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The Latest – Thursday, January 7

General Discussion
#1

:zap: A community space :zap:

Collect, share, and discuss the daily news, updates, and events pertinent to the daily shock and awe, this is The Latest.

:warning: This thread has ended. The discussion continues: The Latest – Friday, January 8

What we’re talking about

Previously

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The Latest – Friday, January 8
The Latest – Monday, January 11
The Latest – Wednesday, January 13 (Impeachment 2.0 Edition)
The Latest – Tuesday, January 12
The Latest – Thursday, January 14
#2
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#3

Holy moly. Speaker Pelosi just called for Pence to invoke the 25th and says if he does not, she will begin impeachment proceedings.


I have already seen it suggested that we make it a race and try both impeachment and the 25th at once.

I am for this; the 25th might get there first, but impeachment could keep him from ever running again.

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#4

:boom:

The top Democrats in Congress called on Thursday for President Trump’s immediate removal from office for his role in urging on the violent mob that overtook the Capitol a day before, disrupting the ratification of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s electoral victory.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York called on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, which allows him and the cabinet to wrest the power of the presidency from Mr. Trump.

If Mr. Pence declines to act, they said Democrats were prepared to impeach Mr. Trump for a second time.

“While it’s only 13 days left, any day can be a horror show for America,” Ms. Pelosi said, calling Mr. Trump’s actions on Wednesday a “seditious act.”

In an extraordinary news conference in the reclaimed Capitol, Ms. Pelosi singled out members of the Cabinet by name, asking why they would not intervene.

“Are they ready to say for the next 13 days this dangerous man can assault our democracy?” Ms. Pelosi said of the cabinet.

She said she hoped to have an answer from Mr. Pence within the day on whether he would attempt to use the 25th Amendment. The two leaders tried to call Mr. Pence directly on Thursday but were left on a holding line for 20 minutes without Mr. Pence picking up.

It was unclear how quickly Democrats could move to impeach Mr. Trump. There is no clear precedent for putting a former official on trial in the Senate, and with only 13 days left in his term, it was not certain Democrats could actually accomplish such a complicated and politically fraught process on a compressed timetable.

Mr. Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, said: “What happened at the U.S. Capitol yesterday was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president. This president should not hold office one day longer.”

Ms. Pelosi was the most prominent voice in a growing chorus of Democrats, and a few Republicans, who surveyed the aftermath of Wednesday’s historic events and concluded Mr. Trump was too dangerous to remain in office until Jan. 20, when Mr. Biden is set to be sworn in.

Representative Adam Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois, had issued a similar call earlier on Thursday, posting on Twitter that the president had become “unmoored not just from his duty or from his oath but from reality itself.”

His statement followed similar ones by Representatives Charlie Crist and Ted Lieu on Wednesday and a letter signed by 17 Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee was sent to Mr. Pence calling to invoke the 25th Amendment.

On Thursday morning, a Washington-based law firm, Crowell & Moring, which represents a number of Fortune 500 companies, added its voice to the growing chorus of civic and business leaders calling for the president’s removal. In asking other lawyers to join, the firm said that “when it comes to defending our Constitution and our system of laws, we have a special duty and an exceptional perspective.”

A bipartisan group of more than two dozen lawyers, including a former top Trump administration official, also called on Thursday for Mr. Trump to be removed from office.

“Both constitutional remedies are necessary and appropriate to hold Trump accountable and to protect the nation,” the group said. “Those processes should be carried out immediately, unless he resigns first.”

The group included many conservative lawyers, including the former general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, John Mitnick; and the ardent Trump critic George Conway, the husband of Mr. Trump’s former adviser Kellyanne Conway. Also among the group was the liberal Harvard Law School professor Laurence H. Tribe.

— Nicholas Fandos

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#6

President Trump has suggested to aides he wants to pardon himself in the final days of his presidency, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions, a move that would mark one of the most extraordinary and untested uses of presidential power in American history.

In several conversations since Election Day, Mr. Trump has told advisers that he is considering giving himself a pardon and, in other instances, asked whether he should and what the effect would be on him legally and politically, according to the two people. It was not clear whether he had broached the topic since he incited his supporters on Wednesday to march on the Capitol, where some stormed the building in a mob attack.

Mr. Trump has shown signs that his level of interest in pardoning himself goes beyond idle musings. He has long maintained he has the power to pardon himself, and his polling of aides’ views is typically a sign that he is preparing to follow through on his aims. He has also become increasingly convinced that his perceived enemies will use the levers of law enforcement to target him after he leaves office.

No president has pardoned himself, so the legitimacy of prospective self-clemency has never been tested in the justice system, and legal scholars are divided about whether the courts would recognize it. But they agree a presidential self-pardon could create a dangerous new precedent for presidents to unilaterally declare they are above the law and to insulate themselves from being held accountable for any crimes they committed in office.

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#7

## Pelosi calls on Capitol Police chief to resign, says House sergeant at arms is out

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called on Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund to step down over his staff’s handling of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, and said House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving had submitted his resignation.

Pelosi praised the actions of individual Capitol Police officers but said there was a failure of leadership who hadn’t even reached out to her after the attack on the Capitol.

“Many of our Capitol Police just acted so bravely and with such concern for the staff, for the members, for the Capitol, for the Capitol of the United States, many of them, and they deserve our gratitude,” Pelosi said Thursday. “But there was a failure of leadership at the top of the Capitol Police. And I think Mr. Sund, he hasn’t even called us since this had, you know, [occurred], so I had made him aware that I would be saying that we’re calling for his resignation now.”

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#8
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#9

Pence is hiding.

Elaine Chao and Betsy DeVos have both resigned.

All are fleeing their responsibility.

In the words of a certain bloated bully, “sad.”

Repub Spineless 2

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#10
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#11
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#12

US Capitol Police confirm death of officer after pro-Trump riot

The US Capitol Police confirmed the death of one of their officers late Thursday from injuries suffered when a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol a day before.

Capitol Police said in a statement that Officer Brian D. Sicknick died at approximately 9:30 p.m. ET Thursday “due to injuries sustained while on-duty.”

The death is being investigated by the DC Metropolitan Police Department’s homicide branch, the US Capitol Police and their federal partners.

“Officer Sicknick was responding to the riots on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol and was injured while physically engaging with protesters. He returned to his division office and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries,” the statement read.

Sicknick had joined the Capitol Police in July 2008, and most recently served in the department’s First Responders Unit.

“The entire USCP Department expresses its deepest sympathies to Officer Sicknick’s family and friends on their loss, and mourns the loss of a friend and colleague,” Capitol Police said.

Sicknick is the fifth person to die as a result of Wednesday’s insurrection. One woman was shot and killed by Capitol Police as the crowd breached the building and three others suffered medical emergencies that proved fatal.

Shortly after 1 p.m. ET Wednesday hundreds of pro-Trump protesters pushed through barriers set up along the perimeter of the Capitol, where they tussled with officers in full riot gear, some calling the officers “traitors” for doing their jobs.

About 90 minutes later, police said demonstrators got into the building and the doors to the House and Senate were being locked. Shortly after, the House floor was evacuated by police. Vice President Mike Pence was also evacuated from the chamber, where he was to perform his role in the counting of electoral votes.

An armed standoff took place at the House front door at about 3 p.m. ET, and police officers had their guns drawn at someone who was trying to breach it.

As a result of the episode, US Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund is resigning. He said in a statement earlier Thursday that Capitol Police and other law enforcement officers were “actively attacked” with metal pipes and other weapons.

“They were determined to enter into the Capitol Building by causing great damage,” Sund said.

“The violent attack on the U.S. Capitol was unlike any I have ever experienced in my 30 years in law enforcement here in Washington, D.C.,” he added. “Maintaining public safety in an open environment – specifically for First Amendment activities – has long been a challenge.”

Still, lawmakers say they are perplexed at the lack of preparedness among law enforcement given that it had been known for weeks that Trump was promoting a rally he said was aimed at preventing the certification of Biden’s win.

Rep. Mike Quigley, an Illinois Democrat who was locked in the House chamber during an armed standoff between Capitol Police and a rioter, praised the officers who were in the building that put their lives on the line, but made clear that they were outnumbered and law enforcement was under prepared.

“The Capitol Police I was around did an amazing job under difficult circumstances,” Quigley told CNN. “My concern wasn’t with how valiant the Capitol Police were. It was that an hour before the debate started, I looked at the throngs of people surrounding different sections of the Capitol and said, we don’t have enough security.”

Quigley added: “I’m no expert in security, but you can tell we were out-manned in an hour before the debate,” referring to Congress’ proceedings to certify Biden’s win.

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#13