Category: US House

Ex-Defense Secretary Delivers Damning Takedown Of GOP Spin On U.S. Capitol Riot

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“They’re trying to perform a frontal lobotomy on the American people,” warned William Cohen, the Republican former senator for Maine.

Bill Clinton-era Defense Secretary William Cohen on Friday tore into elected Republicans who are desperately trying to spin the narrative on the deadly U.S. Capitol riot.

“Those members who are trying to say, ‘No big deal on Jan. 6,’ they’re trying to perform a frontal lobotomy on the American people, a side effect which is mental dullness,” Cohen, a Republican former senator for Maine, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

GOP lawmakers on Wednesday tried to depict the riot, in which five people died, as “a normal tour visit” involving “peaceful patriots.” That’s despite the existence of thousands of hours of video footage proving the violence incited by ex-President Donald Trump and his enablers was anything but. Continue reading.

Cheney seen as merely first victim of Trump election attacks

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Former President Trump‘s false charge that the election was stolen has rattled the core of the GOP, sparking a nasty clash over who commands the soul of the party.

The baseless claims have launched a splinter group of disgruntled Republican officials and toppled a conservative icon, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who was ejected this week from the leadership ranks.

Cheney and party unity are unlikely to be the only casualties of Trump’s assault on last year’s election, however, according to a growing chorus of historians, political scientists, legal experts, pundits, and state and federal lawmakers. Continue reading.

Congress obtains Trump hotel documents from Biden administration: report

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Congress is continuing to obtain public documents that were blocked from being released by the Trump administration.

“The General Services Administration has provided House Democrats with documents related to former President Donald Trump’s Washington hotel, in the second case this week where the Biden administration gave the House information that the Trump administration had blocked it from obtaining,” CNN reported. “The Biden administration revealed in a court filing on Friday that the House committee had asked for the records and the GSA had turned over some of them last week.

The request was resubmitted by House Transportation Chair Peter DeFazio (D-OR). Continue reading.

Democrat moves to censure three Republicans for downplaying Jan. 6

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Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) on Friday began asking Democratic colleagues to sign on to a resolution to censure three House Republicans who tried this week to minimize the severity of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

In a letter to fellow House Democrats, Cicilline said that a resolution will be forthcoming to specifically censure Republican Reps. Andrew Clyde (Ga.), Jody Hice (Ga.) and Paul Gosar (Ariz.) for their remarks at a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on Wednesday downplaying and making false claims about the violent attack on the Capitol.

“These three members dangerously mischaracterized what happened that day and showed more sympathy for the domestic terrorists than the Capitol Police officers who died during the attack,” Cicilline wrote. Continue reading.

‘It’s disgraceful’: An officer denounces the GOP’s Capitol riot denialism — and commission plans move forward

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On Friday, Democrat Rep. Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi announced an agreement for a bipartisan committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building — an agreement reached with Republican Rep. John Katko of New York State. Liberal Washington Post opinion writer Greg Sargentapplauds this “surprising bit of good news” in his column, but he also laments the fact that there are still many disingenuous Republicans who are determined to “obscure” the horrifying events of January 6.

“Predictably, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) immediately said he hadn’t agreed to the deal,” Sargent notes. “What’s still unclear is how many Republicans will support it. The bill will pass in the Democratic-controlled House, but it will also need GOP support in the Senate, since it could theoretically be filibustered.”

Sargent explains why Thomson and Katko’s proposal is a positive development, writing, “Perhaps the most important thing is that it focuses the scope of the commission on ‘the facts and causes’ related to the January 6 attack and to ‘the interference with the peaceful transfer of power.’ It will also look at the ‘influencing factors’ that ‘fomented’ this attack. Importantly, it describes January 6 as a ‘domestic terrorist attack’ waged against ‘American representative democracy.’ That counters the GOP whitewash effort by framing the mission around the need to explore the deep radicalization that led to an effort to overthrow U.S. democracy itself.” Continue reading.

Democrats say it’s up to GOP to stop Trump 2024

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Democrats say it’s up to the Republican Party to put the kibosh on Donald Trump and that they aren’t going to do anything to try to stop the former president from running again in 2024. 

In a speech on the House floor the eve of her ouster from House GOP leadership, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said it was up to members of both parties — not just Republicans — to stop Trump from holding elected office again. 

“Our duty is clear. Every one of us who has sworn the oath must act to prevent the unraveling of our democracy,” Cheney said. “This is not about policy. This is not about partisanship. This is about our duty as Americans. Remaining silent, and ignoring the lie, emboldens the liar.” Continue reading.

Lawmakers reach deal on bipartisan commission to investigate Jan. 6

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House negotiators have reached an agreement on the parameters of a 9/11-style commission to investigate the “facts and circumstances” surrounding the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the House Homeland Security Committee announced Friday.

Why it matters: The formation of a bipartisan Jan. 6 commission had been delayed for months, after some Republicans insisted that the scope of the investigation be expanded to include violence by far-left protesters last summer.

Details, according to the House Homeland Security Committee: Continue reading.

A refresher for Kevin McCarthy on people doubting Biden’s victory

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“I don’t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election. I think that is all over with. We’re sitting here with the president today, so, from that point of view, I don’t think that’s a problem.”

— House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), in response to a reporter’s question outside the White House, May 12, 2021

McCarthy had just spent 90 minutes in a White House meeting with President Biden, Vice President Harris and the other congressional leaders when he made these remarks. All participants agreed the discussion on how to fund infrastructure investments was cordial.

Under the old rules of Washington decorum, a gaggle with reporters immediately after the meeting was perhaps not the best time for the House Republican leader to question Biden’s legitimacy as president.

But if that was his calculus, McCarthy was decorous to a fault. Continue reading.

A sprawling investigation: What we know so far about the Capitol riot suspects

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Since the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, more than 400 people who were part of the pro-Trump mob that day have been arrested — a number that could still grow substantially.

Four months after the Jan. 6. attack on the U.S. Capitol, Congress is starkly divided about how to investigate the deadly assault by supporters of President Donald Trump, many of whom were animated by his false claims that the election was stolen. House Republicans this week ousted Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from party leadership for continuing to warn that Trump’s rhetoric led to violence, and some GOP lawmakers have echoed the former president in attempting to minimize the destruction that day.

In fact, the ongoing criminal probe has swept up at least 411 suspects in what federal officials have called an unprecedented domestic attack on a branch of the U.S. government.

“I have not seen a more dangerous threat to democracy than the invasion of the Capitol,” Attorney General Merrick Garland told senators in a hearing Wednesday. He called the assault “an attempt to interfere with the fundamental element of our democracy, a peaceful transfer of power.” Continue reading.

First active duty service member arrested over Jan. 6 riot

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A Marine Corps officer was arrested Thursday over his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection, making him the first active-duty service member charged over the Capitol attack.

The Justice Department said in a statement that Maj. Christopher Warnagiris, 40, “violently entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, after pushing through a line of police officers guarding the East Rotunda doors.”

He then allegedly used his body to prop a door open to allow more people to rush into the Capitol. Continue reading.