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#another court denies crooked donald bid to void 2020 presidential election results
malenipshadows · 3 years
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+ Woodrow Johnston, the vice president of McShane LLC who had been hired by the Republican Party to investigate election fraud, tried to recruit the Proud Boys for a November rally held at the Clark County Election Department in North Las Vegas, The Post reported. + In doing so, he contacted Sarah Ashton-Cirillo -- a liberal activist who was working closely with people on the far-right under a fake identity -- saying that they would "need to get the Proud Boys out" to Nevada, according to The Post.
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malenipshadows · 3 years
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+ Miller will tell the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday (5-12-23021) that he was concerned before the insurrection that sending troops to the building could fan fears of a military coup and cause a repeat of the deadly Kent State shootings, according to a copy of prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press. + His testimony, in the latest in a series of congressional hearings centered on the riot, is aimed at rebutting broad criticism that military forces were too slow to arrive, even as pro-Tr*mp rioters violently breached the building and stormed inside. + Miller will be joined by former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who is also testifying for the first time about the Justice Department's role in the run-up to the riot.Miller will say he was determined that the military have only limited involvement, a perspective he says was shaped by criticism of the aggressive
response to the civil unrest that roiled American cities months earlier, as well as decades-old episodes that ended in violence. + The Defense Department has “an extremely poor record in supporting domestic law enforcement," including during civil rights and Vietnam War protests in the 1960s and 1970s and the fatal shooting 51 years ago of four students at Kent State University by Ohio National Guard members, Miller says in his prepared remarks. “I was committed to avoiding repeating these scenarios," he says. + Miller also denies that former pres-ident Donald Tr*mp, criticized for failing to forcefully condemn the rioters, had any involvement in the Defense Department's response. + Miller will be the most senior Pentagon official to participate in hearings on the riots. The sessions so far have featured finger-pointing about missed intelligence, poor preparations and an inadequate law enforcement response.  The Capitol Police have faced criticism for being badly overmatched, the FBI for failing to share with sufficient urgency intelligence suggesting a possible “war” at the Capitol, and the Defense Department for an hourslong delay in getting support to the complex despite the violent, deadly chaos unfolding on TV.
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malenipshadows · 3 years
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+  President Joe Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday will take place in a U.S. Capitol on high alert, with memories fresh of the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the building by supporters of his predecessor, Donald Tr*mp. + The crowd inside the Capitol will be a fraction of the hundreds of members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, top government officials and guests who typically attend, to allow for more social distancing in a COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 572,000 Americans. + But security will be higher than usual, even for what is officially designated a "National Special Security Event," with the Secret Service in charge of security. + The white-domed building is still surrounded by a black steel mesh fence with some 2,250 armed National Guard troops from 18 states plus the District of Columbia on duty in the city, the vestiges of a much larger force put in place after Tr*mp supporters stormed the building as Congress was voting to certify Biden's election victory.
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malenipshadows · 3 years
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+ More than 150 House Democrats, well over half of the caucus, have signed on to articles of impeachment written by Reps. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Ted Lieu of California and Jamie Raskin of Maryland that focus on the breach of the Capitol complex and accuse the pres-ident of inciting an insurrection. If passed, it would make Mr. Tr*mp the first president in the nation’s history to be impeached twice.
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malenipshadows · 3 years
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+ A former federal prosecutor has called for the criminal prosecution of Donald Tr*mp, saying he was responsible for “an unabated crime wave as president.” + On (6-11-2021)  Friday’s episode of MSNBC’s “The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell,” Glenn Kirschner warned of a future “runaway criminal president” if Tr*mp is not held accountable for some of the “many” offenses he committed while in office. + Kirschner, who was a prosecutor in the District of Columbia’s U.S. attorney’s office for 24 years and now works as an MSNBC legal analyst, listed some of Tr*mp’s misdeeds, including being impeached over the Ukraine scandal and his administration’s obstruction of congressional proceedings. + “There are so many other offenses,” Kirschner said. “There are countless, avoidable COVID deaths that I think could be pursued by the states.  Then, of course, there is inciting the insurrection. We saw it with our own eyes.” + “If (Tr*mp) is not held accountable, if we don’t prosecute him, then what we are doing is we are encouraging tomorrow’s version of Donald Tr*mp,” Kirschner added. “We have to prosecute today’s version of Donald Tr*mp to send the message that we will not tolerate a runaway, criminal president.”
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malenipshadows · 3 years
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+ The charges in the case include conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, and unauthorized entry to a Secret Service-restricted area — in some cases with weapons. + The new indictment appears to be the third major conspiracy case lodged by prosecutors in connection with events at the Capitol on Jan. 6. + While the two other large conspiracy cases focus on groups known as the Proud Boys and the Oathkeepers that allegedly stormed the Capitol building, only one of those charged in the new case is accused of actually entering the Capitol.  Instead, prosecutors allege that the remainder crossed police lines and went onto the Capitol’s Upper West Terrace. + Two men charged in the new indictment, Alan Hostetter and Russell Taylor, were among organizers of a Virginia Women for Tr*mp rally held outside the Supreme Court on Jan. 5, endorsing Pres-ident Donald Tr*mp’s baseless claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
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malenipshadows · 3 years
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+ “This is a very ongoing investigation and there's a lot more to come," Wray said during an oversight hearing held by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. "I would expect to see more charges — some of them maybe more serious charges." + Wray testified that the FBI considered the attack an act of "domestic terrorism." He said he understands why Democratic lawmakers have called the attack an "insurrection," but said it would not be appropriate for him to use that word because of the effect it could have on pending criminal cases. + "In my role as FBI director, because that's a term that has legal meaning, I really have to be careful about using words like that," Wray said. + Democratic lawmakers repeatedly grilled Wray, appointed by Tr*mp in 2017,
over what they said were intelligence failures that left law enforcement ill-prepared for the deadly attack.  "The FBI's inaction in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 is simply baffling," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said. + "It is hard to tell whether FBI headquarters merely missed the evidence — which had been flagged by your field offices and was available online for all the world to see — or whether the Bureau saw the intelligence, underestimated the threat, and simply failed to act,"  Nadler said. + Wray responded that on Jan. 5 an FBI field office in Virginia issued an explicit warning, sent to U.S. Capitol Police, that extremists were preparing to travel to Washington to commit violence.  Wray added that "almost none" of the 500 people charged so far with participating in the attack had been under FBI investigation previously, suggesting it would have been difficult for the FBI to have monitored them in advance. + "You can be darn sure that we are going to be looking hard at how we can do better, how we can do more, how we can do things differently in terms of collecting and disseminating" intelligence, Wray said. + Asked whether the FBI was investigating Tr*mp or his associate Roger Stone, Wray said he could neither confirm nor deny any FBI investigation. + "I'm talking about Mr. Big, Number One," said Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, referring to Trump. "Have you gone after the people who incited the riot?" + Wray responded: "I don't think it would be appropriate for me to be discussing whether or not we are or aren't investigating specific individuals."
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malenipshadows · 3 years
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+ Yogananda Pittman told the leaders Thursday in a letter obtained by The Associated Press that the board that oversees her department has so far declined to extend an emergency declaration required by the Pentagon to keep Guardsmen who have assisted Capitol officers since the riot. + Pittman said she needed the leaders' assistance with the three-member Capitol Police Board, which reports to them. She said the board has sent her a list of actions it wants her to implement, though she said it was unclear whether the points were orders or just recommendations. + The letter underscored the confusion over how best to secure the Capitol after a dismal lack of protection in January and biting criticism for law enforcement's handling of the invasion.
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malenipshadows · 3 years
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+ Their denialism — which has intensified for weeks and was on vivid display this week (10 to 13 May 2021) at a pair of congressional hearings — is one reason that lawmakers have been unable to agree on forming an independent commission to scrutinize the assault on the Capitol. + Republicans have insisted that any inquiry include an examination of violence by antifa, a loose collective of antifascist activists, and Black Lives Matter. It also reflects an embrace of misinformation that has become a hallmark of the Republican Party in the age of Mr. Tr*mp. + “A denial of finding the truth is what we have to deal with,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday. “We have to find the truth, and we are hoping to do
so in the most bipartisan way possible.” + She drew a direct link between Republicans’ ouster of Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming as their No. 3 leader — a move that stemmed from Ms. Cheney’s vocal repudiations of Mr. Tr*mp’s election lies, which inspired the riot — and their refusal to acknowledge the reality of what happened on Jan. 6. + A House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on the riot on Wednesday underlined the Republican strategy. Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona, the chairman of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, used his time to show video of mob violence purportedly by antifa that had unfolded 2,800 miles away in Portland, Ore. + His fellow Freedom Caucus member, Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina, used his turn to question whether rioters involved in the Capitol attack had actually been Tr*mp supporters — despite their Tr*mp shirts, hats and flags, “Make America Great Again” paraphernalia, and pro-Tr*mp chants and social media posts. ... + Another Republican, Representative Andrew Clyde of Georgia, described the scene during the assault — nearly 140 were injured and at least five people died in connection with the riot — as appearing like a “normal tourist visit” to the Capitol. + “Let’s be honest with the American people: It was not an insurrection,” Mr. Clyde said, adding that the House floor was never breached and that no firearms had been confiscated.  “There was an undisciplined mob. There were some rioters, and some who committed acts of vandalism.” + He then asked Jeffrey A. Rosen, who was the acting attorney general at the time of the attack, whether he considered it “an insurrection, or a riot with vandalism, similar to what we saw last summer,” apparently referring to racial justice protests that swept across the country. + Immediately after the attack, many Republicans joined Democrats in condemning the violent takeover of the building known as the citadel of American democracy.  But in the weeks that followed, Mr. Tr*mp, abetted by right-wing news outlets and a few members of Congress, pushed the fiction that it had been carried out by antifa and Black Lives Matter, a claim that the federal authorities have repeatedly debunked.  Now, a much broader group of Republican lawmakers have settled on a more subtle effort to cloud and distort what happened. + The approach has hampered the creation of an independent commission, modeled after the one that delved into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, to look into the Capitol riot, its roots and the government’s response.  Ms. Pelosi said discussions had stalled given Republicans’ insistence on including unrelated groups and events, and that Democrats might be forced to undertake their own inquiry through existing House committees if the G.O.P. would not drop the demand.
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malenipshadows · 3 years
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+ The Biden Justice Department and lawyers for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have reached an agreement about how to handle a congressional subpoena for testimony from former Tr*mp White House counsel Donald McGahn. + The House Judiciary Committee and the Biden administration announced the deal Tuesday (5-11-2021) in a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.  The parties told the court they have “an agreement in principle on an accommodation.” + Former pres-ident Donald Tr*mp is “not a party to the agreement,” the filing states. No additional details were provided about the negotiated settlement. + It was not known whether the agreement means McGahn will appear on Capitol Hill to answer lawmakers’ questions. McGahn’s lawyer did not
immediately respond to a request for comment. The parties plan to formally ask the D.C. Circuit to remove from its calendar a hearing in the case set for next week. + The House Judiciary Committee first subpoenaed McGahn in 2019. Pelosi’s general counsel, Douglas Letter, told the court that McGahn’s testimony related to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election is still “essential” to lawmakers’ oversight responsibilities. + A central question in the case is whether a congressional committee can compel testimony of a close presidential adviser. U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, now a Biden nominee for the appeals court, initially rejected Tr*mp’s claim that senior presidential aides have “absolute immunity” from testifying. 
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malenipshadows · 3 years
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+ “So if you read my speech … people thought that what I said was totally appropriate,” Tr*mp insisted as he headed to Texas to tour parts of the barrier he ordered constructed on the US-Mexico border as part of his hardline immigration policies. ... + Democrats have directly linked the speech, and previous Tr*mp comments, to the carnage that unfolded when rioters, some carrying Confederate flags, fought with police and looted congressional offices. House Democrats have led demands that Tr*mp be removed or face a historic second impeachment. + A handful of senior Republicans in recent days joined calls for Tr*mp to go. And, crucially, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, indicated to associates that he believes Tr*mp deserves to be impeached, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, with the Kentucky Republican thinking it will make it easier for the party to purge him, as a liability. + The outlet further reported that the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, has toyed variously with asking Tr*mp to resign, supporting impeachment and considering a vote to censure the pres-ident.  And the senior House Republican Liz Cheney said she would vote to impeach Tr*mp.
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malenipshadows · 3 years
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+ Still, Parler might be attractive to Tr*mp as it’s a place where his sons Eric and Don Jr. are already active. Parler hit headwinds, though, on Friday as Google yanked its smartphone app from its app store for allowing postings that seek “to incite ongoing violence in the U.S.” + Apple followed suit on Saturday evening after giving Parler 24 hours to address complaints it was being used to “plan and facilitate yet further illegal and dangerous activities.” Public safety issues will need to be resolved before it is restored, Apple said. ... + Amazon struck another blow Saturday, informing Parler it would need to look for a new web-hosting service effective midnight Sunday. It reminded Parler in a letter, first reported by Buzzfeed, that it had informed it in the past few weeks of 98 examples of posts “that clearly encourage and incite violence” and said the platform “poses a very real risk to public safety.” ... + Tr*mp also may launch his own platform. But that won’t happen overnight, and free speech experts anticipate growing pressure on all social media platforms to curb incendiary speech as Americans take stock of Wednesday’s violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol by a Tr*mp-incited mob.
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malenipshadows · 3 years
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+ Former Republican Governor of California and Austrian-born bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger released an impassioned video on Twitter comparing the events in the Capitol with the Night of Broken Glass — a pogrom organized by the Nazi party in Germany in 1938. ... + At the same time, Democratic Representative Jason Crow revealed that at least 25 cases of domestic terrorism had been opened against supporters of the president who participated in Wednesday's riots. ... + Security forces also faced criticism for allowing the US Capitol to be breached. Democrat Representative Maxine Waters slammed the chiefs of the Capitol police department, saying that officers were "left naked" as the mob overwhelmed them.  Police officials were questioned as to why they were surprised by the riots, after the president used increasingly aggressive language to urge his supporters to come to Washington D.C.
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malenipshadows · 3 years
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+ House Democrats said they were prepared to vote on impeachment as early as Tuesday for Tr*mp's role in inciting a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol last week. In a show of the president's evaporating support within his own party, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., suggested Tr*mp should resign and could face "criminal liability" for his actions. + Tr*mp 0only days remaining in his term – a point supporters noted – but the debate over how Congress should respond is focused largely on his legacy and his ability to control the GOP once President-elect Joe Biden takes office Jan. 20. Playing into that debate: whether Tr*mp could mount another run for the White House in 2024.
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malenipshadows · 3 years
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+ The poll, published Sunday by ABC News/Ipsos, found that 56% of respondents support his removal prior to Inauguration Day and 67% blame Tr*mp for the attack on Jan. 6, which forced lawmakers to flee their chambers and left five dead. + The incident followed Tr*mp's "Save America Rally" in Washington, where he urged the crowd to march to the Capitol to demonstrate against Congress as they counted votes in the Electoral College and certified Joe Biden as the President-elect. 
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malenipshadows · 3 years
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 *** ((( Twitter is a private company with its own social media platform. All people who post upon it are allowed by Twitter to use its platform to post.  It never was required to allow Tr*mp to post his filth publicly. This suspension is long overdue. ))) *** + Twitter announced Friday evening that it had permanently suspended Tr*mp.  "After close review of recent Tweets from the (omitted) account and the context around them -- specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter -- we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence," Twitter wrote in a statement. + Tr*mp's final tweet said he would not be attending the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. ... + Since his election loss in November 2020, the pres-ident has constantly used the social media platform to baselessly claim the election was rigged or rampant with fraud. Twitter began labeling his tweets in the run-up to the election to say some of the information was disputed. However, they were not taken down.
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