Bloomberg
Pelosi, Schumer Ask Cabinet to Eject Trump, Threaten Impeachment
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer demanded that … Donald Trump’s cabinet immediately remove him from office and threatened a new drive to impeach him if they don’t act.
The two top Democrats in Congress on Thursday accused Trump of inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol and called him a continuing threat to democracy in his waning days in the White House.
Trump is “a very dangerous person who should not continue in office,” Pelosi said in Washington. “This is urgent, an emergency of the highest magnitude.” […]
Although Schumer said the House and Senate should be brought back for impeachment proceedings, Pelosi said there were “no immediate plans” to call members back.
”If he wants to be unique and be doubly impeached -- that’s up to him and his cabinet if he wants to stay in office,” Pelosi said.
“… Trump gravely endangered the security of the
United States and its institutions of government,” they wrote. “He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power and imperiled a coordinate branch of government.… While it is only 13 days left,” Pelosi said, “any day can be a horror show for America.”
Trump Prepares Pardon List for Aides and Family, and Maybe Himself
Donald Trump has prepared a sweeping list of individuals he’s hoping to pardon in the final days of his administration that includes senior White House officials, family members, prominent rappers -- and possibly himself, according to people familiar with the matter.
Trump is hoping to announce the pardons on Jan. 19 -- his final full day in office -- and his ideas are currently being vetted by senior advisers and the White House counsel’s office, the people said. […]
Preemptive pardons are under discussion for top White House officials who have not been charged with crimes, including Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, senior adviser Stephen Miller, personnel chief John McEntee, and social media director Dan Scavino.
The president’s eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, her husband, Jared Kushner, who both hold White House positions, are also under consideration, the people said. Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has also discussed the issue of a pardon with the president.
Business Insider
SCOOP: Pence opposes 25th Amendment efforts to remove Trump following Capitol riot, VP advisors tell Insider
Vice President Mike Pence doesn't support removing … Donald Trump from office via the 25th Amendment despite the growing bipartisan chorus for a last-minute change at the very top of the American government, Pence advisors told Insider.
"Not happening," a Republican close to Pence said when asked about growing calls for him to replace Trump.
The lame-duck vice president's apprehension to such a historic move comes in the immediate aftermath of an attempted violent coup by the president's supporters at the US Capitol. Democratic leaders are threatening to open a second round of impeachment proceedings against Trump if Pence and the Cabinet do not immediately remove Trump from office, even though there's less than two weeks left in the Republican's term and the start of the new Democratic Biden administration.
Pence and his team are trying to avoid that very showdown. They're worried that it could spiral the country even further into chaos and partisan divide, while putting into jeopardy Pence's political aspirations of running for the White House himself in 2024.
Politico
Justice Department warns of national security fallout from Capitol Hill insurrection
The mob that rampaged inside the halls of Congress on Wednesday might have taken a lot more than Americans’ illusions of invulnerability.
“National security equities” may have been among the records stolen from the Capitol on Wednesday when pro-Trump insurgents stormed the building and looted several congressional offices, the Justice Department said in a briefing Thursday.
[…]
One current Metro D.C. police officer said in a public Facebook post that off-duty police officers and members of the military, who were among the rioters, flashed their badges and I.D. cards as they attempted to overrun the building. “If these people can storm the Capitol building with no regard to punishment, you have to wonder how much they abuse their powers when they put on their uniforms,” the officer wrote.
“I agree they would take over the Capitol in minutes,” said another Democratic lawmaker when asked whether, on an average day with even looser security, an even more organized and militarized terrorist group might be able to breach the building. “Virtually every member is asking how this could happen,” he said.
Reuters
Surrounded by a shrinking circle of aides, a brooding Trump lays into Pence
… Donald Trump has increasingly isolated himself in the White House, relying on a small group of diehard loyalists and lashing out at those who dare to cross him, including Vice President Mike Pence, said four sources familiar with the matter. […]
Trump has repeatedly lambasted Pence, publicly and privately, for refusing to try to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s win, and has been seething at Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, for stating that Pence would perform his constitutional duty, the sources said.
This week Trump berated Pence to his face, one source said. The vice president’s office declined to comment.
But Republican Senator Jim Inhofe told the Tulsa World newspaper he spoke to Pence on Wednesday night.
“I’ve known Mike Pence forever,” he said. “I’ve never seen Pence as angry as he was today.”
Sedition charges on table in Capitol rioting - U.S. Justice official
Seditious conspiracy charges as well as rioting and insurrection will be considered for those arrested in the breach of the U.S. Capitol, Justice Department officials said on Thursday.
Members of the U.S. Capitol Police will be among those interviewed as witnesses and if evidence emerges that implicated any of those officers as complicit, they will be charged, Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin told reporters in a news briefing.
AP News
Trump condemns Capitol riot, concedes to Biden
Donald Trump is conceding to President-elect Joe Biden and condemning the violent supporters who stormed the nation’s Capitol Wednesday.
In a new video message, Trump says that now that Congress has certified the results, the “new administration will be inaugurated on January 20” and his “focus now turns to ensuring a smooth orderly and seamless transition of power.” […]
Trump did not address his role in inciting the violence. But he is telling his supporters that, while he knows they are “disappointed,” he wants them to know “our incredible journey is only just beginning.”
Capitol Police rejected offers of federal help to quell mob
Three days before supporters of … Donald Trump rioted at the Capitol, the Pentagon asked the U.S Capitol Police if it needed National Guard manpower. And as the mob descended on the building Wednesday, Justice Department leaders reached out to offer up FBI agents. The police turned them down both times, according to senior defense officials and two people familiar with the matter.
Despite plenty of warnings of a possible insurrection and ample resources and time to prepare, the Capitol Police planned only for a free speech demonstration. […]
The result is the U.S. Capitol was overrun Wednesday and officers in a law enforcement agency with a large operating budget and experience in high-security events protecting lawmakers were overwhelmed for the world to see. Four protesters died, including one shot inside the building.
The Washington Post
‘Nothing can stop what’s coming’: Far-right forums that fomented Capitol riots voice glee in aftermath
Men wearing camouflage shirts began building a makeshift defensive camp outside the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon. They moved barricades and green fencing into a circle, and then pulled helmets from a crate and donned goggles in preparation for a clash that had been brewing for weeks and, arguably, for years on far-right forums devoted to … Trump.
“TheDonald.win, that’s where it’s at,” said one of the men, referring to the website where defiant talk, conspiracy theories and tips on how best to lay siege to Washington have grown since Trump lost the Nov. 3 election.
The comment underscored the potent, interactive role between the online and offline worlds in Wednesday’s breach of the Capitol. Violent talk on far-right forums fomented violent real-world action, which was then captured by smartphones, uploaded and celebrated on the same forums. The boundaries between the digital and analog all but disappeared as rage, provocation and gloating bounced back and forth, again and again.
U.S. records its deadliest day of the pandemic while eyes are fixed on mob storming Capitol
After angry rioters and supporters of … Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in a last stand for the outgoing president, the United States has tallied its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic for two straight days.
On Thursday, more than 4,000 people died of covid-19 in the United States, the first time the toll has exceeded that milestone, following a record day Wednesday of 3,915 deaths. The pandemic has now claimed more than 363,000 lives in the United States. More than 265,000 new coronavirus cases were reported, the second-highest count in a day according to a Washington Post analysis. More than 132,000 people are battling covid-19 in hospital beds, the most the nation’s health-care system has taken on.
Congress affirms Biden’s presidential win following riot at U.S. Capitol
Members of Congress, shaken and angry following a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of … Trump’s supporters, put a final stamp on President-elect Joe Biden’s victory early Thursday morning and brought an end to a historically turbulent post-election period.
Republicans had at one point planned to object to the electoral college votes in a series of states won by Biden, but after the storming of the Capitol, several GOP senators changed course, disputing only Arizona and Pennsylvania. Both challenges failed.
Aides weigh resignations, removal options as Trump rages against perceived betrayals
… Trump was ensconced in the White House residence Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, raging about perceived betrayals, as an array of top aides weighed resigning and some senior administration officials began conversations about invoking the 25th Amendment — an extraordinary measure that would remove the president before Trump’s term expires on Jan. 20.
A deep, simmering unease coursed through the administration over the president’s refusal to accept his election loss and his role in inciting a mob to storm the Capitol, disrupting the peaceful transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden. One administration official described Trump’s behavior Wednesday as that of “a total monster,” while another said the situation was “insane” and “beyond the pale.”
Los Angeles Times
I’m in a roomful of people ‘panicked that I might inadvertently give away their location’ — by Sarah D. Wire, Staff Writer
I love to be in the House or Senate chambers on big days. There’s just something about being in the room where it happens. It’s more than just a news story. It’s history, and a privilege to tell people about it. […]
But my husband was worried. Trump had been encouraging protests, and he feared it could grow violent.
After I put the baby to bed Tuesday night, he gently asked me to be careful. “Wear street clothes that let you blend in with the crowd,” he told me. “Jeans and a T-shirt.”
I arrived about 11:15 a.m. Wednesday, nearly two hours before things were supposed to kick off. I didn’t want to miss anything and wanted to make sure I had time to get through security. I settled into my seat in the press gallery, the seats above the speaker’s dais, and began to watch the joint session of Congress.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Republican Kelly Loeffler concedes defeat to Raphael Warnock
U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler conceded defeat on Thursday to Raphael Warnock and formally ended her campaign against the Democrat, who will become the first Black senator in Georgia history when he takes office this month.
The Republican called to congratulate Warnock on his victory, she said in a statement, as election returns showed she trailed him by about 80,000 votes. […]
As more ballots were tallied later Wednesday, Jon Ossoff was projected to defeat U.S. Sen. David Perdue in the state’s other runoff, flipping control of the Republican-held chamber. Perdue, who trails Ossoff by roughly 40,000 votes, has yet to concede.
Trump attorney ends four lawsuits challenging Georgia’s election
Donald Trump has ended his court challenges to try to reverse his loss to Joe Biden in Georgia.
An attorney for Trump filed notice in court Thursday that he is voluntarily dismissing four lawsuits making unsubstantiated allegations about ineligible voters, election equipment problems and fraud. No judges in Georgia have ruled in Trump’s favor.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a defendant in the lawsuits, said Trump gave up on his false claims.
“Rather than presenting their evidence and witnesses to a court and to cross-examination under oath, the Trump campaign wisely decided the smartest course was to dismiss their frivolous cases,” Raffensperger said.
Alabama Political Reporter
Alabama AG leads nonprofit that helped organize march at Capitol
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall plays a critical role in the group that helped organize the protest and rally that preceded the riots, attack and attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
Marshall leads the Republican Attorneys General Association’s dark-money nonprofit Rule of Law Defense Fund, which is listed as a participating organization for the March to Save America on the march’s website, as are the groups Stop the Steal, Tea Party Patriots and Turning Point Action.
The website is now down, but archived versions show RLDF as a participating group.
“I am honored to lead RAGA’s policy branch, the Rule of Law Defense Fund, and bring conservative attorneys general together in promotion of federalism, freedom, and the rule of law,” Marshall said in a Nov. 10 statement to RAGA.
Dallas Morning News
Supreme Court rejects Gohmert’s last-ditch bid to change election results
The United States Supreme Court early Thursday rejected a last-ditch bid by Rep. Louie Gohmert of Tyler to allow Vice President Mike Pence to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
The unsigned decision was released after Congress voted to count all Electoral College votes overnight, which dealt a final blow to the lawsuit.
Gohmert and his co-plaintiffs — including the GOP chairwoman in Arizona and the state’s defeated slate of Republican electors — filed the lawsuit Wednesday, just before Pence was set to preside over the now infamous Electoral Count college count. They wanted the court to let Pence toss out Biden’s victories in a handful of states, nullifying tens of millions of ballots and replacing the will of the electorate with their own desire to give Trump a second term.
As the Electoral College count loomed closer, Pence came under increasing pressure by Trump to overturn the results of the election — a power that is not granted to him under the constitution.
Ted Cruz says he’d object to Biden electors even knowing about riot
Sen. Ted Cruz faced ongoing fallout Thursday for the riot at the U.S. Capitol, with never-Trumpers and some conservatives joining Democrats in pinning much of the blame on him.
Asked if he would take the same actions even in hindsight, the Texas Republican dug in.
“Yes. Absolutely,” he told KXAS-TV (Ch. 5). “I would object and urge that we should follow the law and follow the Constitution.” […]
Cruz went into damage control mode as soon as the riot began, denouncing the lawlessness as pro-Trump militants surged through the halls and House members and senators hunkered down for safety.
Columbia Daily Tribune
MU law professor, legal experts blast Hawley for Capitol riot
Local attorneys and a legal scholar say the takeover of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters is the responsibility of the president and his allies in Congress, including U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley.
"It was a horrifying and shocking intrusion on the democratic process, plainly incited by the president of the United States," said Frank Bowman.
A Curators Distinguished Professor in the University of Missouri Law School, Bowman is author of "High Crimes and Misdemeanors: A History of Impeachment for the Age of Trump."
The MU law school's Student Bar Association has issued a statement calling for Hawley, a former professor there, resign for his role in what it termed an attempted coup.
"In his relentless pursuit of power, Senator Hawley, a Yale-educated attorney, furthered … Trump's baseless election irregularity claims and committed sedition against the United States of America," the statement reads.
Missouri Independent
Major Josh Hawley donor calls for him to be censured by the U.S. Senate
A Joplin businessman who helped bankroll Sen. Josh Hawley’s first campaign denounced him on Thursday as a “political opportunist” who used “irresponsible, inflammatory, and dangerous tactics” to incite the rioting that took over the U.S. Capitol Building.
In a statement late Thursday, David Humphreys, president and CEO of Tamko Building Products, added his voice to a growing chorus of Republicans angry at Hawley for leading a challenge to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Humphreys called on the U.S. Senate to censure Hawley “for provoking yesterday’s riots in our nation’s capital.”
Trump should ‘absolutely not’ be blamed for U.S. Capitol riots, Gov. Parson says
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson expressed dismay on Wednesday at news that a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol to derail the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
But he said people should “absolutely not” place the blame for the violence on … Donald Trump or the Republicans who were trying to block certification of the presidential election results.
“When you try to blame the president or blame somebody else, you know, my understanding is the president told them not to commit any crimes.” Parson said, later adding: “My point of it is that if they’re doing things that violate the law, don’t do it. Go back outside and protest.”
The Kansas City Star
‘The biggest mistake I’ve ever made.’ Danforth rues mentoring Hawley, blames him for riot
Former Missouri Sen. John Danforth spent years promoting Josh Hawley as the future of the Republican Party, a “once-in-a-generation” candidate destined to contend for the presidency, perhaps in 2024.
But a day after the riot at the U.S. Capitol left four people dead, Danforth blamed his former protégé for sparking the insurrection.
“I thought he was special. And I did my best to encourage people to support him both for attorney general and later the U.S. Senate and it was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life,” he said Thursday. “I don’t know if he was always like this and good at covering it up or if it happened. I just don’t know.”
St Louis Post-Dispatch
Missouri lawmaker skips his own swearing-in to attend Trump rally in Washington
A state lawmaker from Missouri skipped his own swearing-in ceremony Wednesday to join the pro-Trump rally that descended into the attack on the nation’s Capitol.
Rep. Justin Hill, R-Lake Saint Louis, said he didn’t enter the Capitol, but did watch the mob from a vantage point at the rear of the building. […]
His absence from the first day of the legislative session was noted on Twitter by the Missouri House Democratic Campaign Committee.
“Any elected official who skips taking their oath of office to the Missouri Constitution in order to support insurrection is not fit for office. Resign,” the tweet said.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Biden slams pro-Trump mob as ‘domestic terrorists’; cabinet member resigns over deadly Capitol riot; calls grow for president’s removal from office
President-elect Joe Biden called the violent, Trump-inspired insurrectionists who broke into the Capitol on Wednesday, “domestic terrorists.”
“Don’t dare call them protesters,” Biden said on Thursday, before announcing his nominees for key positions in his Department of Justice, including Merrick Garland for Attorney General. “They were a riotous mob, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists.”
Biden blamed Trump’s incendiary language and actions throughout his presidency for what he called “one of the darkest days of our nation.”
“I wish we could say we couldn’t see it coming, but that isn’t true. We could see it coming,” Biden said. “He unleashed an all out assault on our institutions of our Democracy from the outset and yesterday was but the culmination on that unrelenting attack.”
Biden pointed out the stark differences in how protesters against police brutality were treated over the summer, versus how police treated the violent mob outside the Capitol.
“Not only did we see the failure to protect one of the three branches of our government,” Biden said, “we also saw a clear failure to carry out equal justice.”
Pennsylvania Republicans showed Trump’s grip on the party after the attack on the Capitol
They had planned to support … Donald Trump’s push to overturn his loss to President-elect Joe Biden, but backed off after the dark events of Wednesday, when a mob, fueled by lies about a stolen election, interrupted a step in the peaceful transition of power and desecrated the seat of popular representation. “The events that transpired have forced me to reconsider, and I cannot now in good conscience object to the certification of these electors,” Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R., Ga.) said on the Senate floor Wednesday evening.
But eight of the 10 Pennsylvania Republicans in Congress were not deterred. They led a push to overturn their own state’s election results early Thursday morning, speaking from the House chamber many of them had been rushed away from hours earlier. The episode underscored the grip Trump and Trump-style politics hold on a wide swath of Pennsylvania Republicans, even in the president’s final days in office and as other staunch Republicans saw Wednesday as a breaking point.
In some cases, they said the attackers’ grievances had actually highlighted the importance of their cause.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Recalling tear gas, arrests at Wisconsin protests, local leaders denounce policing 'double standard' at U.S. Capitol riots
In the riots and destruction at the U.S. Capitol this week, Wisconsin law enforcement experts and community activists saw a troubling lack of preparation and a clear double standard in how police treat protesters.
The contrast is stark, activists and leaders say, between the mass arrests and rounds of tear gas police fired on Black Lives Matter protesters in Milwaukee, Wauwatosa and Kenosha over the summer and the seemingly lax approach from Capitol Police to an angry mob of supporters of … Donald Trump.
“That shows what’s truly wrong with America today, the double standards with people of color. We have a lot of work to do. I am disgusted," said Tracey Dent, a Milwaukee-area community activist.
"If that was us, they'd be throwing us down the steps,” he said.
AP: Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson says no decision on his political future
Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said Thursday, a day after the U.S. Capitol was stormed by supporters of … Donald Trump, that he has not made a decision yet on his political future as the vocal Trump backer faces two years in the minority, growing criticism from within his party and mounting calls for him to step aside. […]
Johnson is weighing whether to seek a third term, run for governor or step down. His decision will have a cascading effect in Wisconsin as other Republicans wait to see what he does.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Veterans of George Floyd protests say police restraint is reserved for white people
In the protests following the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, Deshann Sanchez was tear gassed in the face by law enforcement and struck in the leg with a rubber bullet.
After setting up several medical tents, she saw one demonstrator spitting out her teeth and trying not to choke on her own blood after a police-fired rubber projectile hit her in the mouth. So when Sanchez saw footage of a mob storming the Capitol in Washington, D.C. with little resistance from law enforcement, it was a reminder of why she has been fighting for racial justice.
"We've seen a huge overresponse when it's Black Lives Matter or people of color protesting in response to a loss of life," said Sanchez, who founded Justice Frontline Aid to assist protesters. "It's complete day and night [compared to] the underresponse for something as big as our nation's Capitol where there are senators, private documents ... and it begs the question: why?"
Civil rights leaders, activists and protesters are questioning how a white mob of … Trump's supporters could invade the Capitol building Wednesday as authorities mostly retreated — while people of color and their allies faced tear gas, rubber bullets and mass arrests during protests against police violence in Minneapolis and other cities last year.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar says Capitol breach can never happen again
Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday that federal lawmakers must do everything they can in the coming weeks and months to ensure the U.S. Capitol never sees another security breach like what happened a day earlier.
"Of course there'll be a major investigation into what went wrong here," said Klobuchar, who was with many of her colleagues in the Senate chambers on Wednesday when a mob of … Donald Trump's supporters overtook Capitol Security and forced lawmakers to evacuate. "That has to happen. We need to know what went wrong so it never happens again." […]
As the ranking member on Rules, she was the Democratic lead in the debate over the certification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College win. In her own speech before the breach, she noted, she had repeated a quote often attributed to Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, when asked the form of the country's new government.
"A Republic, if we can keep it," Klobuchar said.
The Detroit Free Press
Gov. Whitmer: We should've seen US Capitol riot coming after what happened in Michigan
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Thursday that anyone could have foreseen Wednesday's riot at the U.S. Capitol in April when an angry mob of men — some armed with rifles — tried to force their way into the Michigan House of Representatives.
"This is a very familiar sight," Whitmer said on MSNBC about the storming and occupation of the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump rioters. "Anyone who was paying attention saw this play out in Michigan eight, nine months ago."
Whitmer said that at the time of the April 30 incident — during which a line of state police and House sergeants kept insurgents opposing Whitmer's state of emergency off the House floor but others intimidated state senators by bringing rifles into the public gallery — she called on Republican leaders at both the state and national level to "bring the heat down."
"The death threats were rolling in and none of them did a damn thing," said Whitmer, who said she personally spoke to Vice President Mike Pence — a reported target of Wednesday's attack — about the issue.
The Oregonian
Oregon Congress members press for 25th Amendment or impeachment, calling Donald Trump ‘a clear and present danger’
The 25th Amendment has been on Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s mind for almost four years.
“The first public forum I had after [… Donald Trump] was elected was about the 25th Amendment and how we needed to use it,” the longtime congressman from Oregon’s Third Congressional District said in a statement on Thursday.
Now, in the wake of a chaotic and violent scene in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday that saw hundreds of Trump’s supporters storm the U.S. Capitol at the president’s behest, Blumenauer believes it’s time for Vice President Mike Pence and Trump’s cabinet members to trigger the constitutional mechanism that would remove the president from office.
“It’s so disturbing to me that we still need to advocate for this with just 14 days left in his term, but it’s no longer optional,” Blumenauer said, suggesting that Trump could create more crises if left to finish out his full time in office.
Young Republicans of Oregon leader arrested during U.S. Capitol insurrection
Kristina Malimon of Portland was arrested Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol on charges of unlawful entry and curfew violation, according to a report by The Washington Post.
Malimon, 28, is the vice chairwoman of Young Republicans of Oregon. On Wednesday, she posted multiple videos on social media from Washington, D.C., including Instagram stories from … Donald Trump’s rally before rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Republican Rep. Mike Nearman let right-wing protesters into Oregon Capitol, House Speaker Tina Kotek says
A Republican state lawmaker from the Salem area enabled violent right-wing protesters against COVID-19 restrictions to breach the Capitol building as the Legislature met in special session on Dec. 21, House Speaker Tina Kotek said during a press conference Thursday morning.
Rep. Mike Nearman, R-Independence, “did open a door to allow demonstrators into the building,” Kotek said during a press briefing. “This was a serious, serious breach of public trust.”
The Atlantic
The Capitol Riot Was an Attack on Multiracial Democracy
The Capitol building of the United States was breached yesterday by a mob seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election at a sitting president’s behest. Waving Trump banners and Confederate flags, it forced the evacuation of the building and temporarily delayed the timely ceremonial counting of the electoral votes.
The immediate catalyst for the assault on the Capitol was the president himself. After addressing thousands of his supporters who had come to protest the results of the election, Donald Trump called his defeat an “egregious assault on our democracy,” urging the crowd to “walk down to the Capitol. We are going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and -women, and we are probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you will never take back our country with weakness.” […]
Rather than relieve the president of his delusions, Republican elected officials have engaged in ostentatious displays of devotion to their leader, with a majority of House Republicans voting to overturn the results last night even after the insurrection at the Capitol. A small group of Republican senators, including Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, demanded that Congress reject the election results and instead appoint a commission to examine whether the results should be overturned, on the grounds that many of their own constituents genuinely believe the false allegations of voter fraud that Republican leaders have been telling them are true.
Don’t Let Them Pretend This Didn’t Happen
Remember what yesterday’s attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol was like. Very soon, someone might try to convince you that it was different. Maybe someone already has.
This has been a leitmotif of the Trump administration: Donald Trump does something outrageous and inappropriate, maybe even illegal. Immediately, there are horrified reactions from across the political spectrum, but pretty quickly, the anger fades. Republican officials test the political winds and decide to keep their heads down. Maybe they even say that what Trump did was just fine. Democratic officials rage but shrug and say there’s just not much they can do.
Don’t let the events of January 6 get memory-holed or excused in the same way. The health of the republic depends both on what swift consequences come—for Trump and for others—and also on how people remember the participants’ actions later on.
Vox
Democrats say they want action. Key Republicans are hoping to just wait things out.
Politicians are increasingly considering whether to take against … Donald Trump before his term in office expires on January 20, in the wake of Wednesday’s presidentially incited chaos at the Capitol. […]
To have any practical effect, either of these actions against Trump would need to win the support of key Republicans. In the case of the 25th Amendment, Vice President Mike Pence and a majority of Trump’s Cabinet would have to make the call. And for impeachment, at least 18 Republican senators would have to vote to remove Trump from office.
Neither of those currently appears likely.
Wednesday’s events did reportedly spur chatter among Republican officials about invoking the 25th Amendment. But on Thursday, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced she would resign, saying she was “deeply troubled” by the storming of the Capitol and Trump’s role in it. Once this resignation is effective, it means Chao would no longer be able to have a role in a 25th Amendment effort.
As for impeachment, House Democrats have the power to impeach Trump (again) and they may well do so. But all that does is kick the matter to the Senate. And as far as removing Trump from office, the only Senate Republican who voted to do so last time — Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) — indicated that he doesn’t support doing so now, suggesting, “I think we’ve got to just hold our breath” until Trump’s term is up.
Here are the few Republicans who have called for Trump’s removal
The calls for Donald Trump’s removal from office are intensifying, as lawmakers condemn the president for inciting the mob of his supporters who stormed and vandalized the US Capitol.
That includes a small group of mostly moderate Republican leaders who have condemned Trump and demanded Vice President Mike Pence and Trump’s Cabinet invoke the 25th amendment, declaring Trump “unable” to serve and quickly installing Pence for the two weeks remaining in his term, or called for Congress to remove him quickly through impeachment proceedings. […]
Below are the few Republicans currently in office who have demanded Trump’s removal so far.
- Vermont Gov. Phil Scott
- Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL)
- Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan
- Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker
The New York Times
Now It Can Be Told: How Neil Sheehan Got the Pentagon Papers
There was one story Neil Sheehan chose not to tell. It was the story of how he had obtained the Pentagon Papers, the blockbuster scoop that led to a 1971 showdown between the Nixon administration and the press, and to a Supreme Court ruling that is still seen as a milepost in government-press relations.
From the moment he secured the 7,000 pages of classified government documents on the Vietnam War for The New York Times, until his death on Thursday, Mr. Sheehan, a former Vietnam War correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, declined nearly every invitation to explain precisely how he had pulled it off.
In 2015, however, at a reporter’s request, he agreed to tell his story on the condition that it not be published while he was alive. Beset by scoliosis and Parkinson’s disease, he recounted, in a four-hour interview at his home in Washington, a tale as suspenseful and cinematic as anyone in Hollywood might concoct.
The mob that rampaged the halls of Congress included infamous white supremacists and conspiracy theorists.
There were infamous white nationalists and noted conspiracy theorists who have spread dark visions of pedophile Satanists running the country. Others were more anonymous, people who had journeyed from Indiana and South Carolina to heed … Trump’s call to show their support. One person, a West Virginia lawmaker, had only been elected to office in November. […]
“We wanted to show these politicians that it’s us who’s in charge, not them,” said a construction worker from Indianapolis, who is 40 and identified himself only as Aaron. He declined to give his last name, saying, “I’m not that dumb.” […]
Aaron, the construction worker from Indianapolis, and his two friends had heard people talking about going to Ms. Pelosi’s office. So once inside they decided to instead find Senator Chuck Schumer’s office. Both are Democrats.
“We wanted to have a few words” with Mr. Schumer, he said. “He’s probably the most corrupt guy up here. You don’t hear too much about him. But he’s slimy. You can just see it.”
But they could not find Mr. Schumer’s office. He said they asked a Capitol Police officer, who tried to direct them. But they appeared to have gotten nowhere near the minority’s leader’s office. They ended up smoking a few cigarettes inside the building — “We can smoke in our house,” Aaron said — and one of his friends, who would not give his name, joked that he had gone to the bathroom and not flushed.
‘What a Joke.’ Black Lives Matter Activists Note Contrast in Police Response at Capitol
While protesting the police killing of a Black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., several years ago, Johnetta Elzie said she was manhandled by officers. She said they pointed rifles at Black women who were pushing toddlers in strollers and cursed at them to turn around.
Similar scenes unfolded all summer, as police officers clashed with scores of Black Lives Matter protesters. Many times, officers used batons and chemical agents to disperse crowds.
And so what Ms. Elzie saw on television Wednesday afternoon infuriated her: A mob of mostly white Trump supporters stormed past police officers and vandalized the United States Capitol while officers, after initially offering resistance, mostly stood by. Some officers parted barricades, others held doors open and one was seen on video escorting a woman down steps.
“What a joke,” Ms. Elzie said. “I mean, they didn’t even pinch the white people. It wasn’t even like a family dispute. In a family dispute, you might at least hit your sister or something like that. This wasn’t even that. It was almost like tear-gas was not readily available.”
ProPublica
Capitol Rioters Planned for Weeks in Plain Sight. The Police Weren’t Ready.
The invasion of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday was stoked in plain sight. For weeks, the far-right supporters of … Donald Trump railed on social media that the election had been stolen. They openly discussed the idea of violent protest on the day Congress met to certify the result.
“We came up with the idea to occupy just outside the CAPITOL on Jan 6th,” leaders of the Stop the Steal movement wrote on Dec. 23. They called their Wednesday demonstration the Wild Protest, a name taken from a tweet by Trump that encouraged his supporters to take their grievances to the streets of Washington. “Will be wild,” the president tweeted.
Ali Alexander, the founder of the movement, encouraged people to bring tents and sleeping bags and avoid wearing masks for the event. “If D.C. escalates… so do we,” Alexander wrote on Parler last week — one of scores of social media posts welcoming violence that were reviewed by ProPublica in the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s attack on the capitol.
BuzzFeed News
The Mob At The Capitol May Have Put National Security Secrets At Risk
When insurrectionists occupied the US Capitol on Wednesday, they did not alter the outcome of the presidential election, but they did ransack the offices of lawmakers, rifle through computer files and emails, and steal personal electronics and documents.
Those actions could pose serious harm to the United States.
A full accounting has yet to be completed, but US Attorney Michael Sherwin said during a news briefing Thursday that materials were stolen. “We have to identify what was done, mitigate that, and it could have potential national security equities.” Sherwin said, adding that “a large amount of pilfering at the Capitol” had occurred. On Thursday evening, CBS News reported that a laptop possibly containing sensitive national security information was among the objects stolen.
Security and espionage experts told BuzzFeed News that highly sensitive information could have been taken, material that adversaries could exploit to take advantage of the US in this moment of crisis or to undermine President-elect Joe Biden.
The Pro-Trump Activists Who Helped Plan The Insurrection Feel Betrayed By The President
On the website that was the epicenter of plans for the violent insurrection at the US Capitol Wednesday, some of … Donald Trump’s most loyal followers, who had for months shamed, silenced, and banned anyone who criticized the president, grappled with a new feeling after the riot ended: betrayal.
But in the wake of the insurrection at the Capitol, for the first time since the election, TheDonald was inundated with doom — and anger at a president who many users believed had abandoned them in the middle of a battle that he himself had ordered them to fight.
One post, with some 250 upvotes, read: “He calls people to descend on DC for what, 9 hours, then instructs them to go home? People have lost time, money, family, potentially careers and even their lives over this … and a ‘Thanks for coming, go home now’ is what people are instructed to do?”
“Exactly. Trump betrayed us,” a popular reply said. “He should have asked us to occupy the city. Unless they got him, and it’s not really him speaking.”
The Nation
Madness on Capitol Hill
t was 5 PM when the explosions started, one after another, washing the crowd of Donald Trump supporters in plumes of tear gas. For hours, these protesters had swarmed and stomped atop of the Capitol steps. They had torn down barricades and pushed into the Capitol rotunda, forcing members of Congress and staffers to shelter in place. But now there were explosions, and the protesters ran. In the tear gas, they retched. […]
“This is not America,” a woman said to a small group, her voice shaking. She was crying, hysterical. “They’re shooting at us. They’re supposed to shoot BLM, but they’re shooting the patriots.”
A man, possibly her husband, comforted her: “Don’t worry, honey. We showed them today. We showed them what we’re all about.”
It won’t be long before Trump’s supporters take matters into their own hands once again.
It is tempting to see the violence in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday as the death rattle of a disintegrating political order—the Trump administration and its most cultish devotees’ final spasmodic grasp for power. In truth, it is the shape of things to come. […]
The disintegration of the “alt-right” after the murder of Heather Heyer at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville left a power vacuum that has been filled by the Proud Boys—a kind of “big tent” organization for conspiracy-addled neofascist thugs—and a decentralized array of ultraviolent accelerationist sects primarily found online. In the ideological pressure cooker that followed Donald Trump’s defeat in November, new syntheses and alliances between these elements and the president’s hardcore MAGA base began to form, made manifest in Wednesday’s riot. […]
Those leading the charge into the Capitol are driven by a kind of nihilistic ethnonationalism, in some cases filtered through mainstream discourses of patriotism and civilizational struggle, while in others through pseudo-mystical appeals to blood and soil. On the far right, the question of how to relate to law enforcement and the State writ large is an open one: over the past few years, at demonstrations around the country, Proud Boys could often be seen courting police officers, emphasizing their shared contempt for liberals, progressives, and leftists—to the extent they cared to make a distinction at all—while accelerationist propaganda often depicts cops as enemies of the white nationalist project.
NPR News
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo Is Biden's Commerce Secretary Pick
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, the first woman to lead the country's smallest state, has been named President-elect Joe Biden's intended nominee for commerce secretary.
If confirmed by the Senate, Raimondo, a Democrat who is serving her second term as governor and was previously the state's treasurer, would oversee the U.S. Commerce Department's eclectic portfolio of federal agencies, including some that have been thrown into political hot waters during the Trump administration — most notably the Census Bureau.
Protests In White And Black, And The Different Response Of Law Enforcement
Hours after congressional lawmakers certified his Electoral College victory affirming he will be the next president, Joe Biden took to social media to express what countless others have before him.
If the largely white, pro-Trump insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol had been Black Lives Matter protesters, there would have been a starkly divergent law enforcement response than what played out Wednesday afternoon.
"No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protestors yesterday that they wouldn't have been treated very differently than the mob that stormed the Capitol," Biden tweeted Thursday.
The Guardian
Elon Musk becomes world's richest person
Elon Musk, the maverick boss of Tesla, has overtaken Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest person, after shares in the electric car company he co-founded soared on hopes that a Democrat-controlled US Senate would usher in a new green agenda. […]
The 49-year-old entrepreneur’s net worth hit $186bn (£136bn) at 10.15am in New York on Wednesday, making him $1.5bn richer than Bezos, who had held the top spot since October 2017.
Global heating could stabilize if net zero emissions achieved, scientists say
The world may be barreling towards climate disaster but rapidly eliminating planet-heating emissions means global temperatures could stabilize within just a couple of decades, scientists say.
For many years it was assumed that further global heating would be locked in for generations even if emissions were rapidly cut. Climate models run by scientists on future temperatures were based on a certain carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. If this remained at the current high level there would be runaway climate disaster, with temperatures continuing to rise even if emissions were reduced because of a lag time before greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere.
But more recent understanding of the implications of getting to net zero emissions is giving hope that the warming could be more swiftly curtailed.
Deutsche Welle
Capitol Hill riots: Are Western democracies under attack?
The images of Trump supporters storming Capitol Hill in Washington looked eerily familiar to many Germans. Now there is a heated debate about whether democracies are in danger on this side of the Atlantic, too. […]
Some Germans felt reminded of the National Socialist riots of the 1920s and 1930s. […]
In 1933, German democracy failed, as the Nazis exploited its weaknesses and managed to establish a totalitarian regime. That is why after World War II, West Germany established what it considered a resilient democracy: A system in place until today, that limits freedom of speech and association in order to safeguard and protect the constitutional order.
"I think there is something to be learned for the US from that German experience," Daniel Ziblatt says. "The idea that democracy is not a machine that runs on its own but that it has to be defended, is a valuable lesson. The irony is of course that Americans helped build German democracy."
Germany reviews parliament security after US Capitol riot
The president of Germany's lower legislative house, Wolfgang Schäuble, on Thursday said officials would examine improvements that could be made to parliamentary security in Germany after the storming of the US Capitol building.
Schäuble's office said he would examine "what conclusions should be drawn from this for the protection of the Bundestag," as the lower house is called, in light of the scenes from Washington.
The German government has requested its embassy in Washington provide a report on how the "violent excesses could have happened in the Capitol."
The Sydney Morning Herald
Democracy is a mindset and Americans are losing it
The world might be witnessing not only the death throes of the Trump presidency but of US democracy.
Democracy's great virtue is not that it guarantees the best possible ruler but that it allows the bloodless removal of a bad one, as the Anglo-Austrian philosopher Karl Popper said. Donald Trump's denialist contortions are an effort to prevent democracy delivering its ultimate benefit. […]
In their book How Democracies Die, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt write that "although mass responses to extremist appeals matter, what matters more is whether political elites, and especially parties, serve as filters. Put simply, political parties are democracy's gatekeepers".
Even after experiencing first-hand the fragility of America's democratic order, these Republicans voted for a coup. Trump ultimately will be gone; the deep divisions and anti-democratic urges that allowed his rise will linger.
A new president is not enough. Democracy is a mindset; Americans are losing it. The deepening bitterness, expressed in economic and race and cultural wars, is the acid eating away US democracy.
Ars Technica
Republican state lawmaker livestreamed himself in mob storming US Capitol
A Republican lawmaker recently elected to the West Virginia State Legislature yesterday livestreamed himself storming the US Capitol with the Trump-incited mob that tried to stop certification of Joe Biden's presidential election victory.
Derrick Evans, who was sworn in to the West Virginia House of Delegates last month, "was livestreaming on Facebook as he and other protesters muscled their way through the doors of one entrance carrying Trump flags and signs," BuzzFeed News wrote, adding that Evans shouted, "Patriots inside, baby!"
The now-deleted video shows Evans "wearing a helmet and clamoring at the door to breach" the building, the Associated Press reported.
Insurrectionists’ social media presence gives feds an easy way to ID them
Law enforcement agencies trying to track down insurrectionists who participated in yesterday's events at the US Capitol have a wide array of tools at their disposal thanks to the ubiquity of cameras and social media.
Both local police and the FBI are seeking information about individuals who were "actively instigating violence" in Washington, DC, on January 6. While media organizations took thousands of photos police can use, they also have more advanced technologies at their disposal to identify participants, following what several other agencies have done in recent months.
Several police departments, such as Miami, Philadelphia, and New York City, turned to facial recognition platforms—including the highly controversial Clearview AI—during the widespread summer 2020 demonstrations against police brutality and in support of Black communities. In Philadelphia, for example, police used software to compare protest footage against Instagram photos to identify and arrest a protestor. In November, The Washington Post reported that investigators from 14 local and federal agencies in the DC area have used a powerful facial recognition system more than 12,000 times since 2019.