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New video exhibits Capitol riot, Romney and Pence evacuating

New video shows Capitol riot, Romney and Pence evacuating

The House impeachment executives on Wednesday used graphic video and audio clips – some of which had not been publicly released – to recreate the moments when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Delegate Stacey Plaskett, a Democrat representing the U.S. Virgin Islands, presented the harrowing footage and sound as she illustrated the danger ex-Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress faced when they won President Joe Biden’s election confirmed.

It came on a day when the impeachment executives of the House of Representatives were setting out their case, that former President Donald Trump before lawmakers who both witnessed the attack and will decide whether to condemn the former president for causing a riot against the Government triggered.

“President Trump put a target on their backs and his mob went to the Capitol to hunt them down,” said Plaskett at the end of her presentation.

The video shows the first moments Trump supporters break through barricades and approach the Capitol while some scattered police officers throw blows but do not hold them back. The police can be heard in previously unpublished radio protocols in which reinforcement is requested in the event of “several violations of the law enforcement authorities”.

One officer describes rioters who “throw metal bars at us”. Another says, “They start throwing explosives” or “Fireworks”.

“This is practically a riot now,” an official said Jan. 6 at around 1:49 p.m. ET.

When rioters reach the Capitol, they knock on windows and kick doors. A man breaks a window with a screen and the mob streams in through the opening. A rioter carries a Confederate flag into the Capitol.

US Vice President Mike Pence looks back on January 6th when his security detail of US intelligence brought and evacuated him from a secure room in the US Capitol during the impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump for inciting a fatal attack on the U.S. Capitol on Capitol Hill in Washington, USA on February 10, 2021.

US Senate | Reuters

In security videos of the same incident from inside the building, which Plaskett said has never been seen, rioters pour through a door and window while a lone officer responds. One member of the crowd wears tactical body armor and another has a baseball bat.

After the Senate pauses at about 2:13 p.m. ET, Pence and the Senators leave the Chamber. Security footage shows former Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, who later turned rioters away from the Senate Chamber, passed Utah GOP Senator Mitt Romney in a hallway and told him to hurry in the opposite direction of the mob.

Additional security footage shows Pence and his family storming down a flight of stairs as they evacuate from the Senate Chamber.

Even more videos show rioters looking for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Asking, “Where are you, Nancy? We’re looking for you.” A Pelosi employee in hiding whispers into a phone, “You are knocking on the doors and trying to find them.”

A subsequent presentation by Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., Recreated how close the mob was to reaching Members of the House. Security footage showed lawmakers fleeing the chamber of the house and walking through hallways wearing gas masks.

He presented a video in which police shot and killed Ashli ​​Babbitt, the woman who died as a group of rioters trying to break through doors near the chamber of the house.

Swalwell also showed a video of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., who turned and crawled the other way after moving in the direction of the mob.

“You were only 58 paces from where the mob had gathered,” Swalwell told the senators.

Some senators, including Romney, watched carefully as the impeachment managers re-enacted the danger faced by lawmakers, according to reporters at the Capitol. Masks they wore to slow the spread of the coronavirus-protected reactions.

The senators watched dozens of haunting videos, the last of which showed the mob crushing a cop in a doorway as he yelled. Swalwell ended his presentation with the graphic clip.

The House of Representatives prosecuting the Trump case are faced with the challenge of convincing Republican senators to vote in favor of condemning the former president. Seventeen GOP senators would have to join all 50 Democrats.

On Tuesday only six Republicans voted for the process to continue at all. The former president’s legal team argued that Trump should not face impeachment proceedings after leaving office.

Both sides have 16 hours to resolve their cases within up to two days. Trump’s lawyers are expected to argue that months of comments the House says spurred the mob on during the election and after the constitutionally protected speech.

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Home managers present senators beforehand unseen, graphic Capitol safety footage from Jan. 6.

House managers show senators previously unseen, graphic Capitol security footage from Jan. 6.

Whispered, panicked calls from frightened employees barricaded in an office. Violent scenes of broken windows and pushed open doors. Frenzied audio between Capitol cops.

On the second day of the impeachment trial, the House impeachment managers showed Senators previously unseen Capitol security footage and displayed a terrifying portrait of the violence that the pro-Trump mob sparked in the Capitol on Jan. 6.

The new evidence was presented by Delegate Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands, who created a methodical narrative of the day and timestamped each new video. Representative Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California, continued the presentation.

When it began, Ms. Plaskett recalled the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and reported that a plane was heading for the Capitol.

“Almost every day I remember 44 Americans giving their lives to stop the plane that went to this Capitol,” said Ms. Plaskett, who was serving as the adjutant at the time. “I thank them every day for saving my life and that of many other people. These Americans sacrificed their lives for the love of the country, honor, duty, and all the things America means. The Capitol stands because of such people. “

As each new video and audio clip was introduced, a map of the Capitol remained in the lower corner of the screen, with a red dot tracking the progress of the rioters in the building while more violent images flickered across the screen.

In one scene, Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney was walking down a corridor where he met Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman, who appeared to be warning him of the progress of the rioters. Mr. Romney ran off.

Security footage from the Capitol showed the mob pounding through windows first to break through the building before turning to other doors to break them open from the inside as rioters flooded in. Ms. Plaskett recalled the threats the rioters had made publicly against the lives of California spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence.

“You were talking about the assassination of the Vice President of the United States,” said Ms. Plaskett. She added that Mr. Pence and his family never left the Capitol during the siege.

After Ms. Plaskett played scenes of lawmakers and their coworkers escaping to safety, she played audio of frightened coworkers from Ms. Pelosi’s office barricaded in a room.

“We need the Capitol Police to get into the hall,” said one, and whispered into a phone in the hope that the rioters outside would not hear anything.

Mr. Swalwell introduced perhaps the cruelest video showing the moment when Ashli ​​Babbitt, one of the rioters, was killed and warned viewers before playing the clip that it would be graphic.

As the impeachment executives played videos and never-before-heard recordings of radio communications from the Capitol Police on January 6, senators from both parties sat in tense silence. Many tried to get a better view. In the back row on the Democratic side, Senators Mark Warner from Virginia and Michael Bennet from Colorado stood up to watch.

On the Republican side, the senators showed little emotion, but paid close attention to it. Many turned their heads from the video screens just to take notes.

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Impeachment Case Towards Trump Goals to Marshal Outrage of Capitol Assault

Impeachment Case Against Trump Aims to Marshal Outrage of Capitol Attack

“The story of the president’s actions is both exciting and terrifying,” Maryland Democrat Representative Jamie Raskin said in an interview. “We believe that every American should know what happened – that the reason he was charged by the House of Representatives and why he should be convicted and expelled from the future federal office is to make sure that such an attack on our democracy and constitution never happens again. “

In making Mr Trump the first American president to be charged twice, the Democrats have essentially given themselves an unprecedented overhaul. When California Democrat Adam B. Schiff was preparing to prosecute Mr. Trump for the first time for a printing campaign against Ukraine, he read and posted the 605-page record of President Bill Clinton’s impeachment proceedings from 1999 from start to finish many helpers than 20 broadcasts a day when trying to modernize a procedure that had only happened twice before.

This time around, a new group of nine Democratic managers only have to go back a year to learn the lessons of Mr Schiff’s prosecution: don’t piss off the Republicans, use lots and lots of videos, and most importantly, make concise arguments to support the weighing Don’t avoid jury of the legislature in boredom or distraction.

Trump’s attorneys have stated that they intend to re-establish a largely technical defense, claiming that the Senate “has no power” to judge a former president after he leaves office because the Constitution does not expressly do so prescribes. Although many legal scholars and a majority in the Senate disagree, Republicans have rallied in the argument to reject the case without incriminating Mr Trump’s behavior.

However, attorneys Bruce L. Castor Jr. and David Schoen also plan to deny that Mr. Trump instigated the violence in the first place or intended to disrupt the formalization of Mr. Biden’s victory by Congress, claiming that his unsubstantiated allegations support the Choices are “stolen” are protected by the first change. And Mr Castor told Fox News that he, too, would be relying on videos of possibly rioting in Democrat-led American cities.

Managers will try to refute them with constitutional arguments as well as with an overwhelming compendium of evidence. Mr. Raskin’s team spent dozens of hours weeding out a profound amount of videos captured by the crowd, Mr. Trump’s own unvarnished words, and criminal pleas from rioters who said they were acting at the orders of the former president.

The primary source material can replace live testimony. The attempt to call new witnesses has been the subject of an extensive debate among managers, whose evidence shows several loopholes that the White House or military officials could potentially fill. During the last trial, the Democrats put unsuccessful pressure on witnesses at the heart of their case, but this time around, many in the party say they are not necessary to prove the charges and would simply cost Mr. Biden valuable time setting up his agenda change without changing the result.

“It’s not that there shouldn’t be any witnesses; It’s just the practical reality of being with a former president, ”said Daniel S. Goldman, a former House attorney who helped out with Mr. Trump’s first impeachment trial. “This is what we learned from the last trial: this is a political animal and these witnesses will not move the needle.”

Mr. Raskin and other managers declined to discuss strategy, but current and former officials, familiar with the confidential preparations, agreed to discuss it anonymously. The near-complete silence of the prosecutors leading up to the trial was another departure from the strategy of Mr. Trump’s first impeachment, when the Democrats built a sizable communications war room in the Capitol and saturated the cable television waves in an omnipotent. Fight Mr. Trump in Public Opinion Court.

They have left it largely to trusted allies like Mr Schiff and Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi to publicly discuss their case and withhold criticism of why the House is pushing its case even now that Mr Trump is out of office.

“If we didn’t look into that, we might as well remove any sentence from the impeachment constitution – just take it out,” Ms. Pelosi told reporters, who asked why Democrats would spend so much time in Congress with a former president .

Important questions about the scope and form of the experiment remain unanswered. The senators spent the weekend haggling over the exact structure and rules of the procedure. For the first time in American history, a former president will be tried.

Prosecutors and Mr Trump’s lawyers are expected to have at least 12 hours each to represent their case. Mr. Raskin, a former constitutional law professor, has trained his colleagues in daily sessions to aggressively crush their arguments, stick to the narrative if possible, and incorporate them into the visual aids they want to show on television in the Senate Chamber and on screens across the country.

Behind the scenes, Democrats rely on many of the same lawyers and advisors who helped put the 2020 case together, including Susanne Sachsman Grooms of the House Oversight and Reform Committee and Aaron Hiller, Arya Hariharan, Sarah Istel and Amy Rutkin of the Judiciary Committee . The House also temporarily called back Barry H. Berke, a veteran New York attorney, as chief attorney and Joshua Matz, a constitutional expert.

Mr Schiff said his team attempted to produce an “HBO miniseries” with clips of testimony to bring to life the esoteric conspiracy over Mr Trump’s pressure campaign against Ukraine. Mr. Raskins is more like a blockbuster action film.

“The more you document all of the tragic events that led up to that day, and the President’s wrongdoing that day and the President’s reaction while people were attacked that day, the harder it will be for any Senator to get behind those wrong ones Constitutions to hide fig leaves, ”said Mr Schiff, who advised the managers informally.

To put together the presentation, Mr. Raskin’s team turned to the same external company that helped put together Mr. Schiff’s multimedia display. But Mr Raskin works with far richer material to tell a month-long story of how he and his colleagues believe that Mr Trump sowed, gathered and provoked a mob to try to overcome his defeat.

There are clips and tweets from Mr. Trump last summer warning that he would only lose if the election against him were “rigged”; Clips and tweets of him gaining victory after losing; and clips and tweets from state officials who came to the White House to “stop the theft.” There is audio of a call in which Mr Trump pressured Georgia’s Secretary of State to find the voices needed to reverse Mr Biden’s victory there. as well as tweets and reports from the president from sympathetic lawmakers saying that, after those efforts failed, Mr. Trump turned his attention firmly to the January 6th session of Congress for a final stand.

The center shows footage of Mr. Trump speaking outside the White House hours before the mob overtook the police and invaded the Capitol. The executives’ pre-trial mandate suggests they plan to juxtapose footage of Mr. Trump urging his supporters to “fight like hell” and march to the Capitol and confront Congress with videos showing the Posted by members of the crowd who can actually process his words in time.

“Even in this trial, in which the senators were witnesses, it’s very important to tell the full story,” said Schiff. “It’s not about a single day. It is about a behavior of a president to use his office to disturb the peaceful transfer of power. “

However, proximity can also lead to complications. Several people familiar with the preparations said managers were cautious about saying anything that could imply Republican lawmakers repeating or entertaining the president’s baseless allegations of electoral fraud. In order to have effective reasoning, the managers feel that it is necessary for managers to make it clear that Mr Trump is on trial, not his party.

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Two Proud Boys members indicted for conspiracy in U.S. Capitol riots

Two Proud Boys members indicted for conspiracy in U.S. Capitol riots

Members of the right-wing extremist group Proud Boys make “OK” hand gestures indicating “white power” as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather in front of the US Capitol to oppose the certification of the results of the 2020 US presidential election United States Protest Congress in Washington, USA, January 6, 2021.

Jim Urquhart | Reuters

Two members of the far-right nationalist group, the Proud Boys, were tried in federal court Friday for conspiring to obstruct law enforcement and other charges related to their participation in the January 6th deadly riot at the Capitol.

Dominic Pezzola, 43, from Rochester, New York, and William Pepe, 31, from Beacon, New York, were initially prosecuted and arrested earlier this month, according to a press release from the US Department of Justice.

The men were charged with conspiracy, disorder, unlawful entry into buildings or properties, and disorderly and disruptive behavior in buildings or properties on Friday in federal court in DC.

Pezzola is also charged with obstructing an official trial; additional number of riots and aiding and abetting riot; Theft of US personal property; attack, resist, or hinder certain officers; Destruction of state property; and engage in physical violence in a confined building or site.

Pepe was a Metro Transit Authority employee who, according to an affidavit, used a sick day to travel to DC for the planned riot. The agency suspended him.

Pezzola, a retired U.S. Marine, was filmed using a police sign to break a window and break through the Capitol. Witnesses also told authorities that Pezzola, known to some as “Spaz,” said he would have killed Vice President Mike Pence and House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi if he had the chance, according to an affidavit.

Prosecutors also said that Pezzola posted a video on social media smoking a cigar in the Capitol and saying, “Victory smoke in the Capitol, guys.”

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Man arrested with gun outdoors Capitol, chief requires everlasting fence after Trump fan riot

Man arrested with gun outside Capitol, chief calls for permanent fence after Trump fan riot

A US Capitol police car drives past the US Capitol in Washington, USA on January 26, 2021.

Al Drago | Reuters

The acting head of the U.S. Capitol Police called for permanent fencing of the complex on Thursday and cited the January 6 uprising by a crowd of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters.

Calls for “huge improvements” to the security of the Capitol came the day after a West Virginia man was arrested after police found a gun and a list of members of Congress in his car, which was stopped near the complex’s temporary barrier .

Acting Capitol chief Yogananda Pittman noted that a 2006 Capitol security assessment “specifically recommended the installation of a permanent perimeter fence.”

“In light of recent events, I can clearly state that the physical security infrastructure needs to be significantly improved to allow permanent fences and the availability of emergency services in close proximity to the Capitol,” said Pittman.

She noted that after becoming acting boss on Jan. 8, she directed staff to conduct a physical security assessment of the entire Capitol complex. In addition to this review, the Capitol Police’s internal watchdog is investigating the January 6th events and a third party review of the complex’s security systems.

“In the end, we all have the same goal – to prevent what happened on January 6th from ever happening again,” said Pittman.

Five people died in the riot, including a Capitol policeman.

Two other police officers defending the Capitol that day killed themselves and up to 140 other police officers were injured while fighting Trump supporters who were invading the halls of convention, according to the Capitol Union.

A temporary fencing was set up after the violence, motivated by anger over Congress’ proposed confirmation of President Joe Biden’s election that day.

Shortly before the Trump uprising, his sons, personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, and other key supporters reiterated false claims that Biden won the election through electoral fraud and urged followers to help undo Biden’s victory.

A permanent fence would drastically change the traditional atmosphere around the Capitol, whose grounds and buildings were usually open to the public.

West Virginia man arrested

On Wednesday afternoon, Washington police arrested a 71-year-old West Virginia man, Dennis Warren Westover, who parked his car on the street near the fence on the southwest side of the Capitol and began to “yell at” [National] Guardsmen who were inside the fence line, “the authorities said.

Westover, who lives in South Charleston, later told police, “I wanted to see the fence that was around ‘my capitol’,” according to court records.

Westover’s car, according to court documents, contained a Sig Sauer P365 semi-automatic pistol with 10 rounds of ammunition and a separate 9mm 10-round magazine in the center console of the car.

Westover was charged with carrying an unregistered firearm and ammunition.

He told police he was “concerned about the honesty and integrity of the elections,” according to a criminal complaint.

The complaint also contained “Stop the Steal Paperwork” in his car, which contained a list of Senators and representatives from the US Congress and the West Virginia House of Representatives with contact information.

“He said that is the process that I am busy with [in] is justice, justice and truth, “says the complaint.

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Capitol rioter charged with threatening to assassinate AOC

Capitol rioter charged with threatening to assassinate AOC

Protesters who support U.S. President Donald Trump break into the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021.

Win McNamee | Getty Images

A Dallas area man who joined a violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol earlier this month was accused of threatening Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a death threat in a social media post.

Garret Miller, 34, of Richardson, Texas, was arrested earlier this week on several charges related to the Capitol riot.

Miller’s attorney, Clinton Broden, told CNBC that a threat charge was added to his client’s charges on Tuesday, the day before his arrest in Richardson. The increased fee came relatively soon after the first complaint was filed in federal court in Washington, DC, Broden said.

The other charges include entering or leaving buildings or land without proper authorization; forced entry and disorderly behavior for Capitol reasons; Obstruction or obstruction of an official process and certain acts during a civil incident.

The charges against Miller are based on prosecutors’ allegations that he threatened Rep. Ocasio Cortez, DN.Y., across state lines on social media. The maximum sentence is five years in prison.

Miller wrote “Assassinate AOC” in a Twitter post, according to the complaint. Miller also reportedly wrote about entering the Capitol building on his Instagram account, admitting that he “had a rope in hand” [his] Bag that day. “

Miller also threatened a Capitol Police officer who shot and killed a woman who tried to break through the Capitol during the riot. “We will take care of it [the USCP officer] and hug his neck with a nice rope[.]”Said Miller, according to the complaint.

“Mr. Miller regrets the measures he has taken to demonstrate his support for former President Trump,” said Broden. “He has the full support of his family and has always been a law-abiding citizen.”

“His social media comments reflect a very ill-considered political exaggeration in very divided times and will certainly not be repeated in the future,” Broden continued. “He’s looking forward to leaving it all behind.”

Broden added that he doesn’t think there is any evidence that Miller tried to carry out the threats.

Miller will appear for a hearing in federal court in Dallas on Monday. Prosecutors have said they want him to be detained pending trial, but Broden said he would advocate for Miller’s conditional release pending trial in Washington.

Responding to the complaint in which Miller allegedly bragged about his role in the riot online, Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet: “On the one hand, you have to laugh and, on the other, you have to know that the reason they were so bold is that they thought it would succeed. “

Ocasio-Cortez previously said she feared for her life during the uprising and that members of Congress were “almost murdered”.

“I didn’t know if I would make it to the end of this day alive, not just in a general sense, but also in a very, very specific sense,” said the Democratic representative in a live Instagram video on January 1st. 12 without explaining the details.

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Capitol riot ‘incited by the President,’ says former DHS Secretary

Capitol riot ‘incited by the President,’ says former DHS Secretary

Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that the January 6 attack on the Capitol was “instigated” by President Donald Trump and criticized him for telling the “big lie” in the election fueled on November 3rd, it was stolen from him.

“He did not say what would be most helpful, namely that he lost the election fair and the seat and that it is time for a peaceful change of power, as is the great tradition of our country,” said Yellen, who was from 2009 to 2013 Minister of Homeland Security. “… He did not realize that some of this violence was fueled by the so-called ‘big lie’ and he is the main proponent of it.”

An internal security report released in 2009 warned that right-wing extremism was on the rise and could lead to violence. There have been calls for Napolitano to resign, and she had to apologize for part of that report that said extremists might try to attract veterans. Napolitano said host Shepard Smith during an interview on Tuesday evening that white nationalists had only become more dangerous since the report.

“I think that assessment was generally correct at the time and it has proven to be correct in the following years and certainly in the last four years and certainly in the last few weeks,” said Napolitano. “We saw a surge in these right-wing nationalist groups, fueled in part by social media and social media messaging, and actually instigated on the 6th, in my view, by the president.”

There are growing concerns about an insider attack involving US soldiers charged with securing the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. The FBI is taking no chances and is reviewing the 25,000 National Guard troops who will be present at the inauguration.

According to a Pentagon spokesman, twelve members of the National Guard have since been expelled from Biden’s inauguration following the FBI investigation. Officials say two of the National Guard forces were flagged for “inappropriate” comments and text, while the other ten were removed for “various reasons”.

Napolitano said the security level in the Capitol was “necessary” because of the January 6 riot, but the measures would result in a “very uneventful day of inauguration”.

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No Biden point out, glosses over Covid deaths, Capitol riot

No Biden mention, glosses over Covid deaths, Capitol riot

U.S. President Donald Trump watches as he speaks to the media before boarding Air Force One to leave Washington and cross the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Texas at Andrews Joint Base, Maryland, Jan. 12 To visit in 2021.

Carlos Barria | Reuters

President Donald Trump made a taped farewell speech touting his economic and foreign policy record while glossing over the Capitol uprising that spilled over the last few weeks of his presidency.

He also failed to name his successor Joe Biden. Biden will be inaugurated as the nation’s 46th president on Wednesday.

Trump’s nearly 20-minute speech, taped Monday, described his departure from the White House as the natural conclusion to a job well done, rather than as a result of his loss of the election to Biden.

“We did what we came here for – and much more,” said Trump in the address.

“This week we are inaugurating a new administration and praying for their success in ensuring America’s security and prosperity. We wish them all the best and we want them to be lucky – a very important word,” said Trump.

Trump previously confirmed that a new administration will take command on Wednesday, but he has not officially conceded Biden. In contrast to the farewell speeches of previous presidents, Trump’s address does not specifically mention his successor.

The president’s speech also referred to the January 6 invasion of the Capitol by a swarm of his supporters – an event that killed five people and spurred the House to indict him a second time.

“All Americans were appalled by the attack on our Capitol. Political violence is an attack on everything we as Americans value. It can never be tolerated,” Trump said in the speech.

He has declined any responsibility for the invasion. But earlier on Tuesday Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Said the mob was “provoked” by the President and other powerful people.

Trump is facing impeachment proceedings in the Senate.

In the video, Trump praised his administration’s efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic, saying the US “has outperformed other countries economically because of our incredible economy and the economy we have built. It would not have been without the foundations and foundations worked like that. ” “”

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the US exceeded 400,000 deaths in Covid on Tuesday. About a quarter of these deaths were reported in the past five weeks alone.

“We mourn every life lost and commit ourselves in your memory to eradicate this terrible pandemic once and for all,” said Trump, whose term ends on Wednesday, in his address.

Trump, who regularly accused the media of “being the people’s enemy” and advocated the promise to drain the swamp of DC, also devoted a sizable portion of the address to a warning of “political censorship and blacklisting.”

“Closing a free and open debate goes against our core values ​​and the most sustainable traditions,” said Trump, who was permanently banned from Twitter after his initial reaction to the Capitol uprising.

“Now that I am preparing to hand over power to a new government on Wednesday noon, I want you to know that the movement we have started is only just beginning,” he said.

However, it is unclear whether this movement will include Trump – at least as a candidate for elected office. Senate minority chairman Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., vowed earlier Tuesday that if Trump is convicted after his impeachment trial, he will “vote on preventing him from running again.”

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Democrats ask resort, rental automobile chains to assist discover Capitol rioters and forestall extra assaults

Democrats ask hotel, rental car chains to help find Capitol rioters and prevent more attacks

Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump board a bus for an overnight trip to Washington, DC, in Newton, Massachusetts, on January 5, 2021.

Joseph Prezioso | AFP | Getty Images

House Democrats on Friday asked more than two dozen private companies to take action to prevent domestic terrorist threats after President Donald Trump’s supporters fatally entered the U.S. Capitol last week.

Companies have been asked to step up their screening efforts and keep any service requests and reservation records made in January that could be used as evidence to identify those involved in the mob.

“While the instigators and attackers bear direct responsibility and fully accountable for the siege of the Capitol, they relied on a number of companies and services to get them there and house them upon their arrival,” said Carolyn Maloney, Chair of the House Oversight Committee. DN.Y. wrote in their letters to the companies.

The oversight committee sent the letters as law enforcement agencies prepare for potentially more violence ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration next Wednesday. Officials fear extremists are targeting state houses across the country as people try to organize pro-Trump rallies online.

Legislators from both parties have called for an investigation into the Capitol siege, which forced a joint congressional session to go into hiding and left five dead, including a Capitol police officer.

Maloney sent letters to 27 hotel, bus, and rental car companies, including the Hyatt and Hilton hotel chains and the online travel company Expedia.

The other companies are Greyhound, Megabus, BoltBus, Lux Bus America, Vamoose, Jefferson Lines, Peter Pan, Flixbus, RedCoach, Enterprise, Hertz, Avis, National, Alamo, Budget, Dollar, Thrifty, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Accor Group, Choice Hotels, Marriott, Best Western International, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Extended Stay America.

A local resident looks at a billboard with pictures of supporters of US President Donald Trump who were wanted by the FBI and who were involved in the storming of the US Capitol. Congress had to postpone a session that confirmed the results of the 2020 US presidential election in Washington on January 13th. 2021.

Carlos Barria | Reuters

Maloney also urged companies to submit to their committee by January 29 any “policies and procedures currently in place or under development to ensure that their services are not being used to facilitate violence or domestic terrorism”.

Maloney’s letters indicated that Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser urged Americans to stay out of their city during the inauguration. National Guard troops are deployed to the nation’s capital to ward off possible violence.

The letters also cited measures already in place by some companies, including Airbnb, which canceled all reservations in the DC area during housewarming week and blocked all new bookings during that time.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said Thursday that more than 100 arrests were made in connection with the Capitol riot.

Among the arrests are a Delaware resident and his father, who was photographed with a Confederate flag in the building, and a retired firefighter accused of throwing a fire extinguisher at police officers.

“We know you’re out there and FBI agents are coming to find you,” Wray said.

JW Marriott Hotel guests look out from their rooms as a pro-Trump rally takes place in Freedom Plaza on January 5, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Samuel Corum | Getty Images

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How Republicans Are Warping Actuality Across the Capitol Assault

How Republicans Are Warping Reality Around the Capitol Attack

Representative Peter Meijer, a Republican freshman who voted for the indictment against Mr. Trump, said in an interview with The Daily, the New York Times audio podcast, that the spread of false information in the base of “two worlds” among the Republicans of Congress – one based on reality and another based on conspiracy.

“The world that said this was actually a landslide victory for Donald Trump, but everything has been stolen and changed and the votes have been flipped and the Dominion voting systems,” Meijer said, describing what he called the “fever swamp of conspiracy theories.”

In a video press conference on Friday, Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina appealed directly to the still dubious Republicans. “Biden actually won,” he said. “The election was not rigged.”

Your words, contrary to Mr. Trump’s own message and that of many supporters, underscore a challenge to the Republican Party. The rioters targeted police officers, members of Congress and even Vice President Mike Pence. However, much of the party’s base and many of its leaders at the local and state levels remain loyal to Mr Trump.

Another Republican who backed the impeachment, South Carolina representative Tom Rice, admitted in an interview with The Associated Press that in his re-election efforts in 2022, his vote would likely make him face a major opponent of the GOP – a threat to the another nine Republicans who voted for impeachment will likely face too.

“FIRST GOP Primary Challenger Announces Run in Michigan Against Freshman Rep. Meijer – One of 10 GOP Turncoats,” read a headline on Gateway Pundit, the right-wing and often conspiratorial news agency that influences Mr. Trump’s grassroots.

Reached by email, the website’s founder, Jim Hoft, did not respond to questions but sent in several of his own news articles relating to allegations that Antifa was involved in the Capitol attack – citing the case of one Man named John Sullivan, who has the right-wing media named an “antifa leader” to prove his infiltration theory. He was the same man quoted by Mr Giuliani in tweets threatening to “blame John and the 226 members of Antifa who started the Capitol’s” uprising. “