Tag: Trump insurrection

Mike Pence breaks with Trump, wants GOP to be ‘the party of the Constitution’

Raw Story Logo

As Donald Trump continues to push baseless conspiracy theories and refuses to concede that he lost the 2020 presidential election, his former vice president urged Republicans to back the Constitution.

During a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, Pence said he was proud to certify the election results that showed the GOP ticket lost by seven million votes.

“You know, every office holder in this country takes the same oath, to support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Pence noted. “I took that oath as vice president — on President Ronald Reagan’s Bible.” Continue reading.

In sentencing regretful Capitol protester, federal judge rebukes Republicans

Washington Post logo

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth castigated Republican lawmakers on Wednesday for downplaying the violence of the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, saying in handing down the first sentence to a charged defendant that those who break the law must pay a penalty.

“I’m especially troubled by the accounts of some members of Congress that January 6 was just a day of tourists walking through the Capitol,” he said. “I don’t know what planet they were on. . . . This was not a peaceful demonstration. It was not an accident that it turned violent; it was intended to halt the very functioning of our government.”

The 49-year-old Indiana woman before him, who had just pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of demonstrating inside the Capitol, did not disagree. Continue reading.

Pelosi announces select committee to investigate Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Axios Logo

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Thursday that she will create a House select committee to investigate the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Why it matters: The creation of a single Democratic-controlled special committee, which will consolidate several House investigations, comes after Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have established a bipartisan 9/11-style commission.

  • While Republicans would have had equal control over the blocked 9/11-style investigative commission, it’s unlikely they will have the same leverage over the House select committee investigation. Continue reading.

Pennsylvania Senate GOP edges toward Arizona-style election audit

The Hill logo

A top Pennsylvania Republican says he supports an audit of the state’s presidential election results similar to a review being conducted in Arizona, raising the potential for other states to spend taxpayer money investigating former President Trump’s false claims of improprieties and fraud.

Pennsylvania state Sen. David Argall (R), who heads the Senate State Government Committee that has oversight of election administration, told reporters he supports another look at the Pennsylvania results.

“It’s a very careful recount, forensic audit, so yeah, I don’t see the danger in it,” Argall said during a forum with reporters from Spotlight PA, a consortium of media companies from across the state. “I just think that it would not be a bad idea at all to proceed with an audit similar to what they’re doing in Arizona.”  Continue reading.

Feds investigating whether Roger Stone ‘radicalized’ Trump supporters who stormed Capitol: Report

Raw Story Logo

Roger Stone is reportedly under investigation for his role in planning the Jan. 6 insurrection to undo Donald Trump’s election loss.

Federal prosecutors are building a conspiracy case against right-wing militants who allegedly plotted the insurrection, and investigators are looking into the roles Stone and Alex Jones may have played in radicalizing Trump supporters who joined the assault on the U.S. Capitol, according to Los Angeles Times legal affairs columnist Harry Litman.

“I think they are leaving no stone unturned to kind of portray and determine the color of what happened here, were the insurrectionists influenced by staff, members of Congress, Trump loyalists like Roger Stone and Alex Jones,” Litman told MSNBC’s Zerlina Maxwell. “They’re really wanting to paint a full picture rather than — we see the biggest charges against some of the people, they are criminal conspiracy and insurrection, they pack plenty of wallop already, and that is the overall code they are going after but the picture deservedly is one of terrorism. These were domestic terrorists.” Continue reading.

Southern Baptist leader calls out QAnon: ‘Armed insurrection does not fit with God’s word’

Raw Story Logo

Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton sought to distance churches from the delusional QAnon conspiracy theory during a Saturday appearance on MSNBC.

In May, Axios reported on QAnon infecting churches in America.

“That stunning window into the country’s congregations followed a major poll, out last week: 15% of Americans, the poll found, agree with the QAnon contention that ‘the government, media, and financial worlds in the U.S. are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation.’ The online poll was taken by Ipsos in March for the Public Religion Research Institute and Interfaith Youth Core,” Axios reported. “The poll found that Hispanic Protestants (26%) and white evangelical Protestants (25%) were more likely to agree with the QAnon philosophies than other groups.” Continue reading.

‘Italygate’ election conspiracy theory was pushed by two firms led by woman who also falsely claimed $30 million mansion was hers

Washington Post logo

Late last December, as President Donald Trump pressed senior officials to find proof of election fraud, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows emailed acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen a letter detailing an outlandish theory of how an Italian defense contractor had conspired with U.S. intelligence to rig the 2020 presidential contest.

The letter, which was among records released by Congress this past week, was printed under the letterhead of USAerospace Partners, a little-known Virginia aviation company. In early January, a second Virginia firm, the Institute for Good Governance, and a partner organization released a statement from an Italian attorney who claimed that a hacker had admitted involvement in the supposed conspiracy.

According to the conspiracy theory known as “Italygate,” people working for the Italian defense contractor, in coordination with senior CIA officials, used military satellites to switch votes from Trump to Joe Biden and swing the result of the election. Continue reading.

GOP’s ‘Offensively Absurd’ Spin On Capitol Riot Gets A Firm Debunking

Huff Post logo

Seven Republican claims about the Jan. 6 insurrection were dismantled by CNN’s Brianna Keilar and John Berman.

CNN’s “New Day” anchors Brianna Keilar and John Berman dismantled seven “offensively absurd” claims that conservatives are now pushing about the deadly U.S. Capitol riot.

On Friday, Berman noted how “some Republicans and some deranged entertainers keep developing new and provably false ways to say the insurrection did not happen.”

The co-hosts then firmly debunked each current GOP claim about the attack carried out by the violent mob incited by Donald Trump ― from their “peaceful protesters” spin to the falsehood that they weren’t armed.

View the post here.

Fox News now has a conspiracy theory that vindicates both Matt Gaetz and Donald Trump

Raw Story Logo

Fox News personality Tucker Carlson on Friday returned to his debunked conspiracy theory that it was actually the FBI — not Trump and his supporters — who were responsible for the January 6th insurrection.

After Carlson interviewed Glenn Greenwald, the host wondered if maybe the FBI set up not just Donald Trump supporters, but also Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

“It does kind of make you wonder about Matt Gaetz, actually. Remember Matt Gaetz? He was engaged in child sex trafficking,” Carlson said with a mocking voice. Continue reading.

GOP increasingly balks at calling Jan. 6 an insurrection

The Hill logo

A growing number of Republican lawmakers are refusing to say that the Jan. 6 insurrection was actually an insurrection.

Nearly two dozen GOP House members voted against legislation this week that would award Congressional Gold Medals to police officers who defended the Capitol that day, in part because it describes the mob of then-President Trump’s supporters who were trying to stop Congress from ratifying the 2020 election results as “insurrectionists.”

“They were protesting. And I don’t approve of the way they protested, but it wasn’t an insurrection,” said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). Continue reading.