Even GOP lawmakers’ best sycophantic yelling couldn’t stop Trump from getting impeached again

Despite the best efforts of some of the Republican Party’s brightest stars, on Wednesday, Donald Trump became the first president in American history to be impeached twice. And just one week after Trump incited a coup attempt on the Capitol building that left multiple people dead and launched this second, historic impeachment effort, a group of congressional Republicans have apparently coalesced a unifying message in these closing days of the Trump administration.

That message is: Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

To be fair, not all the House Republicans have chosen to publicly throw a temper tantrum over Trump’s impending impeachment. Some were too damn scared to do much of anything, and at least 10 actually crossed party lines to vote in favor of sending the articles of impeachment up to the Senate. But as representative after representative rose Wednesday to address the House during the impeachment proceedings, it was clear that within the GOP caucus was a sizable number of lawmakers who, absent anything even resembling the normal human capacity for shame, were eager to use their time to whine, bloviate, and above all else, play the victim. Continue reading.

AP FACT CHECK: Trump’s call to action distorted in debate

WASHINGTON — The House impeachment debate on Wednesday heard a distorted account of President Donald Trump’s remarks to his supporters a week ago when he exhorted them to “fight like hell” before they swarmed the Capitol.

REP. GUY RESCHENTHALER, R-Pa.: “At his rally, President Trump urged attendees to, quote, unquote, peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. There was no mention of violence, let alone calls to action.”

THE FACTS: Trump’s speech was a call to action — a call to fight and save the country.

“Our country has had enough,” he told those who went on to stage the violent siege of the Capitol. Continue reading.

Trump is isolated and angry at aides for failing to defend him as he is impeached again

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When Donald Trump on Wednesday became the first president ever impeached twice, he did so as a leader increasingly isolated, sullen and vengeful.

With less than seven days remaining in his presidency, Trump’s inner circle is shrinking, offices in his White House are emptying, and the president is lashing out at some of those who remain. He is angry that his allies have not mounted a more forceful defense of his incitement of the mob that stormed the Capitol last week, advisers and associates said.

Though Trump has been exceptionally furious with Vice President Pence, his relationship with lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, one of his most steadfast defenders, is also fracturing, according to people with knowledge of the dynamics between the men. Continue reading.

34 House Democrats call for investigation into Jan. 5 tours by fellow members ahead of attack

Capitol is supposed to be closed to tours

Rep. Mikie Sherrill and 33 other House members want an investigation into access given by fellow House lawmakers to visitors to the Capitol on Jan. 5 before the violent attacks on Congress the next day.

The New Jersey Democrat alleged Tuesday night that members of Congress led guests on what she described as “reconnaissance” ahead of the insurrection on Jan. 6.

A letter issued Wednesday asks the acting House sergeant-at-arms, acting Senate sergeant-at-arms, and United States Capitol Police to investigate “suspicious behavior” on Jan. 5 and changes to visitor access. Continue reading.

Giuliani calls wrong senator in last-ditch effort to delay certification of Biden’s win

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President Trump‘s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani reportedly left a voicemail message for the wrong lawmaker late Wednesday as he was attempting to reach Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) in an effort to stall Congress’s certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election.

According to The Dispatch, Giuliani recorded a voicemail message addressed to Tuberville at approximately 7 p.m., saying that wanted to discuss how congressional leaders were “trying to rush this hearing and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you.”

“And I know they’re reconvening at 8 tonight, but it … the only strategy we can follow is to object to numerous states and raise issues so that we get ourselves into tomorrow—ideally until the end of tomorrow,” he added. Continue reading.

Veterans, ex-spies in Congress prominent in fraught week on Capitol Hill

Veterans, ex-spies in Congress prominent in fraught week on Capitol Hill

A bipartisan group of young lawmakers with military or intelligence backgrounds has been in the forefront of the congressional response to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and the cadre played a central role since then in the second impeachment of President Donald Trump. 

The group, which draws mostly from the Armed Services Committee, protected their fellow lawmakers during the attack. They also used military expertise to detect what they said were unnamed lawmakers who had possibly helped rioters plan their attack the day before.

They spoke of their oath to protect and defend the Constitution, in the military and in Congress alike, as they implored their colleagues to impeach Trump for his role in instigating the mob. Continue reading.

Democrat Ayanna Pressley’s office reveals a disturbing detail discovered during the Capitol siege

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Disturbing details are emerging about the state of Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s (D-Mass.) office amid the U.S. Capitol riots that took place as lawmakers certified the Electoral College vote. 

On Wednesday, Jan. 13, Pressley’s Massachusetts Chief of Staff Sarah Groh revealed to the Boston Globe that the entire panic button unit had been removed from the wall in the Democratic lawmaker’s office. As angry Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, Groh revealed she and her colleagues looked for the panic button as they attempted to lock themselves inside the office. 

That’s when she discovered the button was no longer there. “Every panic button in my office had been torn out — the whole unit,” she told the paper. She also revealed she had previously used the button but received no notification about it being removed. Continue reading.

A Black officer faced down a mostly White mob at the Capitol. Meet Eugene Goodman.

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It was a video clip that captured not only the terror of the day, but the values at stake: a lone Black police officer in the marble halls of the U.S. Capitol building, facing down a mob of mostly White rioters who had stormed in bearing Confederate flags, weapons and vows to reclaim a lost election.

The footage captured by HuffPost political reporter Igor Bobic has gone viral in the past week, spurring people across the world to hail the officer as a hero. The U.S. Capitol Police have not publicly identified him, but three of his friends told The Washington Post that the officer is Eugene Goodman of Maryland, confirming what journalists at CNN and elsewhere have reported.

On Thursday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers said they would introduce a bill to award Goodman the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest awards a civilian can receive in the United States. Continue reading.

Ex-Navy SEAL who bragged about ‘breaching the Capitol’ now claims he’s ‘not a traitor’ after FBI questions him

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A retired Navy SEAL is facing trouble from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after posting a video to Facebook detailing his involvement in the U.S. Capitol breach. 

According to ABC News, Adam Newbold, 45, of Lisbon, Ohio, took to Facebook on Jan. 6, to share details about the series of events that transpired that day. Although Newbold admitted that there was “destruction” at the Capitol, he made it clear that he was “proud” of what he had done.

“There was destruction, breaching the Capitol, our building, our house. And, um, to get in you had to destroy doors and windows to get in,” Newbold said. Continue reading.

New York City ends contracts with Trump, the latest business partner to abandon him in wake of Capitol attack

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New York City is terminating its contracts with President Trump’s company to run a carousel, two ice rinks and a golf course in city parks, Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said Wednesday — calling it a response to Trump’s encouragement of a mob that ransacked the U.S. Capitol.

“The President incited a rebellion against the United States government that killed five people and threatened to derail the constitutional transfer of power,” de Blasio said in a written statement. “The City of New York will not be associated with those unforgivable acts in any shape, way or form.”

That decision — which will cut off the Trump Organization from businesses that bring in $17 million per year in revenue — makes New York the latest business partner to cut ties with Trump’s company. Continue reading.