Category Archives: Donald Trump

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The starting gun in the next White House race doesnt fire for 10 more months, until after the 2022 midterm elections.

But President Bidens most muscular comments to date regarding former President Donald Trump - as Biden gave a much talked-about address inStatuary Hall marking the one-year anniversary of the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol - appeared to serve as a preview for a potential 2024 rematch between the two leaders.

The speech seemed to be a turning point for the president, who during much of his first year in the White House has directly avoided targeting his predecessor in office. But on Thursday, without using Trumps name, the president accused him of inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in hopes of disrupting congressional certification of Bidens Electoral College victory in the 2020 election.

2021, THE YEAR THAT THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL RACE IGNITED

"We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie. And here is the truth: The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election," Biden charged, as he pointed to Trump's repeated, unfounded claims that the 2020 election was "RIGGED" and "stolen" due to massive voter fraud.

"Hes done so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own interests as more important than his countrys interests and Americas interests, and because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution," the president argued.

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 06: US President Joe Biden gives remarks in Statuary Hall of the U.S Capitol on January 6, 2022 in Washington, DC. One year ago, supporters of then President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol Building in an attempt to disrupt a congressional vote to confirm the electoral college win for Joe Biden. (Photo by Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)

And Biden emphasized that Trumps "done what no president in American historyhas ever, ever done: He refused to accept the results of an election and the will of the American people."

Stressing that Trumps "a defeated former president," Biden accused him of "trying to rewrite history." And looking ahead to what sounded like the next presidential election campaign, Biden pledged to "defend this nation. And I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of our democracy."

Trump, who canceled his originally planned news conference on Jan. 6, fired off numerous statements throughout the day.

The former president argued that Biden "used my name today to try to further divide America," labeling it "political theater."

And Trump claimed that the presidents speech was "just a distraction for the fact Biden has completely and totally failed."

WHAT TRUMP TOLD FOX NEWS ABOUT HIS 2024 TIMETABLE

Looking ahead to this Novembers midterms, when the GOP hopes to win back majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate, Trump said that "to watch Biden speaking is very hurtful for many peoplethis is an election year and MAGA Republicans should get elected and work with me to fix this horror."

After his address, Biden told reporters that he referred to Trump in his speech as a "former president" rather than directly name him because he "did not want to turn" marking the one-year anniversary of the attack on the Capitol "into a contemporary political battle between me" and Trump.

But in some ways, what Biden said on Thursday sounded like the opening shots in the next White House race.

Georgia PERRY, GA - SEPTEMBER 25: Former US President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on September 25, 2021 in Perry, Georgia. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

Expect Trump to fire back when hes in front of cameras next weekend, as he heads to the crucial battleground state of Arizona to hold his first campaign style rally of 2022.

And then there were four

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has narrowed the list of contenders to host its 2024 presidential nominating convention down to four major cities.

Making the short-list are Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Nashville, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Salt Lake City, Utah. Milwaukee and Pittsburgh are located in crucial general election battleground states, while Nashville and Salt Lake City are located in reliably red states.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

The RNC confirmed to Fox News that staff from their site selection committee will be traveling to the four finalist cities to survey the convention plans. And committee members will discuss the 2024 convention cities, as well as the nominating calendar and presidential primary debates, when the RNC holds its winter meeting, early next month in Salt Lake City.

The news of the four finalists was first reported by Politico.

Were seeing a lot less of Mike Pompeo

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he dropped 90 pounds over the past nine months thanks to exercise and dieting.

Pompeo told the New York Post that he hit a tipping point in June when he stepped on the scale and saw that his weight was nearing 300 lbs. for the first time in his life.

The Fox News contributor, a former congressman from Kansas who served as CIA director and then Americas top diplomat during the Trump administration, traveled to all four of the early voting presidential primary and caucus states last year, sparking plenty of speculation hes mulling a 2024 White House run.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

But the 58-year-old Pompeo said his weight loss isnt about any possible presidential run.

"The truth is, Im really getting ready for 2044 and hoping Ill be around in 2054," he told the New York Post, pointing to potential grandchildren. "My sons getting married in July, and I wanted to be healthier and be around for what I hope the Lord will bless us with as grandkids before too terribly long."

See original here:

Game on between Biden and Trump as president appears to give first speech of the 2024 White House race - Fox News

The solemnity of the day was in danger of being undermined by former President My Little Phony. Two weeks ago, he announced that at the time of the Capitol prayer service, he planned to deliver remarks doubling down on the big lie to counterprogram the remembrance events. Yeah, you cant let remembrance events go on without counterprogramming. The same reason at a funeral youve got to bring out an insult comic for the people who are glad the guys dead: [Imitating comic] John looks good. Its the first time Ive seen him stiff in years! Oh! His wife knows what Im talking about. Anyway, thats my time. His, too! Tip your pallbearers. STEPHEN COLBERT

It would be like Judas giving a speech to commemorate Good Friday: [Imitating Judas] Sure, its a sad day, but without me, none of this wouldve happened. The real crucifixion was on Nov. 3 Mary Magdalene knows what Im talkin about. Tip your Pharisees. STEPHEN COLBERT

Donald Trump is canceling an appearance and listening to advice from other people? Im worried about him. JAMES CORDEN

Republican senators said the press conference wasnt a good idea, so instead Trump will just spend a quiet day dancing to Y.M.C.A. at home. JAMES CORDEN

But according to The New York Timess Maggie Haberman, the real, real reason is that it was becoming clear he wasnt likely to get the live TV coverage he was hoping for. Well, that makes sense. Upstaging solemn events rarely gets good ratings. Thats why they canceled Dick Clarks Pearl Harbors Rockin Eve. STEPHEN COLBERT

In his statement regarding the cancellation, Trump referred to the insurrection as a completely unarmed protest and said he was moving the event from Mar-a-Lago to Arizona on Jan. 15.

Id like to point out that they were armed. And when did we start having to say unarmed protests? Protests are unarmed by default. Thats like saying: We had a lovely weekend. It was a totally bloodless cotillion. STEPHEN COLBERT

It makes sense that hes moving it from Mar-a-Lago to Arizona, considering their state motto: Arizona: Americas backup Florida. STEPHEN COLBERT

So, no press conference tomorrow, but Trump will speak at an Arizona rally on Jan. 15 instead, just as Martin Luther King Jr. would have wanted. JAMES CORDEN

Theres an update in the world of Covid: Everyone in the world has Covid. STEPHEN COLBERT

Speaking of, the C.D.C. announced that after you isolate for five days with Covid, you should take a rapid test if you have access to one. You can read more about it in this months issue of Unhelpful Advice magazine. JIMMY FALLON

Thats right, another update from the C.D.C. Even Dr. Fauci is like, Oh, I muted those months ago. JIMMY FALLON

View post:

Late Night Is Thrilled Trumps Finally Listening to Someone - The New York Times

WASHINGTON

Lucky countries have celebrations that remind their citizens of what binds them together think Memorial Day or the Fourth of July.

Unlucky countries do the opposite: They commemorate the divisions that drive them apart.

In Northern Ireland, Protestant militants march noisily on July 12 to remind the Catholic minority which side won the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbs march on Jan. 9 to assert their independence from the groups they fought in their countrys war.

After the U.S. Civil War, Southern states celebrated Confederate Memorial Day on a different date than the Norths Decoration Day; the holidays didnt merge until World War I.

Last week, with the anniversary of the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, the United States slipped onto the list of unhappy countries.

The day turned into a festival of national division not a single, unifying commemoration but three very different observances.

President Biden gave an unexpectedly fiery speech, blaming Donald Trump for inciting the mob that attacked the Capitol and for continuing to stoke the poisonous myth that the 2020 election was stolen.

The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies, Biden said. Hes done so because he values power over principle and because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy.

Predictably, Trump rose to the bait, issuing four angry statements from his exile in Mar-a-Lago, all renewing his spurious claims.

The Big Lie was the election itself, he wrote. The election outcome was the real insurrection, he said. And he accused the Biden administration of appalling abuse of political prisoners, an apparent reference to defendants held on federal charges after the riot a favorite cause of his fringiest followers, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).

Caught in the middle were Republican leaders who know Trump lost the election but dont want to say so because it would enrage the vengeful former president.

They observed Jan. 6 by offering muddled statements that disapproved of the riot but blamed Democrats for politicizing the issue as if there were any way to avoid connecting the invasion of the Capitol to politics.

The actions of that day were lawless and as wrong as wrong can be, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) said. The problem now, he complained, is that Democrats are using it as a partisan political weapon.

Its a difficult straddle to execute, as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) discovered when he incautiously described the riot as a violent terrorist attack, a phrase he has used in the past.

Heresy! Cruz, who ran against Trump for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, was assailed by Trump supporters and subjected to interrogation by Tucker Carlson of Fox News. It was not a violent terrorist attack, Carlson insisted.

In a scene reminiscent of the show trials of Mao Zedongs China, Cruz promptly recanted his deviation from party doctrine.

It was a mistake, he said, referring to his statement, not the riot.

Lesson to other Republicans who seek reelection: Dont deviate from Trumps views, or you may be a victim of the GOPs own form of cancel culture.

Trump, who gloried in watching the mob rampage through the Capitol, doesnt appear to want the battle to end. And thats the chief obstacle to getting over the division that remains. Its not about whether sacking the Capitol was right or wrong; even McCarthy can answer that question accurately. Its whether the myth Trump used to rile up the mob his infinitely debunked claim that the election was stolen should be embraced or repudiated.

Thats not a debate that offers ground for compromise. Either Trump is right, and the current president of the United States is illegitimate or Trump deliberately set out to overturn a democratic election and is bending the rest of the GOP to his will.

So far, he appears to be succeeding, at least when it comes to radicalizing his party.

Thats why Biden, after months of pretending that Trump was no longer there, escalated last week.

We are in a battle for the soul of America, he said, reviving a slogan from his 2020 campaign. I did not seek this fight but I will not shrink from it, either.

Trumps continuing campaign to deny the presidents legitimacy no ground for compromise there, either left him little choice.

For a few weeks after Jan. 6, 2021, it was possible to hope that the trauma of the day might unify the country. That didnt happen; the ensuing year only confirmed our division.

The lesson of Jan. 6, 2022, is that Jan. 6 isnt over.

Read more from the original source:

Column: The lesson of Jan. 6: Jan. 6 still isn't over - Los Angeles Times

Tiffany Trump is busy planning her wedding to financier Michael Boulos, but the couple took some time for a little rest and relaxation over the holidays. Instead of a typical Trump celebration with her dad Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the duo decided to head to the French Alps with Michaels parents,Massad and Sarah Boulos, his older brother, Fares Boulos and Tiffanys mom, Marla Maples.

Michael shared a very glam photo of the two of them sitting slopeside at Courchevel, a luxurious French ski resort. Tiffany wore chic black sunglasses and a Tiffany-blue puffy coat with fur trim and a black fur hat (she looked like a ski bunny). Her fianc kept his winter gear simple with an all-black ensemble and reflective sunglasses. It doesnt look like Tiffany hit the slopes, but her mom looked like she had the time of her life with her future son-in-law and his family.

Maples sounded truly moved to be included in their vacation plans. Moments of fun captured in time! Ive learned that joy is the greatest commodity we have to share with others, she wrote in the caption of her photo dump. I am so grateful for this family and the special time of adventure, dreaming, laughing and praying together. Heres to everyone finding reasons to smile and more ways to share love! She even bonded with Michael and Massad for a top-of-the-mountain family picture.

Even though Tiffany made the move to Florida like her Trump siblings, she is rarely seen spending time with them. This holiday vacation with her future in-laws (and missing her dads annual New Years Eve party) might signal that shes ready to identify as a Boulos family member and it looks like shes bringing mom along for the ride.

Before you go, click here to see the net worth of 15 mega-rich celebrity kids.

See more here:

Tiffany Trump Skipped Dad Donald Trumps New Years Eve Party For a Ski Vacation With Her In-Laws - SheKnows

Hours after rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence listens after reading the final certification of the Electoral College votes cast in the 2020 presidential election. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption

Hours after rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence listens after reading the final certification of the Electoral College votes cast in the 2020 presidential election.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, chair of the Democratic-led House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, says members expect this month to ask former Vice President Mike Pence to voluntarily appear.

Pence's role on the day of the siege has drawn close interest from the committee, as it examines then-President Donald Trump's actions that day, as well as in the days leading up to the attack. Trump had been pressuring Pence to step out of his ceremonial role and reject Joe Biden's election results in several key states.

Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, shared the timing plans for the Pence ask in an interview with NPR.

"I think you could expect that before the month's out," Thompson said.

He described Pence's appearance as critical, especially as the former vice president ultimately issued a letter before the Jan. 6 proceedings that said he would not step out of his ceremonial role.

"The vice president was put in a tough spot. The president was putting a lot of pressure on him to break the law, and he stood fast," added Thompson. "And because of his respect for law, there were people who came to the Capitol a year ago wanting to hang him. And so, if for no other reason, our committee really needs to hear what are his opinions about what happened on Jan. 6."

The committee is meeting next week behind closed doors and expects to firm up final plans regarding Pence and the voluntary ask then, Thompson said.

The effort comes as the committee moves into a new phase of its investigation, with a closer look into Donald Trump's inner circle and new public requests for voluntary testimony. In the last several weeks, the committee has asked that Fox News personality Sean Hannity and Republican Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Jim Jordan of Ohio come before the panel.

None has signaled interest in doing so.

Thompson did not rule out more requests for other witnesses in Trump's inner circle, including daughter and former senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump.

"Look, we are absolutely open to anyone coming voluntarily to the committee," Thompson said. "If in fact we think somebody has information that as a committee we need, and getting a subpoena for that person's participation is important, then we will do it."

The committee has obtained information that Ivanka Trump tried to get her father to call off the riot several times that day, Thompson and other members have said.

"We have information that Ivanka did try to get the president to call off what was occurring at the Capitol. We don't have all the information. That's why we would love to have access to it," Thompson said.

Thompson said more details on Ivanka Trump's requests to her father regarding the attack are likely held within White House documents that are the subject of an ongoing legal fight. Donald Trump has lost several rounds in federal courts seeking to block the committee's access to a tranche of those documents and is now asking the Supreme Court to intervene.

"So we think once we have access to that, it will help clear up all the drips and drabbles of the information that we are getting," Thompson said.

The committee has issued more than 50 subpoenas, has interviewed about 350 witnesses, has received more than 45,000 documents and is chasing nearly 350 tips.

The committee is also assessing whether Donald Trump or others should be considered for criminal referrals for their actions tied to the siege. So far, the House has approved the committee's two criminal referrals for ex-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former strategist Steve Bannon.

Thompson said the committee is also working to issue "significant recommendations" for new legislation. This could include reforms to the Electoral Count Act or new penalties for obstructing an official proceeding, such as the certification of presidential election results.

"Because one of the dangers, as you know, is if the insurrectionists had been successful and gotten their hands on the ballots from the different states and destroyed [them]," Thompson said, "we would have had a constitutional crisis of no end."

The panel is in a race to wrap up its investigation before the November midterm elections this year, as Republicans could take back control of the lower chamber next year and shut down the probe.

Hearings to present those findings could be held by this spring or summer, members have said.

Read the original:

Jan. 6 panel expects this month to ask Mike Pence to voluntarily appear - NPR

Former President Donald Trump's niece, author Mary Trump, said this week that she thought her uncle did not intervene to stop the violence on January 6 because he was "getting off on it."

Mary Trump was responding to new information revealed by Rep. Liz Cheney from the January 6 panel's investigation into the Capitol riot. Cheney told ABC News host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday that the former president continued to watch the January 6 riot unfold on TV from a dining room next to the Oval Office, instead of intervening to stop the violence.

Mary Trump responded to the news in an appearance on SiriusXM's "The Dean Obeidallah Show" this week.

"We know his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence. Obviously he didn't do that. Any of this surprise you?" Obeidallah asked Trump.

"No, and what's sort of eerie is that I thought we already knew that. Like, I had a picture in my head because it makes perfect sense of course, that's what he was doing. He was getting off on it," Trump told Obeidallah. "And there was no way he was going to stop anything because he was enjoying it too much, and he probably wanted it to get worse."

Trump added that she thought the only reason Ivanka and others in Trump's orbit were telling him to stop the violence at the Capitol was that it "got out of control."

"They really thought that they could control this monster they created and were probably hoping for a bloodless coup. If they could just get Pence to do, you know, in their view, the right thing, or delay enough or get it thrown to the Supreme Court or what have you," Trump said.

She added that Trump likely had "no interest" in telling them to stand down even after the crowd turned violent. Crowds breached the Capitol at 2:11 p.m. on January 6, and Trump waited a full hour before taking to Twitter and encouraging his followers to "remain peaceful" and "respect" authorities.

"They realized that they needed Donald to tell them to stand down, which he had no interest in doing because he probably thought, one, that it was fun to watch all these people being murderous on his behalf. But two that it would be the best way for him to stay in power," Trump added.

Trump has been an outspoken critic of her uncle. This past September, she called him a "fascist" and, on a separate occasion, a "loser."

Representatives for former President Donald Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

In recent weeks, the January 6 select committee revealed panicked texts sent during the Capitol riot from Donald Trump Jr. to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. In those texts, Trump Jr. begged Meadows to get his father to give a speech to stop the insurrection.

According to the January 6 committee, Fox News hosts and other lawmakers also texted Meadows, imploring him to get Trump to stop the violence at the Capitol.

The former president continues to double down on his claims that the January 6 riot was a "completely unarmed protest of the rigged election."

Earlier this week, Trump called off a press conference initially scheduled for the one-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection. He blamed the abrupt cancellation of the eventon "the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6 Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media."

See original here:

Mary Trump: Donald Trump was 'getting off' on the January 6 violence - Business Insider

In hindsight, Donald Trumps intentions could not appear clearer. During the final months of the 2020 Presidential race, he systematically conducted a disinformation campaign that convinced many of his supporters the election would be stolen by Democrats. After losing, he doubled down on those false claims and repeatedly pressured state election officials, Justice Department prosecutors, federal and state judges, members of Congress, and the Vice-President to overturn the results. After those efforts failed, he appeared at a rally in Washington, D.C., where he urged thousands of his supporters to stop Congress from certifying his defeat. For hours, as they stormed the Capitol, he failed to act.

Those steps, the leaders of the congressional committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol contend, seemingly constitute a crime. But, based on the evidence made public so far, the unprecedented nature of Trumps actionstogether with the vagueness of laws regarding the certification of Presidential elections, legal loopholes, and his manipulation of otherscould allow the former President to escape being criminally charged for his role in events surrounding the attack.

A congressional staffer with knowledge of the committees investigation said that it is ongoing and too early to say what it will yield. The staffer pointed out that Trump has a history of trying to avoid explicitly implicating himself in wrongdoing over the years, as he did in the Oval Office call with Ukraines Presidentwhich, nevertheless, led to his first impeachment. Trump seems to have been very careful never to give an orderto strongly insinuate what should happen rather than giving an order, the staffer told me, comparing Trump with Henry II of England, who famously (perhaps apocryphally) engineered the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury by signalling to subordinates his desire to be free of the religious leader without explicitly ordering it. The staffer, who asked not to be named, invoked a phrase said to have been uttered by the twelfth-century king: Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?

Recent statements by the committee chair, Bennie Thompson, and the vice-chair, Liz Cheneyone of only two Republicans on the panelhave raised expectations that the panel will refer Trump to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution. Such a step would increase the political pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland to prosecute Trump. In a television interview on Sunday, Thompson said that the panel is examining whether Trump committed a crime: If theres any confidence on the part of our committee that something criminal we believe has occurred, well make the referral. And Cheney, in a speech last month, mentioned a specific charge: Did Donald Trump, through action or inaction, corruptly seek to obstruct or impede Congresss official proceeding to count electoral votes?

Federal prosecutors in Washington have charged dozens of rioters who stormed the Capitol with felony counts of obstructing an official proceeding of Congress, which carry a potential sentence of up to twenty years. But legal experts said that convicting Trump of such a charge could be difficult. Ilya Somin, a libertarian legal scholar at George Mason University and a critic of the former President, told me that Trumps lawyers would likely argue that it did not apply to him because he did not enter the Capitol on January 6th. I think it is very clear that it applies to the people who entered the building, Somin said. If Trump did enter the building and lead the attack in person, it would be much easier to convict him of this and other offenses.

The congressional staffer with knowledge of the committees work said that the media had exaggerated Thompson and Cheneys statements. The criminal-referral stuff has gotten blown out of proportion, the staffer cautioned. It has become the shiny new object. (Another shiny new object emerged on Tuesday, when the committee asked the Fox News host Sean Hannity to voluntarily testify about text messages that hed sent which show he had advance knowledge regarding President Trumps and his legal teams planning for January 6th. Hannity warned against Republicans in Congress trying to overturn the results, writing on January 5th that he was very worried about the next 48 hours.) The staffer said that the committee is primarily focussed on creating a definitive history of events on January 6th and recommending laws and reforms that would prevent future attempts to overturn electionsgiving the American people the full picture of what happened and making recommendations to help insure that nothing like January 6th happens again.

Ultimately, the decision about whether to prosecute Trump lies with Garland, a former federal judge who has made restoring public faith in the political neutrality of the Justice Department his core goal. Despite Garlands attempts to divorce the Justice Department from politically charged prosecutions, it is increasingly clear that investigating Trump is becoming the defining issue of his tenure. The continued defiance of Trump and his allies is forcing Garland to make a decision faced by none of his predecessors: whether to prosecute a former President who tried to subvert an election and appears ready to do so again. Democrats are demanding that Garland move more aggressively, with Representative Ruben Gallego, of Arizona, declaring his effort so far weak and feckless, and contending that there are a lot more of the organizers of January 6th that should be arrested by now.

David Laufman, a former senior Justice Department official, said he disagreed with criticism of the Justice Department for not having already charged Trump criminally. Notwithstanding the horrors of January 6th, D.O.J. should not be pursuing criminal investigations or prosecutions against former President Trump or others connected to the attack on the Capitol unless both the facts and the law support doing so under established policy, he said. Its the Department of Justicenot the Department of Retributionand we dont want to see the rule of law eroded just to make us feel good. But Laufman also called for prosecutors to not go easy on Trump, adding that the department shouldnt be shying away from using the full weight of its enforcement authorities against Trump or anyone else simply because doing so could be perceived as politically motivated.

On Wednesday afternoon, Garland gave a speech that was clearly designed to reassure the public and counter critics. The twenty-five-minute address was vintage Garland. He pledged political neutrality and declared that we follow the factsnot an agenda or an assumption. He promised equal justice for all: There cannot be different rules depending on ones political party or affiliation. There cannot be different rules for friends and foes. And he vowed further measures. The actions we have taken thus far will not be our last, he said, adding that the Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under lawwhether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.

In an era when the majority of Republicans falsely believe that the 2020 election was fraudulent and the majority of Democrats think that it was not, Garland will be demonized no matter what action he takes regarding Trump. The Attorney General, based on his speech, continues to believe that he can restore normal ordera Justice Department term for basing decisions on whether to charge defendants strictly on the facts of a case. He continues to believe that the majority of Americans still support the principle that all people should be treated fairly under the law, including Donald Trump. And that the majority will reject political violence and trust the judicial system. At the moment, that belief, for Garland and all Americans, is an enormous political gamble.

Original post:

The January 6th Criminal Case Against Donald Trump - The New Yorker

We should be grateful for such small mercies.

In a rare moment of lucidity, Donald Trump has abandoned plans to take part in what would have amounted to a Satanic-like version of Groundhog Day, by informing his army of culpable MAGA-hat-wearing worshippers that he will not reprise his role as insurrectionist-in-chief on the first anniversary of the storming of Capitol Hill.

Trump had intended, no doubt, to launch into one of his signature diatribes to absolve himself of responsibility for the seminal role he played in what is emerging, drip by incriminating drip, to have been a coordinated but, ultimately, failed coup dtat.

Reportedly, Trump remains holed up at his gaudy version of Shangri-La the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida at the urging of his circle of reliable sycophants who advised that his habit of droning on and on extemporaneously might further implicate him in the violent desecration of the United States Constitution a year ago.

Trump was also miffed that his incoherent, lie-laced remarks would not be televised, denying this preening narcissist the validation that apparently gives his vacant life the ephemeral attention a twice-impeached president and pampered brat requires like he requires oxygen in almost equal measure.

Alas, our reprieve from having to endure another spasm of Trumps lunatic tantrums will be brief since he plans to say what he proposed to say today at a rich white mans never-ending grievance-fest sorry, rally slated for later this month in Arizona.

Still, it is a relief that, for once, Trump has opted, surprisingly, to shut up largely out of self-preservation, of course particularly on a day that, given its historical import, will, I suspect, be remembered and reviled by enlightened Americans in the same vein as 9/11.

It is worth recalling that the terrorists who attacked the US on that date may have been plotting to destroy the Capitol as well. They were thwarted by brave passengers and crew on board United Flight 93 who, ironically, organised another type of insurrection to save lives (possibly) at the Capitol at the expense of their own.

So, arguably, on January 6, 2021, Trump and his band of fanatical allies in Congress and at the White House helped finish the job begun by a band of fanatics on 9/11. Instead of a plane, the MAGA mob ransacked and overwhelmed the seat of US democracy by virtue of their rampaging numbers and with any weapon at hand.

Trumps crass revisionism about what happened this time last year on Capitol Hill and why it happened has been taken up by the usual and some unusual suspects.

The usual suspects, like Trump, feed their viewers and readers a geyser of lies about what happened and why it happened for the same rank reasons as their dear, delusional leader money, notoriety and to disfigure history.

They have no shame. Hence, they cannot be shamed.

It is the unusual suspects, including several lapsed progressive writers, who should be ashamed of belittling the Trump-led insurrection simply as a gathering of aggrieved Americans gone slightly awry or giving sustenance to the crackpot claim that the FBI secretly fomented the furious mayhem as part of a false flag operation.

Like smug conspiracy-mongers, they cling to minor discrepancies to challenge the official story in their fantastical effort to dismiss the seriousness of a calculated and determined attempt to prevent the certification of a new president elected by a healthy plurality of voters.

Move over, Oliver Stone. You have ludicrous company.

Meanwhile, a gaggle of centrist columnists outside the US, has penned their de rigueur commemorative missives that contemplate with varying degrees of apocalyptic horror the lasting significance and consequences of the traumatic bedlam of 1/6.

In Canada, a number of pundits have suddenly experienced remarkable epiphanies and now recognise the existential threat that Trump and his legion of frothing, AK-47-toting disciples pose to the institutional framework of Americas constitutional republic.

It took them a while.

I remember when these realpolitik-clich-spouting types lectured those of us who warned, years ago, that Trump was a flagrant fascist whose defining autocratic nature would inevitably lead to a brutal assault on the already fragile and corroded infrastructure of US democracy.

Despite Trumps litany of outrages that confirmed, again and again, his odious character and sinister designs, these sensible centrists insisted that this crude, but capable, authoritarian should be treated with grudging deference and respect lest he scuttle lucrative cross-border commerce or, worse, trigger a trade war.

Oh, how I remember when the keyboard cavalry condemned Canadas appeasement of that other, and long forgotten, menace to Western democratic values and principles, Saddam Hussein, when then Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrtien refused to join the calamitous coalition of the willing.

Turns out, the critics of appeasement became the appeasers who, throughout Trumps egregious tenure as president, repeatedly cautioned against confronting his blatant anti-democratic modus operandi in favour of the national interest.

These days, the sensible centrists have done a stunning volte-face and lament that conditions are ripe for the imminent collapse of American democracy and that, by 2030, if not sooner, the country could be governed by a right-wing dictatorship.

In 2014, the suggestion that Donald Trump would become president would also have struck nearly everyone as absurd. But today we live in a world where the absurd regularly becomes real and the horrible commonplace, a Canadian political scientist wrote in a suitably centrist Canadian newspaper.

Not true.

Several astute observers, including the prescient writer and filmmaker, Michael Moore, warned, early on, that a wretched, ignorant, dangerous, part-time clown and full-time sociopath is going to be [Americas] next president.

And the horrible had become commonplace long before January 6, 2022. It is just that the sensible centrists in Canada and elsewhere chose wilfully and willingly to ignore it to mollify Trump.

They have, it appears, forgotten this, prompting a Royal Roads University professor to pen this astonishing paragraph: But now we must focus on the urgent problem of what to do about the likely unraveling of democracy in the United States. We need to start by fully recognising the magnitude of the danger.

Scores of wise, concerned people were focused on the urgent problem and recognised the magnitude of the danger prior to and immediately after Trump rode down a golden escalator to announce his candidacy for president in 2015.

They were ignored or ridiculed as nave idealists who did not understand how the real world works.

To irresponsible, habitually wrong, sensible centrists in Canada and beyond: A belated welcome to the real world.

Finally, the millions of enlightened Americans who have resisted Trump and pine, like me, to see him and his confederates paraded into a courtroom in appropriately coloured orange jumpsuits, were likely disappointed by Attorney General Merrick Garlands comments yesterday regarding the number of insurrectionists charged to date.

Hundreds of Trumps maniacal foot soldiers have been nabbed and some sentenced. Their leaders, so far, have escaped accountability and punishment.

On this score, Garland offered rather vague assurances that the Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law whether they were present that day or otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.

Garland then pleaded for patience with the course of the ongoing investigation.

[The probe will continue] as long as it takes and whatever it takes for justice to be done consistent with the facts and the law, the ponderous attorney general said.

Well, you best hurry, man, or there will be nothing left to save.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.

See original here:

Trumps 1/6 finished the job of 9/11 - Al Jazeera English

More than 1,000 Americans in positions of public trust acted as accomplices in Donald Trumps attempt to overturn the 2020 election result, participating in the violent insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January or spreading the big lie that the vote count had been rigged.

The startling figure underlines the extent to which Trumps attempt to undermine the foundations of presidential legitimacy has metastasized across the US. Individuals who engaged in arguably the most serious attempt to subvert democracy since the civil war are now inveigling themselves into all levels of government, from Congress and state legislatures down to school boards and other local public bodies.

The finding that 1,011 individuals in the public realm played a role in election subversion around the 2020 presidential race comes from a new pro-democracy initiative that launched on Wednesday.

The Insurrection Index seeks to identify all those who supported Trump in his bid to hold on to power despite losing the election, in the hope that they can be held accountable and prevented from inflicting further damage to the democratic infrastructure of the country.

All of the more than 1,000 people recorded on the index have been invested with the publics trust, having been entrusted with official positions and funded with taxpayer dollars. Many are current or former government employees at federal, state or local levels.

Among them are 213 incumbents in elected office and 29 who are running as candidates for positions of power in upcoming elections. There are also 59 military veterans, 31 current or former law enforcement officials, and seven who sit on local school boards.

When the index goes live on Thursday, it will contain a total of 1,404 records of those who played a role in trying to overturn the 2020 election. In addition to the 1,011 individuals, it lists 393 organizations deemed to have played a part in subverting democracy.

The index is the brainchild of Public Wise, a voting rights group whose mission is to fight for government that reflects the will and the rights of voters. Christina Baal-Owens, the groups executive director, said that the index was conceived as an ongoing campaign designed to keep insurrectionists out of office.

These are folks who silenced the voices of American voters, who took a validly held election and created fraudulent information to try to silence voters. They have no business being near legislation or being able to affect the lives of American people, she said.

The project has been set up with legal advice from Marc Elias, one of the most influential election lawyers in the US who was Hillary Clintons top counsel in the 2016 presidential campaign and who successfully led Joe Bidens resistance to Trumps blitzkrieg of lawsuits contesting the 2020 results. Elias told the Guardian that the index was needed urgently to avoid history repeating itself in 2024 or beyond.

We are one, maybe two elections away from a constitutional crisis over election subversion, he said. If we dont recognize who was behind the attempt to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, then next time we will be less prepared and it may succeed.

Elias said he saw the index as an example of the kinds of robust action progressives need to take to combat an unprecedented wave of anti-democratic legislation emanating from Republicans in the past 12 months. While Trump had reshaped the right to be laser-focused on elections and winning at all costs, Democrats are spreading their energies thinly between a number of causes of which protecting democracy was just one, he said.

The central theme of the Republican party today is undermining free and fair elections. Under Trump that has become a credential within the party, and we cant let those folks win without a fight because if we do we lose our democracy.

The individuals recorded on the index who are already in public office include the 147 members of Congress who objected to the certification of the 2020 election result. The list also names many elected officials in state legislatures across the nation, including states like Arizona that were ground zero for Trumps efforts to steal the election from Biden.

Jake Hoffman, a lawmaker who represents Arizonas 12th district, wrote to fellow Republicans a day before the Capitol insurrection urging them to pressure then vice-president Mike Pence into blocking Bidens victory. Vice-President Pence has the power to delay congressional certification and seek clarification from state legislatures in contested states as to which slate of electors are proper and accurate, Hoffman wrote, reflecting a theory embraced by Trump that has been thoroughly rebutted.

The week before the insurrection, 17 Arizona state lawmakers wrote to Pence urging him to block the use of any Electors from Arizona despite multiple counts by then establishing that Biden had won the state by more than 10,000 votes. Among the signatories was Mark Finchem, a member of the Arizona House of representatives who was present at Trumps stop the steal rally in Washington on 6 January and who is now vying to become Arizona secretary of state the top election official who oversees the presidential count.

Among the 59 individuals on the index with military backgrounds is Christopher Warnagiris, who in June became the first active-duty member of the armed forces to be charged in relation with the Capitol assault. Despite facing nine counts of assault and violent entry, he has been permitted to continue serving within the training and education section at the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia.

Public Wise has drawn on a number of public information sources to compile the index, working in partnership with other pro-democracy groups who have added specialist skills. The partners include American Oversight, a non-partisan organisation that has used freedom of information laws to extract information from government agencies that exposes participants in the big lie.

The goal is to build up a holistic picture so that nothing can fall through the cracks and no one can slip away, said Austin Evers, the executive director of American Oversight. We ask: who is this ccd on this email? What handle is this on a social media account? If we can connect the dots we can ensure accountability can be brought to bear.

Evers said that the most chilling revelation of the research was that the 6 January insurrection was inspired by an ideology that was supported by people in power. State legislators in Arizona were involved in the run-up to January 6 and after January 6 used their positions to drive the big lie. That feels cancerous the attack on democracy has the backing of political, and even governmental, infrastructure.

One likely charge leveled at the new index by rightwing individuals and groups is that it is a form of cancel culture, designed to silence anyone airing uncomfortable views. Baal-Owens dismisses any such criticism.

Our call to action is about voting, not doxing, she said, pointing out that no private information is included on the index. The call to action is not to show up at this persons house or chase their child to school, but to allow every registered voter to have an educated way to cast their vote.

The groups behind the index hope that it will alert voters to the anti-democratic actions of people running for elected office. The value of such a record, they believe, would increase exponentially were the Republicans to take back control of Congress in this years midterm elections, leading almost certainly to an abrupt halt in congressional investigations into the events of 6 January.

Go here to see the original:

More than 1,000 US public figures aided Trumps effort to overturn election - The Guardian

Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Its as good a time as any to check in with Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of former president Donald Trump. What do you think Don Jr. is up to? For one thing, he was subpoenaed on Monday as part of New York States investigation into his fathers business practice. What else? Aside from texting his dad and filming a video inside what may or may not be a gun-lined bunker, it turns out Don Jr. has also spent the past year enjoying life as an engaged man.

According to Page Six, the former presidents oldest son has been engaged to his long-time girlfriend, former Fox News correspondent Kimberly Guilfoyle, for almost a year. The Daily Mail reports that Junior proposed on New Years Eve 2020, and that the couple has kept it hidden from the public since. Maybe he didnt want to outshine his sister Tiffanys iconic decision to get engaged the day before her father left the White House.

Don Jr.s engagement went public thanks to Guilfoyle, who broadcast it not through her impressive vocal athleticism but via an Instagram post in which the diamond ring was featured prominently on her engagement finger. According to one source, the ring is almost 8 carats, which is a very Trumpian way of describing a 7-carat ring. While its not clear if a wedding date has been set, there is no telling what horrors await us during this union. A rehearsal dinner at Four Seasons Total Landscaping? Haunted teddy bears at all the guests tables? Will Guilfoyle make a toast that raises Satan himself from the depths of hell? Maybe marrying one of his fathers top fund-raisers will finally get Don Jr. a kiss from daddy.

Get the Cut newsletter delivered daily

Follow this link:

Donald Trump Jr. Was Secretly Engaged for a Year? - The Cut