Tag: Capitol Insurrection

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Crime Donald Trump

Former Pentagon Chief Ready To Toss Trump Under The Bus When He Testifies To Congress: Report

When he removed Mark Esper from his post as Secretary of Defense days after the 2020 election, he replaced him with what he believed was a toady: Chris Miller.

Two months later, of course, the horrific Capitol insurrection took place, and the delayed deployment of National Guard troops was a major factor in the riot being more prolonged that it had to be.

On Wednesday, Miller will testify before the House Oversight Committee on what transpired on January 6, 2020, and Axios reports he will throw failed, one-term former President Donald Trump under the proverbial bus:

“Former President Trump’s acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller has been called to testify this Wednesday on ‘unanswered questions’ about the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said Monday.

“Why it matters: Miller, who Trump appointed to lead the Pentagon after firing Mark Esper following the 2020 election, has said he believes Trump incited the mob on Jan. 6 with his speech before the deadly riot.

Specifically, Miller told Vice News:

“Would anybody have marched on the Capitol, and tried to overrun the Capitol, without the president’s speech? I think it’s pretty much definitive that wouldn’t have happened.”

Cause and effect. Trump stirred up the crowd which proceeded to march on the Capitol and kill a member of the Capitol Police. Even former members of his administration know Donald Trump engaged in sedition by lighting the match that led to the insurrection and left five people dead.

If there is any justice in this world, Trump will be charged for his role in what transpired on Jan. 6. Otherwise, why bother having laws in the first place?

 

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Crime Domestic Terrorism Donald Trump Justice Department Racism Sedition

DOJ May May Have A Way To Destroy All Right-Wing Extremist Groups In The U.S.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is ratcheting up the pressure on the insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol in January, leaving five people dead, with reports suggesting that federal prosecutors are planning to charge as many as 500 more people for their connection to the riots.

And now we’re learning that the Justice Department may use a legal theory which would allow them to take down right-wing extremist groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

 

Former FBI Assistant Director Frank Figliuzzi was a guest on MSNBC recently and was asked by host Alex Witt about the ongoing investigation:

“The Justice Department is now saying it expects to charge at least 500 people with taking part in those riots on Capitol Hill. So far over 400 have been charged in what the DOJ is calling one of the largest investigations in U.S. history.

“DOJ lawyers is calling this one of the largest — not just because of the number of people charged, but the sheer volume of evidence. It includes, last count, something like 20,000 hours of video from surveillance and police body cameras. I mean, can you put this in perspective and your reaction to all of it?”

Figliuzzi responded:

“Yeah, Alex, certainly, in my 25-year career including, by the way, 9/11 and the aftermath and inquiry of that — this makes that pale in comparison in terms of the span and scope of this investigation and the volume of evidence related to it.”

And that’s where the legal theory about charging groups with conspiracy and other crimes that would shatter them into a million pieces comes into play, Figliuzzi explained:

“And I am hearing from people I talked to involved in the investigation that yes, indeed, they will hit the 500 number in arrests and maybe surpass that, but that far more importantly, Alex, the magnitude of the charges will move from things like trespass and assault all of the way up to conspiracy and we’re seeing more of that and even possibly sedition and even possibly an enterprise theory of approach which is under consideration to take down and dismantle groups like Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.”

Dismantle them completely. Destroy them and everything they stand for. They’re right-wing terrorists and belong in prison.

 

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Crime Donald Trump The Trump Adminstration

Pentagon Document Lays Out Why Trump Should Be Charged With Treason For Jan. 6

In the midst of the horrific mayhem that was taking place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, Vice President Mike Pence telephoned the acting defense secretary and told him:

“Clear the Capitol.”

According to a leaked Pentagon document, the timeline of what transpired next makes it clear that Pence’s order was overruled, and could only have been countermanded by one man: President Donald Trump.

The Associated Press (AP) obtained the Pentagon document which lays out a very clear and damning timeline:

“But order would not be restored for hours.

“These new details about the deadly riot are contained in a previously undisclosed document prepared by the Pentagon for internal use that was obtained by The Associated Press and vetted by current and former government officials.

“The timeline adds another layer of understanding about the state of fear and panic while the insurrection played out, and lays bare the inaction by then-President Donald Trump and how that void contributed to a slowed response by the military and law enforcement. It shows that the intelligence missteps, tactical errors and bureaucratic delays were eclipsed by the government’s failure to comprehend the scale and intensity of a violent uprising by its own citizens.”

The inaction of Donald Trump. Just as he failed to control the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump also failed to protect everyone in the Capitol on that fateful day. That alone is a form of treason, because it violates the very oath of office a president takes when inaugurated while one of his hands is raised and other rests on a Bible.

As Trump dithered and encouraged the insurrectionists with his silence, Pentagon officials — along with White House aides, Congressional leaders, and Mike Pence — tried to manage the crisis from a secure underground facility. Trump never once called them or checked to see how they were doing. He abdicated his role as leader of the county and allowed a deadly riot to continue.

Some have suggested that Trump should be charged with sedition for stirring up the crowd that attacked the Capitol, but treason is a more fitting charge.

 

Here’s the difference between sedition and treason:

“While seditious conspiracy is generally defined as conduct or language inciting rebellion against the authority of a state, treason is the more serious offense of actively levying war against the United States or giving aid to its enemies.”

Donald Trump gave aid to domestic terrorists who were attacking Congress. If that’s not treason, then what in the hell is?

 

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Congress Elections GOP

GOP Congressman Says He’s Convinced Lauren Boebert Knew About The Jan. 6 Attack In Advance

A member of the House Republican caucus is speaking out and letting it be known that the GOP in its current form has utterly capitulated to the lies and lunacy of former President Donald Trump, and that he cannot sit still and watch as his party is destroyed without sounding an alarm.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) has long been a critic of Trump, but remarks he made to The New York Times Magazine are some of the harshest yet, with the Illinois congressman noting:

“I made the decision early in my career that I would be willing to take a potentially career-ending vote. But I thought that vote would be for something like a Social Security reform bill. I never thought it would be for defending democracy.”

The vote Kinzinger took to defend democracy was when he voted to authorize the creation of a bipartisan commission to examine what happened on January 6 and who is responsible for the Capitol insurrection which left five people dead.

Kinzinger was especially critical of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA):

“Kevin gave a great speech the week after that, and then he went to Mar-a-Lago and charged the paddles and brought Trump back to life. That’s the moment when I realized, Oh, man, this is a problem. You come to understand that when the party and party leaders talk about unity, and in the same breath, say that Donald Trump is the leader of the Republican Party, what they’re talking about isn’t unity. They’re talking about capitulation. When under the guise of unity, you act like Jan. 6 was just whatever you want to make of it, that is capitulating to a false narrative and to a dangerous attack on democracy. I will certainly talk to Kevin if he wants to. But I don’t see how we’re ever going to come eye-to-eye on this until there is a recognition that we can’t be the party of insurrection.”

And yet the GOP has indeed become the party of insurrection, with almost no Republicans being willing to say what needs to be said: That what transpired on Jan. 6 was a direct attack on the United States and an abomination that must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

Of special concern to Kinzinger is the fact that he suspects there are current Republicans in Congress who knew what was going to take place on the fateful January day, yet didn’t say a word or warn their colleagues or the authorities:

“I will say, if you just looked at Twitter — the whole reason I brought my gun and kept my staff home and told my wife to stay in the apartment was looking at Twitter. I saw the threats. When Lauren Boebert — I will call her out by name — tweeted ‘Today is 1776,’ I don’t know what that meant other than this is the time for revolution. Maybe it was a dumb tweet that she didn’t mean. Fine. I’ll give her that credit for now. But if you have members of Congress who were involved in nurturing an insurrection, heck yeah, we need to know.”

Fortunately, a select committee is now investigating what happened on Jan. 6. And if it finds that some members of Congress did indeed have advance knowledge of the attack, they need to be booted from their seats and handed over to the Justice Department for prosecution.