Sensing our confusion, the officer continued: "Be prepared to don your mask in the event the room is breached." He told us that tear gas was being deployed, so we should get them ready. I pulled a rectangular canvas pouch from under my seat and unzipped it. These hoods didn't resemble the gas masks you see police wearing during a riot; instead, they were a large polyethylene bag that you pulled over your head, with a small motor attached to circulate and filter the air. As you removed the hood from its packaging, the motor began running, and suddenly there was a din of dozens of these hoods buzzing, which only added to the growing sense of alarm.
Gonzalez had previously argued that Trump's rhetoric at the "Stop the Steal" rally ahead of the insurrection on January 6 and the fact that the former President did little to stop those actions swayed him to back the impeachment charges. That decision unearthed profound anger in his district against irate constituents eager to expel any member of the party who crossed the former President.
Trump, for his part, campaigned against the lawmaker in June, rallying for primary opponent Max Miller, a former Trump aide, in his first return to the campaign trail after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. Trump said in a statement that Gonzalez "decided to quit after enduring a tremendous loss of popularity" following the impeachment vote.
Cassidy joined six other Republicans and all 50 Democrats in voting to convict Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Cassidy said "Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty."
Shortly after the Senate's vote, the Republican Party of Louisiana said in a statement that its executive committee unanimously voted for Cassidy to be censured, a largely symbolic expression of disapproval. "We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the vote today by Sen. Cassidy to convict former President Trump," the group said in a tweet. "Fortunately, clearer heads prevailed and President Trump has been acquitted of the impeachment charge filed against him."
When asked for his reaction to Republican leadership's handling of this day, Cheney -- not one to mince words -- said, "Well, it's not a leadership that resembles any of the folks that I knew when I was here for 10 years -- dramatically."
He suggested that his supporters "walk down to the Capitol" to contest "this egregious assault on our democracy."
He later addressed the nation, per Biden's request, but in a dangerous video in which he doubled down on his allegations of a fraudulent election and told the rioters to "go home" and that he loved them and they were "special."
Following the video, Trump was banned for 12-24 hours from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. YouTube removed the video, as did other social media platforms. Twitter, which flagged the video before removing it so that it could not be liked or shared, said it was in "severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy."
THE FACTS: There was no insurrection on Election Day. There was a free and fair election won by Democrat Joe Biden. Despite Trump's repeated claims, no evidence of widespread corruption has ever been found. Every state has certified its results as fair and accurate, and numerous state and federal election officials--including Trump's own attorney general at the time--have said there was no evidence of systemic fraud or errors of a scale that could have possibly change the outcome. Judges have widely agreed, even some appointed by Trump. The government's then-top cybersecurity and election officials declared the election "the most secure in American history" with "no evidence that any voting system deleted or changed votes, or was in any way compromised." Biden won by the same Electoral College margin that Trump did 2016. But Biden won the popular vote, getting 7 million-plus more votes than Trump.
Bartos: "I was very disturbed by what I saw on Jan. 6," Bartos said. Bartos did contribute $1,000 to bus people to what turned into a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Q: As far as you know, were any of the people on that bus involved in any of the illegal activities that took place?
Bartos: I have no knowledge. I sent a contribution to the gentleman who was organizing it because I feel he's done great work over the last five years that I've known him.
My fellow Americans in life, there's truth. And tragically, there are lies. Lies conceived and spread for profit and power. We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie. And here's the truth: the former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He's done so because he values power over principle.
Because he sees his own interest as more important than his country's interest and America's interest. And because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our constitution. He can't accept he lost.
You see, the strength of democracy is the rule of law. The strength of democracy is the principle that everyone should be treated equally, that elections should be free and fair, that corruption should be given no quarter. The strength of democracy is that it empowers the people.
And the fragility of democracy is this: that if we are not vigilant, if we do not defend it, democracy simply will not stand; it will falter and fail.
The violent assault that took place here, the very fact of how close we came to an election overturned -- that reflects the fragility of democracy.
Yet, the resolve I saw in our elected leaders when I returned to the Senate chamber that night -- their resolve not to yield but to certify the election; their loyalty not to party or person but to the Constitution of the United States -- that reflects its strength. And so, of course, does the heroism of the Capitol Police.
What brazen politicization of January 6 by President Biden. I wonder if the Taliban who now rule Afghanistan with al-Qaeda elements present, contrary to President Biden's beliefs, are allowing this speech to be carried?
Let's see what Lindsey Graham thought on the evening of January 6, 2021: Trump and I have had a hell of a journey. I hate it being this way. From my point of view, he's been a consequential president. But today...first thing you'll see. All I can say is: Count me out. Enough is enough. Pennsylvania--it went to the second circuit. So much for all the judges being in Trump's pocket. They said, "No, you're wrong." I accept the [PA court ruling], that Trump's lawsuit wasn't right. Georgia--they say the secretary of state took the law in his own hands, that he changed the election laws unlawfully. A federal judge said no. I accept the federal judge, even if I don't agree with it
Walker said he was appalled at the chaos and saddened to see his former colleagues cowering, and praying for safety. He believes the blame goes beyond the President. "I don't want to put all of this on the President, as far as him saying, march up from the rally and go charge and break into the Capitol. I think it's encumbered on all of us."
"We gather today due to a selfish man's injured pride and the outrage of his supporters whom he has deliberately misinformed for the past two months and stirred to action this very morning. What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States. Those who choose to continue to support his dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy. They will be remembered for their role in this shameful episode in American history. That will be their legacy."
One Republican called the rioters a "mob of misfits." Another suggested the sweeping federal investigation into the riot -- which has yielded more than 400 arrests and counting -- amounts to a national campaign of harassment. It's a turn of events that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, another target of the rioters, called "appalling" and "sick."
"I don't know of a normal day around here when people are threatening to hang the vice president of the United States or shoot the speaker, or injure so many police officers," said Pelosi, who has pushed for a bipartisan commission to investigate the riots.
"How long have you been here?" I asked the Republican.
"Seventy-two hours," he replied.
"What?"
"I was just elected. I replaced John Ratcliffe. I'm Pat Fallon."
I looked him in the eye and said: "It's not always like this."
"The NCGOP agrees with the strong majority of Republicans in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate that the Democrat-led attempt to impeach a former President lies outside the United States Constitution," the committee wrote after its unanimous vote.
In a statement, Burr said, "my party's leadership has chosen loyalty to one man over the core principles of the Republican Party and the founders of our great nation."
[At the impeachment trial,] Burr said, "The evidence is compelling that President Trump is guilty of inciting an insurrection against a coequal branch of government and that the charge rises to the level of Crimes and Misdemeanors. Therefore, I have voted to convict."
These hoods didn't resemble the gas masks you see police wearing during a riot; instead, they were a large polyethylene bag that you pulled over your head, with a small motor attached to circulate and filter the air.
I have a bit of claustrophobia, and the idea of pulling a bag over my head already had my pulse quickening. I resolved to wait until the last moment before I had to don the thing, since I wasn't smelling tear gas, not yet. "Breathe slowly when you put it on," Ruben intoned again, "or you will pass out. That is how people can die from wearing these." Okay, that wasn't so helpful.
[On Jan. 6, 2022] Ted Cruz walked back his use of the word "terrorist" when describing Jan. 6. "What I was referring to are the limited number of people who engaged in violent attacks against police officers. I think you and I both agree that if you assault a police officer, you should go to jail," Cruz said. "I wasn't saying the thousands of peaceful protesters supporting Donald Trump are somehow terrorists. I wasn't saying the millions of patriots across the country supporting Trump are terrorists."
Even after the [January 6th] riot, Steinhardt wouldn't pin any of the blame on the president: "The actions of violent criminals do not speak for Republicans and supporters of President Trump," he told POLITICO. "The conservative grassroots movement that I'm proud to represent here in New Jersey supports democracy and the rule of law."
Still, Steinhardt talked with some New Jersey Republican leaders in the aftermath of the insurrection to gauge its effect on his candidacy, according to one GOP source who asked not to be identified.
"What we're seeing right now is this long-play grief cycle that is born because the leaders in the Republican Party have refused to have the courage to look people in the eye and tell them the plain truth," Holland said. "I'm just as plainspoken preacher, and I'm just going to tell people the truth. We need the courage to tell people the truth, even an unpopular truth or a truth they don't want to hear."
[Republican Senator Jerry] Moran has said Biden won the 2020 national election and it would be wrong for Congress to not certify the Electoral College vote. He denounced the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, but opposed formation of an independent inquiry into violence precipitated by a rally led by Trump.
[Dem. opponent Michael] Franken said Democrats have respected the results of presidential elections. And he said Grassley hasn't done enough to stand up to elements in his own party who sympathize with the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. "This country has never had this before, but when a party goes off the rail because of lack of leadership and this craven desire to stay in office, to stay in power, then we've got problems," Franken said.
Asked whether he agreed with the president's diagnosis, Malloy criticized Biden for being divisive. "I want to unify our country, and he's not doing that in speeches like this," Malloy said. Prompted in a follow-up question to say whether he believed Biden had legitimately won the 2020 election, Malloy did not hesitate: "Yes," he said.
Welch, for his part, said the country was facing "a serious, serious threat to our democracy" and called Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob supporting then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop the election's certification, "one of the saddest days of my life in public service."
Every generation of Americans has faced a moment where they have been called on to protect our democracy, to defend it, to stand up for it. And this is our moment.
[OnTheIssues FactCheck: Trump is referring to the House committee investigating the insurrection of January 6. As for the 2020 election, neither Trump nor any of his partisans have produced any evidence that it was in any way "rigged": numerous courts have studied several states results and found no valid evidence that would alter the election results].
Cheney's removal, which was widely expected, likely marks the end of her rise in the Republican Party. Still, after [the removal] vote, Cheney appeared undeterred, telling reporters the nation needs a strong GOP--and that she plans to lead it.
[Before the removal vote], Cheney pointedly accused Trump of fomenting the deadly insurrection. Cheney added: "I will not sit back and watch in silence, while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president's crusade to undermine our democracy."
"I was at the Capitol that morning," she told CBS anchor Jane Pauley (via CBS News). "And then I was in a meeting and I was told that I should leave. I was taken to a secure location with my husband, we watched in horror."
Harris admitted that she thought that the January 6 violence, which extended into the halls of the U.S. Capitol, was earth-shattering."It was seismic. It was in many ways a reckoning. It was an exposure of the vulnerability of our democracy. It is outrageous, and we will remember it like we have remembered some of the most significant [dates]. December 7th. We will remember Jan 6--an attack on the foundation and fundamental principles and ideals we hold dear."
To me, the true patriots for the more than 150 Americans who peacefully expressed their vote at the ballot box. The election workers who protected the integrity of the vote and the heroes who defended this Capitol. You can't love your country only when you win. You can't obey the law only when it's convenient. You can't be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies.
[OnTheIssues FactCheck: In fact, Biden did not use Trump's name at all in his speech "I Fear For Our Democracy", referring 16 times to the "former president."]
"You can't let them see you," a Republican member said to me. "He's right," another Republican member said. "I know these people, I can talk to them, I can talk my way through them. You're in a whole different category." In that moment, we were not merely members of different political parties, but on opposite sides of a much more dangerous divide. At first I was oddly touched by these GOP members and their evident concern. But by then, I had been receiving death threats for years, and that feeling soon gave way to another: If these Republican members hadn't joined the president in falsely attacking me for 4 years, I wouldn't need to be worried about my security, none of us would. I kept that thought to myself.
On that day, I was not only Vice President-elect, I was also a United States senator. And I was here at the Capitol that morning, at a classified hearing with fellow members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Hours later, the gates of the Capitol were breached.
What the extremists who roamed these halls targeted was not only the lives of elected leaders. What they sought to degrade and destroy was not only a building, hallowed as it is. What they were assaulting were the institutions, the values, the ideals that generations of Americans have marched, picketed, and shed blood to establish and defend.
"Former President Trump's actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty. The House accused the former President of 'incitement.' That is a specific term from the criminal law. Let me put that to the side for one moment and reiterate something I said weeks ago: There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day.
"[On Jan. 6] the people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their President. And their having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories, and reckless hyperbole which the defeated President kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth."
"If President Trump were still in office, I would have carefully considered whether the House managers proved their specific charge. But in this case, that question is moot. Because former President Trump is constitutionally not eligible for conviction.
"But this just underscores that impeachment was never meant to be the final forum for American justice. Impeachment, conviction, and removal are a specific intra-governmental safety valve. We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former Presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one.
"I believe the Senate was right not to grab power the Constitution does not give us. A Senate verdict before Inauguration Day was never possible. But the Senate has done our duty. The framers' firewall held up again. On January 6th, we returned to our posts and certified the election, uncowed."
"Former President Trump's actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty. The House accused the former President of 'incitement.' That is a specific term from the criminal law. Let me put that to the side for one moment and reiterate something I said weeks ago: There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day.
"[On Jan. 6] the people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their President. And their having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories, and reckless hyperbole which the defeated President kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth."
"If President Trump were still in office, I would have carefully considered whether the House managers proved their specific charge. But in this case, that question is moot. Because former President Trump is constitutionally not eligible for conviction.
"But this just underscores that impeachment was never meant to be the final forum for American justice. Impeachment, conviction, and removal are a specific intra-governmental safety valve. We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former Presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one.
"I believe the Senate was right not to grab power the Constitution does not give us. A Senate verdict before Inauguration Day was never possible. But the Senate has done our duty. The framers' firewall held up again. On January 6th, we returned to our posts and certified the election, uncowed."
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| 2024 Presidential contenders on Principles & Values: | |||
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Candidates for President & Vice-President:
V.P.Kamala Harris (D-CA) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.(I-CA) Chase Oliver(L-GA) Dr.Jill Stein(D-MA) Former Pres.Donald Trump(R-FL) Sen.J.D.Vance(R-OH) Gov.Tim Walz(D-MN) Dr.Cornel West(I-NJ) |
2024 presidential primary contenders:
Pres.Joe_Biden(D-DE) N.D.Gov.Doug Burgum(R) N.J.Gov.Chris_Christie(R) Fla.Gov.Ron_DeSantis(R) S.C.Gov.Nikki_Haley(R) Ark.Gov.Asa_Hutchinson(R) Former V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN) U.S.Rep.Dean_Phillips(D-MN) Vivek_Ramaswamy(R-OH) S.C.Sen.Tim_Scott(R) | ||
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