Category Archives: Republican

Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) gestures toward pro-Trump rioters President Donald Trump gathered outside the US Capitol to protest the certification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory January 6, 2021. Some demonstrators later breached security and stormed the Capitol. (Francis Chung / E&E News and Politico via AP Images)

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Unity is the word that white people use when they want to accommodate and appease the forces of white supremacy. Its what made antislavery whites in the North compromise and unite with rapists and murderers who held human beings as farm animals, in order to have a Constitution. Its what made Abraham Lincoln, the so-called Great Emancipator, offer charity instead of malice to the violent insurrectionists he had just beaten. Its the word white people invoked when they advocated the imprisonment of outside agitators like Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis during the civil rights era. Unity is what oppressors always call for when they seek amnesty for their actions.

Fuck unity.

The calls for unity from House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, Senator Marco Rubio, and any number of Republicans who have enabled and emboldened Donald Trump for years are nothing more than a veiled threat: Accept the violence already committed, or risk additional violence against you.

We must not bow to the threat. Trump and his band of insurrectionists must face justice. Its not a coincidence that the people who seem most clear-eyed now about what must be done to hold Trump and Republicans in Congress accountable are women, especially women of color. They understand what kind of unity the Republicans are truly offering, and they are the ones who are having none of it.

Representative Cori Bush, freshman congresswoman from Missouri, is calling on the House of Representatives to expel the members of Congress who tried to overturn the will of the people by overthrowing the election. We can argue around the edges whether every single member who voted to block the certification of the Electoral College results, all 139 members of the House and eight members of the Senate, should be thrown out of the body. Personally, I think they should be. The foundational reason for the attack on our democracy, and the proximate cause of the siege of the Capitol, was the core claim that the votes of Black people who gave Joe Biden his margin of victory in swing states should be rejected. I do not see how you can be a representative of our government if you so openly believe that the Black people living under this government shouldnt count, that their votes are illegitimate, and that the electoral will of 81 million people should be summarily rejected because 74 million people disagreed.

Still, I suppose we can, at least, debate the issue of what should happen to the 147 members who gave comfort to the insurrectionists. But there can be no debate about what should happen if any House members are found to have directly aided the attack on the Capitol. The attempted coup has scarcely been investigated, and you cant indict someone based on amateur reconstructed time linesbut those reconstructed time lines are certainly alarming.

Representative Mikie Sherrill says she saw members of Congress give reconnaissance tours to rioters ahead of the attack. Ali Alexander, one of the principal organizers of Stop the Steal, claims that Representatives Andy Briggs, Mo Brooks, and Paul Gosar helped him plan the protest-turned-attack. Representative Lauren Boebert tweeted out that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was being moved during the attack, even though she was instructed not to and her tweet at the very least told the people hunting for Pelosi where not to look. And Representative Ayanna Pressley reported that she discovered, mid-siege, that the panic buttons had been removed from her office.Current Issue

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Meanwhile, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told her followers in an Instagram Live chat that she had such grave concerns about her Republican colleagues sympathies that she feared they would lead the rioters to her so they could do her harm.

Most people have heard all of these stories by now, as the details of the Capitol attack dribble out, one harrowing anecdote at a time. But I think, as we once again try to hold Trump responsible for his criminal actions, the focus on Trump fails to appreciate the scope of the threat we face, the broad extent of the guilt: It is possible that some of the people elected to serve in the US government may have aided and abetted a plot to force Congressthrough threats and acts of intimidation, violence, and vengeanceto declare Trump the winner of the presidential election.

You do not unify with those people. You do not wave to them across the aisle or smile at them in the elevator. You find them, whether they go back home to their districts or flee to Argentina, and you hold them accountable for their crimes. That is the only way to move forward safely.

If any congressperson is found to have aided the rioters with information, they must not only be expunged from office and prevented, through Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, from ever holding office again; they must also be charged and tried for conspiracy. Its not divisive to hold such people accountable; it is divisive to let them walk free.

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You know what else isnt divisive? Holding accountable those congresspeople who turned themselves into biological weapons by refusing to wear masks while sheltering with dozens of colleagues during the siege. On January 12, Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman and Pramila Jayapal put forward a resolution to fine members of Congress who refuse to wear masks as a precaution from Covid-19. Later that evening, after the resolution passed, Nancy Pelosi implemented it. As she should have.

Coleman and Jayapal both contracted Covid-19 after being forced to shelter with unmasked Republicans. So did Representative Brad Schneider and Pressleys husband. Coleman is a 75-year-old immunocompromised cancer survivor. How can we have unity with people so committed to an anti-science, objectively pro-Covid stance that they wont take minimum precautions to protect their own colleagues? Republican members of Congress turned the attack on the government into a super-spreader event.

Republican indifference to health, logic, and life shows why Republican feelings cannot be consulted before holding them accountable for their actions. The Republican Party refuses to acknowledge the basic factors that put lives at risk. There is no other job in the country where people are allowed to put the lives of their coworkers at risk as blatantly as Republicans do when they refuse to wear a mask. What is the appropriate collegial response to a coworker who willfully takes steps to infect you with a deadly disease? What is the appropriate censure for a colleague who does the 2021 equivalent of spitting in your lunch?

And the Republicans arent just careless about Covid-19. There is no measure of workplace safety they feel compelled to respect. After the violent attack on the Capitol, the House sergeant at arms ordered that metal detectors be put in place to screen Congress and staff before they headed to the floor. Republicans not only objected to this; some of them allegedly pushed past the security forcesafter triggering the magnetometers alarmsand entered without going through the metal detector.

The Capitol Police didnt shoot them or restrain them (as they would have done to any Black person who tried to evade a congressional metal detector). Instead, they just let them go.After the Insurrection

And this is why Republicans continue to act out. Republicans behave like spoiled children who have never been told no because they are spoiled children who have never been told no. The members of Congress threatening the government are people who do what they do because they expect to get away with it. They dont expect to be caught, tried, and convicted for any of their actions. They dont expect to be expelled and removed from Congress. They dont expect to lose an election. They dont expect to be fined or reprimanded. They dont even expect to be given a time-out.

Republicans expect to win. Whether that win means overthrowing the government or killing a 75-year-old colleague or bullying the Capitol Police, they expect to get away with it.

And if they lose, they expect unity. They expect others to reach across the aisle. They expect their violent, extremist, dangerous conduct to be forgiven, forgotten, and ignored in the spirit of moving forward and bipartisanship.

We can move forward. But we can and should move forward in the spirit of justice, as demanded by the women of color in our government. Justice is the goal, safety its reward. Bush and Jayapal and Coleman understand this. We must listen to them.

To do anything less than hold these Republicans accountable would restart the cycle of violence. And it only ever gets worse.

More:

There Can Be No Unity With Seditious Republicans - The Nation

Heres what you need to know:The siege of the Capitol on Jan. 6.At least five people died during the attack and accompanying protests.Credit...Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times

One week after an angry mob stormed the Capitol, lawmakers called for new investigations and federal authorities fanned out across the country, taking into custody several more suspects, including two police officers from Virginia and a firefighter from Florida.

The flurry of arrests and appeals for inquiry came as the House brought a historic second impeachment charge against President Trump and federal law enforcement officials continued to examine whether the assault on the Capitol included coordinated efforts by small groups of extremists and was not merely a mass protest that spiraled out of control. All of this took place as official Washington remained in a defensive crouch, with much of the city surrounded by protective fencing and armed troops camped inside the Capitol complex.

Led by Representative Mikie Sherrill, a New Jersey Democrat and former Navy pilot, more than 30 lawmakers called on Wednesday for an investigation into visitors access to the Capitol on the day before the riot. In a letter to the acting House and Senate sergeants-at-arms and the U.S. Capitol Police, the lawmakers demanded answers about what they described as an extremely high number of outside groups let into the Capitol on Jan. 5 at a time when most tours were restricted because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Separately, the inspector generals office of the Capitol Police said it was opening a potentially wide-ranging inquiry into security breaches connected to the siege. The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan federal watchdog agency, signaled that it would look into what role, if any, members of Congress may have played in inciting the mob of Trump supporters who breached metal barricades and shattered windows on Jan. 6, seeking to overturn the results of the election.

Seeking to keep their local counterparts informed, Christopher A. Wray, the director of the F.B.I., and Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, a senior official at the Homeland Security Department, briefed more than 5,000 law enforcement officials on Wednesday about potential threats across the country. They stressed in particular that violence could erupt this weekend at all 50 state capitol buildings around the country.

The federal investigation an inquiry of widening scope that has already ensnared more than 70 people continued apace on Wednesday as charges of disorderly conduct and entering a restricted space were filed against Officer Jacob Fracker and Sgt. Thomas Robertson, two members of the Rocky Mount Police Department in Virginia who attended the riot while off-duty.

According to a criminal complaint, the two men broke into the Capitol last week and posed for a photograph underneath a statue of John Stark, a Revolutionary War general, posting it on a social media. The complaint mentioned a subsequent post by Sergeant Robertson who wrote that the photo showed 2 men willing to actually put skin in the game and stand up for their rights.

Federal agents made more arrests on Wednesday in New York, Maryland, Texas and Florida, among them a firefighter from the town of Sanford, near Orlando.

As more people are charged in connection with the attack, it has become clear that many of those who went to Washington last week were not only angry but heavily armed and, in some cases, dangerous. That point was driven home by court papers filed on Wednesday in the case of Cleveland G. Meredith Jr., who wrote in a text message that he wanted to put a bullet in the noggin of Speaker Nancy Pelosi on live TV, prosecutors said.

This mood of outrage found an echo in the tumultuous congressional debate on impeachment, which stretched throughout the day.

Lawmakers could face heavy fines if they refuse to abide by the Houses new security protocols, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday, after a number of Republicans set off newly installed metal detectors outside the House chamber and then walked defiantly onto the floor.

Ms. Pelosi said that when the House returns to session on Jan. 21, it will vote on a rule change that would fine lawmakers who disregard the security screening $5,000 for the first offense and $10,000 for the second offense. The fines, she said, would be deducted directly from members salaries.

Many House Republicans have disrespected our heroes by verbally abusing them and refusing to adhere to basic precautions keeping members of our congressional community, including the Capitol Police, safe, Ms. Pelosi, Democrat of California, said in a statement. It is tragic that this step is necessary, but the chamber of the Peoples House must and will be safe.

Ms. Pelosis announcement came after a number of Republican lawmakers vehemently objected to the metal detectors, which were installed after a violent mob spurred on by President Trump stormed into the Capitol last week, causing lawmakers to flee for their safety.

At least one Republican, Representative Chip Roy of Texas, simply walked around the metal detectors, which are monitored by Capitol Police officers.

The metal detector policy for the House floor is unnecessary, unconstitutional, and endangers members, Mr. Roy said in a statement on Tuesday. I did not comply tonight. I will not comply in the future.

Representative Lauren Boebert, a freshman Republican from Colorado, caused a spectacle on Wednesday by pushing her way through the metal detectors and ignoring the police officers who asked her to stop so they could check her with a hand-held wand.

Ms. Boebert, who boasts of carrying a Glock handgun, argued that she was legally permitted to carry a firearm in Washington and within the Capitol complex.

Metal detectors outside of the House would not have stopped the violence we saw last week its just another political stunt by Speaker Pelosi, Ms. Boebert wrote on Twitter.

Representative Don Beyer, Democrat of Virginia, said he had seen another Republican, Representative Van Taylor of Texas, refuse to walk through the metal detectors.

Rep. Van Taylor is in front of me as Im trying to go in to vote, refusing to pass through a metal detector and arguing with U.S. Capitol Police officers about it, Mr. Beyer wrote on Twitter.

In a memo, the acting sergeant-at-arms in the House said all people, including lawmakers, were required to undergo security screening when entering the House chamber to provide a safe and secure environment in which to conduct legislative business.

Failure to comply, the memo warned, could result in denial of access to the Chamber. The memo reminded House members that firearms are restricted to a members office.

The deadly breach at the Capitol last week will be a significant driver of violence for armed militia groups and racist extremists who are targeting the presidential inauguration next week, according to a joint intelligence bulletin issued by federal authorities.

The boogaloo, a movement that seeks to start a second civil war, and extremists aiming to trigger a race war may exploit the aftermath of the Capitol breach by conducting attacks to destabilize and force a climactic conflict in the United States, according to the bulletin issued by the National Counterterrorism Center and the Justice and Homeland Security Departments, which was disseminated widely to law enforcement agencies across the country.

The bulletin, obtained by The New York Times, is labeled Domestic Violent Extremists Emboldened in Aftermath of Capitol Breach, Elevated Domestic Terrorism Threat of Violence Likely Amid Political Transitions and Beyond. Antigovernment militias and racists extremists very likely pose the greatest domestic terrorism threats in 2021, the agencies said.

The federal officials wrote that extremist groups have viewed the breach of the Capitol as a success and have been galvanized by the death of Ashli Babbitt, a QAnon follower who was shot by the police as she tried to enter the heavily protected Speakers Lobby, just outside the House chamber. The extremists could perceive that death as an act of martyrdom, according to the bulletin.

The extremists violent online rhetoric toward the presidential inauguration has increased, according to the bulletin, with some calling for justice for Ms. Babbitts death.

The Capitol breach, as well as conspiracy theories from QAnon, will likely inspire such extremists to engage in more sporadic, lone-actor or small-cell violence against common violent extremist targets, including racial, ethnic, or religious minorities and institutions, law enforcement, and government officials and buildings, according to the bulletin, dated January 13.

The federal officials also wrote that the shared false narrative of a stolen election, the false claim perpetuated by President Trump, may lead some individuals to adopt the belief that there is no political solution to address their grievances and violent action is necessary.

The Jan. 6 rally in Washington, D.C., and subsequent breach of the Capitol also offered an opportunity for militia members and extremists from different groups to meet, which could increase the extremists willingness, capability, and motivation to attack and undermine a government they view as illegitimate.

The Secret Service issued a separate bulletin to law enforcement officials, dated Jan. 11, warning of armed groups, specifically the boogaloo, appearing in Washington before and after the inauguration. That warning was reported earlier by the Daily Beast.

Federal officials warned police chiefs in major cities during a call on Wednesday to be on high alert and generous with intelligence as police departments around the country ramped up preparations for the week leading into the inauguration.

In a roughly 45-minute call, Christopher Wray, the F.B.I. director, and Kenneth Cuccinelli, the acting director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, expressed great concern about the potential for extremist violence, according to participants. Failing to identify any specific threats, the officials called on law enforcement officers across the country to watch for signs of trouble.

Mr. Wray said that we need to continue to overshare intelligence, Chief Jorge Colina of the Miami Police Department said in an interview. So they dont want for us to assume anything that they already know anything that we come across to please forward it.

The officials said they would be issuing a national threat bulletin urging all Americans to be cautious in the coming days, according to a police chief who listened to the call but requested anonymity because they were asked not to share details of the call.

With the U.S. Capitol fortified by an intensive security operation, the officials seemed concerned about potential attacks on state capitols, federal buildings, the homes of congressional members and businesses, the chief said.

Federal officials said they were closely monitoring extremist chatter online and urged the chiefs to be mindful of potential lone-wolf actors and local armed groups, the chief said.

Theyre very, very worried about these, what they referred to as domestic violent extremists, embedding themselves in other protests, the chief said. Christopher Wray seemed particularly concerned about what was sort of the disregard these folks have for democratic government. The focus was not to go after people engaged in peaceful protest. There were others embedded in that who were engaged in violence and criminal behavior.

transcript

transcript

One week ago, our nation collectively watched in horror as a violent mob stormed the Capitol grounds, broke down crowd-control barriers, assaulted Capitol Police officers and overran the Capitol complex. Lives were lost. The storming of the Capitol was an intolerable, shocking and tragic episode in our nations history. Im grateful, however, that order was restored at the Capitol the same day, and the Congress was able to fulfill its duties. Under the U.S. Constitution. More than 70 individuals have been criminally charged. Weve opened more than 170 investigations. The F.B.I. has gathered more than 100,000 digital tips from the public. And there is a lot more to come. The wrongdoers will be held responsible. As we look ahead, we are also aware of other planned protests in and around the upcoming inauguration. The Department of Justice fully supports and will protect the exercise of constitutional rights. But I want to send a clear message to anyone contemplating violence, threats of violence or other criminal conduct. We will have no tolerance whatsoever for any attempts to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 20 that our Constitution calls for. We will have no tolerance for any attempts to forcefully occupy government buildings. There will be no excuse for violence, vandalism or any other form of lawlessness. To the American public, I ask that if you are aware of any criminal activity or violent acts being planned, please share what you know with law enforcement or the F.B.I.

The acting attorney general, Jeffrey A. Rosen, said in a video released overnight that violence, threats of violence and other criminal behavior would not be tolerated and that the peaceful transition of power to the Biden administration would proceed, in his first public appearance since the attack on the Capitol a week earlier.

Mr. Rosen asked the public to share information about the attack with the F.B.I. and vowed to hold the attackers accountable for what he called an intolerable, shocking and tragic episode in our nations history.

He did not address the preparation of law enforcement leading up to the attack, nor did he provide new details about its response after rioters breached the Capitol.

Mr. Rosen has kept a conspicuously low profile in the days after the attack, issuing only written statements and the prerecorded video statement, published around midnight. Similarly, the F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, has not held news briefings on the attack.

The public faces of the Justice Department response have been the acting U.S. attorney in Washington, Michael R. Sherwin, and the assistant director of the F.B.I.s Washington field office, Steven DAntuono, who gave a news conference on Tuesday and have held phone briefings with reporters.

Airbnb, one of the biggest players in the short-term rental market, will cancel all reservations made in the Washington area next week and block new rentals, the company announced in a statement on Wednesday.

The decision came after the police and elected officials warned Americans not to travel to Washington for the inauguration of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., citing the risk of the spread of the coronavirus and the threat of another attack similar to last weeks violent siege at the Capitol.

Law enforcement authorities have warned of threats of violence ahead of the inauguration on Jan. 20, and National Guard troops have flooded Washington in response. On Monday, the leaders of the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland issued a joint statement telling potential visitors not to travel to the area, citing both the coronavirus pandemic and the riot.

Already, 16 groups some of them armed and most of them supporters of President Trump have registered to stage protests in Washington, though Mayor Muriel Bowser has asked federal officials to cancel any public gathering permits issued.

This week, Airbnb said it would review reservations in the Washington area and cancel those it determined were made by members associated with extremist or hate groups. On Wednesday, it said it would take the broader step of canceling all reservations in response to pleas for people not to attend.

Ms. Bowser and the governors of Virginia and Maryland have been clear that visitors should not travel to the D.C. metro area for the Inauguration, the company said in a statement. Additionally, we are aware of reports emerging yesterday afternoon regarding armed militias and known hate groups that are attempting to travel and disrupt the inauguration.

Airbnb said it would refund guests for their reservations and reimburse hosts at its own expense.

The company declined to say how many reservations would be canceled, the dates the cancellation policy would be in effect or how far from Washington its policy would apply.

But two Airbnb hosts who contacted the company about the status of existing reservations were told by customer service representatives that Airbnb was canceling reservations that started on or after Jan. 15 and ended by Jan. 21, according to screenshots provided to The New York Times.

Airbnb also said it had banned numerous individuals associated with known hate groups or otherwise involved with the mob at the Capitol. It declined to provide more details.

A week after the violent siege at the U.S. Capitol and a week ahead of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.s inauguration, officials are bracing for uncertainty and preparing for the potential of violence in the days ahead.

On Tuesday night, Defense Department officials said that the Army secretary, Ryan McCarthy, had decided to arm National Guard members who will be deployed to protect the Capitol building complex as Mr. Biden is sworn into office.

Chief Robert J. Contee III of the Metropolitan Police Department said on Wednesday that he expected more than 20,000 members of the National Guard in the Washington metropolitan area on Inauguration Day. It remains unclear how many of the Guard members will carry weapons.

The number of troops may ultimately climb beyond 20,000; it has been rapidly increasing in recent days as intelligence officials monitoring pro-Trump groups online have grown increasingly worried that militant, far-right organizations have plans for violent protests in Washington.

The decision to arm the Guard members illuminates the gnawing uncertainty of the past week. Members of Congress expressed worry about their return to the Capitol after they were briefed on several active threats against them, and the F.B.I. has warned of possible violence at all 50 state capitol buildings.

Defense Department officials were meeting with Washington authorities on Wednesday to work on plans to try to ensure there is not a repeat of last weeks violent breach. The scope of the protests and the violence of the mob took law enforcement by surprise.

As federal officials worked to meet the security threat in Washington, the number of people who have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the assault on the Capitol continued to climb.

Michael Sherwin, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said at a news conference on Tuesday that he expected hundreds of people would eventually be charged with crimes ranging from trespassing to seditious conspiracy and murder. He called the investigation into the attack on the Capitol unmatched in scope.

Pentagon officials said they were deeply worried about Inauguration Day next week. About 16 groups have registered to stage protests, and officials said that law enforcement agencies were preparing for the possibility of armed conflict.

For President Trump, the past week has included a flurry of rebukes from businesses and once-loyal politicians. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who stood by the president during lesser controversies, told his associates that he believed Mr. Trump had committed impeachable offenses. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nations largest business lobbying group, also admonished the presidents conduct.

The House impeached Mr. Trump, for the second time, on Wednesday with 10 Republicans breaking with the president.

A Queens man who told federal agents he wanted to join the far-right Proud Boys group was charged with a weapons offense on Wednesday after messages he posted on social media around the time of the Capitol riot raised alarms, according to prosecutors and court documents.

The man, Eduard Florea, had been detained late Tuesday after a search of his home turned up an arsenal of over 1,000 rounds of rifle ammunition, two dozen shotgun rounds, 75 military-style combat knives, two hatchets and two swords, prosecutors said. No gun was found.

The arrest of Mr. Florea, a 40-year-old software engineer, came amid an intensifying nationwide manhunt for those who broke into the U.S. Capitol last week as part of a violent rampage by supporters of President Trump who wanted to overturn the election results.

Though Mr. Florea was not one of the numerous people being pursued for participating in the riot, law enforcement officials considered him menacing enough to arrive in an armored vehicle at his home to arrest him.

Among the comments that caused the authorities concern and prompted the search of his house, the complaint says, was one in which Mr. Florea appeared to threaten the Rev. Raphael Warnock, Democrat of Georgia, just before Mr. Warnock was declared the winner of a U.S. Senate seat.

At around 1 a.m. on Jan. 6, while posting under the name LoneWolfWar in a group thread about Mr. Warnock on the social media website Parler, the complaint says, Mr. Florea wrote that dead men cant pass laws, with an obscenity added for emphasis.

Later that day, also on Parler, Mr. Florea wrote of having three cars of armed patriots in a caravan headed to Washington, the complaint says. As the Capitol riot unfolded, he wrote that the time for peace and civility was over and that here in New York we are target rich.

I will fight so help me god, he added.

At a bail hearing in Federal District Court in Brooklyn that was held remotely, Mr. Floreas lawyer pointed out the F.B.I. had concluded that her client, despite his online bravado, did not have a car and had not gone to Washington.

Nonetheless, the tenor of his social media comments was ominous enough to heighten the authorities interest, especially when matched with his status as a felon, according to prosecutors and the complaint.

Mr. Florea is now charged federally with being a felon in possession of ammunition. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison, prosecutors said.

A man who was photographed wearing a sweatshirt that read Camp Auschwitz while inside the Capitol last week was arrested in Newport News, Va., on Wednesday morning in connection to the Capitol riot, according to two law enforcement officials.

The man, Robert Keith Packer, had been seen on the Capitol grounds in several photographs and his black sweatshirt, with its reference to the Nazi death camp and a skull, had drawn widespread outrage. News outlets had previously identified Mr. Packer based on the accounts of people who knew him.

Mr. Packers sweatshirt also included the phrase Work Brings Freedom, which is a rough translation of, Arbeit macht frei. The German words were welded onto an iron arch that stood over one of the gates of the death camp, where more than 1.1 million people were killed during World War II.

Mr. Packer was among more than 70 people tied to the mayhem who have been charged, according to the top federal prosecutor in Washington, Michael Sherwin, who said that he expected that hundreds would eventually be charged.

Those charged included:

Jacob Fracker and Thomas Robertson, two off-duty police officers in Rocky Mount, Va., who were photographed in the Capitol building making an obscene gesture in front of a statue of John Stark, a military leader in the Revolutionary War, prosecutors said. CNN and the Left are just mad because we actually attacked the government who is the problem and not some random small business, Mr. Robertson was quoted as saying on social media, according to the Justice Department.

Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr., who traveled to Washington with an assault-style rifle and threatened to shoot Speaker Nancy Pelosi and mused about shooting Mayor Muriel E. Bowser of Washington, federal prosecutors said in a court filing on Wednesday. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported in 2018 that Mr. Meredith had erected a billboard that read #QANON and featured a logo for his business, Car Nutz Car Wash.

Klete Keller, an Olympic gold medalist, who was captured on video and identified by former teammates and coaches as a member of the mob that overtook the Capitol on Jan. 6. Mr. Keller, 38, did little to hide his identity, entering the Capitol Rotunda wearing a Team U.S.A. jacket, his face covering pulled down around his neck. Mr. Keller was charged with three federal crimes: obstructing law enforcement, knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

transcript

transcript

The president of the United States directed a mob against the United States Capitol, against the Congress while it was engaging in a constitutional, lawful Electoral College vote count. In light of this criminal act, the city of New York has determined that it is within our power to terminate all contracts with the Trump Organization. So we will no longer be doing any business at all. By the contract language, we have the right to terminate contracts, obviously, if a criminal act has been committed and a criminal act has been committed. So goodbye to the Trump Organization. Were not doing any business with you. By the way, a lot of other people are not doing any business with you any longer. One of the contracts Trump Organization has had up to now is for a golf course in the Bronx, and in that contract, obligated to have championship golf tournaments there. Well, guess what? The P.G.A. just said they wont allow any of their tournaments at Trump Organization golf courses. This criminal act has led a lot of companies, a lot of people to determine that things need to be different, that we cannot accept a status quo where a criminal gets away with this. So we are acting. I want to emphasize that were working immediately to find new vendors to take over these facilities. So we can continue to provide service to their customers. But its just really clear this president has committed an unlawful act. He has disgraced himself. He will no longer profit from his relationship with New York City. We will not allow it.

New York City is terminating its contracts with the Trump Organization because of the mob riot at the U.S. Capitol, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday.

The contracts are for two ice-skating rinks at Central Park, the Central Park Carousel and the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, a city-owned golf course in the Bronx.

Though Mr. de Blasios administration has looked at the issue several times since 2015, the mayor said that the city was ending the contracts because President Trump had incited violence.

Inciting an insurrection against the U.S. government clearly constitutes criminal activity, Mr. de Blasio said in an interview on MSNBC. The City of New York will no longer have anything to do with the Trump Organization.

While the city has considered canceling the Trump Organizations contracts before, Mr. de Blasio said the violence in Washington qualified as criminal activity under which New York City had the right to sever ties with a company.

Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat with roughly a year left in office, said he expected the Trump Organization to challenge the citys decision in court.

Were on strong legal ground, the mayor said.

Google said it would not allow political ads on its platforms until after Inauguration Day because of last weeks violent uprising at the Capitol.

In a letter to advertisers on Wednesday, the company said the suspension covered any ads that referred to candidates, the election or its outcome, the upcoming presidential inauguration, the impeachment process, the Capitol riots, or planned protests about any of these subjects. There will not be exceptions for news or merchandise advertisers.

Excerpt from:

Republicans Accused of Giving Capitol Tours to Rioters - The New York Times

Until recently, the official website of the St. Croix County Republican Party in Wisconsin bore the words, in Latin and English: "If you want peace, prepare for war." Even after objections following last week's violent storming of the U.S. Capitol, which included the county sheriff's posting a message on the department's Facebook page saying he was "shocked and disheartened" by the tone, members at first refused to remove the slogan. (The site was reported to be down Wednesday.)

What happens next time if that fringe is in a position to determine the outcome of a presidential election?

This may seem like an anecdote from the fringe. But on Jan. 6, two-thirds of the House GOP caucus voted against certifying Electoral College votes from Pennsylvania, and more than a quarter of GOP senators had indicated that they had planned to do the same thing.

What happens next time if that fringe is in a position to determine the outcome of a presidential election?

That is what is at stake in the division breaking out in GOP ranks. Decisions by the likes of Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who voted in favor of the article of impeachment, will highlight the stark choice that Republicans now have to make: Will they put President Donald Trump first? Or their country?

It's not just the future of the GOP that's at stake; the outcome may shape our elections for years. As Trump's presidency disintegrates, now may be a good time to ask some important "what ifs" to best prepare for whatever comes next.

For instance, what if rioters at the Capitol had turned left instead of right and were able to enter the Senate chamber? What if the assault that resulted in five deaths had turned into a much larger mass casualty event?

According to an FBI memo the day before the Jan. 6 attack, an online thread urged Trump supporters to "be ready to fight": "Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in, and blood from their BLM and Pantifa slave soldiers being spilled. Get violent. Stop calling this a march, or rally, or a protest. Go there ready for war. We get our president or we die. NOTHING else will achieve this goal."

That was the plan, and we now know how close they came to pulling off.

Law enforcement recovered Molotov cocktails, explosive devices, rifles and zip ties. Democratic House members have been told that future plots could "involve insurrectionists forming a perimeter around the Capitol, the White House and the Supreme Court, and then blocking Democrats from entering the Capitol perhaps even killing them so that Republicans could take control of the government."

Weve seen the potency of the big lie, how it spreads, and how easily Republicans voters were willing to embrace falsehoods.

What if a member of Congress had been held hostage or, worse, murdered on a livestream? The attackers then would have achieved their goal: They would have derailed the counting of the electoral votes and forced Congress into hiding. At least for a time, they would have overthrown the normal functions of government, and Trump would have had the chaos he was counting on to hold on to power.

But the "what ifs" aren't limited to these acts of violence, because the attack on the Capitol was only one aspect of the attempt to overturn a democratic election based on a "big lie."

The lie was, of course, the notion that the election was stolen, that Trump was being denied a second term because of massive fraud. Those allegations were rebutted by Trump's own attorney general and rejected by every court that looked at them. Recounts and audits failed to turn up any significant problems.

Even so, Trump continued to push false claims and conspiracy theories, which were amplified through the right's vast media ecosystem. As a result, roughly three-quarters of Republicans believe President-elect Joe Biden's victory was illegitimate.

For weeks, the vast majority of elected Republicans refused to acknowledge Trump's defeat, even after the states formally cast their votes Dec. 14. In the end, of course, Biden's victory was ratified. But the success of the big lie still raises questions.

What if this election had actually been close? What would Republicans have done if the contest had been decided by a single state, rather than by six swing states? And what if some local Republican officials hadn't been bulwarks of election integrity?

In Arizona, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey refused to take a cellphone call from the White House as he certified the state's votes. In Michigan, Republican legislators rebuffed Trump's pressure to overturn the election results and install a new slate of electors, and a GOP member of the Board of State Canvassers named Aaron Van Langevelde voted to certify Biden's victory.

In Georgia, both Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger resisted Trump's demands to "find" him enough votes to flip the state. Raffensperger and aide Gabriel Sterling both Republicans repeatedly refuted Trump's lies about the election.

Again and again, they fact-checked the president while seeking to reassure voters about the integrity of the system. Even after the famous recorded phone call in which the president threatened Raffensperger with possible criminal penalties, he refused demands that he "recalculate" the vote.

In state after state, enough Republicans in key positions protected the election. But those Republicans may be a dying breed.

In state after state, Republicans in positions of responsibility protected the election. But those Republicans may turn out to be a dying breed.

The future may well belong not to Republicans who believe in the rule of law but to Republicans like Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Ted Cruz of Texas or Reps. Mo Brooks of Alabama, Matt Gaetz of Florida or even Elise Stefanik of New York who have embraced the big lie even after the attack on the Capitol.

Don't assume it can't happen. Because at the grassroots level, Republicans continue to be radicalized.

In Texas, state Republican leaders have openly discussed secession. In Arizona, the GOP promoted a tweet asking whether followers were willing to die for Trump; the party's state chair retweeted a message calling for the president to "cross the Rubicon," a reference to Julius Caesar's act that launched a Roman civil war.

Just days after the Capitol insurrection, the Maricopa County, Arizona, GOP passed a resolution to censure John McCain's widow, Cindy, for failing to support Trump.

What if, instead of Raffensperger, someone like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a QAnon supporter, had been in charge of counting Georgia's votes? What if, instead of Kemp, it had been a Trump loyalist like former Sen. Kelly Loeffler who agreed to object to certifying her state's votes? (She later backed off.)

In Arizona, what would have happened if Republican Rep. Paul Gosar, who objected to counting his own state's votes, had been sitting in the governor's chair instead of Doug Ducey?

What if, in the next election, Michigan had a Republican governor who was pressured by right-wing media and the GOP base to void the popular vote based on unproven charges and baseless conspiracy theories?

None of this is fanciful. We've seen the potency of the big lie, how it spreads and how easily Republican voters were willing to embrace it. We also saw the power of lies to influence elected Republicans to reject the results of a free and fair election.

This time, the system worked. We may not be so lucky the next time around.

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Trump's coup was foiled by key Republicans but their ranks are shrinking - MSNBC

The terrifying mob attack on the Capitol on Wednesday, among its many effects, quickly shifted focus from the other big news of the week: the runoffs for U.S. Senate in Georgia. Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeated Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, respectively, giving Democrats control of Congress.

Like a lot of recent political events, the Georgia runoffs are more significant the further you zoom out the lens. In one sense, the results were not that unpredictable. The final polling averages showed both Democrats ever-so-slightly ahead, and it was clear that the races were shaping up in such a way as to make the Democrats extremely competitive.

[Related: How Democrats Won The Georgia Runoffs]

But the Georgia runoffs were full of practical and symbolic significance. They exposed the limitations of the Republican coalition, with or without President Trump, leaving the party further in the electoral wilderness its not clear where the Republican Party goes from here, especially in the wake of the violent insurrection by Trump supporters at the Capitol.

First, the significance of Georgia specifically. Ill spare you some of the boilerplate about the more obvious implications, but having a Senate majority is a big deal. It means that Democrats should be able to confirm Supreme Court justices and President-elect Joe Bidens Cabinet. Theyll likely be able to pass additional COVID-19 stimulus legislation at the very least, along with other budgetary policies through reconciliation. Other policy changes would require eliminating the filibuster unlikely or getting cooperation from enough Republicans. But at least Democrats will have the chance to bring to the floor election-reform bills like H.R. 1 and policies like Puerto Rico statehood, giving them a fighting chance instead of having Majority Leader Mitch McConnell squash them from the start.

And symbolically? Well, its Georgia. With the possible exception of Texas, no other state has been as much of a symbol of an emerging Democratic coalition of college-educated white voters and high turnout among Black voters and other minority groups. Both Warnock and Ossoff are breakthrough candidates, not the moderate, white Blue Dogs that Democrats have traditionally nominated in Georgia. Warnock, the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. preached, will become the first Black senator from Georgia and the first Black Democrat ever to serve in the U.S. Senate from the South. Ossoff will become the youngest senator elected since Biden, in 1973, and the first Jewish senator elected to the U.S. Senate from the South since the 1880s.

Then theres the fact that the runoffs came during a lame-duck period in which in a predicate to Wednesdays violence Trump and other Republicans tried to overturn and subvert the results of the election and undermine faith in the democratic process. If Republicans get the message that anti-democratic actions have negative electoral consequences, they may be less inclined to push democracy to the brink in the future.

[Related: Trump Helped Take Extremist Views From The Fringes Of Society To A Mob Attacking The Capitol]

Republicans may not take away that lesson, though. One school of thought is that because Warnocks and Ossoffs wins were narrow once all votes are counted, Warnock should win by around 2 percentage points and Ossoff by about 1 point we shouldnt make too much of them.

I dont find this convincing. The way political actors react to elections is usually based on who wins and loses, not on their margins of victory. For example, nobody thought that Hillary Clinton and John Kerry were brilliant politicians because they only narrowly lost in key Electoral College states.

But its also not clear that these races really had any business being close to begin with. Consider the following:

Indeed, after Georgia, Republicans track record in the three general elections (2016, 2018, 2020) plus the various runoffs and special elections that took place under Trump now starts to look mediocre:

So, it hasnt been a terrible time to be a Republican running for office, but it hasnt been a good one, either. Typically, a party would be looking to move beyond a one-term president who had cost his party control of both houses of Congress. Actually, thats being kind: Typically, a party wants nothing to do with a losing presidential candidate.

When it comes to Trump, though, that calculation isnt necessarily so simple because of his tendency to punish his intraparty adversaries: Republicans who tried to cross him, such as former Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, were sometimes forced to retire rather than face the presidents wrath in a primary.

Yet the GOP has done especially poorly in Trump-era elections without Trump on the ballot, too. Republicans lost the popular vote for the U.S. House by 8.6 points in 2018 without the president on the ticket. And while some Republicans are blaming Trump for their losses in Georgia, the fact is that Perdue won the plurality of votes in November with Trump on the ballot but lost to Ossoff without him. Tuesdays loss came primarily because of lower turnout, especially in red, rural counties where Trump can bring voters to the polls.

To step back a bit, the success of an electoral strategy basically comes down to four dimensions:

In Trump-era elections, Republicans have tended to do well along two of these dimensions and poorly along the other two. Namely, Trump gets very high turnout from his base. Whats just as important, rural white voters who are the core of that base have far more power in the Electoral College and U.S. Senate than their raw numbers would imply, making their coalition electorally efficient. Hence, their strategy has performed well along dimensions No. 1 and No. 4.

Conversely, Trump is extremely motivating in turning out many parts of the Democratic base (dimension No. 2). And hes a big turn-off to swing voters, or at least hes proven to be after four years in office (dimension No. 3). After narrowly beating Clinton among independent voters in 2016, Trump lost them to Biden by 13 points in November. Swing voters also havent been very happy with the GOP with or without Trump on the ballot: They backed Democratic candidates for the U.S. House by 12 points in 2018. Republicans have had especially big problems with suburban swing voters, including in places that were once GOP strongholds.

Well have to wait and see, but the violence at the Capitol last week may only exacerbate the GOPs problems on dimensions No. 2 and No. 3. In the few polls conducted since, solid majorities of Americans overall, including almost all Democrats and a majority of independents, said the storming of the Capitol represented a threat to democracy. Similar shares of Democrats and independents said Trump and congressional Republicans bore at least some blame.

[Related: Storming The U.S. Capitol Was About Maintaining White Power In America]

Republicans are in a fairly precarious position. At best, they are often fighting to a draw, and one that would often be a losing strategy without the structural advantages built into the system for rural voters. And if Republicans dont get spectacular turnout from their base, everything else potentially starts to crumble. Even a modest decline in turnout from people who are pro-#MAGA but not necessarily part of the traditional Republican base can leave the GOP in a losing position.

Nor do Republicans have any sort of obvious role model for how to achieve consistent electoral success. The previous Republican president, George W. Bush, saw his second term in office end with landslides against Republicans in 2006 and 2008. A series of recent presidential nominees associated with the party establishment (Mitt Romney, John McCain, Bob Dole) all lost their elections, meanwhile. You really have to go back to Ronald Reagan for an example of an unambiguously broad and successful Republican electoral coalition, and that was a generation ago. Republicans who cast their first votes for Reagan at age 18 in 1984 will be 58 years old in 2024.

This doesnt mean Republicans are helpless, by any means. Under McConnell and former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, their congressional agenda has also been largely unpopular. If youre consistently pushing positions that a majority of the public opposes, youre liable to pay a price for it. Republicans structural advantages (especially in the Senate), and Trumps ability to drive turnout in the places where those structural advantages matter, served as cover for a minoritarian agenda.

For all that said, the tendency of the opposition party to regain ground at the midterms is very strong. One would not want to bet that much against the GOP winning back one or both houses of Congress in 2022. (The House, where Republicans should pick up some seats from redistricting, might actually be the better bet than the Senate, where Democrats have a relatively favorable map.)

After last week, though, Im not sure Id want to place a lot of money on the GOP in 2022, either. If the Georgia runoffs served as a quasi-midterm, they might suggest that the GOP cant count on the sort of gains that a party typically wins in midterms. As in the primaries leading up to 2010, the GOP is likely to have some vicious intraparty fights, possibly leading it to nominate suboptimal candidates in some races. And with the violence last week and Republican efforts to contest the Electoral College outcome in Congress, Democrats may be very motivated again in 2022, feeling not unreasonably as though democracy itself may be on the line.

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Georgia Was A Disaster For Republicans. Its Not Clear Where They Can Go Next. - FiveThirtyEight

The Big Ideais a series that asks top lawmakers and figures to discuss their moonshotwhatsthe one proposal, if politics and polls and even price tag were not an issue, theyd implement to change the country for the better?

In just one week, in a United States that was already experiencing yawningdivisions, thousands of President Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, forcing Vice President Pence and hundreds of lawmakers into hiding.Then thousands of troops streamed into Washington, D.C., aiming to prevent a repeat of that attack during President-elect Biden's inauguration. And the House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to impeach the president.

That is the United States that Biden will inherit when he's sworn in as president at noon on Tuesday.

But Moe Vela, the former director of management and senior advisor to then-Vice President Biden, believes that Biden is fitfor the momentand that he will be able to work with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle not onlyto advance his agenda butto heal the nation to the extent possible.

Moe Vela, former director of management and senior adviser to then-Vice President Biden, says that moderate Republicans "need to feel heard" by the new Biden administration. (Moe Vela)

REP. WARREN DAVIDSON'S BIG IDEA: KEEP THE HYDE AMENDMENT AND PREVENT TAXPAYER MONEY FROM FUNDING ABORTION

Vela told Fox News that among other things, moderate Republicans with whom Biden shares values will "need to feel heard" by the new administration.

This would look like numerous phone calls and in-person meetings, Vela said, but would also require the RepublicansBiden engages with to denounce "this incitement and this behavior" from the past week's events.

Vela discussed his big idea with Fox News. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

What is your reaction to the developments from the past week?

Vela:I've been using words to describe it, frankly, from the minute it happened. Words like appalling, disgusting, despicable, scary.

These are very volatile times for our democracy, and I never thought I would live to see the day that this would happen in the United States of America. And so for me, it's been rattling and it's just been a reminder of how fragile our democracy actually is and how much I think maybe all of us just took it for granted.

President-elect Joe Biden speaks during a campaign rally with Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock the day before their runoff election in the parking lot of Centerparc Stadium January 04, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. Biden will be sworn in as the United States' 46th president at noon on Tuesday. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

KEN BUCK'S BIG IDEA: PROTECT AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM BY TOUGHENING FEDERAL PENALTIES AGAINST RIOTERS

In your view, is Joe Biden fit for the moment he will be stepping into as president?

Vela:There's no doubt about it. He's the right man. The right time.The right temperament.The right characteristics. The right heart. And the right mind. And it will require all of those things at this moment in time.

What openings are there for Biden to actually succeed in reaching across the aisle to Republicans?

Vela:The unintended consequence here was that this terrorist act and this insurrection ... I really believe that sometimes from all bad can come some good. And this was bad. This was just downright bad. And we all agree on that, I hope. This was wrong, it was bad, it was dangerous, and it remains a volatile situation.

But from that bad, I believe one of the good things that will come out of it, that already has come out of it, is that itis going to highlight it, heighten, it brings attention to the giftthat Joe Biden has. And now, instead of making it harder, I think, for him to begin that unification process, they have actually brought it to the forefront and they have empowered Joe Biden's gift and they've empowered now the unification process.

That was not their intention, I assure you. But it is an unintended consequence. So to me, that's the good that will come out of this bad. There will be, I believe, I'm so very confident about this, that it has now it has heightened Joe Biden's gift of connecting and finding common ground.

KEVIN MCCARTHY'S BIG IDEA: 2020 ELECTION RESULTS 'A MANDATE AGAINST SOCIALISM'

And I think you will have with some receptive Republicans. That's what it will take. And I think you will have more than a handful of receptive Republicans, both in the House and in the Senate that understand how vital and integral it is that that unity begins.

What concrete actions can Biden take to advance unity? James Comey mentioned pardoning Trump, is that reasonable?

Vela:I think the most important thing he can do is with those members of Congress on the Republican side who we've seen again,an unintended consequence of this terrorism has been that some Republicans in Congress, not enough of them, I might add, but many of them have stepped up and denounced this incitement and this behavior.

A member of the New York National Guard stands at a gate outside the U.S. Capitol the day after the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump for the second time Jan. 14, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

I think you start by listening to them. I think you start by inviting them to the table and beginning that process of finding common ground.

And so I think he's got plenty of folks on the other side of the aisle to start to do that olive branch with. And nobody does it better than Joe Biden. He does it with a sincere and authentic heart. And he's very genuine and it's not politically driven. For him, it literally is who he is as a human.

I think that sincerity and that authenticity is going to be really important here. And again, there are plenty of people to start with on the Republican side already. I think they need to feel heard. They need to be seen and they need to be at the table and it needs to be at a table that only Joe Biden can set.And that's the table full of spirit of inclusion, a spirit of respect and a spirit of decency, something that we've lost for four years in Washington.

...

But I think one of the greatest things I saw in the last48hours was something to the effect of that unity can't begin and the unity and healing cannot begin until accountability improves. I'm certainly not suggesting that we just erase the past. We can't. We've gotto learn from it. People have to be held accountable. There have to be consequences. That's what we teach our children and that's what has to happen in our nation.

REP. FLEISCHANN'S BIG IDEA: HOW THE US CAN STAY AHEAD OF CHINA ON NUCLEAR ENERGY

What examples have you seen in the past from Biden that he can be this unifier?

Vela:I have a story that I was I was involved in on his first trip to South America as the vice president of the United States.

I, as a senior-most Hispanicon his senior staff, I was invited to accompany him and Dr. Biden to Chile and to Costa Rica. And on that trip, we were all sitting around on Air Force Two relatively long flight and we were all just having a wonderful informal get-to-know-each-otherconversation. It was very early in the administration and somehow I ended up sitting to his right on a couch.

And I simply was upset with some Republican senator at the time who had begun to badmouth and denounce one of our Obama White House policy proposals.

And I just blurted out that 'blankety-blank, blank, Republican senator so-and-so.' And I said some not so nice things about thisRepublican senator. And Joe Biden reached over with his right hand and grabbed my left forearm in front of all of my colleagues. And he said, 'Mo, you're wrong.'

And I said, 'I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to offend you or anybody.' And he said, 'Let me tell you why you're wrong.' He said, 'That's my friend. We don't always agree on how to make America better, but we do agree that America is worth making better.'

President-elect Joe Biden speaks during an event at The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Del., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, to announce key nominees for the Justice Department. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

And I never have forgotten that lesson that day. Because that, to me, exemplifies and demonstrates exactly what I am talking about today.

To him, these are human beings, these are human relationships. They're not political relationships. He has the ability to see past politics and past power. To Joe Biden, that was his friend, they had had dinner together many times, they had to develop and forged a meaningful friendship. And he did not, he wasn't going to tolerate politics coming between or causing any type of interference or damage to that friendship.

What do you say to Americans who don't accept that Joe Biden will be the president on Tuesday at noon?

Vela:I would very respectfully say to them and ask them to please understand that this isn't about Joe Biden and this isn't about Donald Trump. This is about our country and this is about our democracy. And I would ask them to please recognize that unfortunately and regrettably what they have been told about this election is just flat out false.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

And the sooner they come to that reality and again, I would say this very respectfully and gently, but the sooner they face the reality that this election was free and it was fair and it was clear and that a lot of this propaganda and all of these conspiracy theories were all just an effort to retain power. And the sooner they face that reality, the sooner that we can go on and continue on this unification process.

But they've got to accept the reality that is so blatant and that is that this election was not fraudulent. There was no irregularity, no pattern of fraud across the country. None of those things are true.

And frankly, I think the onus is on Trump and those hundred and whateverof Republicans in the House and those couple of senators in the Senate who continue to promote this. They've got to stand up. And they have a responsibility. If they really care, truly, genuinely care about our country and our democracy. You've got to put politics aside.

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Former Biden adviser Moe Vela's Big Idea: Republicans 'need to feel heard' by new administration - Fox News

The calls for Donald Trumps removal from office are intensifying, as some lawmakers blame the president for inciting the mob who stormed and vandalized the US Capitol.

That includes a small group of mostly moderate Republican leaders who have condemned Trump and demanded that he resign or be forced out, either by invoking the 25th Amendment or through impeachment proceedings.

The number of GOP voices remains tiny compared to the growing number of Democrats, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and soon-to-be Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who are calling for Trumps ouster.

On Monday, Democrats introduced an article of impeachment against the president, one count of incitement of insurrection. The House could vote as early as this week. Trump could very well be impeached a second time, but two-thirds of the Senate would still be needed to convict him before he could be removed from office and the Senate may not conclude the trial before Trumps term expires.

Most Republican senators have so far stayed silent or are opposed. Large swaths of the House GOP caucus stand resolutely behind Trump, and House Republicans blocked a measure on Monday demanding Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet remove Trump under the 25th Amendment.

Republicans, then, are largely closing ranks around the president. But the smattering of denouncements shows that at least some in the Republican Party want a future separate from Trump small though that group may be.

Below are the few Republicans currently in office who have so far demanded Trumps resignation or removal from office.

Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican whos retiring in 2022, became the second GOP senator to say Trump should step down. The best way for our country is for the president to resign and go away as soon as possible, he told Meet the Press on Sunday.

Toomey also said in an interview with Fox News this weekend that he believed the president had committed impeachable offenses, though he hesitated on whether impeachment proceedings and removing him from office was the best course. I dont know whats going to land on the Senate floor, if anything, he said.

Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski became the first Republican senator to demand that Trump leave office. She did not mention impeachment or other methods of removal, but she was unequivocal in her censure of the president.

I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage, Murkowski told the Anchorage Daily News in a Friday interview.

He doesnt want to stay there, she added. He only wants to stay there for the title. He only wants to stay there for his ego. He needs to get out. He needs to do the good thing, but I dont think hes capable of doing a good thing.

Murkowski has a reputation as one of the more moderate Senate Republicans though she may not even call herself a Republican for much longer. She told the Anchorage Daily News that she might leave the party if it continues to organize itself around Trump. I will tell you, if the Republican Party has become nothing more than the party of Trump, I sincerely question whether this is the party for me, she said. (Murkowski has since said that if she does leave the GOP, it wont mean shed ever become a Democrat.)

Vermonts Republican governor, who was just sworn in for his third term, was among the first prominent Republicans to demand Trump resign or be removed from office by his Cabinet, or by Congress.

Make no mistake, the President of the United States is responsible for this event, Scott wrote in a thread on Twitter Wednesday afternoon. President Trump has orchestrated a campaign to cause an insurrection that overturns the results of a free, fair and legal election.

Kinzinger also called on the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment, the first Republican member of Congress to do so.

All indications are that the president has become unmoored not just from his duty or even his oath but from reality itself, Kinzinger said in a video statement posted on Twitter. It is for this reason that I call for the Vice President and members of the Cabinet to ensure the next few weeks are safe for the American people and that we have a sane captain of the ship.

Kinzinger was among the first Republicans to recognize Biden as the rightful president-elect, and has tried to debunk election fraud conspiracies. He has criticized his congressional colleagues who had planned to object to the Electoral College results, calling them not serious people. Kinzinger did not specifically mention impeachment in his statement, though he told MSNBC he has not ruled out supporting such a move.

Marylands governor may be the most prominent GOP figure to demand Trumps removal. In a press conference Thursday afternoon, Hogan said there is no question that America could be better off if the president resigned or were removed from office.

After the press conference, Hogan wrote, It is clear to me that President Trump has abandoned his sacred oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Hogan, though a Republican, is not exactly an infrequent Trump critic, and hes broken with the president on his handling of the coronavirus and immigration. In 1974, Hogans father, a GOP congressman, was the first House Republican to support the impeachment of Richard Nixon.

Massachusettss Republican Gov. Charlie Baker another moderate GOPer whos clashed with the president also blamed Trump for the violence in Washington, DC, and for fomenting the chaos with his election fraud conspiracy theories. In a news conference Thursday, he said Pence should lead the transition.

Its 14 days, OK? Baker said, according to the Boston Globe. I think people should pursue whatever they believe will make it possible, in the most expeditious way possible, for the president to step down and the vice president to assume the powers of the office for the next 14 days so that an orderly transition can take place.

Still, the list of Republicans who have explicitly said Trump should go is still quite short.

Many though certainly not all Republican leaders have called out Trump for feeding these conspiracy theories to his supporters, and for using his platform at the rally Wednesday to radicalize the protesters present.

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) did not directly call for Trumps removal, but in an interview with CBS This Morning last week, he signaled that he was open to impeachment proceedings.

The House, if they come together and have a process, I will definitively consider whatever articles they might move because as Ive told you, I believe the president has disregarded his oath of office, Sasse told CBS This Mornings Gayle King. He swore an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. He acted against that. What he did was wicked.

A handful of Cabinet officials have also resigned in protest, most notably Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary, and Betsy DeVos, the education secretary. Others considered resigning, including National Security Adviser Robert OBrien, though he was reportedly persuaded to stay on.

Condemnation came from former officials, including those who served under Trump. Former Attorney General Bill Barr, who resigned last month not long after he denied the presidents allegations of widespread voter fraud, said in a statement that orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable. Barr said, The presidents conduct yesterday was a betrayal of his office and supporters. John Kelly, former White House chief of staff and former homeland security secretary, said on CNN that he would, if still in the Cabinet, vote to remove Trump.

Some of these denouncements come a bit late, as many of Trumps Republican allies did little to stop or condemn Trump and his falsehoods about election fraud in weeks prior to the insurrection at the Capitol.

And so far, few Republicans with actual power to remove the president from office i.e., those in Congress or leading a Cabinet agency have said they would definitely do so. Pence is reportedly opposed to invoking the 25th Amendment, and many other lawmakers look like theyd rather move on, echoing the presidents statement Thursday night, where he recognized that a new administration would take over and tried to distance himself from the Capitol assault.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of Trumps biggest defenders in the Senate, said Friday that, as Trump stated, it is time to heal and move on.

If Speaker Pelosi pushes impeachment in the last days of the Trump presidency, it will do more harm than good, he said.

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The Republicans who want Trump to leave office now - Vox.com

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 Committees 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 Trumps 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. Trumps role in inciting a mob assault on Americas seat of government.

Even as the president faces a possible second impeachment proceeding, this collective exercise in gaze aversion was not the most striking part of the meeting. More revealing was the reason for the silence from the stage: Party members, one after another, said in interviews that the president did not bear any blame for the violence at the Capitol and indicated that they wanted him to continue to play a leading role in the party.

I surely embrace President Trump, said Michele Fiore, the committeewoman from Nevada, where Republicans have lost two Senate races and the governorship since 2016. Ms. Fiore, who was sporting a Trump-emblazoned vest, said the president was absolutely a positive force in the party.

The fealty to Mr. Trump was made plain on Friday when the state chairs and the committeemen and women who make up the R.N.C.s governing board unanimously re-elected Ms. McDaniel, Mr. Trumps handpicked chair. They also reappointed her co-chair, Tommy Hicks, who was first appointed to his post because of his friendship with the presidents eldest son.

Mr. Trump is the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over the loss of the White House, the House and the Senate in a single term and will be the first since Andrew Johnson to boycott his successors inauguration. That hasnt yet fazed the Republican rank and file.

This room, theyre in denial, and thats on the record, Bill Palatucci, a committeeman from New Jersey, said during a break in the Friday session, acknowledging the damage done to the country and the Republican brand this week.

But Mr. Palatucci was a lonely voice of dissent, at least in public.

Privately, a group of Republican officials, mostly those from the pre-Trump establishment wing of the party, said that they were appalled by the presidents conduct and that Ms. McDaniel had been candid about the partys difficulties behind closed doors.

These Republicans predicted with more hope than confidence that once Mr. Trump was out of office, the ardor for him in the conservative base would cool.

Yet for now, the flames still burn.

I would love to see him go into states that have some House seats we can flip in 22, said Terry Lathan, the Alabama G.OP. chair, who said absolutely not when she was asked if Mr. Trump bore any blame for the attack on the Capitol.

When a committee member took an informal survey on whose closed-door speech on Thursday members had liked better, that of Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota or of Nikki R. Haley, the former United Nations ambassador, the response was clear. The party officials preferred Ms. Noems, because she had not criticized Mr. Trump as Ms. Haley did in her remarks, a Republican familiar with the sampling said.

Earlier in the day on Thursday, when the president briefly called into a breakfast meeting, he was greeted by applause. And when the Missouri national committeeman, Gordon Kinne, said at the breakfast that he was a supporter of the president but had been upset by his comments about the violence at the Capitol, he was met with a generally frosty response, according to another committee member in the room.

The loyalty to Mr. Trump results in part from the turnover on the committee during his term. The presidents top political lieutenants intervened to install loyalists in state and local G.O.P. conventions ahead of 2020. The goal was to prevent any party rule changes that could have made it easier to mount a primary challenge against Mr. Trump, but the end result was to leave the committee heavy with Trump devotees.

The changes also accelerated a trend that pre-dated Mr. Trumps rise: the evolution of the committee from a body filled with canny political professionals and power brokers in their states to one dominated by dogmatic partisans well-marinated in Fox News and Facebook memes.

Perhaps more significant, the president has fostered a new wave of activism on the right and many longstanding G.O.P. leaders fear alienating these newcomers to party politics.

We cant exist without the people he brought to the party hes changed the direction of the party, said Paul Reynolds, the Republican committeeman from Alabama. Were a different party because of the people that came with him, and they make us a better party.

Reta Hamilton, a committeewoman from Arkansas, said Mr. Trump should play a leading part in the G.O.P. in the future for just that reason to bring his voters, she said.

Ms. Hamilton and other R.N.C. members also sought to rationalize questions about the damage to the Capitol and the images of Trump banners and Confederate flags littering the building.

What was your reaction to Black Lives Matter looting and robbing and killing people? she shot back brazenly before walking away.

Steve Scheffler, a committeeman from Iowa, was equally quick to invoke last summers at times destructive protests over racial justice and the news medias coverage of them.

Why doesnt the press condemn the violence that happened in Portland and Seattle? said Mr. Scheffler. Its a double standard.

Asked if he felt there was an equivalence between the left-wing protests of 2020 and the violent attempt to subvert the election this week, he said: Two wrongs dont make a right. Its all bad.

In her remarks to the committee, Ms. McDaniel, the niece of Senator Mitt Romney, thanked Mr. Trump for his faith in her and never directly acknowledged that Mr. Trump had been defeated, only referring to her frustration at losing critical elections.

As for the presidents own denial about his loss, she did not rebut the conspiracy theories he has pushed, and that the partys base has echoed.

Addressing the Republican grass roots, she vowed to work with state legislatures to make sure what we saw in this election never happens again.

Ms. McDaniel went on to criticize the effort by House Democrats to withdraw gender-specific words like wife and husband from the rule book governing the chamber.

The standing ovation she received was a reminder that disdain for the lefts perceived excesses is the most animating, and unifying, force on the right. This brand of oppositional politics could help paper over Republicans challenges when they run as the out-of-power party next year.

Indeed, much of Ms. McDaniels speech was Republican red meat. There were warnings against socialism, attacks on the four liberal congresswomen known as the squad and boasting about the diverse class of lawmakers who helped the party gain House seats in November despite Mr. Trumps broad unpopularity. Candidates matter, she said, alluding to new lawmakers.

David Bossie, one of Mr. Trumps advisers and the Maryland committeeman, insisted that the partys losses had been on the margins.

You dont have to throw out everybody when theres nothing fundamentally wrong, Mr. Bossie said.

A handful of committee members, however, believe more reflection is desperately needed, particularly after this week. Were whistling past the graveyard, said Henry Barbour, the Mississippi committeeman, who called Mr. Trumps conduct before the riot totally unacceptable.

Few of his counterparts, though, would criticize the president.

Asked if Mr. Trump was still the effective leader of the G.O.P., the Wyoming Republican chair, Frank Eathorne, said, The way Wyoming sees it, yes.

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In Capital, a G.O.P. Crisis. At the R.N.C. Meeting, a Trump Celebration. - The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re To Survive, Republicans Must Impeach, by Bret Stephens (column, Jan. 12):

They must have missed the 6MWE (Six Million Werent Enough) and Camp Auschwitz shirts worn by some in the mob who stormed the Capitol. Maybe they didnt know that the seditionists built gallows on the grounds and carried plastic handcuffs, or that five died in the violent attacks.

For those such as Kevin McCarthy, the most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives, who now call for unity, that ship has sailed. You aided and abetted the sedition, and then, after witnessing the demolition, about 140 of you still voted to put your stamp of approval on it.

President Trump must be removed from office ASAP. Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz and other accessories to the crime should be censured and considered persona non grata by their party.

If we are to heal as a country, those in office who supported a rogue president above their country should be shamed. If we are to recover, we must admit that this is who we are now. It will take a reckoning to recover and to become the country we hope to be.

Elliott MillerBala Cynwyd, Pa.

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Opinion | Trump and the Complicit Republicans - The New York Times

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, asks a question at a Senate committee hearing in September. She is the first Republican senator to call on President Trump to step down. Alex Edelman/Pool/Getty Images hide caption

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, asks a question at a Senate committee hearing in September. She is the first Republican senator to call on President Trump to step down.

Updated at 7:05 p.m. ET

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has become the first Republican senator to call on President Trump to resign in the wake of the deadly insurrection this week at the U.S. Capitol, according to two separate, blistering interviews with publications from her home state, the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media.

Murkowski joins a chorus of Democrats who have said Trump should step down, less than two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden's Jan. 20 inauguration.

"I allowed myself to refrain from speaking my truth," Murkowski told Alaska Public Media. "And I can't just be quiet right now."

Murkowski is one of a number of lawmakers who have found themselves at odds with Trump during his term in office, but her rebuke of his role in instigating a violent mob to overtake the Capitol is the strongest yet from a sitting Republican senator.

"People who were there to riot and who were encouraged that very morning by their president," she told the public media station. "Yes, I think he was responsible."

In an interview with the Anchorage Daily News, she was even more blunt.

"I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage," Murkowski told the newspaper.

"I think he should leave, " she continued. "He said he's not going to show up. He's not going to appear at the inauguration. He hasn't been focused on what is going on with COVID. He's either been golfing or he's been inside the Oval Office fuming and throwing every single person who has been loyal and faithful to him under the bus, starting with the vice president. He doesn't want to stay there. He only wants to stay there for the title. He only wants to stay there for his ego. He needs to get out. He needs to do the good thing, but I don't think he's capable of doing a good thing."

Murkowski's comments come just two days after violent, pro-Trump insurrectionists overtook the U.S. Capitol with the apparent goal of halting Congress' certification of Biden's White House victory.

Five people, including a Capitol police officer, died as a result of the ensuing bedlam.

Trump had earlier in the day addressed the mob from near the White House and encouraged them to walk to the Capitol during Congress' certification process.

"You'll never take back our country with weakness," he said to the crowd, many of whom carried Trump, Nazi and Confederate flags.

As rioters scaled the Capitol building, smashed windows and infiltrated congressional offices, forcing lawmakers to evacuate to safety, Trump issued a video message to his supporters asking for them to leave the building. In the video, posted to and eventually removed from Twitter, he called the rioters "very special people" and told them he loved them.

On Thursday evening, he condemned the violence but did not acknowledge his role in it.

"I will attribute it to the president, who said, even after his vice president told him that morning, 'I do not have the constitutional authority to do what you have asked me to do. I cannot do it. I have to protect and uphold the Constitution.' Even after the vice president told President Trump that, he still told his supporters to fight," Murkowski told the Anchorage Daily News.

"How are they supposed to take that? It's an order from the president. And so that's what they did. They came up and they fought and people were harmed, and injured and died," she said.

Murkowski said she has begun to question her place within the Republican Party, and her allegiance to it will depend on how the party is able to move forward after Trump leaves office.

"If the Republican Party has become nothing more than the party of Trump, I sincerely question whether this is the party for me."

As to why she did not think the president would be removed if he did not resign willingly, Murkowski told Alaska Public Media she did not think there was enough time to invoke the 25th Amendment, which allows for the vice president to step in in the event that the president is deemed unfit for his duties, nor to carry through with impeachment proceedings.

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'He Has Caused Enough Damage': Republican Murkowski Says Trump Should Step Down : Insurrection At The Capitol: Live Updates - NPR

Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a Delaware Democrat, was shown approaching the group of colleagues and offering blue surgical masks. The video, shot from inside a safe room where the lawmakers gathered during the chaos, was published on Twitter by Punchbowl News.

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Oklahoma Rep. Markwayne Mullin, Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry, Texas Rep. Michael Cloud and California Rep. Doug LaMalfa were captured unmasked and gathered closely together. They all refused the masks.

Mullin can be heard saying, "I'm not trying to get political here."

Rochester told CNN Friday she was "very concerned we were sitting in a super-spreader event but instead of sitting back and lamenting, I tried to go into action to try and persuade people to put them on."

"By the end of passing them out, I only had one left in my hand offering them to everyone," she said. "I was disappointed in those who didn't accept the masks but was encouraged by those who did. At least we were a little bit safer."

Greene's office responded in a statement to CNN, "Congresswoman Greene is a healthy adult who tested negative for COVID at the White House just this week. She does not believe healthy Americans should be forced to muzzle themselves with a mask. America needs to reopen and get back to normal."

The others did not respond to CNN's request for comment.

"I do think you have to anticipate that this is another surge event. You had largely unmasked individuals in a non-distanced fashion, who were all through the Capitol," Redfield told McClatchy.

CNN's Kristin Wilson contributed to this report.

Continued here:

Republican members of Congress refuse to wear masks during Capitol insurrection - CNN