Category: US House

Five takeaways from Trump impeachment trial briefs

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Congressional Democrats and lawyers for former President Trump released competing briefs Tuesday outlining their legal strategies for next week’s Senate impeachment trial over Trump’s role in inciting a violent mob to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6.

The 80-page brief from House Democrats lays blame for the deadly siege directly at Trump’s feet, saying he intentionally “whipped [the crowd] into a frenzy.” The former president’s new legal team, which was formed on Sunday night, filed a 14-page response arguing the trial is unconstitutional and that Trump’s rhetoric did not inspire the riot.

Here are five takeaways from the rival briefs. Continue reading.

AOC explains why Republicans can’t just tell her to forget about the insurrection and move on

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she was told that trauma victims should “tell their stories” as a part of their healing. And that is what she did Monday night in the most compelling, heartbreaking and infuriating 60 minutes available on any screen, at any time this week. The New York congresswoman initiated a live stream on Instagram and, against a plain white wall and with little fanfare, recounted what had happened to her during the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

She talked about flattening herself behind her bathroom door as someone entered her office, screaming, “Where is she? Where is she?” It turned out to be a police officer, but until she learned that, “I thought I was going to die.”

She talked about eventually escaping to the office of Rep. Katie Porter (Calif.), where the two Democratic congresswomen rifled through staffers’ gym bags, searching for sneakers they could change into in case they needed to jump out a window or run. About how they debated what to do if they had to flee again, wondering: “Are some offices safer than others, because they have white-sounding names or male-sounding names?” Continue reading.

Trump lawyers call impeachment trial unconstitutional in laying out defense

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Lawyers representing former President Trump on Tuesday detailed the defense they’ll lay out at next week’s impeachment trial, arguing that it is unconstitutional to impeach a former president and that Trump’s speech did not directly lead to the deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6.

The defense brief argues that Trump’s speech before a group of supporters, some of whom later sacked the Capitol, was protected under the First Amendment. And it accuses Democrats of depriving Trump of due process by rushing impeachment through the House.

“It is denied that the 45th president of the United States ever engaged in a violation of his oath of office,” the defense attorneys wrote. “To the contrary, at all times Donald J. Trump fully and faithfully executed his duties as the president of the United States and at all times acted to the best of his ability to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States while never engaging in any high crimes or misdemeanors.” Continue reading.

Impeachment managers say Trump conduct demands conviction

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House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a thorough outline of their legal case against former President Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, arguing that he incited the mob attack and bears direct responsibility for the deadly violence that followed.

The Democrats’ 80-page trial brief describes Trump as unmistakably and singularly responsible for the events at the U.S. Capitol and states that his conduct “requires” that he be convicted and barred from holding office again.

“President Trump’s conduct must be declared unacceptable in the clearest and most unequivocal terms. This is not a partisan matter. His actions directly threatened the very foundation on which all other political debates and disagreements unfold,” the brief states. “They also threatened the constitutional system that protects the fundamental freedoms we cherish.” Continue reading.

Trump’s actions described as ‘a betrayal of historic proportions’ in trial brief filed by House impeachment managers

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House Democrats made their case to convict former president Donald Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in a sweeping impeachment brief filed with the Senate on Tuesday, accusing Trump of jeopardizing the foundations of American democracy by whipping his supporters into a “frenzy” for the sole purpose of retaining his hold on the presidency.

In the brief, the House’s nine impeachment managers made an impassioned case that Trump was “singularly responsible” for the mayhem, accusing him of “a betrayal of historic proportions.” They argued that he is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, the threshold for conviction laid out in the Constitution, primarily because he used the powers of his office to advance his personal political interests at the expense of the nation.

To bolster their case, the managers turned to the words and actions of the country’s founders, citing lofty passages from the Federalist Papers and contrasting Trump’s efforts to stay in office despite his electoral loss with George Washington’s insistence upon relinquishing the presidency after two terms in the interest of preserving democracy. Continue reading.

West Virginia’s GOP Governor Urges Passage Of Biden’s Covid-19 Relief Bill

West Virginia’s Republican Gov. Jim Justice on Monday endorsed a large economic stimulus bill, arguing that federal lawmakers have “got to move” on legislation.

In an interview with CNN host Poppy Harlow, Justice said he sided with approving Biden’s package over waiting for a “bipartisan bill” with less money, saying GOP efforts to trim down the bill were ill-timed.

“What we need to do is we need to understand that trying to be, per se, fiscally responsible at this point in time, with what we’ve got going on in this country … if we actually throw away some money right now, so what?” Justice said. Continue reading.

Phillips Introduces Resolution to Honor Fallen Capitol Police Office

Office Brian Sicknick will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery today following a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) announced the introduction of a Congressional Resolution to honor Officer Brian D. Sicknick, a 12-year veteran of the Capitol Police who passed away as a result of injuries sustained defending the United States Capitol against rioters on Jan. 6th. Officer Sicknick was the fourth U.S. Capitol Police officer in history to be killed in the line of duty.  

“No honor can fully commemorate the valor shown by the Capitol Police and their defense of our democracy against insurrection,” Said Rep. Dean Phillips. “I mourn for Officer Brian D. Sicknick. He was a patriot. My heart goes out to the family, and to all who risk their lives every day to protect and serve our communities with dignity and principle. They are the best of America at a time we need them most, and they deserve to be recognized as such.” 

 Find the text of the resolution here. 

Continue reading “Phillips Introduces Resolution to Honor Fallen Capitol Police Office”

Opinion: Trumpism is American fascism

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It is revealing how a political movement that claims to be dedicated to the recovery of national greatness has so readily and completely abandoned many defining national ideals. Donald Trump’s promise of American strength has involved the betrayal of American identity.

One of the most important strands of our founding ideology is civic republicanism. In this tradition, the common good is not automatically produced by a clash of competing interests. A just society must be consciously constructed by citizens possessing certain virtues. A democracy in particular depends on people who take responsibility for their communities, show an active concern for the welfare of their neighbors, demand integrity from public officials, defend the rule of law, and respect the rights and dignity of others. Without these moral commitments, a majority is merely a mob.

What type of citizen has Trump — and his supportive partisan media — produced? Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) still holds her job in Congress because she is representative of ascendant MAGA radicalism. Those who reflect her overt racism, her unhinged conspiracy thinking and her endorsement of violence against public figures are now treated as a serious political constituency within the Republican Party. Trump has come down firmly on Greene’s side. One participant in the Jan. 6 attack sent a video to her children saying: “We broke into the Capitol. . . . We got inside, we did our part. We were looking for Nancy [Pelosi] to shoot her in the friggin’ brain, but we didn’t find her.” The detail that gets to me? She sent this to her children. She was living in a mental world where vile, shameful things are a parent’s boast. And she saw her actions as the expression of a public duty — an example of doing her part. Continue reading.

McConnell says Taylor Greene’s embrace of conspiracy theories a ‘cancer’

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday blasted Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s embrace of “loony lies and conspiracy theories” as a “cancer for the Republican Party.” 

“Somebody who’s suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.’s airplane is not living in reality,” McConnell said in a statement first shared with The Hill. “This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.”

McConnell didn’t mention Greene by name in his three-sentence statement, but his rare, scathing remarks about a freshman GOP lawmaker from the other chamber suggests he recognizes the potential damage her violent rhetoric and bizarre conspiracy theories could inflict on congressional Republicans as they try to take back both the House and Senate in next year’s midterms. Continue reading.

Democratic support for removing Greene from committees, House grows

Republican leaders mostly silent in wake of comments about space lasers

Democratic support for a resolution to expel Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greenefrom the House is growing.

There are 61 Democratic co-sponsors on Rep. Jimmy Gomez’s resolution to remove Greene from Congress, according to Eric Harris, a spokesman for the California Democrat. Gomez hopes to introduce the resolution this week, possibly as early as Tuesday. 

Additionally, Florida Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s office on Monday afternoon circulated a resolution to remove Greene from her House committee assignments, on Education and Labor and on Budget. That resolution will be considered by the House Rules Committee on Wednesday, clearing its path for floor consideration and likely passage. Continue reading.