Top GOP Senator Says Trump May Be Criminally Prosecuted Over Capitol Riots

Posted on January 14, 2021 by LifeZette

South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds (R) spoke out this week to say that President Donald Trump may be criminally prosecuted for inciting the riots at the U.S. Capitol building last week. However, he stopped short of saying that he would support Trump’s impeachment.

Rounds Discusses Capitol Riots

“In my opinion, what we had was an insurrection,” he told the Forum News Service. “We had violence. We had people killed. We had a mob that ignored direct commands. They attacked law enforcement officers. They damaged federal property. They clearly intended to stop us from performing our duties in the recognition of the electoral vote count.

“If there are (impeachment) proceedings brought against him (Trump),” he continued, “and even if the article of impeachment is not followed through in the Senate, if the article of impeachment to incitement of a riot or incitement of an insurrection are followed through in a criminal proceeding, that by itself would … stop him (Trump) for running for election to a public office again.”

Rounds Accuses Trump Of Lying To His Supporters

Rounds went on to say that many of Trump’s supporters were misled by him when it came to his claims of voter fraud in the election.

“When the story of this last 90 days is told, they will clearly lay out that the president of the United States misled very, very good, honest, patriotic Americans by telling them time and again that the election was stolen,” Rounds said. “I believe that history will hold him accountable.”

After the House voted to impeach Trump for a second time on Wednesday, Rounds added that the timing of impeachment for the purpose of removing Trump from office seems “moot.”

“The timing right now with the removal of office being the primary purpose would seem to me to be moot,” Rounds said, adding that he does not think Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will bring the Senate back into session before Trump leaves office next week. This means that an impeachment trial wouldn’t begin until he is out of the White House.

This piece was written by James Samson on January 14, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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CNN’s Don Lemon Shames Trump Voters – Lumps Them All In With Nazis, KKK, Alt-Right

Posted on January 14, 2021 by LifeZette

CNN host Don Lemon shamed all 74 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump in this past election, not only lumping them all in with Capitol rioters, but also with Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.

Lemon Shames Trump Voters

While sending off his own show to Lemon’s, Chris Cuomo asked for his fellow host’s reaction to, “Now what you hear is, ‘Well, you can’t say that everybody who voted for Trump is like the people who went into the Capitol.'”

“You need to think about the side you’re on,” Lemon responded. “Principled people — conservative or liberal — never on the Klan side. Principled people — conservative or liberal — never on the Nazi side. Principled people who are conservative or liberal never on the side that treats their fellow Americans as less-than.”

“That says that your fellow Americans should not exist,” he added. “That says your fellow Americans should be in a concentration camp or that sides with slavery or sides with any sort of bigotry.”

“Right,” Cuomo said. “And if they say, ‘I don’t agree with those people, I just like Trump’s policies—'”

“Well, then get out of the crowd with them,” Lemon fired back. “Get out of the crowd with them.”

Cuomo And Lemon Double Down

That’s when the two engaged in a deranged role-play, with Cuomo taking on the role of Trump supporter.

“I wasn’t in the crowd; I just voted for Trump,” Cuomo said.

“You’re in the crowd who voted for Trump,” Lemon replied. “If you voted for Trump, you voted for the person who the Klan supported. You voted for the person who Nazis support. You voted for the person who the alt-right supports. That’s the crowd that you are in.”

“You voted for a person who incited a crowd to go into the Capitol and potentially take the lives of lawmakers, took the lives of police officers, took the … innocent lives of the people who were at the Capitol that day,” he continued.

“You voted on that side,” he added.

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro said it best when he branded this entire exchange as “vile.”

He later added, “It’s this deliberate attempt to lump together anyone who voted for Trump and the Capitol rioters that undermines the possibility of unity. It also happens to be false and indecent.”

Vile https://t.co/qF8VVjTX3j

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 14, 2021

This piece was written by James Samson on January 14, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Dem Rep. Swalwell Compares President Trump To Osama bin Laden

Posted on January 14, 2021 by LifeZette

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who has had his own fair share of problems lately in the wake of the scandal involving him allegedly associating with a suspected Chinese spy, spoke out on Tuesday night to compare President Donald Trump to the late 9/11 terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Swalwell Compares Trump To Osama bin Laden

“Well, Osama bin Laden did not enter US soil on September 11, but it was widely acknowledged that he was responsible for inspiring the attack on our country,” Swalwell said on “PBS NewsHour.”

“And the president, with his words — using the word ‘fight,’ with the speakers that he assembled that day, who called for trial by combat and said we have to take names and kick ass — that is hate speech that inspired and radicalized people to storm the Capitol,” he continued.

A visibly surprised host Judy Woodruff asked of Swalwell was really comparing Trump to bin Laden, at which time the Democrat doubled down.

“I’m comparing the words of a [sic] individual who would incite and radicalize somebody, as Osama bin Laden did, to what President Trump did,” Swalwell said. “You don’t actually have to commit the violence yourself, but if you call others to violence, that itself is a crime.”

Rep. Eric Swalwell compares President Trump to Osama bin Laden saying that he "inspired and radicalized people to storm the Capitol" in the same way that bin Laden inspired 9-11 pic.twitter.com/pYr3l4qhMw

— The First (@TheFirstonTV) January 13, 2021

Republicans Demand Swalwell Be Removed From House Intelligence Committee

This comes one month after seventeen Republicans sent a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) demanding that Swalwell be immediately removed from the House Intelligence Committee after his relationship with a suspected Chinese spy was revealed.

“We write to you today out of concern with Congressman Eric Swalwell’s reported, close contacts with a Chinese Communist Party spy recently reported by Axios. Because of Rep. Swalwell’s position on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, his close interactions with Chinese intelligence services, however unintentional they may be, are an unacceptable national security risk,” they said in the letter.

“HPSCI handles some of the most sensitive information our government possesses — information critical to our national defense,” they added. “As such, we urge you to immediately remove Rep. Swalwell from his position on the House Intelligence Committee.”

Not only did Pelosi not remove Swalwell from the intelligence committee, she has also just made him one of her impeachment managers in her effort to remove President Donald Trump from office.

Full Story: Eric Swalwell Named As One Of Pelosi’s Impeachment Managers

This piece was written by James Samson on January 13, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Kristi Noem Defiantly Doubles Down On Lockdown Stance – ‘South Dakota Is Open’

Posted on January 13, 2021 by LifeZette

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R) gave an address on Tuesday in which she defiantly doubled down on her state’s relaxed lockdown measures amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Noem Declares That ‘South Dakota Is Open’

Noem is one of the few governors who has not imposed statewide stay-at-home orders, mask mandates, or business restrictions. In her address, she vowed that South Dakota will remain open as the nation deals with a second wave of COVID-19 cases.

“For those who have spent the last nine months shut down or locked up in other states, South Dakota is open,” Noem said. “We have stayed open the entire time, and that’s how we will operate for as long as I am governor.”

She went on to promote the thriving economy in South Dakota.

“We’re in a much stronger financial position than other states across the country. States that shut down their economies are now looking at tax increases or drastic spending cuts to make ends meet,” she said, later writing on social media that “businesses are flocking to South Dakota”

South Dakota's strong economy:

-New home construction UP 1.6x the national average
-Construction employment UP 10%
-Ongoing revenues UP $95 million dollars, 11% higher than last year
-Corn production UP 35%
-Soybean production UP 58%

And businesses are flocking to South Dakota.

— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) January 12, 2021

“We made different choices than virtually any other state over the past year. … But other states based a lot of their decisions on fear and emotion, and now they’re seeing the results of that,” Noem continued. “In South Dakota, we do not make policy out of fear. We prepare for the worst but always remain optimistic that the best is yet to come.”

Noem Defends Her Lockdown Plan

Last month, Noem defended her relaxed lockdown plans in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, criticizing other states like New York and Illinois for taking their measures way too far and destroying lives in the process.

“Even amid a pandemic, public policy ought to be holistic,” Noem wrote. “Daily needs must still be met. People need to eat and keep a roof over their heads. And they still need purpose. That means policy makers cannot have tunnel vision.”

“They must balance public-health concerns with people’s mental and emotional needs, their economic livelihoods and social connections, and liberty, among many other important factors,” she added.

This piece was written by James Samson on January 13, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Jim Jordan Calls Out Dems’ ‘Double Standards’ – They ‘Objected To More States In 2017 Than Republicans Did Last Week’

Posted on January 13, 2021 by LifeZette

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) took to the House floor on Wednesday to call out Democrats for their hypocrisy, reminding Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) that he stood as the “first objector” to the election results during the same process in 2017, after Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton.

Jordan Calls Out Democrats

“In his opening remarks, the Democrat chair of the Rules Committee said that Republicans last week voted to overturn the results of an election,” Jordan said of McGovern. “Guess who the first objector was on January 6, 2017? First objector. The Democrat chair of the Rules Committee. And guess which state he objected to? Alabama. The very first state called.”

Jordan went on to point out that Trump actually won the state by a massive margin.

“They can object to Alabama in 2017 but tell us we can’t object to Pennsylvania in 2021,” he continued before highlighting concerns he’s had over the Pennsylvania election process.

“Pennsylvania where the state’s Supreme Court just unilaterally extended the election to Friday?’ Jordan questioned. “Pennsylvania where the Secretary of State unilaterally changed the rules — went around the legislature in an unconstitutional fashion.”

‘Pennsylvania where county clerks in some counties … let people fix their ballots against the law,” he added. “Cure their ballots, their mail-in ballots — [a] direct violation of the law. And they tell us we tried to overturn the election.”

Jordan Doubles Down

Not stopping there, Jordan also reminded his fellow lawmakers that the person managing impeachment for the Democrats, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), also objected to electoral votes in 2017.

“Americans are tired of the double standards. They are so tired of it,” Jordan said. “Democrats objected to more states in 2017 than Republicans did last week, but somehow we’re wrong.”

“Democrats can raise bail for rioters and looters this summer but somehow when Republicans condemn all the violence, the violence this summer, the violence last week, somehow we’re wrong,” he added.

Jordan pointed out how absurd it is that Democrats have spent four years investigating Trump and have already tried to impeach him once, yet they “not look at an election that 80 million Americans — half the electorate, 80 million, Republicans and Democrats — have their doubts about.”

While Jordan admitted that he does not know where all this is going, he urged his colleagues to shoot down the impeachment resolution for the good of the nation.

This piece was written by James Samson on January 13, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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AOC Claims She ‘Thought She Was Going To Die’ During ‘Close Encounter’ In Capitol Riot

Posted on January 13, 2021 by LifeZette

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took to Instagram on Tuesday to claim that she thought she “was going to die” in the Capitol riots last week after a “close encounter” shook her to her core.

AOC Claims She Was In Danger During Capitol Riot

“I did not know if I was going to make it to the end of that day alive,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a lengthy video posted to Instagram. “Not just in a general sense, but in a very, very specific sense.”

“I can tell you that I had a very close encounter where I thought I was going to die,” she added. “And you have all of those thoughts where, at the end of your life…all of these thoughts come rushing to you. And that’s what happened to a lot of us on Wednesday and I did not think – I did not know if I was going to make it to the end of that day alive.”

Ocasio-Cortez claimed that she could not go into any further detail about this “close encounter” due to security concerns. However, she added that it was not an exaggeration to say that “many, many members of the House were nearly assassinated.”

“We were very lucky that things happened in certain minutes that allowed members to escape the House floor but many of us nearly and narrowly escaped death,” she said.

AOC Discusses The Future

At another point in her video, Ocasio-Cortez answered a question from a follower who asked if there is discussion in Congress on “truth and reconciliation or media literacy initiatives” to help with healing.

“I can say, there is absolutely a commission being discussed but it seems to be more investigatory, in style rather than truth and reconciliation, so I think that’s an interesting concept for us to explore, and I do think that several members of Congress, in some of my discussions, have brought up media literacy because that is a part of what happened here and we’re going to have to figure out how we rein in our media environment so that you can’t just spew disinformation and misinformation,” Ocasio-Cortez. said.

Ocasio-Cortez and her radically liberal “Squad” have been leading the charge when it comes to the Democratic effort to impeach President Donald Trump in the wake of the Capitol riots.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc)

This piece was written by James Samson on January 13, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Meghan McCain Demands Ivanka And Jared ‘Be Held Accountable’ After Capitol Riots

Posted on January 12, 2021 by LifeZette

On Tuesday’s episode of the ABC talk show “The View,” Meghan McCain said that White House senior advisor Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner “need to be held accountable” in the wake of the Capitol riots last week.

McCain Discusses Capitol Riots

“They’re talking about police departments all over the country, about possible domestic attacks on all Capitols from domestic terrorists,” McCain said. “We’re living in a time that it feels like we’re in a banana republic.”

“I don’t understand why people on Capitol Hill aren’t demanding that this end, because as long as we take no culpability for what happened, and I say we as the collective Republican Party, there’s no future for the party,” she added. “There is none if the president is going to keep saying things like that, and we’re not going to hold him accountable. This is dead. We can call it over.”

McCain’s cohost Whoopi Goldberg then chimed in to say, “All of those folks sitting there, knowing that this is a lie, for me, this is treason. You know that this is a lie. This has been predicated on a lie the entire time. And y’all just sit there and let it happen. You are the problem.”

McCain On Ivanka And Jared

That’s when McCain zeroed in on Ivanka and her husband.

“His family needs to be held accountable for this too,” McCain said. “Don’t let Ivanka and Jared off just because they are not saying anything right now. Apparently, they’re in hiding. Do not let these people off the hook.”

“All of these people need to be held accountable,” she concluded. “The reason why I never sounded the five-fire alarm before this point in time is because I always thought maybe there was a moment when it would be an absolute, utter, cataclysmic constitutional emergency, which is where we truly are at right now. Don’t let anybody off the hook. I beg everyone.”

TRUMP SPEAKS ON PUSH TO IMPEACH A 2ND TIME: The co-hosts discuss the president reacting to Democrats introducing an article of impeachment Monday and discuss the extent of the accountability for the Capitol riot. https://t.co/f8u2wbJuik pic.twitter.com/oBtrx5MsOV

— The View (@TheView) January 12, 2021

This comes one day after McCain referred to the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol of being “domestic terrorists,” adding that they should be sent to Guantanamo Bay.

This piece was written by James Samson on January 12, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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CNN Personality Claims Trump Is ‘Leader Of A Terrorist Organization’

Posted on January 12, 2021 by LifeZette

A CNN national security analyst went so far on Tuesday as to claim that President Donald Trump is the “leader of a terrorist organization,” calling for the “complete isolation” of him despite the fact that 74 million Americans voted for in this past election.

CNN Analyst Says Trump Is ‘Leader Of This Domestic Terrorist Effort’

Juliette Kayyem, a lecturer at Harvard University and former member of Barack Obama’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, argued on CNN that Trump is the “spiritual” and “operational” leader of a “domestic terrorism effort.”

“Trump is the spiritual, but I will also say operational leader of this domestic terrorism effort. He tells them where to go. He tells them what to do. He tells them why they’re angry,” she outrageously alleged.

"Trump is the spiritual leader for domestic terrorists and he is their operational leader. He tells them what to do. Now, total isolation. 25th A. Yes. Impeachment. Yes. Deplatforming. Yes. We are still in the tactical phase of a counterterrorism effort. Enough with unity." @cnn pic.twitter.com/8UkZBzS4ai

— Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) January 12, 2021

Not stopping there, Kayvem claimed that the U.S. government must launch a counterterrorism effort against against the Trump supporters who protested at the Capitol building last week.

“And so we need to start at the top, like any counterterrorism effort, which is total isolation of the president of the United States. Impeachment, yes. 25th Amendment, yes. Deplatforming, yes. All of the above. No money. No access to campaign funds,” she said, going on to argue for the president’s “complete isolation” because Trump, “as the leader of a terrorist organization,” will have a more difficult time recruiting followers if he is “viewed as a loser.”

“He’s going to have his radical elements. We will arrest them, we will isolate them,” Kayvem added. “But what we have to make sure is that Donald Trump does not have a second act.”

I know I sound incredibly harsh right now calling the president this, but we are in the tactical response right now. Enough with the ‘let’s unity’ and stuff, this is a tactical effort right now to make sure that we protect American citizens and, of course, the next president of the United States.”

Kayvem Doubles Down

Kayvem doubled down on this in an article published on Tuesday by The Atlantic. In this article, she accused Trump of “rallying point for a coalition of theocrats, internet fantasists, white supremacists, and various other authoritarians who are in no way committed to peaceful transitions of power.”

“The way to unite this country is to isolate acts of violence—and a leader who incites it—from legitimate expression,” Kayyem wrote. “Trump was a north star for a certain kind of radical. Americans will be safer the more that star loses its shine.”

This piece was written by James Samson on January 12, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

The post CNN Personality Claims Trump Is ‘Leader Of A Terrorist Organization’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Top GOP Senator Claims Trump Impeachment ‘Clearly Is Not Going To Happen’

Posted on January 12, 2021 by LifeZette

Democrats are currently rushing to impeach President Donald Trump after the riots in the Capitol last week. However, Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), the chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, has spoken out to say that impeachment is “clearly not going to happen.”

Blunt Says Impeachment Won’t Happen

While appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Blunt was asked, “Are Republican leaders going to hold him accountable in any way for it?”

“I think the country is is the right to hold presidents accountable,” Blunt replied. “The president should be very careful over the next 10 days is that his behavior is what you would expect from the leader of the greatest country in the world. My personal view is that the president touched the hot stove on Wednesday and is unlikely to touch it again.”

“I did, the day Senator Hawley announced he would be contesting those electoral votes, announced that I would not be,” he added. “When Senator Cruz said he had a plan to put back in place a commission like the one formed in 1877, I said that wouldn’t happen. I wasn’t interested then or now in spending a lot of time on things that can’t happen just like the impeachment of the president to remove him from office clearly is not going to happen between now and the last day he is in office.”

“As Nancy Pelosi just said and Jim Clyburn said earlier today, this is more about a long-term punishment of the president than trying to remove him from office,” Blunt continued.

Clyburn Speaks Out

This came after House Majority Whip James Clyburn admitted that House Democrats may wait until Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office to send articles of impeachment for Trump to the Senate.

“We’ll take the vote that we should take in the House, and [Pelosi] will make the determination as to when is the best time to get that vote and get the managers appointed and move that legislation over to the Senate,” Clyburn (D-SC) said.

“It just so happens that if it didn’t go over there for 100 days, it could – let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running, and maybe we’ll send the articles sometime after that,” he added.

Rep. Jim Clyburn: "Let's give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running and maybe we will send the articles [of impeachment against Trump] sometime after that." https://t.co/8nQEnOyzZs pic.twitter.com/jSt9F74kBO

— The Hill (@thehill) January 11, 2021

This piece was written by James Samson on January 12, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

The post Top GOP Senator Claims Trump Impeachment ‘Clearly Is Not Going To Happen’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

House To Vote On Impeachment On Wednesday As Pelosi Drums Up Votes Against Trump

Posted on January 11, 2021 by LifeZette

The House of Representatives is set to vote on Wednesday on whether or not to impeach Donald Trump just seven days before Joe Biden is scheduled to be inaugurated.

House Preparing To Vote On Impeachment

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) reportedly informed members of Congress in a private call on Monday that they will need to come back to the Capitol on Tuesday night, according to Politico. If Trump refuses to resign and Vice President Mike Pence does not invoke the 25th Amendment, impeachment is scheduled for consideration at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

On Monday, key members of the House Judiciary Committee introduced a single article of impeachment, and it has already gathered at least 218 cosponsors. This comes days after supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol building in protest over the election results.

“Because the timeframe is so short and the need is so immediate and an emergency, we will also proceed on a parallel path in terms of impeachment,” Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters on Monday. “Whether impeachment can pass the United States Senate is not the issue.”

Once the House has voted, the articles of impeachment are expected to move immediately to the Senate. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has suggested that a trial there likely won’t start until the upper chamber returns on January 19.

However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is trying to reconvene the chamber under emergency powers that were given to Senate leaders in 2004, as a way to move immediately to an impeachment trial.

Democrats Speak Out

Democrats have been rallying behind the idea of sending the articles of impeachment immediately.

“I think we should pass it and the Senate should take it up immediately,” said Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), a lead author of the impeachment resolution. “This is urgent. This president represents a real danger to our democracy.”

Biden said on Monday that he has talked to members of both chambers about a potential plan to “bifurcate” the Senate proceedings.

“We need to take very seriously what happened … Hours and days matter,” sad Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA). “I wish we could just hold our breath” for 10 days. “But I don’t think we should or can afford to. I think we’ve seen that our nation and our homeland is in danger.”

“I’ve heard a lot of people say, Is it the right thing politically to impeach this president? … Will it harm the Democratic Party?” added Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI). “In terms of whether it could harm the Democratic Party, I could not care less.”

In a letter sent out to Democrats on Sunday night laying out the next steps of impeachment, Pelosi wrote, “In protecting our Constitution and our Democracy, we will act with urgency, because this President represents an imminent threat to both.”

This piece was written by James Samson on January 11, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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