Military Leaders Say 'Tremendous Confusion' Delayed Response to Capitol Siege

Top defense leaders are pushing back against criticism that they were ill-prepared for Wednesday's massive security lapse at the U.S. Capitol, in which a mob was able to swarm past federal law enforcement personnel and enter the building, leaving the vice president and members of Congress in danger.

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy defended the decision to stage a few hundred National Guard members around the city leading up to the breach, citing unclear information about how many protesters would be in Washington, D.C., this week. Intelligence on crowd size, McCarthy said in a Thursday call with reporters, "was all over the board."

"The problem was the range," he said, adding that estimates put the size of the protests anywhere from 2,000 to 80,000 people.

Kenneth Rapuano, assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense, stressed that the Defense Department does not conduct domestic intelligence.

"We are totally reliant on federal, state and local law enforcement," he said. "When we are getting requests for assistance, we are not conducting our own assessments of what different groups in the United States might be doing."

As late as Monday or Tuesday, the Defense Department was informed by local leaders that additional military support was not needed, said Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.

President Donald Trump told his supporters to come to the nation's capital on the day lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence would be voting to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory. "Will be wild!" he tweeted.

Trump has disputed Biden's win, alleging without proof that the election was stolen from him. The president addressed his supporters on Wednesday, urging them to march to the Capitol. Once there, they broke down barriers and grappled with federal police to storm the building – something McCarthy said earlier on Thursday that no one had anticipated in their "wildest imagination."

Lawmakers and reporters sheltered in place as Trump supporters walked through congressional buildings, destroying offices, breaking windows and posing with statues. Members of Congress were forced to don protective equipment after Capitol police deployed tear gas to disperse the mob.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/01/07/military-leaders-say-tremendous-confusion-delayed-response-capitol-siege.html

>>12389735

nor is congress

FINALLY SOMEONE WITH A SPINE! President of Chicago Police Union Defends Capitol Protesters: ‘There Was No Arson… Looting…’

The President of Chicago’s Police Union is standing up for the people who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday.

Finally… someone with a spine!

Speaking to Chicago public radio station WBEZ, John Catanzara of the Fraternal Order of Police pointed out that the protest was “a bunch of pissed-off people that feel an election was stolen, somehow, some way.”

“There was no arson, there was no burning of anything, there was no looting, there was very little destruction of property,” Catanzara added.

Catanzara also stood by President Donald Trump and the concerns about the election being stolen.

“I don’t have any doubt that something shady happened in this election,” Catanzara said. “You’re not going to convince me that that many people voted for Joe Biden. Never for the rest of my life will you ever convince me of that. But, again, it still comes down to proof.

“Evidence matters,” the police union president continued. “Until that appears, shame on them for what they did, but it was out of frustration.”

He continued on to note that there were “no fights. There’s no, obviously, violence in this crowd. They pushed past security and made their way to the Senate chamber. Did they destroy anything when they were there? No.”

Catanzara addressed some media and politicians accusing the protesters of treason, saying if the worst crime here is trespassing, so be it, but to call these people treasonous is beyond ridiculous and ignorant.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/01/finally-someone-spine-president-chicago-police-union-defends-capitol-protesters-no-arson-looting/

Mainstream journalist sets off alarm bells as he calls for ‘cleansing’ of Trump supporters

In a now-deleted tweet, ABC News reporter said “cleansing” the “movement Trump commands” is the true challenge going forward, leading many to wonder what exactly liberals may mean by that.

“Trump will be an ex-president in 13 days. The fact is that getting rid of Trump is the easy part. Cleansing the movement he commands is going to be something

else,” Klein tweeted on Thursday, linking to a story claiming the US Capitol breach on Wednesday exposed “threats [that] will outlast” the president. The piece went on to call for “justice” against “those involved in an insurrection.”

Klein also doubled down on the comments, writing, “Cleansing the movement he commands, or getting rid of what he represents to so many Americans, is going to be something else.”

His comment caught the eye of many conservatives on social media and got his tweet trending, with some going so far as to compare the thinking to Nazism.

“Make note: A confession that the current outrage has nothing to do w breach of the Capitol [building] & everything to do [with] the politics of crushing Trump,” Fox News host Tammy Bruce tweeted in response.

Klein did not specify a specific plan for “cleansing” a movement, but it may be a bit difficult since Trump won over 74 million votes in the 2020 presidential election. That’s the second most votes in history after Joe Biden’s 81-plus million, much of which Trump continues to chalk up to voter fraud.

This sounds awfully Nazi-ey

— Charlie (@SaintCharlie) January 7, 2021

Klein was not interested in defending the thinking behind his tweet either, as he quickly scrubbed it from his page as more and more pushed back against him.

Political Director for @ABC News based in Washington DC appears to have deleted his tweet about the 75 million Americans who voted for Trump that talked about the challenge of "cleansing the movement." pic.twitter.com/HS1Rwrn94S

— Omri Ceren (@omriceren) January 7, 2021

The ABC reporter's sentiment about the Trump movement has been echoed in various forms by other pundits or organizations. Lawmakers such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and celebrities such as actress Debra Messing have floated the idea of making 'lists' of the president's supporters.

Is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future? I foresee decent probability of many deleted Tweets, writings, photos in the future

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 6, 2020

https://www.rt.com/usa/511859-abc-cleansing-trump-movement/

>>12389866

SECONDED

Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly Says Trump Has Poisoned Americans’ Minds, Needs to Go

Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said he watched brokenhearted and horrified as a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters broke down barricades and grappled with federal police to breach the U.S. Capitol this week.

Peaceful protests and criminal riots have occurred in the U.S., Kelly told Military.com, but what happened on Capitol Hill "is different." It was an attack on democracy, on Americans' way of life, he said.

The retired Marine Corps four-star general, who served not only as Trump's chief of staff but secretary of Homeland Security, did not use the president's name in response to questions about the storming of the Capitol, which left four dead by police accounts. But in a Thursday interview with CNN, Kelly said Trump should be removed from office, adding that if he were still a Cabinet member, he'd vote to do so.

Trump, Kelly said, has poisoned people's minds with lies and fraud.

"I think the Cabinet should meet and discuss this because the behavior yesterday and the weeks and months before that have just been outrageous," he said.

Kelly told Military.com that Americans must be mindful of who they're electing to positions of power.

"What we need to do going forward what we have to do as a people not as Democrats, or Republicans, or Independents, but as Americans, is to ask ourselves, 'How did we ever get to this place?'" he said. "We need to look infinitely harder at who we elect."

Kelly has faced criticism for his reluctance to speak out about Trump, as well as some policies that were enacted during his time in the administration, including a 2017 travel ban that quickly barred anyone from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the U.S.

When he was the head of the Department of Homeland Security, he said it was considering separating migrant children from their parents to deter people from fleeing Central America for the U.S. border – a policy that was put into place, leaving hundreds of parents and children still separated years later.

Kelly told CNN on Thursday that Trump's flaws weren't evident when he first met him. Once they were, he said, he stayed in his position as long as possible to "try to prevent some disaster."

The retired general, who lost his Marine officer son in Afghanistan, said Wednesday that the millions of men and women who've worn a military uniform understand the ultimate sacrifice some pay to defend U.S. democracy from overseas threats.

"We who did all of that could have never imagined, until today, that the threat could come from within – encouraged in some cases by officials sworn to uphold that democracy," the former White House chief of staff said.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/former-white-house-chief-of-staff-john-kelly-says-trump-has-poisoned-americans-minds-needs-go.html

Nearly Half of U.S. Voters Believe Health Officials have been Misleading with COVID Data

Nearly 50% of U.S. voters believe that public health officials have been misleading when providing data on the coronavirus pandemic, a recent Just the News Daily poll shows.

According to the poll, forty-eight percent of voters believe public health leaders have “misrepresented the data” to build support for certain policies while 34% of respondents say officials “reported the true facts” on the pandemic.

The remaining 18% were unsure one way or the other.

https://www.naturalblaze.com/2021/01/nearly-half-of-u-s-voters-believe-health-officials-have-been-misleading-with-covid-data.html

>>12390108

kek

>>12390252

kek