Tag Archives: United States Capitol

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House Jan. 6 committee votes to subpoena Trump, “the one person at the center” of what happened on Jan. 6

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Jan. 6 hearings resume for what could be last public hearing

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Committee aides would not say whether they had any further engagement with Trump or former Vice President Mike Pence about testifying. Pence said this summer that he’d “consider” testifying before the committee.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee chair, said last month that the committee plans to put together an interim report in mid-October, with a final report to come before the end of the year, after the midterm elections.

The committee held a series of public hearings over the summer that were also broadcast nationally. The hearings showed never-before-seen video from the attack but also showed video testimony from Trump administration officials about his refusal to accept election results and plans by his allies to replace electors in battleground states that President Joe Biden won while also threatening local and state elections officials. 

Thompson confirmed over the summer that the committee has been having “conversations” with the Justice Department about the phony elector plan. In the June 21 public hearing, committee member Rep. Adam Schiff said those fake electors ultimately met on Dec. 14, 2020, in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Nevada and Wisconsin, signing documents claiming they were duly elected electors from their state. 

The committee said that GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin wanted to hand deliver alternate, fraudulent electors to Pence ahead of the joint session of Congress, according to texts the committee provided.

The hearings highlighted Trump and his allies’ pressure campaigns on different branches of government to overturn the 2020 election results, including the former president’s attempt to install environmental lawyer Jeffrey Clark at the helm of the Justice Department, attorney John Eastman’s argument to Pence that he had the power to override the Electoral College, and Rudy Giuliani’s attempts to influence local and state elections officials.

The hearings also featured in-person testimony from former Trump administration officials, a former Fox News political editor, a Capitol police officer, a rioter who pleaded guilty, among others.

The hearings included bombshell revelations about Trump’s reaction to the Jan. 6 attack.

Hutchinson and other former White House aides testified – both in person and on video testimony – that they knew Trump had lost the election and that pushing the narrative that he had won was a lie. Sarah Matthews, a former deputy press secretary, testified that as violence erupted at the Capitol, the press office was arguing over Trump’s response and seemed taken aback that a colleague didn’t want to condemn the rioting because doing so would be “handing a win to the media.”

“I couldn’t believe that we were arguing over this in the middle of the West Wing .. And so, I motioned up at the TV and said, ‘Do you think it looks like we’re f’ing winning? Because I don’t think it does,'” Matthews said. 

In that same hearing, the committee played a never-before-seen video showing Trump rehearsing to give a statement on Jan. 7, 2021. Even after the mayhem of Jan. 6 and that Congress had certified the Electoral College count, Trump refused to say he had lost the election. 

“I would like to begin by addressing the heinous attack yesterday, and to those who broke the law, you will pay,” Trump said in the footage. “You do not represent our movement, you do not represent our country, and if you broke the law — can’t say that. I already said you will pay…”

“But this election is now over. Congress has certified the results,” he continued, before stopping and presumably addressing his aides. “I don’t want to say the election’s over. I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election’s over.” 

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House Jan. 6 committee hearing expected to focus on Trump’s mindset after 2020 election

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Jan. 6 hearings resume for what could be last public hearing

03:21

Committee aides would not say whether they had any further engagement with Trump or former Vice President Mike Pence about testifying. Pence said this summer that he’d “consider” testifying before the committee.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee chair, said last month that the committee plans to put together an interim report in mid-October, with a final report to come before the end of the year, after the midterm elections.

The committee held a series of public hearings over the summer that were also broadcast nationally. The hearings showed never-before-seen video from the attack but also showed video testimony from Trump administration officials about his refusal to accept election results and plans by his allies to replace electors in battleground states that President Joe Biden won while also threatening local and state elections officials. 

Thompson confirmed over the summer that the committee has been having “conversations” with the Justice Department about the phony elector plan. In the June 21 public hearing, committee member Rep. Adam Schiff said those fake electors ultimately met on Dec. 14, 2020, in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Nevada and Wisconsin, signing documents claiming they were duly elected electors from their state. 

The committee said that GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin wanted to hand deliver alternate, fraudulent electors to Pence ahead of the joint session of Congress, according to texts the committee provided.

The hearings highlighted Trump and his allies’ pressure campaigns on different branches of government to overturn the 2020 election results, including the former president’s attempt to install environmental lawyer Jeffrey Clark at the helm of the Justice Department, attorney John Eastman’s argument to Pence that he had the power to override the Electoral College, and Rudy Giuliani’s attempts to influence local and state elections officials.

The hearings also featured in-person testimony from former Trump administration officials, a former Fox News political editor, a Capitol police officer, a rioter who pleaded guilty, among others.

The hearings included bombshell revelations about Trump’s reaction to the Jan. 6 attack.

Hutchinson and other former White House aides testified – both in person and on video testimony – that they knew Trump had lost the election and that pushing the narrative that he had won was a lie. Sarah Matthews, a former deputy press secretary, testified that as violence erupted at the Capitol, the press office was arguing over Trump’s response and seemed taken aback that a colleague didn’t want to condemn the rioting because doing so would be “handing a win to the media.”

“I couldn’t believe that we were arguing over this in the middle of the West Wing .. And so, I motioned up at the TV and said, ‘Do you think it looks like we’re f’ing winning? Because I don’t think it does,'” Matthews said. 

In that same hearing, the committee played a never-before-seen video showing Trump rehearsing to give a statement on Jan. 7, 2021. Even after the mayhem of Jan. 6 and that Congress had certified the Electoral College count, Trump refused to say he had lost the election. 

“I would like to begin by addressing the heinous attack yesterday, and to those who broke the law, you will pay,” Trump said in the footage. “You do not represent our movement, you do not represent our country, and if you broke the law — can’t say that. I already said you will pay…”

“But this election is now over. Congress has certified the results,” he continued, before stopping and presumably addressing his aides. “I don’t want to say the election’s over. I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election’s over.” 

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US

Several Trump associates subpoenaed in Justice Department’s Jan. 6 probe

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A grand jury has subpoenaed several associates of former President Donald Trump in connection with the Department of Justice’s investigation into the origins of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, multiple people familiar with the case told CBS News.

It is not yet clear how many subpoenas were issued.

The Justice Department is looking into the Trump team’s fundraising between the 2020 presidential election and Jan. 6, 2021, and how that money was used. That investigation is separate from the inquiry into the former president’s handling of classified documents, which resulted in the FBI seizing materials from his Mar-a-Lago residence last month.

The department’s probe of the attack on the Capitol has accelerated over the last week.

William Russell, a close adviser to Trump, received a subpoena Wednesday related to the investigation.

Russell, 31, was often seen by Trump’s side, serving as White House deputy director of Advance and Trip Director. He was with the former president for part of the day of the riot and moved to Florida to continue working for Trump after his presidency.

FBI personnel visited Russell’s Florida home for questioning Wednesday morning but he was out, according to a person familiar with the matter. Investigators later reached him by phone and served a subpoena via email. 

A lawyer for Russell, Derek Ross, did not reply to a request for comment.

Russell, a Mississippi native, started working at the White House in 2017.

A spokesperson for Trump criticized the investigation, claiming the Justice Department was attempting to “intimidate” the former president’s supporters.

“It will not work. Save America is more committed than ever to working for liberty, free and fair elections, equal justice under the law, strong borders, safe streets, energy independence, great education, and more,” said Liz Harrington, the spokesperson.

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US

John Oliver Returns to Brutally Roast Josh Hawley Over Jan. 6 Fleeing Video

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Following a month-long absence—and two Emmy nominations—John Oliver returned to the desk of Last Week Tonight on Sunday to excoriate the grifters and clowns of the week.

When we last saw him, Oliver was going after Democratic leadership for their lackluster response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reciting a poem and one House representative doing yoga in his office.

This week’s edition saw Oliver take on Josh Hawley, the ineffectual GOP Missouri senator who pumped his fist at the Jan. 6 insurrectionists to rile them up. On Thursday, the House Jan. 6 committee revealed footage of Hawley running for safety when the people he incited that day stormed the Capitol.

“That is painfully embarrassing,” exclaimed a giddy Oliver. “That is the gait of a man who has either just gassed up an insurrection that is now bearing down on top of him or just drank a large iced coffee 45 minutes ago. Either way, those legs scream: I’ve made a huge mistake.”

Former D.C. police officer Michael Fanone, who was injured by the insurrectionists on Jan. 6, said of the Hawley video, “The first thoughts that popped into my mind was, ‘Josh Hawley is a bitch. And he ran like a bitch.’”

“Now, I personally would not say that. I’d say Josh Hawley is a bitch who ran like a chihuahua desperately trying to keep up with its owner on a casual walk. But you know what? To each their own.”

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US

Trump Slams Ivanka and Denies Saying Pence ‘Deserves’ to Hang in Truth Social Meltdown

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After video showed Ivanka Trump went before the Jan. 6 House committee to say she didn’t believe her dad’s wild theory that the 2020 election was stolen, former President Donald Trump returned the favor by attacking her credibility as a witness.

In a flurry of missives sent via his Truth Social channel early Friday, Trump also denied having agreed with rioters’ chants to hang Mike Pence and—just for good measure—reaffirmed his baseless claim that the election was stolen.

Ivanka told the congressional panel that she had changed her mind about whether or not the election was rigged after William Barr, Trump’s attorney general for most of 2020, told her that it wasn’t. “I respect Attorney General Barr,” Ivanka said on the video, “So I accepted what he was saying.”

The comment seems to have touched a nerve with her father, who rushed to tell his followers that they should pay no mind to what his daughter had said. “Ivanka Trump was not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results,” the former president wrote. “She had long since checked out and was, in my opinion, only trying to be respectful to Bill Barr and his position as Attorney General (he sucked!).”

It wasn’t just Ivanka’s testimony that left Trump all hot and bothered.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) revealed that former Trump aides said the president had reacted to mob chants to hang his vice president with shocking approval, including with the ice-cold phrase: “Mike Pence deserves it.” Again, Trump contradicted the testimony with all-caps fury. “I NEVER said, or even thought of saying, ‘Hang Mike Pence,’” he wrote. “This is either a made up story by somebody looking to become a star, or FAKE NEWS!”

“The so-called ‘Rush on the Capitol’ was not caused by me,” Trump continued, “It was caused by a Rigged and Stolen Election!” Returning to another familiar refrain, the former commander-in-chief also appeared to sum up his feelings toward the bipartisan House select committee generally as: “A one sided, totally partisan, POLITICAL WITH HUNT!” He earlier used the platform to claim that the panel “refuses to play any of the many positive witnesses and statements, refuses to talk of the Election Fraud and Irregularities that took place on a massive scale,” before adding: “Our Country is in such trouble!”

At the hearing Thursday, Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) directly blamed Trump for the attack on the Capitol after the 2020 election.

“He spurred a mob of domestic enemies of the constitution to march down the capital and subvert American democracy,” Thompson said. Rep. Cheney further pointed to Trump’s repeated claims that the election was stolen as the reason the attack took place. “Those who invaded our Capitol and battled law enforcement for hours were motivated by what President Trump had told them: that the election was stolen, and that he was the rightful president,” Cheney said in her opening statement. “President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack.”

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Entertainment

Proud Boys Leader Enrique Tarrio Indicted on Seditious Conspiracy Charge Over Jan. 6 Capitol Riot

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The Department of Justice on Monday charged Enrique Tarrio with seditious conspiracy in a new superseding indictment alleging the Proud Boys national chairman helped organize a wide-ranging plot to block the certification of then-President-Elect Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Tarrio, 38, was not present at the Capitol when a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the building, but planned and choreographed the far-right gang’s movements that day from Baltimore, according to prosecutors. Four other Proud Boys were also hit Monday with seditious conspiracy charges, including Ethan Nordean, 31; Joseph Biggs, 38; Dominic Pezzola of New York, 44; and Zachary Rehl, 37. They all now face a total of nine charges each, except for Pezzola, who faces an additional robbery charge.

Read it at Department of Justice

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Biden addresses the nation one year after January 6 attack on Capitol — live updates

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Washington — President Biden marked one year since the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol with a fiery speech at the site of the insurrection, rebuking the violence and former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overthrow the 2020 election that made Mr. Biden president.

“We will make sure the will of the people is heard,” Mr. Biden said in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. “That the battle prevails, not violence. That the authority of this nation will always be peacefully transferred. I believe the power of the presidency is to unite this nation, to lift us up, not tear us apart.” 

Mr. Biden warned that democracy is at risk, asking, “Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth but in the shadow of lies?”

Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking earlier, said the assault reflected the “fragility of democracy.”

Several events are being held at the Capitol throughout the day to mark the January 6 anniversary, many of which will be live-streamed.

“These events are intended as an observance of reflection, remembrance and recommitment, in a spirit of unity, patriotism and prayerfulness,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to her Democratic colleagues. 

A House pro forma session began on the House floor at noon, with prayer, a statement from the chair and a moment of silence. Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden then moderated a conversation between historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jon Meacham about the events of January 6. 

At 2:30 p.m. ET, members of Congress will reflect on January 6, presided over by Representative Jason Crow. A prayer vigil will be held at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Five people died as a result of the violence on January 6, and Trump was impeached on a charge of inciting the violence. He was later acquitted by the Senate. The House of Representatives has set up a select committee to investigate the origins of the attack.

In a letter to his Democratic colleagues this week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote that January 6 participants were “fueled by conspiracy and the ravings of a vengeful former president” and “they sought to destroy our Republic.”

Schumer continued that Senate Democrats “will make clear that what happened on January 6th and the one-sided, partisan actions being taken by Republican-led state legislatures across the country are directly linked, and we can and must take strong action to stop this antidemocratic march.” He called for the Senate to change its rules around debate and announced the Senate will debate and vote before Martin Luther King Jr. Day on changing the rules if the GOP blocks voting rights legislation. 

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy wrote in a letter to Republican members that the “actions of that day were lawless and as wrong as wrong can be.” But he added that Democrats are “using it as a partisan political weapon to further divide our country.” 

Paramount+ is now streaming “Indivisible — Healing Hate,” a gripping six-part documentary narrated by Mandy Patinkin that traces the origins of anti-government extremism and how it built on a deadly series of historical events over decades to culminate in the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Stream it now on Paramount+.


Special Report: Biden marks January 6

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Seth Meyers Mocks Trump and Bill O’Reilly’s Half-Empty Arena Tour

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As shocking new developments continue to emerge in the Jan. 6 investigation, Seth Meyers noted Monday night that we know Donald Trump wants to try pulling off his coup attempt again because he “keeps talking about it,” including this past weekend on his “so-called history tour” alongside disgraced Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.

With that, the Late Night host cut to a truly disturbing clip of Trump ranting about how Mike Pence didn’t have the “courage” to do what he falsely believes Thomas Jefferson did to rig the 1800 vote count but mostly just said the words “hear ye, hear ye” over and over again.

“I’ll say this,” Meyers responded. “He’s the only guy I’ve ever seen do an episode of Drunk History stone cold sober. I mean, it’s like watching an amnesia patient wander up on stage during a performance of Hamilton.” The host went on to call it “frankly hilarious” that the only thing Trump seems to know about American history is that people used to say the words “hear ye, hear ye.”

But what was even funnier was the fact that the first stop of Trump and O’Reilly’s tour in Sunrise, Florida, featured whole tiers of mostly empty seats and the venue had to “upgrade” ticket holders to even partially fill the lower levels. “Yikes!” Meyers said. “There was better attendance at my son’s kindergarten holiday pageant. Or there would have, if it hadn’t been canceled due to COVID.”

Ultimately, Meyers said the event was evidence of how “deeply unpopular” Trump actually is, which is why he had to “stage a coup” in the first place.

For more, listen and subscribe to The Last Laugh podcast.

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Seth Meyers Takes Down Paul Gosar, the GOP’s Most ‘Unhinged’ ‘Idiot’

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It takes a lot these days to become the most odious Republican in Congress, but Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) got there this week after the House formally censured him for tweeting murder anime that targeted his colleague Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

While President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan infrastructure bill into law this week, Meyers explained that “Republicans spent their Wednesday defending one of their most unhinged members.” In his own defense, Gosar said that if he has to follow in the footsteps of Alexander Hamilton, who was the first member of Congress to face a censure vote, “then so be it, it is done.”

“I love when these idiots try to sound smart and adopt a defiant tone by using dramatic language like ‘so be it, it is done,’” Meyers replied. “You don’t sound like a Founding Father, you sound like Cousin Greg.”

And to Republicans “complaining that this is a waste of time,” the Late Night host said, “This whole thing would have been much easier and taken up much less time if you’d just been willing to step forward and say it was a deeply stupid tweet. But to be fair, he is a deeply stupid man.”

From there, Meyers broke down some of the worst defenses from the “dumbest people in politics,” including Louie Gohmert, Lauren Boebert, and Matt Gaetz. “Our political system can’t function like this,” he said, “where one party, for all its many flaws, tries to govern responsibly and the other wants to burn everything down.”

Meyers ultimately connected the dots all the way to the anti-Democracy movement on the right, because “the same people defending Gosar are the ones who tried to overturn the election on January 6th.” Ultimately, he said that there’s “no behavior too grotesque” for the GOP to defend, whether it’s Donald Trump endorsing the idea of melting down voting machines to make prison bars or Gosar’s “deeply stupid tweet.”

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Whistleblower Says Capitol Police Leaders Acted ‘With Intent and Malice’ on Jan. 6

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A former senior member of the Capitol Police has written a blistering whistleblower letter to members of Congress accusing the force’s leadership of knowingly failing to help their own officers during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and then obfuscating the fact for personal gain. The former officer spent several hours with Yogananda Pittman, then the Capitol Police’s head of intelligence, and Sean Gallagher, its head of uniformed operations, the day of the attempted insurrection. The whistleblower wrote, “What I observed was them mostly sitting there, blankly looking at the TV screens showing real time footage of officers and officials fighting for the Congress and their lives… It is my allegation that these two with intent and malice opted to not try and assist the officers and officials, blame others for the failures, and chose to try and use this event for their own personal promotions.”

The letter also alleges Pittman lied to Congress about an intelligence report delivered just a day before the riot. Pittman served as acting chief of the force after the former chief resigned, but she returned to her role as head of intelligence in August following a vote of no confidence from rank-and-file officers. Gallagher handled Pittman’s job during her tenure as acting chief but returned to his former job when she did the same. The whistleblower left the Capitol Police six months after the Capitol riot.

Read it at Politico

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