Tag: Trump incited his supporters to sedition

In Capitol, a G.O.P. Crisis. At the R.N.C. Meeting, a Trump Celebration.

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Party members at a gathering of the Republican National Committee endorsed President Trump as the man to lead the party forward, ignoring the turmoil in Washington.

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — In Washington, Republicans were dealing with a burgeoning crisis in their ranks, with high-profile resignations and bitter infighting over how to deal with an erratic and isolated president. But at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting on Friday, most party members were operating in a parallel universe.

In a chandelier-adorned ballroom at the seaside Ritz-Carlton here, there was no mention of President Trump’s disruption of the coronavirus relief package or his phone call to the Georgia secretary of state demanding that he help steal the election, both of which contributed to Republicans’ losing control of the Senate.

And while the R.N.C. chair, Ronna McDaniel, condemned the attack on the Capitol, neither she nor any other speaker so much as publicly hinted at Mr. Trump’s role in inciting a mob assault on America’s seat of government. Continue reading.

Family member of woman killed at Capitol on Trump: He ‘incited a riot that killed four of his biggest fans’

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The family of a woman killed during Trump supporters’ siege on the U.S. Capitol has released a statement in the wake of her death. On Thursday, Jan. 7, Rosanne Boyland’s brother-in-law, Justin Cave, appeared on FOX-5 Atlanta to read a prepared statement on behalf of the woman’s grieving family. 

Cave shared the family’s reaction as he criticized President Donald Trump for using his platform to incite violence. He also admitted that the family was against Boyland traveling to Washington for the “Save America” rally, but to no avail. 

“Our family is grieving on every level for our country, for all the families that have lost loved ones or suffered injuries, for our own loss,” Cave read. “We appreciate your prayers and ask for everyone to respect our family’s privacy as we mourn her death.” Continue reading.

Internet detectives are identifying scores of pro-Trump rioters at the Capitol. Some have already been fired.

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As he strolled past gold-framed portraits of past Congressional leaders, one rioter who stormed the Capitol in a pro-Trump mob on Wednesday wore a red Trump hat, a commemorative sweatshirt from the president’s inauguration and a lanyard around his neck.

When a photo of him went viral, it didn’t take Internet sleuths long to realize that the lanyard held his work badge — clearly identifying him as an employee of Navistar Direct Marketing, a printing company in Frederick, Md.

On Thursday, Navistar swiftly fired him.

He’s not alone among the rioters who wreaked havoc in Congress. While police and the FBI work to identify and arrest members of the mob, online detectives are also crowdsourcing information and doxing them — exposing the rioters to criminal prosecution, but also more immediate action from their bosses. Continue reading.

KSTP partially retracts reporter Jay Kolls’ story on Capitol riot

He quoted an expert as saying it was “highly likely” that people aligned with antifa may have been part of the violence at the U.S. Capitol. 

KSTP has partly retracted a story it aired on this week’s riot at the U.S. Capitol that included claims about the involvement of anti-fascist groups.

“On Wednesday night, we broadcast a report focusing on the initial questions of security measures at the U.S. Capitol,” the local ABC affiliate said in a statement that was read during its evening newscasts Thursday. “At the end of that story from reporter Jay Kolls, he quoted Michael Rozin, a recognized security expert, who stated that it was ‘highly likely’ that people who aligned with the antifa group may have been part of instigating the violence at the Capitol. After further review, Mr. Rozin acknowledges his claim was speculative.”

KSTP went on to say that the story did not meet the station’s editorial standards. It pledged to “do better moving forward.” Continue reading.

‘I want him out:’ Murkowski becomes first Senate Republican to call for Trump to resign

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) became the first Senate Republican to call for President Trump to resign, telling the Anchorage Daily News: “I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage.”

Her comments Friday came on the same day House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told colleagues in a letter that she has spoken to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, about keeping an “unstable president” from accessing the nuclear codes. Pelosi also threatened impeachment if Trump didn’t resign “immediately.”

Her letter came shortly after Trump tweeted that he would not attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. 20, breaking with a long-standing tradition of outgoing presidents attending the swearing-in ceremony of their successors. Biden told reporters that he agreed with Trump’s decision to skip the ceremony, though he would welcome Vice President Pence. Continue reading.

Mental health expert predicted Trump-fueled ‘violence in the streets of Washington — in an interview last week

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On Wednesday, hundreds or perhaps thousands of Donald Trump’s terrorists assaulted and overran the U.S. Capitol building. The FBI reports that at least two improvised explosive devices were found in the area.

Trump’s mob committed these treasonous and seditious acts of terrorism while the Electoral College votes that would formally make Joe Biden the next president of the United States were being counted.

Some of the pro-Trump political thugs were armed. Others displayed white supremacist regalia and symbols, including the Confederate flag and Nazi slogans. At least one member of Trump’s terrorist mob was photographed with plastic zip ties, and may have intended to abduct or “arrest” members of Congress. Trump’s mob also placed nooses on mannequins and constructed a mock gallows near the Capitol entrance. Continue reading.

Arkansas man who posed in Pelosi’s office and West Virginia delegate among those charged in Capitol breach

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The U.S. Justice Department and FBI announced charges Friday against a freshman West Virginia lawmaker, an Arkansas man who told the media he posed for photos on a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and an Alabama man whose truck allegedly carried 11 molotov cocktails and a semiautomatic rifle to this week’s U.S. Capitol riots.

The cases come as authorities in Washington continue working to identify members of the mob who stormed the Capitol — many of whom posted images of themselves on social media amid the mayhem.

A nationwide dragnet involving hundreds of prosecutors and agents from all 56 FBI field offices is involved in the effort, which “has the highest priority” of the DOJ, said Kenneth C. Kohl, a top official in the federal prosecutor’s office in Washington. Continue reading.

Bipartisan Disgust Could Save the Republic

The frightening reality check lawmakers and the public got on Jan. 6 is likely to make things a bit easier for the incoming president.

IT WAS, PRESIDENT-ELECT Joe Biden said solemnly, “one of the darkest days in the history of our nation,” a day when pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the Capitol and occupied the chamber where both defenders and detractors of the president found themselves jointly threatened by a marauding mob.

But if that day was a low point in a tumultuous five years of a campaign and presidency that served to further divide an already partisan Congress, it may also have been just the jolt lawmakers needed to remember why they were sent to Washington in the first place.

Republicans who just hours before had been defiantly challenging an Electoral College vote count to make Biden the next president backed down, looking shell-shocked as they said this was no longer the best way to go. Trump’s golf pal, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, called on his colleagues to accept the election results and on Thursday tweeted laudatory comments about Biden’s response to what lawmakers called an attempted coup. Continue reading.

Capitol Police rejected offers of federal help to quell mob

WASHINGTON — Three days before supporters of President Donald Trump rioted at the Capitol, the Pentagon asked the U.S Capitol Police if it needed National Guard manpower. And as the mob descended on the building Wednesday, Justice Department leaders reached out to offer up FBI agents. The police turned them down both times, according to senior defense officials and two people familiar with the matter. 

Despite plenty of warnings of a possible insurrection and ample resources and time to prepare, the Capitol Police planned only for a free speech demonstration.

Still stinging from the uproar over the violent response by law enforcement to protests last June near the White House, officials also were intent on avoiding any appearance that the federal government was deploying active duty or National Guard troops against Americans. Continue reading.

These Are the Rioters Who Stormed the Nation’s Capitol

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The mob that rampaged the halls of Congress included infamous white supremacists and conspiracy theorists.

WASHINGTON — There were infamous white nationalists and noted conspiracy theorists who have spread dark visions of pedophile Satanists running the country. Others were more anonymous, people who had journeyed from Indiana and South Carolina to heed President Trump’s call to show their support. One person, a West Virginia lawmaker, had only been elected to office in November.

All of them converged on Wednesday on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, where hundreds of rioters crashed through barricades, climbed through windows and walked through doors, wandering around the hallways with a sense of gleeful desecration, because, for a few breathtaking hours, they believed that they had displaced the very elites they said they hated.

“We wanted to show these politicians that it’s us who’s in charge, not them,” said a construction worker from Indianapolis, who is 40 and identified himself only as Aaron. He declined to give his last name, saying, “I’m not that dumb.” Continue reading.