All posts tagged "J6"

Critics of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurgency were dumbfounded to learn that the Trump administration had agreed to pay nearly $5 million to the family of slain rioter Ashli Babbitt, as first reported by The Washington Post.

An internal Justice Department investigation in 2021 under President Joe Biden cleared a U.S. Capitol Police officer of any wrongdoing for shooting Babbitt as she tried to breach the barricaded House Speaker’s Lobby, but the Trump administration reversed that ruling. President Donald Trump has framed Babbitt as a "martyr" and "patriot."

"Absolutely disgraceful," attorney Mark S. Zaid posted to X. "This will be an historical black stain - among so many others - on this Administration & those senior officials in Justice Department forever."...

A new report in Politico claims that one of President Donald Trump's closest confidants, Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, is considered a pariah among MAGA supporters who "are openly trash talking him to the boss, hoping he gets canned."

Reporters Rachael Bade and Megan Messerly wrote, "talk to almost any Trump ally outside the White House and you’ll hear scant praise for the Commerce secretary. He’s brash and impulsive, catering to Trump’s worst instincts on tariffs that could jeopardize the economy, they whisper. His loud mouth is equally matched by his bad judgment, they steam."

But the complaints amount to little more than "wishful thinking," the report said, due to Lutnick's unusually close relationship with the president. Lutnick, himself, has referred to the 30-year friendship with Trump as his "superpower."...

During his confirmation hearing Thursday morning for the position of FBI Director, Trump nominee Kash Patel broke with his boss over the J6 rioters convicted of assaulting police officers, emphatically stating that they should be "imprisoned."

"As for January 6, I have often, publicly and privately said there can never be a tolerance for violence against law enforcement," Patel said. "And anyone -- Anyone -- that commits an act of violence against law enforcement must be investigated, prosecuted and imprisoned. On January 6 I said the same thing about acts against law enforcement. The Capitol Police, who I have served with, and when I was chief of staff at the Department of Defense, rushing to the aid of the members of this committee and your colleagues to provide the National Guard was my top mission priority, not politics. And that is my love of this country to protect our laws and way of life. And it was no different. If there is any corruption I have been the first to call it out and I will continue to call out corruption in government service because it is a privilege to serve this nation."

ALSO READ: Top GOPer's ‘most immediate’ priority for new committee includes probing a MAGA conspiracy...

Depending on who you ask, Donald Trump's return to office was either "fantastic or frightening," according to CNN anchor John King, who spoke to nearly 100 voters to gauge how the nation was feeling at the end of his first week. But even voters who said they were excited about some of Trump's policies worried that by Friday, the president seemed "like a bull in a China shop."

Predictably, most of the voters who identified themselves as Republicans found Trump's straight-out-of-the-gate style kicking off his second term, "refreshing," while at least one Democrat called him "unhinged."

Then there were the "middle-ground" voters King spoke with. He quoted one business owner from a Philadelphia suburb who cast her ballot for Trump because she liked his promises to cut taxes and reduce regulations....

MAGA World exploded on Sunday when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told NBC's Meet The Press that it was a "mistake" for President Donald Trump to given blanket pardons to the Capitol insurrectionists.

Host Kristen Welker said, "Even his own vice president said, 'If you committed violence on that day, obviously, you shouldn't be pardoned.' Do you believe that President Trump was wrong to issue these blanket pardons to the January 6th defendants?"

Graham answered, "Number one, he had the legal authority to do it, but I fear you will get more violence. Pardoning the people who went into the Capitol and beat up a police officer violently, I think, was a mistake, because it seems to suggest that's an OK thing to do." ...

MAGA Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) posted a vulgar rant to social media where she took time out of her day to berate the Washington D.C. press for their "obsession" with the J6 pardons.

"After 4 yrs, I’m fed up with Washington DC press," Greene wrote Wednesday night. "Your assumptions are ignorant and you are absolutely disconnected and clueless about what is important in life and to Americans. You have destroyed your credibility. With social media like X, you can’t lie about me anymore."

With that, Greene posted a video of a reporter following her through the halls of Congress, asking about possible tours for the J6 rioters who were pardoned this week by President Trump....