NBC reporter talks with Sen Ron Johnson, (R-WI) who was part of the fraud/delegitimize the Election group.
Down the line, he denies that his views and Trump’s were incendiary to the riots and Capitol takeover today
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Surprised? No.
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Trump caused the assault on the Capitol. He must be removed.
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More Capitol police acting too friendly with the Trump terrorists
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Here’s what the Protesterrorists did to Rep Nancy Pelosi, a target - ransack her office, and leave ugly notes.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nancy-pelosi-offices-rioters-capitol_n_5ff626f5c5b6ea7351c796a6
Rioters Breach Nancy Pelosi’s Offices, Put Feet On Desks, Leave Menacing Note
Supporters of President Donald Trump breached the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday after violently storming the Capitol building and clashing with police.
One man posed for a photo with his feet on a desk. Another image shows a threatening note written on a manila folder that reads, “We will not back down.”
According to The New York Times, a number of rioters entered the top Democrat’s suite of offices, flipping over tables and pulling photos from walls.
Outside the Capitol, protesters were seen with a sign reading “Pelosi is Satan.”
Scenes of looting in the Capitol roiled Republicans and Democrats, who pleaded with President Trump to intervene.
Pro-Trump protesters stormed Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s august suite of offices, flipping over tables and pulling photos off the walls.
In the basement “crypt” of the Capitol, hundreds of Trump supporters shouted “U-S-A, U-S-A,” creating a roar in the building. Shattered windows left glass scattered on wet floors.
“You stay here and call everybody you know and tell them to get to D.C. now,” one protester said.
A Capitol Police officer tried to reason with the crowd: “You guys just need to go outside,” he pleaded with a man in a green backpack. When asked why they weren’t expelling the protesters, the officer said, “We’ve just got to let them do their thing now.
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The Washington Post: Trump caused the assault on the Capitol. He must be removed.
The Editorial Board
President Trump’s refusal to accept his election defeat and his relentless incitement of his supporters led Wednesday to the unthinkable: an assault on the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob that overwhelmed police and drove Congress from its chambers as it was debating the counting of electoral votes. Responsibility for this act of sedition lies squarely with the president, who has shown that his continued tenure in office poses a grave threat to U.S. democracy. He should be removed.
Mr. Trump encouraged the mob to gather on Wednesday, as Congress was set to convene, and to “be wild.” After repeating a panoply of absurd conspiracy theories about the election, he urged the crowd to march on the Capitol. “We’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you,” he said. “You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.” The president did not follow the mob, but instead passively watched it on television as its members tore down fences around the Capitol and overwhelmed police guarding the building. House members and senators were forced to flee. Shots were fired, and at least one person was struck and killed.
Rather than immediately denouncing the violence and calling on his supporters to stand down, Mr. Trump issued two mild tweets in which he called on them to “remain” or “stay” peaceful. Following appeals from senior Republicans, he finally released a video in which he asked people to go home, but doubled down on the lies fueling the vigilantes. “We love you. You’re very special,” he told his seditious posse. Later, he excused the riot, tweeting that “these are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away.”
The president is unfit to remain in office for the next 14 days. Every second he retains the vast powers of the presidency is a threat to public order and national security. Vice President Pence, who had to be whisked off the Senate floor for his own protection, should immediately gather the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment, declaring that Mr. Trump is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Congress, which would be required to ratify the action if Mr. Trump resisted, should do so. Mr. Pence should serve until President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20.
Failing that, senior Republicans must restrain the president. The insurrection came just as many top Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), were finally denouncing Mr. Trump’s antidemocratic campaign to overturn the election results. A depressing number of GOP legislators — such as Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (La.) — were prepared to support Mr. Trump’s effort, fueling the rage of those the president has duped into believing the election was stolen.
Mr. McConnell, to his lasting credit, was not. “President Trump claims the election was stolen,” he said. But “nothing before us proves illegality anywhere near the massive scale, the massive scale, that would have tipped the entire election. . . . If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral.” He added: “I will not pretend such a vote would be a harmless protest gesture while relying on others to do the right thing.” As if to prove his point, the Trump mob would soon climb up the Capitol walls, and Mr. McConnell and his colleagues would seek refuge in secured locations.
Now that the stakes are viscerally clear, Mr. McConnell and every other Republican, almost all of whom bear some blame for what occurred on Wednesday, have an overriding responsibility to the nation: stopping Mr. Trump and restoring faith in democracy. That begins by recognizing Mr. Biden’s victory as soon as possible. Those lawmakers, such as Mr. Hawley and Mr. Cruz, who sought to benefit from Mr. Trump’s mob-stoking rage by objecting to the electoral vote count, must end their cynical posturing. They are directly impeding the peaceful transition of power.
The chaos confirmed once again the voters’ wisdom in rejecting Mr. Trump in favor of Joe Biden. The president-elect rose to the moment. “I call on this mob, now, to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward,” Mr. Biden said. “It’s not protest. It’s insurrection.” He concluded: “Today is a reminder, a painful one, that democracy is fragile.”
Mr. Biden is right. Rules, norms, laws, even the Constitution itself are worth something only if people believe in them. Americans put on their seat belts, follow traffic laws, pay taxes and vote because of faith in a system — and that faith makes it work. The highest voice in the land incited people to break that faith, not just in tweets, but by inciting them to action. Mr. Trump is a menace, and as long as he remains in the White House, the country will be in danger.
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Explainer from Neal Kaytal a lawyer on msnbc alot.
He talks about the 25th Amendment.
Giuliani to Senator: ‘Try to Just Slow it Down’
The president’s lawyer tries to block the count of the Electoral College votes.
https://thedispatch.com/p/giuliani-to-senator-try-to-just-slow
Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer and top adviser to President Donald Trump, is calling Republican lawmakers urging them to delay the electoral vote count by at least one day to allow the president and his team to present more evidence of alleged election fraud. Giuliani was making calls this evening, as late as an hour before Congress reconvened, in a desperate attempt to block the final count of Electoral College votes.
At approximately 7 p.m., Giuliani called newly sworn-in Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a staunch Trump ally, imploring him to stall the process. “I want to discuss with you how they’re trying to rush this hearing and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you,” Giuliani said in a voicemail. “And I know they’re reconvening at 8 tonight, but it … the only strategy we can follow is to object to numerous states and raise issues so that we get ourselves into tomorrow—ideally until the end of tomorrow. I know McConnell is doing everything he can to rush it, which is kind of a kick in the head because it’s one thing to oppose us, it’s another thing not to give us a fair opportunity to contest it.”
Giuliani tells Tuberville that McConnell wants to narrow the objections to just three states and explains that the Trump team wants to object to 10. “So if you could object to every state and, along with a congressman, get a hearing for every state, I know we would delay you a lot, but it would give us the opportunity to get the legislators who are very, very close to pulling their vote, particularly after what McConnell did today.”
The problem for Giuliani? He left his message on the voicemail of another senator, who shared it with The Dispatch .
It’s not clear whether Giuliani—who opens the call by referring to himself as “the president’s lawyer”—was directed to call Tuberville by President Trump. Requests for comment to Giuliani’s cell phone and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows went unanswered. One longtime Trump adviser still talking to top White House officials says Trump is in constant communication with Giuliani. Asked if such a call is something Trump would know about, he said: “Oh, yeah, 100 percent.”
Giuliani, speaking at the rally for Trump earlier today, urged Trump supporters to keep fighting, promising that more evidence would soon come to light. “Over the next 10 days, we get to see the machines that are crooked, the ballots that are fraudulent and we’re wrong, we will be made fools of. But if we’re right, a lot of them will go to jail.”
Here is the complete audio. The transcript of Giuliani’s voicemail follows below.
Senator Tuberville? Or I should say Coach Tuberville. This is Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer. I’m calling you because I want to discuss with you how they’re trying to rush this hearing and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you. And I know they’re reconvening at 8 tonight, but it … the only strategy we can follow is to object to numerous states and raise issues so that we get ourselves into tomorrow—ideally until the end of tomorrow.
I know McConnell is doing everything he can to rush it, which is kind of a kick in the head because it’s one thing to oppose us, it’s another thing not to give us a fair opportunity to contest it. And he wants to try to get it down to only three states that we contest. But there are 10 states that we contest, not three. So if you could object to every state and, along with a congressman, get a hearing for every state, I know we would delay you a lot, but it would give us the opportunity to get the legislators who are very, very close to pulling their vote, particularly after what McConnell did today. It angered them, because they have written letters asking that you guys adjourn and send them back the questionable ones and they’ll fix them up.
So, this phone number, I’m available on all night, and it would be an honor to talk to you. Thank you.
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House Judiciary Democrats ask Pence to invoke 25th Amendment to remove Trump
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Vice President Pence on Wednesday evening imploring him to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove President Trump from office.
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From Rep Matt Gaetz when in doubt, say that Antifa brought all this trouble today.
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NY Times Cover
Washington Post front page
LA Times front page
The Guardian Front Page UK
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The woman who was shot today in DC Ashli Babbitt unfortunately died. She was a
QAnon follower and thought of today’s actions as being part of “The Storm.”
How do we ever reach these types?
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This whole day has been so unreal. Here’s a WSJ video replaying a lot of it.
(Hope it is not behind a paywall)
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Some verbal sniping during the PA vote review in tonight’s Congressional Electoral Vote passage
Rep Conor Lamb (D-PA)
From PBS
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