Tag: Trump insurrectionists stormed the capitol

Chuck Todd accuses Trump’s defense team of ignoring ‘the real elephants in the room’ in the trial

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During Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, his defense team has insisted that the former president never called for violence during his speech at the “Save America Rally” in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 — that he never encouraged anything other than peaceful protest. But when NBC News’ Chuck Todd discussed the trial with his colleague, Lester Holt, on Friday, he stressed that such claims ignore the totality of what Trump said the day a mob violently attacked the U.S. Capitol Building.

Todd told Holt, “They are trying to isolate the Jan. 6 speech. They are trying to ignore everything else about it. They’re trying to ignore all the tweets around it.”

Another talking point from Trump’s defenders has been that Democrats have also used heated rhetoric at times. And Todd dismissed that argument as disingenuous “whataboutism.” Continue reading.

Trump attorneys ridiculed for mind-numbing supercut video of Democrats saying ‘fight’

Former president Donald Trump’s attorney David Schoen showed a brain-pummeling supercut video of various Democrats saying the word “fight,” and viewers begged for mercy.

The nearly 10-minute video strung together brief snippets of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats using the word “fight” as a defense of Trump urging his Republican lawmakers and his supporters to challenge his election loss ahead of the deadly insurrection.

Viewers struggled to see the point — or to make it through the entire video without screaming. Continue reading.

Fox News analyst lays into Trump for how badly he betrayed the Constitution

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Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy did not mince words when he lambasted former President Donald Trump’s “indelibly stained” presidency due to the poor behavior he exhibited during the final days of his time in office. 

When McCarthy appeared for a podcast interview with Mediaite’s Aidan McLaughlin, he discussed a number of Trump’s controversies including his election fraud claims and the Capitol insurrection that opened the door for his second impeachment trial. McCarty, also a columnist at the National Review, admitted that he could not of any American president that behaved as poorly as Trump has.

“I can’t think of any other president, if you (don’t) just take January 6 by itself, but this whole continuum from November 3rd up until he left office, that’s as bad as anything I’m aware of in American history from an American president,” said McCarthy. Continue reading.

New report reveals 2 aides for Texas AG Paxton met with Trump officials just before the Capitol riots

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It’s no secret that GOP Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s traveled to Washington, D.C., the week of the U.S. Capitol riots as he appeared next to former President Donald Trump while he was onstage at the “Save America” rally. But now, his top aides’ travel to Washington is also coming to light and questions are looming about the purpose of their trip that same week. 

According to KXAN, Paxton’s aides—First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster and Communications Deputy Director Kimberly Hubbard—were the two who traveled to the nation’s capital to meet with Trump’s senior White House officials.

Records from Paxton’s office, obtained by KXAN, show details about Hubbard’s reimbursed travel expenses on taxpayers’ dime. Documentation shows that Hubbard “traveled to Washington on Jan. 5 and left Jan. 7, too. She stayed at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Washington the first night and the Alexandrian Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia, the second night. Hubbard only sought reimbursement for personal car travel in Virginia, meals and her hotel stays, for a total of just over $700.” Continue reading.

Mounting evidence suggests Trump knew of danger to Pence when he attacked him as lacking ‘courage’ amid Capitol siege

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Mounting evidence emerging as former president Donald Trump’s impeachment trial unfolds in the Senate this week indicates Trump may have been personally informed that Vice President Mike Pence was in physical danger during the Jan. 6 Capitol siege, just moments before denigrating him on Twitter.

Trump’s decision to tweet that Pence lacked “courage” — a missive sent shortly after the vice president had been rushed off the Senate floor — underscores how he delayed taking action to stop his supporters as they ransacked the Capitol.

Many of them were intent on doing harm to Pence, whom Trump had singled out at a rally earlier in the day, falsely claiming the vice president had the power to stop Congress from formalizing Joe Biden’s electoral college victory. Continue reading.

Analysis reveals Trump operation paid $3.5m to organizers of the rally that led to deadly capitol attack

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A new political spending analysis released Wednesday shows that former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign and its joint fundraising committees paid more than $3.5 million to the individuals and firms involved in organizing the January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally that presaged the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Investigators at OpenSecrets, a project of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics that examines how money influences U.S. elections and public policy, analyzed recent Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings and found “newly identified payments… [that] show people involved in organizing the protests on January 6 received even larger sums from Trump’s 2020 campaign than previously known.”

The findings come in the midst of the Senate impeachment trial that will determine whether or not Trump will be convicted for inciting the violent insurrection carried out by a mob of his supporters. Continue reading.

Justice Department says an Oath Keepers leader waited for Trump’s direction before Capitol attack

The Justice Department is now making clear that a leader among the Oath Keepers paramilitary group — who planned and led others in the US Capitol siege to attempt to stop the Biden presidency — believed she was responding to the call from then-President Donald Trump himself.”

As the inauguration grew nearer, [Jessica] Watkins indicated that she was awaiting direction from President Trump,” prosecutors wrote in a filing Thursday morning. 

This is the most direct language yet from federal prosecutors linking Trump’s requests for support in Washington, D.C., to the most militant aspects of the insurrection. Continue reading.

Trump’s acquittal is a sign of ‘constitutional rot’ – partisanship overriding principles

The Senate’s decision to acquit former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial may have been a victory for Trump, but it is a clear sign that democracy in the U.S. is in poor health. 

As a constitutional scholar, I believe the United States – the world’s first constitutional democracy – is in a state of what I call “constitutional rot.”

In a constitutional democracy, the majority’s authority to govern is limited by the rule of law and by a set of legal rules and principles set out in the Constitution. Continue reading.

Will impeachment even be a blip in 2022 battle for Senate control?

NRSC Chairman Rick Scott says midterms will focus on job creation

Former President Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment has dominated recent headlines, but neither party expects the votes cast Saturday by senators from battleground states to be a major factor in the fight for Senate control next year.

Seven Republican senators crossed party lines and joined all 50 Democrats in voting to convict Trump for inciting the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 to stop Congress from confirming Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential race. But that was 10 short of the two-thirds majority, or 67 votes, required by the Constitution. Forty-three Republicans voted to acquit Trump.

Two GOP senators in competitive races voted to acquit Trump. Just one Senate Republican up for reelection in 2022, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, voted to convict the former president. Two other Republicans in states with competitive Senate races who opted not to run for reelection, Pennsylvania’s Patrick J. Toomey and North Carolina’s Richard M. Burr, both also voted to convict.  Continue reading.

How Democratic and Republican senators voted on Trump’s second impeachment

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The Senate acquitted former president Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial, weeks after the House voted to impeach him for his alleged role in inciting an angry mob to storm the U.S. Capitol.

Two-thirds of senators present and voting were needed to convict the former president, which meant the seven Republicans who joined every Democrat and independent were not enough to reach the 67 votes needed for conviction. But it was the most bipartisan impeachment vote in history.

In addition to Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Mitt Romney (Utah) and Ben Sasse (Neb.), who were expected to join Democrats on the vote, Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.), Bill Cassidy (La.) and Patrick J. Toomey (Pa.) also voted for conviction. Continue reading.