Ms Tanden was head of the
Centre for American Progress, a
liberal think tank, from 2011,
where she was a thorn in the side
of President Obama from the
left. Nominated by Mr Biden as
director of the Office of Man-
agement and Budget, she is not
viewed as radical enough by the
left wing of the party because
she supported Mrs Clinton.Born in Massachusetts to parents who
came to the US from India, she would
be the first woman of colour to head the
office that scrutinises budget proposals
from each department.
Separately, Rudy Giuliani, Mr
Trump’s personal lawyer, is believed to
have discussed receiving a pre-emptive
pardon from the departing president,
although it is not clear what charges he
might be worried about.
Last night Bill Barr, Mr Trump’s
attorney-general, contradicted the
president’s continuing claims that
he has somehow been cheated at
the ballot box. “To date, we have not
seen fraud on a scale that could
have effected a different out-
come in the election,” Mr
Barr said.
Mr Barr also revealed
that he had appointed
John Durham, a lawyer
investigating the con-
duct of the FBI over
Russia collusion allegations
against Mr Trump’s 2016 cam-
paign, as a special counsel to
keep the inquiry going into the
Biden presidency.
It emerged last night that Mr
Barr’s Justice Department is in-
vestigating a potential crime
related to money paid as an
alleged bribe to the White House
or a related political fundraising
committee in exchange for a presi-
dential pardon. The existence of
the investigation emerged in docu-
ments unsealed in a federal court
but names of those involved were
removed. Mr Trump has pardoned
several aides.
What makes Biden’s right-hand man
tick? Daniel Finkelstein, page 27United States
David Charter Washington
The pop star who is vying to end the
long reign of President Museveni sus-
pended his election campaign last night
after his car came under fire.
Bobi Wine, 38, shared footage of an
explosion metres from his car, bullet
holes to the windscreen and its wheels
shot out. Four members of his cam-
paign team were injured, including his
producer, who was hit in the face by a
tear gas canister as he rushed to protect
Mr Wine.
The singer tweeted from his cam-
paign trail: “Our lives are in danger!” He
described how his Toyota 4x4 was
diverted to “a kill spot” by police, where
it was fired upon.
The latest violence came less than a
fortnight after 54 people were killed as
police and the army fired live rounds at
people protesting against the arrest of
Mr Wine at a rally. The arrest was his
Bullets scare off presidential hopeful
second detention in a month. Robert
Amsterdam, his lawyer, said it was
“absolutely clear that [Mr Museveni]
intends for Bobi Wine to be killed or
seriously wounded... the campaign is a
war zone”.
Mr Wine, an independent MP whose
real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has
been arrested and beaten several times
since he was elected in 2017.
His popularity in Uganda is seen as
the biggest threat to Mr Museveni, 76,
winning a sixth term in the election,
scheduled for January 14. Analysts say
that state-sponsored violence against
opposition supporters reflects the re-
gime’s growing alarm at the candidate,
who is known as the “ghetto president”
because of his humble background.
Mr Museveni told crowds at the
weekend that no politician was “un-
touchable”.
Elly Tumwine, the security minister,
said that police had the green light to
open fire on unruly demonstrators. Hetold reporters: “Police have a right to
shoot you and you die for nothing... do
it at your own risk.”
The Museveni government is regard-
ed as a corrupt ally of the West in an
unsettled region. The former British
colony receives about £90 million a
year in foreign aid from Britain.
Transparency International, the
German organisation that fights global
corruption, ranks the east African
state’s public sector at 151st out of the
176 worst countries. Uganda’s constitu-
tion has been amended twice to allow
Mr Museveni to stay in power since he
overthrew Milton Obote in 1986.
Mr Wine has been charged with
flouting Covid-19 rules against large
gatherings whereas Mr Museveni’s
National Resistance Movement party
rallies have gone ahead without a hitch.
After announcing a pause in his cam-
paign, Mr Wine said: “We are going to
the electoral commission to get
answers to this.”Uganda
Jane Flanagan
R
Joe Biden appeared in a
protective boot yesterday
after breaking his footS
outh Korea has changed
the law to allow the
members of BTS, the
country’s most
internationally successful
pop group, to postpone mandatory
military service after an
impassioned campaign by their
fans (Richard Lloyd Parry writes).
The national assembly passed an
amendment to the Military Service
Act to allow a two-year deferral for
performers nominated by the
minister of culture on the grounds
they enhance the country’s image
and contribute to the economy.Law spares
K-pop stars
from call-up
to military
The law does not name BTS but
there is no doubt that it was
changed with the group in mind,
and just in time. All able-bodied
men had to begin national service
by the age of 28. The oldest of BTS’s
seven members, Kim Seok-jin,
known as Jin, turns 28 on Friday.
He will now be able to continue
recording and performing until he is
30, allowing the band to remain
together at the height of their
remarkable success.
Apart from their popularity at
home, BTS are arguably South
Korea’s biggest cultural export.
Their latest song, Life Goes On,
entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart
in the United States at No 1, the first
foreign-language song to do so.
Their summer single, Dynamite,
their first in English, set a record for
the most views on YouTube in a
single day.
BTS’s fans were active on social
media and online petitions calling
for their idols to be let off their
military obligation. Exemptions
have long been given to successfulBTS will be
allowed to delay
military service.
Son Heung-min,
below, did a
shortened version