January 6th, 2021

Already know most will be shedding a tear on hearing the news.
Georgia prosecutors launch criminal probe of Trump's efforts to overturn election
Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia have opened a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to reverse his 2020 electoral loss in the state, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Fulton County’s new District Attorney Fani Willis sent a letter to state officials on Wednesday asking them to retain documents regarding a Jan. 2 phone call Trump made to Raffensperger, in which the now-former president pressed the state’s top elections official to “find” 11,780 votes, enough to hand him a victory over President Biden in Georgia.

printer said:

Already know most will be shedding a tear on hearing the news.
Georgia prosecutors launch criminal probe of Trump's efforts to overturn election
Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia have opened a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to reverse his 2020 electoral loss in the state, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Fulton County’s new District Attorney Fani Willis sent a letter to state officials on Wednesday asking them to retain documents regarding a Jan. 2 phone call Trump made to Raffensperger, in which the now-former president pressed the state’s top elections official to “find” 11,780 votes, enough to hand him a victory over President Biden in Georgia.

Ga. prosecutors launch criminal probe of Trump’s efforts to overturn election

Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, have opened a criminal investigation into former President Trump’s efforts to pressure Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) to “find” enough votes to rev…

thehill.com

Click to expand...

That's nothing but Saber rattling. It's going nowhere.

Cowardly GOP Senators Look Away As Devastating Footage Shows Exactly Who Incited The Capitol Riot

Republican Senators Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott couldn't bring themselves to watch as House prosecutors opened their impeachment case with a video demonstrating in no uncertain terms that the former president bears responsibility for the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Building.

printer said:

Already know most will be shedding a tear on hearing the news.
Georgia prosecutors launch criminal probe of Trump's efforts to overturn election
Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia have opened a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to reverse his 2020 electoral loss in the state, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Fulton County’s new District Attorney Fani Willis sent a letter to state officials on Wednesday asking them to retain documents regarding a Jan. 2 phone call Trump made to Raffensperger, in which the now-former president pressed the state’s top elections official to “find” 11,780 votes, enough to hand him a victory over President Biden in Georgia.

Ga. prosecutors launch criminal probe of Trump’s efforts to overturn election

Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, have opened a criminal investigation into former President Trump’s efforts to pressure Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) to “find” enough votes to rev…

thehill.com

Click to expand...

so many investigations..what's up with SDNY? i would've thought they had warm cuffs for him.

schuylaar said:

so many investigations..what's up with SDNY? i would've thought they had warm cuffs for him.

Click to expand...

Dunno, but a lot of people want to find out what happened to the SDNY case against individual #1 and someone better have the right answers. Joe is in the process of firing Trump appointees from the DOJ now and once the purge is complete and the new AG installed, I expect he will be asked about it daily by the press and I expect daily DOJ press briefings on a host of investigations, indictments and cases. There is a purge of government and the military of seditionist underway, they swore to up hold the constitution and are held to a higher standard.

printer said:

Already know most will be shedding a tear on hearing the news.
Georgia prosecutors launch criminal probe of Trump's efforts to overturn election
Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia have opened a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to reverse his 2020 electoral loss in the state, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Fulton County’s new District Attorney Fani Willis sent a letter to state officials on Wednesday asking them to retain documents regarding a Jan. 2 phone call Trump made to Raffensperger, in which the now-former president pressed the state’s top elections official to “find” 11,780 votes, enough to hand him a victory over President Biden in Georgia.

Ga. prosecutors launch criminal probe of Trump’s efforts to overturn election

Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, have opened a criminal investigation into former President Trump’s efforts to pressure Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) to “find” enough votes to rev…

thehill.com

Click to expand...

It's up to the county DA, she doesn't look too sympathetic to Trump and that's the problem the republicans have, she wants to pursue it and has an excellent case.

DIY-HP-LED said:

It's up to the county DA, she doesn't look too sympathetic to Trump and that's the problem the republicans have, she wants to pursue it and has an excellent case.

Click to expand...

you're able to get the impeachment trial on tv?

CNN

Several GOP senators say the footage played by House managers throughout the afternoon was chilling and they are shaken by what they saw, but are signaling they won’t change their plans to vote to acquit former President Trump in the impeachment case.

Here's what some GOP senators said:

• When asked if he was shaken, Sen. Mike Braun told CNN, "Same way that I was before." He added it's hard to vote to convict “when you think the process is flawed in the first place."
• Sen. Ron Johnson said he was shaken, but added that he blames the rioters, not Trump.
• Sen. John Cornyn, usually very talkative, told CNN, “I’ve got nothing for you now.”
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is likely to convict, said on camera “that the evidence that was presented thus far is pretty damning.” Asked if she’s concerned about the ramifications if the Senate doesn’t bar Trump from running again, she said, “I don’t see how Donald Trump could be re-elected to the presidency.”

Romney calls video of officer directing him away from rioters "very troubling"
From CNN's Kristin Wilson and pool reports

Sen. Mitt Romney, who was seen in one of the videos being directed away from the rioters by Officer Eugene Goodman, said he looked forward to thanking the Capitol police officer when he next sees him.
He called the videos shown by the House managers “obviously very troubling” and said that he didn’t know that he was that close to the rioters.

“Obviously very troubling to see the great violence that our Capitol Police and others are subjected to. It tears you you're at your heart and brings tears to your heart eyes, that was overwhelmingly distressing and emotional," Romney said.

Click to expand...

Not that it will change anything. Obviously the danger from Trump is now greater to the GOP than the patriots.​

Click to expand...

Trump's lawyer says Democrats failed to connect Capitol riot video to Trump

Former President Trump's defense lawyer Bruce Castor said the House managers failed in their presentation to connect the rioters' acts to Trump.

“I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know. We know a mob reached the Capitol and wreaked havoc in the building. I’m waiting for them to connect that up to President Trump and so far that hasn’t happened," he said.

Click to expand...

Asked if he is worried the video will have an emotional impact on the jury, he said, “It would have an emotional impact on any jury. But there are two sides of the coin and we have not played ours.”

No, absolutly no connection with the guy who said, "Let's go to the Capital, I'll be there with you."

Some GOP senators say managers haven't adequately linked Capitol riot to Trump
From CNN's Ali Zaslav and Ali Main

Just after the House impeachment managers played powerful new video of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, several Republican senators said that while the video itself was compelling, they do not think the managers have directly connected the violence to the former President.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, said the managers' presentation was "powerful and emotional," but he doesn't think it adequately connects Trump to the attack or proves the former President committed high crimes or misdemeanors.
"That was strikingly absent," he said of the direct link to the former President. "They spent a great deal of time focusing on the horrific acts of violence that were played out by the criminals, but the language from the President doesn't come close to meeting the legal standard for incitement."
He claimed that "there's not a political candidate in the country," including "every single one of the Democratic senators," who hasn't used the same language of Trump, who told his supporters to "fight like hell."
Cruz admitted that the former President's rhetoric is, at times, "overheated," adding, "but this is not a referendum on whether you agree with everything the President says or tweets."

"This is instead a legal proceeding assessing whether the President has committed high crimes or misdemeanors, and today's presentation was powerful and emotional, reliving a terrorist attack on our nation's capital, but there was very little said about how specific conduct of the President's satisfies the legal standard," he said, later accusing Democrats of being motivated by "partisan hatred" for Trump.

Click to expand...

Sen. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, said while he needs to hear the rest of the arguments, the case the managers are trying to make is “that Trump is the one who said go” initiating the riot on Jan. 6. And he argued Trump “has had 100 rallies and we’ve never seen that before, so that’s the tough one to be able to link together.”

Braun added that "obviously" the people who broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6 should be held accountable, saying, "I think trying to then relate it to who caused them to do it will be the tough case to make."
He said he thinks the rioters were at the Capitol on Jan. 6 because they were "upset with things."
Asked if Trump bears any responsibility for the riot, even if his involvement does not rise to a high crime or misdemeanor, Braun said, "You know, I think that the day, when you push the envelope on stuff – in this case, it obviously ended up in a way I'm sure he never had intended it to happen. You know it unraveled, and I think still, when it comes to the people that actually broke in here, it's their responsibility."
Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, said he thinks “we’ve got to distinguish between the despicable acts we saw here, and to what extent he or those individuals have responsibility,” when asked if Trump bears responsibility for attack.
He added that “you can definitely hold all those folks accountable,” referring about the rioters.

Yeah, it is the soldier's fault they listened to the general and attacked the village.

Follow the money, they will when the conspiracy goes to criminal court.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Steele: 'Let's See How The RNC Paid' For Trump Supporters To Come To DC On January 6

Guilty: Trump Accused Of Fomenting Violence Against Capitol, Pence By Del. Plaskett

At Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, House managers revealed new, detailed video evidence showing how violent the attack was and - they argued - how it followed Trump’s election plot and instructions. MSNBC Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber states the presentation by Democratic manager and delegate Stacy Plaskett was one of the “best oral arguments” offered, recapping the proceedings with MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace and The New York Times' Michael Schmidt.

The senate trial is something to see and many are watching on TV, I wonder what channel Merrick Garland is watching? How about the future prosecutors and DOJ officials, are they watching this on TV?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senate Judiciary Committee schedules Merrick Garland confirmation hearing - POLITICO

Senate Judiciary Committee schedules Merrick Garland confirmation hearing
The schedule had been in limbo until the 50-50 Senate was organized.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a confirmation hearing in two weeks for President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Justice Department, Merrick Garland.

The hearing, scheduled for Feb. 22 and 23, sets Garland up for a March 1 vote out of committee and comes after Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) reached an agreement for the schedule.

“I’m pleased that we can announce that the Committee will be moving forward on a bipartisan basis,” Durbin said in a statement. “Judge Garland will serve the Justice Department and our country with honor and integrity. He is a consensus pick who should be confirmed swiftly on his merits.”

The date for Garland’s confirmation hearing had been in limbo, in part due to the weeks of negotiation between Senate leaders over an organizing resolution for governing the 50-50 chamber. Before the organizing resolution was adopted, Senate Republicans technically still held committee gavels.

Durbin had requested that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who until last week was still chair, hold Garland’s hearing on Feb. 8. But Graham declined to do so, arguing that it violated the committee's standard of only holding a confirmation hearing 28 days after receiving paperwork. He added that there would be insufficient time to consider Garland before the Senate impeachment trial.

Grassley said in a statement Tuesday evening that “given the significance of this role, he agreed to make an exception for the 28-day time frame and will “accelerate the post-committee hearing markup.”

“Given these accommodations, I expect a thorough review of Judge Garland’s qualifications as well as swift and transparent responses going forward,” he said.

Under the committee schedule, Garland will appear before the committee on the first day of his confirmation hearing. The second day will consist of testimony from outside witnesses. Senators will then submit questions for the record to Garland on Feb. 24. Garland will have until Feb. 28 to respond.

Biden announced he planned to nominate Garland to be attorney general Jan. 7. Garland is the former chief judge of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and was President Barack Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court in March 2016. His nomination, however, was blocked by the GOP-controlled Senate.

The republican party was shrinking before Trump and it has more since Trump, now the purge of anybody with morals and brains is complete. The capital hill sacking has cost them a lot of support and voters, many people are walking away from the GOP. Play with fire while soaked in gasoline and you'll get immolated, now the elephant is running around on fire
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'The GOP has lost its mind': Republicans fleeing the party after Capitol insurrection - Raw Story - Celebrating 16 Years of Independent Journalism

'The GOP has lost its mind': Republicans fleeing the party after Capitol insurrection
Republican voters are leaving the party in droves after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Tens of thousands of GOP voters switched their party affiliations in the days following the deadly riot aimed at keeping former president Donald Trump in office, and voting experts told the New York Times the shift was unusual after a presidential election and represented a dangerous pattern for the Republican Party.

"Since this is such a highly unusual activity, it probably is indicative of a larger undercurrent that's happening, where there are other people who are likewise thinking that they no longer feel like they're part of the Republican Party, but they just haven't contacted election officials to tell them that they might change their party registration," said Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida. "So this is probably a tip of an iceberg."

Nearly 140,000 Republicans quit the party in 25 states, according to readily available data, compared to 79,000 Democrats who left their party since early January, and the biggest spikes in GOP abandonment came in the days immediately following the insurrection, with most of those Republican voters changing their status to unaffiliated.

"What happened in D.C. that day, it broke my heart," said Juan Nunez, a 56-year-old an Army veteran from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. "It shook me to the core." More than 10,000 Republicans have left the party in Arizona, where the state GOP has moved to censure Gov. Doug Ducey, former Senator Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain for perceived disloyalty to the former president.

"The Arizona GOP has just lost its mind," said Heidi Ushinski, a 41-year-old Arizona voter who switched her affiliation to the Democratic Party.

Ushinski has switched her party affiliation twice in the past to vote against specific primary candidates, but she told the Times she feels out of place in the current GOP.

"I look up to the Jeffry Flakes and the Cindy McCains," she said. "To see the GOP go after them, specifically, when they speak in ways that I resonate with just shows me that there's nothing left in the GOP for me to stand for, and it's really sad."

Lifelong Republican Michael Taylor, the mayor of Sterling Heights, Michigan, had already voted for Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 election before changing his registration after the state GOP helped push conspiracy theories that fed the insurrection.
"There was enough before the election to swear off the GOP, but the incredible events since have made it clear to me that I don't fit into this party," Taylor said. "It wasn't just complaining about election fraud anymore. They have taken control of the Capitol at the behest of the president of the United States, and if there was a clear break with the party in my mind, that was it.

Now ya know what the pundits were warning the republicans about and it's not over yet. Perhaps a third impeachment trial on the same article (no double jeopardy) after Trump is convicted in court might be in order, a little replay closer to the 2022 election to remind people what worms these assholes really are. As Donald's spell loosens on many voters and the schism grows in the GOP, it could get even worse for the republicans. If Joe continues to perform and deliver as president and defeats covid, the democrats could make some gains in 2022. Passing HR-1, voting rights legislation and attacking the right wing disinformation network will help them to win as well.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GOP Image Slides Giving Democrats Strong Advantage (gallup.com)

GOP Image Slides Giving Democrats Strong Advantage

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• 37% have positive view of Republican Party, down from 43%
• 48% have positive view of Democratic Party
• Republicans' favorable rating of GOP down 12 points

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' opinions of the Republican Party have worsened in recent months, with 37% now saying they have a favorable view of the party, down from 43% in November. This decline, along with a slight increase in the Democratic Party's positive ratings, to 48%, gives the Democrats a rare double-digit advantage in favorability.


Line graph. Since November, favorable ratings of the Republican Party have fallen from 43% to 37%, while favorable ratings of the Democratic Party are up from 45% to 48%.

The Jan. 21-Feb. 2 poll was conducted in the weeks after the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by people seeking to disrupt the counting of the 2020 presidential election electoral votes. Former president Donald Trump is on trial this week in the U.S. Senate after the House of Representatives filed impeachment charges against him for his actions leading up to those riots. Most Republicans in the House voted against impeaching Trump, and most Republican senators objected to the trial proceeding in a Jan. 26 vote on the constitutionality of convicting a former president of impeachment charges.

Since November, the GOP's image has suffered the most among Republican Party identifiers, from 90% favorable to 78%. Independents' and Democrats' opinions are essentially unchanged.

Changes in Favorable Ratings of the Republican Party, by Party Identification
�
Meanwhile, the slight increase in positive ratings of the Democratic Party is being driven by independents, who show a seven-percentage-point jump in favorability since November, 41% to 48%. Ninety-four percent of Democrats (compared with 92% in November) and 4% of Republicans (compared with 5% in November) rate the Democratic Party favorably.



Republican Party Favorability Has Often Been Below 40%
Sub-40% favorable ratings for the Republican Party are not unusual. The last such measure was 38% in January 2019 amid the partial federal government shutdown related to a dispute over funding for Trump's proposed southern border wall. From 2013 through 2018, the average favorable rating for the GOP was 39%.

In contrast to those generally weak ratings, in January 2020, a slim majority of Americans viewed the Republican Party favorably while Trump was in the process of being acquitted in his first impeachment trial, and the U.S. economy was strong.

The current GOP image reading is still significantly above the party's historical low rating of 28% from October 2013, when disputes over funding the Affordable Care Act led to a partial government shutdown. Gallup also measured a low 31% reading for the GOP in December 1998 after Bill Clinton was impeached by the Republican-led House of Representatives.


Line graph. Full trend on favorable ratings of the Republican Party. Gallup's initial favorable rating of the Republican Party in 1992 was 53%. In December 1998, its favorable rating dropped to 31%. It reached a high of 61% in early 2002 after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Since 2006, it has frequently been below 40%, including a low of 28% in October 2013.

Democratic Party Usually Has Edge in Favorability
The Democratic Party is typically rated more positively than the Republican Party, likely because more Americans align themselves politically with the Democrats than the Republicans. Still, double-digit Democratic advantages have been uncommon, last occurring during the 2013 shutdown and in the months after.

Democrats also held a double-digit edge in favorability for much of George W. Bush's second term in office, in early 2004 during the Democratic presidential primaries, during the Clinton impeachment period in late 1998 and early 1999, and after the 1996 Democratic convention.
more...

DIY-HP-LED said:

Now ya know what the pundits were warning the republicans about and it's not over yet. Perhaps a third impeachment trial on the same article (no double jeopardy) after Trump is convicted in court might be in order, a little replay closer to the 2022 election to remind people what worms these assholes really are. As Donald's spell loosens on many voters and the schism grows in the GOP, it could get even worse for the republicans. If Joe continues to perform and deliver as president and defeats covid, the democrats could make some gains in 2022. Passing HR-1, voting rights legislation and attacking the right wing disinformation network will help them to win as well.

Click to expand...

A 3rd impeachment would be a really really bad idea. For one thing, he is no longer in office. The reason this one is constitutional is because he was impeached while he was still in office. If the GOP do take over the house at any time President Joe Rob is still in office, they will impeach him. And just like with Clinton, it will hurt them.

Yes, the GOP will be smaller. In national races they could really be in for a long dry spell. But they will still win in the red states and districts.

It's still up in the air about if Joe Rob will defeat covid. It's still at a crazy high rate, and with new variants popping up, it will still be around in '22. Thus the economy could still suck the big one. It is rare for the President's party to pick up seat in the midterms. I will be happy if we hold our own in the house and pick up a seat or two in the senate.

injinji said:

A 3rd impeachment would be a really really bad idea. For one thing, he is no longer in office. The reason this one is constitutional is because he was impeached while he was still in office. If the GOP do take over the house at any time President Joe Rob is still in office, they will impeach him. And just like with Clinton, it will hurt them.

Yes, the GOP will be smaller. In national races they could really be in for a long dry spell. But they will still win in the red states and districts.

It's still up in the air about if Joe Rob will defeat covid. It's still at a crazy high rate, and with new variants popping up, it will still be around in '22. Thus the economy could still suck the big one. It is rare for the President's party to pick up seat in the midterms. I will be happy if we hold our own in the house and pick up a seat or two in the senate.

Click to expand...

Republicans should impeach Biden if he stirs up a mob to attack Congress.

Fogdog said:

Republicans should impeach Biden if he stirs up a mob to attack Congress.

Click to expand...

I'm talking about what they will do, not what they should do. Some have already said they will use the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor as grounds. Which will be even less of a reason than their last impeachment, a hummer from a chubby aid.