Category: US House

Pelosi taps retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré to conduct Capitol security review

Congressional committees will also continue review of the attack and preventing future events

Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Friday that she’s asked retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré to lead an “immediate” review of the Capitol security posture after the Jan. 6 attack on Congress.

“We must subject this whole complex though to scrutiny in light of what happened and the fact that the inauguration is coming,” the California Democrat said at her weekly news conference. 

Pelosi said Honoré, who has accepted her request, will review the Capitol “security infrastructure, interagency processes and command and control.”  Continue reading.

Rep. Dean Phillips is trying to keep the faith that bipartisanship will heal America

U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips says he believes bipartisanship will heal America. But like any believer, he struggles with his faith.

The first real test came in December. Three of his Republican colleagues in the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus signed onto a lawsuit challenging the 2020 presidential election results in four swing states despite no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities.

“I really thought about my ability to continue sitting at the table together,” Phillips said. “I don’t take exception to opposing opinions, I take exception to corrupted principles.” Continue reading.

Trump gives Medal of Freedom to congressman who helped incite riot at Capitol

It comes right after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election with his colleagues in Congress.

Donald Trump announced Monday that he will award the highest civilian honor to Rep. Jim Jordan. Just days earlier, the Ohio Republican helped incite a terrorist attack on the Capitol as he tried to overturn the 2020 election.

In a press statement, the White House noted that the Presidential Medal of Freedom goes to those who have made “especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”

Claiming that Jordan had used his perch on the House Oversight Committee to “uncover” Democratic failures and to defend Trump against “the Russia hoax and take on Deep State corruption,” the release praises him as “an inspiration to freedom-loving Americans everywhere and has distinguished himself as one of the most consequential members of Congress of his generation.” Continue reading.

Inspectors general of several federal agencies open sweeping review of security, intelligence surrounding Capitol attack

Washington Post logo

Internal investigators for the departments of Justice, Defense, the Interior and Homeland Security will investigate how security officials prepared for and responded to last week’s pro-Trump rally in Washington that descended into a riot at the U.S. Capitol, officials announced Friday.

The inspectors general for all of those agencies will review what people knew and how they prepared for that day, Jan. 6, along with their actions during the riot that resulted in five deaths, according to news releases. Questions have swirled about how such an important government building — with so many security agencies available to assist — could be overcome by a mob of people wielding bats, bear spray and brute force.

Some current and former law enforcement officials have called the disturbing incident an intelligence failure, in that federal agencies did not seem to have a sense of the urgency or danger leading up to the attack. Others have argued it was less a failure of intelligence than a failure to act on the intelligence gathered, much of it from public discussions online. Continue reading.

Republicans keep dodging Congress’s new metal detectors

After last week’s insurrection at the Capitol, metal detectors were installed at certain entrances to the building, including to the House chamber. Pretty much immediately, Republican members of Congress pitched a fit about it. Now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says lawmakers will be fined $5,000 if they try to skip past the new security measures.

Anyone who has visited Capitol Hill knows that, for members of the public, it was already full of metal detectors. Members of Congress, however, were often able to bypass security so long as they showed their lawmaker pins. But the Capitol insurrection has changed all that. On Jan. 12, memos regarding the new security measures were sent to all members of Congress by newly appointed acting Sergeant-at-Arms Timothy Blodgett, who assumed the position after Michael Stenger resigned.

“To ensure compliance with Capitol Police Board regulations concerning firearms and incendiary devices, as well as to provide a safe and secure environment in which to conduct legislative business, effective immediately, all persons, including members, are required [to] undergo security screening when entering the House chamber,” Blodgett wrote in his memo, according to The Hill. Continue reading.

QAnon Congresswoman Says She Will ‘Impeach Biden’

Freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) announced Wednesday night that she plans to file articles of impeachment against President-elect Joe Biden the day after he takes office. Her statement was met with silence from Republicans who had slammed the second round of impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump as divisive.

“On Jan. 21, 2021, I’ll be filing Articles of Impeachment against Joe Biden for abuse of power,” Greene tweeted after the House of Representatives voted 232-197 to impeach Trump for the second time.

Greene took to far-right network Newsmax to confirm her intention later in the evening: “I would like to announce on behalf of the American people, we have to make sure that our leaders are held accountable. We cannot have a president of the United States that is willing to abuse the power of the office of the presidency and be easily bought off by foreign governments, foreign Chinese energy companies, Ukrainian energy companies. So on Jan. 21, I will filing articles of impeachment on Joe Biden.” Continue reading.

GOP in bind over Trump as corporate donations freeze

The Hill logo

Republicans are in a bind as they consider how to move on from President Trump, who has passionate support from a large chunk of the party but has become completely toxic in the eyes of more traditional Republicans.

Washington Republicans are urging the party to cut ties completely with Trump over his role in the deadly riot that consumed Capitol Hill last week as corporations halt donations.

Some say Trump and his brand can have no future in GOP politics if the party is to survive given his increasingly toxic image with women, suburban voters, moderates and independents. Continue reading.

Where do Republicans go from here?

Trump has never put party first, but breaking up won’t be easy

ANALYSIS — If I didn’t write about the future of the Republican Party within the next 12 hours, my political analyst card would have been revoked. I don’t make the rules, I’m just trying to abide by them. So here are some thoughts on the state of the union between Republicans and President Donald Trump. 

Just a couple of weeks ago, the thought of 10 GOP House members voting to impeach Trump would have been unfathomable. Now some Republicans, including outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, appear eager to begin the next chapter of the GOP without him. Unsurprisingly, that is not going to be that easy. 

Even before the invasion of the U.S. Capitol, the GOP’s messy transition (or divorce) from Trump looked inevitable. I wrote about it nearly two years ago in CQ Roll Call, “Republicans have a post-Trump identity crisis on the horizon.” I didn’t, however, let my normally optimistic mind wander to what happened last week.  Continue reading.

CNN’s Brianna Keilar Scorches Republicans Who Say Impeachment Is Too Divisive

She called out lawmakers who enabled Trump’s election lies, then complained after an insurrection that impeachment would sow division.

CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Thursday looked back at the divisive rhetoric of Republicans who voted against the second impeachment of Donald Trump because they claimed it would be too divisive.

“The very people who have been saying for months that Trump won an election that he did not ― who are knowingly telling supporters this lie, who have enabled a president who wants to break the system as he tries to harness the rage of extremists and racists for his own self preservation ― are telling people who want accountability to let it go. It’s ‘too divisive.’”

Trump on Tuesday spoke out about the impeachment proceedings, claiming that it was causing “tremendous anger,” after he spent months spreading disinformation about the presidential election and fomenting political unrest that culminated in a violent insurrection on the U.S. Capitol from his supporters, who sought to overturn the election results. Continue reading.

QAnon shaman accidentally unravels GOP impeachment defense: ‘He came at the request of the president’

AlterNet logo

House Republicans defended President Donald Trump from impeachment by insisting that he never encouraged his supporters to violently storm the U.S. Capitol, but court documents show those insurrectionists believed they were carrying out his orders.

The president addressed supporters Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., where he urged them to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard” by marching on the Capitol, and GOP lawmakers seized on those words in their impeachment defense — but one of the most recognizable figures in the siege told investigators he was doing what he believed Trump wanted.

“Your affiant and an FBI agent spoke on the phone with [Jacob] CHANSLEY, who confirmed that he was the male in the face paint and headdress in the Vice President’s chair in the Senate,” investigators said in an affidavit filed in court. “CHANSLEY stated that he came as a part of a group effort, with other ‘patriots’ from Arizona, at the request of the President that all ‘patriots’ come to D.C. on January 6, 2021.”‘ Continue reading.