Category: MikePence

Investigators tighten circle around Proud Boys for Jan. 6 violence with two more key arrests

Posted on (Updated by David Neiwert

Life comes at you fast sometimes. Just last summer, Zach Rehl led his Philadelphia-based contingent of Proud Boys in a counterprotest to support then-Vice President Mike Pence. This week, he was arrested for helping lead a mob inside the U.S. Capitol that was intent on lynching Pence.

Rehl was one of two Proud Boys arrested by the FBI this week and charged with the most serious federal crimes facing the insurrectionists at the Jan 6 Capitol siege: conspiracy to obstruct the certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, and to attack Capitol Police officers. Also arrested this week was a Proud Boys leader from North Carolina, Charles Donohoe.

A total of 13 Proud Boys, who played a central role in the ability of the pro-Trump mob to break down police barricades and enter the Capitol building that day, have now been charged in the insurrection. The indictment is similar to one unveiled by prosecutors against two other key Proud Boys figures—Ethan Nordean and Joe Biggs—who played key roles in leading the mob that day.

Last July, Rehl’s Philadelphia Proud Boys group gathered outside a Fraternal Order of Police lodge where Pence was speaking, and a small cluster of protesters had gathered. The men shouted at Black Lives Matter protesters and at a group of women.

Rehl, left, with Biggs on Jan. 6.

Rehl, a 35-year-old Port Richmond man, was among them, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, “drinking beer and chatting with others in the parking lot who were openly carrying a Proud Boys flag.” Among the men they were chatting with were Philadelphia police officers, underscoring the Proud Boys’ cozy relationship with police officers around the country—a relationship that helped feed their smug far-right extremism. Rehl is a veteran and the son of two Philadelphia police officers.

On Jan. 6, their view of Pence had clearly transformed, largely because the vice president had chosen not to try to contest the validation of the Electoral College votes as Donald Trump had urged him to do—which the crowd at Trump’s rally that morning viewed as a betrayal. The mob entering the Capitol was filmed chanting: “Hang Mike Pence!” Pence himself narrowly escaped encountering this mob, it was revealed during Trump’s subsequent impeachment trial.

Rehl, who later turned up in photos in The New Yorker showing Proud Boys trashing the Senate offices of Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, is expected to have his first hearing in federal court in Philadelphia Friday. His indictment makes clear that federal prosecutors are preparing a conspiracy case charging several Proud Boys with conspiracy, including Biggs and Nordean.

According to indictments released in those cases, investigators say that Biggs, 37, of Ormond Beach, Florida, and Nordean, 30, of Auburn, Washington, were equipped with radios and a bullhorn as they led a mob of about 100 men through the streets of Washington and up the Capitol Mall. Several Proud Boys were among the rioters who shattered windows that enabled others to enter the building and attack Capitol Police officers inside.

The Republican Party is destined to get exactly what it deserves: More Donald Trump

Posted on (Updated by Kerry Eleveld

Take some time to survey the barren landscape of budding 2024 GOP hopefuls and it's hard to escape the conclusion that Republicans have little choice but to stick with Donald Trump for now.

Following the devastating Jan. 6 riot, GOP lawmakers had the perfect inflection point to part ways with Trump on the most basic of principles—the U.S. commander in chief shouldn't launch an attack on the nation's seat of government and then gleefully watch it unfold. The only Americans who could argue with that logic are dead-to-rights seditionists.

But instead of capitalizing on a golden opportunity, the nation’s three most-powerful elected Republicans melted into a telling puddle of uselessness. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy folded within weeks, rushing down to Mar-a-Lago to kiss Trump's ring. Vice President Mike Pence—the man Trump targeted for physical harm during the insurrection—refused to step forward and take a stand for himself or even his family members, who had joined him at the Capitol on Jan. 6 for certification of the election results. It's honestly impossible to think of anything more pathetic than that. 

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is running a close second to Pence. After more than a decade of being celebrated by D.C. reporters as the Senate GOP's master puppeteer, McConnell followed his caucus rather than led it on impeachment. Despite putting on a show for corporate donors with a scathing indictment of Trump, McConnell voted to acquit because he didn't have the juice to convince his caucus that protecting a U.S. president who launched an attack on the homeland probably wasn't a great precedent. Senate Republicans have now left Americans to wonder, what on earth could possibly be an impeachable offense?

But yeah, three peas in a pod—Pence, McConnell, and McCarthy—demonstrating the complete moral bankruptcy of the Republican Party and sheer inability of anyone among GOP electeds to demonstrate something that might be mistaken for leadership.

Cue the Tuesday Politico/Morning Consult poll showing 53% of GOP voters would vote for Trump if a primary were held today. The closest second was Pence at just 12%—apparently that's what being a spineless loyalist gets you. That said, no one else even makes double digits at this point. The poll also found that 57% of Republican voters want Trump to play a major role in the GOP going forward. That represents a comeback of sorts for Trump since Jan. 7 when some 40% hoped Trump would play an active role.

What's both striking and problematic about recent polling among Republicans is that while Trump remains the most dominant figure in the GOP, he also divides conservative voters. For instance, while 57% of GOP voters wanted a major role for Trump, 17% favored a minor role for him, and 18% wanted no role for Trump at all. That's a deep split.

The latest Civiqs polling notes a similar phenomenon. Of the 43% of respondents who said they voted for Trump, about two-thirds (28%) said they think of themselves as "Trump supporters" while the other third considers themselves "Republican Party supporters." 

So while Trump is bound to continue his role as a dominant force in the Republican Party, he’s also bound to divide the party amongst itself. 

Who is Donald Trump’s most gutless toady?

Posted on by Aldous J Pennyfarthing

The result of the latest Trump impeachment trial was a fait accompli when Mike Pence was pulled from his mother’s womb, saw his shadow, and scurried back home like a frightened baby wallaby for six more weeks of gestation.

The evidence now makes it abundantly clear that Donald Trump incited a riot, delighted in the mayhem, knew Mike Pence was in mortal danger, and not only did nothing to protect his unflinchingly loyal VP after hearing about his potential, you know, murder but actually sought to further incite the rioters by tweeting hateful lies directly at him. 

And what was Pence’s response to all this?

Crickets.

And not cool, genetically engineered murder crickets or anything—just plain old regular crickets.

Senate Republicans acquitted Donald Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors twice. So make them pay: Donate $1 right now to each of the Democratic nominee funds targeting vulnerable Senate Republicans in 2022.

The Washington Post:

[A]fter four years of obedience as vice president, Pence has no plans to condemn Trump or to speak out during the Senate impeachment trial, people close to the former vice president said. He is still operating from a playbook of obsequiousness that became second nature — he never aired his grievances publicly and delivered his often rose-colored counsel to Trump only in private, one-on-one settings.

I wonder if there’s a literal “playbook of obsequiousness,” and if so, does Mother let him read it after bedtime?

Oh, but Pence’s continued public deference to Trump doesn’t mean his feelings weren’t hurt by Trump’s decision to let him be hanged in public so Trump wouldn’t have to give up his extra White House ice cream scoop and unlimited free airplane rides. They were. You’d just never know it from talking to him.

But the rift that emerged between Trump and Pence — after Trump encouraged a frenzied mob that later chanted “Hang Mike Pence!” as it stormed through the Capitol, in search of the then vice president — is unlikely ever to fully heal, people close to Pence said.

One ally described the former vice president as frustrated with what Trump did and said it would forever change his relationship with Trump. This person added, however, that Pence does not share the animus or fury that some of his former aides have for the president.

Do Republicans feel some weird frisson of excitement when Trump brutally attacks or betrays them? Is this something we mere mortals simply can’t understand? Because if any of my bosses had ever treated me this disrespectfully, I’d have immediately FedEx’d them my company-issued gimp costume (without dry-cleaning it first!) and never spoken to them again.

But Republicans keep coming back for more.

Why?

And it’s not just Milquetoast Mike Pence. 

Trump gave out Lindsey Graham’s private cell phone number at a rally, and Graham eventually became his champion.

Trump implied Ted Cruz’s wife was ugly and that his dad had a hand in JFK’s assassination, and Ted became his gracious and loyal servant.

Kevin McCarthy was harassed and nearly killed by Trump’s mob, and Trump refused to lift a finger to protect him. Nevertheless, McCarthy still flew down to Florida three weeks later to kiss his ring.

And despite knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that Trump is the human equivalent of dumpster sushi, Mitch McConnell gladly wolfed down every rancid, mealy bite for years.

It’s inconceivable, but it is what it is. If these guys got into a gruesome clown car accident and you had to Frankenstein them together to confect one historically awful legislator, you’d be hard-pressed to locate a spine or recover a single languorous ball.

So who do you think is the worst? Answer the poll question and find out!

”This guy is a natural. Sometimes I laugh so hard I cry." — BETTE MIDLER on author ALDOUS J. PENNYFARTHING, via Twitter. Need a thorough Trump cleanse? Thanks to Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, Dear F*cking Lunatic, Dear Pr*sident A**clown and Dear F*cking Moron, you can purge the Trump years from your soul sans the existential dread. Only laughs from here on out. Click those links, yo!

Military officials got an ugly surprise from impeachment video of Pence being rushed to safety

Posted on by Laura Clawson

Donald Trump made his supporters angry, called them to Washington, D.C., on the day Mike Pence was presiding as Congress certified Trump’s election loss, whipped them up into a vicious mob, and sent them to the U.S. Capitol, enraged at Congress and at Pence. We’ve known that.

This week, thanks to the House impeachment managers, we’ve learned just how close the mob came to Pence—and thanks to Sen. Mike Lee’s bumbling outrage, we’ve learned that Trump knowingly targeted Pence with another tweet immediately after he was moved for his safety. The mob responded to Trump’s effort to aim it at Pence, with his tweet saying “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution” being read through a bullhorn by one of the insurrectionists.

Pence wasn’t rushed to safety alone, though. He was with his family, his security detail … and a military officer carrying the vice president's backup nuclear football. CNN reports that, according to an unnamed defense official, U.S. Strategic Command learned how close the football came to the mob when the impeachment managers played that new video showing Pence’s group rushing down a flight of stairs to a more secure location within the Capitol.

To be clear, the vice president’s nuclear football is a backup, and Trump’s football was secure at the White House, and the officer carrying Pence’s football never lost control of it, and there are a ton of safeguards built in to prevent an accidental nuclear strike. In the actual-nuclear-strike department, having it close to but not in the hands of the mob was not necessarily more dangerous than having it in the hands of Donald Trump for four years.

That said, there were other dangers, the Arms Control Association’s Kingston Reif told CNN: “The risk associated with the insurrectionists getting their hands on Pence's football wasn't that they could have initiated an unauthorized launch. But had they stolen the football and acquired its contents, which include pre-planned nuclear strike options, they could have shared the contents with the world.”

Trump’s malice was such that when he aimed that mob at Pence in his effort to overturn the election results and remain in the White House against the will of the voters, he not only tried to threaten the man who had obsequiously flattered him and done his bidding for four years, he threatened Pence’s family, his Secret Service detail, and both the nuclear football and the officer carrying it. Trump’s only thought was to try to stay in office or, failing that, radically undermine U.S. democracy and delegitimize the new president. He did not care who he put in danger to that end. It’s a lot for Republican senators to ignore. By doing so, they show us who they are.

Thanks to Mike Lee’s odd objection, one thing is now clear: Donald Trump tried to murder Mike Pence

Posted on (Updated by Mark Sumner

Over the course of their presentation, House impeachment managers showed how Donald Trump groomed his supporters to be outraged, repeatedly encouraged violence, and finally directed them to carry out their assault on the Capitol building in order to interrupt the counting of electoral college votes. The day was full of shocking moments and previously unseen images. The number of moments when enraged insurgents intent on murder came within feet of members of Congress should have been sobering—if not terrifying—to everyone watching in the Senate.

One other thing that came up during the day was a repeated theme of praise for the way that Mike Pence did his job on Jan. 6. That may seem like a strange approach for a Democratic team to take in dealing with the impeachment of a Republican president. But pointing out how Pence stood up to Trump in saying he would certify the results of the count serves two purposes: First, it allows the House managers to showcase that a Republican can, in fact, oppose Trump, providing Pence as a role model for any Republican senators who might think of stepping out of Trump’s fear-shadow.

But the other thing it does is point the finger straight at what might be the most chilling moment of Jan. 6—one that showcases Trump’s absolute malice and depravity. 

The complete story of that moment was split across two presentations on Wednesday. First, as Rep. Stacey Plaskett reviewed the events of that afternoon, there was the footage and diagrams showing just how close the insurrectionists came to capturing Pence. Second, a presentation from Rep. Joaquin Castro showed how Trump’s tweets about Pence came even as people were begging him to stop his supporters. When it’s all put together, it looks like this.

2:10 PM

As insurgents smash their way through the Capitol windows and doors, Donald Trump ignores the violence being seen on every network and tries to make a call to Sen. Tommy Tuberville. Instead, he dials Sen. Mike Lee. At the end of the day on Wednesday, Lee objected to this information and asked that a statement attributed to him be stricken from the record. However, these are the only statements made by Lee that were mentioned anywhere in the House presentation.

Thanks to Lee’s objection, Sen. Tuberville was questioned about the phone call on Wednesday afternoon and told reporters from Politico that he ended the phone call by saying this: “I said ‘Mr. President, they just took the vice president out, I’ve got to go.'” 

2:15 PM

Thanks to Tuberville’s statement, there’s a definitive time stamp on the call. Because Pence was quickly removed from the Senate chamber and taken to another location as the Secret Service and Capitol Police worked to secure an exit route.

2:24 PM

This means that the moment he hung up with Tuberville, Trump knew both that his supporters had entered the Capitol, and that Mike Pence was in danger. Trump’s next action may be his most incredibly depraved of the entire day. Because what he did next was to pull out his phone and enter a tweet that aimed his supporters straight at the fleeing Pence.

At the Capitol, Trump’s tweet was read in real time by the enraged mob, with one of Trump’s supporters even blasting out the tweet over a bullhorn just seconds after it appeared. In response, the crowd takes up a chant of “Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!”

2:26 PM

Two minutes after Trump’s tweet appears, officers take advantage of the distraction provided by Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman to direct Pence and his family down a flight of stairs and out of the building.

No one can say that Donald Trump didn’t take action during those hours following the invasion of the Capitol. Because, on learning that Mike Pence was in peril, Trump acted instantly and decisively … to aim the threat at Pence and his family. Trump went for what he saw as both a chance of revenge at Pence for his refusal to participate in an unconstitutional scheme to “send the votes back” to states, and Trump saw an opportunity to do what he had just tried to gain from Tuberville—a delay in counting the votes. After all, what better way to delay than to have Mike Pence hanging from a gallows on the Capitol lawn?

Thanks to Lee’s objection, Tuberville nailed down the timing of Trump’s call. And thanks to Tuberville, we now know the full sequence of events. And thanks to that sequence we know this: Donald Trump acted quickly and deliberately in an attempt to harm or kill Mike Pence.

CIVIQS poll shows most Republicans are now Trump supporters first, party supporters … not at all

Posted on (Updated by Mark Sumner

In 2016, Donald Trump infamously said that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue without losing the support of his fanatical followers. That still appears to be pretty much true as, after refusing to acknowledge the results of a free election, splitting his own party, presiding over the loss of the Senate, and instigating a deadly, violent assault on the Capitol in a bid to interfere with counting electoral votes, the latest CIVIQS results still show Trump holding onto 43% support. 

In fact, if anyone has suffered from Trump’s actions it’s every other Republican official. It doesn’t even seem to matter to what degree they supported Trump in his efforts to topple the elected government. Kevin McCarthy? Way down. Mitch McConnell? Down to a hilarious 11% favorable rating. But the biggest loser may be Mike Pence, who has seen his support among Republicans plummet, putting him at a 33% favorable rating.

All of this can be explained simply enough: Republicans no longer think of themselves as Republicans. By a two to one margin, those who voted for Trump say they consider themselves “a Trump supporter,” not “a Republican.”

The way that these voters attach to Trump rather than anyone else can be seen in another value in the poll. When asked if they believed the election was “stolen,” a jaw-dropping 40% of Americans still said yes, over a week after the assault on the Capitol. But when asked if Republicans who voted against certifying the vote were “protecting democracy,” only 37% agreed. Even when Republicans were doing exactly what Trump asked them to do, they still got lower marks than Trump himself.

There was an interesting split on views of the actual insurgency. Asked if the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol represented “a coup attempt,” 53% of Americans agreed—within a point of those in the poll who said they did not vote for Trump. However, when asked if the attack was “an act of terrorism,” the number rose to 60%. That number indicates that even some of those who voted for Trump were upset over the the sight of a mob prowling the halls of Congress. That number was apparently confirmed by the 62% who agreed that everyone who broke into the Capitol building should be arrested. And still, the guy who instigated the attack is polling far higher than other Republicans.

Finally, a plurality of voters want to see both Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley kicked out of the Senate. In Hawley’s case, that includes at least some voters who went for Trump.

Everything in the poll seems to indicate that Trump voters remain Trump voters, not Republican voters. If there remains a core of non-Trump Republicans, they are vanishingly small. As the GOP tries to separate itself from the angry guy leaving the room, it’s completely unclear how many of those Trump voters are ready to come back into their ranks without Big Orange at the lead. With a 11% favorable rating for McConnell, and a 20% rating for McCarthy … just who is the leader of the Republican Party going into 2021? 

One possible side effect of this deep schism in the Republican Party is that it may make it easier for McConnell and other Republicans to support Trump’s impeachment. To coin a phrase: What do you have to lose?

Republicans ditch Mitch, because Trump is their one true love

Posted on by kos

Once upon a time, the Republican establishment made a Faustian bargain with the ignorant, racist rabble that makes up the conservative base, and it’s now coming back to bite them. Of the 74 million people who voted for Donald Trump in 2020, a huge chunk of them—the dangerous, conspiracy theory-believing, radicalized populist right—don’t care for Republicans. Their allegiance is to one man: a cult of Trump. 

First and foremost, after everything that has happened—the nearly 400,000 dead from COVID, the Capitol insurrection, the refusal to accept democracy, the bullying and deplorable behavior—the Republican base still loves its Donald Trump. 

Trump’s job approvals are currently at their lowest levels ever in Civiqs polling history—40% approve, while 57% disapprove. Yet most of that drop is among independents. Republicans are, for the most part, holding firm: Trump’s job approval among Republicans was 91-7 on Election Day, and 88-8 today.

And despite that small erosion in job approvals, Trump’s favorability ratings among Republicans is barely budging, from 91% favorable and 7% unfavorable on Election Day, to 90-9 today. Sheesh. 

Civiqs Results

It’s safe to say that despite his unprecedented assault on American democracy, self-identified Republicans aren’t jumping ship. They are slightly less impressed with the job that he is doing, but that’s all cool! They still think he’s the best. 

Now compare that to Republican sentiment for the Republican Party:

Civiqs Results

Those same Republicans approved of the GOP by a 82-9 margin on Election Day. Today’s 64-21 margin is a net 30-point drop. Those are Republicans upset that the party, generically, isn’t “fighting” hard enough to upend the results of the election. 

Now look at Mitch McConnell: 

Civiqs Results

Holy crap! McConnell went from a 70-13 favorable rating among Republicans on Election Day, to just 25-49% favorables today! I’ll do the math for you—that’s an 81-point net drop. 

As you can see on the graph, the collapse came in two waves—the first after McConnell finally recognized Biden’s victory (after Vladmir Putin had done so and apparently given the go-ahead), and then after the failed insurrection at the Capitol, when McConnell refused to join Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas to contest the Arizona and Pennsylvania electors. 

Meanwhile, who was tops on the insurrectionists’ murder list? Vice President Mike Pence. Let’s look at this numbers: 

Civiqs Results

Pence’s 91-6% favorability rating on Election Day was in line with Trump’s 91-7. And Republicans mostly stuck with him while Pence humored Trump’s electoral delusions. But the attack on the Capitol was fueled, in large part, with anger at Pence’s refusal to join in a coup attempt while certifying the Electoral College vote. And the reaction was immediate, as you can see from the chart above, down a net 48 points to a 61-24 favorability rating today, 

To summarize:  

Net favorability

(republicans)

Election Day Today change Donald Trump Republican Party Mitch McConnell Mike Pence
+84 +81 -3
+73 +43 -30
+57 -24 -81
+85 +37 -48

Once again, Donald Trump is the favorite thing among Republicans. They barely budged off him. The Republican Party has suffered a steep drop, but not as steep as the second- and third-highest ranked Republicans. The party might still be seen as belonging to Trump himself, limiting the damage. 

McConnell has always been distrusted by Republicans, for reasons that are unfathomable to me. Look at all the Supreme Court seats he stole for the GOP! Perhaps it’s like El Chapo Trap House-style hatred for Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—when you are on the fringe, you are never going to be happy with what any legislative chamber’s leader can accomplish in our current system. And while McConnell had earned some goodwill among Republicans for his defense of Trump during the first impeachment trial, his refusal to sign on to the election challenges eliminated all of that. 

But McConnell is easy to hate, and Republicans love to hate him. This isn’t the first time he’s been underwater with Republicans in the three years we’ve tracked him: 

Civiqs Results

Pence, on the other hand, is a reliably conservative Republican stalwart, loyal to a fault to Donald Trump. His Election Day favorables with Republicans actually exceeded Trump’s by a point. His drop in support is directly attributable to his refusal to join the coup attempt.

If Senate Republicans actually provide the votes for conviction, these numbers will be scrambled yet again. Who knows how Trump’s de-platforming will affect his ability to control his party. Will the nascent Lynn Cheney/Lincoln Project faction of the GOP gain traction? The situation is volatile. 

But as of now, the GOP is very much Trump’s Party. 

House votes, futilely, to tell Pence to remove Trump with 25th Amendment

Posted on (Updated by Joan McCarter

While the House of Representatives was in the process of voting to direct Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and relieve the nation of the burden of Donald Trump, Pence was rejecting the effort in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution," he wrote, and went on to literally equate illegally overturning the election with invoking the 25th Amendment. "Last week," he wrote, "I did not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election, and I will not now yield to the effort in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our Nation."

He went on to actually reiterate Trump's latest threats: "I urge you can every member of Congress to avoid actions that would further divide and inflame the passions of the moment." He said that. "Work with us to lower the temperature and unite our country," he writes. After Trump sicced his mob ON PENCE. After Trump tried to get HIM killed. Pence's slavish devotion to the guy who put a hit out on him did not deter the House from passing the resolution, 223-205.

In addition to that, the House passed, in the rule for the resolution, a requirement that every member of the House wear a mask on the House floor. They will be fined $500 the first time they expose their colleagues on the House floor by not wearing a mask, and $2,500 the second time, with the money being withheld from their pay. They will not be able to pay the fines from either expense accounts or campaign funds. So far, three Democrats have tested positive for COVID-19 after sheltering with maskless Republicans during the January 6 siege.

The House unveiled another initiative Tuesday night, attempting to enforce the rule that weapons not be allowed on the House floor by installing metal detectors at the entrances to the chamber. "Effective immediately, all persons, including members, are required to undergo security screening when entering the House chamber," the members were advised in a memo from the House Sergeant-at-Arms office. House reporters (see thread) watched many Republicans blow past the metal detectors, plowing over and around the Capitol Hill police, the police who put their lives on the line last Wednesday to save their sorry asses. This is the group that keeps demanding "unity" and that Trump not be impeached.

Speaking of impeachment, the process for that starts Wednesday at 9:00 AM ET, and should move quickly, relative to how House votes usually go. Once Pence's letter was in hand, Pelosi announced the impeachment managers:

Congressman Jamie Raskin, Lead Manager: Congressman Jamie Raskin is a member of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, where he serves as Chair of Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and on the Judiciary Committee, where he serves as Vice Chair of the Subcommittee on the Constitution.  He also serves on the Rules Committee and the Committee on House Administration, where he is Vice Chair.  Prior to his time in Congress, Raskin was a three-term State Senator in Maryland and a professor of constitutional law at American University’s Washington College of Law for more than 25 years.

Congresswoman Diana DeGette: Congresswoman DeGette serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee as Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.  She is serving her thirteenth term in office.  Before serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, DeGette was an attorney focusing on civil rights before being elected to serve two terms in the Colorado House, including one term as Assistant Minority Leader.

Congressman David Cicilline: Congressman Cicilline is a member of the Judiciary Committee, where he serves as Chair of the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law.  He also serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee.  He is serving his sixth term in Congress.  Early in his career, Cicilline served as a public defender in the District of Columbia.  Cicilline served two terms as Mayor of Providence and four terms in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.

Congressman Joaquin Castro: Congressman Castro serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and on the Foreign Affairs Committee, where he is also Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.  He is serving his fifth term in Congress.  Prior to his election to Congress, he served five terms in the Texas Legislature and served as a litigator in private practice.

Congressman Eric Swalwell: Congressman Swalwell serves on House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where he chairs the Intelligence Modernization and Readiness Subcommittee, and on the Judiciary Committee.  He is a former prosecutor and is the son and brother of law enforcement officers.  He is serving his fifth term in Congress.

Congressman Ted Lieu: Congressman Lieu serves on the Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Foreign Affairs.  He is a former active-duty officer in the U.S. Air Force who served as a prosecutor in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, and currently serves as a Colonel in the Reserves.  He is serving his fourth term in Congress.

Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett: Congresswoman Plaskett serves on the House Ways and Means Committee.  Before she was elected to Congress, she served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx District Attorney’s Office and as Senior Counsel at the Department of Justice.  She is serving her fourth term in Congress.

Congressman Joe Neguse: Congressman Neguse is a member of the Judiciary Committee, where he serves as Vice Chair of the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law.  Congressman Neguse also serves on the Natural Resources Committee and the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.  Early in his career, Neguse was a litigator in private practice.  He is serving his second term in Congress.

Congresswoman Madeleine Dean: Congresswoman Dean is a member of the Judiciary Committee, where she serves on the Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.  She is serving her second term in Congress, before which she served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for four terms and was a lawyer in private practice.

House convenes to begin process of impeaching Trump for the second time

Posted on by Joan McCarter

The House of Representatives will vote Tuesday evening to tell Vice President Pence to "convene and mobilize the principal officers of the executive departments of the Cabinet to activate section 4 of the 25th Amendment to declare President Donald J. Trump incapable of executing the duties of his office and to immediately exercise powers as acting President." Knowing that Pence will not do so, they will vote on Wednesday at 9 AM ET to charge Trump with "inciting violence against the government of the United States" and will impeach him.

They could be joined by some Republicans. Republican leadership is not whipping votes against it. Members will be advised to "vote their conscience." Which is a strange thing to assume 139 of them who voted to throw out the results of a free and fair election, including leaders Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise, even have. There will be a single impeachment article for "incitement of insurrection."

"In all this, President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government," the resolution says. "He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government. He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States." Trump, as always, remains belligerent and defiant and again threatened his opponents with further violence. "For Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to continue on this path, I think it's causing tremendous danger to our county and it's causing tremendous anger. I want no violence," he told reporters Tuesday.  

That of course will not stop the process. But what happens on the Senate side remains uncertain because it's absolutely unprecedented. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, importantly, has advised Democratic senators that impeachment hearings are going to happen and to not even discuss censure as a possible alternative. They are exploring ways of moving forward. One includes an obscure emergency authority that would allow him and current Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to end the recess, which is now set to end on January 19, and reconvene immediately after the House transmits the articles of impeachment. That requires McConnell's cooperation and thus far no one in his office is answering calls from reporters, so no one knows whether this is really an option.

Another option Democrats are exploring is moving forward on parallel tracks, by referring the impeachment to the Senate Judiciary Committee for hearings and bypassing the floor for long enough to get critical nominations through. Another option is appointing a commission to investigate and produce a report the full Senate would then act on. Another possibility Biden has raised, that is potentially possible, according to experts the Washington Post's Greg Sargent talked to is "[a] half-day on dealing with impeachment, and [a] half-day getting my people nominated and confirmed," in Biden's words.

Scholar Norman Ornstein told Sargent that the the Constitution allows the Senate to set its own rules and procedures on impeachment, "So in theory it is possible to move forward with other actions even as they’re doing a trial." Adam Jentelson, a former senior adviser to Harry Reid and all around Senate procedural wonk, agrees. "The Senate can conduct this trial however it wants, so the bifurcation path is entirely doable,. […] Procedurally, it's basically a matter of conducting a two-track approach." It could, however, require unanimous consent giving the insurrectionists in the Senate a chance to make mischief.

Trump won't leave voluntarily. Pence won't force the issue. McConnell "ignored Trump's calls before Wednesday’s siege and now has no plans to call him back, according to one official," so he too is refusing to fulfill his oath and obligation to protect the country. The next week is going to be as fraught as the last, because the entire Republican Party sold its soul to Donald Trump five years ago, and sold out the country in the process.

House has the votes to impeach Trump—again

Posted on by Joan McCarter

The House of Representatives is moving toward the second impeachment of Donald Trump and consensus has emerged among leadership that they need to do it fast. They now have the 218 votes needed to get it done, though the week's proceedings could be complicated by the COVID-19 infections that resulting from the Jan. 6 attack, when many Republicans refused to wear masks to protect the colleagues they were sheltering with. If anything slows this effort down at this point, it will be the pandemic.

On Monday, leaders got the ball rolling when Majority Leader Steny Hoyer attempted to get unanimous consent for the House to pass a resolution demanding Vice President Mike Pence invoke the 25th Amendment to strip power from Trump. A West Virginia Republican objected, though it's worth noting he did so based on process rather than substantive grounds. There might be a dawning realization among at least some of them that they can't publicly defend what happened. At this point, the plan is for them to formally introduce and pass that same resolution Tuesday, giving Pence 24 hours to respond before moving to an impeachment vote Wednesday. But there might be momentum to move that timeline up.

Rep. David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat who has taken the lead in getting signatures on the impeachment resolution, told The Washington Post's Greg Sargent, "The whole reason for moving forward is the fact that every single minute this person stays in the White House presents a clear and present danger to our democracy. […] Most House Democrats believe he should be removed as quickly as possible." He argued against Rep. James Clyburn's suggestion that the House wait until President-elect Joe Biden's first 100 days are done before sending the resolution over to the Senate.

"This is an attack unlike we’ve ever seen on the very foundations of our democracy," Cicilline told Sargent. "The American people saw this playing out in real time, and the visuals were so powerful that I think there's growing pressure on the Republicans to do something." He's backed by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and by Rep. Adam Schiff, who told CBS News, "If we impeach him this week […] it should immediately be transmitted to the Senate and we should try the case as soon as possible. […] Mitch McConnell has demonstrated when it comes to jamming Supreme Court justices through the Congress, he can move with great alacrity when he wants to."

That's arguing that there's a possibility of pressuring Senate Majority Leader McConnell, which is not impossible but unlikely. The only public comment McConnell has given following Wednesday's attack on the Capitol—on his own institution—and Trump's incitement of insurrection is a memo sent Friday to Senate Republicans saying the earliest the Senate could act is Jan. 19, one day before the inauguration. That's not actually true, as Schiff says. If McConnell wanted to bring the Senate back, he could.

With the FBI warning of further domestic terrorism and violence over the next week and during planned Jan. 17 rallies in D.C. and state capitals, there might be an awakening among Senate Republicans that they've got to do something. It's not a safe bet, but three Senate Republicans—Pat Toomey, Lisa Murkowski, and Ben Sasse—have said Trump has to go. Toomey and Sasse say they would consider articles of impeachment, but they're not sure there's enough time, and Murkowski wants him to resign.

There's another call Monday among House Democrats that could speed up Pelosi's timeline. The momentum to act grows by the minute, at least among House members.

Monday, Jan 11, 2021 · 7:35:03 PM +00:00 · Joan McCarter

It’s official. The 25th Amendment vote will be Tuesday, impeachment Wednesday.