Category: Republican Reality

‘They wouldn’t care if I was dead’ — staffer fallout from Jan. 6 continues

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Denial of insurrection, always-on work culture piles on trauma

A congressional staffer froze recently when elevator doors opened and there stood a member of the House who has downplayed the violence of the Jan. 6 insurrection. Some congressional employees are shaken by what they see as the whitewashing of the attack, and the denials have reignited lingering trauma.

One House employee who works in the Capitol building and heard the rioters banging on their office door said seeing the lawmakers try to erase the destruction is jarring.

Thirteen staffers interviewed by CQ Roll Call, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about their mental health and how they are coping, point to comments like those from Rep. Andrew Clyde. Despite helping barricade the House chamber from rioters, the Georgia Republican downplayed the events of Jan. 6 at a hearing earlier this month as“acts of vandalism” and said the rioters were “orderly” and looked like “a normal tourist visit.” Continue reading.

GOP frets behind the scenes over potential Trump 2024 bid

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Trump is indicating he plans to run again so long as he still has a good bill of health. But he may face skepticism from surprising conservative corners of the GOP.

Republicans largely oppose forming a commission to examine the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, hoping to block out further Donald Trump-induced chaos while they try to retake Congress next year.

The former president is making clear he isn’t going anywhere.

Trump is confiding in allies that he intends to run again in 2024 with one contingency: that he still has a good bill of health, according to two sources close to the former president. That means Trump is going to hang over the Republican Party despite its attempts to rebrand during his exile and its blockade of a Trump-centric investigation into January’s insurrection. Continue reading.

Trump accused of offering cash to late senator on behalf of New England Patriots to stop investigation of team’s ‘Spygate’ scandal

Donald Trump was accused of trying to influence a 2008 investigation into the New England Patriots’ ‘Spygate’ scandal, according to an ESPN report by Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham. 

According to the report, two people close to Republican senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who died in 2012, said Trump offered campaign cash to stop investigating the Patriots’ accusation of videotaping opponents’ defensive coaching signals. 

The NFL ultimately concluded that the Patriots were guilty of taping New York Jets’ defensive signals from a prohibited location during a Sept. 9, 2007 game. The league fined Patriots head coach Bill Belichick $500,000, the Patriots $200,000, and took away a 2008 first-round draft pick. Continue reading.

DOJ Demands Steve Wynn Register as Foreign Agent or Face Court Battle

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The Justice Department has notified Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn that he must register as a foreign agent acting on behalf of China or face a court battle, The Wall Street Journalreports. In 2017, Wynn spoke with a Chinese government official about a Chinese billionaire, Guo Wengui, and later lobbied Donald Trump’s administration to deport the businessman from the U.S. back to China, where he’s a wanted fugitive. Guo is charged with sexual assault, bribery, and other crimes; he has denied accusations of wrongdoing and called them political persecution. He has also been linked to former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. The DOJ has told Wynn—who once had business ties to gambling hotspot Macau—that he must register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act or face litigation forcing him to comply. Wynn’s attorney told the Journal, “Steve Wynn never served as an agent or lobbyist for China or anyone else.” Guo welcomed the news in a statement, calling Wynn “a greedy spy of the Chinese Communist Party.” View the post here.

He Called FBI Agents Nazis. The Feds Just Arrested Him For Storming The Capitol.

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In multiple tweets, Adam Weibling defended the Capitol riot and described its participants as “patriots” and “brave.”

Adam Weibling, a 38-year-old Texas man, made no secret in recent months of his contempt for the FBI, likening its agents to Nazis and “terrorists” in a series of conspiracy-laden tweets. His dislike for them surely grew on Tuesday when they arrested him for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

FBI agents arrested Weibling in Katy, Texas, on charges of unlawfully entering restricted grounds and engaging in disorderly conduct inside the Capitol, according to court records. His first virtual appearance in D.C. court is scheduled for June 3.

According to an affidavit filed May 19 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and signed by an FBI task force officer, Weibling can be seen in video recorded by a reporter pushing his way past police in riot gear to get inside the Capitol around 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 6.

Fact-check busts Republicans for wrongly blaming rising gas and lumber prices on Biden

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans are blaming President Joe Biden for rising gas and lumber prices in the United States. But Associated Press reporters Christopher Rugaber and Hope Yen fact-check those claims in an article published on May 26, pointing out why their claims are misleading.

“Gas prices have risen in recent weeks because a key pipeline was forced to close after a cyberattack,” Rugaber and Yen explain. “And lumber shortages — which existed during former President Donald Trump’s administration — were worsened by an unexpected housing boom.”

The AP reporters go on to analyze some of McCarthy’s recent statements. Continue reading.

Trump supporter who threatened Pelosi goes down in flames after telling judge he was ‘just having fun’

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A judge leveled a Donald Trump supporter who allegedly brought guns to Washington, D.C., and threatened to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Cleveland Meredith made threats against specific elected officials online and drove from Colorado with a Glock 19, 9mm pistol, Taver X95 rifle with a telescopic sight, high-capacity magazines and more than 2,500 rounds of ammunition, but arrived too late to take part in the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to charging documents flagged by Buzzfeed’s Zoe Tillman.

“Hauling ass, 3.5 hours from target practice,” he said in one message, according to prosecutors. “Ready to remove several craniums from shoulders. I’m gonna collect a sh*t ton of Traitors heads.” Continue reading.

ICYMI: Scott Jensen Signs Petition That Compares Vaccination Effort To Nazi Medical Experimentation, Claims He Never Read It

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Jensen claims he never read the petition despite being the first-named plaintiff 

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Yesterday it was reported that gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen joined a group of right-wing physicians, COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, and Capitol insurrectionists to try and block the use of the COVID-19 vaccine in kids, despite claiming he only read 10 of the 80 pages. 

“The petition, which includes several passages written in all-caps with exclamation points, alleges a widespread collusion of national media outlets to suppress information, challenges both the official COVID-19 death and case counts as “false,” and compares the nationwide vaccination effort to Nazi doctors convicted at Nuremberg for experimenting on imprisoned Jews, Poles and Russians without their consent. But Jensen said he didn’t read all that.”

…

“When I submitted the affidavit, the petition wasn’t done,” he said. “I never saw the full petition until a week ago. I have not read the entire 80 pages. I read the first 10 pages, I think.”

And despite befriending the group’s leader Simone Gold “about a year ago,” Jensen also claims he did not know that Gold was among those who stormed the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection and faces charges for her involvement. 

“Not only has Scott Jensen joined a fringe group of doctors and insurrectionists to spread dangerous misinformation, but after being called out he claims he never even read the petition he signed onto – which would not be an acceptable excuse for a middle school student’s missing book report,” said DFL Party Chairman, Ken Martin. “It’s laughable that Scott Jensen thinks that excuses his spreading of dangerous misinformation about the vaccine. Real leaders take responsibility for their actions, but Scott Jensen is clearly incapable of that. Once again, Jensen is demonstrating why the people of Minnesota cannot trust him to lead our state.

“If I were a patient of Scott Jensen’s, I would find a new doctor immediately,” added Martin. “No one wants a physician who reads part of their lab work before making a diagnosis.”

BACKGROUND 

The 80-page petition also falsely claims that the vaccine is an “experimental biological agent,” that it’s more dangerous than COVID-19 itself, that hydroxychloroquine is a miracle treatment for COVID-19, and that vaccinated children are at risk of spreading the vaccine to unvaccinated children. 

Scott Jensen has made a name for himself as a COVID-19 conspiracy theorist, has spread misinformation about COVID-19, posted anti-vaccine videos on social media, and was kicked off TikTok for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. 

Gosar is the Republican that Democrats want to avoid

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Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) is finding that Democrats who once worked with him on bipartisan bills no longer want to touch them with a 10-foot pole if he’s involved. 

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) last week removed himself as a co-sponsor from a bill authored by Gosar that would crack down on illegal foreign donations to political campaigns.

A California Democrat, Rep. Mike Levin, said he informed Gosar that it would be “detrimental” to the chances of a public lands bill becoming law if his name were on it, even though they introduced it together in the last session of Congress.  Continue reading.

Michigan’s top election official and Dominion warn counties about the risks of vote audits by outside groups

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Michigan’s top election official and the company whose voting equipment has been the subject of baseless claims of fraud are cautioning local governments in the state that outside audits of the 2020 election results like the one underway in Maricopa County, Ariz., would be illegal and would void the machines’ security warranties.

The warnings come amid a growing campaign by former president Donald Trump and his supporters to pressure county governments to launch audits reviewing ballots cast in the last presidential election, which they claim without evidence was tainted by large-scale fraud and votes manipulated on equipment purchased from Dominion Voting Systems.

The Arizona recount, which has been denounced by election experts as unprofessional and insecure, is being touted as an inspiration by small cohorts of angry residents across the country. State leaders, Dominion officials and local residents are now trying to block such examinations sought by activists in several Michigan counties. Continue reading.