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      Biden says second Trump impeachment is 'a decision for Congress' – live

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      Key events

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      3.35pm EST15:35
      West Virginia legislator arrested for alleged role in Capitol riot

      3.10pm EST15:10
      Biden agrees with Trump’s decision not to attend inauguration

      2.59pm EST14:59
      Biden on Trump impeachment: ‘That’s a decision for the Congress’

      2.53pm EST14:53
      Perdue formally concedes to Ossoff in Georgia Senate race

      2.19pm EST14:19
      Biden introduces nominees to lead commerce and labor departments

      2.05pm EST14:05
      Biden offers sympathy to family of fallen Capitol Police officer

      1.56pm EST13:56
      Rioter from viral photo in Pelosi’s office arrested – report

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      4.45pm EST16:45

      The White House has issued a statement on the prospect of an unprecedented second round of impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump.
      “As President Trump said yesterday, this is a time for healing and unity as one nation. A politically motivated impeachment against a president with 12 days remaining in his term will only serve to further divide our great country,” it said.

      Updated
      at 4.49pm EST

      4.23pm EST16:23

      Donald Trump will reportedly fly to Mar-a-Lago the day before Joe Biden’s inauguration, according to CNN.

      Kaitlan Collins
      (@kaitlancollins)
      After announcing he won’t attend his inauguration, President Trump is currently scheduled to head to Mar-a-Lago the day before President-elect Biden is sworn in. Our report from the White House today: pic.twitter.com/gtIcNmVAYP

      January 8, 2021

      Trump announced earlier today that he would not attend Biden’s inauguration, breaking 150 years of tradition of outgoing presidents attending their successors’ inaugurations.
      It’s unclear whether Mike Pence will attend the inauguration, although Biden said today that the vice-president is “welcome” to be part of the event.

      4.13pm EST16:13

      A draft of House Democrats’ articles of impeachment against Donald Trump includes an article for “incitement of insurrection.”
      The draft, obtained by CNN, accuses the president of having “gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of government.”
      “President Trump’s conduct on January 6, 2021 was consistent with his prior efforts to subvert and obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election,” the draft says.
      “He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coordinate branch of government. He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.”
      House Democrats could file the articles of impeachment as soon as Monday, according to multiple reports, potentially setting up a mid-week vote.

      3.58pm EST15:58

      Jen Psaki, the incoming White House press secretary, said Joe Biden will receive his second dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine on Monday.

      Seung Min Kim
      (@seungminkim)
      >@jrpsaki says Biden will get his second dose of the coronavirus vaccine on Monday

      January 8, 2021

      During a virtual briefing with reporters, Psaki added that some members of the incoming administration, including close aides to Biden and Kamala Harris as well as cabinet secretaries, are starting to receive the vaccine as well.

      3.35pm EST15:35

      West Virginia legislator arrested for alleged role in Capitol riot

      Derrick Evans, a newly elected legislator in West Virginia, has been arrested on federal charges related to the violent riot at the Capitol.

      Chad Hedrick
      (@WSAZChadHedrick)
      #BREAKING WV Delegate Derrick Evans has been taken into federal custody. He’s charged after allegedly entering a restricted area of the US Capitol with rioters Wednesday. A woman saying he was his grandmother came out telling us to leave as he was put in a car. #WSAZ pic.twitter.com/wK2RqFcaF7

      January 8, 2021

      A reporter for the local NBC affiliate WSAZ shared a video of Evans, who serves in the West Virginia House of Delegates, being taken into federal custody.
      A woman who identified herself as Evans’ grandmother confronted the reporter as he was put in a car.
      Asked for a comment about the arrest, the woman said, “He’s a fine man, and thank you, Mr Trump, for invoking a riot.”

      3.16pm EST15:16

      Joe Biden said he believed the violent siege of the Capitol made it easier to unify the country because Americans of both parties were horrified by what took place.
      “My overarching objective is to unify this country,” Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware. “We must unify this country.”
      The president-elect applauded Republicans who have denounced the violence and the baseless claims of widespread election fraud that helped spur it, such as Mitt Romney.
      Biden noted he spoke to Romney this morning, and he applauded the Republican senator as “a man of enormous integrity”.
      Asked whether senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz should resign for supporting Donald Trump’s lies about the election, as some Democrats have suggested, Biden said, “I think they should be just flat beaten the next time they run.”
      The president-elect has now wrapped up his event in Wilmington.

      Updated
      at 3.22pm EST

      3.10pm EST15:10

      Biden agrees with Trump’s decision not to attend inauguration

      Joe Biden said Donald Trump’s decision not to attend his inauguration is “one of the few things he and I have ever agreed on”.
      “It’s a good thing, him not showing up,” the president-elect told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware. “He has exceeded even my worst notions about him. He’s embarrassed us around the world.”

      Trump announced earlier today that he would not attend Biden’s inauguration, making him the first president since 1869 not to attend his successor’s inauguration.
      Asked later about Mike Pence, Biden said the vice-president is “welcome to attend”.

      Updated
      at 4.16pm EST

      3.04pm EST15:04

      Joe Biden condemned the rioters who stormed the Capitol as “a bunch of thugs,” “domestic terrorists” and “white supremacists.”
      The president-elect specifically called out the rioters who wore shirts saying “6MWE.”
      “6MWE” is an anti-Semitic phrase that stands for “Six million wasn’t enough,” referring to the six million Jewish people who were murdered during the Holocaust.
      “These shirts they’re wearing? These are a bunch of thugs,” Biden said.

      2.59pm EST14:59

      Biden on Trump impeachment: ‘That’s a decision for the Congress’

      Joe Biden is now taking questions from reporters at his event in Wilmington, Delaware, after introducing his nominees to lead the labor and commerce departments.
      No surprise here: the first question (from CNN’s Arlette Saenz) was focused on House Democrats’ plans to file articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, after the president incited a violent mob to storm the Capitol.
      “I’ve thought for a long, long time that President Trump wasn’t fit to hold the job. That’s why I ran,” Biden said.
      When pressed on whether he would advise a Democratic lawmaker to support impeachment, the president-elect dodged, saying, “That’s a decision for the Congress to make. I’m focused on my job.”
      Biden noted he would be having a phone call with Democratic congressional leaders later this afternoon, when impeachment will likely come up.

      2.53pm EST14:53

      Perdue formally concedes to Ossoff in Georgia Senate race

      Former Republican senator David Perdue has formally conceded to Jon Ossoff in their Georgia Senate runoff race.
      “Although we won the general election, we came up just short of Georgia’s 50% rule, and now I want to congratulate the Democratic Party and my opponent for this runoff win,” Purdue said in a statement.
      After a bitter campaign defined by sharp attacks from both candidates, Perdue did not mention Ossoff by name in his concession statement.
      Purdue’s concession comes one day after Republican Kelly Loeffler conceded to Democrat Raphael Warnock in the other Georgia Senate race.
      After the victories of Warnock and Ossoff, the Senate is now evenly split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. Once Kamala Harris is sworn in as vice-president, Democrats will take the majority.

      2.37pm EST14:37

      Joe Biden’s event is ongoing, but the blog is going to pivot back to Capitol Hill, where a prominent Democrat addressed calls for two of her Republican colleagues to resign.
      Patty Murray, the third-ranking Senate Democrat, said she believed senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz should resign for their role in stirring up baseless doubts about the legitimacy of the election, after a violent pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on Wednesday.

      Senator Patty Murray
      (@PattyMurray)
      At the end of the day, our job is to keep this country a democracy where voices win, not brute force. Any Senator who stands up and supports the power of force over the power of democracy has broken their oath of office. Senators Hawley and Cruz should resign.

      January 8, 2021

      “I come to the Capitol every day to fight for what I believe in,” the Washington Democrat said in a statement. “I use my voice to tell people what I believe to be right, and I listen to the other side. We hear each other out, we vote, and whoever has the votes wins. And I accept that. Do I always like the outcome? No, but I accept it, because that is what our democracy requires.”
      Murray condemned the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, describing them as “people who don’t accept democracy, and want to take this country by use of force.”
      “As a Senator, I respect every member who disagrees with my ideas. I reserve my right to use my voice to fight for what I believe in. But at the end of the day, our job is to keep this country a democracy where voices win, not brute force,” Murray said.
      “Any Senator who stands up and supports the power of force over the power of democracy has broken their oath of office. Senators Hawley and Cruz should resign.”

      2.24pm EST14:24

      Joe Biden said he gave “serious consideration” to nominating Bernie Sanders as labor secretary, but the two agreed that it was too risky to jeopardize control of the Senate.

      CBS News
      (@CBSNews)
      Biden says he gave “serious consideration” to nominating Bernie Sanders for labor secretary, but they both decided against it to avoid vacating seat and risking Democrats’ Senate controlHe and Sanders will still “work closely on our shared agenda of increasing worker power” pic.twitter.com/97SRFlrOAj

      January 8, 2021

      After Democrats swept the Georgia Senate races this week, they took control of the chamber, which will now be 50-50, with vice-president-elect Kamala Harris providing a tie-breaking 51st vote for Democrats.
      Sanders has served as one of Vermont’s senators since 2007, and his cabinet nomination would trigger a special election.
      The labor secretary nomination ultimately went to Marty Walsh, the mayor of Boston, and Biden said Sanders told him he had made a good choice.

      Updated
      at 2.28pm EST

      2.19pm EST14:19

      Biden introduces nominees to lead commerce and labor departments

      Joe Biden is now introducing his nominees to lead the commerce and labor departments, rounding out his cabinet nominations.
      Gina Raimondo, the governor of Rhode Island, will be nominated to lead the commerce department, and Marty Walsh, the mayor of Boston, will be nominated as labor secretary.
      Biden celebrated his nominees as the right people to help the millions of Americans desperately seeking financial assistance amid the coronavirus pandemic.

      2.16pm EST14:16

      Joe Biden said he would lay out the groundwork for the next round of coronavirus relief next week, emphasizing the need to offer more financial assistance to American families amid the pandemic.
      “We need more direct relief flowing to families, small businesses,” Biden said. “Our focus will be on small businesses on Main Street.”
      The president-elect also criticized the rollout of coronavirus vaccines so far. “Vaccines give us hope, but the rollout has been a travesty,” Biden said.
      The Democrat previously pledged to distribute 100 million doses of the vaccine over his first 100 days in office.

      2.11pm EST14:11

      Joe Biden noted that, with his announcement today, he will have completed his cabinet nominations, and he called on the Senate to swiftly confirm his nominees.
      The president-elect applauded himself for building a cabinet that “looks like America,” noting that this would be the first presidential cabinet to be evenly divided between men and women.

      Updated
      at 2.12pm EST

      2.05pm EST14:05

      Biden offers sympathy to family of fallen Capitol Police officer

      Joe Biden has taken the podium in Wilmington, Delaware, for his event to introduce members of his economic team.
      The president-elect opened his remarks by expressing his “deep sympathy” for the family of Brian Sicknick, the Capitol Police officer who died as a result of his injuries from the violent siege of the Capitol.
      “The people responsible should be held accountable — and they will be,” Biden said.
      Biden also said he would take reporters’ questions after he introduces his cabinet members, and he will likely be pressed on calls to remove Donald Trump from office.

      Updated
      at 2.06pm EST

      1.56pm EST13:56

      Rioter from viral photo in Pelosi’s office arrested – report

      The rioter who was photographed sitting in the office of House speaker Nancy Pelosi amid the violent siege of the Capitol has been arrested, according to multiple reports. More

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      Capitol attack: the five people who died

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      Family members and law enforcement have confirmed more details on the now five people who died in an attempted insurrection against the United States on Wednesday, including a Capitol police officer who died from his injuries.The remaining four were among the supporters of Donald Trump who stormed the US Capitol, attempting to halt counts of electoral college ballots that would formally seal Joe Biden’s victory over the incumbent president.“Don’t dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob. Insurrectionists. Domestic terrorists. It’s that basic. It’s that simple,” Biden said in response to Thursday’s attack.Details on the five people killed are below. Brian Sicknick, 42According to statement from the US Capitol police, the New Jersey native joined the force in 2008. Sicknick was reportedly struck in the head with a fire extinguisher while “physically engaging” with the rioters. He collapsed soon after returning to his division before being rushed to a nearby hospital. Sicknick died on Thursday night after being removed from life support.A reported 60 Capitol police officers were injured. According to the Democratic congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio, many were also hit in the head with metal pipes. More than a dozen remain hospitalized.Sicknick’s death is being investigated as a homicide by federal and local authorities.Ashli Babbitt, 35Babbitt, a 14-year air force veteran from San Diego, was among a group of people who could be seen attempting to break down the doors of the US Senate chamber as members sheltered. Cameras captured the moment she was rushed out on a stretcher after being shot by a Capitol police officer. She died at the hospital.“I really don’t know why she decided to do this,” Babbitt’s mother-in-law told Washington’s WTTG.Just a day before the rally, Babbitt tweeted the QAnon conspiracy called “the storm”, in which supporters believe Donald Trump will emerge to overthrow and execute corrupt political elites and enemies.Benjamin Phillips, 50A computer programmer from Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, Phillips organized a caravan from Pennsylvania to the Capitol grounds for the planned insurrection. Once there, he had a stroke and died, although authorities have not confirmed at what point during the attack.I took a bus from Harrisburg to DC with Trump supporter and trip organizer Ben Philips yesterday. As he drove down, he told me: “It seems like the first day of the rest of our lives.” He died in DC yesterday. My story:https://t.co/DQ5h4AV8aO— Julia Terruso (@JuliaTerruso) January 7, 2021
      Witnesses told the Philadelphia-Inquirer he was last seen looking for parking before the president gave his speech at the “Save America March”.Kevin Greeson, 55A native of rural Athens, Alabama, Greeson died of an apparent heart attack at an unknown point during the events. His family confirmed in a statement that a history of high blood pressure “in the midst of the excitement” contributed to the medical emergency.Greeson posted racist diatribes online and associated with the Proud Boys, a far-right group known for enacting political violence and racial terror.Despite the family’s insistence that “he was not there to participate in violence or rioting” and did not “condone such actions”, Greeson had posted to popular conservative social platforms calling for supporters to “load your guns and take to the streets” in the weeks leading up to the events.“Let’s take this fucking country back,” he posted to Parler. Like many of the white nationalists who participated, Greeson never specifies from whom the country is being taken.Rosanne Boyland, 34The resident of Kennesaw, Georgia, reportedly died of a medical emergency during the riots. Family members later told reporters Boyland had been crushed in the melee.Boyland, an avid Trump supporter, had a criminal history, including being charged with possession or distribution of heroin “at least four other times” in Georgia. Other past charges include battery, obstruction of law enforcement and trespassing.Heartbreak. Exclusive reaction from Rosanne Boyland’s family after finding out the 34-year-old Kennesaw woman was likely crushed to death during the unrest at the US Capital yesterday. @FOX5Atlanta pic.twitter.com/dxLvLRn0bF— Aungelique Proctor (@aungeliquefox5) January 7, 2021
      According to the Daily Mail, Wednesday’s attack was the first Trump event that Boyland ever attended. Her family told local WGCL that although they understood she “was really passionate about her beliefs”, they were shocked and “devastated” to learn she participated in the insurrection.“Tragically, she was there and it cost her life,” Justin Cave, Boyland’s brother-in-law, told WGCL.“I’ve never tried to be a political person but it’s my own personal belief that the president’s words incited a riot that killed four of his biggest fans last night, and I believe that we should invoke the 25th amendment at this time,” he added. More

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      in US Politics

      Trump says he won’t attend Biden’s inauguration

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      Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would not attend the inauguration of Joe Biden on 20 January, after a violent mob of the president’s loyalists stormed the Capitol in an effort to overturn the result of the November election in an attack that left five people dead.His decision came as little surprise, but nevertheless breaks with a longstanding tradition of presidents attending their successors inauguration ceremonies in a symbolic demonstration of the peaceful transfer of power between administrations.“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” Trump wrote on Twitter.It remains uncertain if the vice-president, Mike Pence, will attend Biden’s swearing-in, which will take place on the steps of the Capitol under heightened security after the building was breached and vandalized on Wednesday.The presidential inauguration committee had already asked supporters not to travel to Washington to attend the ceremony due to the coronavirus pandemic.While refusing to give up his baseless claims that the election was stolen from him, Trump on Thursday recognized his defeat for the first time in a two-and-a-half-minute video posted on Twitter.“A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20,” he said, breaking a day of silence after the riots. “My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.”The circumstances around Trump’s departure from the White House at noon on 20 January are also unclear, though he is widely expected to return to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Before the Christmas holiday, Trump had reportedly discussed plans for holding an event to announce his plans to run for president in 2024 instead of attending Biden’s inauguration.Before his election in 2016 and again in 2020, Trump refused to explicitly commit to a peaceful transfer of power.After his loss to Biden, Trump insisted with any evidence that the election had been stolen and refused to accept his defeat. Instead he whipped up his supporters with wild claims of a vast conspiracy to rig the election against him, culminating in a rally in Washington on Wednesday when he urged them to “walk down to the Capitol” and register their discontent over the election. He added that “you will never take back our country with weakness”.Shortly thereafter, rioters loyal to the president overwhelmed police and stormed the capitol, where they shattered windows, vandalized congressional offices and stole property. The mob, who Trump later told “I love you” as he appealed for calm, disrupted the process of certifying the electoral college, the last step in affirming Biden’s victory.Members of Congress returned late in the evening on Wednesday to complete the process. Biden would be the next president of the United States, in a vote of 306 to 232.In the aftermath of the assault on the Capitol, several White House officials and at least two cabinet secretaries have resigned while calls are growing for Trump to be removed from office by the 25th Amendment or by impeachment. The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has said the House is prepared to bring articles of impeachment against the president for a second time if the cabinet does not act to remove him.On Friday, she told lawmakers she discussed with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, “available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike”.Throughout American history, there have only been a handful of presidents who did not attend the swearing-in of his successor, including John Adams, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Johnson, the first US president to be impeached. After his resignation, Richard Nixon did not attend the inauguration of Gerald Ford.After losing to Trump in 2016, Hillary Clinton attended his inauguration in her capacity as the former first lady. At the time she said: “I’m here today to honor our democracy & its enduring values. I will never stop believing in our country & its future.” And in 1993, George HW Bush attended the inauguration of Clinton after losing his campaign for re-election.With the exception of Trump and Jimmy Carter, who is 96 and has suffered a series of health issues in recent years, all other former living presidents are expected to attend Biden’s inauguration. More

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      Derrick Evans, lawmaker who filmed himself during US Capitol riot, faces charges – video

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      Derrick Evans, a newly-elected lawmaker in West Virginia house of delegates, filmed himself during the pro-Trump riot on the US Capitol on Wednesday that left five people dead.
      On Friday, the justice department announced he had been charged with entering a restricted area. 
      Evans, a Republican and Trump supporter, was seen on a Facebook Live video in which he was heard shouting “We’re in! We’re in baby!” while moving among a crowd of rioters as he walked through a doorway of the Capitol Rotunda. 
      The video has since been deleted. John H Bryan, a civil rights lawyer who is representing Evans, said the delegate traveled to Washington DC to “engage in peaceful protest, activism and amateur journalism” and that he engaged in “no illegal behavior”. In a statement released Thursday, Bryan added: “Given the sheer size of the group walking in, Mr Evans had no choice but to enter …”. The lawyer added that Evans has no plans to resign.
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      See how they run: did Trump's former allies get out in time?

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      In the 16th century, mice and rats were credited with knowing when a rotten house was on the verge of collapse.
      This evolved into the idiom about fleeing a sinking ship, but the original version suggested more prescience, an ability to anticipate oblivion and get out ahead of time.
      The question hovering over the officials quitting the White House is whether they have left it too late, whether they will carry the Donald Trump stain no matter how fast they run.
      The education secretary, Betsy DeVos, the transport secretary, Elaine Chao, and the deputy national security adviser, Matt Pottinger, are among at least a dozen officials and aides who have resigned since a mob of the president’s supporters stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday, leading to five deaths, including that of a police officer.
      Other former loyalists without a formal position in the administration have joined the scramble for cover by publicly renouncing Trump.
      “There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me,” DeVos said in her letter quitting the cabinet. The mayhem in the Capitol was “unconscionable for our country”, she said.
      The president’s attempt on Thursday to distance himself from the mob by saying those who “broke the law will pay” and pledging an “orderly transition” to Joe Biden on 20 January was viewed in part as an attempt to stem more White House defections.
      “It shows there’s a backing away from Trump within his administration,” said Geoffrey Kabaservice, the author of Rule and Ruin: the Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party. “It’s partly about people looking at their political legacies and reputations and believing that Trump is damaged goods at this point.”
      The shocking disorder in Washington DC would taint Trump and his children and greatly diminish their sway over the Republican party, said Kabaservice. As a Trump critic he welcomed the officials’ resignations. “I guess late conversion is better than no conversion at all.”
      Chao, who is married to the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said in her resignation letter the violence “deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside”.
      Mick Mulvaney, a former White House chief of staff, said Trump’s incitement of the mob compelled him to quit as special envoy to Northern Ireland. He predicted more resignations but said not all disillusioned staff would leave. “Those who choose to stay, and I have talked with some of them, are choosing to stay because they’re worried the president might put someone worse in,” Mulvaney told CNBC.
      Others to leave include Tyler Goodspeed, the acting chairman of the White House council of economic advisers, Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s chief of staff, Sarah Matthews, the deputy White House press secretary, and Ryan Tully, a senior adviser on Russia.
      The fate of those fleeing an administration in its twilight is unclear.
      For Republicans who disdained Trump’s incendiary rhetoric on race, immigration and other issues it feels rather late. “You have to wonder why it took them so long to see what Trump is,” said John Pitney, a Claremont McKenna College political scientist and former Republican congressional aide.
      “Did they not understand his character? Did they not know of the many times he winked at violence? The resignations would have had much more force if they had come months or years ago,” said Pitney, author of Un-American: the Fake Patriotism of Donald Trump.
      Recently minted ex-Trumpers will occupy an awkward position in a GOP that is splitting between those who had warned of Trump’s damage to the country and party and those who still align with the president’s policies and supporters.
      “Trump is more toxic than before. But he still has the support of a shockingly large fraction of Republican voters,” said Pitney. “As long as he wants to be politically active, he will be a force in the party. I don’t think he’s going away, for one simple reason: politics is his main source of income. He can continue to line his pockets by selling merchandise and otherwise monetising his status. He will need the money for the colossal legal fees he will face in the years ahead.”
      Some former officials, even those who left the administration before Wednesday’s mayhem, say they have struggled to find work because of association with the president.
      “People who are hiring see everything that’s happened and have to question your morals and ethics – especially in terms of what continues to happen today – on why you chose to work for that environment,” Olivia Troye, a former homeland security and White House official who left in August, told Politico.
      A defence official who is seeking another job told the news site that one potential employer had compared Trump administration staff to the Hitler Youth. “That attitude is not helpful,” the official said. More

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      With the Capitol riot the Trumpists have become a de facto third party | Mike Davis

      by

      Wednesday’s invasion of our “temple of democracy” constituted an “insurrection” only in the sense of dark comedy. What was essentially a flag-wrapped biker gang wielding staves stormed America’s ultimate country club, chased senators into the Capitol’s catacombs, squatted on Mike Pence’s throne, trashed Nancy Pelosi’s office, and shot endless selfies to send to the dudes back home in white people’s country. Otherwise, they were clueless and when the serious cops finally arrived, filed out clutching souvenirs to show to Daddy Trump. Monty Python with four dead bodies.Meanwhile, several hundred evacuated solons sweated together in their hiding place. Some of the Republicans, steadfastly loyal to their death cult, refused the face masks offered by police. One outraged Democrat described it as a “super-spreader event”. Hours later, Representative Jake La Turner, a Trump diehard from Kansas, punctually tested positive for the virus.Predictably liberal pundits are now telling us that the far right has committed suicide, that the age of Trump has ended, and that the Democrats are free to build their shining city on the hill.In fact the riot was a deus ex machina that lifted the curse of Trump from the careers of conservative war hawks and rightwing young lions whose higher ambitions have been fettered by the presidential cult.By the White House’s Führerprinzip standards, Trump’s former praetorian guard – senators Tom Cotton, Chuck Grassley, Mike Lee, Ben Sasse, Marco Rubio and Jim Lankford – are now traitors beyond the pale. Ironically this frees them to become potential presidential contenders in a still far-right but post-Trump party. Moreover their path has been eased by Ted Cruz’s stupid and self-destructive decision to pose as leader of the president’s angry mob.The resumed joint session on Wednesday night and Thursday morning was the et tu, Brute? moment as former hardcore Trumpites, including half of the “stolen election” crew, imitated Biden’s call for “a return to decency” and denounced the actions of the zombified plain folk whom they had hours earlier applauded as patriots.Let’s be clear about what happened: the monolith has cracked and the Republican party is splitting up. Preparations for this have been in progress since the election, with various conservative elites loosely but energetically conspiring to take back power from the Trump family. Big business especially has been burning its bridges to the White House in the wake of the Covid-19 disaster and Trump’s chaotic war on constitutional government.The most sensational defection involves that bedrock Republican institution, the National Association of Manufacturers. While the riot was in progress, they called upon Pence to use the 25th amendment to depose Trump. Of course, they had been happy enough during the first three years of his regime to enjoy the colossal tax cuts, comprehensive rollbacks of environmental and labor regulation, and trade sanctions on China, but the last year brought the unavoidable recognition that the White House was wildly incapable of managing major national crises or ensuring basic economic and political stability.The goal is to realign power within the party more closely with traditional capitalist power centers such as NAM and the Business Roundtable as well as with the Koch family, long uncomfortable with Trump. However, there should be no illusion that “moderate Republicans” have suddenly been raised from the grave; the emerging project will preserve the core alliance between Christian evangelicals and economic conservatives and presumably defend most of the Trump-era legislation.As Trump embalms himself in bitter revenge fantasies, reconciliation between the two camps is improbableInstitutionally, Senate Republicans, with a strong roster of talented young predators, will rule the post-Trump camp, a generational succession that will probably be cinched before their Democratic counterparts finally throw off their own octogenarian oligarchy. The internal competition will be fierce, another monster’s ball, but centrist Democrats should be wary of issuing death warrants. Liberated from Trump’s electronic fatwas some of the younger Republican senators may prove to be formidable competitors for the white college-educated suburban vote that has been the holy grail for the Democratic establishment.That’s one side of the split. The other is more dramatic: the true Trumpists have become a de facto third party, bunkered down in state legislatures and the House of Representatives. As Trump embalms himself in bitter revenge fantasies, reconciliation between the two camps is improbable.A poll on Tuesday found that 45% of Republican voters supported the storming of the Capitol. These true believers will enable Trump to terrorize Republican primaries in 2002 and ensure the preservation of a large contingent in the House as well as in red state legislatures. (Republicans in the Senate, accessing huge corporate donations, are far less vulnerable to such challenges.)Democrats may gloat at the prospect of an open civil war among Republicans, but their own divisions have been rubbed raw by Biden’s refusal to share power with progressives. The best hope for the left will be sweeping electoral reforms that roll back Republican voter restrictions and accelerate the racial and generational turnover of the electorate. But Mitch McConnell’s chief legacy, a far-right supreme court, may be an insuperable obstacle.In any event, the only future that we can reliably foresee – a continuation of extreme socio-economic turbulence – renders political crystal balls almost useless. The civil cold war in America is far from over.Mike Davis is the author of City of Quartz, Late Victorian Holocausts, Buda’s Wagon, and Planet of Slums. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and the Lannan Literary Award. He lives in San Diego More

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      Police chief and two security officials resign over Capitol assault

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      The head of the US Capitol police and two other senior security officials are resigning amid mounting criticism of the bungled police response to the assault on Capitol Hill by a violent mob of Donald Trump supporters.
      Steven Sund’s resignation will be effective from 16 January, and follows calls by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and other senior figures for heads to roll.
      “There was a failure of leadership at the top,” Pelosi said.
      Michael Stenger, the Senate sergeant-at-arms, has also resigned, along with Paul Irving, the official who holds the same position at the House of Representatives.
      The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, had said he would fire Stenger when he became majority leader later this month if he did not stand down.
      Incited by Trump, a mob descended on the Capitol on Wednesday, swiftly breaking through police barriers before smashing windows and parading through the halls, sending lawmakers into hiding.
      Late on Thursday, the Capitol police service disclosed that one of its officers had died from injuries he sustained “while physically engaging with protesters” on Wednesday.
      Brian D Sicknick returned to his division office and collapsed, the police said, later dying in hospital. Two law enforcement officials told Associated Press on the condition of anonymity that Sicknick had been struck in the head with a fire extinguisher during the melee.
      The FBI and Washington’s police department will jointly investigate his death, which was the fifth associated with Wednesday’s violence. A female protester was shot and killed by police, and three other people died after “medical emergencies” in the grounds of the Capitol.

      The announcement of Sund’s departure came as he detailed the violence for the first time, saying police were “actively attacked” with metal pipes and other weapons.
      “They [the mob] were determined to enter into the Capitol building by causing great damage,” Sund said. Capitol police fired on the woman who died as “protesters were forcing their way toward the House chamber where members of Congress were sheltering in place”.
      There has been mounting criticism of the serious failures of leadership by those detailed to protect Congress in the days and hours leading up to the riot.
      According to reports, Capitol police declined offers from the Pentagon of additional National Guard manpower and from the Justice Department of additional FBI personnel.
      Amid allegations that he had missed the well-signposted potential for violence, Sund has said he had only anticipated a display of “first amendment activities”, and not a “violent attack”.
      The army secretary, Ryan McCarthy, said that as the rioting was under way, it became clear the Capitol police were being overrun.
      But he said there was no contingency planning done in advance for what forces could do in case of a problem at the Capitol because US defense department help was turned down. “They’ve got to ask us, the request has to come to us,” said McCarthy.
      Gus Papathanasiou, the head of the Capitol police union, said planning failures left officers exposed without backup or equipment against surging crowds of rioters.
      “We were lucky that more of those who breached the Capitol did not have firearms or explosives and did not have a more malign intent,” Papathanasiou said in a statement. “Tragic as the deaths are that resulted from the attack, we are fortunate the casualty toll was not higher.” More