Category: Trump Administration

Cleaning up SolarWinds hack may cost as much as $100 billion

Government agencies, private corporations will spend months and billions of dollars to root out the Russian malicious code

American businesses and government agencies could be spending upward of $100 billion over many months to contain and fix the damage from the Russian hack against the SolarWinds software used by so many Fortune 500 companies and U.S. government departments.

“Unlike good wine, this case continues to get worse with age,” said Frank Cilluffo, director of Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security. “For a lot of folks, the more they dig, the worse the picture looks.” 

Not only were at least four government departments targeted by the Kremlin hack — Commerce, Treasury, Homeland Security and Justice — but also thousands of top global corporations who were customers of SolarWinds, Cilluffo said. While government agencies appeared to be primary targets, “it doesn’t mean the private sector isn’t affected as well,” he said.  Continue reading.

Arnold Schwarzenegger compares US Capitol mob to Nazis

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger compared the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol to the Nazis and called President Donald Trump a failed leader who “will go down in history as the worst president ever.” 

The Republican said in a video he released on social media on Sunday that “Wednesday was the Night of Broken Glass right here in the United States.” In 1938, Nazis in Germany and Austria vandalized Jewish homes, schools and businesses during an attack that became known as Kristallnacht or “the Night of Broken Glass.”

“The broken glass was in the windows of the United States Capitol. But the mob did not just shatter the windows of the Capitol, they shattered the ideas we took for granted,” he said. “They trampled the very principles on which our country was founded.” View the post here.

Campaign finance system rocked as firms pause or halt contributions after election results challenged

Washington Post logo

Several major companies on Monday said they planned to cut off political donations to the 147 members of Congress who last week voted against certifying the results of the presidential election, while other major corporations said they are suspending all contributions from their political action committees — a sign of corporate America’s growing unease with the election doubts and violent attacks encouraged by President Trump.

Companies that collectively pour millions of dollars each year into campaigns through employee-funded PACs are registering their worry and anger about last week’s chaos with a reexamination of their role in powering the nation’s fractious politics.

AT&T’s PAC decided Monday to suspend donations to the eight Republican senators and 139 Republican House members who voted against certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s win, according to a company spokesman. Continue reading.

Analysis: A GOP reckoning after turning blind eye to Trump

WASHINGTON — At the heart of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was a lie, one that was allowed to fester and flourish by many of the same Republicans now condemning President Donald Trump for whipping his supporters into a frenzy with his false attacks on the integrity of the 2020 election. 

The response from some of those GOP officials now? We didn’t think it would come to this. 

“People took him literally. I never thought I would see that,” said Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former chief of staff. Mulvaney resigned his post as special envoy to Northern Ireland last week after the riots. Continue reading.

The Memo: GOP and nation grapple with what comes next

The Hill logo

“This is the beginning of the divorce,” former GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo told The Hill on Friday as aftershocks from insurrectionary violence two days before reverberated across the nation.

Curbelo, who represented Florida’s 26th District from 2015 to 2019, was predicting a final and permanent split between President Trump and the Republican Party.

His assessment took another step toward reality a few hours later when Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) became the first GOP senator to call for Trump’s resignation, even though there were then only 13 days left in his White House tenure. Continue reading.

D.C. lockdown for inauguration to start Wednesday

Axios logo

In an escalation of inauguration security following the Capitol riot, federal authorities plan to lock down a massive swath of downtown Washington on Wednesday, six days earlier than originally planned.

Why it matters: The earlier shutdown is based on warnings about pre-inauguration demonstrations planned for this weekend in capitals throughout the country, as well as tighter security after the Capitol siege. 

  • The Department of Homeland Security announced that the window for the National Special Security Event, which will involve tens of thousands of National Guard troops and federal law enforcement personnel, will begin Jan. 13, rather than the previously scheduled Jan, 19, the day before the inauguration. Continue reading.

Acting homeland security secretary Wolf to step down, nine days ahead of Biden inauguration

Washington Post logo

Acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf is stepping down, nine days ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration and amid widespread fears about security in the aftermath of the mob attack on the Capitol last week.

In Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday that the House will move forward with impeaching President Trump for a second time if Vice President Pence does not seek to remove him under the 25th Amendment by Wednesday.

Her threat came shortly after House Democrats formally introduced an article of impeachment against Trump, charging him with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the takeover of the U.S. Capitol by a violent pro-Trump mob on Wednesday. Democrats say that measure already has 218 co-sponsors, enough to guarantee passage. Continue reading.

Capitol siege was planned online. Trump supporters now planning the next one.

Washington Post logo

Twitter cited dangerous talk and online planning in banning Trump’s account

The planning for Wednesday’s assault on the U.S. Capitol happened largely in plain view, with chatters in far-right forums explicitly discussing how to storm the building, handcuff lawmakers with zip ties and disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s election — in what they portrayed as responding to orders from President Trump.

This went far beyond the widely reported, angry talk about thronging Washington that day. Trump supporters exchanged detailed tactical advice about what to bring and what to do once they assembled at the Capitol to conduct “citizen’s arrests” of members of Congress. One poster said, “[expletive] zip ties. I’m bringing rope!”

Such comments were not confined to dark corners of the Web. They were scooped up and catalogued by researchers who made their findings public weeks before a seemingly unprepared Capitol Police force was overrun by thousands of rioters, in an incident that left one officer, one rioter and three other people dead. Continue reading.

Watch: Video busts 5 Trump allies for lying about their support of his election overturn and coup attempt

A nearly two-minute super-cut of hypocrisy shows Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Montana Senator Steve Daines, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, former White House communications director Alyssa Farah, and Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani all lying their faces off, as if they had always opposed Trump’s attempts to steal the election now that a pro-Trump insurrectionist coup attempt occurred at the U.S. Capitol.

Lawmakers mount pressure on Trump to leave office

The Hill logo

Calls grew Sunday for President Trump’s impeachment or resignation as lawmakers accused him of inciting the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol last week.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he agreed with his colleague, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who became the first Senate Republican to call for Trump’s resignation last week.

“I think the best way for our country, Chuck, is for the president to resign and go away as soon as possible,” Toomey told NBC’s Chuck Todd. “It does not look as though there is the will or the consensus to exercise the 25th Amendment option, and I don’t think there’s time to do an impeachment. There’s 10 days left before the president leaves anyway. I think the best thing would be a resignation.” Continue reading.