Trump big lie 29 , CD3 DFL

DFL Party Slams Republicans for Voting Against Commission to Investigate Violent Assault on Capitol

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, Representatives Hagedorn, Emmer, Fischbach, and Stauber voted against bipartisan legislation to establish a commission to investigate the January 6th assault on the United States Capitol.

In response, DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement:

“It is disgraceful that Representatives Hagedorn, Emmer, Fischbach, and Stauber voted against a bipartisan commission to get to the bottom of the worst assault on American democracy in living memory. To make matters worse, Minnesota’s Republican members of Congress voted against the insurrection commission because they know they propped up the Big Lie that helped inspire the assault on the Capitol in the first place.

“Instead of forcefully pushing back against the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, Minnesota Republicans perpetuated that lie and allowed it to take root and grow within their party. Now, they are trying to block efforts to establish the truth of the January insurrection and leave our Capitol vulnerable to future attacks in a pathetic and cowardly attempt to avoid bad headlines.

House approves Jan. 6 commission over GOP objections

The House on Wednesday passed a bill to establish a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, earning relatively little support from Republicans as GOP leaders sought to quash a bill negotiated by one of their own members.

Lawmakers passed the bill in a 252-175 vote, with 35 Republicans joining all Democrats in support.

The legislation’s chances appear increasingly slim in the Senate after both Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) came out in opposition to the bill. Continue reading.

Trump demanded McConnell and McCarthy oppose Jan. 6 commission. They are dutifully complying

Donald Trump, the former president, Tuesday night in a blog post called on the top two Congressional Republicans to put an end to “discussions” to form a commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection and attempted coup that he incited.

They are complying.

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Tuesday afternoon had expressed “surprising” opennessto a January 6 commission, several news sources reported, but by Tuesday evening the Senate Minority Leader told reporters he is “pushing the pause button.”

House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has been opposed to the commission since early Tuesday, some say due to his possible involvement in the lead up to the deadly riots that day. Continue reading.

I watched the GOP’s Arizona election audit. It was worse than you think.

Cyber Ninjas is hunting for bamboo fibers and cheese dust.

When Arizona’s secretary of state asked me whether I would serve as an observer of the Arizona Senate’s audit of Maricopa County’s ballots, I anticipated that I would see some unusual things. Post-election audits and recounts are almost always conducted under the authority of local election officials, who have years of knowledge and experience. The idea of a government handing over control of ballots to an outside group, as the state Senate did when hiring a Florida contractor with no elections experience, was bizarre. This firm, Cyber Ninjas, insisted that it would recount and examine all 2.1 million ballotscast in the county in the 2020 general election.

So I expected it to be unconventional. But it was so much worse than that. In more than a decade working on elections, audits and recounts across the country, I’ve never seen one this mismanaged.

I arrived at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on the morning of May 4. Security was conspicuously high: At three stations, guards checked my ID and my letter from the secretary of state. No bags were permitted on the floor, and I had to surrender my phone, laptop and smartwatch. I was allowed a yellow legal pad and red pen to take notes, and provided with a pink T-shirt to wear so I would be immediately identifiable. The audit observers hired by Cyber Ninjas, in orange T-shirts, followed me wherever I went and reported random things about me they found suspicious. Several times someone asked to test my pen, to ensure it really had red ink. Once, they even demanded that I empty my pockets, in which I carried that pen and a pair of reading glasses. I was allowed only to ask procedural questions of the Cyber Ninjas attorney; I couldn’t talk to anyone else performing the work. The atmosphere was tense. Continue reading.

McConnell says he opposes ‘slanted’ Jan. 6 commission bill

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday that he doesn’t support legislation that would create a commission to probe the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

“After careful consideration, I’ve made the decision to oppose the House Democrats slanted and unbalanced proposal for another commission to study the events of Jan. 6,” McConnell said from the Senate floor.

McConnell’s speech comes after he informed Senate Republicans of his decision during a breakfast meeting on Wednesday. Continue reading.

‘Coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life’: Rioter who bragged about pushing female cop down Capitol stairs arrested in Florida

Daniel Paul Gray of Florida was charged today with multiple crimes of violence against police officers at the January 6 Capitol riot. Supporting photographic evidence is a video made by Gray that spells out the goal of “pushing police out the back of the Capitol.”

Gray is accused of having altercations with multiple police, one in which he caused a female police officer to fall down the western rotunda stairs “and became visibly injured.”

Gray bragged about it all in a self-shot monologue, the FBI said. Gray’s pride in having carried out the attack on law enforcement — and the boast that “this is far from over — was captured on his video. Continue reading.

Arizona recount creates backlash in state

Simmering tensions between Republicans over the ongoing audit of election results in Arizona’s largest county are bursting into the open.

With the audit nearing its one-month mark and the GOP-controlled state Senate driving the process in an increasingly partisan direction, some Republicans have begun more aggressively pushing back against the effort, arguing that it has only served to further undermine confidence in the county’s elections rather than restore it.

The debate over the audit reached a breaking point Monday when the GOP-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors sent a letter to Arizona’s Republican state Senate President Karen Fann demanding an end to the audit, saying that the process had made Arizona a “laughingstock.” Continue reading.

GOP splits open over Jan. 6 commission vote

The House on Wednesday is set to approve legislation to create a bipartisan investigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack in a vote that will re-expose the deep divisions in the GOP over former President Trump’s role in the event and influence in the party.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday announced his opposition to the legislation, which he says puts too much focus on the Jan. 6 attack that interrupted a joint session of Congress’s count of the Electoral College and forced the evacuation of the House and Senate.

McCarthy wants the commission’s scope to be broadened so that it can take in violence in Portland, Ore., and other U.S. cities, as well as the 2017 attack by a gunman on GOP lawmakers practicing for the Congressional Baseball Game and a more recent incident where a Capitol Police officer died. Continue reading.

Trumper On FBI Capitol Wanted List Attends Giuliani Event For GOPer Who Pushed Big Lie

FBI suspect Sam Lazar posed for photos with Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who backed Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

A militant Donald Trump supporter whose photo is featured on an FBI wanted list because he was caught on video battling with police officers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 attended a political event last week for a Trump-loving Pennsylvania politician who backed the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The event’s headliner: Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who called for “trial by combat” during his speech on Jan. 6 and whose phones and computers were seized in a Justice Department investigation last month.

Samuel Lazar, who is Capitol suspect No. 275 on the FBI website, posed for photos alongside right-wing Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R) at the May 15 event headlined by Giuliani. A tipster sent the photos to HuffPost after spotting them on Facebook. Continue reading.

Rep. Phillips (CD3) Statement on the Vote to Create a Bipartisan Commission on the Capitol Insurrection

WASHINGTON, DC — Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) issued the following statement on the House bill to create a national commission to investigate the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, which passed on a 252 to 175 vote.

“I was in the Capitol on Jan 6. I saw it with my own eyes. I walked where blood was spilled and life was lost, and I helped clean up the mess in the early hours of 1/7. I never imagined a single member of Congress would vote against a bipartisan commission to investigate it. I need not shame the 175 who voted in opposition today. Twitter and history will do that just fine. But here’s to the 35 Republicans and 217 Democrats who showed America what patriotism looks like – and votes like.”

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