House Democrats: Trump a ‘Threat to National Security, Democracy, and the Constitution’

House Democrats have prepared Articles of Impeachment, asserting that President Trump is a “threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution.”

The articles, drafted by Reps. David Cicilline (D-RI), Ted Lieu (D-CA), and Jamie Raskin (D-MD), accuse Trump of inciting the chaos that descended upon the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday after delivering a speech to his supporters, who gathered in D.C. for a “Save America Rally.” It was there, lawmakers contend, that Trump reiterated “false claims that ‘we won this election, and we won it by a landslide.'”

“He also willfully made statements that encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — imminent lawless action at the Capitol,” the articles continue, explicitly accusing Trump of inciting lawlessness:

Incited by President Trump, a mob unlawfully breached the Capitol, injured law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress and the Vice President, interfered with the Join Session’s solemn constitutional duty to certify the election results, and engaged in violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts.

Lawmakers also asserted that Trump’s conduct was “consistent with his prior efforts to subvert and obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election,” mentioning his January 2 phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R).

Trump, the Democrats concluded “gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions and government” while threatening the “integrity of the democratic system” and interfering with the “peaceful transition of power.”

The articles conclude:

Wherefore President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any sort of office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.

Several U.S. lawmakers have blamed Trump for the chaos that occurred at the Capitol on Wednesday as lawmakers gathered for a joint session of Congress to certify the election results. At the time, protesters stormed the building, forcing evacuations and lockdowns. Over two dozen lawmakers have explicitly called for Trump’s removal.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/01/07/house-democrats-trump-threat-national-security-democracy-constitution/

Joe Scarborough calls for arrest of President Trump, Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump Jr. for 'insurrection'

Federal prosecutor said Thursday the possibility has not been ruled out

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough expressed outrage Thursday over the storming of the Capitol Building the night before by Trump supporters, and called for the arrests of President Donald Trump along with his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and son, Donald Trump Jr., for "insurrection" for the language the trio used in speaking to the protesters before they marched to the hill.

Later in the day, the federal prosecutor handling the investigations of the Capitol breach signaled that the prospect of such high level arrests has not been ruled out.

On his show, "Morning Joe," Scarborough lambasted the Capitol Hill police for not using more force against the mob, dropping an F-bomb on air, yelling, "Trump supporters walk in and you open the f***ing doors for 'em. You open the doors for 'em and let them breach the people's house! What is wrong with you?"

"Are we a nation of laws? Are we a nation of one man?" he continued. "Donald J. Trump called for the insurrection against the United States of America. He called for it. Rudy Giuliani called for combat justice. Just an hour or two before this happened. Donald Trump Jr. said 'we are coming for you.'"

During a "Save America Rally" for Trump supporters ahead of the Capitol siege, Rudy Giuliani called for a " trial by combat," and Donald Trump Jr. issued a warning to GOP lawmakers, saying, "These guys better fight for Trump. Because if they're not, guess what? I'm going to be in your back yard in a couple of months." He added, "We're coming for you, and we're going to have a good time doing it."

President Trump ended his speech to the crowd by encouraging the crowd to walk to the Capitol to give Republicans the "boldness that they need to take back our country." He insinuated that he would accompany his supporters, but did not do so.

Scarborough told his audience, "That's insurrection against the United States of America, and if Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump are not arrested today for insurrection and taken to jail and booked—and if the Capitol Hill police do not go through the video and look at the face over every person that invaded our Capitol—and if they are not arrested and brought to justice today, then we are no longer a nation of laws and we only tell people they can do this again."

Scarborough, a former GOP congressman, has been an outspoken Trump critic after the former friends fell out following the president's election to office.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/joe-scarborough-calls-for-arrest-of-president-trump-rudy-giuliani-and-don-trump-jr-for-insurrection

Pelosi Threatens to Do Something Drastic if Pence Does Not Remove Trump Under 25th Amendment

On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) threatened to launch into immediate impeachment if Vice President Mike Pence and Trump’s cabinet do not immediately invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the president.

“Yesterday, the president of the United States incited an armed insurrection against America,” Pelosi began, mentioning the pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, leading to the death of four people. “The gleeful desecration of the U.S. Capitol, which is the temple of American democracy, and the violence targeting Congress, are horrors that will forever stain our nation’s history, instigated by the president of the United States. That’s why it’s such a sting.”

“In calling for this seditious act, the president has committed an unspeakable assault on our nation and our people. I join the Senate Democratic leader [Chuck Schumer] in calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th Amendment,” Pelosi declared. “If the vice president and cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. That is the overwhelming sentiment of my caucus, and the American people, by the way.”

“Justice will be done to those who carried out these acts, which were acts of sedition and acts of cowardice,” she added.

The 25th Amendment allows the vice president and the cabinet to remove a president on the grounds that he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” The president has the right to protest and claim he is able to discharge his duties, at which point the 25th Amendment gives the president an 8-day process period.

George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley warned against using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump. “You have to be very careful with this. When you start to remove presidents by what you perceive as a mental disability, it is a standard that can easily be abused,” Turley told Fox & Friends. “This is about constitutional faults, not character faults, and it’s very dangerous if you start to say, ‘Well, I just view him as unstable’ unless you’ve got very strong ground.”

Impeachment provides a faster and more effective tool so long as the House of Representatives and the Senate ease the process for speed. Ironically, Pelosi and the other Democrats cheapened impeachment by rushing a flimsy partisan case against Trump in 2019.

The Capitol riots may give Pelosi the right case to impeach Trump, but she already used that weapon. She would also need to build support among Republicans in the Senate, which may be a rather high bar.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2021/01/07/pelosi-threatens-to-do-something-drastic-if-pence-does-not-remove-trump-under-25th-amendment-n1322449

Bill Barr Unleashed: Calls Out Trump for His 'Betrayal' of the Presidency

Et tu, William?

Former Attorney General William Barr unleashed a stinging rebuke of his former boss Donald Trump following the assault on the Capitol by Trump loyalists yesterday. Barr basically blamed the president for inciting the violence, saying his actions were a “betrayal of his office and supporters.”

Barr was considered one of Trump’s most loyal cabinet members so his words are something of a surprise.

Washington Examiner:

“Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable,” Barr said in a statement obtained by the Washington Examiner on Thursday. “The President’s conduct yesterday was a betrayal of his office and supporters.”

Trump had exhorted a crowd estimated in the hundreds of thousands to march on Capitol Hill as Congress was set to conduct the task of certifying each state’s electoral votes.

“The violence at the Capitol Building is outrageous and despicable. Federal agencies should move immediately to disperse it,” Barr said in a statement on Wednesday.

They did, but far too late. Trump supporters lingered on Capitol grounds for hours until police finally cleared them out for good.

Barr resigned before Christmas after displeasing Trump by not appointing a special prosecutor to look into Hunter Biden’s shady affairs and by not agreeing that there was widespread voter fraud by Democrats that cost Trump the White House. Prior to that, he had served the president loyally. He appointed a prosecutor to look into the origins of the Russian collusion narrative about which John Durham may be readying a report and indictments. He is not a reflexive Trump hater by any means.

His resignation letter was a homage to his boss:

Your 2016 victory speech in which you reached out to your opponents and called for working together for the benefit of the American people was immediately met by a partisan onslaught against you in which no tactic, no matter how abusive and deceitful, was out of bounds… The nadir of this campaign was the effort to cripple, if not oust, your Administration with frenzied and baseless accusations of collusion with Russia.

Barr came in for heavy criticism from the left for his attempts to keep law and order last summer during the riots. He was more than willing to deploy armed federal agents to riot-torn cities in order to help restore order. That Trump didn’t send in the Army to handle the crowds at the Capitol is seen as racist by many because of the response to the looting, arson, and rock-throwing at police by Black Lives Matter protesters last summer.

Those who continue to insist that the attorney general should be non-political need to take a close look at Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch. Barr was no better and no worse on that quality than either of those two partisans.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/01/07/bill-barr-unleashed-calls-out-trump-for-his-betrayal-of-the-presidency-n1313526

>>12388242

already noted a few back

YouTube Escalates Censorship of ‘Election Misinformation’

YouTube, the Google-owned video platform, said it would escalate efforts to crack down on “election misinformation” amid an unprecedented campaign of censorship against President Trump from other Silicon Valley companies.

All YouTube channels that Google deems to violate its policy, including President Trump’s will receive a strike that temporarily prevents them from uploading new videos.

In a series of tweets, the official YouTube Twitter account said it was escalating its policy due to the “disturbing events that transpired yesterday.”

Via Twitter:

Due to the disturbing events that transpired yesterday, and given that the election results have now been certified, starting today any channels posting new videos with false claims in violation of our policies will now receive a strike.

Over the last month, we’ve removed thousands of videos which spread misinformation claiming widespread voter fraud changed the result of the 2020 election, including several videos President Trump posted to his channel.

Like other major policy updates, in our Help Center, we noted that there would be a short grace period after the Dec update & new content that broke our rules would be removed without penalty. The grace period was scheduled to end on Inauguration Day.

Channels that receive a strike are temporarily suspended from posting or live streaming. Channels that receive three strikes in the same 90-day period will be permanently removed from YouTube. We apply our policies and penalties consistently, regardless of who uploads it.

The Google-owned platform also removed a short clip of President Trump calling on supporters to peacefully disperse, the same video that was taken down by Twitter and Facebook.

“We removed a video posted this afternoon to Donald Trump’s channel that violated our policies regarding content that alleges widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S.,” Farshad Shadloo, YouTube spokesperson, told Business Insider.

“We do allow copies of this video if uploaded with additional context and sufficient educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic (EDSA) value.”

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2021/01/07/youtube-escalates-censorship-of-election-misinformation/

"We'll See You In Court": Sen. Josh Hawley Blasts 'Orwellian' Simon & Schuster Over Canceled Book

Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) responded Thursday afternoon to an announcement by publisher Simon & Schuster that it would no longer publish his planned book, after the GOP lawmaker led objections to Congress's certification of President-elect Joe Biden's victory.

"After witnessing the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Simon & Schuster has decided to cancel publication of Senator Josh Hawley's forthcoming book," the publisher said in a statement, adding "We did not come to this decision lightly."

"As a publisher it will always be our mission to amplify a variety of voices and viewpoints: at the same time we take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom."

Hawley responded in a Thursday statement via Twitter, saying "This could not be more Orwellian. Simon & Schuster is canceling my contract because I was representing my constituents, leading a debate on the Senate floor on voter integrity, which they have now decided to redefine as sedition."

"Let me be clear, this is not just a contract dispute. It's a direct assault on the First Amendment. Only approved speech can now be published. This is the Left looking to cancel everyone they don't approve of. I will fight this cancel culture with everything I have. We'll see you in court."

My statement on the woke mob at @simonschuster pic.twitter.com/pDxtZvz5J0

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) January 7, 2021

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/well-see-you-court-sen-josh-hawley-blasts-orwellian-simon-schuster-over-canceled-book

>>12388009

We will be rounded up and killed as will our children if the cabal get back in the drivers seat.

We know to much

Chicago Schools Chief: Half Of Teachers Pressured By Teachers’ Union Didn’t Show Up For Work

Nearly half of the teachers in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) district didn’t show up when they were ordered to return for in-person instructions after the winter break, a district official said. Janice Jackson, the CEO of the public school district serving some 340,000 students, said in a Tuesday press conference that a little more than 60 percent of all school-based staff have returned to classrooms as expected. That accounts for about half of teachers and three-quarters of assistant and support staff.

Jackson said the number of employees who didn’t return was “significant, considering the fact that they were pressured” by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), which has been urging teachers and staff to stay out of classrooms since the early days of the CCP virus pandemic.

CPS has informed those who were expected to return but didn’t that their absence was not excused, Jackson said, noting that the district has an “absent without leave policy,” through which “individuals who are refusing to report to work and who will be considered absent without leave will face progressive discipline.”

“We have sent notices to staff who did not return to ensure that our expectations are clear, and we are optimistic that more staff will report to work in the coming days,” she said. “If staff choose not to attend and support the students who are relying on them, we will handle those on a school-by-school and case-by-case basis.”

Jackson noted that the all-remote learning is failing many students across the city, especially those from black and Latino families.

“We cannot sit back and allow a generation to just falter because of made up reasons around why we can’t do reopening,” she said. “A year from now, there’s going to be a reckoning around what happened to those students that have been sitting at home, not being properly served because many of them have families who have to be essential workers.”

The CTU on Wednesday criticized CPS’s plan of sending public school teachers back for in-person instructions for the first time during the pandemic, arguing that doing so puts teachers’ health in danger.

“We are here this morning to underscore for the public how absolutely callously CPS has treated educators who have requested accommodations or leave,” CTU Deputy General Counsel Thad Goodchild said during a press conference, reported Chicago Sun Times.

Goodchild said that CPS is forcing employees to report to work, even though they have family members with health conditions.

“This is effectively telling employees that they must either go without a paycheck, move out of their homes or risk the lives of their medically fragile relative,” he said.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/chicago-schools-chief-half-of-teachers-pressured-by-teachers-union-didnt-show-up-for-work_3647745.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-01-07-4