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Matt Gaetz is terrified that the 'entire purpose' of Jan. 6 committee is to charge GOP lawmakers
July 26, 2021
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) expressed concern on Monday that Republican members of Congress could be charged in connection with the evidence presented to the House's Jan. 6 select committee.
During an appearance on Newsmax, Gaetz claimed that the committee is part of a plot to generate criminal referrals to the Justice Department.
"I think the entire purpose of the Jan. 6 committee is to create a series of criminal referrals to the Biden Justice Department," he insisted. "And I think [House Minority Leader] Kevin McCarthy is the lead target, unfortunately."
According to Gaetz, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi excluded one of the Republican Party's "best players" when she refused to allow Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) to participate in the committee.
Gaetz went on to call for McCarthy to remove Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) from their respective committees because they have accepted Pelosi's invitation to participate in the Jan. 6 committee.
"I really do believe that the end goal of the Jan. 6 committee is to create a series of criminal referrals," he said. "And remember during the Russia hoax, a lot of the criminal process occurred not as a result of any underlying federal criminal law but instead as a result of these process crimes."
"Kevin McCarthy better hope he never deleted an email or forwarded something to where it wasn't saved," Gaetz added. "Otherwise, there's going to be an effort to use process crimes to try to jam up the Republican leadership."
Gaetz is also reportedly being investigated by the Justice Department in connection with sex trafficking. McCarthy has so far refused to removed Gaetz from his committee assignments.
Watch a portion of the video below.
In which @RepMattGaetz (currently under investigation by @TheJusticeDept) opines that the point of the 6 January select committee is to generate criminal referrals against GOP members of Congress for what he calls "process crimes," e.g. lying to Congress, obstruction, et cetera. pic.twitter.com/0IWH2mKdA1
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) July 26, 2021
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‘Evil in the world’: Anti-mask lawmaker pushes conspiracy theory in claim he and his wife have COVID – again
July 26, 2021
U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) announced on Sunday he, his wife, and son all have contracted the coronavirus and tested positive for COVID-19. This is the second time he and his wife, Higgins claims, have had COVID. Like about half of the House GOP caucus, Higgins refuses to reveal his vaccination status.
"I have COVID, Becca has COVID, my son has COVID," Higgins declared in a Facebook post Sunday. "Becca" is Higgins' fourth wife.
"I keep my family's private business very quiet, because of the evil in the world, yet we are uplifted by the love of God's children, and quiet privacy does not mean secrecy, so, here's the update," Higgins wrote.
"Becca and I had COVID before, early on, in January 2020, before the world really knew what it was. So, this is our second experience with the CCP biological attack weaponized virus," he said, baselessly, promoting a right wing conspiracy theory, "and this episode is far more challenging. It has required all of my devoted energy."
Higgins may be best known for for shooting a selfie political video inside the Auschwitz gas chamber.
In May Higgins and other Republicans announced they would no longer wear a mask while in the House, because, as one said, “We're just tired of it."
In March Higgins – who once appeared to have threatened a retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice – railed against gun control legislation because, he said, murder is in the Bible.
And last year Higgins threatened to shoot Black armed protestors.
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Missouri paper slams 'false prophet' preachers who claimed Trump's re-election was preordained by God
July 26, 2021
Over the weekend, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board penned a scathing indictment of evangelical preachers who told their followers to view former President Donald Trump's potential victory in the 2020 election through the lens of Biblical prophecy — and thus making them blind to the reality of Trump's loss.
"Editorially, we try to avoid opining about religious faith," wrote the board. "But invoking divine guidance to advance partisan causes smacks of the worst kind of manipulation, opening the door to abuse and financial exploitation. Pentecostal and charismatic Christian leaders have laudably begun insisting that the false prophets among them cease and desist."
Previous reporting has detailed how Trumpism became a fertile ground to radicalize white evangelicals around the country, and how religious extremists encouraged the "Stop the Steal" lie and the subsequent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6. There have also been links between the evangelical movement and the QAnon conspiracy theory, which recycles centuries-old anti-Semitic paranoia about shadow elites cannibalizing and brutalizing young children.
And faith leaders in positions of trust have furthered along this conspiratorial thinking, wrote the board.
"'Why were most of the prophets wrong when it came to predicting the outcome of the 2020 election?' host Jan Markell, founder of Olive Tree Ministries, asked on her 'Understanding the Times' Christian radio show on June 25. She followed that question with a lengthy series of pre-election recordings in which a variety of prominent evangelical preachers claimed that God had told them Trump would be reelected," wrote the board. "'Trump will win. … He will sit in that office for four more years, and God will have his way in this country,' author and self-proclaimed prophet Kat Kerr stated in one of the clips Markell played. Several others followed, including one by evangelist Pat Robertson and another by Jeremiah Johnson (who has since publicly repented)."
"Such quackery also can be deadly dangerous, such as when many protesters, claiming divine inspiration, joined in storming the Capitol on Jan. 6. 'Jericho March' cofounder Rob Weaver was among the preachers who claimed divine guidance in directing followers toward Capitol Hill," wrote the board, which concluded by promoting the propheticstandards.com petition website calling on preachers to reject "the spiritual manipulation of the prophetic gift for the personal benefit of the prophet or of his or her ministry."
You can read more here.
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