Tag: Trump insurrection

The Financial Minefield Awaiting an Ex-President Trump

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Baseless election fraud claims and the Capitol riot have compounded already-looming threats to his bottom line. And the cash lifelines he once relied on are gone.

Not long after he strides across the White House grounds Wednesday morning for the last time as president, Donald J. Trump will step into a financial minefield that appears to be unlike anything he has faced since his earlier brushes with collapse.

The tax records that he has long fought to keep hidden, revealed in a New York Times investigation last September, detailed his financial challenges:

Many of his resorts were losing millions of dollars a year even before the pandemic struck. Hundreds of millions of dollars in loans, which he personally guaranteed, must be repaid within a few years. He has burned through much of his cash and easy-to-sell assets. And a decade-old I.R.S. audit threatens to cost him more than $100 million to resolve. Continue reading.

Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo claims Democrats infiltrated Capitol wearing MAGA clothing — and Twitter fires back

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Fox Business news anchor Maria Bartiromo was in for a rude awakening when she attempted to blame the U.S. Capitol riots on Democrats who “infiltrated” the federal building wearing Make America Great Again (MAGA) clothing. 

As she discussed the reports about possible threats of right-wing violence looming over the upcoming presidential inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, she falsely that Democrats participated in the Capitol riots, according to Media Matters.

During the broadcast, Bartiromo said, “A new report says that some far-right protesters have discussed posing as members of the National Guard to infiltrate the inauguration — the way Democrats infiltrated two weeks ago and put on MAGA clothing.” Continue reading.

Self-styled militia members planned on storming the U.S. Capitol days in advance of Jan. 6 attack, court documents say

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Self-styled militia members from Virginia, Ohio and other states made plans to storm the U.S. Capitol days in advance of the Jan. 6 attack, and then communicated in real time as they breached the building on opposite sides and talked about hunting for lawmakers, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

While authorities have charged more than 100 individuals in the riot, details in the new allegations against three U.S. military veterans offer a disturbing look at what they allegedly said to one another before, during and after the attack — statements that indicate a degree of preparation and determination to rush deep into the halls and tunnels of Congress to make “citizens’ arrests” of elected officials.

U.S. authorities charged an apparent leader of the Oath Keepers extremist group, Thomas Edward Caldwell, 66, of Berryville, Va., in the attack, alleging that the Navy veteran helped organize a ring of dozens who coordinated their movements as they “stormed the castle” to disrupt the confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral college victory. Continue reading.

‘TRAITORS GET SHOT’ … Alleged Threat to His Kids

A Capitol rioter from Texas threatened to shoot his own children if they snitched on him to the feds … at least according to the FBI.

According to his wife, Guy Reffitt told his son and daughter, “If you turn me in, you’re a traitor and you know what happens to traitors … traitors get shot” … and it’s all spelled out in an affidavit signed by FBI special agent Thomas Ryan.

In the affidavit, obtained by TMZ, the FBI agent says Reffitt was seen in restricted areas of the Capitol during the riots. Reffitt’s accused of unlawful entry and obstruction of justice. Continue reading.

Poll: Republican support for convicting Trump in Senate growing

About 20 percent of Republicans said they “strongly” or “somewhat” approved of a Senate conviction in the latest poll, conducted between Jan. 15-17.

Republican support for convicting President Donald Trump in his Senate impeachment trial has grown in his final days in office, according to a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll released Tuesday. 

About 20 percent of Republicans said they “strongly” or “somewhat” approved of convicting in the latest poll, conducted Jan. 15-17. That’s an increase from the previous poll, conducted Jan. 8-11, in which 14 percent of Republicans said the same.

Approval of a conviction remained heavily partisan, with about 86 percent of Democrats saying they “strongly” or “somewhat” approved of a Senate conviction, a slight decrease from the previous poll. About 50 percent of independent respondents “strongly” or “somewhat” approved of a Senate conviction, up slightly from 47 percent in the Jan. 8-11 poll. Continue reading.

Linguists break down how Trump’s language shifted in the weeks leading up to the Capitol riot

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On Jan. 6, the world witnessed how language can incite violence. 

One after another, a series of speakers at the “Save America” rally at the Ellipse in Washington redoubled the messages of anger and outrage.

This rhetoric culminated with a directive by the president to go to the Capitol building to embolden Republicans in Congress to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

“Fight like hell,” President Donald Trump implored his supporters. “And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Continue reading.

This is white supremacist domestic terrorism. We’ve been here before.

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When domestic terrorists fueled by outlandish conspiracy theories spun by a white supremacist president of the United States stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 to overthrow the government, I was shocked. But not surprised. Our history is filled with eruptions of violence when our nation’s entrenched system of white supremacy feels that its place at the center of American life is threatened.

David Blight, Ron Chernow and Nikole Hannah-Jones, three chroniclers of our fraught racial history, were the perfect people to put the Capitol insurrection into greater perspective.

“We have plenty of precedents for what happened on January 6, not at the federal level, but in white-on-black violence in the South during Reconstruction,” Chernow told me in a primer he emailed to me before appearing on my Sunday show on MSNBC. “During this dreadful period, we had numerous cases of rampaging whites invading legislatures.” Chernow is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of a biography of President Ulysses S. Grant. Continue reading.

Investigators Eye Right-Wing Militias at Capitol Riot

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The F.B.I. has arrested several members associated with violent right-wing extremist groups known as the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters.

WASHINGTON — F.B.I. agents and prosecutors investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol have increasingly shifted their attention to dangerous right-wing extremist groups, arresting several people in recent days suspected of taking part in the violence and of possessing ties to notorious militias such as the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters.

The spate of arrests helps fill in a more complete picture of the mob that stormed the Capitol after being incited by President Trump on Jan. 6 in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College victory of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.

The arrests, in Ohio, Colorado, Indiana and Texas, came as investigators gathered evidence to determine whether any of the groups had planned ahead of time to attack the Capitol. Videos and photos have revealed chilling scenes of rioters weaving through the mobs inside the building in tight formation, wearing tactical gear, carrying restraints and using hand signals and hand radios to communicate. Continue reading.

‘She’s not on the home team’: Congressman says GOP’s Boebert gave ‘large tour’ of Capitol before insurrection

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U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) on Monday identified freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) as the member of Congress who gave a “large tour” in the days before the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

“We saw Congressman Boebert taking a group of people for a tour sometime after the 3rd and before the 6th,” Rep. Cohen told CNN late Monday morning, adding that “she had a large group with her.”

“She’s not on the home team,” Cohen said. Continue reading.

Woman may have tried to sell Pelosi computer device to Russians, FBI says

U.S. law enforcement is investigating whether a woman took a laptop computer or hard drive from U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office during the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol and tried to sell the device to Russian intelligence, according to a court filing.

An FBI agent disclosed the detail in an affidavit released on Sunday night that outlined a criminal case against Riley June Williams, a Pennsylvania woman accused of unlawfully breaching the Capitol building and directing people to Pelosi’s office.

The theft of electronic devices from congressional offices has been a persistent worry following the siege by supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump. Continue reading.