Tag: 2020 election

From ‘beautiful’ to ‘disgraceful’: World reacts to US mob

TOKYO (AP) — Amid the global outrage at the storming of the U.S. Capitol building by angry supporters of President Donald Trump was a persistent strain of glee from those who have long resented the perceived American tendency to chastise other countries for less-than-perfect adherence to democratic ideals.

The teargas and bullets inside the Capitol, a globally recognized structure that stands at the center of America’s idea of democracy, are more usually associated with countries where popular uprisings topple a hated dictator. The Arab Spring, for instance.

This time, however, it was an attempt by Americans to stop a peaceful transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden after a democratic election in a country that many around the world have looked at as a model for democratic governance. Continue reading.

Lawyer on Trump Election Call Quits Firm After Uproar

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The law firm, Foley & Lardner, had distanced itself from Cleta Mitchell after a recording of the call revealed she helped the president pressure Georgia elections officials.

A lawyer advising President Trump in recent weeks has resigned from her law firm after it was revealed that she participated in the call where Mr. Trump pressured Georgia officials to help him reverse the state’s election results, the firm said in a statement on Tuesday.

The lawyer, Cleta Mitchell, has been advising Mr. Trump despite a policy at her firm, Foley & Lardner, that none of its lawyers should represent clients involved in relitigating the presidential election.

“Cleta Mitchell has informed firm management of her decision to resign from Foley & Lardner effective immediately,” the firm said in its statement. “Ms. Mitchell concluded that her departure was in the firm’s best interests, as well as in her own personal best interests. We thank her for her contributions to the firm and wish her well.” Continue reading.

With brazen assault on election, Trump prompts critics to warn of a coup

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During four years in office, President Trump has trampled political norms, attacked democratic institutions, sought to discredit government agencies, peddled baseless conspiracy theories and been impeached by the House.

Since his defeat in the November election, Trump’s critics have warned that his scorched-earth effort to invalidate the outcome amounts to a new level of danger: the first attempted coup d’etat in U.S. history to illegally maintain power.

The chorus of alarm grew this week after the disclosure that Trump bullied and threatened Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in an hour-long private phone call Saturday, during which the president demanded that Raffensperger find thousands of votes for Trump that do not exist. Continue reading.

Pence declares Biden winner of the presidential election after Congress finally counts electoral votes

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Vice President Pence declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner of the presidential election at the end of a violent and deadly day at the Capitol. Pence also announced that Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) had won the vice presidency, after the Senate and House rejected Trump loyalists’ challenges to Biden’s win in Pennsylvania and Congress finally counted the electoral votes.

Shortly thereafter, President Trump — who had defiantly told supporters at a rally that he would “never concede” — said in a statement that “there will be an orderly transition on January 20th.” Continue reading.

AP FACT CHECK: Trump’s false claims, fuel on a day of chaos

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump pressed his hopeless case for overturning the election to a crowd of supporters Wednesday, fueling the grievances of a mob that then stormed the Capitol and disrupted the confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

Drawing on baseless conspiracies, Trump unleashed a torrent of misinformation to supporters already convinced that his defeat was unfair, unswayed by the sweeping verdict of election officials, judges and justices and Trump’s own officials in the departments of Justice and Homeland Security that the Nov. 3 election was cleanly run and fairly counted.

Pro-Trump protesters then marched to the Capitol and some bulled their way inside, making for a scene of violent clashes with law enforcement and lawmakers huddling in lockdown. Continue reading.

Trump’s DOJ just gave up the game: Court filing admits Trump lost 2020 election

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In a court filing submitted in late December as part of a lawsuit contesting the status of Trump administration officials serving unconfirmed in “temporary” positions, lawyers with the U.S. Justice Department argued the case should be tossed out because the issue would soon “be moot” given that President Donald Trump lost the 2020 elections and would soon leave the Oval Office.

The admission by the DOJ flies in the face of incessant false claims by Trump that he won in November and continued vows that he will fight to the bitter end to prove—against all evidence and reality—the election was rigged, fraudulent, or otherwise illegitimate.

“They’re not going to take the White House. We’re going to fight like hell,” Trump declared Monday night during a campaign rally in Georgia. “When you win in a landslide and they steal it and it’s rigged, it’s not acceptable.” Continue reading.

The Daily 202: Conservatives fear Trump’s plot to overturn loss will ‘imperil the electoral college’

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Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) was Sen. Ted Cruz’s chief of staff before winning a House seat in 2018. This week, he has emerged as a leader of the conservatives who are fighting back against an effort to block the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory – spearheaded in the Senate by his former boss – that they see as a radical, cynical and myopic. 

Roy, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, persuaded six of the most committed conservatives in the House to sign onto a statement he drafted Sunday that makes a blunt case for counting all the electors submitted by the states. The centerpiece of his argument is that failing to do so will create dangerous precedents and open a Pandora’s box that would eventually doom the electoral college.

“From a purely partisan perspective, Republican presidential candidates have won the national popular vote only once in the last 32 years,” Roy wrote in his statement. “They have therefore depended on the electoral college for nearly all presidential victories in the last generation. If we perpetuate the notion that Congress may disregard certified electoral votes — based solely on its own assessment that one or more states mishandled the presidential election — we will be delegitimizing the very system that led Donald Trump to victory in 2016, and that could provide the only path to victory in 2024.” Continue reading.

Trump tells rioters ‘go home,’ repeats claims that election ‘fraudulent’

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President Trump on Wednesday urged his supporters who laid siege to the Capitol to “go home in peace,” hours after they first forced their way into the building. 

In a one-minute taped video released on social media, Trump urged his supporters to disperse. But he reiterated his false claims that his election defeat was “fraudulent,” which was the basis for the protest in the first place.

“You have to go home now. We have to have peace,” Trump said. “We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want anybody hurt.” Continue reading.

MNGOP BPOU Chair Threatens “Casualties” for Officials Upholding the Integrity of Elections

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, the Minnesota DFL Party condemned violent threats issued by a Minnesota Republican Party BPOU (Basic Political Operating Unit) Chair on the steps of the Minnesota Capitol. Alley Waterbury, Chair of the House District 53A Republican Party, used violent rhetoric to both encourage protesters to visit the homes of judges and elected officials opposed to efforts to baselessly overturn the 2020 election and to spur on the rioters in Washington D.C.

In a speech earlier today, Waterbury said, in part:

“We are going to start raising hell. And these other judges that we’re coming for, we’re going to come for you in a way where we are gonna back you into a corner. We are going to bring your decision-making to the forefront because you’re not going to hide behind that bench anymore. You’re not going to make those decisions behind closed doors. You’re going to answer to we the people… It’ll be interesting to see how many of you show up to that house tour with us.”

Waterbury then turned to spurring on the numerous violent rioters currently clashing with police at the United States Capitol. In response to Vice President Pence’s decision not to interfere with the certification of results, Waterbury said that:

“…over one million patriots stormed, I think it was the White House grounds, I believe.Now you know why Trump wanted us there! I can’t express to you guys, you will be threatened, you will be scorned. My god you guys, we are going to fight, we are going to go down, there’s going to be casualties. I’ll be the first casualty, I do not care. We are not going to give up.”

DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement calling on Republican Party of Minnesota Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan to apologize for Waterbury’s remarks and remove her from her leadership position within the party:

“The violence that engulfs the United States Capitol did not emerge out of nowhere. It was stoked, fueled, and encouraged by reckless and irresponsible rhetoric carelessly thrown around by leaders within the Republican Party. Enough is enough.

“By threatening elected officials and civil servants with casualties and organizing protests outside their homes, Alley Waterbury has crossed a dangerous line and must be immediately removed from her leadership position with the Minnesota Republican Party. I am also calling for Minnesota Republican Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan to issue a full and immediate apology for Waterbury’s inciting language.

“Just as today’s violence did not emerge on its own, it will not be quelled on its own. It is past time for Republican leaders to accept responsibility for the radicalizing misinformation and violent sentiments tearing through their party, start telling their supporters the truth about the 2020 elections, and remove bad actors from within their ranks.”

McCarthy: “Help is needed” at U.S. Capitol after mob breaches building

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) declared that “help is needed” in a live phone interview with CBS News, in response to a mob breaching the U.S. Capitol and Senate chambers following a “March for Trump” demonstration against certifying Electoral College votes. 

What he’s saying: “I think for the security of others, I think help is needed,” McCarthy said. “Let’s get this under control.”

Where it stands: Senators, House members and reporters have been evacuated to undisclosed locations, per Axios reporters on the ground. Vice President Mike Pence, overseeing the certification of Electoral College votes, was evacuated from the Senate chamber around 2 p.m. Continue reading.