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Trump says he and Capitol rioters needed similar factor: Overturning Biden win

Trump says he and Capitol rioters wanted same thing: Overturning Biden win

Trump supporters near the U.S Capitol, on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Shay Horse | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump told reporters he wanted the same thing that members of the mob during the violent Jan. 6 Capitol riot wanted: overturning the election of President Joe Biden.

“Personally, what I wanted is what they wanted,” Trump said of the rioters, according to an article Monday in Vanity Fair that excerpts the new book “I Alone Can Fix It,” by Washington Post journalists Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker.

The former president downplayed the deadly violence at the Capitol that day, while repeating several lies and erroneous claims about the integrity of the election, according to the article.

“They showed up just to show support because I happen to believe the election was rigged at a level like nothing has ever been rigged before,” Trump told the two reporters during an interview in late March at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

“There’s tremendous proof. There’s tremendous proof. Statistically, it wasn’t even possible that [Biden] won. Things such as, if you win Florida and Ohio and Iowa, there’s never been a loss,” he said.

Trump also claimed in the interview that Capitol Police welcomed members of the mob that day into the halls of Congress, and warmly greeted them after thousands of his supporters marched from a rally outside the White House, where he had urged them to fight against the confirmation of Biden’s win by Congress.

“In all fairness, the Capitol Police were ushering people in,” Trump said.

“The Capitol Police were very friendly. They were hugging and kissing. You don’t see that. There’s plenty of tape on that,” he said in the article, headlined: “‘I’m Getting the Word Out’: Inside the Feverish Mind of Donald Trump Two Months After Leaving the White House.”

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC held at the Hilton Anatole on July 11, 2021 in Dallas, Texas.

Brandon Bell | Getty Images

The article notes that “Trump didn’t mention the countless accounts of horrific violence — that of a riotous mob shoving a police officer to the ground, later threatening to shoot him with his own gun, or that of an insurrectionist bashing a flagpole into another police officer’s chest, or that of yet another officer howling in pain as he was compressed in a closing door.”

However, Trump did allude, obliquely, to the violence, albeit after he talked about the “loving crowd” at his rally before the riot at the Capitol.

“There was a lot of love. I’ve heard that from everybody. Many, many people have told me that was a loving crowd,” Trump said, before adding: “It was too bad, it was too bad that they did that.”

More than 500 people have been arrested in connection with the riot, which invaded the Senate chamber, caused then-Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress to hide in secure locations, and disrupted for hours a joint session of Congress that was in the process of confirming Biden’s win.

Five people died in connection with the riot, among them Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick. More than 100 other cops were injured in the melee.

Members of U.S. Capitol Police try to fend off a mob of supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump as one of them tries to use a flag like a spear as the supporters storm the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, January 6, 2021.

Leah Millis | Reuters

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Trump griped during his interview with the Post reporters about the failure of Pence and Barr to follow through on his claims, and take steps to keep him in office. Pence oversaw the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6.

“The greatest fraud ever perpetrated in this country was this last election,” Trump said in the interview. “It was rigged and it was stolen. It was both. It was a combination, and Bill Barr didn’t do anything about it.”

D.C. Police Officer Daniel Hodges

Source: D.C. Police Dept.

“Had Mike Pence had the courage to send it back to the legislatures, you would have had a different outcome, in my opinion,” the former president said.

Trump also faulted the U.S. Supreme Court, which has three justices whom he appointed, for failing to take up his campaign’s election claims.

“I needed better judges. The Supreme Court was afraid to take it,” Trump said. “It [Biden’s win] should have been reversed by the Supreme Court. I’m very disappointed in the Supreme Court because they did a very bad thing for the country.”

Trump also trashed other Republicans, as well as members of his own administration in the interview, among them Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, former House Speaker Paul Ryan, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Debora Birx, the late Sen. John McCain, Sen, Mitt Romney, Sen. Ben Sasse and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.

Trump called McConnell, whose wife Elaine Chao served as Trump’s Transportation secretary, “a stupid person” for refusing to eliminate the Senate’s filibuster and for not convincing Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, to become a Republican.

He also boasted about the seaside location of Mar-a-Lago, the size of one of its window panes and his four years in office. His press secretary handed the reporters copies of a bound document titled “1,000 Accomplishments of President Donald J. Trump: Highlights of the First Term,” the article said.

Trump also suggested that he was — and remains — unbeatable in an election against any other live candidate.

“I think it would be hard if George Washington came back from the dead and he chose Abraham Lincoln as his vice president, I think it would have been very hard for them to beat me,” Trump said.

Correction: Trump’s press secretary handed the reporters copies of a bound document titled “1,000 Accomplishments of President Donald J. Trump: Highlights of the First Term,” the article said. An earlier version misidentified the parties involved.

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Capitol Rioters Face the Penalties of Their Selfie Sabotage

Capitol Rioters Face the Consequences of Their Selfie Sabotage

Mr. Biggs’ activities that day were extensively recorded by himself and others. His walk from the Washington Monument was filmed by Eddie Block, a proud boy on a scooter who rolled behind him and identified Mr. Biggs and others in his commentary. Mr. Biggs appeared repeatedly in photographs and recorded himself climbing the Capitol steps.

It was a long, awkward road that got him to this point. Mr. Biggs, 37, also known as Rambo, was a Florida DJ who “romped around nightclubs pounding ecstasy” before joining the military in 2007, he said on his broadcasts. He was posted to Iraq for a year and then to Afghanistan. He made his news media debut after leaving active service in 2012.

In 2008, Michael Hastings, a reporter embedded with Mr. Biggs’ unit in Afghanistan, encouraged him to appear on camera in the news media upon his return to the United States, Mr. Biggs said. Before Mr. Hastings died in a car accident in 2013, Mr. Hastings wrote a profile of General Stanley McChrystal for Rolling Stone, which ended the general’s military career.

Mr. Biggs ‘hiatus came after fueling conspiracy theories about Mr. Hastings’ death. Mr. Jones invited him to Infowars, the far-right, conspiratorial radio and online show.

Mr. Biggs joined Infowars in 2014 and traveled the next year to attend racial justice demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri, and to the 2016 occupation of Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon by armed right-wing extremists. Escorting Mr. Jones to Republican 2016. At the National Convention, Mr. Biggs fell in a dispute with communist protesters, including one who burned an American flag.

He and another Infowars employee claimed they were burned to put out the fire. In a mundane video called “Joe ‘Rambo’ Biggs: Commie Crushing Crusader!” Mr. Biggs said he “jumped” over the “cops”, tore off the protester’s shirt and gave him a “stomp”.

Police charged protester Gregory “Joey” Johnson of the offense.

When Mr. Johnson’s attorneys saw the videos of Mr. Biggs’s allegations, they demanded that the charges against Mr. Johnson be dropped, which they were. Mr Johnson sued the City of Cleveland and its police force on the grounds that they violated his First Amendment rights. He received a severance payment of $ 225,000.

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Justice Dept. Is Stated to Be Inspecting Stone’s Potential Ties to Capitol Rioters

Justice Dept. Is Said to Be Examining Stone’s Possible Ties to Capitol Rioters

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department is investigating communications between right-wing extremists who violated the Capitol and Roger J. Stone Jr., a close associate of former President Donald J. Trump, to see if Mr. Stone played a role in the extremists’ plans To disrupt the confirmation of President Biden’s election victory, a person familiar with the matter said on Saturday.

Should investigators find any news that Mr. Stone knew about or was participating in these plans, they would have a factual basis to launch a full criminal investigation into him, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss continued investigation. While this is far from certain, prosecutors at the U.S. law firm in Washington will likely if they find this connection.

Mr. Stone, a self-described fixer for Mr. Trump, escaped a 40-month sentence when the former president commuted his sentence in July and pardoned him in late December. Mr Stone had been convicted of seven offenses, including obstructing a House of Representatives investigation into possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia’s efforts to meddle in the 2016 election, lie to Congress and manipulate witnesses. However, this pardon does not protect Mr. Stone from future law enforcement actions.

Justice Department officials have been debating for weeks whether to open a full investigation into Mr. Stone, the person said. While Mr. Stone was speaking at an arson rally the day before the attack, right-wing extremists serving as his bodyguards and standing outside the Capitol, these actions are not crimes themselves.

But the FBI also has videos and other information suggesting that in the days leading up to and including the day of the attack, Mr. Stone was linked to men who eventually stormed the building and broke the law, those with the investigation said familiar person. This has given investigators a window in which to examine communications to see if Mr Stone knew of any plans to break through the complex.

The Washington Post previously reported that the Justice Department was investigating Mr Stone’s possible links with right-wing extremists at the Capitol.

The New York Times has identified at least six members of the Oath Keepers, a right-wing extremist group formed by former military and law enforcement officials who guarded Mr. Stone and were later seen in the Capitol after a pro-Trump mob violently builds the building. Prosecutors have accused two of these men of plotting to attack Congress.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. Mr. Stone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement posted online this month, Mr. Stone denied any role in the “lawless attack” and said that members of the Oath Guards “should be prosecuted” if there is evidence that they have broken the law. He added that he “saw no evidence of any illegal activity by members of the group”.

A day after the Capitol attack, Michael Sherwin, the US attorney in Washington, told reporters that he would not rule out bringing charges against Mr. Trump or his associates for their possible role in inciting or otherwise encouraging the mob.

“We look at all of the actors, not just the people who entered the building,” Sherwin said. When asked if such goals would include Mr. Trump, who admonished supporters during a rally near the White House on Jan. 6, telling them that they “could never retake our country with weakness,” Mr. Sherwin stood by his testimony . “We all look at actors,” he said. “If the evidence fits the elements of a crime, they will be charged.”

Another member of Mr. Sherwin’s office soon appeared to be tracing those remarks back to them, suggesting that individuals in Mr. Trump’s orbit were unlikely to be examined. But Mr. Sherwin later said he stood by his original statement.

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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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Far-right activist ‘Baked Alaska’ is among the many newest Capitol rioters to be arrested.

Far-right activist ‘Baked Alaska’ is among the latest Capitol rioters to be arrested.

Anthime Joseph Gionet, a far-right media personality nicknamed “Baked Alaska” known for engaging in illegal activities, was arrested by the FBI on Friday and charged with illegally using the Capitol during the attack on the building by President Trump’s supporters to have stormed earlier this month.

Mr Gionet, who was banned from Twitter and YouTube for his content, has streamed himself live in the crowd on DLive, a streaming service that is growing in popularity after a mass exodus of right-wing figures from more mainstream platforms. He posted a video showing supporters of President Trump taking selfies with officials at the Capitol, who quietly asked them to leave the premises. The video showed Trump supporters talking to each other, laughing and telling the officers and each other, “This is just the beginning.”

According to the Justice Department website, Mr. Gionet was arrested in Houston on Friday and charged with two federal crimes. In a lawsuit, Nicole Miller, an FBI agent, said Mr. Gionet recorded a 27-minute live video in which he appeared to be singing, “Patriots are in control,” and says, “We’re in the Capitol, 1776 is about to start again.” . ” . ”

Over 70 people have been arrested and at least 170 cases opened in connection with the riots. Many of the mob participants could be easily identified from their social media posts.

Emily Hernandez, a woman who was photographed with part of the wooden nameplate ripped from the entrance to Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi’s office, was arrested and charged in federal court Friday, according to the Kansas City star.

Ms. Hernandez was featured in numerous videos and photos depicting Ms. Pelosi’s shattered nameplate like a precious souvenir. According to the FBI, friends and acquaintances said they got tips about Ms. Hernandez after she posted pictures and videos of herself messing around with the nameplate on Facebook and Snapchat.

Jenna Ryan, a Frisco, Texas real estate agent who took a private plane to Washington to join the mob, was also charged on Friday. She was easy to identify after reporting on her attendance in a variety of ways, including livestreaming it at the Capitol saying, “Life or death doesn’t matter. Here we go.”

Just before entering, she turned to the camera and said, “You know who to hire for your agent. Jenna Ryan for your agent. “

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Professional-Trump rioters supposed to kill Pence and members of Congress

Pro-Trump rioters intended to kill Pence and members of Congress

Pro-Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol following a rally with President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Samuel Corum | Getty Images

Federal prosecutors said in a new trial there was “strong evidence” that the pro-Trump rioters who invaded the US Capitol last week intended to “trap and murder elected officials in the United States government “including Vice President Mike Pence.

Prosecutors also noted on the file that “news reports suggest that the siege of the US Capitol may just be the beginning of potentially violent actions by the president [Donald] Trump’s supporters. “

The filing by the office of U.S. Arizona Attorney Michael Bailey called on a judge Friday to arrest Jacob Chansley, one of the most notorious rioters, on Jan. 6 without bail. He plans to return to Washington next week for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

“Chansley is a self-appointed leader of the QAnon,” a group of conspiracy theorists who believe that many US lawmakers are part of a ring of child molesters and satan worshipers.

Bailey’s office said Chansley, wearing a complexion and a hat with horns, ran to a Senate podium “where Vice President Pence had presided only minutes earlier and started posing” to be photographed by other rioters.

Pence chaired a joint congressional session that day to officially confirm the election of Biden as president.

A protester yells in the Senate Chamber in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021.

Win McNamee | Getty Images News | Getty Images

“Strong evidence, including Chansley’s own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the Capitol rioters’ intent was to capture and murder elected officials in the United States government,” prosecutors wrote on their file.

“Chansley left a note on the podium of the Senate Chamber where Vice President Mike Pence had presided over the meeting minutes earlier warning, ‘It is only a matter of time, justice will come.’ “”

Prosecutors said that when the FBI questioned Chansley about the meaning of his words, he “did a long disgrace in which he described current and former United States leaders as infiltrators, particularly Vice President Mike Pence”.

“He said he was able to get into the United States Senate in DC ‘by the grace of God’.” Chansley said he was glad he was in the Vice President’s chair because Vice President Pence is a traitor to child trafficking, “the file said.

While Chansley alleged that he did not mean the note as a threat, “the government disagrees,” the file reads.

A protester holds a mannequin with a noose “traitor” written on it during a protest at the Washington Monument in Washington, DC, the United States, on Wednesday, January 6, 2021.

Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The prosecutor noted, “Chansley has also expressed an interest in returning to Washington DC for the inauguration and later told the FBI, ‘I’ll still go, you’d better believe it.’ “”

“‘Sure I’d want to be there, as a protester, as a protester, f–‘ a ‘,” he said, according to the file.

In a video interview outside the Capitol when he and other rioters were leaving the complex, Chansley said he had left the Senate and “the cops just walked out with me.”

He also said the mob would leave because Trump posted a message asking them to do so and that the rioters “won” the day.

“We won by sending a message to the Senators and Congressmen. We won by sending a message to Pence: If you don’t … do what your oath is, if you do they don’t keep it. ” Constitution, we’ll remove you then, but one way or another, “Chansley said.

Trump was charged Tuesday by the House of Representatives for instigating the mob that stormed the Capitol complex following a rally on the Ellipse calling on supporters to help him reverse Biden’s election.

Also on Friday, the New York Times reported that the FBI is investigating 37 people in an investigation into the riot murder of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.

The Times cited an FBI memo sent to the private sector and others.

This is the latest news. Check for updates again.

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Ken Langone blasts Trump, Capitol rioters, vows to help Joe Biden

Ken Langone blasts Trump, Capitol rioters, vows to support Joe Biden

Republican businessman Ken Langone on Wednesday blew up the Capitol Hill riot last week and charged CNBC with feeling “betrayed” by the actions of President Donald Trump that led to the deadly events.

“I think the biggest mistake anyone is going to make is trying to rationalize what happened last week, what the president did and what that crowd did,” Langone told Squawk Box. “There shouldn’t be any mitigation at all. It was horrible. It was wrong. I’m shocked.”

Trump’s supporters overtook the U.S. Capitol exactly a week ago to prevent Congress from completing President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the electoral college. Trump’s incendiary rhetoric and repeated lies about widespread fraud in the November elections helped anger his supporters, and during a speech in Washington, the president encouraged supporters gathered in the city to march to the Capitol.

“I feel cheated,” said Langone, who has been very supportive of Trump’s economic policies over the years and at times also criticized the president, for example for his reaction to the deadly rally by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.

“Last Wednesday was a shame,” added Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot, who has donated to Republicans over the years. “It should never have happened in this country. If it doesn’t break the heart of every American, something is wrong. It sure breaks my heart. I didn’t sign up for it.”

Langone, who is the chairman of the board of directors of NYU Langone Medical Center, called on Americans to rally behind Biden and give up bias. “If there is a time in history when all Americans must be patriots, it is this time,” he said.

“I will do everything I can from day one to make sure I do my part in making Joe Biden the most successful president in this country’s history,” added Langone. “There is a selfish reason for this, we have very serious major problems to solve in America,” such as the coronavirus pandemic and public education.

Langone’s comments come as the House of Representatives prepares to indict Trump again, this time for the second time for his role in inciting the Capitol uprising. The democratically led effort was supported by a number of GOP members, including Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. She is the third-placed Republican in the house.

“I don’t care,” Langone said, if Trump is charged. “There is only one thing I care about: Joe Biden will be sworn in as president on January 20th.”

Langone was asked specifically about Republican Congressmen who voted against Biden’s victory, even after the deadly uprising. “I honestly don’t know what the hell they were thinking. … What kind of grandstand game was that?” “”

“There will be a lot of time and I am sure there will be a lot of energy going into what they have to do, whether it is Trump, these senators or whatever,” added Langone. “At the end of the day, thank God, we are a democracy and the voters will have the last word.”