REUTERS
"Jan. 6 committee studying whether it can subpoena U.S. Republican lawmakers - chairman"
By Jan Wolfe
January 3, 2022
Jan 2 (Reuters) - The congressional committee investigating last year's Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is looking at issuing subpoenas to Republican members of Congress to force their cooperation, the panel's chairman said on Sunday.
Representative Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, said on NBC's "Meet The Press" that the committee is examining whether it can lawfully issue subpoenas to sitting members of Congress.
"I think there are some questions of whether we have the authority to do it," Thompson said.
"We're looking at it."
"If the authorities are there, there'll be no reluctance on our part."
Thompson chairs the House of Representatives Select Committee on Jan. 6, which is expected to hold public hearings and issue reports in the coming months.
The committee is trying to establish then-President Donald Trump's actions while thousands of his supporters attacked police, vandalized the Capitol and sent members of Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence running for their lives.
Congress had been meeting to count the electoral votes that gave Democrat Joe Biden victory in the November 2020 presidential election.
Multiple people close to Trump, including conservative media TV hosts, urged him during the riot to make a televised speech telling his supporters to stop the attack.
Trump waited hours before releasing a prerecorded message.
Representative Liz Cheney, the panel's Republican vice chair and a harsh critic of Trump, told ABC News he had committed "dereliction of duty" on Jan. 6 and the panel should consider "enhanced penalties" for that kind of action.
The American people, she said, need to understand "how dangerous Donald Trump was."
The committee sent a letter on Dec. 22 to Representative Jim Jordan, a Republican and ardent Trump ally, asking for testimony about his telephone conversations with Trump on Jan. 6.
Jordan said in a recent Fox News interview that he had "real concerns" about the committee's credibility, but was reviewing its letter to him.
The request came two days after a similar letter to Republican Representative Scott Perry.
The committee requested Perry's testimony about Trump's attempts to oust Jeffrey Rosen, who was acting head of the U.S. Justice Department during the closing weeks of his presidency, and replace him with Jeffrey Clark, an official who at the time was trying to help Trump overturn his election defeat.
Perry declined to cooperate, posting on Twitter on Dec. 21 that the committee "is illegitimate, and not duly constituted."
An appeals court ruled earlier last month that the committee was legitimate and entitled to see White House records Trump has tried to shield from public view.
Reporting by Jan Wolfe in Boston; Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Daniel Wallis
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/jan-6- ... 022-01-02/
THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
THE GUARDIAN
"Capitol attack panel in race against time as Trump allies seek to run out clock"
Hugo Lowell in Washington DC
4 JANUARY 2022
The House select committee investigating the 6 January attack on the Capitol is facing a race against time in 2022 as Trump and his allies seek to run out the clock with a barrage of delay tactics and lawsuits.
Republicans are widely expected to do well in this year’s midterm elections in November and, if they win control of the House, that would give them control to shut down the investigation that has proved politically and legally damaging to Trump and Republicans.
The select committee opened its investigative efforts into the 6 January insurrection, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election win, with a flurry of subpoenas to Trump officials to expedite the evidence-gathering process.
But aside from securing a trove of documents from Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, the select committee has found itself wading through molasses with Trump and other top administration aides seeking to delay the investigation by any means possible.
The former US president has attempted to block the select committee at every turn, instructing aides to defy subpoenas from the outset and, most recently, launching a last-ditch appeal to the supreme court to prevent the release of the most sensitive of White House records.
His aides are following Trump in lockstep as they attempt to shield themselves from the investigation, doing everything from filing frivolous lawsuits to stop the select committee obtaining call records to invoking the fifth amendment so as to not respond in depositions.
The efforts amount to a cynical ploy by Republicans to run out the clock until the midterms and use the election calendar to characterize the interim report, which the bipartisan select committee hopes to issue by the summer, as a political exercise to damage the GOP.
The select committee, sources close to the investigation say, is therefore hoping for a breakthrough with the supreme court, which experts believe will ensure the panel can access the Trump White House records over the former president’s objections about executive privilege.
“I think the supreme court is very unlikely to side with Trump, and part of it is the nature of executive privilege – it’s a power belonging to the President,” said Jonathan Shaub, a former DoJ office of legal counsel attorney and law professor at the University of Kentucky.
“It’s hard to see how a former president could exercise constitutional power under a theory where all the constitutional powers are vested in the current president, so I think Trump is very likely to lose or the court may not take the case,” Shaub said.
Members on the select committee note that several courts – the US district court and the US appeals court – have already ruled that Biden has the final say over which White House documents are subject to executive privilege, and that the panel has a legislative purpose.
A victory for the select committee at the supreme court is important, members believe, not only because it would give them access to the records Trump has fought so hard to keep hidden, but because it would supercharge the inquiry with crucial momentum.
The select committee got its first break when House investigators obtained from Meadows thousands of communications involving the White House, including a powerpoint detailing ways to stage a coup, and are hoping the supreme court can help to sustain their pace.
“It’s pretty clear that these documents are serious documents that shed light on the president’s activities on January 6 and that may be quite damaging for Trump,” said Kate Shaw, a former Obama White House counsel and now a professor at the Cardozo School of Law.
“They could make a difference to the record being compiled by the committee and thus they could give the process additional momentum,” Shaw said.
“That’s probably why Trump is resisting their release as hard as he is.”
More generally, the select committee says they are unconcerned by attempts by Trump aides and political operatives to stymie the inquiry, since Democrats control Washington and the panel has an unprecedented carte blanche to upturn every inch the Trump administration.
“The legislative and executive branches are completely in agreement with each other, that this material is not privileged and needs to be turned over to Congress,” said congressman Jamie Raskin, a member of the select committee.
“Things have been moving much more quickly.”
But the select committee acknowledges privately that they face a longer and more difficult slog with Trump aides and political operatives who are mounting legal challenges to everything from the panel’s attempts to compel production of call records and even testimony.
The trouble for the select committee, regardless of Democrats’ controlling the White House, Congress and the justice department, is that they are counting on the courts to deliver accountability for Trump officials unwilling to cooperate with the inquiry.
Yet Trump and his officials know that slow-moving cogs of justice have a history of doing nothing of the sort.
House investigators only heard from former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn this past summer, years after the end of the special counsel investigation.
The House has not even been able to obtain Trump’s tax returns – something Democrats have been fighting to get access to since they took the majority in 2018 – after repeated appeals from the former president despite repeated defeats in court.
Trump and his aides insist they are not engaged in a ploy to stymie the investigation, though they admit to doing just that in private discussions, according to sources close to the former president.
When the select committee issued its first subpoenas to his former aides Mark Meadows, Dan Scavino, Steve Bannon and Kash Patel, Trump’s lawyers told their lawyers to defy the orders because it would likely serve to slow down the investigation, the sources said.
The result of Trump’s directive – first reported by the Guardian – is that Bannon and Meadows refused to appear for their depositions, and the select committee now may never hear their inside information about the Capitol attack after they were held in contempt of Congress.
It remains possible that Bannon and Meadows seek some kind of a plea deal with federal prosecutors that involves providing testimony to the select committee in exchange for no jail time, but the court hearing for Bannon, for instance, is scheduled late into the summer.
The reality for House investigators is that the cases are now in the hands of a justice department intent on proving it remains above the political fray after years of Trump’s interference at DoJ, and therefore indifferent to the time crunch felt by the 6 January committee.
The situation for the select committee may be even trickier with Republican members of Congress involved in 6 January, as they just need to stonewall the investigation only through the midterms, before which the panel hopes to release an interim report into their findings.
A spokesperson for the select committee declined to comment on the outlook for the investigation and their expectations for the supreme court hearing in the case against Trump, which the panel, cognizant of their limited timeframe, has asked to expedite.
Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the select committee, originally aimed to have the final report completed before the midterm elections, but the efforts by the most senior Trump officials to delay the investigation means he could need until the end of the year.
Either way, sources close to the investigation told the Guardian, the select committee is hoping that the supreme court will deliver the elusive Trump White House records – and that it could pave the way for the investigation to shift into yet another higher gear.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
"Capitol attack panel in race against time as Trump allies seek to run out clock"
Hugo Lowell in Washington DC
4 JANUARY 2022
The House select committee investigating the 6 January attack on the Capitol is facing a race against time in 2022 as Trump and his allies seek to run out the clock with a barrage of delay tactics and lawsuits.
Republicans are widely expected to do well in this year’s midterm elections in November and, if they win control of the House, that would give them control to shut down the investigation that has proved politically and legally damaging to Trump and Republicans.
The select committee opened its investigative efforts into the 6 January insurrection, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election win, with a flurry of subpoenas to Trump officials to expedite the evidence-gathering process.
But aside from securing a trove of documents from Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, the select committee has found itself wading through molasses with Trump and other top administration aides seeking to delay the investigation by any means possible.
The former US president has attempted to block the select committee at every turn, instructing aides to defy subpoenas from the outset and, most recently, launching a last-ditch appeal to the supreme court to prevent the release of the most sensitive of White House records.
His aides are following Trump in lockstep as they attempt to shield themselves from the investigation, doing everything from filing frivolous lawsuits to stop the select committee obtaining call records to invoking the fifth amendment so as to not respond in depositions.
The efforts amount to a cynical ploy by Republicans to run out the clock until the midterms and use the election calendar to characterize the interim report, which the bipartisan select committee hopes to issue by the summer, as a political exercise to damage the GOP.
The select committee, sources close to the investigation say, is therefore hoping for a breakthrough with the supreme court, which experts believe will ensure the panel can access the Trump White House records over the former president’s objections about executive privilege.
“I think the supreme court is very unlikely to side with Trump, and part of it is the nature of executive privilege – it’s a power belonging to the President,” said Jonathan Shaub, a former DoJ office of legal counsel attorney and law professor at the University of Kentucky.
“It’s hard to see how a former president could exercise constitutional power under a theory where all the constitutional powers are vested in the current president, so I think Trump is very likely to lose or the court may not take the case,” Shaub said.
Members on the select committee note that several courts – the US district court and the US appeals court – have already ruled that Biden has the final say over which White House documents are subject to executive privilege, and that the panel has a legislative purpose.
A victory for the select committee at the supreme court is important, members believe, not only because it would give them access to the records Trump has fought so hard to keep hidden, but because it would supercharge the inquiry with crucial momentum.
The select committee got its first break when House investigators obtained from Meadows thousands of communications involving the White House, including a powerpoint detailing ways to stage a coup, and are hoping the supreme court can help to sustain their pace.
“It’s pretty clear that these documents are serious documents that shed light on the president’s activities on January 6 and that may be quite damaging for Trump,” said Kate Shaw, a former Obama White House counsel and now a professor at the Cardozo School of Law.
“They could make a difference to the record being compiled by the committee and thus they could give the process additional momentum,” Shaw said.
“That’s probably why Trump is resisting their release as hard as he is.”
More generally, the select committee says they are unconcerned by attempts by Trump aides and political operatives to stymie the inquiry, since Democrats control Washington and the panel has an unprecedented carte blanche to upturn every inch the Trump administration.
“The legislative and executive branches are completely in agreement with each other, that this material is not privileged and needs to be turned over to Congress,” said congressman Jamie Raskin, a member of the select committee.
“Things have been moving much more quickly.”
But the select committee acknowledges privately that they face a longer and more difficult slog with Trump aides and political operatives who are mounting legal challenges to everything from the panel’s attempts to compel production of call records and even testimony.
The trouble for the select committee, regardless of Democrats’ controlling the White House, Congress and the justice department, is that they are counting on the courts to deliver accountability for Trump officials unwilling to cooperate with the inquiry.
Yet Trump and his officials know that slow-moving cogs of justice have a history of doing nothing of the sort.
House investigators only heard from former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn this past summer, years after the end of the special counsel investigation.
The House has not even been able to obtain Trump’s tax returns – something Democrats have been fighting to get access to since they took the majority in 2018 – after repeated appeals from the former president despite repeated defeats in court.
Trump and his aides insist they are not engaged in a ploy to stymie the investigation, though they admit to doing just that in private discussions, according to sources close to the former president.
When the select committee issued its first subpoenas to his former aides Mark Meadows, Dan Scavino, Steve Bannon and Kash Patel, Trump’s lawyers told their lawyers to defy the orders because it would likely serve to slow down the investigation, the sources said.
The result of Trump’s directive – first reported by the Guardian – is that Bannon and Meadows refused to appear for their depositions, and the select committee now may never hear their inside information about the Capitol attack after they were held in contempt of Congress.
It remains possible that Bannon and Meadows seek some kind of a plea deal with federal prosecutors that involves providing testimony to the select committee in exchange for no jail time, but the court hearing for Bannon, for instance, is scheduled late into the summer.
The reality for House investigators is that the cases are now in the hands of a justice department intent on proving it remains above the political fray after years of Trump’s interference at DoJ, and therefore indifferent to the time crunch felt by the 6 January committee.
The situation for the select committee may be even trickier with Republican members of Congress involved in 6 January, as they just need to stonewall the investigation only through the midterms, before which the panel hopes to release an interim report into their findings.
A spokesperson for the select committee declined to comment on the outlook for the investigation and their expectations for the supreme court hearing in the case against Trump, which the panel, cognizant of their limited timeframe, has asked to expedite.
Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the select committee, originally aimed to have the final report completed before the midterm elections, but the efforts by the most senior Trump officials to delay the investigation means he could need until the end of the year.
Either way, sources close to the investigation told the Guardian, the select committee is hoping that the supreme court will deliver the elusive Trump White House records – and that it could pave the way for the investigation to shift into yet another higher gear.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
REUTERS
"Biden to call out Trump's 'singular responsibility' for Jan. 6 attacks"
By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jarrett Renshaw
January 5, 2022
WASHINGTON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden will tell Americans that his predecessor, Donald Trump carries "singular responsibility" for the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol when he marks the first anniversary of the assault on Thursday, the White House said.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, both Democrats, will speak on Thursday morning at the U.S. Capitol, one year after a mob loyal to Trump raided the complex in a failed attempt to stop the certification of Electoral College votes that officially delivered Biden's election victory.
Biden and his top aides have been reluctant to talk directly about Trump since he took office last January, even as the Republican former president continued to spread lies about his election loss, and Democrats, historians and civil rights activists grow increasingly concerned about the future of the nearly 250-year-old representative democracy.
Thursday's speech comes after Biden spent months encouraging Americans to unite against the COVID-19 pandemic, rebuild together after weather disasters and who tried to reach out to Republicans coast-to-coast.
On Thursday, Biden will “lay out the significance of what happened in the Capitol and the singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage that we saw and he will forcibly push back on the lies spread by the former president in an attempt to mislead the American people and his own supporters as well as distract from his role in what happened," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
Trump canceled a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that had been scheduled for the evening of Jan. 6, blaming what he called the "bias and dishonesty" of the House of Representatives probe of the attacks and the news media, a favorite target.
Taylor Budowich, a Trump spokesperson, said it was "unsurprising" that Biden would spend Jan. 6th "trying to further divide our nation, adding "division is the only thing Democrats know how to do."
Four people died on the day of the riot, and one Capitol police officer died the day after defending Congress.
Dozens of police were injured during the multi-hour onslaught by Trump supporters, and four officers have since taken their own lives.
The White House said Biden would push back against Trump's false claims, adopted by many of his followers, that his election defeat was the result of widespread fraud, and attempts to downplay the worst assault on the Capitol since the War of 1812.
Biden has been "clear eyed about the threat the former president represents to our democracy," Psaki said, "and how the former president constantly works to constantly undermine basic American values and rule of law."
She added that the president sees the deadly attacks as a “tragic culmination of what those four years under President Trump did to our country.”
Reporting By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jarrett Renshaw; Additional reporting by Alexander Ulmer; Editing by Heather Timmons and Alistair Bell
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-pre ... 022-01-05/
"Biden to call out Trump's 'singular responsibility' for Jan. 6 attacks"
By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jarrett Renshaw
January 5, 2022
WASHINGTON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden will tell Americans that his predecessor, Donald Trump carries "singular responsibility" for the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol when he marks the first anniversary of the assault on Thursday, the White House said.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, both Democrats, will speak on Thursday morning at the U.S. Capitol, one year after a mob loyal to Trump raided the complex in a failed attempt to stop the certification of Electoral College votes that officially delivered Biden's election victory.
Biden and his top aides have been reluctant to talk directly about Trump since he took office last January, even as the Republican former president continued to spread lies about his election loss, and Democrats, historians and civil rights activists grow increasingly concerned about the future of the nearly 250-year-old representative democracy.
Thursday's speech comes after Biden spent months encouraging Americans to unite against the COVID-19 pandemic, rebuild together after weather disasters and who tried to reach out to Republicans coast-to-coast.
On Thursday, Biden will “lay out the significance of what happened in the Capitol and the singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage that we saw and he will forcibly push back on the lies spread by the former president in an attempt to mislead the American people and his own supporters as well as distract from his role in what happened," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
Trump canceled a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that had been scheduled for the evening of Jan. 6, blaming what he called the "bias and dishonesty" of the House of Representatives probe of the attacks and the news media, a favorite target.
Taylor Budowich, a Trump spokesperson, said it was "unsurprising" that Biden would spend Jan. 6th "trying to further divide our nation, adding "division is the only thing Democrats know how to do."
Four people died on the day of the riot, and one Capitol police officer died the day after defending Congress.
Dozens of police were injured during the multi-hour onslaught by Trump supporters, and four officers have since taken their own lives.
The White House said Biden would push back against Trump's false claims, adopted by many of his followers, that his election defeat was the result of widespread fraud, and attempts to downplay the worst assault on the Capitol since the War of 1812.
Biden has been "clear eyed about the threat the former president represents to our democracy," Psaki said, "and how the former president constantly works to constantly undermine basic American values and rule of law."
She added that the president sees the deadly attacks as a “tragic culmination of what those four years under President Trump did to our country.”
Reporting By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jarrett Renshaw; Additional reporting by Alexander Ulmer; Editing by Heather Timmons and Alistair Bell
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-pre ... 022-01-05/
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
REUTERS
"Biden says Trump's 'web of lies' threatens U.S. democracy"
By Andy Sullivan and Jeff Mason, Richard Cowan
January 6, 2022
Summary
* Biden speaks at U.S. Capitol, never says Trump's name
* Trump accuses Biden of trying to divide the country
* Republican Cheney laments Trump 'cult of personality'
WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Thursday accused his predecessor Donald Trump of spreading a "web of lies" to undermine U.S. democracy in a speech on the anniversary of the deadly Capitol attack by Trump supporters who tried to undo his 2020 election defeat.
Speaking at the white-domed building where rioters smashed windows, assaulted police and sent lawmakers fleeing for their lives on Jan. 6, 2021, Biden said Trump's false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud could unravel the rule of law and subvert future elections.
"A 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," Biden said.
"He can't accept he lost."
Biden never actually uttered his predecessor's name during the 25-minute speech, telling reporters afterward he was trying to focus on the threats to America's political system instead of Trump himself.
The tone, including a poke at Trump's "bruised ego," was a departure for Biden, who has focused during most of his first year in office on pursuing his own agenda.
Trump issued three statements in the hours following his successor's remarks accusing Biden of trying to divide the country and repeating his false election claims.
Trump's behavior over the past year, like his conduct in office, has been norm-shattering.
Unlike other former U.S. presidents denied re-election, Trump has refused to accept the verdict of the voters and pressured fellow Republicans to somehow overturn the results, without success.
His false claims have provided cover for Republicans at the state level to pass new restrictions on voting that they have said are needed to fight fraud.
Research shows such fraud is extremely rare in U.S. elections.
Biden's fellow Democrats, a few Republicans and many independent experts have said Trump's continued denials could make it less likely that future U.S. transfers of power will be peaceful - especially those involving closer margins than the 2020 election that Biden won by 7 million votes nationwide.
The speech illustrated that Biden and other Democrats remain wary of Trump's political staying power.
In the riot's immediate aftermath, even some Republicans thought his grip on their party had been shaken, but since then Trump has only tightened it.
"Our democracy is very fragile, and the cult of The Big Lie is still very much in action with the help of the vast majority of our colleagues on the other side, who continue to try to rewrite or ignore history," Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal said at a later event.
'CULT OF PERSONALITY'
Just two Republicans were spotted at a House of Representatives session marking the riot's anniversary: Representative Liz Cheney, who has been shunned by party colleagues after criticizing Trump, and her father Dick Cheney, who served as vice president under President George W. Bush.
"A party that is in thrall to a cult of personality is a party that is dangerous to the country," Liz Cheney told reporters on her way out of the Capitol.
Dick Cheney told reporters that current party leaders do not resemble "any of the folks I knew" when he served in Congress.
America's next federal election is in November, with Republicans favored to retake a majority in at least one of the two chambers of Congress.
That could cripple Biden's ability to advance policy and set the stage for two years of legislative gridlock before a potential 2024 Biden-Trump rematch.
According to Reuters/Ipsos polling, 55% of Republican voters believe Trump's false claims, which were rejected by dozens of courts, state election departments and members of his own administration.
Four people died in the hours-long chaos after Trump urged supporters to march to the Capitol and "fight like hell."
One police officer died on that day after battling rioters and four later died by suicide.
Around 140 police officers were injured.
U.S. prosecutors have brought criminal charges against at least 725 people linked to the riot.
Trump remains highly popular among Republican voters and is working to shape the field of Republican candidates in the Nov. 8 congressional elections.
Public filings show Trump has stockpiled at least $98 million in fundraising accounts.
Most Republican officeholders have remained loyal to Trump, and some have sought to play down the riot.
Biden said it was hypocritical for them to question the presidential election's outcome while accepting Republican victories in congressional and state-level races that day.
Liz Cheney is one of only two Republican members of a House committee investigating the riot, which in recent weeks has unearthed records showing Trump allies urging him to call off the rioters as the attack was unfolding.
Biden criticized Trump for "watching it all on television and doing nothing for hours."
Other Republicans accused Democrats of exploiting the anniversary for partisan gain.
"What brazen politicization of Jan. 6 by President Biden," said Senator Lindsey Graham, who has reversed his position on Trump numerous times including criticizing him after the riot and then reverting to defending him.
Reporting by Andy Sullivan and Richard Cowan, additional reporting by Moira Warburton, Makini Brice, Jason Lange and Susan Heavey; Editing by Will Dunham, Scott Malone and Grant McCool
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden- ... 022-01-06/
"Biden says Trump's 'web of lies' threatens U.S. democracy"
By Andy Sullivan and Jeff Mason, Richard Cowan
January 6, 2022
Summary
* Biden speaks at U.S. Capitol, never says Trump's name
* Trump accuses Biden of trying to divide the country
* Republican Cheney laments Trump 'cult of personality'
WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Thursday accused his predecessor Donald Trump of spreading a "web of lies" to undermine U.S. democracy in a speech on the anniversary of the deadly Capitol attack by Trump supporters who tried to undo his 2020 election defeat.
Speaking at the white-domed building where rioters smashed windows, assaulted police and sent lawmakers fleeing for their lives on Jan. 6, 2021, Biden said Trump's false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud could unravel the rule of law and subvert future elections.
"A 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," Biden said.
"He can't accept he lost."
Biden never actually uttered his predecessor's name during the 25-minute speech, telling reporters afterward he was trying to focus on the threats to America's political system instead of Trump himself.
The tone, including a poke at Trump's "bruised ego," was a departure for Biden, who has focused during most of his first year in office on pursuing his own agenda.
Trump issued three statements in the hours following his successor's remarks accusing Biden of trying to divide the country and repeating his false election claims.
Trump's behavior over the past year, like his conduct in office, has been norm-shattering.
Unlike other former U.S. presidents denied re-election, Trump has refused to accept the verdict of the voters and pressured fellow Republicans to somehow overturn the results, without success.
His false claims have provided cover for Republicans at the state level to pass new restrictions on voting that they have said are needed to fight fraud.
Research shows such fraud is extremely rare in U.S. elections.
Biden's fellow Democrats, a few Republicans and many independent experts have said Trump's continued denials could make it less likely that future U.S. transfers of power will be peaceful - especially those involving closer margins than the 2020 election that Biden won by 7 million votes nationwide.
The speech illustrated that Biden and other Democrats remain wary of Trump's political staying power.
In the riot's immediate aftermath, even some Republicans thought his grip on their party had been shaken, but since then Trump has only tightened it.
"Our democracy is very fragile, and the cult of The Big Lie is still very much in action with the help of the vast majority of our colleagues on the other side, who continue to try to rewrite or ignore history," Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal said at a later event.
'CULT OF PERSONALITY'
Just two Republicans were spotted at a House of Representatives session marking the riot's anniversary: Representative Liz Cheney, who has been shunned by party colleagues after criticizing Trump, and her father Dick Cheney, who served as vice president under President George W. Bush.
"A party that is in thrall to a cult of personality is a party that is dangerous to the country," Liz Cheney told reporters on her way out of the Capitol.
Dick Cheney told reporters that current party leaders do not resemble "any of the folks I knew" when he served in Congress.
America's next federal election is in November, with Republicans favored to retake a majority in at least one of the two chambers of Congress.
That could cripple Biden's ability to advance policy and set the stage for two years of legislative gridlock before a potential 2024 Biden-Trump rematch.
According to Reuters/Ipsos polling, 55% of Republican voters believe Trump's false claims, which were rejected by dozens of courts, state election departments and members of his own administration.
Four people died in the hours-long chaos after Trump urged supporters to march to the Capitol and "fight like hell."
One police officer died on that day after battling rioters and four later died by suicide.
Around 140 police officers were injured.
U.S. prosecutors have brought criminal charges against at least 725 people linked to the riot.
Trump remains highly popular among Republican voters and is working to shape the field of Republican candidates in the Nov. 8 congressional elections.
Public filings show Trump has stockpiled at least $98 million in fundraising accounts.
Most Republican officeholders have remained loyal to Trump, and some have sought to play down the riot.
Biden said it was hypocritical for them to question the presidential election's outcome while accepting Republican victories in congressional and state-level races that day.
Liz Cheney is one of only two Republican members of a House committee investigating the riot, which in recent weeks has unearthed records showing Trump allies urging him to call off the rioters as the attack was unfolding.
Biden criticized Trump for "watching it all on television and doing nothing for hours."
Other Republicans accused Democrats of exploiting the anniversary for partisan gain.
"What brazen politicization of Jan. 6 by President Biden," said Senator Lindsey Graham, who has reversed his position on Trump numerous times including criticizing him after the riot and then reverting to defending him.
Reporting by Andy Sullivan and Richard Cowan, additional reporting by Moira Warburton, Makini Brice, Jason Lange and Susan Heavey; Editing by Will Dunham, Scott Malone and Grant McCool
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden- ... 022-01-06/
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
REUTERS
"Biden, Harris urge Americans to protect democracy on Capitol attack anniversary"
By Jeff Mason and Alexandra Alper
January 6, 2022
WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden used the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to urge Americans to protect the country's fragile democracy by standing up for the right to vote.
Biden, in remarks from the Capitol's National Statuary Hall, lambasted former President Donald Trump for spreading mistruths that fueled the deadly attack by the Republican's supporters two weeks before Biden's inauguration in 2021.
Speaking 10 months before the November midterm elections that could give control of one or both houses of Congress to Republicans, Biden, a Democrat, warned that the danger on display a year ago had not gone away.
"The lies that drove the anger and madness we saw in this place, they have not abated."
"So we have to be firm, resolute and unyielding in our defense of the right to vote and to have that vote counted," Biden said from the U.S. Capitol, where a mob of Trump's supporters attempted to overturn the 2020 election results.
"So now let's step up, write the next chapter in American history, where January 6th marks not the end of democracy but the beginning of a renaissance of liberty and fair play," Biden said.
In remarks delivered before Biden spoke, Vice President Kamala Harris also cast a spotlight on Trump supporters' efforts to subvert democracy, calling on Congress to pass voting rights legislation and on Americans to participate.
"We cannot let our future be decided by those bent on silencing our voices, overturning our votes and peddling lies and misinformation by some radical faction that may be newly resurgent but whose roots run old," Harris said.
"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."
Biden and Harris plan to travel to Georgia on Tuesday to deliver remarks about voting rights.
Democrats say federal election reform is necessary to counter a wave of voting restrictions adopted last year by Republican-led states.
The laws were inspired by Trump's false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden by a substantial margin.
Americans vote in lower numbers than in many other developed nations, historical data shows, with eligible turnout during presidential elections hovering near 60% for much of the past century.
Numbers spiked in the 2020 election to nearly 67%.
Democrats hope that greater voter turnout will favor them, especially as demographic shifts shrink the white majority in the country of roughly 330 million people.
Democrats' efforts to pass voting rights legislation in Congress appeared in jeopardy this week, as centrist Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said he had little interest in a strategy that would allow the party to bypass Republican opposition.
Biden and his advisers had shied away from talking directly about Trump during the Democrat's first year in office, but Thursday marked a turnaround.
Biden attacked the "defeated" former president's "bruised ego" and his followers' refusal to accept reality.
"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," he said.
"Those who stormed this Capitol and those who instigated and incited and those who called on them to do so held a dagger at the throat of America - at American democracy."
"Now it’s up to all of us - to 'We the People' - to stand for the rule of law, to preserve the flame of democracy, to keep the promise of America alive."
Reporting by Jeff Mason, Nandita Bose and Alex Alper; Editing by Mary Milliken, Heather Timmons, Jonathan Oatis and Raju Gopalakrishnan
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden- ... 022-01-06/
"Biden, Harris urge Americans to protect democracy on Capitol attack anniversary"
By Jeff Mason and Alexandra Alper
January 6, 2022
WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden used the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to urge Americans to protect the country's fragile democracy by standing up for the right to vote.
Biden, in remarks from the Capitol's National Statuary Hall, lambasted former President Donald Trump for spreading mistruths that fueled the deadly attack by the Republican's supporters two weeks before Biden's inauguration in 2021.
Speaking 10 months before the November midterm elections that could give control of one or both houses of Congress to Republicans, Biden, a Democrat, warned that the danger on display a year ago had not gone away.
"The lies that drove the anger and madness we saw in this place, they have not abated."
"So we have to be firm, resolute and unyielding in our defense of the right to vote and to have that vote counted," Biden said from the U.S. Capitol, where a mob of Trump's supporters attempted to overturn the 2020 election results.
"So now let's step up, write the next chapter in American history, where January 6th marks not the end of democracy but the beginning of a renaissance of liberty and fair play," Biden said.
In remarks delivered before Biden spoke, Vice President Kamala Harris also cast a spotlight on Trump supporters' efforts to subvert democracy, calling on Congress to pass voting rights legislation and on Americans to participate.
"We cannot let our future be decided by those bent on silencing our voices, overturning our votes and peddling lies and misinformation by some radical faction that may be newly resurgent but whose roots run old," Harris said.
"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."
Biden and Harris plan to travel to Georgia on Tuesday to deliver remarks about voting rights.
Democrats say federal election reform is necessary to counter a wave of voting restrictions adopted last year by Republican-led states.
The laws were inspired by Trump's false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden by a substantial margin.
Americans vote in lower numbers than in many other developed nations, historical data shows, with eligible turnout during presidential elections hovering near 60% for much of the past century.
Numbers spiked in the 2020 election to nearly 67%.
Democrats hope that greater voter turnout will favor them, especially as demographic shifts shrink the white majority in the country of roughly 330 million people.
Democrats' efforts to pass voting rights legislation in Congress appeared in jeopardy this week, as centrist Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said he had little interest in a strategy that would allow the party to bypass Republican opposition.
Biden and his advisers had shied away from talking directly about Trump during the Democrat's first year in office, but Thursday marked a turnaround.
Biden attacked the "defeated" former president's "bruised ego" and his followers' refusal to accept reality.
"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," he said.
"Those who stormed this Capitol and those who instigated and incited and those who called on them to do so held a dagger at the throat of America - at American democracy."
"Now it’s up to all of us - to 'We the People' - to stand for the rule of law, to preserve the flame of democracy, to keep the promise of America alive."
Reporting by Jeff Mason, Nandita Bose and Alex Alper; Editing by Mary Milliken, Heather Timmons, Jonathan Oatis and Raju Gopalakrishnan
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden- ... 022-01-06/
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
THE GUARDIAN
"Capitol attack panel investigates Trump over potential criminal conspiracy"
Hugo Lowell in Washington
8 JANUARY 2022
The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack is examining whether Donald Trump oversaw a criminal conspiracy on 6 January that connected the White House’s scheme to stop Joe Biden’s certification with the insurrection, say two senior sources familiar with the matter.
The committee’s new focus on the potential for a conspiracy marks an aggressive escalation in its inquiry as it confronts evidence that suggests the former president potentially engaged in criminal conduct egregious enough to warrant a referral to the justice department.
House investigators are interested in whether Trump oversaw a criminal conspiracy after communications turned over by Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows and others suggested the White House coordinated efforts to stop Biden’s certification, the sources said.
The select committee has several thousand messages, among which include some that suggest the Trump White House briefed a number of House Republicans on its plan for then-vice president Mike Pence to abuse his ceremonial role and not certify Biden’s win, the sources said.
The fact that the select committee has messages suggesting the Trump White House directed Republican members of Congress to execute a scheme to stop Biden’s certification is significant as it could give rise to the panel considering referrals for potential crimes, the sources said.
Members and counsel on the select committee are examining in the first instance whether in seeking to stop the certification, Trump and his aides violated the federal law that prohibits obstruction of a congressional proceeding – the joint session on 6 January – the sources said.
The select committee believes, the sources said, that Trump may be culpable for an obstruction charge given he failed for hours to intervene to stop the violence at the Capitol perpetrated by his supporters in his name.
But the select committee is also looking at whether Trump oversaw an unlawful conspiracy that involved coordination between the “political elements” of the White House plan communicated to Republican lawmakers and extremist groups that stormed the Capitol, the sources said.
That would probably be the most serious charge for which the select committee might consider a referral, as it considers a range of other criminal conduct that has emerged in recent weeks from obstruction to potential wire fraud by the GOP.
The vice-chair of the select committee, the Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney, referenced the obstruction charge when she read from the criminal code before members voted unanimously last November to recommend Meadows in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify.
The Guardian previously reported that Trump personally directed lawyers and political operatives working from the Willard hotel in Washington DC to find ways to stop Biden’s certification from happening at all on 6 January just hours before the Capitol attack.
But House investigators are yet to find evidence tying Trump personally to the Capitol attack, the sources said, and may ultimately only recommend referrals for the straight obstruction charge, which has already been brought against around 275 rioters, rather than for conspiracy.
The justice department could yet charge Trump and aides separate to the select committee investigation, but one of sources said the panel – as of mid-December – had no idea whether the agency is actively examining potential criminality by the former president.
A spokesperson for the select committee declined to comment on details about the investigation.
A spokesperson for the justice department declined to comment whether the agency had opened a criminal inquiry for Trump or his closest allies over 6 January.
Still, the select committee appears to be moving towards making at least some referrals – or alternatively recommendations in its final report – that an aggressive prosecutor at the justice department could use to pursue a criminal inquiry, the sources said.
The select committee is examining the evidence principally to identify legislative reforms to prevent a repeat of Trump’s plan to subvert the election, but members say if they find Trump violated federal law, they have an obligation to refer that to the justice department.
Sending a criminal referral to the justice department – essentially a recommendation for prosecution – carries no formal legal weight since Congress lacks the authority to force it to open a case, and House investigators have no authority to charge witnesses with a crime.
But a credible criminal referral from the select committee could have a substantial political effect given the importance of the 6 January inquiry, and place pressure on the attorney general, Merrick Garland, to initiate an investigation, or explain why he might not do so.
Internal discussions about criminal referrals intensified after communications turned over by Meadows revealed alarming lines of communication between the Trump White House and Republican lawmakers over 6 January, the sources said.
In one exchange released by the select committee, one Republican lawmaker texted Meadows an apology for not pulling off what might have amounted to a coup, saying 6 January was a “terrible day” not because of the attack, but because they were unable to stop Biden’s certification.
The select committee believes messages such as that text – as well as remarks from a Republican on the House floor as the Capitol came under attack – might represent one part of a conspiracy by the White House to obstruct the joint session, the sources said.
In referencing objections to six states, the text also appears to comport with a memo authored by the Trump lawyer John Eastman that suggested lodging objections to six states – raising the specter the White House distributed the plan more widely than previously known.
Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the select committee, added on ABC last week that the investigation had found evidence to suggest the events of 6 January “appeared to be a coordinated effort on the part of a number of people to undermine the election”.
Counsel for the select committee indicated in their contempt of Congress report for Meadows that they intended to ask Trump’s former chief of staff about those communications he turned over voluntarily, before he broke off a cooperation deal and refused to testify.
Thompson has also suggested to reporters that he believes Meadows stopped cooperating with the inquiry in part because of pressure from Trump, but the select committee has not opened a separate witness intimidation investigation into the former president, one of the sources said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... hp&pc=U531
"Capitol attack panel investigates Trump over potential criminal conspiracy"
Hugo Lowell in Washington
8 JANUARY 2022
The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack is examining whether Donald Trump oversaw a criminal conspiracy on 6 January that connected the White House’s scheme to stop Joe Biden’s certification with the insurrection, say two senior sources familiar with the matter.
The committee’s new focus on the potential for a conspiracy marks an aggressive escalation in its inquiry as it confronts evidence that suggests the former president potentially engaged in criminal conduct egregious enough to warrant a referral to the justice department.
House investigators are interested in whether Trump oversaw a criminal conspiracy after communications turned over by Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows and others suggested the White House coordinated efforts to stop Biden’s certification, the sources said.
The select committee has several thousand messages, among which include some that suggest the Trump White House briefed a number of House Republicans on its plan for then-vice president Mike Pence to abuse his ceremonial role and not certify Biden’s win, the sources said.
The fact that the select committee has messages suggesting the Trump White House directed Republican members of Congress to execute a scheme to stop Biden’s certification is significant as it could give rise to the panel considering referrals for potential crimes, the sources said.
Members and counsel on the select committee are examining in the first instance whether in seeking to stop the certification, Trump and his aides violated the federal law that prohibits obstruction of a congressional proceeding – the joint session on 6 January – the sources said.
The select committee believes, the sources said, that Trump may be culpable for an obstruction charge given he failed for hours to intervene to stop the violence at the Capitol perpetrated by his supporters in his name.
But the select committee is also looking at whether Trump oversaw an unlawful conspiracy that involved coordination between the “political elements” of the White House plan communicated to Republican lawmakers and extremist groups that stormed the Capitol, the sources said.
That would probably be the most serious charge for which the select committee might consider a referral, as it considers a range of other criminal conduct that has emerged in recent weeks from obstruction to potential wire fraud by the GOP.
The vice-chair of the select committee, the Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney, referenced the obstruction charge when she read from the criminal code before members voted unanimously last November to recommend Meadows in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify.
The Guardian previously reported that Trump personally directed lawyers and political operatives working from the Willard hotel in Washington DC to find ways to stop Biden’s certification from happening at all on 6 January just hours before the Capitol attack.
But House investigators are yet to find evidence tying Trump personally to the Capitol attack, the sources said, and may ultimately only recommend referrals for the straight obstruction charge, which has already been brought against around 275 rioters, rather than for conspiracy.
The justice department could yet charge Trump and aides separate to the select committee investigation, but one of sources said the panel – as of mid-December – had no idea whether the agency is actively examining potential criminality by the former president.
A spokesperson for the select committee declined to comment on details about the investigation.
A spokesperson for the justice department declined to comment whether the agency had opened a criminal inquiry for Trump or his closest allies over 6 January.
Still, the select committee appears to be moving towards making at least some referrals – or alternatively recommendations in its final report – that an aggressive prosecutor at the justice department could use to pursue a criminal inquiry, the sources said.
The select committee is examining the evidence principally to identify legislative reforms to prevent a repeat of Trump’s plan to subvert the election, but members say if they find Trump violated federal law, they have an obligation to refer that to the justice department.
Sending a criminal referral to the justice department – essentially a recommendation for prosecution – carries no formal legal weight since Congress lacks the authority to force it to open a case, and House investigators have no authority to charge witnesses with a crime.
But a credible criminal referral from the select committee could have a substantial political effect given the importance of the 6 January inquiry, and place pressure on the attorney general, Merrick Garland, to initiate an investigation, or explain why he might not do so.
Internal discussions about criminal referrals intensified after communications turned over by Meadows revealed alarming lines of communication between the Trump White House and Republican lawmakers over 6 January, the sources said.
In one exchange released by the select committee, one Republican lawmaker texted Meadows an apology for not pulling off what might have amounted to a coup, saying 6 January was a “terrible day” not because of the attack, but because they were unable to stop Biden’s certification.
The select committee believes messages such as that text – as well as remarks from a Republican on the House floor as the Capitol came under attack – might represent one part of a conspiracy by the White House to obstruct the joint session, the sources said.
In referencing objections to six states, the text also appears to comport with a memo authored by the Trump lawyer John Eastman that suggested lodging objections to six states – raising the specter the White House distributed the plan more widely than previously known.
Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the select committee, added on ABC last week that the investigation had found evidence to suggest the events of 6 January “appeared to be a coordinated effort on the part of a number of people to undermine the election”.
Counsel for the select committee indicated in their contempt of Congress report for Meadows that they intended to ask Trump’s former chief of staff about those communications he turned over voluntarily, before he broke off a cooperation deal and refused to testify.
Thompson has also suggested to reporters that he believes Meadows stopped cooperating with the inquiry in part because of pressure from Trump, but the select committee has not opened a separate witness intimidation investigation into the former president, one of the sources said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... hp&pc=U531
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
SALON
"Democrats quietly consider using 14th Amendment to prevent Trump from running for office in 2024"
Brett Bachman
7 JANUARY 2022
Congressional Democrats are eyeing a little-known constitutional mechanism to prevent former President Donald Trump from running for office again, citing his responsibility for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and subsequent attacks on American democracy.
According to a new report in The Hill, at least a dozen Democratic lawmakers have been quietly speaking, both publicly and privately, about whether or not it would be possible to use Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to permanently ban Trump — or anyone else who participated in the planning or execution of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack — from seeking elected office in the future.
The post-Civil War clause bars anyone who has engaged in "insurrection or rebellion" against the United States from seeking public office, and reads:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."
"But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
The theory gained credence in the days following the Capitol riot, but quickly fell by the wayside with the hope that Trump would eventually accept his election loss and disavow the violence of Jan. 6.
With the one-year anniversary of the attacks now passed, and Trump's false claims of a "stolen" election still at a fever pitch, it appears the idea is once again being discussed on Capitol Hill.
"If anything, the idea has waxed and waned," said Laurence Tribe, a constitutional expert at Harvard Law School who has spoken previously about the 14th Amendment.
"I hear it being raised with considerable frequency these days both by media commentators and by members of Congress and their staffs, some of whom have sought my advice on how to implement Section 3."
He shared with The Hill the names of several lawmakers who have reached out in recent weeks for counsel on gaming out exactly how such a controversial tactic might be used.
Those include Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the House select committee investigating Jan. 6; Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee; and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who told the outlet: "I continue to explore all legal paths to ensure that the people who tried to subvert our democracy are not in charge of it."
Neither of the other two Democrats spoke with The Hill about their inquiries, though Raskin gave an interview last February in which he expressed his support for the premise.
"The point is that the constitutional purpose is clear, to keep people exactly like Donald Trump and other traitors to the union from holding public office," he told ABC News, adding that he planned to conduct "more research" on the matter before pursuing it.
It's unclear exactly how the implementation of such a provision might work — it would likely be the first time in well over a century that Section 3 has been discussed in Congress, after the body waived enforcement of the clause for Confederate officials and some Ku Klux Klan members as a way to promote national unity during the Reconstruction era.
Constitutional scholars are split over how execution of the rule would work, with one group arguing that a simple majority vote in both chambers of Congress that found Trump guilty of fomenting the insurrection would be enough to bar him from holding future public office.
Others, including Tribe, say that a "neutral" fact-finding body would have to determine whether Trump officially engaged in an "insurrection" or "rebellion" — a task for either a Congressional panel or federal court.
A separate stand-alone law proposed last year by Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., would give the U.S. Attorney General the power to argue that same case in front of a three-judge panel, though the bill itself has received little support thus far.
Liberal elections groups, such as "Free Speech For People," have even been making the case that state-level election officials could use Section 3 on a state-by-state basis to take Trump's name off their ballots if he were to run again in 2024.
All of these implementations would, however, face a major hurdle at the U.S. Supreme Court, which maintains a conservative majority after Trump appointed three justices to the bench during his four years in office.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
"Democrats quietly consider using 14th Amendment to prevent Trump from running for office in 2024"
Brett Bachman
7 JANUARY 2022
Congressional Democrats are eyeing a little-known constitutional mechanism to prevent former President Donald Trump from running for office again, citing his responsibility for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and subsequent attacks on American democracy.
According to a new report in The Hill, at least a dozen Democratic lawmakers have been quietly speaking, both publicly and privately, about whether or not it would be possible to use Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to permanently ban Trump — or anyone else who participated in the planning or execution of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack — from seeking elected office in the future.
The post-Civil War clause bars anyone who has engaged in "insurrection or rebellion" against the United States from seeking public office, and reads:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."
"But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
The theory gained credence in the days following the Capitol riot, but quickly fell by the wayside with the hope that Trump would eventually accept his election loss and disavow the violence of Jan. 6.
With the one-year anniversary of the attacks now passed, and Trump's false claims of a "stolen" election still at a fever pitch, it appears the idea is once again being discussed on Capitol Hill.
"If anything, the idea has waxed and waned," said Laurence Tribe, a constitutional expert at Harvard Law School who has spoken previously about the 14th Amendment.
"I hear it being raised with considerable frequency these days both by media commentators and by members of Congress and their staffs, some of whom have sought my advice on how to implement Section 3."
He shared with The Hill the names of several lawmakers who have reached out in recent weeks for counsel on gaming out exactly how such a controversial tactic might be used.
Those include Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the House select committee investigating Jan. 6; Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee; and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who told the outlet: "I continue to explore all legal paths to ensure that the people who tried to subvert our democracy are not in charge of it."
Neither of the other two Democrats spoke with The Hill about their inquiries, though Raskin gave an interview last February in which he expressed his support for the premise.
"The point is that the constitutional purpose is clear, to keep people exactly like Donald Trump and other traitors to the union from holding public office," he told ABC News, adding that he planned to conduct "more research" on the matter before pursuing it.
It's unclear exactly how the implementation of such a provision might work — it would likely be the first time in well over a century that Section 3 has been discussed in Congress, after the body waived enforcement of the clause for Confederate officials and some Ku Klux Klan members as a way to promote national unity during the Reconstruction era.
Constitutional scholars are split over how execution of the rule would work, with one group arguing that a simple majority vote in both chambers of Congress that found Trump guilty of fomenting the insurrection would be enough to bar him from holding future public office.
Others, including Tribe, say that a "neutral" fact-finding body would have to determine whether Trump officially engaged in an "insurrection" or "rebellion" — a task for either a Congressional panel or federal court.
A separate stand-alone law proposed last year by Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., would give the U.S. Attorney General the power to argue that same case in front of a three-judge panel, though the bill itself has received little support thus far.
Liberal elections groups, such as "Free Speech For People," have even been making the case that state-level election officials could use Section 3 on a state-by-state basis to take Trump's name off their ballots if he were to run again in 2024.
All of these implementations would, however, face a major hurdle at the U.S. Supreme Court, which maintains a conservative majority after Trump appointed three justices to the bench during his four years in office.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
REUTERS
"U.S. Republican Rep. Jordan not to cooperate with Capitol attack probe"
Reuters
January 10, 2022
WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Representative Jim Jordan, a close confidante of former President Donald Trump, said on Sunday he would not cooperate with a U.S. House committee investigating last year's attack on the Capitol.
The panel had asked Jordan to disclose conversations he had with Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, the day of the attack by Trump supporters aiming to stop Congress from formally certifying the presidential election victory of Democrat Joe Biden.
"This request is far outside the bounds of any legitimate inquiry, violates core constitutional principles and would serve to further erode legislative norms," Jordan said in a letter to committee chairman, Democrat Bennie Thompson.
His rejoinder came after the panel requested an interview with Jordan last month.
Jordan was one of Trump's main defenders during his two impeachment trials, the second on a charge of inciting the Capitol riot.
Both times, Trump was acquitted by the Senate, then controlled by Republicans.
This year, House Republicans nominated Jordan to the committee investigating the riot, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected the choice, citing his support of Trump's false claims of election fraud.
Two Republicans, Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, are members of the committee.
Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-rep ... 022-01-10/
"U.S. Republican Rep. Jordan not to cooperate with Capitol attack probe"
Reuters
January 10, 2022
WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Representative Jim Jordan, a close confidante of former President Donald Trump, said on Sunday he would not cooperate with a U.S. House committee investigating last year's attack on the Capitol.
The panel had asked Jordan to disclose conversations he had with Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, the day of the attack by Trump supporters aiming to stop Congress from formally certifying the presidential election victory of Democrat Joe Biden.
"This request is far outside the bounds of any legitimate inquiry, violates core constitutional principles and would serve to further erode legislative norms," Jordan said in a letter to committee chairman, Democrat Bennie Thompson.
His rejoinder came after the panel requested an interview with Jordan last month.
Jordan was one of Trump's main defenders during his two impeachment trials, the second on a charge of inciting the Capitol riot.
Both times, Trump was acquitted by the Senate, then controlled by Republicans.
This year, House Republicans nominated Jordan to the committee investigating the riot, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected the choice, citing his support of Trump's false claims of election fraud.
Two Republicans, Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, are members of the committee.
Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-rep ... 022-01-10/
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
REUTERS
"Biden targets Republicans, supports Senate rule change for voting rights law"
By Trevor Hunnicutt
January 11, 2022
ATLANTA, Jan 11 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Tuesday made an impassioned plea for U.S. voting rights legislation stalled in Congress and said Democratic lawmakers should make a major change in Senate rules to override Republican opposition.
Calling it a "battle for the soul of America," Biden put the voting rights effort on par with the fight against segregation by slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
He also likened it to the struggle against the forces behind the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2020, by supporters of former President Donald Trump, which Biden called an "attempted coup."
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris stood before King's gravesite as his family stood nearby, heads bowed.
Then they both spoke at Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College, two historically Black schools, to call for passage of legislation currently being held up in Congress by Republican senators who have uniformly refused to support it.
"Not a single Republican has displayed the courage to stand up to a defeated president, to protect America's right to vote."
"Not one,” Biden said, referring to Trump.
Biden said if no breakthrough on the legislation can be achieved, lawmakers in the Senate should "change the rules including getting rid of the filibuster for this."
The filibuster is a parliamentary maneuver to require a 60-vote majority in the Senate for passage instead of a simple majority.
"Sadly the United States Senate, designed to be the greatest deliberative body, has been rendered a shell of its former self," Biden said.
It was Biden's most direct plea to date for the Senate to change its rules.
"Hear me plainly," said Biden.
"The battle for the soul of America is not over."
"We must stand strong and stand together to make that Jan. 6 does not mark the end of our democracy but begins the renaissance of our democracy."
"Pass the Freedom to Vote act."
"Pass it now to prevent voter suppression," he said.
Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Merdie Nzanga, Richard Cowan, Jeff Mason and Susan Heavey; Editing by Heather Timmons and Cynthia Osterman
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden- ... 022-01-11/
"Biden targets Republicans, supports Senate rule change for voting rights law"
By Trevor Hunnicutt
January 11, 2022
ATLANTA, Jan 11 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Tuesday made an impassioned plea for U.S. voting rights legislation stalled in Congress and said Democratic lawmakers should make a major change in Senate rules to override Republican opposition.
Calling it a "battle for the soul of America," Biden put the voting rights effort on par with the fight against segregation by slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
He also likened it to the struggle against the forces behind the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2020, by supporters of former President Donald Trump, which Biden called an "attempted coup."
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris stood before King's gravesite as his family stood nearby, heads bowed.
Then they both spoke at Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College, two historically Black schools, to call for passage of legislation currently being held up in Congress by Republican senators who have uniformly refused to support it.
"Not a single Republican has displayed the courage to stand up to a defeated president, to protect America's right to vote."
"Not one,” Biden said, referring to Trump.
Biden said if no breakthrough on the legislation can be achieved, lawmakers in the Senate should "change the rules including getting rid of the filibuster for this."
The filibuster is a parliamentary maneuver to require a 60-vote majority in the Senate for passage instead of a simple majority.
"Sadly the United States Senate, designed to be the greatest deliberative body, has been rendered a shell of its former self," Biden said.
It was Biden's most direct plea to date for the Senate to change its rules.
"Hear me plainly," said Biden.
"The battle for the soul of America is not over."
"We must stand strong and stand together to make that Jan. 6 does not mark the end of our democracy but begins the renaissance of our democracy."
"Pass the Freedom to Vote act."
"Pass it now to prevent voter suppression," he said.
Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Merdie Nzanga, Richard Cowan, Jeff Mason and Susan Heavey; Editing by Heather Timmons and Cynthia Osterman
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden- ... 022-01-11/
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
REUTERS
"U.S. House panel seeks testimony from Republican leader about Jan. 6 Capitol attack"
By Jan Wolfe
January 12, 2022
Jan 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. congressional committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol asked House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday to voluntarily answer questions about Donald Trump's actions on the day of the riot.
In a letter to McCarthy released publicly, the House of Representatives Select Committee requested he sit for an interview in early February.
The committee is trying to establish Trump's actions while thousands of his supporters attacked police, vandalized the Capitol and sent members of Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence running for their lives.
The committee met virtually with Trump's former White House spokesperson, Kayleigh McEnany, on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the meeting.
"We also must learn about how the President's plans for Jan. 6 came together, and all the other ways he attempted to alter the results of the election," the Select Committee's chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson, said in the letter to McCarthy.
The committee is also investigating whether Trump suggested to McCarthy what he should say publicly and to investigators about their conversations on the day of the attack, according to the letter.
A spokesman for McCarthy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
McCarthy and Trump met on Jan. 28, 2021, in Palm Beach, Florida.
The panel had previously asked another Trump ally in Congress, Representative Jim Jordan, to disclose conversations he had with Trump on Jan. 6, 2021.
Jordan said on Sunday he would not cooperate with the committee's investigating, calling it illegitimate.
Two Republicans, Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, are members of the committee.
Thompson has said the panel is looking into whether it has the authority to issue subpoenas to congressional Republicans to force their cooperation.
The Select Committee has interviewed more than 340 witnesses and issued dozens of subpoenas as it investigates the deadly storming of the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters as lawmakers were certifying President Joe Biden's election victory.
The committee is aiming to release an interim report in the summer and a final report in the fall, a source familiar with the investigation said last month.
The committee's members have said they will consider passing along evidence of criminal conduct by Trump to the U.S. Justice Department.
Such a move, known as a criminal referral, would be largely symbolic but would increase the political pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland to charge the former president.
One police officer who battled rioters died the day after the attack and four who guarded the Capitol later died by suicide.
Four rioters also died, including a woman who was shot by a police officer while trying to climb through a shattered window.
Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Scott Malone and Sandra Maler
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-hou ... 022-01-12/
"U.S. House panel seeks testimony from Republican leader about Jan. 6 Capitol attack"
By Jan Wolfe
January 12, 2022
Jan 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. congressional committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol asked House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday to voluntarily answer questions about Donald Trump's actions on the day of the riot.
In a letter to McCarthy released publicly, the House of Representatives Select Committee requested he sit for an interview in early February.
The committee is trying to establish Trump's actions while thousands of his supporters attacked police, vandalized the Capitol and sent members of Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence running for their lives.
The committee met virtually with Trump's former White House spokesperson, Kayleigh McEnany, on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the meeting.
"We also must learn about how the President's plans for Jan. 6 came together, and all the other ways he attempted to alter the results of the election," the Select Committee's chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson, said in the letter to McCarthy.
The committee is also investigating whether Trump suggested to McCarthy what he should say publicly and to investigators about their conversations on the day of the attack, according to the letter.
A spokesman for McCarthy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
McCarthy and Trump met on Jan. 28, 2021, in Palm Beach, Florida.
The panel had previously asked another Trump ally in Congress, Representative Jim Jordan, to disclose conversations he had with Trump on Jan. 6, 2021.
Jordan said on Sunday he would not cooperate with the committee's investigating, calling it illegitimate.
Two Republicans, Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, are members of the committee.
Thompson has said the panel is looking into whether it has the authority to issue subpoenas to congressional Republicans to force their cooperation.
The Select Committee has interviewed more than 340 witnesses and issued dozens of subpoenas as it investigates the deadly storming of the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters as lawmakers were certifying President Joe Biden's election victory.
The committee is aiming to release an interim report in the summer and a final report in the fall, a source familiar with the investigation said last month.
The committee's members have said they will consider passing along evidence of criminal conduct by Trump to the U.S. Justice Department.
Such a move, known as a criminal referral, would be largely symbolic but would increase the political pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland to charge the former president.
One police officer who battled rioters died the day after the attack and four who guarded the Capitol later died by suicide.
Four rioters also died, including a woman who was shot by a police officer while trying to climb through a shattered window.
Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Scott Malone and Sandra Maler
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-hou ... 022-01-12/