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Monday night, House impeachment officers will officially walk the Articles of Impeachment to the U.S. Senate and the process will officially begin as President Donald Trump is tried for a second time before the body.
Speaking to MSNBCs Ari Melber on an impeachment special Sunday evening, a solemn Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-NY) explained that this is not something the House members do lightly.
<p>"And then we'll begin the trial of our president, of former President Donald Trump in the Senate, for what we believe to be one of the most heinous crimes against our country in its existence," she said. "Something that the founders anticipated and put in guardrails against. That being a despot, drunk with power, trying to keep his grip on power and using the people of this country to try and stage an insurrection."</p><p>She didn't intend to reveal the strategy for impeachment but explained that the attack on the Capitol Jan. 6 wasn't the beginning of Trump's efforts to incite violence against the legislature. </p><p>"President Trump has engaged in a prolonged effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election and spent months spreading disinformation and the results falsely claiming that he had won by a landslide," she explained. "He stated it would be illegitimate to accept those results, and then he brought individuals to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6. Make no mistake that that was an extremely important date in his mind and in our Constitution's time, because there was a time where the entire body of Congress along with the vice president would be present at the Capitol to fulfill our duties, that being to certificate five the election. And with that, he knew who the individuals were, who would be coming, what they would do and what hold he had over them."</p><p>She described what happened as "foreseeable," in fact, Georgia elections official Gabriel Sterling warned that what Trump was doing would "get people killed." Indeed, five people were killed as a result of what happened on Jan. 6. </p><p> "It's bad enough that we have a president who wanted to obstruct justice, who wanted to obstruct a free and fair election, who did not want the fulfillment of Constitution, but the worst part that he did it through the attack, assault, mayhem, vandalism, the attempted assassination of the vice president and the speaker of the House, potential attempt to kidnap members of congress and the fulfillment of felony murder as well. All for his own self-aggrandizement. Absolutely shameful," Plaskett said. </p><p>See the full interview below: </p><p><br/></p>
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<span class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e8a58082ada93098099b36d7c9eff7de" style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="auto" type="lazy-iframe" scrolling="no" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fm2Jg4ovieA?rel=0" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" width="100%"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Presenting the articles of impeachment...... again</small>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm2Jg4ovieA&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
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Will cops caught in Capitol attack finally motivate police chiefs to purge their ranks: Watchdog asks
January 24, 2021
A former FBI special agent detailed in an Aug. 2020 report that white supremacists and militia members have infiltrated law enforcement ranks across the country. The abstract information didn't lead to a call from law enforcement leadership to look through their teams to purge possible problems. Now that off-duty law enforcement members were part of the Capitol insurrection, the Washington Post reported police chiefs are finally starting to act.
"National Sheriffs' Association President David Mahoney said many police leaders have treated officers with extremist beliefs as outliers and have underestimated the damage they can inflict on the profession and the nation," the Post reported.
<p>"We saw the anti-government, anti-equality and racist comments coming out during the Obama administration. Shame on us for representing it as freedom of speech and for not recognizing it was chiseling away at our democracy," Mahoney said in an interview. "As we move forward, we need to make sure we are teaching our current staff members that they must have the courage to speak out when they know about another deputy's or officer's involvement. There should be no reference to the thin blue line."</p><p>At least 12 Capitol Police are under investigation for their behavior during the attack on the building, including one officer seen taking selfies with insurrectionists. At least 14 off-duty officers didn't go inside the building, but they were there on Jan. 6. </p><p>"They know who these bad apples are,'' said former FBI agent Michael German. "They learn about them when they are investigating white supremacists and militia groups."</p><p>But legal experts and police watchdog groups have little hope of change. They've heard law enforcement commitments after police killed unarmed Black Americans like Michael Brown and Tamir Rice, young boys shot and killed by police in 2014. </p><p>Georgetown Law professor Vida Johnson explained that "these officers are hiding in plain sight." Still, nothing has changed.</p><p>"Until they're willing to . . . discipline officers, this is going to continue to be a problem, and it's one that's completely destabilizing the country and putting us at risk," she said. </p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/police-capitol-riot-extremists/2021/01/24/16fdb2bc-5a7b-11eb-b8bd-ee36b1cd18bf_story.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Read the full piece at the Washington Post. <em> Washington Post. </em></a></p>
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Kevin McCarthy faces the same battle as Paul Ryan and John Boehner in fractured GOP: report
January 24, 2021
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is facing some of the problems that plagued his predecessors as he enters the new session of Congress, Axios reported.
As the far-right wing of the Republican caucus gained speed and power in Congress, former Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) fled for greener pastures. Former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) then took control of the party, trying to parlay the growing "tea party" movement into passing conservative legislation like tax cuts and large spending cuts. It didn't match President Donald Trump's agenda and there was no way for Ryan to save endangered Republicans in the 2018 anti-Trump election.
<p>McCarthy now faces the same challenge, trying to make everyone happy as the Republican Caucus brings together the right and the far-right. </p><p>Axios noted that McCarthy's digital director, Caleb Smith, sent out an email begging for retweets this weekend saying that he agreed that insurrectionists should be prosecuted. </p><p>"HuffPost and the Blue Checks have been out in full force today trying to distort Leader McCarthy's words in an effort to divide America even further," Smith wrote in an email obtained by Axios. "They deserve to be called out. Would greatly appreciate your help in pushing back by retweeting this:</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bb222563c879daaab7fd44b830dcd761" id="342ba"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1353057765015449610"><div style="margin:1em 0">From the minute the Capitol was attacked, I called for the rioters to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the la… https://t.co/OKAlK1iPUC</div> — Kevin McCarthy (@Kevin McCarthy)<a href="https://twitter.com/GOPLeader/statuses/1353057765015449610">1611429084.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>McCarthy is stuck between both factions of his party: those who think the attack on the Capitol was wrong and those who support it and believe it's being mischaracterized. </p><p>"We're eating sh*t for breakfast, lunch and dinner right now," a McCarthy aide said about the situation. </p><p>McCarthy, like many Republicans, supported the election protest that attempted to reject the Electoral College ballot counts for Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia. The ceremonial role of the House and Senate to accept the election couldn't overturn anything, but after failing in over 60 court cases and at the U.S. Supreme Court, Trump's allies tried to make it seem like there was hope. </p><p>What <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/oklahoma-lankford-election-overthrow/" target="_blank">at least one Republican</a> didn't understand is that the votes that the Trump campaign was disputing were those from largely Black voters. Trump targeted parts of Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Atlanta where Black voters helped make the difference for Democrats. Not only is the attempt to overthrow the election seen as unamerican and an attack on Black voters, the "stop the steal" campaign is what encouraged the violence at the Capitol. It has become a major reason that corporate donors are backing away from people like Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Josh Hawley (R-MO) and McCarthy. </p><p>McCarthy is trying to speak out of both sides of his mouth, saying that he wants to hold rioters accountable and that Trump bears responsibility, while still supporting the attempted election overthrow that led to the attack on the Capitol. </p><p>Axios explained the strategy isn't working, and it's alienating everyone. Over the weekend McCarthy attempted to try a "both sides" approach, claiming that "everyone" is responsible for the "temperature" in the country. The GOP alleges Black Lives Matter protests that result in a <a href="https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/wendys-demolished/85-5dd1218e-c8fb-4daa-a579-75a464290c49#:~:text=ATLANTA%20%E2%80%94%20Demolition%20crews%20bulldozed%20the,now%20charged%20in%20the%20case." target="_blank">Wendy's being burned to the ground in June 2020</a> is equivalent to the overthrow of the legislative branch of government, nullifying the votes of millions of Americans, and an attempted assassination of the vice president and the House speaker. </p><p>McCarthy even tried to have it both ways on Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who is navigating calls for her resignation after she supported the impeachment of Trump. McCarthy claimed he supported her, but he also has "concerns." </p><p><a href="https://www.axios.com/kevin-mccarthy-criticism-trump-impeachment-295d5309-8f5a-40ce-a97b-5aee436db191.html" target="_blank">Read the full report. </a></p>
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