Tag: Trump attempt to steal a second term

Capitol rioters searched for Nancy Pelosi in a way that should make every woman’s skin crawl

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As rioters made their way through the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, some went looking for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. New footage of this was released at Wednesday’s session of the impeachment trial. The mob roamed hallways, searching for her office, and as they did, they called for her. “Oh, Nancy,” one man cried out, three syllables ricocheting off the walls. “Oh, Naaaaaaancy.”

If you cannot stomach reading an entire column about three syllables, you should stop here.

Oh, Naaaaaaancy is a very specific scene from a horror movie. Oh, Nancy is what the protagonist hears when she is hiding in a parking garage, or in a stairwell, or crouched under her desk, or pressed flat on the ground in a damp cornfield. Her terror is played out for entertainment, whether that means a narrow escape or a bloody death. Continue reading.

Romney on impeachment vote to convict: ‘Trump incited the insurrection’

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Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Saturday explained why he voted to convict former President Trump on the charge that he incited the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. 

Romney issued a statement in the early evening on Saturday in which he explicitly declared that Trump “incited the insurrection” that led to several deaths, including that of a Capitol Police Officer. 

“President Trump incited the insurrection against Congress by using the power of his office to summon his supporters to Washington on January 6th and urging them to march on the Capitol during the counting of electoral votes. He did this despite the obvious and well known threats of violence that day,” Romney said. Continue reading.

Trump on acquittal: MAGA ‘has only just begun’

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Former President Trump declared victory on Saturday after Senate Republicans voted to acquit him for a second time, saying that his political movement “has only just begun” and that he would have more to share in the near future.

Trump thanked his legal team for “upholding justice and defending truth.”

“Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun. In the months ahead, I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people,” he said in the statement. Continue reading.

How Democratic and Republican senators voted on Trump’s second impeachment

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The Senate acquitted former president Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial, weeks after the House voted to impeach him for his alleged role in inciting an angry mob to storm the U.S. Capitol.

Two-thirds of senators present and voting were needed to convict the former president, which meant the seven Republicans who joined every Democrat and independent were not enough to reach the 67 votes needed for conviction. But it was the most bipartisan impeachment vote in history.

In addition to Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Mitt Romney (Utah) and Ben Sasse (Neb.), who were expected to join Democrats on the vote, Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.), Bill Cassidy (La.) and Patrick J. Toomey (Pa.) also voted for conviction. Continue reading.

New security video shows harrowing details of Capitol attack

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The House Democrats prosecuting former President Trump‘s impeachment case unveiled harrowing new video footage on Wednesday, lending a new glimpse of just how close the rioters came to former Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. senators as they breached the Capitol on Jan. 6.

The new footage, released on the second day of Trump’s Senate trial, takes advantage of Capitol security cameras positioned around the complex, depicting both the violent intentions of the mob and the heroics of several Capitol Police officers, including Eugene Goodman, who diverted the mob away from senators on the chamber floor. 

“This is now effectively a riot.”

The videos are meant to drive home the Democrats’ argument that the former president purposefully stirred up his supporters with claims of a stolen election and then encouraged them to march on the Capitol to block the vote certifying the victory of his opponent, President Biden.  Continue reading.

5 takeaways from Day 4 of Trump’s impeachment trial

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Former president Donald Trump’s legal defense made its presentation Friday at his impeachment trial.

Below are some takeaways.

1. A heavy dose of whataboutism

The early part of the Trump team’s presentation was overwhelmingly focused on things that didn’t involve him. It was almost 100 percent whataboutism.

Democrats over the past three days have played lengthy videos of the insurrection at the Capitol, so Trump’s team played video of the unrest at racial justice protests this summer. Continue reading.

A running tally of Trump’s misleading impeachment defense

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“Contrast the President’s repeated condemnations of violence with the rhetoric from his opponents.”

— Former president Donald Trump’s defense lawyer Michael T. van der Veen, introducing an edited video montage featuring several Democratic lawmakers out of context, Feb. 12

For the past few days, House managers have taken great pains to connect the dots between Trump’s rhetoric leading up and after the deadly Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol. Lawmakers came armed with hours of source video, a barrage of presidential tweets and never-before-seen surveillance video of the attack. Their case to prove Trump indeed incited the violence of Jan. 6 has hinged on the concept that words, and more importantly context, matter.

Trump’s defense team has responded by arguing the House managers took Trump’s remarks out of context — and offered its own series of clips. But these often were taken out of context. Continue reading.

Proud Boy charged in Capitol riot slams Trump’s ‘deception’

A member of the right-wing extremist group Proud Boys who was arrested for partaking in the riot at the U.S. Capitol told a court on Wednesday that he was lulled into “deception” by former President Donald Trump and “acted out of the delusional belief” that he was being patriotic by storming the Capitol, POLITICO reports.

Dominic Pezzola was charged with conspiracy last month and is asking a federal court to grant his release pending trial, saying that his membership in the Proud Boys was minimal and that he has no other criminal history. But as POLITICO points out, most notable in Pezzola’s defense is his repudiation of Trump. 

“[D]efendant acted out of the delusional belief that he was a ‘patriot’ protecting his country … He was responding to the entreaties of the-then commander in chief, President Trump,” Pezzola’s lawyer argued. “The President maintained that the election had been stolen and it was the duty of loyal citizens to ‘stop the steal.’ Admittedly there was no rational basis for the claim, but it is apparent defendant was one of millions of Americans who were misled by the President’s deception.” Continue reading.

‘A no brainer’: Expert explains why Trump is in trouble in Georgia

News broke on Wednesday that prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia have launched a criminal probe into former President Donald Trump’sinfamous phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Rick Hasen, a professor of law and political science at University of California Irvine, writes on Twitter that the criminal case against Trump is “a no brainer legally,” and he points to a legal analysis he wrote for Slate earlier this year that makes the case for prosecuting the former president.

In that piece, Hasen zeroed in on Trump asking Raffensperger to “find” the roughly 12,000 votes that he would need to overturn President Joe Biden’s win in Georgia. Continue reading.

In an avalanche of words, there’s no sign of regret from Trump

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The first day of the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump began in silence and dignity. It ended with a tale of grievance and fury told by a team of last-minute lawyers who looked and sounded more than a little worse for wear.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Democratic House managers marched soberly through Statuary Hall and onto the Senate floor. The assembled legislators voted on the rules of the proceedings and then the managers, in their rainbow of tailored gray suits, took to the microphone to analyze, parse and massage a multitude of words focused on interpreting the intent of the Constitution, the mind-set of the former president and the meaning of the noun “person.” They even coined a new phrase for the occasion: January exception.

The House managers spent the bulk of their allotted time explaining precisely why Trump’s impeachment trial was constitutional. And in arguing their case, they quoted from the history books and from modern legal scholars. They appealed to a sense of logic, noting that if a former president could not be held to account by the Senate, then sitting presidents could simply save their most egregious behavior for the final weeks of their administration and then go wild without fear of repercussions. Continue reading.