Category: US House

Phillips, Kim Call for Permanent Preservation of Capitol Doors Damaged in Jan. 6 Insurrection

Letter to Leadership: “We believe these items must be preserved as a symbol to those who remain, and to educate future Americans about the fragility of our union and the preciousness of our democracy.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Reps. Dean Phillips (D-MN) and Andy Kim (D-NJ) released a letter addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Administration Committee Chair Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) calling for the preservation of glass panels smashed during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Last night, the members learned the Capitol Superintendent retained the damaged glass from Capitol doors facing the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress.

Read the letter here.

Viral video shows Marjorie Taylor Greene on January 5 saying ‘get ready to fight for America tomorrow’

Less than 24 hours before thousands of Trump supporters would storm the U.S. Capitol in an armed and deadly insurrection Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) stood with that same building in the background and told MAGA adherents to “get ready to fight for America tomorrow.”

Greene, a racist and QAnon conspiracy theorist who has not stopped making incendiary remarks even after being stripped of her committee assignments last week, also told supporters, “Trump was re-elected for four more years,” which is a lie, part of the Big Lie Trump and his cult have been spreading since the November election.

The Congresswoman, who last week told her colleagues in the House that she was “allowed to believe” the QAnon cult claims to were real, also falsely claims the Electoral College vote was “stolen.” Continue reading.

Marjorie Taylor Greene and the death of the public political apology

When Georgia representative and sometime QAnon enthusiastMarjorie Taylor Greene met with fellow House Republicans on Feb. 3, she may have apologized. Or she may not have.

During the closed-door meeting in which Greene’s conspiracy theory beliefs came up, we don’t know exactly what went down because, well, it was behind closed doors. 

Speaking after the event, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy described Greene’s remarks as an apology, saying that Greene had denounced her previous statements and social media postings – which included the idea that mass school shootings are “false flag” operations and that California forest fires were started by Jewish space lasers – and that “she said she was wrong.”  Continue reading.

As oceans rise, Democrats put all hands on deck for climate change

White House and congressional Democrats agree moving away from fossil fuels, creating green jobs are top priorities

As the 117th Congress enters its second month and the Biden administration fills out its Cabinet, Democrats in the executive and legislative branches of the federal government are in agreement that climate change deserves swift attention and in alignment that legislation to support the transition from fossil to clean energy is a good place to begin.

Even President Joe Biden’s nominees for director of national intelligence, secretary of Agriculture, Treasury secretary and deputy Defense secretary, not traditionally posts with ecological focuses, described climate change as a critical issue.

If there was doubt that the Senate under Democratic control would approach climate change as an all-hands-on-deck threat, Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., aimed to lay it to rest on Feb. 3, calling the warming globe “the existential threat of our time.” Continue reading.

The Boogaloo Bois Have Guns, Criminal Records and Military Training. Now They Want to Overthrow the Government.

Hours after the attack on the Capitol ended, a group calling itself the Last Sons of Liberty posted a brief video to Parler, the social media platform, that appeared to show members of the organization directly participating in the uprising. Footage showed someone with a shaky smartphone charging past the metal barricades surrounding the building. Other clips show rioters physically battling with baton-wielding police on the white marble steps just outside the Capitol.

Before Parler went offline — its operations halted at least temporarily when Amazon refused to continue to host the network — the Last Sons posted numerous statements indicating that group members had joined the mob that swarmed the Capitol and had no regrets about the chaos and violence that unfolded on Jan. 6. The Last Sons also did some quick math: The government had suffered only one fatality, U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, 42, who was reportedly bludgeoned in the head with a fire extinguisher. But the rioters had lost four people, including Ashli Babbitt, the 35-year-old Air Force veteran who was shot by an officer as she tried to storm the building.

In a series of posts, the Last Sons said her death should be “avenged” and appeared to call for the murder of three more cops. Continue reading.

House panel renews probe into Trump administration’s interference with covid-19 response

Washington Post logo

Top Democrat makes new allegations of political appointees muzzling scientists.

NOTE: This article is provided to read to all free of charge by The Washington Post.

The head of a House oversight panel on Monday renewed its investigation into political interference in the nation’s coronavirusresponse, releasing new allegations of meddling in scientists’ work.

Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), chairman of the House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis, released emails from a Trump science adviser that he said showed how the administration worked to weaken guidance on who should be tested for the coronavirus. Clyburn also cited evidence that Trump appointees sought to boost access to unproven treatments for the coronavirus that were favored by the president.

The panel “is continuing these critical investigations … in order to understand what went wrong over the last year and determine what corrective steps are necessary to control the virus and save American lives,” Clyburn wrote to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain and acting health and human services secretary Norris Cochran, in letters shared with The Washington Post.

WSJ slams ‘nutty’ Marjorie Taylor Greene affair: Endorsing Nancy Pelosi’s assassination is ‘cuckoo rhetoric’

AlterNet logo

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board says U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene‘s endorsement of assassinating the Speaker of the House, a former U.S. President, and two former U.S. Secretaries of State is merely “nutty,” and “cuckoo rhetoric.”

“On Thursday, under pressure from all sides, Ms. Greene disavowed her past cuckoo rhetoric,” the WSJ editorial says.

“Everyone agrees Ms. Greene’s past social-media posts were nutty. But it’s a troubling precedent for the House majority party to overrule the committee assignments of the minority, based on a politician’s words before taking office,” the editorial reads.

Really? Not everyone. Most believe they are far worse than “nutty” or “cuckoo.” Continue reading.

Video surfaces showing Trump ally Roger Stone flanked by Oath Keepers on morning of Jan. 6

Some Oath Keepers were later involved in the riot at the U.S. Capitol.

A new video has surfaced showing former President Donald Trump’slongtime adviser Roger Stone in Washington, D.C., on the morning of Jan. 6, flanked by members of the Oath Keepers militia group just hours before the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building.

In the video, which was obtained and reviewed by ABC News, Stone takes pictures and mingles with supporters outside a D.C. hotel as Oath Keepers hover around him, one wearing a baseball hat and military-style vest branded with the militia group’s logo.

“So, hopefully we have this today, right?” one supporter asks Stone in the video, which was posted just after 10 a.m. on the morning of the rally. “We shall see,” Stone replies.https://abcnews.go.com/US/video-surfaces-showing-trump-ally-roger-stone-flanked/story?id=75706765

144 Constitutional Lawyers Call Trump’s First Amendment Defense ‘Legally Frivolous’

New York Times logo

Taking aim at a key plank of the former president’s impeachment defense, the lawyers argued that the constitutional protections did not apply to an impeachment proceeding.

WASHINGTON — Claims by former President Donald J. Trump’s lawyers that his conduct around the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is shielded by the First Amendment are “legally frivolous” and should do nothing to stop the Senate from convicting him in his impeachment trial, 144 leading First Amendment lawyers and constitutional scholars from across the political spectrum wrote in a letter circulated on Friday.

Taking aim at one of the key planks of Mr. Trump’s defense, the lawyers argued that the constitutional protections do not apply to an impeachment proceeding, were never meant to protect conduct like Mr. Trump’s anyway and would most likely fail to shield him even in a criminal court.

“Although we differ from one another in our politics, disagree on many questions of constitutional law, and take different approaches to understanding the Constitution’s text, history, and context, we all agree that any First Amendment defense raised by President Trump’s attorneys would be legally frivolous,” the group wrote. “In other words, we all agree that the First Amendment does not prevent the Senate from convicting President Trump and disqualifying him from holding future office.” Continue reading.

Republicans Who Stoked Capitol Mob Demand Removal Of Security Measures

On Friday afternoon, Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) tweeted a copy of a letter delivered to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, signed by 42 Republicans, demanding that the security fencing installed around the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., after the complex was stormed by supporters of Donald Trump on Jan. 6 be taken down.

Many of the Republicans who signed the letter helped incite the attack on the Capitol.

Budd commented, “42 House members just sent a letter to @Speaker Pelosi demanding that the militarized Capitol fencing come down and NOT be made permanent. It’s time to open the People’s House.” Continue reading.